Standard Disclaimers Apply. All rights reserved by the author.
Hey guys! WOW!!! What a crazy year. Feels like forever since I last wrote a chapter in this series, but I have been thinking of it a lot, and am still sorting through some ideas in my own mind. BUT: I do have some good news. Here is the next chapter of this story with soon more to follow.
Luca Warberg.
Ch. 5.
Nico looked at the lake outside the enormous castle in Geneva. Dante had unexpectedly met him at the airport in Rome and had insisted that they fly immediately to the Swiss city. Nico started fiddling uncomfortably at the thought of the flight. Dante had spent almost the entire time making fun of him the minute he had discovered the slumped body of the steward in the kitchen. Nico was more embarrassed than he cared to admit even to himself, and more than that, the fact that he had so almost completely lost control frightened him.
Picking up a smooth, flat pebble, Nico sent it flying across the lake. It bounced several times on the water's surface before finally losing enough momentum to sink into the dark, murky waters. They had flown to Geneva to attend a meeting of the Regiorum. Their last meeting had been held many years ago: a fact that did not bode well for the next meeting Nico and Dante were about to attend.
The deep sound of enormous metallic bells ringing from the top of the castle pulled Nico out of his deep thought. The ringing symbolised the start of the opening ceremony and it meant that all Regiorum were required to enter Conclave. Cursing silently to himself, Nico walked purposefully up the hill to the castle. He walked quickly to the room which had been assigned to him and stripped naked. He was just about to don the white robes which had been laid out for him when Dante walked in, making a wolf whistle.
"Phew, looking sexy there stud. You been working out? Oh no, wait, must be the energy you zapped out of that steward on the way here."
"Shut up Dante. You know this meeting is about something important. How can you be so flippant?"
"Ah, Raf, always with the worrying. Don't you get tired of it? Sometimes its better just to sit back and enjoy life. It's not like there's a hell of a lot that can happen to truly harm us, you do realise that. We're protected."
"It's not us that I'm worried about Dante. There are other people in the world too."
"Yeah, but none of them are as awesome as us," replied Dante with a smirk.
As they had been bantering between the two of them, Nico had donned a purple cloak and had laid across his chest the golden chain bearing the insignia of his house. Dante was already wearing an identical outfit. Finally deciding the conversation was not worth the effort it took, Nico pulled the purple hood over his head and walked out the room, down the hallway and towards the chamber where they would meet before entering Conclave. He could feel Dante ambling behind him, and could still sense the sarcastic smirk on his face. Sometimes his brother really irritated him beyond belief.
The hall Nico entered was breathtakingly beautiful. It had several large marble pillars, carved out in typical Roman fashion, adorning each side of the hall. The ceilings had several arches, each painted in the Renaissance style, depicting battles between heavenly and demonic forces. The walls were covered with ornate gold and silver panelling and the floor seemed to be carved out of a solid block of marble which glowed an almost golden colour from the light cast on it by the enormous crystal chandelier hanging from the centre of the ceiling. It seemed that they had been the last to enter the hall, as there were several other figures already standing silently in the hall. They too wore white robes, but instead of the purple cloaks and hoods, theirs were white. Also, instead of the golden chains, they wore silver ones, each bearing the insignia or crest of the house from which the person hailed. None of the faces in the rooms were visible, as all the figures had pulled their hoods over their heads. On the far side of the room, a deep, authoritative voice came from the only other doorway in the hall.
"Voco concorsus Regiorum."
Without another sound, all the cloaked figures began moving into the chamber beyond the hall. The room the entered was round, with a pentagram carved in the centre of the room onto the otherwise flawless marble floor. At the head of the room, standing in front of a solid silver throne stood another figure donned in white robes, but with a crimson cloak and hood pulled over his head. He also wore a silver chain bearing his family's insignia. Plain wooden chairs had been set on either side of the throne, forming a semi-circle around the pentagram in the middle of the room.
The white robed figures slowly started walking to their assigned seats, each standing in front of the chair, waiting for everyone else. Nico and Dante were the last to reach their chairs, Dante standing before the chair to the right of the throne and Nico before the one on the left. The figure in the crimson hood spoke again.
"Conclave incipit."
With that, he sat on the throne and the other figures followed suit. With the formalities done, the language switched from Latin to English. On the far side of the pentagram, directly opposite the throne, was a small stone alter. By the looks of it, it appeared ancient. Once everyone was seated, the crimson figure stood.
"Let us begin with reaffirming our thanks."
With that, he walked to the alter, bowed in front of it, kissed his middle and index fingers, and then touched the fingers to the altar. He returned back to the seat and without a word, Dante stood up to do the same. It was then Nico's turn, and one by one the other robed figures got up to kneel before the altar.
As the ceremony was taking place, Nico again felt his mind wandering. He looked at the figures around him. Each of the thirteen members of Conclave was, like him and Dante, a cambion. They were all half-human, half-demon. Their mother's had all been born of Royal European houses and their father's had carried different ranks within the nine circles of hell. The result was that all the members here held different titles, according to the pedigree of their human mothers and the demonic rank of their demon fathers. This was reflected in the seating arrangements, with those of higher titles sitting closest to the throne and those of lesser titles sitting nearest to the altar. The man in the crimson robe sitting on the throne itself was chosen every eighty years as the supreme leader, or the Pontifex Maximus, of the Regiorum. The duties of the Pontifex was to conduct the ceremonies and sacrifices when Enclave was convened. The crimson robe of the Pontifex was thus representative of the blood he had to spill in order to placate the fathers of the Regiorum.
Nico once again found himself being snapped out of his thoughts as the Pontiff again started speaking after everyone had finished bowing before the altar.
"I have convened this Enclave of the Regiorum to discuss an urgent problem which has arisen, and has been brought to my attention by Prince Dante." After he finished his sentence, the Pontiff bowed slightly in Dante's direction, showing subtle deference to the boy.
"It would seem that all of us have been living within the confines of our own lives and have neglected our duties to the kingdom our fathers have entrusted to us. As we have grown older and have withdrawn into our own pleasures, we have not noticed the extent to which our numbers have grown. I would call first on the Duke of Europe to explain the situation within his territory."
With that, the Pontifex sat down, and another clouded figure sitting to the right of Dante stood up. He was the ruler of the duchy of Europe, the oldest and wealthiest of the cambion duchies. As he stood, the figure slowly drew back his hood, revealing his face. The man, like all cambion, was exquisitely built, with a tall frame and broad shoulders. He had steel blue eyes, blond hair and pale skin of an Austrian. He looked young and boyish, but his hauntingly good looks were somewhat marred by the cruelty which lingered in his eyes. His mother had been a princess, the daughter of an early Roman Emperor. His father, while not a king of one of the nine circles of hell, was a high ranking demon within the fifth circle of hell and was renowned for his wrath. The result was that of the Dukes, this man held the highest title, that of Duke of Europe.
"As you all know, my Duchy is the oldest and has historically been the duchy where we have been the most numerous. Upon request of the Pontifex Maximus, I looked into our numbers and have found that the number of my subjects have risen markedly. I have found the number of young to have increased rapidly and it has become apparent that we have all been lax in our duties. The young are ill-disciplined and sport an unhealthy disregard for the authority of the Regiorum. I have already started taking actions to re-institute discipline amongst my subjects. "
There was a slight murmur which passed through the chamber as people started realising the gravity of the situation. One by one the other Dukes and Duchesses raised and told of similar stories within their Duchies. The last one to stand was the Duchess of Africa, a tall African woman whose mother had been one of the wives of the great Pharaohs. She, like the others, was supernaturally beautiful. Her skin was a rich caramel colour and her eyes almost black. Her long, slender figure evoked sexual urges in even the most controlled of men.
"I too, have noticed similar occurrences in my Duchy. Before I came, I took the time to converse with my father."
Again, there were murmurs around the chamber. Nico knew that the Duchess's father was one of the centurions of the Eighth circle of hell: the fraudulent circle. While not exactly high ranking, as a military leader, he would be aware of any demonic deployments on earth. Forcing himself to listen, Nico refocused on the Duchess to listen to what she has to say.
"There have been no major demonic deployments on Earth recently. The last major deployment was during the 1940's, by the Violent King of the Seventh Circle of Hell. Since then, there has been no major force of demons gathered on earth, which suggests that the creation of these new cambion are the result of demons who have an existing post on earth. My father suggests something is afoot in Hades but cannot tell what it entails. He has heard rumours of dissent amongst the Demonic Council, but does not know if it is true. He advised me to bolster my personal security."
The news from the African Duchess was worrying for a number of reasons, not least of which was the fact that the rise in cambion numbers seemed to be part of a formal plan. Dissent in hell meant a restructuring of Earthly Duchies , something which hadn't happened since the Asian Duchess had been forced to cede a large part of her Western territories to a new cambion who then became the Count of the Balkans in the 1500s. While the Balkans were still notionally under her posession, actual control of them vested in the Count. The Regiorum had quickly made an agreement to aid each other to prevent such treachery again. Earthly duchies had thus remained intact for more than five hundred years now and the result was that news of dissent in hell greatly disturbed all the Regiorii present.
Once the murmuring had subsided, the Pontiff again stood up.
"The words of the Duchess of Africa serve to confirm my fears that something is afoot. While the new cambion seem to be mostly of lower or no titles, it would seem that the problem is not insurmountable. I would, however, advise each of us to increase supervision in our Duchies. These newlings have to be taught our ways and kept accountable for their practices. We do not need, or want, exposure to the human media and the resulting chaos. Already, a newling has made the news in New York. We need to continue hiding, because once we are exposed, our control of the Illuminati will be exposed and the humans will riot. We stand to lose everything."
All the other figures in the room nodded their heads in agreement. Finally, the Pontiff was finished. With the words, Conclave Soluta, he finished the meeting, allowing the members of the Regorium to stand and file out the room. By that night, they would all be on private jets on the way back to their territories.
Hey guys, ok so I know this chapter isn't so great, but it's taking me some time to get back into writing. Most of what I am writing here is based on a lot of Christian and Judaic Demonology and Angelology... so if you're curious about getting more information, look up books like Dante's Inferno and other stories of Demonology. I suppose the cat's finally out the bag and you guys all know what Dante and Nico are now.
I just wanted to post this short chapter to get the ball rolling again. I'm on summer vacation now, so I should be able to write a lot more. Sorry for the long wait, and please hit me with your comments! Tell me what you think of the story so far at:
lucawarberg@gmail.com
PS- shot to those regular guys who email me with comments. It's really encouraging and you have no idea how much i appreciate it. Its good to know that at last some people are reading my attempt at literature :)
Shot guys, and really appreciate the feedback!
Luca.