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Zerxus was with Asmodeus when he all but destroyed the Everlight and her entire host of brightly armoured devotees.
It was such a personal battle to behold, two beings that had once fought cheek to cheek against demons untold for millennia before the Schism, they screamed at each other as they exchanged blows back and forth recounting ancient grievances and perceived slights in whatever tongue came to them in the moment. The battle continued for what felt like an age with the Everlight becoming more and more desperate as her followers fell around her.
And Asmodeus knew how to make it hurt.
Before the confrontation began, the Lord of the Hells greeted the Everlight cordially and welcomed her bright army as well; he patiently and thoroughly explained his rules for the engagement in a charming voice that could be understood in every language of all who could hear him. Detailing that he would only strike the Everlight in this fight so unless her zealots stepped between their fight with the intention to disrupt then they had nothing to fear from his own hand. He went further to explain that his own host of utterly obedient devils were under strict orders not to kill any in the opposing force unless they tried to flee. Asmodeus went on at length of the minutiae of the engagement that even detailed where each of the sides could set up latrines. The Lord of the Nine Hells also stipulated that he would not allow for any healing magic on the battlefield until the conflict had ended, all such spells would be countered to highest degree even if they came from the Everlight herself.
In a strange unexpected mercy, he allowed a singular zealot of the Everlight who was heavy with child to leave that battlefield unmolested when her unborn babe decided it wanted to come early into this world. He even allowed the Everlight to choose which of his Erinyes to send with her zealot - she chose 3 Generals of the Blood War that had once been confidants of hers before the Schism. Sephina, Glox and Balai stepped forward when the Everlight selected them, they turned to the Lord of the Nine Hells for direction and he gestured for them to leave with the zealot. Balai and Sephina each supported an arm of the zealot, a gnome woman, and Glox took her weight under her knees and with all 3 supporting her they spread their leathery wings and took to the skies. Both armies watched together until the group had passed beyond the horizon. The anticipation for the battle increased with each beat of their wings.
With all the conditions of the battle laid out, the Lord of the Hells asked all who still stood before him if they agreed to his terms of engagement. Asmodeus’ rigidly disciplined army gave an immediate nod and salute to their Lord, some brave zealots of the Everlight nodded back. The Everlight herself took a moment to respond, understanding that there was more to this deal than the carefully crafted words that Asmodeus shared with them all but could see nothing in the moment to protest so she agreed to the terms. And with that the rest of her army accepted the bargain of the Devil of Deals.
Asmodeus smiled.
The Lord of the Hells allowed his form to condense to match the size of the Everlight who currently stood at the height of her human and elf followers. He nodded to Zerxus who signalled the Hellish Army to move into position. The Everlight clasped hands with all of her zealots who reached for her then moved to meet her fallen sibling.
So the battle began with the Lord of the Hells and the Everlight standing alone in a circle with a crescent shaped audience of her zealots gathered tightly behind her and with Asmodeus’ army behind that of the Everlight's.
In this isolated corner of Exandria with Asmodeus standing alone with no hoard behind him, only the size of a man, squared off against whom Zerxus had come to know was once his most beloved sibling, yet again Zerxus’ heart broke for him. And as the day progressed Zerxus begun to understand why that trait in him had always set off his master. Because the conversation of redemption that they had shared that last night of the Age of Arcanum was not the first time that Asmodeus had had the conversation. And now in front of 2 armies his master was about to suffer the conversation yet one more time.
The Everlight begged her fallen sibling to return with her to the rest of their family, pleaded for him to understand the love they have for mortals doesn’t prevent them from loving him too, implored him to turn away from his path of hate. And as with his conversation with Zerxus, Asmodeus screamed at the Everlight that he had done NOTHING WRONG!
The fight between the gods began in earnest then. Asmodeus advancing with hammering blows against the God of Redemption and Compassion; taking care to remind her that it was she who turned her back on him, not the other way around. It was her that aided the others to confine him in a soulless, airless void for millennia as they continued to cherish each other's company while playing with their new toys: the mortals. At this the Everlight, whom her siblings called Sarenrae and Asmodeus would only call Raei, shot back that Asmodeus himself had spent millennia crafting all the different creatures that were now called devils from the Founding to the Schism. Asmodeus scoffed at the comparison, reminding her that unlike the toys that she preferred, his creations didn’t die of age in the time it took for a god to blink an eye. In the condescending voice of one who had lived since before history with the partner of her conversation the Everlight pointed out that the only reason that Asmodeus made sure that his creations could only die if their bodies were sundered while in his Nine Hells was so that he could always be in control of the ultimate fate of all of his creations because it pained him too much to lose them. Asmodeus had been so shocked by that retort that he took the Everlight’s mace full to the face and stood awkwardly afterward clutching his bloody lip with the golden countenance of his true soul so prominent that Sarenrae couldn’t bear to attack him, his bright eyes filled with tears.
Thinking she had made a breakthrough with her sibling, the Everlight stepped forward, mace relaxed at her side, and carded a hand through shining red hair that looked black as pitch to everyone else.
A painful twinge of hope spasmed through Zerxus’ chest. Maybe his beloved Raei could reach Asmodeus where his champion could not.
As if reacting to the surge of emotions rioting in Zerxus’ soul, Asmodeus’ eyes met his from across the battlefield. And in the uncanny way of gods, it was as if the Lord of the Nine Hells was both a breath in front of Zerxus’ face and staring at him from a great distance away over the Everlight’s shoulder at the same time. So Zerxus got to see with startling clarity those pained golden eyes squeeze shut in that perfect golden face, releasing crystalline tears that trailed down gleaming cheeks before mixing with his crimson blood that stained around his swollen lips. Asmodeus snapped his eyes back open, their golden hue shining viciously as his skin returned to his preferred ruby tone and his hair changed from warm red to cold black even with the Everlight’s hand still tangled in it.
Before she could even whisper his name, Asmodeus kicked Sarenrae with such power that she was knocked back into her followers. She only realized the Lord of the Hells true purpose when her body slammed hard against the front ranks of her own zealots, causing them to cry out in pain. She reflexively shaped her godly magic to heal them but as promised, the Lord of the Hells countered every attempt she made to help her followers.
The Everlight was able to blink and transmute her own body into insubstantial etherealness so that she didn’t harm more of her army but the damage was already done to those unlucky enough to have been in the front and those less regimented soldiers pressed back against the devils that surrounded them and were dead on the ground before they had even made it half a step back courtesy of the army of Asmodeus. The bright haired human that had attempted to step past Zerxus was a pile of ash next to his boots when he raised his Exalted Mace of the Black Crown again to signal now to his troops to take a step forward, with Xartaza from inside his Mace whispering praise of their army’s precision movements into his skull.
Before she had even come to a complete stop the Everlight was commanding her followers not to stand between her and Asmodeus. But her zealots loved her with all their being and couldn’t stop themselves from stepping between their God and the Greatest of Devils. And so every one of the Everlight’s worshippers that met the Lord of the Nine Hells with their weapons raised against him was dead from a glance and already growing cold before their bodies even hit the ground.
With every shining zealot between the newly returned to corporeal Sarenrae and the seething Asmodeus either dead or fleeing to not so tender mercies of an army of devoted devils, the Lord of the Nine Hells allowed his body to shift to the size of the mountains behind him and then reached down and plucked up the still human sized Everlight between the sharp black fingernails of his thumb and forefinger. She looked as small as an ant between Asmodeus’ titanic fingers and before she could shift her form to match his, the Lord of the Hells was tossing the Everlight back into her ranks of followers. The Everlight transmuted her form to pure etherealness before she hit any of her zealots but her army was mortal and still flinched back from the expected blow only to run into the swords, spikes and flames of the Hellish army.
And once more Zerxus raised his Mace of the Black Crown and commanded his army to take another step over the bodies and ashes of the Everlight’s host.
When Asmodeus once more reached down to pinch Sarenrae between his black fingernails, she was already shifting her size to match his height, her hand barely larger than a doll’s against the massive thumb that had been coming towards her, quickly growing until one of her hands could wrap around his thumb and the other could hold his wrist with her own mace left uselessly on the ground with her followers. The Everlight pushed back against the Lord of the Hells now that they were both of equal height until the Devil smiled at her and stopped matching her strength so suddenly that she lost her footing. Then Asmodeus gave her a gentle shove, a move that had the God of Compassion stumbling and crushing her own followers under her feet. Asmodeus’ smile widened into a grin over his sharp teeth as the death throws of of the Everlight’s dying zealots echoed up to them.
Dashing the tears from her eyes with one hand and sending a wild punch towards Asmodeus with the other, in the moment it took for the Lord of the Hells to avoid the blow the Everlight transmuted from her feet to her knees to etherealness so she wouldn’t harm her own followers with her steps. The Lord of the Hells took in her strategy and raised an exquisitely arched black brow before the corner of his perfect mouth kicked up in the hint of a smile. He allowed his form to grow even greater than the mountains and loomed over his beloved sibling and their combined armies before pushing both hands down on the Everlight’s armoured shoulders and forcing her feet through the hard packed ground, their currently ethereal nature preventing her from bracing against this attack and she had to continue to make more of her lower body ethereal so that Asmodeus couldn’t use her body to shove her followers into his own army. When the Everlight’s body was sunk almost to her waist, the immense form of the Lord of the Hells smirking at her even as he was large enough to shadow both of their armies from the sun at his back, she reached under the bodies of her fallen zealots and pulled up her mace and resized it to fit her massive form and aimed a blow at Asmodeus’ chin.
He reeled back to avoid the weapon and in that moment Sarenrae threw it underhand to hit Asmodeus’ unarmored belly. It knocked him back and did the closest a god could get to having the breath he doesn’t need knocked out of him. He stumbled away from the armies as the Everlight took the moment to step back to ground level and make her legs corporeal again as she too stepped away from their armies and moved across the battlefield to pick up her gigantic mace before squaring off with her sibling once more, both of them standing taller than the mountains.
As the Everlight moved to bash the Lord of the Nine Hells in the knee cap to keep him from crowding her into her army again, her own Champion took the initiative to organize the most stalwart of his Lady’s troops and position them into a wall against the devils that hemmed them in. The Everlight’s Champion was a sweet looking gnome, with dark hair and lively blue eyes, who posted himself up directly in front of Zerxus with those blue eyes at the same level as where the Belt of Storm Giant Strength once hung but on Zerxus’ current form they only went up to the top of his boot. The gnome gave him a smirk as he locked arms with his compatriots and took a step back from the army of devils, obviously hoping that he could keep more of his Lady’s army alive by making a buffer zone between the more skittish followers of the Everlight and the army of devils charged with killing any who made moves to flee.
Zerxus let out a snort of amusement. He gave the Champion of the Everlight a nod and received one in return.
Understanding that for the moment he could just watch the fight between the Everlight and the Lord of the Hells without needing to keep his eye on any of the zealots hoping to flee, Zerxus shifted his weight in his sooty jackboots and took in this awe inspiring moment in history. Beings older than the first breath, standing taller than the mountains fought together. One stood in golden armour that set off her dark skin and the dancing wreath of her bright hair sparking like fire around her all haloed by beautiful wings of ivory feathers. The other dressed simply in a shadow of silk around his waist that allowed everyone to admire the crimson perfection of his body in all its glory and the width of each of his cloven hooves as wide as the entire city of Avalir.
They fought like the family they were, with cheap shots in soft places while screaming insults at each other followed up with hard hits that made even the most hardened of the devils cringe in the closest they could manage to sympathy. Asmodeus fought without weapons or armour, counting on his godly powers to keep him safe from attacks and to be his offense should he need something more powerful than his body to harm his enemies. Currently it seemed that the Lord of the Hells was only using his powers to draw out each of his successful hits on the Everlight, a strategy she returned in kind each time she was able to knock him to the ground. She would wait for those interminable moments in the Time Stop until he looked up at her before she would allow time to resume and then loudly ask if he was willing to take her hand yet now that he was below her. Asmodeus would jump to his feet in a rage once more, as earthquakes would spider away from his feet always stopping just shy of the remnants of the Everlight’s army just as he promised. And so their pattern would begin again, verbal sniping, exchanging blows until a hard hit would send the opposite staggering back.
Only once did the Everlight unfurl her ivory wings and use them to get distance and favourable positioning. With her size comparable to the mountains behind her, just a single beat of her wings was powerful enough to start tornadoes. While she did know to direct these tornadoes at the Lord of the Hells, she couldn’t stop the downbeats of her wings from causing gusts strong enough to knock fully armoured soldiers from their feet. She immediately came back to the ground when she noticed that the gusts were sending those closest of her host into the wall of unforgiving devils.
They continued for hours, as only gods could, back and forth, until the Everlight’s armour was warped and her wings sooty from multiple direct hits from the meteors that were called down upon her and the perfect body of Lord of the Nine Hells glistened crimson with sweat and blood. Occasionally Asmodeus would manage to trip her up close to her own army that yet again she would crush her devotees under her feet before she could push them both away from the armies once more.
It was a painful strategy to watch unfold. From the blows of her own body much of the Everlight’s own army was being decimated. Each death seemed to affect her personally, a golden tear running down her cheek for each of her fallen. The wall of brave zealots between the devils and the panicky young soldiers was keeping the kill count of the Hellish army low but that hardly mattered when dozens of followers died with every misstep their God made. The Everlight had brought her entire host with her to this confrontation, even fresh faced youths who had never seen a single battle, nearly 30 thousand strong but less than 4 thousand were elite fighters and all were mortals.
After more than 5 hours of their gods fighting, the Everlight had lost more than half of her army and at least 3/4 of her most powerful zealots to her own blows. Sarenrae’s power seemed to diminish with the loss of her army, she was no longer taller than the mountains (though she still rivaled their size) and her hits no longer snapped with enough strength to have Asmodeus dancing away from them.
Back in his war room in his fortress of Nalsheem, before this battle had ever started, the Lord of the Hells had told his assembled generals that during the Schism he noticed that the number of living worshippers affected the power of the beings they worshipped. Therefore if you killed their worshippers, you killed the power of gods, he hypothesized. And he was painfully right.
Here on these desolate plains in northern Exandria, the Everlight was panting, exhausted and her wounds were healing far slower than at the beginning of the battle. Whereas the Lord of the Hells, though slickly covered in his own blood, was breathing easily and all his wounds continued to heal at the same rate. His host was only a fraction of the size of the Everlight’s, a little over 9 thousand, but they had had next to no causalities and any who’s body sundered here where immediately transported back to the Hells and never stopped being a “living worshipper” of Asmodeus.
It was a terribly effective plan. And it was obvious that it was only a matter of time before the loss of followers broke the Everlight completely.
But still she pleaded with him, reminded him of good times long past, begged him to stop his campaign against mortals. Sometimes Asmodeus would scream back at her. Others he would use his remarkable gift with words to reel her in. Having her to think that she was getting through to him by telling her what she wanted to hear. Until he had her where he wanted her and he could spring a trap on his beloved Raei.
And still the battle sprawled on for hours more. The slowly dwindling numbers of the Everlight’s host draining her bit by bit. Her grief a tangible thing as she inadvertently caused the deaths of her followers. The Everlight loved her devotees so it didn’t matter that she knew that it was only a manipulation of Asmodeus to believe that it was her fault they were dying. She could still feel their bodies break under her when she wasn’t fast enough to keep them all safe. And it was literally killing her.
Sobbing the Everlight continued begging the Lord of the Hells to take her hand. But no matter how much he might lean into her sympathies with clever conversation, Asmodeus remained solidly the ruby skinned devil he insisted he wanted to be. And continued to manipulate his once beloved Raei into tricks that killed her mortal followers.
The most spectacular was that which ended the battle.
For the first time since the battle began, Asmodeus allowed himself to be in between Sarenrae and their armies. He made it look convincing of course, getting tripped up by a kick to his unprotected legs. He fell heavily, the subsequent earthquakes once again stopping just shy of the armies. Even in his form that towered over mountains, on his knees his Raei could now gaze down at him.
“Are you tired of being down there? Are you ready to let me bring you back up?” Sarenrae asked, her face still shining with tears for her fallen. This part of their conversation was currently in Celestial.
Responding in kind, Asmodeus spat back. “You haven’t hit me hard enough to keep me down here.”
And so the Everlight threw a Meteor Storm at him, angling it low to hit him while he was on the ground. Only to watch in horror when the Lord of the Hells dropped down to the size of a man and all of her meteors went sailing into her own troops.
She tried to counter her own magic. Asmodeus negated that with a thought. So she manipulated the magic and changed her attack to only be fire, something she obviously hoped would spare the most of her troops. And her zealots were resistant to flames, so many survived the first hit but only the most elite of her forces survived to the end of the Storm.
Now her followers numbers were less than a hundred, all of them charred by their God’s own attack.
While an entire army of devils grinned at them, all completely immune to fire.
The Everlight collapsed, her form diminishing even further at the loss of so many of her zealots. Her armour fell off her body, keeping its mountainous size even as its owner shrank to hardly taller than Hill Giant.
The Everlight curled her legs up to her chest as she wept for her lost followers. The gigantic pieces of armour haphazardly arrayed around her pathetic form giving the whole scene the look of a messy house with adult armour on the floor next to a child’s doll. The Everlight was now revealed to be wearing a simple chiton of raw silk the same colour as her ivory wings. She wept. And wept. Until she had worked herself into choking sobs.
What remained of her zealots began to unlink from the wall they had created as a bulwark against the devils and run to their fallen God.
They ran past Asmodeus. Most not even recognizing him in his man sized form as he sat, still and silent and watching his Raei as she grieved.
The Everlight’s zealots tended to their heartbroken God with soft words and compassionate service. They found some unburnt cloth and soaked it with what liquid remained in their canteens and carefully wiped her face. Tears continued to stream down her beautiful dark cheeks but her followers carried on cleaning her up.
By the time that those first few had made it to her clavicle and then moved down to her now bare arms, the rest of her zealots broke rank and moved towards their God.
The blue eyed Champion of the Everlight in front of Zerxus hesitated far longer than his companions on either side, he even held on to their arms even as they already were moving towards their God before they shrugged him off. With a sigh and a look of pure resignation, the gnome Champion turned his back on the Hellish army and went to join what remained of the Everlight’s zealots.
“He will kill you.” Zerxus found himself warning the other Champion.
The gnome shot him a look over his brightly armoured shoulder. “Then I will die with her.”
“You dying might kill her.” Zerxus’ mouth was still moving.
The Champion of the Everlight turned around to stare back at Zerxus and the devil horde at his side. “Gods can’t die.”
Zerxus gave a shrug. “My Master wishes to see how true that is.”
The blue eyed gnome shook his head, a dark lock of hair falling in front of his eye. “You can’t scare us, if we fall, we will be with the Everlight for the rest of eternity.”
“We can’t die so we know how long an eternity is.” Strangely he felt like he was unable to keep his mouth shut, despite the growing number of devils looking at their own Champion in askance.
“You’re welcome over on this side, if you would prefer.” The gnome offered, his face open enough to be genuine.
Zerxus barked out a mirthless laugh. “I kneel to no god, save the one who owns my soul.”
At this there were chitters of agreement from the Hellish army. All of them united in disbelief at the mere thought of bowing and scraping for any god but Asmodeus.
“The Everlight builds us up into the best versions of ourselves. We kneel to show our love and thanks at her blessings.” The Everlight’s Championed protested, his burnt face earnest.
“Love is what dooms and saves worlds in the same breath.” Zerxus swallowed against the emotions that tried to crawl up his throat. “You speak of only petty flatteries that serve your own self interest.”
The gnome stuck out his chin. “Then I go to my doom for her.”
“Then your world is pretty small.” Still Zerxus could not stem this flow of words.
The Champion of the Everlight just sighed. “Perhaps.” And moved to join what remained of the brightly armoured host now tending to their collapsed God.
Zerxus let out a breath. Knowing his role, he then raised the Mace of the Black Crown to signal his troops to reposition.
The Hellish army formed a loose circle around the Everlight and what was left of her host. Zerxus positioned himself closest to Asmodeus who was still sitting on the ground staring at his Raei.
The remnants of the bright host of Sarenrae were still trying to console their God. She was no longer curled into a ball on the ground but was now sitting upright weeping into her pulled up knees. This continued for what seemed like another age.
The sun was turning red-gold on the horizon when the Everlight was finally composed enough to speak. She apologized to her devotees through her tears, apologized for the loss of their loved ones and their pain. They immediately reassured her of their forgiveness, as the followers of a Redeption God would, and they reminded her that they loved her and would do it again knowing everything they know now. The Everlight begun to weep again and lovingly held each of her remaining zealots in turn.
This was the last straw for Asmodeus apparently. He took to his feet and moved towards the Everlight, his body still the size of a man. By the time he had cleared the distance between his resting place and hers, the Everlight was almost finished embracing all of her remaining followers. At first the zealots didn’t react to him at all, too busy admiring their God as she commiserated with their pain, a dark haired man hardly an unexpected sight. But the perfect ruby skin of a god was hard to ignore in a crowd of brightly armoured mortals and soon they let out a cry and turned to face their enemy.
As with before, they were dead before they hit the ground. It didn’t matter what orders the Everlight begged of them, as a whole all her zealots raised their arms against the Lord of the Hells and died where they stood. The last to fall was a sullen faced half-elf who reminded Zerxus of Purvan Suul, his long dark hair streaming behind him as dropped to the ground.
Sarenrae screamed.
Her grief and pain were so tangible that many lesser devils of the Hellish army exploded into fire to return to the Hells rather than bear it any longer.
Her scream seemed to coalesce into a white hot fire centred in her chest. It grew brighter and brighter until it was so impossibly bright that all but Asmodeus needed to shield their eyes. The scream cut off abruptly and the white flashed and fire spiralled outward with such force that it set the Hellish army back on their heels. The flash so bright that Zerxus could now see the negative image imprinted on the inside of his eyelids.
And now echoing silence.
Blinking to clear his eyes, Zerxus took in the battlefield. The Hellish army stood stock still, waiting for their next order. The area where the Everlight had been was now just a tangle of bodies. The Everlight’s bright hair and the Lord of the Hells’ shining horns were no longer visible.
All eyes fell on Zerxus as the highest ranking on the battlefield.
“Gather their dead, we take their bodies to Nalsheem.” The Infernal words came as a warm rumble from his chest, comforting in a way they never should be. “Start from the north and move south.”
The devils gave him a nod and immediately moved to obey his orders. This plan had already been laid out before they ever left the Hells.
As the devils moved north to begin collecting the Everlight’s fallen, Zerxus moved south. His direction the pile of bodies that were the final to fall in the conflict.
The Champion of the Everlight looked back at him, those blue eyes sightless in death, his armoured body braced into a seated position by the body of a Goliath behind him. The hazel eyes of the sullen half-elf also caught Zerxus attention as he stepped carefully over a tangle of limbs. He supposed it was their stubborn gleam that remained even after death that reminded him of Purvan Suul.
The Everlight had an ogrillon as part of her host and it’s corpse now slumped awkwardly over its companions causing a pile of bodies so tall that Zerxus needed to walk around it.
In the hollow behind the bodies of her fallen was a broken Sarenrae, her body unlike anything Zerxus had ever seen. It was almost like she had fractured into a puzzle with most of the parts missing from view. Her strong right shoulder was where it should be in relation to her face but there was no smooth dark neck to connect the 2 points. Just a void that looked like the night sky. She had no right arm, her shoulder again just transitioned into a star-scape. She had a left hand where it should be but again nothing but the starry void connecting it to the rest of her body. Both her feet were corporeal but one cut off at the ankle into the void with only a part of her thigh still being visible on that leg and the other foot cut off at the heel with only her knee still physically there on that side. The torso of the what was once the Everlight was almost completely a starry void, from the tops of her legs to her one remaining shoulder. One shard of richly coloured skin still rested above where her heart should be. And both her ivory feathered wings were present, tucked underneath the void. Her entire form was now no larger than a human’s.
Asmodeus sat, also no taller than a man, with her head in his lap. His golden eyes taking in her broken form with an expression between awe and horror.
“They’re all dead.” She whispered.
Zerxus stopped moving.
“Not all.” Asmodeus replied.
“Tana. The one you had leave with Sephina, Glox and Balai.” Sarenrae coughed and blood now speckled her lips. “What are they going to do with Tana?”
“Protect her and her child until they are strong enough to manage without them.” His voice was calm and smooth. “I keep my promises.”
“You have some larger plot that they will inadvertently become a part of.” Sarenrae accused.
“Of course.” The Father of Lies had little need of them himself.
“Do they die?” The words sounded painful to her throat.
“Not by the hands of the Hells.” His voice was soft.
A small sob came from Sarenrae’s broken form. “Damn you.”
A breath of laughter escaped him. “You’ve already done that.”
Tears spilled out of her golden eyes. “I doesn’t have to be this way.”
Asmodeus finally met her eyes, gold to gold. “That doesn’t change that it is, Raei.”
She reached her one remaining hand to his face. “Please. Just come back with me.”
He carefully combed her golden hair away from her face with his red fingers. “You could come to Nalsheem.”
Tears spilled over her cheeks once more. “I have to go to Elysium! They need me! They all just died!”
Asmodeus scoffed and looked back at the void that was all that held his Raei together. “They do this to you and still you choose them over me.”
“You did this to me!” She shot back.
“I told you that keeping mortals would just lead to your own downfall.” He argued.
She shook her head. “I can’t stay with you if you are just going to hurt me. I need to go home. To heal, to comfort my followers and to watch over Tana and her babe.” Sarenrae cupped Asmodeus’ sharp jaw and angled his face down to look at her.
Asmodeus petulantly refused to meet the golden eyes that matched his own.
“When you are ready to come home, I’ll be waiting.” She told him.
Asmodeus swallowed but would not look her in the eye.
And with a sigh, she was gone.
Silence reigned. The wind died to nothing and the devils collecting the dead from the battlefield were too far off to intrude on this moment. Asmodeus still gazed at where his Raei’s broken body had lay. Zerxus refused to breathe for fear of disturbing the moment.
Long moments passed, the breeze returned enough to toss Asmodeus’ long black hair over his shoulder to his chest. Susurrations of distant conversation between commanders and their lieutenants filtered over the wall of bodies that blocked Asmodeus from view of his army.
Asmodeus scrubbed a hand over his face before letting out a sigh. Unerringly, he turned and looked Zerxus directly in the eye. “Are those tears for me or her?”
Surprised, Zerxus brought his gauntleted hand up to his face and sure enough it came away wet. He swallowed against his dry throat and only a whisper came out. “I don’t know.”
Asmodeus let out a puff of air. “My champion. The eternally honest man.” With that he stood and his form grew to his preferred size for leading his army, about as tall as a town’s temple. Which of course made him taller than Zerxus’ current form.
Zerxus let out a breath he hasn’t realized he was still holding. He was disgustingly relieved that he didn’t have to navigate the uncharted waters of how to interact with Asmodeus while Asmodeus was smaller than him. He pulled in a new breath right as he was blasted with a strong gust of air.
This mild tornado was fashioned by Asmodeus, seemingly to remove all of the Everlight’s fallen soldiers from the area. He stood alone where her broken body had been and looked to where he had blown her followers corpses, he gauged something by his internal measure and sent another small tornado to move them further away. He nodded to himself and turned back to Zerxus.
Zerxus took the pause to lay his gauntleted hand on the middle of Asmodeus’ chest and push his most powerful Cure Wounds into him.
Asmodeus arched a perfect black brow at him.
“You’re hurt.” Was the only answer he could give him.
Asmodeus looked down at his own body, the skin unblemished by wounds since before the last of the Everlight’s host fell. His golden eyes then met Zerxus’ once more. “You remain the most remarkable creature.” His hand clasped around Zerxus’ wrist, still pressed against the gorgeous ruby skin of his chest, and he began to chant a spell in Celestial.
Around them a massive cathedral erupted into being, walls made of obsidian and decorated with jet and ruby, as tall as any of the grand temples of Vasselheim that Zerxus had seen in his life. Together they now stood upon the dais in the centre of this newly created church, Zerxus looked up and directly above them was a golden statue of the Everlight. Her golden form was haloed by wings made of diamonds and she held a ruby cut in the shape of a heart to her chest. On tall columns golden braziers gleamed from the massive bonfires that filled them and in turn they lit the statue from beneath, giving the impression that Sarenrae was emerging from these flames. Repeated on each of the steps that led to the floor of the dais, Zerxus could read the inscription picked out in rubies the size of a man's fist: "On this spot, Raei the Everlight, God of Compassion and Redemption, fell to Asmodeus the Lord of the Nine Hells." It took Zerxus a moment to realize that all the text was written in Infernal.
He inspected the temple more closely: the soaring ceiling was gilded to resemble the flames that wreathed the sky in the Nine Hells, there was none of the Everlight's preferred ivory detailed in any of the accents, all the writing was in Infernal, the building style reminded him of Nalsheem, and all the colours of this cathedral were that of black, ruby and gold. Asmodeus' colours.
The stained glass that decorated the massive windows depicted the battle that had just taken place away but twisted in a way that only the Lord of the Hells would see as truth. There was a scene of the Everlight and the Lord of the Hells standing together as she ordered her zealot to the arms of the Erinyes. Another scene of Sarenrae threading her hand through Asmodeus' long black hair. A scene of the Everlight trampling her own troops. A depiction of Sarenrae's own wings blowing her troops to the waiting devils. Scene after scene of all the ways that the Everlight had caused the deaths of her own host, all of them making it look maliciously intentional and as if she was doing it to please the Lord of the Hells. A window dedicated to her embracing her zealots but twisted to make it look like she picked up her followers alive, embraced them to death and then dropped their corpses onto a growing pile. The final window, the one that faced the door of this 10 sided rotunda, was of Asmodeus holding his Raei in his lap at the end of the battle, who was depicted in her broken state but with flames immolating her body rather than the void that Zerxus had seen, with her gently holding his face surrounded by the corpses of her followers.
"Everyone is going to think she did this all for you." Zerxus whispered in mounting horror, his hand going limp on the Lord of the Hells chest. "That she is with you now."
"Now all her mortals will love her for what she did or hate her for what she failed to do." With his hand still clasped around Zerxus' wrist Asmodeus gave his champion a tug towards the door.
Zerxus allowed himself to be pulled out of this Infernal monument to Asmodeus' Raei.
Once outside, the Lord of the Hells immediately released his hand and stalked over to where the devils were collecting all of the corpses of the Everlight's followers.
Zerxus forced himself to take in the exterior of this cathedral. As with the interior, all of the details favoured Asmodeus style rather than Sarenrae. The obsidian walls gleamed sickly in the dying light of the sun. The pediment above the entrance had only the word Raei picked out in rubies written in Infernal. A frieze of flames rendered in shining gold surrounded the entire edifice. Down the black column to the right of the hinges of the grand door was an explanation that this temple was dedicated to the fall of Raei and then a list of all of her titles. To the left of the door, that matching black column read that this temple had been built by Asmodeus followed by the full list of his titles. Again all written in Infernal, though this time the letters were carved into the stone and then gold filled the depression until it was flush with the exterior.
He lost track of time trying to find any meaningful attempt to depict this as a temple to the Everlight rather than a monument to the Lord of the Hells victory over his once beloved sibling. Zerxus trekked around the full circumference of the exterior of this black cathedral before returning to the interior in search of anything that was only Sarenrae. He examined each of the stained glass windows looking for the Everlight's own iconography. He found none. Even her wings in the stained glass tableaus were depicted with clear glass to allow the outside weather to dictate the colour of the feathers rather than allow them to be seen in their natural ivory.
It was always Raei, never Sarenrae as her followers and other siblings called her. This church celebrated the death of all of her followers without showing her grief at their loss. And never did this temple acknowledge that the Everlight had chosen her believers over the Lord of the Nine Hells.
"We return to the Hells victorious!" Asmodeus' voice rang across the battlefield and echoed into the obsidian rotunda in which Zerxus stood. "We go to Avernus to parade our spoils up the River Styx, through Dis, then Minauros, and Phlegethos, then Stygia, and Malbolge, up Maladomini, through Cania, and finally to Nessus! The bodies of her fallen will build up the curtain walls of Nalsheem even higher! Her armour will decorate the walls her followers make! And everyone will tremble at the might of the Nine Hells!"
Jubilantly the Hellish army roared back at their master.
Inside this black church to the perverted memory of the Everlight, Zerxus did tremble.
A rush of power and then a breathless stillness signaled that the Lord of the Hells had shifted his army back to the Hells.
But Zerxus remained in the Infernal cathedral to Asmodeus' Raei. And he felt ill. He stood on legs that shook beneath him. And there he stayed until the Lord of the Hells darkened the massive entrance of this obsidian temple.
Asmodeus met his gaze, golden eyes challenging. "These tears are for her."
Once again Zerxus wiped away tears that he had not realized that he had shed. "You took away who she truly is. You made everything about her belong to you."
"She has always belonged to me. Just as you belong to me, my Champion." The voice of the Lord of the Nine Hells was sharp and unforgiving. "Come."
The contract that governed the terms for Zerxus' soul burned brightly across the face of the Mace of the Black Crown as it compelled his shaky legs to walk towards the god that owned him. The magical insistence he move towards the Lord of the Hells burned the trembling out of his body and he took the time to knuckle the last of the tears from his eyes. Right as he was about to reach Asmodeus, Zerxus gave a final glance throughout the temple searching for any shred of the Everlight as she truly was rather than who the Lord of the Hells wished her to be.
Shockingly Zerxus finally found some of Sarenrae. At the centre of the dais beneath the massive golden statue the focal point of the entire temple, there was a single feather fallen from the Everlight's ivory wings. Even covered in soot, the feather shone brilliantly in the dark cathedral. It was so noticeable that Zerxus could not understand how he had failed to see it before now. He stepped out of the church, coming abreast with Asmodeus, but Zerxus was still looking at the only true relic of the God for whom the temple was named.
The Lord of the Hells dropped a heavy hand on his Chamption's pauldron and they shifted to the rocky wasteland of Avernus, the first layer of the Hells. Asmodeus immediately pulled his hand away then turned to his troops and stalked towards them.
Zerxus followed a few steps behind, his head still spinning at all the implications of the day he had just witnessed. Then he caught Asmodeus make a strange movement with his left hand and three ivory feathers he had been holding, that Zerxus had been too upset to register, were pulled through a teleportation portal in which Zerxus saw a quick glimpse of the Lord of the Hells private apartments.
The Champion of the Lord of the Hells snorted and real fire came out. How like his Master to take three quarters of what was available for himself.
And Zerxus hated the quiet sound of his own hopeful voice in his head pointing out that: 'He didn't keep everything to himself...'