However over time, she grew disdainful of her position and of the many heavens themselves. Though she worked tirelessly she never saw respite. She was never allowed to take part in the pleasures that were bestowed upon the souls she delivered. For all her hard work she could never rise to the highest planes of heaven where the greatest pleasures awaited. She was condemned to serve the rest of eternity in the second level of heaven.
The demon lord Chathivus, lord of Corruption, learned of Aela’s dissatisfaction and paid a visit to her as she traveled to the plane of mortals. He offered her a place with his cohort in hell. Of course her initial reaction was revulsion, but Chathivus’ words were like sugar. Sweet and tempting. He continued to visit Aela, and she continued to turn him down but each time she listened longer and considered more. Eventually Chathivus asked her why she would not join him in hell. She was clearly unhappy, and could never become anything more than she was already in heaven. But in hell she could be so much more. She would start in the first levels of hell, but hard work and persistence was rewarded, unlike in the heavens. She could move to the deeper and deeper levels of hell, gaining more power and prestige. She could have her own cohort and rule over them and the souls they gathered. But she refused. She would never turn away from goodness to join evil, to which Chathivus laughed.
“Do you really think us evil!? What do you think it is we do in hell?”
“You sow hate and death and darkness across the many planes of existence. Yours are the ways of pure evil and I could never be a part of that.”
“How blinded you are from living so long in the light.” Chathivus told her, “There are no evil demons any more than there are any good angels. We simply are. The difference is that heaven accepts only the pure and pious. They are treated like kings and you are their servants. But in hell we gather the wicked, the murderous and truly black hearted scum of the worlds. And it’s not because we want to serve them and offer them rewards. We punish them for their misdeeds. We flay the rapists. Burn the murderers. They are our play things and we do with them as we please. We do not bow to them. They bow to us.”
After that Aela was convinced. She joined Chathivus, though he was not entirely sincere. Hell is well and truly a dark and evil place, and while the demons do not serve the souls they harvest, they serve other powers, and their torture of the damned is not for any sense of justice, but rather to fulfill the dark desires of the dark gods and demons that fester in the seven layers of hell.
But it was too late. Aela was corrupted. She turned her back on Alablyss and never returned to heaven. Nor could she once she had joined the forces of hell. She was tainted and could never return. But by then she did not care. Her new position was very similar to her last, but now she sought the souls of those who had wickedness and sin in their hearts. Her golden cloak was reforged into a cythe, with which she carved the souls out of the wicked. Her pure white wings and golden hair turned to black. Her golden eyes burned red with the flames of hell.
Aela gave herself completely to her new position and moved up the ranks of Chathivus’ cohort quickly. She experienced all that the many levels of hell had to offer. She wore masks of flesh at the masquerade ball of Galbinus, the demon lord of Debauchery and Butchery. She learned from Heshkinah, demoness lady of sadism, how to wield hellfire so that it could both burn and simultaneously heal, creating a nonlethal flame of eternal torture. She bathed in the molten crystalline sea of shattered souls.
After tens of thousands of years in hell, Aela could barely remember her life in Heaven. She had given herself completely to the corruption. Only her stark white skin remained as an unchangable reminder of her true origin. As the new rising dark star of hell Aela was choosen by Belial in a wager against the Archangel Raziel. The two had wagered that their champion could collect a million souls before the other. Rules were set in place. Aela could only gather the souls of those already corrupted by darkness: Murderers, rapists, thieves and all those who had already brought the darkness into their souls. While Neru, Aela’s replacement in the Heaven’s, could only gather the souls of the pious and good. With all the wars raging, it seemed a simple task for Aela, but at the start of the wager a new era of peace and prosperity was ushered in. Religious zealotry have Neru a quick lead and caused Aela to struggle early on. But for hundreds of years they gathered souls where they could until it became clear that Neru would win.
The turning point for Aela is in sight. It is well documented that one soul is not worth the same as the next. The soul of a king is worth that of 500 farmers. A warrior is worth a dozen miners. But the soul of a Dragon God is worth a billion common souls. With one swift stroke, Aela can end this wager and return to hell a champion. But along the way she must continue to harvest the souls of every killer and criminal she encounters, for if she were to fail (and somehow live) the wager will not end and the time she spent pursuing Tiamat cannot have been in vain.
