The Devil's Warrior Queen
Chapter 257: A Compelling Darkness

Chapter 257: A Compelling Darkness

Malika, in those few inauspicious days had been tensed and agitated as she awaited the devil’s murky predence to visit her again.

Meanwhile, Zamiel had been pressurizing her to do is bidding the next time he queried her for an answer, but only she was aware of what she had sensed from Morwana’s imprisoned state, she could never visualize herself releasing such a destructive being into the world.

Even in her endless slumber, Morwana reeked of chaos, she was nothing less than the embodiment of an unfathomable evil.

But then, after some time, Zamiel stopped trying to persuade her, almost as if he had given up, but she was quite doubtful of it. The last thing he told her before he stopped with his persuasion was that it was either them or the world.

The words were deeply etched into her brain. Choosing not to release Morwana could destroy them, but there was no guarantee that releasing such a sinister entity could save them either, it was simply taking two risks, one of which was a lesser evil and the other was a greater one.

On yet another inauspicious day, Malika watched from her window as the sun dipped below the horizon and darkness clouded the skies, stretching shadows on the land.

Noticing the candles were almost snuffed out, she lit new ones, making the room awash with a bright glow, she was strong now but she was still ever more afraid of the dark.

Lighting up the last candle on the bedside table, a soft gust of wind blew behind her, suddenly stuffing out the lit candles for a melancholic darkness to swallow the entire room with her in it.

Her breath hitched as it broke out of her lips in shuddering gasps. Immediately the entire room was plunged into darkness, an eerie essence writhed and danced with the shadows, she could feel it on her skin, it was cold and a spine chilling sensation wrecked her nerves.

There was a malignant presence behind her lurking in the darkness, she could feel every core of darkness emanating from it like an abyss emitting nothingness from within.

It was a cold night, but sweat broke on her forehead, for a minute she was struck with immobility as her brain shut down with fear, no one needed to tell her who it was.

She had been waiting in the past few days which was extremely quiet, but nothing could ever prepare her to face the devil himself, it was a feeling she could never get used to.

Her heart hammered against her chest with the tempo of dread, the pace escalating in palpable tension with the symphony of trepidation as she let out laboured breathing.

Garnering her crumbled confidence, she slowly twisted her body around to face him. His form was stolen into the void of perpetual darkness, she could barely make out his silhouette, but only his fiery golden orbs glowed in the darkness as it peered into her eyes, paving way to the depths of her terrified soul.

The moment her eyes locked into his, the compelling dark force of his golden eyes ensnared her senses into a hypnotizing pull, one she found hard to defy as she tried to tear her gaze, but her efforts were sadly futile as he locked her in.

As captivating as his burning orbs were, they stimulated an intimidating and dreadful darkness from within, leaving her more appaled than she was mesmerized by the most beautiful yet terrifying gaze she had ever beheld.

Goosebumps manifested on her cold skin as ragged breaths flared from her lips. He terrified her with merely his presence, but then appearing to her in the dark, in the midst of her fear only heightened her fearful state, but then he wasn’t there to make her comfortable, he was darkness himself.

"Angels should never be afraid of demons, after all we were once one." Lucifer’s dark velvety voice slithered through the darkness, the callous ring of his icy voice made her body tremble subconsciously as though she was plunged into an ice bath.

"We’re not one." Malika forced the words out, after finally finding her lost voice.

"The only difference is that we fell, but we never fell from glory, we fell into glory." He said with a sadistic drawl, his unwavering eyes peering far too deeply into hers as if searching deep into her soul for a weakness.

"You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to destroy or manipulate, it won’t change anything, just ask for forgiveness and everything will change for the better, for peace." Malika said in a small voice, trying to search for a flicker of light in the most profound depths of darkness where none existed.

The air went still for a moment and in the next, a dark, ominous laughter rang through the shadows, spurring a melancholic cadence that swirled and danced with the darkness as it dripped with poison. The resonant echo of his demonic laughter were like jagged daggers cutting through her skin.

Malika tensed in apprehension as the laughter abruptly broke, only the rhythmic echo of her heartbeat and her laboured breathing could be heard basking the dark room.

"I know every word written in the Bible, I know every single path leading to salvation and I know the difference between good and evil. If I truly wanted salvation, I would have taken it, so why would you think I have been waiting for all these millennials just to change from an utterance by a half angel?" His voice sank lower in a low, deep growl as he spoke in a half amused tone.

Silence hung in the air as she stared back at him, realizing he was right. If he wanted salvation, he would trod down the path to it, but it was apparent in that moment, he had long given up for redemption, his world was a black hole and he no longer had a soul nor a heart to yearn for the desires of the world, he was an empty shell sufficed with nothing but vengeance and destruction.

"My salvation is as dead as my black soul." She heard him mutter beneath his breath.

"No one is ever truly evil, it’s what the world has done to them that turns them evil." Malika said in a whisper.

He sighed as he takes slow, calculated steps a few inch closer to her before halting "And what do you think the world has done to me, little angel? You mortals have no idea, I wasn’t born evil, I created it." His voice dripped with a compelling darkness as he whispers under his breath.

Opening her mouth to speak, he interrupts immediately with conspicuous impatience lingering in his voice "Thats enough, I didn’t pay you a visit with my glorious presence to have a debate, you very well know why I’m here." He gloated with pride stemming from his glowing eyes.

Her nerves wrecked like she was trapped in a tempestous sea with no escape. She had been unmistakably confident with her decision to withstand the devil’s tempting offer of freedom and oppose his will, but at that moment, fear seemed to slowly cloud her judgement.

"Do not be afraid even though you have every reason to be, but as I promised, I always give a choice and right now you have the choice to either accept or reject my offer, now which will it be?" He said with a warm neutral tone, it would have mistook any other person who had no idea of who he was, but not her.

It was a threat cloaked with the gloved hands of nonchalance. It was a blatant suicide offer if she rejected, but either ways it was a suicidal risk to take. Two evils would be freely roaming about in the world and who knew if he would be able to contain Morwana if released once again, who knew if he would fulfill his other side of the bargain if she did as he wished.

The pessimistic thoughts of the chaotic situation she would plunge them into if she accepted his offer crammed her mind like a fast spreading poison.

Her celestial instincts disturbed her constantly on accepting the devil’s proposal, it didn’t seem right and it definitely did not seem as if auspicious deeds would occur if Morwana was released. Merely touching her coffin and feeling her essence spoke volumes on the menace she would cause.

Zamiel was wrong, this wasn’t her choosing between them or the world, it was a choice between a greater evil or a lesser one and even though the results would be uncanny, she decided to choose the lesser evil.

There was simply no winning in the devil’s game, but at least she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of winning either.

"Choose wisely, now what will it be?" He drawled in a calm voice with an underlying menacing to it.

Sucking in a deep breath, she finally spewed out the words with confidence "I reject your offer, Lucifer."