The Devil's Quest

Prologue

  Satan stood on his balcony that overlooked the lands of Hell. Something near the village of his human prisoners caught his attention. Two bats were shrieking as a raven flew past them. The nasty little bats chased after the raven. The lone raven just ignored them. It landed on the balcony railing. Satan waved the bats away as the raven opened its black beak.
    "You will perish. You are immortal, but not indestructible." The raven sang out.
    Satan's red snake-like eyes hardened into anger. He struck out at the raven with his fist. The raven flapped its dark black wings. It scarcely missed the wrath of Satan. He scowled as it flew above his head.
   "Die raven!" He howled in rage as the raven flew away.
     Satan huffed and balled his hands into fists again. Then he stalked back into his dark castle. Red candlelight cast an eerie glow on his shadowed face. The heat was rising as the magma boiled in the Earth's inner core. This signaled in Hell that it was midday. Satan felt like he was running out of time. He needed to talk to someone urgently. Satan marched down his spiral staircase. He found one of his immortal sons, Beelzebub, the Lord of the flies. Satan approached him. He would do, Satan thought.
   "Ah, my son." Satan said. "I must tell you about a particularly interesting experience I just witnessed."
  "What was it like, oh my lordly father." He replied as he did a quick half-bow to Satan.
  "There was a raven. It spoke to me that I would perish." Satan said darkly.
     Beelzebub's face turned serious. He slammed his fist against the wall.
  "No, no Father." He reassured himself. "You will not die."
  "That's my boy." Satan said, "Now go help the devil guards with the newling dwellers."
  "Father, the humans are annoying." Beelzebub groaned.
    Satan waved his son out the mighty gold doors. Beelzebub exited with a stomp. Then Satan wandered down the hallway until he reached his big black and red velvet throne. He waited upon his chair for the many earthly  tortured souls. Many of them begged for forgiveness. Some of them were kiss-ups and they hoped for a little taste of the better afterlife. Satan didn't listen to their cries. After all they were eternally damned.
That day Satan's mind kept traveling to that damned raven. What could a raven do anyway? Not much, he presumed to himself. He shoved all worry out of his head and focused on hating his prisoners.
    Time passed quickly. It transformed from the hot temperature of day into the cold darkness of night. At the end of the day Satan's duties were over. The howls of hellians sounded from the distance. He lay down to go to sleep in his royal bed. He closed his eyes as the whispers in his ears started. The same raven as the one from earlier flew into his dream. It flapped its wings and came towards a bright white light. It landed on the arm of a shining angel. The angel was dressed in a flowing white robe. There were five more angels that stood gathered around the raven. The whispers grew louder. The angels didn't look at him.
   "Satan, Satan." The whispers became clear. "His death is near."
    Satan heard a cry. He looked around wondering who had made that sound. The angels turned to face him. He realized that it was himself who had cried out. He recognized the faces of his enemies. He gasped when he recognized Michael, the angel who had sent him to Hell.
    In the morning Satan awoke and knew what he had to do. He would have to send his son to Earth. He knew he could trust Beelzebub. The angels reigned on Earth. Satan knew this. They said Heaven was a place on Earth.
     Satan stalked through the castle until he found Beelzebub. His son was loitering around in the foyer with demon girls. The girls eyed Satan seductively as he approached. He waved them away. One walked up to Satan. She grabbed his arm smoothly. He jerked his arm away.
    "Bitches be gone. This is a new time of dawn for my son and I to discuss." Satan said with gritted his teeth.
     "Father, Satan, what is the matter?" Beelzebub asked.
    "Son, I have to send you to Earth." Satan said.
    "Ew, why? You know I don't like humans." Beelzebub groaned.
    "The angels have sent me that raven. It crowed that I will perish soon. This is by the hands of the angels. We cannot let this prophecy come to pass. You hear me, Beelzebub?"
    "Yes. I hear you loud and clear. What is my mission?"
    "I need you to destroy the angels that are after me."
    "Tell me who they are." Beelzebub demanded.
    "There are six. I saw them. It's Michael, Gabriel, Chamuel, Sariel, Raphael, and Charity."
    "I've got this in the bag, my Lord. Consider them already dead." Beelzebub said.
    "You have to disguise yourself as human. You can't be a billy goat on earth this time." Satan said.
    "What the fuck! That's disgusting! Humans are disgusting!" Beelzebub yelled.
    "I know. It's what those filthy angels do though. They pretend to be human. We have to play their game." Satan said.
    Beelzebub hung his head. Satan waved his hand across Beelzebub's ugly face. His black billy goat head began to transform. It shrank down to human size. A blank skeleton stared at Satan. Satan felt powerful as he turned his son from a God to a mortal. He could quickly kill him with one wrong touch. He scratched his nails across his skull. He made the sigil of the upside down cross. Flesh began to grow. He smiled devilishly. He turned him into a normal looking modern human. Then he sent Beelzebub away.