Consider the Game

By Rolland Therrien

**Flaming
Feather**

It's very much like a role-playing game, you see.

In the Symphony, we all play roles, be it Angel or Demon, and we revolve around in cycles of gain and loss, small victories and defeats, the jostling of positions defined by the rules of the Game.

The rules are the most important part, of course. They define how the Game is played. You can't just make up the rules as you go,after all. Doing so would be chaos, as everyone would make up rules allowing them to win, and everyone would try to force their rules on everyone else's.

So there must be a strict, independant set of rules to follow: Angels are Angels, Demons are Demons, and to become one or the other, you have to Fall or Redeem yourself. Demons have to promote the cause of Hell, or else they're not considered Demons at all.

Of course, where you have rules, you need an arbitrator to enforce them. Even more so in Hell, where everyone wants to do his own thing, and doesn't care about the Rules.

That's where I come in: I am the Arbitrator, the Enforcer of Rules. I am the one, appointed by Lucifer Himself, who defines the rules which regulate Hell, and impose Order on the Chaos of Hell. I am the one who reminds everyone of their positions in the Game, and who punishes those who try to violate the rules of the Game.

This position trancends even my nature as a Demon Prince. Thus, my old Superior Dominic and I have an unspoken agreement: We focus on our own side, and collaborate sometimes to bring down Rule-Breakers powerful enough to harm the Game on either side. That is why we associated to defeat the Prince of Plagues, who would've ended the Game too soon...

Of course, Dominic denies playing the Game, even as he enforces it's Rules. But he ignores this one basic Truth: Everyone plays the Game, and everyone has to play by the Rules.

That is why Valefor, of all the Princes of Hell, is the one who disturbs me the most. He not only breaks the rules of Hell, but flaunts them regularly with every deed. None of the other Princes aggravate me like he does. Malphas seeks to sow more chaos in the structures of order I build, but nonetheless, I always know where I stand with him. Furfur, for his rebellious nature, does play by the Rules, if only by habit. Lillith evades my ever wacthful eyes, but Lucifer and her have an agreement, and even I must finally answer to Lucifer. ...But none of them break the rules like Valefor does.

His very nature, in fact, seems to violate the Rules: No one knows where he came from, nor how he killed Genubath, or even how he achieved the power of a Prince. Not even Aleamon, it would seem. This... worries me. Either Valefor has successfully cheated the Game, or he plays by a set of Rules greater then mine.

He must be brought down, made to follow the Rules or Die. No one can violate the Rules of the Game and be allowed to Live.

Just because this is Hell, it doesn't mean you can just break the Rules, after all.

**Flaming
Feather**

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