- Lucifer -
Lucifer began showing Elijah around the non-prison sections of Hell.
"We teach most things here. Magic, literacy, science, and current events of the other side. I find human advancements fascinating."
Elijah kept looking around at the village, which despite being cleaner and more well kept, didn't look much different from the villages he had seen in movies. He is surprised that such a place could exist right next to the prison he was just in.
'I can't believe all of this is real. It's not just a nightmare. All of this...I don't think...but how can it?'
Lucifer noticed Elijah's worried face and started to give his default reassurance.
"I understand the confirmation of another world is a difficult concept to swallow in just a few days, but I assure you many humans have gone through this before. The feeling of disillusion goes away."
Lucifer's words did little to ease Elijah's mind.
"I'm going to have you meet with a few other humans that have completed their contracts, but still continue to work for me. I've found that it's easier to cope with change if you experience it with someone familiar."
'As familiar as being another human who went to Hell, but it's the best I can do for him.' Lucifer thought.
Lucifer saw the human he was referring to and called him over. "Peter!" Lucifer yelled.
Peter started walking over to the two. Peter is a few inches shorter than Lucifer, (about 5'9"), he has light brown hair with green eyes. He leaned in to give Elijah a handshake.
"As I'm sure he's told ya and ya just heard from his shoutin', name's Peter."
Elijah shook Peter's hand and noticed how strong his grip is.
"Give him the usual rundown, I need to call Death about that problem we were discussing."
Elijah walked off with Peter while Lucifer conjured his wings and flew off. Elijah watched as Lucifer flew overhead.
"I thought his wings would be black?" Elijah said to Peter.
Peter smiled.
"There's a lot in this world that's different. I'm partially responsible for filling you in on those differences. I think there's one big surprise that you'll like though. Like finding out what your magical affinity is."
Elijah looked surprised. "I can learn magic?"
"Ya sure can, all humans in this world are capable of usin' magic."
Sometime later, as Lucifer lands in front of his office.
"Lucifer, we ne-" The figure trying to stop Lucifer was wearing a cloak that hid their features.
Lucifer cut off the person trying to talk to him with a quick "Calling Death, tell Satan."
Lucifer opened the door to his office and pulled out a small clear orb, known as an echo.
Lucifer's office was large, around 2000 square feet. The dark grey walls were lined with bookshelves that were filled with books of different sizes. There were multiple desks in the room, one by each wall. Lucifer sat down at the one in the back of the room and filled the clear orb with orange energy.
"Death," Lucifer said to the echo.
"Lucifer, I was about to call you." Death said, his voice coming through.
- Death -
"I just got confirmation that there's definitely a new resistance. The leader is still an unknown though."
Death had placed his echo in a holder.
Death started pacing around the room, waiting for a response from Lucifer.
Finally, Lucifer responded.
"So it's not a shapeshifter, mimic, illusion mage, or a possession?"
The sound of pages being turned could be heard from the other side of the call.
"Zach got confirmation that it was none of those. Whatever it is, it looks human, but clearly isn't." Death said, mumbling "maybes and couldn't be" under his breath.
More page-turning could be heard from Lucifer.
"Are you certain it isn't just some ancient human? They're extremely rare, but they do still pop up every century or two."
Death thought back to the ancient humans he had met in the past.
'Most of them go insane after a thousand years. The ones that don't, never involve themselves with this world's politics.'
"If it is an ancient, then they're different from any that I've met. Not only that, but there's a good chance they made a deal for power."
In this world there are various races that have the ability to make one stronger instantly, but for a price. They are often referred to as arbiters. Death had familiarized himself with all of these species because they tended to prey on humans. Humans were one of the weakest races in the Otherworld, and if they explored the world it wasn't unlikely they would eventually be approached with promises of power.
The sound of a book being closed on Lucifer's side was followed up by the clear thud of a heavy book hitting a desk.
"I can look through Satan's notes on the various arbiter races, but I need to know what kind of power this unknown has before I can make an accurate guess."
Death sighed. "That's another problem we have. The only power they've shown, if it's even a power, is having yellow eyes. While that is rare for humans, it's not new."
The page-turning could be heard again.
"Let's see, yellow eyes, yellow eyes. There are demon arbiters whose deals can have an effect on eye color, but knowing Satan he would have told you if he had heard anything about a new deal being made."
Death was now thinking about Satan and how well informed the Demon king usually was about his own kind.
'He'd tell me if a new resistance leader was given a deal. He has in the past, and knows what would happen if he hides information from me.'
Death clenched his left hand, and briefly questioned the loyalty of the demons, before quickly brushing the thought off as misplaced frustration. He understood now that there is only one way to quickly resolve this issue.
"Unfortunately, I think you need to go and investigate this. I hate when these things get out of control."
Lucifer sighed and closed the large book he had been flipping through.
"It's fine. I'll tell Satan that I'm leaving to investigate and-" Lucifer was suddenly cut off, and a conversation on the other side could be heard.
"What are you doing here? I told Ran'uk that-"
Lucifer is interrupted again.
"Yeah yeah yeah, I know what you said, buuuuut I figured you'd be havin' a talk with Death, and I remembered that I needed to tell him something." The other voice said in a rush.
Death, frustrated, spoke through his teeth. "What is it Satan?"
"Aw c'mon, I know I'm interrupting, but this is important. For you anyways." Satan said in a tone that shifted from joking to serious.
"Turns out, the unknown you've been wondering about has been telling his followers to take deals. Not only that, but it seems like whoever this unknown is, they have a good understanding of the various arbiters in this world."
Death was surprised by that information.
'The only ones well informed on arbiters tend to be the arbiters themselves. Most gods aren't knowledgeable of the various deals that can be made, let alone a human if that is what this unknown turns out to be.'
"I was just telling Lucifer that I was going to have him investigate. Will Hell be alright? Or should I send some reapers to help out?"
Satan responded in a flippant tone.
"We'll be fine. Doesn't seem like humans have any big wars planned on the other side. Then again, you never know." Satan ended with a chuckle
Death rolled his eyes.
"Alright then. Lucifer, assemble your usual team. If you need any help, call me."
Death went to deactivate the orb, but before he could Lucifer asked a question.
"What would you think about me taking the new guy on this mission? I've been looking for another person to replace David."
Death didn't answer for a moment.
"As long as you keep him safe. I'm sure Peter can't handle another loss."
There was a silence. Eventually, Lucifer responded. "I'll do a better job this time," Lucifer said before ending the call.
- Lucifer -Lucifer flew to the building Peter had taken Elijah to. It was a large grey stone building with a pointed roof that had the words "Library of the worlds" engraved onto the front. He went in, spotting Peter and Elijah in-between two large bookshelves. He walked up to the two."Peter we have an investigation to prepare for."Peter nodded and said "Course. I'll gather the group." Before walking away he turned and said to Elijah "Sorry, we'll have to continue our conversation later.""Investigation?" Elijah asked, looking around at the massive library he was in.Lucifer started walking back to the entrance and motioned for Elijah to follow. They stopped in front of a large counter where a woman with black horns on the side of her head and red skin looked up at them."I need the humans' guide, Mili."Mili, also known as Miliketh, w
- Death -Death was still thinking about things long after the call had ended.'Why would an unknown lead a human resistance? If they want revenge against the anti-human gods then surely there'd be a better way of going about this.Death thought about calling a few others, to see if they had any more information, but he knows they'd tell him if they saw anything new worth telling. There was a light knock at the door to which he responded "Come in."In walked Mary, a woman around 5'5" with brown hair down to her cheeks and brown eyes. She was wearing the same purple robe that Zach was.Death looked at the echo on his desk."You don't need to knock Mary. I don't have any other meetings planned for awhile. Even if I did I would have let all the grim know if I shouldn't be interrupted."Mary was always nervous around Death. He towered over he
- Death -Zach knew the best of five rule was a formality. There wasn't a chance he'd get a single win, even if Death allowed him free hits. The best Zach could hope for is dragging the fight out with his healing magic.'The goal is winning the argument, not the fight. The goal is-.' Zach kept repeating the thought"You can start." Death said while folding his arms.'I hope you can understand where I'm coming from by the end of this.'Zach approached slowly, keeping his hands up the whole way."You need to play a bigger part with this new problem. I don't want you to regret your passivity...again." Zach finished his sentence and threw a right straight at Death.Death shifted his head to the right, avoiding the blow while sweeping Zach's leg with a swift left kick."My passivity comes from me trying to avoid constant i
- Lucifer and Elijah -As Elijah stepped into the supplies building he noticed the sheer volume of stuff in the room. Along with the many crates, there was a demon sitting at a stone counter to the left of the doorway. The demon had a dark hood over their head, so he couldn't see them very well. He was more conscious about staring now, so he diverted his gaze to the other parts of the room.There were shelves marked as "medicine" along with weapon racks and crates of clothing. There were some hanging bulbs that illuminated everything well."You have lightbulbs in this world?" Elijah asked, looking around at the various tools and gear that was lying around.Lucifer responded while digging through one of the boxes."They're harnessed magic. There's a rune in the bulb that traps electric energy. The technology here is a little more advanced than the average town, but still nowhere n
- Lucifer -Ten minutes had passed since Lucifer's instructions to Elijah. Lucifer was making sure to correct hand placements, while also giving advice on how to reduce the backlash from the magic."Picture your hands as though they're covered in thin gloves made of energy. The body tends to create a natural shielding when you're doing basic things with magic, but as the action gets more complicated you have to manually control the protection. This will reduce the shock you receive considerably, and will also be useful for dealing with other's magic in the future."'He's not giving up, that's good, but beginners tend to snap after so many failed attempts.'Elijah was furious, but not at his inability to get the training right.'It's just a little shock, stop flinching. You're a grown-ass man, get your shit together and stop flinching.' As Elijah yelled at himself mentally he shoc
- Lucifer -One hour had passed and Elijah was able to do three ticks before shocking himself. His hands had been healed multiple times by Lao."Three ticks is impressive. I should be able to teach you proper attacks tomorrow. For now, though we're going to start your hand-to-hand training." Lucifer said, moving to the corner of the room.Elijah started to feel a little tired, physically. He wanted to ask Lucifer about his body but decided to hold off.'Maybe I can find the answer in that guide.'"What kind of sparring are we going to be doing?"Lao spoke before Lucifer could."I'll be checking your basics first. Throw a few punches and kicks."Elijah obliged and threw a straight, followed by an uppercut and then a hook. He tried to do a kick but almost lost his balance in the process.'I'm at lea
- Lucifer and Elijah -Elijah gripped the handle of his seat with his gloved hand and tried to keep his mind elsewhere.'That magic training was different than-' The cart hit a bump. 'different than I expected. I never thought I'd be willingly shocking myself again.'Peter, sitting across from Elijah, with his legs and chest strapped to the cart, had been sleeping for the last hour. Heinrich, who was next to Peter, was staring out of the cart, watching whatever things passed by. Sabu, sitting next to Elijah, also appeared to be sleeping. His eyes were closed and his head was down, but his right hand was still gripping the handle.'I guess there were soldiers who could sleep through bombing runs-' The cart hit another bump. 'even still though.'Elijah was happy that he never felt the urge to vomit, afraid that if he stuck his head out of the cart they'd hit a bump and he would be
- Lucifer -"Did you picture what I told you?" Lucifer said, holding back anger."No, I pictured a cannon firing. I didn't mean to it was just the first image that came to mind." Elijah's hand had been severely burned by the electricity. The bone on the under part of his fingers was exposed.Lucifer just closed his eyes and yelled in his mind. He had so many different ways he wanted to berate Elijah.'I can't believe the sheer ignorance of people sometimes. Next time I teach someone magic I need to remember this moment and use it as an example of why they should listen.'Lucifer had plenty of experience in the past dealing with reborn who injured themselves while recklessly practicing magic. This case was different though. The output was stronger than it should have been. Humans don't start with a lot of mana initially, so even when their magic does backlash it only causes minor