The Lost Times - Chapter One

The Lost Times
Chapter One

A cool summer breeze brushed against Belial’s cheek as she quietly moved down the stone corridor of the castle. She crept in and out of the shadows towards a door near the end of the hall. The soft light of the dying sun exposed little in the dark passage. Night would soon swallow the world into foreboding darkness.
The succubus clan, or Court as they preferred, had gathered to talk of plans. From the gossip Belial had heard this war was to be the bloodiest war her race had yet to endure. War could force the Court to leave the new, beautiful planet they had taken as their haven.
The closer she got to the end of the hall, the clearer the angry voices became. When she reached the heavy wooden door, Belial cracked it an inch and looked though the gap into the chamber room. Orange candle flames flickered around the room as the breeze entered into it. The council members, too engaged in their argument to take notice of the slight change in the air, continued arguing.
“We can’t just walk up to the gates of the most powerful city and wage war! They have more muscle and steel than our Court. The City is also on their side. We will be crushed. I for one would like to see our race continue to thrive. The humans prove to be of little challenge and the freedom we have just gained should not be tossed away just to take down some tyrant,” one of the older women said.
“I have heard that the High Lord kills people for saying much kinder things about him.”
Belial nearly gasped at the sound of a male’s voice in the council chamber. Why was there a male in the castle? This place was the succubi haven. No male was ever allowed to enter the halls alive. How could the council allow such a disgrace to occur?
“Of course you would know, filthy spy!” one of the other women spat. “Damballa surely you are not blind. He is in league with our enemy. He is paid. His alliance lies with the highest bidder. We cannot trust him!”
“Whether we can trust him or not is none of your concern. You can be sure he is loyal to me, however. That will suffice at the moment,” Belial’s mother calmly responded.
“Only a fool places trust outside her own race,” a succubus muttered.
“Naraxis, do you have something you would like to say? I’m sure the council would love any ideas you have,” Damballa’s words were innocent in meaning, but her voice dripped with venom.
“No my queen, I have no comments at the moment,” Naraxis’ voice was equally as spiteful.
“No, I didn’t think you did. Unless you have something worth saying, keep your mouth shut. Would anyone else like to contribute?” The command in Damballa’s voice silenced the room.
“Why don’t you and Naraxis fight already? It is plain that she wants you off the throne, and that you dislike her…,” the strange male passed in front of the door, momentarily blocking the light from the room. He continued walking to the head of the table where Damballa sat.
“Don’t you dare tell me how to control my Court, male. You have no idea how it runs,” Damballa hissed.
“Very true. I don’t know. But I do know it is very dangerous for any court to have split alliances. Especially so close to the brink of a war. Isn’t that right Naraxis?” the male moved to where the other succubus was sitting, only a few seats away from Damballa.
“Leave me be, you inferior scum.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Was I mistaken? Do you really not need help to take down the Dark Lord? Is he not more powerful then your legendary armies?”
“Rune, you know we can’t defeat the Dark Lord. No demon can… That is the sole reason you are here, alive, in our sanctuary. You are the only one who can help us defend this place until something is decided. We need your assistance,” Damballa stated plainly, as if she were not begging for help.
“Of course I will help you Damballa. You did pay after all. If I were you, however, I would train your Court to be more generous when they are tossed a bone.” The male said as he placed a hand on the back of Naraxis’ chair. His words could have scythed metal.
The male was such a mystery to Belial. His movement was extremely unnatural. He was keeping his back to the door at all times, never turning to face the person he spoke to. He kept his face toward the back wall, out of Belial’s sight. It seemed to her as if the male knew she was there. She could only tell he was extremely tall and appeared thin. He was clad in black. Everything from his boots to the cloak and gantlets he wore were black. Even his hair was a shade of midnight. He reminded her of a willow branch; a slim, yet corrupted reed. Who is he? Belial thought. What is he doing here?
“Now then, back to business. What are the suggestions?” the male asked as he continued walking back and forth in front of the door. His walking was spellbinding. His shadow rhythmically cast the corridor into darkness. Back and forth. Back and forth. What is his purpose?
“Well, we can continue to hide here, protecting a child by neglecting her. Keeping her in the dark so she will not recognize her power. Or, we can start to train her to use her power to our advantage. With proper training she could become our greatest warrior.”
Belial jumped at the voice. Had she so easily been sidetracked by the shadows? Never had such a thing happened before in her life. Scared she had missed something important, Belial paid close attention to the conversation between the council members.
“That’s one possibility Matri. Who would train her though?” Damballa inquired.
“She should learn many things, from many people. We in the Court can teach her to use a wide verity of weapons. We can teach her minor skills in metal working, tracking, shadow walking, ritual magic, and of course how to use her natural power as a succubus. Rune, I believe, will be able to teach her about her darker powers. The ones not linked to her abilities as a succubus. He may not have the same powers, but he should be able to give her a better basic understanding than the Court will be able to.
“He can also teach her the art of stealth, an even wider verity of weapons, and he may serve as a teacher in seduction as well. Instead of teaching the girl on humans, we can let her exercise her power on a demon. This way her powers grow. It is easy to seduce a human. A demon is a much different story.”
“Are you speaking treason, hag? We cannot allow this male to be near someone so vital to our race. He will surely corrupt her. He will whisper lies, and she will believe them as truths because of her age. We doom our race if we let him near our core!” Naraxis nearly screamed at Matri.
“Don’t you dare speak to an elder like that! I’ll cut your tongue out myself if you say such things again,” Damballa screeched, slamming her fist onto the heavy oak table.
From there the angry voices rose, trying to be heard over all the others until they became mindless screams. Belial couldn’t tell if it was one voice speaking in tongues, or if the whole castle was screaming as loud as it could. The very stones of the walls seemed to quake from so much noise.
“Quiet, all of you! Is this the powers of our Court? Are we no better than a group of children?” Damballa’s voice held a hint of disbelief and disappointment. Her face was a mixed look of disgusted and shock. The gathered succubi, feeling chastised, stilled. The newly restored silence was deafening.
“My queen, with all respect, the child we are trying to protect has not received her sword yet. Even with the best of intentions, we can suppress her for only so long. Soon she will start asking questions. From those questions she will discover her powers, with or without our guidance. It will be much safer, for everyone, if we teach her.” Matri quietly explained. With the overbearing silence broken, the tension started to melt away, though it didn’t not disappear from the room completely.
“May I say what a wonderful idea you have come up with, my good demon. Forging a weapon before the battle starts. What a concept,” Runes voice was saturated with sarcasm. His words left a bad taste in Belial’s mouth.
“I do have one problem though. I will not bed with her. I refuse to be her toy. I will teach her to use all of her powers, but I will not debase myself to do so. And I assure you, I can withstand even the most seductive succubus,” The male’s voice had a hardened edge to it. To Belial it seemed he knew from experience he disliked succubi partners. What had happened to him? Does he distrust us because of whatever happened to him? Is he really loyal?
Her thoughts shifted again as the male’s shadow passed in front of the door. She had not received her sword yet from her mother.
She only knew a handful of demons who had not received a sword from their parent; all of them were much younger than she was. Swords were usually a gift from a parent to a mature child. It was a sign which meant the child was old enough to live their own life. They were free to go anywhere they wanted to in the worlds, and be what, or who they wanted to be.
Was the council talking of her? Could she be that important?
The thought nearly made Belial laugh. Nothing made her stand out in the court except for her resemblance to her mother. Her blood ties did not make life for her easier. If anything, her relation to Damballa made life almost unbearable. Damballa refused to see Belial as her heir, or even her child. She only gave her daughter rooms and food. Belial was continually shuffled from one haven to another, hardly having time to establish friendships with her peers. Even if she had been able to, befriending someone was hard for Belial. Her peers usually rejected her. They hated her for being of higher rank in the Court. Everyone seemed to dislike her, and expect her to fail within the Court. No one anticipated her to amount to anything. No one could be as great as Damballa. Not even her spawn.
Again Belial pulled herself from her thoughts. Why was she so distracted? Was she falling ill? She shook her head as if to clear it, and looked back through the small gap between the door and the wall.
Silence had once again filled the chamber. Damballa brought her hand to her chin, resting her head on her palm. The action made her look extremely young.
Damballa’s rich brown hair framed her face like a dark halo. Its shade was only slightly lighter than black. Her pale skin glowed like a white gem in the candlelight. She sat with her wings folded against her body and her legs hanging over the side of the huge oak chair at the head of the massive table. She looked like a rebellious teenager, thinking of a way out of a prickly situation.
After a moment of thinking Damballa spoke with a sigh.
“I say we send a group to the Dark Lord. He cannot deny us the right to see him, and it would be an insult to his honor to kill us if we meet with him to talk of peace. I think it is as safe as any plan would be right now. In the mean time, we start the training. We need to be prepared for the worst. I believe it is time to turn the wheels of destiny. What does the council think?”
The members of the council thought for a moment, thinking over the possible outcomes of their actions. Some succubi turned toward their neighbors in agreement. Still others turned to protest.
After a long pause Damballa asked, “Well? What does the council think?”
Voices sparsely came in settlement, but there were whispers of discord.
“Tomorrow we will choose who is to go to the City. We will also write up a statement to take to the High Lord. Night has fallen,” Damballa said with a sigh.
She waved her hand to the members, dismissing them. Slowly they stood, saluted their leader, and walked to the doors leading out from the room. Murmurs of disapproval about the decision floated on the air like feathers. The council might have power, but no one willingly stood up to Damballa. Even if the course taken at the moment was the safest one possible, not everyone agreed with it.
Before she could be caught, Belial turned and ran down the twisting corridors to her chambers. It was an exhilarating feeling. She could sense the shadows in a different way then she had before. It was as if she became one with the darkness in the halls. She passed by several guards undetected in the passageways, though she was unsure how.
When she had reached her door she hurried into her chambers. Checking behind her to make sure no one had followed her from the meeting; Belial quietly shut the door to her rooms. When she was safely inside she slumped against the stone wall and let out a sigh. The adrenaline which had built up through the council meeting and her run back to her rooms left Belial slightly drained. She felt tired, but not in a physical sense. It hardly made since in her mind. She only knew that she was lucky. Even if her mother was the Court leader, she could be severely punished for spying on the council.
There was a light tapping on the oak door behind Belial. She jumped at the sound, fearing it was one of the council members. Horrible thoughts raced through her mind. If anyone from the meeting caught her they could blackmail her or worse, bring her before her mother. She didn’t want disappointment to fill her mother’s eyes again.
She had seen such eyes glance at her. To Belial, it seemed that once you saw such a discarding gaze, your life in the Court was doomed. She would do anything to keep her mother from knowing she had been at the meeting. If there was anyway to repair her image in her mother’s eyes, being at the council meeting wasn’t it. But what could she do that no other succubi couldn’t? How would she be able to get out of this trap? Why had she even gone to the meeting in the first place?
The knock came again, more forcefully this time.
How can I get out of this? Her heart beat faster in fear. She couldn’t find an answer to the question. She didn’t know what she was going to do.
“Belial, open this door. I know you’re in there, you troublesome girl.”
Belial nearly melted with relief at the sound of Matri’s voice. Quickly, she opened the door and welcomed her mentor into her rooms.
“Do you know how much trouble you can be in right now? Do you? You’ve pushed too far this time. You can be beaten, exiled, or even killed for what you did tonight. You’re lucky the meeting was so heated, otherwise more eyes would have been roving around the room,” the older succubus scolded. Her face was set in a disapproving scowl.
“Matri, you know I’m more careful than that. No one else saw me. I will be fine. You know it. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be scolding me,” Belial said, trying to fake a light mood.
Worry lines creased the skin near Matri’s blue eyes.
“Belial, have you been sleeping well? You look tired,” the elder succubus commented.
Belial could tell the questions were meant to probe for information. But whether she was just concerned or if she was looking for something, Belial couldn’t tell.
“I’ve been fine. Really. I suppose my little adventure took a small toll. I’ll be sure to sleep well tonight to make up for it,” she responded to the question, hoping to dispel her elder’s concern.
“Fine, but go lay down and rest. Go on,” Matri gently moved Belial into the back bed chamber.
“Really, I’m not a child, Matri. I don’t need to be tucked into bed. I promise, I will sleep,” the younger succubus testily explained.
She doubted Belial would actually sleep. She may lie down, but she hardly slept at night. Refusing to fight a battle she couldn’t win, the elder said goodnight and turned to leave Belial’s private chambers.
“If I may ask… Who were you talking about in the meeting? Is there really a person who can become more powerful then the Dark Lord?” Belial asked softly when Matri had reached the doorway to the outer chamber.
The elder stopped, and slowly turned around. She opened her mouth to speak, but thought better of it, and pressed her lips together instead. After a moment of carefully picking her words Matri made up her mind to speak.
“It is late, and that is not a safe subject at the moment. We will talk tomorrow. Be sure to get sleep tonight. I may call on you early. Goodnight, my child.” Matri said in a tired voice.
“Goodnight, elder,” Belial responded with a small amount of regret in her voice.
When she heard the outer door click shut Belial stripped to her skin and crawled under the sheets of her bed, and thought of all she had heard that night. As time passed, sleep slowly gained a foothold in Belial’s mind. Just after she drifted off into deep slumber a clicking sound softly reverberated in the sill silence.



In the council chamber, Damballa slumped in her chair. Why did the council have to be such a bother? Before this conflict had started the council meetings used to be something Damballa looked forward to. Now she pushed them back as long as she could, hating the meetings with every fiber of her being.
“I suppose you have something you would like to say. Otherwise you would have disappeared by now,” Damballa said to the male. Knowing he couldn’t fool the lead succubus, Rune walked to the chair Naraxis had occupied only moments before, and sat down. Silence passed between them, each lost in their own thoughts.
“Your daughter is very sly. But she needs training. I am surprised your council didn’t see her crack the door.” Rune said with a small smile.
“She takes after you, you know. I remember you sneaking around just like she does now…,” the smile melted from his face as he continued.
“Damballa she can use her powers. She has a small control over them. She resisted a simple trick I tried to place on her mind. She is more dangerous than you think. She needs training…” his voice trailed off as it became apparent Damballa wasn’t paying him much attention.
Again the room fell silent. Minutes passed while Damballa continued to appear lost in her thoughts. Rune shifted to leave the succubus be when he heard her whisper.
“Will she really be strong enough Rune? Will all of this be worth it?” The words would have been inaudible to human ears. But Rune clearly heard the faint plea.
The male sighed as he sank back into the chair.
“I won’t lie to you. I have no idea. I have hope though. I have hope that your daughter will be the light which everyone gains strength from. But I am no prophet. I can only pick sides to fight on, and pray I chose right.” After a moment Damballa responded.
“I suppose in the end, that’s all there is; victors and losers… Leave me. I wish to be alone.”
Rune stood and bowed before Damballa before leaving down the corridor Belial had used shortly before. He wished to have a closer look at the young succubus.



If you missed the prologue you can check it out by clicking here.

The Lost Times - Prolgue  (E) Prolgue for my novle. Please comment. Opinions are always welcome. #1099577 by Feles