The Pleasures of Hell

~~Day 123~~

~~David~~

They still had a week to go to reach the spire, but this close to the center of the province, apparently they were in the more 'militant' areas. Less roaming bands looking for easy kills, and more actual members of the military. Case in point: Sazillia.

Sazillia was a fujara tetrad with a thousand demons behind her. A literal thousand, vrats and brutes at the front, gargoyles and satyrs behind them, with some tigers running the flanks. An actual formation. And each demon wore armor, the slabs of black metal bent into smooth shapes that fit their muscles, instead of the misshapen mess most meera armor was. Even the brutes wore some armor.

Sazillia herself was a walking stereotype, with short dreadlocks around her four horns, and hard eyes that betrayed no emotion. Muscular, lean, and a huge scar ran across her neck, as if someone had once tried to slit her throat with a wood saw, but had only gotten halfway. And like Laoko, she wielded four swords--probably just the normal thing to do if you had four arms.

Laoko took the lead. David let her. The two groups faced off.

"Sazillia," Laoko said. "Angels are looking for us. You must hide! This army is too large and will garner attention."

On a dime, Sazillia turned and barked orders at her army. They dispersed immediately, turning into small roving bands that spread out among the red pits and anthills of the terrain.

"Do not worry," the bailiff said, still approaching, but still with weapons in hand. Even with that, the body language looked almost inviting, like she was happy to see Laoko and the others. Maybe not so emotionless after all. "We saw the angels, and they have drifted closer toward the River Styx. But yes, they are a concern." Wow. Sazillia sounded reasonable? Madness. "This close to the capital, many battalions wander the ground, looking for any who might have snuck their way in from the Fields. I think the eyes above will not notice us anymore than the others."

Laoko nodded, but stayed ahead of David, her swords out and two pointing to the side, keeping her swords between him and the bailiff.

"How did you know we were coming?" Laoko asked.

"Scouts spotted you and ran ahead." Sazillia shrugged and gestured back at her army. "Tregeeras can be fast when they want to be."

David looked down at Caera at his side, and she shrugged.

"Hey, I can be fast," she said. "But you won't see me running for days just to get ahead of a group. No thanks."

Perfectly reasonable. Demons hated long distances. David chuckled.

"You have scouts near the Scar?" Laoko asked the bailiff.

"Yes, of course. Say what you want of Tarkissa, he has ambition. Or had, so I am told. You killed him?" She pointed a sword at David.

"Sorta," David said. "Me and the army did. The Scar's under new management, and I'm in charge."

Sazillia tilted her head and laughed. She put her swords away, finally, and stepped forward, leaving her army behind. No one stopped her from getting nice and close, but Laoko and Moriah stayed near her sides as she strolled up to David and squatted in front of him. Damn, that was a nasty scar.

"You truly are unmarked," she said. "Have you come to attack us, the same way the other one is?"

"No." He put up his hands and shook his head. "I'm just passing through. But I'm not an idiot. The other unmarked should head in the same direction I am, but she isn't. I'll probably have to fight her. On top of that, I didn't expect to get through your province undetected." He gestured back to Tatiana. "I brought a negotiator."

One look at Tatiana was enough to make Sazillia laugh. Okay, maybe she wasn't a stereotypical badass G.I. Jane type, but more like a viking warrior woman?

"Tatiana," Sazillia said. "Khazeer will be happy to see you. He's been stressed lately."

"Stressed?" Tatiana asked. "Is it that bad?"

The bailiff nodded. "Yes, it is. The other unmarked has been slaughtering our forces. First she used a strange magic to attack us with Hell herself. But then she changed tactics. Now she warps her own body, and slaughters our forces with strange... growths."

Growths? David froze and looked down at his arm. The arm had morphed, changed on him, when Latia had nearly died. Was that was Sazillia was talking about?

"Strange growths?" he asked.

Sazillia nodded, standing back up. "Yes. Do you not use that ability?"

"I uh... No, I don't."

Everyone in David's crew looked at him, tilting their heads, waiting for more information. He had none.

"That is unfortunate," Sazillia said. "But, as you said, you will fight the other unmarked? And you trust this unmarked, Laoko?"

"I do, very much," Laoko said. "He's come all the way from Death's Grip to defeat the alien invader."

"From Death's Grip? That is a long journey for a demon, let alone a soul. But I suppose with angels, a tetrad as known as Laoko, and even a spire mother at your side, anything is possible." Sazillia frowned, looking down at David and idly running a few claws along her scarred throat. "And the alien invader? I have not seen this monster, only heard of it."

David forced his eyes away from his hand. "Yeah. The invader is the big problem. I have to keep going to put a stop to them, or we all die. That's the journey, but those are the only details you're getting."

Sazillia smiled lightly. "And if I wanted to force more details out of you?"

He didn't flinch. "Then I'd kill you, your army, and keep going. You need me. I don't need you."

The tetrad chuckled. A pleasant sound. She reached out, making Moriah step in closer, but all she did was put a hand on David's shoulder and give it a squeeze.

"I like you."

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

"Well, you did it again," Jeskura said, leaning over his shoulder from behind. "Got another pussy for the crew."

"What the fuck, Jes." He rolled his eyes and didn't bother looking back.

The gargoyle laughed and gestured ahead at Sazillia leading the group with Laoko. "You heard her. She likes you. Nail her with your aura and fuck her."

Caera growled up at Jes and hip-checked her, sending the gargoyle teetering and almost knocking her over. Which earned some angry clicks from Daoka, and she hopped over, stomping her hooves as she pushed the huge tiger. Or, tried to, but Caera had to weigh at least thrice what Daoka did.

David smiled. The girls bickering was a good sign, considering how precarious the situation had grown. Surrounded by demons they didn't know, and a lot of them, while being escorted to a spire. Last time this'd happened, Azailia had tricked them.

But even surrounded by a thousand demons, David wasn't scared. Moriah and Tsila had insane reflexes, and they'd sound the alarm if the demons went on the attack. They'd defend him, and Laoko would drown the area in hellfire before he'd even have the chance to say 'don't'. Not to mention the other girls were all capable of fighting, especially Caera and Jes. And even without them, David could fight the small army off, or at least defend himself if it came down to it. Killing a thousand demons would be tricky and might summon the invader, but he could do it.

Maybe it was that confidence that had the demons not even looking at him, or at least not with the usual hunger demons had, often joined by drool and teeth-licking. Far as David could tell, the demons had no intention of trying to kill him or his girls, or Tatiana and her crew, either. Tatiana was probably off-limits at Khazeer's order.

So, all in all, it was a quiet walk through Hell's tortures. He almost wished for a fight, so the remnant screams wouldn't seem so loud.

"I'm not fucking anyone else," David said to Jes. "Or, I mean, I don't plan to. If you wanna throw another succubus orgy at me, for political reasons, I guess I'd be down with that?" He put up his hands before Moriah could comment. "But that's not the plan."

"You have enough women for a lifetime," Moriah said, glaring back at him with her red eyes.

"Agreed! So, yeah, I'm not gonna fuck Sazillia. That's even assuming she'd say yes. Just because she likes me doesn't mean..." All the girls stared at him, eye-rolls implied. "Okay, yeah, I get it. Still, not happening." He reached down and slid his hands into Caera's short dreadlocks, earning some quiet rumbles from her as the tiger walked beside him, enormous tail slithering behind her.

Pegasus looked at Caera in that sideways way horses did, and came up on David's other side. He pressed to him, shoulder rubbing against David's hip and wings hooked snug to his back. He was getting better at figuring out where his wings were, like a dog finally learning it had a tail.

Latia left her fellow Las and walked beside Pegasus, too. "Can ride him yet?"

David laughed. "Not yet. And besides, you're still wearing your armor. You might hurt him. That shit's heavy."

The red goblin looked down at her meera armor, a few chunks of bent black metal haphazardly strapped snug over her chest and one leg. "Not that heavy."

David reached down and grabbed Latia's axe, unhooking it from her hip. It had to be at least twenty kilos, and he groaned as he struggled to keep it upright. Not super heavy, but borderline impossible to keep straight when all the weight leveraged onto his wrists, and he dropped it. Latia laughed.

Acelina laughed too, walking behind them. A far more seductive, almost evil laugh.

"You are but a weak boy, David," she said. "Your pet is a hellbeast and can handle much more than you."

Axe back in Latia's hands, the little La nudged up against Pegasus's side, goblin smile of sharp teeth gleaming.

"Soon, right? He's looking bigger already! Soon."

"Sure," David said. "Soon. Assuming he doesn't buck you off. I'm not going to force him like some goort. This isn't the Scar."

Caera nodded, walked closer to Pegasus, and brushed her side against his, a giant tiger walking beside a Great Dane dog. Pegasus took the invitation immediately and frolicked ahead, literally, jumping side to side as he ran. Chuckling, Caera chased Pegasus in a slow circle around the crew. David watched, and he knew he was smiling.

Sazillia slowed down until she walked near David, and she looked back at him, and the small, winged horse coming to a panting stop beside him.

"That goort is... unique," she said. "How old is it?"

"A bit over a week now," David said. "Crazy how it's only been that long, and he's already grown a bit. And walking and running around."

Using 'he' earned an eyebrow raise from the warrior woman. "And how did you gain it? Or, him?"

"Hell birthed him for me."

"Birthed him for you?"

David nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

"The other unmarked has a creature of her own. A fassila spider."

"Oh. Oh shit." It'd been a while since they'd run into a giant spider, and the one they'd dealt with, they'd found already dead in the Grave Valley forests outside the Scar. It'd been six or seven meters long, from leg to leg. Much, much bigger than fallo spiders. "How big?"

"Four times the size of any fassila spider I have ever seen. She rode it on a throne of bones."

David stopped. The girls stopped in a moment, and everyone else a second later. Even the thousand demons drifting around them, trying to look casual to any spying angels above, slowed and stopped.

"She has her own pet?" he asked. "A unique pet?"

"Yes. An enormous creature, with other features not seen on fassila spiders. Strange spikes. Strange eyes."

He stared up at the bailiff. "You've seen it? And the unmarked?"

She nodded and rotated her shoulder. "I ordered the retreat. I was the one who lost our border to the spire ruler Morgana's push. I saw the other unmarked's power firsthand, but not her transforming abilities. Those I have only heard of." Growling, she looked ahead and flexed her fingers, grabbing something that wasn't there. "And now, here I am."

She started walking, and David followed her. Like a herd, the group resumed.

"You got demoted or something?" David asked.

"Ha. I suppose. This is Hell, unmarked. We have no rank. But Khazeer thinks perhaps Zaavras will do better." Shrugging, she stuck her arm out to the side and flexed it again. Maybe not reliving a memory, but working the arm? An injury, maybe? It'd have to have been an insane injury for her to not heal yet.

"Zaavras, the other bailiff? He gonna be a pain in my ass?" David asked.

"Perhaps. He is strict. Khazeer is also strict. But if you work with him, he will work with you."

David sighed with relief. "I gotta say, you've been a lot more cooperative than I expected."

Sazillia shrugged and looked back at him again, grinning. "This is the Red Pits. We are not the mindless, roaming tribes of Death's Grip, the squabbling factions of the Grave Valley, or the Scar's politicking volas. We are strong. We are strength. And we do not let our appetites rule us. We have warred with Navameere Fields since the beginning, and whoever lets weakness blind them will be destroyed."

"That's... a unique stance to take. So far, every demon I've run into has been pretty Darwinian," he said. She raised an eyebrow. "It means survival of the fittest."

"Ah, yes. There is truth in that philosophy. And we embrace it. But instead of letting random chance kill the weakest of our kind, we do it ourselves."

He gulped. "Eh?"

"Those who cannot handle training, die."

"I'm afraid to ask--"

"If they fail in basic training tasks, we rip out their hearts and feed them to demons worthy of continuing their training."

"Yep, I was afraid of that."

Sazillia chuckled. "Afraid? That is life in the Red Pits! And the Navameere Fields."

Sighing, David looked back. The Scar province was just a blur, the two colossal mountains blending into the haze of fire and ash of Hell's air.

"I don't suppose you know about Apollyon and Abaddon?" he asked.

Sazillia tilted her head. "I have heard the names before. The Old Ones?"

"Yeah." David counted off on his fingers. "There's Malphas, Molech, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Belial, Astaroth, Azazel, and then those two, Apollyon and Abaddon. And those two are going to get in my way."

Sazillia almost tripped. It was oddly funny, seeing a ten-foot-tall woman of muscle, with clawed feet and a tail, nearly fall.

"What?" she asked.

Sighing, David shook his head as he looked at his nine raised fingers. "Old Ones are involved. And I've been told Apollyon and Abaddon are up ahead. You say the Red Pits and Navameere Fields have been fighting since the beginning?"

"Yes," Sazillia said, staring down at him.

"I was told Apollyon and Abaddon have been fighting, are still fighting, and I bet that's what's happening, what you've been doing all this time. Fighting their war."

It was a big gamble telling Sazillia all this stuff. As long as she didn't know where he was going, it was probably fine, but most demons thought that the Old Ones were dead and gone. If Sazillia was in a similar boat to Tarkissa from the Scar, making deals with the Old Ones for power, telling her he knew about them could backfire. Khazeer might try the same thing.

But from the way Sazillia moved, she blared the honorable -- if viking-ish -- warrior stereotype so loudly, even he picked up on it.

"That is why the Red Pits and Navameere Fields fight? Because... the Old Ones do battle?" she asked.

"Maybe," he said. "If my guess is right, they're under the ground, manipulating events. They are strong, very strong, with the same abilities to manipulate Hell like I can. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they've been manipulating the two provinces since the First War, but I have no idea. Navameere--that reminds me. You got any idea where Navameere Fields got its name?"

Caera immediately came in closer and stood up, walking on her hind legs. "Anything, Sazillia? We know it was a woman, and she had to be from the First War, but that's all we know."

Sazillia shrugged. "Old runes in the ancient language we can't read may speak of it, but no. I know nothing. What use do we have for old stories?"

David smiled, but didn't say anything. He'd already shared enough secrets.

Caera groaned. "History is valuable, Sazillia. Everyone should learn history. Otherwise, demons just keep making the same mistakes. What's the expression, David?"

"Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Paraphrased." He smiled at Caera and resisted the urge to drown her in adoration. There was just something so damn hot about a girl with a hobby.

Sazillia laughed and clapped David on the back with one of her many hands. "A philosopher!"

"Uh... I guess?" He didn't have the heart to correct her.

"Hell has little room for philosophers. We do what we've always done. Fight, kill, eat, and devour the souls the portal leaves us."

"Times are different now," Caera said. "Things have to change. We can't keep doing what we've been doing for a billion years. So we need to know things. Anything we can learn about history is knowledge we might need."

Sazillia shrugged. "You're asking the wrong demon, tregeera. Maybe Khazeer will know more, but I doubt it."

"That's fine," David said. "Just show me any sort of ancient relics or places you have, and I'll handle the rest."

Pegasus ran ahead and did something he'd never done before. He ran up to a remnant crawling her way out of a red pit, and squashed her. He trampled her. Pegasus had a bit of bulk on his frame now, and with a heavy hop, landed directly on the remnant's head. Hooves crushed skull, and the remnant died in moments.

"Pegasus?" David said. Pegasus didn't respond. He hopped around a bit more, breaking some of the remnant's torso bones before leaning in and tearing at her skin with his sharp teeth. "Pegasus!"

Pegasus froze and slowly looked David's way, bits of flesh hanging from his teeth. His eyes were wide. Confused, or shocked, maybe.

"Pegasus, what the fuck?" David marched up to his pet and pulled the skin out of his mouth. A delightful new memory: the texture of dangling remnant skin clinging to his fingers like plastic wrap. "Don't touch the remnants! Don't--"

"Leave it be," Laoko said.

David snapped his head around and glared up at the tetrad. "What? Why?"

"It... he, is a hellbeast, David. Hellbeasts kill remnants. They scavenge them for essence and resonance."

"More than that," Tatiana said, the succubus joining the conversation. "We've tried raising thousands of goorts, and we've learned a few things. If you don't let them hunt remnants, they get anxious and violent. And clumsy. They learn how to move and hunt and kill on remnants."

David closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was easy to think of his precious baby horse as a precious baby horse, and not a hellbeast creature that would normally grow up and hunt souls. And while a baby, it made sense for them to learn the ropes on hunting remnants.

"Shit," David whispered. "Shit. Sorry, Pegasus. Sorry." He gestured down at the dead woman. "Uh, um... hunt? Eat? Someone, a little help here?"

Laoko clicked once, a heavy cluck in her throat. Pegasus pawed at the ground and went back to biting at the corpse. David didn't watch.

"Are you serious?" Sazillia asked, unimpressed. "With the wake of corpses you've supposedly left behind you, unmarked, how can a hellbeast toying with a remnant bother you?"

"Because I'm still human. And according to Moriah and Tsila, kind of a nice guy. Seeing people die hurts. Seeing remnants die hurts."

Sazillia stared at him, eyebrow raised. "You sound like a human from the scrying pools."

"Yeah, that's because I am."

Laughing, Sazillia gave him a slap on the back as she walked past him. "I don't believe it. The surface overflows with weak-willed little saplings of men. No power. No grit. No will. They break at the first sign of difficulty."

Like she'd struck his funny bone with a metal bat, he shivered from head to toe. Oh boy, this conversation. Mia would tear this woman apart if she were here. But she wasn't, so David would have to do.