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“Lucifer is free. If I can go back, I can stop him from doing more damage to Heaven, Earth, and Hell.”
And I can save Abaddon.
He had to be alive. I felt it, and, if nothing else, I knew the prophecy was still unfulfilled; that meant he was alive and, as long as he was alive, I could still help him. I just needed to get out of Hell first—no big deal.
“I just told you, there is no going back to Heaven,” said Missolis. “Or did your time in the Pit fry your hearing as well as your memory?”
“My hearing is fine, as is my memory…” I paused, choosing my words. “If the Pit isn’t an option, then we’ll just have to find another way out, right?”
“You think we have not spent millennia looking for a way out? If it were possible we would have done so already.”
“Demons get out of Hell all the time—I’ve personally dealt with many who have made it to Earth.”
“By possessing human hosts.”
“Well, maybe that’s not true anymore. Angels couldn’t keep physical form on Earth before God died, but we’ve all become mortal and Earth-bound since the Fall.”
“The what?” she asked.
“I’ll explain everything to you, I swear, but please, if there’s any way you can think of to get out of here, we have to try it.”
Missolis tapped her overgrown nails against the desk as she thought, weighing up this angel who had suddenly fallen into her midst and was now promising all the things she had hoped to hear for so long.
“Who are you?” She asked at last. “First, you tell me you were not sent here to save us, in fact you tell me that our worst nightmare has come true and Lucifer is free once more. And then, you tell me that all the angels are on Earth, locked out of Heaven as we are, but that we can escape and be amongst them?—”
“I haven’t promised anything.” I interrupted.
“Regardless. It is more hope than we have had in a very long time.” She stood up and started pulling heavy, fabric-like maps from a shelf behind her, “There is only one way into Hell, and only one way out that I know of, but it is heavily guarded and used only by one demon. To attempt to reach it is to risk eternal damnation at the hands of one of the worst monsters ever to exist.”
“As the humans say: it wouldn’t be worth doing if it wasn’t hard.” I smiled unconvincingly.
Missolis smirked. “Indeed, but consider the other human saying—you are either very brave, or very stupid.”
“That’s weirdly not the first time I’ve been told that,” I laughed. “But please, I need to get back.”
Her reluctance was palpable. I doubted whether it had anything to do with concern for my wellbeing, rather that this would be a direct incursion into enemy territory; deep enemy territory if I had to guess. This wasn’t a guerilla style attack we were talking about; it was a full on, cards-on-the-table operation that could get everyone killed—or worse.
I could see it in her eyes, if this went wrong, it would be the end of her, her rebels, and the small city she had protected for so long.
“If I tell you, you will leave this place and go on this fool’s errand. When he catches you, he will force you to tell him where my people are. I cannot risk that,” she said.
“Who will catch me?”
“Who else but Abaddon?”
“Abaddon…The First.” I breathed.
“There is a passage… a crack through the walls of this dimension somewhere inside of his Citadel. Abaddon is the only demon who has access to it, and he keeps it well guarded. There is no way for us to reach it, and even if we could, going to the Citadel now is a death sentence.”
“Now?” I asked. “Why now?”
“As I said, Abaddon has been building an army for Lucifer, slowly recruiting as many demons as possible, converting those who were not already loyal to him—not a difficult task when most angels arrive here broken, bitter, and angry.”
“Part of me doesn’t want to believe an angel would just join Abaddon like that, but I’ve had first-hand experience of the way Heaven breaks us before throwing us down here.”
“Abaddon remained steadfast that one day he would be called upon to wage war in Lucifer’s name. That faith has borne fruit, and they are gathering at the Citadel. I do not know their plans; I only know this much because we have watched their numbers swell in recent days, but I know that whatever they are planning cannot be good.”
“Then we have to move quickly, right? That’s the only thing we can do.”
