Yes, it's true, like the Oracle from the Matrix said to Neo. But, I won't be talking about the other part she said about the end yet, because this part's only the beginning.
Well, the Matrix aside, the world when devils were still roam free is altogether different. Even though each rank answered to different duty, just like most civilisation, but, they also had complexities just like every race with established hierarchy, especially one led by treacherous souls.
Just like any other legends, some people will rise up under the tyranny, so did with theirs.
The only thought that Ezryan, the 13th Hieldhar or High Commander of the entire Seven Legions, had in mind when he first realised the Echelons of Hell's betrayal, and ultimately Lucifer was to protect his closest comrades. If he was to rise up to tyrants - in this case, the Echelons - it would be one hell of irony since the only woman he'd ever loved thrived on creating tyrants.
The tyrants' creator was one particular Cherxanain - an elite rank of soldiers directly under Ezryan - named Yverna. Revered even among soldiers as Tyraviafonza - Queen of Tyranny - Yverna's duty was to turn the human Rulers of Old into tyrants that was ruthless enough to slaughter their own kin by manipulating the darkness in their souls.
The one in human souls was one of many kinds of darkness, which Yverna had complete control over. Being the only darkness wielder in the entire Legions and one of very few left including those among the Royals of Hell protected her even though there were times when an Echelon member named Kathiera would love nothing more than to send her straight to oblivion.
Why an Echelon member want to kill one of the best Cherxanain?
Because the Cherxanain in question wasn't so keen on playing the role of obedient sap like many others who ended on death row or got killed by either their partners or the Echelons lapdogs for no other reason than directing their noses the wrong way.
Because the Cherxanain in question wasn't so keen on playing the role of obedient sap like many others who ended on death row or got killed by either their partners or the Echelons lapdogs for no other reason than directing their noses the wrong way.
Many of the soldiers realised this, and even though it seemed calm, but truthfully, they'd been in the state of unrest for thousands of years. Some of them played along, and kept their noses as clean as possible out of fear, but others stayed low because Ezryan wanted them to, but not her. It wasn't in her to know something that may threaten her and those close to her, most of all Ezryan, and just look the other way.
When Yverna ran into the fact that the Echelons were busy protecting their ego by abusing and butchering soldiers, especially that they also went their way on abusing Ezryan who put himself between the Echelons and the soldiers under him, she went straight to digging dirt on every single one of Echelon members.
And she did find them, and used whatever she got to protect Ezryan and their closest comrades.
Ezryan knew this, and often feared for her, all the while keeping the love he had for her deep inside him. Aside from the fact that he was afraid she wouldn't accept him, he mostly thought that she would be in even more danger if she did accept him. At the time, the Echelons were so hellbent on seeing him dead, they began sending him on suicide missions.
The Hieldhar had never been worried about those missions, for he had all elements of the sky at his disposal. Especially after he'd began seeking Belphegor and his royal cohorts for information - most soldiers would think that as a death wish since Belphegor were notoriously ruthless, and he happened to be Lucifer's rebellious son, but Ezryan seemed to not notice since he brought Yverna and her sister Vrathien to meet them - Ezryan would always come up on top after every mission.
Except for the one that sent him close to the Angel of Death's living room.
It was a mission to overhear something from within Heaven. If eavesdropping would definitely landed him on the angels' hit list, imagine what they would do when they found him not only eavesdropping, but also infiltrating the deepest part of Heaven to steal an object. The latter was a mission he set up for himself since he learned something in Belphegor's record.
He was then burnt severely by the Holy Flames, but he wasn't dead then. Not long upon landing and sending the object to Cain with whom he'd struck a bargain before he executed his mission, he was intercepted by Lucifer himself. The unholy King had been gunning for Ezryan ever since the Commander saved Xaemorkahn, the King of Outer Realm, from him. But, with Ezryan having the allegiance of almost the entire Legions, Lucifer felt he couldn't just go and kill him in the open.
Instead, Lucifer used the Holy Flame's descent, which had vaporised a massive lake, as a cover for the Commander's supposed death, and at the same time, rally the Legions back under him and the Echelons.
Only Yverna who couldn't accept the pretence of Ezryan's death.
She desperately looked for answers, but found nothing to counter that claim. After two centuries, give or take a few decades, she stopped searching.
Not even in her wildest dream she dared hoped that the answer would come knocking her door seven hundred years later.
It's an answer which would unravel the most dangerous secret yet, one which put her existence and those close to her at stake, and ultimately, the fate of three worlds thousands of years into the future.
