Enroute to Lo-Nine

Amy

She didn’t know what was worse, eons of her life were squandered or the guilt of realization. Blood, effort, tears, heartache, soulache, might, and toil. All of it amounted to a plot of cracked earth. The scales of her eyes had fallen, all thanks to that awful entity known as Neon. She remembered freely how good her existence was, how perfectly set and assigned her duties were. Adonai had made her for this and she had rejected him utterly to follow the whims of Lucifer.

She promised us power, but where is it?

It had taken such an attack to realize how stagnant she was. She hadn't grown much since her release, hadn't consolidated titles, hadn't increased in power. Still an Angel of Liberal Arts, a title scorned by all. Still disrespected by those around her.

But Lucifer wouldn't do that! She's perfect and everything!

"Amy. Are you well?"

Her soul fluttered at Barthin's voice.

She glanced up at him from the bed. they sat side by side, his form towering over her. Their reunion still glowed over her, only blunted by Neon's attack. She had finally made her feelings for Barthin known and he returned them.

And yet the feelings of regret had already woven through her heart, flowing through roots of doubt already present and unexamined. After all, why would a perfect divine being need reflection?

"D-did we do the right thing- following Lucy?"

She could help but stutter in the angel's presence. He breathed in deep, titling his head away.

"After being made a slave by this demon, I have been filled with disillusionment. I was abandoned by her. Forgotten by-"

"I n-never forgot you. They said y-you were slain."

"Did they? They?"

She knew.

"Az-za-za… Azazel was the only survivor…"

She couldn't believe that he had abandoned the Underrealm.

"Lucy punished him good… And then he went crazy and got locked away.”

She saw him clench his hand, grinding metal on metal. His anger was apparent.

"I'm sa-sa-sa… Sa-sa….Arrrgh! I'm sorry!" She barked in frustration at herself as she punched her gauntlets together.

He grasped her hand, holding it between them.

"This dilemma, you can feel it, too. That Lucifer is not god."

Amy recoiled at his statement. That wasn't possible. It was blasphemy.

"You can't believe that! Lucy has been amazing and we're all better off for joining her!"

"Are we?"

"Look, Barthy, what kind of big idiot question is that? Are we? Of course we are!"

As hard as she tried, her words rang hollow. The memories this Neon showed her we're all too real. They had happened before she followed Lucifer. To compare her previous life and beauty to now was a difference between the distance of two celestial bodies. Lucifer couldn’t be bad. She was the good guy, persecuted by that Adonai.

“Crippled and Imprisoned; In what way are we better off? Lucifer appears to have benefitted. But what of us?”

Her soul trembled at his words. It was too much. Reality and cold logic was screaming in her face. It was too heavy for her mind to hold onto. The question bugged her. Did they do the right thing? She was at the fork of cognitive dissonance. A decision had to be made. Right or left. The choices weighed in her mind. But she had to decide. Right or left. Nostalgia or Lucifer. Old or new. She nodded, choosing the only path ahead. It wasn't a problem and if you distracted yourself enough, it didn't matter. Parties, friends, and adventures would cover over a multitude of difficult choices and icky introspection. She had bounced back, the protective layers of her mind and ego turning overtime to patch up any messy logical inconsistencies. Her protective layer of unearned confidence kicked in, insulating her from her most crippling enemy. Truth. And also Barthin was here.

Amy hopped off the bed, wadling to the door.

“I’m done talking about this! Come on Barthy, let’s go!"

She marched over to him, jumping to grab his hand and pulling him to the entrance. Barthin sullenly obliged as he got to his feet, sulking. She was like a child to a giant as she moved down the hall, taking fives steps to his one. Barthin moved with an angel's grace, slowly and ponderous to keep pace with the shorter and more clumsy Amy.

An awkward silence began as they marched down the hall past bowing cultists.

“Um, you’re pretty popular now!”

He looked down at her, his armored hide shifting and shisking with each step.

“Just one more crack and wedge in my faith. I have only benefited from being enslaved by that demon. The power I’ve gained is beyond what I imagined.”

“Who is this Neon idiot?”

“Him? The enslaver. The one who grants me power and might, respect and influence. The one who defeated me without effort. He whose name is sacred.”

“Neon?”

“That is not his name,” Barthin grunted.

“Oh…” she blinked rapidly from under her hood.

“Oh! A pseudonym! I thought demons always flaunted their names, though?”

“A new breed for a new age,” he retorted.

They arrived at the main hangar again as a noise of argument greeted her ears.

Neon and Slate appeared to be in a heated argument, the rubbled from the previous event having been cleaned away.

“...And she will appear. A meeting I’ve looked forward to ever since I found my new pet!”

A shrieking laugh rang out from the tall green demon god. His nine foot stature and imposing presence were only eclipsed by the smaller demon god Slate.

They both glanced at her, halting whatever conversation they had.

Neon strode to her, head tilting side to side with each step. A chill ran through her soul. Her confidence melted.

“My Champion, you know this tiny angel?” the god asked.

“I do.”

She looked up at her friend, seeing his head bowed. Barthin was always headstrong, but around this demon, he was cowed.

It laughed like a shrieking goat. Her spirit blanched.

“I’ll take that as a positive reference! You there, Liberal Arts flunky- join me! We have monthly birthday celebrations! And good dental.”

Amy’s spirit curled up at being singled out.

“She’s mine,” Slate’s bored voice rang out as she stood in between them. Her red eye gazed in cold anger. Extreme power and malevolent intent washed over her. Barthin shook, trying to keep upright.

“Hey- it’d be a contract job, nothing too serious like my Champ over there!”

“They’re all contracts… We’re demons,” Slate replied lethargically.

“Always the killjoy, eh Slatey?”

She folded her arms and huffed.

“Do you feel that?” Neon asked no one in particular.

Amy did. The vessel had exited FTL and was nearby a strange anomaly she recognized. ANger and annoyance burned in her at the triggering of her old nemesis.

“Those big idiot Watchers…” she muttered.

“Ah yes! And by your tone, you know them.”

“Sort of… They all so… dumb! Flying around and being big idiots!”

“Succinct,” he jabbed.

A follower of green brought up a holographic viewscreen, allowing them to see what they faced. A large void of blackness stood out amongst the stars, trapping all light. A tear in reality stood in front of their vessel. Neon’s fingers trembled as he gawked.

“Every time we’ve attempted to explore their space, we fly and fly and fly and fly!...- And go nowhere. A few kilometers backwards and we’re out of the rift. Here is the test of truth. Full steam ahead.”

The ship moved forward into the unknown.

“It’s different this time,” Slate commented sleepily. She yawned before digging into her hoodie pouch to reveal a crisp snack bag.

“Oh it is,” Neon clasped his hands, his sickening grin larger than ever.

Amy witnessed the black break way to a mini universe. She blinked in shock at how talented those idiot Watchers were. A black sun in the distance, far too close to not have destroyed or sucked in the nearby planet and moons.

The moons were attached to the planet along an enormous cable, like the hands of a clock.

Whoa.

She felt genuine wonder at the Watcher’s craft. As dumb as they were, they knew how to build.

“Prepare for landing!” Neon announced as he began marching away. The ship became a bedlam of activity as a blur of emerald robes dashed to and fro. Goblins and their variants, humans, Fae, lesser demons, and races she had yet to name ran about, gathering weapons and armaments.

The ship rocked, causing many to lose balance. Amy fell flat on her face. A gravity anomaly had taken hold of them.

“Ow…. My face…”

She got to her feet, seeing Slate and Neon Preparing themselves.

“I haven’t had a good dungeon crawl in an age,” Neon commented as lifted up his hand.

Green glowing light shined throughout the hangar, causing all to pause and tremble in awe. In his hand held a metallic emerald goblet, overflowing minty green fog from over the brim to the floor as a cascading waterfall of mist.

Amy’s eyes almost bugged out of her cowl as did Barthin’s from his helm.

“I-I-is that an-”

Neon knelt down, showing her the artifact.

“Of course it is. Beautiful, don’t you think? You sure you don’t want to join me? We have brunches!”

Brunches to Amy were akin to walking on broken glass.

“Ew, no. But t-t-that thing!”

“An Ego,” He finished for her. His voice raked across her mind like knives.

“Angels have Thrones, we demons have Egos. How many are you up to, Slatey?”

“Not telling,” she yawned big and wide, revealing her cephalopodic teeth..

“Foiled again! Remarkable that you’ve not slipped up a single iota,” he shot back.

Slate began to rise from the ground, arms outstretched. It reminded Amy of antediluvian cartoons from an old island nation. She was surrounded by darkness. Her transformation was complete. And then she dropped to the floor on her back in a clatter of plated metal armor. It was the same germanic plate armor Amy witnessed from before.

Slate wiggled on her back, grunting with effort as she was unable to right herself. To see someone so powerful being humbled in a common way was endearing to her. Several cultists clumsily helped her to her feet. She pulled open the decorated armor, revealing her large eye.

“T-t-that’s your Ego?”

Amy was flabbergasted. The sum total of Slate’s power was now reduced to that of the weakest flunkies around her. She was one of the weakest people aboard the ship now. The armor hampered her rather than helped. There was also an undeniable divine aura emanating from her, which explained her new found feebleness.

“Yeah,” Slate replied, feeling for her arming sword and shield.

“I never understood why you chose that, of all things!” Neon commented wryly.

“Yeah! Why have an Ego that hurts your power!"

Neon shrieked another laugh, causing Amy to shy away.

"Should I tell the little squirt or should you, Slatey?"

"If you say anything I'll eat you," she replied emotionlessly.

He laughed again at her response.

The view screen changed and before she could react, a bizarre mixture of energy, reality, broken time, dimensions and more washed over her. She sunk to her knees, being held up only by Barthin's sudden helping hand.

She waved him off, huffing in anger.

“Those big idiots are playing around with forces they don’t understand!”

“Oh? And you do? Oh, Angel of the Liberal Arts,” Neon jabbed at her as he rose to his feet.

She clenched her hands, burning with embarrassment. She stewed in silence.

“Come on now, Emissary of Lucifer, let’s see this amazing land of the Watchers!”

His followers got into a loose formation, armed to the teeth. She spotted several that weren’t complete flunkies. A Trow wielding a club, a tall thin man with arms clasped inside his robe, and a hogboon, nervously glancing about.

The ship rumbled again, bottoming out onto a dense surface, sending Amy careening forward into a cultist.

“Waaah!”

She slammed into the man, knocking him flat as she rolled over him to the deck.

She got to her feet, seeing the rear of the hangar bay open up to reveal a perfect blackness. Everyone halted, weary staring at the darkness.

“Well?” Neon barked, “Do you all want to live forever or what? Barthin, my Champion, lead them all to hell and glory. First one to find something gets a bonus!”

The cultists bellow a challenge before rushing down the ramp in a chaotic mob. Several were trampled in the process. Barthin sprouted his emerald wings of plated blades, rushing to the front.

“Send in the clowns!” Neon announced with a laugh as he serenely strode to the platform. Slate awkwardly clanked along behind him. His head spun behind his body, gaze down at Amy. She sputtered and gulped. Fast as lightning, he gripped her robes, holding her high.

“Now get off my ship,” he said with a grin before tossing her off into the darkness.

“Waaaah!”

She tumbled end over end, in the black, slamming to the ground before skidding to a stop. She got up, and glanced around. The noise of shouting, the rushing of bodies and malevolent intent went quiet. The ground was warm, pulsing with life. She could feel it all around her. Many different dimensions merged and overlapped together.

“Uh, hello? Guys?”

She got to her feet, dusting off her azure robes.

“Barthin? This isn’t funny! Come on, you big idiots!”

Nothing.

She felt a curious fear beginning to form. She was alone.

Not alone, you big idiot!

She chastised herself.

“Revent, Gup, Belph, Lictor, Breathman! Get out here and help me!”

All five of her demons appeared before her, scanning the strange new place.

Revent was the first to speak, pulling his horn free to reveal a thin curved blade.

“Mistress, we are here to protect and serve.”

“Good, now keep me safe and no back talk- I won’t stand for it, no sir!”

“Master, what is this place? Gup is scared!” Gup’s body was curled up on itself as his large eyes darted for movement.

“The real question is, if there’ll be any meat,” Lictor replied with a death rattle chuckle, ringing his chains absently.

“We are in the valley of despair! Gehenna! All doomed!” Belph cried out.

Breatherman quietly scanned the darkness. She got back her senses, settling on a plan.

“Enough of this- we’re not a bunch of lost babies here- come on!”

She raised her hand, materializing her Throne, Bithermaul.

“Flock of Lanterns!”

Yellow and orange paper lanterns blossomed from nowhere and began to gently float about, scattering the dark with rays of light.

“Orb Lanterns.”

Glowing blue spheres latched onto everyone, glowing brightly. Gup’s orb was attached to his tail, which he proceeded to bat at.

“Control Light.”

The spherical glows became tight beams of light, allowing one to cut through the darkness.

Dozens of feet ahead were revealed, all of it a flat planes of level stone surface.

“Oh- where did everyone go?”

Her one fear of being left behind was rising to the surface.

“The mistress was abandoned! Deeds most foul!” Belph added.

It didn’t help that the useless lump was stirring up drama. She suddenly had a brilliant idea.

“Well, well, well! Looks like I can just do this!

She grasped the deep power inside herself, as an angle of magic, her wellspring of power was limitless. She gripped the desire, molding it into what she pictured.

First, the core, to bring the army to shore.

A violet crystal sphere materialized into being, her very spirit calling it into existence.

Second, the call, the crystal’s power brings to life my thrall.

She chose a mix of different demons. Brawlers for brute force. Crawlers for sneaky ambushes. Rakes for ranged support, and her new favorite grunt: disruptor. They were tough and strong and were also capable of preventing both magic and technological abilities like the ever annoying QSD.

Finally, lash in place, feeding off dark matter and forming the base.

She cut the connection to the sphere, forcing it to draw power from dark matter instead. It would keep running until deactivated or destroyed. seventy pillars of violet light blossomed beneath the thrumming sphere. The mob was split evenly between brawlers, crawlers, and rakes with a handful of disruptors in the mix. She set Crystal's orders to fight to defend itself, leave victims alone for her to deal with, and to show no fear against aggressors.

“Kehehehehe! I’m the best!” She announced, turning to her demons. Lictor and Belph were gone, but the others remained, glancing about in confusion at their absence. She turned away looking around.

“Wha- where did those two big idiots go?”

“It is unclear, mistress Amy, nothing feels right with this place,” Revent replied.

Amy looked back at her summoning crystal and army, only to find it missing.

“Nyeh! What is happening?”

“Master… Oh, this is bad!” Gup cried out.

“Do you not feel what is happening? The layered dimensions? The time distortions and rampant radiation? We’re being split up,” Breatherman announced with a sigh.

“I know that- you- you big idiot, now don’t say another word- got it?”

We’re being pocketed here! Picked out and put into little layered dimensions. I bet Belph and Lictor are still where they’re standing. As is my army!

“OK! New plan! Try again…”

She pulled deep inside herself, creating another crystal with the same configuration. This time she halted the summoning of her demons.

“Breatherman, harvest that crystal now!”

He obliged, gracefully walking to the violet sphere and gripping it with all four hands, molding it into four grandswords he deftly spun them before slamming them down blade first, the rocky surface rejected the blades completely causing the screeching of stone on stone to ring out.

“And again!” she announced, creating another crystal sphere. An army was summoned and that too vanished in front of her. One second it was there, the next it was gone.

“Nyeh!” she shrieked.

“Another! You can’t keep me from my armies!” she cried.

Another crystal. Two more. Four. Seven. All vanished like the rest.

She stamped her feet, slamming Bithermaul onto the floor.

“What is with these big idiot Watchers? Don’t they know I’ve come to conquer them- how dare they!”

“Amy.”

She stopped at that voice. Her master. Her god. Lucifer.

Yes, Lucy- I mean Lucifer?

“You’ve arrived where you’re needed. Now is the time as we have planned. Use Bithermaul like we practiced. Bring forth the Foci. Do it now, Amy.”

“Oh! Ooooh! That’s why… She’s so smart! OK! Here we go!”

She let go of Throne, allowing it to work its magic. The staff began to float high before turning sideways. The skull popped off, floating to the middle of the weapon. The ends bowed and extended, bracing into the ground and creating an arch.

The Foci was coming.

The other demons stood nearby her. Gup cowered behind her robes. The newly formed gate filled with pale green energy. A being stepped through of divine grace and beauty. Armored in phthalo green armor with platinum trim of perfectly crafted plaimail. They stood tall and thin, with a helmet made of nested lion heads, each face inside the other’s mouth. They carried a twelve foot grandsword, a forked blade with a hollow center. On their belt was an elegant knife, sheathed and no less intimidating. Their hair dragged behind like a cape. Four wings of exquisite threads adamantite appeared behind them.

The Foci of Bithermaul’s summon had arrived.

Amy got down on her knees, as did her demons in worship of the terrifying and divine Lucifer.

“L-Lucy! You’re here!” She got up, crawling to the larger Cherubim.

The lion headed helmet stared down at her. A tinny voice rang out.

“Amy, my dearest, you’ve done well. Now is the time for my glory everlasting. My followers. Follow.”

Through the gate came many clad in black armor, armed with rifles, sporting helmets with golden visors.

Lucifer’s Chosen.

Amy gasped at the sudden army making their way through. Bithermaul wasn’t supposed to be able to do that.

“Now, let us go forth,” Lucifer shouldered her sword, serenely marching ahead. The army of chosen trailed behind, breaking into kill-squads of five.

“I’m coming with you, Lucy!” Amy cried out as she sprouted her meager four foot wings and flew behind. And they vanished from sight.

“Wah!” she stumbled and overcorrected, slamming into the ground as her momentum carried her on. She looked up, seeing strange clouds with dazzling rain drops ahead.

“What is going on!?” she cried out as she got to her feet.

She glanced around, realizing she was at the edge of the black bedrock. She looked over, seeing the drop go on forever into the mist below. Something crashed into her from behind.

Her mewling, cowering, big idiot of a follower named Gup grabbed hold of her as she fell.

“Let go of me! You. Big. Massive. Idiot!” she screamed as she fell. With the lizard demon grappling her, she could flap her wings. She was falling towards the mist. And then gravity took hold of her, slamming her into the side of the black rock. She slid a ways and then fell again into a circular pit.

“Waaah!”

She struck the ground hard, dazed and confused by the anomalous gravity. She lay there, sad and stunned. She ignored the noise of clattering armor even as it resounded next to her.

Kick. Kick.

Kick. Kick.

“Whaaaat…” she whined.

“Why are you sleeping?” a familiar voice asked.

Amy looked up into the tiny armored form of Slate.

She bounced up excitedly.

“Slaaatey!! Oh I was so alone and everything happened and- oh this big idiot place!” She hugged her bestie before pulling back.

This was the best thing to happen in this stupid place.

“That’s great,” Slate replied in a bored tone.

Amy looked to Revent, Breatherman, and her idiot Gup. With Slate, they were pretty much unbeatable- only because Amy was present because she was the best.

“Wanna raid?” Slate asked.