The High Order

10. Dukes of Hell

10. Dukes of Hell

1. In the early morning as the Sun rose above the city of Hell, Dan was enjoying a well prepared plate of bacon and sausages in the shimmering chrome kitchen of Satan's palace. He was soon to be joined by a yawning Lucifer in his bathrobe, shuffling in slippers across the waxed flooring to the fridge to pick out milk for breakfast cereal.

"hey Lucifer, can I ask you something?" Dan inquired.

"depends if I'm awake enough to answer" Lucifer sat on the other side of the kitchen island and began to eat from his bowl.

"I have heard a lot about a feud that you demons have with the angels in Heaven. What happened there, and are you all as pissed off with each other as they say?" Dan finished his plate as Lucifer began to speak.

"the great feud has a very hazy cause and effect action to it, but dad always told me it was originally rooted in the massive fuck-up known as the Tower of Babel. Three millennia ago, it was rumoured that the human world built a tower that would make them closer to God and Heaven. God got angry and blew up the tower with his mind or something. It somewhere in the middle east, you know, where the humans fight each other all the time" the tired Lucifer struggled to become awake.

"a tower, really?"

"yeah, really. I don't know or want to know the whole gist of it. All I know is that Heaven and Hell hate each other, and I don't see what my father did that was so wrong in the first place" Lucifer told Dan. Desiring to understand the truth, Dan quickly dressed himself and explained to Lucifer that he wanted answers as Blood Moon Day was coming, and if he could find a loophole to ease the feud, maybe the prophecy did not have to come to pass. He headed out to a place where he thought he would find answers, leaving Lucifer back at the palace to his own devices. Whatever caused the feud had to be something of gargantuan proportions to lead to something as apocalyptic and gory as Blood Moon Day.

2. Across town in the forested suburbs of Niflheim, a crimson sleek Lamborghini pulled up to the quaint hunting cabin of Gustav the colonizer. Lucifer came out of the car, proceeding to the front door of the log hut. Away from his magnificent mansion in the more urbanized parts of Niflheim, this snow-capped cabin was a place where Gustav liked to unwind after a day's work. Lucifer tapped the board door three times, then opened it up.

"may I come in?" he asked to no reply. Down the hall on the back porch, he could see Gustav polishing a brass elephant gun on tilt from the comfort of an antique rocking chair, with a slight snowfall twinkling through the towering dark pines.

"ah, Lucifer, my boy" the man replied.

"what are we using today. Rifle or crossbow. Your pick, I don't mind" Lucifer took a wooden and metallic Winchester off of the mantle above the fireplace, whisking slowly outside to the back patio.

"actually, maybe we should have no hunting sport today" Gustav rested the elephant gun upright on the outhouse bannisters.

"what do you mean?" Lucifer sat on a stool opposite his mentor.

"I mean that you have surprised me with your skill and stamina, but now you need to master your emotions and your body. I recommend you go see a friend of mine, lives in Rampart by the river" Gustav twiddled his white moustache.

"who?" Lucifer spoke.

"Minister Satsuma. Lives by a code of sorts. Very determined, enlightened man. I will give you the address" Gustav got up and went inside the cabin. He placed his pith helmet on a coat handle by the mantlepiece.