29. Hellscape

What is going on?

I asked myself that question as dozens of imperial soldiers made their way through the streets.

It's been a couple of days since I summoned Deanoma and Gargolose, and ran into hundreds of soldiers hastily setting up camp outside Saltwater Clearing.

On top of that, they've brought massive beasts, earth mages, and have started recruiting workers for some earthworks.

What they are working on, nobody knows.

Even inside the walls I couldn't find out what they are up to.

I turned to Gargolose.

"Find out why they are here."

He nodded while answering.

"I will demand a meeting from Barryn."

"Do that, I need to know if the reason they are here is to sniff out a demon infestation."

He walked off without saying another word.

_____________________________

Later that night we were on the top floor of my brothel - who the locals had so ironically named the Demon's Tits - waiting for Barryn to show up.

He obviously chose this time to meet because he was hoping for some free time with the whores.

While we were waiting, Gargolose had Tiniyra sucking him off.

She is now a lesser demon, just like me.

Once we had returned, Gargolose decided it was a shame for her not to be a demon like him.

So, he forced her to suck his essence until she became a lesser.

She didn't change much, she grew moss all over forming a shiny coat of it, vines replaced her hair, and she grew horns made from wood.

I couldn't object either because I still need him to do the ritual to promote me to a higher demon.

<Can't you just order him to do it now? He made an oath to serve you, didn't he?>

No, he's still a duke, so he can still disobey me.

His oath just means he can't hurt me, or get in the way of my plans.

Ring!

Ring!

I was interrupted by a little bell, that one of the whores ring when someone is coming up.

We all changed back to our mundane forms.

A minute later Barryn walked into the room carrying a rolled up paper, and escorted by one of my lesser demons in human guise.

"Hello, I hope all is well?"

He was smiling from ear to ear.

"Cut the pleasantries, what do you know?"

He dropped the smile.

"You know a good word now and then does wonders for a functional business

partnership."

"This isn't a partnership, this is a you do as I say and get rewarded, and you don't end up like those other guards."

"Still, we have a relationship, and those who want their relationship to thrive give gifts so the other party feels... appreciated."

Barryn broke out a seedy grin, the kind that makes even a demon feel disgusted.

I nodded my head and Gargolose threw a sack of golden coins on the floor in front of him, it landed with a loud thud.

He stored it in a capacity ring, then went over to the table, and spread out the paper he was holding.

On it is a map of the known world.

To the north past the sea is the frozen wastes, to the east the mountainous region of Grynia and the forbidden forest below that, to the west the island jungle nation of Dale, to the southeast Egyrian swamp, and finally to the south past miles and miles of Saerian farmland, forests, plains, and the massive inland sea is the Kash desert.

Something about this map however....

"This map is wrong, even though there are rivers throughout the land there is none that connect the northern sea and the inland sea. Also, there isn't a river that leads into the desert from the inland sea."

Darisyn walked over to point out the inaccuracies of the map.

"Oh, but there is, or at least.. there will be."

I stared at him.

"What do you mean?"

"When the soldiers came they told the lord - who then told the guard - that the empress sent an order to build an artificial river from the northern sea straight through the inland sea, this will be the biggest earthwork ever attempted!"

"So, the extra soldiers?"

"They are going to garrison here, and many other places along the planned route. Don't worry they don't care about criminals like you, unless you're demons, they don't give a single fuck if you kill dozens of commoners."

He made that last statement when he saw the face I made when he mentioned the garrison.

"Do you know why they are building this river?"

"No, that was need to know only."

"We pay you to know."

"No, you pay me to look the other way. Something I can't do if I'm fired for pushing to hard."

Useless human.

"You may go now."

He didn't budge.

"You know my shift is over, and I think I did you a great service coming out here this late instead of waiting for the morning."

Typical.

I nodded my head towards my demon that escorted him.

He touched his arm.

"Right this way, we reserved one of the whores for you."

They started to walk away.

"And she's...?"

"Yes, she has yet to have her first blood."

"Good."

<He disgusts me! How can you let him do that!>

What, the whore has a problem with a man using a whore? That's hypocritical.

<She's just a child, just a little older than Aya!>

So, you'd rather I go get Aya to sate his lust instead?

<....>

What, no witty comeback?

I'm a demon, I couldn't care less that he's about to pump that runt full of jism.

The strong rule the weak, that's the rule of life since the beginning of time.

<If it ever happened to you, you'd never allow it to happen to her!>

And what makes you so sure it hasn't?

<Wait, you?! But you're a demon!>

Nothing is strong all the time, everything starts out weak.

<But that's your home. >

So? It's hell, even for us demons.

From the moment you're born, everything is either trying to eat you to gain strength, or enslave you to increase their strength.

The only way to have any semblance of safety is to get stronger, and the strong down there do everything they can to prevent that.

After all, why would they want the competition.

<So, that's why all of you want to come here?>

Figure that out all by yourself?

We demons are the strongest, so it's our birth-right to conquer all that stand before us.

<Sounds like to me that you're all just cowards running away, and trying to fight weaker opponents. >

Shut up! What would a dumb useless whore know about anything!

<I know cowardice I see it. >

I threw her back into a hellscape.

"Should we attack the town right now? Before the full strength of the army comes to Saltwater."

Amisra flexed, her form easily shifting back to a demon.

"It would be meaningless.

They've already sent hundreds of soldiers, and the others are not far behind."

"How do you know?"

"It's how armies work, you send a few first to scout the area, recruit the locals, and then the bulk of the force comes to hold the area."

"But we can at least kill as many as we can, and isn't that the goal?"

"No, wanton destruction isn't the goal no matter how fun it is.

My objective would require all of you to hold off the army for a couple of hours, at least, while I finished what I had to do.

Now, it will probably take years if not decades to summon enough demons to fight an army of that size!"

So far I only have just above sixty lesser demons, and my two higher demons.

"Monsters."

(Darisyn)

I can kind of tell whether it's Darisyn or Gargolose talking to me.

One demands respect with his tone, and the other is completely neutral.

"What?"

I said looking over at him.

"During the last great war, demons supplemented their strength with monsters. We could do the same."

"Making monsters work for you isn't that simple."

"I know, Gargolose told me, they only follow the strong.

Their loyalty is fleeting at best, and you have to get them under control."

"See, and at our current strength there is no way we'd be able to control them."

"Unless we get a monster lord on our side."

Gargolose took back over.

That's actually a great idea.

Monster lords are monsters that have already tamed a large population of monsters, and they would be able to force weaker monsters to work for us, but.......

"It wouldn't work.

Even if we found one, we'd still need to be able to force it to work for us.

I'm sure we're not strong enough for that, given we'd be facing a monster army."

"Just leave that to me. I will return with your army."

Back to Darisyn.

How are they so freely switching control?

Darisyn went to the window and opened it.

"Tiniyra my love, I'll return.

Listen to the mistress, and stay safe."

He then leapt from the window into the air.

Two bone wings burst from his back, and black crackling energy filled the spaces feathers would normally go.

He looked like an evil angel.

He flapped his wings and soared into the night sky.

Wait a single damn minute!

He didn't tell me where he was going!

"Mistress, where is he headed?"

Amisra was looking at me expectedly.

"That's need to know only Amisra."

"Of course, mistress, I apologize if I misspoke."

She bowed her head, inflaming my desire to dominate her.

Not now, I have other things to do.

I turned away, least I act.

"It's fine, just remember your place."

Damn it! He could have at least told me how long he'd be.

I pointed towards Tiniyra.

"Leave and take that with you."

She nodded her head while grabbing Tiniyra.

"At once mistress. Shall I send up a slave for your dinner?"

"No, not tonight. Just leave."

As soon as they left, I went over to the open window.

I gazed out towards Saltwater in the distance.

"Soon."

..............

I...

am...

falling...

It is like the nightmares I had as a little girl, that sent me running into my father's arms.

The type of nightmare where you fall from a cliff and just keep falling.

Those dreams always scared me the most, even more so than the ones with monsters or demons I got after the stories my father would tell.

At least with those you knew what to expect, death by being eaten or ripped apart piece by piece.

But with falling dreams you didn't know what was down there, be it a monster or just a rocky death.

It's dark and murky, and time slows as you get nearer to the bottom.

Except, I know what's about to happen.

After all, I've been through this countless times.

Don't get me wrong, it's still scary as hell, but after constantly facing the fear, you get kind of numb to it.

After falling for what felt like hours, I started to speed up and the ground came rushing up to meet me.

I smacked into the ground and wished that it had killed me, after going through this thousands of times, death starts to seem..... peaceful.

But that's not to be.

When the pain subsided a little, I got up and looked around.

All around me is a decayed forest draped in spider webs, and noxious gas mists fills the air.

Great, it is this one again.

After being sent to hellscape after hellscape I started to catalog them.

So far, I've seen a fiery brimstone one, a frozen waste land, a huge pit of every possible venomous and poisonous beast, this toxic forest, and a couple of others.

Might as well get started.

I started walking, staying low to the ground to avoid most of the toxic fumes.

The trick to escaping is to find the weak spot in hellscape, and to squeeze through.

The real problem is time.

First time I was sent to a hellscape, it took me a hundred years - I think - to escape, but once outside I found out only a couple of hours had passed.

Another time I had escaped in an hour and a couple of days had passed!

Crack!

Thump!

As I was walking a dead tree fell and almost hit me, luckily I rolled out of the way in time.

The last time I was pinned under a tree I had to wait years for it to decay enough for me to escape, and let me tell you starving and getting eaten by animals is not a fun way to pass the time.

"...tay... ill... bitc...."

I stopped in my tracks.

That sounded like human speech, and for all of the time I was here in any of these hellscapes, I have yet to come across a monster that speaks.

Hesitantly, I went towards the voice.

I probably shouldn't because for all I know this is probably a trap, but the thought of talking to another being - aside from the demonic bitch that put me here - keeps my legs moving.

As I get closer I noticed why the sounds sounded weird, they were in a trench.

The they in the trench nearly made me retch because there were people in that trench, and I knew them.

One of the people is Altwain, and beside him are a couple of my ex-customers.

They are all assaulting a woman that looked like the slave that Desirae had eaten.

Great!

So, sending me here wasn't enough, she has to torment me by sending these fake tormentors.

Altwain and the rest were gang raping the woman, at least she got that part of their personalities right.

They'd gangbang me whenever they got the chance, then they'd 'forget' to pay me most of the time.

"Please! Don't, don't, noooo!"

(Woman)

Does she really expect me to fall for this?

To charge down there and save a figment of my imagination, and then be caught and raped?

No thanks.

"Aaaah! Just let me die!"

"That's right bitch, scream!"

This means nothing, she isn't real, so she isn't really being raped.

"Hey! Stop hogging her ass Altwain."

He is shoving his greasy, tiny thing inside of her.

I'm just going to walk away, I'm smarter than she thinks!

"First come, first serv...ow!"

A rock had sailed out of nowhere and bashed fake Altwain in the head, a rock that just so happened to come from my hand.

Fuck!

I couldn't help it, but still, even though he isn't real that still felt great.

"Over there! That bitch threw the stone!"

They were pointing and running in my direction.

I could run and evade them in the forest, I probably know it better than them.

But then they'd turn their attention back on the woman slowly crawling away.

I guess she knows me better than I thought.

They surrounded me.

"I don't believe it! It's the bitch that sent us to this hell!

Last time we met you promised me I could go down on you, time to pay up bitch!"

Altwain licked his lips suggestively.

"Fuck you Altwain!"

"Oh? I plan to."

One of his friends looked at him weirdly.

"You want to fuck yourself?"

"What? No!"

"But when she said fuck you, you said you planned to?"

"No, I meant... you know... never mind! Just beat the shit out of her!"

One of them backhanded me to the ground, then they started kicking, punching, and stomping on me.

"Hold up guys."

(Altwain)

"I'm getting first go at her ass, you got the last one."

Altwain looked at him then back to me.

"This isn't about that! Now, this doesn't have to be hard."

He stuck his dirty foot out towards my face.

"If you beg all nice like to lick my foot clean, and then beg for us to fuck you."

I looked up at him from my position on the ground.

I knelt on my knees, took his foot in my hands, then I... spat a mixture of blood and spit onto his face while I pulled his leg making him fall hard on his ass.

I then balled up my fist, and punched him in his tiny dick.

His friends grabbed ahold of me.

"Ow! You fucking whore! I gave you a fucking chance!"

He actually looks confused as to why I did that.

"You're right, and I owe you my thanks for showing me my place all those months ago.

It's right above you, you walking talking shit pile!"

I spit at him again.

He looked at his friends.

"What are you waiting for?! Rape this cunt!"

They threw me on the ground hard.

So, they're going to rape me now, so original!

"One good thing about this place is that we all came here as naked as the day we were born, makes this part much easier.

Don't be afraid to scream when my dick starts ripping you. Hehehe!"

The jerk-off who said that - I think his name was Joluun or Ja...something - aimed his three-inch friend towards my ass.

Why does his kind always have small dicks, and always go for the ass?

"Make it hurt Jallyn! Make the bitch pay!"

(Altwain)

Jallyn! That's his name.

He's the weirdo who made me call him son, and apologize to him while he fucked me.

"Did you ever get to fuck your mom? Or were her standards still to high?"

He slammed my face into the ground.

"SHUT UP CUNT!!! You won't be talking so smart when I rip your tongue out."

"Don't do that! Tongues are important for blowjobs, and I like that the best!"

"Shut up Cern, it'll grow back. Remember the other bitch? We ripped off her fingers only for them to grow back in a couple of days."

He started pumping inside of me.

"Yeah, she was fun. We gotta find her again."

"Hahaha, ye...ow!"

A rock hit Jallyn square in the temple, disloging him from my ass.

"Shit! He's back!"

The guard that Desirae killed in the forest - I think he was called Jaxon - came out of the woods into view.

Altwain who was back on his feet and obviously terrified of him, tried to talk him down.

"He..hey now, this is the bitch that killed all of us. If anyone deserves this, it's her!"

Jaxon started towards us slowly.

"If you want we can even share, her ass is barely used."

He kept walking.

"Or you can have her, I mean beating up people must give you a lot of stress right?"

He still kept walking.

"Just leave us alone!"

He looked him directly in the eyes.

"Run."

(Jaxon)

With just that one word all of them were shaking with fear.

Altwain turned towards the rest.

"WHAT ARE Y'ALL WAITING FOR?! WE OUT NUMBER HIM, KICK HIS ASS!"

"Aaaaaah!"

The first one to charge was Jallyn, I guess that rock must've broke the common sense part of his brain.

Jallyn swung a punch at Jaxon.

Jaxon caught his arm, and kept pulling him forward while raising his elbow.

Jallyn got a faceful of elbow breaking his nose, and knocking out some teeth.

"Aaaaah! Muh keef! Muh keef!"

The rest seeing that hesitated, but then charged.

What happened next was like watching a cat play with some street mice, he deftly avoided them while punching, kicking, and straight up throwing them aside.

Until the last one standing - or should I say cowering on the ground - was Altwain.

"Common man! You've shown me the error of my ways, just let me go!"

Jaxon turned away.

Altwain grasped a rock and started to stand up, when Jaxon spun around and kicked him in the face.

Blood sprayed from his mouth as teeth were sent flying.

As Altwain lay there Jason bent down and snapped his neck.

He then came over to me, and held out his hand.

"There are few I can say truly deserve a fate like this place, he is one of the few.

Unfortunately, they'll come back."

"You're not going to rape me?"

I asked him.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because this is hell, and that's

what you do."

I took his hand, and he pulled me to my feet.

"That's not what I do."

"You heard them didn't you? I sent all of you here."

"No you didn't, the demon possessing you did."

Got you.

"So, that's the play, huh?"

"What are you talking about?"

"She'll have to do better than this to trick me."

"You aren't making any sense."

"Why would I need to? You're just a figment of my imagination, conjured up to torment me further."

He cocked an eyebrow.

"By saving you? I fail to see how that would be torment."

"She already hurts my body every time she sends me here, why not my mind too?

You'll try to get me to think you're real, only for it to all fall to pieces later!"

He grabbed my shoulders, and forced me to look him in the eye.

"I know demons enjoy playing with their victims, but I assure you I. Am. Real."

I shrugged him off.

"Oh, and how are you going to prove that?! Tell me something only the real you would know!"

"No offense, but that'd be stupid.

Not only have we never met while we were among the living, anything I told you that we both knew to be true you'd just assume it came from your own mind."

I actually... hadn't thought about that.

"Then, how do you suggest we solve this problem?"

"You see what it can and can speak to it, right?

I will tell you something you have no business knowing about, and all you have to do is trick it into confirming it."

"How do you know so much about demons?"

"A long time ago a friend of mine was possessed by a demon.

We expelled the demon, and on his death bed he told us as much as he could.

About how he was trapt inside of his own body and forced to watch as the demon committed atrocity after atrocity, how it would mock and torment him, how he was tricked into excepting the demon on the promise of reviving a loved one, and that he could talk to it."

"I want to believe this... to believe you, but I can't.

As soon as I get my hopes up, that's when it'll all come apart."

"Ugh...my head."

(Jallyn)

Jallyn started to get up, when Jaxon picked up another stone and threw it upside his head, knocking him out - again.

"I'm not asking you to believe, just try. What do you have to lose?"

He's right, I've got nothing to lose - eventually Desirae will find a loophole to hurt Aya.

"Alright, tell me this secret."