She said nothing as she walked through the tunnels, staring straight ahead at the room where he was kept. As she clutched Ephram's hat close to her chest, the only thing she could think of was how she was going to kill those who would dare capture him. Her mind raced with the possibilities, there were just so many ways to kill, she found it upsetting to have to pick just one. The anger she felt for being disrespected like this by those disgusting creatures was enough to burn them all to ash.
She noticed Ephram look up from the table in the back of the room, seeing her had caused him to seem livelier, as if she had given him the hope to live.
"If the rats won't work, let's try a little fire!" A demon shouted from the end of the hall, and May took this as her sign to get involved.
The air grew colder and the wind grew sharper as it whipped through the tunnels, creating a ghastly sounding wail. It sounded as if a banshee had been cut loose in the sewers. May took off her sunhat, holding it in the same hand as Ephram's black fedora. Her golden hair flowed chillingly with the wind as she raised her free hand towards the room, stepping through the doorway.
"Get out of here!" A humanoid rat demon shouted at her from nearby Ephram, pouncing at her like the animal it was.
May said nothing, but her actions spoke loudly.
The straps holding Ephram in place were cut to ribbons, and the demon who had jumped to her was flown back into the wall. The wind had been knocked out of the creature, but not just from the force of impact. She clenched her fist tightly as the other two demons were shot backwards, stuck to the wall like a fly in honey. The air around them began to dissipate, as well as the flames of their torches, leaving the demons choking from the lack of oxygen.
The rat demon with the bone looked at May with fury in its eyes, it couldn't believe what was happening.
"You... bitch!" It croaked, as the air grew thinner by the second.
May ran towards Ephram, who had fallen to his knees in front of the board he was just strapped upon. She knelt down next to him after grabbing his trench coat and shirt, placing the coat over his shoulders.
"Are you alright? Did they hurt you? Tell me what happened." She said quickly, trying to get the words out as fast as possible. She seemed to be genuinely worried for him, something that caught him by surprise.
"I... I think so... I'm okay. Just shaken up a bit." He said, trying not to let May see how afraid he truly was.
As he finished speaking, he grabbed hold of the table next to him and propped himself upright. He looked angrily towards the three demons pinned to the wall, furious at not just them but himself for being too weak to fight back. Ephram scolded himself for allowing May to save him like this, he felt so pitiful and helpless.
May looked up to the ceiling, scanning the pipes above them like a hawk scans a field.
"Come on out, it's over." She said loudly as she dawned her sunhat once again.
Ephram looked up as a small field mouse dropped from the ceiling, landing on the table in front of him.
"Silo? How?" He uttered, trying to make sense of how the field mouse was here.
"I've been following you both ever since you left the Garden." Silo squeaked happily, thankful he hadn't left Ephram and May alone.
"I watched the two of you get separated, and followed you throughout the sewer so I could guide May to you. I'm not very strong myself, I'm sorry for not helping you sooner." He said, the happiness in his voice fading as he looked down, ashamed he had taken so long.
Ephram shook his head in disagreement, he knew that Silo had tried his best and that there was no reason for helping him in the first place.
"No, what you did was enough. I can't thank you enough for your help, I am truly grateful... to both of you." He said with gratitude, looking up from Silo and meeting Mays gaze.
"Right... I can't allow lowly creatures like this to interrupt me, it was the natural thing to do. I only did what I did because you make me curious, I just want to know why you give off such a powerful aura, that's all." May said bashfully, not wanting to admit she had saved Ephram out of the goodness of her heart.
"But for now, let's deal with these... things." She said, gesturing to the three demons still pinned against the wall.
Ephram cautiously walked over to them, noticing how drastically thin the air was near them compared to the rest of the room. May wasn't lying when she told him she could manipulate the air to her very will, she had seemingly sucked out all the oxygen in this one area while simultaneously shoving the three of them against the wall with a small but powerful gust of wind.
"I'll kill... you!" The bone demon croaked, using up whatever air it had left in its lungs.
The three demons writhed and wriggled like worms on a hook as they were pinned to the wall, trying to gasp for any breath of fresh air they could find. Ephram observed as May walked calmly over to the demon on the right side, staring at it patiently like a vulture watches its next meal draw its last breath. For some reason, this pleased Ephram. Watching these demons writhe in agony just like their victims had, it placed a sense of justice in his heart. Maybe, just maybe, Ephram had begun to believe in the possibility of beauty again. Even in Hell, after every wrongdoing and unjust action, there is recompense.
However, there was still something about the situation that bugged Ephram, it still just didn't feel right.
"May... I have an idea." He suddenly blurted, surprising himself.
She turned to look at him, her focused gaze softening. May herself had some sense of justice as well, and could guess what his next words were going to be. She sighed and held out his hat, as well as pointing towards his dirtied trench coat and undershirt on the ground next to the board.
"If my assumption about your idea is correct, we'll need to flee pretty fast, so... put your clothes on, mkay?" She said, throwing his hat to him like a frisbee.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"We shou-" Ephram was suddenly cut off by an unfamiliar voice coming from down the tunnel the second he had put his hat back atop his head.
"Yes... leave them... to us..." A hoarse and raspy voice shakily whispered from amongst the bodies lining the wall. It had taken the words straight from Ephram's mouth. It seemed they all wanted revenge on their captors, and using what little strength they still had, they would get it.
As he put his trench coat and shirt back on, he noticed something fall out of his left breast pocket, hitting the ground with a sharp thud. The golden pocket watch had slipped out somehow. As Ephram bent over to pick it back up, he inspected it closely. There seemed to be not a single scratch or blemish on the watch, its golden exterior as smooth as the surface of his own face. The golden chain attached to it felt heavy as well, its sleekness surprised him.
He felt his gaze lock onto the watch, ignoring everything else happening around him. For now, the rat demons and the bodies lining the wall were just a distraction. The watch was all that was important to him. It felt as if he was holding and staring into his very soul. He tried opening the watch to see what lay within, but for some reason it just refused to budge. No matter how hard Ephram tried to pry it open, it stayed sealed. There were no indications of it being stuck, so the watch's refusal to open began to irritate him.
"Where did you go? Were you listening?" Silo's voice broke his trance, he looked up to meet the mouse's eyes.
"Sorry, I just... the watch wouldn't open..." He said, dangling the pocket watch from its chain momentarily before stuffing it back into his left breast pocket, "...what were you saying?"
"You and May have to pry the demons off the walls, then we must return to the surface so we aren't... in the way." Silo said, looking over at the three rat demons pinned to the wall.
May had allowed them to breathe a bit more now, it would be a waste for them to suffocate here before their own poetic justice. Silo had decided to perch himself upon her sunhat as the three of them made their way through the tunnels, prying the bodies from the walls. The large metal nails driven through their hands and feet came out with a disgusting slurp, and soon after, all of the tortured demons stood. With the last of their strength, each one took a painful step towards their goal. If there was any karma in this godforsaken world, it would be dealt with by their own hands.
Ephram, May, and Silo made their way through the sewer tunnels, trying to put as much distance between them and the tortured demons as they could. As they searched for an exit, the cries of the rat humanoids filled the air. If what the bone demon said was true, the demons on the surface must have been listening to the composer of the century. Aching screams shot through the tunnels and escaped into the air above, killing the silence which rested there moments before.
...
The manhole cover slid perfectly back in place as May kicked it aggressively back to where it belonged. The three of them said nothing as they began walking once more, the events from before still making their way through their heads. This is Hell, there was no doubt about it. What happens in Hell is the accumulation of a deep-rooted hatred, a seething pain, and the searing hot rage of any who were misfortune enough to call themselves a demon.
Ephram had so many questions and wasn't sure if he even wanted them answered anymore. Who cares about the human world, the war on the angels, or even Hell itself? The only thing he could see was the unrelenting fury of the damned, furious because of one another. If the world had come to hate itself, what was the point in saving it? He asked himself this question now, and could only wonder why he was born to begin with. He didn't care about the war, he didn't care about anything these demons had pushed to the front of his mind.
If most demons were just like the rats in the sewer, or even worse, the ones living just above them, then what could he possibly do to stop the carnage? Did they even want it to stop? There was no telling what ran through the minds of others, and it made him feel completely alone.
"I'm sorry." May's voice rang out, throwing Ephram's train of thought off the rails.
"What for? You saved me... I'm grateful." He said, unsure of why May felt the need to apologize.
For all he knew, she was never going to save him in the first place. There was no reason to do so, no merit in it. They had only just met along with Silo, and the three of them had no reason to stick together so closely like this. No other demon in all of Hell would come to rescue him, so why had these two come to his aid? It just didn't make any sense to him.
"I should've been there sooner... I'm just glad you and the others are free now." She said, trying to hide the fact she was upset.
"All three of us didn't start off on the right foot, but I think I speak for us all when I say... May, you did everything you could. You too, uh..." Silo trailed off as he looked over to Ephram from Mays sunhat, staring at him with a dumbfounded look in his eyes.
May chuckled under her breath, not only at Silo's attempt to reassure her, but why he had trailed off in the first place. Her chuckle slowly grew louder until it grew into a full blown laughing fit, her hands now clung to her sides as if she was keeping her body from bursting with laughter. Silo held on to her hat with his small claws, trying not to fall off as she giggled uncontrollably.
She stopped in her tracks, nearly causing Ephram to bump into her as he half paid attention to where he was going, his focus was on her out of place laughter.
"Are you alright?" He asked, unable to comprehend what was so funny.
"You do realize, both Silo and I have no clue what to call you, right? You've never introduced yourself." She said, the words piercing through her bubbly laughter.
"Oh! Before you do so, just know that you shouldn't say your real name aloud. Every demon has a true name, that name is the only thing stopping others from killing you for good." May blurted out quickly, not wanting Ephram to say his true name out of ignorance.
Something in the back of his mind seemed to tickle, like a feather being gently moved across his brain. He had heard this before; he was sure of it. The sense of deja vu was stronger than ever now, and it caused him quite a bit of discomfort.
"I... knew that, somehow. I'm sure of it. I know my true name, and the power it holds." He said, holding his head in one hand to try and ease the pain. It was nothing more than a small headache, but he knew something was wrong either way. Ephram knew deep within his very existence that he had heard those words somewhere before, there was no doubt in his mind.
"Are you alright? What happened?" May ceased her giggling, growing more and more concerned for Ephram as he grasped his head in both hands now, obviously becoming more upset with every passing second.
"I can't remember anything... but I know things... things I shouldn't." He said, trying his hardest to scour his mind for any hint of a memory, even a scrap. The feeling of emptiness in his mind was driving him mad, there had to be an explanation for this.
If what May and Silo had both said in the Garden was true, then he should have memories of his human master, yet none were there. But somehow, he still knew things. A demon's true name, the beauty of the world, and the way he felt towards the demons of Hell were all too real to be a coincidence. These feelings and thoughts within him were the result of someone's memories, he was sure of it. The memories themselves were gone, but the feelings remained.
"Well... maybe what you just experienced has gotten to your head? Seeing those bodies and being nearly tortured like that is sure to put some strain on you." Silo spoke up suddenly, trying to calm Ephram down.
"Right, and once we reach my father's place I'm sure you'll feel better. It's much safer there than it is anywhere in all of Hell... in my opinion of course." May said, walking closer to Ephram and holding onto his shoulder for comfort.
"Your father?" Ephram managed to ask, his mind still racing as it tried to find answers to his unanswerable questions.
"Yes, my father. The Rootlord of this section of Hell. Aberlain Estella." May said with a defeated tone, for some reason saying her fathers name had made her visibly upset. Ephram decided not to push his luck by asking her why that was.
"So... back to introductions then, I suppose. My name is May Estella, daughter of the Rootlord Aberlain Estella, ruler of three Yggdrasil roots. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." She said with nobility in her voice, and as soon as she finished speaking, it dawned on Ephram just how important May and her father really were. Yggdrasil is quite large, and to rule three entire roots of the tree must take some serious power.
"My name is Silo, just Silo. As a lesser demon, I have no other name beside the one my human master had given me. Pleased to meet you two." Silo squeaked as he happily introduced himself formally, never having gotten the chance to do so before.
Ephram looked at the two of them in awe, he had begun to realize something else quite important to him. These two demons before him were unlike any of the others he had seen so far, and knew deep within himself that the two of them were going to become more important to him than anyone else. These two had no reason to help him, let alone introduce themselves in such a manner. Even among the foul creatures in the sewers, the demons living within the city who find pleasure in screams, and countless others he was sure to meet, Ephram knew that these two were different. It seems even demons possessed a heart.
"Well... I'm not entirely sure what to call myself just yet. It's not like I can tell you my true name." He said as he tried desperately to come up with a name for himself, but every idea he had just seemed too fake to him, and that was something he just couldn't stand by.
"Hm... how about you just use the first initial of your name? Plenty of demons do that." Silo spoke up, trying to offer a solution to Ephram's predicament. This had never occurred to him, but it seemed better than coming up with a fake name for the time being.
"In that case, you can call me E." He said happily, it felt good to finally have something to be referred by.
Ephram hadn't realized it before, but now that the weight had lifted from his shoulders, he understood why he felt so relieved. It was lonely, being the only one to know his name, unable to say it aloud. Even his two companions had no clue what it was, and the same could be said for them individually. A name holds power, it can make you feel closer to someone. Both May and Silo were not these demons real names, but a fake to conceal their true names. It must have been lonely for them as well, being the only ones to know their own names, unable to call out for those whom they cared about with a genuine title, forever cursed to hear a fake name and to say a fake name.
"It's nice to meet you, E." May said warmly as she continued on walking, Ephram following closely behind with a newfound sense of companionship.