Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) (2 page)

Part One

Dawn of the Devil’s Demise

Chapter One: Devil’s Duel

Moments before the first flames dazzled the dawn sky, a silvery haired Royal Advisor climbed the stone stairwell of the tallest tower rising from the millennia-old Satan family Castle. The early morning darkness posed no problems. Not only were the devil’s eyes adept at seeing in near-complete darkness, but a small flame no larger than a light bulb hovered at his side, dueling with the darkness on his behalf.

As Goddard scaled those steps the flame at his side followed, moving according to the man’s own will. His flame stayed close to the wall at a height well above Goddard’s head, passing through the wicks of the many dusty torches hanging on the walls and igniting them as he passed by, illuminating the next few steps of his journey until he caught the next torch.

He carried with him a medium-sized box, long and rectangular, dangling from a flimsy handle. Up and up he went until he reached the door at the top. After lighting the final wall torch, the Royal Advisor quelled his flame. He dangled a big circular keychain in front of his bespectacled eyes, examining over a hundred different skeleton-like keys until he found just the right one, sliding it into the rusted lock and prying open the door.

Outside was a small balcony that wrapped three hundred and sixty degrees around the tower known as the observation deck, though the Royal Advisor didn’t think it was much of an
observatory
. From there, Goddard would have had one of the most spectacular views of the Kingdom of Hell…had the artificial sun been present. In this early morning darkness, the only light to be found came from far above the kingdom of devils.

Goddard set his box down and opened the case, removing his precious cargo one piece at a time. There were several complex parts, but mostly his contraption consisted of several long tube-like pieces that the Royal Advisor screwed together, building it from the ground up until the device stood as tall as him.

He put his eye against an end of one of the tubes. The other end was pointing up into the sky. With a curious rotation of the pipe, Goddard scoured the skies with his primitive telescope.

A giant, glowing moon greeted him. He admired the millions of stars and stellar bodies, distant glowing galaxies that decorated the canvas of the heavens. He lost himself in the astronomy for who knows how long, until by chance he stumbled upon a mysterious glowing ball far across the infinite emptiness of space. Though it was impossible to tell for sure, it seemed like the object was drawing closer.

This was the reason he was there in the first place. He pulled his eye away from the telescope and examined the object in the sky without aid. Almost unnoticeable, but it was still there, dangling in the distance. He bent low and examined some papers laying in the telescope case.

“Hello
Helio
, you’re right on schedule,” Goddard muttered to himself with what seemed like mixed emotions, checking the timetables that were scrawled in his notes. He grabbed a short pencil and wrote something down. “
Astral phenomenon number one: check
.”

Goddard would have loved to play with his telescope more, to observe the skies for as long as he possibly could without going in to work that day, but that was just not possible. The first flames of the morning rose from somewhere in the Kingdom sprawled below him, and he knew his fun was already over. As he disassembled and packed his tool back into its container, Goddard had only one constant, egging thought that haunted him then, and throughout the rest of his long day.

Here we go again
…

It was an unnaturally sunny day in Hell; unnatural because Hell had no true sun to call its own. The giant ball of flames that hovered in the air high above the Kingdom of devils was artificial, created just this morning. The devil inhabitants, conjurers of flame, made the sun from scratch every single day. With the recent slight increases in temperature the devils found more energy in themselves, and as a result each citizen dedicated a little more
oomph
to their morning offering of flames.

It was the beginning of another busy morning in Hell as the merchants prepared their sales carts on all the busiest avenues in the Kingdom for the day ahead. The place to be on this day was North Hell, where an event of mass popularity would be held. Devils of all ages flooded the streets and skies as merchants hustled to peddle their goods and make some skorch.

“Pre-made decks!” cried one such merchant. “Strong, pre-made decks here! Very cheap, a great bargain for anyone taking place in the tournament today!” The aging merchant waved his stacks of cards around above his head hoping to draw the crowd’s attention. After failing to grab anyone’s attention, he decided he would instead just grab someone and the attention part would follow.

“How about you, sir?” he said, gripping the shoulder of the nearest person walking by. The youthful boy he grabbed wore a black peacoat. He had shaggy brown hair that hung down over his eyes until he shook his head to move his bangs. He turned and stared into the merchant’s eyes.

His handsome black-haired friend answered for him. “Heck yeah! Let’s take a look, Ash!”

“Absolutely not!” Ash shot him down immediately. “Thank you, but we’re all set here,” he told the merchant. Then with a polite smile, the boy and his friend moved on.

The merchant stood staring at their backs in disbelief. His apprentice, a younger boy, carried some boxes up and asked his master’s a question about stocking the shelves.

“Silence boy! Did you not see who that was?” The old merchant pointed his assistant at the two boys he tried to work his sales pitch on. “It’s
them
! The kids who helped save the Kingdom from the rebels!” The merchant and his young apprentice looked on in shock and slight disappointment at the missed opportunity to unload some merchandise on the pair of pseudo-saviors.

The duo was none other than Ash Kaplan and Aura Draxler. The two friends had garnered fame and popularity in the weeks that went by after the rebel uprising. One was a half-human half-devil, the other a fabled death-toucher, a rare combination in Hell.

Ash had been living in Hell for well over a year now. In that time he managed to make a few friends and work a steady job defending the kingdom from all sorts of nasty demons, and most recently defeating the rebel leader and putting a stop to their conquering the kingdom. Things had returned to normal, and even slowed down a little in the months following the rebel coup.

Ash spent most of his time in Hell running jobs for Goddard, the Royal Advisor to the Satan family and the one who brought him to Hell in the first place. The work ranged from boring, tedious, tasks of manual labor to combating invading demons. In all his time there, the human teen had become quite adept at fighting. The lesser demons that routinely entered the kingdom on a daily basis were getting easier and easier to beat. Clearly his daily training exercises were working.

The guys moved down the cobblestone street fighting the crowds and discussing their latest endeavor.

“It’s so busy over here,” said Ash. “Are you sure you’re leading us to the right place?”

“Trust me, I’ve been here plenty of times,” Aura replied with a reliable grin.

“I can’t believe this many people are interested in a
card game
,” said Ash.

The boys were headed to a tournament featuring the hottest new collectible card game craze to sweep through Hell:
Devil’s Duel
. The point of the game was to collect the best cards to build the strongest decks, and then
annihilate
the competition. Battles consisted of two or more players taking turns building their kingdoms from the ground up and attacking each other. It was a complicated but enjoyable game, and Ash had become fond of it in such a short amount of time. Card games reminded him of home.

Aura on the other hand was less interested in the actual game. His true intentions were usually well hidden, and this time around Ash could not figure out where his friend’s current interest in the game had come from. Through the busy marketplace and down a narrow cobblestone side street, escaping the crowd. After walking down the small alley they found a patio square with a few empty tables outside a relatively modern café. It was quieter here and a good place to talk strategy.

“Grab a table,” said Aura. “I’ll get us some coffee.” The death toucher disappeared into the café, leaving Ash to his thoughts.

Another day in Hell. Another one of Aura’s schemes. The guy was Ash’s best friend so far, but he could also get on Ash’s nerves. Most of the time without even knowing he was doing it. The death toucher was lazy and immoral and vain, but somehow he was also one of the best dudes Ash had ever met.

His other closest friend was Shiva. Shiva
Satan
, as in “the Royal Princess”. She was mostly just a Royal Pain-in-the-Neck as the boy’s new roommate. The fiery girl was not without her moments, though. Infrequent occasions where she showed some minor thoughtfulness, as if she was actually maturing or something.

These two and a handful of acquaintances made up Ash’s social circle in Hell. It was a vastly different situation from his careless life back on Earth. He thought a moment about what he would be doing around this time if he were still there…

Probably preparing for his first year of college, if his mom had her way. He’d be sitting in some stuffy classroom, studying some subject he probably wouldn’t have much interest in. It would be a nice, peaceful life. Peaceful, but a bit dull. Nothing compared to his year in Hell.

Aura returned minutes later holding two tin coffee cups. He carefully set the cups down on the table and took his seat, reading over the paper menu on the table. For a peaceful moment, Ash was reminded of home. Sipping coffee in the morning every day before school with his mom, Grace. Grabbing a bite with his friends at the local restaurant. Hell had its moments of peace. Ash lived for these moments now. The precious few seconds where if he closed his eyes, he could almost believe he was home.

Ash forced the nostalgia away. Dwelling on such thoughts always left him feeling homesick. Not a good mood to enter a card game tournament in. Besides, he usually tried to avoid his homesickness until night, when he could be alone in his bed with his sad thoughts.

Aura spoke, interrupting Ash’s train of thought. “We’ve got an hour, let’s go over our decks one more time.” The death toucher pulled out his card box and dumped the cards on the table.

Ash put on his stern face. “We’ve
been
over our decks plenty of times already,” he said. “Our decks are fine. Have a little faith that I know what I’m doing.”

“You’re right, the decks are fine,
probably
,” said Aura, but his frown disagreed. “I’m just nervous. Marni’s going to be there.”

“You’re not normally the type to get nervous,” said Ash as he reached for the tin cup. He took a sip and spat it out on the ground, his face showing disgust. “What kind of coffee is this? It’s cold and bitter!”

“You have to heat it yourself,” said Aura. “Like so.” He gripped the coffee cup and emitted fire from his hand. The fire spread out over the drink. “About ten seconds should do it,” he instructed. Ash did the same and tried the drink again.

“Much better,” he said, sipping the now-steaming hot liquid. “Now, who’s this Marni?”

“Come on, you must have heard of her by now. Marni Narnya, the
creator
of Devil’s Duel,” Aura replied. “Also smoking hot babe and owner of our destination, the Demon’s Den Gaming Parlor. That’s where the tournament is. Any other questions,
Mr. Guy-Curious
?”

Ash blinked. “Is that why you wanted to compete in the tournament? To meet Marni Narnya?”

“No,” Aura said with a scoff. “Marni and I are well-acquainted, actually. I may as well tell you now, since we’re in this together.”

Ash almost spat out more coffee. Whenever Aura said they were “
in this together
” it was never a good thing.

“Marni and I go way back. I knew her back when we were just a couple of no-good street punks. For a while, we ran the streets of South Hell together. I was the brawns, and she was the brains. Those were the days,
but
…” Aura sighed heavily, signaling a tonal shift in his wistful story.