The Abyss is vast. So vast it cannot be controlled. So vast it cannot be tamed.
But every society has a ruler and so does the Abyss.
Helios was not a ruler, but instead, he was the dirty knife the ruler used to stab insolent creatures of the Abyss straight into the heart. He was nothing more or less than a tool that brought destruction if used by his owner's hand.
Days in the Abyss were all the same, filled with pleading, screaming, bloodshed and massacre. There was nothing special about this place besides it caged the worst of the worst. It was a prison for the creatures which belonged nowhere else. Wherever they went, they spread misery and carnage. Some of them were born in the Abyss and some were sucked inside after the other worlds discarded them. Helios was born here, but as a general, traveled elsewhere to feed on insignificant residents of other ignorant places.
It was a fun life that was often dangerous and threatening, but a fun life, nonetheless.
As he was walking towards the news which were to send him to Earth again, his dark armor was melting into the blackness of his wings. They were folded behind his back now, straining under the weight of the chains that were put on them.
Nobody was free in the Abyss.
The chains were strong and heavy, tightening around his wings and then his torso. He could not get rid of them. Only the Ruler could use magic to unbind them. But the Ruler was ruthless and cunning, and the days Helios's wings were free could be counted on one hand. The sword he carried around his hips was no ordinary blade. It was the steel from Earth that contained a piece of the soul of the blacksmith who made it. Nobody knew who this person was besides Helios and the Ruler, but the power of the soul was not to be underestimated.
The creatures residing here had no soul so no matter how good their technique in crafting weapons was, the steel was never as strong as the one coming from Earth. Humans carried the light of life inside them, a piece of undying magic that made them live forever even if their physical form dies. The soul was the secret ingredient of everything they made. Piece by piece, it detached from their inner being and melted into the object they crafted.
For a creature from the Abyss, to rule over a sword that contained such strong force was almost impossible. In order to wield something strong like that, your blood must not be pure, and the creator of the weapon must be pure of heart in the moment of crafting.
Helios worked hard to obtain that sword. He preyed upon the old blacksmith who had the most beautiful daughter in the village. It happened many years ago and he was still very fond of that memory. At first, he just wanted to feed off her, fuck her and then watch her die as she would slowly sink into the milkiness of death and then find another and repeat the same thing until he was bursting with energy and life. Anela was delicate like the morning dew with her white skin and big round blue eyes. Her hair was the color of honey, and her cheeks were always slightly red like she was always blushing. Her hands were soft and her lips even softer, he could tell, because he tasted them many times before he managed to consume her. Helios walked by her house many times before he managed to even talk to her. Anela tended to hide in the stables and whisper to the horses, running away from the outside world and spending most of her days behind closed doors of the house.
Her father was a good man. He worked hard and provided for the family he had left. Anela's mother was lost a few years before the great famine, dying from pneumonia. He was left with two beautiful daughters. Laya, Anela's sister, was only eight when Helios took the older one away and he planned on returning for her as well, but the Ruler decided Earth was too dangerous at that moment and the missions he went on after were never connected to Earth anymore.
The old blacksmith worked night and day, providing the armies of Earth with the finest steel and that was not something he did out of the goodness of his heart. He did it for the gold and the gold was good, allowing him to feed the girls and give them a good life. He tried to protect them from the outside world as well by teaching them to read and use their own heads. He provided education for them whenever he could and looked closely at the people approaching them.
When Helios saw her, he knew she was an easy target. Her heart was transparent like the rain catching on the windows of her room when he saw her reading there.
First, he pretended to be a stranger who got lost on his travels and is now in desperate need of help and she believed that. Then he asked her if she could provide him with some food and clothing, which she gladly did. He asked her to tell no one that she helped him because of his pride. He promised he would make a place for himself in their little village and come back to return the favor. After that, it became easy to apply for a job in her father's forge and not even three days passed before he managed to spin her head and make her eat right off his hand.
His game began when the old blacksmith accepted him completely and started to look at him as if he was a ray of light in his gray, working world. Helios was nice to him, and his Incubi energy was enough to win the favors. By that time Anela was head over heels for him, ready for him to consume her, but that's when he saw his opportunity.
A week before he was to return to the Abyss, he decided how he would approach this situation. On the first night, he came into the blacksmith's dreams and warned him of the being who will kill his daughter. The next morning, the blacksmith was very shaken and talked to Helios about it. He knew his moves were right because on the second night he appeared next to his creaky wooden bed after lurking for some time in the dark behind the door. He approached the blacksmith turning his eyes red and changing his physical appearance into his real one. Demons were terrifying to humans. They were scared of their distorted faces and bright red eyes. He then turned his face into the one he was using on Earth, hinting that he was the one to kill Anela.
The morning after, the old man was already losing his connection to the real world, and he spent all day looking at Helios and waiting for him to make any move that he considered suspicious. Helios made his fears come true. In one of the moments when the old blacksmith was looking at him, he quickly changed his appearance into his demon form, making the watcher scream in horror and run away outside the forge. Helios then came after him, asking him if he was all right, claiming that all was untrue and the blacksmith only imagined everything.
One day before he was to leave for the Abyss, Helios was satisfied as the old man was now deeply engulfed in his insanity, forging a sword that would protect his daughter with the power of his soul which was now pure. He wanted to protect her so strongly that nothing else in the world was important anymore.
He forged the sword and prepared for Helios that evening. He was about to attack him and kill him the moment his eyes turned bright red again. He stayed awake, looking at the doors of his bedroom which would soon let in the shadow that was haunting him for days.
The sword was next to him, leaning on the nightstand when Helios came from the dark and met his eyes. Before the old man managed to even utter a word, a demonic hand reached directly for his heart and plucked it out from his very chest.
His breathing stilled fast as life was abandoning him and Helios took the sword with a triumphant look on his face. It was hard work, but the prize was his.
Anela was sleeping that night as any other, peacefully dreaming of the wedding with Helios. After all, he was the only person her father ever liked, and he was perfect with his pitch-black hair and bright green eyes. He respected her and she knew he would protect her every day until the end of their lives.
It was until the end of her life only.
Helios walked up to her room, looking gorgeous as always in his human form, and came close to her bed. At first, she thought she was dreaming, but his relentless kissing soon proved to be very real. He gently took off her nightgown and caressed her hair while he stared at her naked body. His eyes were emitting crimson when he was biting her lip and licking her neck and her soft moans made him hungry. He made her take off her panties in front of him and she blushed harder than ever before and then he allowed her to take off his clothes for him, gently revealing the muscles she touched with great passion.
He softly pinned her to the bed and struck inside her, feeling the hunger reach its peak. She convulsed around him, moaning densely as her breaths became heavier and heavier with every thrust. She was a virgin and virgins were the cleanest form of energy. He could feel his erection grow stronger and stronger as her life was fading away and at that moment her body began twitching as she was reaching orgasm. She screamed silently, diving her nails into his back, pressing him closer to herself. He took her to heaven at that moment, raising her above the feelings Earth could offer. He came after her and then only silence remained. Her fingers lost their grip, her breathing stopped and as he was letting her out of his arms her entire body was still and peaceful and only her eyes remained alive for a brief moment before they became distant and cold.
Yes, Helios was very proud of himself. It was the day when he got two prizes for the price of one.
He was very fond of that memory and now a smile lingered on his face as he was preparing to knock on the skull door before him. He tapped the sword and raised his fist. The grand door leading to the Ruler's chambers was made entirely of skulls taken from people of Earth. Allegedly, the Ruler killed them all himself and made the door as proof to everyone.
"Enter." A hollow voice could be heard from the other side.
Helios stepped in after pushing two heavy sides of the door in front of him. The strong aura of death was lingering inside the room, penetrating his every pore. It was almost hard to walk inside this room. That was the strength of the most feared creature in the dark world.
"You called for me," Helios said, looking directly at the floor. It was forbidden to look at the Ruler. Nobody knew who he was. Everyone who ever laid his eyes on him died that very moment.
"You must leave for Earth. Retrieve the Maiden." The deep, bottomless voice spoke again directing the words at the most feared general in the Abyss.
"Your wish is my command," Helios spoke now looking at the black floor beneath him with more intensity. The command was everything and there was no room for disobedience.
"Before you go, you will speak with the Council, and listen to their instructions. This mission is crucial for us, for this world, and for everyone inside it. If you manage to bring her here and the ritual takes place when the blood moon collapses onto the Galah star, we will be able to walk the Earth freely. Do you understand?" The voice turned into a piercing whisper, making Helios tremble from within.
"I understand." He accepts and calms his thoughts by putting his right hand on the sword. The sword was his most prized possession, proof he was ruthless and merciless.
"Anela never died." The Ruler spoke again, now with a force that was unknown to Helios. He couldn't determine if it was threatening or just overpowering.
He almost raised his eyes in surprise when he heard that, but at the very last moment, he managed to put his urge under control, now trying to dig out the truth behind those words.
"I saw her die with my own eyes." He speaks tamely, but darkly. Questioning what the Ruler said was a very dangerous road to walk on.
"Yes, I am sure you continue to exist under that impression." There was no mockery in his tone, but Helios was ashamed for some reason, and for the very first time in his long life, he believed he has been cheated.
"Do you care to explain this further?" he asked, now slightly bewildered by the thought his mission was unsuccessful.
"As you know," the shadow on the floor grew larger now, spreading almost to Helios's feet. He came closer and made the feeling in Helios's chest stronger. It was like choking, just more intense. "Anela was the first Maiden. We didn't know then what we know now. We tried to kill her because she threatened our very existence. Every Maiden is a weapon, a tool Malor could use to eradicate the dark shadows of this world. A powerful Malor could wipe us out entirely."
Suspicion grew inside Helios, as he was listening to the voice speaking directly to him. A suspicion that was telling him he failed. Not intentionally, but he did.
"The Maiden has the ability to die and come back to life, procreate with divine beings and leave a heritage behind her in the shape of another Maiden. After you allegedly killed Anela, she woke up the next morning, not remembering you or her life prior to that." The voice stopped for a moment and the aura of the room settled. The choking feeling inside Helios's chest became less threatening.
"Please continue," Helios says clearly, now focused on the remaining part of the story. He almost forgot whom he was speaking to as the fire inside him grew stronger.
"She screamed when she saw her father inside his bed with his heart torn out of his chest, but she felt nothing except fear because there were no memories left and she didn't know who he was anymore. She ran away and got attacked by the bandits who only wanted to prey on her, but at that moment she was rescued by a farmer who lived in the nearby village. They procreated and the Maiden gave birth to a girl. The girl was not from the seed of a divine being so the power inside her slept for the next twelve generations."
"So that is a reason a Malor never attacked the Abyss, and we never went to war," Helios spoke his thoughts out loud.
"There would be no war." The Ruler spoke slowly. "Not then. We were and still are too weak to fight against the power of Malor."
"How can it be that one being can determine the faith of so many?" Helios asked, tapping the sword with his right hand again. He grew impatient and nervous.
"Darkness is only the absence of light." The voice was now faint, but the aura was still strong, pressing onto the room like a boulder on a mouse. "If the light appears, the darkness tends to disperse quickly."
"Why has no divine being managed to find the Maiden all these years?" Helios asked stone cold, but with a curiosity lingering in his tone. This information he was sure only the Council knew.
"The original Maiden was concealed by the touch of a human. Taking a mortal seed inside herself made her undetectable to the divine beings. The war raged and nobody could reach her before that moment." The answer was filled with patience.
"And how did we come into possession of such important information?" This was an arrogant question, he knew that, but the truth was just one small step away and he couldn't let it go.
"The current Malor is in our captivity."
"That cannot be true," Helios says quickly, now feeling an odd throbbing inside his throat. He swallowed nervously tapping the sword one more time.
"Do you dare to question me?" His voice became even more silent, but the aura of the room went back to pressuring his heart. It was now being choked by the coldest hands.
"I went above your permission. I wish to apologize." Helios spoke quickly.
"No more questions. The council waits for your appearance."
"Yes sir." Helios turns away quickly and walks to the door. As he was pressuring them now on the other side, the gravity of the situation hit him from every direction.
There is still so much he didn't know, but he was on a good path to retrieving the information. The Council was the source, and he was ready to squeeze that source well.