"I take back my words, Mortal. It is truly unexpected that you will refuse such an offer." She said as she tightens her grip on me.
"However my Lord wishes for your servitude, hence you shall be his servant. Willing or not, does not matter anymore."
I was mortified. Not even being able to move an inch under her finger that kept pouring warm energy into me, i wallowed in despair.
I could feel the warm energy turning into shackles spreading throughout my body, ultimately connecting to a single point in my forehead.
I wanted to scream out, resist with all my might. But not even a little cry could leak out of my mouth.
Either unaware or uncaring towards my meaningless struggles, the cruel Angel chanted with an ethereal echoing voice,
"Summon, Portal."
An ovule portal emerged out of thin air, emanating divine light which turned into a vortex spiralling inwards, but when compared to the cruel Angel's light?
The divine light was nothing but a wisp before a sun.
"Prove yourself worthy of serving the Lord, Rivaan. In Hell, that is." She, for the first time, used my name but with a sinister smile.
I couldn't feel anything but chills and disgust when i saw her grin. However my feelings did nothing to change the outcome. The outcome that I got sucked into the portal without a chance to struggle.
The destination? Hell.
*****
*****
It was nauseating.
That was all i felt when i got sucked into the portal and arrived here. The place where i was thrown into, the Hell, truly lived up to its name.
Purple trees with various faces embedded into it's barks that seems to be suffering from something worse than death.
Their canopy, which was nothing short of a burning bowl of crimson lava, illuminated my whole surroundings. Every scarlet leaves in the demonic tree appears to have enough heat to vaporize a small pond.
I could feel the heat even when I was standing on the group, with the canopy being tens of meters above.
And the worst part was, as far as my eyes could see, there were only these demonic trees and they were so dense that there was only the illumination of the demonic forest.
As for the sun? There was none to be seen other than just purple sky.
Looking down, all i witnessed was pitch blackness. It was as if i was standing on the blackest of charcoal albeit very smooth, reflecting no other colours from the ground.
[Iam Jasmine. I shall be your assistant in your journey as the Slave of the God.]
A cold mechanic voice interrupted my observation, throwing me out of my thoughts. I looked around to find a small palm size fairy looking down on me from a higher altitude.
Did she call herself Jasmine and my assistant? Although i didn't pay much attention to her, i still wondered, how is a fairy that looked alive and vibrant be producing such a mechanical voice? Was she a robot?
However that was just a momentary curiosity, as i beelined my way towards the closest demonic tree. Not caring of the fact that the fairy seems to be displeased by my lack of acknowledgement of her presence other than a small glance.
Now that i took a closer look, the faces on the tree appears to be human faces and some rare ones having animal features. Their expressions seemed to be screaming in pain but no voice entered my ears.
There were even bloody tears flowing down from one of them.
[If you're wondering, those are the souls of humans sentenced to suffer in the hellish flames of demonic magma trees. They have been here for thousands of years by now.]
'A useless piece of information.' I remarked in my mind, as i started to climb the tree.
It wasn't hard since the tree had various fissures and crack for a great grip, taking me no time to climb a 10 meter high bark untill i could feel the scorching heat from the canopy. Any further and i will start to suffer severe 3rd degree burns.
My intentions were as clear as day, and as if understanding what I am about to do, Jasmine spoke up.
[You will regret committing suicide. I can assure you that much.]
"I doubt i will feel anything in death, let alone regrets." I countered without much thought. My eyes were gazing at the magma leaves, as if possessed.
'Yes, this is my only choice.'
I was determined. Nothing was worse than living without freedom, and only those who lived in shackles can understand. How suffocating it is.
But some wannabe smartasses will say, why not go against the God? As if that thought never crossed my mind.
However, living amongst mortals, how will i become strong enough to kill or resist a God?
All my life of mere 17 years, i haven't seen or heard of anything that could threaten an existence that is called a God. How could there be a way to go against him?
Even if there was a way, a question arises, will that God just sit by and look at me getting stronger with my hatred laid bare?
I was not sure how strong that God is, or maybe even omnipotent, but if his Angel can send me to this hell so easily, then erasing my will, my mind and my everything would be as easy as a snap. And what would remain of me? Maybe an empty shell whose only purpose is to be a slave.
Better yet dead than a slave.
[What about your mother?]
"...!"
I couldn't help but stop. My whole body tensed, the word "mother" made me involuntarily turn my head towards the expressionless fairy.
"Wh-what about my mother? She is alive... right?"
Not noticing my voice cracking, all I had was one question in my mind, the only other fear that i had. Which I did not wish it to be true
I cannot help it.
She is the only one that i have some fond memory of. The only one to whom i wanted to return to before i got thrown in here.
But my expectations were met with cold water.
[Why would it matter to you if she is alive, kidnapped, enslaved, tortured..... or even dead? Aren't you gonna suicide? Please carry on.]
This flying little shit.....
I was still frozen on the demonic tree, not knowing if she was just shitting out nonsense or threats. But my rational mind could tell, she is hinting me at something.
Maybe she is still alive, but held captive by that God? Maybe she is even being tortured? It was a preposterous to think that a God would sink so low, but it was still a possibility in my mind.
At that thought, i couldn't stay still. I jumped down from the height of 10 meters, landing safely, not even surprised at my lack of pain or injury, i questioned her straightforward.
"What do you want?"
Understanding that she had gotten me under her palm, she manifested an ethereal panel before her. When focusing my eyes, i could see some weird unidentifiable characters written on it.
I didn't have the time to dwell on it though, since she began speaking.
[Let's not misunderstand something here, It's not what i want but what you have to do for our lord.]
I didn't even converse with her for long but i already dislike her, her mechanical voice but lifelike expressions did not match, giving me creepy vibes. So i went to the point.
"What do i have to do to free myself? Why me?"
[Your task is quite simple. You just have to escape the Hell. And as for your other question, you will require Points to receive an answer.]
"Points? And i have to escape this place? But where to?"
[Points, as it sounds, are just points that are used as a currency. You can earn them by completing the tasks assigned to you.]
[And get this fact straight, I am just an assistant and a connection from you to our Lord. All I am supposed to inform is what the task says, which is to escape hell, as to where? Figure it out yourself.]
Earth.
I immediately decided on my destination without any hesitation. There was no other home for me, no one but my mother who would accept me.
With that, my eyes were back to observing the demonic lava forest, and involuntarily a groan leaked out.
"This is really going to be hellish."
I disliked heat.