Eighteen months could easily become forever, though only days had passed. I stayed here, in the Southern realm, harnessing whatever emotions I could control into powers over angels and demons. The brands always told me they were near… burning… scorching me from the inside out. I felt them… the demons. And I felt the poison. It was cold, pulsing into my blood, reminding me whatever was about to happen to them, would take me down too. Unharnessed power was a dangerous thing, and Belial, Satan, Lucifer and Leviathan knew this. They waited for my attempt to challenge them and to fail. I tried to remember the light that sparked my soul on fire, the kiss that tasted of heaven but was tainted with darkness.
Only Dantalion could stop the signing of the oath. Each of the seventy two demons of the Goetia possessed unique powers, yet none of them were deemed immortal… cursed maybe, but immortality was something each of them sought. They faced their own internal battles one way or another.
The whisper of death clung to the cavern walls, damp and cold, seeping slowly into my core. This was not of demons, but the true essence of hell… the final trials.
A sea of demons, alongside Dantalion and Rowan, manifested before Satan. Gwynnedd and Samuel's presence sent the demonic Lord into a jealous rage at the mere sight of them, his aura of evil filtering through the Southern Realm.
"How perfect! The 'Succubus' reunited with the Angel of Death! Satan sneered. "And you… Belial. I take it your trial was a bit easier than my own… betrayal in the name of love is always the most difficult."
Samuel's clawed hands motioned for the others to move behind him, Satan's eyes burning with hatred.
"How convenient, the harbinger of death, here, whose name is whispered on the lips of the condemned. He who can neither be loved nor hated, but revered all the same, by both the living and the dead."
"It is this, your trial, my brother, that which you have no choice but to fail. One cannot expect, within one's own realm, to exist side by side in the presence of betrayal by two lovers who have beseeched thee. I too, was forced to cut the Angel of Death free from my realm," Belial reminded Satan.
"This may be true, brother, the mere sight of them makes me wretch. I am not inclined to face defeat as easily as you. Perhaps all should perish," Satan hissed.
All the demons of the Goetia standing alongside Dantalion and Rowan drew their claws, ready for orders to attack. Samael and Gwynnedd were prepared to do what they must, surrounded by their allies.