Lucifer Damned (Morningstar Book 3), Percival Constantine [electric book reader .txt] 📗

Lucifer repeated this process, climbing up through the darkness. Without knowing where he was going or without even a sense of how high he had already climbed, he had to be sure to do it slowly. Moving up too rapidly could result in him hitting his head or even losing his grip and falling back to the ground below. Without his powers, such a fall could result in serious injury or worse.

He kept his mind focused on the task, not allowing a second’s worth of mental wandering. Once he escaped this predicament, he could concern himself with what had happened to Mara or why dragon-riding demons had attacked them in the Badlands.

There was no sense of time, so he didn’t know how long it took him to reach the top. But finally, he reached a hand up and felt more than just a small hold for his fingers to grip. This time, it seemed like an actual ledge. Once he was satisfied he had a firm grip, he reached up with his other hand and found the ledge extended quite a ways up. Lucifer pulled himself up, and reached an arm forward. Solid, level ground, no wall. Enough room for him to climb onto.

Once he managed to get over the edge, Lucifer stayed on all fours and slowly inched forward, trying to find if there was a wall. But there wasn’t. It seemed he was now closer to reaching an exit.

There was some sound out in the darkness. Light and distant, but it was there. Or it could have just been his imagination. He decided to take a chance and continued towards the sound. Slowly, it grew a little bit louder and he knew he wasn’t alone down here.

He reached a wall and climbed to his feet. With his fingertips running along its surface, Lucifer followed the wall. He shuffled his feet, worried about moving them too fast in case he came to another ledge without realizing.

In the darkness, he finally saw some brief flicker of light. Lucifer had to contain his excitement and force himself to move at the same slow pace. The light became brighter and he soon saw it was coming from just beyond a tunnel.

Once he reached the tunnel, he could now see that he was indeed in a cave of some kind. Lucifer moved through the tunnel, trying to contain his excitement of actually seeing something other than darkness.

The mouth of the cave was just ahead. Shadows appeared on the wall, created by the flickering light. Lucifer stepped through the mouth and saw a giant cavern with torches mounted on the walls. There were dozens of demons, stripped down to their waists with their wings proudly on display. They chanted and hollered in a joyous tone, screaming the name of the one they came to see.

All their backs were to him. Lucifer decided to use that to his advantage and he moved behind the crowd, trying to go around them. Or at the very least find some higher vantage point to see just what they were so excited about.

In front of the group, he could see a kind of stage—although it was really more of a small plateau. A figure climbed up to it and faced them, also dressed in a heavy cloak. When the hood was pulled back and the cloak dropped, Lucifer could see the man’s face—short, dark hair with a chinstrap beard that perfectly framed his square jaw and mouth. It was a demon that Lucifer had never given much thought to, one who he’d imprisoned within Cocytus as part of a deal he’d made with Luther Cross.

Now, Lucifer could make out the name that the demons were chanting. And he remembered that Beelzebub had mentioned rumors about a new threat in the Badlands, one that had possibly escaped from the prison.

“Raum…” Lucifer whispered, though his tone was the opposite of the crowd’s. Instead of jubilation, Lucifer spoke the name with a sense of dread.

14

Not too long ago, Lucifer had made a deal with the man named Luther Cross. At the time, Cross ruled over a realm of Hell himself and his rule was being challenged by other demons, Raum among them. Lucifer promised to help rid Cross of his enemies and in exchange, Lucifer made Cross agree to do a favor for him later on down the line. That favor was what finally gave Lucifer the opportunity to abdicate the throne.

Raum fancied himself a liberator of sorts. An anarchist who wanted to overthrow the existing power structures of Hell. With all the Cocytus escapees, it never even occurred to Lucifer that some of them would remain in Hell, or that Raum would be among them.

“Welcome, brothers and sisters,” said Raum, addressing the crowd. “I look around at this gathered assemblage of demons, and do you know what I see? I see the outcasts. Even in Hell, we’re considered undesirable and we have no place. So since the time of The Fall, our kind has been forced to fight for our own survival in the Badlands. Out here, we are beset upon by all manner of threats. Harsh conditions and vicious beasts prey on us. All while the Infernal Court betrays the very principles they claimed to have fought for.”

Cheers erupted in response to Raum’s speech and he paused to bask in their embrace.

“They’re no better than the angels they rebelled against,” Raum continued. “They said they embraced freedom, but what did they do the second they arrived in Hell? They formed a ruling coalition and divided this land up into territories for them to reign over!”

The crowd responded with jeers and insults directed at the Infernal Court. Raum once more paused and waited for his opportunity to speak.

“And in those territories, can anyone question their rule?”

“NO!” the crowd responded.

“Are the residents inside free to live as they please?”

“NO!”

“No, of course not,” said Raum. “They’ve betrayed their principles and become exactly what they hate. And who’s