Prelude

What was it like to see the face of your own stability suddenly look away leaving you with the dead and hopeless? - Tool

In Demon Ocean, far from sight of the mainland, there lies a small deserted island. Seagoing vessels have avoided this island for centuries due to the legend of a ferocious sea monster that destroys anything that comes near it. Today, the ferocious sea monster in question lay languidly on the beach, working on her tan. She was Scylla, the errant general of the mazoku lord Deep Sea Dolphin. If there were any humans around, she would be mistaken for just another pretty young sunbather. She lay on her stomach with her chin resting on her arms, using her cape as a beach blanket. Her high-heeled boots lay discarded in the sand beside her. Her golden hair was done up in a bun, and gleamed in the bright afternoon sunlight. A pair of darkly shaded spectacles protected her eyes, which were rather sensitive to light. Scylla's eyes were the only feature that could possibly betray her as anything other than human. They were a deep blue-violet color, and had serpentine slit pupils.

Scylla sighed as she shifted listlessly, rolling onto her side and propping her head up with one hand. She absently traced a swirling pattern in the sand with the other. She treasured moments like this. Moments when she had no cares or responsibilities or worries, when she could just kick back and relax in complete privacy.

In the undersea palace of Deep Sea Dolphin, Charybdis leaned over her scrying pool. In the glass-like surface of the water was the faint apparition of a lone golden-haired woman in a black bathing suit relaxing on a beach. The picture dissipated into ripples when a tear fell into the water. Checking up on her 'sister' always made her cry.

'How could she have abandoned us like this?' Charybdis thought as she bit her lip. She knew that Scylla would return someday, but it did nothing to assuage the bitterness that she now felt. As the sole caretaker of an insane mazoku lord, the last few centuries hadn't been an easy time for her. To add to her trauma, she'd been having dreams again lately. That was how she knew that Scylla would return soon. She had seen it in a dream. They always came true. And lately, they had become progressively more disturbing. The time was coming for a great upheaval in the order of the Mazoku, one which not all of them would survive.

A high-pitched screech captured Charybdis's attention. Deep Sea Dolphin was awake again. Charybdis went to go re-cast the sleeping spell on her lord.

Scylla's peace of mind was disrupted by the sound of waves crashing onto the rocks just offshore of her island. The sea was getting restless. It was time to go. She got up and began gathering her belongings. As she shook the sand off of her cape, her eyes went to the design she had sketched in the sand. A sudden realization went through her like a knife. It was the same pattern as the tile mosaic floor of Deep Sea Dolphin's throne room. She bit her lip and furiously erased it with her foot.

Willst du bis der tod euch scheide treu ihr sein für alle tage? Nein. - Rammstein

Sherra saw Dynast charging at her from the corner of her eye and reflexively tensed up and tightened her grip on her sword. She dodged his attack, angling her parry so that the blade of his sword caught on the crossguard of hers. Dynast and his general locked blades. Sherra gritted her teeth and looked into her lord's merciless ice-blue eyes as she resisted his assault with all her strength.

"You're getting better," he said. Dynast pivoted suddenly and pushed Sherra's sword down with his.

Sherra jumped back and dodged as he swung at her. She thrusted while he was recovering his stance, and her sword sliced through his black coat just under his arm.

Dynast returned her blow. His sword made a deep cut just below her ribs. Sherra cried out, from surprise as well as pain, and stumbled backwards.

"That's enough practice for today," Dynast said as he sheathed his sword. He coldly regarded his injured general. "Go have Grau heal you. I do not waste my energy on careless servants."

"Yes, Lord Dynast," Sherra said, bowing painfully. She slid her sword, Doulgofa, back into it's scabbard and went to find Dynast's priest.

Not having the energy to teleport, Sherra limped slowly and painfully to the library of Dynast's castle. She knew she would probably find Grau there, or secluded in his laboratory. Her footsteps echoed through the black marble corridor. She made a mental note to have one of the servants clean up the trail of blood she was leaving on the floor.

Grau sat in the library pouring over an arcane scroll and sipping from a freshly conjured cup of hot tea when he heard Sherra call his name. He looked up from his research to see his colleague standing near him, clutching at her side. She was obviously in a lot of pain. Grau quickly rolled up his scroll, set down his tea, and helped her to a chair.

"Dynast playing rough today, was he?" Grau said as he examined the wound on Sherra's side.

"It's nothing really," Sherra said. "I got careless." She winced when Grau touched her.

"This could have been fatal, you know," said Grau. He had treated dozens of Sherra's injuries over the course of their years working together, but the ones she had been coming to him with lately were unusually severe.

Sherra smiled. "I'm just glad I didn't have to trek all the way down to your laboratory." The sharp pain in her body lessened to a dull throb as Grau's healing spell took effect.

"Of course," Sherra said. "I think I can squeeze you into my schedule after I meet with my lieutenant today. I'll see you then." She vanished from the library in an indigo blur.

Grau also disappeared moments later. He reappeared in Dynast's throne room. Dynast was sitting on his throne, no doubt pondering something of such great importance that he did not notice his priest's presence.

Grau coughed to get his lord's attention. Dynast looked up and glared at him through feathery black bangs. "What do you want, Grau?" he said.

Dynast scowled. "How I choose to train my general is my business. Just because she's had a few successes doesn't mean that she's invaluable to me. She can't be allowed to grow complacent."

"She's the best general you've ever had. That girl adores you. Take care that she doesn't become disillusioned."

Xellos bowed next to the throne of his mistress. The Greater Beast Zellas Metallium lounged comfortably in her seat and smoked. Her cigarette was held in a long, elegant cigarette holder and gave off fragrantly perfumed smoke. She turned to her minion. Her lustrous platinum hair fell forward to obscure half of her face. "What do you have to report?" she queried in a husky voice.

The infamous trickster priest met his lord's gaze with closed eyes. "The sorceress Lina Inverse still travels with the swordsman of light, the chimera, and the princess of Seyruun. There's been little activity among the ryuzoku lately. I haven't seen any signs of the others. Actually, it's been rather boring."

Zellas blew a cloud of smoke into the air. She shifted idly on the silken cushions of her throne. Absently she gazed across the large room at the fireplace on the opposite wall. The bracelets on her arm chinked as she flicked ash from the end of her cigarette. Her keen ears heard the distant cry of a beast in the wilderness outside her keep.

Xellos aborted his teleportation and reappeared solidly at his mistress's side. "Get me some more cigarettes, will you?"

So long. We wish you well. You told us how you weren't afraid to die. Well then, so long. Don't cry. Or feel too down. Not all martyrs see divinity. But at least you tried. - Tool

"Perhaps it's better to live this way, as a son of man," said Raltark, the priest of Gaav the Demon Dragon King, as he stared morosely into the bottom of his glass.

"Lighten up, dude. You're such a pill," said the man who sat across from him at their table in the tavern. He was Rashart, Gaav's general. "He's been dead for a while now. You need to just get over it. There's nothing we could have done."

"Valgarv was a fucked-up sonofabitch who tried to blow up the whole goddamned world. I'm glad that crazy bastard's dead."

"Nah. I'm gettin' used to you mooching off me. When the hell do you plan on getting your poor ass a job?"

"Oh, look at us. Such a sad state of affairs this is. Once we had power. We had status. We had respect. We had. . ."

"We had a master who got it into his head that he could take over the entire monster race and got himself killed. Now we're shit."

I'm the root of all that's evil, yeah, but you can call me 'Cookie'. - The Bloodhound Gang

On the rooftop of a tall spire overlooking the former abode of Hellmaster Phibrizzo, a solitary figure sulked as only an angsty mazoku can.

'The Lord of Nightmares is known by many names. She is commonly referred to as L-Sama. Some say that her true name is Lucifer. Phibrizzo called her mother. I call her the biggest bitch of them all.'

Phibrizzo's fortress was now completely abandoned. He had always been the type to inspire fear, not loyalty, in his servants. The sulking figure gazed up at the red non-sky of Hell. He appeared to be a boy in his mid-teens. He was dressed in all-black clothes except for his leather jacket, which was red. He wore a metal-studded black leather collar around his neck. His hair was black with a white stripe down one side, and his eyes were dark red. An earring fashioned from wire in the shape of a hangman's noose hung from his left ear. His name was Phobos, and he was the late Hellmaster's general.

He had no idea how long he had been there, and no idea how long he would remain. Phobos had awakened some time ago to find himself completely alone, trapped in Hell, and extremely bored. He knew that he had a mission, but no idea how to accomplish it. It was his purpose to succeed where Hellmaster Phibrizzo had failed. But, as they say, the devil is in the details.

First, there was the matter of escaping from Hell. There's just wasn't much he could do from here. Phobos's memories were slowly returning, but the knowledge of the location of the portal to the material plane eluded him. He had been searching for it ever since his awakening.

Then there was the matter of the other, who has yet to awaken. She would be the key to achieving his and Phibrizzo's goal. He had already located her. Hopefully, it wouldn't be much longer. All he had to do is wait.

Phobos held a shard of broken glass in his hand and concentrated. The fact that he knew how to scry but had no idea where he learned how to do it bothered him somewhat.

Somewhere far, far away a girl named Breeze got the eerie feeling that she was being watched. Something was giving her a serious case of the creeps. She looked around. Nobody. The feeling didn't go away, though. She paused, and then defiantly displayed an obscene gesture to whatever unseen presence happened to be in the vicinity. She giggled and then continued on her way.

If man is five and the devil is six ,then I guess that makes me seven. - The Bloodhound Gang

The long-frozen eyes of Lei Magnus had a sinister, knowing look about them. Though his body had remained sealed in a prison of ice for centuries, his consciousness never rested. For now he was trapped on a high, secluded mountain peak, but he knew that his situation would change very soon. The pawns had been placed.


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