27

Walter

I floated through darkness, empty and silent. Bez's voice had been the last thing I'd heard before…nothing. Nothingness stretched long and infinitely no matter which direction my consciousness carried me. It must've been my thoughts alone in these shadows. I couldn't see my body, couldn't feel my limbs. I couldn't feel anything, not even my voice which I tried desperately to use and cry out for someone, something.

Would I float adrift in this emptiness forever? Was this where death led? I'd always heard…

"Well, well, well." Eligos' valiant arrogance clawed at the shadows, casting ripples in every direction. "Don't you have some mortal afterlife you should be wandering toward? How did you land in the serene embrace of oblivion? This comfort is reserved for Diabolics."

I whirled around until a shimmer of golden eyes stared back.

Again, I tried to call out. Curse him. Shout. Anything to express the disdain, the disgust I held for the dead demon knight.

"You worthless little thing." He chuckled. "Dying with so much essence in your body clearly dragged your mortal soul into the Diabolic afterlife, a place your feeble simplicity can't comprehend. Such inferiority, you can't even manifest a form to explore where you've stumbled."

Eligos stepped from the shadows, revealing a body of armor that tore through the darkness, brightening it with the silver suit.

So, this was where Diabolics went. But it was only the two of us. Shouldn't there be others?

"They're resting," Eligos answered. Could he hear me? Was I speaking without words? "Your thoughts stir loudly, silence them or I will silence them and you. I won't allow you to disturb the slumber of your betters."

I ground my teeth. The actual sensation of my locked jaw hit and while I couldn't see anything else from my body, I'd gotten one step closer to navigating this abyss. Not that I wanted to.

"Our eternal resting place is merely a quiet oblivion, a waiting room so to speak. If our devil so desires, they can pull us back from this infinite ocean," Eligos explained, a wicked grin echoed from his words. I couldn't see his expression beneath the helmet, but I felt it shifting in the shadows. "Something tells me Beelzebub, the real one, won't be resurrecting my lost essence. For the best. I think I'll enjoy the silence. A just reward, a calm slumber."

"It won't be all that calm or silent." A feminine voice slithered behind me. "Especially, not with what we have in store for you, Eligos."

Something sprang from the shadows, snapping off a piece of Eligos' armor. "What's the meaning of this?"

The metal sparked in the darkness as something shredded it like running a power saw through a pipe. That strike was merely the first of hundreds, each lashing out, taking a tiny piece of Eligos, illuminating the shadows with fireworks of electricity, devouring and destroying his precious armor. With his suit stripped and a blaze of rainbow lights in the darkness, all that remained of the demon knight was contorted limbs in the shape of his lost suit.

The array of lights faded, lost to the shadows once more, and Eligos went to unravel one of his limbs, pulling an arm from the bundled center of his form. But the darkness struck faster than the demon knight, ripping his limb off and dragging it behind the veil of shadows. This continued, something sprang from oblivion and snatched away a part of Eligos, then vanished to nothingness with the prized piece of the knight's body, his essence. Whoever, whatever did this moved so quickly I felt the breeze against my cheeks.

"Why?" Eligos cried out.

"You tortured us first. We thought it best to return the favor," the voice said behind me, but I was too enamored by what happened to Eligos to turn and face the speaker. And too frightened. Would I be next?

"No. You don't understand. I did all this for our demon brethren. I had a plan. I was going to release every demon from the devils. I was going to give us a choice. Something we haven't had in eons." Eligos fought back, a futile effort as the shadows beneath him opened and beings snatched away the many limbs bunched together creating his legs. "I only wanted Diabolics to be seen for our glory, our potential, our valiance."

"And where were we meant to be during this grand plan for all demon kind?" A woman's shape stepped from the darkness, the form merely a silhouette against the shadows with a purple aura lining the demon's representation. "You locked us in those orbs until our minds rotted away, trapped alive by your contraptions, unable to think or feel or rest. You sought to steal the slumber of oblivion from us, so now we'll ensure you find no peace here, Eligos."

The demon knight shrieked. Claws tore chunks out of him again and again until all that remained were golden eyes shimmering in the blackness of this void of death. The silhouetted demon plucked the eyes from the shadows and crushed them.

"I'd like to thank you, Walter," the demon said. "You released me, released so many of us."

I shivered as the silhouette approached. This demon along with all the others that leapt from the darkness—they were all from the pieces of Diabolic essence I consumed, the dozens of demons whose power I'd ingested to defeat Eligos. The power that ended this fight, ended me. But it saved Bez and… I choked back a sob. Dwelling on it hurt, thinking about it hurt, realizing I had nothing but haunting darkness in my future hurt.

"It's been far too long since I remembered myself, remembered who I was. It's a liberating, exhilarating sensation. I've missed myself so much."

"And who were you?" I asked, eyes widening at the sound of my own voice resonating in oblivion.

"I was called Agares."

Was.Because this demon had died. I had died. My eyes welled up.

"I'd like to thank you too, Agares." I forced a smile, realizing I needed to make the best of my new forever, and show gratitude for small kindnesses. "This wasn't how I expected spending my death. Not that I spent a lot of time planning for the afterlife. Still, pretty sure Eligos was going to make my death or my being dead gruesome."

I cringed at the silence that rippled beneath my feet, containing all traces of the demon knight consumed and destroyed and left in the clutches of those he'd trapped in orbs. There was no sensation, no sound, no anything, but I knew—knew—he was locked below me enduring unspeakable horrors.

"Not sure you'll be enjoying the freedom of death for long." Agares raised a silhouetted hand, caressing my face.

Admittedly, the act was gentle, kind, but the words were ominous, and I worried as a mortal soul I might find oblivion to be the most frightening place to end up trapped within.

"W-w-what do you mean?" I crept back, watchful of other demons that might lunge from the shadows and snatch me away. Not that I could stop them. I couldn't do anything here.

"Looks like there is still a spark of life in you," Agares said, purple irises shimmering as the darkness became replaced by white.

When the bright light finally faded, fuzzy colors came into place. Filmy sunlight cascaded across all the cloudy shapes and for half a second I thought I'd been dragged into the sky. My body was clammed up, little hands wrapped around each other to keep from fidgeting in my seat.

Why were my hands so small?

"You're probably quite proud of that magic you cast," Chancellor Alden's voice sent a spike of fear through my body.

Mother. What was she doing here?

The sharpness in her cold tone shaded away the blurry colors settling the concrete image of her home office, everything perfectly in place, cataloged and accounted for except a single tome she kept afloat beside me through several incantations.

I gulped. Well, I didn't do anything. This was like a dream—or since it involved my mother a nightmare—memory of the first time I'd accessed historical files on the Mythic Council. Only at seven years old, I didn't understand these particular files stored in the spelled text of pages she kept sealed were highly classified and not for musing curiosities.

"I'd be proud of you, too. The incantations used to seal this tome were quite intricate." She leaned closer, not a single hair out of place, not a single line on her unchanging expression as she hid her feelings, but I'd caught the faintest traces of anger from the lilt of her voice, which made me listen, anxious and attentive. "Except, you didn't crack these protective wards, did you Walter?"

I shook my head no, catching a glimpse of crimson drifting by the bookshelf, shimmering between the afternoon sunlight spilling light into the room.

"You made Alistair help you, trying to drag him into your snooping curiosities." This was the first of many conversations where my mother expressed her contempt for my obsessive researching and dreams of being lost in books all day, every day. "I find your desire to study, to learn, admirable. What I don't find admirable, Walter, is your laziness. Alistair has his own studies and shouldn't be distracted because you wish to lollygag."

"I'm sorry. I helped him figure out…" I bit my lip, keeping to myself how I'd deciphered her supposedly intricate incantations and found an easy workaround to the spell. Chancellor Alden wouldn't care how my knowledge bested her security, merely that I lacked the mana to unravel the seals on my own.

"I wish you'd apply this eagerness to practicing and mastering your control over the Pentacles of Power." She didn't hide the bitterness in her words, using them to cut me down during a scolding that'd last for the better part of an hour and would be revisited during a lecture at dinner in front of our entire family. "You haven't accessed any of your mana yet. Aldens do not rely on the kindness of others to cast on their behalf. We offer support. We master our own magics. We are the shield of the Collective, unbreakable. You are a chink in that shield."

She poked my forehead, ensuring I listened. My little hands squeezed around each other harder as I settled into this awful memory. Why was I reliving this memory of all memories? I wanted to see Bez, relive any of our encounters from the one-sided conversations in the repository, to the sweet nothings he'd whisper to me when he thought I'd dozed off. Hell, I'd settle for our first interaction when he attempted to murder me. That memory was less unsettling than any of the experiences I had with my mother.

"Psst. Psst." A hushed aside plucked me from reliving this memory. I turned my head, ignoring the reprimand from my mother, an act that went unnoticed by Chancellor Alden as she continued berating the empty chair I'd slid off of in search of whoever called out to me.

At the door of the office stood a small silhouette taking shape through shades of crimson. The red sparkled, illuminating four small, curled ram horns, three slender flicking tails, and a pair of tiny feathery wings. Bez. Only smaller but not like when he'd lost his essence. No, this version was childlike, same build and stature as myself at seven.

"Bez? What's happening?"

"Come with me." He extended a cloaked hand and outstretched claws.

I grabbed his hand, interlocking my fingers with his ghostly grip. We rushed out of the office and ended up in the Magus Estate. Only it looked different. Well, the doors at least. Each one was labeled with my name and an event. A moment, a memory, a fleeting thought I'd had during all the years I'd spent in this place whether for family functions, academy visits, or work.

"What is this?"

"Memories," Bez said, his voice light and squeaky with the faintest hint of rasp. "Gotta grab them all. Don't wanna leave any behind."

"Leave them where?"

"Oblivion," he answered. "Come on, we need to hurry."

We darted down the hallways, each doorway shimmered with crimson glitter before fading as we passed by it. When we reached the foyer, Bez paused and cocked his head back. At least I think so. It was hard to tell from the lighting here and how it reflected off his silhouette.

Black sludge oozed down the stairs, a slow trickle then a gushing flood of essence consuming the entirety of the Magus Estate.

"What's happening?" I shivered.

Bez secured his hold on my hand; the fear washed away because I had nothing to worry about with him here. "Doesn't matter. Just the devil doing his thing. We got the memories here, let's go."

We stepped outside, but the front of the estate was replaced by the courtyard of the academy I'd attended.

"Are we here to grab more memories?"

"No. Got them all. You hadn't been lost in oblivion long, so they weren't that scattered," Bez explained.

"But why here?"

"You liked this place. I wanted us somewhere peaceful."

Right. I didn't talk about my time at the academy much, but like everything I shared with Bez over the years while he was locked inside the orb, he listened and remembered even my most random topics. He was simply sweet that way. I loved soaking in the sunshine and cool breeze of the academy courtyard, lost in my textbooks where no one bothered me. Not teachers, not classmates, and not my family.

"Now we just have to wait for the devil to do his job until you wake up."

"You said that before. What do you mean the devil?" I asked, quirking a brow. "We're waiting for you to finish healing me?"

"Looks like you can't do anything right, Little One." The hauntingly deep voice reverberated throughout the sunny courtyard, splintering the sky, and shattering the image of the academy in a billion shards of glass like snowflakes whisked away by a frigid gust.

Stone walls bound together by what looked like lava surrounded us. Bez's silhouette recoiled, turning my gaze from the looming shadow that approached.

"Don't look. Don't listen," Bez whispered. "It's just a broken memory. Not yours. You don't need it."

"Once again, I gift you an opportunity to prove your worth, and you fail."

"I'm sorry, Beelzebub," a young Bez said, his voice squeaky and scared. "I'll do better."

I turned to see him knelt on the floor, gray skin covered in blood and essence, deep slashes dug into his hunched back, and chunks of his stomach ripped away. The silhouette faced me toward the wall, making me stay very still as this memory unfolded.

"Wake up, Wally," Bez said, the voice of the grown demon, not the child. "I need to know you're okay."

"You shamed me in that tournament, allowing yourself to be bested by some damned demon from another realm," Beelzebub's voice sliced the air, creating a suffocating heat. "I am your god-king, and this is how you repay my tutelage? How you honor the life I grant you? You can't fight. You constantly fail to protect that which is assigned to you. You made for a terrible delegate, lacking any artistry for diplomacy, and I wouldn't waste the effort sending you to infiltrate another Hell. What can you offer the greatest devil of the best dominion? You can't even serve well. Why did I bring you back? I should've left you in oblivion to rot, you worthless thing."

"I'll do better."

"Perhaps you need a reminder of what happens to weak Diabolics."

A sizzle and pop of skin burning, bubbling, blistering rang in this room, only silenced by the loud wails Bez released. The snap of something whipping through flesh and meat, splattered essence with fizzling flickers of crimson onto the walls.

My heart pounded. My eyes watered. I tried to see the horrors inflicted but the silhouette held me tight, shielding me from the cruelty of Beelzebub.

Bones crunched. Bez's light voice cracked and went hoarse from screams of agony. His sobs trickled in and out as pure black essence seeped between the cracks of the walls, eating away the layers of the room, swallowing everything including the memory of horrors Bez endured.

Blackness swallowed the crimson silhouette, snuffing out the spark of demon essence that'd found me adrift in oblivion. This darkness wasn't a return to the nothingness. It was empty, pure power.

It all clicked together as the devil's violent presence slithered across my body, his primal base existence vibrating underneath my skin. It was undiluted devil essence coursing through my veins, so strong it pushed away Bez's Diabolic energy that guided me through the memories.

I opened my eyes and sprang forward. My head nearly butted Bez's as I sat up, taking deep breaths of life.

I was alive.

"Wally." Bez's face was splotchy but his expression lightened with a warm smile. Blood dripped down his chin. Slashes covered his chest and torso, deep and unhealing. I recoiled, pained by his suffering, suffering from the memories and what he endured to help me, save me. Beside him lay the discarded Demon's Demise which he must've used to hack through his essence, restoring me.

"I was… I was…"

"You're alive now, Wally. That's all that matters." Bez hugged me; a strong grip that pulled me in tight and should've hurt, should've something… I was too dazed, too lost to register the sensation of his embrace, but so grateful for it. Grateful for Bez. Grateful to have him in my life again because I was alive.

Alive.Bez saved me.

"You…you saved me by—"

Bez pulled away just enough to kiss me, silence my slow ramble. I was usually quicker with my words, quicker than his seductive tongue, but the haze of oblivion still lingered in my thoughts. So much was jumbled out of order. Memories piled on top of memories, mixed with the events in the darkness, and the cries of a young Diabolic who sought freedom from his cruel devil.

Bez's quivering lips were soft, delicate, frightened too much and I'd break. I didn't feel breakable though. In fact, quite the opposite. More than anything I wanted his passion, his fury, his love. I needed it. Craved it.

Sliding my tongue against his, I added a subtle surge of lightning. Inadvertently, perhaps, but the static buzz that passed between our locked lips amplified the intensity of this moment, making my entire body hum from the slightest graze of his fingers against my skin. I could finally feel him, feel his touch in the full electrical glory it offered.

"Wally." Bez broke away, forehead pressed to mine keeping the warmth and spark zipping between us.

He took careful breaths, practiced and forced by the look of it, for lungs he'd removed the receptors or need of air. Why? Was he reminding me to breathe? I didn't want to stop for air, and I didn't need it. My empty lungs didn't call out for oxygen. They, like every cell of my being, called out for Bez. For the flavor of his kiss, the touch of his lips, the sound of his rhythmic heart which worked to sync to mine.

Without his essence, the thrum of each of our hearts were off by a fraction of a beat.

I cocked my head. How'd I hear his heartbeat with such ease? Hear but not feel. I steadied my pulse, willing it, controlling it, forcing it to match the beat of the demon who held the entirety of it in his hands. Bez held every piece of me, and I'd gladly give him more.

Everything whirled, twisted, and my head dropped as grogginess hit me.

"Careful." Bez cradled me against his chest. "You're still healing. It'll take time before you can properly control your essence."

"Mine?"

"Don't overexert yourself. Rest. Let the devil heal your riddled flesh."

My eyelids grew too heavy to keep them open.

"Rest." Bez stroked my hair, probably fixing my knotted curls. "We'll talk soon."

"That's right. I was in oblivion, and you found me," I whispered. "I met another demon there, too. It was wild. Then I saw you and everything you…"

Bez lifted me off the ground, unveiling his wings and wrapping us together like he'd covered me in a blanket. The tickle of feathers was soothing as sleep took hold.