M Y S T E R I O U S  C A V E S

———

DIMITRI STRAYED TO a path that led far away from the castle as compared to towards it. The long winding road had many twists and turns, each eventually leading to a dead end. Along these roads paved with red soil, Dimitri noticed demons littering the area. They were scattered around, forced to roam the empty plains with seemingly no end mission in mind.

When one turned to face Dimitri, black beady eyes glaring into the latter's soul with its fangs bared, Dimitri couldn't help himself but feel frightened. A shiver ran down his spine almost too naturally as if the demons were created to induce fear themselves. They had the ability to force courage away from Dimitri's body, making the hair on his arms stand in fright.

One hissed, saliva dripping past the demon's lips as its tail curled over its head. Dimitri eyed the demon cautiously, quickly stepping as far away as possible. No matter how far he walked, he could still feel the insistent presence of eyes trailing after his every movement. Perhaps it was just Dimitri's own paranoia but he was convinced that Lucifer's demons lurked in every corner possible. They were, after all, the only life that populated these deserted lands.

The wind around Dimitri howled in his ears. Loud and persistent, it was no longer the beautiful orchestra that Dimitri was used to back in the North Garden of Heaven. It was almost too loud for his ears, a roar that resembled a great beast hungry for a kill. From all directions, sand swirled around Dimitri's body, wrapping him in grains of sand that stabbed at his eyes. The sleeves of his shirt served no purpose to keep them out and soon enough, Dimitri found it difficult to even breathe.

Paths in front of him blurred, forming out of nothing and disappearing without a trace all the same.

Dimitri had to squint to properly see his surroundings. With the wind picking up even further and a possible sandstorm starting, he was forced to find his way back to the grand castle. All curiosity had already dissipated from Dimitri's body and it was now replaced with the natural instinct to survive.

Survive this storm, survive this battle, survive this war, survive this life. That is, if he still had one.

Just before Dimitri's legs were about to buckle and give up, a sight made his posture straighten, eyes widened just a small fraction. There was a cave a short distance away, dark red stone against a golden-red background of dust and grime. The opening was surely big enough for him to go in, even with space to spare.

If Dimitri could not find his way back to the castle, this would perhaps be the one in which he could rest his head and hide for the night. Or at least until the chaotic storm died down.

The natural shelter loomed closer and closer with each hurried step Dimitri took. Around him, along with the wind, he could hear the hissing and snarling of demons back to haunt him. Quickening his pace, Dimitri scanned his surroundings for any sudden attacks that might be carried out by the demons. If there were any, the storm kept them out of sight.

All except one. In a distance, there was a man that was hunched over. His movements were sluggish, much like Dimitri's was. When the winds picked up, the man, though bulked with muscles that were most likely the product of working in the fields day and night, seemed like he could be blown away at any second. He turned around, his facial features disheveled from what Dimitri could see and that made the latter frown in confusion. He had not known that there was any other fallen angel that Lucifer had not transformed into a demon after their fall other than his brothers. To his knowledge, all that followed Lucifer's ways had been mutilated into a form of monstrosity. Yet, there this figure was. On his forehead was a glowing symbol, small enough so that Dimitri could not see what it was. However, the symbol glowed with the might of a thousand suns.

When the man noticed Dimitri, he visibly straightened up. He took one step, then another, and soon enough, he was running as best as he could in Dimitri's direction. The nearer he got, the more Dimitri could see his features and once the man was close enough to recognize, Dimitri jolted back with a mixture of fright and surprise.

There, standing just a few feet away, was a man Dimitri knew to be alive. How he knew, he wasn't sure. Maybe because Dimitri, like Lucifer had mentioned, had been transformed not into a demon but into the spirit of death. After all, all who lived was cursed by death.

Somehow, a mortal man had just entered Hell and was now headed straight towards him. In his state of panic, Dimitri whirled around to look for the cave, eager to hide himself away. However, turning away from the cave was the first mistake he made. When he looked back to his original path, the cave was gone.

"What?" Dimitri murmured underneath his breath, running to where he last saw the cave. The land was barren and empty, sand dunes in the place of the cave which Dimitri thought he could seek refuge.

Three more steps into nowhere in particular, the storm gave out one last high-pitched roar before it died down altogether. The sand was swept away, leaving Dimitri physically unscathed and the mysterious man gone. When he turned around, there the castle stood, innocent and rooted as if it had been there all along.

———

"Fabian!" Dimitri didn't bother to knock before slamming open the doors to his brother's room.

Fabian was seated at his desk, a book in hand and his feet poised on the writing desk. When he heard Dimitri enter the room, he turned, raising a single eyebrow in questioning. His table was on the wall adjacent to the door, hence, he need not turn his entire body, only his head.

"What is it?" he asked, sitting up a little straighter. He closed the book but not before adding a flower between the pages to mark where he had just left off.

"The most peculiar thing happened to me when I was outside. There was a sandstorm, and demons that grew bolder and bolder. And in the midst of it all was the castle and a mysterious cave that disappeared as I neared it and a living man—" Dimitri could not even speak as fast as he wished to. His thoughts flew from his memory and past his lips incoherently, so much so that Fabian immediately placed the book down and got to his feet.
"Woah, slow down there, brother. I can hardly understand a single word you just said." He took a step closer towards Dimitri, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Dimitri paused to study his surroundings. He poked his head out to the corridor just to make sure Lucifer nor his demons were in the vicinity before he shut the door behind him. What he was about to share was not something others should hear and Dimitri knew better than to trust the walls of this castle.

"I was out training with Lucifer just now," Dimitri started, this time slower and much softer than before. "After training, I left to wander Hell. I hadn't been walking long before I was hit by a sandstorm. In it, I could barely see a thing but I saw a man. There was also a cave that mysteriously appeared and disappeared when I wanted to go closer."

Fabian frowned. "That can't be good."

"Obviously," Dimitri deadpanned. "The fact that we are in Hell is already an ominous sign."

"Maybe we should tell the others. Gather to share news. It's been a while, after all." Fabian heaved a long sigh. "Over two decades, in fact."

"Yes. That might be for the best." Dimitri nodded in agreement. "I have much to tell, things that Calvin might end me for if I kept it a secret any longer."

Right as the words left Dimitri's lips, the door to Fabian's room swung open. In stepped two figures, one with his lips curled in a grin and the other turned down into a seething scowl. Dimitri heard Fabian curse a little behind him, obviously agitated that yet another member of the castle had decided to disrespect his privacy. The former had to force an instinctive guffaw down his throat.

"And what were you planning on keeping from me?" Calvin asked, lips folded across his broad chest. Wilhelm peeked in from behind, hands pressed to his lips as he shook his head.

"Should've locked the door while you could, my dear brothers." His voice had a sing-song effect to it, light dancing in his eyes as he stepped past Calvin and jumped onto Fabian's bed.

His figure bounced a little on the soft mattress as Wilhelm sighed, stretching his arms like a cat that had just risen from its nap. Tucking a pillow behind his head, Wilhelm observed the entire scene with a smile painting his lips. After all, it was finally a conflict that he had not started.

"You will need to ask Dimitri. I was just minding my own business when three lunatics barged into my room," Fabian said with a shrug.

Immediately, all three other pairs of eyes were on him, watching his every movement. Thrown under the bus, Dimitri shook his head before gesturing towards the couch beneath the windows of Fabian's room. Calvin and Fabian moved to sit immediately and Wilhelm sat up, straightening his back as the three awaited their final member to explain the situation.

Once everyone was seated, Dimitri moved to close the door once more, leaning against the wood as he took in a deep breath to prepare himself. Instead of speaking, Dimitri rolled up the sleeves of his top so that the others could see the strange pale ink that tattooed his skin.

Unlike when he had first received it, the light of the tattoo no longer pulsed. It did not glow and was a flat matte color. Even though Dimitri distinctly remembered that his brothers had seen the color on his skin before, they still clinched slightly. Dimitri couldn't blame them. After all, it was the sign of their failure, their fall.

"I found out what this means," Dimitri muttered, trailing a finger over the colored line. "It's a mark of my new birth as a creature between demon and angel. It's a mark of death."

"Of death?" Wilhelm echoed, furrowing his eyebrows. "I'm afraid I do not understand what you mean."

"According to Lucifer, after the fall, I've been transformed into the spirit of death. I can see every single soul that had passed away. I see the lives they lived before their demise and I know their names. If I focus hard enough, I can vaguely see who will die next."

"And how does Lucifer know that?" Fabian asked, wrinkling his nose.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one that created it." Wilhelm shrugged nonchalantly, leaning back slightly on his elbows. "He created an entire realm, plotted the fall of a good portion of angels, changed his followers into demons and monsters. Creating a warrior, a horseman to carry out his apocalyptic bidding seems plausible."

"But how did he create it?" Fabian shot another question towards Wilhelm.

"The way he said it, it did not seem like he was the sole creator. It could be an innate dormant trait that he simply tapped into. But what was it that triggered the change?" Calvin pondered out loud, rubbing his chin.

"He mentioned that I was created because a life had been sacrificed to save mine out of their own desire. A desire driven by love and nothing more. The first without impure desires out of the sanctification birthed the spirit of death," Dimitri supplied.

"But who sacrificed their life to— Oh." Wilhelm stopped short once he realized the answer. Instantly, the group fell into silence. The memory of their old friend flirted into each of their minds and the thought alone was enough to make Dimitri's heart clenched with mighty pain.

"Adelia..." Calvin murmured. His fists were clenched, nails digging into his palms with great force and knuckles turning white very quickly.

"It is pointless to mourn. Adelia does not exist on the planes of reality anymore. Angels, immortals, that have died do not revive. They do not receive an afterlife." It was hard for Dimitri to even speak the words out loud but Calvin needed to hear it. At least Adelia had unrivaled peace that could not be disturbed by even the afterlife.

"Dimitri has the ability to control aspects of magic," Fabian slowly started, looking up from Calvin's clenched fists. "We can use that."

"Yes. The time has come. We've waited for twenty years for an appropriate time to strike and I believe the chance has arrived." Calvin nodded, finally loosening his grip. When he looked up, his electric eyes flashed with fierce determination.

Wilhelm, too, had a deadly look in his eyes. He gritted his teeth, seething with anger as he stood to his feet. "It's time for us to plot. The battle in Heaven proved to be a stalemate. Hence, we can finally put an end to this overall. Lucifer started a battle. I suggest we start a war."

"We will need an army." Fabian frowned. "Right now, it's just us."

In Dimitri's mind, he saw a flash of the man's face that he had seen in the desert sand storm. The mark on his forehead was bright and glaring and although Dimitri did not know what the mark meant, a voice in his head told him to equip it. It was, no matter its origin, a mark of great power.

"We might have someone." Dimitri began to smile as another face popped into his mind, followed by a name. Another human had just passed and this one was not as kind-hearted as the first. "And I believe we will have more."

————

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