Last day on Earth

It was a perfect blood moon day.

Two men were found in an abandoned warehouse of a sketchy neighbourhood during twilight hours.

They seemed to be busy preparing something critical. Something that was about to alter their lives forever!

Oliver thought, Today is the day! The wait is over and it's all finally happening!

After being on Earth for so long, he almost forgot his old life, his glorious life on hell. The only place which he could call home, where he was the most powerful and mightiest demon lord Astaroth, crowned to be the next king who would rule the underworld.

But on one fateful day, the day of his ceremony, everything failed miserably. He was branded a traitor to the throne, stripped off his rights and sent in exile to live on Earth among weakest creatures like humans. He could return back on only one condition. Fulfil his punishment for a thousand years and swear his loyalty to his father forever for the gates of hell to open for him. 

But today he would make everything right and clear his name. All the hard work and toil he had gone through for the past years dealing with weak and senile creatures like humans was finally over! He could now be himself, literally be in his own skin and didn't have to hide anymore.

Lucas (aka Lucifer), on the other hand, had his focus solely on sending the crown prince of hell safely back home. As his demon friend and sworn brother, that was the only thing he could ask for.

"Is this good enough or should I make it bigger?", Lucas asked Oliver bringing his attention back to the task at hand.

After spending an hour, Lucas had finished drawing a perfect circle over a star which was the symbol used since ancient times to summon and bind demons. The circle had a lot of inscriptions in ancient language and Lucas made sure that he had marked everything right.

He didn't want any mistakes happening today as this was his only chance of sending his brother back home. If they missed this, they'd have to wait another thousand years and even the mere thought of it brought shivers down his spine. 

"This will do Lucas", Oliver said gently.

"I...", Lucas started, but stopped short after seeing Oliver approach him.

"Thank you for everything, brother… I'm forever in your debt", he hugged him for what he had sacrificed for Oliver's sake.

As soon as things went south and Oliver was banished from hell, Lucas immediately followed suit without another question. He had been by Oliver's side since the day he became his sworn brother and knew everything Oliver had to go through till then.

Their journey wasn't smooth and both of them faced a lot of struggles and mishaps along the way. But the only thing that kept them going was that they always had each other to rely on. Their friendship was one weaved by their mutual hatred towards the same person and it only got stronger as the days went on.

"Once I go back and reclaim what's mine, I promise I'll bring you and give you everything you deserve…", Oliver said firmly, his eyes fixed on Lucas. He understood the sincerity in Oliver's voice and nodded.

"I do not doubt you one bit, Ollie. First let's get you back safely and then discuss everything else… I trust you and there is nobody whom I will trust more…", he smiled.

Now that they had spent so much time on Earth, it was difficult for Lucas to go back to calling his friend as "my lord" as he used to. His nickname for Oliver stuck with him through the years.

"I should probably start addressing you like the old days", Lucas said feeling prideful imagining Oliver sitting mightily on the throne in all his glory within a matter of minutes.

"There's no need for that…. You can call me whatever you want...", Oliver said.

It was an emotional day for both of them.

"Hm... So,….. when do you want to start?", Lucas asked.

"In a minute… We should time everything perfectly so that it aligns with the exact moment of the blood moon…. It's been a long time since I performed a ritual....", Oliver marvelled a little nervous.

"Make sure there are no disturbances from outside…. Put up all defences except East because that's the direction from which I'll summon my father", Oliver told arranging everything on the sigil in a perfect semicircle.

"Are you sure you don't want me here?", Lucas asked as he didn't know how these binding rituals usually worked. 

"No… I can handle it.…", he said with finality and Lucas left the room to stand guard outside after wishing him good luck.

Oliver was dressed for the occasion in a black ceremonial robe, and sat cross legged on the sigil drawn by Lucas. He took all the materials required for the binding ritual and tilted the hourglass to start.

This was the last time Lucas would see Oliver as a human and his thoughts went back to the good old days.

Oliver made sure that the room was empty and started chanting in the ancient language. He observed that by the time he was at the peak of that ritual and summoned Satan to appear in front of him, the blood moon will also be at its peak.

He was not strong enough to summon the king of the underworld in his human form, hence he required the energy of the blood moon to swear his servitude to Satan.

He closed his eyes with a hope that by the time he opened them, he'd be seeing his father in front of him and everything will be completed.

He couldn't wait to go to hell!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ana fell into a deep slumber when she heard murmurs and opened her eyes.

She found herself in a dark room under a pale light just enough to highlight things in the vicinity but not brighter to see her surroundings.

She was standing on what seemed to be a circle or a star painted on the floor, filled with inscriptions which read, "I summon thee to fulfil your oath" in some ancient language. Ana was surprised how she already knew that language and was able to understand its meaning like it was something she often did.

Although she couldn't see anything properly, she noticed that someone was standing in front of her. She tried to get a closer look but as soon as she took a step forward, a burning pain shot up her legs, stopping her in her tracks.

She tilted her head in all directions trying to get a sense of where she was. Slowly her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she found the tattered remains of walls surrounding her. It was some kind of an old room. What was she doing here at the middle of the night?

Ana was drunk when she went to sleep and she was usually prone to nightmares so, she checked if this was one of her bad dreams, but, she could feel the pain when she pinched her cheeks just proving her suspicions wrong. This was real? But then, most of her nightmares felt real too, so she was unsure.

Before she could do anything, the chanting grew louder and the silhouette in front of her moved slowly towards her. Ana crouched in fear observing the bulkiness of the person approaching and her heartbeat got faster every second.

Suddenly, a pale red glow emanated from the red diamond pendant she was wearing. She was also wearing the same night pants she had when she went to bed.

The chanting grew louder in her ears and the pendant heated and glowed as much. She instinctively touched the pendant but the light from it was too strong to be contained.

She started feeling giddy and stumbled for balance. The more the chanting grew, the more weaker she felt and the necklace was growing heavier on her neck by the second.

What was happening?

She was desperately fighting off the exhaustion to stand upright but soon crumbled under the sheer weight of the pendant and fell into a fetal position on the floor.

She wriggled trying to remove it off her but couldn't even reach the back of her neck. A gut wrenching pain and burn tore through her entire body and shook her being, turning her from the inside out.

"Help! Please….. Someone help!", she wailed in horror to the only other person in that room.

She clutched her stomach tightly holding on for dear life when the person finally approached. She was piled into a heap on the floor when he found her.

He bent down slowly, his tall figure towering over her protectively, wondering who it was and what were they doing there.

"Help… Please….", she asked again with tear filled eyes. She couldn't see the person in front of her properly because of the tears, but she knew he heard her alright.

"Pain….!", was all she could utter under the crushing agony that didn't seem to stop. She thought she was about to die any second.

He brought his face close to hers, shocked to recognise the person writhing in pain on the floor. What was she doing there?

He slipped one of his hands under her head for support helping her up, while with his other hand he touched her face to see if this was real. Her skin felt like it was on fire to his touch and he observed the pendant on her neck glowing radiantly. He took it in his hand still not understanding how she had that pendant.

His breath was cool against her skin and she was happy that someone heard her cry for help. She finally blinked the tears away, the pain slowly fading off like a shadow under the sun when she saw the person in front of her clearly.

Confused green eyes stared at her in perfect silence, his face all scrunched up like something didn't add up. His straight black hair finely combed like always and his thin lips pulled in a grimace displaying dissatisfaction. He wore a black ceremonial robe, unlike the neatly pressed black suit in which Ana had always seen him in.

What was he doing here?

"Ana?", he croaked realization finally dawning on him.

"Oliver?", she uttered disoriented.

What was her boss doing in an abandoned old room during the middle of the night with her?