Path of Night

The Eldritch Dark

"Dark Lady, it is time for work..."

I slowly opened my eyes and turned to see Ishtar waking me up. While I was getting out of bed, she laid my dress for today. Every day here is almost the same. It's one big pattern. It has been almost nine months since I claimed the throne. Time runs differently here than on Earth. It runs a lot faster, so I don't know how much time passed for those up there. I don't know what they are doing, I haven't seen anyone. Sometimes Dorian came, but he stays here for a little time. He always had to go back. I got dressed and made my way to another room. Ishtar brought me the book with the list of souls I had to drag to Hell. Yes, I said drag... There are people who come willingly, but they are rare, like really rare... I try not to make deals like Lucifer did because it is harder to put someone in Hell when they try to postpone it... I took a look at the list before me. Wait, this isn't right...

"What is going on here?"

There is one person who will know, and I so don't want to go there... I teleported to where the first soul was.
I finished with the last soul, well... I thought I did. There was a cloud of smoke behind the woods. I made my way there and saw a car. There was a man covered in blood and a little girl. She is hurt, but not as much as the man here.

"Hey, what happened?"
"He, he killed my parents and, and, and..."
"Hey, hey, it's ok. I can help, ok. Now calm down and breathe."

I am going to hate myself for what I am about to do, but she is just a kid. I cast a calming spell on her, erased her memories and transported her back to her parents. She is just a little girl... When I returned I called for the "Muscle"... I hate calling it that. It is just skin and bones, no muscles whatsoever... I made my way towards the man in the car.

"You know, I usually try to make things easier and not so horrifying, but for you, well... I will make an exception."

This is one of those rare times where I actually enjoy hearing their screams. Now I am done.

"Calisa?"

Oh in the name of Hell...

"Hello, Sabrina."

She came and hugged me. I hugged her back, not willingly...

"What are you doing here? I mean, we were on our way to summon you, but what are you doing here?"
"My job..."
"You are dragging souls to Hell?"
"Yes"
"But..."
"Sabrina, not now. You don't know how I do things or what I went through, so just get to the point."
"Uh, well, we learned what Blackwood is up to, and we can't stop this threat, maybe others we..."
"Hold on a second. Pretend that I know nothing, which I don't, and start from the beginning."
"Well, Blackwood did something with some time-egg, I don't know... But it unleashed the treat called the Eldritch terrors. There are 8 of them. And the first one is here. We tried to stop it, but, uh, we can't"
"Ok... Is that why there are more dead people than usual?"
"Yes."
"And, why do you think that I can stop it?"
"Well, Ambrose..."
"Ambrose knows there are two of you?!"
"Well, uh, yeees..."
"Oh, Sabrina... Fine, what did he say?"
"Well, to put out the dark we need light, so I and another me wanted to do it, but we need powers that are, uh, on a cosmic level. In other words..."
"Me. You need my powers."
"Yes."

Of course. I told her to take me to that place. I don't want to do it, really don't. But this won't only affect Earth, it will come to Hell next, and that I can't let happen. Ambrose was waiting for us.

"Ambrose! It so good to see you!"
"Hello there, Calisa. You knew about this, those two here?"
"Of course I did."

We wanted to talk some more, but, yeah, no time. I told him to go to Dorian and tell him what I am about to do and to tell him to tell he'll-know-who. Ambrose nodded and left, right after he explained to me what is waiting for me inside. And he was right, almost. I am used to being, and feeling, alone and helpless. So this doesn't have an effect on me that much. In the center was some kind of orb, I guess I have to destroy that.

-  Hellfire, mine, come near and hark this,
    Burn bright and shine,
    Banish this Darkness. -

It doesn't work. Damn it! Voices around were quiet, I guess they gave up on trying to re-awake my fears. Which is not good. That means that someone or something will come soon to get rid of us. Wait! What if, instead of banishing it, I absorb it? It is risky, but it's almost six months since my last 'session', so... Maybe I can also use the orb to transfer darkness from myself in it. But if that doesn't work, I'll just have to hold it in until I go back to Hell, and there I will release it.

-  I call upon the Darkness of Hell
   To come and seize the Darkness around me
   And put it in this orb made of glass -

It worked!! Yes! The Eldritch darkness is inside the orb. I tried to stand up, but I guess the darkness I used had other plans... My head started to hurt and my vision went black. I heard voices, but don't know to whom they belong. Suddenly, I felt some kind of force pulling parts of darkness from me, and it hurt. It hurt so much. I will never get used to this kind of pain. It's like someone is ripping a part of your soul from you. Slowly, my vision returned, and first I saw Lucifer, but behind him was Ambrose who looked so worried like I have never seen him before.

"What were you thinking? You are in luck that Mr. Gray told me what you were about to do."
"I told him to do that. I know exactly what I was getting myself into. Now can we go back..."

He said nothing, just helped me stand up. I said goodbye to Ambrose and went back to Hell. I wanted to hope that Sabrina's will leave me alone, but, yeah, that will not happen.