The High Order

23. Sympathy for the wicked

23. Sympathy for the wicked

1. Dan wormed his drunken way out of La Noire, the first and only nightclub in Purgatoria after a night of intensive partying, drinking and smooth-talking. The streets were well lit by street lamps and more modern eco-lights. Dan stood with his back against the wall, breaking a bottle that dropped from his hands. He began singing to himself as he walked down Coast street towards the Donaghan park, a small patch of verdant green in the middle of town, a far cry from the majestic forests that took up most of the island. There he slurred upon seeing several Purgatorians in dark clothing with brightly colored hair talking to each other and smoking on the park benches.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Dan attempted to walk straight in meeting the Dusk.

"Dan, my bro, is that you. Damn you look hammered" a light blue-haired Dusk member greeted the drunkard.

"just a little tipsy" Dan shook himself awake, steadily regaining his sobriety. Purgatorians and other immortals had a very high tolerance to drugs and alcohol and were able to expel the toxins in their systems out at will through their sweat.

"Hey man, you remember us, we gave you that book and stuff after you did some shit for us, I don't remember what, but it was awesome man" the blue Dusk spoke. He wore a backward baseball cap from the human world and had ripped off the sleeves of his everyday dark outfit.

"oh yeah, look what I can do now" Dan gave the Dusk a display of what he had learned from the codex, spewing dark and light magic in structured flurries at the expense of several trees in the park, generating a round of applause from the nearby Dusk clansmen.

"great man. listen, you're cool and all, which is why we're going to let you in on a little secret. There is an Oracle who lives at Camp Liberon. If you want something answered, he knows it. Trust me bro, this guy is unbelievable" the blue Dusk wrapped an arm around Dan's shoulder.

"where's this camp?"

"Just north of Mount Virgil on the north-eastern tip of the island, he'll be there" the blue Dusk gave directions.

"well, thanks man"

"hold on bro. sorry, but I don't just give our free info like that. You have to pony up" the blue Dusk put a hand on Dan.

"I don't really have any money"

"who said anything about money man?. we've heard pf something the demons in Hell get high on all the time. They say Lucifer loves the stuff. They call it Flaming Glory. We need you to score us some" the blue dusk offered.

"Lucifer?, didn't know he was like that. What does it look like, a powder, a pill?"

"no bro, it's definitely weed" the blue dusk said.

"can't you just get weed from the human world?, they have plenty there"

"We could, but where's all the fun in that. Besides, this shit is exclusive to Hell, no one else has it except for those dudes down there. So that's our price, just get us some of that sweet goodness" the blue Dusk explained.

"fine, I'll be right back" Dan tumbled across the park before vanishing in a flash back to Hell.

2. Dan returned to Lucifer's palace, proceeding straight to the drawers in his master bedroom, where he usually kept things that were both important and irrelevant to him. Filing through the cabinet, Dan saw no trace of anything drug related. Perhaps the Dusk had been lying to him in order to get him in dodge with Lucifer, and yet Dan continued his search. Scouring through the palace and asking the butlers he found no evidence of the Flaming Glory except empty wrappers for the drugs he had previously consumed, until one butler told him it was sold at several venders at the Hell market across town in the district of Absinthe not far from Vittorio's Green. When Dan flew across Hell and discovered the market, he found numerous thatched street venders and advertising blocks selling numerous products from multi-colored stalls.