Page 18 of An Unexpected Ascension (A War Between Worlds #1)

The Angel

As I watch the demon walk away, my bones hum inside my body, throbbing with such intensity I just might throw up again.

This demon is deranged! Driving me to the brink of insanity, threatening me one minute and kissing me the next.

Perhaps it is the kissing that’s part of the threat.

With each unwanted touch comes his entitlement to own everything that’s down here just because he works for the Devil.

I’m so consumed with these flustering emotions, not one lesser than the next, I pick up a skull lingering near my feet and whip it with as much strength as I can muster.

To my surprise, it lands near the demon’s shoes.

He stops, those cold, brittle eyes snapping to the bones shattered like a porcelain vase, then back at me with a small little chuckle.

And still, he leaves.

There’s a scream building in my chest, building so uncomfortably, scraping away at my insides that I have no choice but to release it.

Like finally coming up for air after suffocating, teetering on the brink of death.

I’ve never experienced anything so confusing and chaotic.

Heaving, I stand there and watch him disappear into the distance, leaving me behind in Hell to fend for myself.

Everything is happening all at once: my acceptance of an eternity in Heaven and being dragged to Hell.

I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that I am dead, paid off my penance, made eternal friends, found a purpose, and now...

all of that’s gone.

It takes a great deal of effort to calm my raging heart and the disarray within my mind before following in the demon’s footsteps.

Unlike Heaven, Hell is hot, stuffy even.

This canyon seems to hold a humidity that smells of rot, death, and mold.

I can’t remember the last time I smelt something foul.

The must clings to me, hoping for its next meal, and I pray to a God I probably shouldn’t that it won’t be me.

I pass over splintered bones, loose skulls, and rocks slippery with bodily fluids that drip from the walls.

There are low groans of misery and pain that echo throughout, begging for mercy.

I ignore it all, but what I can’t ignore is the fierce growl rumbling behind me.

My heartbeat kicks up into a quiet panic, a film of sweat forming along my skin, crying from my pores.

I can see the end of the canyon, the opening into the black sandy shores.

Just need to keep moving.

My feet continue forward, hurtling over rotting corpses and slick rocks.

To my relief, the growling stops and the mouth of the canyon is growing closer.

I pick up my pace, desperate to get out of this grimy ravine made of nightmares.

Fingertips from dangling limbs tickle my shoulders as I pass, and I will myself not to think about it.

Between all the groans are the scratches of beetles scurrying up the walls, between eye sockets and hiding in slack jaws.

Disgust courses through me in violent tremors, goosebumps pebbling my skin.

The darkness in the fissure of the canyon is like the dead of night, save for a shadow of the sky miles above.

Slowly, that dim light grows brighter into a glowing red.

Eager to be free of this Hell hole, I pick up my pace, my feet stumbling over the debris littering the ground.

It’s when hope turns into certainty that my foot catches on something. I tug, afraid to avert my eyes from the finish line as if it will move just out of reach, but my foot isn’t budging.

I look down and wrapped around my ankle is a fist, skin shredded and missing in patches.

A lump forms in my throat, a scream ready to be hurtled or vomit threatening its way up, I’m not sure.

As my mouth opens to purge, a garbled scream is cut short by more clear essence.

I was really hoping I would never produce that substance again.

Before I can pull myself together enough to wrangle my ankle free, that deep growl purrs from behind me again.

Every muscle in my body tenses, my breathing stops, and I go utterly still.

Not a single shiver of fear do I allow to roll through me.

The beast inches closer, hunched forward in a predatory stance, assessing his prey.

In my periphery, a head the size of a lion’s, but with slick black fur, peers around level with my face.

As I get a better look, the beast resembles a panther, but thicker, more muscular with yellow, menacing eyes.

It sniffs me, the air puffing from his nostrils blowing my hair into my eyes.

I can’t see, but I wouldn’t dare make a move now.

In a growl loud enough to render me deaf, it flaunts endless rows of teeth like sharpened daggers, each one a weapon on their own.

Like a cat with a mouse, it lingers, toying with me.

Waiting for me to make just a subtle twitch so it can pounce.

With swift, brutal moves, it would tear into me and eat me whole.

I would be left as nothing but the very corpses I said I would rather be... before it became a possibility.

With a small step forward, the beast’s paw crushes the corpse that has imprisoned me, it’s grip now slack.

Yet, I do not move.

It circles me, smelling the fear that’s inevitably leaking with every bead of sweat.

A black so deep it absorbs any fraction of light caging me in a shadow.

The darkness so, so blinding.

I force myself to stay perfectly still, carefully weighing how to make my next move.

It seems I’m caught between making a run for it or waiting to see if I’ll be this animal’s next dinner.

As if the beast senses my thoughts, it flashes its canines again.

Long, thick, and sharp like whittled spears ready for battle.

Being dinner does not sound like an enticing thought, but still I wait.

Fear, a paralyzing drug, tainting my blood and seizing my muscles. Even my heart has paused its useless tremors.

Minutes, hours, lifetimes – I could not say, but eventually the beast decides it’s not interested.

Those little pants of soft breath disappear, the hound sauntering off behind me.

Only, I still do not move.

My feet stay glued to the thick sludge coating the ground made of decaying guts that have seen too much rainfall.

I wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Then, with a deep inhale that stretches my lungs, I bolt.

My feet cut across the uneven floor of the canyon, my thighs swishing with haste. My chest aches like it never did in Heaven, the exertion here just like on Earth. With the black sands now sinking beneath me, I wobble, unbalanced from the change of terrain, but force myself to press on.

Except, it makes no difference.

I feel it before I hear it. The thick, razor-like teeth that sinks deep into my forearm, the crunch of bone, my deafening roar of pain. That growl as a shadowed black beast swallows my sight. That red sky I yearned to see now vanished, shaded by a void of evil.

As I’m ripped from where I stand, sharp daggers spear through the flesh of my skin, tearing through muscle and sinew. Blood starts to drip in heavy rivulets from where the teeth are still buried into me like a chew toy for a beastly dog.

It whips its head, flailing my body and slamming my back against the sands. Pain explodes within me, little shivers of agony spreading throughout.

There’s a cloud of terror starting to fog my mind, littered with nightmares. What will become of me? Will I truly be just another corpse that rots away for eternity? Will I be ripped to shreds and fed to this beast only to be shit out in the end?

Suddenly, I wish for a death I will never see. I pray, to maybe even Lucifer, to save my soul from this torment I do not deserve.

Agony – writhing, consuming, agony.

My voice grows course with the endless screaming.

I’m desperate, so desperate to escape, to end this madness!

“NEIN! AUS!”

Those demands echo in my head, shattering in pieces. The hound immediately retracts its fangs from my arm, blood spurting from the wounds. My eyes widen in horror at the gaping holes in my skin, my bone splintered and glistening beneath the blood oozing by the bucketful. The injury itself would have been enough. Yet, here in Hell, there’s only eternal pain and misery. No comfort in knowing the end will be here soon.

“LAUF!”

With a dismissive wave, the beast skitters off and the demon saunters closer to my discarded body. I lie there clutching my arm, bathing in my own blood. The sand burns my skin, but it’s nothing compared to the shock of torment brought on by the demon’s pet.

Tears flood my eyes, blurring the image of the deranged man standing at my head with his hands behind his back. Though I can hardly see, I don’t miss the amusement playing amongst his features, that little grin and the twinkle in those never-ending pools of blue.

“Looks like you might need my niceties after all, Angel. We can think of ways you can repay me on our journey to the gates, yeah?”

“F-fuck. Y-you!”

Spit flies from my lips, joining the tears and sweat already coating my face.

He kneels, brushing a strand of hair away that was stuck to my forehead.

“Is that what you’re willing to give me? If I heal you here?”

I shake my head, my eyes closing on more tears.

“Well, I don’t think you’re in a good position to negotiate here. The way I see it, you have two choices: stay here and let that Hell Hound finish you off, or let me heal your arm and you can serve me anyway I see fit.”

Another shiver courses through me. My body trembles in pain as I roll to my side and vomit again. That clear fluid mixes along with the puddle of blood growing beneath me. I can’t think straight, the only thing my mind can seem to understand is the pain. It’s the worst I’ve ever felt.

Except that time... An image flashes behind my eyes, brutal and violent, but it’s cut short by another suffocating wave of agony rendering me brain dead.

I nod.

I nod so fiercely that I can feel those sharp teeth now sinking their way into my neck.

A sob bellows from my guts, hurtling from between my lips. Merely hours into Hell and I’ve already sold my soul. This can’t get any worse.

With hands surprisingly gentle, the demon pushes me to sit. I cradle my limp arm, sticky and wet with blood trying to dry.

“This is going to hurt, but only for a second.”

My eyes bulge as a scream rushes from my throat. His hands only tighten around the wounds on my forearm. He twists, wiping his palms through the thick clotting along my skin. He rubs and, in a minute, those gaping holes are stringing together, sewing itself from the inside out.

One torturous second the pain is unbearable, and the next, it’s gone completely. As if it had never existed in the first place. The only evidence of the incident lies wet along my skin and clothes, crimson and still dripping.

My mouth gapes in awe at the wonders of such a power and to be used by a demon no less.

“Can we move along now?”

he asks, offering a hand that I shove away.

I push to my feet, a bit unsteady with shock.

Hell feels a lot like being alive.