Deathly Love, a Fantasy story

Chapter One: A New Mission

Let me explain something before our tale starts...

Well, a long time ago, back when the world was new and the Human mind was allowed to know of magi presences such as Dragons, Magi, Vampires, Weres and all of the others... There was relative peace and harmony. It looked like all races would prosper and the world be kept in order but alas that was not to happen, an Angel named Lucifer went against his duty as a Guard and attempted to gain power over the Lord of Purity. His uprising was stopped and Lucifer, along with his followers were banished to the Dead Lands, a realm of desolate sands and burning fires that scorched all life away. It was then that some Humans began to see their dark desires and by doing so, gave power to those in the Dead Lands, naming them Devils. There was a war, a bloody war in which most Magi presences fled to a different Realm; Limbo and left the war to be waged between the Angels, Devils and Humans. Three Hundred years passed before the war was brought to a null, Humans who had played such a prolific part, had their minds locked as a race, so they would be unable to remember anything in relation to the Magi and were sent to live in blissful ignorance. A treaty was signed by the Angels and Devils saying that they would not bring the Humans into any further issues of their races, they also signed to say the war would not be continued. Of course, that is not to say there weren’t fights between the two but nothing on the scale that it had been before.

Now however that is changing, the Treaty which was followed for the last Nine Hundred years has at last been broken and the war is recommencing. All Hell is about to break loose, nobody knows the true outcome of what will occur or what secrets, long since buried will be unearthed and brought to light...

Chapter One: A new mission

It was the season of no light in the Dead Lands, the favorite time for many of its inhabitants, not only for the lack of sunlight which hurt many sensitive eyes and skins but also because it was the time in which most Missions and Hunts were given out. The ‘Devil’ community or Hellions as they preferred to be called were going out on mass in search of the best paying Hunts, very few were of a high enough class to do missions.

However, one such Hellion, able to do the toughest of Missions was just rising from his deep slumber in a small stone cave high up in the Mountains of the Dead Lands. This Hellion, was a Daemon, one of the highest ranking fighters known, also an A Class Assassin who was feared not only by the Angels but by the Hellions too; his name was Dante.

Whispers followed him wherever he went, the half whispers of his name, as if he would kill those who spoke too loudly; Dante son of Lucifer. He was feared and revered because on the day the Treaty was broken, he was conceived, the son of Lucifer and Persephone, a simple Human girl. He was the most powerful Hellion and many believed it to be from his Human genes that this was so.

Dante however, believed it was because he pushed himself to and beyond his limits, determined to be the best he could ever be. He was different from the other Hellions and was determined to keep that as a good thing and not to be any lesser than they were. When he would look in the mirror he wouldn’t see the big butch looking men and curvy seductive looking women with small horns and devilish red eyes. No, instead he would see a young man, Human in appearance with deep red-brown hair and warm caramel eyes, a tanned complexion and a toned build. He was tall like all Hellions and had a certain sexual appeal to Humans but he wasn’t as good looking as the others, he was different and that aided him.

All Hellions were known to fight using swords and their Magi powers but again Dante was different in this respect as he used swords, guns and his body having little to no Magi powers other than a few weak healing spells. As a young Hellion in training he’d become so focused in begin the best that he’d began to adopt Human fighting styles from Observation and mastered them, now, now he was a killer.

Yet, no matter how much of a killer he was, he was still Half Human, as his waking routine suggested to any who dared to watch him. Hellions don’t dream but Dante did and every morn when he’d wake, it would leave him disorientated for a short period and totally bewildered, this however, never lasted too long. Of late though, the past few months, he’d been plagued by his waking dreams of a beautiful girl with long black hair and deep gold eyes. This morning, was no exception.

Dante’s eyes flickered slowly open, and for a few moments of bliss the image of that girl was imprinted in his mind again causing his chest to feel tight as it slowly began to fade. He knew it was stupid to allow his Human side to rule his emotions but in those waking moments where he lost complete control they did so. Groaning at his incompetence as he viewed it, Dante rubbed his eyes blearily and forced himself out of the bed of blankets which made up his bed.

Slowly walking over to a small stream which ran through his cave he knelt down to splash his face and then took a glance. What he saw heated his blood, for staring back at him was a lonely looking boy with a slight pout on his lips, not the normal for a Hellion, and a Daemon no less.

“Damn it, I need to get a Mission!”

His voice was deep and gravel like as he stalked away from the stream and instead to the small makeshift chair that sat in the corner of his cave holding his clothes and weapons. Snatching the clothes up, he began pulling them on along with his weapons paying very little attention to what was going on about him. Once finished he was dressed in black head to foot with the odd bit of white from his weapons, a striking difference to all the Hellions outside who were garbed in sandy and earthy colors as he stepped outside.

The air was cool and washed over his skin with a delicateness that was rare in the Dead Lands, so rare it was unheard of; more a myth and legend. Dante, like the other Hellions was amazed and slightly confused as to why the harshness of the winds were nowhere to be found, even if he did mask it with a face of indifference as he stalked the makeshift streets.

All around him the Hellion people were beginning their day, small market stalls were being opened up by Mothers, Runts and those too old to work any longer. An assortment of foods, clothes, trinkets and necessities such as Potions to cure ailments were present everywhere and was accompanied by the shouting of angry stall keepers when they discovered their rivals were faring better than morning than them. It was an abusive and somewhat grueling task for Dante to walk through without being coerced into buying what he neither needed nor wanted by the various Hellions, though he did concede to one at the end.

“S’cue me Mister”

Upon looking down, Dante who had been contemplating drawing Mortem, his Latin blade was met with the sight of a small Runt, clearly Human bred. Often he would have pushed past and ignored the Runt but, it was very rare to see a Human bred Runt in the streets; usually any Human bred child was killed. So whenever Dante did chance upon one, he would stop to make their lives easier and in a way hoping he would help their self-esteem.

“Yes?”

“Would you like to buy some pretty Jewels Mister?”

“What wares do you sell boy?”

“Mam sells all sorts, pretty Jewels, Necklaces, Bangles, Rings, a whole bunch!”

“Hfff .... Show me to the stall boy.”

“Aye Mister, right this way, they’re a treat they are!”

Dante nodded and followed the Runt through the crowd and over to a small stall. Whilst he followed behind the Runt he noted the energy and eagerness that the Runt possessed and not to mention the deep Ginger hair and skinny body making him look sunken and as if he hadn’t had a proper meal in week.

Compassion stirred within Dante and pushing it down he decided to buy something, after all he was going to the Palatium so he would no doubt see his Sire and Mother. A gift would be a good idea no doubt and it would probably help secure him a well paying, dangerous mission.

Suddenly the Runt stopped and Dante nearly walked into him, he glanced down, irritation clear on his usually indifferent face. The Runt was looking up at Dante with a big clear grin on his rather skinny face, clear happiness and cheer in his eyes as he lifted an arm and pointed at a rather beaten up and worse for wear looking stall. Doing his best not to lift an unimpressed eyebrow, Dante nodded and walked over.

The stall looked as if at any moment it would fall apart. Old, rotting wood held together by fraying, yellowish rope that looked as if it had seen many better days. The top of the stall was covered with faded rugs of which looked suspiciously like carpets covered with holes. The wares were displayed in an assortment of ugly handmade boxes, however the wares were bright colorful Jewels of all different sizes, colors and shapes. They were just as good as the Runt’s excitement had made them clear enough to be.

A particular Jewel stood out for Dante, it was a delicate Rose colored Diamond on a gold chain that looked as if a single breath of wind could break it. Reaching out, Dante plucked it up and examined it for a few moments, upon reaching a pleased verdict he place the Jewel back down and looked to the owner of the stall.

The woman who owned the stall was gaunt looking and had an appearance of extreme exhaustion, with a mess of deep dirty blonde hair atop her head full of tangles and knots, effectively leaving only the tiny tips of her horns on show. Small, beady red eyes looked at him with a mixture of awe and fear as her skinny malnourished hand reached out and pulled the Runt to her side. The clothing she wore concealing him behind a mess of ripped robes and rags.

“How much for this Jewel?”

“20 Cupkas”

Her voice was gravelly, like her throat had been rubbed raw. Dante would have usually said no but the condition in which she and the Runt were in caused him to still his tongue. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out 20 small grey spheres before handing them over. The woman smiled and handed the Jewel over into Dante’s waiting hand before facing away. Please enough with the deal, Dante walked off with the Jewel slipping inside his trouser pocket.

Getting back to where he’d originally been before meeting the young boy, Dante carried along his walk to the Palatium as before. When he moved fully away from the stalls, Dante inched his hand closer to Mortem as he casually moved through the Interfectores Area, where the more ruthless Hellions resided.

Often, Dante would find the newer or lesser smart Hellions, would attempt to attack him even though they never succeeded. Quite frankly they annoyed Dante as every time it occurred they made him later for whatever he had planned. That and it was a bore he found, to fight them as none of them were particularly challenging and often died within the first few minutes of the fights.

As Dante stalked through the center of what could only be described as a sandy pathway with dried blood splattered everywhere, his grip on Mortem tightened. The Hellions were scattered about, watching with hatred evident in their brutish faces and their beady red eyes. Mainly they were males, covered in scars from previous battles with a purplish tinge to their bodies that would never leave mainly due to all of the violence and fighting. These were the lowest of the low in the Lost Lands, the most Animalistic of all Hellions but one thing was definite, the females of this area, although few were deadly and definitely an ideal mate for strong offspring.

This was where Dante’s main issue would kick in, although the males of this area would attempt to attack, overthrow and usually kill him (even though it never worked), their female counter-parts tended to attempt to knock him out and claim his as their mate. Not the ideal of prospects as Dante had worked too hard to become tied down and loose all respect and freedom he possessed.

Ignoring the hostile stares of the males, Dante continued on his way. Yes they may be an issue at times but for the most, it wasn’t really the males that bothered him, it was the females as of late they’d become more determined and creative in their way of attack meaning that Dante needed his guard up all of the time.

His eyes darted back and forth, determined not to be caught off guard and as if sensing his watchfulness, Mortem began to hum with anticipation, for you see, Mortem was not just a Latin blade but a blade that had been forged in the middle of the initial wars that kicked off and this caused for a sense of awareness to be present in the blade. That, and during his first time of acquiring Mortem, Dante had strengthened their bond by inadvertently spilling his blood completely over the blade which caused an ancient spell to kick into play.

Since then, Mortem had been his faithful companion and often sensed the danger before Dante; this was proven as a sudden hum of energy shot out towards the right. Pulling Mortem from the sheath, he swung following the energy flow and heard the satisfying sound of metal cutting through flesh. Upon looking, he found a fat, repulsive Hellion male staggering backwards with a deep diagonal cut going across his chest from shoulder to him.

The surprise attack seemingly having backfired rather badly for the unfortunate Hellion, Dante smiled nastily and plunged Mortem down into the male’s stomach before yanking his arm back and giving a delicate flick to rid the blade of blood.

He could hear whispers from around him, shifting in the shadows other Hellions backed away and a few females shuffled forwards trying to be as silent as possible. Giving a small ‘huff’ of disapproval Dante sheathed Mortem and giving the male one last glance began to walk off again. It was best for him not to linger for too long or it may be the females attacking this time which would not be good, as you see, Dante had no qualms with killing the males but with the females unless it was a mission he always felt a small pang of regret.

It wasn’t long before the blood splatters covering the path began to fade away and became less in frequency until there were no more signaling the end of the Interfectores Area and the attacks he could expect from the Hellions. Well, until he went back into that Area to return to his home but Dante hoped by that time most of the Hellions would be feasting and too interested in gorging themselves to note his presence.

The area in front of Dante opened up into a vast rocky terrain with the most desolate, haunting looking structure some feet away across what could only be described as a moat of putrid smelling tar that most Hellions knew possessed Acidic properties. The tar was thick and a black-brown shade that constantly bubbled and each time a bubble would pop, there would be a loud hissing noise which accompanied it along with a sudden spike in temperature.

Of course, there was then the structure itself which was immensely tall and a twisting mass of spires, turrets and towers that seemed to pierce right up into the sky itself. There were lumps like forms attached all over the structure which Dante knew to be Wraiths; dark spirits that protect the Palatium -for that was what the structure was- from any and all forms of possible attack.

Upon walking closer, Dante could see the ancient and rather crumbling stone bridge that led to the Palatium gates. The bridge, barley wide enough to allow 3 Hellions to walk side by side, was covered with dust, dried old and new blood along with a couple of other substances that Dante wasn't sure he wanted to know.

At the end of the bridge were two big and rather ugly looking Hellion guards, who were so muscled that it appeared that their bodies were out of proportions. Even from a young age, Dante had always thought that the guards had tiny heads and balloon sized bodies, almost like they'd become somewhat inflated. Looking at the guards now his opinions hadn't changed much at all, only now he didn't find it amusing, more rather he found it totally disgusting.

Nodding at the guards as he neared Dante strode purposefully past keeping his head held high. He was doing his best not to glare at them or to show his distaste which Dante knew from past experience would only cause a fight. Dante was able to thank his good self control as he stepped fully past the guards and into the Palatium as he'd managed not to cause a fight.

One thing Dante had always loved about his trips to the Palatium was the inside gardens. The gardens weren't the same as the ones in the Human World. No these gardens were full of pools of fire, ever burning plants and mini volcanic mounds and geysers which erupted every so often spewing molten lava up into the air.

The gardens had always been a key attraction for Dante, a place where he could hide away and relax. An odd myth that the Angels and Humans alike held was that Hellions loved the ever burning fires found in the Dead Lands. In actual fact, Dante was one of those very few Hellions who did indeed love said fires. For those who did like the fires, the reasons varied but usually there was something to link to Pyro tendencies, again though this is where Dante was different. Dante loved the fires simply for the relaxing crackling sounds it made which he'd always found it easy to meditate to.

Of course, that wasn't today’s reason for coming, no unfortunately relaxing in the gardens was not an option and so Dante continued on his way. He walked along a thin pathway and out into the cool stone corridors of the Palatium's inside building.

The architecture was oddly beautiful in its own way, what with high ceilings and smooth stone walls depicting a variety of different scenes from the war and great tales that had occurred since. The whole place radiated an elegant and regal feel despite the lack of furnishings along with different shades of deep rich colors which had not been present in Dante's previous visit; no doubt his Mother had been the one in charge of the change.

Suppressing his urge to smile, Dante continued on his way noting the occasional changes that had occurred. No doubt his Sire and Mother had argued and this was the result of the makeup, a lot better than last time he had to admit. The last time they'd argued, Dante had been a young Hellion boy. It had been something stupid they had argued over and the aftermath was Dante's Mother slaughtering 2 thirds of the Hellions residing in the Interfectores Area over a 2 day massacre period. His Sire, concerned not only for the health of all other Hellions but himself as well, had apologized, received one hell of a beating and avoided her for the next 3 weeks.

Dante couldn't help but wonder what had been the cause for the argument this time. As he wandered the corridors, servants and guards eyed him warily and some even ran off. There had definitely been an argument then from the reactions Dante was receiving. Doing his best to ignore it all, Dante walked up to the huge wooden doors of the main hall where his Sire was sure to be.

Taking a deep breath, Dante forced the doors open and stepped into the main hall. His footsteps echoing in the silence of the room as all of its occupants became deathly quiet. Coming to a stop in front of a huge stone chair in which his Sire sat with one eyebrow raised and a smirk forming on his perfectly chiseled face, Dante gave a barley noticeable nod. His Sire raised a hand and as he pointed it at the door, the single word; 'Go' left his mouth and all the Hellions in the room fled causing Dante to laugh quietly to himself.

Giving a deep bow to his Sire, Dante observed him; Lucifer the fallen Angel. His Sire still possessed all of his Angelic appearances that were certain but somehow they seemed rather evil. A mess of golden-brown locks sat atop his head showing to all those who chose to see, Lucifer did not possess horns unlike the other Hellions. Deep set blue eyes sparkled with a hidden mystery and darkness, whilst his full lips were nearly always stoic or set into a bone chilling smirk. The pale complexion matching in to complete the look with pale grey robes, reminding Dante of an Angel of Death.

"Sire."

"Rise Dante, you need not bow before me son."

Even his Sire's voice sounded Angelic with honey like tones that Dante knew could lull even the most hardened of Hellions into a sense of false security. Luckily Dante never needed to fear this as his Sire was always sincere to his son.

"Of course Sire."

Dante cast a glance about the room; it seemed that Mother had even touched in the main hall. As if sensing his son's thoughts, Lucifer let out a deep rich chuckle ad stood, motioning for his son to follow.

"Yes your Mother has been rather ... busy shall we say."

"Another argument Sire?"

"More rather, I pacified her before we argued."

"Trust Mother, so what was the cause?"

"My son, what we've been waiting for has come at last."

"You can't mean-"

"The treaty was broken again. A Human died in a small fight and nobody knows which party is at fault."

"Sire, we are at war once more?"

"Correct! And I want to give you, the most skilled of all Daemons, an important mission."

"Of course Sire, whatever it is, I shall do so."

"Gabriel, that snobbish prude had a child of your age and I want you to Assassinate said child."

"Gladly Sire."

"Dante, do not fail me on this. It is of the upmost importance that that child must die! They'll be attempting to kill you too."

"Understood Sire. What do we have on this child?"

"His child is a girl, born at the exact same time as you and to a Human Mother too! A Human-Angel with long black hair and deep gold eyes."

Doing his best not to gasp, Dante nodded as his Sire smiled a true smile whilst leading him to the doors. The main thought on Dante's mind was the girl from his dreams, matching in description perfectly. She was Gabriel's child, his daughter and Dante's target. Something in his chest tightened at the thought of killing her but swiftly Dante pushed those feelings and thoughts away, it would not do to let his emotions rule.

However, no matter how hard Dante tried to ignore the feelings and the tightening of his chest it was impossible to, something he’d never experienced before. It was puzzling, worrying and at the same time, even though he would not admit it, it was also very appeasing.

The sound of the main doors being opened snapped Dante from his thoughts, his Sire was stood looking at him and outside the door were all of the Hellions from before. Managing to push the thoughts from his mind, Dante followed the appropriate behavior and bowed low to his Sire before straightening and giving a barely noticeable nod in the direction of the other Hellions. Averting their eyes, the Hellions parted allowing for Dante to sweep past them all, his mind still in turmoil as all the thoughts and feelings came blowing back in.

The sooner I get this Mission completed, the better! Dante thought sourly, it was not good too have too many Human tendencies coming into play as he always believed it would make him weaker.

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