The Children of Zegandaria by Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov (top novels to read .TXT) 📕

But why had she been the one to receive the medallion! Why were the demons afraid to touch her! What was the secret!

She had clearly seen the vast elements of destruction, and clearly realized the magnitude of the last war fought between the two races.

"And what has changed so much since then?," she thought sadly, "Only the weapons have become different!"

Behind her she heard a demonic laugh and gasped. She expected hordes to come rushing in from above and tear her to pieces. But no such thing happened.

Behind her, she saw... Agares.

The old man calmly walked over and sat down beside her, undisturbed. She was stunned. And it hadn't crossed her mind to use the pendant that hung around her neck!

My dear girl, I don't want your locket or your hidden powers! Nor have I followed on your heels, I only want you to know that you are doomed to run, but I can help you.

- "What will you want in return?," she asked him fearfully.

- "Only to save my own skin!," the demon said firmly, but kindly enough so as not to frighten her.

Whatever that meant, the girl shivered.

- "I'm afraid there's no other food around," the demon tried to cheer her up. "But I'm bringing this-that. And began to whip out delicious dishes."

There was a lovely cake, a delicious roast of tyrfan, and the finest Ensarian wine.

Kibera barely swallowed her saliva. Agares was no prude by any means and invited her to the table.

After they finished the feast, he decided to play cards in the open.

- "Look, my girl, Emborian is showing signs of weakness to become a supreme Mag Tu. You seem a far better prospect. Of course, there is no perfect candidate," he paused briefly, "but let's be realistic. Emborian began his obedience with disobedience. The forces of darkness don't like that! Not for anything else, but because the delicate balance could collapse too easily, and that would cause unforeseen consequences that would not be pleasant for anyone. I won't waste your time. Your medallion, as powerful as it is, is nothing compared to the full power of Hell, so don't get all high and mighty!," his tone became a little harsher."

Kibera didn't dare object. He was hardly lying to her. He might as well stab her in the back if he wanted to take it!

- "Now let me tell you just a little more," the old man went on calmly. "I am the demon of friendships, tongues, and command thirty infernal legions. But I have not come to boast. On the contrary! I mean that you have a mission - a very important one at that! Do you accept it?"

Kibera hesitated - she had never eaten food from Hell. She thought it tasted like hell.

On the other hand, whether out of scruples or some other conviction, she had tried to save her supposed brother Emborian. Her feelings were somewhat divided! It was not easy for her to make her decision!

The demon stood quietly by her side, quite politely taking a sip of Ensarian wine, "Let the turbid ones have it-it was divine ambrosia! It hit you right on the head!"

Kibera was silent for quite a long time!

- "Tell me, actually, how strong is Hell?," she asked him.

- Well - how can I tell you, when I count the more famous demons in Hell and the forces under their command, it comes out to over a thousand legions at least.

- "A thousand!," gasped Kibera.

- There's about three thousand demons in each.

- "Wait, so that's three million," she shouted, jumping to her feet.

- But if we add in the minor units - the number of legions is over ten thousand.

- "That's impossible!," she stammered.

- That's thirty million demons!

- "Well, to be honest, they're not even that many," Agares cried, "The forces of light may outnumber us, but that's not part of my duties. And we're straying from the main point of our conversation."

- "Who do you serve?," she continued to question him.

- "I serve Lord Valak," the demon bared his teeth, though he continued to look like the most harmless old man.

Kibera finally, didn't hold back:

- "If you're so immensely powerful, wielding magic and so on and so forth, what do I have to contribute to your strength?," she cried, clenching her fists.

- "Well, you're thinking childishly, my girl," the demon spoke resignedly, "It's not a question of the powers of this and that, but of the combined strength of either camp. One small change can tip the scales!"

- "What about the amulet?," she inquired.

- "It is the Pendant of a Thousand Wishes. The most powerful demonic artifact ever created," Agares addressed her gravely.

Kibera began to grasp everything.

- "So I'm a demon too?," she sniffed the ground.

- In part - your mother, or rather grandmother, is the strongest female demon in Hell - Lilith[23].

Kibera screamed and fell on her eyes!

- "It's all right," Agares tried to console her, "Everything will fall into place. You just thought. Is it worth sacrificing your future for a brother who destroyed his only benefactor?"

Kibera listened as if spellbound, but soon came to her senses. Something still didn't add up.

- "And why did you need Emborian?," she asked.

- "Because of the concerns of one of the Infernal Lords," Agares replied, a little evasively.

- "Who, exactly?," continued Kibera, persisting.

- "Valak," was the answer.

The two of them stood and stared at each other for a while - realizing they were of the same breed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: CHILD OF HELL

Kibera accepted the offer even though some remorse gnawed at her. Agares agreed to reveal Hell's secrets to her, but asked to touch the medallion again.

- "It's really strong," he murmured. "But you shouldn't hope on it alone. You too have immense power. It will only magnify and channel it to some extent."

Kibera soon learned the names of most of the hell lords and their power and subordinates. Learn that you cannot call names their names whenever and however she could without affecting her own safety. She learned what was considered moral in Hell and what was not!

She learned that the power of an arbitrary demon is not related to the power it wields, but there are other factors at play.

Agares also revealed about the role of demons in the previous war.

- The great war for Au Kaktir was no accident. Neither was the emergence of the race of the guarron, the demon spoke, lowering his words skillfully.

Soon, she even had the chance to know the truth of the entire war.

- "So the man thought himself a god," she almost wept.

- "Well, roughly speaking, yes," the demon replied. "But the real tragedy lay in something else. Few people are aware of what is actually good and what is actually evil! As much as you don't want to believe it, you're one of the exceptions!"

- "But am I a demon?," she whispered.

- "Well, technically you are somewhat, but you can tell right from wrong and take sides, and that's important, it's even a matter of life and death!," the demon continued. "Look, good people go to Hell[24] too, as much as you might not like to believe her, but that's another topic again."

- "Look, sweetheart, Hell is the common grave of the human race," pronounced Agares at last.

- "Sounds rather sad," she whispered.

- "Sad or not, that's what it is," the demon confirmed. "That's why I'm the demon of friendships. Well, some say - of false friendships, but he whole life is one big lie or illusion."

Kibera started down one of Rodwell's low slopes. Many and fierce battles had been fought here. She was well aware of it all. Deep down she was convinced that she was following the path of truth. So wasn't 'demon' and 'god' the same thing. She had never heard of light creatures, and neither had anyone on the planet Zegandaria, but her mentor claimed they existed.

- "The light," he'd said, "is simply the other face of darkness. You'll find out what this whole tangled conflict is really about very soon," the demon promised her.

Rodwell was so sad and melancholy. Filled with the raw beauty of destruction. There was nothing to argue over the matter of creation. Men had long since learned to destroy and make conflict out of nothing!

- "Why is all this necessary?," asked Kibera the same question, like good old Pindor when he was wracked with remorse in his gloomy cell.

Agares decided to help her a little in finding the answer.

- Look, my girl, nothing in life in this world or the next is accidental. The laws that drive existence are similar only there are some small differences, the demon continued mentoringly.

The slope ended and they were now descending a rather gentle cliff that was perhaps not entirely safe. Agares offered his help and Kibera climbed onto the mechanical crocodile which quickly carried them to the foot.

Being a demon had some advantages though.

Agares tried to be somewhat forgiving of the woman or girl's tender age and forgive her some things - he'd still learn better from Emborian, who wanted to sink deeper anyway.

- "In the name of Shax,"[25] Agares muttered, "what do my eyes see? Rodwell had changed in one of his parts. There was a huge hole in the middle of it, but due to the nature of the topography it was still not visible from a distance."

The hole was open and continued to widen.

- "Emborian is indeed the chosen one!," the demon whispered so softly that Kibera could not hear him. "No one can open a direct portal to Hell. It is simply impossible!"

Kibera saw the enormous hole in the middle of which absolutely nothing was visible and realized that she herself was incapable of accomplishing this.

She was absolutely certain that Emborian had let her escape after seeing what he was capable of.

Turned Agares was gone. The hole was closing in on her and would soon swallow her. The ground was sliding down furiously and disappearing into the nothingness of infinity - into an open eye of death!

Something terrible was waiting for her downstairs!

Kibera clenched her fists and began ordering magic words. The hole kept getting bigger.

CHAPTER THIRTY: DEATH TRAP

Archdemon like Agares was not yesterday. He was one hell of a duke, and he knew that the balance had long been broken. Many would die, and the hour had almost struck for him to summon the entire infernal host for another decisive and spectacular clash.