Lucifer, inside his new body, stood in a grand hall decorated with flowers, grains, and a huge barrel filled with a deep red ale in the centre of the rustic room. He glanced at the casket where a foreign man lay inside.
Dark hair, with a few long strands likely from the stress of leading a falling Kingdom against the hordes of darkness from the west. Although Lucifer saw memories, he struggled to understand human emotion towards a father.
It was obey or death.
No emotions.
No compassion.
Despite this, he tried to honour Luka's will and took a small white flower, used to honour the dead. He placed the small white flower on the man's chest, the last remaining family he had, leaving the sickly boy to sacrifice his soul.
'Child, if you are awake, bid your farewells.
From this moment on, you are alone in this world.'
A strange sense of kinship bloomed within him, one that Lucifer couldn't explain. It felt like a weight that lingered in his stomach became an endearing warmth.
He no longer had a family.
They had abandoned him.
He glanced at the flag of Babylon above the open coffin, supported by hay in silence.
Memories of the past flickered through his mind as he started building a plan to avoid the eventual destruction of Babylon. "Our promise is an eternal oath. Luka" He muttered, taking a second flower and placing it beside the first.
This flower came from him. Lucifer. He closed his eyes in prayer.
'Oh, valiant warrior, may thee rest well in your moment of twilight.
For I shall lead your lands, and bloodline to glory.'
"What a brave lad, I thought he was sick... but now looking, he's quite sturdy."
"Quiet, let him grieve, you ginger fool!"
Voices from the retainers and knights echoed through the halls, due to the chimney above the casket. Luka remained silent for almost ten minutes before the sound of boots filled the room behind him.
He remained still, only lifting his right hand and waiting for them to speak.
"Young Lord, we've returned with grave news."
"It's Lord now, idiot!" Another knight corrected him with a hushed hiss.
"Speak, Knight."
"Yes, M'Lord."
He stepped forward before kneeling with a slight crack.
The sound of his knee reverberated through Lucas's mind as he scrunched his face into a grimace while still facing away.
"Ahem, M'Lord. The goblin settlement we scouted in the western reaches of the Amol highlands has started arming itself and heading towards the border."
'Amol...?'
Vague memories surfaced; his time as an Archangel couldn't bother with such minor details, yet to the current Lucifer, their importance was between life and death.
'Soon, Babylonian blood will stain those sands, becoming a marsh of death that humanity will never take back.'
He slowly turned to face the knight.
Average height, at least a head shorter than Luka, but with broad shoulders, a messy brown beard, and tied-up hair. He wore full iron armour, with a washed-out brown gambeson; despite it being second-hand and weathered, it would do the job.
The moment Luka saw the room, he stood sharp with both hands clasped neatly behind his back, chin tucked in, spine straight, just like his past Knighthood.
Manners, Honour and overwhelming power.
'Without structure, there is no future.'
He glanced at the knight, "How many goblins, and how long till they arrive?"
Luka noticed Galatea's bright eyes watching him, just like they promised. She observed him keenly, without taking his side. The knight bizarrely trembled under Luka's glare, barely pushing out the words he wanted with a slight stutter.
"T-Two H...Hundred, six days... at most M'Lord!"
Whispers spread while Luka remained focused on the knight.
"Oi, Lass, is this really our Luka? His lordly aura is so heavy and dense." The ginger knight struggled to remove his eyes, asking the knight beside him.
"I-I've never seen him like this before..."
"Why does it feel so heavy when his cold eyes trail across my body?!"
Even Galatea couldn't help but watch him with awe.
However, Luka didn't pay attention to anything or anyone else; to him, there were only two hundred goblins and six days running through his mind.
'Siege, all-out war... riding out?'
Too much nonsense happened at once.
His father's funeral and the succession were more important now; gaining the knights' complete loyalty could only start once he took the Lord's ring.
So he decided.
"Galatea, how many knights and soldiers do we have right now?"
"E-Eh?!" Obviously, an unexpected question stunned her, but she soon recovered and stood straight, her posture mimicking Luka. "Twenty-five Knights and fifty militia, My Lord."
'An uphill battle.'
Luka lowered his hands, stroking his chin with his fingertips, while stepping towards the kneeling knight before him.
"And what about hunters, how many?"
He recalled that Babylon was a beautiful land known for its horses, vast plains and hunters in the history books.
"Fifty Hunters, thirty are seasoned, the rest are fledglings."
Galatea didn't flinch this time and immediately responded to his query. She cocked her head, muttering to herself. "Is this truly Luka? He's so at ease and calm."
There wasn't time to revel in compliments and nonsense, Luka finally returned to the knight and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You've done well, Sir, Knight, may I ask your name?"
Luka hoped he didn't make a mistake, but most of the men here appeared as blurry figures inside the body's previous memories.
The nervous knight quickly responded. "Zack, M'Lord."
"Understood, you've done well, Knight Zack. Take a rest, and use the guest bath, take a night to rest easy, eat your fill and let your exhaustion soak away. As for everyone else, gather the hunters, farmers and anyone older than fifteen in the courtyard."
Luka waited for their response, his eyes darting to Galatea fleetingly.
"Galatea, can you bring the people in charge of budget, finance, merchandise, and trade here before that?"
"-Of course, My Lord."
With Galatea leading, the knights and vassals quickly left one by one, leaving only a short elderly man with grey hair who held a cane and walked with a limp.
"Good work, Young Lord... Ahem! Lord Babylon."
The old raccoon was a dear member of the Babylon territory, Luka's tutor, trainer and his caretaker, once the right-hand man of his grandfather.
"Old Levi, you should take a rest."
"Codswallop! And miss you finally taking steps into the world?!"
He wasn't removed from duty for any sort of crime or wrongdoing, but instead, due to his passionate love for the clan, he opted to become Luka's guide and steward.
The elderly man quivered while holding his stick with both hands.
He examined Luka fully, then smiled with tearful eyes, before quickly wiping them
"If only your father could see you now, oh how you've finally grown... to think you would overcome your ailments. Bless the Creator!"
'God damn him!'
Luka tried to bite back his anger, hoping the old man saw it as frustration over losing his father, rather than blasphemy.
'I will have to correct this notion... but how?'
At least for now, he couldn't remove his father's influence from the minds of his people.
Because it was impossible, he changed his focus.
"Old Levi, I will make Babylon great again. No. I will surpass any past element; this territory will become the pinnacle of humankind!"
Old Levi stood still as he squinted his tearful eyes.
There was a moment of silence before he suddenly rushed forward and placed both hands on Luka's shoulders. "My Lord! Is this your vision, your goal?! This old sack of bones will follow you until drawing his last breath! I have long waited for this moment, for when you would step forward."
He struggled to kneel, despite Luka trying to stop him.
Then looked up while holding his cane.
"Although old and withered, this old man has decades of experience and knowledge. Please use me to complete your vision, Lord of Babylon, our hope and shining light."
'This old man doesn't change...'
Lucifer didn't pull these words from nowhere.
When he studied Luka's past, his thoughts and the things he believed, sought and desired while trapped in the bed, everything came into place.
Their ideology and plans for the future could be almost identical, with Luka focused on the small Babylon, while Lucifer saw the entire human race in the same vein.
"Understood, as the future Lord of these beautiful lands. The first and last bastion of our kingdom against the forces of evil. I, Luka de Babylon, will take up the mantle and fight against our fate, wielding the banner of hope."