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Demon Chronicles, Part 2

A story about a demon who escapes hell and struggles to survive on the surface world.

By ShaydePublished about a year ago 22 min read
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The main character

II

When I awoke it was well past midday, the sunlight streaming in from the cave entrance tolerable to my eyes. I unfurled my wings and stood to my full height, the top of my horns only inches from the cave ceiling. As expected, I was immediately aware of an intense hunger that filled my body. I would have to eat, and soon-Hell was ever calling, attempting to drag my monstrous body back to its fiery depths. I leaped from my stony resting place and allowed my wings to extend to their full length as I sailed out of the cave entrance and into the sky beyond. Beneath me stretched the vast mountain range, gray rocks fighting to escape the confines of the planes and escape upward to the blue sky. They almost looked like a frozen sea of magma, rolling over each other in rigid outcroppings to create the jagged teeth of the earth.

I decided to get a better idea of the surrounding land before catching my next meal, deciding that the hunger wasn’t intense enough to demand my immediate attention. Using the land below to orient myself, I flew far from the mountain range along the forest’s edge, where grass met wood and the open sun of the planes met the dark shadows of the trees. I would cover a vast area today, making a semicircle into the grassland with my mountains at its center.

After flying for hours, I realized that nothing noteworthy would be found in this direction. Rarely, wandering roads scattered the rolling hills and tiny farms and hamlets dotted the landscape. I flew as high as I could, aware that I was not welcome here and anyone noticing my red, winged form would spell trouble for me. If there were farms, there were rulers, and if there were rulers, there were enemies. With any luck, anyone looking upward would assume I was a bird and go about their daily lives. This is why I waited to hunt-under the cover of night, none could see me from a distance and warn the other humans. They would be doomed in their ignorance until I appeared, like a nightmare brought into reality, from the cover of night to steal their lives.

I began to make the wide circle back around the mountains, keeping them just within eyesight as I sailed over the endless green below. I was growing more eager to kill; so many isolated settlements below would provide me an easy food source, a buffet that was unlikely to attract attention. As I made my way around the arc though, more and more settlements came into view. In the distance small forts could be seen, perhaps serving as the borders for neighboring empires. The grassland gradually gave way to towns and settlements, often with paved roads crossing between them. The sun was beginning to set, and while behind me the farmland was largely dark save for distant specks of light, the land below me was covered in light. Torches and lanterns sprawled across the land beneath me, the humans seeing fire as an invaluable ally in the daily war against night’s darkness.

Once I had nearly completed my route, and my hunger occupied an ever-increasing portion of my thoughts, I saw the first evidence of an organized, united civilization before me in the form of a large city. Far larger than any neighboring towns or forts, this city was surrounded by tall stone walls with imposing towers at regular intervals standing defiantly against the night. These towers closely watched the many roads leading inside the city and stood guard for any threat across the planes. Little did they know a demon stalked the night sky, far above, mouth watering. Inside these walls buildings competed for space, bustling with activity across narrow streets and torchlit buildings. Hundreds, if not thousands of humans lived below, all watched over by the keep that loomed in the night sky above. Atop a hill in the middle of the city, the keep was held within an inner circle of walls and was fitted with its own set defenses. Towers that dwarfed those of the outer ring held banners high over the city, proudly proclaiming their allegiance to whoever ruled. An enormous, elaborate stone complex connected these towers, where I imagined the government and military officials lived.

I sneered at the sight of such a concentration of mortals. An endless supply of souls to feast on laid below me, but I knew that whoever called themselves king of this domain would not take kindly to their subjects being slain. Such a city would have a formidable military to contend with, and as pathetically weak as humans are, I would surely be overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. If I made myself known to these people I would find myself in an unwinable war with not just the city, but whatever empire it belonged to as well. Perhaps one day I would be powerful enough to assault such a fortress, but for now it was better to be avoided.

My hunger had grown to a raging inferno in my thoughts as I turned away, leaving the city behind me and speeding back to my home. Scanning the dark ground for potential meals, I was tempted to ignore the small farmsteads as I came across something much more filling-a wandering trade caravan, camped for the night on the side of the road. A good distance from any town or the city, I couldn’t resist the exposed merchants hidden in tents for the night. Perhaps it would be better to kill away from the roads, but my burning stomach fueled a need to eat as much as possible which meant that it was this group who was doomed to never see the sun rise. A bright moon was out tonight, bathing the world in a pale, barely visible glow. It was as if a massive eye watched helplessly over the mortals below, straining to give its people the light to see their imminent danger. Unfortunately for the moon, the night was my ally and crippled my prey.

As I circled the tent formation below, falling further in the sky to get a better view of what was below me, I saw that there were 2 men posted as sentries I would have to take out. As much enjoyment as I would get from a frenzied hunt, I couldn’t risk any of these people getting away and warning others. I would take them in their sleep, swiftly, silently, and return to my cave satisfied. A ring of tents surrounded a pair of dying fires in the center of the camp, where a trio of wagons filled with various goods rested. A number of muscular horses rested nearby, staked into the ground just outside the ring of tents.

I landed across from the horses, knowing that they would alert the sleeping people if I scared them. Out of vision of the nearest guard, I kept as low to the ground as possible as I crept towards the ring of tents and the stack of crates he sat on. My massive body made stealth difficult, but I was silent as I slowly inched towards the oblivious guard. He was visibly tired, and after a long and uneventful watch he was not paying as much attention to his surroundings as he should have. Not that it would have mattered.

When I got as close as I dared, I stopped moving completely, just out of the guard’s yellow sphere of torchlight. I then slowly raised my red, spiked tail in the air and moved it back and forth, certain that it would attract his attention. Once he glanced over and stiffened as he gazed into the darkness, I held still again as he strained to see what hint of movement his eyes had detected. He then did just what I hoped; he stood and cautiously took a couple steps forward, spear at the ready. Once I was about to be seen, I swiftly leapt to my feet and closed the distance between us, swatting his spear aside with one hand as I plunged the other through his chest. His eyes had barely widened and his face had barely registered the terror before him when he was dead. The falling of the spear had alerted the other guard though, and he turned as I threw the lifeless body of his friend aside. “WAKE UP!!!” he yelled as he grabbed his spear and held it nervously towards me. He was nearly shaking with fear as I growled in frustration as I bounded across the camp in two steps, leaping over the wagons with the help of my wings and landing on top of him, my massive foot crushing his chest beneath me.

The horses quickly rose and began to panic as the other members of the camp awoke with a start, many running out of their tents with weapons drawn. All paused with horror when they laid eyes upon me, and some threw their weapons to the ground and fled as others charged. I smiled with pleasure as I allowed my demonic instincts to take over, the world becoming a red scene of battle and blood. I became a whirlwind of death, rage and hunger as I deflected some attacks, dodged others and allowed still more to hit my skin, my scaly hide largely protecting me or else allowing just enough damage to give me the comfort of pain to add to my rage. The men wielded curved swords and spears, and some women fought with makeshift weapons as the rest of the camp ran. As much delight as I was taking in the combat, claws streaking the camp with blood while I occasionally lifted a body to use as a psychological weapon against these horrified people, I had to ensure that none escaped. I allowed my body to end the fight quickly as I bounded off into the night to hunt down those that had the sense to flee rather than fight. The horses had torn free of their bonds and fled.

When I had slain the last of those who had run, I gathered the bodies and returned to the camp. There I paused as I noticed that I had missed someone; a woman, who stood with her arms spread apart, blocking the entrance to her tent. Of the dozen or so people in this group, she was the only one who had neither run nor fought. I dropped the bodies I had carried back to the ground in a bloody mess as I slowly approached her, intrigued. “Do you not fear me?” I asked in a deep, threatening voice that did not belong to anything of this world. The sound of my voice dominated the silence of the night as she trembled. “You have no place here, demon,” she said through teary eyes, well aware of her impending doom. I took another step closer. She was guarding something in the tent. “Stand aside, and I’ll let you attempt to run,” I commanded, but she stood her ground. “Fuck off,” she replied. I grinned as I sliced her front open with my claws, impressed by her commitment. As her lifeless body fell to the ground, I opened the tent.

Inside was a sight I had never expected, one that chilled me to my very core. A tiny voice fought back the newfound silence in the air as I met eyes with a child laying in a makeshift bed. Something about seeing this child, this thing, before me gave me pause. Do I kill it? It barely knew of the world it was in, and its soul would doubtless do nothing to fill my hunger. For some reason, I felt that I shouldn’t slaughter it like I did the others. Maybe it reminded me of a Quul in Hell, who knew nothing of the world it found itself in and waited to be dominated and exploited by those around it. By nature, humans and demons beat each other down-knowingly or unknowingly-to carve themselves a place in their worlds. But this… child, wasn’t yet part of society, it didn’t yet have a chance to fight for itself. It was… Innocent. I backed away from this monstrous thing and gathered the bodies around the camp, eager to fill my thirst and return to the certainty of feeding.

The bodies of these men and women lay before me but their souls still hung in the air, not yet having fully disconnected from this world through death. As I went from body to body, devouring their souls and relishing the final moments of horror in their pitiful existences, my hunger gradually faded until I was sated. I threw the bodies in the fire to leave as little evidence of my whereabouts as possibly, then hesitantly returned to the tent. It was still there, wailing, horrified at the sight of my blood covered body. I couldn’t just leave it here, that was cruelty I would gain no pleasure from. Would it even be conscious of any pain I inflicted on it? I didn’t want to kill it, perhaps seeing some form of myself in its disgustingly squishy features. It deserved a chance to grow, to claw its way up in the world and ultimately to meet its own death. It could not even be aware of its own death now, knowing nothing except an end to a thoughtless, purposeless life. No, I wouldn't kill it. I needed someone to take it.

I cautiously reached down to pick it up in my huge hand, wiping the blood of its mother off on the tent walls first. It never stopped crying, and I couldn’t blame it. We took off through the sky, leaving the tents and the body of its family behind as I flew to the nearest, dark farmhouse. I had to be swift; this screaming creature would wake the farmers quickly. I landed on the ground outside a small wooden shack with a loud thud as I gently placed the tiny human down and flew away as fast as possible. I looked back to see the lights come on and the door open. If the farmer looked up, they would see me. I set my gaze on the mountains and sped home.

I couldn’t shake the discomfort from the experience. Why had the mother sacrificed herself? She didn’t struggle against my power, instead standing in futility in front of her baby, knowing that nothing she did would change the outcome of the coming moments. Why couldn’t I bring myself to kill the child? I slaughtered an entire caravan, yet one shrieking infant had given me such pause. Did that make me weak? To refuse to fight or kill is to submit to others, to give up all that you have worked for. The people of the caravan understood this-they fought or ran in an attempt to live, just like they would take advantage of others in a market to earn their living. And yet I couldn’t do the same to the child. I had let it live, so that one day it may grow up to seek revenge. Mercy contradicted anything I had ever known, mercy was a weakness, so what had made me show mercy? I wouldn’t be able to last in this world if I grew weak.

My hunger had disappeared, but I couldn’t shake the unease that now occupied my mind. It was a relief to finally return to my dark, damp cave which promised safety and solitude. Try as I might, I couldn’t banish the child from my thoughts. The many humans I had consumed would keep me full for days-plenty of time to steel my resolve against these unseen struggles.

III

I looked around the cave rapidly. Something had awoken me. It was midday, the bright sunlight creating a painful white glow at the entrance to the cave. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but I knew to trust my instincts over my perceptions. Whatever it was, I knew I had to be wary-a moment of carelessness could be fatal, and I had no intention of returning to hell. I cautiously rose to my feet, expecting some invisible enemy to attack at any moment. As the seconds drew on and no attack came, I began to slowly make my way around the cave, analyzing every rock, every shadow, every spider web, for anything that looked out of the ordinary. As my search brought me to the entrance to the cave, I braced my eyes as I took a small step outside, exposing myself to the midday sun. The golden glow of the sun pained my eyes, but I had to be thorough in my search. Looking all around the outside of the cave and far below, towards the base of the mountains, I saw nothing. I quickly spun around and stood back from the entrance in case I had missed something, staring into the pitch black as my eyes struggled to adjust from the bright light.

Once again, I saw nothing. I slowly walked back into the cavern and did another search, this time checking the ceiling and walls more carefully for any sign of... anything. And yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. I eventually sat back down on my rock, waiting. As I sat there and felt my surroundings, the more the feeling became clear. Nothing was here, and I was alone, yet I was being watched. Someone, somewhere, knew I was here-and they knew where to find me.

_____________________________________________________

It was night, one day later, when it came. A deep shadow, darker even than I could see through, slipped through the cave entrance and began to move along the wall. It wasn’t a physical form, but a flat blackness that covered the stone beneath it, as if a flat portal to the black sky in Hell was moving along the wall. I stood to my feet as it made its way towards me, permanently obscuring sections of the wall and stones. It was large: larger even than me. I prepared myself for what I knew would come. This was a shadow demon, here to destroy my body and return me to hell. Some form of wizard must have summoned it, likely the wizard that I felt scrying on me the day before. It was a mistake to attack the merchants so close to the road-one skilled in the way of magic must have learned of my existence through the gory scene I had left behind.

As the shadow was about halfway across the room, I began to hear whispers. Quiet voices, overlapping each other, just audible enough to hear but not loud enough to make out clearly. It was as if the sound itself was a shadow, just at the edge of perception but complete enough to obscure all other noise beneath its depths. As the shadow grew nearer, the whispers grew louder. Voices that spoke softly to each other now competed to be heard, all talking over one another, too many voices at once to pick out any discernible words. I became less aware of the approaching darkness as it grew in size and more of my consciousness was dominated by the voices, coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once, yelling now. I had to concentrate; once the demon reached me a battle of the mind would determine my fate.

I growled in anger as I struggled to focus on the shadow which began to fill the entire expanse of my home until all I could see was the entrance to the cave and the dark night beyond. And then suddenly the cave was back to normal, the gray stone untouched. The voices were deafening now, echoing off the walls of the cavern and threatening my sanity. I fell to one knee as I struggled to keep my pounding head from giving in to a blackout-to fall unconscious was to lose this battle. And then I saw that the shadow had not vanished-it had moved into my feet. I watched helplessly as the endless blackness worked its way up my body, covering my red skin in a freezing black. The deepest cold I had ever known followed where the shadow covered, colder than the snow above, colder than the specter of death that had stalked my body so many times. This demon was powerful. I began to feel the voices, biting deep into my skin with icy, razor teeth that let the cold enter my body and burn me to the core, far more intensely than any heat I had ever experienced. I longed to fight this thing, to meet it in battle, but it was nothing-just a shadow. All I could do was wait until it entered my mind. As it crawled up my body the voices, cold, and pain filled my world as I fought violently to keep my body awake. And then the world went black as I was consumed by the shadow.

The cold left my body as I experienced a falling sensation, the burn of heat rapidly replacing the sting of freeze. I felt the demon above me, driving me downwards towards fire and dark rock. It was massive, far larger than me, and as my body struggled against its endless power I realized that I couldn’t face it with my physical form. As I fell, my memory began to fade and I felt myself growing weaker. Shadow wrapped around my body, slowly suffocating my very being as I felt my body transform and shrink. I stopped struggling and held onto my thoughts as they attempted to flee my mind, remembering what I looked like, who I was, what I had done. Memories of a warped reality, in which I failed to escape hell, tried to seep into my mind as I fought to keep the two separate. A pounding ache in my head tried to break apart my thoughts as my mind struggled to hold on.

I had escaped, but I was also a weak demon in hell, doomed to an eternity of slavery. I was no longer a slave, free on the surface, but a shadow-wreathed skull laughed at the notion, for one could never truly escape Hell. My body was in a cave in a mountain, but I was falling, ever falling, through the sky of my real home. I roared as I grabbed the monster, more a feeling than a physical form, above me, and threw my body into it screaming the memories of my recent days against its lies and deceit. I had wings, and as I felt them grow from my back I worked with all my might to hold us aloft. My spiked tail materialized as I swung it into my foe, every strike violently shaking the world and threatening to blow apart my existence. But I did exist, and not here, not in Hell. The demon shrieked in agony before it turned its pain into a weapon, tearing its limitless limbs through my body in an endless flurry of pain and suffering. I was immobilized as both my body and mind lost its strength, only a sliver of my consciousness remaining to bear witness to what would follow. A monstrous head appeared before me as my descent continued, a skull the size of my torso covered in blue skin so thin the color of the bone beneath reached through. Pale, dead eyes bore into my body as I felt it begin to suck my life away. In desperate panic, my fading conscience screamed against this thing as I fought to hold on to… everything.

From deep within me, the flicker of a flame began to grow in my heart, a fire that I clung to rather than fled from, as I began to hold onto rage. The hate and anger that I had built over centuries, the endless misery that had been my pitiful existence, the understanding that I could not escape my demonic nature even on earth, set fire to my skin. The purest form of hatred and rage I had ever felt gave me new strength as I felt control return to my head. I reveled in it, a blinding wall of red that consumed the world, the shadow demon in its center. I felt nothing and thought nothing as I threw my head back, opened my monstrous jaw and brought it to bear on the shadow demon. Fire consumed its body as a deafening wail announced my foe’s moment of weakness. It let me go and my body became fire as the hate of a thousand hells tore at the demon before me. I didn’t care about earth, or Hell, only that this thing dies. It began to shrink in size as I grew, until with one final assault on its immaterial form, a blinding light tore its being apart with a sound that pierced me to my very core, as if a thousand claws had pierced my heart.

And then, it was all gone, and I was laying on the ground of my cave.

_____________________________________________________

I laid there for a long time, mind still recovering from the experience. The sun was out; the battle had raged all night. I began to think as the pain, slowly, slowly, faded. Is this really what my future held? Even here on earth I found myself in a constant war just to survive, a war with no allies and infinite enemies. If I didn’t kill humans I would die, but now that they knew of my presence, I could expect much more resistance from them. Hell constantly pulls on my body, and in this instance the agents of Hell and earth had conspired together to pull me back to its depths.

I had very nearly lost that battle, only surviving by blindly clinging to my rage, surrendering all else before its fiery power. Is that all I am? A hateful being, forced to fight everyone just to survive. That demon had begun to devour my life-force, just as I had done to so many humans’ souls. For the first time, I truly understood the anger, sadness, hate and desperation that filled their minds in their final moments of existence. And they didn’t even re-animate as a Quul.

I didn’t have a choice. They were weak, and I was strong. That was all. Let them come. I wouldn’t leave without a fight.

Fantasy
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About the Creator

Shayde

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