The Gathering - The Awakening

First, the ripple from her first breath, as she convulses and cries out like a child when it takes its first breath. He is pulled from his sleep as she screams out of pure torment. To wake from Torpor is like having the flesh skinned from you while you still live. She is now in the final stages of her awakening, as the fluids return to her veins, life returns to her skin. The demonic skin she wore for the last 50 years is slowly being replaced with her natural form. However, the transformation requires blood and lots of it but for now, she will feed off of him. But not his blood, but his infinite pool of psychic energy and he will allow her to drink deeply. From the feral to the savage and finally to the breathing beauty that he had always known. She drinks from him everything that he feeds her and he does not stop her. Instead he smiles as he looks into her eyes, as the skin folds back and away to reveal her black pupils as they try to focus in. Her blood lust quickly fades as she begins to bring his image into context. She now squints as she looks upon him, for to her eyes he is pure light - like looking into the sun. The pain, like fire, burns her mind as she musters the memory of his name - he continues to feed her while restraining her, holding her like a long lost lover. In that instant, she capitulates to his will. Suddenly, a flood of memory washes her with familiarity and a sense of absence and change. However, the flood proves too much as she breaks down and cries and smiles as she forms her lips to speak his name... “Lucien?”

His name, in her voice - rapture as it fills him with longing and loneliness. “Yes...” He smiles back at her as she attempts to focus on his image, his eyes swelling with emotion and pride.

“Hi.” She withdraws her nails from his forearms, the blood that is being absorbed through her flesh quickly dries up and the wounds close. Her fingers then quickly wrap around his wrists in a soft embrace. He acts like nothing was happening, that her feeding from him was natural. However, the energy she drew from him was exceptional, almost overwhelming and unfamiliar. “What’s going on?” She asks with concern and confusion replacing the joy of their union.

“Nothing.” He smiles, shivering from the anticipation and excitement of seeing her again, of hearing her voice. But it goes beyond that, as it bordered on a form of pain. She can see this in him - almost sense it among other changes. “How are you feeling?”

“Funny... Very weird.” She smiles and draws into him.

He kisses her, his lips softly against hers. He tastes salty as another tear falls against his cheek. “To be expected. I have food for you - Cat’s got them out there somewhere.”

“That’s okay. I’m not hungry... Surprisingly. But...” She holds it, onto it like a reverie as she looks deeply into his eyes. She quietly searches and finds only a brick wall but his presence sends ripples through her. The sensation bordered on painful as he continues to feed her, but she tries to push him out for it is, “Too much...”

“What?” He draws in - concern as a fear overtakes him.

“You’ve ascended.” In realization.

“Shhh... Later.” He smiles and leans into kiss her cheek. She lets him, as he continues to explore her face and lips with his mouth. If she were to be condemned to death by a million of his kisses, she wouldn’t stop it.

He smelt amazing, felt overwhelming and filled her with lust but she could not stop his flood of raw energy. As he continues to feed her, she grabs his biceps - they have grown, and dig her nails in with almost uncontrollable frustration. “How are things?” Between kisses.

“Fine.” He presses his full mouth against her lips and enters them with his tongue.

She reciprocates with longing, her need for him quickly grows but the pain of his presence continues. She needs to block him, stop him from feeding her but the high from his energy borders on addictive. “So... Fill me in.”

“I plan too...” A smile.

She pushes him away, with a laugh. “Come on. What happened?” She looks longingly into his eyes. His face hasn’t change a bit in 50 years, not even a scar or the weight of bitterness and life’s pain to blemish it with age. He is still the most beautiful being ever created in her eyes. “You’re so beautiful.” She smiles and kisses him.

“So much has happened... First off - Sterba’s dead.”

“Good ridden hell bitch… How?”

He smiles, “After a 5 month battle with her people, which took the combined forces of me, a few of natures children, Vlad and the Brimstone Society...”

“So dad finally put it to her...”

“No... Vlad didn’t put it to her. Stephan sacrificed himself while we kept her children busy.”

She looks upon him with seemly confusion, as though the account did not affirm what she felt. “So, what of the Brimstone Society?”

“They are now led by one Lady Bet of Silver Hawk. HB helps out when he can, but he’s too busy disrupting the Dark One’s grand plans to be around enough to be a sufficient leader.”

“HB?” Confused, with a pursed smile locking her lips.

Lucien laughs at the name, “Hellboy.”

“Oh...” Without recognition.

“Stephan’s son, who was conjured by a Master Magi named Rasputin in the 19th century, to help the Axis to defeat the Allies during World War Two.” He shrugs off the information as though it weren’t really that important. Yet, he did find Hellboy very useful in combat situations - especially in the act of slaying Werewolves. But the whole origins of the man were truly unimportant. They had served many times in the battlefield, but have no social connection what so ever.

“Who’s this Lady Bet?”

“She’s the wife of one Lord Alderon, of Silver Hawk, a dimension I came across while in China. Alderon is a Half Elf Lord over one of the Continents of Silver Hawk. He made his fame killing Dragons and Demons. He once killed Tiamat-enuma on his own plane of existence.”

“Oh...” Her nails softly scratch the back of his neck as she explores the sensual-ness of his texture. He never failed to mystify her. His secrets were beyond her, locked away from eternity, but he held great power in his gaze. But it is his lips she wants to taste and taste them she does. They hold each other in embrace, locked in their sent and sound, but in his eyes, she can see a pain. “What is it?”

“I’m happy to see you.” A smile, “I missed you.” His words held in his eyes. With a gentle kiss, “I really missed you.”

“I know...” She smiles and kisses the crease between his nose and cheek.

“What else? Oh... Yeah.” He is sudden overwhelmed by a wave of emotion as he replays the details in his mind. She can almost see it, but it is veiled by his presence, as though he was the barrier that stopped her. Frustrated, she shifts on the bed to create a mental distance between them. Something in him has changed... “In the fight to get to Sterba, Stephan needed to get in close, but she was too heavily guarded. Michelle gave herself to clear a path. We weren’t able to resurrect her. She was among several Great Little Ones who perished and could not be revived.”

“No...” She exclaims, the emotion shames her with grief but then the sudden memory of Michaela... “What about...”

“Michaela is okay - I think. Even though she was in the fight, she was partnered up with Vlad’s crew. From them Charisma was severely injured along with Beth - One of Caan’s daughters. Michaela played an integral part in keeping Vlad alive. I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to get defeated 5 times. On his last failure, Michaela came in and stopped them from hanging him up in a tree with a noose around his lifeless neck. But their team was instrumental in attracting the bulk of Sterba’s forces, leaving her vulnerable to Michelle and Stephan. At first, Sterba concentrated her magic on my efforts, and me as I sabotaged all of her resources. The Great Little Ones concentrated on her traps as Stephan used his magic to conceal him and his teams’ journey to her layer. I have erected a Statue in her honor in both the inner garden of Sweat Shop and here. I’ll show them to you later.” With his right thumb, he wipes the tears that freely flow down her cheek. He can see in her eyes all the memories she held of Michelle.

“You said you think...”

“Yeah, she disappeared 14 years later, we haven’t seen her since.”

“What happened?” Shock and horror fill her voice, as though inspiring a reaction to go rescue her.

“I’m not sure, but I am certain that Temporal Magic was used. There are several ancient texts indicating a great warrior that appeared in Japan back in the 16th century, she was as large as the great mountain and had painted flesh. They called her Kifugin Shii - Lady Death. She lived in Japan for 40 years before leaving on what was called Kariuidai - The Great Hunt.” He throws his hands in the air at a loss, “That’s all I know. But she has never returned.”

“Okay...”

“Something else,” He wipes her saliva from his lips. “Dasher is dead.” Not at all the way he had rehearsed it. He wanted to ease her into it.

“What?” Suddenly, a great rapture within her, the ground shudders under a thunderous clap. “How?” Anger veiled in shock grips her with a mock paralysis.

“I’m sorry...” He grips her hand and gently holds it as she shivers from the emotional rush. “I’ll start from the top. Lord Alderon came to earth via a porthole that Lady Bet conjured, to kill demons. I sensed the porthole and in my normal fashion, I walked in - and arrived on Silver Hawk, where a super giant dragon named Incinderous greeted me. I forged an alliance with Lady Bet. It was from her meeting that I found out about a secret base on one of the North Fuji Islands, where Demons under the leadership of Baal, were creating a delivery system that would infect the human race with an ultra-bacteria strain. Obviously, I found a super nexus under the secret base, which was carved into a dormant volcano. There, both a magic barrier and a Balrog. To my amazement, the Balrog was receptive of me and I was able to convince him to shift sides. Needless to say, Bacchus was one of Baal’s General’s - You can’t imagine how pissed Baal was. Well, shortly after that alliance, I met up with Heddrox - the many, the indestructible, the befuddled... whatever. Well, he was up to his old games again - Looking for the Heart of Belial. Well, I found it first and hid it with Lady Bet. Heddrox, pissed with my involvement, kidnapped ‘Lil. He then gave me an ultimatum, ‘Lil for the Heart. That’s when I told him my ultimatum - Return her and I won’t kill him. He laughed and I told him that I knew 3 gods able to go into the depths of hell and kill him on his own plain. He didn’t believe me - again, he’s not known for his brilliance. However, when he returned, he found ‘Lil gone. So, he came back puzzled and confused... What he didn’t know was the history of Lady Bet and Lord Alderon. Their daughter Celest was abducted and her body exchanged with Glacia - the grand daughter of the Dark Lord. Some kind of trap for Lord Alderon - After he killed Tiamat and a couple other Grand Generals. Well, obviously the plan backfired and Celest’s body died some many years ago, thus her being stuck in Glacia’s body. So, Glacia was back in the depths of hell, collecting some items that belonged to Bacchus and heard about ‘Lil and how she was Lucien’s daughter. With the entire buzz, she went and sought out ‘Lil while Heddrox was back with me listening to my ultimatum. So, he comes back, slightly believing my claims of having power in Hell. That’s when I told him that Baal only wanted Heddrox to complete the ritual and sacrifice himself to raise Belial. I told Heddrox that Belial was Baal’s brother and that’s why Baal was encouraging Heddrox to find the Heart.”

“What does this have to do with Dasher?”

“I’m getting to that. This sets the stage for the invasion. Minutes before the invasion, Baal called Heddrox in for a meeting and asked about the Heart. Heddrox, playing with the thought of a betrayal, confronts Baal. But that’s when I through in some ammo, I had imbued a replica of the Heart with a fragment of the original Heart. I had a lesser demon thrown back with it in his hands. He delivered the Heart to Baal with Heddrox standing in front of him. This set the whole thing in motion. Heddrox had it out with Baal. But I had Rayne, Hellboy, Bacchus and Celest in there to ruffle some feathers. Next thing you know, half the invasion was halted with a war in hell between Baal and Heddrox. Needless to say, Heddrox, with all his implants started to defeat Baal beating him out of Hell. Baal exiled, couldn’t lead the full on attack. Heddrox tried to implant the Heart and during the ceremony, Rayne and Hellboy killed him. And, I was outside of the porthole with my little army and we were able to kill off the invasion forces.” He allows a moment of silence for her to adjust, and for him to conjure the memory of Baal and the events in the Astral Realm. “Baal fled to the Astral Realm and started to take over Domains there. His hope was to find a way into the Material Realm through the Astral Realm to regain his favor with the Dark Lord. Baal eventually made his presence there known, bringing on a full out investigation of his activities. Dasher was at the head of that investigation. In one of his encounters with Baal, he was mortally injured. However, refusing to give up, Dasher stayed alive to continue his fight but the wound never healed. He fought really hard for over 20 years, before the wound was too serious for him to endure. He succumbed to it 3 years ago.” He stops, his eyes swelling from the memory. “I did what I could for him. I fought beside him in the earlier years - when I was practicing my magic. Baal pulled an Alistar Dunscon on us, with tactics of hit and run. He was a master of that tactic and obviously had a better knowledge of the Astral Plains then we did. But I was eventually pulled away to help the Katani with their war.”

“Katani?”

“Well... I’ll get to that in a moment.” He wipes her tears with his thumbs, pushing the wetness away from her cheeks as she thought back to the years she had spend with the Astral High Lord - her first husband. “He was a very strong man. I dedicated a couple of Statues in his name, one in the courtyard at Sweat Shop and another in the Astral Realm. He left you some letters, I left them on your desk back at the shop.” The overwhelming emotion of loss strikes her with bereavement, where the weight of her head becomes too great to support. She lays back and buries her head in her pillows as tears freely pour and soak the coverings. Lucien simply sits there, holding her hand as she cries, offering whatever support she needed. This is something she would have to overcome on her own.

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