Conquest Of The Fallen: Dark Dominions

[🎶 What Lovers Do – Maroon Five ft. SZA.]

"Israfel?" Yemaya nudged gently. The ruddy young [Apollyon] blinked and refocused. His vision seemed blinded by a tear cloud and he stared straight ahead at the giant aquarium and the winy octopus threading the water with glowing purple tentacles. Yemaya's voice came soft again. "Are you okay, my Lord? You went out on me for a second there."

"The octopus," Rafel pointed at the iridescent organism in the clear marine glass. "Is it a hybrid?"

Yemaya was not happy about Rafel changing the subject, but she answered, explaining why the octopus' body shimmered like a lamp. "Yes, it is. Bonnie is a new addition to a hybrid culture at the Atlantean Research Institute. My best scientists came up with a way to inject zygotic cells of jellyfish into octupi embryos.

Bonnie is the pioneer species." She ended.

Rafel stared at the eight arms on the polypus; suckers filled with poison enough to kill a grown man. And now, electrified too. It was getting more clear to him that wifey-ing up Yemaya was a great decision. "She looks real calm in her new skin." He attempted at a joke.

Yemaya smiled, and her voice hardened.

"Enough, Rafel. You don't really care about my pet octupus. You are only trying to distract from my offer, and so I pose the question again: would you like me to tell you who wiped Cora's memory?"

Rafel sighed. "Do I really want to know?"

"Isn't that what you want the Book of Souls for?"

Yemaya waved a hand at the bound leather tome on her burnished sapphire-glass top. She added, "even I don't know who it is yet. But there are many things a Goddess of my rank can access. A lot of perk comes with ascending into the [Supreme Supernatural Sovereign] level—as you well know."

[Ding!] Peitho talked in Rafel's head; the sugar sweet voice of his infernal system binding to his thoughts like cream on cheese.

[The Atlantean Queen is right, LORD APOLLYON!]

[The Sea Empress's prowess as SSS RANK, and god-level divinity of the oceans affords her with a lot of leeway when it comes to accessing information currently unavailable to you.]

[Not only is your A Rank well beneath hers, HOST, but the sea queen has been in the supernatural oceanic order for centuries. She has ruled the merfolk colonies from before your infernal birthing. The data she's offering is classified at your level.]

[To unlock, HOST must ascend to at least 7th Infernal Ring.]

[My Lord Apollyon is currently at the Third Ring.]

[Ding!]

[Accessment Ended!]

Rafel loved that Peitho stuck to her job; she didn't give advice she thought he needed, or will benefit this situation. And for this, he honored her by asking: 'What would you have me do, Peitho? Do I take my wife's generous offer, or try my luck with the Book of Souls?'

As for Yemaya, she was not privy to this dialogue, and like she knew Rafel was locked in inner conversation with his system, she rose to find and pop a vintage bottle of wine. A decade aged and smooth as running silver, she poured into nice glasses and handed one over to Rafel. He took a sip, awaiting Peitho's response.

[Ding!]

[The Book Of Souls, while being a Divine Relic of insurmountable aid, is also and will eternally be a Grimoire of the Darkest Arts. My Lord Apollyon cannot expect the souls forcefully binded its gnarly pages to be helpful. They will be greedy and ill at heart, and employ means to gain advantage. There will be lies and deception.

HOST will gain better truth from dealing with a leprechaun.]

[Thus, calculating the best possible scenario of finding peace for Miss Corazón Mortimer, SYSTEM suggests HOST accepts the Sea Goddess's offer.]

[It is clean, without return favor or reprove.]

'Thank you, Peitho.' Rafel switched off their connection in his head. He drained his glass of eld brandy in one gulp, tasting the pomegranate flavor in it for a moment in his mouth before swallowing. He looked to Yemaya; her aquamarine eyes were lovely and patient. Peitho was right. He could trust better his wife to help with a problem, than a million wild souls in limbo.

"Do it," said Rafel.

Yemaya dropped her own glass of wine and wet her lips. She opened her palms, like a witch in a [Conjuring Spell]. Her voice rose. Her sea-blue pupils spun brightly. He could see her lush brown skin light up within with a paranormal glow: a human firefly. Her veins turned visible and blue, transforming her into a creature of wonder, like that hybrid octopus.

Magic ran like blue fire under her skin, pulsing in flesh and making her seem a [Revenant].

When the Atlantean queen spoke, it was with the voice of a thousand fish:

"Tides of the Trench, and mystics of the Marina. Deep cold and ocean bold, heed me, thine goddess. To this name, Corazón Mortimer, let all truth be revealed. By the power of Sea and Season, I conjure." She added wistfully. "Make it legible, please. I'd hate to read ancient Valhallan."

The entire penthouse pulsed and beamed in blue luminescence. It was kind of trippy.

But then, a fat scroll dropped out of nowhere, right in the middle of Yemaya's open palms.

She stopped glowing. Her eyes dimmed; they crescents she had for pupils were still eerie though. Normal folk had round iris. Yemaya had slitted ones. It singled her out; distinguished her. She, was very much not normal—but in the best, most powerful, supernatural way.

She offered Rafel the scroll and said, "Everything you need is in there. I'll leave you to it."

"Wait." Rafel touched her wrist as she attempted to rise. He linked his fingers with her. "You just used your prowess as SSS-RANK to command your system for this. Don't you want to know the culprits?"

Yemaya sat back down, and her eyes lit in a way Rafel had only seen on their wedding day.

"You trust me that much."

He smiled brilliantly. "I do. You didn't need to do this for me; you could just have let me try it out with the Book Of Souls, but you did. I will not forget this. You're my wife. I need you here.

Now, come on! Don't make me into some lovey dovey Orpheus." Yemaya laughed as he held out his hand. "Come here."

She scooted to him on the sofa and they huddled in close, knit at the thigh as they unraveled the scroll. Rafel pulled the silver ribbon off it. He unfurled it like a map and set it down on the tiny ornate top before them. Yemaya grabbed some paperweights and held the parchment down.

They both stared on the revealed pages.

The first thing on the scroll was a family tree.

Rafel didn't bother with the progenitors long dead. He went down to the single name at the bottom of the list: CORAZÓN MORTIMER, and read up from there. He drew up circles with his finger.

"Her father was Alaric Mortimer, a warlock in the past King Imperia's host. Her mother; Lucia Piven, was a [Sage]. A clairvoyant, it says here. She could see the future." He shared a look with Yemaya. His wife said, "why do I feel like something's coming after that?"

"It is." Rafel explained. "During my last talk with Corazón at her dorm. . ." He struggled not to imagine her sucking his dick, which was what had gone down—mostly. ". .

.she seemed to think her parents were still alive, which they clearly aren't AS IT STATES HERE on this goddamn tree. I initially thought it was because of her amnesia, but Alaric and Lucia Mortimer have been dead since she was a wee girl.

[Memory Erase] spell doesn't stretch that far.

But the thing is, her alive parents," he made air quotes, "go by the names Belbys and Zagreus."

Yemaya nodded in clarity. "You mean the Inca demi-goddess and the son of Hades."

"Exactly!" Rafel hit the table with his fist.

"But Belbys and Zagreus are not her parents..." Yemaya continued intelligently. "Unless, someone wants her, and us to think that."

Rafel took a deep breath. "WHO THE FUCK would scramble her mind to think Belbys, a fucking harlot, and Zagreus, a red-eyes sicko we're her parents?"

"Someone so intent on hiding in the shadows," said Yemaya.

Rafel returned. "Belbys and Zagreus are patsies. No one would think to look further finding the girl's literal parents are Immortals. But not us. We are lucky to have you. Let's see who this bastard is, shall we?"

Rafel flipped the scroll to stare at the end.

Yemaya was practically in his lap, as the both of them were now deeply curious to read the name scribbled into the bottom of the scroll. The man behind it all. The person so evil he could erase a young girl's entire teenage life to keep back the truth from bursting forth. It was a single name.

—but both Rafel and Yemaya were fifty shades of shocked to find out it was a woman.

They read the name together.

"LILITH FIRSTBORN."

Rafel went stiff as metal rod in a lightning storm. Charged as much too. He couldn't believe his eyes. His auntie? HIS FUCKING AUNT? She was the villain.

The bastard who had taken his Corazón from him? All the memories they had made together at Emberfall? She was the bitch responsible?

Rafel rose to his feet like a [Golem].

Robotic.

Mute.

Deadly.

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But it made sense. It all did. Only a being as powerful as Lilith could pull some grand evil motherfucking shit like that; the Lady Fyre painting had confirmed that much. And so it was only fair to the mystic well of the universe that only a being of equal power to Lilith's could break through her hex and all of her fucking webs: his wife, Yemaya.

If Lilith had cast a spell, it meant Corazón did really die.

She had been turned from the other side.

It made perfect sense. How could he not have seen it? Lilith was the Queen of the Underworld. She had souls at her taloned grip like [The Fates] with strings of life. She alone could have resurrected Cora; she had the divine runes.

Corazón. . .his Corazón was a [Ghost Girl].

Rafel was mumbling. "I can't believe she would do that. I can't believe she would hurt me like that. First, they murdered her in front me. Those bastards! Then they brought her back.

They wiped her memory. And they sent her back to me to screw with my head, my emotions. . .my fucking life!"

Rafel had begun to glow like a comet. His eyes were raw flames. He was filling with energy.

He was going to explode!

"Uh, Israfel?" Yemaya moved to touch him.

But he wasn't hearing her. His entire body went sun bright and super nova hot. She knew it the second he was about to combust. Yemaya knew a blast from him would flatten the whole hotel and scatter a few more buildings in the area. She loved her penthouse suite at the Grand Tourniquet, and didn't want to loose her special glow octupus when the place was bombed to shit.

Just as Rafel burned with a lancing light and beamed outward, Yemaya dived for him.

She jumped on top of him, the both of them falling to the couch.

BOOOOOOM!

Rafel exploded. He went nuclear, blasting liquid fire and streams of radiation. Yemaya hugged him hard and absorbed it all in her water magic. He was glowing like a furnace. She was the ocean: calm and blue, her own marine magic leaking out to absorb the explosion of his core. She didn't let go.

He poured and poured pools of lava into her watery depths. She took it all, cooling his fiery body with hers, just like she assuaged his anger.

Rafel finally calmed down.

The sofa was cinders and ash under them. A burn hole in the Ottoman rug.

They were on the floor, Yemaya straddling him in her embrace. She had taken all of his fire, and quenched it. Else, everything now in a ten-mile radius would be ash and smoke. This was the power of the Apollyon, the Burning One, and Yemaya had saved hundreds of lives in knowing this. And acting as she did.

As a Goddess, she could take the heat.

Rafel sat up with her in his lap. His hands went up to her face and his gold eyes skimmed her for damage. He was glad when he found none.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

Yemaya's blue tresses were loose. She looked wild. And even she smiled, Rafel felt the urge to hold her and never let go. Grinning, she said, "I'm fine. Just a little bit hot, that's all. But that's expected, I just soaked in the explosion of a small star.

Are YOU okay?" She instead asked.

Rafel went contemplative as Yemaya, still in his lap, straddling him, kissed into his hair and temples. The strands were extra red.

"I just don't get why she did it." He circled his arms around Yemaya's soft waist.

In wisdom only borne of living and loving a thousand years, Yemaya stroked Rafel's head in her ample bosom as she said, "these, my dear husband, are the things we do for love."

Rafel said nothing else. He just let Yemaya cradle him, thinking on how he might have to do a very dark thing—for the same thing she spoke about. For love, he might have to kill his auntie.

In the circle of dark ash, Rafel asked, "Can I sleep here tonight?"

Yemaya caressed his ginger curls, liking the feel of his strong form under her. She whispered back. "Of course, my love. Of course."