Chapter 8
It was a long while after Malachi left when Missolis summoned me back to her war room. I’d spent that time pacing the room I had been given, tempted as I was to leave it and go for a wander around the strange demonic city in Hell. I wanted to know more about it, to experience it properly, but I worried my presence would do more harm than good.
The time alone with my thoughts had given me an opportunity to reflect on where I was, how I had gotten there, and what I had yet to do. Abaddon. Lucifer. The other Abaddon. What were the chances really that it would be his Citadel I had to go through to get back to Earth?
Pretty high I suppose, he was the King of Hell after all.
Heaviest of all though was the concern that by being brought here, I had endangered all of these demons and their safety. The rebels might have been followed to their base. What if there was an ambush waiting for me as soon as I left? I had some Light left, but nowhere near enough to defeat an armed squadron of demons by myself.
Whatever we were going to do, we were going to have to do it quickly—and Missolis seemed to agree.
“It is decided,” she said, “We move on the Citadel immediately.”
“Immediately?” I asked, “How immediate is that?”
“As soon as we are done telling you the plan. There’s no time to waste, as I’m sure you’ll understand.”
“Of course… I’m just surprised you’ve been able to come up with a plan so quickly.”
“It isn’t foolproof, but it should get us within striking distance of the passage to Earth.” She nodded at the other two demons standing by the large table in the middle of the room; a table that was covered in parchment maps riddled with scribbles and notes. “These are my lieutenants: the Hellion, Kainon, and Ravager, Etari. They helped devise this plan.”
It was at that point Malachi joined us at the table. With a simple nod he encouraged Missolis to continue what she had been saying a moment ago.
“The four of us will lead you, and our people, to the Citadel,” said Missolis, “And we will ensure every single rebel makes it through that passage.”
“All of them?” I asked, my eyes widening. “There must be more than a hundred of you…”
“One hundred and twenty-six,” she grinned.
Malachi gave me sidelong glance. He didn’t have to say I told you so; it was written on his face.
“I… do you really think we can get everyone through?” I asked. “You said yourself, the Citadel is going to be full of demons who will be looking for you. For us. A small group infiltrating a city is one thing, but you’re talking about sneaking a whole host in right under Abaddon’s nose.”
“If we do it right,” said Missolis, “If we are clever, and quiet, we can make this work.”
Malachi glared at me from across the table. “This isn’t going to be a problem for you, is it Sarakiel?”
All four demons regarded me suspiciously. I already knew how Malachi felt, but the guarded looks they were all giving me didn’t match up with the conversation I’d had with him earlier. I realized after a moment what he was alluding to.
I was an angel, a Lightbringer; it was part of my job to stop demons entering Earth. Malachi had taken my insistence to go alone and twisted it to suit his needs. I’d just been told an entire legion worth of demons was going to make the passage and enter Earth—under my watch—and I’d hesitated, all but confirming his suspicions in their eyes.
It was clear they were doubting my intentions and my motives.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “I didn’t mean… of course, I want all of you to escape this place. I’m only worried about the logistics of getting one hundred and twenty-six demons into a heavily defended Citadel unnoticed. I need this to work.”
Missolis, her eyes narrowed, nodded. “As do we. That is why we have come up with this plan. Like it or not, this is our only chance to get everyone out.”
“Why now?”
“The passage only opens in response to Light. It was not made by demons, but perhaps by angels—or maybe by God Herself. Even Abaddon cannot open it whenever he wants to; he needs the one thing no demon has. Light.”
“The demons you rescued me from—they’d wanted to sell me to an Overlord. Did they mean Abaddon? Did they know I was the key to this passageway?”
“Not likely,” Missolis paused. “They wouldn’t have been told why your Light was valuable, only that they’d be rewarded highly for turning you in. No Overlord would risk their subservient keeping such a prize for themselves, they would have handed you in to Abaddon themselves.”
“And you know this because?”
“The answer is self-evident, isn’t it?”
“You used to be one… an Overlord.”
“We all have our roles to play, even in Hell. I didn’t arrive here and immediately decide to become a rebel, most of us were once cogs in Abaddon’s machine.”
“How did you come back from that?”
“I didn’t. Not all the way. But as you’ve seen for yourself, we are capable of making our own decisions down here. We aren’t beholden to our programming, the chains that have tied us down since our creation. We can be who we choose to be, and right now, I choose to lead these demons to their salvation—with your help.”
Watching her, examining her burning amber eyes, I knew she was leaving out much of her story. If Overlords are the rulers of Hell, her life must have been one of relative opulence and comfort. She would have had demons doing everything for her, subordinates to boss around.
How someone just drops all of that and decides to fight against it… she must have seen something, experienced something that shattered her worldview, or stirred up whatever goodness was left in her. Then again, I was probably being na?ve. The truth was likely way more nuanced than that, an idea that I was only just getting to grips with.
“You said we need Light to open the passage,” I said. “I don’t know how much Light I have left in me, but it can’t be much and it won’t regenerate. I’m not sure I have enough.”
“If you don’t, we’ll have to break our way back out of the Citadel and escape. But I’m willing to take the risk, we all are.”
“There will be casualties…”
Missolis nodded. “I know. But you are the only option we have. I can’t remember the last angel who made it out of the Pit with even a sliver of Light left in them, and with Heaven abandoned we may not see another angel at all. You, though… you might think you don’t have much, but you are like a shining beacon in this place of perpetual darkness.”
“For good and for ill. They will be looking for me, and, not to sound insensitive, but I have a decidedly non-demonic appearance. I know how to hide my wings, but there’s not much I can do about the rest of me.”
Malachi eyed me up and down. “We have ways of changing our appearance…” He said, trailing off. “If I’m asked to, I will show you how.”
“Good, yes,” said Missolis. “If we can get her looking less angelic, that will attract far less attention to us. As soon as we”re done here, teach her.”
“As you wish,” said Malachi, bowing slightly.
“Now, the plan,” continued Missolis, pulling the largest map toward her. “Here we have a map of the Citadel. It is an old map, mostly drawn from memory, and there may have been some changes that we are not aware of, but the location of the passage will not have changed.” She pointed to a large room in the center of the map, “The passage is right here—in Abaddon’s throne room.”
“Brilliant,” I said. “That won’t be difficult to get to at all.”
“Abaddon’s throne room is rarely used these days; he’s been personally overseeing much of the training and goings on, making sure everything is up to scratch for Lucifer, no doubt.”
“You said the passage would be heavily guarded, though.”
“Yes. There will be soldiers present; at least four of Abaddon’s best at all times. If we can make it into the throne room without them knowing, we should be able to overpower them before they sound the alarm.”
“And how are we supposed to all get into the throne room? Abaddon will know by now that there is an angel with Light in Hell, they will all be on the lookout for me.”
“That’s the easy part. We’re going to infiltrate the city as pilgrims.”
“Pilgrims?”
“Every single day groups of pilgrims arrive at the Citadel. Some stay, others don’t, but they all come to worship at Lucifer’s temple. That’s hundreds of innocuous demons flooding into the city. We’ll be able to blend in with them to get in, and once inside, we’ll make our way to the temple—here.”
Missolis pointed at a large, circular room adjacent to Abaddon’s throne room. It was huge, easily four times the size and likely capable of holding many hundreds of demons within it, if the scale was to be believed. If we could make it all the way there, we would be within striking distance of the throne room, and the passage to Earth.
“This… seems too easy,” I said. “Doesn’t it seem too easy?”
Missolis frowned. “Easy?”
“Well… if I had a passage to Earth in my throne room, I would make sure it isn’t that easy to get to. You’re telling me Abaddon lets in hundreds of demons into this room right here—only a short distance away from one of his most valuable assets.”
“Valuable only if you know it exists and have the Light to open it. Most demons don’t know about it, and those who do can’t use it. It’s worthless to them.”
“But surely, a hundred and twenty-six demons—plus one angel—running from the temple into the throne room and overpowering the guards will be noticed by someone?!”
“The five of us will take on the demons, and we’ll do it quietly. When they’re down, we’ll bring in the rest of the rebels, you’ll open the portal, and we get out of Hell once and for all.”
The confidence in her tone, the brightness of her eyes. She really believed this plan could work; that it would work. But there were a few variables that I wasn’t so sure of, the largest of which was Abaddon.
“What if he’s there?” I asked.
“If Abaddon is there,” Missolis replied, “we’ll just have to distract him.”
“Distract him? Abaddon? We’re talking about Lucifer’s first lieutenant. How are we supposed to distract someone like him?”
“Leave that to me. Your objective is getting all of our people through that passage—by any means necessary.”
I realized in that moment that I wasn’t good at taking orders without question. I was used to giving them. Still, I had to remember where I was and who I was dealing with. If Missolis thought it was a good plan, then I had to trust that she knew the realm and its inhabitants well enough to think that.
I nodded. “Alright,” I said, “Now, let’s deal with my face.”