“Dae! Is he alright? Where is he?”
“Wait you can’t go in there, the patient is still in a coma.”
David slowly opened his eyes. He could see that he was no longer on the sidewalk.
A ceiling? Was everything a dream?
“Finally awake?” asked a voice in his head.
“So it actually happened?” asked David, he recalled that the voice in his head seemed to have identified itself as Lucifer. Although that immediately led David, who read a bunch of religious texts to associate the voice with a name, it could easily just be a coincidence that their names coincided.
“What do you think?”
“The fact that I can hear you… I suppose it means that it must have been true. I have several questions for you.”
“We have time, as long as the questions aren’t absurd, I will provide you with an answer.”
“Who are you?”
“I told you before. I’m Lucifer. Lucifer Morgenstern.”
“As in…”
“As in the fallen angel, the Crowned Prince of Pride. Yes I am Lucifer Morgenstern, the one that is known to humans commonly as the Devil.”
“I see.”
“You don’t believe me, do you?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Why would such a famous demon written down in history take an interest in me? From what I know, summoned demons are usually weaker ones, especially the ones that respond to a simple contract.”
“Demons don’t lie.”
“But they can. Demons don’t lie under circumstances that would benefit them from telling the truth.”
“You’re a bright one aren’t you? Not taken every word I say at face value.”
“Isn’t it obvious? Trusting a demon could very well lead to my own death. But I can see this is getting us nowhere. So next question,” David stopped asking, he could tell that the voice in his head was unable or unwilling to show him proof of its identity. Instead, David could only guess that the voice at the very least was telling him the truth about it being it demon and that he had made a contract with it. “What were the terms of the contract?”
“You asked for power. I gave it to you. In exchange, you are now my host.” The demon said calmly. It, no he, didn’t even stutter a bit.
For some reason, David felt like there was no reason for the demon, Lucifer, to lie about it. David was curious about one thing though, a demonic host held many meanings, he wasn’t sure to what extent was he a host.
“A host huh? So what would that involve me doing?”
“As a host, all you need to do is fulfill tasks which piques my interest. This is in exchange for you becoming a meister of my powers.”
David was at a lost here, that description sounded too easy to be true, “Tasks that piques your interest? For example? And a meister of your powers. What kind of power will I actually wield?
“Hunting and artifact seeking. That’s about it, although speaking of tasks, there’s a place I want you to check out right now.”
“Now? Are you serious? And you didn’t explain anything about powers yet.”
“If what I can sense is right, the place holds the same trace of magic as the high orc you killed. And powers, I will explain them on the way of us going there.”
“You should have said that earlier!” David exclaimed, jumping out of the bed he was in, and rushed towards the door. He did notice that he was actually in a hospital earlier, since he was wearing a hospital gown.
“Dae! You’re awake! What happen?” As David rushed out of the room, he saw the surprised look on a nurse’s face as well as a concerned Helaine demanding to know what happened.
“I’ll explain later!”
“Wait… Where are you going now?” Helaine shouted as David ran off, towards the exit of the hospital.
David ran in the direction Lucifer was telling him, all the while listening to an explanation of what he was capable of.
“The reaction is coming from the top of the building.”
“The roof of the Museum of Art? That’ll be a *****, but whatever. Let’s test out this <Portal>.”
“Focus on a still image of the place you want to go.”
David pictured the emergency stairways within the building. There was no way he could just walk into the building, even under the guise of night. In fact, it was because darkness had already fallen on the entire city that he couldn’t do so, or else he was sure that he would be deemed a suspicious person.
“<Portal>.”
A black space slightly over 2 meters appeared in front of him. It seems like the spell succeeded. David hesitated a bit, he did read a lot of stories where a character got into a malfunctioning portal and got into un-needed troubles. Yet somehow, his instinct told him that it was safe. Thinking of it, there really doesn’t seem to be any reason for Lucifer to trick him either. It’s not like it’ll benefit him in any way. That was enough for David to convince himself to step into the portal.
He took a step through.
Nothing happened.
He took another step.
He arrived exactly where he had pictured, right by the emergency staircase of the top floor of the Art Museum. He looked around to make sure he made no mistakes and he had indeed arrived at where he wanted. Seeing that there were no mistakes, he immediately rushed up the stairs.
On the midway, he started to sense something amiss. Was this the feeling of magic? He quickened his pace. Soon, he bursted out of the door to the roof.
A wave of nausea engulfed him. David felt sick, his entire body screamed out at him. What he saw in front of him was a red robed figure holding a large sinister staff in front of a huge magic circle. He was surrounded by many disfigured torsos, and another one was rising out of the magic circle.
“What’s going on here?” shouted David.
“Take heed, the enemy should be a dark attribute summoner.” warned Lucifer.
David’s shout startled the figure. It turned around to face him, David saw that the face under the robe was a man not much older than himself.
The man glared at him and laughed, “What the hell? I already used a human clearing spell. I suppose that means you’re an enemy aren’t you?”
“Be on guard, he could send an attack your way.” Lucifer warned him once more.
David manifested two blades in his hand. The same two blades that he used to kill the orc.
“You’re that ******* kid? ****, if the ******* police didn’t… No matter. You’ll die right here!” Then turning to the monsters surrounding him, he utter a command, “Kill him.”
The monsters rushed towards him with their limbs, some on 2 legs, some on their hands and feet.
“Lucifer, anything special I should know about those things?” asked David while taking up a defensive stance.
“Ghouls, mindless creatures that obey simple commands. Your blade will tear through them. Although this number… It really is a bit too much to handle with just that.”
“I guess now is a good time to try it out. <Frost Nova>.” Everything 5 meters in front of David came to a halt, frozen, completely still.
This surprised Lucifer a lot. Although <Frost Nova> wasn’t a novice spell, but an intermediate one, it shouldn’t normally freeze everything in front of David. Frost Nova would freeze ghouls, but the stronger ghouls would actually be able to break out of it. Also, Lucifer noticed that even the floor was covered in ice, this was not the effect of Frost Nova either, “An aptitude in ice. It certainly fits the bill.”
Since he couldn’t make out what Lucifer had said, David ignored him and dashed forward, slicing apart the frozen ghouls along the way.
The robed mage stood still, shocked. He did not expect his ghouls to be dealt with in such a short period of time, un-sure of what to do, he conjured up a sphere of dark magic and threw it at David.
Seeing the incoming projectile, David took a leap to the left, dodging it. Then another was sent his way, followed by another, and another, and a barrage.
“<Ice Barrier> <Frost Shell>” A huge wall of ice appeared in front of David, blocking off all of the magic blasts. Meanwhile, the wall of ice continued to thicken, and a thin layer of ice seemed to cover David.
<Ice Barrier> is an intermediate-tier magic that like its name suggests, create a barrier in front of its user out of ice. <Frost Shell> is another intermediate-tier magic that can be used to support by covering the target in a thin layer of ice to protect them. What David did was merely cast <Ice Barrier> on him, followed by <Frost Shell> on the barrier created with the former magic.
“What is this person? Chanting Omission?” The robed man once again had a distorted look on his face, but for some reason, it turned into a large smile. “It doesn’t matter. In a few moments he’ll be dead anyways. Just like an ant on a sidewalk!”
David managed to stay safe from the magic blast and was prepared to charge towards the robed figure when he felt an ominous presence. It wasn’t overbearing enough for him to be scared out of his wits, but he did felt pressure from it.
A slender figure was rising out of the magic circle. David guessed that it was some sort of demon, but not any that he would have imagined. It was a beautiful woman. She was dressed in a red strapless dress that amplified her voluptuous breasts, displaying her cleavage. Her skin was fair and smooth like something you would see on the heroine of a movie. Possessing red hair that matched her dress and emerald eyes, she gave off an aura of grace and divinity.
The only things that were out of place were the wings on her back. Two large bat-like wings of a dark shade of red. Without them, she would have been able to convince others that she was only a goddess among men.
“Obey my commands succubus. Slay the imbecile over there!” the robed figure shouted, finally clearing his head. The demon in front of him was what he was trying to summon. A succubus.
The succubus looked at him, her face was filled with contempt.
“Obey my…”
His sentence stopped midway. He couldn’t speak. He could only scream. The reason for this was that he was enveloped in a green flame that was quickly burning him away. After a few seconds, nothing was left.
David could only stand there baffled. Although the robed man seemed to be hostile towards him, he didn’t expect the situation to turn out like this. He wanted to beat up the magician and then question him about the matter of the orc. It was impossible now.
The succubus turned towards him. Hoping that the succubus wouldn’t hear him, he muttered, “Lucifer, would my magic work on her?”
Before he heard a reply, the succubus spoke, “Is this the one? For you to take notice of a human like this…” She stopped, pondered a moment and spoke once more, “Human, think of this as an introductory gift. I don’t know why he has chosen you, but take my advice. Become strong, or you won’t survive what’s coming.”
With that, she disappeared in a gust of black smoke. It seemed all too surreal. The only thing that would prove that the things that David had witnessed was the magic circle on the ground.
“Asmodeus…” Lucifer finally spoke after a long silence.
Author’s Note:
Hi everyone. It’s the second chapter of the story. Is it getting slightly more interesting?
Do you enjoy the dialogue more than action? Or is action better? Please leave a comment below to tell me your thoughts.
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