"I dismissed your legions My Lord… until your return. Your friends seem to have taken a liking to one another," he gestured over toward the hearth where Lucia was fawning over Sitri and Erin was engaged in deep conversation with Druitte. Halphas and Vine were drinking at the far end of the chamber and noticed Dantalion and Rowan had returned.
"Lord Dantalion, Master Rowan. Is everything in order?" Vine questioned them.
"My brothers. We are about to assemble the demons of the Goetia and my legions for the trials."
Halphas' worn expression met Dantalion's. "Are we not to accompany you?"
"I'm afraid this battle requires you to guard our friends here," Rowan interrupted.
The others came closer to hear. Halphas, Vine, Druitte and Sitri knew their days of battle were long gone. They had achieved what the rest had not…. Freedom. And Dantalion had given them that freedom.
"We're leaving now. You're welcome here as long as you like," Dantalion nodded. "Levi, summon the rest of the demons of the Goetia to meet us in Belial's chamber."
Rowan and Dantalion, along with their thirty six legions, exited down the hall in waves. The sea of demons filed into Belial's cold chamber. Dantalion grinned, raising the bronze medallion and summoning the 'Succubus' serpent to his command. The demons surrounded the chamber, anticipating her venomous tail would at any moment inject them with poison, or possibly shape-shift and devour them on the spot.
Her eyes, glowing red as her lips, pierced the darkness. "Tis the beautiful Guardian, keeper of the medallion here to feed for power? Why have ye summoned thee?"
"I wager a pact that will release you from your exile. No longer cursed as 'Succubus', you shall be free from Satan, the demonic Lord who evoked you from the Bones of the Dead. You shall be reunited with Samael, the Angel of Death who loved you," Dantalion bargained.
Gwynnedd coiled her barbed tail over her head toward Dantalion and his army of demons.
"Thy cannot release thee… tis Satan who binds thee to thy curse."
The army of demons held their positions around the serpent.
"We go to the Northern Realm to visit Belial, the angel of light and the angel of dark. He holds Samael to do his bidding. We will bring you to him, and together, defeat Satan. He will be forced to release you."
Gwynnedd kept secrets much too long. So long she had almost forgotten the nature of her curse, exiled within the Realm of Goetia. Sealed off from her only hope for love, Samael knew her before she was evoked from the Bones of the Dead. She never planned on the phases of the moon nor any counterpart she would have to torture as part of the curse. Ravaging flesh, demons feeding off one another for power, shape-shifting, and venomous poison were all part of Satan's plan… he, the one who bound her to her eternal exile. Still, she owed allegiance to the guardian over the medallion, the one in which she was sealed. After his ascension as angel, Dantalion had given Rowan the honor. Gwynnedd began to believe it was her obsession with beauty which originally poisoned her soul, and after centuries of torture, her memories of Samael had been almost completely forgotten. Her thoughts suddenly became clear: