"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
-Revelations 1:8

8

Firelight danced across the walls in a silent fury. Limbs were flung about, jaws opened to reveal sharp fangs, wings flapped wildly, tails whipped, sounds that weren't natural barked, grunted, and screamed. The cave was full of a swarm of bodies and blazing red fire. Heat flashed in waves, coming from the fires and the movements of the bodies as they danced, fought, and just moved.

They were excited.

Demon after demon, every shape and form imaginable, flew, walked, crawled their way to the Demon Lord that had brought them this gift. They cowered before the Demon Lord as he sat on a throne centered in the room, bowing as low as they could before they offered their praise to the Lord that had brought them such a promising thing. Then they would merge once more into the scores of their brothers and sisters, squealing and yelling with excitement. They hadn't been brought an offering before. No one had ever bothered with the lowest ranking of the demon, leaving them all alone without leadership when Man's Kingdom was destroyed. So they had done what they were best at. Destroy, havoc, chaos. They had brought hell to life in every way that they could. But when the Demon Lord Alooc, the shape-shifting demon child of the High Demon Lord Rasha, brought them something as special as this, they were beyond happy. Finally, after centuries of nothing, they were given something that would easily change their fate.

Alooc watched with a criticizing eye, nose crinkling and his fangs bared just slightly. He hated these Demons. They served no purpose; they had no role for any plan in anything. They just did whatever their little minds could think of. And, as they danced in the firelight of the numerous of bonfires that the Demons had started, he watched them in disgust as he sat in the makeshift throne that was the leader of these Demons, who had joined its minions in celebrating. His large hands clutched at the weak bone arms of the chair as he watched their frantic movements, a voice nagging in the back of his mind, demanding why he was there. And he ignored it as he watched them.

There was a reason why he had agreed to follow the ash. Most of it had to do with pride. When the ash thing had told him that he feared, the Demon had been furious. He was the son of the High Demon Lord Rasha. There was nothing that he feared besides from his father and mother, Demon Queen Lilith, both of whom had the power to destroy him just as quickly as they had created him. Four Horsemen, four remains of a race that had been the strongest of the universe, did not strike fear into his heart. And right now...

He was bored. And beginning to become annoyed.

The voice nagging in the back of his mind, constantly whispering and shifting uncomfortably, didn't help. It was beginning to annoy him; eventually a Demon Lord could only withstand so much when something was demanding him what he was doing. Pausing long enough to swipe away a demon that had gotten too close for his liking, Alooc tried something.

Shut up, he bellowed mentally, wondering if it would work.

For a brief moment, it did. He was leaning back into the throne, relishing the peace in his head, when a spine-splintering pain shot up through his head, shooting down his back as well. It took all of his strength not to jerk from his seat in pain and instead his grip tightened on the arms of the throne, his eyes narrowing in challenge and his fangs baring instinctively. His right foot twitched before he could control it; a nearby demon went flying into its companions as Alooc's hoof connected with it.

"You dare to tell me to shut up," barked the voice in his head. "I am your master now, Demon Lord. Have you forgotten that?"

Alooc scowled and ignored the demons that were cautiously moving away from him. The voice was the ash. "What is thing?" he mumbled underneath his breath as he situated himself in the throne some more, his gaze locked onto one spot on the room for no real reason. It was just ash; ash should not have this much power over a Demon Lord. And, if he was correct, the ash was also what sucked the power from the Horsemen and brought him back to life before he could regenerate. This ash thing was as powerful as shit. Not even Rasha had spoken of mind-speaking powers such as these.

Of course not, Alooc grumbled in his head. He knew the rules. Depending upon the nature of the injury, a Demon could come back to life after a few centuries of nothingness. It was why High Demons like Rasha and his children and others with the same power status -such as demons like Legion- only appeared at certain centuries. They died. Or Satan had a purpose for them at the certain time and called them himself. It only included Higher Demons; low ranking demons weren't worth bringing back at a constant rate. Angels weren't the same, which instantly made them less interesting.

"Then I demand to know why you are ignoring me."

Normally, when the voice in my head is talking that ain't mine, I get concerned and not happen to answer.

There was a small pause as if the ash was trying to decide upon an answer. "You are not doing what I wanted you too," roared the ash. "You are supposed to be hunting down the Horsemen while they are weak. I do not want my work to go to waste while the time is ripe for picking."

I'm working on it. Fury is my possession at the moment. These Demons have her in their prison. I have an idea of where the others are.

"That is not good enough. They must be eliminated as quickly as possible."

Yeah, I got that.

"Good." Another flash of pain flickered through Alooc that was strong enough to cause him to take in a sharp intake of breath. "As easily as I brought you from the fiery depths of nothing, I can disperse you back to them. Without me, you are nothing. Fail me, and you feel nothing but a world of pain."

With that, the ash was receded from his mind. Who did that thing believe that it was commanding? A common, lowly Demon who hardly had enough power to lift a weapon? No, Alooc was a Demon Lord; he had his own armies to command -that were long dead- and the power to create or destroy an entire race if he wanted too. He was a damn Demon Lord. He was the son of the High Demon Lord, the Demon that was Satan's right hand and the most powerful Demon in all of Hell besides from Satan himself. Alooc didn't have to take the shit that this shitty ash was throwing at him. He didn't have to take anything that it was saying. He was a Demon Lord.

But, the fact was, that he had to listen to the ash. The ash, whatever that it truly was, had been the one that brought him back from the abyss that he had sucked into when Strife had decapitated him. That abyss of nothing but blackness, other dying souls, and the disturbing cold that a Demon was not ever supposed to feel. Until the ash thing broke its ties to Alooc, the Demon Lord would be forced to listen and obey whatever it wanted. If it wanted Alooc to kill every human in sight, that's what he had to do. If it wanted him to burn down Hell, he had to at least try. Anything that the ash wanted, whatever terms, whatever anything, Alooc had to do it. And it sucked.

Alooc growled low in his throat in anger and several of the demons backed away from him, eyeing him carefully in confusion. As the fury continued to wash over him, the Demon Lord finally snapped.

"What are you doing standing around?" he roared, flinging himself off the throne.

The Demons scrambled away from him, squealing and panicking loudly as he stamped into their partying masses. Alooc could care less about them; he burst through a small crowd that weren't moving fast enough for his liking, tossing aside the extremely slow, and stamped into a pit of roaring fire. Despite the flames licking at his fur, none of hurt. Warmth washed over him and the screams of the Demons only seemed to piss him off even more. Why were they such idiots?

"We have things to do!" he roared, causing every Demon around him to cower. "Humans to destroy! Land to burn and commit to chaos! And what are you doing? Nothing!" He spat the word, swiping at some of the closet demons. They yelled as he just missed them with a massive set of claws. "Get your asses moving and do something!"

Rushed agreements came from the group of Demons as they scrambled away from the Demon Lord in panic. He watched them for a little while as they resemble ants, darting off into different corridors that branched from the main tunnel that they were in at the moment, before he snorted and turned toward the only tunnel that dipped down into the ground. Shaking out his muscular arms, Alooc began down the tunnel, ducking into the narrow space.

Perhaps Fury could use some company.

I'm so sorry guys. This chapter is way overdue and it's not even all that long. School and field hockey and my dad investing in something that could potentially have us lose all of our income has really been stressing me out and taking up all of my time. Good news is that I'm going to devote a little time each night to writing now -finally.

But, another thing. I'm going to have a rebellious group of people that kick ass -Demon and Angel- and are completely awesome. I don't have many names or anything so comment or send me a message suggesting people.

If you want to add yourself in here, now is your chance. Write what you want you or your character to be -like if you want them to an awesome gunslinger of some sorts or a doctor- and then maybe a short description and I'll do everything else.

:) hope this makes up for everything.