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Thank you for making it this far into my story! It really means a lot. If you leave a comment or something, I would greatly appreciate it. Anyway, back to the story. Enjoy! Please...9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpxrdORr0cC
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~~~9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QKyV4PAqc
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Oftentimes, life has a way of making it seem as though there is only one choice, even when the paths are many. Even when sticking to one path isn't in the rules.
Now that he'd signed the contract and the commotion died down, the other demon residents receded back to their dwellings, no longer concerned with Zeph. Those demons looked nothing like Nico or the imps, but not something in between either. They were each bipedal and somewhat symmetrical but came with spikes, tusks, or some other variety of delightful appendages. Still, a few stood out.
One musclebound shirtless demon was a head taller than Zeph but even taller if the pair of arched horns that jutted upwards from his forehead counted. So much so, that he had to remain hunched over so as not to scrape the rocky ceiling. He did it with the practiced ease of something comfortable with the Oasis, or at least tight spaces.
There were twin, serpent-esque creatures that wore smooth, shiny scales over their otherwise bare bodies, covering the obvious curves of femininity. They followed behind a mostly-human looking demon-man that walked with a lumbering gait, wearing loose clothes that didn't speak to affluence, despite being well cleaned. He would look completely approachable if it weren't for the undulating tentacles twisting and curling under his octopus-head.
Zeph was startled to see such bizarre and borderline grotesque creatures that kept each other company in the Oasis. They each looked so different from one another but none appeared hostile. He wondered where they all came from, and why they were here, especially those that may be better suited in a place with a little more elbow room.
They left as quickly as they arrived, not offering a greeting or so much as a smile. Without conversation or a good look at them, Zeph would remember them by nothing more than their most prominent features, categorized by endearing names such as "spikey one" or "squid face."
Nico gestured wordlessly back down the hall and when Zeph refused to go first. Nico took the lead. Together, they walked back through vaguely familiar, narrow corridors toward Spin's workshop where he'd had been waiting patiently.
"Oh good, ya back." Spin put down whatever contraption he was tinkering with and spun around in his chair once again. "Never seen som'un so bent up o'er killin' a few hun'd arseholes."
"We settled on just 200." Zeph looked at his feet at the sound of the bargain he just agreed to.
"Well, spit me out an' call me a nut job! Neek, you came down on a contract?" Spin lifted a magnifying lens off the bigger of his two, incongruent eyes. The tinkerer's monocles stayed suspended by a hinged arm attached to his head band.
Zeph gave an implicative look to Nico who avoided meeting his gaze. When Nico finally spoke, it was to Spin, already worn from the conversation.
"Just tell him how we are going to get his pain-in-the-ass off this plane of existence."
"A'righty, then. Fallen, would'ya know 'bout transitive energy?"
"Never heard of it."
Spin let out an exasperated sigh, though apparently prepared for the ignorance of humans. "It's th'energy 'at gets scraped off the top whenever som'un crosses between universes. Demons'll make por'als 'n sacrifices 'n whatnot for their own personal gain. The cost fer makin' such a ritual is often in payment o' transitive energy."
"Payment? "
"Well sor' of. There ca' be different energy consumers in a ritual but generally, there are two major costs:" Spin lifted his elongated pinky first then his shorter-but-still-long index finger as he listed them out. "connectin' the por'al and feeding the beast. If there ain't enough to force someone to the other side, then the Soul Cauldron will just suck up the extra energy and spit 'em right back out. 'hat's called a failed ritual."
"And that's why Dylan is back on Earth. I drove up the cost and the Soul Cauldron put him back on Earth!" Zephaniah straightened up a little and a flicker of intelligence crossed his eyes.
"'At's right'o! Good fer you, fallen!" Spin's condescension stole the smile that tugged the corners of Zeph's lips. "Even bet'er is 'at you can probably leave here, one fer one. Maybe one and half for having 'at stow away"
Spin extended one long digit towards him directly at the spot on his chest where Jodie stabbed him before.
Zeph tugged on the thin collar of his shirt, making a gap big enough to peer down and scrunched his eyebrows. This was the second time that a demon pointed at the exact spot where he had been stabbed even though his shirt was covering it. Though looking under the fabric, there wasn't a scar or even a scratch.
He was, however, surprised to find a little more pectoral muscle than he was used to. More than a little, actually. The sleek ripples of dense muscle flexed over the skinny, lethargic body he was used to. Clenching his abdomen revealed countable mounds of well-defined, eyebrow-raising muscle.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" Nico interrupted. The 'not bad' look he wore washed off Zeph's face the moment remembered he was the subject of both demon's attention.
Nico shook his head dismissively. "Let's just call it two coins." And he brandished two soul coins then tossed them into the air above his hand, only to catch them again in repetition. "I will give you these. Don't eat them."
He tossed the coins into the air once more but this time toward the unprepared Zeph.
Zephaniah wasn't sure why he would 'eat' them; they didn't look that appetizing. But when he caught the coins, he felt something of a heat or a vibration from them. He opened his palm to stare at the innocuous looking coins as they consumed the edges of his vision. His whole hand was numb but buzzing at the same time. In fact, his whole body was reacting to the two coins, aching to soak them in. It was like he had never eaten, or breathed in his whole life until now and all he could ever want was in his hand. It was a lust and a voraciousness that appealed to something baser than any feeling he had before.
He stared into them, like a black hole that he had long ago fell face first into.
Two dim, dwindling coins slowly pressed into the skin of his palm, sinking like quick sand and he could feel the sensation welling up from him. Warmth but cold as ice. It built in his gut like a fire and vacuum, all at once.
He was hungry.
Starving.
His soul ached for more but before the coins could descend into his hand completely, Nico snatched them, breaking Zeph's captivation.
"What did I just tell you, fallen?" Nico jostled the coins in one hand while giving a disdained look. "You can't have these back until I get The Pot."
Without another word, he left, leaving Zeph and Spin together alone, sharing a prolonged silence. While Zeph tried very hard not to stare, Spin did nothing but gawk at him, seeming to inspect not only his body but also the air around him.
Finally, Spin met his eyes and wiped some drool that persistently dribbled from the demon's bottom lip. "Do you feel-" he slurped some errant saliva from his teeth, apparently considering the right word, "cold?"
Zeph was confused by the question, "No, Not really. I think." The inquiry did nothing to dissolve the awkward tension between the two of them. For Zeph, the overwhelming sensations of the coins completely left him and he wanted nothing more than to forget them altogether. He pushed the leading question about how he was feeling out of his mind and tried to distract himself with his surroundings. Zeph searched the room for a new subject. When he looked back at the demon, Spin was still scrutinizing him with lopsided eyes.
"Hey, Spin?" Zeph watched Spin find eye contact. "What's the deal with Nico? Are you guys- I don't know- friends?"
Spin was taken aback. "Well, I 'on't know what he would call me, but I'd call him a friend. Neeks saved me from the Wastes. 'e saved all of us, actually."
"So now you guys all owe him a-a life debt or something?"
"Haha! Hells no." Spin's little legs kicked limply in the air. "Hah! We're a communi'y! We-"
"Enough, Spin." Nico entered the room carrying in both hands a round pot made of black iron. "Let's go."
Spin killed his laughter as quickly as it came and hopped down to the ground. Instead of landing on his little legs, he propped himself on his long arms and followed Nico out of the room.
After an awkward moment by himself to gather his thoughts, Zeph followed the demons through the hall to another, much wider opening. It was an amphitheater with stone steps leading down to a flattened floor in the center. Nico was already in the middle of the room, center stage, placing the pot on the ground. He was speaking sharply to Spin in hushed tones, too quiet for Zeph to make out from the entrance.
"Is that the Soul Cauldron?" Zeph asked.
"No, fallen. The Soul Cauldron occupies its entire universe. This is just an artifact. It is a conduit to open a portal to the Soul Cauldron." Nico straightened his outfit. "You are going to jump into this cauldron and find yourself in the Soul Cauldron."
Zeph opened his mouth to speak before Nico cut him off.
"No more questions." Playfulness was absent from his voice this time. "This is the deal. You go, take the damn coins and you go back to the Mortal Plane. Kill me some assholes so we can be done with each other."
"Hey, what's your problem, dude?"
"Don't forget, fallen. Our relationship is transactional. Do not fuck this up or I will reap your soul, damned or not." Nico held out two dim coins in his hand like refuse.
Zeph swallowed and stepped forward.
"Hey, fuck you man. I don't know what the hell is going on here. I died and now I'm being tossed around between I-don't-know-where like a human hacky sack. Whatever bullshit you're dealing with, keep it to your damn self. I don't know what the fuck crawled up your ass, but you are gonna find out real quick, Nico." He was face-to-face with the demon. "It's not that easy to be done with me."
Zeph snatched the coins from Nico's hand, finally taking control of his life, death and whatever else the universes could throw at him next. He was going to save Dylan. And he wouldn't let anything get in his way.
He looked to Spin before jumping feet first into the cauldron.
The soles of his feet descended at the same time into the iron pot, stopping when it hit the bottom. He lost his balance and fell backward onto the stone.
He looked up at Nico from his collapsed position on the ground, then at Spin.
"Er, we 'idn't perform the ritual yet, fallen. But you really showed 'im! Maybe try 'hose lines it again afta' I activate the por'al."
Zeph, struggling to remove his feet from the ancient artifact, climbed to a stand. He dusted himself off and took a long look at Nico who still had his hand outstretched in the position it was before Zeph snatched the coins. He slapped the coins back into Nico's hand.
The slap snapped Nico out of something Zeph couldn't see. Something beyond what any human could see. Zeph wouldn't know it but from the view of the rest of hell's denizens, he was slowly consuming the energy around him. And at the center of his dim, darkened soul was a crack. Seemingly a scar in the universe itself, pulsing and beating like at a heart, exactly where the Jodie had stabbed him in his chest.
It flared in his boisterous tirade. It responded to his anger. It loved it.
Whatever Jodie did to him, it was eating the ambient energy of hell around him.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxk4DBgVFQW
And what's more, it was sucking the life from Zeph too.
Spin chanted some demonic words and a purple light flashed from the opening of the pot. Behind the light, stabilized a deep blue portal that boiled at the surface of an interdimensional soup.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjnbqoaC4kr
"A'ight. It's aw ready. Go 'head. Say that sick shit again." Spin earned a look from both Zeph and Nico.
Zeph and Nico eyed each other one more time before Zeph approached. He took a deep breath and quelled his anger, realizing there was much more to everything Nico had been doing than he could understand in such a short time of knowing him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before speaking.
"I get it now. Well, more like I get that I don't get it. But you and I got something in common, I think." Zeph looked at the demon's visage one last time before grabbing the coins. "I hope you can keep them all safe."
Nico remained a photograph of himself.
Zeph didn't need confirmation.
He recognized Nico.
Without another word, Zeph jumped into the pot. This time he was transported to the Soul Cauldron, a beast so large that it takes up its entire universe.
"Well 'at wuddn't nearly as bad ass as the first fing he said."
Nico gave Spin a look as the glow of the portal faded between them before silently leaving the room.
Spin stood a moment eying the still cauldron in the center of the room. "Ay, I can't pick 'hat up!"
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