The Nothingness 4: Reborn

Author’s Note: The events in this story happen roughly 30 years after Angel of Death.

“There is no other way. If we do not proceed, humanity as we know it shall perish. And, as a bonus, I will do it for you.” Angelo frowned. “I am not so sure about this. Sending so many people to an early grave has never been done before. There may be hidden consequences.” Satan frowned. “What could possibly happen? There is no other way to solve this problem. Either a few people die now, or the entire human race dies slowly, poisoned by the very things that they themselves have created.” Angelo sighed. “I suppose you are right. Both you and the lord suggest it.” The devil grinned. “I have not been on earth for more than 4 millennia, and I wish to visit it once more, despite the fact that I feel slightly unwell.” Angelo raised an eyebrow. “Indeed?” He asked. “It is certainly perplexing. My lord feels somewhat weaker as well. Perhaps in Necrolus’ absence, less souls have been arriving?” The devil shook his head. “My grim reaper does the job just as good as your angel did it. No, there is another reason…” The devil then got up and grinned. “I have things to do,” He then said, a malicious glint in his eye, “so I must leave.”

It was a dark day for everyone. Heaven, Hell, Nothingness, even Earth suffered. It was the day where the other realms directly interfered with earth. This had not been done since Jesus had been born, more than 2000 years ago. You see, humanity had reached the point where it was slowly beginning to kill itself. Pollution was killing the planet, and those who dwelled on it. In several years the population of the world would be so large that planet earth would not be able to sustain humanity any more. The result: The death of every human on earth, and quite a few animals as well. War and pollution would scar the planet beyond repair. The solution was rather cruel, but effective. Kill a few humans now, so those later could live. In the absence of the Angel of Death, the next best person to slaughter humans was the Devil himself.

It was a cloudy day. A crowd had gathered in front of a podium, eager to listen to the speech the mayor was about to deliver about some new highway, when a darkly clad figure seemed to appear from nothing. It deemed this large city a good place to start. All eyes where on the podium, so no one saw the stranger arrive in his strange manner. The cloaked figure started walking through the crowd, and unpleasant memories and feelings following in his wake. The sky grew darker by the second, and the people parted to allow this figure to pass through, for some unseen force compelled them to move aside. Those the figure passed shivered and all happy thoughts were driven from their heads. Such was the effect of the Lord of Darkness upon the mortals of Earth.

The figure reached the front of the podium, and it tensed, then sprung high up into the air, above the crowd, and landed upon the wooden stage with a cracking sound. The wood below him splintered and the creature stepped forwards and the startled mayor was hurled backwards, into the crowd, by an invisible hand. The figure paused as the entire crowd stared at it, and it ripped its cloak off, revealing an incredibly handsome man in a suit, with a bowler hat atop his head. A walking stick rested in his hand. “Greetings, humans! I am a harbinger of doom, yet I also bring a glimmer of hope with me. But,” the devil paused and grinned, “let me introduce myself first. I am known as Lucifer, Lord of the Underworld.” It was then that two huge security guards climbed the podium and advanced upon the Lord of Darkness with pistols in their hands. “Put your hands in the air!” They shouted, almost simultaneously. The devil sighed and raised his walking stick. He brushed a button and a wicked sword came from its end. There was a gasp from the crowd, and the security guards stood motionless, too surprised to react.

Lucifer sprang into action, twirling the sword about so incredibly fast that the human eye could only detect a blur. A fragment of a moment later the guards fell to the floor, in a pool of their own blood, their throat’s cut and several other major arteries punctured. Satan flicked his blade and blood splattered the podium. The crowd was too shocked to make any noises at all. In the distance, a dog began to bark. “As I was saying, I am the Devil. And I have been sent by the lord himself to save humanity. Now I won’t waste time explaining why, so to make a long story short: I will level this entire city, and a quite a few others, for if I do not you shall destroy the entire human race in the distant future. I’m sorry to have to do this,” he grinned wickedly, “but it must be done. You will all die.”

He raised his hands and gave a shout, and then the Devil raised his hands and his eyes began to glow red. A few members of the crowd began to scream, and the devil sighed. He dropped the last of his defenses, and the fire that followed him everywhere he went was released, and a wave of pure flame rippled outwards from the podium, consuming almost everything in its path. The sky turned pitch black and lightning bolts began to strike the city’s skyscrapers. Columns of fire burst from Satan’s hands which randomly flew over the city, like huge fiery snakes. Burning rain began to fall, whilst fire continued to spread outwards from the devil. He shouted at the glory of the destruction when, all of a sudden, someone punched him hard in the stomach.

The devil staggered backwards, and all his magic instantly disappeared. Fire stopped raining, and the columns of fire dissipated. Huge clouds of smoke billowed up from the burning city and the devil stood to see who had struck him. A man stood there, holding his fists ready. He had somehow gotten past the fire. Lucifer gazed in surprise at the man, as did Angelo, who was watching from high above. “Did that fool of an archangel send you?” The man looked confused and he shouted “I don’t care, just leave my city alone!” Satan continued to look surprised and he approached the man, and grabbed him by the arm. Horrifying images invaded this man’s mind and if he had been a mere man, he would have died instantly. But Satan could feel that this person was no angel either. He was a man, yet he possessed extraordinary powers.

In the history of the world, there where only two men who possessed magical powers, and one of them had sent Satan to do this chore. The other was dead. Yet this man was neither God, nor was he the late Cyril, Lord of Nothingness. “What are you?” Satan said, and the man roared and grabbed Satan by his shoulders. Satan shouted, for the man’s touch was like burning fire to him, and his very energy was dissipating at his touch. The devil grabbed his opponents shoulder, and his enemy too grimaced. And so the battle began. Both creatures dissipated each other’s energy. Winner would be he who would remain standing. On any other day, Satan might have won, but he had drained himself by setting fire to this city, and he quickly crumpled. Satan fell backwards, into the pile of ash that was the remains of the stage he had stood on. The young man stepped backwards, dazed, and he staggered away, unaware what he had done. This troubled young man possessed extremely dangerous and deadly powers, and he had used them to stop the devil from destroying his city. He had somehow survived the devil’s fire, and had succeeded in incapacitating the Lord of the Underworld. And he was merely human.

Angelo held his head in his hands. On the chair opposite, Beelzebub, Angelo’s demonic equivalent, sat. “Why have you called me up here? And why has my master not yet returned?” He demanded furiously. Angelo looked up and said “We have a rather large problem. Huge problem. You see, your master set out today to destroy a few cities, so as too reduce the population, but he was attacked in the middle of it. An unknown man interrupted him and then proceeded to battle him, eventually depleting your master’s energy and leaving your lord in a coma.” Beelzebub stared for a moment and then said “You’re lying. No one is more powerful than my lord except for God.” Angelo sighed. “Look for yourself.” He said and waved his arm. The air before them rippled and Beelzebub saw the past: His master grappling this powerful human. Then his master faltered, and the human staggered off. “How is this possible?” Beelzebub said, aghast. “This will have dire consequences.”

Angelo sighed once more. “It is my belief that that man is a combination of Cyril and Necrolus. You see, when they disappeared, their energy remained. Now energy like that can’t just float around, it needs a host. Somehow this energy found a host. That stranger. Somehow, it went inside him. It would seem as though he just discovered the incredible power at his disposal.” For an instant, a look of greed overcame Beelzebub, then it disappeared again. If he was to somehow control this man…then he and his master would be invincible. Angelo looked disgusted. “You’re always thinking about yourself. We have more on our hands than the dispute of our masters.” Beelzebub raised an eyebrow. “And what might that be?” “You said it yourself, your lord’s condition has dire effects upon the rest of us. You might have noticed, that of late your and my lord have been feeling rather drained lately. After I dispatched your lord on his mission, I spoke with mine. It seems as though with Cyril’s absence, the Nothingness has nothing to sustain it, and it is slowly falling apart.” “What of it?” Beelzebub asked. “If the Nothingness collapses, everything inside it will too. That includes us. If we don’t act soon, the whole entire universe AND the Nothingness will be gone.”

“Without a power source, the Nothingness began to draw away energy from other sources, namely our lords. And now, your lord is incapacitated as well, God is holding all the realms together at the same time. He is losing energy fast and cannot help us at all. We must either find a way for him to heal faster, or, we must convince this stranger to become the new Lord of Nothingness, which is the most effective way, as it frees God and speeds up Lucifer’s recovery. So I suggest we descend to earth and convince this Entity to join us before it’s too late.”

Illiah Jones lay on the floor, weeping. His entire city, no, his entire life had just been destroyed. And he was feeling incredibly weak. Why had he survived? Why was he still here? Was there a reason he had survived? Who was that strange man whom he had fought with? He felt something above him. He looked up and saw an angel float down beside him, surrounded by a shining blue nimbus of light. Two large, white wings extended from his back. Perhaps, Illiah though, he was dead. A moment later a demon landed beside this angel, one with leathery, red wings. A dark red nimbus of light surrounded it. “Who are you?” He asked, his voice trembling. The angel and the demon looked at one another. They where invisible to mortal eyes. Seems they had the right man.

“We have come to help you.” Angelo said, soothingly. The man looked up, tears running down his cheeks. “We need your help.” The demon stepped forwards. “You have placed us all in a dire situation, and only you can save us all.” It said. Angelo glared at him and said “I shall have to explain some things.” He sighed. “For one thing, there is a God, a devil, a Heaven, and a Hell. There is also a third realm, that surrounds this universe, known as the Nothingness. This realm was, until recently, ruled by a man called Cyril. But he is now dead, and we believe that his spirit, and that of the angel of death, also deceased, is within you. You are what we call an Entity, a man with magical powers, like God, or Cyril. Cyril is dead, so there is nothing to sustain the Nothingness. God and Satan have been sustaining it for him, but they have been slowly losing energy. Now, Satan came down here to save earth by cutting the population a bit and-“ “A BIT? You call this destruction “a bit”?” Illiah gestured to the waste around him. “Yes, but the destruction that would have followed had Satan not done what he had done, would have been far, far worse. Now, back to business. You, and your powers have injured Satan and sent him into a coma.” “Good.” Illiah said, a vicious gleam in his eye.

“With Satan neutralized, God has to sustain Heaven, Hell, Earth and the Nothingness at the same time. He is tiring fast, and unless we, you, do something, the entire universe as you know it will be destroyed.” Illiah stared at him intently and then slowly said “I believe you. If it weren’t for your wings and your nimbus of energy, I wouldn’t. Though I hate to associate myself with murderers,” he spat the word, “I shall try and save the universe. So what do I do?”

Angelo pondered this for a moment. “You shall have to go to the Nothingness… but you must still be weak after your encounter with Satan….perhaps you could sustain Hell?” “Whoa…whoa…I ain’t going to Hell. No way.” Illiah stepped back. “Can’t I…sustain everything from here?” Angelo shook his head. “To sustain something, you must be in either Heaven, Hell or the Nothingness.” Suddenly Illiah shivered. “What is that?” He looked to the skies. “Something is coming!” He shouted as a dozen angels with black wings (not demonic ones, black ones) thundered from the sky. Angelo and Beelzebub drew their swords simultaneously and a black sword came into being in Illiah’s hands. Angelo froze for a moment as he saw the sword. “Necrolus’ sword.” He whispered, when the angels struck.

They struck the floor and instantly formed a circle, their swords held ready. Illiah, Beelzebub and Angelo all stood with their backs together. “Renegades!” Beelzebub laughed. “They are but simple renegades!” Renegade angels. They are the scum of Heaven and Hell. When the great war began, eons ago, these angels refused to fight for either side, preferring to split off and stay with the winner. Unfortunately, no one wanted them after the battle. They now traverse the universe, and occasionally, the Nothingness, in hopes of re-entering either Heaven or Hell.

Their leader, a tall angel with long black hair began the attack. He leapt forwards, violently slashing at Angelo’s head. His eleven comrades sprang forwards a moment later, and Beelzebub and Angelo barely held them back. Illiah, however, was left alone. Or so it would seem. When the renegades leapt forwards to attack once more, the leader left the fray, and before Illiah could even gasp, he was whisked upwards, and disappeared behind a cloud a moment later. The remaining angels launched upwards, following their leader. Angelo shouted “After them!” And launched himself upwards. He drove his sword into the head of one angel, and Beelzebub impaled another, but a moment later, the survivors disappeared. Things where not looking good. The one chance the universe had at surviving had just been stolen by a bunch of renegade angels, whilst God was barely holding the universe together, and Satan lay in a demonic coma. Not good at all.

When Illiah came to, he felt weak. He was lying on some dark rock. The sky above him shimmered red. He sat up. Everything else was red too. Then he realized that he was surrounded by some kind of large red dome. It was transparent, and he could see a dark landscape through it. He could also see several angels with black wings. They where a surly lot. They seemed tense. Looking up, Illiah saw a large black orb on the top of the dome. Simply looking at it made him feel ill.

He could also sense that this black orb was slowly siphoning away his power. It was sucking it away as soon as it regenerated, Illiah realized. Which meant he wouldn’t recover as long as the orb was up there. It also meant that the energy he had used to beat Satan wouldn’t return any time soon. Which meant he was low on energy. And he needed it to break out of his prison.

The leader of the grey angels approached the red dome and said “Welcome, Illiah. It is a pleasure to have an Entity here in our humble world.” “Who the Hell are you?” The angel laughed. “My name is Merael. I am the leader of the Renegade Angels.” “The what? Where am I? Let me out of this place!” He shouted, and leapt forwards. His fist struck the red dome and the red material rippled outwards from the point where he had struck it, like a surface of water. But this was not water. He struck the red shield again, and again it held, and rippled.

“Don’t even bother. With your current strength, you won’t get through. And thanks to that energy-zapper up there, you’ll stay that way. You have no idea what I went through to get hold of that orb. It is infused with dark and powerful magic.” Illiah was silent. “Let me tell you a bit of our people, and perhaps you will then understand why we have acted in this way. We are normally peaceful angels, but certain circumstances have driven us to violence. So let me tell you our story….”

It all began with the great war. The armies where gathering. Heaven was split into two. Those that had had enough of working for God, and those who wanted to stay with him. They where all fools. Whilst those noble idiots and those corrupted morons fought over Heaven, we distanced ourselves from them. We believed that violence solved nothing. We simply watched. When God won, and banished the demons down to that black hole, and we where happy. We figured things would go back to the way they had been. But God had different plans. He saw us as traitors for not joining him, and banished us from Heaven and from Earth. Satan, of course, banished us from Hell, so we had nowhere to go. Cyril, who was also neutral, let us wander his realm. And so we came here. It is one of God’s failures. It was the…third prototype of Earth, I believe. And it is a desolate, terrible place. But our actions, although violent, work only to end our suffering.

“CURSES!” Beelzebub shouted and an ill wind blew over the desolate field. “Those blasted Renegades got him! Now what do we do?” Angelo roared and said “I don’t know. We can try looking for him. But the chances of finding him before everything ceases to exist are virtually nil. There MUST be some other way of doing this!” Beelzebub looked up, a smile on his face. “Yes, there is one. Follow me.”

They where in Hell. The floor and walls where made of some sort of reddish stone, and smoke and ash covered everything, making it hard to see. And it was, of course, unbearably hot. “My lord has in his employ, a certain creature that may divine the whereabouts of our missing Entity.” Angelo stared at him. “The seer! I thought he had disappeared years ago!” Beelzebub smirked. “My lord decided keeping him would prove useful. It seems he was right.” They had arrived at a large stony door. Beelzebub rapped at it with his knuckles, and several deep, resounding booms echoed throughout the immediate surroundings.

The door swung open, and the arch angel and demon entered the home of the seer. Inside all was dark. The room seemed small, but it was too dark to see how big it really was. A table could be seen at one end, and behind it, a cloaked figure sat. “Welcome.” It rasped. Beelzebub walked up to the desk. “I need you to find a certain person. His name is Illiah. He is an Entity and is currently being held by some renegade angels. Now. Where is he?”

For a moment, there was silence, and then the seer laughed. “What will you pay me?” He asked. Beelzebub was surprised. “Pay? If you are lucky I won’t whip you for 1000 years!” The seer chuckled. “I know what you are doing, and in what trouble you are in. If I don’t tell you where he is, then you won’t be able to whip me for 1000 years.” “If you don’t help me, you will die!” “I do not care. I will, at least, be free from this cesspit you call home. No, I want payment.” Beelzebub scowled. “What do you want?” He snarled. “I want to be free. I want to get out of this place and live on Earth.”

Beelzebub seemed furious. He snapped his fingers, and a golden parchment appeared in his hand. He signed it with his finger, burning his name into the parchment, and tossed it at the seer, who looked at it for a moment. Then he, too, signed it. “It is done. NOW TELL ME WHERE HE IS!” Beelzebub shouted. Losing the seer had not been part of his plans. The seer was silent for a moment, and then he said “They are on Earth 3. It is completely burnt out. If you want to go and save everything, I suggest you leave now.”

Illiah struck the red wall. It rippled, and he struck it again. He had been doing this for hours. And the wall hadn’t even budged one bit. “Let me out!” He finally cried. Merael approached him once more. “You will stay in there until I say so.” Illiah beat his fists against the wall. “But I have to get out! You don’t understand! We’ll all die!” Merael smirked. “For eons my people have suffered. But I will finally end it! We will strike back at God and Satan, and our suffering will cease!” “But if I stay here, the whole universe will explode!” Merael looked him straight in his eyes. “I am counting on it.” Was all he said.

A few minutes later, the two associates floated in deep space. “I feel….ill.” Beelzebub said. Angelo nodded, his face pale. “God is losing power. And we are losing it with him…The end is near. Come on, my nemesis, we have to do this! If we are weak, so are they! We are the only ones who can do this. No one else is strong enough. Let us go!”

Merael instantly felt that something was wrong. He turned, and looked up. Two comets, one dark, one light, where speeding down towards them! “ARM YOURSELVES!” He shouted and pulled his sword just as the twin comets struck. An explosion of darkness and light hit the middle of the renegade angel’s camp. The smoke cleared and Angelo and Beelzebub stood there, swords ready.

The remaining angels recovered a moment later, and attacked. Their numbers had been reduced over the years, and only 9 had survived the explosion a moment before. These 9, who where also those who had kidnapped Illiah in the first place, where the most trained, but they where no where near as powerful as Angelo and Beelzebub, the second most powerful angels in all the realms.

Whilst the angels dueled, Illiah struck the walls of his prison in anger. He wanted out. He wished he had some kind of weapon to use on it….then he remembered the sword that he had held when he had been kidnapped. “Sword! Appear!” He commanded, and a wicked, black, sword appeared in his hands. This was no normal sword. It was the sword of Necrolus, the late angel of Death. It had been specially made by God and had the power to destroy everyone, save its maker. It had had a hand in the death of Cyril, who had been an Entity. So, when he slashed it at the wall before him, it was no surprise that it pierced the

magical shield.

Meanwhile, Angelo and Beelzebub fought back to back, and where fending of the renegades. Angelo had killed a foolish one, and Beelzebub had managed to kill another. But the remaining 7 angels warily circled the pair, striking at their blind sides and defending themselves. Beelzebub roared and blast of fire blinded the angels for a moment, and another renegade lost its head.

Illiah’s sword struck the wall, and went through. Huge cracks extended from the hole, and, a moment later, the entire shield collapsed, and the black orb above exploded. He looked at his surroundings properly for the first time and saw the fight before him. Perhaps he had sensed it, or perhaps it was mere luck, but Merael turned towards him in that precise moment, and their eyes locked. Merael shouted and dashed towards him, his wings buffeting him forwards. Illiah raised his sword as Merael’s came down, and a shower of sparks hit the floor. Merael held his sword firm, and jabbed suddenly, as quick as a cobra. Illiah leapt backwards. He had no idea how to fight with his weapon. Merael was a master.

Angelo roared, and charged forwards, bowling over three angels with his surprise move. Beelzebub took the chance to flee from the circle of foes and the arch angel and demon saw Illiah battle the renegade master. The two where exhausted, and couldn’t fight much longer. But, to buy their comrade some time, they would.

Merael struck swiftly, and the black sword was knocked from Illiah’s hands. Merael grabbed it quickly and discarded his own sword. “And now, fool, you will die.” He raised it high and Angelo, a few meters away, shouted and sent a ball of holy energy flying at the renegade. Merael turned to see the magic coming, and was struck on his shoulder. He flew to the side, but held tight to the black sword. Illiah grabbed Merael’s sword and stood high. He raised his sword.

Angelo and Beelzebub where fighting a losing battle. Both where almost completely drained. With God and Satan helpless, their energies where dwindling alongside their lords. But these renegades had no lord, and so the effect was greatly diminished. Angelo cried out as a sword sliced into his leg, and Beelzebub already sported several cuts and bruises.

Merael turned to Illiah, saw what he was doing, and leapt forwards. Angelo, in the same moment, also leapt, and tackled the renegade in mid-air. Beelzebub roared and a blast of fire consumed the angels, stunning them for a moment. He then leapt backwards, completely drained. The end of the universe was mere seconds away. As Merael and Angelo grappled in the dust, and the angels lay on the floor, blinded, Illiah stared into Beelzebub’s eyes, and plunged Merael’s sword into his own stomach. His eyes grew wide, and he fell forwards. He was dead a moment later.

Then, there was a loud roar, and in a gigantic ball of flame, Satan arrived. “What? You thought I’d miss this party?” He said, grinning sadistically, and sent a blast of hellish fire towards the stunned angels. It consumed them completely. Nothing remained. A whip of fire wrapped itself around Merael and he was yanked away from Angelo. He landed at Satan’s feet. “I’ve been waiting to do this for a long, long time. You are a traitor to both Heaven and Hell, and, for attempting to destroy the universe and the Nothingness, I sentence you to death.” And with that, Satan drove his sword deep into Merael’s skull.

As the sword had penetrated Illiah’s stomach, he had been yanked straight down to Hell, since suicide is a mortal sin. Illiah, being an Entity, had the advantage that his body followed him down to the underworld, and as he arrived, invisible tentacles of power extended outwards, first stabilizing Hell, then the universe beyond. The last of his power held it all together, and since the black orb that had been sucking his energy was gone, his depleted power storages had begun to recharge themselves. And so, for the moment, the universe was safe. Satan, the burden of holding his domain and the universe together whilst recovering from his fight with Illiah gone, had awoken and promptly dealt with the renegade angels. He had returned a moment later with his archdemon, and assumed control of Hell once more.

God awoke a moment later, and after much cleaning up (the lowering of the population of earth would be taken care of later) Illiah was promoted to Lord of Nothingness, which he still is today. And so ends this story.