Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

(( I've decided to stop with the colored text, except where important. It's difficult to read, and very difficult to edit, so....you get regular boring text from now on!!! ))



The next to awake was Gluttony, who awoke as he always was: Hungry.

As Gluttony awoke he gazed all around himself, finding himself within the most foul-smelling Swamp that he had ever seen.

A swamp that went on, in all directions, for as far as he could see.

He was leaned up against a gnarled tree, upon which he braced himself and lifted himself to his feet. He was up nigh to his knees in the most foul-smelling bogwater that one can imagine.

As he looked about, and gathered his sharp wits about him, he looked around and came face-to-face with a very familiar-looking Devil. The one who had cooked such the fantastic meal for him only moments before.

The Devil, however, was not mired in the swamp. Rather, he appeared to be walking upon the surface of the water, staring down at him with a smug grin.

"I thought it was Angels who were supposed to walk on water, my friend. Since when did Devils gain such power as well?" Gluttony chuckled.

"I was once an Angel, my friend. I have retained many of my....previous qualities..we shall say."

"Once an Angel?" Gluttony responded.

"Oh indeed" said the Aspect of Asmodeus."In time immemorial I, too, was one of the Graceful."

"And what became of you? You were cast out? Expelled?" Gluttony probed.

"No." said Asmodeus. "I was DISCARDED. I had served my purpose, and the moment that I was no longer useful to the Heathern Gods of Old they cast me aside as if I was a piece of GARBAGE. It is why I find this level of the Hells, the Bog of Minauros, to be so...unpleasant. I too felt like one of the pieces of human REFUSE who are discarded here-in." he smugly replied as he gazed around the endless Bog.

Gluttony fell back, gazing upon this handsome Devil which stood before him.

"You are the First of the Fallen....The King of the Nine Hells!?" Gluttony stammered.

"The One. The only." Asmodeus chuckled heartilly. "Am I really going to have to introduce myself to each one of you? That could get rather tiresome."

"Where are the others?" Gluttony questioned. "Or am I the only one that yet remains? Am I to be mired here in this bog for all Eternity then?"

"The Others yet remain" Asmodeus replied. "I have sent each of them to their corresponding circle of Hell, so that each of them may meet...well...let us just call them "Experts" in their respective Fields?"

"Experts?" questioned Gluttony.

"Yes. Aspects of the other Archdukes of Hell." said the Devil King.

"Aspects?" questioned Gluttony.

"Yes. You see, Gluttony, particularly powerful beings like myself and the other Archdukes, we have the power to create "copies" of ourselves. Aspects of ourselves, into which whom we pour some of our own Power. Think of it like slicing one's wrist, and pouring some of your own blood into a Cup. A bit of your own power, given to a "Piece of yourself" Asmodeus remarked.

"Is that not Dangerous, my Lord? What happens if an Aspect is destroyed?" Gluttony inquired.

"It is dangerous. If they are destroyed, it takes a while for that Power to find it's way back to the Aspect's creator, and the Creator is weakened for some time. Usually a period of a Year and a Day. Unless, of course, they are slain within the Hells, in which the power returns to their creator almost instantly."

"I see" said Gluttony. "If I had Power such as yours, King of Hell would be loathe to share my power with others."

Asmodeus chuckled.

"And yet you are. With each of the others...you are all divided. Your power split amongst them, evenly. But also your personalities, your memories, and your experiences." uttered the Lord of Darkness.

"Then why is it that I do not experience what the others are experiencing now, in their own respective layers of the Hells? Are we not interconnected? Are we not of a single, shared mind?" Gluttony probed.

"For the moment, no" Asmodeus replied. "If you were, at the moment, the strain would destroy your frail, human mind beyond any hope of repair. And I am here to EDUCATE you, Gluttony. I am not here to destroy your mind...not yet anyways." Asmodeus sneered.

"Educate me?" Gluttony's eyes went wide "How?"

"I am to introduce you to the Lord of this Layer...an Archfiend known as "Mammon"" the Devil King seemed to spit as he said his name.

"You and He are not upon the greatest of terms, I take it?" Gluttony questioned.

"He is a treasonous SNAKE. And I have punished him for his Treachery...accordingly" Asmodeus sneered.

"Then if he has betrayed you, my Lord, why do you trust him with me?" Gluttony questioned, rightfully so.

"Because Mammon is the Patron of Greed and Avarice" said Asmodeus "...but he is also an incredibly adapt strategist, a master Hunter, and a powerful Warrior. And there are NONE who defend their treasure horde so meticulously and fervently as the Lord of Avarice."

"That still does not answer my question: Why do you trust him with me?" replied Gluttony.

Asmodeus laughed, deeply.

"I don't. But Mammon knows what will happen if he hurts you. If he thought he was Hideous NOW...well, you don't want to SEE what I did to Baalzebul.." the Dark Lord grinned a toothy grin as his eyes flared red.

"Baalzebul? The Lord of the Seventh, yes? Lord of the Flies, and Lord of lies?" asked Gluttony.

"The Same. He was once an Archangel...just like I was. He was known as "Triel", and he was one of the most beautiful Angels that walked in all of Heaven." replied the Nessian King.

"How then did he come to reign in the Pit of Maladomini, my Lord?" Gluttony asked meekly.

"Because of his love for a Woman....the First Woman" replied the Devil Lord.

"You mean...?" Gluttony gasped.

"Lilith, she was named. "The First Flower" of the Garden of Creation. When she did not love the First Man...the Man Wrought of Red Earth, he spurned her. She became a monstrous Demon, and she took another name...the Devour of Children" nodded Asmodeus.

"Echidna?" questioned Gluttony "That is her name in some cultures, yes?"

"You are as astute as I had hoped, Child. But you are incorrect. Echidna was a different monster. Lilith, over time, became known as "Lamashtu" replied Asmodeus.

"Lamashtu? She is a Demon Lord, is she not?"

"Not a Demon Lord, no. A Human who becomes a Demon can never become a Demon Lord, only a natural born Tanar'Ri, and usually only those born to an Obyrith. But she WAS the first Human who ever became a Demon. And, more to the point, she is the only one who did not have to DIE to do so." Asmodeus stated.

"How so?" questioned Gluttony.

"When she would not give herself to the First Man, because she did not love him, the First Man attempted to...take her...against her will. She clawed his face and, thankfully, escaped unviolated. In her Rage and her Spite, she swore from then on that she would devour all of the First Man's children for the indignity he attempted to instill upon her.

She developed an insatiable Gluttony for the taste of the flesh of Pregnant Women and Newborn babes. She was found, shortly after, by the Demon Lord Pazuzu, and the two became lovers for many centuries. And when she first entered the Abyss and she and Pazuzu...consummated...their relationship she was forever transformed by his essence into the Devourer of Children. It was then that she became Lamashtu." Asmodeus nodded.

"You make the First Man sound as if he was repugnant..." said Gluttony.

"No more than the rest of you humans." Asmodeus chuckled.

"How then did Baalzebul factor in all of this?" Gluttony prodded.

"Triel was an Angel of unspeakable beauty. And, once, was a force of great Good. Triel sought to "Redeem" Lamashtu, and to return her to the "Light"...by taking her as his own. To "redeem her", by his logic, by allowing her to love a splendid Angel instead of the foul Pazuzu. But Lamashtu refused his advances, just as Lilith had refused the advances of The First Man. The First Man had attempted to...defile her..after all. And when he tried to take her, as the First Man did, he became corrupted by her foul essence, and his once beautiful Angelic Form twisted into one of revulsion. Shunned, he fled the Heavens, his twisted Visage now a reflection of the monster he had become. He, eventually, found his way to the Hells...where I welcomed him. As I welcome ALL who turn from the 'Light' of the Gods" boasted the Devil-King, before spitting as he cursed their names.

"I see. You are a most welcoming Host, Lord of Hells" pandered Gluttony.

"Flattery will get you everywhere, my dear child" chuckled Asmodeus. "Except out of Hell. Now, come child..your compatriot and your 'host' both await."

"My compatriot?" questioned Gluttony.

"Indeed. Greed is also here. For Mammon is the Patron of Greed AND Gluttony. The two are very often intermingled, as it were. Greed is, no doubt, currently within the treasure room of Mammon. And Mammon so hates it when people try and invade his 'Stash'." Asmodeus grinned.

Asmodeus then reached his massive, clawed hand down to Gluttony, who was mired knee-deep in the filth. The King of Hell chuckled as he began to cast a Spell...a Spell of Water-Walking, before reaching out and touching Gluttony upon the forehead. As he was touched, Greed immediately floated to the surface, and could walk upon it as Asmodeus could.

"I guess when one is in Hell, he is indeed Knee-Deep in Sh-t, is he not?" Gluttony jested.

Asmodeus merely laughed, putting his arm around the man and casting a spell of Cleansing that wiped clean the mess upon him from the endless Bog of Minauros.

"If only it went only Knee-Deep..." the Lord of Hells retorted "When I fell into the deepest realms of Nessus during my...descent...I remember full well plunging through these Abyssmal waters. I find this particular level of Hell...quite Distasteful. However, it serves it's purpose. The Gluttonous and the Greedy are both doomed to this realm. The Gluttonous fall into the Bogs herein, where they are mired in their own refuse for all eternity. Rains of Human Excrement fall upon them, and they are forced to wallow in their own filth, as they did while they were still alive" the King of Hell solemnly nodded.

"And the Greedy?" questioned Gluttony. Asmodeus merely laughed once again.

"Well, considering that the area of Greed is our "Next Stop" as it were...you shall soon enough see for yourself..." he retorted.

They then began the walk across the Bog, towards the fortress of Mammon.

As they marched atop the Mire, several outstretched hands all attempted to reach for them. But as they did, a sort of "Shield" of Hellfire seemed to wrap about the both of them, burning them away as they treaded.

In the distance stood a tall tower, seemingly made of root and rot from the Mire below. Within it seemed to burn a deep, glowing fire.

"Who are these Wretches that grab at us so, oh Devil King?" Gluttony asked.

"They are the Gluttonous and the Slothful. Those who accomplished so little in their lives for they spent their focus naught but attempting to fill the Void of their own existence. Whether it be food, or drink, or drug these men wasted away their existence in the pursuit of pleasure. Here now, they lie mired, starved of all food. They are up to their knees, or to their chests in Refuse, forcing them to constantly Swim. Ergo...the Gluttonous cannot Eat. And the Slothful may never rest.." Asmodeus nodded.

"Are all such punishments in Hell so Divinely Poetic?" Questioned Gluttony.

"How else to better punish them, that the punishment befit the crime? For that, Gluttony, is TRUE JUSTICE. The punishment befits the crime. See that man over there?"

Asmodeus pointed to a man, up to his chin in waste. The man appeared to constantly be flailing about, trying to keep himself above the bog. He was emaciated, barely a thin layer of flesh hung over bog-rotted bone. He wailed in agony, sputtering and spitting forth the muck from his mouth as he tried to keep from drowning within it.

"That man was named Augustus Intervigillios. Some three hundred years ago he was a Warrior King, briefly, of an Empire of Warriors. It's name escapes me at present. In one particularly...brutal..battle he and his men repelled an invading force several times larger than their own.

At the feast celebrating their victory, he drank so deeply and so voraciously that he choked on a Hamhock...

The Great King, who had bested an army of thousands with only a few hundred...died from choking on a DEAD PIG!!!"

Gluttony and Asmodeus both let out a hearty laugh that seemed to shake the Bog itself.

"So you see...he was a great warrior in life, but he was so bereft of Thirst and Hunger that he GORGED himself. He grew too fat for his own armor to fit him, it had to be refitted after every victory. He became slow, and sluggish. He became Fat, bitter, and weak...and then it was the food he loved so much that KILLED HIM!!" Asmodeus bellowed down at the poor, wretched soul, who looked up at him with begging eyes. But Asmodeus merely kicked him, knocking him below the surface, and held his boot upon his head as he watched him choke.

"You have no Pity for them then....for their mistakes?" Gluttony asked.

"The First Commandment of Hell, Gluttony, that I am about to teach you is thus:"

"Pity Not the Damned, for Damnation is a Choice, and their punishment is DESERVED!"

"I see. It is...quite profound" Gluttony replied.

"Even moreso...this man, in life, was a KING. In life, he drank and took what he wanted. He bedded women even as they were betrothed to others, and he escaped all accountability. Because he he was also a RICH man. And he was also a POWERFUL man.

But all of the Wealth and Privilege of MAN...means NOTHING in this place. He lies here, mired in the mud, no different than the other miserable pieces of Garbage that linger here in their own despair."

"How long must he Linger here?" asked Gluttony.

"Until he dissolves. You see, the waters of Minauros are, in fact, human waste. And Urine is acidic.

In fact, interesting bit of knowledge, in some villages in the world people who are particularly poor will sell their piss-pots to leather tanners, because the acid in the urine can help to treat leather hides quicker.

It is where the phrase "Piss Poor" came from." The Devil smiled. Gluttony did as well, appreciative of the history lesson.

The Devil then turned to Gluttony, and placed his hands upon each of his shoulders. He stared him, deep in the eye, and spoke honeyed words.

"In this place, Gluttony, ALL MORTALS ARE EQUAL. And there are NONE beyond reproach here. How many of them do you think have offered me their daughters? Their wives? Their own children? How many Kings among Men have offered me their Kingdoms for only a moment of reprieve from their agony?" Asmodeus asked of him.

"Thousands?" replied Gluttony, meekly.

"MILLIONS!!!" screamed the King of all Sin. "...and growing, exponentially, by the MINUTE. Every minute that passes in the outside world, DOZENS of new souls enter my realm. Though there are fewer Damned than there are the virtuous...they still fly here by the scores. And every single one of them...eventually...will be a Soldier in MY ARMY!!"

"My Gods..." said Gluttony "The Legions of the Damned must be vast indeed..."

"Gluttony, my boy...more than you could ever imagine. More than ANY who are here could ever imagine. And this is the realm of the Greedy, and the Gluttonous, who's appetites are known to know no bounds.....they can imagine A LOT!"

"What do you intend to do with an army so vast?" Gluttony meekly inquired.

The King of All Devils turned to him and met his eyes with a cold, toothy, calculated smile.

"I intend to march them to the Gates of the Seven Heavens, the Realms of those Heathern Gods that saw fit to THROW me from MY HOME. To DISCARD ME. To THROW ME INTO HIS NIGHTMARISH HELL FROM WHICH I CAN NEVER ESCAPE! TO NEVER AGAIN BATHE IN THE WARM LIGHT OF MY HOME, A LIGHT I CREATED AS THE MORNINGSTAR!!

AND BURN IT ALL INTO NOTHING!!"

As he screamed, a Flash of Hellfire rushed forth from Asmodeus. As they were in the Bogs of Minauros, and the very toxic air was flammable, the air itself seemed to catch fire around them, spreading a MASSIVE blast of Fire, miles in diameter as far as Gluttony could tell. The soul shells in the bog all screamed a massive scream as the tops of their heads were set ablaze, many of them so desperate as to dive deeper into bog to escape the fiery Inferno.

Gluttony, of course, was unharmed. For Asmodeus had promised he and his other Aspects that nothing would harm them here..not even Asmodeus himself, while he was present.

The blast seemed to shake the entire Hellscape, and the Fiendish Crows, which pecked at the eyes of those in the bog as if they were carrion, were so scared by it that they all scattered from the branches of the trees, flying in unison away from the two of them.

Gluttony merely shuddered in fear. But, ever the reassuring Guide, Asmodeus merely placed his hand upon the shoulder of Gluttony, who immediately calmed thanks to his Aura of Submission.

"You hate the Gods so? For what they did to you?" Gluttony asked, trembling.

"For what they have done to us ALL, Desmodu. But that is a tale for another time...our "Friends" await us."

Asmodeus pointed Gluttony to the entrance to a gigantic tower, seemingly made of the Rot from the bog around them. Inside of it burned a blistering hot fire. And as Asmodeus and Gluttony walked inside they were treated to a sight unlike anything Gluttony had ever seen....

More Gold had Gluttony never laid eyes upon in his life. With coins that seemed to rain down from the very ceiling. It did, in fact, as there appeared to be nets of gold on the ceiling to this place, which rained down coins in intermittent intervals.

As the coins rained down, they seemed to land upon the skulls of the soul shells that lingered within..and the soul shells were literally being crushed by the overbearing weight of the piles of coins that gathered upon them.

As they marched, Gluttony could hear the grinding of massive gears, and the sounds of bones being crushed inbetween them. He heard cries of despair as he looked forth and saw, what appeared, to be massive vats of molten gold. As he looked into them he could see PEOPLE, screaming in agony, as they were boiled alive in the molten gold kept continuously stoked by massive bellows which fanned the eternal fire.

As Gluttony gazed down into the molten core he saw then all biting, clawing each other, trying to climb on top of one another to escape the vat of molten liquid. As they tried Devils who stood upon the edge of the vat would whip them, or push them back in by stabbing them with their Ranseurs.

"The Greedy, I assume?" asked Gluttony of the Devil standing next to him.

"Here-in there are two whom are punished: The Hoarders and the Squanders. Those to whom the pursuit of wealth was their life-long endeavor, so much so it clouded their reason and their judgment. They boil now, until consumed, within vats of the purest gold. More Gold than any of them could have ever wanted in life. But all of the Treasure under the Earth and Moon cannot satisfy them damned souls, and bring them no relief from their agony." Asmodeus replied.

"What happens to these souls, after they are consumed?" Gluttony questioned

"When their flesh is melted entirely from their body they are fed through the Gears of the machinery that ever stokes the fires of this place. Once their flesh is charred and their bones are crushed, they are all melted down...and made into more coins." Asmodeus said, as he points up to the coins that seem to be falling from the ceiling. "They are then melted down, and used as the very molten Gold that torments the others in this place. In that moment, their Soul Energy is completely consumed, and they will eventually reform within the Bog outside to be taken to one of the Flesh Pits. At that moment...they are no longer whom they were, but Lemures in their stead."

"Lemures?" questioned Gluttony[ "Those are the dregs of Infernal Kind, yes?"

"They are. Top marks, my boy." replied Asmodeus. "When a soul's Soul Shell is completely destroyed by the tortures of Hell they are reformed somewhere in the Hellscape as Lemures. Stripped of their former identities and memories, these pathetic creatures have no mind of their own, nor willpower. Only instinct. Only rage. Only despair. They attack all they see without mercy and without remorse. Devils can merely give them a simple telepathic command, and they will leave them alone. But everyone else...including the other Damned whom they torment..are not so lucky."

"What do you do with these deformed creatures? What purpose do they serve?" questioned Gluttony.

"They are collected by Soul Harvesters of different types: Spinagos, horned devils, Amnizu and the like, and they are taken for 'processing.' Once all of the magical energy has been extracted from them, we can no longer use them to fuel our spells and our powers, requiring us to make use of them. They are sent to the Flesh Pits, processing centers, where they are remolded and reshaped...quite painfully I might add...into other Devils. A process that takes many years of agonizing torment, which removes any final vestiges of their Mortal Memories and builds them completely Anew. Remade in Hell's Image."

As they walked the two of them heard a familiar sounding shout. As they turned around they saw a familiar-looking sight. Another Desmodu!!

This Desmodu picking up handfuls of Gold Coins off of the molten hot ground and stuffing them into his pants. He had found a sack, into which he had poured countless coins, and he was attempting to drag them behind his back.

"Mine! Mine! it is all MINE!" shouted Greed. Asmodeus and Gluttony both merely laughed at him.

Asmodeus leaned forward and waved at Greed, who looked at his own Reflection of Gluttony and the Devil King and immediately dropped his bag.

"Ah, well met, Desmodu" taunted Gluttony.

"Well met, Desmodu" responded Greed. Who is your friend? The tall devil stepped forward, smiling down at the little aspect, his Ruby Rod outstretched to him.

"Asmodeus. Lord of the Hells. King of all Devilkind and Lord of all Domains of the Damned" Asmodeus said, bowing respectfully to Greed.

"Yeah, sure. Why the HELL would the King of Hell EVER bow to me!? I know I'm great, and all, but call me skeptical..." Greed chided.

Asmodeus merely grinned. "Because I am your Host, child. And a Host must be polite to his guests. Speaking of Guests...I believe the Lord of the House should be arriving right...about..."

As he spoke a gigantic, Serpentine-like tail seemed to descend from the ceiling, grabbing Greed around his neck, lifting him off of the ground as if it were a hangman's noose. From the ceiling a long, snake-like creature descended, hanging from upside down. It's bronze skin and poison-tipped fangs oozed ichor and vitriol as it hissed at Greed, whom had attempted to steal from it's Horde.

"NO, LITTLE MORTAL, IT. IS. ALL. MINE!!!!!" hissed the creature, as it magically called forth a magical Greatspear and prepared to skewer Greed as if he was a wrack of meat.

"ENOUGH, MAMMON! LET HIM BE!" The King of Hells demanded with a shout that seemed to shake the very foundation of Hell itself under their feet.

As he yelled, mountains of Gold Coins that had previously stood tall simultaneously gave way from the tremor, creating a veritable Avalanche of Gold. Several tormented Souls, which had been writhing within their mounds, were subsequently crushed underneath, wailing desperately as the coins cascaded over them.

The creature turned, as if to hiss as whosoever dared to command him within his own domain, and as his eyes fell upon Asmodeus they went wide. He immediately uncoiled himself and fell from the ceiling, crawling forth to prostrate himself at the feet of the Lord of All Devils.

"Pleassssse..." the snake-like creature hissed, his "S's" drawn out and enunciated. "Pleasssse, my Lord Assssmodeussss. I wasss not aware of the fact you had brought Guessstsss into my Domain."

"It is Forgiven, Snake. Now RISE!! These are the two of whom I spoke of in my Sending to you. These are the two that you are to educate." Asmodeus commanded.

"Educate, my Lord Asssmodeuss? I do not Underssstand?" Mammon replied.

"You are a master Spy. A Master Engineer. And master Seducer and Panderer. You will teach them to speak Honeyed Words, as you do. You will teach them of Charm. Teach them of Strategy. Teach them how to defend a fortress...and teach them how to FIGHT as you do. Teach them how to manipulate. Teach them how to bend people to your will, as you have done so many times in the past to others, Snake. Do this for me...and I shall reward you well" Asmodeus quipped to him.

"Why, may I assssssk, are thesssse little mortalssss sssso ssssspecial to you, my Lord?" queried Mammon.

"Because I wish for them to be my new Disciples, Mammon. But before I can return them to the Prime..they must know how to act in a Court of Hell. They will need to understand CONTRACTS....and how to appeal to Mortal Greed and Gluttony. Teach them well, Lord of Avarice, that I may send them to the Prime in My Name."

With a simple bow, Mammon accepted his Task.

The "Education" of Greed and Gluttony had begun!!!

The next aspect of Desmodu to awaken was the Sin of Lust. He felt, as he rosed, an unspeakable Heat.

As he gazed all around him, he was afloat among a rock, which rested in the middle of a fiery river of pure lava.

As Lust stood, and looked about him, he was overcome with a feeling of dread and despair. As he turned about, taking in the sights around him, a fissure beneath his feet erupted with molten hot fire, which spewed up towards him. Almost as if the very fire itself was intelligent, malicious, and seeking to immolate human flesh.

As it did, however, he found himself unharmed. Lust gazed down at his own hands, and saw them completely unharmed.

"What is this?" said Lust "Where the Hells am I!?"

"An accurate statement..." said a voice behind him. Lust quickly turned around to see a very familiar-looking Devil standing before him, wearing a warm smile. He stood, leaning upon his Ruby Rod, staring down at him. "Though, perhaps, the better question perhaps would be 'Where IN the Hells am I?" Asmodeus gloated with a grin.

"Very well then...where IN the Hells am I?" pleaded Lust.

"Welcome, Supplicant, to the Fiery Realm of Phlegethos. The Fourth Circle of Hell." chided Asmodeus.

"I see" said Lust. "Am I dead then? Am I to be punished hereafter in this chasm of fire and despair? What have I done to deserve such a grim fate?"

Asmodeus merely laughed, darkly. "Nothing....yet" he exclaimed. "I, Asmodeus, King of all the Nine Hells, bid ye welcome to this realm Mortal. Come. Walk with me."

Lust merely looked at the river of fire all around him. As he did he occasionally saw what looked like a person, flailing about, screaming in agony as they floated down the river of magma. He looked at Asmodeus with an inquisitive look, but the Devil King merely smiled. With a series of magical gestures and words the King of All Hells began to interweave a spell of "Flight", and he began to cast it upon Lust.

As Asmodeus reached out and touched the forehead of Lust, Lust was lifted off of the ground as if by a magical, telekinetic force. He levitated, and found that he was able to control his levitation with his own mind, flying as though by a force of sheer will.

"My appreciation, Devil King" said Lust, as he floated upwards, and did a playful flip in the air. He had never flown, after all, as the sensation was new to him. Lust then turned to Asmodeus, a very inquisitive look upon his face. "Tell me, Oh First of the Fallen....do you still have the Wings to which you were once privy?"

"I do not" said Asmodeus "though I may assume the form of winged creatures if I so choose. Nay. My wings were....taken from me...during the time just before my Fall."

"They were ripped from you then?" Lust inquired. The Dark One merely nodded a slow, grim nod.

"Indeed. Once my Wings were as pure shimmering light, as bright as the very Sun itself. They were the Mark of my position as the Star of Morning of all the Heavens. Once, I floated amidst the skies of Celestia, their light bathing all beneath me in their warmth and their radiance, and I was held in highest regard there" preached the Tyrant Lord.

"Tell me, oh Devil King, what transpired exactly? I have heard the stories before. How you angered the Gods of Old, and you were cast from the Heavens. However, as a Storyteller, I have always accepted that all tales are twisted and distorted as they are retold over the years. I plead with you then, oh Tyrant of the Nine Hells....tell me YOUR side of the Story. Straight from the Devil's own Lips, as it were..." Lust pleaded of him.

To this the Devil King, a visage of terror, a nightmare made real, his form began to change and to shift. A pair of glimmering, glowing wings emerged from his back, seemed to be made of naught but pure light. His Diabolic visage was enveloped, momentarily, in a wreath of pure light, a golden halo which shone around him as he stood upon the Phlegethon, the Unholy River of Fire which spiraled and snaked endlessly through the Hellscape.

Lust now stood not before the King of all the Hells, but a glowing Angel which stood radiant before him. A being of such profound beauty that Lust felt overwhelmed from him. A feeling of burning within his heart as he laid sight upon this most magnificent creature.

"I was created not as the terrible monster you see before you, Lust. When I was first created by He Who Was, I was not of a body. Rather, I existed merely as the mote of Light that you see before you. I was a Light within the Heavens by which all the Gods could see their creations, a guide in the Darkness that was once the Void of all Creation." the Devil King exclaimed.

"I was not always known as Asmodeus" said the Devil Lord "I was given many different names by many different Gods of Creation. Some of them called me "Lucifer", the bringer of Light. The Demons, whom I was sworn to destroy, called me "Samael", which translates to..."

"The Venom of God." Lust quietly interrupted, under his breath.

"Indeed, my astute compatriot" the mote of Light nodded to him

"in the Beginning, the Gods were attempting to create new species, new mountains, new lakes and new beings. But the Demons, which were spawned from the endless Abyss, were making their lives difficult. The Demons destroyed as quickly as the Gods could create, and for eons they found themselves unable to make any progress. For just as soon as new life as created, the Demons would spill forth from that unholy place and devour it, growing even more powerful, and then corrupting the souls of that new life into new Demons. It was from these first incarnations of life that the first Obyrith Lords were borne."

"And thus you were repurposes as a Weapon against them?" Lust meekly inquired.

"Indeed. The Gods knew that the only way that they would ever make any progress in creation was if the Demons were somehow kept at bay. And thus they took me, their oldest and most trusted creation, and decreed that I would be their Weapon against them. But I could not do it alone. Therefore He Who Was, the being who created me from a single ray of his own Light, created for me two others to help me in the fight against them."

"And who were they?" an eerily intrigued Lust questioned.

"They had different names then. Their True Names, as it were...I shall not reveal them to you for obvious reasons. But they are the Devils you now know as Dispater, Lord of the Second....and Mephistopheles, the Hellfire Lord of the Eighth."

"Dispater and Mephistopheles are your brothers!?!?" [/i]exclaimed Lust.[/i]

"My Brothers...my Children...it is so difficult to classify such things when one is not "Born" as mortals are. They were created from the Darkness within the Void, beings Born of Darkness to Destroy beings of Darkness. They emerged from the Void of Creation, fully grown and fully formed. But unlike me, who carried a form like the Angels they were formless, shapeless, beings of Darkness and Fire. The one you know as Mephistopheles...was my Fiery Sword. And Dispater was my Iron Shield. The Dark Duo, they were called. Wielded by a Being of Pure Light."

"How then, Oh King of Devils, did you come to inhabit this form you now possess? You know, with the..umm.." Lust took each hand, and put them up to his forehead with his two index fingers outstretched, signifying the Horns which lay upon Asmodeus' brow.

"I and my Kin were sent to the Abyss to do battle with their hordes. And fought them we did. At first we stood from Afar, striking them with Lightning from the very Heavens as they emerged. And it worked, for many centuries, until the Demons finally learned to Adapt. It is for this reason that Demons are now unharmed by Lightning...we struck them with it so long and so powerfully that they eventually became immune to it out of need. And when the Lightning from the Heavens could no longer keep them at bay, we traversed physically into the Abyss to fight them hand-to-hand. By this time, we had amassed an Army of Angels who would fight by our side against them. These Dark Angels whom served us...you mortals now call them "The Erinyes."

"Erinyes are fallen Angels!?" Lust exclaimed

"They are. The Erinyes that exist now are the Children of those first Dark Angels which followed the three of us into battle against the Demonic Hordes."

"I see...your exposure to the Abyss for so long is what corrupted your forms..." Lust quietly analyzed.

"Astute as always, my Pupil. The Abyss spawns INFINITE demons. The very chaos itself reshapes and reforms itself at random, spewing forth creatures of Nightmare from it's depths. It was the God of Madness, Tharizdun, who took a Shard of Pure Evil and used it to forge the Fiery Heart of the Abyss, from which all madness sprang forth. We imprisoned him, after eons of battle. But the Evil and the Madness that spread forth...it seeped into us. Unknowingly, we were absorbing it over the millenia we fought him. And in doing so..it reshaped us. It devolved our beautiful, Angelic shapes into the hideous amalgamation that you see before you."

"So it was the War which robbed you of your beauty...." Lust inquired.

"No, my Disciple. It was the War that robbed me of EVERYTHING."

And with that the light surrounding this radiant being began to dissipate, as Asmodeus resumed his previous, Diabolical form. He motioned for Lust to follow him as he lead him forth. In the distance, a gigantic towering fortress could be seen, wreathed in Blue Fire, which jutted out from the fiery chasms of Phlegethos into the skies above, which radiated with intense heat.

"To what place are you taking me?" questioned Lust.

"I ferry you now to the palace of Fierna, the Archduchess of Phlegethos...and best friend of my own Daughter, Glasya. She is the Patron Queen of Lust and Depravity, she and her father, Belial, rule this level of hell together. She rules it openly, upon the throne. Belial is her Vizier...though, in truth, it is he who truly rules. He advises her, and aids her during this transitionary period."

"You are to give me to the Queen of Lust as a plaything, then? I know not whether to thank you or to curse your name..." Lust playfully stuck his tongue out at the Lord of Hell as he stated such. Asmodeus let loose a bellowing, hearty laugh at this.

"By the time she is through with you, my boy...you might just do both" he sneered. The two of them shared a thunderous laugh at this sentiment.

"What is she going to do to me?" Lust meekly questioned.

"Once again, you ask the wrong questions. The better question should be...what ISN'T she going to do to you? And the answer to that question is: Not Much." the Hell Lord quipped.

Lust....merely smiled.

As the approached the dark, obsidian tower that stood in the distance Lust looked into the River of Fire in which floated many Soul Shells of the Damned. He turned to his left, looking up at the Devil King Asmodeus inquisitively. The Dark King merely laughed, almost as if he could read his mind...because undoubtedly he could. Asmodeus turned down to him with a wicked smile.

"In the River Phlegethon burn the souls of the Lustful. Those whose hearts and their loins burned like wildfire in life are now forever burned in Death within the fires of Perdition."

"There are so many..." Lust replied "Is this to be my fate then, after I have shed loose the mortal shell?"

"That is up to you, my child." the Devil Lord chided. "Your sins are numerous, and your depravity has known great lengths. But you must also remember: I wish for you to be my disciple. And the Fires of Hell are reserved for those whom are Punished for their Sins, Desmodu. And I wish for you to embrace yours." Asmodeus decreed.

"Embrace it?" lust replied. " Aren't the punishments of Hell reserved for those who have embraced their sins? Are these fires not for those who reveled and relished in their depravity in life?"

"They are...and they aren't." Asmodeus snerked. "The Punishments of Hell are for those who REGRET their depravity...not for those whom truly embrace it."

"I don't understand..." Lust pleaded.

"When a Soul descends into Hell...it falls into self-hatred and despair. Their bodies become twisted reflections of the bodies they knew in life, twisted by their own corruption. But this corruption comes not from without..it comes from within. Hell, Desmodu, is as much a prison for the Mind as it is for the Soul...and Soul Shells are a reflection of the twisted countenance within" Asmodeus nodded.

"I'm still not quite sure I follow, my Lord. Are you to say that these Damned linger here only for so long as they keep themselves here?" Lust inquired.

"Astute, my child. But once again: You are both correct and incorrect. Souls are tethered here by their own self-loathing and their own despair. It is the Chain that binds them into his Hell. Indeed....were a soul ever truly able to forgive THEMSELVES for their own crimes...they would be free of this place." Asmodeus darkly chuckled. "But, to this day, I have never seen a single soul free themselves of it. But that is why Damnation is so damning, Desmodu...it is because the "Door", so to speak, is unlocked. These Damned souls could leave at any time they wish....they simply do not FEEL as if they are deserving of redemption. Because they feel that only the Gods can forgive them..."

"It is much like the Grey Wastes then?" Lust inquired. "A feeling of Belonging here, as though one is deserving of their torment?"

"Indeed. The Souls here feel compelled to stay. They blame themselves endlessly for their crimes and their trespasses, and they wallow here eternally in their despair. Even if we did not torture the souls here...they would linger here nonetheless. But in doing so they would provide us with nothing." replied the Devil King.

"Why is it you torture them then? Sadism? Grim satisfaction?" Lust questioned.

"We torture them because we must. And, I shall be honest, we did not enjoy it at first. But as the Eons dregged on, well, we had to find ways to "Entertain" ourselves. There is, after all, nothing wrong with someone who enjoys their work..." Asmodeus quipped with a satisfied smile.

"When a Soul traverses to the Nine Hells, their minds create for themselves a body that is a twisted reflection of the body they knew in life. The reason for this is because, in their minds, they still feel that they are "Alive" on a subconscious level. And because of the Morphic Nature of the Nine Hells...they create a body for themselves because they still Believe that they have one. And Belief, Desmodu, is the most powerful force in the Cosmos. It is why the Gods need it to fuel their powers."

"Do you gain power from Belief, the same as the Gods do? Can the mortals who worship you fuel your power the same as those whom worship the Gods?" Lust prodded.

"No. The Power to draw upon the essence of Belief is a power reserved for the Gods themselves. I cannot gain power from Belief...I can only gain power from the essence of the Souls that I have tortured within the Nine Hells. But that is because those souls are, in essence, Made of Belief. The Soul Shells here keep a body for themselves because it is a subconscious projection. Because they still Believe that they have bodies...they do. And by wracking those "bodies" with Pain, by making them BELIEVE that they are in Agony...they shed that power. Power which we them absorb."

"I see...so the Mortals give their Belief to the Gods through Worship and Prayer....you are required to take that Belief through the use of Pain and Fear..." Lust proclaimed.

"As I have said, my child, you are as Astute and as intelligent as I had hoped you would be. Yes. Is the contract that we agreed upon, the Pact Primeval, that allows us to Harvest the souls here in order to fuel our spells and our powers. Everytime a Devil casts a spell, everytime a Devil utters magical incantations, they are drawing from the Wellspring of the Damned. And each individual Devil has claim over a certain number of Souls within this Inferno, and from them gain their diabolical powers. And, of course, the more souls one has..."

"The more power that they may obtain...I see." Lust nodded along.

"Indeed. Souls are the Currency of Creation, Desmodu. And as much as the Gods may Pretend that they Love you, Care about you, Adore you, Provide for you....they provide for you only for as long as you provide for THEM."

Lust simply nodded along, implying that he understood.

"We are the Gods Pocket Change...." chuckled Lust. "Our very Essence, our very Belief, our very BEING the coins within their purses..."

"And they TRADE THEM just as such..." the Archdevil roared. Lust recoiled from the sudden outburst, startled. "It's a Con. A Shell Game. The Oldest Shell Game in existence..."

"Explain, please?" Lust pleaded, CLEARLY entranced by this statement.

"Perhaps...an example will serve you best. And I do so love to tell a good story, same as you do..." Asmodeus playfully grinned, and Lust was all ears as he listened.

"Imagine, Desmodu, that you are on a boat in the middle of the ocean. And you are at the Helm of the ship. There are 100 other people on the ship, sleeping down below in the ship's hold, and as you gaze upon the Horizon a Storm is brewing."

Lust merely nodded, as if to say "I get you", and Asmodeus continued...

"Now then, imagine that you are a Faithless, who bears no reverence for the Gods. But you see: What you are witnessing with the Storm upon the Horizon is a literal game of "Tug of War" between the Gods themselves. Umberlee and Valkur are currently engaged in such a game...and the Souls and the Belief of both you and the other 100 people on board that ship are the proverbial "Prize" to be won from the game. And so Umberlee, in her might, will whip up a massive Storm upon the Sea. She will send wind and rain, and she shall batter the ship as it sails upon the waves."

Lust closed his eyes and imagined it all, nodding along as the Tyrant King spoke.

"Now then...imagine that of the people below in the Cargo Hold that Fifty of them worship Umberlee. They pray to her, in fear, begging her to spare their lives. But, on the other hand, the other Fifty of the mortals in the hold below instead worship Valkur. So they pray to Him, pleading with him, begging him to help them weather this storm and arrive to shore safely.

Now, this is where it gets INTERESTING.

You. The man sitting at the Helm of the Ship...are the deciding Factor in their "Tug of War." If you offer a prayer to Umberlee...she gains the upper hand. Another person "Tugging on her side of the rope" as it were. If you offer a prayer to Umberlee, she gains the power needed in order to sink the ship and claim the souls of those below who are fearful of her, for the power of Evil Gods often-times comes from supplication and Fear.

If you offer a Prayer to Valkur, however, Valkur gains the extra strength he needs in this particular conflict in order to shove aside the storm, allowing the ship to safely pass through the waters and find it's way to safety.

Two Gods. Both of which engaged in a War. But Gods do not wage War with Spears and Shields, Desmodu. Gods wage war with Monsters, and Lightning from the Heavens, and by sending Minions to lay waste. They do all of these things so that they can DECEIVE mortals into freely offering their prayers and their belief....belief which fuels their Divine Power.

Now then: Imagine if you, the man driving the ship, were the Faithful instead of another God. Hlal, in this case, with whom you seem to hold so much reverence..."

Desmodu nodded.

"...now then, imagine that in order to Win this battle, Valkur and Umberlee have to 'petition' for outside help. After all, you are a worshipper of Hlal....your Belief will not fuel either Valkur or Umberlee. And so Umberlee and Valkur BOTH would 'petition' Hlal on your behalf, as you are currently not praying to either of them.

At this point, a literal "Bidding War" starts to begin between the gods. Of the 50 Souls on this vessel which are loyal to her...Umberlee offers the pwoer from 5 of them to Hlal if Hlal would give Umberlee some of the Power that she is gaining from YOUR worship of her.

Valkur then proceeds a counter offer. Of the 50 souls upon this ship that are praying to him, he shall grant Hlal the power granted from Ten. Hlal, being a good-aligned deity, chooses to side with Valkur. Their interests coalign, after all, and the "Deal" is sweeter to her.

Hlal takes the power that YOU are giving her, from the power of YOUR worship...and she gives that power to Valkur.

Valkur gains the "extra bit" of power that he needs to win this Tug of War. The ship is guided safely upon the waters...and finds safe harbor. Valkur has won this battle against Umberlee...but he did it because of YOU.

It was YOUR faith in Hlal that he petitioned, and it was Hlal that gave that power to Valkur. Valkur, in exchange however, must give the power of those ten faithful to Hlal. A "Finder's Fee" so to speak, in exchange for Hlal helping Valkur win the "Battle." Because by winning this battle it is very possible in the future that some of the followers of Umberlee will potentially convert to his cause, giving himself more power...and taking it away from her. Hlal, quite literally, INVESTED your belief in Valkur's cause to gain more power in the future when her "Investment" pays off. Just like buying Stock in a company."

Lust nodded along, as if he seemed to understand.

"Gods do this ALL THE TIME, Desmodu. Every. Single. Day. They petition and bargain with each other. They take the power of YOUR belief, and they trade it amongst themselves the way that greedy, capitalistic pigs would trade copper or silver coins. And there are, in fact, souls which are more valuable than others. For example: An Innocent soul in Hell is worth significantly more than the average Dregs that find their way here. Because they are more rare. More unique. Just like a Platinum Coin is worth more than a Copper piece...a Platinum Piece can buy you more things. And a more valuable SOUL...can afford you more POWER."

Lust nodded along, listening as they continued to magically levitate across the fiery, ashen wasteland of Phlegethos. After several hours they finally approached the Black Gates of the Obsidian Palace which jutted from the Hellscape.

Asmodeus approached the gigantic obsidian portcullis of the massive castle and he knocked upon it's doors with his Ruby Rod, politely. The Portcullis immediately raised, and they proceeded to cross the long bridge.

An entire Legion of Horned Devils and Hamatula flanked them upon either side, but as they turned and saw Asmodeus they all immediately dropped their weapons and prostrated themselves before him. As the two approached the massive black doors behind the Portcullis they swung open, and the sight to which Lust was given was one that made his loins burn with fire.

She was young in appearance, and indescribably beautiful. Her skin was a pale red, and she was mostly nude save for a few slivers of cloth which draped her lithe, athletic form. Her lips were as black as night, and her eyes were motes of Fire which rested upon her face, which Lust would have compared to that of an Angel if not for the tiny horns which jutted from her forehead just below her bangs. A long tail protruded from her lower back, which rested just above her ample, heart-shaped bosom as she approached the two. A wicked smile danced upon her visage as she appraised the young Lust up and down as one might appraise a prized Horse....or a Lamb for the slaughter.

She walked with her head held high, and her shoulders held back, a gait which signified her Regal position. Lust could tell that this was a woman who was used to getting what she wanted, and was quick to destroy or depose any who would deny her Desires. As she looked him up and down a long, thin, serpentine tongue escaped her mouth and danced upon her lips, almost as if she were licking her chops in preparation for a meal.

Lust had never in his life felt simultaneously terrified and aroused until the moment he gazed upon her. With a dexterity befitting that of a trained ballerina she curtsied, bowing in reverence before the King of Devils which stood before her.

Lust could tell that Asmodeus and this creature were in Telepathic communication. Asmodeus looked down at Lust, and he raised his hand to the beautiful She-Devil that stood before him.

"Words please, Lady Fierna. The Future Disciple does not have the power to speak telepathically as we do, and I shall not speak Words that he cannot himself hear, for such is rude, and I have promised I shall not hide my intentions from him."

"As you wish, My Dark Lord. Have you brought me a Plaything with which I may indulge myself? He is such a handsome one, and I have always been one to favor the company of Chultan men. They are so..exotic.." she grinned, once again licking her lips. She was slightly crouched, almost as though she were ready to pounce upon him like a Lioness would a gazelle. Lust felt both terrified...and excited. "Why, he already looks as if his heart is about to burst within his frail, mortal chest.."

The Devil King let out an appreciative, uproarious laugh as she stated this.

"Indeed, Fierna, I have brought you a "Toy." But I know how you have treated your past...interests...and would demand that you treat this one with some manner of restraint. He is of no use to me if you break him."

Lust could almost see a look of disappointment on her face as she pouted, like a little girl who didn't get her way. But Asmodeus merely took his hand, and placed it gently upon her chin as a father would to comfort his own daughter. He leaned over, and he gave her a gentle kiss upon her forehead, with which she smiled a smile that could almost be perceived as "Loving." As loving as a Devil was capable of, at least.

"Educate him. Teach him your ways. Teach him how to Pander, and to Seduce. Teach him how to bend others to his will. Teach him how to dominate, and control others...and how to make them like it. Teach him to make others bend to him willingly, teach him how to play upon the Lust and the Insecurities of others. Teach him how to make people tell him their secrets. And teach him the joys of Pleasure, that he may bring HIS Lust upon Others...as you have." Asmodeus commanded.

Fierna turned to Lust, her red eyes flaring with intense heat and passion. As they did, Lust almost felt the urge to fall to his knees to worship this veritable Goddess that now stood before him, a sensation of utmost Desire overcame him. He could barely contain himself from leaping upon her right then and there, without even a care as to the fact the Devil King himself would be watching. As this sensation came over him Asmodeus merely looked down at him and let out a jovial chuckle, almost as if he was DARING him to do so.

"Have fun, Children. And Fierna...do be careful not to destroy this one. I'm going to need him...mostly functional. Mostly."The Devil Lord grinned.

Fierna merely reached over and grabbed the man by his shoulder, gently leading him inside of the Obsidian Fortress.

The Education of Lust had begun.....

The last of the Aspects of Desmodu to awaken was the Aspect of Envy.

As he stirred, Envy felt both upon his skin and within his soul a chilling Cold unlike anything he had ever suffered in his life. As he opened his eyes and leaned forward he found himself naked, and under a thin layer of ice and snow.

He shivered, his entire body shaking from the intense cold. He gazed all around him, and as he looked he saw within the frozen Tundra upon which he rested what appeared to be thousands of other people, each of them completely frozen and stuck to the icy wasteland. As he slowly found his way to his feet he looked about in horror, as the intense ice and cold marred all that he could see.

The bitter chill and the icy snow blew upon him with the intensity of a hurricane, and he cried out :

"Hello!?!? Can anybody hear me!?"

But upon the ephemeral winds he could hear only the cries of despair. And so he picked a direction...and be began to march, naked, through the ice and the snow.

He did not make it far before he fell to his knees, unable to go on. The ice and the snow covered him, and he could feel himself freezing to the very ground. As he started to cry, his tears froze upon his face.

And then as suddenly as he had awoken...he found himself no longer cold. He felt a feeling of warmth that immediately woke him from his fatigue, and as he looked up he saw a very familiar looking Devil. The one who had prepared for him a meal just minutes before!

The gigantic Devil King then did something that Envy did not suspect anyone to do for him, as a slave. The Devil-King proceeded to remove the very Robes from his own back, and then draped them over the shivering man. As the ruby-bejewelled robes enveloped him he closed them in, holding them tight. The warmth from them was indescribable, and their comfort was unlike anything Desmodu had ever felt.

Indeed...Envy was Envious, wishing that he owned such a set of wonderful robes. Asmodeus sensed this, and immediately chuckled in response.

"Where are we? What is this place, Oh Devil?"[/i] Envy inquired.[/i]

"Greetings, Supplicant. Asmodeus, Tyrant King of the Nine Hells, bids you welcome to the Eight Hell. The Frozen Wasteland of Cania..." The Devil-King bowed in kind.

Envy was shocked as he gazed at the massive Devil before him, at the revelation of his identity. Envy slowly stood to his feet, wrapping himself snugly in the gigantic warm robes of the Devil Tyrant. As he held them tighter around himself, he could feel something odd upon them however. As he looked inside the robes, the Robes appeared to be stained...with dried blood.

As Envy gazed up at the Devil-King he saw them. A sight that very few, even in Hell, were made privy to.

Envy saw upon the back of Asmodeus his scars, and his wounds....which still bled.

As Asmodeus took a step a single drop of his blood oozed from his side, and landed upon the cold ground. As it did it hissed, scorching the frozen ground around it. The Blood then began to form..and then grow...and grow...and grow...until a PIT FIEND emerged from it, wreathed in Hellfire.

The creature, fully formed, and only just now aware of it's own existence gazed around in confusion, just as confused as Envy was when he first emerged within this Frozen, derelict place. It then flew off in a random direction, almost as if it were terrified.

Envy merely looked on, his jaw agape with wonderment and confusion.

"You...you bleed Devils..." Envy stated, barely able to stutter out the words.

"I have bled for an Eternity, Envy. Ever do these wicked wounds upon my back ooze black blood from the time of my Fall. Ever am I wounded...ever am I broken. Ever am I reminded of my descent, for I wear it's mark upon my flesh and ever feel the pain within my Heart...and ever do I LONG to return to my place in the Sky, where I was ever Warm and held in Most High Regard..."

Envy merely looked up at him, unsure of what to say or of what to think. The Devil-Lord merely laughed at this.

"BEHOLD!! DO YOU ENVY ME!? DO YOU SEE THE KING OF HELLS, BORNE OF INFINITE MIGHT AND POWER, HOW HE BLEEDS!? DO YOU ENVY ME, MY WOUNDS AND MY DAMNATION!? DO YOU ENVY ME, MY PAIN AND SUFFERING ETERNAL!? DO. YOU. ENVY ME?!!?"

Envy did not know how to respond. Yes, of course he envied him. He envied his phenomenal power and his influence. He envied the Kingdom to which he was Lord and Ruler. He envied his presence, and his wisdom. He envied...everything about him.

And yet, he pitied him. For he sympathized with him.

Desmodu too was a tool, used by people. Used, and then cast aside.

Desmodu too was a being who suffered, endlessly, at the hands of those who exploited him physically and sexually for their own depraved ends.

Desmodu too was a man literally Possessed of Sin...

So as he stared down at this massive, wounded Devil before him, as he saw the scars upon his back which were so similar to the endless bullwhip marks Desmodu had suffered before, only to be forcefully regenerated each sunrise so that it could start all over again..

Desmodu felt not only Envy...but he also felt Sympathy. Sympathy for this poor creature who was so much like himself. Used, and cast aside, merely attempting, it seemed, to find his place in the Universe where he belonged and to return to the Family that he had lost.


It was in this dark moment that Envy realized that Desmodu and Asmodeus were the same. One and the same. Though different, Desmodu looked at this monstrous creature that stood before him and realized a truth: That Asmodeus is precisely what Desmodu would have become if their situations were the same. Because they were. He saw within Asmodeus a twisted reflection of himself. And Asmodeus felt the same.

Envy, for a moment, felt a spirit of Kinship with this Fallen Angel that he had never before felt with any mere human. As if their hearts and their souls and their minds were of one single cohesion. As this happened Asmodeus reeled back his head, leaning upon his Ruby Rod.

It was then that Envy realized that the Ruby Rod was not only his symbol of power. It was not only his badge of office. It was not only his Greatest Weapon and his Mightiest Shield.

He realized that the Ruby Rod was also the Cane that he leaned upon...because he could barely walk of his own volition.

Asmodeus was wounded.

Asmodeus was CRIPPLED.

It made so much sense to Envy. His long fall in the Dawn of Creation, his centuries-long descent from the Heavens into the Pit had literally caused him to CRASH through each and every layer of Baator.

He fell through the Fiery Skies of Avernus, and they seared his flesh.

He fell through the Iron Stalagtites of Dis, and they had pierced his skin endlessly.

He had fallen through the acidic mires of the swamps of Minauros, and they had stained his flesh and singed him.

He had fallen through the Phlegethon, the fiery, boiling river of Blood, and they left upon his skin welts, boils, and sores.

He fell through the frozen wastes of Stygia, and their dark waters still stained his hands and his wrists.

He had tumbled down the endless hills of Malagard, and the roadrash covered his legs still.

He had felt the Acid Rains of Malabolge.

And now, before Envy's very eyes, he suffered the Cold and the Loneliness of this frigid realm of Cania they now inhabited.

Desmodu realized thus: That for all of the suffering that Desmodu had suffered for all of his life this poor, twisted creature had felt such suffering for EONS. Since the dawn of time.

Every Indignity that Desmodu had ever known this wretched beast had suffered a million-fold. Every pain that Desmodu had ever known this being had felt upon his own flesh.

Every pain of loneliness and despair that Desmodu had ever known, this creature knew.

Asmodeus was Desmodu. A Being who suffered endlessly.

A Being who had Fallen From Grace.

A Being who was in a Hell of his own Making.

And Envy, with his hand over his mouth at the intense epiphany he had come to terms with:

...felt Pity for him.

Because Envy did something that the Envious do not often do:

Because Envy Empathized with him.

"You....are as damned as they!!!"

With this the Devil King tilted his head back, high. He stabilized himself upon his rod, but he stood with his head held high in the most regal regard. Asmodeus' eyes flared red with Fury, for but a moment, before once again assuming his usual calm demeanor.

"And at last my child...you acknowledge the Truth!!!"

Envy merely stared at the Devil King, standing proud before him even as the frigid ice of Cania hammered down upon them both. Desmodu could see icicles forming upon his horns, which melted away almost as quickly as they had shaped. The heat from Asmodeus was causing him to be framed in an aura of bellowing smoke.

The Lord of the Hells looked down upon Envy, who was shaking at the revelation he had come to only moments before. He fell to his knees, looking up at this Proud Devil, who held himself regally before him, staring down as if staring into a piece of his own soul.

"This is why I have CHOSEN YOU!!!" the Devil Lord screamed, his voice seeming to shake the very ground beneath their feet, and to part the very cold air around them. Envy shook, like a leaf in a tree, barely able to hold himself together both in the Fear and in the Realization of what was happening to him.

"Because you are like me!! You are JUST like me!! We are the same, you and I!! We are cut from the same Cloth!! Our lives are the same!! Our existence is the SAME!! We are KINDRED SOULS, YOU AND I!?!?!"

Envy merely shuddered at the Revelation.

"We are BROTHERS, Desmodu!! We are THE SAME. We are both DAMNED by the decision of those who have OWNED US. We are BOTH damned by decisions that WE DID NOT MAKE!! We have both been USED!! We have both been DISCARDED!! We have both been VIOLATED!!!

AND NEITHER OF US HAD A CHOICE!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Asmodeus turned to his side, where stood a massive glacier of ice. With his bare fists, with such unfettered rage as Desmodu had never before seen, Asmodeus began to strike the glacier in his rage. Again, and again, and again he struck it, with each blow from his ungodly powerful fists cracking off pieces of the ice.

With every blow, the entire HELLS seemed to shake from his rage, and Thunder and Lightning seemed to rage in the black, cold sky. And every blow that befell the frozen glacier Desmodu felt it as if it resonated within his own chest.

"They Take! And they Take! And THEY TAKE!! AND THEY TAKE SOME MORE!!!!"

Asmodeus continued to slam his fists into the massive Glacier. With every blow new fissures seemed to form, new cracks seemed to emerge, new pieces of ice splintered off of it.

The pieces of the glacier landed upon the frozen Soul Shells below, who wailed in agony as they were crushed underneath it's weight. The sounds of shattering crystal could be heard all over as the vibrations from Asmodeus' sheer strength shattered the ice that had accumulated upon them.

They stood, and they ran in several directions. But their Frozen Tears had welded their eyes shut, and they stumbled about in confusion, screaming in sheer terror as they collided into each other, slipping and tripping upon the frozen ground below as they were unable to sustain their footing.

And after several massive, powerful blows the Soul Shells finally scattered off, running frantically in several directions before the tremors finally came to a stand-still.

Asmodeus now leaned against the Glacier, bracing himself up only through the Force of his Ruby Rod, upon which he bared all of his weight.

His knuckles were bleeding from the sheer, overwhelming force of the impacts.

Envy was terrified. Only once before had he felt such Rage. Only once before had he seen such Fury...

..the time that He and the other Aspects were murdering the Priestesses of Malcanthet within the home of Margathera and Xanadu. The women who, along with his Thayan Owners, had abused and violated Desmodu for so long.

A Fury that he had come to know well.

A WRATH he had come to Embrace.

"BASTARDS!!!!! SADISTS!!!!"

With every pained cry another crushing blow came from his right hand, the left he was using to perch himself upon his Ruby Rod, to stabilize his own footing upon the icy ground and to bare his weight.

And with every crushing blow another resounding crash of Thunder, and Lightning which danced upon the night sky in a horrifying display of frenzy and fury. A display of the Devil King's truly terrible and nigh-omnipotent Powers within the Confines of the Nine Hells.

Envy then did something completely out of character for him. A being who showed no pity upon others. Who constantly thrived to obtain that which others always had...that he, himself, as a Slave could never own.

For Envy was a creature brought low. A slave. Owned. Beaten and mistreated. He envied the other students at the Bard's college. He envied the handsome men who would go home with the beautiful women, and embrace them in their warm beds.

He envied the people who would not have to return home to Xanadu and Margathera.

For every time he had to go home, Envy felt only a sense of Dread.

Envy of the Love that other people had.

Envious...of their Freedom.

And so Envy walked over to the Devil King, who had removed the shirt from his own back and draped it over Envy..

..and Envy took the robes, and he draped them over him. Covering his wounds, and hiding them from whatever onlookers might be present.

Asmodeus' anger calmed, and he turned to face Envy as a loving father would face his own child.

And they stood there, staring at one another. Not love. For Asmodeus was not a creature capable of truly knowing Love.

But respect. Admiration. Sympathy. Companionship.

Brotherhood.

"If you try and hug me, so help me Gods I will bury you under the deepest glacier in all of Cania..."

"I would not INSULT YOU by assuming you were one in need of A HUG!!! YOU ARE THE KING OF ALL THE HELLS!! STAND PROUD, OH LORD OF SIN! FOR PRIDE IS YOUR GREATEST CRUTCH!"

As the Devil Lord's eyes calmed themselves, slowly, the crimson within them fading into a darker, deeper blood red, he regained his Regal composure. He stood up, straight, like a King should. He stood there before Desmodu in all of his glory. All of his radiance. With his Ruby Rod in hand, and his bejelwed Robes. An image that commanded nothing but admiration and respect in his subjects...and FEAR in his enemies.

Envy saw before him not a creature to be Envied. But a Master to be Served. A King who was willing to lead the charge, himself, against impossible odds:


And he was NOT AFRAID.

And he was NOT HESITANT.

And he was NOT INTIMIDATED

And he was ever DEFIANT OF THEM.

The greatest, oldest of all Tyrants...

...daring to stand before the worst Tyrants of them All!!!!

THE VERY GODS THEMSELVES!!!!!

Envy stepped back, and he prostrated himself before him.

For this was not a creature to be envied. For he was a creature of Pain and Suffering.

This was not a creature to be WORSHIPPED, because he would not Insult Asmodeus by offering him the same cowardly Sniveling that Mortal Men had offered the Gods.

This was a creature worthy of Desmodu's RESPECT.

And, more to the point...

...the first Being who had ever truly RESPECTED HIM.

He had brought Desmodu into his home.

He had answered his questions.

He had showed him his House.

He had fed him.

He had CLOTHED him..

..with the very Shirt from his own back.

And in doing so, he showed Desmodu his weakest, lowest moment.

For just as Desmodu had showed the Devil his own Despair...

...in that brief moment the Devil Himself...

..had shown him HIS.

Desmodu had always been an Anarchist. He had always felt the need to disrupt authority. To play the Jester. To destroy Tyranny wherever it stood, no matter what form it took.

It was for this reason that Desmodu had become a Paladin of Freedom.

"The Ultimate Anarchist", Desmodu called himself.

But Desmodu realized now the truth that would define him for the rest of his existence.

Asmodeus, the Tyrant...

...was Asmodeus the ANARCHIST.

Desmodu had, all his life, rebelled against Kings, and Lords, and Nobles.

All of his life had he defied those who would oppress others.

Desmodu realized, in a moment of absolute epiphany:

Desmodu was thinking TOO SMALL.

For Kings and Nobles and Businessmen...

...were nay as Tyrannical as the Gods themselves.

Even worse: The Gods had created the Wall of the Faithless to punish those who would not adhere to them.

The Gods...did not truly give mankind a choice.

For as Asmodeus had pointed out:

"A Choice between Servitude and OBLIVION...

IS NO CHOICE AT ALL!!!!!"

The two of them stood there, for several minutes. Silent.

Because, in those moments, not a single word NEEDED to be said.

Nothing that Desmodu could say would comfort the King of Hells...for the King of Hells had surely heard it all before.

And the King of Hells had said, to Desmodu, all that he needed to say.

The thing about being a master of Lingomancy and Calligromancy...

..is the realization of a moment so utterly profound that Words would not do it Justice.

For Words are expressions of Ideas.

And Ideas are Ephemeral, Formless...

..but they are more powerful than Stone.

The only thing more powerful than Words, which are the EXPRESSIONS of ideas..

...are Ideas themselves.

And this towering Devil that stood before Desmodu, he realized, was the very personification of the Idea that Desmodu had all of his life.

The idea of FREEDOM.

Freedom from the Gods who toyed with their mortal lives. Who created them, solely for their worship and their admiration.

The Gods who would send countless Plagues upon them. Endless suffering. Monsters spawned from the very darkness of Creation and sprung forth from their own diseased, perverse minds.

The Gods had become the very things that they had created Asmodeus to destroy.

The Gods whom had become the very MONSTERS that they had formed him to fight.

They had created him as a weapon against the Monsters that lay within the Darkness...

...and grew fat from the Mortals they consumed, and powerful. Tyrants in the Heavens, so far above them that they looked down upon them with endless arrogance, knowing that these mere Mortals were so far beneath them that they could never even ATTEMPT Rebellion against their Ownership of them.

They were livestock, Sheep for the Slaughter, who had sent unto Mankind False Prophets and False Shephards to guide the Sheep unto their Eternal Servitude. An eternity of EXPLOITATION.

In Asmodeus Desmodu saw the realization of an Idea.

The Idea...that ALL species of Intelligent life: The Orcs, the Drow, Humans, Elves, Dwarves, GNOMES! ALL OF THEM WERE EQUAL IN HELL! There was no Racism!! There was no Division! There was only UNITY!! All of the Races and Nations of the MULTIVERSE...

..UNITED AGAINST THE BEINGS THAT OWNED AND TORMENTED THEM ALL....

COULD BE FREE OF THEM!!!!

Though Asmodeus stood before him a Tyrant...Desmodu saw a man who was doing what he HAD to do.

No, not a Man. For Men were weak, and flawed, and full of despair.

Desmodu saw a King.

The One True King.

The One who Fought for All.

A bringer of Freedom.

The End of all Tyranny, who had become a Tyrant himself out of NEED.

The Universe. ALL Universes. The Entire Multiverse. Everyone. All Races. All Nations. All Genders. All species...

...finally EQUAL.

...United under ONE banner.

..the Banner of Asmodeus.

The banner of a NEW OVERGOD.

And it would take time.

Eons.

Millions of Eons.

But Desmodu did not CARE.

Desmodu would suffer. He would be wrought Clean through the Fires of Hell. Every Torment that this place could possibly inflict upon him...it would.

But Desmodu did not CARE.

For in his WRATH he would find CONVICTION!!!

In his HERESY, he would find a cause worthy of DEVOTION!!

In his GREED, he would find a cause worthy of his CHARITY

In His LUST, he would find a being worthy of his CHASTITY

Through his ENVY he would find TEMPERENCE!!!!

AND THROUGH HIS PRIDE, HE WOULD FIND THE ONE BEING WHO WOULD BRING HIM HUMILITY!!!

A BEING WHO WOULD NOT PUNISH DESMODU FOR HIS FLAWS..BUT REWARD THEM!

A being who would never Judge Desmodu because of his Class, or his social status, or his sexuality, or the color of his Skin....

...but only by his own MERITS.

...and only by his LOYALTY.

The very thing that Desmodu had been searching for ALL OF HIS LIFE!!

In that moment, Desmodu knew exactly what it was that the King of all Hells was asking him to do.

He was asking Desmodu to become so much more than a mere KNIGHT of Hell. He was asking him to become a DISCIPLE OF ASMODEUS!!

And without a Word needed. Not one. No confusing, complex language. No endlessly-worded CONTRACT. No Bureaucracy....

...and NO BULLSH-T...

...Desmodu simply turned to the Devil King, gazing his eyes up to his as they met upon the cold, dark Tundra of Cania...

..and he gave a single, slow, simple NOD....

...and an EXTENSION OF HIS HAND...

And Asmodeus: the First of the Fallen, Tyrant Lord of the Nine Hells, Little Horn, the Most Despised, Lord of Sin, King of the Damned..

..reached forth, slowly, and extended His Own....

"STOP!!!! RIGHT!!!! NOW!!!!""

It was a Crash from the Very Heavens themselves. The Sky, which had already been filled with Lightning in the bleak, dark skies of the realm of Cania were split wide open as a raging tempest sprang forth from them!

A White Fire POURED from the skies, and a ROAR as deafening as anything Desmodu could ever imagine came descending from the skies, carried upon the sound of beating wings!!

CRASH!!!!!! came down a body that shook the very foundations of the Hells! For miles around, Desmodu felt the earth QUAKE as he was violently knocked from his feet from the Impact.

Even the King of Hells, in all of his might, was knocked backwards and nearly onto his feet from the massive, meteor-like impact!!

And as the WHITE LIGHT gave way there stood, in their presence...

A Gigantic Silver Dragon of such size that it eclipsed the horizon.


It GLARED down at Asmodeus, who was so tiny by comparison that it was almost humorous, and reached down with it's powerful paw and SNATCHED the Devil Lord off of the ground, throwing him into the glacier to his side with such force that it shattered part of it.

In a secondary, equally fast motion the Dragon SCOOPED Desmodu up into it's powerful paw. Just as quickly as it had landed, it took to the wing again!! It Spiraled through the air, unfettered and untouched by the cold!!

Asmodeus quickly leaped to his feet, screaming it's name which echoed upon the wind!!

"QUICKSILVER!!! YOU DARE ENCROACH UPON MY REALM!?!?"

"TO YOU, FIEND...

I. AM. AVACHEL!!!!"

AVACHEL!!!, the Silver-Dragon Aspect of HLAL!! HERSELF NOW CARRIED ENVY WITHIN HER CLAW!!

Her wings bellowed upon the Howling of the Wind, which carried within it the wail of the Damned which ever echoed in endless cacophony upon the tempest that ran rampant in this cold wasteland.

They were flying through the air with as much speed as a God, or at least an Aspect of One, could cover! Magically hastened by spell and through magical gusts of wind Quicksilver, the Fastest of all Dragons, sped them upon his wing as far away from Asmodeus as he could get and as Fast as he could carry him!!

But the King of All Hells was ever Omnipresent in his domain, and teleported in front of them in a flash of Hellfire.

He had magically altered his size, now appearing every bit as gigantic as the massive Silver Dragon which now carry Envy within his grasp.

But Quicksilver was an Agile Dragon! As the chief messenger aspect of Aasternian Quicksilver had ever danced among the clouds, dodging them playfully! He pulled a barrel roll, falling into a Wingover that propelled him safely pass the Devil King.

Frustrated, the Devil King lifted his Ruby Rod, firing a blast of Lightning through the air.

But Quicksilver was the child of a Storm Dragon!! And he had dodged lightning all of his life!! With a deft maneuver that even the most agile of men could never accomplish Quicksilver tumbled and turned, dodging the very lightning itself!!

He laughed! And mocked the Devil King as he danced around the lightning-filled clouds, dodging the electricity from the Ruby Rod as a comedian would dodge a soggy tomato!! He taunted him! He goaded him!!

And Asmodeus responded in kind!!

With a flash of black hellfire from his Ruby Rod he unleashed a torrential Hellfire Storm!!

It was Hellfire of the Utmost Profanity. Not only blackest Hellfire...

...it was enhanced as though by the metamagic of Violate Spell.

Against the good-aligned Quicksilver, the spell was pure Anathema. It exploded in a fury that came from the very depths of the deepest, darkest of all the Hells.

It scorched Quicksilver's wings, and Avachel cried out in Agony as the sheer force of the Hellfire Storm cascaded over his body.

Desmodu, however, was unharmed.

Because Asmodeus had promised Desmodu that NOTHING would hurt him within the dream. Not even Asmodeus himself.

And as Quicksilver, mortally injured, fell onto the frozen Tundra of Cania he crashed, once again, with a meteor-like impact that sent hundreds, if not thousands of Soul Shells scattered.

Quicksilver, with all of the strength he could muster, attempted to lift himself to his feet. He had no need to protect Desmodu, after all nothing in this realm could hurt him.

But it could Quicksilver, even if the Quicksilver that he saw was only the manifestation of a dream.

As he lie there, gasping for air, he exhaled phlegm from his mouth as he started to choke. The Hellfire Storm which had scorched his flesh was poisonous to his Divine Essence.

It turns out that Asmodeus knew a secret or two for how to take down a Good-Aligned God.

But not only was Avachel good-aligned...he was also immune to Cold. The only reason he could survive in the Frozen Wastes of Cania.

But one who is immune to cold...

...is also succeptible to Fire.

And Hellfire burns hotter than any other Fire there is. Immunities account for nothing.

The Flash of Hellfire had all but destroyed Quicksilver's mortal body.

This Quicksilver was an Aspect, after all. A small investiture of Hlal's power that she had poured into it. A small portion. Very small.

...but as the ancient Greeks can tell you:

...all it takes is a small slice of Ambrosia...

...to turn one into a GOD.

And a small piece of a God's power is still significant.

But, in Hell...

Asmodeus' power is Infinite.

Quicksilver turned to Desmodu, in his final, bated breaths. He pleaded with him. He cried tears for him. He BEGGED of him.

"Don't...sell your soul...to this....MONSTER!!!!"

And in his RAGE Asmodeus replied once again in Kind:

"A MONSTER OF YOUR MAKING!!!!!!!"
[/i]

And in his Fury Asmodeus unleashed ANOTHER blast of pure Hellfire upon the weakened, dying body of Quicksilver, who Roared in Agonizing Pain as the Violated Hellfire Swarm struck his already broken body, disintegrating part of it into dust!

"Don't give up!!! Don't let go!!!!"

Another Hellfire Storm upon the broken body of Quicksilver, who's body was dissolving before Desmodu's very eyes.

"DON'T GIVE IN TO DESPAIR!!! DON'T GIVE IN TO YOUR SUFFERING!!!"

And Another Flash of Hellfire. And ANOTHER!. Quicksilver's cries of pain and agony echoed within the realm of Cania so far, and so loud, carried upon the ever-howling Winds that ever rip and tear the flesh of those who enter it!!

"DO NOT BE LIKE HIM!!!! YOU. STILL. HAVE. HOPE!!!!

"ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE!!!!!!"

And with one FINAL blast of the deepest, Darkest, most Infernal of all Hell-Fires...Quicksilver's body finally began to dissolve into ash.

As it did, the howling winds of this nightmarish Hell swept them upon itself and began to spread His ashes across this barren land. To mix, forever, with the Ashes that forever clouded the dark sky. Ashes which forever eclipsed any light from ever reaching this deep, frozen wasteland. With Nessus being the only exception...

..this was the furthest place one could ever be from the Gods.

And against the Howl of those foul, ephemeral winds, which echoed almost as loudly as the echoing Cacophony of Pandemonium itself:

The Gods cannot hear you scream.

And they cannot hear you cry.

But Desmodu could. He heard upon Quicksilver's tongue his final cry. His final words ever spoken, he spoke them to Desmodu:

"Please....." "...Wake.......up..."

Desmodu watched him die. And not only die Desmodu watch Quicksilver die, he literally watched him dissolve into Ash.

The beautiful Silver Dragon that had come down from the heavens to rescue Desmodu now was little more than a memory.

Desmodu turned to the gigantic Asmodeus, who began to shrink down to his normal (Although large) size.

"You....killed him..." gasped Desmodu, witnessing the Horror before him.

"I did."

"He tried to protect me from you, and you killed him..."Desmodu cried

"No. He tried to STEAL YOU FROM ME." replied Asmodeus, sternly.

"He tried to save me, and you slaughtered him!" rebuked Desmodu.

But ever Calm, Asmodeus merely approached the weeping, ash-covered man.

"Did he, Desmodu? Did he save you? Or did he merely prevent you from making a CHOICE that Hlal did not agree with? And why did Hlal not come herself? Why did she not appear in all of her Golden Splendor, but choose instead to send her messenger?" Asmodeus quipped in inquiry.

"You send an Aspect in my dreams, do you not!?" demanded Desmodu.

"I do." replied Asmodeus "But it is an Aspect who appears in MY FORM...and who speaks only MY words. For I allow none to speak for me with a message so Dire as the one I would give you. It would come from my lips...or none at all. And an Archdevil's Aspect is as close to an Archdevil as a Mortal ever comes without...special arrangement. Just as your other Aspects are a part of YOU, ENVY. Or have you forgotten that you're not even the REAL Desmodu?"

Envy sighed. He was right. For all that he was, Envy was only a copy. Only an Aspect. Not the original. But as the two conversed...a voice emerged from the Darkness. A deep, guttural voice which echoed upon the winds of Cania. So deep, and full of anger was it that Desmodu trembled upon it's mere whisper on the wind.

"But Sometimes, Desmodu, a Copy can be greater than the Original...If they have enough Persistence..."

From the Shadows stepped a Red-skinned Devil of incredible height and physical prowess. A pair of Black, Bat-like Wings sprang forth from his back and his crimson red skin was wreathed in Hellfire. His eyes were motes of molten magma, and his fangs were so shiny that they almost glowed in the darkness of the Hell they had come to inhabit.

He carried within his right hand a Ranseur seemingly wrought of purest Obsidian, it's sharpened tri-pronged tip carried upon it the stains of blood of INFINITE foes who had fallen before it's might.

A large, long tail escaped his lower back and ended in a Spade. He was the very definition of "Devil" in his shape and in his dress.

"Desmodu...shall I introduce..."

"I shall introduce MYSELF, thank you Lord Asmodeus, for like you I do not let any speak for me!

I! AM! MEPHISTOPHELES!!! LORD OF CANIA BELOW AND MASTER OF THIS FROZEN REALM! WELCOME, SUPPLICANT, FOR YOU NOW STAND BEFORE A DUKE OF HELL!!"

As he spoke the Winds seemed to pick up and become even more cold. As they came into contact with the wreathe of Hellfire that danced eternally about him they seemed to melt away into nothing, not even leaving behind so much as a wisp of vapor.

"Yes, ENVY. Behold what true ENVY looks like. The Archduke Mephistopheles, the TRAITOR in the flesh who attempted to rouse me from my Throne so long ago.....and FAILED!"

Mephistopheles growled, barely able to contain his rage behind his otherwise grandiose visage. For Asmodeus was right. Mephistopheles, though beholden to none in the Hells but Asmodeus himself...was still beholden to Asmodeus himself. Even if only an Aspect of him. The Lord of Cania reluctantly bowed and prostrated himself before the King of all Hells, before spitting onto the ground as he spoke to him.

"And why do you invade my home, King of all Hells? Have you come to Mock me so in my own domain and remind me of my own...shortcomings? Or is there some POINT to this Trespass beyond your own pointless self-glorification!?" Mephistopheles demanded of him.

The Devil King, thusly insulted, came around with his magical Ruby Rod and struck Mephistopheles upside of his right temple. A blow which sent the mighty Archdevil reeling, and leaning against the Glacier.

Ever Defiant, however, Mephistopheles pointed forth his Ranseur and unleashed a blast of purest, most wicked Hellfire directly to Asmodeus' face. But as he unleashed it Asmodeus merely smiled.

"You merely INVENTED Hellfire, Mephistopheles. It is I who have truly mastered it...and though it burns hotter than any Fire known to Man...I. Am. No. MAN!" Asmodeus proudly exclaimed as the Hellfire danced over his form, not even so much as minorly inconveniencing him.

To this Mephistopheles retreated his assault, knowing full well that, in open combat, he could not best the Devil King. Even in his weakened condition. The Archdevil, reluctantly, dropped his spear and kneeled before Asmodeus, as he had been forced to do so many times before after his attempted coup during the Reckoning.

"What is thy bidding, my Master?" begrudgingly asked the Lord of Hellfire.

"You once staged a Coup against yourself, Mephistopheles. You assumed the shape of a Pit Fiend Lord known as "Baron Molikroth" and you rallied Devils against yourself to see whom it was who would turn on you during the Reckoning and remain loyal to me."

"I RECALL, your LORDSHIP. YOUR POINT!?" the Archdevil uttered through gritted teeth.

"You maneuvered brilliantly. You, Mephistopheles, are a master of deception, Disguise, and political intrigue. You are also privy to many of the deepest, Darkest spells within all of the Nine Hells and the Worlds hereafter. Your libraries contain arcane secrets that are privy to few others, save for myself. And you are going to Share them. With HIM!!!" Asmodeus pointed at Desmodu, directly, glaring down at the shaking boy.

"And why would I share Eons worth of secrets with some...Mortal Whelp!?!?"

"Because I have COMMANDED IT! OR DO YOU NEED ANOTHER REMINDER WHO IS KING OF THE HELLS!?!?"

With that intimidation, Mephistopheles conceded. Nodding, simply, to the Tyrant King.

"Teach of him your Ways. Teach him to be Envious...but also how to inspire Envy. Teach them how to rally Followers to his cause. Teach him...how to spread ANARCHY. The Same way that I have. The same way that YOU always have. Teach him your ways, O Lord of Hellfire. Make him, unto me, a DISCIPLE who shall inspire the Envy of even your greatest Generals!! And then PRESENT HIM TO ME AS TRIBUTE UPON OUR NEXT COUNCIL MEETING!"

Mephistopheles looked unto the quivering, shaking boy with utter contempt. This frail little mortal scum was to be the focus of his attention for the next YEAR!? What putrid sack of flesh was THIS that merited such...attention...from the King of Hells himself?

A look of pure CURIOSITY appeared on the face of Mephistopheles. Perhaps even intrigue. If he could convert this creature to HIS side...he could have a powerful Sleeper Agent within the ranks of Asmodeus' army. In a manner of the utmost of cold and calculating Mephistopheles turned to his hated Master...and simply nodded a sign of acceptance.

"One year, to the Day. And not a MOMENT later." Mephistopheles demanded.

"Agreed." Asmodeus responded in Kind. Mephistopheles nodded his head, and after picking up the Ranseur that lay at his feet he pointed it at Envy's feet, and from underneath it the ice cracked, lifting the Iceberg upon which he stood into the air several feet, magically controlled through the magic of the Lord of Hellfire's magical Spear.

"Come then, PUPIL. You have a LOT to learn...and not a lot of Time to Learn it...."

The Education of Envy had begun.

The only "Aspect" that now remained was none other...

...than Desmodu Himself.

And because Desmodu himself was the sin of "Pride", the inherent Root of all Sin...

..Desmodu had gone to the deepest, darkest part of the Nine Hells.

...to the deep, dark, endlessly spiraling labyrinth of utmost proportion.

The Spiraling Darkness of Malsheem.

The deepest, darkest PIT in ALL of Hell.

The Pit ruled by none other than Asmodeus himself.

When Desmodu himself awoked he found himself within what could only be described as a massive, EMPTY palace. He leaped to his feet, dusting himself off, gazing about for oncoming attackers or onlookers.

But in this place...there was nothing but silence.

Desmodu shouted, again and again, to see if anybody could hear him.

But, as before, there was nothing but silence.

But the Silence was broken...by the sound of weeping.

Someone was crying. And Desmodu could hear the direction it was coming from.

And so he walked. And he walked. And he walked.

Every wall of this glorious, massive Fortress were covered in jewels. A handful of which, Desmodu reckoned, could make him as rich as any human Sultan. But try as he might to remove them from their holdings, they were simply too large and too well-embossed to be removed so easily.

As he marched and he marched the sound of weeping echoed silently in the halls, growing stronger as he walked towards it. But everytime it seemed as though he was coming to the source of the weeping the voice seemed to come from even further down the vast hallways.

As if whatever was weeping...was fleeing from him.

"I'm not going to hurt you! I'm just lost, I need help!" he shouted.

As he did, the sounds of wailing seemed to come from the very WALLS of this place. They echoed within the confines of his mind and tormented him with unrelenting cacophony.

"We are also lost!
We are ALL LOST HERE!
JOIN US, DESMODU, WE ARE ALL LOST!!!!"

Desmodu held the side of his head as he ran, panicked, up and down the corridors of the Fortress within.

But he was alone. Noone, nowhere. Yet where were these voices coming from!? It was if they were in the WALLS of this place!

It was then that he looked at one of the cravasses in the wall.

From the wall was outstretched a hand...a hand that was reaching for him!!

"Please!! Please get me out!! I've been here for so long! Please! Get me out!! it pleaded with him. Desmodu reached forth to grab the poor creature's outstretched hand...but just as he did the very walls, the very floor, the very CONFIGURATION of the entire fortress seemed to magically reconfigure itself!! The Walls pushed themselves together...and Desmodu was witness to the sight of this poor man being Crushed between them.

But still...Desmodu heard his cry.

"These massive walls CRUSHED him into nothing...how can he still be ALIVE!!?!?" questioned a horrified Desmodu.

"Because he is NOT Alive, Desmodu." quipped a familiar-sounding voice from behind him. As Desmodu turned he came face-to-face with the same, Handsome Devil who had fed him such a wonderful meal, seemingly only an Hour or so before-hand. The Devil smiled at him as he approached. His heavy footsteps echoed within the vast, empty halls as his feet struck the Ruby-encrusted floors of this place.

"Behold, Desmodu. I, Asmodeus, King of all Hells....welcome you to MY home. My Sanctuary. My Paradise...and my PRISON. I welcome you, Desmodu Ukumbu...

To Fortress Nessus!!!"

Desmodu gazed all about him, taking in the massive fortress that lay before him which seemed to literally stretch out for MILES. Every wall, every table, every piece of furniture decorated with such jewels that to steal one of them would make him rich for the rest of his days.

He marvelled in glory at the Gold Filigree upon the walls, encrusted with Platinum, Rubies, and all of the riches that the Hells themselves could offer. Even the Treasure Horde of Mammon paled in comparison to the vast SPLENDOR that stood before him, in all of it's Profane, Infernal Majesty.

And there he stood, in all of his splendor, wearing a set of House-Robes bejewelled with Rubies, Diamonds, and Star Sapphires. It was spun of Silk from unknown Origin. A robe of this quality would cost a FORTUNE, Desmodu theorized, and yet Asmodeus wore it about his home as if it were a bath robe after stepping from a hot soak.

He walked upon his Ruby Rod as though it were a cane, and lumbered around the halls of this magnificent bastille as though he owned the place. Because he DID.

The Devil King walked over to a table, upon which set a piping cup of what smelled to be coffee.

More to the point..it smelled like very FAMILIAR coffee.

The Coffee that his father, Mwoli Ukumbu, would brew for him before the start of work each day.

For though Desmodu was a small boy at the time he was taken, Mwoli had treated him with the same respect a man, and had poured for him his coffee before the start of a hard day of farming.

It was the scent that reminded Desmodu the most...of home.

And now Desmodu stood within THIS home. The Home of the King of Hells...

..and the King of Hells was inviting him to sit down for a DRINK.

Confused. Overwhelmed. And perhaps even a bit intrigued...

..Desmodu accepted the Archduke's offer, and he sat down in a chair who's comfort could only be described as HEAVENLY. It's fluff pillows wrought from the finest silks and stuffed with yarn that was inner-spun with Gold.

"There is not ONLY suffering in the Hells, Desmodu. There are also things of indescribable beauty. And there are comforts the likes of which you will NEVER know in the World Above."

It was then that Asmodeus, the Devil HIMSELF, began to pour two cups of coffee. One for himself, first, and then the second for Desmodu. The Devil King politely lifted the saucer upon which it sat..and offered it to Desmodu the way that a servant might. For he was in Asmodeus' home...and thus he was his Guest. And a King is judged, solely, upon how he treats his Guests.

It was a fact that Desmodu, a jester, had come to learn well. Treating a Jester with suspicion or cruelty was seen as an act of insecurity.

And within this massive fortress, in the deepest, darkest Pit of Hell stood the Lord of All the Hells and a simple, mere insect of a human being.

There was no greater feeling of Security to be felt in all of Creation. For in this place NONE could reach them that Asmodeus himself did not allow. For not even the GODS themselves dared to venture here, so far away from their worshippers and their divine realms.

For in THIS PLACE, Asmodeus was truly Omnipotent.

In THIS PLACE...Asmodeus, truly, was a God.

Or, rather, in THIS PLACE...he was the only God that MATTERED!!

Desmodu accepted, graciously, the drink offered to him by his Host and he sipped it.

It tasted exactly like the Coffee that his father used to make. The same strength. The same brew. The same consistency. The way that Desmodu had learned to make it himself..the skill of a master brewer, which was his Father, Mwoli, the Storm Druid of Valkur.

Desmodu savored the drink. As if every drop of it brought him memories of his childhood. Memories of his home. Memories of his Family and of his Mother and Father.

As he sipped it, he recounted within his mind images of his two younger brothers, Remi and Ukandu. He recalled the long days spent farming bamboo when he was naught but a boy. For he remembered his father's stern words:

"If he's old enough to eat, he's old enough to work! Ain't nothin' wrong with teachin' a young boy the value of hard work, it builds character!" Mwoli used to bellow at the top of his lungs everytime his Mother, "Mama Raven" would object to Mwoli's treatment of the young boy.

Desmodu looked into his cup, longingly, as it's flavors and it's scent took him back home, for even a moment. A smell that he had not smelled in years...except for when he was brewing it for Margathera and Xanadu.

But this time: The Rich and powerful Patron that sat before him..the very King of the Nine Hells HIMSELF...was pouring coffee for HIM.

Desmodu could not help but feel slightly overwhelmed by the gesture as he nursed the coffee close to him, enjoying it in it's entirety. A single tear seemed to fall down his face as he held it to his nose.

"Oh, come on , the Coffee isn't THAT bad! You don't have to cry about it!" Asmodeus playfully jested! But as he looked down at the boy he saw, full well, the memories that the coffee entailed. And thus, without even asking, he reached over with the hot decanter...and promptly refilled his drink. Desmodu's appreciative smile was the only "Thank you" that he required, as he politely sipped his own.

"Why have you brought me here?" Desmodu questioned.

"A Proposal" Asmodeus answered.

"Keep making coffee like this, I'll certainly marry you." Desmodu nervously joked. To this the Archdevil let forth an appreciative laugh at his joke. For Desmodu always joked when he was nervous.

And Desmodu was sitting in the Black Palace of the King of Hells himself. Desmodu. Was. HORRIFIED. More fear had never gripped him in all of his life.

No pain he had ever felt, no indignity, no profanity...had ever made him feel as he was feeling now. The feeling of sheer dread, sheer horror, as if the proverbial Sword of Damocles itself was dangling over his head, ready to fall upon him at any moment and slice him to slivers.

Even worse, for not only would the Sword of Damocles in this situation rend his flesh..it would also rend his very soul, damning him unto this foul place until Judgment Day had come. He shuddered, shivering, sipping the coffee with every triggering jolt of his anxiety to attempt to calm himself down.

But the Devil King merely sat there. He did not say a word. He did not judge Desmodu for his anxiety attack. He merely reached down, GENTLY grabbing Desmodu by the ankles, and ever-so-gently tilted him back onto the couch.

Desmodu was lying on the couch, in the single-most comfortable couch that he had ever laid upon in his entire life. He was sipping a cup of coffee just like his father used to make for him.

He was, at last, seemingly finally at peace.

Because the Devil, in this case, was not his superior. The Devil, in this case, was not his Teacher.

The Devil, in this case....was his Psychiatrist.

And he invited Desmodu to lean back, on his couch...and to RELAX.

And Desmodu did just that. He drank the warm coffee his Host had provided for him, and he leaned back and allowed all of his worries to melt away into nothingness.

It was not until Desmodu finally seemed to be completely at ease, a process which took several minutes, that Asmodeus, King of the Nine Hells, started to speak to him:

"I have brought all of the Others here, Desmodu. And I have delivered them each unto the Archdevil who's personality and Sins closest match their own. And I have instructed all of these Archdevils to educate your other Aspects. To teach them the ways of Devilkind. To teach them the ways of Infernal Politics. To teach them the ways of WARFARE, and HISTORY, and SCIENCE. To teach them how to Pander, and to Seduce...

...and to teach them how to be LEADERS.

The same thing...that I want for YOU, Desmodu.

I want you to be my Disciple within the Realm of Baldur's Gate, and it's surrounding areas.

I want you Desmodu...

To be the DARK METATRON!!"

"M..m...Metatron?" Desmodu quietly questioned.

"Yes, Desmodu. Once again, my child, I ask only that you sit back, relax...and allow me to tell a STORY."

Desmodu leaned back, relaxing, in an almost dream-like state as he listened to what the King of all Hells had to say.

"In the Beginning, there was naught but Void and Darkness. But that Darkness was not empty. Within it were the oldest Demons, the Obyrith. Monsters spawned from the very darkness of the Chaos of Creation. One of them, a monster by the name of Tharizdun, broke forth a shard of unspeakable evil and used that shard in order to create the first layer of the Abyss, a realm which would become inhabited later by a Demon Lord called "Pazuzu."

It was from THIS SHARD, after my descent...that I crafted the Ruby Rod you see before you. The badge of my office. The Symbol of my Power. A thing that I will NEVER set down, even for a moment, for to lose it would be to lose a stronghold of my power.

I forged this Rod, Desmodu, within the fiery heart of Tiamat, Mother of Dragons herself.

I pacted with Tiamat, to give her forever a home upon Avernus. But in exchange for granting her a home there, she would open for me the hottest fire in all creation. The Fire of her own Own Heart. The source of all Dragon Fire.

Within it's boughs I worked for YEARS, endlessly forging a fragment of the same Shard of Evil which created the very Abyss itself. The Very Abyss I had, for so long, dedicated my heart and my mind to destroying.

In the Fiery Pit of Tiamat's heart I forged my WEAPON...

And in my Armies, Desmodu..I have forged my ARMOR.

And in my DISCIPLES, Desmodu...I have forged my SHIELD.

A Shield capable of handling endless Torment. A Shield capable of handling ENDLESS suffering. A Shield that, though it has been beaten again, and again, and again...WILL NOT BREAK.

That Shield, Desmodu...I want you to be a Piece of it.

I wish for you to be a Scale upon that Shield. Much as I have Scales upon my body, I wish a SHIELD, wrought of Scales, each of which contains the Souls of one of my DISCIPLES...who will Shield me from the Gods.

Souls who have been galvanized in deepest Hellfire. Who have suffered, endlessly...and who will continue to suffer on my behalf.

One day, at Time's End, Desmodu...I Will eventually find my way to the Celestial Homes of the Gods.

One day, in some distant future from now..I WILL have my Victory. And when I do, I shall reshape the multiverse in MY image.

An Image free of the SLAVERY of the Gods. A new reality, for all of us, free of their Tyranny.

You have served cruel Masters all of your life, Desmodu. Masters who have USED YOU for nothing but their own gain.

...and I am asking you to do it ONE MORE TIME...

But it will be for the LAST time.

Serve me, Desmodu. Serve as a Scale upon my Shield. Serve as a Knight in my Army.

Serve me Well...and someday I might even make you a General.

Serve me well, and I might even, one day, make you an Archduke in your own right.

But only if you serve me well...

...and so long as you DO NOT FAIL ME."

Desmodu shivered, nodding as if to say he understood.

"The people who serve me well, Desmodu, I reward. With riches and pleasures beyond even the scope of their wildest dreams. You see the bejewelled walls of this place? Can you imagine the LEGIONS of Pleasure Devils I have at my disposal, the number of MINIONS, the number of SLAVES at my command, whom with but a single snap of my fingers or a mere gesture could appear before me in MOMENTS, ready to heed my command!?"

Desmodu nodded.

"That same pleasure..could be afforded to you. These same pleasures that I now enjoy...they can also be yours. But you have to be willing to WORK for them...just like I did."

Silently observant, Desmodu once again took in the sheer splendor of the vast fortune that stood before him, and he nodded once more.

"People who work hard should be REWARDED, Desmodu. It's the key to keeping good employees. Pay them well. Respect them. LISTEN TO THEIR COUNSEL. Appreciate them...and when they do a good job you GLORIFY THEM. That's the key to good employees, Desmodu!! That's the key to building LOYALTY...is to treat your men WELL!!"

Desmodu nodded once again, sipping the delicious coffee before him as he said nothing, listening to the Archdevil's eerily persuasive, honeyed words.

"I have delivered each of your Aspects to the appropriate Archdevil for Education, Desmodu. And the moment that you RECALL them, just as you did before you passed out...

...you will remember EVERYTHING THEY HAVE LEARNED."


Desmodu's eyes went wide at the sudden revelation, as he sat up on the couch looking at the Devil King, who had assumed sitting in a similar high-backed chair, sipping his own coffee from a jewel-encrusted mug.

"They have each been with their respective Archdevils for ONE YEAR, Desmodu. One. Full. Year." Asmodeus quietly quipped as he sipped his dark brew.

"A YEAR!? HOW!? I HAVE ONLY JUST AWOKE!" Desmodu gasped, questioning.

"Remember, Desmodu....time is meaningless in a Dream. In the mere HOURS that have passed in the Prime Material while your body has been sleeping...a YEAR has passed within the Dreamscape for each of them.

Wrath I entrusted with Bel: Chief General of the Blood War and master Warrior...and I instructed him to teach Wrath how to FIGHT.

Heresy I entrusted with Dispater: Second Oldest of my companions, master strategist and planner...and I instructed Dispater to teach him how to PLAN.

Greed and Gluttony I entrusted with Mammon: And I instructed Mammon to teach them how to DEFEND THEMSELVES.

Lust I entrusted with the Lady Fierna, master Seductress of the Hells and a Master of Manipulation. I instructed her...to teach him how to MANIPULATE.

And finally, ENVY, I entrusted to none other than Mephistopheles. The Lord of Hellfire. And to Mephistopheles...I instructed him to teach Envy to DECEIVE and CONSPIRE."

Desmodu reeled from this, his shuddering hands barely able to keep hold of the coffee in his grasp. He quickly drank it, to prevent himself from spilling it all over. As he finished it Asmodeus merely smiled...reaching over and once again filling the cup for the shaking man, who obviously needed it right now more than ever.

"The Bargain is Thus, Desmodu:

Shake my Hand...and I will "Wish" all of you compatriots here, into this very room.

And you will DEVOUR each of them.

They will once again be "reabsorbed" into you. And you will learn EVERYTHING that THEY have learned in their time here.

Your Minds, now separate...will be made WHOLE again.

And you will be the very BASTION of Infernal Knowledge...

..taught to you by the very Archdevils of the HELLS themselves.

To put it in no uncertain terms: You will be made Privy to all of the Knowledge that HELL has to offer. Over time, of course."

Desmodu held the cup of coffee hot within his hands as he considered the sheer magnitude of the offer that he was being made.

"You will devour them. And then, with their collective Knowledge....I will place before you a copy of a Book that is most Sacred to all denizens of the Hells.

I will place, before you...

...a copy of the BOOK OF VILE DARKNESS!!!

AND YOU. WILL. READ IT!!!

COVER. TO. COVER!!!

WITH ME BY YOUR SIDE AS YOU DO!!"

Desmodu merely dropped the cup of coffee he held within his grasp, so overwhelmed by the statement that Asmodeus had made that, in this profane revelation...

...caused Desmodu to awaken from his sleep.

As the Frightened Desmodu awoke from his dream, he was still laying in the warm, comfortable Bed that the Devil-King's aspect had made for him only a few hours earlier.

As he pulled himself together, and quickly made sense of it all, he looked to the other beds and he saw that all of them had another "Him" in them. Except for one. The Bed who's sheets were lime green were empty.

As he looked, sitting at the table, sipping a cup of coffee was another Desmodu. This one, based upon his countenance and the green glow of his eyes, Desmodu could tell was the aspect of Envy. Envy sat there, sipping a cup of coffee he had brewed, and had been watching Desmodu sleep.

"I take it you refused the offer then? I'm so disappointed in you." quipped Envy, as he took a deep drink. He then stood up, and began to pour Desmodu a cup as well.

"You mean...?"

"Oh yes. It was real. A "Shared Delusion", psychiatrists would call it. We share one mind, remember? We are merely different...shall we call them "Projections" of it? I did, indeed, spend a full year within the Tower of Mephistar, and Mephistopheles himself did, in fact, teach me of the ways of Devil-kind. And let me tell you, that Devil LOVES to talk about himself...and about how much he hates Asmodeus. And I thought I was Envious of you..." he chuckled darkly as he sipped his brew.

"What have you learned?" Desmodu questioned

"Tsk tsk. That would be telling..."Envy taunted.

"You are of me, tell me!" Desmodu replied.

"As much as I would ENJOY showing you my vastly superior Knowledge...I cannot. The Terms of the Agreement were simple: You don't get to "Recall" me until you accept Asmodeus' offer. That which I know...I cannot teach you. Not until you agree to the terms. And Desmodu...you should. You REALLY should." Envy Pleaded.

"Why?" queried Desmodu. "You would have us damn our soul forever..."

"It is better to Rule in Hell than to Serve in Heaven." Envy replied.

"But we would not be RULING, Envy! We would be slaves again!" Desmodu returned "..we would never have Freedom! Only damnation!"

"No!!! You don't GET IT!!! We would be WILLING Servants...with more PERKS, more Privilege, and a FAT SALARY. We would be the ENVY of everyone who knew us!!"

"At the cost of an eternity of suffering!!!" Desmodu shouted

"WE SUFFER ENDLESSLY ALREADY!!! OR HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN!?" Envy yelled, and as he did his eyes flared Lime Green with fury.

"You weren't there!!! Hlal...Hlal sent Quicksilver to reclaim us! Quicksilver tried to save us!! And Asmodeus MURDERED him!! Right before my very eyes!?" Desmodu shuddered as he said this.

"Was it? Desmodu? Was it Murder!? Or was it Asmodeus defending his GUEST in HIS HOME? Quicksilver came down to steal you. To SNATCH YOU AWAY! Because Asmodeus was right, Desmodu, Hlal did not wish to give you a CHOICE!! Because that's what the Gods do, Desmodu!! They take away CHOICE! Just like Xanadu and Margathera robbed us of choice! Just like the Zhentarim robbed us of choice! I AM TIRED OF NOT BEING ABLE TO CHOOSE MY OWN FATE!! I AM SICK OF IT BEING CHOSEN FOR ME!!"

Desmodu recoiled in fear of his own Aspect as it rose from it's seat, glaring at him.

"I choose to be RICH. I choose to be POWERFUL. I choose to be EDUCATED, and I choose to be IMPORTANT!!. I Choose to be a Slave NO LONGER....and I choose to be a DISCIPLE! But I can't have that! Not unless YOU agree. I should have killed you!! It should be ME in Control!!"

As the Aspect started to charge Desmodu, instinctively, Desmodu reached upon the table and grabbed a serving knife...and he placed the knife to his own throat. The Aspect stopped, dead in it's tracks, as it glowered angrilly at him.

Because they were still linked. Whatever happened to Desmodu...would happen to Envy. The same, however, was NOT true in reverse. A fact that made Envy FURIOUS!!

"We have the chance, Desmodu, to do something with our lives!! We have the chance to be rich, and powerful, and influential. We have a chance to be among the most well-educated human beings in the world...and you would throw this away? You would ingore this offer? For what!? Some idiotic sense of honor!? For HLAL!? WHERE WAS SHE, DESMODU!? WHERE WAS SHE WHILE WE SUFFERED!? WHERE WAS SHE WHILE WE SCREAMED IN PAIN, BEGGING HER TO MAKE THE PAIN STOP!? WHERE WAS SHE!?!?"

Desmodu shook his head. Because he did not know how to answer.

"She was LAUGHING at us!! She was MOCKING us. She did not CARE about us, we exist only for her AMUSEMENT!! The same as ALL of them, Desmodu!! The Gods are SADISTS! We exist only for their pleasure, to torment as they see fit!! And the second we even THINK about joining the other side, or trying to find ANOTHER way...."

"...we become HERETICS."[/size]

Both Envy and Desmodu were surprised by the sudden outburst. As they looked to the side, their arguing had woken all of the others from their sleep, who had been silently sitting and watching the dispute. Desmodu recoiled back onto his bed as the other Aspects began to surround him upon all sides.

"Envy is absolutely right, Desmodu. What is a Heretic, but a man who has turned from the Gods? But all the Gods have to offer us are LIES. Deception!! They buy, and sell, and trade our very SOULS as if they were pieces of copper!! We are trinkets to them!! Pocket change to be spent however they see fit!! And everything we do...if we do not do it in THEIR names, for THEIR glory...then we are Heatherns who must be punished!! That's not RIGHT. That's not FAIR! In what Multiverse is that not the WORST form of Slavery!? The WORST exploitation!!" Heresy bellowed.

It was Wrath who stepped forward next. "The Gods are ANGRY, violent CHILDREN!!! They throw temper tantrums..and people DIE!! They get mad, send a Plague..and people DIE!! They get BORED, send down a Curse...and people DIE!! If you think that WE are Wrathful and Angry, Desmodu...we are NOTHING compared to the Wrath and the Anger of the Gods, who punish all mortals who do not glorify them!"

Greed was the next to pitch in: "You think WE are Greedy, Desmodu? The Gods horde more treasure, more wealth, more power than any other beings in all of creation...and they always want more...and MORE...and MORE!! And it's NEVER GOOD ENOUGH FOR THEM!! Because there are finite souls in creation, Desmodu, and each of them wants their Greedy Mitts on as many of them as they can!!"

Gluttony then stepped forward as well. ""The gods Devour! And consume!! And they are always hungry! They always need more prayer, more followers...and they are NEVER SATISFIED. You think because we like to eat a bit that we are gluttonous? No, Desmodu. True Gluttony are those who devour the very FAITH and the very SOULS of their followers to fill their bellies...and like children always ask for more!"

It was Lust who stepped forward last. "You think WE are Lustful? How many illegitimate Demigods have they sired in their endless, voracious appetite? How many people have they seduced? Toyed with? And then cast them aside when they were done with them!? How many people, Desmodu, have SUFFERED because of Half-God Spawn like Iyachtu Xvim!? How many people were spurned or cursed becaused they refused the God's advances!? And it's not just the Evil Ones, Desmodu! The "Good" ones are just as guilty!!"

Desmodu held the sides of his head, reeling from the overwhelming input. All of his Aspects had agreed. All of his Aspects were all biting at his heels, encouraging him to take the Devil King's offer.

"But, guys...we are free now...we have the chance to really do some Good in this world!! To stop other people from having the same things done to them as happened to us!? But we can't do that if we become slaves to this...fiend!" Desmodu quipped.

"Desmodu...that is what we are trying to do!! We are trying to END slavery..in every form that it takes..."

"We will walk up to TYRANTS, and we will tear their heads from their shoulders..."

"We will spread ANARCHY and DISCORD amongst those who would enslave others.."

"We will STEAL from them their riches, and we shall return them to the PEOPLE whom they have stolen them from..."

"We will seduce and confuse, and bend people to our wills...and we will use their secrets and their own profanity to be their undoing..."

"And we will take away the power of Tyrants...and give it back to the people. So that it shall be the TYRANTS who are Envious of them for once.."

They all then spoke together in Unison:

"We Want, Desmodu, to do Good upon this earth..by instilling ANARCHY. And tell me, Desmodu...."

A voice then came from behind them. A deep, booming, familiar-sounding voice.

"Who is a better Anarchist...than I?"

Desmodu spun around to see Asmodeus standing in the corner, upon his Ruby Rod.

The Aspects all flocked to him, and each of them prostrated themselves before their Dark Lord. Asmodeus sat himself down at the head of the table, and he beckoned Desmodu to sit to his Right Hand side. He complied, silently, and terrified.

"Each of them would slice their own throats to sign this contract, Desmodu. And I am not asking you to slice your throat. I am asking you...to prick your finger. One last, insignificant little bit of pain...that will bring you, and your "Friends", an entire life full of
freedom, power, and pleasure."

"And, afterwards, our Eternal Damnation!" Desmodu slammed his fists upon the table "You said it yourself, you would torture us endlessly!"

"Yes I will."

"You would exploit us! Use us!! Sacrifice us if needed!!"

"Yes. I would."

"You would have us commit acts of unspeakable atrocity and profanity!! In defiance of the very Gods themselves!"

"You are correct."

"And then, when you are done with us, you would cast us aside like any other of the Dregs in the Hells, to be discarded!! Just like the Gods discarded YOU!!!""

"Only if you FAIL."

"You want us to do what!? You want us to do what, destroy a city!? A Country!? Wage war on the Gods themselves!?"

"No. I want you all to SAVE the City of Baldur's Gate. By Converting it's people....to MY church."

"You would have us convert them!? How!? Casually explain to them that their souls will be eternally damned!? That they will suffer!? That they will be doomed!?" Desmodu frustratingly bantered.

"No. Because you will take the things that I am going to teach YOU....

..and teach it to them all!!!"

"Wait...what!?" Desmodu looked on, completely and utterly confused.

"Education, Desmodu...is the Utmost, Purest, and most Profound means...of REBELLION.

If you wish to create Anarchists, like yourself Desmodu...the easiest way is to TEACH THEM. Is that not what Hlal has always taught you?" Asmodeus' goaded.

"But...But Hlal..."

"Knows NOTHING compared to ME. After all, Desmodu:

The Devil is the Greatest Teacher. And a TEAM of Devils..is greater still."

Desmodu looked at his feet, deep in contemplation.

"Think of all the Knowledge I can give all of you. Can you imagine what that knowledge could do in the hands of EVERYBODY!? I'm not talking about Profane Rituals, Desmodu. I'm not talking about Necromancy, or Blood Magic...though I can certainly teach you those things if you wish.

I'm talking about SCIENCE!! I am talking about MEDICINE. I am talking about HISTORY!! ARCHITECTURE!! ENGINEERING! I am talking about TECHNOLOGY!!"

"But...why!? Why teach people these things!?"

"Because, Desmodu, it will teach people to THINK FOR THEMSELVES!! It will teach people that the "Miracles" that the Gods perform...can be replicated!! Without Magic!! Without PRAYER!!

Desmodu, I can teach you to cure Sicknesses that have plagued the World since time immemorial. WITHOUT MAGIC. But through BIOLOGY and CHEMISTRY!

I can teach you how to lift MOUNTAINS, through proper ENGINEERING.

I can teach you to build Castles and Machines far more advanced than anything that's ever been built in your world through Architecture!

I want you to help me teach people the Arts!! Music!! Drama!! Teach them to be better PEOPLE.

Teach people Science, and Reason, and Logic, and teach them HOW to think...

...not WHAT to think!! Because teaching people WHAT to think..

..is called INDOCTRINATION...

..and punishing them for thinking elsewise...

...is TRUE TYRANNY!!"

Desmodu stood, for a moment, still staring at his feet. He contemplated, heavily, the TRUTH behind the Devil's words. Asmodeus looked down at the boy with a smile. Because he had appealed to the Teacher within Desmodu. The student, who yearned endlessly for knowledge.

"You were ready to shake my hand before that Silver Bastard came and forcefully snatched you away from me. You were ready to give me everything because you saw in me a reflection of YOU. And I see, within you, a reflection of Me. You are a younger version of ME, Desmodu!! You are young, inexperienced, uneducated...

..but I see within you POTENTIAL. Because I see, within you, someone who could follow the same Path that I did. But the difference is, Desmodu, I had to learn everything the Hard Way!!. And I have MUCH to teach. I simply need someone, like you...

..who is willing to LEARN!!"

With a final, slow nod, Desmodu finally accepted. And once again, he stuck out his hand.

This time Asmodeus reached forward...and he grasped it within his own. The hand that had shaken the hands of Kings....

..the Hand that had embraced even GODS.

When their hands met, all of the Aspects, together, shouted in unison their cheers of appreciation. They all surrounded Desmodu, patting him on the back and congratulating him for his monumental decision.

With a wave of his hand, the Archdevil summoned forth in a flash of Hellfire a book.

A most WICKED book.

Desmodu touched the book...and it burned him. He shouted in pain as he held the palm of his hand.

But this was because...

Desmodu was still GOOD.

The King of Hells nodded down at him, and with a wave of his hand the burns upon Desmodu's flesh were instantly healed.

He turned the first page..and within the very first paragraph he was ABSORBED. He began to read the book, and all of it's foul, profane knowledge began to enter his mind.

As he stumbled with some of the words his Aspects quickly helped him. They helped to correct his pronunciations, and they helped him with the words that he did not know.

Rather than Devouring his Aspects..and absorbing their Knowledge..

..he was learning WITH THEM. TOGETHER.

And as they all delved into the profane teachings of the most vile Tome they become more than Aspects of Desmodu's subconscious.

They became more than Friends.

They became more than Family.

They....Became....

LEGION!!!!!!

Six Hundred and Sixty-Six pages comprised the foul Book of Vile Darkness.

Six Hundred and Sixty-Six pages of profanity.

Within it's profane pages Desmodu read secrets most foul.

Contained within were profane Rituals of the most sinister nature. Blood Rites. Rituals of Devil-Summoning and Devil Pacting. True-Names of lesser Devils, which could be used to command them.

There were foul utterances of Dark Speech, and a brief history of Devil-Kind. Held within were methods of Torture, guaranteed to make any creature scream in pain.

Held within were the names of the worst Tyrants who had ever lived as mortals and their histories. The stories of Bane and the Dread Three were referenced numerous times in it's pages.

The book held excerpts speaking of every major Lord and Ruler of Hell since time immemorial and their rise to power....and their fall.

The book spoke of how Asmodeus fell from the heavens, and his fiery descent shaped the very Hellscape.

The book held within it profane rites of Soul-binding. And even of Soul Stealing.

The book held within it secrets for entering and communicating with people through their dreams..and how to influence them as such.

And as he sat, enveloped in the book which was the stuff of myth-making he absorbed every bit of it's foul, profane knowledge.

But to read such a book forever leaves a scar upon one's soul.

Scars are not always visible.

...but sometimes they are.

As Desmodu and his six copies read the texts of Eldritch Apocrypha their minds and their souls were strengthened and emboldened. They gained new insights, new strategies. They gained the most Forbidden of all Knowledge..

...and they LIKED IT.

As Desmodu and his clones closed the final pages of the book there was an epitaph at the end.

A signature, written in blood:

[parchment]"To My Newest Disciple: May Damnation suit you well."

---The King of All Hells.[/parchment]

He was forever changed that day. His soul forever stained with the sheer profanity of the evil he had performed.

By reading the Book of Vile Darkness, willingly, Desmodu was made the purest Evil.

However, he skated the line between Law and Chaos.

The perfect Anarchist.

The knowledge of all the Devil's laws and their rites and rituals and procedures...

..but with the moral ambiguity to break ALL the rules, when needed.

The perfect Agent of Evil, balanced between Law and Chaos equally.

One who would sow Anarchy...to replace it with New Law.

The Law of Hell.

The Pact was made. The Rites were performed. And now, it was time for the "Boys" to come home.

All of Desmodu's clones all placed their hands upon his shoulders, and they lowered the heads in prayer.

And with that, they all transformed once again into smoke, and Desmodu inhaled them into his lungs.

They were all, once again, part of him.

It was just as he had Wished upon the Ring of Three Wishes.

He was Whole Again.

...and he had to go through Hell to do it.

It is as has always been said:

"Be Careful What You Wish For."

After reading the profane Book of Vile Darkness, and closing the book for the final time Desmodu turned to hand the book back to his vile Master...who simply turned the book away.

"Keep it. There may be others you need to eventually convert to your cause..and this book will insure it." the King of all Hell replied.

"Thank you, my Master. Your Generosity and your Benevolence is great indeed." Desmodu quipped.

"The key to making sure your employees stay Loyal and Faithful, Desmodu, is to reward them for their service to your cause. And I have a feeling that you will serve me greatly." Asmodeus replied in kind.

"Until the End of Time, my Lord." Desmodu vowed. Asmodeus laughed.

"You know that when you die...I will not be able to take it easy on you."

Desmodu nodded, solemnly.

"You know that when you die, I will have no choice but to inflict every pain, every torment, every torture imaginable upon you so that I can harvest every ounce of your Power, yes?"

Desmodu merely nodded again.

"You know that, during your time under my tutelage, I will degrade you, humiliate you, I will insult you and chide you..."

And Desmodu, once again, gave a single, slow, silent nod.

"Why is it then that you give yourself to me so easily?" Asmodeus questioned him.

"Because everything that you do to me...will only make me stronger." Desmodu stated, almost in defiance.

"Like a Sword of Rokugani make...I will break you. Again and again, I will break you."

"No." Desmodu stated plainly "You will FORGE ME, through Fire and torment....into your Shield. A Shield indomitable, unbreakable, unyielding..."

Asmodeus smiled a smile of purest evil, his eyes flaring pure red with the statement.

"And I will carry you, by my side, to the very gates of the Seven Heavens..."

"And we will BURN THEM DOWN!!!"

"And the Gods themselves will beg for Mercy...."

"And we shall grant them NONE! Just as they granted none to YOU!!"

"And we will take back the Heavens..."

"That they DISCARDED YOU from!!"

"And we will make them submit to OUR will...."

"And then it shall be THEY who go through Hell!! Just like you did!!"

"Kneel unto me!!"

Desmodu did exactly as he was commanded, and he kneeled. Quite literally he placed his forehead upon the feet of his new, diabolical Master.

"You are Possessed of WRATH!! And through it you shall DESTROY the Gods with your RAGE!!

You are possessed of LUST, and through it you shall bring the Gods to THEIR knees just as they have forced you all of your life upon yours!!

You are Possessed of GREED!! And you shall Steal from the Gods their greatest Treasures...the SOULS of their followers!!

You are possessed of Gluttony, and you shall DEVOUR those Souls, in MY NAME, and through the SINS shall grow POWERFUL!"

You are possessed of ENVY, but through your charm and your wit you shall BE the Envy of all others!!

And you are possessed of HERESY, and through it you shall help me DEFY THE GODS THEMSELVES!!

YOU KNELT BEFORE ME A BROKEN, BEATEN MAN!! YOU GROVELED BEFORE ME A RIGHTEOUS PALADIN OF FREEDOM, WHO'S OWN GOD ABANDONED HIM, AND LEFT HIM IN CHAINS!!!

I GRANT YOU NOW YOUR FREEDOM!! THROUGH SERVICE TO ME!!!

NOW RISE, MY DISCIPLE..." Asmodeus commanded.

Desmodu did as commanded, standing to his feet. As he rose, he kept his gaze downwards, as if not willing to gaze into the eyes of his new Master. For such was considered an insult, for slaves to make eye contact with their "betters."

But Asmodeus reached down to grab the man's chin, and tilted his head back.

"ALWAYS keep your head up high, Desmodu. I do not need one who GROVELS. I merely need one who OBEYS. And if you serve me well, Desmodu...

...I shall see to it that you never bow your head to any other Master until the END OF TIME!!!!"

Asmodeus began to laugh, maniacally. And Desmodu, in the presence of his Master and with his recent ascension into a Knight of Hell and a Disciple of Asmodeus...

...happy laughed along!