[1] Demonic Discussions

Inside the black, polished walls of Hell's parliament building, five members of the high council of Hell were gathered at a round table.

The first demon was Smythe. Like Xander, she had been continuously reelected to Hell's High Council several times in a row, making her total time in office approximately two hundred and fifty years by the time the peace-agreement was made. If there ever was a leader of the group, it was her. Though holding weight to an individual's name in demonic culture was generally not advised, Smythe had definitely earned the respect she received from her fellows.

Since the peace agreement was coming to an end, Smythe was in the middle of facilitating a discussion on the topic. But her mind was wandering to the empty chair beside her —the one that was usually filled by Xander.

"That being said," She was rambling, "There are only fifteen years left on the ceasefire with Heaven. We still haven't come up with any sort of resolution, which makes me worry that the fighting will start back up again."

At this, another demon rose from their chair.

"So let the fighting start," They suggested, "I've been waiting almost a century to kick some angelic ass,"

This was typical behaviour on behalf of the demon Eleazar. Like Xander, they had long since been known to hold an unusually strong resentment towards angelic kind. And a lot of demons found it quite annoying, actually.

"No way!" Said Yardley, "These years of peace have been way too beneficial to the demonic economy. If we have to start funnelling our resources back into fighting all the time, the majority of Hell will suffer losses,"

Yardley was by far the youngest demon present, aging at around two hundred years. Not only did she wear the face of a girl barely in her teen years, she also lacked the wisdom and experience that many of her fellow council members relied on for decision making. However there was one thing that could be said about her, and that was she knew how to run the economics of Hell like nobody else, and for this reason, she had earned herself a spot on the council.

Smythe nodded. "Yardley has a good point. A lot has changed in the last few years. Not just in Hell, but on Earth and in Heaven as well."

"What has changed? What makes the world so different?" Eleazar asked the room. "We fought Heaven for more than two millennia, eighty-five years is barely the blink of an eye."

"We don't have Bentley this time, that's what's changed!"

Hearing Yardley mention the name once again pulled Smythe's attention back to Xander's empty chair. She drummed her fingers on the table impatiently and made a very feeble attempt to change the subject.

"Speaking of Bentley, where on earth is Xander? He was supposed to be here with the soul fragment ten minutes ago."

Yardley and Eleazer ignored her completely, plowing through their argument.

"We don't need Bentley. Tell me one thing that demon was even good for? All she ever did was feed her own ego and cause trouble. She never actually fought anyone except Atticus, and look how that turned out,"

"Who cares about what she did? Heaven was terrified of her. If her death hadn't been so bloody obvious, maybe we'd still at least be able to keep her name alive,"

"I think we're getting a little off-course here, y'all," Smythe said, still anxious.

And still her words were ignored.

"I'm just saying that we aren't useless just because one of us died. We're the forces of Hell, for badness sake. We shouldn't be willing to stop fighting over something so insignificant!"

"You just want to get revenge for your father, don't you?"

The mention of Eleazar's father suddenly hooked Smythe back into the argument. She frowned at them slightly.

"Is that what this is about?" She rubbed her temples, sensing the approaching explosion.

"..."

And with that, the explosion arrived. This was a typical scene in the council room —Although nobody outside would ever guess that this was the case, just by looking at the members. Smythe had always said it was rather similar to a dysfunctional family at a reunion, except all the illegible shouted words and pointed fingers were done in Latin.

As per usual, the bulk of the noise was exchanged between Yardley and Eleazar, with Smythe desperately trying to play peacekeeper. Often it was useless because neither of them were listening to anyone. They were so desperate to get their own words out of their mouths. Neither even cared if they were being listened to at that point, as long as they could top the other. The hissing of their words was excruciating to the ear, but it was a common occurrence.

Finally Wingo, one of the other demons at the table, could not handle it anymore. Until now, he had been relaxing with his feet propped up in front of him, barely listening to a word any of the others said. But once they started getting annoying, he had to step in.

"Hey! Are you three done?" He shouted over the mess. "Can't you see you're annoying Naz?"

At this, all three demons fell silent. Eleazar and Yardley turned their sheepish gazes to the last demon at the table. Naz. Who looked at them expressionless, sending a collective shiver over everyone in the room.

"Sorry Naz," Yardley mumbled.

"Besides," Wingo sat up in his chair. "Our brother is here."

As if on cue, one of the two missing demons burst through the double doors. He was still dressed in his mining gear and still absolutely reeked of the sewer. All of the demons tried to hide their disgust but without much avail. Most demons reacted to human waste in a similar way to the way a human might react to the waste of cows. Waste was waste, regardless of the creature it spawned from.

However the smell was not the most alarming aspect of Knox' arrival.

"Heaven knows!" He told them.

"We weren't being that loud," Yardley muttered.

"No, I mean Heaven knows!" Knox repeated. "About the soul,"

If the anxiety in Smythe's mind had been bad before, it was nothing compared to the feeling she had now.

"What? How??" She asked.

"Xander sent out his sigil. They must have caught up to him,"

"Where is he now? Is he alright?"

Knox just shook his head.

Now they had lost the security of their secrecy. If Heaven knew, there would definitely be some political trouble down the road. Smythe's fingers curled into a fist, but she wasn't angry —only nervous. Why couldn't Xander have just gotten it to Hell safely? That thing was powerful, dangerous, and in an instant, it could undo all the building blocks set by the peace agreement, should Heaven feel threatened by it's discovery.

Though most humans have lost this ability, one can often observe in nature times when a collective group of creatures are suddenly aware that something very important is about to happen —very soon. For example, the mountain goats of Mount Etna in Sicily, which flee the mountain before it erupts without any evident prior knowledge or scientific equipment that could tell them of the oncoming eruption. It's just something deeply embedded into all living creatures.

Human scientists like to come up with some sort of explanation to ease their conscience. They will say that the animals might feel tremors in the ground or shifts in the air. But this, of course is complete nonsense. There is no explanation whatsoever.

They just know.

And such was the feeling in Hell's parliament that day. There was no prior knowledge of anything, but every demon present could feel it.

Just with the words of Knox.

Something big was coming.

And when it arrived, it would topple all four realms, with no trace of the old worlds left standing.

...