The Pleasures of Hell 01.010

"Some time during the first age," Acelina said, shrugging. "Hundreds of thousands of years ago."

"Oh." Well, shit. This was beyond normal for demons, then. It wasn't some band-aid solution for their shitty circumstances, but an aspect of their civilization older than anything any human civilization considered integral to their culture. No wonder demons were all either really fucking nasty, had strange senses of humor, or were carved out of wood. Anyone who survived a childhood like this had to be strong, and twisted.

It was in a spire's best interest to only let strong demon children survive, if the demon children were to grow up and defend the spire from other spires. That was a thing, according to Adron, that spires occasionally fought, and if they didn't want to get destroyed, the spire ruler needed to be strong and summon a horde who could fight the invading force. Or, of course, be the invading force.

"So spire mothers help?"

Acelina shook her head. "Only until the egg has finished hatching. Otherwise it would defeat the purpose. They must reach maturity on their own."

"Then what do mothers do? You just... watch?"

"Watch, and once they reach maturity, we remove them, examine them, ensure they meet the standards we deem, and we explain the rules of Death's Grip."

Pavia joined Acelina's side. "And treat them right, if they're old enough and have done particularly well."

Both ladies chuckled and grinned. Big, evil, scary smiles. But at least Pavia seemed a bit nicer.

Well, Mia had answers to her questions, they just weren't very nice ones. For some stupid reason, that'd surprised her. Something about knowing demons had children, eggs, and they hatched and stuff, had given her weird mental images of demons... not being horrible? Like maybe a weird little family, hatching eggs and hunting for their children and stuff, feeding the babies... okay, feeding them human hearts, so still not the nicest image but damn well better than this. Even as she thought about it, she stared down over the wall at the demons, and a fight erupted deep in the pit. Seven young demons tore into each other. Only five walked away.

"Do hellbeasts spawn here?"

"No," Pavia said. "Hellbeasts have their own hidden little dens where Hell births them. But the spires are the creations of Lucifer, so we are told. And we demons are Lucifer's children."

Right, Zel had said that. Demons were the children of Hell, and Lucifer. If Lucifer created the spires, and the spires grew -- literally -- out of Hell, then it all kinda made sense. Much as anything made sense in the afterlife anyway.

"Kas, I think I'm ready to go back to my room. I--" She blinked as she looked past the two tall ladies, and to the glowing runes written on the wall of bone in the back, high above the pit. Someone had somehow managed to write something with amber veins.

Slowly, she walked past the two demon ladies, and did her best to not notice how her head only reached their stomachs. She walked along the edge of the pit, and circled the giant hole until she reached the huge runes in the bone. How did you write runes with amber veins? She'd seen normal runes carved into stuff, etched, scratched, and all of them had been Estian. This wasn't Estian.

"The ancient language," Pavia said, coming up to stand beside her. "Written into the bones of Hell long ago. Probably when Lucifer created the spires."

"Ancient language..." Was it ancient? It didn't look worn down. It looked brand new. Probably because it was written in what was literal veins of lava encased in some sort of thin, impervious magical glass.

And she could read it.

"The bowels... of Death's Grip... breeds the swarm of the mountain." Mia looked up at Pavia. "Uh, what's that mean? I mean, I guess Death's Grip is a lot of mountains and... and why are you looking at me like that?" Even without eyes, or any facial features really, Pavia's slightly parted mouth looked very stunned.

Mia looked back at Acelina and Kas. Both of them had open mouths, too.

"You can read this?" Pavia asked.

"Yeah. It's weird though. It's not English--er, I mean, Estian. It's some other language?"

Kas came up to her, grabbed her arm, and pulled her toward the exit.

"Come with me."

"W-What? Hey, ow! Jesus, let go! I'm coming already!"

He let go, and she rubbed her wrist as she stumbled after her big dinosaur bodyguard. A quick glance back showed Pavia and Acelina, still staring at her with mouths open.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She can read the ancient runes," Kasimiro said.

Zelandariel, standing by a big stone table in her throne room, turned and faced them, one eyebrow raised.

"Excuse me?"

Kas gestured to Mia. "She can read the ancient runes. Unless she was lying, she read the ancient runes over the hatching pit."

The demon queen's eyes lit up, and her smile turned absolutely evil, and excited, the sort of smile a dominatrix would wear when successfully getting their sub off. It was unnerving.

"Did you now, little soul." Zel sauntered up to her, and squatted down in front of her so they could be face to face. Two of her arms rested on her knees, but the other two reached out, and gently held Mia's shoulders. Intense, disturbing eye contact, the black sclera of Zel's eyes fully circling her red irises as she opened her eyes wider.

"I wasn't lying. I... didn't think that'd be such a big deal."

"It is another piece of the puzzle. An important one. An essential one." Nodding, Zel leaned in closer. The woman was literally over twice as tall as Mia, and proportional; her head was twice as tall as Mia's, too, twice as wide, twice as deep. It was like being inches away from the face of a goddess alien cosmic horror creature, happy to bite her face off, or her entire head off, if she said the wrong thing.

"I... didn't realize," she said.

"I am sure you've realized by our reactions the we can neither speak nor read the ancient language."

Holy shit.

"No, I hadn't realized that."

"You would have learned sooner or later. It is no secret." Nodding, Zel stood up and looked to Kas. "Fetch me Adron."

Kas clicked once, and left, walking off a little faster than he normally did, on all fours with his big tail slowly swaying behind him.

"I was busy," Zel said, "if you were wondering why I had not come to visit you. But this is more important. You will be coming with me, now."

Mia shivered, rubbed her arms, and nodded. Not like she could deny Zel, but the evil smile the spire ruler had worn a moment before hadn't exactly filled Mia with comfort.

"Alright. And, why fetch Adron?"

That might have been a bit too far. She could get lippy with other demons because Zel had declared Mia off limits, but getting mouthy with Zel herself was playing with fire. But thankfully Zel thought her attitude was cute, and she giggled as she grinned at her.

"Because Adron, the sneaky little devil, is someone I can trust, both in talent and in loyalty. I did not know what use you could provide me before this discovery, save for one to be explored later. But now, I have many ideas, and I will not risk your death. I am doubling your guard."

"Oh." Oh god, Adron, and Kas? "And... Hannah?"

Zel shrugged. "She is Adron's pet. I see no issue if she joins him."

Mia squirmed. Adron and Hannah, two people she'd gotten very close to, sexually speaking, in just several days at that. The feel of Adron's huge cock underneath her, spreading her slit's lips apart, pulsing as it poured cum up onto Adron's chest, the memory sent heat through Mia's body instantly. It only got worse, remembering the feel of his body against hers, his cock in her hand, while Hannah sank her fist deep into Mia's body. So much for being in a bad mood.

Oh god, Kas had said he'd had sex with Hannah before, and Adron, at the same time. Images flooded Mia's mind, of little her between the two huge men, stuffed to the gills and squirming and wriggling, while four huge hands held her down, and--

Zel licked her lips. "You do like him."

"I... I mean..."

"I have but to say his name and your aura rekindles, like a spark on kindling." With a playful wink, Zel walked back to her throne, sat down, and motioned for Mia to join her. It was such a big chair of curvy, elegant bones, but Zel and her huge form filled it well, despite how thin she was compared to someone like Diogo or Kas.

There really wasn't any point in lying about this. Apparently Mia had a damn aura that told everyone nearby if she was horny, and worse than that, Zel was smart. Lying to her was dangerous.

"First day I arrived in Hell, I was horrified. And I still am. But every day here, I'm surrounded by so much sex, it's really starting to get to me."

"Diogo showed much restraint, not indulging himself of your small body." Zel pointed beside the throne.

Mia joined her there, and adjusted her silk toga to hide her bits as best she could.

"Diogo's a brute, but he seems loyal."

"As loyal as I can expect of a demon, at any rate."

"And, um... on the topic of sex. I... wanted to ask about something." She squirmed.

Zel looked down from her throne at her, and licked a fang.

"Oh?" Zel already knew the question was going to be a juicy one.

"I've been seeing women getting... fucked, by some, uh, very... very large phalluses. That korgejin tetrad I saw, the big guy, Saldavin, he was fucking that woman with a huuuuge--" Mia held up her hands, indicating the ridiculous length well over a foot long. "And she was enjoying it. A lot. On the surface, that'd be long enough to really injure her, badly! But she was... so full."

"This is Hell, little Mia. The rules are different. You don't eat or drink anymore, do you?"

"No..."

"Your afterlife body is a durable thing. You are no demon, but still, the ebb and flow of resonance and essence lends to different extremes and foundations, down here in the realm of fire and torture."

"Durable." Mia patted her stomach. Durable, and evidently stretchy.

"It is a two-edged sword. What joy is durability if every day is torture? Starving to death over many months, hypnotized by a scrying pool, or doomed to struggle with a broken limb you cannot recover from without eating, a wound that should kill you but does not?" Zel set two of her elbows on the throne arm closer to Mia, and leaned toward her. "Imagine the ways a rather vile demon could torture a soul they did not want to die. I have seen more than a few souls in my life with their guts removed, left to suffer for days, sometimes weeks, before the hungry demon responsible for their agony finally devours their heart."

"Jesus fucking christ." She patted her stomach again. Even if she didn't need to eat and digest food or use the restroom, she still preferred having her insides on her insides. Mood ruined. "I haven't seen anything that bad."

"I have made it clear to my legions that mindless torture is a vice best left untouched. To exert such control over someone can be intoxicating, addicting, and eventually, all consuming."

So Zel wasn't such a bad demon, then? No no, she was definitely a bad demon, and more than willing to torture Mia if she had reason to. Just, maybe not as horrifically bad as some other demons.

Two figures stepped in through the huge archway door. A spark of excitement shot through Mia, and died when she didn't see Kas or Adron.

That, was two huge demons, bigger than Kas or Adron. Korgejins, the two male tetrad demons that served Zel, giant demons with two wings, hooves, no tail, and a pair of colossal horns. Saldavin, and Kas said the other's name was Gorlus. Saldavin was the one she'd seen fucking a woman on her first day in the spire, and being surprisingly gentle, too. Considering how well endowed he was, some degree of gentle was probably required when fucking a human, or they'd simply break.

Thankfully both demons were unaroused, dicks hidden inside them. They were naked, though, and holy shit they were such goliaths of muscle Mia couldn't help but watch the way their bodies moved.

"Another sighting," Saldavin said, stepping up to the giant stone table. He tapped a claw against something on it.

"How many?" Zel asked.

"Two."

With a sigh, Zel stood up and joined her two companions by the table. She tapped her claw on the table as well where Saldavin had.

"They are definitely looking for something," Zel said. "And I would be a fool to not think it the unmarked girl."

"Maybe," Gorlus said. "You sure you only want Kas protecting her?"

"Adron will be joining Kasimiro. I want the two of you to continue as you were."

Both big boys looked at each other, grumbled, but eventually nodded.

"There's something else," Saldavin said. "I heard a few imps and grems talking about a large goort nearby, by itself, standing on a mountain clockwise from here."

"Which mountain?" Zel asked.

"Imps and grems couldn't remember each other's names, let alone the mountain's."

Groaning, Zel gestured at the table. There had to be a map on it or something.

"Did they at least note the color of the goort?"

Gorlus sucked in a heavy breath. "Pure obsidian."

The expression that cut across Zel's face knocked the wind out of Mia. She looked afraid? It lasted maybe a tenth of a second, before the demon's face hardened, and she idly plucked at one of the skulls hanging from her necklace.

"If the rider is here..."

Saldavin shook his head. "The rider will pass. He always does."

Zel slapped the huge beast in the back of the head, earning a growl and grunt from the titan, but no retaliation.

"An unmarked soul sits in this very room, with strange abilities, while angels haunt my horizons, the rider reveals himself in the shadow of my spire, and you're stupid enough to think he hasn't come here to investigate?" Without looking, another one of her many hands shot out, grabbed Saldavin by a horn, and pulled him closer to her before she turned to glare at him. "Gather the devorjins, and post them at every balcony. Gather the vratorins, and send them scouting. Gather the dilojas and gorgalas, and have them do gliding patrols. If the rider dares approach my spire, I will see him dead! You two may be foolish enough to repeat Damavior's mistakes, but I am not."

Not once had Mia ever seen Zel look this way, angry and ready to bite someone's head off, but wrapped in a cold exterior of pure ice. The two korgejin with her had, though, and they both nodded before leaving, heads slightly lowered. They were scared of Zel, and in more than just the obvious 'could kill me' kinda way.

Zel paced back and forth in front of the huge stone table, glaring down at it, both arms folded across her chest.

"I'm surprised," Mia said, testing the waters. Zel didn't respond. "Surprised you let me hear all that."

"If there is a secret to hide, I will hide it. But you knowing the perils of Hell does little to harm me." Sighing, she looked Mia's way. "You think of me as some sort of cartoon villain, don't you?"

Hearing a giant demoness say 'cartoon villain' was trippy as fuck.

"I uh, I just didn't expect you to be so open about it."

"Alessio wouldn't, the vile creature. She'd sew a web of lies and have you dancing to her tune. But I am not her."

No, she wasn't Alessio, ruler of the Black Valley. Mia remembered that much. Zel acted giggly and soft, and turned hard the moment she had to. First attempt at a psych profile for the demon queen: a cold cruel bitch who enjoyed acting pleasant, like the afterlife was a game to her, but under the mask she was all ice.

Kas returned, Adron at his side. Mia stepped down from beside the throne, took a quick peek at Zel to make sure she wasn't going to get her head cut off for doing so, and walked up to smile up at the big guy. A hug would probably have been a bit too much.

"Hi," she said, a little higher pitched than usual. Damn it.

"Hello," Adron said, grinning down at her. "Making friends with Zel, I see."

Zel's cold expression vanished, and she put back on her happy, teasing, playful, feminine expression as she walked over to them.

"Adron. There has been a development. Diogo will be heading back to Gorzen Eye without you."

"Oh? Is Hannah staying?"

Zel rolled her eyes. "Of course, because I know it's the only way to guarantee your cooperation, you fool."

Adron shrugged, grin unrelenting. He knew Zel better than Mia thought.

"What's the mission?"

"Guard the unmarked."

"Isn't Kas already doing that?"

"Kas is not sufficient, considering what we only recently learned. Mia is to be kept alive and unharmed, and you and your devious little mind are to preempt any attempts to kill her."

"Preempt? You think someone's going to actually plan to kill her?"

"It is a possibility. You will learn why soon. And besides, I think you will enjoy the other plans I have in store for her and you." With a playful smile, Zel tugged at her nipple chain idly with one hand, while the three others reached down, two took Adron's shoulders, and the final one casually wrapped one of his horns. "If you fail to keep her alive, I will do far worse than kill you, and Hannah's screams will be all you hear until pain and misery sunder your mind into mulch."

Adron gulped, in that comically exaggerated way he loved, nodded, and looked to Kas.

"So you're not qualified to do this solo, buddy?"

Kas grunted, clicked once, and said nothing.

Zel released her demon. "Now, come. To the depths."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mia was going to puke. No, wait, she couldn't puke anymore. That didn't stop nausea from hitting her as they, yet again, did some rapid traversal, jumping from balcony to balcony, deep into the tower. Deeper than the balcony with the hatching room. So deep it got dark, and Mia's eyes had to adjust. Not many braziers down here.

There was a bottom. There was no stone down here, no metal save for the balcony over there heads. Just like the tunnel that led to the hatchery, it was all flesh and bone, with only a few tiny veins of amber that cut across the bones, and not enough for Mia to see clearly.

That made the screaming and crying a thousand times worse.

She'd half expected the bottom to be a lava pit or something, but nope, the spire loved flesh, and this deep, it also loved remnants. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them screamed and yelled, and reached out from the walls of muscle and bone. They tore at each other, at themselves, and some of them managed to say words, slurred and garbled, but 'help me' and 'kill me' bubbled up a few times in the chorus of pain and torture.

Mia covered her ears.

Adron walked on her right, Kas on her left, and Zel took lead. Mia managed to smile up at her two bodyguards, but a weak smile, and more than a few times she squealed and jumped up as a remnant reached up from the ground. She could only see a few feet in front of her, and the floor was muscle, sinew, and sometimes a long, wide slab of bone she had to carefully step over. Spotting the remnants wasn't always easy, and one managed to get a hand around her ankle.

Kas crushed the remnant with one fist. Splat. Mia squealed again and forced her eyes away, but not fast enough. The remnant practically exploded, and Mia yanked her ankle free as blood splattered over her legs, and a limb that went flying hit her shin. A remnant was much softer than a human, the exact opposite of what Zel described souls as, and if it weren't for how dark it was in the pit of the spire, Mia would have closed her eyes to avoid seeing the guts everywhere.

"Why's it so dark down here?" she half asked, half yelled to get over the screaming.

The two men shrugged, and Zel didn't answer. Even her small extra horn on her forehead, glowing a gentle amber, provided a lot of light compared to how much the nearby amber veins did. Still not enough light for Mia to see much. But thankfully all three demons started clearing Mia's path of remnants, after the scare.