[h3][color=#2dbdfc]Lucifer of Phoenix[/color][/h3]
[color=#2dbdfc]Dark Lord's Castle[/color]

Lucifer looked out of a window and sighed. Another wet night - definitely not conditions to travel.

He should be in bed. He had been planning on going to bed. He was even dressed in his pyjamas, had cleaned his teeth and washed his face, all ready just to dive under the covers and drift off. But he couldn't possibly sleep now. He was thinking about too much, or rather, about one thing in extreme detail.

[color=pink]"Are you okay, big guy?"[/color] A familiar voice asked. [color=pink]"You're acting even more moody than usual"[/color]

Lucifer mustered up a weak smile. [color=#2dbdfc]"Not really. I've been thinking about the letter Khosh sent me."[/color]

[color=pink]"The one about the...[/color]

[color=#2dbdfc]"Aye... that's the one.[/color]

There was a bit of silence for a while as Lucifer gathered his thoughts. When he was ready, he went for a walk around the castle as he spoke [color=#2dbdfc]"Sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice, you know? Throwing my lot in with Alastor and the Seven. And then I get letters like that and I realise what I'm fighting for. I've nothing against Lionfury... but he's just so ineffective.  And it doesn't seem like Alastor is much better.[/color]

[color=pink]"Don't let Zenith hear you talking like that. He'll think you're being insubordinate."[/color]

[color=#2dbdfc]"That's the problem with this war. People are taking advantage of it. Costs go through the roof, criminals run rampant and here we are, in a big fancy castle, completely oblivious to the common man's plight"[/color]

[color=pink]"Except you."[/color] Empusa noted dryly.

[color=#2dbdfc]"I just want the Kingdom to be better [i]after[/i] the war ends than before. But the damage might have been too much already and I'm scared in case we can't fix it.[/color]

[color=pink]"But at least Alastor is trying, right, big guy?"[/color]

[color=#2dbdfc]"Aye. And that's why I chose him over Lionfury. At the very least, he's bloody doing something. I might not agree with him, but he's our best hope." [/color]

It was as if saying it rammed it home. Alastor Daeva, the best hope for humanity. It was a strange notion - the Dark Lord seemed too aloof and lacked the empathy to govern justly. So why had he joined his cause with such vigour? No promise of gold or power could ever make him abandon his ideals. The people who aided Alastor were either cruel, selfish or in thrall to him. He was the only one, he realised, who was helping the Other Side because he genuinely thought they were a force for good. And maybe they were - maybe their idea of holding on to power was to make the common man dependent on them and thankful, rather than to cruelly oppress him. A naive hope, perhaps, but one that Lucifer held on to dearly. Lionfury represented things staying the same. Change of any kind was worth a shot.

Before long, Lucifer realised he had no idea where he was going. It was a big castle and he wasn't quite used to it yet. Tired and lost, he sat down and curled up into a ball to keep warm, praying that someone would come along and see him before it got really dark.