In the realm of Chaos, amidst the Land of Eternal Twilight…

The sky above Alyssa’s gaze was a rich shade of gold and blue from the sunset. It was, for all she could see and behold, a world left between the throes of dusk and dawn. Where far beyond, looming in the distance like a sweet dream, a walled villa of shining silver beckoned to her like a siren’s call amidst a garden of flowers with colours that seemed to run before her very eyes like a river.

There was a slight drizzle in the air, and the breeze that was gently swaying both her robes and the flowers around her smelled so sweetly of perfume. In her heart of hearts, a part of her wished to remain forever half-blind here, for in this place, gone was the bleeding and her nakedness, even if she could see so clearly the spots of crimson stained upon the white, purple and gold of her holy robes. The pain as well, all seemingly forgotten in this Land of Eternal Twilight.

And yet, the enchanted villa beckoned.

The Hellbringer’s bejewelled shaft of black and gold remained firmly in the grip of her hands. It felt light like a feather, well balanced like a veteran’s blade with silver light emanating from the redness of its crystalline head. She could spy from the corner of her eye, amidst the flowers and the trees, the nakedness of a Beholder with red hair who was crouched on all fours like a humanoid puppy, who had the company of others just like her with varying colours of hair much like the colours of a rainbow. They were looking at her and the sceptre in her hand with their eyes and their crystalline eyestalks, observing so intently and quietly in twilight, the Hellbringer. And they were, in a way, she mused to herself as she continued onward, so similar to that Archon, the pink-haired Eye of Elicia back home at the Ancient Cathedral. She, the Beholder who wore clothes and had learned to walk on two legs, who was always coincidentally nearby whenever sweet pastries were being shared in the pantry.

Now, the gates of the villa of silver were in full view just ahead of her. A hulking Malphas of fire and brimstone as tall as the walls it guarded stood before her, its everburning body smouldering with black smoke that dissipated instantly into the twilight sky. The garden was left unscathed despite this, and she steadied herself, gripping the shaft of the Hellbringer tightly as she watched the Malphas's gargantuan frame move aside slowly and wordlessly as those silver gates it protected opened for her and her alone.

It was with this, with one last glance behind her at the beautiful garden and the naked serenity of the Beholder and her friends who had followed to watch from a safe distance, that Alyssa made her way past the Malphas to enter the villa proper.

 

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Later, at the Moonshadow Palace…

It was a villa of silver and roses, the scent of sex, power and madness filling its luxury like perfume in the air. And yet, Alyssa knew well in her heart, even as she followed the gliding wake of a faceless servant in silken finery who had received her at the jewelled doors, that these words and thoughts of hers could barely do the sights and wonders around her an ounce of justice. Even more so when they led her to an open-air veranda on the other end of the great building, as they sat her down most gently before a table for two set with a lavish spread of confections, pastries, and piping hot tea. Where beyond the roses and the carpet-like softness of marble beneath her feet, she could see a path leading out to a pristine beach of golden sand and the gentle tide of the ocean sparkling gently under the glow of the twilight sun.

“That is a Revenant, my dear. They are, unlike the Malphas or the Beholder, still alien to your world.”

Alyssa all but froze at the gentleness of a voice so familiar from a world of blood and darkness. Her gaze returned once more to the table and the spread set lavishly before her, and then towards the veiled face of a lady with platinum hair and white skin so pure and immaculate like porcelain. Kept behind a translucent curtain of silk and flowers, she slouched lazily upon a lounge chair, her hourglass figure dressed in an evening gown that shimmered lightly upon her like starlight.

“Welcome home, my beloved Hellbringer.”

“You’re…” Alyssa said, her voice breathless as she spoke. “Aria…”

“Yes. For so long, I have waited. That time has finally come. Tell me, what is your name?”

“It’s…”

Alyssa paused for a moment. She closed her eyes, placing a hand upon her bosom as she envisioned in the darkness of her mind’s eye, the Ancient Cathedral and the smiles of her friends when they kept her close in a world that now felt so far away. If only to remember again, in this world far beyond hers.

“Alyssa.”

“Ah, just like the kingdom of your ancestor.”

“Kingdom of my ancestor?” Alyssa remarked softly, her eyes gravitating down towards the blood upon the white, gold and purple of her holy robes. “I’m still confused about that. I recall… how they called me Princess. Why?”

“I suppose my fellow Daemonlord has gone to great lengths to erase the past,” Aria stated curtly while a Revenant served her a cup of piping hot tea upon a jewelled saucer of white and gold. “But you are, so clearly to me even if it eludes you now, a scion of the Alyssian Empire. His essence remains upon you, and all who share your bloodline.”

Alyssa frowned.

“My father’s a merchant… my grandfather as well. We’re not…”

“Ah, yes. Truly, the once great bloodline of Abaddon has fallen to ruin. I still wonder why Elicia chose to spare your family.”

“Abaddon…?”

“He was the first Hellbringer, the one of your bloodline who first sought me. Only an elf may entreat a Daemonlord’s favour.”

“Hellbringer…”

Fumbling briefly as she suddenly felt the shaft of the Hellbringer that had always been in her hand, Alyssa stood up from her chair and offered it to her saviour.

“Um, right… I suppose this is yours. I shouldn’t…”

Much to her surprise, Aria simply shook her head and smiled.

“The sceptre is a tool, a mere means to an end that is you. My Hellbringer.”

With a gasp, the sceptre fell from Alyssa’s grasp, crashing upon the floor. At once, a nearby Revenant glided over, handing the fallen sceptre back to her. Without so much as a word of protest, she accepted it wordlessly.

“Um… I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Alyssa said as she sat back down. “I mean, I’m grateful that you saved my life, but I’m not…”

“But you are,” Aria replied calmly. “It is clear to me. You are my Hellbringer.”

Alyssa remained expressionless. The etchings upon her flesh suddenly began to itch from beneath her bloodstained robes.

“Am I? I know that he’s done… something to me, because you told him to. Here, I feel… different. His name was…”

She paused once more, almost gagging as she remembered the face of the man who had set it all in motion. Whose name, was like poison upon her lips even if she once adored him. And yet, she remembered the pain in his eyes, and the despair he showed when no one else was looking.

“Father Edwards…”

“Who is that?” Aria asked innocently. “Not that it matters.”

“But it does!” Alyssa exclaimed, causing the Daemonlord to raise a brow at her Hellbringer’s sudden outburst. “He said you promised him revenge, that you’re the reason why he…”

“Did I? Interesting.”

“You can’t possibly be serious!” Alyssa exclaimed as she stood up from her chair. “I remember the way he spoke of you, and the awful things he did in your name…”

“I suppose it is rather amusing, do you not agree?” Aria said before helping herself to a cup of piping hot tea, sipping it slowly as she eyed the anger in Alyssa’s eyes. “The lengths that mortals would go for a delusion. From the way you look at me, I trust you have seen it for yourself.”

“Are you telling me…” Alyssa uttered, her body trembling as she reined in her voice. “His life was just a lie? He gave up everything for you, he did…”

She looked down towards the bloodstains on her robes, tears forming within her purple eyes as she did. All as Aria watched on with a smile while a Revenant attended to her, taking away the emptied cup and saucer held in her hands.

“This… to me… and… to my Sisters, and… the real Father Edwards… the terror in his eyes when I found him…”

“Regardless, I believe it all worked out in the end, did it not?” Aria remarked. “You, my Hellbringer, are finally here with me.”

“So many people hurt, because of you who set it all in motion… are you telling me that their lives mean nothing to you at all?”

With the points of her elvish ears tensed up, Alyssa opened her eyes and glared straight at Aria’s veiled visage through the tears clouding her vision. She could not believe what she was hearing. Even more so when she watched Aria arise from her lounge chair, her white hair flowing gracefully with the gentle breeze billowing through the veranda as she walked up to where she stood. That there was, little less than a breath between them both.

“He must have hurt you, whoever he was,” Aria said, her voice little more than a whisper as she reached for Alyssa’s hood, pulling it back slowly before placing her hands upon the mortal warmth of her Hellbringer’s cheeks. “For that, I am sorry.”

“Answer me…” Alyssa said, her voice little more than a whisper as tears fell from her eyes. “Please…”

“Truly, does it matter? All I care about in this affair, is you.”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing. That’s… awful… to think that you’d…”

With a shiver, Alyssa paused mid-sentence as what felt what a lump formed within her throat as her eyes remained fixated upon Aria’s face, the hairs of her skin crawling from the softness of the Daemonlord’s touch. In the face of such beauty, in the face of lips so red like roses in full bloom, she wanted very much to say something. And yet, she could not as she felt her heartbeat and her ears still themselves when that same beauty drew even closer to her, kissing her softly upon her lips as her tongue reached in to caress hers like a long-lost lover. That she, could feel that love welling up within her in as she began reciprocating it with all she had.

“That is all in the past,” Aria whispered softly when their tongues finally parted from each other. “Now that we are reunited, I want you to serve me. Forever.”

“Serve… you?”

“Would you do that for me, my dearest?”

“I…” Alyssa uttered weakly, her voice still breathless as she felt Aria slink behind her. “I would…”

“Go on. Say it.”

“I’ll never serve you.”

Upon hearing this, Aria’s white hands reached for Alyssa’s breasts. With her palms cupped around them both, she laughed as her beloved Hellbringer struggled in vain against her grasp when she began squeezing them both simultaneously to feel the softness and warmth of mortal flesh upon her fingers.

“What are you doing…” Alyssa gasped, biting down upon her tongue as she spoke. “Stop…”

“How curious,” Aria remarked, a mischievous grin forming upon her lips as her Hellbringer’s shrieks and moans filled her ears. “Your ancestor, the so-called ‘Emperor’ of his kind, said the same thing to me as well.”

“I don’t know him, but I know I’ll… never… serve… someone… like you… a monster… who toys with the lives of others like…”

“Like they’re nothing at all,” Aria whispered with a relish. “Because they are.”

“But, why…”

Aria smiled. She placed her fingertips upon the silken fabric covering Alyssa’s bosom, holding her Hellbringer’s nipple in a pincer-like grasp with her index finger and her thumb.

“No reason, really. But I suppose if I had to choose one, it would be the sheer pleasure…”

With a smile, both of those fingers pushed simultaneously towards each other, pinching hard against the silk covering Alyssa’s nipple from both sides. It was enough to make her scream, enough to cause the sceptre to fall from her grasp and to crash upon the marble floor.

“Of making them scream as I plunge their world into fiery oblivion.”

As Aria said this, her smile widened. She began to laugh as she felt the warmth of tears upon her white skin. Even more so, as she watched those elvish ears of Alyssa's perk up once more like daggers from the sudden shock of it all.

“It gets a little boring in here, you know? Beautiful, as it may be,” Aria added as she leaned in ever closer, her voice dropping to a sly whisper while both her hands took to fondling Alyssa’s breasts once more. “On the other hand, Sophia’s world is such an entertaining spectacle. It is even better, now that the human mongrel who calls herself Elicia thinks that it is hers to have and hold.”

“What… are you…” Alyssa whispered in reply, gasping for air as she tried to ignore the intense warmth forming within her senses despite the bleeding from her bosom. “Going to…”

“Abaddon, your ancestor, sought my assistance in that little war of his,” Aria answered, taking a moment to run her tongue upon the edges of her Hellbringer’s ear. “I cared not for the ends of his pathetic campaign, only what its choice of means would entail.”

When Alyssa looked at her from the corner of her eye with nothing less than tear-stricken terror, Aria smiled once more.

“For me, you shall continue it. You are now, after all, my Hellbringer.”

She then placed a finger upon her Hellbringer’s forehead, smiling as she watched a Revenant wordlessly place the fallen sceptre back into the hands of her mortal instrument.

“You know, his antics were so very… amusing. A shame he had to die on the mortal realm like that, long before I could ever get my fill of the end of the pact we sealed. But not anymore.”

“No…!” Alyssa rasped as a black aura enveloped her like a shroud, painlessly melting into her flesh like light upon her skin. “I’ll never…”

Aria ignored her. Removing one of her hands from the fleshy comfort of her Hellbringer’s breast, she looked at the crystal forming in her palm that glowed first with a prismatic hue, right before turning completely black and solid like a chunk of obsidian.

“What have you done…” Alyssa gasped, closing her eyes shut as she wept. “You…”

“I have learned my lesson, my love,” Aria answered. “Now, you are forever safe with me. With this blessing of mine, you shall return to Elicia’s world and entertain me.”