Atreviel's Story

Cole let out a heavy sigh as he felt the unnaturally chilling air in the circle of wrath. It was worrying...things didn't seem right. He looked down to his blade, Gray speaking to Cole through the telepathic link between them.

"This doesn't feel good, Cole. I've got some chills comin'...really bad chills."

He nodded, agreeing with this notion. The feeling was similar to that of looking down a pit of infinite blackness with very little balance, the emptiness bringing on both a fear of the unknown and a fear of death. Cole drew the intelligent blade from its sheath, the black blade emanating with a magical aura that radiated a blue mystic aura. The whisper was met with him shouting out to the nothingness, shifting his head from side to side. "Show yourself, fiend...There is no king that can make me kneel...you're going to have to come here and force me to kneel." He said this, readying his blade for any sudden surprise attacks in case he wishes to parry.

A chuckle echoed throughout the air, and Cole would find a force attempting swept him off his feet and thrown him through the air into a wall. "You know not what you face, yet you think you can fight it? You may as well fight reality itself"

From the center of the room came forth a figure wrapped in a shawl. It's body was decayed and decrepit, and a wrap obscured it's face, save for two eyes, empty and void of anything. They were not sockets, they were windows into the endless nothing of oblivion. It's hands were clawed, it's hair black, and from the creatures back spread tattered shadows of wings.

"Look upon your end, and find the calm that comes with knowing your suffering is at last over." The being said to him. "But your end is not yet come. I have been sent to give you a choice"

The creature faded from sight, but it's voice echoed throughout the area. "You may Rule this circle of hell in service to The King, you will be no more."

"Make your choice."

Cole, being that he couldn't see whatever it was that was assaulting him the wave of force did indeed sweep him off his feet and once pressed against the wall he growled out. Being caught surprised however, he tenses his muscles now preparing for an assault and attempting to break free from the forceful effect. "I know very well that I'm fighting demons. That's all I need to do."

He took a deep breath and steadied himself and huffed. "You've been sent to give me a chance though. I'm not bowing to any king...but if he wishes for me to leave, I won't. If he wishes me to stop conquering...that I can do. I can keep diplomacy open, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to just bend over backwards to serve you. I hope you understand, as a 'mortal', I'm not conditioned for such things and thus have my own free will."

He grinned and chuckled slowly to himself. "If you're wishing for a fight...I expect a duel. Unless you in hell lack true honour."

"To exist in hell is to Serve the King. If you will not Serve, you will die" The voice echoed reverbated through the air.

Not a moment later the ground began to shake, and a spear of stone shot towards Cole, attempting to impale him upon it

Ezrael continued to wander on almost blindly so. He seemed unaware of his surroundings, like he was observing in the third person, detached from his own conscious. He would remain such until the threat that was Atreviel would pass from his current awareness.

"Atreviel is here then?" Jean-Paul inquired as he moved on, keeping his head down and trying to keep a look out for anything that might be around.

Elandis Nodded to them. "Yes, but don't bother searching for him. He exists in such a way that he simply cannot be sensed. It is a sort of sub realm of being, in a plane that has neither substance nor length. In that place there is no time, no wind, no sensation of any kind. It is a twisted reflection of reality, one that he and he alone inhabits."

Thunder in the distance piqued Elandis' attention, as he turned towards the throne where Leviathan ruled the circle of wrath. "Hmm, it would seem that my brother has begun his hunt. I hope his prey satisfies him, he's rather grumpy when given poor sport."

Feeling the earth begin to shake, his eyes widened a bit and caused him to look around and below him. That was when... "Shit!" He shouted, seeing the spear shoot out from the ground. He was prepared for an attack as he thrashed his blade out to parry...he expected a more direct attack though.

Looking around frantically, he was trying to see if he was perhaps invisible somewhere grumbling. "Either show yourself, or I'll make you come out." Though he couldn't think of a way at the moment that'd allow him to bring the demon out, he knew they had to come out eventually. "I'm much more fun in melee combat. Acting like a coward just isn't fun." Maybe he could appeal to the pride of the demon...they were embodiment of sin, so that means they would be persuaded a little easier in that direction, hopefully. "If you're so sure of victory, you may as well enjoy yourself while doing it."

"I am enjoying myself mortal. You will die, and I will fufil my purpose. That is enjoyment to me."

As the words hissed through the air, it turned sour and sulfurous. The cloud of poison that was formed began to surround Cole, attempting to cut off all escape as it slowly closed in around him.

The air...ack, staying in such a room was dangerous, even with a wi--...a window, of course! He was so high up though. Think...Think! Cole's mind raced as he covered his mouth, eyes starting to water due to the sulfurous nature of the air. He could see, but only barely and doing so was painful.

A web...of course. It wouldn't break his fall completely, but it'd stop him from hitting the ground and breaking his bones. Cole charged shoulder first towards the window, not wishing to stay in the poison any longer and using his shoulder to burst himself through the glass. Now he was falling...shit. Why put the throne room on the third story?! Whose good idea was that?

...Creatures that could fly, probably.

Burying his frustration, he pointed a hand towards the ground and let out the spell's magical energy, the lack of words used to cast took more power but it had to be done, else he would have splat already. A web formed below as he hit it, grunting in pain as the newly formed web now became a newly destroyed web, the magic only being useful for that one instance of catching him, then disappearing. "Forgot...cutting or damaging it made it disappear..." He grunted, and looked up to the top story, and then down and around. Where was this demon bastard?

A rush of air surged towards Cole, the same force as before coming towards him attempting knock him away like a stuffed toy.

Shortly after the earth behind him began to rumble as stone spikes began to form a cage to trap him in.

"You can run, but you will never escape."

Ezrael blinked and snapped back to attention, a grin forming in his features and hands suddenly giving a swirl. "Well, let's hurry along now, shall we?" In a flash a vortex of light and sound had shaped between his palms as new life scorched through him. The vortex was scrying, scanning across the great expanse that was Wrath's hellscape, searching for Ezrael Flavaar. Wings emerged from the spine of this Ezrael, long, dark and black-feathered, the flared out to either side majestically, or would have done so had one not hit Jean-Paul's armour and half-folded.

"Times wasting. If the apocalypse comes now I'd never get to finish what I came for," Ezrael quipped, terribly self-pleased.

"What has gotten into you?" Jean-Paul answered, then shook his head and spoke truthfully to Elandis, "I think Ezrael is suffering from a detachment from the real world. This is not the first time he has acted strange."

Elandis stepped back worriedly. "I wouldn't open those here, theres a natural predator in this realm that's extremely territorial of it's skies, and they like to swarm"

He gestured to himself. "Why do you think I was choosing to walk instead of taking flight myself? and in any case, we have to head to the this circles throne anyway. Remember you have to make the bargain with the ruler of this realm to get what you want.

In the distance the storm clouds became ever more turbulent.

Three more of the earlier prepared staffs suddenly launched from Ezrael's proximity, two taking off into the sky and hurtling an even distance measured a kilometer away in opposite directions, while the third planted itself right into the ground behind them. "Yes fine fine, already well and good, let's just fly along the ground, or turn the path to ice so we are bound by less friction so I can parlay with this soulkeeper."

The erratic behaviour was beginning to worry Jean-Paul. He suspected something was going on, but kept his words to himself. Better to be left in the background than thrust into danger right now...

Elandis chuckled at Ezrael's eagerness, only to freeze as he felt a familiar presence. "Actually... It seems that your original desire will be fufilled after all." He said, turning once more to the citidale in the distance. He began traveling along that route, leading Jean and Ezrael behind him. "The keeper of the soul you seek seems to have ceased presiding over this area. However, someone of more important station is on their way to the fortress, and they will most certainly be able to assist you.

Cole's eyes narrowed as he brought his blade up, using it to help shield him against the gust of air attempting to beat him back. He had already taken a hit from it once, he wasn't going to be taken aback once more! The gust pushed him back, though he maintained his footing on the ground as he slid while the air behind him kicked up dust by his heels.

His attention was then shifted to the earth being shifted and morphed...shit. He shifted his weight to dodge out of the way, still feeling a bit winded from the gust of air that attacked him. He'd grip his blade tight, swinging it out at the spikes made from the earth below to try and cut them down if they were at all trying to follow him. He grumbled to himself frustrated...where was this fiend? His hand began surging with the gray energy of his corrupted choke as he readied it for casting. The instances he spotted this fiend...it was going to receive the full punishment of his favored spell.

Atreviel chuckled as Cole broke free of the stones grip. "You want me little mortal? You want to kill me?" The whispers breathed upon the air. "I can see your soul, I can see the viciousness you house..."

A distance away, a faded shadow appeared, beckoning at Cole before darting around a corner on it's way back to the throne room. "You want me? Come and get me" He laughed, the sound like a dying mans cough as it echoed through the sulfurous fumes of hell. As the laugh reverbated through the air, the ground continued to shift and morph as it tried to impale Cole upon dry clay and brittle earth, the spines crumbling to dust when and if they missed their mark.

"Of course I want to kill you." He grumbled under his breath, a fiery rage simmering beneath him. The beckoning shadow caught his attention, his eyes narrowing as he began his mad dash towards the spirit, his arm lifting as he clenched his fist, the spell "corrupted choke" going off as a bolt of corrupted energy began surging towards Atreviel, the energy attempting to strike him on its own accord without Cole having to aim.

The ground beneath him shifted causing his footing to be interrupted. He slowed down his pace, taking things more carefully...he could feel the burn of one of the spikes as it grazed him across his arm, a slow trickle of blood hitting the floor. Shit...he can't let this fiend bring him to its pace, otherwise he'd get fully impaled by one of the spikes. Gripping his blade tighter, Cole readied himself to cast another spell...perhaps flight would ease the difficulty of the terrain for him.

Ezrael seemed giddy. He wasn't putting on his usual casual outer appearance and seemed almost child-like with glee, grin spread from ear to ear. "Lucifer is coming?" he inquired, then looked out upon Wrath with narrowed eyes, magically trickling over his vision enhancing what he might see, "Jean-Paul on your best behaviour."

The Frenchman scoffed in his suit. "I have no quarrel with Lucifer," he answered flatly.

Atreviel only chuckled at Cole, although that chuckle quickly turned to a grunt of pain once the spell had hit. It took a moment for him to manage to counteract the spell, but once he had he was truly outraged by the mortals arrogance. "I will enjoy watching you burn, wretch, your soul shall sustain me for years to come, and when You beg me for release I shall..."

Whatever he shall have done, he never finished, for at that moment an explosion of light revealed Atreviel's true form, and framed Cole in the shadows. The light was not warm, it was not soft, and it was not kind. It was a pale, harsh light that felt sickening to the very soul, as though it pierced and made those it touched feel hollow and empty. This light shone out over all of Ira, visible even far off where the travelers in the valley were.

Below, Elandis turned to Ezrael and Jean paul and smiled pleasantly. "He is not coming, he is already here."

--

As the light faded, it resolved into the wings of an angel. No, not an angel, Lucifer Morningstar himself. The King of Lies stood in the throne room of Violence and looked between Atreviel and Cole. He said to Atreviel, "You are dismissed." And just like that the wraith faded away and was gone, returning to the infernal sanctum to await further commands.

Lucifer turned to Cole, his wings shining with the same pale light from before, garbed in a Royal gown cinched at the waist with a sword belt, whos sheath was empty. To Cole he said "Tell me, child. You have come here and waged war, you have broken a circle and led the souls within in revolt. I know you thought to do this to overthrow the circle and take command, but in starting and uprising you have only fulfilled the sin of Wrath, for it is wrath that drives those who have been bent for so long to lash out upon their rulers. You have then fought against my blade, seeing threat and danger to you, but that was not why you came here. No your desires do not lie in wanton violence and destruction, nor in the rebellion of established order. So tell me, child."

"What do you desire?"

Cole stood finally, not being assaulted at all sides...however his excitement was cut off by another voice which was not his enemies'...on top of that, Atreviel was 'dismissed' from the scene. Cole kept his hand upon his sword's hilt, the energy surging from the blade lowered its intensity to an occasional pulse. He was being confronted by a being of immense power...he knew challenging this one was a horrible idea, yet he felt his hatred for these fiends burning slowly in him. Trying to swallow this, Cole sighed.

"I don't do deals." He replied simply and curtly, head tilting to the 'big man' as he maintained his calm composure. "If you wish to negotiate...fine...but I'm not doing a deal with the devil, and I'm not bowing down to you." He said this, giving a sarcastic curtsy with a nonexistent skirt. He wasn't going to be pushed around by some high class demon...but he'd listen.