The Fall of an Empire

A wave of dread washed over Lucifer as he walked through the blackened forest. He pushed it away, forcing himself to continue onwards. Remember, this is all your fault anyway.  He repeated those words over and over, emblazing them into his skin like a burning torch.  His spine crawled with anticipation, and all he could do was put one foot in front of the other.  Left, right. Left, right. Left- he paused, forcing his body to come to a still.

Was there someone in this forest? He listened, pressing his slender body up against a tree trunk. He could hear the crackling of the dark purple leaves that lined the forest floor. It seemed to be coming from behind him. The noise got closer, the faint crackles becoming louder and louder. Whoever this is sure isn’t very good with stealth, he thought, rolling his eyes a little. 

He could see a rustle in the bush behind him, signaling that whoever was there was about to show themselves. Three. Two. One.  Lucifer whirled around the tree trunk he was pressed against, unsheathing his two daggers at an alarming rate. His attacker leapt out of the bush, and his blades came face-to-face with....a deer. A timid, tiny, white doe. It sniffed the edges of his shadowy daggers, before letting out a meek whine. Scampering away, it ran straight past him and disappeared through a particularly thick part of undergrowth. 

Something dark and twisted lurched within him, and for a horrid instant he considered killing the dear. It would be ridiculously easy, all he would have to do was catch up with it and cast a reverse-necromancy spell on it. Or he could just behead it. 

No,no, no, NO. Lucifer needed to calm himself. This night was all about fixing his sins, not creating more of them. Even in his young age, he had done more evil than most men would do in several lifetimes. He fully deserved what lay ahead of him.

He had hurt so many people, and he knew it. He had caused so much pain and suffering in so many places.. Destroyed so many lives, tearing apart each person from the inside out. And the worst part of all of it is that he enjoyed it. He reveled in making someone scream with horror, or watching a burning city wither away until it was nothing more than a remnant of the memories that were made there. No, that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part of what he had done was that he did exactly what people expected of him. He became his greatest fear.

It all started in the small village of Alvinnia. Alvinna was a small, quaint village that bordered one of the bigger cities. Even from the start, Lucifer knew he didn’t quite fit in. His silver hair and red-as-blood eyes stood out in the mundane life of the village. People would stare at him in the streets, pointing fingers and talking in hushed voices. Lucifer paid no mind to this at first: he was too young to care about what people thought of him, and too young to understand what the whispers were all about. 

As he grew older and older, people’s words started to bother him. Their once harmless insults became piercing daggers, slicing through his heart like it was made of butter. He became confused, wondering what was so different about him. That night, he went to his mother. He was twelve now, and desperately wanted to know why he was so different. 

“Mother, why don’t people like me?

“What do you mean, sweetie? I love you very much”

“Tell me the truth!” 

“ Well...are you sure you’re ready to hear this?”

“Yes, please tell me.”

“You’re aren’t from around here, honey.  You see... me and your father aren’t your real parents. Lucifer was stunned, but he needed to know the full story, so he stayed silent.

“ One night, when you were still an infant, we found you on our front porch. It was raining outside, so we took you in.  We were trying to have a child for several years, and you were like a blessing placed straight from heaven. You came with no note or anything, just that chain around your neck. We tried to take it off of you, but everytime we did so, our hands would get pushed away. We figured it was some magical power you possessed that was leaking out of you.” 

“But why does everyone glare at me because of that? What’s so bad about being powerful?” His mom hesitated, but he wouldn’t relent

“Tell me!”

“Y-You’re the devil’s child. F-from the prophecy. That’s why your name, Lucifer is tattooed on your wrist “ His mother blurted out, before gasping and placing a hand over her mouth. 

“W-what?” My voice cracked, before my mouth closed shut. Everyone knew about the old tale: Once every century, a child of unusual magical essence would be born. This child, with silver locks and demon’s eyes would follow in the devil’s footsteps, and carry out his legacy. Lucifer knew he was different, but he never imagined something like this.

As he grew into a teenager and young adult,, the rift between him and others widened even further. People ran from him on the streets, eyes pointed in fearsome accusation. They shouted vicious things at him, calling out horrid insults and denying him of any service. Even so, he was determined to become something different. He would be a force for good. This was his mantra, and he repeated it over and over in his head until he couldn’t even consider the possibility of doing something malicious. 

Besides-his power wasn’t any more potent than anyone else. Everyone knew that the easiest way to gain more power was to take the life of another -creature or human, and Lucifer would never intentionally hurt someone. Never.

This all changed when Lucifer came home to his adopted parents house one fateful evening. It was a stormy summer day, the kind that had a general feeling of darkness to it. He had blocked out most of the memories from that day, but the sight of their charred and bloody bodies would haunt him forever. He could remember the sinking feeling that crashed into his body, an emotional pain so intense he fell to his knees. This was all his fault. The only people who loved him were dead, and it was on his behalf. 

Everything after that went black. Lucifer spent the next few days in grief, before a cold, hardened anger settled beneath his eyes. Why should he bring good to the world? This world was a dark, horrid place.No one would ever bring good to him. People were selfish, not even sparing a glance for someone else. Everything just seemed so sickeningly awful to him. He wanted nothing more but to make people suffer the way he was. So at sixteen, the Black Hearts Empire came into shape.

It started with a single person. Just one single person that did him wrong. He confronted the man who,of course, threatened to kill Lucifer. That man never took a single breath again. Lucifer went on his way, taking more lives and gaining magical power in the process. Of course, he gained a few  loyal companions, but he preferred to operate alone. His was a one-man empire, and he kept it that way. He became known as the “Devil’s Killer” and people began to fear that trademark head of silver hair. But Lucifer was always a clever boy, and he soon realized that there were much worse ways to torture people than simply slaughtering them. 

Manipulation. Slavery. Torture. He knew that by putting someone’s life on the line could make them submissive very quickly, and he used this to the best of his ability. The more people he killed, cities he burned, forests he demolished,  the more a twisted part of him grew. It was planted deep within his heart, ever since the day his parents were killed.

In the present, this part of him still existed. The memories of what he had done were constantly pressed into the back of his head. They would always be there, and Lucifer didn’t think he could live with that. He let out a shaky breath, realizing he had been thinking of the past for far too long. He needed to make all of this right, and there was only one way he could do that. He had to do this. 

Lucifer finally reached the clearing he was looking for. It was in the very center of the forest, one of the ones he hadn’t destroyed for more power. Every living creature -plant, animal, human, or other contained a certain magical essence. Some were stronger, and some were weaker. If that living thing was killed or destroyed, the magical power would go straight to the killer. Laws were put in place against that, of course, but laws never had much of an impact on Lucifer. 

If any one person had too much power, the world would start to lose it’s balance. Flowers would wither, people would get sick, and buildings would slowly start to crumble. And Lucifer was that one person. The only way for the balance to be restored was through the death of said powerful person, excluding homocide.

That was why he had to do this. This was necessary. It was the only way he could fix his mistakes. The only way, he repeated to himself, pulling the fireworks out of his satchel. They were potent fireworks (he infused them with a couple spells) and would most certainly alert anyone in a twenty-five mile radius of his location. He was certain people would know it was him too, as the fireworks were arranged to design a black heart. Lucifer allowed a small smile to work it’s way on his face. He had always been a fan of dramatic exits and entrances. If you’re going to go out, go all out, he thought. 

As he positioned the fireworks on the ground, he thought about what -or who- put him in this position in the first place.  His sister.  Yes, that was it, his sister. He still remembered the day he met her for the first time. It was when he was operating through an underground base in one of the corrupted forests. By that time, he had already claimed the lives of many, and people lived in constant fear of him and his undead servants. He referred to them as servants, but really they were victims. They were the people he slaughtered, brought back to life using necromancy as he forced them under his will. They had no more magical power, but sometimes the most unassuming people are the ones who can do the most evil. He had an army of them around this time, meaning that he should have been in high spirits. He wasn’t. Lucifer was lonely, broken, and hurt. He had no way of facing this though, so he simply stemmed his feelings into pure hate.

He was having a particularly bad day when a striking young lady and her even more attractive companion marched into his throne room. He was about to launch a dark spell at them, when he made eye contact with the girl. Those eyes, they were his, burning a bright crimson as they willed him not to attack.

Shocked, he lowered his hands, waiting for her to speak. He needed to know more about her. She told him that she was his sister, Nyssa. She was also the daughter of the devil, and possessed similar powers as him. People disliked her too, but she explained that she only used her power for good. Her partner, she explained, was Liam. Liam  possessed extreme magical capabilities like himself, and he met Nyssa while traveling. 

Nyssa calmly told him that there was a way he could live without hurt, without pain, if only he stopped the vile things he was doing. She claimed they could be family, and that things would be much better together. 

It seemed so absurd, that two magicals would strut into his throne room, without a care in the world about their lives, but he was certain they were telling the truth. And for a second, he almost considered accepting. He almost considered throwing his empire away, and attempting to make amends for his sins. Maybe he could  be a better person. Then he remembered the look on his adoptive parent’s faces as their corpses rotted away.

This world was evil. It was a dark and terrible place. There was no reason to try and be a better version of himself, because the world itself was corrupted. The only way to escape the pain he felt emotionally was to take control.Nothing would get in his way of complete and utter power. Not even his sister.

Instead of taking her offer, he doubled his efforts at creating a world where no one was alive to hurt him. More people burned, or rotted away in the cells of the prison he created. Though no matter how many times he had the urge to kill his sister, he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it.

It was just the look in her eyes, familiar and longing, that kept him from slaughtering her and her companions. Maybe then was when Lucifer  realized the horror in his actions.

No, he didn’t realize it until much later.  It was after he had moved on from terrorizing small villages, to large, bustling cities. Eventually he got close enough to the country’s capital, that people realized that they needed  to do something. In fact, it was Nyssa who first brought up the idea of a national guard. It would be created of a small team of select magicals, who would supposedly be able to match him in power and intellect. And thus forth, the Light Guard was formed.

Even now he rolled his eyes slightly. Most of the members of the Guard were cowards, and would probably just half-heartedly attempt to hurt him before scampering away. The only member of it Lucifer truly respected was Liam, his sister’s clever and rather attractive travel partner. There was something bright about Liam, something warm and accepting, but Lucifer could tell that the guy was hurting inside. He could tell that part of Liam liked darkness, and that he wasn’t completely full of sunshine. Maybe if I was a better person we could have been friends, Lucifer thought. Maybe if I wasn’t such a wretched, screwed-up nobody I wouldn’t always be alone. That was the thing. Lucifer wasn’t a nobody. Everybody lived in constant terror of the young man with smoking red eyes and pale-as-the-moon hair. Everyone knew of him, and the cruel acts he committed.

But no one ever really knew him. No one would ever understand him, which was probably the real reason why Lucifer was in this forest tonight. Nothing except for what he was about to do would fix the mistakes he made. And even then, he could never bring back the lives he had taken for his own sake. The worst thing about what he did was that it didn’t even help ease his pain. It just made the dark, twisted hole inside of him bigger and bigger until he felt completely numb.

At this point, Lucifer’s hands were wildly shaking. Even so, he took a deep breath as he muttered the words for a fire spell. Once his hands were bursting alight with orange-toned flames, he pressed his hands to the fireworks. Stumbling away, he watched as the purple sparks flew to the sky above, creating loud pops for several minutes before fading away. He knew people would hear them, he was only a mile from the center of town. It was time. He felt so incredibly dreadful, but the adrenaline rushing through him was enough to move his arms as he slowly picked up one of his daggers, twirling in his hand. 

Not long after, he could hear the distant crunching of footsteps. They came at a fast pace, and Lucifer knew exactly who they belonged to. One would be his sister, confused and apprehensive until she realized his intentions. Another would be Liam, ready to give what he assumed to be a final fight his all. Several more would be members of the light guard, here for backup. 

And now, Lucifer himself would never have to suffer again. He would never make anyone else hurt again. The world would be rid of him, and he would finally be rid of the world.  This was the end of his reign of terror. He listened attentively, trying to come up with an excuse to get out of what he was about to do. He couldn’t think of one. The footsteps came closer and closer, and Lucifer started to panic. But he knew what he had to do.  So,taking one last breath of air,  he raised the dagger clutched in his hand, plunging it straight into his heart.