It's been three years already since Salvatore relocated to Earth. Though he left Masrab in charge, things have not been rosy for him, taking heat from all angles by the demons who opposed to his ruling. He remains the king designate in the underworld, but it's only by name. Other strong demons came together to form a force against Salvatore whom they believed abandoned them, as well as his responsibility for a world he had no business visiting. Masrab was only a puppet placed on the throne by the puppeteer and a ran away king. The underworld gradually turning into a battle ground between the loyalist of Salvatore and another opposing his rule, most especially how he treated the demons who failed the missions he sent them in the land of the living. The opposition group led by the demon of wasp, opined that the first imperative step to take in righting the wrongs of Salvatore was to set the demons in prison free, they infiltrated the prisons and set the prisoners free, including those with justifiable reasons for imprisonment and the unjustifiably imprisoned. There numbers began to grow and looking out for Salvatore's throne by Masrab gradually became an arduous task.
The demons still loyal to Salvatore approached Masrab for councel on how to deal with the uprising, their worries grew stronger more and more realizing Salvatore couldn't be reached, let alone inform him of the threats to his throne. After several deliberations, Masrab and the other loyal demons resolved to sending one of them into the world of the living to find Salvatore. Another question arose about who to send, it was then that Morpheus volunteered for the trip. The whole gathering was asked if they approve of Morpheus decision. Lungrid stood up to support Morpheus with the opinion that the opposition group have greatly improved in numbers, and to engage them would require a similar number, if not more. Besides, Morpheus isn't a warrior like the rest of us, so it would be better if he embarked on the search, while the rest of us protect the throne. They've been completely consumed by the meeting that they had no idea what was going on outside. Masrab suddenly felt a monstrous silence all around the palace. He instructed everyone to be quiet, which they did at once. Everywhere unnaturally quiet, not even the cries of the souls condemned to hell. "This is not good," Morpheus whispered. "I don't think it's wise to wait any longer before Morpheus is sent out, further delay might be disastrous,"said Lungrid. Masrab was advised to take Morpheus out to the transition realm immediately. Masrab grabbed Morpheus and flew out of the chamber, seeing the opposition group already laid siege on the palace. Canan saw two demons flew out of the palace and wondered what they planned on going, so he called on his cousin, Sagan, the bee demon and other five demons to join him in the pursuit of the demons he saw flying. They followed Masrab and Morpheus to the gate of the realm of fire. Canan and Sagan launched their bees and wasp to stop Masrab from going further, but before the bees and wasp could caught up with them, they already went through the gate, which closed behind them immediately. Even though Canan was equally a very strong and high ranked demon, he's never been to this realm, which quite astonished him. They tried opening the gate, but they couldn't because they had no knowledge of the realm. "No one is leaving this place till those fools come out. We're staying here till they're out," Canan assured.
Masrab proceeded to the point of exit and sent Morpheus away. After fulfilling his mission in the realm, he came out the gate, only to find Canan and his followers at the gate. He tried calming them down to avert the fight, but Canan and his group's minds were made-up. "It's war or nothing," Canan promised. They charged towards him and started the fight. They discharged their full wrath on Masrab to suppress him, but he was able to resist them for a while, till Canan hit him too hard in the head, this led to him losing the strength to keep going. Though he was able to take out two demons, he had to surrender just to live to fight another day. They arrested him and sent him into the cell he used himself to imprison offenders. The palace had equally been attacked and the demons taken, including Lungrid. All the loyalist to the throne arrested and jailed, regardless of the consequences to the duties they performed in the celestial reams, that may be affected. Canan stormed the chamber looking straight at the throne before him. "This is now within my reach, all I needed to do is convince my cousin and others to support me to spur this realm to greatness," Canan planned. Sagan on the other hand was also eyeing the seat, like many other demons in the rank. "He who pays the pipers dictates the tune". Canan was of the opinion that the throne should definitely go to him since he was responsible for bringing the rebel demons together and rescuing those imprisoned,"even though he knew that certain hierarchies would challenge him, he believed he'd done enough to win the challenges. He called on the high ranking demons for a short conclave to bare his ambition, but within the ranks, only half supported his ambition while the other half also bares diverse choices. They asked Canan to await their decision and left, but they never reached their destination before they received Sanan's invitation to another separate conclave. Sanan equally held his meeting as scheduled and the outcome was equally a split. That premonished that the throne was not going to be an easy mount for anyone. Things gradually escalated between two cousins who believed they were the rightful candidate, while some other third forces started to gather under the argument that Canan and Sanan were two selfish individuals whose ruling of the underworld would later be likened to Salvatores, or even worse. " they said politics is a game of choice, but when the choices are too many that the game now became a war, then the politics itself becomes a dirty game". Masrab and his followers became a prisoner in the land, they placed their chances of freedom on the successful location of Salvatore by Morpheus. They were at first subjected to a lot of punishments and terror, but as the divisions among the different players in the race for Salvatore's throne became widened, the zeal to continually condemn the prisoners to terror started to alleviate by the jump of time. Though Masrab was a prisoner, he and Sanan used to be friends before Salvatore instructed Masrab to imprison him in hell. So the reason their relationship went south can all be credited to their relationships with the king. Sanan seeked audience with Masrab in prison to set the records straight about his stand on the ungoing strive in the kingdom, then seeks Masrab advise on how to get the throne, because should Canan gain power, it would be difficult to reason with him or even caution him. So Masrab would prefer his old friend took the seat than a tyrant. The high ranking demons called for a meeting to decide the criteria for the ascension to the throne. The demon baring the voices of the other demons stood up to address the gathering. " Today is going to be remembered billions of years to come, when we shall be referenced as the umpire who unseated the devine king and installed a more cautious, brutal, unabashed and considerate king." all the demons present hailed. "I would love to believe that everyone eyeing this throne knows what it entails, even the great Salvatore ran away," they all laughed. Are you all certain about your cabability and strength to rule this cursed kingdom of the underworld?" he asked. They all responded with a resonating voice," yes," expressed with a violent zeal." Now we have to set a standard upon which our would be king would be measured. The next king of the underworld must be the strongest, fastest, wisest and the most knowledgeable here in the underworld," he added. He returned to his seat. The contestants knew already that there was no escaping the contest and whoever wins takes the throne. The contest was scheduled and the draws made. After several contests between the aspirants, lots of them lost already leaving Canan, Sanan and Imelodi to finally battle it out, but it's not about strength this time but wisdom, objectivity and knowledge. The next rounds starts in soon.
Morpheus found himself in Los Angeles for the first time in search of Salvatore. He found the beauty and neatness everywhere challenging, considering where he came from, a place of horror and terror, the atmosphere rigged with burning flesh and the noise of condemned souls resonating it the ears like the bells of st luke. But everywhere was strangely perfect to him here, the cars, houses, roads, and even the crowds on the streets going there different ways and minding their own damned businesses. He started looking everywhere for Salvatore, but no success. How could there be, when he had no address nor a specific area to look for him. Some days later, he was going along and saw a man resembling Salvatore entered into a bank and immediately he sighted him, he ran after him in happiness that is misery would be over very soon, but he definitely did not know Earth very well. He kept shouting, your majesty!!!, but the man he thought was Salvatore never responded, but he kept calling and ran after him into the bank. The security operatives of the bank approached him as they saw him looking around, shouting, and constituting nuisance in the bank. "Hey Mr, why are you here and what do you want?" the security operatives asked. "I'm here for my king, I need to talk to him urgently," Morpheus responded. "I'm gonna ask you to leave now, Mr," the security instructed. But Morpheus shouted instead, "I'm going nowhere till I talk to my king." the operatives were forced to apply some force, which ended up infuriating Morpheus. Since he came to earth through the channel of weak fires, he still has his strength and powers, he held the two operatives and fling them aside like a pack of cards. Another operative radioed for more men leading to them being forced to open fire on him. They expected the bullets to drop him but it just kept bouncing off his body. Morpheus didn't waste any more time, he followed the trail of the Salvatore's resemblance and realized it wasn't Salvatore. He disarmed the operatives and rendered them unconscious. Everyone in the bank already in a critical state of panic, thinking it was a terrorist attack or robbery. Morpheus picked up a gun, looking and looked at it strangely, since it was his first time of seeing such, he had no idea how to handle it, so he turned the gun on himself and pulled the trigger. Strange, isn't it?. The bullet went through his forehead, but to the horror of the people in the bank, it was spit out. Everyone shouted at the bizarre episode of their live they would love to come to a close, they were so surprised and confused to see what majority of them thought was magic. One of the accountants closest to him addressed, "what are you? Please just take whatever you want and leave." Even Morpheus himself had no idea what was happening. Since his mission was to locate the king, then to him, it seems those security agents are trying to stop him. Police officers and FBI agents already laid siege around the bank. Morpheus saw no need remaining in the bank any longer, because he thought wrong about the person he saw entered the bank, he went out the bank with the gun still in his hands. Immediately he exited the bank, the officer assigned to negotiate with him initially when they thought it was an hostage situation, addressed him to drop the gun and put his hands behind his neck, but Morpheus had no business with them and they weren't his mission here in the world of the living. He just ignored them and kept going. An officer approached him and intended to stop him, but he grabbed and flinged him accross the street into the windshield of the patrol vehicle used as barricades. They opened fire on him again, but not even a scratch was left on him. He realized the bullets weren't just for plays but meant to hurt him, but to end the unfortunate event, he hosted his wings and flew away. All the operatives outside the bank were so bewildered, wondering if they just met another traveler from Krypton besides Clark Kent. Almost every media houses in L.A aired the scenario. This made Morpheus a popular broadcast specimen for several days.
Salvatore already arrived at Gestfield with Zagrima and the other armies of his. He was yet to meet with his minions and the witches of Necrophers. Zagrima came across a TV broadcast showing how bullets bounced off an individual in a bank, this caught his interest to know how such human could pull that off, so he decided to be patient with the news to have the full story. He later got a clearer view of the individual, which revealed it was actually Morpheus and not humans. He still had a doubt about seeing that right, "what could he have been doing here," he asked himself. Morpheus hosted his wings and flew away from the scene. This erased Zagrima's left doubts, no assurance is more than these I've seen, he thought. He went straight to Salvatore to inform him of what he just witnessed, but Salvatore had a doubt Masrab would ever send up any other souls or demon to the world of the living, since he already warned him against it before his transition. Zagrima had to bring him before a TV set to see for himself. They were still watching the news when the station broadcasted the recordings taken inside the bank where Morpheus was shouting, "I'm here for my king, I'm here for Salvatore." There's no doubt it's Morpheus. "What could he be doing here?" Salvatore ruminating about Morpheus presence. "It's time to go boss, we've located the cave and the witches," Luke said from behind. Salvatore rubbed Zagrima's shoulders with the palm of his hand, "we'll deal with finding Morpheus after we've dealt with the matters at hand," Salvatore promised. He left the room with Luke, leaving Zagrima to follow behind. They were out to locate the cave where Cathrina first began her alliance with Salvatore. Fortunately, the witches were still holding their mass. He ordered Zagrima to stay behind and went in himself. The witches were surprised at seeing the strange man badged in on them. " How dare you violate our worship ground," the witches accused. "Why are you here?" they asked. Salvatore smiled. Cathrina really did well with this cave in order to protect my interests," he mentioned. The witches were looking lost, then he started mentioning the names of their ancestral witches, down to their immediate mothers. " who are you, " Elena, the head witch asked. "I wish to know to whom you are directing your mass?" Salvatore asked. The witches looked at one another, imagining the extent of his effrontery. " Elena looked beyond Salvatore's impudence, she responded," All hail Salvatore." they all went on their kneels in worship, She continued;
"The ruler of rulers, "
"He duelt on the throne of terror, "
"He consumes the souls of the ungrateful and empowers his children, "
"He owns the underworld, yet shares his grace with the world of the living."
"All hail Salvatore, "
"What's yours you share with us, but what's ours is all but yours, "
" We appreciate your generosity being our savior."
They stood up and there was Salvatore all smiley again. "Now will you reveal your identity," Lola asked. There was a hole in the cave inaccessible to mortals that linked into the underworld. The hole was blocked by the celestial stones to prevent Salvatore from easily coming to the world of the living. It was there in the cave but no one dared move too close without drying up completely due to the amount of heat that exuded from the it. Even where it lead wasn't known, let alone knowing where the heat came from . The hole had been used in the past to punish offenders among the witches of Gestfield. He stood before the hole and stretched out his arms, he closed his eyes and began to absorb all the magical powers inside the cave and beyond, belonging to him. Though the powers he absorbed weren't up to what was consumed from his body by the hell of Abyss, it was enough to host his wings again. He would still need to find the point where the ground swallowed cathrina for his powers to be complete. The witches couldn't believe what just happened, "how his he burning but still standing strong?" this was the question going round their minds. He wore his normal image and personality as the king of the underworld, "Kneel before the king of the underworld, kneel before Salvatore," he said with his voice echoed within the cave and it's surrounding. The witches all went on their kneels immediately, but with another fear of how to relate with who he claimed he is in flesh. " Are we really standing before the king of the underworld in flesh?" Lola asked. Zagrima showed up after hearing the king's voice, knowing he's got his powers back. He approached Salvatore and went down on his kneels instantly. He ordered Zagrima to come to him, but he was finding the heat unbearable in his human form. The closer he got to the heat, the more his skins began to peel, just like it did the time they were coming to earth. Zagrima took up his demon form again from the heat and Salvatore. His powers were back too and his wings as strong as ever. Salvatore turned to the witches, "you all are my favorite pets , even if you failed the mission I gave to you. I will forgive you this once, but their will be consequences for your failures next time. You are now my prophets on Earth who will spread my glories across the land," he addressed the witches. He turned to Zagrima and said," we are done here for now, " they hosted their wings and flew. The witches couldn't bare the shock of all they've just witnessed and once the two flew, the witches collapsed on the floor of the cave. Salvatore and Zagrima were both so happy getting back their powers. It was then they flew back to Los Angeles to find Morpheus.
Boma also watched on the TV what transpired between Morpheus and the security operatives in L.A, which got her to revisit the cave of the protectors again to confirm if it was Salvatore on the TV. He sat with the leader, showing him the recorded video on his phone. But the leader had never seen Salvatore, which meant no response to the identity of the miscreant on the screen. "Though I couldn't confirm the identity of the creature, it still imperative to locate and stop him before someone gets hurt," the leader said. They both concluded to embark on the mission to locate him before he hurts anyone. Morpheus searched for Salvatore both day and nights. In the dark of the night, the leader received a revelation disclosing Morpheus whereabouts, so he called on Boma and both appeared before Morpheus. He realized firsthand that the two weren't ordinary, he decided to take caution. "who are you? " Morpheus asked them. " we are the protectors of this world." Who are you?" the leader asked in return." you need not know me, but when my mission here is completed, I will be gone," Morpheus stood his ground. "You don't belong here, so you need to go back now before anyone gets hurt," the leader instructed. "I'm not here because I want to, I came here to stop a war or insurrection that would not only bring chaos to my world, but equally offset the balance between the world of the living and the dead." Do you know why?" Morpheus asked. "Do tell," Boma responded. King Salvatore is no longer in the underworld, but here in the living world. And since he left, majority of the demons have been going against Masrab, the demon he designated. Even before I left the underworld, the king's palace was already under attack by the rebel demons trying to seize control of the underworld, though i managed to escape to your world, it was only to inform his majesty, Salvatore to return to the underworld to restore order and secure his throne," Morpheus explained." Didn't you say he left a designated king? Why isn't he doing anything?" Boma asked." He wasn't the choice of the majority to be designated, everyone wanted the throne, but his majesty believed Masrab his more reliable and competent, " he responded. " But all you've said still doesn't explained how your troubles in the underworld affects us here, "the leader opined." Do you know how I got here, or how his majesty got here?" the seal between the two worlds have been violated, allowing many demons like me and dead souls that should naturally be in the underworld to now walk the earth freely. The vacuum between your world and mine existed for the souls of humans to transit to the underworld, but that is no longer the case. Many souls and demons who should be in the underworld have been returned. And since the transition of his majesty to this world, all the souls that was sent back here by king Salvatore no longer returned because his majesty couldn't beat the celestial bell for their return. Now, millions of those souls and demons roam your world freely. And should those rebellious demons gained power before the return of his majesty, then you should be ready for a devastating war between the demons who will now travel the two worlds at will and your world," Morpheus explained." so, how do i find him?" he added." Do you think he can be trusted, because I have had my due share of encounters with these demons, and non of them have been this reserved so far, "Boma disclosed." I don't say we trust him, but we could use him to get to Salvatore,"the leader responded. After several dialogs, they decided to work together in finding Salvatore and went back together to the cave of the protectors back at Gestfield. Morpheus tried following them into the cave, but was thrown back by the force protecting the cave as a sanctuary. "I'm sorry about that," the leader pleaded to Morpheus. "What's happening," Boma asked. " He can't enter due to his demon blood. The cave rejects supernatural creatures with demonic origins and bloods, so he had to hang around the cave," the leader explained. He was out there hanging around the cave when he felt something big flew above him, he looked up instantly to confirm, but saw nothing. Since the cave is inaccessible, he decided to go for a further search and flew to Gestfield, but still couldn't find Salvatore, then he returned to the cave again to rest before continuing his search the following morning. He got into his tent outside the cave and lay on his back. It was now around 2:00am in the morning, he heard the sound of breaking tree branches. He opened his eye and could feel something or someone approaching his tent, so he got to a sitting position, then everything became quiet again. Some minutes have passed, then he started to hear humming sounds. He was wondering what it could be, he asked, "who's there." He received no response, but instead saw shadow movements on the light reflections on his tent. He thought at first maybe it was the protectors, but to be sure, he went out of his tent and turned 3600 to do surveillance of the surroundings. All of a sudden, something jumped him from behind, pushing him to the ground. He turned immediately to see what it was, but saw nothing again. He started having the feeling that something is terribly wrong. He hosted his wings ready to fight, but he got pushed to the ground again. He quickly hosted his wings to get up again, but this time, standing before him were banelings coming out of their tombs to the living world. Morpheus was attacked and he did everything possible to repel them. They're dead already, but since their souls were not being received in the underworld, owing to the absence of Salvatore from the celestial realm and the battle going on down there, they've turned into something between demons and animals to return as a violent and deadly creatures.
It was only Morpheus on them, till the cave door opened and was joined by the protectors to fight the banelings. But the fight was prolonged beyond anticipated and became a marathon race. When they realized the banelings were resurrecting immediately they thought they were dead, Amanda who also came out the cave with the protectors even though unknown to them was attacked by one of the banelings, it attempted to bite her, but instead, she placed her bottled saltwater in it mouth to prevent the bite. It cracked open the bottle with it tick Jaws, releasing the salt water in it mouth. Then it suddenly froze, and it began to burn from inside - out. The leader ran towards Amanda, chastising her decision to come out with them and putting herself in danger. "what did you do to that thing?" the leader asked. "I don't know, it wanted to bite me, but I blocked it mouth with the bottled water you gave me, and it started burning," Amanda responded. The leader remembered the composition of the water immediately, he instructed some of the protectors to bring the whole of the water outside. They started spraying the banelings with the salt water, which burned them into ashes, then blew away by the wind. After about an hour of fighting the banelings, they were repelled and others dissipated. The leader walked towards Morpheus and asked him, "what are those things." They are banelings, the creatures lurking between your world and ours. They couldn't get to the underworld, but have found themselves here has a violent and deadly creatures. A single bite from them would kill any human within a very short period," he responded." This is really bad," the leader commented." No, it's about to get worse, if drastic measures are not enacted," Morpheus responded.
Salvatore was at his Gestfield apartment holding meeting with the witches on his plan to open the cave hole to the underworld for a free passage of his minions in the underworld, when Angel Zophiel descended from heaven to meet Salvatore. "I've been expecting when anyone of you guys would come to visit me here," Salvatore said to him. "It's been a while Salvatore, how have you been?" Zophiel asked. "How do you think, while you guys stayed up there with God, I was condemned to the underworld. But for your information, I am no longer going back there. I would rather bring the underworld up here," Salvatore revealed. "About that, God is not happy with you about your escapades about relocating here and he's sent me to warn you to go back,"Zophiel said." Salvatore pull a crying and scary countenance, "eeeh!!!, I'm afraid of the punishment for my actions," he reacted. "Does it look to you like I care what he thinks about me? When has he ever cared about me?" he asked. "You need to stop this nonsense, Salvatore before the humans get hurt,"Zophiel warned." like i care whatever happens to them, "he responded." seriously, Salvatore, you really need to stop this. Since you left, dead souls have not been able to transit to the underworld, and have been causing mayhem all over the world. And should this continue, it's only a matter of time before the demons violate the celestial ring and infiltrate this world at will, "he added." what do you think my plan was all this time? It's been my plan all along. Stones or no stones, I will make sure this world suffers my wrath. That bastard, Lucifer tricked me into committing sins, but he got the easy way out, he got to stay here while i was sealed down there,"Salvatore argued." I know you're hurt brother, but you shouldn't allow your grievances with Lucifer cloud your judgement. These humans have done nothing to deserve what you are about to force on them, "Zophiel admonished." Easy for you to say when you were not the one condemned to spent all eternity in hell. " Do you know those petty demons are already on the verge of taking your throne?" Zophiel asked. Salvatore turned to him in hanger, "you are either with me, or against me, I know what you are trying to do. You think you can trick me to go back, just like Lucifer did, I'm done with you guys and I'll do whatever the hell I want,"Salvatore lashed out at Zophiel. They stared each other in the eye infuriatingly. " I've always known you're stubborn, but not stupid. I'm sure you'll do the right thing," Zophiel commented and returned at once.