The Heavenly Host

“No, you love scolding us when we don’t heed your call to action.” Satyricus chuckled.

∼

Tom flew over the mountain range near his cave. He needed to get out and stretch his wings. He also needed to get away from the incessant discussions in the cave. By this point, all the arguments were going in circles and none of them were giving him any better idea of what to do.

He should have left Talarius alive on the battlefield. He really did not have the resources or patience to deal with a hostage. The guy was also very bullheaded; it seemed unlikely that he would change his mind in regards to demons. Yes, it was a great finish to a life-and-death battle. Way too close to death, actually; he really should avoid such battles in the future. Even so, the aftermath? They never talked about that in the fantasy books.

No one ever talked about what happens after you ride into the sunset and then the sun sets. Or, as in this case, Fierd sets. Did the happy couple find a cozy inn and settle down to a nice stew and some bread? Or did they end up slogging through a marshy swampland or, worse maybe, a desert.

That was basically how he felt. He had had the triumphant victory and now he felt like there should be more. But more what? He had now dug himself into a situation where he had avatars of Tiernon hunting him down, and probably a few archdemons hunting him down as well. Well, certainly there was Lilith; she was more than an archdemon, and she was not so much hunting him as inviting him over.

He had pretty much ruled out her invitation. He was fairly sure he would simply end up being her hostage. He had to assume he could not really trust any of the old-guard demons here. They had been around too long and were too used to playing games with others. He needed to keep his independence; he actually needed to get a team together, some sort of Scooby gang or similar.

Technically, he supposed he had that with Rupert, Reggie, Boggy, Tizzy, Antefalken, Estrebrius and maybe even Vaselle. Of course, he had to laugh because they were a demonic Scooby gang fighting off both the Forces of Good and the Forces of Evil. What was that then? The Forces Of Other?

Tom blinked. He had been so lost in his own thoughts, he had almost missed seeing a figure sitting on a nearby mountaintop. Actually, it was very close, since he did not need to use demon sight to see the person. Tom turned in midair to look at the person again, circling the mountaintop.

What he was seeing was quite odd indeed. On the top of this mountain peak was a relatively flat, rocky space about thirty feet by ten feet, from which a smaller outcropping of rock about eight feet high and three foot in diameter projected at an angle. On top of that outcropping of rock sat a young man in hiking gear, wearing a Swiss hiker’s hat. He appeared to be eating a sandwich.

While something one might expect to see in the Alps, or even the Appalachians, Tom supposed, in the Abyss this was definitely odd. The hiker appeared to be completely human, in his early twenties, with red hair and what might have been a nicely trimmed beard that had not been groomed in several days. Exactly what one would expect from someone hiking in mountains on Earth. Puzzled, Tom flew in closer.

“Hello?” Tom called to the hiker.

The hiker, who oddly had not seemed to have noticed Tom fly by, looked up at his call and after a moment or two, waved at him in greeting.

Tom flew in closer and finally landed on the main summit of the mountain. Indeed, the hiker was wearing something very similar to Alpen hiking gear. Corduroy shorts, white striped socks, hiking boots on his lower body and a light tan polo with suspenders on his upper body. He also had quite a bit of gear — ropes, pitons and climbing gloves — attached to him. There was also a rope on the main summit leading down over the edge. It was as if this rather odd, and very human person had actually climbed the peak.

“Greetings!” the hiker said with a friendly smile.

“Hello,” Tom said uncertainly. “So you are doing a bit of mountain climbing, I see?”

“Indeed.” The hiker smiled and took another bite of what appeared to be a baloney sandwich. From beside him he then brought up a can of Mountain Dew and took a sip to wash his sandwich down. That made Tom raise an eyebrow. Yes, the mountaintop was cool, but how would one get a can of soda even to this point in the Abyss, short of magic?

“I’m Tom.” Tom said. He was not sure if he should stick out his hand or not. Given their size differences, he figured not doing so would be best.

The hiker nodded and grinned. “Nice to meet you. I am Sam.”

“So did you climb all the way up the mountain?” Tom gestured to the rope.

Sam nodded. “I did.”

“Well, that would be good exercise. I guess,” Tom said. This was extremely weird; Tom was not sure how to proceed.

“So, are you from around here?” Tom asked, gesturing around the mountains.