A Talk in the White Void

Sitting quietly in a big white void chatting with a demon lord was not how I pictured this battle ending.

You’d think that we were stuck here or something, but we could just go back to the real world any time we wanted. At this point I had a slightly different agenda other then continuing the fighting.

Since we both were a lot calmer and collected, I wondered if he’d be willing to talk.

“Lord Sleepy Eyes, why are you so evil?” I asked. “Why do you really want to rule the world and how does Yamin factor in?”

He’d mentioned before that he wanted to take over because he thought people were dull and boring. Based on how exciting our fight was, he must have really believed it.

With a few disgruntled looks and noises, he complied with my questions.

“Would you believe I was once an angel?"

I shook my head. He didn't look like an angel at all. Maybe this is what fallen angels end up looking like, but they sure turned ugly when they got evil.

"I thought not. However that's the truth I swear by." He suddenly looked even more tired then normal, like he was ready to go to bed. "Long ago, I was the principality presiding over man’s creativity.”

A scepter spawned in his hand, as well as a crown on his head. Both seemed very dusty and broken in a few places. A little welding could fix that right up. If it weren't for the dirt and rust, it would have been very pretty and shiny.

“The fact that I haven’t cleaned these in many lifetimes shows just how slothful I’ve become.”

“I can tell you’re pretty imaginative, so maybe you were a creative angel," I commented.

His brow raised a bit, almost like he was offended.

“It was I who spawned some of the greatest of inventions in man’s head. Science, music, art! Were it not for me, man would still be in the stone ages. ‘Pretty imaginative’ doesn’t come close.”

Toot your horn a little louder, why don’t you?

“Why did you stop being a good guy then? It sounds like you had big shoes to fill as an angel.”

“God had wisely set limitations on what man could do. When I saw the wasted potential of humanity, how they could be creating wondrous things by the labor of their hands, I wanted to push them further then His laws allowed.”

He used the term "wisely" in that explanation and it didn't sound sarcastic. There must have been a reason for that.

“Why were limitations put on people?”

“Because people can become very strange when not carefully tended to, like children without a parent to guide them. Their minds seek out guidance, sometimes even inventing their own."

His explanation wasn't wrong, I couldn’t shut it down completely. But hearing him agree with something he stood against was ironically hypocritical.

“So, I’m guessing you don’t really like when creativity is to wild.”

“To a point,” he answered. “But I hate it being held back even more. That is why I decided to abandon the ways of light and seek out the dark. Far less rules to follow.”

I can imagine that demons wouldn’t follow lawful good ways.

“You’re friend Yamin is very connected to my fall from Heaven. A primordial soul dwells within her, very evil by nature. The true queen of Hell.”

A true queen of Heck, huh. I needed more on who this soul was and why it had picked Yamin specifically. Even more then that, I needed to know how we could get it out of her.

“Whoever is to marry that girl will become the king of Hell, inheriting all the influence thereof. Be warned, I will not be the last of my kind to go after her. Many more will come, human and demon alike.”

I'll take that warning seriously.

“Aren't you throwing your friends under the bus by telling me that?”

“Who ever said they’re my friends?”

Point taken. If other demons were trying to conquer the world too, that made them enemies to both of us.

“How do we get that evilness out of Yamin?” I asked, hoping she wouldn't have to deal with this problem for much longer.

“You could always kill her, but it must be done justly.”

'Justly.'  I'm not interested in killing anyone at all. I shook my head, then gave him a pout.

“No! Why 'justly' anyways?”

"If you take her life without justice, her birthright passes to whomever pulls the trigger."

Now I think I understand what Mella was doing a little better...it makes more sense that if Indena was Yamin's guardian, then she'd have to defeat her first.

But still, this idea was not an option. "Tell me another way."

“I can’t think of another way. You’d need to rip her soul from her body, tare it apart to destroy the darkness within, then put it back. The process would leave her a shell of her former self.”

Giving her soul a lobotomy wasn’t really an option either then. I mean, I don’t even think it’s possible to do that without super-duper powerful magic. Soul surgery sounded way too complicated. But who knows. Maybe there is someone out there who can do it.

"What about the evil book?" I asked.

He chortled. "I'll let her discover that on her own. Do not let that book fall into another's hands."

He refused to talk anymore about Yamin or the book. It was best to put this on hold until I got back to the others. At least we had something more to work with, even if barely.

“Mr. Sleepy Eyes,” I started, “you don’t sound very happy that you fell to begin with.”

“Who would be?” He answered. “The longer I was away from my Divine Father, the more it corrupted me. Now I’m this thing of darkness, constantly stealing the spirits of humans to survive.”

When we first saw Belphegor he looked really sickly. All this mana must have powered him up big time since then.

His story reminded me a lot of how important mana is to life. It is life. Without mana, all that remains is darkness.

Stardust could fight the darkness off with light power, but it could never replace mana.

The whiteness of this void slowly faded. A blue sky with very light cloud cover replaced the nothingness.

"You know, it's not nice to steal spirit energy from people," I said.

"I know," he nodded. "But it is quick. I'm to lazy to find another way."

He clearly had been willing to put in the work to orchestrate this whole ordeal, so maybe we'd be able to find a better solution here besides hurting people for power.

He didn't seem all bad when I got to talking to him, just a bit lost trying to make his own way in life. I think even he was looking for guidance deep down.

“Now that I’ve answered your questions, let me ask one,” he said. “What are you?”

That was out of the blue. I figured he’d be able to read my mind or something and take all my information. Maybe that’s a stretch or something.

“My name is Yalda and I’m an Exceed. We’re synthetic life forms made to protect mankind.”

“Hah…ha ha…” His laugh was so tastless and dry. “So, mankind has finally breached the barrier and become a parent, has it?”

“I don’t understand,” I uttered.

“It matters not.” Belephore shook his head. “You’re spirit is not developed enough to see the truth yet.”

What did that mean? These ancient beings love to talk in cryptic ways. If I ever get to be some old mystical woman, I’m going to make sure to flat out say what I mean.

~☆☆☆~

Belphegor was quickly falling asleep. His eye lids were bobbing up and down, showing his clear battle with lethargy.

"Exceed Yalda, I concede you this battle, but I will not allow you to kill me. As a condition of your victory, this land will be returned to how it once was. However, I demand you take me along on your journey."

Uhh, no way. Nu-uh. Not gonna happen. He's not joining my party.

The only worry about this is that he was much stronger then me in general. He said he wouldn't "allow" me to kill him because right now I wasn’t up to his level. Even in this dream, he more or less gave up the win. A kid's creativity only goes so far against a lord's experience.

"Why do you want to follow me? You're the bad guy."

"I wish to one day challenge you again, even foster your skills until that day. And perhaps some of my skills may be useful, albeit, limited."

Unfortunately, his deal was very unavoidable. I can't finish him off, and letting him go was out of the question since nobody could trust him to quietly disappear. At least for now keeping a powerful demon off the streets would be the best option. Maybe I can even help him be a good guy again. Plus, having him around might give me some insight into what the demons are up to, assuming he cooperates. 

I think I may know a way to carry him around harmlessly too...

Sigh. "Move over, Anima. Looks like you're about to have some company..."