Chapter 15: A glimpse of hope. *

The thoughts in his head were going thousands of miles per hour. Assimilating that he could move his limbs. That the chains were not present. Turning everywhere, Azmodiel could only feel an emotion regurgitating from within. 

Fury.....

Absorbed by complete madness in a way that made him look like a rabid animal, both mentally and physically.  His twisted chimera form reflected the insanity now dominating his mind. More grotesque and deviant than ever before. A new level of madness and anger was present in him. 

How could it be any different? If after a thousand years of trying and seeking to escape from that prison, to get rid of those chains, Azmodiel had been released not by his own hand and against his will. He didn't come out by his own ability but by an external whim. He had been deprived of the satisfaction that came with being the master of his own freedom. 

Torn from his prison and dragged through time and space, across another plane. Not knowing what or who. Azmodiel was sucked into a grimoire page by those same golden chains that imprison him. 

The deformed creature didn't have time to assimilate its surroundings or enjoy its ephemeral freedom. Before he could take off to the horizon, a force tying him to something pulled his attention. Under Azmodiel's horrified gaze, golden chains materialized around him and began to penetrate deep into his being. Azmodiel was now chained to such a deep level that what little illusion of freedom he had left began to evaporate. It looked like a prison without walls but a prison nonetheless.

The chains had reached his skin, but they didn't stop there.  Becoming less visible but still tangible, they mingled with the flow of energy beneath the scales and flesh, finding their way to the core of his existence, his soul, and his hellish essence. 

The notion of breaking free from those chains went from being an infuriating challenge to completely impossible, at least from Azmodiel's understanding. As someone whose only obsession had been to obtain his freedom, Azmodiel was about to go completely insane. He would never be free, there was no way to separate his soul from those chains, and deep down he knew it.

His last step before jumping into the abyss and submitting to his madness was interrupted by a new stage covering his entire field of vision. A smell of burning skin and wood, but very different from what the being was already used to. He looked up and stopped focusing on himself for a second, taking in his new surroundings. Greeted by the image of fire and grotesque creatures. Such images were noticed but did not seem important, such things were quite normal in the place where his prison was located; Azmodiel thought he had simply ascended to a different circle. 

The creature searched its surroundings for some aspect that would tell which circle he was in now, and how far or close to the surface this circle was. Something that would give him some kind of hope. And then he became conscious of it. Something that left Azmodiel practically mesmerized.

The starry sky right above him. The night sky and a warm breeze caressing his face. Telling him where he was.  One thing he didn't dare to believe: now he wasn't just out of his prison, he was back in the mortal world.

How long had he been longing for this moment? How many times had he dreamed of this? Azmodiel had no answer to any of those questions. He was simply fascinated by the night sky, which confirmed to him that he was no longer in any of the circles. The only thing that was clear to him and mattered to him at the time, was that he had finally come out of that hellish prison. Whatever his new prison was, it was less contained and possibly lonely than the old one.

Even in the fascination of the moment, Azmodiel was quickly brought into the present by those inferior creatures that kept screeching in his direction. Interrupting things he considered most important, such as finding out his current status or the new rules surrounding his confinement. He did nothing but find the presence of such inferior beings incredibly irritating. 

At last, he deigned to observe the beings that produced such a nuisance. Honestly, he didn't remember such disgusting and annoying creatures, but maybe something changed in his absence. Although he was almost certain that these could not be human beings or some other mortal species, no matter how indifferent they seemed to him, such creatures were not as disgusting as those in front of him at this time, like flies, just as insignificant but annoying.

In fact, while planning what to do next, Azmodiel almost wished that these things were actually mortal, breaking his father's laws was something he fervently desired.

As thoughts shifted from emotional to reasoning and fury left his being to be replaced by cautious curiosity, his physical form left its grotesque chimera appearance and began to resemble a more humanoid, but with wings and horns. He was not aware of his chimera image and even more, was not aware of when the transformation happened.

Azmodiel came to the best possible conclusion when the last trace of madness was hidden in the back of his mind. Even if these pale, deformed creatures were something else Azmodiel didn't know, that didn't matter, it didn't make them any less insignificant. As inferior beings they should be grateful to be able to die in his presence, as a celebration of his return to the mortal world and to make the scenery more pleasant, it was honestly the greatest honor for them that he was more than happy to fulfill. 

Cracking a smile, which he had not done in a long time. It was truly a miracle that he remembered how, he showed a row of sharp teeth.  Azmodiel was enjoying the moment, no matter how or why he was there, these creatures were a gift presented to begin to take away his frustrations of centuries of confinement and helplessness.