Cain…
The moment their eyes met and he heard her voice, his eyes widened and he flinched. Doing so caused him to lose his balance on the three branch as he crashed to the forest floor below.
As soon as his head hit the ground, everything went black as his spine snapped.
However, a few moments passed as he recovered back to normal, with Apophis leaning forward and looking down on him with a playful smile on her face.
“Apophis! I...I haven’t seen you in years! Why are you here? Why show up now of all times?” he asked frantically.
But then he took in a moment to look her over and realized that her appearance had changed.
Instead of the small child version of her that she used to be, she now looked to be a woman in her prime.
Even though it had been years since he had seen her last, and even though he knew that she was the one responsible for transforming his body into fighting shape, it was still jarring to see her so different from how he remembered her.
“‘Why am I here?’ I simply want to help you of course. I could feel your distress and thought to provide you with aid like I did last time,” she said.
Her playful smiled then changed into something more serious as she knelt down to look him in the eyes directly.
“I am here to help you prepare for the flood that is to come. I will grant you some of my strength to fight against God and his tyranny.”
She then held out her hand to him as if to help him up.
He took it gratefully and she managed to pull him to his feet.
“So you wish to help...how exactly do you intend to do that? What power do you hold that could possibly put up a fight against him?” he asked.
Hearing those words come from him, she seemed reluctant to answer as she looked away from him.
When she did return her attention to him, she then said, “In truth, my own power pales in comparison to his. Even when I fought against him at the peak of my strength, I could not hope to match his might.”
Cain’s eyes widened as he had to process what he heard.
“Y-You fought God? When? How did…,” his voice trailed off as he took a moment to think over her words and their meaning.
“I have heard no stories of God ever fighting against anyone until recently when Lucifer fell. For you to say that you had once fought him would suggest that you hold a similar seat of power to his,” he said before took a step closer to Apophis with a look in his eyes that demanded that she answer him honestly. As if to intimidate her into telling him the truth.
Apophis seemed unimpressed but Cain felt no reason to fear her.
“Answer me, what exactly are you?”
“Are you sure you want to hear the truth? It might shock you and destroy your view of this world.”
“Tell me.”
She paused to stare into his eyes, judging his determination for herself.
“I am Apophis, the second being to awaken in all of creation, and the Primordial Goddess of Chaos. I was here before God came into being as the seventh primordial god.”
Lucifer…
He had already started on his journey to the northern lands of the Aesir gods when, much to his surprise, he was greeted by Hestia’s company.
“Hello there Lucifer, may I join you?” she asked sweetly.
Confused, he asked, “For what reason? You have heard my warning of the incoming flood haven’t you? Why would you remain with me with the threat looming over this world is imminent?”
“Well...I hear that the lands of the Aesir are frigid. Perhaps my flames would do well to keep you warm. There is also the fact that the nature of your strength has to do with what you can take from others. I would be willing to lend you my flames to add to your strength if you might have need of it.”
He thought for a moment, contemplating the possible benefit of having her around might bring and decided that it couldn’t hurt.
“Alright then. You may come along if that’s what you want to do.”
She smiled as she stepped forward to match his stride while.
“Excellent. Then while we are making our way there, would you share with me some stories about your family of angels?”
“For what reason would you be interested in learning about my family?”
“To the people of this land, I am seen as the goddess of hearth flame and family. You could say that it is in my nature to be interested in them.”
Lucifer paused as he contemplated whether or not to answer and decided it couldn’t hurt to share.
“Well...I suppose you could say that my family is quite numerous. When Father first created us, there were one hundred billion of us at one point. Unfortunately, I was never able to learn all of their names as they lost their lives in a war far older than this planet.”
Hestia was silent for a moment as she took in that information. Her flaming eyes became larger as if to simulate surprise.
“Hmm…, maybe put aside that long history. Why not share with me who your closest siblings are? Who is the eldest, who is the youngest?” she asked.
“Well...I am the Eldest of all my brothers and sisters as the first Seraphim. Father made six of us Seraphim, he made us special even among all of the angels. After me came Michael, then after him was Azrael the only sister we have among the Seraphim, then Cassiel, then Samael, and lastly, the youngest of the Seraphim, Gabriel. Father gifted all of us with special aspects of his own power so that...so that it would lessen the burden of commanding dominion of the nature of creation. At least, that was how he worded it to us.”
“Only six Seraphim? You had told me that there were once many more angels among you. Who are the others?”
“Well, after the Seraphim come the Ophanim. I welcomed them as family but, the more I think about it, the more I realize that Father was rather distant with all other angels save for us Seraphim. I believe he only saw the others as nothing more than foot soldiers.”
Without realizing it, Lucifer had begun grinding his teeth together in anger and squeezing his fists so tight that they began to bleed.
“If it causes you such pain to think about it, then you don’t have to share it with me,” she said as she laid a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.
“No, its fine…,” he said but he was just lying to himself. Thinking about how Father had killed Uriel so easily and dismissed his existence as if it were nothing more than cannon fodder caused rage to swell up within him.
He needed something to distract him from his emotions.
“While you are here, may you share your flames with me for a moment? Its a new experience to use power foreign from that of Father’s light. Zeus’s power was interesting, but I would like to know how yours will effect me.”
“Alright then, if that’s what you want,” she said as she held out her hand to him with a blue flame burning in her palm.
His hand reached out to hers and before he could make contact with the flame, a spark of electricity jumped from his hand to the flames, a remnant of Zeus’s strength still dwelling in Lucifer’s body.
As the spark of electricity touched Hestia’s flame, his perception of time began to slow as he watched the hue of the lighting change in color from gold, to blue, to finally a violent shade of red.
“What is…,” he started to say but to his horror, the red lighting became more violent as it grew in size and began to travel up Lucifer’s arm as if it were a living thing.
His body was not fast enough to try and swat away the red lighting reaching up to his shoulder.
His eyes drifted over to Hestia but it seemed that she was unable to react to what was happening to him which meant that it was unlikely for her to be the cause.
Soon, he could feel the red lighting going up the side of his cheek until it finally reached his eyes.
The bolt of red lighting pierced his irises and all that he could see before him was suddenly engulfed in flames in every direction.
What is happening…?
He seemed to be floating in a realm of infinite fire everywhere he looked. Even trying to rely on Father’s light to sense what was going on as he failed. It was as if the red lighting had forced Father’s light out of him as he could sense no trace of it left.
“Lucifer…?” a woman’s voice behind him called to him.
He turned around and came face to face with...Hestia.
“Hestia? What is going on? Why did you bring me here? What is this-?”
His voice was cut short as he managed to get a better look into Hestia’s eyes and gasped in shock and fear.
Within her hollowed flaming eyes he could see endless swirling constellations, a boundless vast cosmos staring back at him. The longer he stared into her eyes, the more he could feel his sanity slipping from him as his mind tried to comprehend the scale of the unfathomable power lying within them.
This Hestia was not the one that he had been speaking to before hand.
“Are you...really the same Hestia?” he asked.
She tilted her head to the side in confusion before realization flashed across her face.
“Ahh...This is strange. I should not be seeing you yet for quite some time. To answer your question, no, I did not bring you here. Some other force brought you here. As to why, I have no idea.”
“Hestia, what...what are you?” he asked, even though he could plainly see the answer right in front of him.
She smiled as she walked towards him, the flames around her solidifying for her to step on.
She then reached out her hands and clasped both sides of his face. The heat emanating from her skin was searing...yet somehow comforting.
“I am Hestia, The Goddess of Hellfire, as you will soon learn.”
As he was about to ask her more questions, his voice went still as he noticed the unusual expression on her face. One of longing and endearing love for...for him perhaps?
Before he could think about the implications behind that any further, the red lightning returned as it appeared from every direction, and Hestia’s form began to dissipate.
Then, a flashing light shined and blinded him. He squinted his eyes as he tried to see what greeted him now.
Rather than Hestia, something new, something...dreadful took her place.
His blood ran cold and he felt greater fear now than anything he had felt in all his battles and all his years past.
Instead of Hellfire it was replaced with scarlet lightning and storms.
Standing in the center of such a maelstrom was another primordial god, its name yet unknown to him.
The god in front of him was almost skeletal in its form that he would have mistook it for Thanatos, the God of Death.
Its body was made of black, stone-like bones, with tendrils of black roots and blood forming its muscles. Red lighting sparked through his flesh as if to serve as its nervous system, but that same lighting made up everything around them.
The same stone-like bones seemed to extend beyond the unusual muscular structure to form armor as if it were some kind of exoskeleton.
In its right hand was a black blade emanating the omnipresent, all encompassing power of Death.
He did not dare utter a word in its presence.
Its back was turned to him, yet he turned his head around to look at him.
Lucifer’s heart sunk in his chest at the sight of this primordial’s face.
A black stone skull filled with the cosmos in his eyes, but tainted scarlet with his horrifying power.
When it spoke, its voice was grating and harsh. Like a cacophony of thunderstorms crashing in a terrifying symphony to speak the words of a god.
“Lucifer, Lord of Hell… Father of creation… Seek the gods of Death and Oath… Divest yourself of God’s Light… Ascend beyond the realm of angels… And harness the souls of this world…”
The horrifying god then reached out his left hand to Lucifer’s face.
“Do not lose heart… In the face of God’s might… Continue to fight… unto eternity…,” the god said before the thunderclap of the god snapping his fingers returned everything to normal.
He seemed to be in the process of falling backwards, however Hestia caught him before he could reach the ground.
“Lucifer! What is wrong? What happened to you? If you are not feeling well then we can wait until-”
“NO! No, we cannot wait! We must go, now!” he said as he struggled back to his feet.
“But...Lucifer, your eyes. Are you sure you are alright?” she asked, concern for him showing in her voice.
“What do you mean-” he said as his hand instinctively reached towards his face.
It was then that he could see the red light shining from his eyes.
“We must hurry,” he said as he continued walking through the forest on his way to the lands of the Aesir.
Despite Hestia’s pleas for an explanation, he did not have the luxury to waste words as things stood right now.