Into the Abyss

The demon brought Gastropé’s nose right up to its horrible snout, but Gastropé could hardly see any more, the tears in his eyes practically blinded him. “Get the fuck outta here,” said the demon in a very tired, human sounding voice. Suddenly Gastropé was flying through the air as the demon tossed him away like a doll. He hit the ground hard. The wind was knocked out of him. It didn’t matter, though, that he couldn’t breathe; he struggled to his feet and began to flee as fast as he could.

∼

Jenn raised her eyes as she heard the sound of footsteps approaching from behind. Slowly she turned her head. She began to shake; it was the demon. It had finished off the enemy and had come back for her. What could she do? She couldn’t handle a first order demon without wards, let alone a fourth order. Desperately, she looked around for something to defend herself with. Suddenly, her eyes lighted on the demon’s ring, left by Jehenna. Salvation! Her only hope. Quickly she grabbed it and slipped it on.

As she heard the demon come up behind her, she spun, holding the ring on her right ring finger before her. “Halt... Halt, d.d.demon,” she stuttered, as she shook. “I... I have thy ring and I command thee to obey me!” The demon stopped about a foot from the wagon. It towered over her. Its gleaming scaly red body glistened with the blood of soldiers. Its ebon claws dripped with the rich satin red blood of its victims.

Its malevolent eyes glared hatred down upon her. If not for her faith in the ring, surely she would not have the courage to do this she thought. “Thou art mine...” she desperately tried to remember its name, “Tomasedwardperkinje! Thou must obey my will. The power of the Covenant of the Ring binds thee to my will, demon!” The demon seemed to sigh, as if acknowledging her power. She began to hope.

It reached out and grabbed her wrist. She lost hope. It didn’t immediately snap her hand off, though. Instead it almost gently pried her fist open like a small child’s. All she could do was stare in horror. Almost casually its right claw came up and slid the ring off her finger. How! How could it do such a thing? Then it did something it never should have been able to do. It squished the ring between its fingers, like a clay ring. Jenn then did something she’d never done before. She fainted.

Chapter 29

Thomas Edward Perkinje sat on his throne of granite, bored. True, it was nice not to be serving his accursed master Lenamare, but there wasn’t exactly a whole lot to do here in the Abyss during one’s days off. True, he could go exploring, but most of the place looked pretty much the same. It might be nice to go out and make some friends in the demon world, but then a lot of demons didn’t exactly seem like his kind of people.

Thus it was that he was thinking over his options, when he heard a voice calling his name. He thought he recognized the voice of Lenamare’s female friend, but he wasn’t sure. She was commanding him to come, as if summoning him, yet strangely felt no compulsion whatsoever to go to her. She was shouting something about the ring, probably the one they’d made to bind him. If he concentrated hard enough he could see her in his mind.

She was standing up in the front of a wooden wagon, pulled by two horses. Beside her sat a young girl that looked familiar, although he couldn’t place her; she seemed to be concentrating on something. It was peculiar, Lenamare’s cohort was certainly acting like she was summoning him, however, there were none of the pentagrams and braziers only her ring; and he felt no compulsion, it was simply the fact that she was speaking his name that caused him to even notice her.

Normally, Tom would have ignored her. If the damn Astlanians didn’t force him, there was no way he’d want to help them; however, she did appear to be in a bit of a pinch; there were flames all around her, and what looked to be soldiers on a mountainside beside her. Exactly what was going on, he couldn’t be sure, but considering his boredom, it was at least worth a look.

Trying to achieve the feeling of dissolving that had accompanied all his other trips to Astlan, Tom could feel himself siphoning through, as if through a small hole. To speed things up he pushed at the hole with his mind, and was rewarded with it growing to fit his size. The growth was also accompanied by a roaring noise. Quite strange really. He wasn’t fading so much as slipping through a hole.