Twenty-four hours and fifty-eight minutes later we arrived at our destination.
It's late in the evening on the 16th of March 453AD.
Cain, Achilles, Lucifer and I are stealthily making our way toward Attila's brightly colored "honeymoon" tent. I had to laugh to myself. It was so easy to locate. I shook my head in disbelief. It happens to be the mammoth tent in the middle, surrounded by hundreds of small dull tents.
I heard something ahead. Timing is everything. Apparently, Attila along with the closest members of the wedding party had just returned to this splendid tent after leaving the rowdy revelers who were still celebrating the marriage of Attila to his latest wife, Ildico. I wondered how long it would take Attila to add another wife to his harem after this one.
We entered the tent without encountering any resistance, which is surprising since we saw a whole group go in. No guards, nothing. Sloppy, sloppy!
We continued to move along the dim hallway which fortunately led straight into his bed chamber, literally. It was huge! And, well, we found Attila and his newest bride, in bed, imagine that!
Well, not exactly in bed per se. Attila was sitting on the side of the bed still dressed in his golden armor, his wife was, I must admit, quite beautiful. Pale skin glistening in the dim light of flickering candles. Long blond hair flowing over her bare shoulders, eyes wide open in shock, not from her husband's advances but from the fact that she caught a glimpse of uninvited wedding guests in her honeymoon boudoir.
Attila obviously noticed his wife's distressed look and turned slightly. His eyes shone in the light; they were a deep brown. His thick mustache and neatly trimmed beard flowed together as one.
His wife's bright blue eyes instantly caught my attention. I squinted and that's when I noticed a narrow, neat braid of hair mingled with her long flowing mane. Much like a stunning steed I rode once upon a time, golden palomino stallion with a flaxen colored mane and tail. He was as fierce and wild as me. Ah, the memories before he ran off of a cliff.
Anyways back to Attila, his black hair was cropped close to his head, but I noticed that in some areas, it just starting to grow out. Helmets could wear certain areas down in uneven patterns. Two pairs of wide eyes stared directly at me from the huge bed.
"Draven!" Attila shouted heartily, "there you are! Better late than not at all my dear friend!"
I knew something was up with that tone of greeting. "You've been expecting me." I stated. I folded my arms across my broad chest and waited.
"Yes," he replied jovially. "I wanted to tell you in person and in front of my beautiful new bride that I will not be taking orders from you any longer."
Lucifer cleared his throat and muttered, "arrrggg, ouch. That sucks mightily."
I wanted to throttle Lucifer but muttered instead, "who's side are you on old man?" A stifled giggle answered me.
"Well," I said with slight anger. "If you're not going to obey me," I then cracked a smile, "then there is no reason for you to live. I can get a replacement pretty easily."
I placed my hand next to my head and snapped my fingers with my usual display of theatrics. Nothing happened. Nothing! My power didn't work on him which was surprising for my status.
A wide grin broke the bearded man's face showing off white teeth. "I'm too powerful to be killed with the mere snap of your fingers." And Draven," He said in a menacing tone, "don't even think about trying your snapping finger's act on my wife, Ildico. I'm protecting her."
I averted my stare from Attila's hardened face to the beautiful woman with the wide terrified eyes staring straight back at me. Her full lips-stained bright red was trembling slightly.
Attila broke the deafening silence. "I'm now an Angel," he boasted.
I didn't see that coming! He was no angel if you know what I mean.
Uninvited, Lucifer stepped into the verbal discourse. "Which rank?" My dear old dad demanded.
"Seraphim." Attila casually answered.
True to form, Lucifer just laughed and between laughing sounds only he can make, he managed to utter, "Second to the lowest ranking, I should have known."
Attila glared at Lucifer, then responded, "your restrictions make you as weak as a Seraphim."
Lucifer's gaze darkened which made Attila shiver for a moment before going back to normal.
Draven and his Generals weren't affected by this "look" that Lucifer was giving to Attila. The "look of evil" is what Lucifer called it. They were immune. This was courtesy of being his son and his Generals had that trait as well.
"Oh wow, really?" I glanced at my dad cocooned in the crazy red headed vessel, hardly menacing and now this declaration from Attila. "Dang," I muttered, "That's an ouch to your ego."
Lucifer stole a glance at me as only a parent can manage. His eyes glowed red before saying, "now, who's side are you on?" he verbally poked back at me as his vessel's hands slightly elongated before quickly going back to normal.
Like any dutiful son put in this position, I ignored his remark and asked, "What are the ranks? Since I'm no true angel I never really cared."
Lucifer nodded, ignored my insolence and succinctly responded, "The top are the Archangels. Second in line are the Archangel Knights which as you might have figured out by their name, are the warriors of Heaven. The Archangel Knights are weaker in power when compared to Archangels but fight better than any Archangel.
The third are the Grigori Angels. They are the lowest rank of angels who can still warp reality to their choosing. Archangels are the most powerful reality warpers. Second to the last are the Seraphim Angels and the lowest are the Soldier Angels."
"There are five?" Attila muttered in disbelief. "That many?" He shook his head, "I was expecting three."
"You are about to only have three if you don't stand down Attila," I growled.
"Ooo," he responded to me like a baby said that it was going to steal his candy. "I don't know what that means but try as you might, my lord." He snarled in response.
Seizing the moment, I stepped forward a foot, "this is your last warning! Stand down!"
"No!" Attila stood firm, "I am the most powerful Seraphim there is." He grinned, "benefits of being turned by a pure Arch-Nephbion."
I could almost visualize Lucifer's natural reptilian scales trying to break free inside the human vessel standing before me while he screamed, "Wh, wha, what!"
I inquired calmly, "What's a pure Arch-Nephbion?" I have not even heard anything that came close to that name.
Of course, Lucifer could not keep quiet! I wanted Attila to reply. "With time, a pure Arch-Nephbion will be guaranteed to be the most powerful being to ever exist."
"How long?" That just popped out. So much for remaining calm.
"Centuries," Lucifer said.
Cain finally entered into this unexpected turn of affairs. "If I had to make a guess right now, that must be the entity I keep feeling hovering around."
Lucifer nodded. "The thing is," he began slowly, "Only one can ever exist in the entire universe at a time. At least one Nephbion has existed before. Well, that's according to what my father said. If one is born while one already exists, then it will immediately lose its powers and die. But a pure one is too dangerous.
I really needed answers. "What exactly is a pure Arch-Nephbion?" I asked, again.
"Itis a child born from an Arch-Nephilim and an Arch-Cambion." Lucifer told us very slowly. "Arch-Nephilims are a child of an archangel and a human. Arch Cambions are spawn of an Arch-Demon and a human. They are classified as abominations by my father.
The last one born did not come from an archangel or an Arch-Demon, so it was not pure, and it would've taken multiple millenniums to gain strength, and it would've stopped growing in power eventually. I personally hunted the Arch-Demons down after that no such child of the pure level could not be born. Obviously, one slipped through undetected." He lowered his head in defeat.
"Well, it is what it is." Being practical, I announced. "Let's just deal with Attila since here we are, gathered in his marital bedchamber."
"Agreed." Lucifer confirmed. He could also be a demon of few words.
Attila's guard appeared. We should have heard him coming.
He opened his mouth as if to yell an alarm for the entire encampment to come to Attila's tent, but before any sound could come out, I snapped my fingers. His eyes and mouth shot open. Bright red light glowed from both areas of his body. He screamed like a rabid animal in the last throes of death. Five seconds later the bright light disappeared. He fell down dead at our feet.
"He was only doing his job!" Attila screamed while at the same time lunging from his bed barely as fast as me.
He grabbed onto my throat with a viselike grip. Joined together, sort of, we flew at a low level through his bed chamber, the hallway then up into the air once clear of his tent. Attila's hand glowed and throwing out a fist he hit me with an angelic blast which sent me into an unexpected trajectory. I slammed unceremoniously into the ground, leaving a small crater to commemorate my less than stellar landing.
I focused on the tent. I watched Cain and Achilles fly out with equally demonstrated control and flourish. Just to add insult to injury they both landed gently next to me. I rose from my cratered landing site. No one said anything to me, yet!
Lucifer exited the tent next. He turned around and while doing so, he in effect put a continuous shield up around the camp. Satisfied with his handiwork, he flew in my direction and made a whisper soft landing right beside me.
"Why did you do that?" Whatever that was, I thought silently.
"Simple, my son," he replied as if he knew what I was thinking, "so the humans won't see what's actually going on over here."
"Oooo," I said, "I
thought you were just protecting the humans and not me."
I followed his gaze as studied the tents and all of people. Soldiers were milling around the tents and the grounds as though they did not have any care in the World. They were laughing, cheering, eating and drinking. We did not exist in their reality. "I understand. It seems to be working." I sighed but my 'ah' moment burst into millions of particles.
I watched in disbelief as Cain flew at Attila, he swung his blade with deadly aim, but it was deflected when it came within contact of Attila's neck.
Achilles turned and yelled, "oh come on, he has the Achilles heel."
Attila's laugher should have alerted everyone, specifically the humans milling around but nope, nothing, no reaction. He called out, "good luck killing me now."
"Why are you celebrating? I have the same thing as you," I said.
That's it! Total joy flooded out of me while I sent my
telepathic message to both Luck and Death Dealer, or DD as he prefers to be
addressed. "Come here, now! Emergency." I had not even swallowed when they
appeared. I love instant obedience, truly!
What a pair. Luck looked as one might imagine, golden eyes, gold hair, gold clothes, smooth golden toned skin. DD or Death Dealer, well, coal black hair but piercing cobalt blue eyes and he was wearing a Easlum designer suit, black of course. His skin was, no pun, smooth and deathly white.
"Death Dealer …" I began.
He cut me off. "DD, please."
I nodded. "Cain and Achilles, distract Attila."
"No problem," Cain replied back. Both launched at Attila. They started fighting. Three bodies, swift and determined to prevail had no further interest in what DD and I were concocting.
I asked, "Do you have the ingredients?" DD looked slightly hurt that I would think he might not.
"Yes, are you finally turning your idea in reality?"
"I am indeed." I urged him on. "Please continue."
DD was particularly exited about this experiment that I had made. It was one that can truly be called evil in its own right. Luck was the main ingredient in this experiment. This was because he was no longer that 1% in the shield.
Draven was thinking about changing his purpose or power of Luck to make him something else. DD spent most of his time tweaking the ingredients so that his master's plan will work and he will do everything necessary to help.
DD carefully pulled out four vials. He confirmed each vial's contents. "This first one contains the blood of Lucifer. This second one contains the blood of War. Third contains the blood of DD, yours truly. And finally, the fourth vial, your blood Draven collected prior to when you gained your Achilles Heel. I have tinkered with each one and added a few things so it should work."
"Excellent job, DD." I glanced around. "Let's do this."
"Authorization, please."
I looked at DD as thought he had no head. "What!" I could feel my blood broiling at his insolence.
DD sighed. "I see you've forgotten a few things." He added quickly when he noticed my murderous expression zeroed in on him. "Your anti-reality manipulation power restricts a lot of things from happening, including some of the things I can do. Since you don't perform ingredient magic like I do because you don't need to, I can see why you don't know."
Cain yelled from a distance. "Can you please hurry UP! I don't know how long I can hold our friend off here." Unfortunately, the moment he uttered those words Attila tossed him onto the unyielding ground and shot a continuous angelic blast at him which pushed him deeper into the earth.
Without further discussion I yielded by saying, "I hereby grant authorization for "Project Evil" and only for "Project Evil" to be allowed." I could hear DD's audible sigh.
He emptied each vial one by one. He giggled in the glee of the moment. "It worked. Oh, my stars, it worked." He watched wide-eyed. The blood actually floated in the air. "Now blast it." DD and I bothshot a continuous blast at the swirling blood, which then mixed with the different energy sources.
"Send it to Luck, now!" I shouted. We did. I could hear Luck scream, 'oh boy!' He didn't mean it in a fun context, either.
The moment the blast connected with Luck, his form rose into the air with the particles surrounding him growing darker and darker. His glowing golden skin turned from a bright glistening gold to a dull and dingy gray; his thick golden hair immediately dulled down to a lackluster gray. His eyes also turned gray but his eye color, his corneas were twin doughnuts glowing a deep purple.
Attila, Cain, and Achilles stopped fighting, frozen in place in disbelief of what they were witnessing. Watching this totally unexpected spectacle seemed to have the same effect on each one.
Attila finally broke their silence. "What did you create?" He turned and looked at me. "You turned Luck into the God of Evil." Everyone except Attila and Luck backed up. "God of the Supernatural." Attila said with a quiver.
Luck shouted, "Cease your hostility or face the backlash."
Attila was miffed, "why would I do that? Your transformation changes nothing!" The gauntlet had been thrown!
Luck and Attila rushed at each other with the force of two powerful locomotives. They collided. A deafening explosion of dark and light energies filled the area as far as the supernatural visions could see. They continued to clash and fight until Luck finally decided to put his hands on Attila's head thereby channeling black and purple energy straight into his head.
Attila's body transformed from glowing blinding white to glowing white with patent leather black. His eyes went from bright white to a mixture of glowing white, black and purple. Luck relinquished Attila who immediately fell to the ground. Luck has the unmitigated gall to nonchalantly fly over and land quietly beside me.
"What did you just do?" I asked. Blunt seemed to be the best way to get an answer.
Luck grinned. "The simple answer is that I turned him into my version of a demon." He waved his hand in the air as though he was an actor in a Roman amphitheater. "Furthermore, it destroyed his Achilles heel, but I can control him now." Attila rose straight upright and started walking directly toward where we were all standing. Luck lost his smile. "Uh, something isn't right. Something is blocking me!"
I stepped up. "Let me try." I looked directly at Attila and yelled. "Attila, I hereby command you to stop!" He hesitated, looked puzzled then continued advancing toward us. "Nope, well, at least he hesitated." I said with little conviction.
Attila laughed, "unfortunately for you angel essence keeps me from being controlled. Well, I think so at least."
With that, Attila rose off of the ground, black energy was swirling around him forming a perfect vortex. Purple energy surrounded his hands. He screamed, "time to end this here and now, my emperor! FOR … GOOD!!" His voice sent out a smalls shockwave and he slammed into the ground, the force of which sent a stream of purple energy aiming directly at me.
I managed to erect my energy shield in front of me just in time. The energy stream did connect with the shield only it was sent to the side. I moved forward. I felt stronger. Luck's new evil power energy was flowing through me. My first thought was that I was experiencing a caffeine high.
Attila was having none of this. He stammered, "no." I continued walking while Attila's stream of energy kept bearing down on me. "No," he screamed the moment my shield touched his hand unleashing an explosion which send Attila sailing backwards.
Not one to squander an opportunity, I flew at Attila, bit savagely into his neck and released the general venom. Satisfied that all went well, I let go of Attila.
Attila was full of rage and my venom. "How dare you, "he bellowed, "turned me into one… of your little …!"
I chided him. "Only think good things."
Attila blinked. "Thank you for honoring me Draven."
DD cut in; a tad perplexed. "I thought you allowed them their own mind."
I gave him a half smile. "More or less. Now let's …" I blacked out.
***
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