The First Night (1)

- Lucifer and Elijah -

As Elijah stepped into the supplies building he noticed the sheer volume of stuff in the room. Along with the many crates, there was a demon sitting at a stone counter to the left of the doorway. The demon had a dark hood over their head, so he couldn't see them very well. He was more conscious about staring now, so he diverted his gaze to the other parts of the room.

There were shelves marked as "medicine" along with weapon racks and crates of clothing. There were some hanging bulbs that illuminated everything well.

"You have lightbulbs in this world?" Elijah asked, looking around at the various tools and gear that was lying around.

Lucifer responded while digging through one of the boxes.

"They're harnessed magic. There's a rune in the bulb that traps electric energy. The technology here is a little more advanced than the average town, but still nowhere near what the human world has."

Elijah remembered what he was going to ask Lucifer before Peter showed up.

"Do firearms exist in this world?" After asking, Lucifer's eyes widened. The rest of the group's members who were sorting through things turned towards Lucifer.

"Never ask that or bring up firearms again. I meant to tell you sooner, but today's been a little out of order.

"A little?" Peter sneered.

Lucifer sighed.

"Firearms, as modern humans know them, are a taboo subject in this world. Bringing them up can be akin to treason in certain territories."

'I should have known he'd ask about it. I assume he's smart enough not to mention it again now that I've warned him, but if he ever gets interrogated...no, no no that won't happen, don't overthink this.' Lucifer was lost in thought for a moment, before realizing Elijah was staring at him.

Lucifer gathered himself and slowly began to explain.

"Many gods in this world believe in maintaining order, AKA their rule. Ever since some of the more recent wars on the human side most of the gods have agreed to make any production of firearms illegal while also making it a forbidden topic. Magic is powerful, but the amount of time and effort it takes to become truly dangerous with it is what stops it from getting the same treatment."

Elijah was surprised that supposed gods would fear guns.

'Surely they can't be that afraid. A jet, or a tank, sure, but even those would lose out to a powerful mage, at least I think they would. I'm not really sure what qualifies as strong in this world.'

Lao, who was across the room putting various bottles from the medicine shelf into a brown satchel turned to Elijah.

"The first few pages of the guide lists various words and phrases you should abstain from. There's a lot of common things you might be used to saying that you should avoid."

Elijah opened the large book to check what exactly it was he should avoid. The first page of words and phrases were listed with small boxes of text beneath each listing, giving a reason as to why the particular word or phrase should be avoided.

'Can't say "damn it" anymore, guess that makes sense. Can't say the name of any religious figures, understandable. There's "guns" in big bolded text. I shouldn't say "dog"? What is a "Lycan" supposed to be? Page fifty-three for Lycans. Oh, werewolves. Also shouldn't use the term werewolf.' Elijah kept reading through the list fascinated by the extent of the guide's information.

About two hours had passed. Elijah had read through most of the banned words and sayings and was getting ready to check the bestiary.

"We should be getting ready to leave," Peter said looking at a clipboard. "Check off the things on the list so we can get moving."

One by one the various members of the team went up to Peter while holding a box or a bag and had him check off their supplies.

Sabu had various weapons rolled up in a black cloth. Yvere and Lao had satchels of medicine. Heinrich had a crate of food and a crate of orbs which insides resembled the lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling. Lucifer had bags of what Elijah assumed was money. Peter checked everything off and put the clipboard back by the counter.

The demon looked at the sheet of paper.

"You really think you need that much medicine?" The demon said. He had a gravelly voice, almost like there was something inside of his throat. "I'm guessing the new guy probably has fire or electric magic, hehe." The demon's laughing worried Elijah.

"Stop tryin' to scare the guy, Harik," Peter said in an annoyed tone. He turned to Elijah

"Magic can be dangerous if mishandled, but much in the same way a knife can be. You've got a good teacher, don't worry."

Elijah remembered his time in the military when older soldiers would try to scare new recruits.

'I need to keep my past experiences in mind. Just because it's a new world doesn't mean the lessons I've learned aren't relevant.'

"Alright, that's everything," Lucifer said opening the door to leave.

As they walked out Elijah noticed the gate of the wall begin to open. The loud sound of metal being turned was made worse by the sheer size of the gate. Elijah flinched at the noise and noticed no one else in the group was reacting.

'Guess they're used to it.'

Elijah followed behind everyone else in the group. As he looked behind him at the large prison he had been in for an uncertain amount of time, he was overcome with a feeling of anxiety. It reminded him of his first time jumping out of a helicopter.

Outside of the walls were two large creatures that had even larger metal carts attached to them.

"What are those things?" Elijah asked, trying to figure out whether they were horses or rhinos.

"They're called uništi," Lucifer said, proceeding to load the carts as each group member handed him a crate.

As Elijah got closer he realized that the creatures certainly looked like massive horses, but with bluish-grey skin, that had streaks of dark people all over. They were eight feet tall and ten feet long. He also noticed they had hollow eye sockets.

"Can they see?" Elijah asked while trying not to stand too close.

"Better than you can as a matter of fact. Their "eyes" see the energy of the world. Everything basically looks like a thermal map to them." Lucifer said while strapping down the crates.

"Amazing. I'm guessing they're fast as Hel- really fast too." Elijah corrected himself.

"Extremely. You're not used to their speed though, so we'll start out at a more normal pace."

Lucifer was done securing the supplies and now sat down, calling for Elijah to join the second cart.

Lucifer sat in the first cart by himself with Lao at the reins. Yvere took the reins of the second uništi, while the remaining four got into the back. There was more than enough room for all of them, but it still seemed weird to Elijah that Lucifer got a cart to himself.

Peter noticed Elijah staring.

"If anythin' falls off the cart it's his responsibility to go and get it. He can fly and is much stronger than all of us, so it's best if he holds things down alone."

Elijah and Sabu sat next to each other with Peter and Heinrich on the opposite side. Elijah noticed the handles on the seats of the cart along with what could only be grip marks. He grabbed the handle hoping the ride wouldn't be too terrible.

"We're off!" Lucifer yelled, signaling the gate behind them to close.

The sound was less jarring on the outside but still got a small flinch from Elijah. The metal carts were deep enough that there wasn't much worry of falling out. The uništi were fast, faster than any normal horse. He understood now why the carts were metal.

Normally it takes the sound of many horses to replicate thunder, but it seems like the hooves of these two creatures could mimic it on their own. Elijah gripped the handles as hard as he could, cutting his hand on the metal. He looked over at Peter who started mouthing "Relax, you'll be okay" to him.

The other three members of the cart seemed used to the speed which made Elijah wonder.

'How are those two controlling these things?'

Every bump during travel had Elijah yelling 'Fuck' in his mind. Several hours had passed and the sun was beginning to set. The carts began to slow down, to which Elijah thought

'Thank God. Almost forgot I can't say that anymore.'

Eventually, the group came to a full stop.

"Guess we're getting off here for tonight," Peter said standing up and jumping off the cart.

Sabu and Heinrich followed, but Elijah was taking some time to wait for his legs to feel like they work again. Eventually, he got off the cart, wobbling as he landed from his jump. Lao and Yvere came around to the back. They both asked if there were any injuries. Lao could see the skin on Elijah's hand had been ripped up by the metal handle.

"We'll have to get you gloves," Lao said grabbing the hand and restoring the torn flesh to brand new.

"Incredible," Elijah said looking at his hand.

'Why would they need a lot of medicine if healing magic is capable of that?'

Elijah then noticed that where the group had stopped was in the middle of a barren plain. It was dirt and dust as far as the eye could see. Before he could question why they would stop in such a place, two pieces of square rock rose from the ground.

Elijah looked over at Heinrich who was making motions that matched how the ground was moving.

"Not too big, don't waste your mana," Peter said to Heinrich.

"I know," Heinrich responded finishing off the blocky structure.

The cold wind from the night started to sweep in.

"I'll make the fire," Lucifer said. "Before we go in, can you add a training room?" Lucifer asked, looking at Heinrich.

A large rectangular room was formed right next to the house.

The group walked into the newly formed house. Lucifer grabbed a large metal square from one of the crates that had two circles that went against the edges with multiple carvings in-between the two. He placed the object in the middle of the room where everyone was and placed his hand on it. The carvings glowed orange and a large flame formed in the middle.

"That'll last the night. I'm going to be teaching Elijah how to use his magic in the training room. If you need anything, come ask. Lao, join us in one hour." Lucifer said before leaving for the training room.

Elijah followed behind, excited that he was going to learn more about magic.

'I don't know what this is going to be like, but I hope I can at least learn enough to defend myself. Why did he ask Lao to eventually join us though? Is it that likely I'll injure myself?'

As the two walked into the pitch-black training room Lucifer pulled out a large clear orb. The orb filled with a bright light illuminating the room. He placed the orb in a piece of stone sticking out from the wall that was the perfect size and shape to hold the light.

"Alright, let's begin with some basic training," Lucifer said placing his hands about twelve inches apart with the palms facing each other.

"Copy my hands and try to create electric lines between your two palms."

Elijah placed his hands apart and pictured what Lucifer said. Electricity sparked between his palms, which startled him at first causing him to lose focus...

"That's a good start. Twelve inches is usually too much for someone new.

'Lately, it does seem like teaching a reborn magic gets easier and easier with each passing year.' Lucifer thought.

"Now what?" Elijah asked, eager to learn more.

"Keep doing what you were doing, but shift the angles of your hand while maintaining the electricity. Try moving your hands while keeping them the same distance apart, until your palms are pointed vertically at one another."

As Elijah tried moving his hands while keeping the electricity flowing he zapped his hands, losing concentration and leaving small singe marks.

'A few shocks aren't going to stop me, but damn does that hurt like hell.'