The Sin Hunter: Double or Nothing

A Fruitful Discussion

At the head of the table, where candles provided the only light in the ancient, gloomy kingdom, Lucifer enjoyed his meal silently, chewing on a piece of well cooked steak while large, voluptuous curtains draped from the ancient stone brick walls surrounding the underground palace. The King of Hell had offered himself a select few amounts of food while, across the table, the hooded, aged creature who had greeted Lucifer at his meeting, dined contentedly upon large piles of food and drink. It was as if things went in beneath the deep red and gold hood, then disappeared forever, never to be seen again.

After meeting with the newly crowned Lord of Gluttony to partake in generosity toward their first meeting, Lucifer entered the gates in Gluttony's tropical paradise with some questions he desired to be answered and some clarification for the sudden and none-too-announced arrival. The King of Hell pondered his next moves carefully when the great feasting across the table paused, deafening the room with silence. Lucifer angled his head to one angle to view around the pile of food, but the hooded figure was already beside him, a flowing tapestry of dust and ancient tidings.

"You appear frightened. I assure you, the food is fair and well." Lucifer caught himself, sucking in a slow breath to calm his panicked heart before he turned, hands crossed and eyes ready to greet the black void beneath the cloak. "Ahum. I'm quite full, regrettably. Though I suppose there is more for you, then." The hooded figure gave a slow, subtle nod, their robes twisting and cracking in a bowing motion before returning to full stature, sleeves clasped behind their back. "If you so insist, Lucifer Morningstar. Though I appreciate your offerings of respect and kindness in my halls."

Lucifer waved his own hand, smiling and shaking his head. "Oh, it's nothing, really. Though I'd be disappointed if you'd left here without answering a few of my questions first." The bundle of robes and arms, wrapped and twisted by cloth and bandage, exhaled before responding. "I see. Kindness unto kindness, then. Ask what you wish." The Morningstar Monarch nodded, crossing his hands in anticipation while the hooded figure took their seat at the opposite end of the table. Somewhere within the large, ancient hall of the underground palace, a large, toucan-like bird soared through the mossy, vine-cloaked overgrowth of the ancient temple.

"Well then. Shall we abide by the Rule of Legend?" Lucifer asked, gesturing to the large stone deities embedded in the walls around the table. The hooded figure twisted their cloak back and forth to admire the statues, each cradling a lantern somewhere in their many palms before responding. "Twelve questions, and twelve answers. Yes, that will suffice." Lucifer nodded, removing his top hat to set it down on the table beside his plate. Lucifer felt the sharpened edges of his silver blond hair flowing down to his shoulders when he asked his first question.

"Where is Beelzebub?" He asked his first question. There was an unsettling silence from the other end of the table. Lucifer raised his eyebrows in surprise, but before he could clarify his thoughts, the slow, steady tone of the Gluttonous Ruler cut the air. "Your former son, the youngest child, yes? I recall his works. Yes..." the hood droned, tilting itself to the air in slow silence, before, "he is closer than you may think. Trust in those you hold close." Lucifer nodded, recording the information within his mind before he pressed forward with his questions. "Very well. Am I to take you as some form of visier?"

The hooded figure's tone grew warm and pleasant when they spoke. A long, weathered arm with fair muscle and ancient scrolls enveloping its flesh, extended to retrieve a glass of a strange red liquid. "If you desire a visier, then I see no reason why I could not provide one." Lucifer nodded, the corners of his lips smiling in delight. "You're rather polite for a Demon. Not many can boast that talent." The ancient hood nodded in response, gesturing their wrinkled hands to the environment around the table. "Demons are rather polite, O' Sultan of Sinners. It is your people who cloud the judgment of our world."

Lucifer rubbed his temples, sliding forward onto the table with a groan. "Oh, ancient one, I beg you, please. How do I bring order to all of this chaos in Hell?" The hooded figure stood from the table, sweeping across the room when, somewhere in the distance of the vast temple, a gong rang through the walls, shaking dust in pools from the ceiling and the pillars. The hooded figure rested their tired, warm hand upon the King of Hell's shoulder, shaking their robes from side to side. "Not I," they responded, "but deep concentration and my masters will provide you with a favorable answer." Lucifer exhaled, retracting into a seated position of regality that which he held dear.

"I see. Yes, Legend, or rather, their beings, have always been persistent in remaining secluded from Hell's political matters. I can give them a bit of time to answer." The hooded figure rubbed the palms of their ancient hands together, nodding while curls of wistful, dull jade smoke pooled from the folds beneath their robes. "I suppose you would wish to know further regarding your son, or am I incorrect in my dust-ridden form?" Lucifer drifted his eyes upward, moving the palms of his thumbs back and forth in clasped hands.

"I wish to see Beelzebub again, yes. But Mammon is the Ruler of Greed, through means by which I do not enjoy to express." The ancient Ruler of Gluttony swept across the room, gently sliding their hand across the roughened fabric of beautiful silk tapestries. The tapestries that hung from the fire-lit temple walls depicted ancient flora and beautiful wildlife that flowed through the deepest jungle of Gluttony. "I understand. We seek that which we can never have. It is a killing curse, that."