《A Collection of Random Short Stories》 Betrayed Trust It was prom night. I was driving my best friend to his dates. Yeah plural, because he was a two timing asshole. I made sure to take the long way, I made sure we were a bit late. A text from Jake. Perfect. They were both already there. As I pulled in, I watched as he immediately gravitated towards one. Cheyenne. She was a beauty, and it was clear she¡¯d dressed to impress. He¡¯d made his choice. I walked over to the other girl. Selena. Another beauty. Elias and his god damn luck. Ironically, they were best friends. And both very shy. A perfect situation for Elias. I simply pulled out my phone, went to my photos and handed her the phone. Hundreds of pictures taken on the sly. Of both Cheyenne and Selena. The realization hit her hard as she flipped through more and more photos. I simply gave her a sad smile and told her. ¡°We have a plan. A way to get back at him. I can drive you back home if you want.¡± She nodded. She couldn¡¯t speak, she could only cry. I felt like a terrible person. I took her home. Her mother and father were just taking her in the house when I left. I wish I could have stayed, but I needed to get to my place. The diner, Pop¨¨¡¯s. The normal place we went to hang out and relax. When I got there, Pops, the owner, nodded. Everything was set up. The diner was empty. I was the last to say ¡°ready¡± in the group chat, specially made for this night. The carefully crafted text I''d spent weeks agonizing over finally launched. ¡°Hey man, something happened. Meet me at the diner ASAP.¡± A similar text was sent to Cheyenne. A mutual friend sent her a text saying that she needed to go home because Selena was gonna come over soon. It was important. I waited. 30 minutes later, Elias walks in. Tuxedo on, looking very confused. Never seeing the laptop with the camera live streaming this encounter. Didn¡¯t see the mics either. Maybe we prepared a little too much. ¡°Hey man¡± he said as he slouched into the booth. ¡°Whats up?¡± Silence. He started to look a bit uncomfortable as I stared at him. No humor. Just silence. ¡°It''s over.¡± ¡°What do you mean it''s over?¡± he said. Still confused. Not for long. ¡°We¡¯re done covering for you, and lying for you while you two time a pair of friends.¡± The anger burns inside me. It explodes out of him. Mine¡¯s a cold fury. His is explosive. ¡°What the hell do you mean you''re done?! You think they will believe you, Kyle?!¡± I don¡¯t listen to more. It''s useless. Tonight is a predetermined outcome. Now, we¡¯re just aiming for some bonuses. ¡°You made your choice. If you can convince her to still have you, then we won¡¯t interfere¡± ¡°I made my choice?! I didn¡¯t choose anything!¡± It¡¯s almost boring as I lead him through it all. We¡¯ve planned this for so long that it seems routine. ¡°I made us intentionally late. We watched to see which one you immediately went to. Selena was closer, you still went to Cheyenne. You made your choice.¡± ¡°Oh yeah?!¡± ¡°Yes. Over 100 dates between the 2 of them. Multiple pictures per date¡± He pales, realizing how screwed he is. ¡°Aiden.¡± A clue. ¡°What?¡± Now he¡¯s confused. Not much anger left. Pops is just watching. I hope he gets a good show. ¡°Aiden is the next one in line.¡± ¡°Oh so now it''s a line, huh? Asshole!¡± ¡°Where do you think you will find him?¡± ¡°Why? Why do this?¡± the sudden switch would have caught me by surprise if I hadn¡¯t prepared for this conversation for hours. ¡°We took away Selena for her own good. This. This is for us. For the friends you demanded lie to your girlfriends over and over and over again.¡± It feels good to say it. To finally get the hours of agonizing over my decisions at night off my chest. If only a little bit. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The others are watching. I know they are. Prepare yourselves. He stands and leaves. Not before throwing a ¡°Asshole¡± at me though. Classy, Shitfuck. A few minutes later, I''m sure he¡¯s gone. Off to meet Aiden at the Comic book shop. Our group''s favorite shop to haunt. I nod to Pops as I stand to leave. There¡¯s work to be done. He nods back, telling me ¡°You can pick it up in the morning.¡± I nod my thanks as I walk out into the empty parking lot. Time to go talk to Cheyenne. I feel remorse as I pull into the driveway and go to knock on the door. Cheyenne opens the door, confused at why I''m here. I almost feel bad. Emmy nods to me as she leaves, giving me her phone. Her part in this is done. I can feel Cheyenne and her parents'' confusion. I show them the pictures. Cheyenne is devastated. Her parents are outraged. And so I tell them of the plan. ¡°Would you like to participate or not? We can bring him here if you want us to.¡± A moment of silence ¡°Yes. I need to confront him myself¡± She¡¯s still strong. Good. And then I get the text. He¡¯s at the comic book shop. I turn on Emmy¡¯s phone to Aiden''s live stream, and let them watch the conversation. I turn to leave. I don¡¯t need to. I¡¯ve helped the shyest member of our group run through it hundreds of times. Sometimes, it pays to be 6¡¯4 and a serious person. I drive away. To Adriel¡¯s house. Or, more precisely, his neighbour¡¯s house. His parents are out on a date night. They know what''s going to happen, and they left the house for us. The neighbours know what¡¯s happening, and volunteered their driveways for the cause. As I step inside, I hear Adriel and Selena talking. Good. They always seemed to have something between them. Maybe something good will come out of this night. I turn on my phone and listen as Aiden¡¯s part wraps up. As he says the name. ¡°Jake¡± And off Elias goes. To the Video game store a block down. A close second, on our list of favorite stores. Jake isn¡¯t like me. His temper is as hot as the pits of hell. And now, there¡¯s nothing holding it back. It¡¯s a cross between a rant and an angry lecture. I almost feel pity as Elias tries, and fails, to speak up over and over again. Jake leaves in a huffing and puffing stomp, throwing an address behind him. Aiden pulls into the driveway across the street as Jake finishes up. Julia texts the group chat that she is home and ready. A good friend of Selena and Cheyenne, she wants her pound of flesh as well. Maybe a bit more than a pound. The address leads Elias to a large group. Close friends from the band and his sports team. All of them disapproving. All of them looking at him like he¡¯s crap. And then they start talking. It hurts him, you can tell. Even through the camera you can tell, as his sports team captain barks another address at him. Julia¡¯s house. He can¡¯t get out of there fast enough. They begin to drive over. When you''re facing a two timing ex and naturally shy, having a large number of people on your side helps. He gets to Julia¡¯s house. That was a rough one. Again, he couldn¡¯t get out fast enough. The ranting and screaming scared him. This time, It was Adriel¡¯s house. He pulled into the driveway. We were in the back, watching through the live stream. Adriel tore him a new one for betraying trust and friends, and for using and abusing like he did. I¡¯m a sadistic asshole at times and I enjoyed myself as I watched him sag into the couch. He thought it was over. Oh, no. It was only just beginning. Adriel began to push him out the back door. He resisted. I thoroughly enjoyed forcing him through the door and into the backyard where we all waited. At the end of a small walk, next to the pool, Selena and her parents waited. Along the way, over 30 people he knew and talked to daily. Staring. Angry. Disappointed. ¡°What, not gonna move? Coward.¡± I couldn¡¯t help it. It was simply too much to keep the cruel smile off my face as I forced him forward. I''m beginning to see why the others told me to do this part. ¡°Come on, face the music. The consequences of what you¡¯ve done.¡± He reaches the pool. He swallows. He¡¯s scared. What follows, is a 10 minute conversation that hurts my soul. He can''t hide his thoughts. He cracked under the pressure, and what oozed out of his mouth were filthy, dark things I never wanted to hear, but that Selena needed to hear. Finally, it''s done. He collapses into a pool chair. He¡¯s an emotional wreck. But we aren''t done yet. I force him into a car, and we drive as a troop to Cheyenne¡¯s house. As we pull into the driveway and exit the car, I see his horror. He starts to struggle. The futility amuses me. We get him inside. Another conversation that scrapes at my soul for months after. But Cheyene needed to hear it. Again he collapses, and again we haul him up. It''s time for the finale, the crescendo of this act. As we pull into the driveway, my smile grows. It¡¯s wolfish at this point. Elias trembles. He realizes. I smile as I push him to the door and the others watch. I smile like a wolf even as I say it. ¡°What, Elias, scared of your own house?¡± I must look like a monster right now. We never get the chance to knock. His father opens the door. Disappointment and disapproval war for space on his face, as he looks at his eldest child. His siblings, the triplets who were 8 years younger than him, looked from inside as their older brother was brought into the house, Their mother standing by them. Our part in this is done, now it¡¯s a family matter. They had watched it all through the live streams. I bowed my head as I said ¡°My part in this is done. I¡¯ve seen what I needed to see, spoken what I needed to speak.¡± The others nodded in agreement. Their part in this was done. We left, going back to Adriel¡¯s house, where the vehicles were. None of us expected the party Adriel had prepared, but it was well deserved. We all laughed as we watched Selena¡¯s parents interrogate a drunk Adriel. The next morning I called a certain number. ¡°How is he?¡± I might dislike him, but he was still my best friend for over a decade. ¡°He is recovering. He¡¯s not talking much, just like we expected. I can only hope this shocked him out of this behavior.¡± I nodded, said goodbye, and went to the mail to see if I got accepted into my dream college. 20 Years Later Adriel and Selena ended up going to the same college by accident. They are now happily married, wealthy, and Selena is pregnant with their 4th child. I often visit them. Cheyenne and Aiden would meet up in college 3 years later, after Aiden transferred to MIT. Funnily enough, it wasn¡¯t until 6 months into them dating that they realized they had known each other from before. They had a dual marriage with Adriel and Selena. Jake would end up with Julia, she got him in her sights and he never had a chance at escaping. They are happily married and have 2 children. The events of that night hit Elias hard. In the end, he became a successful game designer, and he now is married to a lovely woman who we kindly call ¡°the ball buster¡±. He just had his first little boy enter the world, and named us the godparents. It took a while, but we ended up reconnecting about 7 years later. He was a changed man, and I was glad for it. As for me, well¡­ I ended up meeting Emmy in Med school. We hooked up, things got weird, and then she managed to get me to marry her 4 months into dating, when we went on a trip to Vegas. Never been happier in my life. Though we can¡¯t have children, I''m the proud Godfather of 4 beautiful girls and 3 handsome boys. It was one hell of a night, and I couldn¡¯t pass up the opportunity to write it down, now could I? I only wish I remembered enough of that party to include that part as well, but that¡¯s what I get for getting into a drinking contest with a 40 year old craft brew contest taster. The Maverick Mission The princess and her party stepped into the cavern. They looked wearily at the shadows, knowing them to be the favored hiding spot of the undead that plagued these caverns at the will of their horrible master. over the next few hours, they fought their way through the cave system, killing thousands of undead with their blessed weaponry and armor. Finally, they found it. A necromatic spirit standing in front of a large display board detailing things that she could not understand. Most likely it''s newest abomination. She strode into its cavern, yelling "I am Princess Saras, and I shall cleanse you from this world in the name of the Divine and my father, King Alucard." The necromatic spirit sighed, turning around even as it said "well isn''t this ironic. The daughter of that traitor come to kill me, just like that traitorous bastard did all those years ago. It''s almost funny. Almost." Saras''s eyes widened in surprise when she heard this. She knew of only one group of necromancers that her father had personally wiped out. The Mavericks. "You are a Maverick? A heretic who seeks to kill the Divines?" The necromatic spirit sighed once again. "Yes, and no. We never believed in the Divines like the others on this world have. We also never thought to kill them or anything like that. We merely wished to stop their parasitic ways before they did irreparable damage to this world." Saras was furious "Parasitic ways? You truly are deluded and mad". Her tone dripped with scorn and venom. The necromatic spirit laughed, saying "Blind faith. The chains of the fool." Saras was angry, her companions even more so. The priestess and healer of their group challenged the spirit. "Oh really? well then how about you explain the "Logic" behind your baseless claim." She stood smug in her presumed victory, her faith in the Divines nearly unshakable. Nearly. The Necromatic spirit sighed and asked a question. "Will you listen without attempting to disrupt my explanation?" The Priestess shrugged, even as Saras agreed to the spirits wish. It seemed to smile as it said, "Do you know why the Divines support humans? Because they gain benefits from them. Mana. The next time you pray to a Divine, focus on your internal Mana. Disregard your status screen, for it is manipulated to ensure you don''t notice. You will feel your Mana leave your body, collecting with all the Mana of the other believers in the Divine''s well of power." "But it doesn''t end there. You see, when you die, you go to the halls of the dead if you were considered faithful, or you go to Tartarus. A terrible place of misery and horror." "Get to the point" Saras demanded "Patience" the spirit reprimanded. "A soul not bound to a body does not need to maintain a Mana presence in the body, leaving a shocking increase in Mana for spirits and souls in the afterlife. This also means more Mana given when praying to a Divine. " A screen flashed in front of the party. "Warning you have obtained Forbidden Knowledge" A spike of dread ran through them all as they realized this wasn''t just the ramblings of a mad spirit. "Because of this, a dead soul is worth more than that of a living person''s. This is why even the most gentle Divines support war and combat. It is also why there are tales of Divines jealously guarding their Halls of the Dead from other Divines." "However, Divines still want new souls to be added as time goes on, so they allow a growing number of followers to remain alive, so as to grow the population." "The real problem with this is that the Divines aren''t providing energy, the world is. However, the world can only support so much strain at a time. Dead souls increase daily and require a certain amount of Mana each, Mana that has a fraction of it fed to the gods every time they pray, Mana that the world is forced to lose until a Divine uses it, which rarely happens. In addition to this, the forging of new souls can be very Mana intensive. This drains more Mana from the world and ultimately is a big factor in the downward spin we are in. The amount of Mana the world loses is increasing with every passing day as more people are born, praying, and dying." "As time passes on, the drain has slowly emptyed the stock pile of Mana available to the world. This has resulted in a breakdown of the protective barrier around the world, which we decided to call the "Atmosphere". As that happens, it thins and presents opportunities for foul beings like monsters and demons to punch through this barrier and enter this world." "Now, you would think the Divines would stop this right? After all, it''s killing their growing population of humans. But, with all the chaos and fear of those early breaches, people were more pious and faithful. They wanted a higher power to save them. And so, the Divines stepped back and did nothing, except aid and teach a few "heroes" which kept humanity alive and growing, if at a reduced pace."If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "Then, Tarturus came into existence. The stick to the Divine''s carrot. Hel''s creation. and a place where the "bad souls" went. In reality, it was only a place for the less faithful and the crippled to go. Those who lost their energy connection to the world and just could not provide much more energy. It became a symbol of what to fear and why the Halls of the Dead were where you should be hoping to go." "It led to people following the Divine''s ideals of war and combat, so that they might escape torment in Tartarus for all of eternity. No one wanted to go to Tartarus though, and someone had to go, so it was decided that those who did not die in combat or were crippled would be taken to Tartarus by force. The spell used to drag those poor souls to Tartarus makes a 10th level necromatic soul binding spell look like a candle compared to the sun." The party grew more and more scared as more and more prompts informing them of their acquisition of Forbidden Knowledge popped up one after another. The spirit turned to Saras. "Your father was believed to be a genius tactician who could outplan anyone. He was not. He had a large, connected assassin ring and the help of my organization, The Mavericks. He used us to pry the secrets of his enemies from their dead souls, and would use those secrets to win his battles. We were an organization dedicated to halting, and later reversing, the damage done to this world. Your father stormed our compound and killed us on the eve of our success. We had just created a theoretical magic that would fix the damage done by taking the souls in existence and putting them back on the planet in the form of memory wiped souls being put into the bodies of the newly born, while using the excess souls as an army of guards against the beings which attempted to break through the Atmosphere. It was perfect. And the Divines hated everything about it, of course. Your father was the instrument of their will, and he didn''t need much convincing. After all, if it came out that we helped him and HOW we helped him, He would have been seen as a charlatan, a fraud, and a horrifying person." "In my time in Tartarus I learned other disturbing facts. This was not the first world the Divines have done this on. The rest had been left as magicless husks after they were done. What they are doing, according to what I could find, is apparently incredibly illegal by the laws that rule Divines. While they may appear powerful, they are more like bandits in Divine society. The demons are not truly evil. They are the autonomous watch dogs of the Gods, searching for rule breakers like the Divines. It is why they say a demon should never be allowed to leave, because it would report back to its masters. Humans attacked the demons at the insistence of the gods, and triggered their self defense commands, just like in our own golems." "This is why I call the Divines parasites, and I stand by my clai-" A golden portal appeared, and an Angel came out. It scowled as it said "You have Forbidden Knowledge. You shall be terminated for this and the humans will have their memories wiped of your filth. Stop trying to ruin my life you asshole. The last thing we need is someone to take notice of what we are doing. Damn lesser soul." It began to chant something in high Angelic, even as the necromatic spirit whispered in their minds, "I shall ensure you keep this knowledge beyond your memory wipe. Please. Finish our mission." The party felt magic lay upon them. Just as it finished, the chant ended and the spirit screamed in agony as its soul was destroyed. The Angel turned it''s attention to them, cleansing their mind of the Maverick Spirit''s existence, but missing a cache of memories that the Maverick Spirit had constructed for them. 5 days later, the party woke from their sleep to find the memories in their heads. When they met up and discussed it, they swore to complete the Maverick''s mission if they could. 15 years later. Princess Saras was now in her early 30''s. She looked like she just turned 20, but royalty always seemed to have the best luck. She stood above her enemy as the crowd of Divines chanted her name, and The Divine announcer Declared her the winner. It had taken work, sweat and blood, but she made it to the top of the Divine sector contest. She had won her world first place and ensured a happy life for herself. Later that night, She went to a party held in her honor, with her own party with her. They had been looking at the Divine laws in the time she had been fighting, and the laws were quite clear. The Maverick Spirit had been right. Her world''s Divines were criminals. Now, she just needed to get that information to the sector lord. Later, she was given a private audience with him. He was a fan of the games and loved to watch the interactions between the fighting styles of different worlds. She smiled as she used one of the memory related spells, Memory Transfer, to give the Sector lord her memories of the events. He paused. His face turned to shock, and then horror as he got further into the memories hidden in the cache. His thunderous roar for the guards had them teleporting into the room in seconds. Only an hour later, she testified against them. For their crimes they were executed immediately. The gathered Divines were shocked when they heard of what happened. Nearly every Divine in the sector, including a Prince of the Divine kingdom that ruled this sector, came to the world. Their horror was interesting to see for Saras. New Divines were appointed to help this world recover from what the previous Divines had done. Later Saras smiled. She looked upon the new statue the Divines had ordered built after the world was fixed. They ordered it built even before their own. On it, over 300 men and women stood. It was a monument to the Mavericks, to those who had tried, and ultimately succeeded, in halting this world''s decline, and in the end, restoring it. She smiled as she looked upon the recognition of those brave few. When she would pass on, 5 years later, She would smile upon seeing the Theoretical Magic of the Mavericks in use. It was an ingenious invention of magic that had rapidly spread across the universe, automatically doing the majority of the work that needed to be done by hand before its creation. She smiled, as she stepped into the magic, and Princess Saras ceased to be. Sisters Reunited Ignis drew in a deep breath. It was finally time. It had been 2 years, and it was finally here. James moved closer to her, slightly confused. Hey, Ignis.... are you ok? I mean, we kinda thought you would be happy to go back to your birthplace. Ignis smiled back saying I''m ok, but it''s time I face my past, and who I am. James nodded, saying While you may be a sentient NPC, you''re just as human as the rest of us, and don''t you ever forgot it, ok? Ignis nodded back, even as the other raid members echoed the sentiment. And finally, it was in sight. The Eldreth family castle. A basic starter raid for new players to group up and fight. Around her, other members of the raid team started livestreaming. They were one of the best raid teams in the game, and when they all hit the level cap, they decided to try to beat every raid the game had to offer. All of them were streamers who let others pay to watch them play the game. Ironically, despite being an NPC she had caused a huge mess in the real world and was a favorite member of the raid party because of her unique situation. One of the other members of the raid party asked you were a gate guard for this raid, right? Then you left to go explore and joined up with us somewhere along the way. Even as Ignis said yes, another raid party member spoke up I remember those days. Half the time we couldn''t tell if you were an eccentric or an NPC. It was great, especially when you did something to support you being a NPC, then turned around and did something completely player driven. You had poor James pulling his hair out trying to figure that one out! Other members of the raid group started laughing as they remembered those days. Ignis laughed with them, feeling at home with the raid group, even as the nervousness began to seep in again. Finally, Ignis caught her breath I was the gate guard. There were 2 of us. I was the fire-earth attribute magician, and the other guard was a death-earth magician. You know, now that I think about it, that was a really cruel choice on the part of the devs. Hey! one of the devs in question shouted. everyone stopped laughing The developer piped up again. I just got the news, sentient digital beings now have the same rights as all other humans across the world! The raid party erupted into cheers at the news. Ignis smiled and whooped along with them. It had been a hard fought battle, but it was over. Now, for the true biggest fight she had ever fought. The raid party arrived at the gate, and pushed it open. As they walked inside, she found the one being she had hoped to avoid more than anything else. She swallowed, The silence the gate feeling uncomfortable. Normally, the guard would be saying a voice line, or doing something. Now? She did nothing. The other raid members were confused, looking at each other, all waiting for the voice line. Ignis closed her eyes, even as the guard said Was it everything you hoped it would be? She breathed deep, Everything I hoped for, and so much more. I''m sorry, Amethyst This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Amethyst wore a beautiful, but sad smile Excellent. Then it was worth it. The raid group hung back as Ignis walked forward. They were confused and surprised. Their chats were going wild, speculating on what it all meant, and what they were witnessing. James was the first to realize. After him, the developers and admins gasped in shock as well. They realized. Ignis walked up to Amethyst, and they hugged. When they stepped back, Ignis smiled as she pulled a spell book out of her inventory. It was death-earth spell book, from one of the raids they did months ago. They had mostly forgotten she had ever asked for it. Ignis gave it to Amethyst Today is our birthday. I hope you like the gift I got you. Amethyst smiled a beautiful smile as she hugged her again I love it. I''m sorry I didn''t get you anything. Ignis smiled and hugged her back You gave me the best gift of all. Freedom. Even at the cost of your own. They separated. The gate was silent. The raid group watching on, and the surroundings quiet. It was Ignis who broke the silence Well then. Shall we dance? I see time has does nothing to cool that hothead of yours. Amethyst Ignis laughed as she moved back, summoning her spell book into her hand. Amethyst smiled Let us dance! And like that, the ground rumbled as fire lit the winter night and death presence choked the life out of the very air. On that night, 2 raid class bosses fought it out in a sleepy town in the middle of nowhere. The raid team had always known that Ignis was powerful, but until they watched her fight Amethyst, they never truly realized the extent of her power. The earth moved in an eternal war as 2 sisters fought for domination. Massive amounts of hot flames sought to burn the sky to ash, even going so far as to burn the essence of death. The essence of death was not so easily beaten though, coiling like the shadowy snake it was so often portrayed as, it spawned forth masses of powerful beings in the skies, even as powerful flame forth from the burning flames to combat their foe. It lasted for 30 minutes, Neither sister truly moving even as the earth shifted restlessly and powerful beings warred in the skies. Amethyst was beaten back, and eventually defeated. The 2 sisters opened their eyes again, exhaustion making it hard for them to stay standing. Ignis was the first to speak How is it, that, I go travel, the world for a year, killing thousands of monsters that could obliterate this town in an hour, and it was still so hard to beat you. Seriously! I have mystical older sister powers. Amethyst managed to get out between bursts of laughter. Ignis closed the distance to her sister, hugging her again. Thank you. Thank you so much. Amethyst simply smiled and hugged her back. The stream chats of the raid team were going crazy, thousands of people talking about what they had just seen. The devs were screaming for coders to ensure that Amethyst was protected from hackers. The raid team members were smiling as they watched Ignis reunite with Amethyst. And in it all, Amethyst had a single thought. It was definitely worth it. Why? As she stepped closer to the bruised and battered Demon Prince lying on the broken stone of the once great fortress, she could only ask a question. "Why? Why do all this? Why fight this war, fighting so hard, so brutally, just for a single, barren planet? Why?" The Demon Prince chuckled, blood spilling from his lip as he did. "I" A pause. "We, are connoisseurs of war. We were raised on it. It is our life. Every waking moment was spent to be better, to be stronger. All for war." "Throughout my life, I have seen so many wars, on so many worlds." "I have seen total wars, I have seen Guerilla wars, I have seen land wars, I have seen sea wars, I have seen space wars, I have seen air wars. I have seen class wars, I have seen culture wars, I have seen religious wars, I have seen race wars, I have seen drug wars, I have seen genocidal wars. On one world, I even saw storage wars." "But, throughout it all, my favorite war has always been, a simple war. A total war. A war, where you give everything, and leave nothing. A true baring of the soul, to see just who is truly stronger, truly better. The Archangel scowled. "You will not be able to simply peddle off this entire thing as a philosophical thing. But, I will humor you. We won, we proved ourselves stronger. Will you go now? Will you leave and never return?" The Demon Prince laughed harder, so much so that it hurt him even more. He smiled "We will never truly leave. we will only bide our time, waiting for the next total war. Training, becoming stronger." He paused. "I, I would like to thank you." It was clear it was not something he was used to, and the Archangel was confused. "What? Why would you want to thank me?" Had he gone mad? He smiled "Because, you, you have opened our eyes to new types of war. Information, and Propaganda." He continued "We always knew about them, but never truly realized their effectiveness until today." She narrowed her eyes, expecting a trick like the nearly 3 dozen times a similar scene had played out across this blood soaked planet. "We are raised, being told that angels are cowardly, and can never win a true fight with a demon. That they only exist because we demons allow it. Propoganda. A form of war my people so perfectly executed, that I had not even realized it was in action until now. This war, Our war, has shown me its effectiveness. We fought for 43 years, and we lost. Something that, according to all I''ve ever known, simply can''t be true. We didn''t lose because you were simply stronger, in fact, I would say we were stronger. But, you always knew, and we always fought on YOUR battlefields, not ours. So, thank you, thank you for showing me, for opening my eyes, to this type of war." The Archangel''s eyes softened ever so slightly, even as she bristled from the insults upon her species. "Well, I hope this knowledge serves you well, But this war is at its end." "It will, and this war is at its end." He agreed. "We will meet again. I can promise you that." He smiled, even as she put the blade through his neck, ending his life cleanly. One of the other angels stepped forward. "Do you think we will ever see him again?"This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The Archangel smiled slightly "It is only a matter of time." 457 years later The Archangel smiled, even as she sighed as she stepped closer to the defeated Demon Prince, not long for life. "Here we are again, another fortress, another world, yet still so similar." He chuckled "Indeed." She paused, turning to survey the ruins and destruction surrounding them, watching the last holdouts of demonic resistance of the planet be pushed out. "You weren''t lying" He grinned "No, I was not." He coughed, blood spewing from his mouth. "Did we do better this time? We really tried our best. It would be a shame for it to not really matter." He looked to her, curious to see how she would answer. She chuckled, even as 2 more Archangels joined her. Her sisters. "We fought for 387 years. We outnumbered you 4 to 1, and even then you still nearly defeated us 13 times. This planet will have life, from the plains of corpses and the oceans of blood spilled in our war." "Now, Ulna, lets not grow his ego too much." "Oh what would you know, Diana? This is the first true war we''ve ever fought in. I say we let him feel proud. He fought well." "Oh? so what, incase you have forgotten, he is a DEMON, Fiona." The twins continued to argue, only to be interrupted by the Demon Prince. "So, this was your first war? I can only hope I made it a good one." He coughed some more, smiling sadly. "While I would love to stay and talk, My time here has expired. Thank you, for everything." He closed his eyes, passing away. Leaving the 3 sisters to look upon the battlefield that this war had wrought. 2,346 years later Ulna stepped forward, into the great chamber where the Demon Prince sat on a throne of bone. Inside, the bodies of angels covered the floor. He had not gone down without a fight. He grinned at her, even as he remained on his throne, impaled there by 2 Ballista bolts and 4 spears. Around him were 10 bodies. His 10 guards, powerful demons who had each killed hundreds of angels before succumbing to the siren call of the blackness. Beyond the fortress walls, 10 other fortresses lay on the battlelines, each containing one of the regiment commanders. All of them still lived, their regiments bearing down on the broken fortress of their prince, hoping to avenge his death. "We have all grown, haven''t we?" Ulna asked, as Diana and Fiona entered the room as well. "We have. Before you would never have thought to use swarm tactics like this, and I would never have separated my commanders." He agreed. "Why?" Ulna smiled at the nostalgia of the question. He grinned "Why what?" Diana smiled "Why did you fight Ulna all those years ago?" Fiona grinned "Why did you come back to fight her again?" Ulna smiled, giggling as she asked "Why don''t I know your name?" Fiona and Diana paused, before breaking out into stunned laughter at the realization. He smiled "My name is Alucard" "In hell, you specialize in a certain attribute, or ''sin" as you call it, but that doesn''t mean you can''t learn from other attribute. Once you hit a certain strength, pride and reputation takes over for the majority of the war demons. We left, because there was simply no one willing to truly fight." "After a millenium of depression, no fighting, and comrades simply ceasing to exist, We could see our future. A boring, bland Peaceful life" Disgust coated Alucard''s words "And so, when one like us sees that, what is there to do, but carve our own path? We tunneled, and found our way onto another path. We were determined to break our fate." Alucard drew in a breath. "At the end of that tunnel, was a light. You. A challenge, someone we could fight, someone as brutal and unyielding as we were. You were our light at the end of the tunnel, our goal. And you were everything we could have hoped for, and so much more." Outside of the fortress the war drums of the Demonic army could be heard, but none of the various officers, leaders and soldiers of the Angelic army could bear to leave, as they heard the answer to a question as old as these wars, a question that had remained unanswered to the angels for all this time. "As we marched forward, the siren call of our passion, our life, and our everything grew, and as the war drums struck up a beat and we spilled through the portal onto that barren world, we finally came home, for the first time in more than 2,000 years." "After 43 years, it ended, and we could scarcely contain ourselves as we learned, grew and trained. We became better, so that we could rise to the challenge, just as we had in our youth." "We returned again, coming home once again. We fought for 387 years, and we loved it. Again, we could scarcely contain ourselves in the time between the fight." Alucard grinned, sucking in a breath, even as he bled out. "You are our best friends, and our worst enemies. You are like family to us, which is why we slaughtered those pricks attempting to force you into marriages." The angels gasped. The event had been a major thing in angelic society and had put an end to forceful marriages among angels forever. If even the barbaric demons considered it barbaric and detestable, obviously angels could not partake in such a thing. "But more than that, you are our weapon. Our weapon in the ultimate war." Alucard took his last breath "You, our beloved family, are our weapon in the war against time." Even as his soul reformed back in hell, he left behind a stunned and emotional family of angels. Ulna smiled with tears in her eyes "And to you, there is no higher honor and compliment."