As soon as Lucius emerged from the portal, he took cover behind the nearest rock. Along with teaching him to open his own portal, his master reminded him of the technique with which one can conceal his presence so others cannot sense him so easily. He forgot about it during his final exam due to excitement, but it was better later than never, so he focused, and in seconds he could feel how the emanation of his life energy became so weak that one would think he's a bird or a bug.
"Good. Now let me slowly and carefully examine the situation." thought Lucius for himself.
The first difference from his final exam was that he could see here, and that was a welcome change, although it was far from a bright day here and he himself was largely in the dark, which currently helped him to hide, so he didn't complain. Besides that, he was not walking on ash but on dry soil, on which grew no vegetation of any kind. The only similarities to his previous expedition in the hellish domain were the big rocks scattered around and the unpleasant feeling of existing here.
However, there was one big difference, which was the main reason he was currently hiding behind a rock. He carefully peaked behind his cover. In front of him was a big castle. The first thing he noticed while looking at it was that the castle looked very ugly. It was clearly inspired by old European castles from the Middle Ages, but it did not have sophisticated architecture, and it overall didn't look like what one would imagine a castle that was lived in would look like. The stone had that ugly brownish colour, and it simply wasn't cut properly, making it look clumsy and amateurish. It more resembled a ruin of a castle, and if the idea was that it was supposed to instill a sense of grandeur in somebody, it failed miserably in doing so.
What the castle lacked in the look department, it more than made up for with its functionality as a decent fortification. Around the castle there was a big moat, but instead of being filled with water, it was filled with lava, which was, among many torches and braziers, a main source of light in this domain. After the moat stood the castle itself. Its walls were thick and high, and along them were towers and battlements, which were filled with guards to an unpractical degree. The guards consisted mainly of imps, who were mostly causing a ruckus by fighting or arguing amongst themselves. However, there were a few minotaurs scattered around, and they were more focused on their guard duty than imps, though they were visibly annoyed by the restlessness of the imps. The only way into the castle was through a big drawbridge that was currently up.
Seeing all this, Lucius realised that he was in trouble. He had to find a way to enter the castle, and that was easier said than done. The first problem was the moat filled with lava. He didn't have a wish to swim in lava, and even if he could somehow reach the castle wall, he still couldn't scale the walls with his bare hands. Even if he could, he would arrive straight in front of the demons. Speaking of them, there were really many of them, and it was questionable if he could take on even half of them in battle before he fell. Keeping stealthy was not a recommended approach anymore. It was a necessity if he didn't want to die. Even if he could fight all these demons, this would reveal his presence, and his target would escape. He wished that he had wings (which weren't possessed by every angel but had to be gifted from the Lord as everything else), but even they weren't the solution because he would still be easily spotted if he flied over the castle. Or maybe he wouldn't? Sadly, it didn't make any difference, for he had no wings. The only secure way in the castle was the drawbridge, which was now raised, and even if it wasn't, there was no way he could cross it, so nobody spots him.
Lucius thought and thought, trying to come up with a smart idea of how to enter the castle, and he decided to sneak in a circle around the castle, looking at it in hope of spotting another way in which he may have missed. This took a while, but when he returned to his starting position, he neither came up with the idea of how to enter nor did he spot another way. This frustrated him a lot. He's on his first mission, and already he's facing an unsurmountable obstacle that is preventing him from even trying to complete his mission.
The thought of giving up crossed his mind, but the shame he would feel if he returned without succeeding would be too great to bear. Shame was not the only factor here. It was a matter of pure psychology. The fact that he failed his first mission will forever remain a stain on his career.
"No. I won't go back until I somehow succeed or until I at least try and do something." Lucius decided stubbornly.
But what could he realistically do? He could maybe create some kind of distraction, but what good would that do to him? His problem was entering the castle in the first place, and entering it so nobody noticed was just an added issue. Hmmm. What if he did something that would make the demons lower the drawbridge? He could produce some light with his lightsword behind the rocks. The demons would surely notice the light coming out of the darkness. Maybe they would be intrigued by this weird occurrence, and they would then lower the drawbridge and come out to investigate?
"Too risky... I could betray my presence like that, and nobody guarantees they will keep the drawbridge lowered once some of them come out. And even if they did, again, how would I cross it without being spotted by dozens upon dozens of demons up on those walls?" thought Lucius, more and more stressed by each passing minute.
No matter how much more he thought, he couldn't come up with an idea that was better than that one. He had already materialised his lightsword and resigned himself to this lacklustre plan when something happened that made him stop moving at all. In the darkness, outside of the castle and not far from him, a big red portal opened. This drew the attention of the demons on the walls, who started yelling and pointing at the portal excitedly. They weren't surprised by the portal's appearance. Quite the contrary. They seemed very excited and were waiting for something to happen, and Lucius shared their curiosity.
Out of the portal emerged two satyrs. Half men, half bucks—they were another example of the demons using products of human creativity for their own purposes. What again started as a part of Greek myths and artistic depictions of pagan gods with time became the accepted way of portraying the devil because the Church wanted to alienate the pagans from their gods of old. This resulted in quite a frustrating situation where a symbol of a culture focused on animal husbandry became something feared and exploited by those who had no idea why it was so in the first place. Meanwhile, the devil, who actually wants to be as attractive as possible to people so they trust him, shrugged and accepted the idea as a mold for another one of his lowly servants.
Anyway, the satyrs were carrying something, and in a few moments, it was obvious that they were carrying a big litter that was covered with long silk curtains that fell almost to earth. The first two satyrs were holding the two carrying poles up front on their shoulders, and behind them, two were holding the two carrying poles on the rear. Judging by the opaque curtains, whoever was in the litter either wanted to remain anonymous or didn't want to show himself too soon.
However, this seemed to excite the demons even more, and they started to rush down from the battlements to greet these clearly expected guests. The drawbridge was quickly lowered and the portcullis raised, allowing the satyrs to enter the castle and carry the litter inside with their mysterious passenger (or maybe even passengers?). But they weren't the only ones who entered the castle. Using this perfect opportunity, during which the demons were distracted, Lucius managed to sneak under the litter. This was the most uncomfortable position, and he also had to keep up the pace with the satyrs, but it meant that he finally found his way into the castle, so he couldn't really complain. He was making progress. Now he had to find the Imp King, and he had quite a strong feeling that this litter was being carried to him. Well, patience gave him this opportunity, and Lucius had a feeling it wouldn't disappoint if he trusted it again, so he decided to wait and see where following this litter would lead him.