Prisoner

Hands moved over my body in that terrible hellish place, the noose that the huge balor had passed around my neck had been drawn tight and I was being drug throughout this immense cavern like I was on display for all to see. The cackles and whoops from the many deformed figures around me reminded me of monkeys at the zoo, the way they laughed at you and pointed like they secretly knew all life’s secrets, but would forever keep them to themselves.
My eyes moved back to the boy/demon sitting on the throne of ivory or fire, the two kept changing so rapidly that I could not differentiate between which was real….or were they both real? The beautiful mouth smiled like the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland, yet the demonish snout curled into a smile, one that mimicked a lion before the feeding.
His eyes never changed, they were the one constant that helped me focus to realize that both images were the truth. My heart was deafening, its pounding seemed to create a cadence that the demons flowed to, dragging me in rapid pulls, ever closer to the monstrosity that sat atop the dais at the end of the cavern.
Fire seemed to free float in this place, and magma was in deep pits everywhere, but here in this place I could not tell if they were real or my imagination, so many things seemed to be from my fantasized view of hell and I began to wonder if the demons were reading my mind.
At this realization, the noose around my neck was thrust forward by the largest of the balors. He was a deep crimson and ebon skinned monstrosity. He was easily 9 feet tall, heavy set chest, bulging arms, with scales running the lengths, above his neck sat an evil simian face, one the mocked humanity, and yet emanated intelligence. His eyes were not the passionless of my killer, but were pitch black, and I knew that this creature was pure unadulterated evil!
Of all the things I had seen here this creature was the first to cause my bowels to revolt, I felt the warmth of urine flowing down my leg, for the 1st time in my life or afterlife, I knew what fear was, and I knew I didn’t want this thing to speak.
His ape like face seemed to snicker as if evil could find humor in anything. His mouth never opened, but I still heard it invading my mind, forcing its way in.
The voice that spoke in my head was nightmarish, it rasped, guttural noises that I could barely distinguish as syllables, that turned into words as if being instantly translated by some greater consciousness. “Youuu haavvveee beeennnn jjjjuudgged! I aaammm iiinnn ccchhhhaaarrrgggee oooffff yyyyooouuuurrrrr tttrrraaaannnnsssssfffoooorrrrmmmaattiiiooonnn. Nnnoooowwwww kkknnnnneeeellll bbbeeefffooorrreeee yyyyyoooouuuurrrr ttttrrruuueeee goooooddddd”!
Hearing this guttural voice speak with such fluidity and intelligence put me in a state of shock, and my legs were being compelled to bend into a kneel, and looking at the beautiful regal man before me I wanted to. Then the transformation took hold and it wasn’t the man but the monster and my half bent knees straightened knowing that if the simian creature was evil, this thing on the throne was the epitome of sin, and all that is wrong with everything.
“Knnneeeelllll”! Waves of white hot heat flowed over my body in shockwaves, my skin blistered and popped, forcing me to scream for the 1st time since my wings had been destroyed. I felt my eyes begin to melt again, and could feel the skin all over begin to drip like wax from a too long lit candle. The pain was immense and without thinking of the repercussions I knelt, immediately feeling the pain subside. The itching sensation of healing began, and when the roars begin I knew I had made the wrong decision.
The immensely evil balor picked me up throwing me over his shoulder, his hands burned deep into my skin, and from his shoulder I could smell the breath that reminded me of ash and hot coals. He was not gentle with the way he carried me, banging me into walls, and hitting my head on underpasses that moved to accommodate his enormous girth, then suddenly snapped back into place jolting me in the upraised head.
We twisted and turned and everywhere I looked it was as if hell was on vacation, all the inhabitants were standing on the two sides of this cavernous road we were traveling on, it was like some kind of macabre parade, but we were the only exhibit.
Strangely I realized that escape had never crossed into my mind and I knew that the thing carrying me had read this thought, this time there was no mistaking it, he outright laughed. If wheezing billowy eruptions from an apelike creature that stood 9 feet tall could be called laughter.
“Where are we going? I dared to speak, what is it that you are going to do with me”?
My jailor responded again without speaking, but his voice vocalized inside of my head, “Too bbee ttrraannssffoorrmmed”.
Another queer thing, this things speaking seemed to be improving.
“Transformed? Into what”? No answer went off in my head. “Answer me you son of a bitch”!
With that he slammed me into the ground, I felt my spine shatter, skull fracture, and many other bones in my physiology I couldn’t identify break. His maw moved to within inches of my face, and he spoke, it was the same voice, guttural and disturbing, only it seemed that much more human, “Never speaaakk ooff ttthhinngss you kkknnnoooww noootthhhiing aaabbout. Tthis iiisss yyoouur fffiinnal wwaarning”!
Groaning on the ground, he moved his hand into his pocket and pulled out a rod, one with angels wings on it, much like the ones they had removed and cauterized from my body. He waved it over my broken body and immediately I felt tissue and bone mend and heal, moments later it was if nothing had even happened to me.
“What the hell”? Questioningly and cautiously I looked up at the demon that had destroyed my body then somehow healed it.
The voice vocalizing in my head again, “Nnoot heellll, iii toookkkk ttthhhhaaattt ooooffff ttthhheee llllaassssttt aaannnggeeelll I killleeeddd”! The pleasure I heard in my head, made me unsteady, and with all that I had been through I swayed on my feet for a few seconds and passed out.
Awakening in and out of consciousness, the halls seemed to be growing darker and the only light source was free floating fire every 15 yards or so. The heat in this hallway was immense, and it forced my eyes to squint. Looking up I saw that my transportation was smiling a toothy grin and I found myself believing we were headed towards this denizens abyssal home.
Once again he could read every thought that I had, “YYeesss I llivvveee heerrreee…..bbbuuutttt wwweeee aaarrreee gggoooinnnggg tttooo aannoootthheerrr ppplllaaacccee…a pplllaaccceee oooffff ccchhhaaannnngggeee”.
How accustomed I had become to a voice speaking in my head, yet it felt as if I was constantly being raped, and assaulted mentally in this place, I could feel the residue of his evil probing on my brain. It was like muddy water being in your mouth, the water was clearly there, but you could still feel the dirty texture of objects floating inside.
A large oval shaped steel door appeared ahead, its onyx coloration gave it a shape shifting appearance from the flickering of the floating fire; However the closer I got to the door, the more it seemed to actually be moving, there was strangely no handle to push on, nor did there seem to be any type of a lock.
The demon gently lowered me to the ground and placed both his hands against the door, the warmth from his hands seemed to soak into what 1st had appeared to be steel, was a dark oak. His fiery hands seemed to heat the door and the dark coloration begins to glow. When enough heat had been absorbed eyes shot open from inside of the door, they were cold calculating eyes and glowed with an orange hue, one that bordered on the sun’s radiance. Then a mouth appeared. It spoke with a wizened accent, one learned over an ancient amount of time. “Is it time again? It has only been a few centuries”.
My demon captor looked at the eyes and spoke to him, although nothing was said out loud, it was certain there was a confrontational battle of wills, and it seemed that my captor was not all powerful as I had come to believe. Sweat flowed down his muscular body, his muscles twitched with strain, and his eyes were straining to maintain locked visage with the door.
“You will upset the balance! The door screamed, it is too soon, think of what you are doing (demons name) even your evil soul knows this is not right”. The strain in the voice was that of one about to be defeated who was changing tactics to begging.
(demons name) I had heard that somewhere before, I knew him somehow, we had a past, but my memories were in heaven where I had left them. Left them when I was stripped of all that made me human, when I was being accepted into heaven. I knew then that I was not allowed in because of the hate and the evil feeling I had brought with me. By fighting to hold onto those shark eyes that murdered me I had damned myself.
(demons name) said aloud with perfect clarity, “It’s not my decision, it is my masters bidding, and you know (doors name) that not even I can ignore those orders”.
His accent was surely (Islamic, Persian, or Egyptian whichever character I choose from the bible), I have never heard either, but instinct told me I was right. Something about the confidence in his voice made me feel like he was someone important from his time, and I knew he definitely was ancient. For the 1st time I noticed that he was not speaking English, nor was the door, the dialect and language was something I didn’t understand, yet I could speak it fluently and understand it as well.
(demons name) pushed his hands against the door, fire leapt from his hands, it was wrapped all about him, then it shot into the door, I could hear the door screaming and knew that it was being forced open. I knew all of this had something consequentially bad to do with me and I jumped up from my seated position and ran!
Pumping my legs and arms I began to run as hard and as fast as I could, only the hallway in which I was running like so many other things in this place seemed to come alive, it elongated, preventing me from ever really getting anywhere. My mind erupted into panic, the noose was still hanging from my neck and the rope was still dangling back where I had started…..
The pain was only for an instant, the rope was pulled tight, and my neck was snapped into two. The feeling in my legs and arms was gone and I knew I had been paralyzed. I heard a thump as disorientation took hold and I knew the thump had been me hitting the ground. My face was buried in the chilly heat of the cobblestone floor; even the floors in this god forsaken place were hot enough to burn your face.
I did feel the hand close around the back of my neck, it wrapped easily all the way around and my eyes registered the rise in the air as (demons name) picked me up and slung me roughly over his shoulder again.
A mental barrage assaulted my being, and even though I couldn’t feel my body, pain erupted inside of my brain; my screams tore throughout the hallway and my eyes saw that we had passed beyond the door that (demons name) had battled earlier.
I could already feel my body healing, although it would take some time without the healing powers from the wondrous rod at my demon jailors belt.
His mouth curled into another hideous smile, I knew he was reading my mind again. We both knew he didn’t have to tell me that he had no intentions of healing me again. He bellowed with that awful laughter at this thought, and gave me a mental image of an altar, with demons all around it, and I was tied to it. All sorts of creatures were closing in around me and no matter what I did I couldn’t escape. Somewhere in the crowd the beautiful man was laughing, only it kept getting closer and closer until he was on me, hands caressing my face telling me he loves me and that I was his chosen one.
Fear sent waves throughout my body and I realized that I could feel my toes numb, but I could feel them. I looked up at (demons name) and tried to peer through to see his real image, the one that was hidden, or the one that was real, I hadn’t decided yet. All I saw in return was a aura of blackness that seemed to shield him from my strange talent. Again he laughed, knowing that my feeble attempts at rebellion were futile. For the 1st time since I arrived in this hell, I too felt like all that I did or could do was futile. My will was broken and the worst was still to come.
At this thought (demons name) spoke again out loud, “Yyyessss ttthhheee wooorrrssstt isss sttillll aahheeaaddd”. His voice and statement sent a shiver down my now mending spine, and for a moment I wished that it would have just stayed broken. With this thought (demons name) erupted with laughter, and once again began our walk to where I knew my fate was going to be decided.

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