Rebel's Theology

[Aleria]

Note:
This is related to my other story but as the characters in question never interact (besides the fact Lokesh will be mentioned as part of the other story's history...this starts after his death in the other story's past) I decided to start a new thread.

Prologue
Alhambra Lokesh, Emperor of Aleria, coughed up blood as he stumbled away from his attackers. Their blades plunged into his flesh again and again as Alhambra’s blood stained the white marble of his newly constructed throne room. He collapsed to the floor before he could escape, the knives slamming into his flesh even after his breath stilled.

There was the sense of nothingness, of emptiness, as he floated between this life and the next.

He awoke in a chamber made from the blackest obsidian, a single man behind a white marble desk his only company. On either side of the desk there was a wooden door bound by iron. The nondescript man behind the desk, dressed in the brown robes of a monk, quietly dipped his quill in a vial of blank ink. The clerk said calmly, “Name?”

The dead emperor shambled to his feet as he tried to understand his new situation. Alhambra said calmly, “I’ve been in one of these rooms before. Who are you?”

The clerk looked up at Alhambra and frowned. He said evenly, “Impossible. No one dies twice. As for me? I am the gatekeeper for Heaven and Hell.” The clerk tapped his quill against the gold scale on the desk. He continued, “I shall weigh your sins against the weight of my quill. If your sins are heavier, you will exit through the door to Hell. Otherwise, Heaven. Now, I need to fill out the paperwork so...name?”

Alhambra eyed the clerk curiously as he replied evenly, “You first.”

The clerk growled, “Insolent mortal. I see no need to name myself to ye. Simply answer the damned question so I can gauge the weight of your sins.”

“And if I choose to remain here, choosing neither door? Choosing to refute your right to judge me?”

The clerk sighed and started to tap the steel tip of his quill against the marble desk. “Ape, you try my patience. I am the angel Gideon.”

Alhambra chuckled and smiled. “I understand now. Well played. I believed you the first time and spent a second life in your service. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. So, you are one of the Sheol Lord who watches over Earth? You made a mistake, my friend. You’ve chosen the wrong guise. I was of Earth in my first life, Aleria in my second. I was told of the war between Sheol and Moksha. I was told I was to be a champion in that conflict. It seems that was a lie.”

Gideon smiled in turn. “Ah. Awkward. If you like I’ll just send you through the right door. I was unaware you were one of the Awakened. So, please, go through the door on the....”

Alhambra interrupted him, “Both doors are a trick. I don’t know what it is but we have to buy into this. We have to actively consent somehow for you to gain power over us. I refuse and I repudiate all of you, both my past and this present choice.”

Gideon growled, “Insolent cattle I will fucking ...”

Alhambra chuckled, “You’ll do nothing. You are powerless. I mean, you have capabilities, but you cannot use them to actually harm me. If you could have I’d be truly dead. Whatever it is you do, it is bound up in consent somehow, isn’t it Gideon? You can perform miracles but only if they are asked for. You can cross over and interfere with our worlds only if a mortal consents to serve as your mouthpiece. You can only feed on us if a mortal consents to it. Another mortal might be able to strike me down, true, but only when I’m alive.”

Gideon snarled, “Fucking cattle. So you figured out the basics. So fucking what? You are dead already. You are stuck on the same rules we are, trapped in this between place. Who cares if I need your consent? I can get a thousand more where you came from. Begone from my sight.”

And with that, Alhambra knew only darkness for a century or more. However, as time passed he began to learn what he had become. He could form a space like Gideon had, using it to see to his needs. However, Gideon had spoken the truth...Alhambra was trapped without someone to consent to his presence in the land of the living. So he passed his days by trying to collect as many of the dead and damned as he could, devouring just enough of them to sustain himself before sending them on their way.


















Chapter 1 - Summoned

The dank basement was filled with the scent of rotten eggs as a red mist coalesced into a naked, flabby human male. His shaggy brown hair matched his unkempt beard as his beady red eyes scanned the room.

“Let me out of here, you fucking bitch.”

“No.”

Alhambra Lokesh paced inside the silver circle set into the cement floor. His eyes remain focused on the floor of the virtually empty basement despite his captor being the only other person in the room. He cataloged every last sigil in the metal circle, seeking a flaw that would permit his escape.

He said calmly, “Well, I hope staring at my naked flesh is worth the effort of summoning me. I didn’t know flabby geeks got you wet. Whatever it is you want, I’m not interested. I have better uses for my ti...”

She interrupted him angrily, “I don’t give a shit. The book was quite clear that once summoned I could compel you to obey in a variety of ways. Some are pleasant, like tossing you a barely legal virgin to fuck for your pleasure while the potions the poor girl ingested go to work on you. Some are quite painful, or so I understand.”

He tried to step out of the silver circle only to have his foot stopped by a transparent barrier. “I wouldn’t trust that book too much. Souls soaked in sin taste like chocolate. So what is your command, my Mistress? Slaughter an unfaithful lover? Rob a bank? Lets get this over with then.”

“I know what I am doing demon.”

He snorted. “You trust a book on demon summoning? Damn, people have gotten stupid over the ...”

“Look, I get you don’t want to be here. However, you are here now and you’ll be doing what I want one way...or the other. All I need you to do is kill a few guys for me, alright? You can torture them, rape them, I don’t care. I just need want them to die horrible deaths. In return, I’ll release you once all three are dead. So, you can either submit to this willingly...or I can go with the unpleasant methods.”

“I will agree to behave on one condition. You and I have a little chat about that book you have and why summoning was a very, very stupid idea. Fair?”

She signed in resignation, “If we must...”

Alhambra clasped his hands behind his back in an attempt to still his hands as paced in his circular cell. He spoke calmly, “Do you believe in god? gods? Any particular higher power?”

She looked at the floor as she replied, “Well, your a demon right? So there must be a God.”

He arched an eyebrow, “Devil therefore god? Is your brain mush, woman?”

“Fuck you. Its not really something I ever thought about seriously.”

“Obviously. So, lets say, for the sake of argument, there is an all powerful benevolent deity of some kind. Why would he permit evil, specifically embodiments of evil that are demons? The premise of a benevolent, omnipotent deity is therefore invalidated by the existence of evil in the form of a ‘demon’ such as myself. It is not like we are talking about humans. We are talking about the theoretical embodiment of evil that is a demon.”

“So you are saying demons aren’t evil?”

He sighed. “No. Demons are evil. The point is, this theoretical deity is not omnipotent and benevolent. The truth is, there is no god with the will to alter creation at this point. There are only beings which pretend to be god or gods in order to gather what they desire. These demons you speak of? The ones you intended to summon? They are half of that equation. The other half are the ones that claim to speak for god. So my advice to you? Avoid tasting like chocolate by steeping yourself in sin. Maybe if you are pure enough they’ll spit you out because you taste foul. I don’t expect you to be patient enough to sit at the cusp of their trap, refusing to open either door, like I did. Now, who are the targets?”

She had stared at him as he spoke, bewildered by the point of their conversation. Her bewilderment was replaced with focused desire, a desire for murder. She ignored all but his question, “I have a small manila file on each. It has pictures, addresses, places they are known to frequent.”

He nodded. “Very well, I accept your terms. Shall we get started?”

“Yes.”

[drakensis]

Very interesting.

Sounds as if Alhambra has quite a bit of history - previous stories or something you plan to expand on here?

I'll be interested to see what happens from here.

[Aleria]

I was originally planning to interweave it with this:
Of Gods and Folk

However, I realised it might be confusing as he is going to be referred to as simply 'Lokesh' as a historical/religious figure. However, its a mixture of history and religion from the perspective of the people who killed him. So its been heavily twisted.

I figured splitting them into two stories would make it clearer as this Lokesh is for all purposes dead in the other story. However, I'll end up with someone claiming to be Lokesh 'reborn/reincarnated' so it would be confusing to have two of them running around in the same thread.