hell

"You... FOOL!" roared the Void will, crossing Balthus's arms across his body.. before throwing them wide and unleashing an incredible wave of energy that chewed at the very fabric of reality.

Without it's complete power, the Void couldn't destroy reality, but warping it was more than enough in most cases.

Still.. the dark and evil will was weakening, much of the black flames where becoming purple again... And Balthus's mind was fighting back hard.

"I won't let you do it! I WON'T LET YOU WIN!!!"

Sasha bowed "yes misstress"she says flying into the sky moving inb the direction nok'tora was in she smiled looking around at her surroundings she was worried about what could happen to kalen now that she was all alone.

Kalen continued running she didn't know were she was going at all she fell over landing in a clearing she sat on the ground tears coming rom her eyes she put her hands to her face and began crying she barely noticed a nearby noise.

Lir'oni laid back and digested the neko's very slowly, waiting patiently for Sasha to come back. She sniffed the air. This world did seem very interesting. Lots of mortals to torture or enslave, which she liked. She wasn't sure what the rules were on doing her job outside of hell...but Lucifer had sent her out himself, so he couldn't complain if he had fun out here.

Kalen had failed to notice that a branch overhanging the clearing, which had a large plump podmaw plant on the underside. The egg shaped pod suddenly split open, revealing a dripping maw and a mass of vines. A few drops of sweet saliva landed on Kalen's shoulders. Then a vine wrapped itself around under her arms and started to slowly drag her up.

Kalen screamed wiping the saliva off from her shoulders it was then that she realised her feet were no longer touching the ground she screamed wiggling her toes beneath her she saw the vine around her looking up she saw the podmaw her eyes went wide with shock as she screamed again "HELP SOMEBODY HELP ME!"she screams aloud struggling against the vine and wondering if anyone would actualy hear her.

The podmaw started to retract it's vines, the maw flapping and starting to close over Kalen as it drew her upwards into it's stomach.

Karkinos had wandered off to leave Nok'tara with John and Fiona. He was sure with the state hell was in all those demons would be busy. He walked sadly though the forest. He thought he heard something and headed in that direction.

Kalen screamed a compressed space around her she sceamed again having no idea what was going on all she knew was that she had just been eaten by a podmaw and had no intention of staying there she tried struggling but there was a tight space around her she gasped tears coming down her cheeks.

Sasha meanwhile had found nok'tora and hovered infront of her "Hello nok'tora misstress lir'oni sent me to find you she wants to know what she should do now and lease a personal favour kalen's run off could you please find her and make sure she's ok"

The podmaw closed around Kalen, gurgling for a bit and then falling silent. It was large and it's struggling prey was not very noticable, so it soon faded from view.

Karkinos walked through the clearing, surprised that the screaming had stopped. He looked around. He could have sworn that he heard something her. He skittered across the clearing and was surprised when a vine wrapped around his upper human section. He looked up to see that one of the biggest podmaws he had ever seen had grabbed hold of him. He struggled and stayed on the ground for a bit, being heavier as a dridder. However, he soon began to be dragged up. He panicked, trying to think. The vine wrapped around his mouth and he instinctivly bit down. To his surprise, his venom actually worked on the large plant and he was dropped as it shrivled and shrunk. He suddenly heard a tearing sound and then collapsed with a gasp as a nectar covered Kalen fell onto his back.

Kalen screamed suddenly she could see llight again and fell to the groun landing on something soft she screamed only seeing karkinos's dridder half she screamed quickly getting off from him stumbling backword into a nearby bush looking at karkinos she sreamed and slowly stopped as she recognised the dridder or at least she thought she did she moved forward cautiously "Karkinos's?"she says curiously shaking her head she screamed again sprinting away from karkinos not realising who he was she hadn't recognised him she ran off screaming tears still rolling down her face.

Nok'tara shrugged and said, "I dunno. Play the waiting game, I guess. Anyway, I'll go find Kalen for ya." She got up, looking at Sasha as she said, "And I'm sorry for being a whore and giving you to Lir'oni like that. I'll see if I can works something out so she'll let you go." With that, she flew off, looking for Kalen.

She flew around for a bit when she saw Kalen running away from something. She swooped down, plucking Kalen off the ground and landed. "Woah, easy there! Where's the fire?" Nok'tara asked, bringing Kalen up to her face.

---

Lucifer only smiled as everything began to warp around him. "IF I AM A FOOL, ENTITY OF THE VOID...THEN WHAT ARE YOU? MALORA, COME HITHER." Malora then appeared beside him, doing a bow as she asked, "Yes, my liege?"

Lucifer then gave her another orb, a little smaller then the first one, but this one looked like it had an unconsious Malora inside, representing his memory of Malora. "PLACE THIS ORB INSIDE BALTHUS, AND ASK HIM IF HE REMEMBERS YOU."

"Your will be done." Malora said, taking the orb. She then flew up to Balthus, and placed the orb inside his chest. She then placed her hands on his shoulders, tears rolling down as she asked, "Balthus, do you remember me?! It's me, Malora!!"

Balthus shivvered again, his recent memories where comming back to him.

"M..... Malora.... I.... I... *Hrk!* I.... KNOW your face... Gkkkkt!" Balthus choked out, tears streaming out of his blazing eyes. She would risk facing the Void to be here?

Black smoke poured from bitween his teeth. "You... You made our host weak... You turned him into one who beleives in the value of life.. HOW DARE YOU!" the void screeched at Malora, raising a energy coated fist at her.

As the flame enshrouded fist came down for her, it stopped inches from her face... Balthus's eyes started flashing bitween black and purple... "NO!"

Malora didn't flinch as the fist came upon her. When it stopped, she asked the entity, "How dare I? How dare I make him believe that there's value in life you ask? Because there IS value in life. Where there is life, there is ALWAYS hope. No matter what anyone goes through, they still have the oppurtunity to go to places they've never seen before, experience things never experienced, meet people they've never met...they can even rekindle love they thought was dead."

Her tone then changed, adressing Balthus as she said, "Balthus...I know you are strong enough to defeat the entity inside of you." She wrapped his arms around his neck as she said, "NEVER think you are alone in this life. You may not even know that they're out there, or if they even exist, but there's ALWAYS someone who loves you. I'm by your side, Balthus. I'm going to help you win against the Void." With that, Malora placed her lips on Balthus, and began to kiss him.

As soon as Malora's lips me Balthus's, the curse began. Draining the energy reserves of both Balthus and the Void.

"GRRAAAAH! YOU WRETCHED CREATURE!!! YOUR DRAINING US!!! S..... SToppp.... Guuuugh!" The Void will muffled into the kiss.

"Keh! can't even..... take a kiss from a girl.... heheh..." Balthus laughed at the evil will as its grip weakened dramatically...

"Your a shrewd one Lucifer. But remember our words... Eternity is not long enough, Infinity not far enough... We will regain ourselves, soon... but for now, we sleep..." The Void spoke, then Balthus body slackened in Malora's embrace...

Malora pulled away from the kiss, now holding the limp Balthus in her arms. She looked at Lucifer, her expression asking what she should do. "TAKE HIM BACK TO EARTH. I BELIEVE YOU AND BALTHUS HAVE BUSINESS THERE."

The demoness nodded, opening a portal and taking herself and Balthus out of Hell. Lucifer then looked upwards, saying, "I KNOW ONE OF YOU GODS IS HERE. I UPHELD MY END OF THE BARGAIN. NOW IT'S TIME TO UPHOLD YOURS."

"Wait! Wait!" called out Karkinos as he tried to chase Kalen. However, he managed to catch his legs on roots and stumbled, still not very used to running with multiple legs. He cursed and stumbled about in pain. He then realized that one of his legs was stuck. He collapsed, honestly hoping something would be nice enough to come by and kill him

Lir'oni now sensed Nok'tara through her servent. As Sasha followed her, she managed to establish a link.

"Helllooo Nok'tara! Hope the trip wasn't too bad? This little servant of yours is really great! Now, I'm not used to this planet so I was just wondering what your plans were. What can a demon do here for fun?"

"Nok'tora!"Kalen shouts happily hugging nok'tora's finger "i missed you sasha she fed me to the other succubus it was painfull she kept me alive through the whole thing but your here were's karkinos"she says looking around nok'tora.Kalen smiled still hugging nok'tora's finger she rubs her head against it gently.

Nok'tara smiled, petting Kalen on the back as she said, "Well, I left him with Fiona and John." She then flew back to where she left her slaves. Not seeing him around, she asked Fiona and John, "Yo. You two know where Karkinos went?"

"Actually, this isn't a planet, Lir'oni. This is actually a world that crosses over with other dimensions. Any stars you may see here are actually other dimensions. Anyway, what to do here...most other preds your size just eat their heart out. That's what Mennysan does on her trips here." she replied back to Lir'oni with her mind.

Hmmm. That does seem nice although I'm alright for that now. I do want to find some mortals to use though. Please tell that nice demon neko to come back to me now. said Lir'oni.

"Okay, sure." Nok'tara then turned to Sasha and said to her, "Hey, Lir'oni wants you to come back. Are you taking Kalen with you?"

Sasha smiled "nah you can keep her there with you"she says before flying back to lir'oni landing infront of the succubus with a small bow "yes misstress what is it you wish of me"

Kalen smiles happily rubbing her head against nok'tora's finger "lease don't let them take me again it's realy painfull"

"Hmm." said Lir'ono, rubbing her stomach as the neko's squirmed. "Well, I want you to find me a village. Not too big, but pretty good. Any sort. Ohh, maybe a neko village. I'd like some neko servents. Go find the nearest one."

"Don't worry. I'll personally make sure that she never gets her hands on you again." Nok'tara said, petting her head gently. "Anyway, what do you say we go find Karkinos? Does that sound good?"

John held Fiona close to him. He didn't like the feel of this place... it felt oppressive...

"I don't like this place.. something feels very wrong here..."

---

Back in hell, 3 divine beings appeared before Lucifer, encircling the lord of hell.

"You have performed admirably, Lucifer, None could claim a victory over the will of the Void, until now.." said the one directly in front of him with a smile.

"It is true that the vile will that posessed Balthus was defeated, but I hardly consider the effort single handed... After all, WE gave him the only weapon that was proven capable of fending off the creature, and even then Lucifer had to depend on one of his minions to exploit the curse WE created on it... WE did the hard part." argued another standint behind Lucifer to his left.

"Oh really? Then why didn't you tackle him yourself? Nevermind the fact that it was Lucifer's plan, and he was willing to use His own realm for the fight!"

"i know there's a village west of here it look ok but i couldn't realy tell what it is saw quite a lot of neko's but that doesn't mean it's a neko village" Sasha says pointing in the direction that she knew the village was in.

Kalen smiles nodding happily "thank you and of course i'd like to go and look for karkinos he's nice"she says looking up happily at nok'tora

"Alright!" said Lir'oni. "Doesn't really matter what type, but it might help since you're a neko. Now, just lead the way..."

Karkinos tugged, but only managed to scratch up his leg. He sighed, collapsing back down. He realized he might have to bite his own foot off...

Nok'tara looked at Fiona and John, scooping them up with her other hand as she said, "You know, if you don't like this place, you can stay inside my stomach if you'd like. I can make it so that stomach acids won't secrete and digest you."

---

NOW NOW NOW, THERE'S NO NEED TO ARGUE." Lucifer stated, snapping his fingers, which caused the group to be surrounded by flame for a moment before the flames dispersed, the gods and Lucifer now in his throne room. Lucifer made his way to his throne as he continued. IT WAS OUR COMBINED EFFORTS THAT PUT THE VOID ENTITY IN IT'S PLACE. YOU PROVIDED ME WITH THE GENESIS ENERGY, AND I UNLEASHED IT ON HIM. NOW..." Lucifer had now taken his seat on his throne, pausing for a moment before continuing. "...WHEN I AGREED TO HELP YOU, AND I ASKED YOU WHAT WOULD BE INVOLVED FOR ME, YOU STATED THAT WE WOULD DISCUSS THAT AFTER HE WAS DEFEATED. NOW THAT THE ENTITY HAS BEEN DEFEATED, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW EXACTLY YOU PLAN ON REPAYING MY SERVICES."