Devil's tale

Devil's tale, chapter 34

"Of all the hair-brained, hail-Mary plans you've come up with, this has got to be by far the dumbest one!" Emily snapped.

"I'm not saying it's going to be easy. Hells, I'm not even saying I'm going to do it. It's just an option that's on the table!" Avarice replied. He slumped back in his chair, next to the messy pile of books he'd buried himself in for the past five days. The Imperial library was the largest collection of knowledge on the planet, and they'd only had three tomes detailing anything useful about the hells. Avarice knew that there were seven layers of hell, but he didn't know what each one entailed. Legend spoke of a ruler who had once united all the hells under one banner, but there was no concrete evidence of such a being's existence. He remembered the statue in the nameless valley, and he remembered Glorofin's words of prophecy, how everything Avarice had needed, had been back in the nameless valley, he had just been too scared to seek it out. He'd read legends of archdevils, and what they were supposedly capable of, that they had the strength to travel between realms of existence at will, that they could command magic in a way beyond the three mortal schools and that they held the unconditional loyalty of every single demon within their circle of hell. With power like that, Avarice could... what could he do with it? He glanced out his window.

"We're not going to be allowed to stay here, if Farris keeps chasing us."

"You won't be able to stay here regardless." Emily said.

"No, but you and Jazz will. I'm making no headway on ways to heal his arm, I suspect that the scholars and clerics of this empire will do a lot better than me.

"He's right, Emmy. The three of us can't just stay here, as nice as that would be." Jazz pointed out.

"So now you're on his side?! Jazz, he'll get himself killed!" Emily raised her voice.

"I doubt that, the kid can control time itself, remember?" Jazz said.

"Only marginally, and Farris's control far exceeds Avarice's!"

"That's another reason I have to go-" Avarice interjected. "I'm not strong enough to defeat Farris as I currently am. I'd hoped that I could learn more here, but the emperor isn't going to take any chances with me. If I stay, it'll mean war between Anoria and Northland. I won't be the catalyst for a conflict that could lead to the deaths of thousands."

"You said you were still thinking it over, but now it sounds like you've already made up your mind!" Emily kicked the leg of a nearby chair.

"If I go, you and Jazz can stay here. Jazz can get his arm healed, and you can research the truth of Leto. You guys don't need me anymore." Avarice said.

"We do!" Emily shouted. "Avarice, use your stupid, horned head! You might never come back if you go down into hell! What will you even do if you get whatever power you're after?! Is revenge against Farris really that important to you?!"

"It's not just about revenge." Avarice stood up. "I don't know what I'll use that power for, but I think that if I go down there, I'll have to either figure it out, or die trying." He began to pace back and forth. "I said I wanted to bring revolution to Northland, but I don't even know what that means. But I can't just sit around and do nothing, that's not what Roland would want and that's not what I want." He looked at Emily, and then at Jazz. "You two have both suffered because of the flaws of our country. Emily, because you tried to protect me, you became a criminal. Jazz, you guarded your village against that statue for years, and have nothing to show for it. We saw a town nearly die of a plague, caused by the ignorance and vanity of the military which rules Northland. Something has to change, something has to be done. I don't know what I can do, but I need to find out." He once again looked out the window, at the setting sun. "I think that's one of the reasons Roland raised me. He hoped I could bring change. Maybe this isn't what he had in mind, maybe he just thought that if a devil could rise to become a minstrel of his college, that that'd be enough. Or maybe he always wanted me to rise to greater heights. I don't know. What I do know is that whether Roland wants it or not, I want to bring change. I have to bring change." He looked down at his red-skinned hands. "We come from a place where Farris was given the powers of an Angel, and I was left to starve on the street. The only difference between us is that Farris happened to be born without horns and a tail." He clenched his fists. "Maybe this is all just personal. Maybe I'm just upset, and my trauma is the only real reason I want to do this, but honestly, I don't care."