Mrs Abaddon looked upon her daughter with both pity and malice. How dare this weakling be the heir to her Den. How dare this Insignificant, this little wretch try to inherit her empire of fire and nightmares. She took great satisfaction in watching Lei-selle claw her way up the cliff face, skin tearing open on the jagged rocks. Another Clairvoyager undergoing the same punishment latched onto her ankle and she savagely kicked her foot into his face, undoing all his progress up the cliffs. To her left, a Clairvoyager rested their head on the back of their hands, shoulders rising and falling for desperate breaths of the suffocating sulphur air. Lei-selle drew the blood from the gashes across her arms into her palms just like Mrs Abaddon had taught her to and slashed out scarred claws at the already exhausted Clairvoyager. A bloodcurdling scream echoed across the crooked stone of The Pits as her poor victim lost hold of the razor-edged rocks and fell into the fiery depths below. There is no rest for the wicked that reside here.
Mrs Abaddon nodded her head in approval and gestured toward Mr Runi-Tineiden. He tossed a short rope down to the last section of cliffs, where rocky edge could not quite reach the surface, and where many Demons abandoned their Hybrid children. Lei-selle sprinted to the lifeline, wrestling desperate Hybrids out of the way. She created another weapon in her lefthand, a Bascus, a sharp blade sheathed in rough-edged scabs, to cut the rest down. Once Lei-selle was sure the carnage she created would satisfy Mrs Abaddon, she reached up to the rope and hoisted herself upwards to her parents.
"Good enough," Mrs Abaddon looked past her to the few unharmed Clairvoyagers below, still clawing for the rope Mr Runi-Tineiden dangled over them tauntingly.
Lei-selle's shoulders dropped in obvious disappointment but quickly straitened again to mask the exhaustion and dismay.
"But" Mrs. Abaddon began and took joy in seeing Lei-selle perk up at her every word, "I might consider forgiving you if you embarrass Escari in your next challenge."
Lei-selle nodded enthusiastically, "Yes mother."
"Enough, Jaakobah," Mrs Abaddon chided her husband. "Take Lei-selle back to the surface. Leave these failed Hybrids to the wraths of their parents."
"Of course, my Queen of the Night," Mr Runi-Tineiden quickly yanked the rope back and dropped it at his feet. He then placed a firm hand on Lei-selle's shoulder, "I won't leave you for long, my vicious Rez."
Within the next second, Mr Runi-Tineiden and Lei-selle had disappeared leaving behind shadowy silhouettes of their figures.
"Ahh, Mrs Abaddon, I knew I'd find you here," the chubby Mr Montegomory sighed.
"To what do I owe the displeasure, Mr Montegomory," Mrs Abaddon responded.
"The Lightes have thought it so kind of them to grace us with their heavenly presence," he said gravely.
"In no flash of light and spectacle? I would have seen them as far as the next continent. It must be serious." Mrs Abaddon folded her arms in speculation.
"That is quite right. They seem to have come with many demands. Mrs Casper tried dealing with them, but to no avail."
Mrs Abaddon weighed this information in the twirl of the black ring loose on her right index finger. "Take me to them."
Mr Montegomory snapped his fingers twice and a dreary-eyed Complex made himself visible to the Clairvoyagers.
"Have you met Sebastien? He is quite useful, might I say more useful than your Runi-Tineiden," Mr Montegomory chuckled, his rotund stomach moving heartily like the bobbing of a buoy at sea.
"Say anything of the sort again and I'll gut you like the fat pig that you are," Mrs Abaddon laughed with him.
"Of course, Mrs Abaddon," Mr Montegomory took a moment to smooth out his bulging waistcoat in reassurance that her threat may not come to pass. "Take us to the Lightes, Sebastien."
With a light touch of Sebastien's hand to both Mrs Abaddon and Mr Montegomory's arms, they were transported to a bustling town square draped in blood and human entrails. The cobblestone pathways were slick with the crimson substance, the squish of organs nauseating under Mrs Abaddon's heels.
A few meters away, surrounded by a crowd of uneasy Demons and Hybirds, the radiant holiness of the Lightes shone harshly, like a flashlight pointed directly into her eyes. Where the three sentinels of Above stood, the blood was turned into water and floated around them like a waterfall falling in reverse. The mortal flesh strewn about like party ribbons burnt to ash in their wake. Mrs Abaddon spat on the ground before making her approach.
"What are the likes of you doing in my territory, Compassion," Mrs Abaddon spat the Lighte's name like a curse, causing the other two angels to draw their glistening, golden weapons from the folds of their bright silhouettes.
"Abaddon, the destroyer, cannibal to your Demon-kind," Compassion made her features more visible behind the light. A soft round face peaked through with bright brown eyes and hair flowing like streams of clouds. "We have come for our due."
"You got your 'dues' last week, we owe you nothing beyond that." Mrs Abaddon eyed the still armed Lightes. "Disarm yourselves, I see no use in speaking with hostile visitors."
The angels' weapons remained at their sides until Compassion gave them an elegant, calming gesture. "Be at ease, our Ruler of Above protects us."
Mrs Abaddon scoffed but set herself at ease as well once the glint of gold disappeared within the sheets of white light. The only thing that hurt more than the bite of a Lighte's weapon was sleeping with Mr Runi-Tineiden.
"Now," Mrs Abaddon continued coarsely, "what dues do you assume we owe."
"The Ruler keeps count of all his progeny, and they have calculated a great reduction in the Souls returned to their side." Compassion took one step towards her, setting flesh ablaze at her feet. "And the only way their calculations can be any at all incorrect, is if it were a mistake on your part. I do not mean to diminish your hard work, but you must understand the importance of the balance we must keep."
Mrs Abaddon made note of her up front speech, the Lighte was unyieldingly apologetic, even if Mrs Abaddon were truly at fault. But not this time.
"And why can't your 'ruler' accept that, perhaps, they can be wrong?" Mrs Abaddon challenged.
The Lightes' images of stark white rippled like the disturbance of a sleeping lake.
"You dare question the accuracy of our Ruler?" The Lighte to Compassion's left stepped forward but the gentle angel raised a hand to black their path.
"Abaddon, the destroyer, please cooperate. You especially should be aware of the strain our arrangements have on both realms. We must keep the balance, or we may see another tragedy like that of the Khaalidas," Compassion attempted to appeal to her once more.
Of course, Mrs Abaddon remembered well. It was she who took the satisfaction of extinguishing their bloodline, Demon by Demon, Hybrid by preciously cultivated Hybrid. Each life ended by her own Bascus blade she took joy in shaping into a sickle, like the olden day harvesters of the medieval era.
"Do not remind me of those days, or I may lose myself to ecstasy right before you," Mrs Abaddon smirked, a haze entering her eyes as each face begging to be spared was resurrected by her memory.
"Of course, Mrs Abaddon," Compassion took a tentative step back. "We are just here on behalf of our great Ruler to request you count your Lost Souls again. We will be back, a day before the next Full Moon, to collect your hopefully improved tally."
"We don't trust you with such important work of our accord," the aggressive Lighte spat, "you should be grateful the Ruler gives any chance at all after your kind's every misstep."
"I spit on their name," Mrs Abaddon responded cooly, revelling the challenge of defeating a Lighte.
This time, the Lighte pushed forward, weapon at the ready, but Mr Runi-Tineiden threw himself in the way of the blow. The arc of golden light slashed his arm clean from his body and he dropped to his knees.
"Patience!" Compassion scolded the Lighte.
"What irony," Mrs Abaddon laughed.
"It's you filthy Demons that trapped and harvested my brethren for years! You deserve to burn!" Patience roared.
However, before the Lighte could lift another radiant finger, they disappeared in a column of holy fire, the Demons to close to trio were singed and cried out in agony at the burn of the holy light.
"Get up," Mrs Abaddon kicked Mr Runi-Tineiden. "How dare you kneel before those wretches. The only pain you deserve is that which is dealt by my hand."
"Forgive me, my cruel Rez," Mr Runi-Tineiden bowed lowly, collecting his arm on the way.
"Go to Ms Judas tonight, Lei-selle has instruction from me."
"Yes, my Queen," Mr Runi-Tineiden reassembled his arm to his rotten body and trailed behind his Clairvoyager happily.
"Mrs Abaddon, what an awful sight to see you here," a sultry voice sounded behind her.
"Mr Razulin, what brings your horrid presence within my proximity," Mrs Abaddon responded to the tall and lean gentleman.
Mr Razulin's stringy grey hair was tossed by the sulphur spiced air as the host of Lightes ascended through the ash choked sky. The only colour on his drab suit, tattered against his corpse-like body burned by Below was the sight of red flesh and blood through the holes in between his ribcage. The red slash in his eyes shone starkly against his blackened skull. Since he stole another Clairvoyager's eyes for to turn his son, his Control shone as bright as it had when he was a teen Hybrid running Collection competitions with Mrs Abaddon.
Mr Razulin chuckled at Mrs Abaddon's response. "An awful sight indeed," he scrapped a skeletal hand through his hair. "I heard there were Lightes in Below and had to make an appearance, you see."
"But of course, they're spectacular creatures, aren't they?"
"Don't speak that way or they might think you'll harvest them again." Mr Razulin laughed once more.
"Aren't you full of chatter and laughs, Mr Razulin," Mr Runi-Tineiden remarked.
"Why yes, my son just won his 20th game, I am in the best of moods," Mr Razulin passed him by and gave him a mocking pat on the head, which was easy since Mr Runi-Tineiden was a whole head shorter than the charming Clairvoyager.
"That's a shame, I thought I would gaze upon disappointment on your ugly face at The Pits this evening," Mrs Abaddon crossed her arms as she ambled down a hill to the nearest border of her territory in Below.
"That is where we are different, Mrs Abaddon, my Hybrid is a success," Mr Razulin pulled alongside her.
Mr Runi-Tineiden trailed behind, knowing his place among the two Clairvoyagers.
"Hmph," Mrs Abaddon scoffed, "at least my Hybrid is carved of my own flesh and blood."
"What good would that be?"
"None at all it appears," Mrs Abaddon agreed. "How are the fields?" She asked suggestively.
"Growing in number by the day, we'll have more Souls than last month," Mr Razulin answered her in a hushed tone and hung his head away from the sky's gaze. "You are a real snake in the Lighte's backyard. This plan should be hurting their numbers more than the Scourge of the Khaalidas."
"That's why Patience was so aggressive this time. I told you I knew better than to target them directly," Mrs Abaddon lifted her head as pride bloomed within her gaping chest.
"Trust me, you have nothing to prove in that regard."
"What have you found about the killings in your forest?"
"It wasn't much, it looked like a group of Hybrids were playing one of their Devoid games."
"Chasing around some Nowt and then hacking them to pieces?"
"That exactly."
"Hm, I did here of that becoming more popular in the Western Dens," Mrs Abaddon mumbled. "But what of the Demon?"
"Traced him to a past lover of Ms Casper," Mr Razulin stretched the little skin he had into his signature sly smile, "she's a real feisty one."
"Then why didn't she own up to it?
"Apparently, it wasn't her doing," Mr Razulin shrugged.
"Then you still have work to do," Mrs Abaddon stopped at the edge of a great chasm that separated one Den in Below from the other. "I don't want to see your disgusting visage until you have your little situation figured out. Do you hear me?"
"Or what?" Mr Razulin challenged her.
"Or I'll feed your entrails to your family. We wouldn't want dear Acacius getting a tummy ache at such an important time, do we?"
"I hear you, Mrs Abaddon." Mr Razulin said with a laugh and a knowing shake of his head.
"Good. Now, get out of here, I must count the Souls like the Lightes asked. The poor things have no idea how many are missing."
Mr Razulin let a waterfall of laughter shake through him. "They're lucky to have you helping them out."