Chapter 16 - Prince of Hell

As Luke opened his eyes he felt the ground which he lay on. It was cold and solid, like lying on a bed of rocks. Looking at the ground he saw that it was made out of cold black bricks. He raised his head to see a magnificent hall, the walls were made of the same black bricks and were adorned with open torches that burned brightly in the dark with dark red flames and large banners that hung down from the ceiling, which was so high up that Luke couldn't even see it.

The banners were a silken purple surrounded by solid gold, on the purple silk was a picture that depicted a hilly landscape with the sun rising behind it, and a horse riding off into the sunset. These same banners where hung uniformly down the Hall until they reached the back wall, which had a mural of the same hilly landscape with the same rising sun behind it and the same horse riding off into the sunset. Flying above the rising sun was a tall and handsome man, a Demon, to be specific, he had black hair with purple streaks and his eyes glowed a dark, entrancing red. He wore a dazzling gold crown and his dark eyes were filled with pride as he looked down on all those before him.

In front of the center of the back wall, and the center of the rising sun, stood a golden throne, adorned with countless splendid jewels that reflected the fiery light of the torches, forcing Luke to squint to see past them, and to the man sitting on the magnificent throne. He was the same man who flew above the rising sun, with his purple hair and his dark gaze that looked down on everyone. You could never guess that this man had been dead for decades.

Lucifer looked at the one armed Luke from atop his throne and laughed gently, before saying, "welcome to my humble abode, young Prince."

Luke stared at him and slightly annoyed, muttered sarcastically, "Yeah, very humble, and what do you mean young Prince?"

"Your are my successor," announced Lucifer, "that makes you a Prince of Hell."

"When did I agree to that?" asked Luke, "besides, I've never even been to Hell."

"That doesn't matter!" said Lucifer, before continuing in a prideful tone, "also, I am a rank 7 King of Hell and the sin of Pride, Lucifer! You should feel honoured to be picked by me!"

"You're also dead," replied Luke, still irritated by the arrogant man looking down on him.

"Irrelevant!"

"But if you wish to be asked then I'll ask now, will you become the successor to the divinity of the Pride class, to my throne as a King of Hell and my spot as the sin of Pride?"

"I will," said Luke, "as long as I'm not forced to do anything I don't want to because it's my duty or whatever."

"We can discuss the details later," said Lucifer with a smile, "for now, I'm sure you have some questions for me."

"Dad said that when the time came I should ask you about a prophecy?"

"Ah, right, the prophecy," said Lucifer, "well I'll explain what you need to know, however I can't tell you the exact wording of the prophecy. You're too weak and words have power, young Prince, if I were to tell you the exact words you would lose yourself due to the power they possess over aether.

The prophecy foretold that night would come on the year 2051, although it appears it has come early for some unknown reason. Haha, I'm sure the other Kings of Hell are rushing around the place trying to do something to stake there claim over the power the night would bring.

That's only the first line, the second line mentioned the number seven and that the 'extra' would come into the light. Seven has always been a powerful number in the shadow world, it represents a lot of things but what most don't know is that along with the orthodox seven, there would often be an eighth, an 'extra'. You need to watch out for these 'extras' as they will undoubtedly play an important role.

The third line states that a new day will come. There is more to this but that's all you need to know until you can see the prophecy yourself.

The fourth line states that someone will watch over the new day and the fifth, the final line states that the 'extra' will end the day. Permanently. This has been interpreted to mean that when the person who watches over the new day dies, the true apocalypse will be brought upon us by the 'extra'. Lots of powerful magical beings have attempted to find the 'extra' because of this, so far none have succeeded.

Did you get all that?"

"Yeah, I think I did," said Luke, "...can you tell me what this has to do with what my Dad told me?"

Lucifer sighed and said, "not even I'm sure what your dad did, whatever it is, it's probably what got him killed. From what he told you it seems he wants you to seek out the 'extra'."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know," said Lucifer, "what your dad did is very strange and mysterious, only time will tell. For now you need to strengthen yourself, normally you would have to spend years training however since you have the incredible me, I can point you in the direction of a magical artifact that can quickly boost your strength and will be of great aid to you in the future."

"So, what is this miraculous artifact," said Luke.

"I'll tell you when you get it."

"... can you at least tell me what it looks like?"

"You'll know it when you see it."

"..."

'Very helpful,' thought Luke.

"I heard that!" said Lucifer, "and also, you didn't have this sarcasm before, did you?."

"Well I also seemed to be missing my earlier memories before and only knew 'ms Anwir's' teachings," said Luke, "so I'm trying out something new, fresh start and stuff. Also, do you know what happened to my memories?"

"That Ms Anwir woman actually knew some psychology and conditioned you to forcefully repress them to avoid punishment. I simply helped you unlock them by giving a few hints and using my remnant spirituallity to push you over."

"Okay that's fine for now, I'll think about it more later... Do you know any way for me to regain my arm?"

"Well," said Lucifer, "the wound was sealed by pure aether so I doubt any healer on earth will be able to help you. However, you should be able to use your Lust class magic to create a sort of pseudo arm. I know that Asmodeus is able to make complete avatars of himself to send away and complete tasks for him, so an arm should be no problem."

"Who's Asmodeus?" asked Luke.

"He's the rank 7 with the divinity of the Lust Class, he's also a King of Hell and the sin of Lust."

Before Like had time to reply, Lucifer frowned and said, "times up, you're going to wake up now, when you're ready to search for the artifact just say so."

"Wai-," started Luke, however he stopped talking when he felt himself slip through the floor, a weird yet refreshing sensation washing over him as he watched the magnificent throne room fade away, the same dark, arrogant eyes watched him fall away.

He opened his eyes to find himself lying on a musty bed in a gloomy hotel room.