Wrath

Prologue

-1894, somewhere between Heaven and Hell-

The door opened, and two men walked in. The one at the front was a middle aged man, with neat white hair and sparkling silver eyes, wearing a crisp grey suit. The one following him was a younger man, who looked about 30. He had swept back hair, a clean-shaven face and brown eyes. They sat down, opposite two other men, both in black suits.

The middle aged man spoke, with a heavy expression on his face, "The War has brought a lot of casualties to both sides, no?"

The older man opposite to him leaned back, sighing. "It would seem that way. What are you here for?"

The young man next to the man in the grey suit took out a scroll from his briefcase, handing it to the two men across the table. "We propose a peace treaty. Of course, it will have to be on our terms. As you can see, in exchange for the armistice, you are to demilitarise your borders for the next 2 centuries, reduce your army by 15% and well..." he sighed, looking at the smiling man next to him, "...we will obtain the rights to own 50% of the dragon population currently in your kingdom."

The other man across the table took off his spectacles and started to wipe them, "Are these all your terms? How... lenient."

The middle aged man leaned forwards, not noticing the frowning young man next to him,  "Of course, I do have a reputation to uphold. And concerning the dragons," his grin grew a little wider, "We'll have the special Hell-only breeds. You know, the wyverns and the lot. It'd look nice in the garden."

The man opposite him shook his head and sighed, "Right. Of course. We'll gladly sign the treaty if that is all-" His sentence was cut off midway by the young man next to the grinning old man.

"Wait, I propose one more term." He leaned in, both hands on the table. "Both of our people, no matter from the Divine Dominion or from Hell, are to avoid conflict of any sort and a wall will be built along the borders."

A sly smile appeared on the other man's face. He spoke, with a caustic tone, "Very well, Yeshua. We shall accept the terms."

The young man he called Yeshua leaned closer, taking out a pen from his pocket. "Please, do call me Jesus, I'm used to being called that." He handed the two men the pen, smiling. "Satan, please sign here. You too Lucifer, if you don't mind."

Satan fixed his tie, and took the pen, swiftly signing the scroll. Lucifer took the pen as well, signing the paper with an annoyed look on his face. The remaining two signed the treaty as well, handing it to a hooded figure dressed in white robes after they finished.

"As the Arbiter between the Divine Dominion and Hell, I declare the Purgatory Treaty to be in effect." The Arbiter said, the room resounding with its hollow voice.

"Father, your thoughts?" Jesus asked as they exited, leaving the two troubled demons in the room.

"Oh I suppose it's a victory for us, until some idiot breaks the treaty a century or two later. Trust me, it's not foolproof." His father replied with an exasperated tone.

Jesus sighed, "what happens then?" he asked, glancing back at the Arbiter, entering its "office".

"We find someone to deal with it. We don't have to get our hands dirty, you know. All we have to do, is to sit back and relax in The Tower, and make someone resolve the thing for us when it happens." His Father replied, rather lightheartedly.

"So, what about it? Any thoughts?" Lucifer asked back in the courtroom, admiring the architecture.

"Someone's going to screw up and break the treaty, that's what I think. And if that happens I suppose we can negotiate with the Old Man, maybe taking some of our borders back, or something." Satan answered, gathering his belongings.

"Is that it? It's all in good fun to you, huh?" Lucifer stood up, asking the devil again.

"I don't have that much say. We all know how it'll go down if we try this again, too many have died for our little game, Lucy." He replied, making for the door towards Hell.

"What now?" Lucifer asked, raising his eyebrow, visibly annoyed by his nickname.

"Now? We wait."

<The Purgatory Treaty, signed September 3rd, 1894>