Preparation (1)

- Lucifer -

Lucifer flew to the building Peter had taken Elijah to. It was a large grey stone building with a pointed roof that had the words "Library of the worlds" engraved onto the front. He went in, spotting Peter and Elijah in-between two large bookshelves. He walked up to the two.

"Peter we have an investigation to prepare for."

Peter nodded and said "Course. I'll gather the group." Before walking away he turned and said to Elijah "Sorry, we'll have to continue our conversation later."

"Investigation?" Elijah asked, looking around at the massive library he was in.

Lucifer started walking back to the entrance and motioned for Elijah to follow. They stopped in front of a large counter where a woman with black horns on the side of her head and red skin looked up at them.

"I need the humans' guide, Mili."

Mili, also known as Miliketh, was six feet tall. She was wearing a brown cloak with white hair that went down to her neck. She had red irises and started tapping her left claws index against the wood of the counter.

Elijah stared at Mili, even though when he and Peter initially came into the library he was told not to. The demons of Hell were often annoyed by the confused stares of the reborn they worked with.

Mili looked over at Elijah with a bored look and reached under the counter, pulling out a thick brown book that had the words "Everything A Human Needs To Know" written in gold text.

"Here you go. Try not to lose this one." Mili said, directing her comment to Lucifer, "Also-" she continued, "one of the things in here is about not staring, and how that could get you killed." She said to Elijah smiling and revealing her sharp teeth.

Lucifer took the book and thanked Mili before walking towards the door with Elijah. As the two walked out Lucifer handed the heavy book to Elijah and told him that they had more to discuss, but first, they needed to get to Lucifer's house.

"You okay with flying?" Lucifer asked

Elijah had flown many times before in planes and helicopters. This was obviously different, but that difference intrigued him.

"Yes," he said.

"Alright then, just hold onto the book tight. I won't go too fast." Lucifer said grabbing Elijah's arm

Lucifer conjured his wings and the two flew off. Lucifer made sure to keep a tight grip on Elijah's arm, and also to not fly more than fifteen feet from the ground.

Elijah was scared for a moment, realizing how little protection he had from the fall. On top of that, his thoughts were being filled by the feeling of the insane grip on his arm. Lucifer's strength came through loud and clear to him.

It took about twenty minutes for the two to arrive at Lucifer's house. The house looked very similar to the library, being made out of the same stone and being the same general shape. The house was surrounded by dozens of others that looked very similar, with only a few being shaped differently.

'I guess it's the style here.' Elijah thought.

The first room of the house was simple, wooden floors with two medium-sized chairs that looked like they were made out of leather. There were bookshelves along the walls, same as Lucifer's office, with two doorways that led into other rooms.

"Sit there." Lucifer pointed to the chair on the left side of the room.

Elijah sat down, impressed by how comfortable the chair was, despite its rough look.

Lucifer grabbed a book from the bookshelf and sat down.

"I'll try to get through this quickly, so bear with me. The investigation you heard me mention to Peter is in the northern territories of this world. Hell, along with the other two realms are considered the southern part of this world."

Elijah nodded and said okay, even though he couldn't tell where this was going.

Lucifer opened the book and revealed a map that looked similar to Pangaea while pointing towards the bottom.

'So that's what this world looks like on a map.' Elijah thought, still unsure of why he was being told this.

Lucifer closed the book and left it on his lap before continuing to speak

"That map isn't entirely accurate. Very few have fully explored this world, so that picture is more of a rough guess."

Elijah nodded, suddenly worried that Lucifer could read his mind.

"For this investigation, I'll be taking a team of humans with me. I could go alone, but I think it's important that the humans of this world get experience traveling through the various lands."

Elijah suddenly realized what the point of this conversation was.

"You want me to go with you and your team, don't you?" Elijah said with a grimace

Lucifer knew this might be a hard sell, but kept talking, confident he get Elijah to agree to go.

"I understand the apprehension. You're new to the world and you don't trust me."

'No shit.' Elijah thought with a mental chuckle

"One of the main reasons I gave you a contract was for this very kind of job. Normally I would wait until someone has had more time to get accustomed to this world before taking them on an investigation, but this one is a special case."

Elijah was half-listening. There isn't much that could be said to convince him to go on a journey through some world that he's new to.

"As compensation for this sudden push to join the investigation, I'll reduce your sentence by one hundred percent once the mission is over,  and I'll teach you magic right now. Normally I wait before teaching a reborn how to use magic, but this is an exception." Lucifer continued.

Elijah couldn't believe what he was hearing. Getting his sentence cut in half was already enough for him to make a deal, but now he could have it cut down entirely. Twenty-five years suddenly becomes however long this mission takes.

'I could learn magic and get out of here. I don't know what this world is really like, but it has to be better than this place.' Elijah thought as he scratched his face

Lucifer knew this deal was too good to pass up.

'Teaching him magic is simple. Reducing the sentence is nothing, but keeping him safe and sane on this mission might be difficult.' Despite these thoughts, Lucifer was still confident.

Elijah had almost scratched a cut into his face before finally speaking.

"I want the sentence reduction in writing or whatever the equivalent in this world is," Elijah said with a stern expression.

He didn't understand the contracts of this world and whether or not his original deal was even legitimate, but he wanted to feel in control, regardless of whether or not that feeling was falsely earned.

A puff of fire appeared in front of Lucifer, revealing the same light brown piece of paper Elijah had signed prior.

"Of course," Lucifer said confidently.

Lucifer bit his right index finger to draw blood, and then placed his bloody finger on the paper before speaking "I am altering this contract so that the sentence is reduced in full." loudly and clearly

The contract thrummed with an orange-red glow. Lucifer pulled out a dagger and held it and the glowing contract out to Elijah

"You have to agree, same as you did last time."

Elijah grabbed the dagger and contract. He cut his index finger and placed it on the paper.

'I agree.' Elijah handed the dagger and paper-back to Lucifer.

"As a sign of trust let me show you something."

Lucifer held out the paper and said something incomprehensible to Elijah. Suddenly words appeared on the paper. They detailed the exact terms of the contract that the two had spoken about prior. The words scrolled down the paper as if it was a tablet in the human world.

Elijah read every word he could before they disappeared, making sure the words matched up with what Lucifer had said. The words stopped scrolling, and the paper disappeared into a puff of fire once again.

"Normally I don't show that unless someone asks, but this is different. I want you to trust me. I know given the history I supposedly have that asking for trust seems highly suspicious, but I don't want to lie, it doesn't serve me in any way."

Elijah thought Lucifer's words were genuine but then reminded himself of one important thing.

'I'm new to this world, and genuine sounding or not, it would be incredibly easy to lie to me. I have nothing here. No knowledge, no friends...no family.'

Elijah put on his best fake smile and stood up.

"Well, trust or not, I've agreed to this deal. So, how about this magic training?" Elijah said in a fake happy tone

Lucifer noticed the insincerity but didn't let it show on his face.

'I don't need you to believe me now. This world will show you that I'm one of the few allies humans have.'

Lucifer stood up.

"Go stand out in the backyard. "Lucifer said pointing to the doorway next to Elijah

Elijah walked through the house until he found the door that led outside.

The backyard was completely stone, with a waist-high fence of stone around it. It was about eight hundred square feet around. In the middle of the yard was a long rectangular stone table.

'Why is there so much damn stone everywhere.' Elijah thought.

Lucifer came out with various items in hand. He set them out on the table. A green leaf, a cup of water, a rock, two joined pieces of metal resembling a tuning fork, and a mirror.

"Alright then, in order for you to train your magic, you first have to learn what your affinity is," Lucifer said, with an eager look.

"Peter told me about affinities. He said it determines what kind of magic I can use." Elijah said, looking at the basic assortment of items.

"Exactly" Lucifer responded enthusiastically. "Here's how the test will go. You'll attempt to do the things I list. Blow the leaf off the table, burn the leaf, lift the water from the cup, move the rock, create a spark between the metal prongs, heal the cut on your finger, and finally, project an image onto the mirror."

It sounded simple enough to Elijah, but he was still curious about other things.

"How long does it usually take for a result?"

"At most a minute," Lucifer responded.

Elijah attempted to create a small gust of wind to knock the leaf all the table, but couldn't summon any air.

'Alright.' Elijah thought to himself. He picked up the leaf and tried to light it on fire. Nothing happened other than Elijah crushing the leaf in-between his fingers.

Lucifer resisted the urge to say anything, remembering that it had frustrated previous reborn he had taught.

Elijah hovered his hand over the cup, visualizing the water moving in his mind, but the water remained still. His disappointment showed.

Lucifer knew that failing an affinity check was always disheartening for the reborn

Elijah then put his hand over the rock, attempting to move it, but couldn't get the rock to budge. He sighed and yelled 'Fuck!' in his mind. He picked up the metal and tried to create a spark between the gaps, and finally, this one worked.

'Holy shit!' Elijah thought to himself trying to contain a smile. He couldn't believe it.

"Is it possible to have multiple affinities?" He asked, putting the metal down.

"It's possible, but very rare, especially for humans," Lucifer said while looking at the mirror.

Elijah pictured the wound closing in his mind, but it stayed open.

As Elijah looked at his hand he asked Lucifer about the final test.

"What kind of image should I project?"

Lucifer responded with "Whatever is easiest to picture in your mind."

Elijah put his hand over the mirror and pictured a burning forest. More specifically a burning tree. Elijah was both happy and sad to see that the mirror didn't show any new images.

"Well, that's all the basic magic we can test for. Electric, or lightning, magic isn't common, so you should feel fortunate for that." Lucifer said picking up the items and walking back into the house.

Elijah looked at the small cut on his finger and thought to himself 'Fortunate? Yeah, clearly...'