Of Light And Shadows
Chapter Fifty Three...

Jia sat in the cold and the damp wondering what Lucifer and the others were doing in that moment. She couldn’t tell how long she’d been trapped in Satan’s weird dungeon but she knew it had been at least three days. Were the others searching for her?

It didn’t matter. They wouldn’t replace her until Satan wanted them to. She had to replace a way out of the shackles herself and escape before any of her loved ones could fall into his trap. The thought of Sellik suffering at his hands just so he could get the binding shackles made Jia feel sick to her stomach.

The sound of an old wooden door creaking somewhere out of sight made her sit up straight and scoot away from the bars, concealing herself in the shadows. The uneven rock walls of her freezing cage offered enough of an outcropping and cast enough darkness for her to observe whoever was approaching without having to show herself. Something about being able to hide gave her a small degree of comfort.

“Lisbeth,” Satan trilled as he sauntered down the cold hallway towards her prison. “I’ve come to check on you, my dear.” When she didn’t respond he chuckled. “I imagine it’s very cold and very damp down here. Lonely too. You know, there is a way to get out of here.”

Jia could see him smiling, absolutely certain of his victory now he had his first born’s mate in chains. Just the sound of his voice made her skin crawl.

“Choose me. Be a part of my collection, the crowning jewel of it, even. If you do that, and you agree to use your power however I wish, I will leave Lucifer and the others unharmed.”

“What would you want with my power?” she asked warily, sensing evil intent.

“To destroy God, of course.” He said it so simply, but the mere thought of him destroying such a beautiful being made her recoil. Hearing the wish given a voice felt wrong.

“I can’t let you do that.”

“Then you damn your loved ones to death,” he shrugged. “I’ll kill Lucifer and all of the other Devils, and you will be forced to give me new Devils. My own demonic Seraphim to replace the stain God has left on these realms.”

“I will never give you children,” she hissed, repulsed at the thought.

“Oh, but you will. The binding shackles do more than just sap your power. They give me complete control of the wearer.” Jia’s heart dropped into her stomach as he waved a hand and the shackles lit up with sickly red light.

An electric shock shot up both of her arms from the wrist, the current seizing up her muscles painfully before forcing them to bend and contract. Her legs took several lurching steps towards the bars until she slammed up against them. The air rushed out of her lungs in a pained gasp as Satan reached into her prison and gripped a fistful of her hair. Her eyes watered as it stretched at the roots and her skull bounced off metal, sending her crashing to the ground.

Satan waited patiently as she spat blood and sat up, inspecting his fingernails with mild disinterest like he hadn’t just attacked her.

“You see? You can make it easy on yourself and submit to me, or I can force you and kill everyone you love. The choice is yours.” He turned away in a swish of his long coat, his steps ringing through the cavernous room until the door slammed behind him.

Jia laid slowly back down against the cold stone, staring at the ceiling with a sense of detachment. There was no use crying or panicking if she wanted to escape. She was used to pain, though the kind of pain Satan inflicted was far more terrifying than anything Abe had ever done.

His threat settled in her bones, burrowing its way into her subconscious and becoming a persistent, nagging doubt at the forefront of her mind. She sat in her prison and stewed, trying and failing to think of a way to escape.

Lucifer paced his office like a caged beast as Lanthia watched through his mirror. Archangel Michael and Seraph Lauviah stood to one side with concerned looks as they followed his repetitive path. Her cheeks were wet with tears.

“My Witches have seen nothing in the human realm,” Lanthia’s reflection said. “We will continue to search for her.” The Demon Prince nodded and her image disappeared from the mirror.

“My scouts are turning up nothing,” Lucifer muttered, running a hand through his hair. Shadows rose from his skin like smoke, the faint image of his wings beginning to solidify at his back as he struggle to hold back his true form.

“There’s one place we haven’t checked. A place he shouldn’t have access to,” Michael pointed out. Lucifer stopped to stare at him. “The outer valleys of the Angelic realm are uninhabited now, but the ruins of the First City are still there.”

“How would he get there?” Lauviah asked.

“I would assume one of our own is helping him without our knowledge.” Michael’s expression was grave.

“How big an area would we have to cover?” Lucifer pressed eagerly.

“At least a day’s worth. Can your brother keep Sellik alive for that long?”

“He’ll have to.” Lucifer was already summoning Belphegor.

“Have you found her yet?” the violet eyed demon asked as he stepped out of the shadows.

“No, but we may have an idea of where she is. It’s a long shot but the only one we have.”

“Where?”

“The Angelic Realm,” Lauviah answered, wiping a hand delicately across her cheek to get rid of the remaining tears. “Nobody can sense her in this realm or the human one.”

“Are we even able to go looking?”

“For God’s one of a kind creation?” Lucifer asked. “I think he can make an exception for us this time. Can you look after the academy while I’m gone?”

“Of course,” Belphegor promised. He folded Lucifer into a hug, understanding immediately that the only way Jia would come home was if Satan was killed. “Be careful, Luci.” The nickname from their time as Angels made Lucifer’s heart ache a little.

“I will.” He smiled at his younger brother and turned to face the portal Archangel Michael was creating, shielding his eyes against the blinding light that shone through it.

Stepping into the Angelic world for the first time in thousands of years was strange. He saw the familiar tall glass spires of the Alta, the Angelic City, in the distance and he felt homesick after all his years spent cut off from his celestial origins.

But he also felt a strange sense of detachment. He’d grown to love the demonic realm so much it became his home. He knew then that Apollyon was where he belonged, guiding the other Fallen so they didn’t repeat the mistakes of the Uprising.

Lauviah hooked her arm through his, guiding him towards the stables he’d spent years of his life tending to as a boy. Every stall was filled by Pegasi of every colour and size.

“The distance is too far to fly in one go, even for a demon,” Michael explained. “A Pegasus will get us there without stopping.”

“I haven’t ridden one in millennia,” Lucifer commented, approaching a sleek black beast with dark, silver flecked wings. It’s brown eyes struck something in him, a memory he’d tried to bury because it made him sad to think of it. The Pegasus bent its head, pushing its nose into his hand as it searched for affection. “Is this really Obsidian?”

“Yes,” Michael smiled. “He wouldn’t take another rider when you fell. He’s been waiting all this time.” Lucifer pressed his forehead against Obsidian’s and breathed in, savouring the scent of leather polish and hay that had always left him filled with such joy.

“I need your help, Sid,” he said quietly. “Someone special to me has been taken. Will you take me to replace her?” The Pegasus tossed his head and snorted, pawing the ground in sudden impatience. Lauviah laughed despite her worries and secured a saddle to his back as Michael took two more mounts from their stables, one tawny and the other smokey grey.

“Atlas and Sora missed you as well,” he said, letting go of their reins and smiling as they made a beeline for the demon prince. He put a hand on each of their faces in greeting.

“As wonderful as this is, we need to replace my mate,” he murmured, sadness clouding his joy at the reunion. “Jia is my home now. I have to go to her.”

“Then let’s get going,” Lauvi agreed, hoisting herself into Sora’s saddle and patting her tawny side. Michael settled on Atlas and Lucifer mounted Obsidian for the first time since his fall, the ancient beast responding to his commands like he’d never left.

The group took to the sky at speeds Lucifer could never hope to match on his own, eating up the distance with minimal effort. He watched as the landscape transitioned from spiralling glass spires and orderly streets, to small, marble houses and rolling greenery, and finally even the villages thinned out until there were none. Even with their immense speed, they still travelled for hours before the scenery changed.

The Angelic realm was filled with vibrant grassland and rolling hills, a sharp contrast to the rock and shadows of Apollyon. Lucifer’s eyes couldn’t adjust to the brilliant light that illuminated the whole place after so long in a realm without sun.

They flew for a long time, long past the point his wings would have grown weary and forced him to rest. Obsidian relished the opportunity to fly far and fast now he was reunited with his rider, sensing the urgency of the situation and travelling at top speed.

Eventually the hills became grassy mountains as the land transitioned again, marking the edge of the ruins of the First City. Lucifer caught sight of buildings, long since abandoned, decaying and crumbling below. Even that looked beautiful in this realm.

Verdant vines and blooming flowers crept over the crumbling structures, obscuring them from view to the point that most of them were just lumps in the foliage. Here and there, some of the buildings remained intact, not yet claimed by the nature so desperately reaching for them.

He searched for any sign of the dense greenery being disturbed, any evidence at all that someone had been there recently. They circled for a long time, eventually deciding to land and tramp through the plant life on foot.

“It feels wrong to be here,” Michael said softly. “This place was left to be forgotten for a reason.”

“Fitting that Satan would choose it to conceal Jia then, don’t you think?” Lauviah asked. She bent to touch a split vine at her feet, her flowing white dress pooling on the ground around her. “Someone was dragged this way.” Lucifer’s head whipped round to look, spotting the mark in the otherwise perfect cover of greenery. He spotted another gouge in a patch of moss further ahead.

“This way.” The Angels fell into step behind him, leaving the Pegasi to munch on a cluster of fluttering yellow flowers. “I can feel her.” His mate bond hummed with a low, weak energy as he followed the trail of scuffs and marks through the ruins, growing faintly stronger as he got closer to his missing love.

The trail led them to a huge, heavy wooden door. Vines lay haphazardly on the ground, purposefully cut down and pushed aside. The ground had been scraped, the layer of moss underfoot peeled back to reveal fresh dirt and patches of cracked marble tile when the door had been opened. Lucifer put an ear to the wood, listening for any sound beyond it.

“This is the old jail,” Michael remarked uneasily, surveying the building. It had been hewn right into the side of one of the mountains. “This is where we imprisoned Satan before God cast the Fallen out of our realm. I can’t believe it’s still standing.”

“He probably thinks bringing her here is poetic irony,” Lauviah muttered, unimpressed by the antics of the Demon King.

“Let’s go.” Lucifer silenced the conversation and pulled open the heavy door, surprised when it opened silently. The ancient hinges uttered no sound at all as the dark innards of the prison were revealed.

The lapse in unwavering sunlight was a relief to his scorched retinas and his eyes adjusted quickly to the comfort of the shadows. He heard the others hesitate behind him, their steps slow and careful as they struggled to see anything after being so used to constant daylight.

Lucifer had Jia’s scent now, a sweet mix of wildflower and the faintest whiff of her favourite strawberry shampoo. The smell sent a pang of longing through his gut, quickening his steps. There were other scents down there too, wafting up from a dark staircase at the end of a long, cavernous room that had once housed polished mahogany desks and rows of chairs with padded leather seats.

He stepped around the rotten remains of a podium where God had sat millennia ago to cast their final judgement on Lucifer and everyone else who had been stupid enough to join Satan in the Uprising. The room still held the tinge of despair as families were separated and hundreds of Angels were stripped of their celestial status and banished to Apollyon.

A metallic tang caught his attention. Blood. His pulse quickened and he turned to look at Michael and Lauviah, noticing how their faces paled even in the shadows as they smelled it too. Wordlessly, the three of them moved faster, descending the staircase quickly and carefully. Lucifer knew the holding cells were down those stairs.

The darkness became a blanket so thick the Angels couldn’t see their hands in front of their faces. Lucifer took hold of Lauvi’s wrist to guide her, and she grabbed Michael before he could be left behind. He took them carefully down several intersecting, windowless corridors lined with small, empty cells until they came to another door, this one locked from the inside.

Lucifer kicked it through in one powerful blow, ripping the wood from its hinges and sending it clattering into the room beyond. Low light bloomed from within, a single sconce along the wall lit with orange flame to reveal the scene beyond.

Jia was there. Satan was there too. The Angels froze and Lucifer snarled as he found his mate sat stiffly on Satan’s lap, the binding shackles around her wrists so tightly that the skin had broken. Blood dripped slowly down her fingers, plopping onto the sandstone floor every so often.

“Louie!” She tried to reach for him, but the shackles glowed and burning power coursed through her, forcing her muscles to contract and keeping her firmly on the Devil’s lap. Satan smiled broadly, his red eyes glowing with malice as Lauviah jerked towards her daughter, held back only by Michael’s steadying hand.

“Ah, the mighty First Born! How wonderful that you’re here. And brother, it’s a nice surprise to see you too after all these thousands of years apart.” His eyes slid to Jia’s mother. “Lauviah, as beautiful as ever. I’m surprised you’re still walking around after all that time spent as Abaddon’s plaything.”

“Stop talking,” Lucifer snapped, shadows beginning to waft from his skin as his true form made itself known. His wings stretched behind him, horns sprouting from his head. “Give her back to me.”

“Let’s make a trade,” Satan offered. “Your life for hers. Come and snap these lovely shackles around your wrist and I’ll let her go.”

“No!” Jia choked out, fighting against the magic keeping her still and silent. Her clothes were torn and stained with patches of blood, evidence that she’d been tortured and healed at least once while she was imprisoned.

Satan rolled his eyes and pulled out a long knife with a white blade that faded to black at the tip, placing the deadly weapon over Jia’s heart. Lucifer froze. That knife was how Satan wiped Angels from existence for good. No reincarnation, just permanent, endless death. Immortal or not, one nick from that knife was the end.

“I’ll make this easier for all three of you. Give Lucifer to me, or I take Jia from your forever.”