Asmodeus – Demon of Lust: Part One

Tied down. My arms stretched above my head, aching in their relentless restraint. Panic as I take in my surroundings. I’m in what looks like a large cave, the walls made of black volcanic rock. Rivulets of lava seep down through numerous cracks in the surrounding walls, cooling and hardening, adding to the texture of the cave.

The heat makes me sweat uncontrollably, beads of it roll down my face. My tongue is a desert, every swallow painful. The air is acrid, stinking of sulphur and smoke. Every breath is torture in my lungs, making them burn with an evil intensity. The platform I’m lying on seems to be made of the same rock as the walls, hard and lumpy, digging into my back.

Rusted iron shackles encircle my wrists and ankles, pinned into the volcanic rock with nails as thick as my forearm. I yank at them, jerking my feet up and flinging my arms down, praying that one of the nails will break loose. I grimace at the effort, baring my teeth and hissing as the movement causes my dry lips to split. I lick at the blood and find temporary relief as it wets my throat, only to have my thirst return with a vengeance when what little saliva I have managed to produce also evaporates. My breathing becomes more ragged, more laboured as I start to hyperventilate, struggling to get a full breath.

The panic overwhelms me and I pull at my chains like a madwoman, screaming, sobbing, desperate cries. One last powerful kick with my bound legs and although the shackles rip open the skin on my ankles, I am free! Well, almost. The peg holding my legs down flies free and clangs loudly against the floor. I stop screaming and slow my breathing down, thinking hard.

Still unable to sit up, I slide my legs off the rocky table. My arms protest as the awkward new angle puts even more strain on them. Taking a deep breath, I brace against the pain and pull my arms down as hard as possible. I shriek in agony as this almost rips my arms out of their sockets. Panting hard, I take a small break and try to come up with a new plan.

Inspiration strikes again and I slide further off the table, ignoring the throbbing in my arms. Soon I am crouching on the ground, my arms and half my back still on the table. Twisting my body to the left, turning back towards the slab of rock, I manage to get on my knees. Small relief for my arms now as they stretch before me, still attached to the rock, chain tangled. I grasp at the chain and pull with all my strength, but this pin does not budge.

I’m still pulling, hoping I’ll get lucky like I did with the first pin when I feel the ground begin to tremble.

Fear steals my breath away as sharp cracking and deep rumbling sounds resonate from the wall behind me. In my terror I scramble as quickly as my still chained feet allow, taking small desperate steps around the head of my stone slab. I end up on the opposite side, watching the rumbling wall – now in front of me – and using the stone as a shield.

I have no idea what will happen next and this fear of the unknown has my heart fluttering like a caged bird in my chest. The cracking and rumbling gets louder and with it I watch in horror as large fissures form on the wall, a red light and more heat emanating from them.

I’m inside a volcanic crater then? Placed here by some ancient deluded tribe as a human sacrifice no doubt. Or maybe just a typical psycho killer, who’s invented a whole new sick way to torture and kill his victims? Fucking bastard, too lazy to do the job himself. Whoever put me here must have wanted me to die being eaten alive by the lava of a volcanic eruption and they won’t have to wait very long from the looks of things.

I pull frantically at my bonds again, each thunderous new crack causing my heart to leap. Finally as the first dribbling of new lava spews forth from the cracks, I stop struggling. Where would I go anyway? With my shackled wrists and ankles, I wouldn’t get to an exit on time. I can’t even see one now that I think about it, all the walls that surround me – apart from the cracking one – are either completely closed off or holding back a reservoir of magma.

I don’t want to die, I’m still so young. I’ve never been kissed, never been loved. I will never finish college, never get married or have children and as much as I wish with all my heart that I was away from here, free to live out a long and happy life, I can’t see a way out.

Bitter tears stream down my face as I wonder whether one can still go to heaven even if they’ve died in hell.

I close my eyes and bury my face in my outstretched arm as I wait for the lava to bury the rest of me. The wall has begun to hiss now and all the sounds that emanate from it drown out my sobs and the thumping of my heart.

Silence, as sudden and alarming as that first rumble. Has the eruption stopped? Been plugged up somehow? Do I have more time? I dare not hope, paranoid that God is just toying with me, that the lava is already flowing towards me, unstoppable and unmerciful. Only one way to find out.

I open my eyes and see that while there is a small amount of lava it has pooled by a large opening in the cave! It’s almost as if the wall became liquid again and melted into the opening. I release a shriek of excited disbelief which morphs into a scream of terror as something walks through the doorway.

It is a huge humanoid creature, standing at seven feet. Black skin, nothing like the dark brown skin of humans but true black, the absence of colour, accented by red markings and contrasting against white hair. It – he – is all muscle, hard and defined, his entire body exposed, manhood and all.

His hair is long and braided loosely, falling past his shoulders. His pubic area is also covered in thick white hair with fine streaks of it running along his arms legs and torso. A long arrowed tail flicks this way and that as he spots me behind my rock. His eyes are a sulphurous yellow, with red irises and darker red pupils.

I meet his gaze and flinch at its intense fury. All my theories about my predicament fly out the window as I am captured by that gaze. I was right about one thing though. This is hell. And I’m staring at the devil himself.

When he speaks it’s not to me but rather to another creature, cowering at his feet. I hadn’t noticed it until now. It is small and ugly, hunched over like an old crone, a drooling, festering mess. An imp, I can only assume. Unrelenting anger as the demon turns on his servant.

“I believe I ordered you to bind the girl.” he snarls, eyes blazing down at his slave.

The creature bows down even lower, snivelling and trembling with fear.

“Yes, my Lord. I complied as you wished but-“

He doesn’t finish. The demon lord grabs him by the throat and slams him into the cave wall.

“If you had truly done as I commanded, then tell me why my prisoner is not still shackled!”

The creature in his hold chokes against the demon’s hand, unable to draw a breath to answer. I lower my head down further behind my stone table. Still watching the disturbing pair, I hope that the imp will keep his master busy and distracted from me. I haven’t failed to notice his casual mention of me as his prisoner.