Making his lightsword shine with the brightest light he possibly could, Lucius charged at the darkness surrounding him and sliced through it like it was a horde of enemies. This, unsurprisingly, didn't have any effect, and it was followed by the sleep demon's laughter. Trying his best to ignore the provocation, Lucius completely focused on his effort to try and cause any kind of change in his surroundings. He swung his lightsword around with the fervour of a desperate man and shot light out of it, trying to illuminate the darkness that kept swallowing it out of existence. He simply refused to let the sleep demon win.
"Though I must say I'm quite enjoying this display of your ineptitude, I can't help but wonder if you really are the Hell Purger you claim to be, or if that's just some sort of fantasy you chose to believe in. If you really are a Hell Purger, then Elysium has really lowered its standards and is using that title just to try and scare those gullible enough to believe you. Even the most ordinary of Elysium's warriors would realise by now that he's wasting both his time and energy, yet you can't seem to get a grip on reality."
But Lucius didn't fall for the sleep demon's insults. It came in one ear and went out the other. Not stopping for a moment, he continued his fight with the darkness. This went on for a while, and it started to terribly bore the sleep demon, who stopped laughing minutes ago. Beads of sweat started appearing on Lucius's face from all the motion, but he didn't show a sign of stopping.
"I see… You think that you can't fear failure as long as you are trying to prevent it. But you're wrong. You can't keep dancing with that lightsword forever. Sooner or later, you'll waste all of your energy, and then you'll have to face the consequences of your weakness anyway. No matter what you do, you're not waking up from this dream. You're simply no match for me."
Again, Lucius showed no sign of having heard the sleep demon as he shot multiple lights out of his lightsword in a few seconds in an attempt to drive away the darkness. Once more, it yielded no results. Despite that, he continued his efforts.
"You seem to think that illuminating the darkness will bring you salvation, hurt me, or at least annoy me, but I'm afraid that's not the case. I decide what your dream will look like, and everything that happens here is directed by me. I can't blame you, though. You angels are all the same. You think everything should be in light or brought to light and that the darkness should be limited only to night and storms. Well, I'm going to teach you that some things are better left in the darkness."
Lucius would have ignored this too and continued with his unsuccessful attack if he wasn't again pulled away by the strong force. He suddenly appeared in a different place. He was dropped on a chair of some sort, and as soon as he landed on it, around him appeared a long and thick chain that bound him to the chair and made him immovable. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't move one bit.
"There. That's better. I must admit, you were really starting to get on my nerves running around the place like that and pretending to be a mighty warrior." said the sleep demon, satisfied with Lucius's forced calmness.
Accepting the fact that he's trapped, he examined his surroundings. He was in some kind of big room. The architecture was human, and there were many seats, and in front of him was one big canvas. The most welcome change was the presence of light, which allowed him to see all of this, though he didn't have any idea what this place was supposed to be.
"Humans call this place a cinema. Here they come to watch collections of moving images with sound, which they call movies. Each movie is different and tells its own story. For such a low-life form, they are quite ingenious when they feel like it. You are going to watch a movie too, angel, but I think you should know that I am its author. I doubt you will like it, but then again, that's the point. I promised that I would tell you the story of that kid, Daniel, but I thought a bit, and I decided I would show it to you instead. It will be more fun that way." explained the sleep demon, which could be heard but not seen as usual.
Lucius didn't have any idea what the sleep demon was talking about. He never heard about cinemas or movies, and he also couldn't understand what that part about moving images meant or how exactly humans could make images move without supernatural powers, but he had a feeling he would soon find out and that he wouldn't like it a bit because whatever the sleep demon corrupted to use for his own wicked purposes couldn't be good. Once more, he tried to break free from the chain that bound him, but that didn't bear fruit. There was nothing left for him to do but continue being a puppet in this sick little show the sleep demon was forcing him to be a part of.
Without any warning, the lights went out, and Lucius was left in complete darkness, but only for a second, because a movie appeared on a projection screen. To say that Lucius was confused by what he saw would be an understatement. Are humans really capable of doing something like this, or is this another one of the sleep demon's tricks? Whatever the case, the fact remained that Lucius saw a man and a woman in what appeared to be a garden of some house, playing on the lawn with their baby, happy and grateful as only parents who truly love their child can be. They were clearly in front of Lucius, but he was also aware that they were not in the same room with him. Instead, it seemed like they existed in their own world, almost as if he were looking through a portal.
The image changed, and now the parents were in a park, and the baby was not a baby anymore but a small boy who was insecurely walking while constantly being under the watchful eye of his parents. Along with being happy and grateful, they were also clearly proud of their son. Then the image changed, and now the parents were in a children's room, and there was again a baby with them, but it was not the boy. The boy was even more grown up, playing by himself in the background while the parents cared for the baby. Wait... That boy... That's...
"Yes, that's Daniel, alright. And those are his parents and his sister. Aren't they a lovely picture?" the sleep demon asked with alarming joy.
Lucius didn't answer, but he agreed. It was truly wonderful to see such happiness caused by the blessing of life. Consequently, Lucius felt a sting of cold in his heart. He already knew where this was going. This wasn't going to be a happy story.
"My, my, do you catch on fast. Maybe you aren't that dumb at all. But don't worry! This is one of those cases where knowing the ending doesn't ruin experiencing the story!" spoke the sleep demon as the image changed to a scene of the family enjoying themselves on the beach.
The children were running on the sand, playing tag, and the parents were holding hands and watching the sunset. It was an idylic moment—a concept of family happiness distilled into one single moment. As expected, this happiness didn't last long at all, and the next scene showed the mother and the children watching in silence as the father was packing his stuff, and seconds later he was being picked up in front of the house, and the rest of the family was waving with tears in their eyes.
"War... One of the most interesting things that humans do, if you ask me. Sure, we do it too, but our ways are pretty boring, if you ask me. In fact, let me tell you something. You angels are awfully boring enemies. There's rarely anything unexpected about fighting with you. You just keep babbling on and on about honour and duty and good and evil. Everything is so predictable, and most of you are simply pushovers, and those among you who can put up a good fight are few and far between. But humans—ah, humans are a different story. Such creativity and ingenuity in the creation of things that kill. We demons and angels are born with each other as enemies, and that's understandable, but the amount of hate humans can feel for each other is amazing, and what better time to show all of that hatred than during war? They don't say for nothing that war brings out the worst in people. It's a perfect catalyst for sin, and awful things are done during wars, and, you see, Daniel's father saw his share during his service."
Scenes of wounded, dying, dead, massacred, dismembered, and crippled people rapidly started to show on the screen. Raping, pillaging, torturing, abuse of every kind—it was all shown. While women, children, and families were back at home or in exile waiting for the war to end, their sons, husbands, and fathers were becoming and being monsters every day, and though it was not clear if Daniel himself became a monster, he was seen witnessing all of it. Lucius stared in shock. He was completely unaware of how horrible the wars that humans waged were.
"Yes, while we play knights and beasts, humans have taken their conflicts up a notch, haven't they? Maybe it's their finiteness that makes them like that? Or revenge? Or many things combined? But that's unimportant right now. What is important is that Daniel's father saw some very bad stuff. Stuff that scars you and follows you for as long as you're alive. Stuff that keeps you awake at night. Stuff that gives you nightmares. Stuff that there's no escaping from. Humans have a name for it. They call it post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, for short. Honestly, I couldn't care less how they call it, but what I have to admit is that it's a great thing to leverage when you're trying to completely break a human's spirit. And that's exactly what I did."
While the sleep demon was saying this, the scene of the father returning home played in front of Lucius's eyes. It was heartbreaking. What was supposed to be a moment of happiness and a moment of returning to an old, better, and more joyful life was nothing but that, for there are wounds that even love can't heal. Or at least not quick enough to prevent tragedy. The lukewarm reunion of the father with the family was just the beginning of the realisation that the man that they once knew was gone forever. Scenes of nightmares, insomnia, flashbacks, hallucinations, and taking pills followed. Insecurity, desperation, and fear loomed over the family throughout the years, and then...
"I didn't even have to do all that much to begin with. The guy simply couldn't deal with his issues, and I just nudged him the right amount of times, and that was it." the demon spoke casually, as if he were talking about some everyday occurrence, while the scene showed a father with a gun in his hands and his wife protecting their children with her own body.
There was crying, shouting, and screaming, but there's almost no point in warning about an avalanche when it's triggered and you're in its way. Lucius wanted to cover his eyes so he wouldn't witness the deed itself, but he remembered that he's tightly chained, so he simply decided to close his eyes, but couldn't do that either.
"No! You'll watch it, angel! You cannot miss the best part!" histerrically laughed the sleep demon, forcing Lucius's eyes to remain open and witness the imminent horror.
BANG! The shield of love was hit and irreparably damaged. With tears in her eyes, the mother fell to the ground, killed by the hand of the man that she loved. BANG! Defeated, lost, and empty, the father joined his lover in death, which remained the only way forward, and the children now stood alone in front of the lifeless bodies of their parents, forever marked by this harrowing experience nobody should see.
"It's magnificent, isn't it?" asked the sleep demon with such glee, as if he just saw a touching expression of love and not something deeply traumatic.
Lucius was silent. He couldn't even begin to think of anything to say to this demented being. He was simply overwhelmed with grief mixed with anger. Not only was he guilty of completely ruining one life, he also ruined a whole family and the lives of two children.
"After this, the children moved in with their grandparents, and then I had to choose who's next in line. I decided to pick the boy. The sister was still little, and there was time for the strength of her soul to grow. The boy was not that hard to crack. He was greatly affected by what he saw, and combined with his teenage years, this was perfect. He started to smoke, drink, and hang out with bad company. Still, it took some time for the illness to develop and conquer him. But in time, he did get sick. I made sure he does. But now, it's almost over, and he is dying. And there is nothing you can do to stop this. I am sorry if I'm repeating myself too much, angel, but I enjoy making you understand just how helpless you are in this situation. There is nothing you can do to save him, and once he's dead, his sister is next in line."
Not being able to whitstand the sleep demon's provocations anymore, Lucius began to yell and try his best to escape the chair he was chained to, but that only managed to make him feel even more powerless because his efforts had no effect at all. But that didn't stop him from trying, much to the sleep demon's amusement. After a few minutes, Lucius finally broke and started crying. He was shaken to the core by what he witnessed and by his own inability to do anything.
"Awwww, poor angel is crying. Here, let me help you get out of that nasty chair."
Those words were followed by yet another fall to the ground in the complete darkness. Completely distraught, Lucius put his face on the floor and wept like a child for a good few minutes.
"Now this is something new. I never had a particularly high opinion of you angels, but I never saw one cry like a child. You really are pathetic. I'll be doing your kind a favour by eliminating you."
Slowly, while still crying, Lucius dragged his hands in front of his head, folded them, and started praying. This was so hilarious to the sleep demon that he started laughing the loudest he had since Lucius appeared in his domain.
"I saw your kind valiantly fight to their last breath against overwhelming odds countless times. Even those who fell by my hand fell with as much dignity as they could. You, on the other hand, are a disgrace, not only to the angels but to immortal beings as a whole. I am going to do your job, angel. Today I'm going to be the one that purges, and you are going to be the purged one!"
And just as the sleep demon prepared to finally stop toying with Lucius and end his life, something happened that seriously unsettled the sleep demon and messed up his plans.
Without any pomp or any sign that that was going to happen, Lucius opened his eyes and woke up...