Darksiders: The Survivors

Chapter 13 - The Dark Prince

In the bowels of Hell, Panoptos followed Lucifer who possessed Lilith's body in silence into the great canyons to where no one from any other kingdom had gone before. Not even Samael himself. The sky was stormy and pitch black with thunder crashing like the sound of drumming and the jutting mountains seemed a lot eerier here with their faint orange glow in the darkness.

Panoptos shivered while gazing at his new surroundings, he assumed this was the place in Hell where no creature from the other kingdoms ventured into this territory and returned to tell the tale. He much preferred to go back to the Charred Council's realm, but this time Lucifer was determined to conduct this meeting on his own realm this time. How would the Council be contacted from here? Lucifer was a demon with many unknown powers and every moment the Watcher spent in the presence of this great prince, the more he learned who he was really dealing with.

Ahead on the far side of a great fissure, loomed a great ebony fortress with a single glowing crimson doorway and four jagged towers pointing to the dark sky in unison with the mountains. Panoptos couldn't help but be disappointed, for he was expecting something more menacing with armies of demons or other unfortunate possessed victims. But Lucifer was not like Samael, he preferred to remain undetected when it came to possession of power in all its forms. Samael liked to brag while Lucifer remained undercover until the time to strike arrived.

As they neared the fortress, a single shadowy figure resembling a single wisp with two red eyes floated down from the sky towards the duo.

"Ah my trusted scout, you have returned. Tell me what you have reported," Lucifer cooed unexpectedly like he was mocking Lilith, as the little creature landed on his arm and whispered something Panoptos could not decipher.

"Yes? .... wait what? Impossible!" Lucifer hissed furiously and stormed down towards the fortress. Panoptos floated after him as fast as he could.

"What is it? What's wrong?! Tell me! Tell me!" he begged,

"Not now parasite, my ally, your masters need to hear this as well. Let us get inside immediately!" Lucifer snapped as they approached the fissure. The demon raised Lilith's arms and several levitating stones rose up from the gorge and took the formation of a bridge allowing them to cross.

Panoptos remained silent for the rest of the walk down the path to the stronghold, there was nothing worse than pissing off a demon unique as Lucifer and he began to wonder how was it possible for the demon to persuade the Council to form an alliance. Maybe now he would finally be exposed to the true form of Lucifer.

At the entrance to the fortress, two large Legion Bonesplitter demons stood at each side wielding enormous cannons that resembled machine guns the human military possessed. Their inverted wings remained folded and their bodies were equal in size to their weapons. One look at their faces and you thought of Samael, but without the great horns. At the arrival of their master, they shifted aside to let them in. One of the demons smacked his lips together glaring at Panoptos as he hovered past. The Watcher shuddered and stuck close to Lucifer as they walked inside.

"Not even a door, just an opening to your home. I expected more from you, Lucifer. For a demon so powerful, surely you could acquire some more security," he said, stammering nervously,

"No one has ever found this place, Watcher. Not even the Horsemen, and until such a threat arises, I shall continue to keep things on low guard," the demon lord snapped.

It was true that in his previous acts to corrupt humanity, pollute Eden's waters, and stir up general trouble, Lucifer had always kept a low profile, preferring to let his lieutenants take the frontline with heavy forces. Those were simple times until he began to work with Lilith and enlisted the other demon lords, sans Samael, to help him spread corruption in exchange for their souls, which set the stage for his biggest scheme yet.