- Lucifer and Elijah -
Lucifer had told the group during the initial planning of this trip that he didn't want to stop until they arrived at Sangmara. Elijah had been informed that the team normally wouldn't make stops but that they had taken precautions in the past mission because of him. The group arrived at Sangmara and went to the vampiric rulers' castle.
The group split off into various groups, Peter with Lao and Dimitri, Heinrich with Sabu and Yvere, Death with Gwyn and Lucius, and Lucifer with Elijah. Lucifer and Elijah were sitting at a table in a room lit by a single hanging bulb with a large book between the two of them. Sounds of the match between Death and the vampire king and queen could be heard through the walls.
Lucifer spoke first, "As excited as I am with you wanting to talk about this, this doesn't mean you're getting out of your training."
"I'm aware," Elijah sighed. "Let's get through this before he inevitably calls to check on me."
The room shook a little while the sound of explosions could be heard. Dust fell from the ceiling onto the book.
Lucifer dusted off the book and turned to a page titled "Inconsistencies." "As you know there seem to be only a few "consistent" rules with magic. The first, and most consistent, is that if you don't have mana, you can't use magic."
The light in the room shook as more vibrations came through.
Elijah stared up at the light. "And yet you can use lifeforce, an "energy" that every living creature should have, including humans in the human world."
"And no human has ever been recorded to use lifeforce magic in the human world," Lucifer added.
The two made a simultaneous "hmm" as the room continued to shake. Elijah looked at the door behind him, curious as to how the vampire King and Queen were doing in the match.
Lucifer ran his finger down the page. "Rule number two, which is even less consistent, is the sometimes inability to control a body with magic. The best example being that water magic doesn't work on the water inside of a body."
Elijah turned back around and looked at the book. "Even Moloch's blood magic, which should have been the perfect tool for controlling bodies, didn't work unless the being was dead."
"And yet possession magic exists," Lucifer tapped his finger on the page. "Granted, possession magic is classed as a chaos variant and often comes with multiple prerequisite conditions, but there are still cases of one being gaining control over another living being's body."
Elijah scratched his head. "I asked Satan about it and he said that 'magic is chaos,' and that 'the basic/chaos magic category is a lie created by upper ranks to feel better about themselves,' along with some other annoying things I won't repeat."
Lucifer sighed. "He's not wrong about either. The categorization of magic in this world is led by those on top. Those on top often have some form of chaos magic. Conjuration, possession, enhancement, transformation, so on so forth, all got classified as "chaos" after Ragnarok, which is now a forbidden topic, so any chance of changing the system is almost zero."
The rumblings stopped, making Elijah and Lucifer both stare at the door.
'They lasted longer than usual,' Lucifer thought.
"Thinking about this stuff gives me a headache sometimes," Elijah groaned. "How did anyone in this world learn to use magic properly without being taught?"
Lucifer leaned back in his chair. "All of us just...knew. Knew the basics, anyways. Natural-born seem to have a similar ability but reborn don't. Regardless," he leaned forward, "rule three, healing magic does not work on the "technically dead" whatever that classification means relative to the specific being."
"I know what it means in the human world but it seems to have a different meaning here," Elijah said.
Lucifer covered part of his mouth with his left hand. "Too many different types of beings to get an accurate representation of what "technically dead" means. My kind is among the worst offenders. Lucky, or unlucky, depending on how you look at it, humans have the easiest determination of when they're dead."
Elijah scowled. "Moving past that, it also appears to be impossible to properly resurrect the dead."
"You can reanimate the corpse but not the soul," Lucifer recited.
"And necromancy was made forbidden after Ragnarok," Elijah added.
Lucifer hid his grin behind his hand. This conversation with Elijah gave him a feeling of nostalgia that he hadn't had in a very long time. He loved these discussions and wished more of those close to him valued them as much as he does.
Lucifer removed his grin. "So all of this, these inconsistencies, all of it, points to one thing; that this world was made by an omnipotent God or Gods who could bend reality on a larger scale than any other. The best two examples I have to go off are Chaos, creator of the link between the worlds, and Kos, the forgotten."
Elijah folded his arms and asked a rhetorical question. "And you want to find these two Gods, or potentially just God if they happen to be the same being?"
Lucifer looked up from the pages at Elijah. "Yes. I understand the dangers of looking for a being or beings with this much power but I have effectively infinite time, so I might as well."
Elijah's expression became melancholic. "This all-powerful existence could be in another galaxy, or even dimension given their powers, which would effectively make them a ghost. Not to mention the fact that Kos is a forbidden name in most territories."
Lucifer made a deep sigh. "As I said, I have all the time in the world to search, and I'm not foolish enough to go around asking strangers about Kos. Maybe what I'm looking for is gone, maybe I'm wrong about all of this, and this world was actually created through some form of warped science. I don't care."
Elijah shook his hands. "I'm not questioning your life goals. I hope you find, whoever, or whatever made this world."
Hearing Elijah say that made ancient memories flash in Lucifer's mind. Conversations he had with his father where he questioned the existence of things. Next were more recent memories of him speaking with Death that seemed eerily similar. As memories started playing in his mind he was reminded again that almost none of the Otherworld natives seemed to share his interest, while humans he had spoken to would often become obsessed with the questions he had.
'Why is it that only humans seem to question existence?' Lucifer thought. 'It's not as if the other races of this world aren't intelligent enough. Natural-born humans don't question things either...If there's some kind of magic that stops thoughts of such things then why am I different?'
Elijah was snapping his fingers. "Lucifer!"
Lucifer shook his head. "Huh? Oh, sorry."
- Ash and Kahvis -
Ash, now wearing a thin blue coat over her black shirt, was sitting in a stone chair in front of the group she was training. She was reading a black book with a burnt cover and humming what sounded like Russian.
"Here to check on me once again?" she asked an approaching Kahvis without looking up.
"How's their training going?" Kahvis asked.
"The ones that are still here are doing well," Ash responded.
Kahvis eyed the book. "What are you reading?"
Ash closed the book. "Just some stories from the Church of Life and Death. I assume you don't have any problems with that?"
Kahvis tilted their head. "Why would someone as powerful as yourself be reading that?"
Ash made a small exhale through her nose. "I just like the stories."
Kahvis noticed the slightest shift in Ash's expression. There was more to this but they couldn't tell what it was exactly. They still didn't fully trust her but figured asking her about this wouldn't give them relevant answers.
Kahvis decided to ask about Yamato instead. "He seems better lately. Whatever you said or did, thank you."
Ash looked up at Kahvis with mild surprise. "Don't think anything of it. The thing he's dealing with just needed a reminder of what can happen to it if it doesn't remember its place."
"I shouldn't be surprised that you knew what was affecting him," Kahvis mumbled too quietly for Ash to hear.
"What was that?" Ash grinned.
"Nothing..." Kahvis mumbled. "Do you mind if I read a page of that book? It's been a while since I've last read one of the passages."
Ash handed the book out to Kahvis. "Nothing's changed so you know. It's all the same stories."
Kahvis quickly flipped to the middle of the book and recited one of the teachings. "To truly die one must be forgotten and yet evil must be remembered if it's to be stopped in the future. This balance shows us that evil and good must always exist, not out of cruel paradox, but necessity."
Ash held her hand out for the book. "That your favorite teaching or something?"
Kahvis closed the book and handed it back to Ash. "An old friend of mine loved that teaching. They said it helped them cope with the...less than fair parts of this world."
Kahvis walked away before Ash could ask about the friend. They were so lost in thought that they didn't hear the sound of a soldier asking them for healing at first.
Kahvis looked over at the soldier who was holding their burnt hand. "Hmm? Oh!" they ran over. "Sorry about that," They apologized as they slowly restored the hand.
Ash watched Kahvis restore the injured hand. 'Could you be? No, that isn't possible, they're dead. What about...no, also dead. No point in thinking about it yet,' She opened her book and started humming again.