Oracle

  Rare are the times that one such as Oracle could ever think to cross into the realm where the demon king Saturnus reigned and ever hope to return. As she glided down from the golden clouds having fulfilled her duty, beyond the gray, ethereal wall which separated the divine rays above and infernal mire below was a small slit that bore into the heart of the underbog.

  Of her many duties, the most important was that of being a messenger. And what she was to deliver came straight from the top.

  The crack in the gray bulwark consumed all light around it, both golden hues from above and red glow from below, not unlike the schisms created by Irae in Optifex and Haru’s world. Though this specific rift was not wild and chaotic. It was as if a keen edge sliced it open with one fell strike.

  As Oracle entered the rift, the heat of the air around her grew immense. She flexed her wings and pulled them closer, to fight against the force threatening to rip them off. As she was diving head-first, around her a shock cone formed, red-hot air blasted over her body. Oracle fell like a meteor down into the depths below.

  The infernal landscape was craggy, with many iron pillars jutting from the rough stone surface. In the valleys between the high, curved peaks, magma flowed as if it were water, rapids that bubbled up through fissures, and moved into the depths beneath high, misshapen bluffs.

  Oracle tried to spread her wings to regain control of her descent to no avail. No matter how she pivoted or twisted, she was wildly careening toward a sprawling obsidian structure with a wide dome in the middle of five equidistant sections of the building, all pointed away. The sage braced as she hurtled into the dome.

  The building’s dull sheen reflected the fiery landscape on approach and Oracle passed through the surface as if it were nothing but air.

  After passing through a layer of darkness, Oracle found herself standing at the head of a long iron table. There were three high-backed chairs to her right, four to her left. At the far, opposite end was a lone chair. The sage opened her mouth, ready to speak, but reaching to lean upon the metal surface, she stumbled after her appendage passed into the table.

  At the lone chair at the far end was a man with dark, slicked-back hair in a well-tailored suit. He tapped his fingers together, leaning back. “This won’t do, not at all.”

  Oracle recoiled and steadied herself.

  “There was nothing that could be done.” Irae hissed from the fourth chair on the left, farthest from the head of the table. His voice was desperate.

  The sage stood straight, realizing the demon lords sitting in each of the chairs didn’t notice her presence. A gut sense forced her attention upwards, toward a light blue tether attached to her back, leading into the ceiling, the direction from which she fell. Then she noticed her very form was translucent and of the same color as the strand leading upwards.

  “Nothing that could be done.” The demon at the head of the table spoke, bemused. He frowned and nodded, looking off into the distance to his side.

  A foul silence permeated the space. Irae shifted in his seat.

  Finally, while clenching the arm rest of his chair, Irae leaned forward and shouted at the demon farthest back on the right side of the table. “Invidius, you were there. Tell them, it wasn’t my fault.” His voice shaken, wild.

  The demon on the right side of the table, layered in green scales which resembled a full suit of armor, shook his narrow and thin head. Three long horns that splayed outwards from his forehead swayed. “I don’t know anything. None of that was my idea.”

  Irae sputtered. “A—Acediae,” the demon held out a hand toward a bear-like demon sitting on a chair on the right side of the table nearest the head seat, sprawled out with eyes closed. “Y—you know what happened, tell them.”

  The bear-demon let out a long, drawn-out snore.

  Irae recoiled, retreating his hand. Then he tapped the edge of the table quietly and rapidly. His attention turned toward the other demon closest to the head of the table, seated on the left. She was shapely, with tall and wide horns that curved into a central mass behind her teardrop head. Blue, red, and orange liquid danced inside her body, revealed by glass-like skin held in place with ornate black metal ribbons.

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  “Superbia.” Irae slinked down as he spoke. “Won’t you explain what happened?” His voice went up an octave and grew quiet as he continued.

  The crystalline demon stared forward and then gradually pivoted to turn her attention toward Irae. “Explain.” Her voice was gruff.

  Irae cowered.

  “You want me to… explain… what happened?” Superbia leaned closer toward Irae.

  Irae squirmed and took stock of the other demons staring at him. Then, with reluctance, nodded.

  Superbia rhythmically tapped the tabletop with her metal-braced nails. Then stopped. And then nodded. “Okay. I’ll explain.” She pivoted to look at the well-dressed man seated at the head of the table. “He’s an idiot,” and pointed at Irae with her thumb over her shoulder.

  The man nodded and folded his hands. “That was a given.”

  Superbia sighed. “That dolt blew a perfectly good opportunity to take someone.” She shook her head. “I could have done it way better.”

  “And where are they now?” The man leaned forward, staring at Irae.

  “He’s—” Superbia started but was cut off when the man suddenly turned his attention toward her.

  Irae gripped the edge of the table. “Gone.” Then the demon sat straight up and leaned forward. “But I—”

  Before he could finish, the man snapped his fingers. In the blink of an eye, Irae’s form vanished into a pile of ash and a gentle breeze scattered the remains. The demon’s chair was empty.

  Invidius looked at Superbia, still reeling from the rebuke, then to the man. “Saturnus, let me make things right. I can fix this.”

  The man at the head of the table, Saturnus, sat back and combed his fingers through his slicked-back black hair and sighed. “It’s so hard to find a good Lord of Rage, you know?” He motioned broadly to the table. Then he plopped his palm atop the table’s surface and turned his attention toward Invidius. “Are you trying to test my patience? If he’s already crossed over, there’s nothing that can be done. Don’t talk like a fool.”

  Oracle scowled, staring at the armored demon. To even insinuate a demon could meddle in affairs on high was an insult.

  Invidius held both hands out toward Saturnus. “Of course, that wasn’t my intention. What I mean is, let’s take Irae’s idea and make it work.”

  Saturnus clasped his hands together and leaned forward. “Go on, I’m listening.”

  Overhead, a distant shriek grew steadily louder by the moment.

  Invidius cleared his throat. “Well, there were more targets that should have been involved before this incident… took place. That was the real failure here.”

  “And your point?” Saturnus’s attention was drawn toward the noise coming from the dome overhead, growing ever louder, almost ear-piercing.

  “These others are a way for us to—” Invidius was interrupted by a projectile piercing the dome and lodging into the center of the table.

  It was a long sword, glowing gold.

  Saturnus stared at the sword for a moment, then his attention turned to Oracle, who was no longer ethereal. He stood, his eyes wide and pursed lips pealed back to display a scowl.

  The other six demons stared at Saturnus for a moment, then to Oracle and scrambled to stand, each retreating away from the sage and toward their leader.

  “I’ve come to deliver a message.” Oracle spoke, her voice echoing throughout the room.

  Overhead, stone-like demons with flat, wide foreheads and broad noses peered into the room from the hole in the dome, crowding each other to get a glimpse inside.

  Saturnus scrunched his nose, flicked his head, and tightened his black necktie. “The sword of the Taxiarch is quite the message.” He glanced at the scintillating sword melting the iron table.

  Oracle also looked at the weapon, not expecting such a direct gesture from the Taxiarch himself to be sent along with her. “Abandon all efforts in the land of the living. If not, we will consider it a casus belli.”

  “The whole living realm yours alone?” Saturnus scoffed, looking at his cowering minions with a cocked eyebrow. “A surprising amount of greed from the likes of you.” He smiled. “Almost makes me want to accept those terms out of sheer admiration.”

  “We’ll be watching and awaiting your response.” Oracle took off suddenly and rocketed out from the hole in the dome, toward the closing schism in the blood red sky.

  Saturnus watched the sage exit, and then spotted the minor demons looking in from the hole in the dome. With the flick of his wrist, the dozen demons shrieked and exploded into piles of ash. Then he sat back down in his chair, slumped, and let his arms dangle off the armrests. He stared at the sword sinking into the melted iron, radiating golden energy.

  “What should we do?” Invidius piped up, peeking out from behind the bear-demon’s hind parts.

  It took a moment, but Saturnus limply craned his neck toward the demon. Then he returned to staring at the sword. “If it’s war they want, then let there be blood.”

  The rest of the demons retreated from the encroaching glow as it consumed the entire table. The light reached Saturnus and his eyes rolled in the back of his head for a moment. He gasped, revealing long incisors, producing a growl as he was buffeted by the radiance. “I basked in this kind of luminance once, created its ever-growing glow.” His skin started to flake.

  “You should move.” Superbia’s voice was concerned.

  “That was my job. My position.” Saturnus continued to stare at the sword and snarled as flaking skin revealed open wounds. “They took it from me.”

  The six demons looked at each other, confused.

  Saturnus suddenly snapped his focus to Invidius. “Do it.”

  The demon peered around Acediae. “D… do what?”

  Saturnus flicked his hand clumsily, flecks of flesh falling away with each swipe. “Your plan. Do it.”

  Hesitantly, Invidius nodded.

  “But know this,” Saturnus started. “If you fail me, you’ll wish Irae’s fate was your own.”

  Firestorm: Crusader here.

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