meeting

While all this was going on, Jacob had made his way to the first abandoned city on the map and was standing at the edge of a building tall enough to see the whole city from.

"Let's see, there should be a hospital somewhere around here... ah, there it is... growl... ugh, perfect timing. Now I'm starting to get a little bit hungry. Hopefully, I can find something in this wasteland."

Without hesitating, he stepped forward, and immediately gravity took effect, pulling him down, increasing his speed of descent. The closer he got to the ground, until it happened:

BANG.

The expected result, however, was different from reality. The impact on the ground caused stones and rubble to fly out, and a large amount of dust kicked up. A few seconds passed, and the dust cleared up to reveal Jacob walking out entirely unscathed. If it weren't for his ruffled hair, one wouldn't believe he just took a hundred-meter dive through the air.

"Even this has no effect. Damn, I really should start calling myself Superman. It'd be even better if I had heat vision."

During his journey, Jacob had, of course, subjected himself to a couple of tests and from them realized how tough his body is. In fact, he hadn't been able to cause even a scratch on himself. Flames also don't have any effect on him. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to discover any other boons or psychic ability whatsoever.

"But this shouldn't be all right? Now that I think about it, the voice called me the light bringer. Was she making a religious reference? I remember Mom used to tell stories about some evil being, a fallen angel. What was his name again? Erm... right, Lucifer."

Immediately he said the name aloud, his vision darkened, his body falling to the ground in typical fashion, his soul being forced out of its vessel.

By the time he came to, he found himself in an unfamiliar place.

"What the f*ck, where are my legs?"

While being randomly teleported to an unfamiliar place is disturbing in its own right, suddenly having some sort of spectral blob as opposed to legs was what bothered Jacob. After all, it wasn't the first time he'd been teleported without his consent.

While he was busy trying to figure out where his legs had gone, he failed to realize the other person before him.

"Child, still yourself."

Suddenly realizing he wasn't alone, he acted to compose himself. However, soon after he frowned.

"Since when did I begin to act to someone else's convenience? I'd left that life since the apocalypse descended."

Haha... the other person chuckled.

"There's no mistaking it, there it is... the embodiment of pride, the same one that drove the rift between me and my father. However, it's still but a seed in you."

Jacob silently observed the person in question, thinking wouldn't help much against someone that could read minds. But as he kept looking, he had to admit this person was really beautiful. Yet there was something else he felt from his image, some sort of familiarity.

Those sharp eyes, the delicate slope of his nose bridge all being accentuated by the brown caramel skin. There was no doubt about it, he'd seen these features somewhere before, albeit not this sharp but they were indeed similar.

And then it clicked, he opened his eyes wide in shock, but that couldn't be right. I don't remember having a fight with my father before he died. Confused on the whole scenario, he couldn't help but voice out his thoughts.

"Are you me from the future?"

"Hahahahaha."

The other man that had been smiling all this while couldn't hold it in any more and burst out in laughter.

"Haha... Why don't you take a guess? Do you think you'll grow to be this handsome in the future?"

Jacob was about to lash out at the man's teasing, but he suddenly remembered something.

'Wait, wasn't it because Lucifer had a fall out with his father that led to his falling and it was when I mentioned the name that I was suddenly brought here?'

His thoughts were truly a little forced, but he believed he was right.

"I won't keep you in the dark now. You're right; I am indeed Lucifer, the first fallen angel and the current ruler of the underworld, and you, Jacob, are my envoy."

As soon as Lucifer finished speaking, Jacob's spectral form began withering from the bottom up.

"It seems you still have a long way to go before we have a proper conversation. However, remember, the body is but a vessel; the soul is what holds everything a man is. His strengths, his weaknesses, and his-"

Thud.

His body fell softly to the ground, the disorientation from the shifts in reality hit him leaving him laying motionless for a while before he eventually recovered and sat up.

By the time he came to, the first thing he noticed were the low growls he picked up, all thanks to his enhanced hearing.

"What's that?"

From shadows and crevices humanoid creatures on all fours with scales protruding out of their facial skin in some places in a very sickening manner. They also had bark-like protrusions on their limbs reminiscent of someone with tree man syndrome. Only the protrusions had a tinge of violet color to them.

"Bleugh..."

Jacob had to cover his mouth to prevent himself from throwing up from the sight in front of him. What made it worse was the fact they kept moving towards him in a slow menacing manner.

"Ughh... disgusting, what the hell are these? Where'd they even come from?"

In his panic, he picked up a handful of stones and hurled them with all his strength towards the creatures nearest to him. However, it seemed he had failed to control his strength or he had underestimated it altogether as the stones accelerated with so much speed they turned to dust directly while still in the air. But that wasn't to say he missed. When the particles came in contact with the creatures' bodies, they directly imploded, throwing flesh and blood everywhere

"....."