The High Order

7. Citizen Dan

7. Citizen Dan

1. Life in the palace of Lucifer was a light to the stark new reality facing Dan. After almost winning the poker tournament and winning the ensuing gladiator fight, Dan was the lucky winner of permanent residence inside Lucifer's humble abode. Sliding down the hallways on the velvet carpets or snooping through the vast maze of rooms, Dan did not know what to make of his new home. Lucifer would have been very generous to offer a place in his house to any soul who managed to win the trials two days before, but the coincidence of Dan winning proved to be an extra treat for the dark prince. He had already taken a liking towards Dan.

 Lucifer had not laid down any strict ground rules for his roommate, except for not pissing off the butlers or smashing the expensive furniture. Dan was free to enjoy Lucifer's sixty inch flat screen TV, his thirty foot long outdoor swimming pool, and even the rooms of the multifloored garage that came with an elevator. Dan was now seemingly living like a king. While Dan was dressed in a saggy bathrobe from Lucifer's washroom, the owner greeted him.

"morning, sleepyhead. Hoped you crumpled up my bedsheets. Listen, I have to head out. Demon business and all that" Lucifer went for the front door.

"what am I supposed to do?" Dan waved his hands at the prospect of being left alone in the giant mansion.

"I thought you'd like the palace to himself" Lucifer paused.

"don't you have a job for me or something?" Dan crossed his arms before Lucifer could leave.

"well, there is something you could do" Lucifer waltzed back into the house.

"what?" Dan replied.

"I know a guy across town in The Fallen, near the casino. Matteo, crazy Roman. He has five challenges to complete. He'll reward whoever completes them, of which no one has ever done them all.. you think you can handle it?" Lucifer proposed.

"what kind of reward are we talking about?" Dan said.

"who knows, like I said, no one has ever done it. Anyway, if you go, have fun" Lucifer closed the door. Soon Dan got dressed and made his way outside the palace gates under the eye of two security guards standing between the gates and the edge of the pavement beside an old gas lamp streetlight. Judging from a small map in his front pocket, Dan saw The Fallen was halfway across town, taking nearly forever to walk to. He looked up from the shoreline of the lava sea to the inland city and thinking about where he was meant to be, Dan suddenly felt himself become lighter. His feet left the ground and he seemingly no longer obeyed the laws of gravity as he floated several feet above the ground. He flipped around himself, hoping to stabilize upright and eventually gaining a grip. 

The guards on the ground looked up in astonishment while Dan looked up and decided to jump up, making him leap forward into the red skies through the clouds and back down like a dolphin breaching the waves and returning to the embrace of the sea. Briefly, Dan laughed to himself as he realized he could fly, possibly one of his new abilities as a Purgatorian. He sped through the air across town, watched below by many a curious wanderer on the streets of Hell, heading north to where he was told Matteo's villa would be. 

After passing the glitz of the Nergal casino and the zoo filled with some recaptured animals, Dan could see a white temple like villa of white and red tiles set in a green covered lawn and bordered by a low brick wall. This was a far cry from the nearby glamor of the district. Dan swooped down to land, but he had not yet mastered the art of control, and without a steady way of planting his feet on the sidewalk beside the villa, Dan simply crashed into the front lawn, bringing a chunk of dirt and grass with him and alerting the owner to his presence. A wooden door opened at the front of the villa, with a blond haired man in a purple toga running out in his sandals to find out who had intruded.