Chapter Two

Chapter Two

~Nassiri~

The old scrolls in Heaven were rather interesting. They hinted at an old crystal that was capable of total destruction. It piqued her interest. But she couldn't find a single scroll that told her where it was. All the librarians she asked hadn't a clue so they were just useless meat bags to her. Should she ask Kali? No, it may seem suspicious. But where else could those scrolls be found? Nassiri knew Kali had a locked cabinet of scrolls. Maybe one of the guards could be of use to her. "Hey, sweetie, come over here," she spoke sweetly to a brunette guard nearby. He approached and bowed. Nassiri turned on her seduction and gently stroke his chin. "I need a favor from you. Kali has a cabinet of scrolls that she wanted me to read. But she forgot to give me the key before leaving. Could you get into it for me?" She played with his hair, using her powers.

"Anything for you," he purred, like a puppet mouthing to a soundtrack.

"Dance, puppet," she whispered, watching him leave. A few minutes later, he came back with the scrolls she had requested. "Thank you love, I do appreciate it." She put her hand over his eyes, making him fall asleep. Oh how the libido in a person's body could affect their energy levels. She took the scrolls to her secret den, pleased. "Let's see what these have to say." As she read through them, Nassiri found that the crystal was located deep underground, in a waterfall locked cave. It was also on Earth, realm of the mortals. No wonder she couldn't find anything about it. No one would suspect the mundane mortals of having a magical item in their possession, known or not. "Clever, little dragon. But not clever enough." The only problem is that it was heavily guarded. "It would seem I need to make a deal with the forces of evil to have this precious gem. But so be it. I hate playing nice anyway." She hid the scrolls and went back to Kali's library. This time she searched for scrolls about ancient evil. It was all too easy to find scrolls that listed people who had made deals, and how they had done so. "I don't have a soul, so that's out. I'll sell my blood; not like I need it." She read on for what all she would need: black candles, a pendulum with a lodestone for magnetic attraction, naturally her blood, incense made with black hawk, mistletoe, wormwood, mandrake and fresh dragons' blood. It made sense that one would need foul smelling herbs to summon evil. She stopped in various places to get what she needed. Having everything, Nassiri retreated to her den again. She mixed the herbs together, dug a claw into her wrist until she bled and dripped it on the pendulum.  After mixing the herbs, Nass lit the candles, incense and swung the pendulum.

"From across the planes

I call they name

Darkness blacker than night

Come into my sight!"

A feeling of dizziness and dread, terror and nothingness swept over her.

The candles swiftly blew out as a foul and freezing air swirled around. "Who dares summon Darkness?" A shrill voice hissed. A misty darkness wavered before her.

"'Tis I, Nassiri Dela Cruz."

"What is it thou wishes?"

"I would like to make a deal with you. All of my blood for some…dark tendrils that will do my bidding."

The figure hovered closer. It smelled of rotten meat, sewage, sulfur and vinegar. It was hard for her not to gag. What looked like burning coals now appeared and stared into her eyes. "No heart, no soul. Massacred thy own keepers. Truly an ally of the darkness."

"I've no need of bothersome parents to hold me back. They were useless to me."

"A deal is done, your wish is won." the figure vanished, leaving translucent, oily tendrils at her feet.

"Wonderful." Nassiri grinned, the first step of her plan was done.

~Nyxie~

Alys had returned from the training Nitacha had sent him on, asking where she was. As I was the only one awake at 5 in the morning, we walked around Hell to find her. "What kind of training did she want you to do?"

"It was to fine tune my scent imaging and it was awesome! I can get an image instantly now!"

"That's good." While we walked on, I filled him in on what he missed. As I expected, he was shocked.

"Isn't Salax your brother now, though?"

Now I stopped. "Oh god, he is! I didn't even think of that! Now I just feel even more disgusted with myself. But I love him… Fuck, I'm a hot mess."

"Don't beat yourself up over it. Nitacha taught me that the heart can't be tamed."

"I guess that's- Oh, my god! Nitacha!" We found her, but she was severely injured and missing her horns. "We need to get her to Elysium, quickly." I gently picked her up and flew back to the castle. Alys stayed behind to track the culprit via scent. I just hated this. Veraque would be crushed. He was far too sweet to be anything but happy. I sat at the table and thought to myself. Who would do this and why?

Alys came back, not looking good. "Found other demons without horns but I can barely get the scent of the attacker."

"They must have ways of hiding it. Keep looking." I tapped my claws, trying to think. Alys left in a hurry. I checked on Nita and returned to the table to sit and think.

Salax came out of his bedroom and sat beside me. "Love, is something wrong?"

I stared at him. I wasn't doing my usual worried tics. "How did you pick up on that?"

"Not sure." 

"It doesn't matter anyway. Go get Ver and Len. We have a problem."

He nodded and left. I stood and paced. "Who would do this?"

"Please don't pace, it makes snakes restless." He returned with the others.

I looked to Ver. "Alys and I were looking for Nitacha, and found her. Someone had attacked her and broken her horns off. I took her to Elysium while Alys stayed to get a scent. He's had no luck so far but found others in a similar condition."

"What? Will she be okay?" 

Poor puppy, I just wanted to squeeze him. "She'll make it, sleeping now."

"Who would do this?" Len sat at the table, joining me as I sat and tapped my claws.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. Alys is out scouting again, tracking Nita's scent everywhere he can find it. He couldn't get the image of the attacker. I assume they're hiding it somehow."

"I'll find it! No one touches my sweetheart!" Ver growled. Even mad, he was still adorable.

"Don't. Nita will want to see you when she wakes up. I'd go to her and protect her."

"Agreed. Go to her, Ver." Len nodded.

Salax looked to me. "I swear, your intuition is the scariest thing. Actually, seeing you take on Fishy here and live is the scariest. I digress." He sat beside me. "Surely there's a way to find out who did this."

I stood and went to my room. I rummaged through my dresser, pulling out my crystal ball. I walked back to them. "I've had this forever. It's a sentient crystal ball. If Alys can't help, then this can. We would just need Nita to touch it."

"How would that help?" Le raised an eyebrow.

"It's imbued with my powers, well, before I was a Goddess. It can tap into her mind and see the images, and from there, get images from those images. Image inception, if you will.”

"That will definitely be useful."

When she woke, Ver helped her walk out to the den. Nita gladly helped them find her attacker. She followed Nyx's instructions and placed her hands on the crystal ball. 

It glowed red and purple before a soft female voice spoke. "Green hair, orange eyes, white and violet wings."

Len nodded. "They will be dealt with immediately." He walked off.

"Thank you," Nita smiled. "I appreciate it." We waved to her as she went back to lay down.