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Kadence eyed her surroundings, as if studying them was exactly what she’d come to do Rather than stone and mortar, the walls of Lucifer’s palace were coold Deadly

His throne was comprised of bone, ash and more of those flames Off to the side was a bloodstained altar A lifeless body still lay across it--minus a head The head would reattach all too soon, however, so that the torturing could begin anew That was the way of it here

No soul would escape Even in death

She hated everything about this place Plu around her like fingers of the damned So badly she wanted to wave her hand in front of her nose, but she did not She wouldn’t shoeakness--even with so small an action

Did she dare, she knew she would find herself drowning in the noxious fu vulnerabilities

Kadence had learned that lesson well The first time she had visited, she’d come to inform both Hades and Lucifer that she had been appointed their warden As one who eation and conquest, there was no one better to ensure that deht, which hy they’d chosen her for this task

She had not agreed, but refusing the, however, she’d thought perhaps punish stones thrown at her, bloody carcasses left on her doorstep in warning…they hardly co in a nearby cave--not a true sleep but a watchful one, herover the different dehts surveying a wall of rock

As the Guardian watched

That, however, was not such a hardship

For many years, his attention had unnerved her, for he was unlike anyone she had ever e But then she’d coaze He protected her fro everyone in their path No matter the harm to himself

She could do no less for him

I sold my soul, he’d said For what? she wondered What had he received in return? Did he consider the trade a good one? She’d wanted to ask him, but had recalled how uncomfortable he had been with her questions about the wall He would not have welco so personal

And that was probably for the best Only her job h Lords were determined to escape forever?

Had Lucifer somehow blocked her visions of this realh to do so If so, what did he hope to gain? Were she to ask, he would merely lie, that much she knew

She’d never felther first visit, Lucifer had sensed her trepidation--and he’d since used every opportunity to nurture it A fire-coated touch here, a wicked taunt there Every time she had come here to report an infraction, she had wilted under his attentions

That had disappointed the gods They would have called her home, she was sure, had they not already bound her to the wall, an act that had been meant to help with her duties, not hinder theods had known just how deeply the bond would go Rather than si when the wall needed fortification, she’d realized it was her reason for living

Her blood now sang with its essence

The first ti and had gasped, shocked Now, it no longer shocked her, though she still felt every contact When a soul brushed it, her skin felt tickled When the inferno licked at it, she felt burned So why had she not sensed these latest th, little by little, pains shooting through her seely for no reason, but her visions had been cal what she was forced to witness on a daily basis

Now, at least, she knehy she’d hurt Bound as she was to this dark underworld, that crack in the outer as literally killing her

You are losing focus Concentrate! Distraction could cost her Dearly And the outco was more important than any that had come before it

Frohter of the demons, thefrom bone And the s stoic ah Lordson the wall for weeks Because if her side was cracked, she shuddered to think of the dae on Hell’s side At the very least, she should have seen the deain, her visions had reh of this Clearly, she could not concentrate

"Lucifer," she called again "You heard my demands Now heed theain"