Recovering Hope

Chapter 3

^Joann's POV^

"Chief Samuel, Lilith is dead. I would say I'm sorry, but I don't regret her death. She had killed so many innocent people and would only cause more blood shed if she was still alive. For your son Lucifer however, he's alive. He's the one who helped me take Lilith out actually." I say and Samuel's face shows multiple emotions at once. From regret to shock and then finally a grim expression of acceptance. He nods his head and lets me continue.

"After we took her out, Lucifer had shown his true colors. He had backstabbed me and ordered for me to be imprisoned, only offering me freedom to be his consort; very much like how Lilith was to you. However, he was planning to use me as a pawn against the Stride Kingdom. I was only able to escape because of Prince Belphegor. After we had taken out the Empress, Lucifer assumed the throne. He must have not expected for me to have gotten help from one of his brothers' because he told me his future plans. He plans to only be in control of the Naphal Empire, but the whole content. He's spoken of taking control of Anámesa forest as well as plans to start a rebellion with Prince Apollo to take the throne of the Stride Kingdom. Pmce he has Apollo on the throne he wants them to take over the Faith Kingdom. He said he plans to make Apollo a future emperor like himself, but with how he is, I can imagine his greed will get the better of him and overrule him as well.

I fear that if he goes down this path, many people will be harmed. I don't want to see any more innocents die after all the carnage I've seen. I refuse to let his plan go so smoothly as it has. That is why I'm here, requesting help from you. If you don't want to help then fine, but know that if you don't take part in this, the downfall of all of the Angel Country will be partially your fault. You've already taken down my kingdom, are you prepared to let the whole country fall as well?" I ask. I watch Samuel as he flinches before his shoulders sink and he looks down at his hands. A part of me wanted to feel guilty for those last few words, but I didn't. He may have been forced to help Lilith, but at the end of the day he still played a part in the downfall of my home. I couldn't just let that go so easily and I figured the best way to have him help our cause was to guilt trip him. Samuels takes a deep breath before sitting up and looking me in the eyes.

"You're right, it would be my fault if I just decided to sit back. Lucifer is like this because I abandoned him with her. As a father, I need to take responsibility and make sure my child goes down the right path. It's my responsibility as well to make sure that if my child makes a mistake, I'm there to fix them. I haven't been there for him and because of that Lilith has made our child go down the same path as her.

Just please promise me one thing at least; Let me try to talk to him first. If we can stop this without having to go to war, I'd very much rather go that route. If he doesn't change his mind... Then I'll be the one to take responsibility for him. I won't kill him, but I can stop him." Samuel says. I nod my head in agreement, accepting his terms.

"Alright, I can accept that request. Now the question is where do we start? We can't immediately go see him without a back up plan so it's best we gather an army for the worst case scenario. We can't go to the Felidae, I can imagine Lucifer will have eyes there waiting for Ace and I to show up. Do you have an idea on where we could start looking for help?" I ask. Samuel holds a finger up and waves Ivory over. I only realized she had not once sat in her seat after I had attacked Samuel. She must have been waiting in case I were to attack again. She walks a few steps and leans in as Samuel whispers to her. I couldn't hear what he said, but Ace seemed to have not given any reaction. If he doesn't react with his sensitive hearing it must be fine.

As Samuel finishes whispering to Ivory, she steps out of the room hesitantly, leaving us three alone.

"Sorry for the secrecy, it's just with what Ivory is grabbing, there are also very important antiques I've collected from other Shapeshifter tribes with it. I don't mind if your friend here hears about the location since he is a Shapeshifter, but the less humans who know about it, the better. I hope you understand." He says as Ivory comes back in with what looks like a scroll. She hands it to Samuel and he thanks her before setting it on the table and opening it. As he lays it across, I notice that it was a map of Anámesa forest. However instead of it just being woods, there were triangles, circles in different sizes, and stars dotted through it. I was curious about what they meant and waited for Samuel to speak up about it.