Act 0. A Deal with a Devil???
You realize you're committing a sin don't you? Just what wish did you desire so badly?
Eden
The Past
Once upon a time there was an innocent and naive child
The child gave the people everything the child could give
The people took everything the child had left to take
And what remained was an empty shell
Ao-22
Eden
The Past
Outside, the sun had only just begun to slowly set below the horizon. The golden colored sky would slowly begin to fade and dim as night replaced day. However there existed one location where the light would never fade. Within the vast underground networks of Inferno, there existed a secret facility, hidden away from the watchful eyes of Eden's government. Outside the reach of Eden's laws where they can research Eden's greatest taboo in safety.
Devil summoning.
The temptation of a wish.
The dreams of power.
It was enough to make some folks throw caution to the wayside. Such people inevitably do not remain long for the world.
No, instead the people here would take their time, and slowly uncover all the mysteries of this phenomena, peel away all of its secrets. And then, once it was completely safe and controllable, they would reap benefits beyond their wildest imaginations.
The folly of man. There are some things that are forbidden for a reason. Some powers that can be neither tamed nor broken.
And those that deal in fire should not be surprised if they get burned.
For the first time in as long as anybody could remember, the constant white lights that illuminated the facility briefly flickered. They flickered again. They began rapidly flipping back and forth until with a low whine, they remained off, plunging the facility into darkness.
There was a click as the electronic locks were disabled. At the end of a corridor, a door opens and a boy slowly makes his way out. In the distance at the other end of the corridor, he could hear screaming. And in the air he could smell... blood.
Normal instincts told him to flee in the opposite direction, away from the danger. But in the distance, there was a brightness. He walked towards the light.
As he walked, the smell of blood became thicker and thicker. The screams had long since died away. But the boy was determined. Once he decided upon a course of action he would see things through.
He found himself at the corridor's end, standing in front of a door. Without hesitation he opened the door and found himself in a large white room that had been stained red with the blood of the numerous corpses within in. And in the center, staring at the boy was a giant nightmarish hound cloaked in brilliant red flames. It opened its mouth and spoke in a deep growl.
"And who exactly, are you?"
Ana
Eden
The Past
Just how did things come to this? The girl took a brief moment to reflect on just how awful of a downward spiral her life had taken. On the whole, her life hadn't been bad at all. But still, she threw it all away. Down, down, down she fell. And just when things had finally started looking up, she plummeted. Betrayed, captured, drugged, beaten, and far worse...
There was nothing she could do. Here in her empty locked room, she possessed nothing that would allow her to fight back or escape. No bed, no chairs, no objects of any kind, no window... a solitary light too high to reach was the only thing providing illumination to this cell. There was nothing she could do...
Her eyes narrowed. An image had flashed through her mind. An old parchment that she had once stolen and sold on the black market for a hefty price... she still remembered its contents. Yes. She did have one option left to her. Even if there was nothing within this jail cell, she possessed the knowledge she had accumulated over years on the streets of Inferno. It was... a risky gamble. She knew that. It was something that could easily leave her in a much worse situation than her current one. It was the greatest blasphemy that she could possibly commit within the city of Eden.
But she had no other options. If damnation was the risk, then so be it. She forcefully bit her own palm, hard enough to draw blood, and then slowly began to draw a summoning circle on the floor of her cell. There was nothing else she could use to paint the circle. The process took over an hour, but in that time nobody came to check on her. Who would? She was a bird trapped in a birdcage. Absolutely no risk or danger whatsoever.
There was a burst of black smoke that exploded out from the circle. The smell of burning metal filled the girl's nostrils. And at the center of the circle... stood a tall dark skinned lady devil with eyes like burning rubies. She stared at the shocked girl without any apparent interest, with her arms crossed.
Patiently waiting.
Theola August
Eden
The Past
Across the empty back alleys of Inferno, a solitary shadow flickered through. Several heartbeats later, three more shadows flickered after it in pursuit.
"!"
Theola raced through the twisting streets and paths at breakneck speeds, moving with the nimbleness and grace that had been drilled into her body as a result of years of specialized and brutal training. There was absolutely no way an ordinary human being could keep up with her.
Unfortunately, her pursuers were anything but ordinary. They were the 'same' as her. Underworld assassins. They had undergone the same training, possessed the same capabilities she did, the same skills she did... only the outnumbered her three to one. In other words, there was no way she could outfight them. And as her current situation demonstrated, there did not seem to be any way she could escape them.
But still, she had finally found it. The thing she had been looking for, a way to finally escape this life she hated, a chance to start over as someone new. Someone different. To that end, when the chance came she betrayed her organization in the midst of a transaction and stole the prize for herself. Something priceless.
The hope of a miracle.
It goes without saying that the punishment for such a betrayal is death. She was going to be 'deposed' of, like so many other people. When she was so close to finally achieving her wish, she was going to fall a few step shorts...
She refused. She would escape this situation. She would achieve her miracle. She did not care what the price was. Putting her head down, she pulled out a burst of speed from deep within herself and dashed forward. And then just as suddenly, she cut sharply to the side, moving into a side alley. Taking a few more steps, she took a deep breath, kicked hard at the ground, and leaped. She then kicked off a wall, another wall, and landed on someone's balcony without a sound. She immediately threw herself to the floor and held her breath, listening until the pursuing footsteps went past her into the distance.
She had brought herself some time.
As silently as she could, she broke into the apartment of the balcony where she had landed. Fortunately for her, it seemed to be empty. She quickly took out the parchment and a bottle of red liquid and begun to draw the diagram that was pictured on the paper. The moment it was completed, a foul smell began to leak from the center of the circle, stinging her nose. A mass of flesh seemed to leak out of the various vigils drawn, combining and transforming into a single mass until a giant leering flesh monstrosity covered in scars was staring straight at her. It growled.
"What you want?"
Asher Bharrant
Eden
The Past
The news had caused something to snap inside of himself. His parents had died a long time ago. And now his brother too, was dead. His family was gone. It wasn't fair. This wasn't fair. Still in a shocked stupor, Asher walked around his abode in a daze. And without thinking anything in particular, he began violently destroying his own home.
Damn them. Damn them. Damn them. It's all their fault. How dare they condemn us to Inferno. It's the people living carefree lives in Paradiso. It's the people living carefree lives in Purgatorio. It's the damn Council, ruling over us like kings. It's all their fault my family is dead and gone-
He pauses. In his rampage, he has found a safe that he has never seen before. Along with a letter. Gingerly, he picked it up and began to read.
A letter from his deceased brother. An inheritance for Asher in case anything had ever happened to him. What was inside was a miracle that would grant Asher the power to protect himself, to live his life and achieve his dreams. It was a power too great for himself to control and tame, but if it was Asher, he knows he'll be able to do it. He was always the best of them.
Slowly, Asher turned his attention to the safe itself. There was no combination or code written in the letter, but he knew in his heart what the password would be.
Using his birthday, he unlocked the safe and discovered the terrible secret his brother had hidden inside.
"...just what were you doing, brother?"
Asher whispered to himself as he read the notes hidden in the safe.
Devil summoning.
The ability to gain a wish at a price.
The ultimate taboo set by Eden.
Asher's eyes narrowed. Ultimate taboo? Who cares what Eden thinks. Who cares what they consider taboo. They couldn't keep his family safe. They were no better than garbage. If it's a taboo, then he'll show them just what a blasphemy is.
He drew the circle and performed the ritual. Immediately he was thrown back by a blast of air. A terrible clanging sound like an orchestra of steel echoed throughout his home as a figure in armor unfolded itself from within the circle. A tall figure, dressed in what seemed to be ancient samurai armor of the east, with a body like red steel. It's empty eye sockets stared directly at Asher.
"I ask of you, are you my summoner?"
Fatima/Leila/???
Eden
The Past
Damn damn damn damn damn. Fatina sprinted up the stairwell as fast as she could, trying to keep the worst case scenario out of her mind. She had started at the very bottom and slowly, painfully climbed her way up the ranks of life. Through her sweat and blood, she slowly carved out a life for herself even down here in the depths of Inferno. She was aware that this made her many enemies along the way, but she felt confident in herself and her ability to deal with them.
But this was an attack from a direction she had never expected. An attack that struck close to her heart. And fighting back tears, praying she'll make it in time, she sprinted onwards.
Elsewhere, a girl slowly began to wake. She had been drugged. Leila gradually began to become aware of her surroundings. She had been bound, head to toe in ropes preventing her from moving. Standing before her was a man, one of Fatina's rivals in the Night Parade to rising through the ranks. Just what was he doing? It looked like he was drawing something on the floor, but Leila was unable to make sense of what it was.
A memory suddenly jolted through her mind. Wasn't she talking to this man last night? What had they been talking about? Something about a secret uncovered which could grant some sort of power...? She hadn't really understood it at the time because that was the exact moment her memories went out. But an idea was beginning to form in her mind, and it scared her.
Her fears were soon realized as suddenly a giant cloud of red smoke erupted through the room, and in the center of the circle stood a female devil.
The man kneeled before her.
"Great Devil from the pits of Hell, I seek a wish that I request to be granted."
Ashley Harker
Eden
The Past
Call it coincidence. Call it destiny. Ashley Harker was a man with a dream and a vision. Unfortunately for him, his desire was an impossible fantasy, and nobody understood this better than he did. Nonetheless, every day, every morning he would wake up and despite the sheer reality of life in Inferno, he would try to make the world a better place.
Every morning. Every day. For weeks and months and years, he fought his thankless war on his own. He had his small victories, and he's seen his share of tragedies but even as the world beats him back, he continues on.
This morning began just like any other. He had been walking down the streets when he witnessed an attempted kidnapping. A man grabbing a young boy, ripping him out of his mothers hands, sprinting down the street. Unfortunately for him, Ashley had been further down the street walking in the opposite direction and quickly moved to block his path. The kidnapper looked up, made a quick decision, and threw the kid hard one way as he quickly sprinted down the back alleys in another direction. Ashley managed to catch the child, preventing him from getting hurt but by the time he got back up the man had vanished. The criminal had gotten away, but at the very least he had managed to save one person.
His mother broke down in tears as he brought her son back to her, and despite his protests that he didn't need any kind of reward, gave him an old, leather-bound book. She said it was a priceless family heirloom and the most valuable thing that they possessed. Not wanting to be rude, he graciously accepted the book.
Flipping through it however, made it clear exactly how valuable the book was. An ancient grimoire, filled with all sorts of supernatural knowledge. Ashley quickly returned home and spent the rest of his day slowly and thoroughly reading the book. And as he read, an idea slowly began to form in his mind.
It was well past midnight by the time he finished preparations. A large intricate summoning circle had been drawn in the center of his room. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he mentally prepared himself for what he was attempting to do. This was an action that could not be undone. A sin that would not be forgiven. But for the sake of his dream, for the sake of a better world... he was willing to break such a taboo ten times over. He opened his eyes and performed the ritual that had been detailed in the book.
There was a blinding flash of light, and within the center of the circle stood a large bull headed man, calmly staring at Ashley, measuring him up with his eyes. Outside, dawn had finally arrived, as the sun slowly began to rise over the horizon. It was morning again, but not unlike any other he had ever had until now.
"Tell me, what is thy desire?"
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