'How terrible the war of gods must have been. For it caused the mortal races to flee. How inhospitable must their world have become. How perplexed the first demons to fall must have been. To have the unthinkable. To have mortals invade the Abyssal-Hell. Able to bypass the ancient cosmic laws once they cast aside their faith in all divine. Dwarves and Elves and Monstrous races. And Humans. That scourge that knows no limits. Those mortals that smother the unquenchable fires of Hell if not with their ingenuity, then their unending numbers. Woe be to the demons. Woe be to the devils. Woe be to the Hellish beasts. For once they managed their foothold, they began to breed.'

-From The Book of Subjugation-

Lenex finished his drink of water with a choke. The dwarf slaver grunted and moved on to the next person in line. Lenex gave stocky the man a few minutes to continue on down the dark cave before returning to working his other hand free from the ropes that bound him. With a final tug, his scrapped and bloody hand came free. He took a quick look to his left and right. To the right, the cave walls grew lighter as they approached the entrance, and the other slavers. To the left, darkness.

Lenex hesitated for only a moment, his heart pounding in his chest. Going towards the light would mean facing more slavers, but something about the darkness to his left unnerved him. Without wasting another second, he made his decision and plunged into the shadows.

The darkness enveloped him. A suffocating blanket black. His footsteps echoed against the cold stone floor as he hurried deeper into the cave, his eyes failing to adjust to the lack of light around him. The faint sound of dripping water echoed almost louder that is harsh breathing, adding an eerie ambiance to his already tense surroundings.

Behind him, a low growl echoed, sending a shiver down Lenex's spine. He quickened his pace, knowing that the dwarf slaver was hot on his heels. The narrow passageway twisted and turned before him, the rough walls scraping against his skin as he brushed past them in his desperate flight. Now in complete darkness. Then the floor was gone. His stomach doing back flips and vertigo overtook his senses and he reached his arms out to grab hold of something, anything.

The dwarven slaver chuckled as he slowed to a stop. Lenex could imagine the bastard staring down at him with a bemused grin.

“Hey lad. Best be taking my hand before ya fall. I can not bottom of that hole.”

Lenex stared up at the voice. Fear of dieing and fear of things worse than death warring within his mind. He looked up at where the dwarf’s voice had come from. Gave the darkness a shit eating grin. And let go.

The fall hurt. It wasn’t a straight drop. The hole curved and slowly leveled out, but the hard stone tore at his skin and hit with the force solid earth.

Lenex lay still for a moment, the pain shooting through his body like a swarm of angry hornets, but it was the normal kind, not the oversized Hell hornets that literally picked people off the ground and brought them to their nest to be consumed. Every inch of him ached, but he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, gritting his teeth against the agony. The darkness was still all-encompassing, but he could hear faint sounds in the distance, the echo of dripping water, and possibly the sound of chains, though it might have been his imagination.

With trembling hands, Lenex felt along the ground until his fingers brushed against a rough surface. Pulling himself up, he began to feel his way forward, step by agonizing step he ventured deeper into the unknown blackness, the air grew colder and a sense of foreboding settled in his chest like a heavy stone. Shadows danced at the edge of his vision, playing tricks on his weary mind. But Lenex pressed on until light suddenly emanated from the wall he had been touching. He pulled his had away and the dim green glow slowly faded. Confused, but happy to have some illumination to fight back against the oppressive black, he pressed both hands against the wall.

Lenex found the rough stone to be smooth and sculpted. Glowing green lines spread from his touch further illuminating the tunnel he found himself in. the more of the wall he touched, the more the light spread, until he found himself standing in front of a doorway. It was tall and carved from a single slab of dark stone. Intricate symbols, Abyssal script, and Hellish designs covered its surface, glowing with a faint green light that seemed to pulsate with energy. A handle made of twisted silver was the only indication that it was meant to be opened, as the rest of the doorway seemed to seamlessly blend into the stone wall. He grabbed the twisted handle and pulled. The door didn’t budge. Grabbing hold of the handle with both hands caused the twisted silver metal to glow green between the seams, it still didn’t move.

Lenex let go and looked down at his hands. Both were covered in a smear of dried blood, his left having traces of slightly fresher crimson. Was that it? Was it contact with blood that caused the runic lines on the walls to glow? Lenex ran his hands over his face. The sticky feeling of partially dried blood told him his nose had been bleeding after his face had met the stone floor after the fall. He blew a stick load of snot and blood into his open palms and grabbed hold of the door’s twisted handle again. Pale green light radiated out from the door’s cracks and seams. It opened.

As the door swung open, Lenex was enveloped in a wave of cool, musty air. The chamber beyond was unlike anything he had ever seen before. A vast space, the walls lined with intricate green glyphs that pulsed with an otherworldly light, casting eerie shadows across the room. In the center stood two towering onyx obelisks, their surfaces etched with swirling patterns that seemed to twist and writhe as if alive.

But what caught Lenex's attention most of all was the figure tethered between the obelisks with chains seemingly made of green light. A demon. Fairly human in form with pale skin only slightly tinted red, green lines criss crossed its body in arcane patterns. Its wings lay limp on the ground behind it. Its spaded tail unmoving. Ram-like horns and a second smaller, straighter set adorned its head, but long black hair obscured any facial features and most of the rest of its body as the demon hung limply. Its face held only a foot or so above the raised dais by its chained wrists. It didn’t move its vaguely female body and there were no other exits, so Lenex left the chamber to search of other ways out of the cave. Finding no other exits other than the one he had fallen from, Lenex returned to the chamber, placed his back to the smooth stone wall, and slid down into a sitting position.

Now what? How was he supposed to get out of this damnable cave? Perhaps he could climb the hole he had fallen through, but in the pitch black it seemed impossible. If he ever did get out of here, he’d have to track down the slavers. Make them pay for his predicament. For killing his uncle. For enslaving his village. For thinking they could get away with enslaving Lenex.

“A human?”

Lenex startled at the raspy voice. His eyes met the demon’s and an comprehensible surge of both attraction and revulsion shot through him in a wave of mixed emotions.

“Got a problem with that?” Lenex asked, putting as much annoyance and disgust into the words as possible.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The Demon tilted her head. It was definitely female. All the curves and lithe famine lumps of her naked body relieved as she lifted herself into an awkward sitting position. But it was her face that held his undivided attention. Her right eye had a red iris. Her left was a socket of brilliant white light that didn’t seem to illuminate anything. Oddly enough, it was the white not-light that sparked the revulsion he felt.

“You speak abyssal?”

“Of course I do.”

“How does a weak human end up in my prison?”

“I fell.”

“Into what?”

Maybe it was the confusion in the demon’s voice, or perhaps he was growing resistant to whatever aura it was emulating, but the odd sense of attraction and simultaneous revulsion was slowly fading.

“The hole that led here.”

The demoness glared at Lenex. Lenex glared back. “How did you get to the first layer of the Abyssal-Hell?” She asked, annoyance clear in her voice.

“I was born here.”

The demoness looked surprised. “And you have demonic blood?”

“What kind of question is that? Everyone has demonic blood.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” Lenex let out a long sigh. “Do you know any way out of here?”

“Here? No. I have no idea what’s beyond that door. Things change over millennia. Like humans being able to survive on the first layer.”

“Great.” Lenex said, leaning his head against the wall and closing his eyes.

“Who do you hate?”

Lenex reopened his eyes, wondering if he had nodded off or not. “What?”

“You want revenge on someone. Who?”

“How do you know what I want?”

“Consider revenge my domain.”

“Slaver’s attacked my village. Took everything valuable. I’d like them to die.”

“I see.” Said the demoness. “How do you plan to get to them?”

“I don’t know. I’ll try to climb back up the hole when I’ve got more energy.”

“Can you see in the dark?”

Lenex scoffed. “Of course not.”

“Would you like to?”

The offer hung in the air like a noxious mist, both tantalizing and repulsive. Lenex hesitated, his mind racing with thoughts of what it would mean to be able to see in the dark, to no longer fear the unseen that stalked the night, to plot and enact his revenge. But at what price? Lenex met the demoness's gaze, seeing both her allure and her menace reflected there. "And what do you get?"

She rattled the magical chains that held her to the obelisks. “Freedom from my prison. Freedom to pursue the entities that put me here.”

Lenex considered it for a moment, but only just a moment. “And then you’ll kill me as soon as you’re free. Forget it.”

“I am a creature of retribution. I will help you with yours if you help me with mine.”

As Lenex contemplated the offer, his mind raced with a mix of hope and dread. She was a demon, likely bound by laws of vengeance and retribution. Her freedom would be his key to revenge, if not escape. But would it be a fate worse than dying in the darkness of this forsaken cave?

The demoness sensed his hesitation and continued, her voice filled with a hint of sadness. "You have nothing to lose, human. I can help you see in the dark, give you enough energy to climb back to the surface, and guide you to your vengeance. I will help you become powerful, to conquer. You will bathe in wealth. You will rule over the denizens of this plain if you agree to free me. We will be linked until the end. You will live far longer than any mere mortal. It is a partnership of revenge."

Lenex studied the demoness’ expression, searching for any sign of deception. Her left eye, bright and unfathomable, seemed to hold both a sense of absolute truth and a promise of power. He felt a strange effect on him, a pull that he couldn't deny. Revenge. Wealth. Power.

"I accept your offer on a few conditions." His words seemed to echo throughout the chamber. “You will never cause me harm, you will speak only truth to me, and you will give me your true name.”

“I will speak only truth to you when we are alone. We both agree not to cause undue harm to each other. I will give you my name and you will know it to be true. It is required to release me. We will aid each other in our quests for revenge.” The demoness countered. “Do you agree, human? This will lock our fates together irreversibly.

“I accept your terms.” Lenex said, his eyes focused on the brilliant white of her left eye.

“Say it twice.” Said the demoness as she pushed herself up into a standing position.

“I accept your terms.” Lenex repeated, his voice more confident.

“Thrice.” The demoness hissed, leaning against her chains towards the human.

“I accept your terms.” He said again.

“Thrice heard and accepted.”

Lenex fell to his knees with a sense that the weight of the Nine Hells had just dropped onto his shoulders. “Your name?”

“I have been called many things, but my name, it Illiesku the Cursed.”

“I’m Lenex. How do I release you?”

“You, someone with demon-blood, place a bloody hand on one of the obelisks and accept me as your ward.”

“So I was never leaving her without you.”

“I don’t know. I have no knowledge of what's beyond that door.” Illiesku smiled, her red iris and white not-light seeming to flicker in the darkness. "Let us begin, Lenex.”

Lenex hesitated for a moment, his mind still whirling with the implications of their agreement. But then, he steeled himself, drew a deep breath, and slowly reached out to place his bloody hand against the nearest obelisk. “What now?”

“Take me as your ward.”

Lenex shifted. “I take Illiesku the Cursed as my ward.”

Light flickered across the obelisk. The chains flashed and ceased to exist. The demoness stumbled forward off the dais, her wings dragging behind her. The light from the runes on the walls flickered out, or perhaps Lenex himself fell unconscious.

As Lenex lay there, acutely aware of the weight of Illiesku's presence beside him. He slowly opened his eyes, blinking against the sudden darkness, and saw Illiesku looking down at him. Her expression one of quiet triumph, her white eye glowing eerily in the darkness. "You slept longer than expected. The slavers are gone," Illiesku said softly, her voice a hypnotic whisper. "We should go. I’d like to be rid of this accursed chamber."

Lenex struggled to his feet, steadying himself against the cold stone wall. He felt re-energized. “Whoa, I can see. Where are your wings?”

“Put away. Come on.” She walked out of the chamber and over to the sloped shoot that Lenex had fallen down. “I’m weak right now. Darkvision and a bit of strength is all you get. Think you can climb it?”

"Lenex looked up the shoot. “Kind of have to don’t I?”

The demon huffed, but said nothing. Lenex started to climb the wall, the naked demon woman close behind him.

The cave was empty. The slavers gone. Lenex walked out into the light of day, crossed his arms, and let out a long sigh.

“What the fuck?”

Lenex turned to see the demoness looking around with a wide eyed expression. “What.”

“This isn’t what I remember. The air was toxic. There weren’t any trees before. The sky is almost like it was on the material plane.

Lenex looked up at the sickly green sky with its cheerful off-yellow clouds. He shrugged. “I’m told my ancestors changed it. Follow the path the slavers made, or head back to the village and gather supplies. It's only a day's walk away. What do you think?”

Note: This was more or less an experiment using an AI assisted program to write. I really liked the program (Sudowrite) the tools are helpful particularly the thesaurus and the "write" function which take what you suggest you want to happen and gives you a couple paragraphs to choose from. very good for when you get stuck in a spot. still have to change  the suggestions. It also has a lot of nice World-bible tools, but I don't write on a computer and while I like the program, its pretty useless to me.