The tap of light feet echoed through the chamber like water drops. Emerging from the darkness was a stunning woman. Her pale skin was flawless and her naked body was as perfect as a marble statue crafted by a master. Short horns protruded from her forehead just below her silky black hair. She squinted her eyes through me as if she could see my failing heartbeat.
This demon was beautiful beyond words, but she looked human. The only discernible feature about her was her horns and tail. I expected something far more grotesque or insanity-inducing.
“How strange…” The demon stroked my face and held her finger to my chin. “You do not look upon me as most men do.”
“I am Dastan. I do not seek pleasure this day.”
“You may call me Dia. If it is not pleasure you seek, I can also provide you with pain…”
“Your story is all I wish for, demon. Your guiles will not sway me.”
Dia raised an eyebrow. “You know, the best way into a woman’s heart is to let her talk about herself. It is in my nature to help you achieve your desires, so flattering me is not necessary.”
“Tell me the story of your life. I must know what events sent you to the first Hell and the details of your eternal damnation.”
“Very well. If this is your desire, then I will oblige.”
***
I was born to an average shepherd family in Evintia. Being the oldest of four girls meant I needed to learn to be a man. I tended to the sheep, sheared their coats, prepared their meat, and birthed their lambs. I had to do it all so that my younger siblings could live as other girls should. The hard work left my skin dirty, my hair greasy, and my palms rough. I was strong, but none of the boys my age thought I was pretty. Only Yessie, my younger sister by a year, was admired for her beauty. I hated her for her beauty. When she gained the attention of the boy I fancied most, I slammed her in the face with a tree branch, scarring her perfect cheeks for life. I cannot say for certain, but I believe that was when my soul’s corruption began.
When my father died, the family farm fell to me. Under my leadership, the farm did well, and I amassed a decent fortune. I even attracted a family whose son had just shown signs of possessing magical gifts. I agreed to marry him and bear his children, for with his blood and our combined funds, we could hire my child a tutor and find them employment within the Golden Lions as a siege magician. Unfortunately, my husband died before my daughter came of age and I could not hope to afford a tutor on my own. I did not fancy going back to serfdom, so I did what I had to do. I sold my daughter’s lineage to another merchant family for a high price. The magician blood in her veins made her valuable. The guilt I feel for giving my daughter away to a much older man will haunt me for all eternity, but at least this way we both lived in luxury. I did what was best for both of us.
I used the riches from the selling of my daughter’s lineage wisely, and the farm flourished. After rising to the top of the wool market in my city, I believed my life’s darkest moments were behind me. Never believe this, dear Dastan, for dark days will pollute your life so long as you draw breath.
My neighbor took up shepherding as well. He was every bit as cunning as I, and his business grew to become a serious competitor to my own. It took him no time at all to grow an immense business that I could barely keep up with. One fateful day, a pack of thornclaws that migrated from the Titanic Mountains ravaged his fields. With his livestock damaged, he could not afford to hire a slayer on his own to prevent the thornclaws from coming back. When he asked me for a loan, I turned him down, for providing him with aid would cut into my profits and aid my competition at the same time. When the stupid bastard tried to defend his flock on his own, the thornclaws ripped him to shreds along with his son. With him gone, my business flourished to a point where many would consider me on par with nobility. However, when I was out among my sheep inspecting the herd, the very same thornclaws beset my land. They had multiplied out of control and took every sheep in my flock along with my arm and leg. I died in agony, lying in my pasture alone.
***
When the demon finished her story, it left me baffled and underwhelmed. “I don’t understand. You are clearly a demon of lust, yet your story does not match your appearance.”
“What were you expecting?” Dia said with a smile.
“Isn’t it obvious? Excessive fornication, adultery, bedding another woman, or even rape. If lust was your greatest sin, I would’ve expected any of these things to be present within your life.”
“Typical of an Evintian.” Dia rolled her eyes and played with her long ink colored hair. “Our people hate sex so much it’s baffling to think your people can procreate at all. Self-control may be one of the seven virtues, but complete abstinence is not. I would have loved to fuck any man I pleased as often as I wished without needing to pay for it, but the Gods did not gift me with beauty.”
“Then why did you become a demon of lust? Your life seemed to be sprinkled with many lesser sins rather than an excessive repetition of one sin. Is there no rhyme or reason to the afterlife?”
“A demon of lust can also be seen as a demon of desire. It is possible to desire many things, not just sex. It is only when we put our desires before our needs or the needs of others that we have the potential to sin. In a way, desire and lust are the seed of all sins. I desired the affection of a boy, so I was wrathful to my sister. I desired a comfortable life, so my greed led me to sell my own child. I desired complete control over the wool market, so my envy of my neighbor led me to ignore his cry for help. Had I leaned any further into any of these three other sins, I may have become a different demon. Alas, my sins did not darken my soul enough to fall as far as most, so here I stand before you as the weakest of all the damned.”
I was taken back by this revelation. There was a chance I was mistaken about my sinfulness. “Are you saying that Ghortan, the God of Self Control, does not punish those that give in to their bodily desires?”
Dia laughed and nibbled her lip. “Let me put it this way. Evintia is the only country in the Empire that gives a single shit about Ghortan. In Solemn, it is not uncommon for people to marry whoever they please, and I have never once seen a soul darken from the act of consensual love. In Galatea, there are tribes that embrace polygamy as the norm. In Avelorn, the salamandra there must commit what Evintians would call adultery since not every salamandra woman is fertile their entire life. Nymphs of the sea almost exclusively procreate outside of marriage just to keep their species alive. If love was a sin, we would all be damned.”
“If Ghortan is wrong, then some of my sins may have not been sins at all.”
Dia raised an eyebrow. “And what sins would those be?”
“I thought myself immune to the sin of lust, for no woman ever caught my fancy. However, as I got older, I grew an attraction to the other men within my monastery. I would lock myself within my quarters and prayed to Ghortan to grant me the self-control I needed to overcome my temptations, but I could never stop how I felt. Eventually, I gave in to my urges and purchased the night with a man from the local bathhouse. I thought one night would be enough to remove my urges for life, but one night became many.”
I felt the demon pull me into her embrace and comb her hand through my hair. “You poor man. If only you were born in another part of the Empire, you could’ve lived a happy life. If this is your only so-called sin, then flee from this cave and find your happiness in Solemn or Borivaj.”
“That is enough, lust demon,” Emmen-Ra commanded from the shadows. “This is not why I called you here.”
Dia grasped my shoulders tight and pulled me close. “Listen very carefully, Dastan. It is never too late to find redemption. Eternity is longer than you can imagine. No matter what these next damned souls tell you, never give in. Look for the light and you will–“
With a wave of his hand, Emmen-Ra blasted Dia into black dust. What remained of the demon trickled into my hands and reeked of sulfur.
“My apologies,” Emmen-Ra said. “Some demons step out of line more than others.”
“What was she trying to say?”
“Demons of the first three Hells have this foolish notion of hope that they can one day be redeemed and find their way to paradise. Pay it no heed and considerate the ramblings of a soul gone mad.”
“She never had the chance to tell me how she was damned. I need to know what her punishment was. My attraction to men may not have been a sin, but I can think of several times that my desires may have harmed others.”
“Demons of lust live in a constant state of desire that can never truly be satiated. Only by tempting others to give in to their desires do they feel any relief. When surrounded by nothing but temptation in the Hells, it is only a matter of time before they devolve into another demon and become far worse than they were before. It is as she said. Lust demons are seeds of sin that only need to be cultivated into something greater.”
“And what of the seeds that do not take to the Hellish soil?”
Emmen-Ra’s corpse avatar frowned. “Purge such questions from your mind. You are beyond redemption, remember?”
He was not wrong. Though it gave me some relief to know that my sexual desires were not sinful, I still had many other evils that tainted my soul. Besides, if what Emmen-Ra said was true, she may have been telling me what she needed to tell me to get me to give in to my desires to fulfill her eternal destiny. How could I trust her word at all? Though the poison of the cave was still tearing me down, it was imperative for me to know what other demons Emmen-Ra had in store for me. Until I understood them and their stories, my torment would not end.
“Are you ready to meet my next demon?”
“I am.”
From the darkness, a tired groan echoed through the halls. A wheezing, gurgling breath sent a putrid smell throughout the chamber. When I turned my lantern to see the source of this rancid stink, I fell to my knees and vomited across the ground.
To be continued…
Part 3 coming 10-30-2020
