- Lucifer, Sabu, Heinrich, Yvere, Elijah, Lao, Dimitri -
Lucifer met up with the six that had left. The six were waiting in one of the training yards of the palace. There were guards nearby so he kept a straight face despite how he was feeling.
"What's going on?" Yvere asked.
"I don't know..." Lucifer responded. "I'm," he whispered, "hearing things I shouldn't be."
Lao and Yvere turned to each other and shrugged. Neither could guess what was possibly going on with Lucifer. They had been wondering about what was said after they left and now the new addition of yet another issue had them more confused.
"What have you been hearing?" Sabu quietly asked.
Lucifer subtly shifted his eyes to look around at the nearby palace guards. He wasn't sure how to approach this. What he heard could have been illusion magic, and even if it wasn't, his sudden ability to clearly hear the voices of distant beings wouldn't suffice as evidence. Before he could think of an answer, he felt his echo thrum with a call.
"What?" Lucifer answered the call.
"Is he training?" Satan asked.
Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose. "He was just about to, thank you for reminding me..." he looked at Elijah. "Go get started, I'll fill you in after."
Elijah nodded and walked to the other side of the training grounds.
"Fill him in on what?" Satan's tone was dripping with curiosity.
"Oh you know the-" Lucifer ended the call and put the echo away. "Anyways," He sighed.
Lucifer scratched his left arm with three fingers. The group members turned their eyes to each other and back to Lucifer. They recognized the signal.
"Did you call Hell on the way back?" Heinrich asked.
Lucifer scratched the side of his head and tapped his ear. "Not yet."
Yvere was next, "How has Vivian been lately?"
"She said she heard a rumor going around one of the cities," Lucifer answered. "Something about a new song that," he tapped his wrist, "no one had heard before suddenly being released."
Lao rubbed his left eye, "Is it the same genre as the last one?"
"Maybe," Lucifer responded. "It wouldn't surprise me. All I can say is that it's worth keeping an ear out for, given what I've heard," He flashed five of his fingers. "These new songs tend to be either nothing special or the next big hit."
With that, all the information was given to the group. The five knew that Lucifer had gained some kind of hearing ability that led to him overhearing something potentially severe. They knew to be on guard until told otherwise. It was a lot of work to give a small amount of information but given what Lucifer had heard he wanted to make sure his team was caught up as soon as possible.
- Death, Peter, Hades -
The three were walking to meet up with Lucifer. Death's expression was tired, Peter's neutral, and Hades's nervous.
"Please don't bring "that" up again while you're here," Hades said to Death.
"I know," Death sighed. "You know I can't guarantee Lucifer won't."
Hades rubbed the back of his neck and stared at the floor. He wanted to press the issue further but felt like he shouldn't until absolutely necessary. He had been working up the courage to say what he had when Lucifer left the room. It was the reason he didn't try stopping Lucifer.
"If he must talk about it, then please have him do so far away from any prying ears," Hades asked Death. "I know Hell works differently but here the world law restricting "that" is taken very seriously. I can't promise there wouldn't be problems if someone caught wind of you talking about it."
Peter sighed. "Ya know, I understand not wanting Luce talkin' about this stuff, but even still, that law seems a bit ridiculous to be world-class."
Death and Hades both looked over at Peter with a look that warned him not to continue his line of thinking.
Peter rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, I won't say things like that again," He spoke under his breath, "Fuckin' ancients..."
Hades whispered to Death, "Is everything okay with him?"
Death's expression was nervous. "It's a complicated story..."
"It's not," Peter mumbled before walking ahead of the two.
- Ash -
(Sometime in the future)
Ash was looking around the burnt remains of a village while being followed by a woman that was trying to get her attention. The woman's body was heavily bruised, with multiple scars around her face and all along her arms. Her skin tone was uneven, with her neck and thighs being a lighter tone than the rest of her deeply tanned body. Her head was shaved and her clothes were burnt rags that barely fit her.
"Please take the rest of us with you!" The woman begged Ash.
Ash didn't stop searching around the rubble and corpses as she spoke, "For the last time, I'm not going somewhere you should follow. Unless one of you knows the location of Tonatiuh I don't want your assistance."
The heads of multiple beings popped out around the destroyed buildings. All of them looked to be in a similar state to the woman.
Ash looked back at the growing crowd of stares and raised an eyebrow, "Are all of you human?"
The woman nodded. "I heard stories of other lessers being taken further into the territory but it seems these monsters prefer humans."
"Are none of you a healer?" Ash asked.
The woman shook her head. "They...sent away any healers they captured. Those of us that survive the daily ritual end up looking like...how I do. I don't suppose you're a healer?"
Ash lightly chuckled. "Sorry, no."
The crowd that had been staring from afar was now joining the woman. Half of them looked around at the corpses of their former captors with hatred while the other half looked at Ash with hope. No one, except for the woman that had been talking to her, could work up the courage to ask Ash for help.
Ash stood up with a sigh. "Alright, I'll just make this clear right now. I'm not protecting anyone who follows me. I will also be going further into danger, so don't expect anything different than what you saw here."
The woman looked around at the others and then back to Ash. "Is the path back safe?"
Ash shrugged. "Maybe. I burnt a path here, so there's either no one the way I came, or there are soldiers checking to see if I'm still there."
"Who...are you?" One man in the crowd shakily asked.
"No one," Ash responded. "If you want to repay me in any way, then never tell others I'm the one that did this."
Ash walked away, leaving the woman to discuss things with the crowd.
"All of you go," The woman said. "I want to join her."
"Sophia you can't fight these things," The man from before questioned.
Sophia looked around at the mass destruction caused by Ash. "I know, but if it gives me the chance to see these monsters pay for what they've done, I'll gladly risk dying."
Worried murmurs filled the crowd. Many wanted to join her but couldn't bring themselves to say it. They exchanged goodbyes and a few hugs before splitting off.
Ash noticed Sophia running up behind her. "I told you I'm not protecting anyone that follows me!"
Sophia, now wearing a makeshift cloak of rags, spoke with conviction, "I don't need your protection. So long as I get to see more scenes like this, I'm fine with whatever happens."
"Suit yourself," Ash said. "What's your magic?"
"Illusion," Sophia answered.
After that interaction, neither of the two was speaking while they walked. Ash started humming the tune from before, prompting Sophia to say something.
"What song is that?" Sophia's tone was oddly curious.
"Russian folk song," Ash said.
"Russian?" Sophia's eyes stayed still.
"Are you natural-born?" Ash asked.
Sophia nodded. "Yes...unfortunately. I don't know much about the human world."
"Don't worry about it," Ash said. "Do you know how to ride one of these?" she said pointing at the creatures the two were approaching.
The creature Ash was referring to was a large, red, salamander-like animal. The two were at a stable full of these creatures.
Sophia chuckled. "After what I've been through, I think I can tolerate riding a laga."
"Good," Ash said while pulling the laga out of the stable. "Because I don't fully understand how to control one."