NATHANIEL
FIVE YEARS LATER
The years could be said to have been good in Nathaniel. But that would probably be because he no longer aged. As if he needed more proof that he was dead, but he had grown stronger, faster, smarter and even more powerful than could have ever been imagined. But he had not just grown alone, Eve was eleven years old. She was still just a child, but she looked like a teenager at fifteen.
Her powers also grew unprecedentedly, but so did her body. But with all the years that had passed on their journey east, Eve's true strength laid in the fact that she could command the hearts of thousands with just a smile on her face. And that's what she had done.
In their five years together, they had amassed a community of almost three thousand followers, and many of them were demons of different kinds, races and beliefs. But all of them were brought together under the banner of one belief, and that was that Eve was a manifestation of Lilith, the mother of all demons.
But Eve was not the only one who had become famous, many of this people followed Eve for her power and potential, but most of them were here because of Nathaniel. Apart from the fact that he was human, and a rather fascinating subject for all of them, he was powerful, and he protected his own.
Nathaniel used to be someone who did not like to be in the spot light, he did not want to be at the head of anything. But ever since he came to hell, he had come to a realization that there were some things you couldn't do alone. And with that realization came a thirst for power the likes of which hell had probably never seen or experienced before.
Slowly but surely, Nathaniel changed from the broken innocent boy who would do anything for his family, to a powerful warlord who was benevolent to his followers but brutal and cruel to his enemies or anyone who dared to stand in his way. Nathaniel changed so drastically that he had even forgotten his reasons for being here, his family and past had all just become nothing but a blurred memory at the back of his head. He had embraced his life here, and he enjoyed every second of it.
"My lord Nathaniel, the prince of red tree city has come to discuss terms with you."
Nathaniel was standing on a cliff, overlooking an entirely different landscape than the barren grey mountains he had been traveling through for the past five years. It was good that he could finally get a change of scenery. Below the cliff was a forest of massive oak trees, but the peculiar thing about these trees were that their leaves were blood red, and on their trunks, the screaming faces of many demons could been seen depicted on it. About five kilometers into the forest was a sight that Nathaniel had not seen, not once in the five years he had spent here...…water.
"Thank you Vane, bring him to me."
There was a massive lake almost a hundred kilometers wide, and right in the middle of the lake was an island with a massive castle built on it. The island had twelve land bridges that connected with the edge of the lake. And around the lake, an entire city was built. In the whole five years of his journey, this was the first time Nathaniel was seeing water, and he had every intention of taking it for himself, it would not be the first time he took something that wasn't his either.
"My lord Nathaniel, your presence here is a great honor to our land, my father has sent me to welcome you and ask what you would demand of us, we will very much like to aid you and your people in your journey east."
The prince did have a way with words, in hell there were three distinct races of demons, there was the royal demons which had noble bloodlines and were most probably descended from the nine first princes of hell. Eve and this prince belonged into that category. Then there was the Theriantropes, Demons who had the appearances of animals and the senses and skills. Demons like this were at the bottom of hells social ladder, but they made for excellent foot soldiers. And finally there was the Infern, this race of demons were always special and peculiar in their own right. They were like a cross between the royals and the Therians. Demons that fell under this category were the Ifrit, grey demons, fiends, etc. There were more of them than any other race.
"What's your name prince, and who's the demoness behind you?"
"Answering the esteemed lord, my name is Brutus from the royal line of Mephistopheles. And this is my bride and the recently appointed minister of foreign relations, we have been sent together by the king to discuss terms with you."
Nathaniel was surprised, there was something going on here, but even the prince himself did not seem to know. But his bride however was an entirely different matter.
"Terms, what a joke. I'm sure my reputation precedes me does it not."
Brutus looked confused by the sudden change in their conversation, though it could not be considered a conversation since the prince was the only one talking. But never the less he gave his answers sincerely and honestly.
"Yes it doe's, but I don't understand where we have gone wrong. Please enlighten me, so that I can make amends."
"Well your sincerity is absolutely annoying, but I can see you're doing this for your people. I respect a man who would not hesitate to bow his head for the lives of the innocent. So I will tell you this, if you knew me well enough by now, you would know that I don't discuss anything with my enemies, I just breeze through a place and take what I want. And I also have a thing for succubus's, which brings me to the question why would you bring one, much less your own bride here."
Brutus seemed to gave finally realized what was going on as he turned his head to his wife, who was looking at him with the most pleading expression Nathaniel had ever seen in a succubus. This race of demon's lived for carnal pleasures, things like love did not matter to them, so Nathaniel was a bit suspicious she was very hesitant to end up in his bed, not that it would save her though.
"My father had requested that she come along to improve diplomatic relations between us. My lord please, there are tons of demonesses in red tree city, all of them the very best the soul tree forest has to offer, please let me...…."
"Stop!!"
Brutus just came to a sudden realization that he was about to loose his wife. Nathaniel was not in the business of taking a man's wife, but this demoness intrigued him to no end, and so did her husband. Both of them had something Nathaniel was only seeing for the first time since he came to hell. They had great love for each other, and while that might have been inspiring for the old Nathaniel, the new one was jealous of it. He hated it, because the way he saw it, he would never get the chance to have something like that. If he couldn't have it, then no one else can.
"Your father set you up, young prince. You were meant to be nothing more than just a pretty mouth piece that would get me upset and end up loosing your head. Your wife however is the real envoy, she's quite literally a gift to prevent unnecessary bloodshed. Now I don't know what would possess a father to sell out his own son and daughter in-law, so I'm going to find out. But before that I will give you a choice...….give me your woman."
Was Nathaniel a good person, well many if not almost all his followers thought so. But he was not, in the five years he had spent in hell, to be able to ensure his survival and Eve's, things like goodness and kindness had to be destroyed. Everything was a means to an end, and with that came the realization that with power he could have anything he wants in this world. By the third year, every trace of the old Nathaniel was gone, his family became nothing more than a memory. His desires became the second main driving force of his afterlife, along with protecting Eve.
"My lord please, I love her. And it is because of that love that my father had done this to us, please ask for anything for else."
"Don't beg, you know I won't. You can either hand her over to me yourself, or I'll kill you, take her in front of your corpse, I'll be sure to make certain the evidence of carnal coupling sprays over your body and send you well off on your journey to the void. Then I will go down there and burn that entire city to the ground, kill everyone of your family except your father, then leave your pretty wife with your broken father.
But if you give her to me, you both get to live, you will have that city as compensation, I will get you revenge and all the power you require. But she would not belong to you. Better choose wisely, because I rather not waste a talent such as yourself, or an ass as fine a hers."
Love was a novelty, it was rare in hell. Unlike humans or any other race in Zion, demons had a hunger for power as their most primary emotion, while love was secondary. The love between this two did not stem from the prince, it was from his wife. The prince would have been any other average demon prince who wanted power just as much as the next person. That is until he met his wife, A succubus that no one had realized, was half human. It explained everything to Nathaniel about why the prince was so helplessly in love with her, because that was just the effect humans had on anything that came in contact with. Even the most vile of them all would spread love like a virus anywhere the go.
Brutus now had a choice, he could choose his love, or his own basic instinct and thirst for power. Whichever one he wanted would determine Nathaniel's next course of action.
"My love please forgive me. This is the only way, even if I can't have you, I'm happy as long as you're alive. My lord Nathaniel I present my wife, my heart, my true love Khansiza Luxicinera Vasinock, and with her I offer my loyalty and my sword."
Nathaniel had an intense urge to jump with giddiness, because quite frankly he loved winning. And so far it seemed like he had won again. This Khazi girl whatever would most definitely be pissed off that her husband gave her up that easily. If she was an ordinary succubus she would not have cared that much, but she had a human heart, and that was what Nathaniel would use to completely own her.
"Vane take the good prince and have him fed, give him an armor and two hundred good soldiers of his choosing. We move on his father in an hour."
"Yes my lord."
Prince Brutus of red tree city was led away, lesser than he was when he first came here. He did not look back even once as he made his way down the hill. Nathaniel could not help but shake his head as some part of him felt revulsion and sympathy over the actions he had just taken, but that trace of humanity was only fleeting and persisted for a moment. Then he turned to the demoness and said to her.
"Take of your clothes."