18 The Demons from Hell

The Demons from Hell

Real victors are those who turn their problems into an advantage

Elisium. Year 5L 1/1

The gateway of the Royal Mound was opened for Solomon and his men to march into the splendid enclave. Solomon and all his men were clad in their armors, highly alert with their weapons ready to strike. Though Solomon was a guest of the King, and inflicting any harm on any guest invited to one's house was an unforgivable sin, but Solomon didn't trust his father's cousin. After all killing an innocent person was the biggest sin and Jonathan had committed many such crimes.

Solomon could have easily refused the peace talks and would have routed Jonathan's remaining troops in the battlefield quite easily. But that would have led to even more bloodshed and he didn't want anymore innocents getting killed. Somewhere deep inside, he wanted to prove to his forefathers that he hadn't come to this world for revenge, but to make things better and to forever restore the balance between the two worlds. Someone had to stop the Wheel of Transition at some point and Solomon wanted to achieve that feat.

"Solomon, my dear nephew," exclaimed Jonathan as he received Solomon at the gate of the Grand Palace and embraced him, "you were a kid when I last saw you. Now you have grown into a brave young man."

"Yes I was supposed to embrace my adulthood with a grand ceremony, but thanks to you Uncle, I was robbed of that and a lot of other things," replied Solomon, not attempting to hide the contempt in his tone.

"So much hatred in such a young heart is not good for health," said Jonathan, "what happened then was all due to some unfortunate circumstances. Come on, let us have some dinner and we can discuss all your demands on the dinner table."

Dinner was not what Solomon had planned for. He couldn't trust Jonathan. This man wouldn't even think twice before poisoning them all.

Jonathan sensed what his nephew was thinking, "Well, you are my invited guest, and I can't inflict any harm on my guest," said Jonathan, "but I understand you don't trust your uncle even to abide by the basic values of the society. You are just like my dear cousin Isaac, always suspicious of everything. Trying to find faults, when there are none. Anyways I knew such a situation may arise, so I have done likewise arrangements. All the plates for the feast are arranged on that table. You choose the plate from which you eat, and you also choose the plates for me and my ministers. You choose what gets served to you, and the same thing will be served to me and my ministers. First we eat then you. If there is something in the food we all die together. Similar arrangements have been made for your men and my soldiers. They all eat from same vessels. Trust me my dear nephew, I am a good honorable host."

Solomon wasn't utterly convinced but he couldn't find a flaw in this arrangement. Refusing to eat when someone has invited you to a feast was against the morals of this society. Solomon and his men sat down for dinner in their designated places.

Once they had settled down, Solomon took no time in coming straight to the topic, "So, what have you thought about stopping this war and surrendering to my conditions?" he asked his uncle.

Jonathan let out an audible sigh, "frankly speaking, you haven't let me much of a choice. Your troops look invincible and I must admit that the sandstorm was an absolute masterstroke. Your powers to control the nature are amazing. Even the fearsome thunderstorms of these severe days of adversity have been put on hold by you. I can't fight you, but to be honest, I have to look after myself. I can't let you execute me either. I can see that you don't want innocent soldiers getting killed, so I hope that compassion of yours will help me get a reasonable deal. We are in for a tough night of negotiations, so better we get our stomachs filled with this delicious food. All the hard talks can wait for a little bit later."

Solomon had to admit that his uncle was a good host. He had laid down a large feast for his guests with different delicacies, and the food was utterly mouth-watering. Since the day they jumped into the Eye of Tenebra, due to the constant travelling and then the battle, Solomon and his men hadn't had a proper meal. Solomon's men hungrily tucked into the feast. Aaron, who was seated besides Solomon, kept a close eye on the food being served. Everything that was served to Solomon was first served to Jonathan and his closest ministers. They all ate it without a fuss. There was nothing suspicious at all throughout the dinner.

When the dinner finished, Solomon had started to feel a little dizzy. Fatigue of travelling and a tiresome battle was finally catching up with him. As per the norms of the society, a feast was only over when the guest of honor rose from his chair. Everyone else then rose with him. Solomon tried to get up from his chair, but his legs didn't respond. He couldn't feel his legs, or even his hands. His body was slowly getting numb. He was struggling to stay awake. He was barely able to keep his eyes open. Solomon looked at Jonathan, he was struggling to stay awake as well. But what sent a shiver down Solomon's spine was the fact that Jonathan had a smug smile on his face.

"I didn't have to poison you, I just had to incapacitate you and your men for a few hours," muttered Jonathan, who was clearly struggling to speak due to the effects of the weed that was mixed in their food "even if that meant that I had to incapacitate myself and some of my men. But I have many others who can take care of you and your men when you all are unable to move."

"You treacherous monster," Solomon tried to leap on the table and grab Jonathan, but his body failed to respond. He fell off his chair. At that moment, hundreds of Jonathan's soldiers, who weren't present in the feast marched into the Great Hall. Solomon was held to the ground by a couple of them. Solomon tried to break free but he had no control over his body. Aaron was similarly pinned to the floor, right next to him. A look of despair on the face of his dear friend was the last thing Solomon saw before he slipped into unconsciousness.

Solomon woke up with a start as a bucket of icy water was thrown on his face. As he slowly opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the face of his dear friend Aaron. His heart almost stopped when he noticed that Aaron's head was not on his shoulders, but rather it was raised on a spear.

Solomon let out a cry of anguish. Jonathan was seated on a chair next to Aaron's head. Heads of all his other men were on spears held by Jonathan's soldiers. Solomon noticed that they weren't inside the palace anymore, but were on the balcony above the gateway of the Royal Mound.

"Our cooks made some great dessert using the kheshish," Jonathan said with a devilish grin "you know kheshish right? The weed that is used by healers to numb the body parts and put patients to sleep while performing surgeries. Today a surgery had to be performed on Geoffrey, due to the wounds inflicted by your men, and that gave me this idea. I decided to put that weed to some very good use."

"You venomous devil, you invited guests to your house and murdered them," roared Solomon, "how will you face the Almighty."

"To be honest, I don't have intentions to meet the Almighty anytime soon. I want to rule this world for many more years to come and you actually might help me doing so," hissed Jonathan. "Your arrival was first a huge problem for me. But you know, real victors are those who turn their problems into an advantage. And that is what I am going to do with you. I will turn you and your men into a godsent gift for me. Now just sit here and have a look at my grand performance."

Jonathan stood up and walked to the front of the balcony. Thousands of people had gathered below, in the clearing outside the gateway of the Royal Mound. Jonathan had asked his soldiers to go into the streets of the capital and ask everyone to gather near the Royal Mound as the King wanted to make and important announcement. Commoners had witnessed the battle in the morning and had seen Solomon's army enter the enclave in the evening. They had anticipated that something extraordinary was about to happen. A large expectant crowd had gathered outside the gateway.

Jonathan cleared his throat and started his well rehearsed speech. As there were still no thunderstorms, his voice echoed in the calm night breeze.

"O the loyal people of Elisium, since yesterday our beloved city, the Capital, had been put on siege by an army of demons from the other world, the Inferna, the hell which hangs above us," he pointed to Aden, hanging above their heads "Under the command of a devil, these demons from hell, somehow found their way in this world. Don't be fooled by their appearance, they may look like us, but they are vicious monsters with dark souls. Their impenetrable armors and deadly weapons are made of some cursed materials from hell. They arrived at our doorstep and asked us to hand over the reigns of Elisium to them, so that they can rule over us and turn our people into their slaves. When we refused to surrender and decided to fight for our freedom, the devil used his dark magic to summon a sandstorm and butchered our brave soldiers. To avoid any further bloodshed, me and my ministers decided to have a talk with them. We invited them inside the Royal mound so that we could negotiate a peace deal. But it turned out that agreeing to this meeting was just a pretense for entering the Royal Mound and capture our defense establishments. Once inside, they drew their weapons and attacked our men. But this time our men were also well prepared. They fought hard, putting their lives on stake to save their world. Without the sandstorm the powers of these demons were considerably less. Blinded by the over-confidence from the battle in the morning they thought they could easily roll us over. But they were wrong. Our men fought tirelessly and gradually the powers of these demons started to wane. They began to fall one by one. Every single one of them was killed and their leader, the devil of Inferna was captured. Our brave soldiers earned a hard fought triumph. We lost many courageous heroes in this fight, but in the end the righteousness prevailed. We emerged as the Victors"

Jonathan had ordered many injured men from the battle in the morning to be secretly killed, to show as casualties for the evening. More the count of martyrs, the more convincing and heart-wrenching his story would appear. There was a buzz in the crowd. From the expressions of their faces, Jonathan could see that his story was getting accepted by the commoners.

And now was time to add cherry to the cake. Jonathan again cleared his throat and said in a loud booming voice, "And now as a proof of the steadfastness of your king, who looked into the face of adversity and decided to fight for your freedom, and as a tribute to the valor of our soldiers who sacrificed their lives to protect your liberty, I present you the severed heads of those demons from hell. These demons may look like us but remember they are demons from Inferna who wanted to destroy our world and turn us into their slaves."

The large gate of the Royal Mound was opened and Jonathan's soldiers paraded the heads of Solomon's men, raised on spears, among the commoners. Aaron's head was in the front. Some of Jonathan's men had mingled into the crowds. One of them spitted on Aaron's head and slapped him. Others did the same with other heads. On cue, people started slapping, spitting and cursing. The heads of Solomon's loyal men, who had come to liberate these people from the clutches of a tyrant, were now being disgraced by those very people.

Jonathan whispered to Solomon who was tied in chains and was looking at these awful scenes below. "Did you really think that you could arrive here with a hundred men and take over this world from me? You don't know me son. I had conspired for years before murdering your father and taking over the crown. I can stoop to any lows to protect my throne. Murdering my invited guests was a small thing to do. I would have murdered you with your men as well, but I thought beheading you in full public view would add to the spectacle. And also before I kill you I need to know where that famed amulet is? I am quite amused by its powers, especially after seeing the sandstorm. It will serve me very well. My men searched you, your things, your camp but couldn't locate it. So before I start torturing you, tell me where that amulet is and I promise you I will give you a swift death."

Solomon was a little baffled hearing that. He could still feel the icy touch of the amulet against his skin. It was always there, right in his neck. Solomon couldn't understand how in the God's name weren't they able to find it.

Solomon was still wondering about what to do when the voices from below reached his ears. People were still spitting on the martyrs, disgracing them, dishonoring them. Jonathan was looking at this all with glee. He was goading his men on, encouraging them to further dishonor the martyrs.

That is when Solomon lost his senses.

Anguish of his parent's murders and the pain of loosing everything dear to him, that he had tried to bury deep within himself, came back to the fore. He had so far tried his best to listen to his forefathers advice and not to let hatred rule over his heart, but seeing the heads of his best friend and all his loyal men on spears, just pushed him over the edge.

An unbridled fury took over him.

Anger and hatred, now ruled over his soul.

Unfathomable power at disposal of a malicious heart always leads to a disaster.

In Elisium, it lead to the Catastrophe.