New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Zagan stabbed his right hand into his chest, quicker than Sangis could react, and as he did, he grabbed onto his own soul and crushed it.

There was no agonizing cry, or drifting away of a life behind his eyes. His death was instantaneous. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

But he died with a big grin on his lips, and his left hand in a show of bad faith toward Alexander.

Alex looked at the scene and wasn\'t sure whether to scoff or plainly laugh. This was extreme, even for a demon king.

Even the other kings were looking at Zagan\'s body, as it started burning away, with their mouths agape and their eyes wide.

Solomon extinguished the spell he\'d been holding in his hands, knowing this was a useless endeavour.

"Zagan… You fool…"

But as the body burned away, a single pulse of Aether resounded in the ring\'s enclosed space. And Alex knew instantly why the demon had done what he did.

"Sangis! Stop the body from burning out!"

But the Nephilim reacted too late, and the last ember flickered out of existence. The next moment, the space pulsed again, this time as runes in a dark crimson suddenly lined the walls.

Although Alex couldn\'t read the runes or understand their meaning, he could tell this was a spell of massive proportions. But someone in here could read these runes.

Solomon looked at the runes with wide eyes. He was conflicted between horror and amazement.

Horror in what was about to happen, but amazed that Zagan had learned these runes from watching him etch them so many times before.

These were binding runes—but not just any kind.

Solomon smiled and muttered some words before Alexander, along with the eight demon kings and Sangis, were kicked out of the space.

As Alex was thrust back into his own mind space, gasping at the force of the transfer, he felt the connection between him and the Ring of Solomon shatter.

Looking down at his hand, he watched as the ring turned from its jade green to a deep red and then an obsidian black before it turned to ashes.

"What the fuck is happening?! Solomon? Solomon!" Alex shouted, trying to reach the old man.

But the connection was gone.

And with it, the sixty-three demons still within the ring…

Spinning toward Belial, Alex barked, "Did you see this happening?!"

Belial was just as shocked as Alexander, and it was visible on his face.

"I… I did not… I foresaw Solomon no longer existing after this event. But I had no idea how he would die…"

Purson stepped forward.

"I couldn\'t read the runes, but I recognized the essence of the spell. It\'s a spell I never thought Zagan could pull off…"

Alex snapped his head toward him, his eyes furious.

There was a moment of silence before Alex snapped.

"Well?! Spit it out already!"

Purson sighed, before opening his mouth to speak.

"It was a sealing spell, mixed in with a spell Zagan could never have used without a massive amount of power, since it\'s not his domain. I\'m guessing that is why he used his soul as a catalyst, and the rest of the demons as fuel…"

Alex was still glaring at him, waiting for the answer.

"Zagan sealed Solomon\'s soul to the ring, using it as a vessel for it, and used his soul as a catalyst, and the demons as fuel, to create a new body. He offered up sixty-three of our kin, to restore Solomon to life in a demon body…"

This news hit Alex like a sledgehammer.

Not only had he lost an incredible number of demons at his disposal, but he had also lost the fount of knowledge that was Solomon. Once the demons had bent to him, he had no intention of harming Solomon.

He respected the old man. But, once again, his rash actions had cost him dearly.

Alex roared in rage, realizing the impact this would have on the timeline.

The demon Solomon would reincarnate into wouldn\'t be in this world, or even in New Eden. No.

It would be too powerful to be born across the veil, even as this as it was. There was only one place it could appear.

The demon plane.

And he knew for sure this demon would be born with power unmatched in that realm.

"There is another problem…" Belial said, dragging their attention to him as he squirmed uncomfortably.

"How much worse could this turn out to be?" Alex spat.

11:47

"The spell… It also contained an essence of time… I don\'t think the reborn Solomon will be reborn now… I think he might have been regressed through time, toward the past…"

Alex\'s blood drained from his face.

"How far?" Alex asked, his words quivering.

"I… have no idea…"

"How far back, Belial?!" Alex shouted, grabbing the demon by the shoulders.

"I don\'t know!" Belial shouted back, scared to answer.

But Sangis\' two-toned voice cut in between them.

"One thousand four hundred and seventy-two years," he said, intoning the words, as if to mark the gravitas of the situation.

Alex looked at him with horror.

"Fuck… No… No no no! Fuck!"

The demons weren\'t sure why he was reacting like that, but Sangis knew. He shared memories with Alex, after all.

Alex dropped to his ass, realizing the gravity of the situation.

"This can\'t be… It can\'t happen…"

A voice started resounding around him, and it took a moment for him to recognize it.

"…up!…"

"Al… ke… up!"

"Kary?" Alex muttered, as he realized his body had probably been motionless all this time on the outside.

Even if time went by slower in the mind space, there had probably been a few minutes outside.

He focused on bringing his mind back outside and saw that he was sitting with his back on the railing of his balcony.

"Alex! What the hell happened?!" Kary exclaimed as she saw his eyes flutter open.

"Huh?"

"You reappeared on the balcony, and then suddenly your eyes went black, before you stopped moving and then collapsed on the ground, unresponsive. What happened?" she asked, her voice panicky.

"I went to deal with Constantine, and when I returned, Asmodeus tried taking control of my body. But it\'s okay; I dealt with it," Alex said, straightening himself up.

Kary looked at him in disbelief.

"What about the ring? Why did that disappear?" she asked, worried he had lost his legacy for some reason.

He slapped his hands in his face, a mix of grief and regret overcoming him, as he groaned.

"Urgh… I don\'t want to think about this right now…"

Kary frowned.

"Alex, what happened while you were out? The ring turned black and crumbled to ashes. Did you argue with Solomon? Did he rescind the legacy?"

Alex started lightly knocking the back of his head on the glass railing…

*Thump*

*Thump*

*Thump*

He remained quiet, processing his thoughts as best he could in the tumult of the events that had just transpired.

Kary knew it was better to let him deal for a few moments and refrained from pushing him, but she was impatient for answers.

Solomon\'s legacy was a big part of them being alive right now. At least it had saved him many a time in the past.

Both when the demon had appeared in the compound, and when he used the demon\'s powers against the goblins in Nebraska.

That was without counting how he had teleported in front of Violette, saving her life, almost two months back, as the Raijū had tried killing her.

Those powers, even though demonic in nature, were valuable assets.

If he had lost the legacy, that meant he had lost valuable tools. And there was no telling who would get it next, and what they would do with it.

Hearing him sigh, Kary focused on him again.

"Alex… Tell me what happened. Is the legacy gone? Did you fight with Solomon because of Asmodeus?"

Alex shook his head no.

"That\'s not it… It\'s so much worse…"

Kary was getting fidgety by the lack of answers coming from his mouth, and Alex could tell she was losing patience. But the situation, if he guessed it right, was bad enough that he wasn\'t sure he should tell anyone at all.

But he had promised her not even a week ago that there would be no more secrets between them. So he bit the bullet, hoping she wouldn\'t freak out.

"I fought with Solomon. He felt the change in my soul and became wary, but that\'s not the issue. When the demons all chose to stand by his side, even though I\'m their master, I got pissed.

"I might have reacted out of proportion. Now, the legacy is gone, and we have an even bigger problem on our hands…"

Kary looked at him, her eyes almost boring through his skull.

"What problem?"

Alex sighed again, locking eyes with her.

"One of the demon kings did something and took away the ring. He used it, along with the demons I hadn\'t bound to me yet, and created a new body for Solomon…"

Kary frowned.

"Isn\'t that a good thing? I recall you telling me Solomon was a good person."

Sighing again, Alex rubbed his face tiredly.

"You don\'t understand. He didn\'t create a human body… He created a demonic one, with the power of sixty-three combined demons, ranging from marquis\' to counts… In the demon plane… back over a thousand years in the past…"

Kary\'s eyes went progressively wide.

"Do you mean…"

"Yes… I mean that I think I just inadvertently created our worst enemy through my stupid actions… I think I just caused the birth of the demon lord…"