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Post by Admin on Sept 9, 2009 9:23:10 GMT -6
As the thick smoke of the air thins the soldiers at the gate as they stare at this new figure that has emerged from the void. Bardiel can see the myriad of lost souls being dragged through the callas and down the winding stair into the Demons waiting room by the terrible Hydencek.
The soldiers pay him little mind as though he were expected and as he stares into their faces they look back uninterested at him thinking of some far off places they would rather be.
The captain marches onto the gate overlook and calls out to Bardiel...
"Lord Zypheron would like to see you fallen... follow the screams and the metallic stench... you can't miss 'em." He says with a snort and continues to kick every slacker back to attention.
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Bardiel
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Outlands Wanderer
Posts: 147
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Post by Bardiel on Sept 17, 2009 8:36:35 GMT -6
Returning to hell. The towering fallen stretched his grime covered wings, and the stained feathers ruffled in the wake of screaming souls still poring through the gateway behind him. Golden lips curved into a nervous smile at the sight before him, at the spiralling impossible architecture of stairs and the hellish denizens charged with holding the gate. It seemed he was expected, if Bardiel ignored the wailings of doom and gleeful chatter of Hydencek, the whole infernal scene could have appeared relaxed. Even so, as he gave the soldiers a charming smile, charred hands twitched expectantly, hungrily. His slate like eyes darted to and from the back of the retreating captain who had greeted him.
Looking down Bardiel stepped gingerly out of the way of a metallic imp as it scuttled to join its fellows. The step away from the gate jogged the grey haired fallen out of his reprieve. Rolling his shoulders and folding his wings tight against his back, Bardiel considered his options. His head bobbed left and right, owl like, before the fallen set off toward the pungent odour of smelting lead. The screams continued to grow louder with every step and even the sound of his heavy armoured boots, clanging against the stone floor, was soon drowned out. How much further did he have to go?
“Oh little froggy! Come out come out wherever you are!” Bardiel’s voice sounded strange even to him. It sounded sick, which was well, he supposed. The fallen felt sick. The air here was fowl. Every breath Bardiel released felt as though something rotten had been left behind. As always the heavy searing daggers of his crucifix stabbed into his chest. “Oh little froggy prince, said the moon!” Bardiel laughed bitterly as he went on “Come out and meet me!”
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Post by Zypheron on Sept 18, 2009 9:09:50 GMT -6
Down in the cavernous lair, Zypheron mulls over the cauldron as he spices the soup of souls. Each batch to be reborn according to their sin. Sorted and racked he torches each one with the spices as they scream and dissolve into the mix with a grueling and gurgling screams.
When the leaded soup cools he pours the massive cauldron over as it fills molds of unusual shapes and forms. He winces as the stench is overwhelming when it pours out of the crucible. The mixture forms statuesque forms in the molds soon to be reborn into hell from unearthly mothers and the cycle of life is renewed.
He looks up when he hears Bardiel calling out for him and he hands the work over to the Hydencek to greet his new guest.
"Welcome cracked pot. I see it has not taken you long to find my gate of torment. I see you managed to loose the whiny little trollop that you managed to get stuck to your boot heel." He says with disdain about Angeni.
"She never knew how to say clear of our affairs. Always a new sort of trouble she stirs up for us you know."
He wanders to his lavish office and opens the drapes for the tall fallen to enter.
"Welcome to my parlor..." Zypheron says with a twisted smile and a low chuckle.
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Bardiel
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Posts: 147
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Post by Bardiel on Sept 19, 2009 6:13:45 GMT -6
Bardiel winced, his smile slipping slightly before being replaced firmly. He walks casually through the archway into Zypheron’s abode, shoulders hunched and long legs bent at the knee. His posture could just as easily be mistaken for lethargy as readiness. The unholy stench issuing from the caldron brought on more then a pungent odour. The fallen blinked fiercely to erase the intruding black roots that seemed to gnaw at the edge of his vision. It didn’t seem nearly as bad as before, he could get used to them he supposed; if they didn’t drive him mad with frustration first.
Quickly sweeping the lavished room with a lazy half thought, Bardiel turned back to the Devil prince. Nodding his head in acceptance to the welcome as he did so. “You’d be surprised what you can find stuck to your boot heel,” he waved a skeletal hand dismissively. “Mud, a stick, a stone. But a stone can just as easily turn out to be a diamond,” Bardiel frowned, and then his face brightened, as if something had occurred to him for the first time. “Best to pocket diamonds in any case,” he faced Zypheron, his dirty metallic face blank except for a slight curve of the mouth.
“Anyhow, you have a really nice place here,” turning away the disgraced fallen spins a slow circle gesturing to the room, the furnace of souls behind the drapes, at the Gate in general. A gauzed gleam, sparkling in his eyes.
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Post by Zypheron on Sept 23, 2009 10:22:42 GMT -6
The demon prince follows the tall gangling fallen into the office. When the drapery closes the sounds and unpleasant rabble of the well of souls is silenced and tranquil. He takes a deep breath and trudges on toward his favorite chair. Several beautiful demon girls quickly buzz about the office and attend to Zypheron as he flops into his chair.
"Take a seat... would you care for tea... biscuit?" he says out of pre-programed responses to pleasantries and civility that he has had engraved into his head since birth.
The girls buzz and offer a beautiful china tea cup and saucer to Bardiel. The tea smells bold and smooth, the biscuit is crisp and sweet with a hint of valtrose seasoning. A spice refined from lust and sin from the souls of the damned that Zupheron has come to refine as delicacy. A rare treat that his job offers the smallest of perks to his clearly unwanted and clearly disgruntled position.
Zypheron's eyes burn a bright purple as he sits looking devious filled with ulterior motives filling his face with malicious intent not so easily hidden.
"Are you an adventuresome sort cracked pot? I for one am a restless soul. Though forever shackled to my position." The Amethyst demon snarls through his now disheveled white locks with a look of disdain at the key shackled to him. He lifts it slightly in clear disgust and lets it fall with a jarring clang on the stone floor.
"I have no time to venture out in search of my own whims..." He says clearly distracted as if looking into a brighter future in Bardiel's deep green pain ridden eyes.
The servant girls swarm the prince as they lift his key back to his grasp and place his tea to his lips for him to sip. A sly smile parts his lips as the warm liquid is soothing his troubled mind.
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Bardiel
Bourgeois
Outlands Wanderer
Posts: 147
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Post by Bardiel on Sept 24, 2009 1:00:54 GMT -6
Bardiel remained standing while listening; he had returned the purple devil’s offer for a seat with a delirious smile. “I would, but as you can clearly see, there isn’t any room left,” he said nodding a grey haired head towards an empty seat.
Eventually the grime ridden fallen slowly retrieves the offered tea cup, the delicate china handle pinched between thumb and forefinger. He held the broth suspiciously to his nose but none of the tea passing his lips. A thin sheen of perspiration made Bardiel’s face seem to glitter oddly and he tacked the serving demons with feverish eyes as they glided to meet their master’s wishes. Although the towering fallen looked ready to jump at shadows, or the whisper of shadows, his smile was confident.
Zypheron began to make what appeared at first to be idle conversation and Bardiel turned an ear in his direction to listen to his words, quick to interpret their meaning. The methods of the Court, whether in heaven or hell, were the same. Just like fighting, only with words not swords. And Zypheron seemed to breathe Court ways. He would try to manoeuvre Bardiel in ways to further himself as soon as meet him. The fallen laughed allowed, sickly cheerful, at everything heaven shared with hell.
“Keeper Malik,” Bardiel pointed the first two fingers of his free hand at the seated devil, shaking his head and still smiling, “I love to adventure… Do you know what love is? It’s that warm feeling inside you that empties out after you loose an arm or a leg… It’s kind of funny; you never really notice that warmth till it’s all gone. And let me tell you.” The ash covered fallen looked up at the ceiling as if reminiscing.
“You haven’t lived until you’ve noticed love.”
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Post by Zypheron on Sept 30, 2009 10:40:20 GMT -6
Zypheron's eyes follow the fallen as he revels in his insanity. The moments of clearity are evident as sparks of realization are true enough though interesting, they are sharply lucid though far from stable.
"What is it then that makes for one such as yourself, discontented, not wanting to dwell with in the confines of a dull and common place of existence... Where as you dance with the shadows... paradoxically perceived all though it may be and make merry with the lament of love and loss?" The demon prince says pointedly and cold with a piercing glare "I too do know all to well the delicate and savage torments of love, my colorful friend, for I would love to be free of this..." He says as the key again drops to the floor with a loud
-clang-
The look on Zypheron's face is disdain as he is lost in his self perceived torments. Then as if a breeze of hope returns to crack into a thin smile on his lips as the women return the key to his grasp yet again.
"it is never ending. At this rate... I fear it is a love that shall never breathe. If this is what it is to know what I know of love then it is a miserable existence indeed."
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Bardiel
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Outlands Wanderer
Posts: 147
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Post by Bardiel on Oct 8, 2009 6:35:06 GMT -6
With a grin the black handed fallen filed away Zypherons plight. That and the way he sat in his chair, talked, where his eyes went when he talked. More interesting; how the demon held his badge of office, his moment of despondency, the way his head shook, how the servants moved to repeatedly return their masters key.
Bardiel shrugged, turning his black palms upward and indecently tipping the contents of the tea cup onto the floor. He stared down at the puddle it had made on the floor in surprise, and then closely scrutinized the empty cup. “It seems I’m out of tea,” he mumbles into his chest.
Fumbling down the collar of his breastplate he removed the gold gilded crucifix from against his chest and set it outside the thick armour. The fallen winced as if removing a knife as he eased the heavy chain so it did not dig into his neck.
“Oh it’ll end,” Bardiel laughed “If you know what forever feels like and hate it, I can show you what it feels like without it.” The fallen told him with a pointed glance at the demons chest. But Bardiel waved the notion away with a disfigured hand, indicating he didn’t intend for Zypheron to comment. “But I don’t think you wanted to see me for my delightful company, or to end you, perhaps your 'servants'?” he said offhandedly.
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Post by Zypheron on Oct 18, 2009 9:48:42 GMT -6
Zypheron smiles at the notions of death. He knows all too well that he belongs here and only will be brought back to the same torment after death as it appears that even death is no escape from his duty as the Gate keeper.
"As colorful as our conversations are I did ask you here for more than pleasant conversation."
the demon says looking lost in thought.
"I simply think I know how to settle the score with Ereshkigal, and give you the advantage to have an audience with her putrid majesty and know once and for all if she may help you with your quest..." He says with a half-hearted jab up toward the ceiling.
The servant girls circle Bardiel again and restore his tea with out a word. Their silken touch is light and soft against his charred hands like a light breeze in the furnace of hell. After completing the task, they again descend upon Zypheron like locusts on the crops. As they fawn over him he stares through his white locks looking at Bardiel with the notion of intrigue written on his face.
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Bardiel
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Outlands Wanderer
Posts: 147
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Post by Bardiel on Jan 31, 2010 5:25:35 GMT -6
The fallen struggled to keep any change of emotion from his face. Idly tapping the crucifix against his chest Bardiel grunted, he had enemies in his head, in his dreams. He knew he could let no one know the full extent of his schemes. Himself most of all. He found the notion maddening.
“Oh, you have me all wrong good Keeper. The only thing I want from my existence is power, just like everyone else. Power to end those I fear,” Bardiel unconsciously flinches away from the velvet caress of the demoness’, his wings scattering soot and ash. The debris swelled, startling the fallen further, before quickly settling. He swallowed and quickly finished
“But let’s say I had need of an audience. How would you go about such a thing?”
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Post by Zypheron on May 8, 2011 11:47:13 GMT -6
Zypheron smiles, savoring his malicious thoughts before he voices them.
"Well popular theory holds that the Queen of Hell is in the Abyss. Sunk deeply in the darkness and utterly trapped there to be exact. Not many can plumb those depths, Fallen." He pauses and takes a sip of tea, a bite of biscuit, chewing slowly, savoring his little delights.
"But I can... I can help you to seek her, to gain the audience you desire. For just a little favor."
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Bardiel
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Outlands Wanderer
Posts: 147
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Post by Bardiel on May 9, 2011 21:29:36 GMT -6
The odd Fallen freezes, a crooked smile stapled to his face. He bobs his head back an forth in a birdlike gesture as if considering the demons proposal. Bardiel scratches his head, and before replying quickly searches the room again with his darting eyes as if looking something that wasn’t there. When he speaks it’s with a bright, chipper voice that seems at odds with his looming height and hollow smile.
“Marvellous, truly this is fortunate! I’d do anything for an audience!” Bardiel throws his arms wide to extenuate the point, indivertibly tossing his cup against the wall of Zypheron’s cavern where it shatters. The Fallen seems not to notice this as he stoops to eye level with the seated Gate Keeper. “It’s not every day you get to meet a dread queen after all.”
Bardiel leans back, with obvious effort, easing the weight of his cross. He frowns rearranging his features into one of child like thought. “But if sweet cheeks is trapped… and I was to go where she is…” Bardiel holds up bandaged hands and begins counting fingers, clearly powerful mental processors at work.
Realisation dawns, and the Fallen slaps his golden cheeks in shock. “Why, I could become trapped with her!” Tears begin to fill Bardiel’s dancing eyes. "I have only just arrived in hell so naturally we have no where to live! If I were to be trapped in the Abyss my darling children would be left in poverty, without land or title.” He covers his eyes in bandages, hoping to heal his weeping eyes. “But how can I possibly pass up on an opportunity to meet the queen of hell?!”
Bardiel falls to his knees, shoulders shaking with sobs. “Oh cruel fate!” He wails “If only someone would ensure my family these things in my absence!”
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Post by Zypheron on May 30, 2011 1:47:54 GMT -6
When Bardiel's tea cup goes flying Zypheron's little cloud of demonesses flee the room, bowing to the Devil with one eye on the Fallen.
Zypheron waves them away without really looking away from Bardiel. His eyes narrow, but he sips his tea and waits until the dust clears.
"If you are quite done with your histronics? Otherwise you may leave." Zypheron takes another sip of tea and makes a face at the state of his cup. He sets it aside with a frown.
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Bardiel
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Outlands Wanderer
Posts: 147
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Post by Bardiel on May 30, 2011 3:38:09 GMT -6
The Fallen sighs and dabs away at crocodile tears with the linen disguising his hands, but does not get up from his knees.
“Oh come now Malik, giving up so soon?” his voice is rough from his outburst and grease stains his face, but there is a predatory keenness to the disgraced angel’s eyes now. It was like a light had caught the broken pieces of his mind and their razor edges were focused on Zypheron with all the intensity of a laser beam. “Perhaps your are truly suited to your position here if can’t even haggle with the likes of me,”
Bardiel smiles good naturedly “Only a madman would plumb the depths of the Abyss. And let’s face it Keeper-” he taps the side of his head “-You wouldn't send me unless there was something in it for you. And you wouldn't have intercepted me at the teahouse unless it was something very important.”
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Post by Zypheron on May 30, 2011 12:09:03 GMT -6
The devil raises one eyebrow. "Negotiations are one thing and... well. Why wouldn't I want to send you to taunt her? She... " Zypheron's face hardens and his tail twitches wildly behind him.
"Everyone knows what she took from me. I want proof that she's suffering. Firstly, I want to know that she's not all powerful.... her dread Majesty." He sneers, lips curling back from pointed teeth. The devil snarls.
"So fallen what else do you want?"
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Bardiel
Bourgeois
Outlands Wanderer
Posts: 147
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Post by Bardiel on May 30, 2011 21:50:24 GMT -6
Bardiel’s eye twitches and he has to blink repeatedly to stop. If he had gained anything from this conversation so far it was that tensions in Hell were even worse then he had first assumed. Silently he wondered what it was that the denizens believed in. They had no faith in the Almighty and apparently, if his new friend was anything to go by, no faith in their own corrupt crown. Do they have faith in themselves?
“Those sound like some awfully treacherous thoughts sir” he says out the corner of his mouth with just a hint sleaze. “But you’re in luck, I just so happen to want to make my brothers darling child suffer-”
The kneeling Fallen let his sacrilegious words hang for a moment. The sins of the children are the sins of the father. Bardiel knew it was true; it was why man was cast from the garden. He smiled a crooked smile; it was a truth that made Heaven seem the origin of sin. There was more purity to be had in Hell.
“I want only two things from you. One-” he holds up a finger. “If you have any contacts within the Hellish court I would like you to feed them information that a powerful and rich Count matching my description has arrived in Hell. Two-” he holds up the other finger “The Keeper takes some of the weight off my shoulders for a brief moment.”
Bardiel, with obvious effort lifts the crucifix hanging around his neck and offers the golden, noxious cross to Zypheron.
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Post by Zypheron on Jul 25, 2012 23:42:03 GMT -6
"I would be glad to take your burden if you would take mine, cracked pot." Zypheron's grin as he offers up the Key is wolfish and twisted. But after a moment he withdraws it, chains clinking softly.
"I will make sure your name is heard in court, for all the good it will do you." The devil smirks. "I will even outfit you, clothes and a couple of servants to complete the ruse." Zypheron chuckles and then glares at Bardiel.
"After you return."
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Bardiel
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Outlands Wanderer
Posts: 147
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Post by Bardiel on Jul 27, 2012 4:17:11 GMT -6
The Fallen cringed unconsciously under the devil’s glare, terror fixing his eyes wide and setting his teeth to grind against one another. From under the curtain of Zypheron’s hair a tentacle had begun to slowly snake its way toward Bardiel. It moved deliberately, with clear and sinister intent, but once the devil stopped talking the elongated limb inexplicably vanished.
Bardiel tried to forget about it, listening instead to the screaming noise that seemed to be coming from inside his own skull. Only then did he find enough composure to speak.
“D-done. Friend K-keeper, if I’m to act as your eyes in this…” Bardiel let the relic in his hand sway to and fro from its thick chain, his eyes steadily growing harder, betraying something of the creature that had fallen into the cracks of its own mind. “This way you could be my saving grace. If it is your wish I’d make this covenant with you…” Bardiel let the crucifix dangle between him and Zypheron.
As the cross danced lazily back and forth to the rattle of chains, it seemed to reflect the fires of the soul furnace. “Horrid isn’t it? But it’ll keep me alive… probably. Look!”
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Post by Zypheron on Aug 10, 2012 21:10:57 GMT -6
Zypheron's eyes follow the swinging cross, his teeth bared in a silent snarl, tail twitching spasmodically behind him.
"I think not..." He stands, stalking to the curtains. The Devil Prince runs his fingers along the heavy fabric as he speaks, slowly, as if the words are satiating some deep hunger."The Abyss claims all in time... they say the torment is sweet to those who embrace it. I'll not deny you such."
"You must tell me all about it when you return..." Zypheron jerks open the curtain and looks over at Bardiel.
"Come, the darkness waits."
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Bardiel
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Outlands Wanderer
Posts: 147
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Post by Bardiel on Aug 11, 2012 20:45:04 GMT -6
“You know that I’m betting I’m abnormal enough to survive this right?” the Fallen sighs as he heaves himself onto his feet. He starts to slowly walk forward, his heavy boots clanking against the floor, each step marching to its own death knell.
Bardiel’s mind raced around in his head, like a dog trying to catch its own tail. I can’t let hi<they>m kill me yet.
He keeps his eyes focused on the devil draped in its chains and its keys, trying to keep himself together. “It’s a shame really. I might have searched longer. I might have returned quicker.”
So much to d<died>o
“When I come back…”
"Daught<doubt>ers to turn to weapons, angels to turn into monsters" Wait was that out loud? Or in my head?
He raises his right hand to his face covering his eyes, wings slowly opening and folding. “I’m gong into start the biggest fire you’ve ever seen.”
<Him> “HELLoh?” <oh hell>
Blinded the Fallen laughs “My friend, with my bloodless hands I’ll kill crowns. From the ashes of angels I’ll build a throne of dust. From the heights of pandemonium you’ll look down at Hell beneath your feet while your horns scar the very heavens.” Bardiel rips the black claw of his hand away from his face smiling like a lunatic, staring straight passed Zypheron, passed the curtain, passed everything. “The Abyss claims all, but the darkness still waits. When I come back, there’ll be a fire not even the darkness can hide. It can wait till then.”
Bardiel began to reached forward, and something reached back.
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