A Deal With the Devil

Posted on Tue Feb 4th, 2025 @ 9:42pm by Nathaniel Essex & Aurora Summers

3,990 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 6: X-Fernus Agenda
Location: [undisclosed]
Timeline: December 3rd, 1990

The mountain peaks stretched into the heavens, their jagged edges cloaked in swirling mist and glittering snow. Nestled atop the highest summit was a sanctum of unknown origin, its architecture a blend of ancient mysticism and unearthly design. The building's spires twisted unnaturally, as if defying gravity itself, while intricate carvings of runes and symbols decorated its obsidian walls. At its heart stood an altar of dark stone and polished black glass, exuding an aura of foreboding power. The bitter wind howled through the sanctum's open spaces, but within, the air was thick with arcane energy.

"Hold your spawn close if you wish to keep him," Sinister said to Aurora as the sparking orange portal closed behind them. "I am lord of this place, yet its power does not sleep. Wandering where you do not belong can prove fatal."

Aurora nodded keeping a firm hold on Christopher. “I will destroy anything that tries to take my son from me. There will be no mercy.”

"Just stay at my side, you blathering fool." Sinister sniffed in contempt at her bravado and led her to an enclosed area.

The stonework was shadowy save for wall sconces which ignited at Sinister's presence. Dim light illuminated a dark altar. Sinister stepped forward, his crimson diamond glinting as he approached the altar. From within the folds of his coat, he withdrew a relic—a gnarled artifact that shimmered with an unnatural light.

Aurora, cradling her baby and trembling with a mix of fear and defiance, couldn’t quite place the object, though its presence sent a shiver down her spine.

Sinister placed the relic upon the altar and muttered words in a language lost to time. The altar hummed, its surfaces lighting up with glowing runes as the relic dissolved seemingly into nothingness. Sinister adjusted his garment. Suddenly, black flames erupted from the altar, their core void-like and edged with ultraviolet hues that seemed to writhe and twist in defiance of the natural spectrum.

The horrific scene triggered Aurora's memories of the Savage Land, where Zaladane’s devices had opened a similar portal. She remembered the chaotic battle, Bobby encased in his icy armor, fighting valiantly against Belasco's fiery avatar. The flames were the same—a haunting reminder of when had been sucked into Limbo, leaving nothing but despair in her wake.

From the black flames emerged a voice, guttural and low, echoing through the sanctum. The words it spoke were in Latin, ancient and commanding: "Ad Sinistram Apocalypsi, quid quaeris hic?" Reverence and mockery interwove in its tone as the flames began to twist into a swirling portal.

Sinister clasped his hands behind his back, his expression one of smug satisfaction. “What I always seek, Belasco,” he replied smoothly, the edges of his lips curling into a smirk. “A mutually beneficial arrangement. I bring you my usual offering—souls—and this time, a boon: a genetically engineered broodmare for your consideration.”

Belasco's laughter roared from the portal, a sound that seemed to reverberate within Aurora’s very bones. His tone was venomous. "Consortem? Me pro stulto habes, Sinistra? Scientiae falsae sic dictae tuae pravitates non desidero. Patheticum tuum artificium vera creationem offendit!"

Sinister couldn't help but laugh in return. Leaning to Aurora, he whispered, "He thinks you are to be a consort and refuses to allow you to enter. The rest was far from flattering but quite memorable. One way or another, though, your spawn is going through that portal."

Aurora's eyes widened her grip tightening around Christopher. If she could have run she would have, but she knew that wasn’t an option. Her body lit up with flame in an attempt to protect herself and Christopher, uncertain if it would do any good or not.

"You speak truly, Belasco, in that this female specimen is unworthy. Yet I did not think that the Lord of Limbo was taken to whims of the flesh," Sinister said to Belasco. "Rather that through her and other slaves, you could breed souls of your own in addition to the largesse I provide as per our covenant. As you can see, she is fertile and will bear any number of slaves. But do with her as you please. Such matters not to me."

The flames flared brighter, licking at the edges of the sanctum as the voice grew sharper. "Hoc infantem quod offers... dolum olet. Non praebes nisi pretium maius habeat quam verba tua."

"Trickery?" Sinister feigned innocence. "No, Belasco, I assure you the child as as worthless as its mother."

Belasco paused, though his form through the portal was little more than a shadowy silhouette cloaked in fire. "Per tenuem dolum tuum perspicio. Infans mihi veniet, sed illa quae parturientem vocas, non."

Before Aurora could react, the portal extended tendrils of black flame. They coiled around her baby, wrenching him from her arms with an unstoppable force that disregarded her telekinesis without hindrance. The infant's scream tore through the sanctum as he was pulled into the swirling vortex. The portal snapped shut behind him with a final, resounding crack that left the room in silence.

Sinister, standing motionless for a moment, blinked at the abruptness of Belasco’s actions. Then, a slow, fiendish grin spread across his face. “Ah, Belasco,” he murmured, almost to himself. “For one so ancient, you are a gullible fool. Your cynicism blinds you, and it makes you all the easier to manipulate.”

Aurora stood for a moment open mouthed before crumpling to the floor in tears. “NO!!!” She had failed to protect Christopher, but she swore silently to herself she would find him and she would save him. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!!” She looked up at Sinister her eyes filled with hatred and rage, items in the room shook before rising from wherever they were and launching into the air. “WHERE IS MY SON??!!”

Sinister tilted his head, his expression a chilling blend of amusement and disdain as he sidestepped one of the airborne projectiles with effortless grace. "Such dramatics, child. Tell me just whom is this tantrum meant to impress?" He sneered, his voice dripping with condescension. “Your son is precisely where I intended him to go all along. Did you truly believe you had any control over this situation? That your feeble outcries mean anything?”

Aurora took a deep breath her fire dying down a little. “No, I don’t suppose it means anything to you!”

Sinister stepped closer, his smile a razor’s edge of cruelty. "You've been so consumed by your self-pity that you've failed to see the grander design. Limbo may be beyond your grasp, but it is not beyond mine. The boy is safe—safe for my purposes, that is." His red eyes gleamed like molten coals. "If you truly wish to see him again, Aurora, then make yourself useful. Otherwise, you will join the long list of failed projects that I have discarded without a second thought."

Aurora looked Sinister in the eyes, the deep dark depths she saw there made her blood run cold. She calmed herself knowing it would be the only way she might stand a chance at seeing Christopher again.

Sinister took his leave without looking back. Swift, confident strides left little warning of his departure. As he crossed a shadow that fell over the threshold of the enclosed space, he was simply gone, there one minute and then absent the next.

Behind Aurora, the black fire on the obsidian altar roared to life once more. The ultraviolet hues twisted and writhed, shaping themselves into tendrils that snaked through the air until dark flames licked the air in the oval-shaped portal that had just collapsed. A shadowy silhouette appeared within the flames, and from its core, a pair of blazing red eyes pierced the darkness.

Belasco's guttural Latin resonated through the room, a voice that seemed to seep into the very stones.
"Mutavi consilium meum. Illam accipiam servam in perpetuam foederis servitutem. Tunc tantum licebit intrare Limbum, ad filium suum alendum."

Before Aurora could make sense of the words, a middle-aged feminine voice cut through the shadows, trembling yet firm. "Lord Belasco says he has reconsidered. He will accept you as a servant, bound by an eternal covenant. Only then will he allow you to enter his domain and nurse your son."

“I’ll do anything to be with my son again...” Aurora paused. “I will be your slave.”

Belasco's eyes flared brighter, and his shadowed form seemed to expand in the portal, a great and terrible presence. His voice thundered in Latin, harsh and full of disdain:
"Non servam, sed foederatam. Canem indomitam non curo nutrire. Illa suam animam foederi aeterno subiiciat, et sic solum eam admittemus."

The feminine voice, trembling, quickly replied to Belasco in Latin, "Ignosce, domine. Prorsus intellexi. Praebebo translationem."

She turned her attention back to Aurora, her voice faltering but determined. "He says you are not to be taken as a mere slave, for he has no desire to care for you as a master tends to a... an untamed dog. Instead, you must swear your soul to him, bound in an eternal covenant. Only by doing so will he allow you to enter Limbo and be with your son."

The altar's flames roared and cast eldritch shadows across the sanctum. From the blackfire, a brimstone tablet materialized, its edges jagged as if torn from the earth itself. Words in intricate Latin script etched themselves upon its surface, glowing faintly red. The tablet floated before Aurora, a wicked point of brimstone jutting from its bottom edge.

The translator's voice returned. "The terms of the covenant are written here, in the tongue of the ancients. You must prick your finger upon the point and sign your name in blood. By this act, you will be irrevocably bound to Lord Belasco. Only then will you be permitted entry to Limbo."

The flames writhed impatiently as Belasco’s red eyes bore down upon Aurora, awaiting her choice.

Aurora knew she had little choice in the matter if she wanted to be with Christopher. Pricking her finger on the brimstone she signed her name with her blood. “May I join my son now... my Lord?”

The moment Aurora's blood smeared across the glowing Latin script, the tablet vanished in a burst of black fire. Black flames licked up her arm, searing her flesh with a burning pain that was beyond physical, as though her very soul recoiled from the mark of the covenant. Invisible chains tightened around her essence, binding her to Belasco's will.

Mystical energies surged through her body, taking hold at a cellular level. Aurora cried out, her voice drowned in a cacophony of whispers that spoke in languages she couldn’t understand. The very air seemed to shatter around her, and in an instant, she was no longer in the sanctum where Sinister had left her.

Aurora found herself thrust into a desolate, infernal landscape. Jagged spires of black stone pierced the blood-red sky, and rivers of molten lava snaked across the scorched earth. She stood on the other side of that dark altar, its flame now extinguished, leaving only an oppressive cold.

Belasco stepped forward, his form no longer obscured by the portal. He was a towering figure, his crimson skin etched with runes that pulsated with his power. His eyes burned like twin suns, full of malice and might. At his side stood a mysterious woman, draped in a heavy black cloak that concealed her face. Only her hands were visible, pale and motionless at her sides.

Belasco's voice, now even more menacing in its clarity, boomed in Latin. "Redde infantem ei quae eum genuit! Nutrix sit, si modo clamores intolerabiles eius sileant!"

The translator, her hooded form trembling, bowed low and relayed the command in English. "He orders the infant be given to you for nursing."

A demonic servant slithered up beside the altar, cradling Christopher in its twisted claws. The infant's cries pierced Aurora’s ears as he was unceremoniously thrust into her arms.

“It’s okay sweetheart” Aurora gently cradled her son, gently rocking him to calm him. “You won’t be hungry much longer.”

Belasco sneered, his lips curling with disgust. He barked another command in Latin. "Abi ad turrim proximam! Nutrire foetum extra conspectum meum!"

The translator flinched, her voice shaking as she spoke. “Lord Belasco commands you to go to the nearest tower in his fortress to nurse your child... out of his sight.”

Belasco turned his smoldering gaze upon the translator, issuing another curt order. "Illam comitare, ne quid infandum agat."

The translator bowed deeply, her tone servile as she replied in Latin. "Ut iubes, domine." Turning back to Aurora, she switched to English. “He has instructed me to attend to you." She waved for Aurora to follow. "This is your path," the translator said softly, her voice tinged with pity. "Follow me."

Aurora nodded, waiting until they were further away before speaking. “Who are you? You don't sound like you belong here anymore than me.”

"I am the Clavis Askani, I am a slave to Lord Belasco bound by mystical chains to his service." The robed woman lifted the hem of her skirt and exposed a pair of magical shackles binding her ankles. They were crafted out of something otherworldly, ethereal phantom chains that glowed a pale red in color. “I was taken from Earth against my will when I was a teenager. I did not sign a covenant with Belasco. Rather I was forced into my bindings, so I wear these shackles as a reminder to all that no one can overcome him.”

The trio made their way to a tall and twisted tower that looked like it had stood in this place for centuries. At the entrance, he robed woman opened the doors and a dozen knee-high creatures scurried and skittered through the room.

"Get the bedrooms ready and prepare dinner," the robed woman barked at the demonic little beasts that began to spring into action. "The Regina Mater and the Alaricus Tantus will be staying here." She looked back at Aurora. "The goblins will serve you as they serve Belasco. Their obedience to you is part of the covenant you made, as long as you raise Belasco's heir and do his bidding, the demons and goblins of Limbo will bow down to you."

The robed woman escorted Aurora to a parlor filled with ancient tapestry covered furniture and she began to build a fire to illuminate and warm the stone room. "But I suppose that doesn’t really answer your question. I had a different name on Earth, a different life altogether.” The woman struck a flint and the fire began to grow in the hearth. The light lit up her face and Aurora could make out faint crow's feet wrinkles in the corners of her eyes and by the corners of her mouth.

“You can call me Lorna. That was my name on Earth.” She reached up and pulled down the hood of her robe exposing vibrant green hair that was dotted with grey.

“Lorna!” Aurora gave Lorna a surprised look. “Bobby's friend, you were taken but...it hasn't been that long, at least not that long in our world.” She paused. “Does time work differently here?” She gently cradled Christopher as she settled down to nurse him. “I don't regret my choice, I’d do anything to protect my son even if it means I have to dwell here.”

"You know Bobby?!" Lorna suddenly jumped up and her demeanor shifted from browbeaten to optimistic. She had been in Limbo for decades and had long given up on anyone ever finding her. The fact that she mentioned Bobby felt too good to be true. "Do you know the X-Men?! What about Alex?!"

“I know Bobby” Aurora offered a brief smile. “He misses you very much, you mean a great deal to him. As for Alex, I’m afraid I don’t know him. I know there are some original team members who went missing, we have Bobby, and Hank, and Jean back alongside Scott...” she paused as she shifted her focus to trying to nurse her son. “This is all I have now, and I’ll do whatever I have to in order to protect him.” She held out her hand as it erupted into flame, the usual orange flame quickly changing to a searingly hot blue colour, her eyes taking on the same blue hue. “I don’t know what’s been done to me, but I like how it feels.”

Lorna raised her eyebrow in a quizzical manner; Aurora spoke of the First Class and her relationship to them in a slightly strange manner but she was grateful for the connection, especially when Aurora displayed her mutant abilities. It had been a very long time since she had seen another mutant. But she scowled at her appreciation of Limbo.

“This place changes people but never for the better, it’s like there is a darkness that taints your soul and changes you inside and out. You have to fight it always if you don’t want it to claim you.” Lorna returned to feeding the fire, placing another log on it to make it grow. “Belasco was just a man at one point, so was his military general, S'ym. A tie to Limbo will definitely make you stronger but with a cost.”

The baby in Aurora's arms had kicked off his dressings and exposed one of his legs. Lorna gestured at the baby’s bare foot, it was clawed and draconic in nature. “Not even your child is immune to the corruption of Limbo. But he will need that strength if he is to survive and rule alongside Belasco... I suppose you will too.”

Aurora's flames died out as she frowned looking at what was happening to her son. “What’s happening to my son? Is this part of the deal Sinister made with Belasco?”

“No, even though Sinistram Apocalypsi and Belasco have ongoing bargains and dealings, what is happening to your child has nothing to do with their deal.” Lorna said while standing up and continuing to move about the parlor. She opened a pair of shabby curtains and exposed a view of an even taller castle on the horizon. “This is Belasco's realm, his rules and laws, his magic and power. Everything that happens in Limbo is because Belasco allows it to, he is the supreme ruler here, not Sinister.”

She cast a handful of unseen material into the fireplace. Whatever it was let out a popping sound as it ignited, making it flash and spark. Soon the smoke plumes coalesced into dancing silhouettes of the people Lorna described.

“Your son is the Alaricus Tantus, he has been declared Belasco's heir and because of that his soul is bound to Limbo for eternity. His feet are a physical manifestation of his connection to Limbo’s dark magic. More of him may change as time goes by.” Lorna looked over at Aurora, who didn't seem to grasp the deal that she made with Belasco. “When you signed that contract in blood, you sold your soul to Belasco. You are not a shackle-bound slave like me, or a hex-blessed heir like your son—you are a creature who willingly submitted and sold yourself to Belasco. You made a deal with the devil himself and now you will dance in fire with him.”

Lorna finally sat down on the edge of an overstuffed chair across from Aurora. “Those who willingly give themselves to Belasco are granted extra favor. Because you are the Queen Mother, Belasco has granted you total control of the goblins and demons of Limbo along with magical healing abilities. Good health and a good army. These are boons to ensure you survive in the harsh conditions of Limbo and continue to raise his heir. Try it now, summon a goblin to your side. They will follow you unconditionally.”

Aurora looked around before clearing her throat. “Prepare extra food, and set an extra place for dinner!” She watched wide eyed as her orders were taken without question by the goblins. “Wow, I wasn’t sure that would work. I want you to stay for a little while and tell me more about this place.”

In the shadows of the room the goblins snapped to attention and followed Aurora's command. While they still skittered and moved like creatures of the night they seemed less horrifying now.

"Of course, My Queen." Lorna bowed deeply, an act that had been practiced to perfection for the two decades she had spent in Limbo. "I am an open book to you, whatever questions you have I will do my best to answer."

“First things first, you don’t have to bow to me, Lorna. Belasco may require it in his presence but I don’t.” Aurora offered a brief smile. “Now tell me what I need to know to survive here, and how in the hell I get myself and my son home again?”

“Home?” Lorna couldn’t help but laugh a little at her naivety. “There is no going home, not for you and especially not for your child. Limbo is your home now.”

Whatever macabre humor Lorna found in the statement soon vanished as she became somber once again. “The only way to leave Limbo is through magic. Either magic like Belasco has in his blood or through a magic relic like what Sinister has. Neither one of us has access to those things. Heck, I have been here for over twenty years and I have never come close to escaping.”

Lorna glanced at the baby in Aurora's arms. “Not to mention your child's soul is bound to Limbo. I don't think he would survive if you removed him from this realm. He will live here forever.”

One of the many goblins returned with a tray that contained a pitcher of wine and two glasses. It placed the drinks on a side table before returning to the shadows once more.

“You are stuck here, Aurora. There is no going home or escaping, so it's in your best interest to adapt to Limbo in order to survive.” Lorna got up and poured herself a glass of wine then took a long sip from it. “This world is cruel and harsh, the only thing that matters here is strength and power. Disagreements are settled in blood and only the strong survive. If you want to survive here, if you want to remain alive so that you can raise your son, you should use your mutant powers and your goblin subjects to your advantage. Assert your dominance and domain over the goblins of Limbo, summon your generals and rule your army with an iron fist, then and only then will you survive.”

Aurora nodded as she looked down at her son. “I will do whatever I have to do to protect my son, and to do that I have to survive. If that means I have to fight for my life, then that's what I’ll do. I'm not going to fail my son.”

"Learn to play the game of power and you will survive," Lorna said, then added cryptically, "the real battle, though, is the one within."

Aurora nodded. “Good versus Evil and all that?” She gave Lorna a wry smile. “I've done things I'm not proud of, Lorna, I've not always been a good girl. I'll admit I've never been what you'd call bad, but if I have to fight to survive here then I'll do what I have to do.”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Lorna dipped her knees in a curtsy. "As do we all. Is there anything?"

Aurora shook her head. “No, there’s nothing else Lorna. I should be letting you get back, thank you for your help.”

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