"Now!"
As soon as Raven, Sapphire, and the being appeared, several things happened. Marcus and Sires lunged at them. They were much too slow though; the cloaked figure disappeared, immediately re-appeared in a different part of the chamber, while Marcus and Sires crashed into Raven and Sapphire, and the four fell to the floor in a toppled heap. Everyone was shouting.
"People," the shrouded being said over the clamoring. "People. People. ENOUGH!"
Everyone froze and gawked. The cloak cleared its throat. "There is merely one more task I need to complete. Then, I shall return and explain everything—"
Sires, who had gotten to his feet, lunged at the person. They disappeared, Sires not even coming close to making physical contact. Their voice, however, did not disappear.
"—to you. Thank you for your patience."
Sapphire looked around the chamber at everyone. Then, she fainted.
~
"What is taking so long?" Sera asked irritably, rubbing his index finger against his lips.
Rosalyn came up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure he will be back any moment."
Just as the words left her lips, Fate re-appeared. Sera took a step forward. "What took you so long?"
Fate looked at Sera. "I was not gone that long. First I had to collect someone who was about to die. I lost connection with him years ago, although I do not have an understanding as to why that happened. I found the vampire we need at the hands of a rather murderous looking vampire coven, so that simply would not do. I had to go to California to collect two mortals. I was hoping to find them intact, but instead I accidentally went into the Time Frame too late. The destruction had already taken place, and I found them as spirits. I had to smooth things over with them, and—"
Sera crossed his arms and cleared his throat, raising an eyebrow. Fate cut himself off mid-sentence under the angel's withering look.
"We could proceed to the antechamber now, Sera."
Sera uncrossed his arms. "Good. Now, everyone you have collected; do they know what's going on?"
Fate paused for the flutter of a heart beat. "Some, to varying degrees. There are also some stragglers who honestly have nothing to do with this."
Rosalyn looked concerned. "Stragglers?"
"Yes. Two mortal women."
Sera moaned and rubbed his face.
"One of them knows precisely what is happening, and she insisted on stay with the demon—"
Rosalyn started. "Demon?"
Fate narrowed their eyes. "Do not question my choices."
Rosalyn became quiet.
"The other was, as humans put it, in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was not time to return her. To further complicate, her connection to me has become, well, fuzzy."
Sera honed his eyes on Fate, crossing his arms. "That's now the second time you've made mention of your connection to people. Elaborate."
"You saw how the Time Frames work. If certain things happen to a person—for example, they get turned into a vampire—I no longer am tied to them whatsoever."
Rosalyn blinked, looking between the two.
"There are certain things that I do not control. Spirits, anything in Heaven and Hell, and anything otherwise tainted."
Sera raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips.
"Tainted—I mean, such as demonic possessions. Things of that nature."
"Ah."
"I fear we are wasting time," Fate snipped then. "Have you prepared whatever you may be in need of?"
"Yes. So, once we arrive, would you like to explain to our lovely guests what's happening," Sera asked, "or should I?"
Fate stood a little straighter, bowing his head briefly. "I shall."
"Fine. Let's go."
Fate took Sera's hand, who took Rosalyn's, who took Jeanette's, and they all disappeared.
Sires, Marcus, Zoë, Hakan, Vince, Raven, and Sapphire didn't notice when four more people were suddenly in the underground chamber. Marcus was currently clinging to the ceiling, claws dug deep into the earth. Sires was standing below him, looking up at him like he was crazy. Sapphire, Zoë, and Raven were grouped together, watching the scene play out. Hakan and Vince stood off to the side awkwardly, Hakan filling in Vincent on the tarot reading from the morning.
"I'm telling you," Sires was saying, "you won't be able to dig out of here."
Marcus looked over his shoulder and glared.
"Well, creepy man covered in blood," Marcus spat back angrily, "I don't hear you giving any suggestions for how to get out of here!"
Sires looked indignant. "For the last time, my name is Sires. And I'm no longer covered in blood. Are you blind?"
"He was covered in blood?" Sapphire squeaked.
Zoë gagged. "Don't remind me."
Sapphire was gawking at Sires, fear etched onto her face. "Why...were you... covered in blood?"
Sires turned to her. "I just killed someone."
Sapphire nodded, eyes bulging. "O-oh."
Marcus dropped down, landing on his feet. Sapphire scurried back. Brushing off his hands, he walked over to Sires. "And why did you kill someone?"
Sires glared. "Why should I tell you?"
Marcus held up his hands and backed away. "Yeesh. Never mind." When he accidentally bumped into Raven, he jumped, yet tried to play it off cool. "Tsch. This guy. Right?"
Raven looked perplexed.
"Well," Sera said, taking a step forward as he clapped once. Everyone turned to look at him. Sires immediately went into a defensive stance with his sword. "I am so happy you're all getting along."
Sires glared. Sera merely looked amused. Then, he turned to Marcus. "This man is right though. You'd be digging for a very, very long time before you got out of here."
"Um, excuse me," Zoë said tentatively. Everyone looked at her, and she shrank back. "Where are we?"
"Fate, you're up," Sera said, stepping off to the side.
"Wait," Zoë said immediately. "I'm sorry—did you say fate?"
Fate removed his hood. As he did, the entire set of robes vanished, revealing his green outfit and unusual hair beneath.
He turned to the room. "First of all, I would like to offer my deepest and sincerest apologizes for involving each one of you. Ideally, we would not be in the situation we are in. However, the fact of the matter is we—the world—are in dire straights."
Everyone looked at each other, various degrees of unease passing over their faces.
"For the majority that do not know who I am, I am known as Fate. We stand here at the very boarder of the Underworld." Fate pointed. "Beyond that wall lays the River Styx, the gateway which leads to the various Ever Realms—Heaven and Hell, Valhalla, Paradise, Nirvana, what have you.
"I have gathered you all here because something terrible has occurred. Lucifer has attacked The Surface, what you all know as Earth. He means to start Armageddon early."
"Extremely early," Sera added crossly, narrowing his eyes.
"Thousands of years early," Rosalyn said.
"In this room," Fate said, coming to a stop besides Sera and the other angels, "we have gathered the most powerful individuals at this current junction of Time."
Fate stepped in front of each individual as he spoke. "Marcus, who ruled as the King of the Vampires for two hundred years, and who personally served beneath Lucifer. We have Sires, the world's deadliest assassin." He paused and looked at Sires. "I am sorry for everything you probably have been through."
Sires merely snorted and looked away.
"We have Seraphin, Archangel Primus to the One God, and his second in command, Rosalyn. We also have Jeanette, Angelus Supreme. These two are Hakan and Vincent. Ghosts—they will try to solve things on the Spiritual Plane."
Sera rose an eyebrow at that statement but remained silent.
Fate swiveled his head to Raven and Sapphire. "And then there are you two. I do not fully comprehend how you fit into all of this, but I know you are a demon. I sensed your presence on The Surface through Sapphire. A fully corporal demon has not been on The Surface for centuries. Please explain yourself."
Raven cleared his throat. "In the hours I've been here on The Surface, I have been sorting through my...Memories."
Tears gathered in his red eyes, and he dropped his head. When he spoke, it was barely a whisper. "This is my fault. I am what caused Lucifer to do what he has done."
Lightening cracked off Sera's wings and he took a step forward, a murderous look on his face. Fate threw out his hand, pressing it against the angel's chest. "Stop. Let him speak. He might prove useful to us still."
Raven raised his head, tears streaming down his face. "You have to understand, I was just a mindless demon. I didn't have any higher thinking. All I knew was hatred and destruction."
Raven took a deep, shuddering breath. "I don't remember what it was about, but I started a fight. The fighting escalated until it was a full out riot. By the time word of the fighting between demons reached Lucifer, much of Hell itself was damaged. Everything was in disarray. Some of the higher-functioning and self-aware demons banned together and attempted to overthrow Lucifer. It took him many days to restore order."
Raven swallowed thickly. "I awoke in a chamber somewhere in Hell. I was alone with Lucifer in the darkness. As my punishment—" his voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. "As punishment for causing the revolt and subsequent attempted coup, Lucifer gifted me with a conscious and self-awareness. He then sent me to The Surface to witness Armageddon, knowing its all my fault... Knowing millions of people are going to die...and it's my fault..."
Raven covered his face and began to sob. Sapphire, not knowing what else to do, went to him and wrapped her arms around the demon. The room fell into awkward silence for a moment. Sera, however, took a step forward, grimacing at Raven.
"You don't just have self-awareness," Sera said, sounding offended, angry, and confused all at once, "you have a soul."
Raven abruptly stopped crying, his head shooting up. "What?"
Sera raised his hand, fingers out spread, speaking to Raven. "May I?"
Fate immediately grabbed his arm.
Sera glared. "I'm not going to harm a hair on his head."
Fate narrowed his eyes, but released Sera. Sera looked at Raven and then closed his eyes.
"Ah; you're a blight demon." Sera opened his eyes and grimaced, cocking his head to the side. "A rather powerful one at that."
Sires interrupted and spoke in Icelandic. "What do you expect me to do?" He laughed and spread his arms. "Any of us?"
Sera looked at the assassin. "We need to kill Lucifer."
The room collapsed into utter silence, everyone gawking at Sera. After a seemingly eternity, Marc spoke.
"I'm sorry, but it sounded like you said you expect us to kill Lucifer?"
"That's exactly what I said."
Sires broke into unhinged laughter. Vincent and Hakan looked at him, and Hakan inched closer to Vince.
Marcus, noticing their unease, shrugged. "He does that sometimes."
"How are we going to do that?" Sapphire squeaked. "I'm just a human--what am I supposed to do?"
"That's insane," Raven balked. "We can't kill The Morningstar! He's one of the most powerful beings in the entire universe--"
"He's going to literally tear us apart!" Marcus protested, nearing hysterics. "I've seen him do it before. I stood besides him and got splattered with blood—"
"We're talking about the literal Devil?" Sires asked between his laughter, slipping into English. "You expect me—you expect us—to attack the embodiment of pure evil?"
"Would it be a bad time," Hakan added, his voice getting louder with each word until he was screaming in panic, "to bring up the fact that he's just destroyed the entire city of L.A. and then some?!"
"Enough!" Fate shouted in a booming voice that echoed off the chamber.
The group looked at him. His eyes were glowing, and even Sera looked uncomfortable. The deity took a deep breath, and his eyes returned to their normal appearance.
"Now is not the time to waiver. I understand the situation is not ideal, but you are—all of you—are literally the world's best hope. I have utter faith that each one of you stand a chance against The Morningstar. If I questioned any of your abilities to face this hardship, you would not be in this chamber right now."
"It's not just the world," Rosalyn said quietly. Everyone looked at her. "He's done something to the very fabric of Time too. He's destroyed it." She clasped her hands under her chin, looking around the room. "Please. We have to do something. If we don't act soon—"
"The Plagues will be awakened from their slumber," Fate said quietly.
"And then the Four Horsemen, and the Gods and Goddess' of Destruction will claim the world for themselves," Sera finished. "And God will forsake the world, retreating into the cosmos."
The group looked at one another. Fate spoke. "We would not be asking this of you if there were any other options. There are not."
"Wait—" Rosalyn said abruptly, grabbing Sera's arm. She barked a laugh. "I am such a fool! There's an easy solution!"
"Oh thank God," Zoë muttered quietly.
"We just go back to before Lucifer destroys Los Angeles and stop him! Or better yet, we take the—"
Fate was shaking his head. "I do not have access into Heaven. I could not steal the Focal Point of Being before Lucifer did."
Rosalyn sounded mildly panicked. "Alright, so then we just jump into the Time Frame right before Lucifer destroys L.A. and—"
"Rosalyn," Fate interrupted gently. "L.A. has been destroyed. The longer we wait, the more chances we allow Lucifer to have to further destroy Time and bring us closer to the End of Times."
"We can't spend resources trying to stop the past," Sera said. "We have to stop Lucifer to secure the future."
When Rosalyn looked crestfallen, Fate put a hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry. This truly is the best course of action."
"We need to mitigate further damage," Sera said definitively.
The room fell silent. For a while everyone stood motionless, glancing at once another furtively.
"Well," Marcus said, "I guess let's go...try not to die."
"We're already dead," Vince replied to Marcus, forcing himself to be chipper, "so we don't have to worry about that."
Sires chuckled. "He could still eat your souls, I'd imagine."
Hakan made a disgusted face. "Is he always so pleasant?"
"Me? Or Satan?" Sires chuckled again. "Eating your souls..."
Marcus looked at Hakan. "I haven't known him for that long, but from what I can tell, yes."
"Great," Hakan said dryly.
Fate waved his hand. The wall before them disappeared revealing a long cavern. Immediately wailing floated out and filled the chamber with their sorrow. Everyone except Sera looked at Fate, who looked back at the crowd evenly.
"Welcome to The Underside."