The Prime Evils—especially Mephisto—would be helpless to do anything against her. They so feared the High Heavens discovering Sanctuary that they would let it fall into her claws. No doubt they would think that they could retake it later, but Lilith understood the Worldstone well enough to make that an impossibility. With a world of suddenly vibrant nephalem at her command, the demon lords would discover that they had best worry about saving their own realm.
Yes, first the Burning Hells and then the High Heavens.
That made her think of Inarius, always skulking about. She knew his weaknesses as well. There was nothing to fear from him…
Still clad as the Primus, she returned to the darkened chambers. Once there, she paused. Despite the lack of light, the demoness could sense traces of webbing in the room. Someone had been here during her absence, someone who should have known better. She had actually noted some of the traces earlier, but her mind had been concerned with weightier matters. Now, though…
“Astrogha!” Lilith called in Lucion’s powerful voice. “Get in here, you damned spider!”
“This one is here,” retorted the arachnid a breath later from the shadows above. “What is it the great Lucion wants?”
There was a change in the other demon’s tone that Lilith did not appreciate, a defiance. “You have been misbehaving. You have been masquerading.”
“This one has been taking up the mantle that the great Lucion has forgone too much of late…so much so, in fact, that others insisted that Astrogha fill the void.”
She knew exactly what the spider had been up to. Lilith was concerned with only one thing, even more so considering the shift in the other demon’s mood. Astrogha represented the only impediment still existing in the Triune. It had been the demoness’s hope that Uldyssian would have removed him at the same time as he had the foolish Gulag, but Astrogha had proven wilier.
“And filled it like a rabbit pretending to be a lion. There were plans in place that Astrogha did not need to know, but that his interference utterly disrupted! How would the Three consider that ?”
There was shuffling from the shadows. Glimpses of the other demon became apparent. “That, a fair question might be, great Lucion…a question this one would not be above asking himself to them…”
Which meant that Astrogha had already survived interrogation by one of the Prime Evils, no doubt his own lord and master, Diablo.
“There can be only one Primus, one master of the Cult of the Three, spider…”
“Yesss…this one agrees…and only awaited your return to resolve that… Lilith.”
True spiders did not spit webbing from their mouths, but, then, Astrogha’s form was but an aspect. He was no more truly one of the eight-legged creatures than Lilith had been Lylia.
The foul spray spread over the dark chamber, Astrogha seeking to assure that there would be no chance of missing his prey. When he had divined that Lilith had taken her brother’s place, the demoness did not know nor did she care. She had even expected this possible scenario…and so, before the webbing could engulf her, created a green inferno that burned away the other demon’s attack. Sharp hissing accompanied the destruction of the webbing—
But Astrogha, too, had evidently assumed removing her would demand more effort, for suddenly there were spiders everywhere. Even Lilith could not evade them all. They bit her wherever they could, spilling into her Astrogha’s foul venom. The arachnid had learned the need for haste from his experience with the mortal, Uldyssian, but he still forgot that he dealt with no ordinary demon. This was the daughter of Mephisto…
With but a thought, Lilith pushed the surge of venom back into each of the spiders, then added her own to the mix. The sinister creatures began tumbling off her body in great numbers.
Astrogha hissed angrily and another wave of webbing shot forth, this time snaring Lilith’s right side. However, suddenly appearing as herself, she laughed and sliced away the sticky substance with the claws of her left hand.
“I find the best way to rid a place of vermin is to burn them out,” she mocked. “Don’t you agree?”
The demoness snared one of the fallen tendrils. The end burst into green flames which raced up toward the shadowed Astrogha, at last revealing his macabre form to her.
Astrogha hissed and spat, seeking to douse the unnatural flames. His webbing only fueled Lilith’s fire, though, and in seconds he was surrounded by it.
“This one will devour your flesh and drink your soul,” he snarled. The arachnid’s multiple eyes flared crimson.
Lilith faltered. There was a new presence in the chamber, one she knew too well. She almost turned to look behind her…then stopped.
“When next you seek to remind me of my father,” she cooed, “you had best be certain you bring the real thing, not some desperate illusion, servant of Diablo…”
Lilith magnified the flames. Astrogha shrieked as they licked at his hairy form.
“You are a fool, Mephisto’s daughter!” he declared, pulling back as best he could. “And therefore welcome to this fool’s nest forged by Lucion! Savor it…for what little time remains…”
A new and utter blackness enshrouded the spider. Lilith willed the flames forward…but when they reached the corner, there was no longer any Astrogha.
With her mind, she searched the whole of the temple, but found no trace. Astrogha had not merely fled to safety; he had fled the Triune entirely. Lilith was not overly concerned; she should have slain Diablo’s servant, but he clearly would be of no consequence, anymore. Now the Cult of the Three completely belonged to her.
No, Lilith thought with a smile as she dismissed the remnants of the struggle to oblivion and once more, as the Primus, assumed her place on the throne. No longer the Cult of the Three. There is only One. There is only Me.
Feeling quite pleased with herself, she had a sudden desire for the priest Durram’s company. There was time enough for a little entertainment before she dealt with dear Uldyssian. He had forced her to a decision that, in retrospect, would accelerate her dreams to fulfillment. All she needed were a few morlu…
Lilith giggled at her own thought. Perhaps more than few…
Astrogha had no regrets about fleeing the temple. He had not expected to be able to defeat the daughter of a Prime Evil, although his effort had allowed him to gauge her for another possible confrontation. She was welcome to the Triune and she and the mortal, Uldyssian, were welcome to the other. Astrogha had not outlived other demons by not knowing when it was best to let others deal with his problems. Let them battle it out, perhaps with the angel, Inarius, also throwing himself into the mix. The survivors—should there be any—would find themselves weakened, of that he was certain. Then…then the spider would pick up the pieces. The notion of a cult such as the Triune still made sense, but one more focused. On himself perhaps.
Yes, Astrogha liked that thought. From the ruins of this debacle, he would gather humans of his own. There were always those with an almost demonic lust for power. Unlike Lucion, though, Astrogha would maintain tight control over his minions. That had been the trouble; Lucion had lost order, had allowed himself to rely too much on others. Then, when he had finally taken personal control, something had obviously gone wrong. The son of Mephisto had somehow perished.
No, Astrogha would not make Lucion’s mistakes, nor Lilith’s. Already he could imagine his slaves spreading out to both sides of the world, his symbol—the spider—raised over city after city. There would come the day when no one would recall the Triune or the Cathedral of Light. It would be the cult of Astrogha that finally conquered Sanctuary and made humans its slaves…all for the Prime Evils, of course, and especially, his master.