Chapter 2B

There was a chill wind blowing when Rick regained his consciousness.

‘That was a weird dream,’ he thought opening his eyes.

“What the–” Rick exclaimed. “S***!”

All at once, he recalled everything that had transpired – the voice from the sky, the Evolution System, the four Kings of Hell and the artifacts.

“I passed out,” he wondered looking around. He wasn’t in the King’s Court anymore. Instead he found himself in an empty white expanse. As far as his eyes could see, there was nothing else.

‘This is getting too much for one day!‘ he thought, exasperated.

Rick got up to his feet and inspected himself. He was wearing the same clothes as in the library. But in his hand, were those cursed atifacts as well. Not only was the thick leather-bound book in his hand, somehow, he was wearing the stone ring on his index-finger as well!

‘Can’t you atleast leave me alone in my afterlife,’ he grumbled trying to pull it off. But the thing didn’t was a stuck, refusing to budge no matter how hard he tried to pull it off. After a couple of failed tries, he yielded. ‘Stay there then. Just don’t… kill me,’ he thought with a pissed shrug.

Rick wondered what to do next. The white expanse looked like a tell-tale sign that he was in heaven. But there was not a single soul anywhere.  “So much talk about how to get to heaven, couldn’t one of you write where doI go from here?” he muttered under his breath.

Rick checked the book in his hand. It was a book that maybe Aristotle and Socrates would carry in a play – the edges of the book were yellowed and the leather cover looked well used. To its credit, despite its voluminous size, it was not at all heavy. But given his demise at a library Rick had no intention to ever pick a book again. Without any hesitation, he placed the book on the ground and started walking in a random direction.

“Hey kid!” before Rick could take a couple steps, he heard a voice call out from behind. He stopped and glanced back.

A buffed man in emblazoned armour standing at the spot he was moment’s ago. The man stroked his hip-length grey beard with his felt hand and had the artifact book he had discarded in the other.

“Kid, you seemed to have misplaced this,” the bearded man spoke waving the book at him accusingly. “Did you hit your head somewhere to leave something so precious unattended?”

Rick was past the point of saturation where strange appearances were not something that could get a reaction out of him.

“Who are you? And where is this? And how did you get behind me?” Rick asked, walking towards him. He added, “Also… am I dead?”

“Calm down boy. You ain’t dead… atleast for now,” the bearded man added after a pause. “Come sit with me, we need to talk, and there ain’t enough time to chit-chat”

Rick decided to trust the weird man’s word for now. Besides, it was comforting to hear he wasn’t dead yet. As if under a spell, he felt his body react on its own. He walked forward and sat down beside the older man and asked again, “Who are you?”

“You can call me Sol,” the man said with a hearty laugh. Sol smiled and added, “As for where you are, you are in  your mind, your subconscious. And I am here because of the strand of consciousness I felt on my artifacts for my successor.”

“Wait you are Solomon? The ‘Master of Hell’ Solomon!” spoke Rick standing up in a fliuster.

“I guess people would have forgotten me… It has been a while,” Solomon spoke, twirling his beard absentmindedly. “Well anyway, congratulations are in order. Kid, well done on inheriting my artifacts.”

“Dude…” Rick started in anger before holding his tongue. “I mean sir, why didn’t you kill them, those kings? You know they are monsters, right? They almost killed me! How did you even become the Master of such demons?”

Solomon didn’t answer immediately and instead gave a sad smile. “Things aren’t as it seem on the surface kid. Sometime, you have to depend on demons to protect humans. And sometimes it’s humans that turn out to be the real monsters. The path you have chosen is a difficult one, not every human would even dare dream of carrying your burden.”

Sol felt silent again and looked at Rick with an expression he couldn’t decipher.

‘Was it apologetic or pity?’ Rick wondered.

“Well I did have it a little harder, I guess. But I became their Master just the way you did,” Sol chuckled and gave a knowing wink. “We beat them to submission. Ain’t that right?”

Rick felt his ears burn red in embarrassment hearing Sol’s words. He laughed sheepishly and scratched his head, “About that…” quickly explaining everything to Sol.

By the time he was done recalling what had transpired, Sol was  starting at Rick slack jawed and twirling his beard viciously.

“That… This is not…”  Sol murmured incoherently for a moment. Looking straight at Rick he asked “So you didn’t thrash any of the Kings? Di you kill any of their demonic legion? Not even a rotzwerg?”

Rick shook his head no.

“And you told the idiots I appointed you as my successor?”

Rick shook his head yes.

“I figured with your strength, you didn’t have the strength to kill their Generals, much less thee e four Kings but I assumed you had some other trick up your sleeve.” Solomon said pacing around in Rick, tugging on his beard absentmindedly. After a minute of that, he stopped and spoke “I don’t know if you are the greatest idiot or luckiest man. But this isn’t completely irreparable.”

Rick looked at the Sol intently, soaking in every word the man had to say, his life could depend on it.

“I wanted my inheritor to be someone who was not only strong but could also find a way through tough situation using their brains”, Sol voiced in a self-consoling tone. “But we have what we get. And my inheritor is one with absolutely no brawns and, at best, mediocre brains.”

Rick pursed his lips, a little annoyed at being called a weak idiot. “Excuse me, didn’t your artifacts see potential in me and choose me to be the inheritor,”

“Don’t interrupt me again kid. We ain’t got time for your sass,” Sol glared at Rick. “And secondly, is that what you think happened? Those artifacts were stored in the depths of Earth’s Hell. Guarded by the might of the entire demon legion of Hell. The artifacts were meant for ANY HUMAN who could fight their way and obtain them!” Sol exclaimed.

This meant that he was not even really chosen to be Sol’s successor. He merely stumbled his way across it. Rick immediately shut his mouth – the revelation was too depressing to retort.

“Aah never mind,” Sol waved his hand, and his voice softened. “Listen kid, all is not lost yet. That is what the artifacts are here for. With that you can become stronger and smarter. So do you want me to tell you what they are?”

Rick nodded yes silently.

“The ring on your finger is known as the Signet. It is the ring that will recognize you as the Master of Hell, like… Yeah, like a crown on a human King’s head,” Sol explained. “But unlike a crown, this isn’t just for decoration. Once you have the strength to match, the Signet will grant you the power to control all Hell, including the four Kings. The second artifact is the book. Actually, it’s a grimoire, called the– “

Rick had his hand raised, interrupting Sol.

“What?” Sol asked, unhappy with the interruption.

“What’s a grimoire?” Rick asked.

Sol paused for a moment before shaking his head dejected, “A grimoire is what you call a spell-book.”

“So continuing, the grim – spell-book is known as the Lemegeton. It’s the most powerful spell book at my time and I reckon even now. It will show you the path to strength. With my Lemegeton by your side, you will be able to any demon from Hell,” Sol smirked, adding, “And with enough practice, even those kings will obey your summons.”

‘This… is good,’ Rick admitted. He was truly shocked. If he could summon the massive demon horde or even one of the Kings to protect him, there would be little to worry about the apocalypse and the aliens that were supposed to come!

Seeing Rick finally show interest, Sol’s eyes burned with passion. “Not just that kid, the Lemegeton is a treasure trove of knowledge. Never mind all that, you will figure out its uses over time anyway. Just make sure you live long enough.”

“Thank you, sir! This is the best thing that has happened to me all day.” Rick truly felt like all troubles and life-threatening situations he had to encounter were worth it.

Sol gave a senile smile, “Use  your powers for the all Earth, kid. That’s all I ask.”

“Yes sir,” Rick replied. He didn’t mind helping others, if he could do it from a safe distance that is. But there was no need to tell all this to his generous benefactor, lest he changed his mind!

Sol tossed the grimoire Lemegeton at Rick and turned away. “I have left Earth behind ages ago. Now its your turn to protect it, kid.”

Rick caught the grimoire carefully and pet it like it was a precious diamond. “You remind me of my grandfather, sir,” he said. “I will definitely try to keep up to your expectations.”

Sol smiled and looked back and gestured at him.

“One last thing. The powers of the Lemegeton will increase as you get stronge. With your strength now, you would not even be able to summon a hellhound pup if you tried. You need to work hard, really hard…” Sol said with a encouraging thumbs up. “If you aint able to summon atleast one of the Kings in the next one year, they will most definitely revolt and kill you.”

Saying this Sol vanished, leaving Rick stunned in the spot regretting everything good he said about the man and his stupid arifacts!

‘Damn it! How could I think this thing would be good for me? It’s a death sentence!’ he thought looking at his hands holding the Lemegeton in  one and wearing the Signet in the other