Hope has an idea. He knows that his Expression Building can print things onto cloth. He in fact has limitless silk that can be produced. He wants his son to work on a flag, to give him something to do. So he goes to his son to ask if he would work on one. “Seth,” he says. “I'd like you to create a flag for our kingdom. The Expression Building can print them out onto silk. Back before you were born this wasn’t even possible. We can post the flags outside of our palace and your Temple. The Temple is nearby, still. It followed us. So please design a flag and come get me when you are finished.”
Seth doodles some. He really likes pentagrams but they are nothing new. He likes too the twisting cross art styles of Christian Satanism. He draws a little. His pentagram came out a bit lop sided. And he has a thought. Why not make the pentagram slanted, as though it is coming down onto the earth as a star? Twisting from an upright pentagram to an inverted one. “Brilliant!” He thinks. And after adding red, white, and blue to it he goes to his father and presents it.
“Look dad! Here is my design. It is a pentagram falling down to earth in the form of an upside down pentagram, like lightning falling to earth.”
“Well done!” Hope says. And sincerely so. I will have about 500 created.. because why not? The people at your Temple may be given them. They can put them in their yard and homes. A flag is important, Seth. Every kingdom has them—They represent us. So good job done. As for your Temple it appears to be vacant. We will gather people together there again someday, if you want. I will start making some flags.” Hope automates their making. He places them in a box. Goes outside, placing them on the outside of their home.
Joseph sees Hope outside. He says, “I’ve never seen a flag like that before.”
“That’s because my son made it.”
“A flag for the kingdom,” Joseph says, “In a Kingdom of riches without having to rule over or control any one. Hope?” He asks. “Why don’t we all get together and explore this world.. this realm? I’m just sure we are missing out on something. You look very nicely dressed, by the way. And people treat us like gods. I could use a little flattery.”
Hope tells him “I was just thinking the same thing. Let’s go ask the others. They enter into the TV room. Heather is there asleep. “Let’s not wake her. We’ll go ask others and leave a note for her.” Hope takes out a small notebook and pen jotting that down.
“Okay, Hariot and Larry are at Larry’s home right now. That just leaves Lilith and Seth.” Whom they find. “Seth, me and your granddad are wanting to go into town, or whatever you call it. To explore around and meet people. Would you like to come?”
“Yes,” he says. Hope tells him that they just need to get Lilith then they’ll go.
And Lilith is easily found. She is before a small mountain of candy in Hope's and her room. “Lilith,” Hope asks, “would you like to join us? We are going to explore around a bit. Lilith says “yes,” and with that the three of them depart.
While walking Seth says, “I wonder what we will find here?”
“No telling,” Hope says. “Hopefully a marvelous thing. A group of aliens roaming about. I’ll call that a good reason to leave the house!”
They cross a light stream of water. “This is where I fish at,” Joseph says. I never walked much further but I could see something like a wooden castle further away. Was just afraid to go there on my own. But let’s see what it is.” They cross a field of flowers and weeds. The wooden castle wall gets bigger, roughly surrounding everything. Just not so much to block people out. Maybe just for looks. And there is a being at the gate leading into it. Looks like an elephant person with a pot belly. Hope recognizes it as Mammon. He tells him, “So good to see you Mammon! You are no more guarding the gates of hell. Unless this is hell?” Mammon tells him “No, Lord Satan. Hell is no more, thank the heavens. So have you come to visit or attend?” he asks. They ask him about the place. “Just a feast with music. Nothing much more than that. Sleep when you want. There are plenty of tents. One for each of you if you are attending. Leave whenever you want. Shall I let you in?” He asks. They say yes and move on through.
There is a time for eating, a time for listening to music. And a time by the fire.
It starts to get dark. Joseph and Hope are talking about going home. Seth asks if he can go back in the morning. So they leave him there and quickly enough return home. As for Seth he finds himself by a fire and music is playing, one on a lute, another on drums. And a belly dancer begins to dance before them with tambourines. Seth looks at her intently. He is about to lose his virginity. They go into a tent that night. In the morning the gal (whose name is Abigail) asks if he will see her again. He tells her he will come back soon.
He gets home and tells his father he met someone last night. A girl named Abigail. And that she wants to see him again. His father says, “that’s wonderful. You are really growing up. Go and see her when you want. If things get serious, like marriage, then she may live with all of us here, unless you want to move back into your Temple, or some place else.”
“Thanks so much,” Seth says.
And Seth returns to her not long after. First he is in his room. He is just in there wanting to go see her again and then decides to. He looks through his things. Couldn’t really find anything in there to give her. So he goes into the Taste Building and finds a very nice box of chocolates, to his surprise. He grabs it and leaves.
He walks awhile, soon sees the wooden castle wall. And approaches Mammon. Mammon says, “welcome Prince Seth! You are welcome here, always. Abigail told me to get her if you arrive.” He pulls out a CB radio and summons her. “Okay Seth she will arrive here shortly.”
Which she does.
“Seth!” She says. “Good to see you! Would you like me to show you my home?” She asks. And they leave together toward her home.
“Look at this crossroads sign" she says after awhile. “Never go left! Go right! That’s important to remember. It is dangerous over there.” She says, pointing left. “Consider yourself warned.” She says. Then she says, “Just kidding, Seth!” They take to the right and a black home is becomes visible over a small hill. Like a witch’s home. Not large enough to be called a haunted house. In fact the home is rather small.
“Come inside Seth.” She says. Which they do. “Here is my home. How do you like it? Take a seat. I will return with a drink for you. Hot or cold?” She asks. Seth says “cold.”
“Okay I’ll come back with a cold drink.” And she leaves the room a moment.
Seth can see she likes miniature dragon figures. She has them every where. There is a broom. ‘A witches broom?’ he asks himself. There is a pentacle on the wall. An altar below it. One white candle, another black, which are lit. The chairs are wooden. There’s a fire place inside. The carpet is black, lush, and thick. The curtains are thick and back. There’s a smaller window which looks like it would be hard to see out of. There is a mirror with a question mark cross above it. He goes to it and looks at it. He sees not himself in it but a Devil looking figure. Same face, shown differently. His nose is more pointed. He looks almost like a goblin.
Abigail returns. “Seth!” she says. “Don’t look into that. It’ll just creep you out!” So he returns to his seat.
“Here,” she says. “Very cold lemonade. Your species like lemonade right?” Seth says, “Yeah. And this box of chocolates is for you.”
“Chocolates?” She asks. “Let me try one.” She takes a bite and doesn’t like it. “Must be a tasty thing for you. But not for me. Sorry. Thanks anyway.”
Seth says, “You look human. You aren’t?” She says, “used to be. Ages ago. For awhile. I spent a hundred years as a human. Now? Well you can’t really say I’m anything. I just am. I am what I wish to be. So things are different with me. How do you like my form?”
Seth says, “you are beautiful.” She says, “I could be more beautiful. What color of hair do you like best?” She asks. “And don’t be afraid to tell me. It isnt a problem. I can change my appearance willingly.” Seth says, “blond hair.” Then just like that it is blond.
“And over flowing or short?” Abigail asks.
Seth says, “over flowing.” Then her hair is much longer.
“And my eyes. What color do you want them to be?” Seth says “gray.” And so they are. She comes much closer to Seth after that. Looks him right in the eyes. “I am the destroyer of a world whom God has forgiven. For it was an evil place. Would you like some music?” She asks him.
She takes her tambourine from her altar and begins to dance. Seth sees fire around her and demons dancing. A drumming hand appears above her dropping down lightning bolts. Little demons are dancing around her, then red devils with horns and a spiked tail begin to as well. Seth then sees a vision. He sees a trapezoid with a person being sacrificed on top of it. An “all seeing eye" appears above it. Like zonked into existence. A mad eye. One of lost sanity. There is a war going on below. Abigail makes it to the top. She pierces the person on it with a dagger. She drinks his blood on a chalice. She spits the blood at the eye. She pierces that eye. She is granted a wish. She wishes for the entire destruction of this evil world (called Ler) and so it happens.
Seth is then back in the room. He sees devils laying down asleep that soon disappear. “I am the destroyer of my world Ler.” She says, “and good riddance.”
“Tell me about your family, Seth.” Seth tells her about his father, Hope, once known as Satan. “Your kidding! Your father is King Lucifer?”
“Yes,” Seth says. “And I am Prince Seth. My family and I are very close. I will be having a nephew or niece soon. We live in a really nice palace. We were part of the planet earth until it’s time was finished. We just recently entered into this realm. There’s not a lot more to say.”
“Well you are welcome here whenever you want. Hopefully I can meet them someday. “Yes. Well I need to be returning home,” Hope says. “In fact you can come with me if you like. I think they’d like to see you.”
So they leave together to go back home. They pass by Mammon. Abigail tells him she won’t be in tonight. So to not expect her there until tomorrow. “Not a problem at all,” Mammon says. “And enjoy your time together.”
Seth arrives at home. His father is nearby whom he greets. “Hello, dad, this is my girlfriend Abigail. She comes from the world Ler. She doesn’t live very far away.”
“Hello, Abigail. I am so pleased to meet you. Won’t you show her around Seth? I am busy at the moment.” Hope says.
Seth goes from room to room or at least parts of them.
“You have a lot of stuff!” Abigail says. “And a lot of room.”
Seth asks if she’d like to watch a movie. “My mother is usually in here watching a movie but it’s empty right now. Let’s sit down and watch one. These couches are very comfortable. They make you feel more comfortable. It's almost addicting.” So they sit down and watch a film.
They fall asleep on the couch after awhile and have the same dream. They are dogs together running in a field. Seth slowly wakes up. He says, “that was such a nice rest.” Abigail agrees. He finds his father and tells him he will be at his temple awhile. That he is not sure when he’ll get back. His father says, “I understand. Have fun.” And he asks her if she’d like to go to his temple with him. She says yes and they leave the palace and walk over there. It is just as nice as he left it. A tall building with his room on top, and he takes her there. He tells her he is thinking about staying there awhile and she asks if she can stay with him there awhile. Seth says, “certainly!” He takes her up to his room at the top and they over look at the world below. Seth says that he is going to bring a congregation there someday again. That he used to preach there. Abigail says, “you are such an interesting man, Seth.” He says, “thank you. But it was just something I was born into. Tell me more about Ler,” he asks.
She looks solemnly for a moment. “That was a long, long time ago. But I remember it well. It was an evil place. People were generally immortal there. Destruction of others was common, though. A place of magic. A different realm. God makes different realms. It is below Him and His wisdom not to. I had horrible sins to pay for. I felt like I was the only person there who knew who and what God was really. And He sent me from Heaven to the planet Ler, a time in heaven I know nearly nothing about, just barely enough to be sure I was in heaven first, then brought down. And He made me into a vessel destined to ritualistically destroy the planet Ler. There were little demons there instead of cats and dogs. Nothing was sacred. It was always a battle there. Then God gave me His hand which I used to destroy Ler. And was sent here. I was astonished at how peaceful it was being here. Though at first I would lash out at people as it was for so long in my nature to do. Then I learned.. it is a world of peace not wishing me any harm. And I became very peaceful after that. I found my best friends at the place you meet me. Like Mammon, a watcher over me. What you can call a guardian demon, a gift from God. And a true friend. So here I am today with you. Tell me about Earth,” she asks.
Seth says, “it must be true that God makes realms very different from others. The Earth I lived in was much different than yours. I grew up in a better form of it though. I’d say before from what I heard in stories it was a mysterious place. One wrought with death and a desire to simply survive with little more than a hundred years of living. They were very perishable. There were good people there and bad people too. Naturally grayness was needed so to speak. And my father, the Devil, was sent to earth from heaven to establish it. Then from what I know there was a planet that soon would have realized our existence and all of the fun left. We were sent into this realm to stop it's discovery from happening.”
Abigail looks at The Christian Satanic Bible laying on his desk. She asks about it.
“It is a book my father wrote. I have been working on a book myself. It is very well written. I admire it.”
“And these cards?” She asks.
“Those are tarot cards.” He says. “They tell your future. Would you like for me to draw three?” He asks. “Yes,” she says.
“Okay then.” He shuffles them and turns three over.
The first is The Emperor. The middle card is The Sun. The third is The Empress.
“It is very plane what this means,” Seth tells her. I am the emperor, you are the empress, and we will live happy together.
She asks if he has any other magical item. “Just this old 8 ball toy. It answers any question.” He asks it “Will Abigail marry me?” Shakes it and it says, “yes.” Abigail taps Seth and says, “hey! That’s cheating!” And they get closer together.
The scene skips to Hope and his mother. She asks where Seth is. “He is with his new girlfriend at his temple.”
She asks, “where did he meet her?” Hope tells her that there is a place not far away that has a renaissance kind of thing going on. She was a belly dancer there. We left him there—me and dad, and I guess they just connected right away. Maybe with any luck they’ll get married. Who knows? I wouldn’t doubt it. Who would deny a prince?”
Heather laughs and says, “sure thing. Things have been going so well for us all. I am glad we always managed to stay together.”
Hope goes into his room. Lilith is there. She has a crown on her head. Hope says, “Lilith.” Then again more strongly. She removes the crown. Hope asks, “what’s that?” Lilith tells him, “I don’t know. It put me in the game.”
Hope says, “really? It actually put you inside the game?” She tells him “yes. Try it out.” Which he does. Suddenly he is sent to a video game realm. He is welcomed by an in game person. It is like a middle ages Earth. The person looks like an elf. He says, “welcome new player. If you cannot leave simply say “exit.” If you wish to start say “continue.” So Hope says, “continue.”
Hope then is at a raging sea on an old wooden ship. He looks to his side. He has a sword. He looks at his side and finds also a pouch and dagger. He is in a pirate like outfit. The people inside shout “on orders of the King this sea monster must be destroyed!” The other characters attack it. Hope grabs his sword and slices a tentacle. It is like a giant squid. But its wounds heal. A person to Hope’s right says, “You must attack its eye Lord!” And so Hope takes a leap. He’s never been able to jump up so high and fast. He misses though. So jumps again and pierces the eye of the giant squid. He hears a magician saying “recta-tromus!” And a ray bursts from his hands. Hope says the same: “recta-tromus!” And a beam comes out of his hands and hits the eye of the giant squid. Then the magician says, “recta-termus,” and a greater beam of light hits the giant squid, but it didn’t land on its eye. So Hope says the same. It does land. And Hope grabs a special dagger from his side, jumps toward the eye of the squid. Landing the dagger right in its eye. The surrounding area froze solid.. like an ice dagger. And the squid dies and falls into the ocean.
A character comes up to Hope and says, “the king is surely going to reward us greatly, as his ships can now pass through.”
The ship arrives at the harbor. Hope veers off a little. He is told, where are you going captain? The king is this way.” So he is guided to the throne room. They automatically kneel. And the King tells him and his party, “for destroying the sea monster that has been attacking my fleet of ships, I give to you 10,000 Gil. You may enter the treasure room to and take what you wish. When you hear a trumpet then return to the castle. We will now be able to invade Grettle and will be doing so tomorrow morning.. before they can raise another monster to block us.” So they go inside. They find gems and things inside.
They leave the castle but before they do Hope tells the guards hello. “Hello captain Hope! Thanks to you Grendal may proceed with the attack on Grettle. Our power then will have increased. You may even be rewarded more so afterward!” And Hope asks him “What is Grettle?” He responds, “you don’t know what Grettle is? It is a home of great magicians. They produced a sea monster to block our entry. Once inside we will capture them and send them to the king. The King needs them to summon a great dragon.”
Hope then leaves the castle. He sees a merchant. Goes to him. The merchant shows him various items. Hope has four with him. He turns to them and asks them what they should buy. “Things to cure. Things to heal. Things to protect. Things to defend. A good mix of them according to what money we have.” One character beside him gets a wand and some potions. A lady archer a bow and some arrows. The third gets a sword, a head protective piece, and a shield. “That just leaves you, Hope. What would you like?” Hope says, “the thieves glove,” and is told “okay, but only use it against enemies,” and laughs. “Anything else?” And he picks up some herbs and a potion vile plus a chest armor piece. “These,” he says. He is told the price and he leaves.
His friends in the game are talking to him. “I wonder where are next money will come from? I guess we can go after monsters on the field. Or to just wait for the time we are called to invade Grettle. Hope goes to an inn after that. “Welcome,” the inn keeper says. “Four characters four beds. Four beds, 100 Gil.” So they rest until morning.
In the morning trumpets are heard. As Hope remembered to he goes to the castle. Once inside he sees a group of men before the throne. The king tells them, “welcome. Our invasion of Grettle will be very soon. We must raise our forces and attack before another great monster can block them. The villagers are to be bound and sent here unharmed. The Great Dragon will soon be raised. I wish you all great luck. Go to the ships when you are ready. Make sure you are well equipped.”
So Hope does. He and his party is on a ship. They float out at sea. They reach the shore and are met with a great beast. “If we can’t block you by sea then we will on land.” And so another fight is prompted. It is a black shimmering beast that pulls down lightning. One of Hope’s party tells him to absorb the lightning with his sword. His party members defend him as he tries to. “Now!” One says, and Hope raises his sword. A powerful bolt is absorbed. Hope swings the weapon toward the beast. It sends lightning hurling toward it. Then a party member casts lightning onto Hope's sword. After two spells of lightning falls down on Hope’s sword Hope attacks the beast with a lightning attack. And the beast is fallen.
His party members then lead him to the cathedral. There is a priest in the back. They bind his hands. They tell him to come with them or get hurt. There are magicians being gathered. Put into boats. Sent back to Grendal. Then presented before the king. “The great dragon will never be conjured!” The king is told. “And you don’t know what will happen if you do!”
“I will have it in my power to destroy any kingdom opposing me and my rule. That is why you are defying me. Put them into the dungeon until they have changed their minds.” He says, pointing to a guard at his side. “Starvation will soon change your minds.” They are locked up for just a few days when some of them begin to think about helping the king. To have just a little food, they think. Things cant be that bad. And some of them even start to have doubt that raising the great dragon would be a bad thing altogether. So one is decided. “Let me talk to the King.” He says. He is asked if he is going to do what the king wishes. He says, “yes.” His comrades tell him “you can’t! You don’t know what will happen!” He says, “it can’t be that bad. And I’m sorry. But maybe the king will let us free if we do. He doesn’t have any reason to kill us. We will die if we are in here just one more day. And I have family. You have family in here too. And friends. We are just going to have to take our chances.” The guard then unlocks the door and escorts him to the King.
The king is happy to see him. In a power-happy kind of way. “You have changed your mind, I assume. Otherwise my guard wouldn’t have let you out.”
“Yes, I have, my Lord.. Just let us live. I have family and friends locked up. Please pity our lives. We are harmless towards you. Let us live.”
The king promises he will. He asks for food to be brought in. He says, “You can't perform the spell malnourished. So eat. We will gather what you need to perform the spell. Guard.. bring me a paper and pen.. tell us what we will need for this spell.”
He tells him, “the blood of a dove, a fairy, the venom of a snake, and the branch of a weeping willow tree.”
The things seem plane evil. But the king says he will send out his best men to get them. And so Hope and his party are sent in.
The king tells him that he has four things for them to collect. A dove’s blood, a fairy, a snake’s venom, and a branch from a weeping willow tree. He has a map for them to use. It shows them where to go. He tells them to go to Ragnar Cave for the snake venom. Any snake may do. But he wants it to be of a Great Ragnar Snake. The King gives him a special torch. And they depart.
Hope goes to the cave with his men. It is dark inside. The torch given them automatically lights up. There is a gnome at its entrance. He tells Hope “beware of what you plan on doing. Your king is making a grave mistake. The doors of darkness will be flung open. For you aren’t only releasing a dragon. You are unleashing hell itself.”
Hope’s men tells him, “What do you know? Stupid gnome. Besides if we defy the king’s orders he will execute us.”
The gnome says, “I am not allowed to interfere with your plans. Or at least not able to stop you. But you have been warned. Freeing the dragon will unleash hell along with it. Pass through and be cursed. I am warning you.” Then the gnome disappears.
Hope sees a large sigil on a doorway. “How are we to proceed?” A person in Hope’s party asks. Hope isn’t sure. He raises his hand to the sigil and it becomes smaller, going onto the palm of his hand. He looks at it. It turns into an eye looking at him. Hope faces his palm toward the doorway and it opens. A slow creaking sound of the door is heard.
The eye is an evil eye. It will open any door. Including the doors to heaven and hell. We know you well, Hope, and we know that after disaster strikes you will restore the world. Hope hears as a voice heard from above.
So they enter through. Going down winding corridors, facing foes along the way. In one fight Hope opens his hands and a beast that looks like his enemy encounter appears, only it is stronger and stronger looking. It is like an imitation summoning. It easily dispatches his foes. In another battle Hope grabs his sword. The sword shoots forth a colorful beam and his enemy is dispatched, quite easily. Hope knows he has a power.
Hope sees a treasure chest on a corner that he goes to. His party tries to unlock it. They can’t. But when Hope touches it, it opens. In fact the coins inside looked cheap, but when Hope grabs them with his hands it turns to gold. He finds inside a ring with an eye on it and a necklace with an eye on it. He puts on the ring and hears we will bring honor to The One, and protect him. He will be our King. Hope puts on the necklace and hears His people will see him. They will know him as king.
The torch then goes out. Hope is asked “what happened? The torch wasn’t supposed to go out like that.”
Then Hope’s necklace sheds light, more than the torch did. It is no longer half dark. It is now fully illuminated.
Hope and party open the door before them. “Wrong door, “ one says, looking at the map. Map says to enter through the right hand side. “Yes but let’s take a look inside, shall we?” Hope says. “Certainly captain.” He’s told. Entering in they hear a sad sound. Like a sad song. Entering they see a fairy. She asks, “who are you?” Hope says, “never mind. Who are you?” She says, “I am Fair, the fairy. My own people locked me in here. I am a fairy. I would like to be let out. Can I come with you?” One of Hope’s party members tell her, “we are in need of a fairies help. You can come with us if you agree to help us.” She says, “you can trust me. I’ll help you.” And they leave together going through the other door.
Not far from it is Ragnar the Serpent. The serpent warns them to leave. They tell him they need its venom on orders from the King. “It is not my king.” The serpent says. “And it is not his venom either. But I’ll put my venom into you if you’ll get it at all.”
So the battle begins. A party member casts sleep on an arrow through magic. But it isn’t until Hope enchants the bow several times that it has any effect. In the meantime they are defending while Hope takes the arrow in hand enchanting it. When they are sure that it is powerful enough to immobilize the serpent, the arrow is sent flying towards it. Lands on it, and tranquilizes it. “This won’t hurt you at all,” one says. And he takes the venom into a vial, closes it, and they quickly leave.
Along the way the fairy asks what they are doing. They tell her that they are merely searching for a few things based on the orders given them. They ask why her people locked her away. But she doesn’t have an answer for them. “I guess