The Awakening of Azael
The figure didn't move.
Chains groaned softly as Lord of Flies hovered closer, wings folding behind him. The air was thick not with heat, but with memory. The kind that clings to bone.
"Hello, Azael," he repeated, voice echoing through the cavern like a forgotten hymn.
The chained demon stirred. Slowly. His head lifted, revealing a face carved by centuries angular, hollow-eyed, lips cracked but still curled with defiance.
"So," Azael rasped, "Lucifer finally remembers I exist."
Lord of Flies didn't answer. He simply watched.
"What does he want?" Azael asked, voice gaining strength. "Another war? Another purge? Or has he finally grown afraid?"
Lord of Flies stepped onto the obsidian platform, boots clicking against the boiled stone.
"He said it's time to get you involved."
Azael laughed a dry, bitter sound that echoed like wind through a tomb.
"Involved. That's rich. After chaining me here for thousands of years."
Lord of Flies kept his tone neutral.
"You broke the sacred law. You tried to take the throne."
"I tried to evolve," Azael snapped. "To lead. To free us from his tyranny. And you were just a servant then. A loyal insect."
Lord of Flies didn't flinch.
"And now I command the second strongest legion in existence. Loyalty has its rewards."
Azael's eyes narrowed.
"Then why are you here? Why not send a soldier to execute me? Why not let me rot?"
Lord of Flies glanced at the chains, then at the boiling stone beneath them.
"Because Lucifer doesn't summon weapons unless he intends to use them."
Silence.
Azael leaned forward, the chains straining.
"Tell me, Fly Prince… what's coming?"
Lord of Flies looked into the abyss below.
"Something old. Something that even Lucifer fears. He didn't say it outright but I know the signs. He's preparing for a reckoning."
Azael smiled, slow and cruel.
"Then unchain me. Let me burn again."
Lord of Flies hesitated.
He remembered the rebellion. The speeches. The blood. The moment Azael nearly turned half the entire demon nation against the supreme ruler.
But he also remembered the prophecy.
When the chained one rises, the sky will split, and the throne will tremble.
He reached for the first lock.