Darksiders: The Survivors

Chapter 9 - Two Servants

The Watcher Panoptos had been fleeing for his life since Fury's threat to kill him the next time he laid eyes on her. Far from the Scar and Ashlands, he flew, opening a portal into Hell he went, assuming that was the safest place he could be. The Charred Council wouldn't be too pleased if they found out he failed to eliminate Fury with the angels that served nothing but pawns.

The landscape around him was a crimson blood azure like it it was ready to fall like rain. Jagged mountains formed on the horizons like the bottom row of fangs like he was inside the mouth of a massive beastly creature. Panoptos preferred to be back in his own realm, but he could not bear to report a failed task to the Council. Not yet.

"Well Watcher, what are you doing here? Is it done?"

Panoptos spun around, it was Lilith, the infamous demoness whose figure seemed to seduce every demon that looked upon her. But the Watcher realized Lilith was not her own person, a dark presence seemed to overtake her with her now bloodshot eyes. Was she possessed?

"Why Lilith, this is your realm isn't it? I just need a safe place until the Council...." he was beginning to stammer and shudder when he saw her slowly approaching closer, ".... until I'm ready to tell them, the bad news,"

Lilith's voice sounded deeper than her usual feminine seductive self, "You failed to have the Horsemen killed didn't you? I have also lost contact with Beelzebub which means he failed too!" she lunged forward seizing the Watcher by the throat.

Panoptos choked and struggled but her grip was far too constricted. Then he soon recognized the voice emerging from the lips of Lilith that were not her own,

"That voice..... L-Lucifer!?"

Lucifer laughed deeply, "Lilith is now mine to command after her failure to dispose of the Lord of Hollows. He was a threat to my plans and the Council's. The Horsemen will stop at nothing to keep humanity safe, even now, more of them are being found on the third kingdom's ruins!"

Panoptos gasped for air, "Oh Lucifer, that's not possible!"

"Oh but it is Watcher, I made a deal with the Council, both of us want the Horsemen dead, but for our own reasons. The Council wants them gone since there is no real Balance and that humanity is a threat to us all. I want them silenced for interfering with my schemes for too long. I corrupted humanity with the Animus, made them destructive, greedy, they are a volatile species, and the Horsemen waste their time mingling with them because they are too driven by this false prophecy!"

Panoptos held onto the possessed demon's grip, fighting to pry the fingers loose from his delicate throat.

"Lilith would never want the last of her children slain!"

"You don't know that, you parasite! Lilith ceased to be useful after the Lord of Hollows was not silenced and now the Horsemen know the truth. For eons she has consulted in me, the Horseman butchered the other Nephilim, don't you remember? The riders are no longer her children. Absalom, the others, Eden was supposed to be theirs, and it was taken from them," Lucifer hissed,

Panoptos could never forget that notorious day at Eden, but now it was clear to them that the Horsemen would always be puppets of the Council, and he became part of the scheme the moment the Council tasked him to slay Fury's steed when the latter embarked on her mission. There was no turning back when he accepted as he had always detested the four, but now that Lucifer was directly involved only meant greater trouble.

Lucifer had remained deceitful during War and Strife's mission to track him down and foil whatever it was he was up to. It was not until they had reached the very heart of the matter did they realize what the demon wanted.

"Ah, you're already part of the scheme, Panoptos, why else do you think I would ask for an update?" Lucifer released his grip and the Watcher dropped like a tree branch, coughing and gasping and then spoke when his air returned to him.

"The Council promised me a fortune if I did, and now I can't face them. I put the task of slaying that creature in the hands of a rogue angel..."

"You coward!" Lucifer interrupted furiously,

"Hold on! Don't belittle me yet!" Panoptos wailed, raising his arms in front of him as the possessed Lilith inched closer, like regretting releasing him, "The angel did the job but then the Hellguard whore and her army stormed the stronghold, with two of the Horsemen in a tow and she was slain, it doesn't matter if the deed was done, they'll still have my head if they discovered that I failed to carry it out myself!"

Lucifer paused and then laughed after a few seconds, "My word, you truly are pathetic! I'd kill you if I didn't find your story that entertaining! But there are endeavours that must be undertaken that we will need you for. Tell me, before you escaped, do you recall the Horsemen not being alone?"

Panoptos shuddered, "Well, the Horsemen left with a human, male, called him Mathias Dimitrescu, I think. Don't know where they were headed from there,"

Lucifer's eyes glowed bright and a grin appeared on Lilith's lips, "Is that so? Now they are being bodyguards? This is even more cringey than what I heard about Fury playing nursemaid for them!"

Do any surviving demons even know who they are speaking to when they see her? Panoptos thought and then he continued, "But only two Horsemen were present! Fury and Strife, I do not know where War and Death have gone, wait, did you say something about Beelzebub earlier?"

Lucifer walked forward down the black molten path in Lilith's body still maintaining her sexy strut of one heel crossing in front of the other perfectly, no one would be able to tell the difference if her eyes hadn't changed. Panoptos floated along slowly close behind the possessed demon as they reached a cliff overlooking a massive lake of lava with more jagged mountains. A part of Hell that was left untouched by Absalom's Corruption from earlier.

"Lord Beelzebub maintained control of the Scalding Gallow unbeknownst to my rival Samael. Then I recently lost contact with him," he paused to gaze at the view of several demons flying around the region, their inverted wings were questionable but only those with ones large enough could maintain airborne movement.

"It is likely that the other two Horsemen may have intercepted his location and silenced him. He was capturing human survivors. If.... no! It's not possible!" Lucifer suddenly stopped,

"What is it?" Panoptos asked, circling to the anterior,

"There is another prophecy, one that will make humanity rise once and for all and the Horsemen will guide them. War and Death, there must have been another human they rescued! Damn, they are quick to learn the truth! It won't be long before they know everything and will act against us! Soon humanity will be free from their corruption if we don't do something!" Lucifer was now pacing ferociously shaking his head, causing the chains on Lilith's breastplate to jingle like bells on a carriage.

Panoptos watched the possessed demon like a hawk, waiting for an outburst but none came, what was Lucifer thinking? Then he turned to the Watcher, "We have much to discuss, I have been sending scouts to search for any of Beelzebub's remaining followers if they know the identity of the second human. To my fortress at once, there we will speak with the Council!"

Lucifer strode down the slope and Panoptos quickly followed hoping it would be a short trip.