Hell's Dance

Easy is the Descent

  She felt a deep sense of foreboding. She had been sent on this mission from the Lord himself. He wanted his Morning Star back. He believed that his sister would be the most successful. Ariadne remembered Lucifer fondly. He shone like a morning star causing his rank as Gods favorite, and he sometimes shared that light with her. After he had left, the other angels shunned Ariadne in grief and anger. She remembered the day he left, though it was so long ago. She remembered the taste of her own tears as her brother told her firmly he would be leaving. His hard blue eyes bore into her soft ones when he told her not to follow him.

        Now she was. Of course she would be coming back up since she was not a banished angel just and angel sent to retrieve one of the Fallen. Her snowy wings bristled;she was close. Her wings and her eyes were the only similarities between her brother and her. He had ink hair and tanned skin, while she was pale as the moon with light blonde wondered if he would look different after so long. She fiddled with the corner of her shirt thinking about what the other angels had said. One had told her his smooth skin would be red and blistering from heat. Another said he no longer had hair, but flames instead. She could not think about it.

        She reached the end of her decent and her feet touched solid ground. The gates were ahead of her. She could not feel the heat although they were eternally burning. It was actually pleasantly warm. She walked until she reached the gate.

        "Ah, Ariadne," said a voice. She tuned and saw what she thought might be a guard with the body of a man but his head and wings were that of a raven. She was suddenly afraid. "We have been expecting you."

        The gates opened. Ariadne slowly stepped through. Careful to keep her wings far from the fire. The raven man walked to her and held out his arm. She shyly took it.

        They walked into what Ariadne had decided to call downtown hell. It looked like the city could be on earth. She wondered why all the angels were so afraid of it here. They walked through the streets and she then notices an obsidian palace looming ahead. She knew this was where her brother would be. Her wings shivered again in nervousness. They walked until they had reached the great dark wood doors of the castle.

        The raven-man reached up to a knocker. The knocker looked like it was scalding hot but when he touched it, it was with ease so Ariadne decided it must be an illusion. After three knocks the doors slowly opened inward.

        "This is where I leave you," croaked the raven-man. She had a strange sense of calm even though she was alone. When the doors shut, she looked around noticing the elegantly lit palace. She felt she knew exactly where to go. She walked up black marble steps and down corridors until she reached the throne room. She stepped in.

        At the head of the room was a great black marble dais with a black and red throne on it. And on that throne was Lucifer himself. He lounged across it looking devilishly handsome. His hair was perfectly tousled and his tanned skin looked almost gold. He wore black jeans and a dark red tee shirt that showed his strong broad shoulders. When Ariadne entered he stood.

        "Aria," he said by way of greeting. Ariadne ran to him. He stepped off the dais to embrace her. "it has been much too long, my beautiful sister."

        Aria pulled from the hug. "Brother, you must listen," she started.

        "I know why you're here and I am not coming back with you," he finished.

        "But you must!" Aria pleaded.

        "No."

        "It is your place!"

        "Not anymore!" Lucifer boomed. Aria stepped back. Lucifer stepped forward. When he did this Aria got a look at his face and realized something was off. She studied this face that used to be as familiar as her own, though they were nothing alike. She realized it was his eyes. The blue irises that used to match hers so perfectly, had been replaced by dark obsidian woven through with red. His wings to were black with a red sheen. He noticed her looking. "I know," he said sadly. "Its like we are no longer siblings."

        Aria wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry," she said.

        "I am too," he replied. He was looking at her with something more than brotherly love when he wrapped his arms around her waist.

        Then he kissed her.

        And it was not just a light brush of lips either. He pulled her against him and brought her lips down on hers. She did not push him away. She kissed him back. When his tongue teased her lower lip she gasped softly. He pulled back.

        She realized she knew exactly what was going to happen next when she felt his hands touching the bare skin of her hips, just under her tee-shirt. She also realized that she wanted it.

         And she realized this meant she wasn't going back.

 Easy is the descent to Hell,

for the door to the underworld lies open both day and night.

But to retrace your steps and return to the breezes above

that is the task, that is the toil.