Arcane (Discontinued)

The Seeking

"Mercy? You beg me, the Ruler of Hell, to have mercy!?" Abyss roared. Ariel was nearly thrown off his massive hand. "My Lord, I-" "SHE IS A DEFIER! OF ALL THE HUMANS YOU COULD HAVE CHOSEN SHE HAD TO BE THE ONE!" Abyss was completely enraged. He was now  threatening to crush the small Demon is his massive fist. "But- my Lord- you know I did not-" Ariel gasped. Even a powerful Demon like her was no match against Abyss' strength.

"My Lord! This is getting ridiculous!" The Demon's voice rang out through the massive hall. Stepping forward from a obsidian pillar, he narrowed his eyes and twirled the edge of his goatee. Abys seemed taken aback by this Demon's sudden appearance. "How long have you been here, Malchidael?" He asked, losening his grip on Ariel. She gasped for breath. "Why, the whole time," Malchidael responded, sounding almost bored. "And I don't see why you got in a fit in the first place. We all know that no Demon can choose. The chosen chooses itself." He flicked invisible dust off his red tailcoat and sighed. "Just because you are the Demon of impatience does not mean you have no respect for me!" Abyss replied angrily. "My-Lord!" Ariel huffed, as he had now tightened his grip on her again. Glowering at the Demon of impatience, he dropped Ariel onto the ground, twenty feet below. "Your point?" He growled. Malchidael replied, "Oh, no real reason. I just thought you shouldn't be wasting your energy on her. You should be sending Demons after the girl."

"Delany! Get out of bed! The Seeking's today and you know you cannot miss it! Up!"Gertude's harsh voice wafted up the stairs and filled Delany's room. "Okay, i'm up!" She grumbled, and did not get out of bed, but merely turned over, in hopes she would get another few minutes of rest. "DELANY!" Her caretaker shrieked. Groaning, Delany pushed herself out of bed and trudged towards the neat stack of clothes at the top of the stairs. She picked up a long sleeved green flannel shirt, a pair of socks and underwear, and old jeans that were spotted with holes. She dressed herself and slid into her leather ankle boots. Grinning, she hopped onto the old stair banister and slid downstairs. The banister gave a low groan underneath her weight, which really wasn't that much.

"Now Delany, I told you, if you do that again, the whole roof will fall down on top of us!" Gertrude, Delany's caretaker, walked into the shabby dining room. "Sorry," Delany replied, grinning sheepishly, "So, what's for breakfast?" She asked. "If you'd gotten up earlier, you would've had scrambled eggs and ham! But since your so lazy, you'll have to satisfy yourself with this." Gertrude set down  a plate in front of Delany, who had now sat down in an old, straight backed oak chair. Her eyes widened in amazement. "Peaches!? And sourdough? But this must have cost a fortune!" Indeed, the plate held a clump of roasted peaches and two slices of finely made sourdough bread, slowly melting a large chunk of butter. "Well, I thought you deserved a treat today." Gertrude smiled. As she turned to walk back into the kitchen, she chuckled, "Oh, and you'll be working with Mr. Gunair for a week."

"Hey, Del." Cadmar's brown eyes and dark skin  sparkled. "Hi, Cadmar. How is your mom?" Delany pushed a stray lock of her pitch black hair behind her ear. Her own deep green eyes pointed down at the ground, and she tried not to blush. "Thanks for asking, she's a lot better now. Old Valdus really knows his stuff." Valdus was the village healer, and was often made fun of by the young boys in town  because of his poor eyesight and his partial loss of hearing. "So, what do you think will happen?" Delany was talking about the Seeking, of course. The Seeking was an event that happened every two years to choose a small group of people and send them off to the Inner Ring, where the King and Queen dwelled. Those who where chosen never came back. Nobody knows of their fates.

The Kingdom of Roiale was divided into six Rings, all inside one another. The Inner ring was just big enough for the castle, where the King and Queen lived, the second for other royalty, the third for  the Army, the fourth for the moderately rich, the fifth for the poor and the sixth, the sixth Ring had crumbled and fallen during the war between the Angels and Demons, which happened to take place at the Rings of Roiale.