亚洲综合中美

‘The audience was granted. A short but influential one. I attended the parle between the king and the curious man. He showed every courtesy afforded to him. Father echoed the gesture.’

“To the Demon King Leviathan, I humbly ask for a moment of your time.”

“Go ahead, you have my blessing.”

“Hell was founded on the blood and sacrifice of a single man, the one we know as the Cursed King. The true founder of the Aapith nation. His revival is at hand. He has returned to fulfill the prophecy of the end. I’m a simple man of the unassuming stature, birthplace, and ideals. I’m the messenger and I bear no further influence on what reality holds. You, my liege, are one to set the course of the future. I came for a simple purpose, to warn thee and the kings of the return of he who rules from the Shadows. Once the three in one are joined, the Adjudicator shall be born anew. He has shown signs of activity, and I fear, with all my might, if not put to a stop else, guided in the right direction, he may just well forsake reality and force the realm into a new start. I’d hate for reality to end – our timeline has been most fortunate, god and devil spawns, humans and non-humans, the picture-perfect landscape of life has been painted. We mustn’t allow it all to crumble.”

“Why have you come to us?”

“Lord Lucifer has refused my worries. Lord Satan and Lord Belial are unavailable.”

“How can I be of help?”

“There is a cathedral built north of Lucifer’s academy. The buildings house a great key to locking the Adjudicator’s power if he one day awakens. My liege, I would ask you to conquer Lucifer’s land and stop the menace.”

.....

“And if I refuse?”

“I will accept and move. I must spread the words of wisdom passed from my family, such the way of the voyager.”

“Voyager?” father’s intrigue roused, I never knew him to be so interested in a simple title, “-as in the Voyagers who travel the dimension in search of the forbidden fruit?”

“Yes,” he bowed, “-I am an offspring of the messenger god, Hermes.”

‘The mention of Hermes sealed his fate. The messenger’s neck was put to the sword and thrown in jail. Father halted the execution – instead my sister, Teresa, was to get information from the man. Her priorities shifted, she cared more for pleasure than information. I don’t know why… something drew me to him. I snuck into the dungeon and had a word with the man. He returned my gaze with an affectionate smile. He was chained and heavily injured. He’d lost some of his fingers and even his teeth, yet, the man afforded me what little courtesy he could.

“My lady, you must not be discovered exchanging a word with a traitor.”

“You purposefully spoke Hermes’ name, why?”

“To die,” he said, “-to be freed from my curse of telling the world of its eventual end. I lied… the heavens are far more sinister than what hell would one believe. I’m a servant to my gods, I have seen their truth and have said no to their evil… the sense of right and wrong don’t apply to an entity of such stature. I am one to obey and do so I shall. They hold my freedom, they hold my life and my purpose. The only freedom afforded to me is how I choose to die. I fulfilled my purpose knowing it was wrong, I spread information about the coming of the Adjudicator and sullied the man’s good name. You, my lady, have the eyes of one who seeks after the truth. I will not be long for this world. My truth and the truth of who the three in one resides in my journal. I was careful to hide it in an inn by the river of Sarl. Ask for the innkeeper and tell her I sent for you.”

“Why?”

“Because I worship the bringer of finality. I’m a devoted follower of the Adjudicator. We’re few and hidden far and wide, we exist to serve our master regardless of his awakening.”

“And you ruin his reputation, what kind of servant does so?”

“The kind who is unafraid to go against his creed. My actions have led me to you, and you to me. You will inherit what I sought to complete, you will, and I see so in thy future, meet the Adjudicator. The choice is yours, Enfia L. Leviathan.”

“Sister?” Teresa arrived as the man drew his last breath, “-did you kill him?”

“No, he succumbed to his wounds.”

“Oh well, whatever. Please take care of his corpse, the dead are always too grimy to play with.”

‘He died with all the truths. Leaving only a simple order to follow. The more I thought, the greater the picture grew. At that moment, my quest to find the truth began. I fought his journal and read about what was real and what was a fa?ade. The world was built on narrow foundations –heaven and its misguided hypocrisy, hell’s unwillingness to fight, and the eternal struggle of the Demon Kings and the Council. No one was ready for the Adjudicator’s awakening. No one will ever be ready. The winds blew yet again, Lucifer disappeared – Draebala, Artanos, the coming of a new troublesome era, and at the center, an unassuming man hailing from Orin, the Wielder of Death Magic.’

She rose her head, ‘-and he stands before me today. The one who my master entrusted to us. He’s the one to lead the realities. Depending on his choices, we may yet survive. A survival that comes at the price of the underworld and Draebala, a survival where gods become the sole ruler of life itself.’

“Enfia.”

“Yes?”

“Why are you drifting into space?” he narrowed, “-was there not a room I’m supposed to visit?”

“Lord Staxius, are you not going to judge my actions for your daughter’s condition?”

“Enfia, I say this again, you’re talented. The way you schemed is unlike anything I have seen. You must have an interesting past. Nothing more is needed to make pique my curiosity. As for the matter of Sathanas,” he stared the lass squarely, her empty eyes was a tell-tell sign of mind-down, ‘-she’s taking a rest. Fought until the bitter end,’ he laid her on the table and caressed her forehead, ‘-shut yourself to perverse thy sanity. Sathanas, my daughter, you are quite a fighter.’

“She’s beyond treatment…”

“Just watch,” he smiled, *-knowledge known to only the watcher, I, master and inheritor of Origin, beckon thee; Mantia, Library of the all-knowing: Partial Realm Expansion,* a cocoon wrapped the feeble body, ‘-she’s afflicted with a curse,’ he lit a cigarette,

*-I am he who slays without fear, I am he who shall be the last of what thy see. Heed mine call, thou whomst dared to fight the natural order, tis the day thou ought to be destroyed, Ancient Magic – Astral Binding,* sword-shaped lightning bolt hammered in a pentagram around her body, *-thee who desires power, thee who sealed a contract with the devil, arise anew and face the truth. Thy soul is mine to wield, mine to control and mind to destroy – awaken, Contract Holder, for I, thy master, beckon thee. Contract – Resusio,*

*GASP,* “-WHERE AM I?” she shot upright and coughed, flashing her troubled focus right and left, “-where am I?”

“In hell.”