Page 90 of Unbinding the Demon
All the blood drained from my face, my limbs became numb with fear, and my heart pounded at an abnormally fast pace. I let out a piercing scream as Azathoth reached out nonchalantly, and to my complete shock, grabbed the thing by its motherfucking fangs. He then ripped them off with a loud snap. He barely broke his gait as he curb-stomped its head in, causing putrescent black slime to ooze from its mutilated spider skull. I stared in horror and revulsion.
“Oh, and it’s best if you don’t scream. That will attract the wolves, and even though I won’t hesitate to kill them if they come near us, I’d rather not. I like canines, and it’s hard not to see Belzar’s face as I end them,” he stated, while continuing to walk at a steady pace. I nodded stiffly to acknowledge his words as I peered over his shoulder back at the now-twitching, crumpled-up spider legs. I’m pretty sure if he were human, I would have drawn blood from how hard my nails dug into his skin.
“Anyway, there’s one more rule that’s for both of us. I have the book that Belzar stole from Adelstein in this bag.” He pointed to a black satchel bag hanging over his shoulder that I hadn’t noticed before. Probably because I was too distracted from being, well,inThe fucking Abyss!“The book is our gateway in and out of this world, so we can’t lose it no matter what, or we’ll both be stuck here until we die... I also packed you some food and water in there, too. Speaking of which, you haven’t eaten anything since yesterday morning.” He rummaged through the bag while holding me in his arms with an awkward grip.
“Here, eat this.” Plastic wrap crinkled as he handed me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Normally I would have scolded him for using plastic wrap and then gobbled it down. But my arms were too busy gripping his neck like velcro to even take the sandwich. Plus, my stomach was also all twisted from my overwhelming anxiety, making the thought of food somewhat nauseating. “I-I-I’m not really hungry,” I stuttered, while focusing on the severity of not losing that damn book and the horrors all around us.
“Gwendolyn…” He shot me a piercing look, warning me to eat. With a dramatic gesture, he nudged the sandwich closer, as if offering a lifeline. “Come on, you need to eat. I made it just for you.” He pushed it against my tightly squished-together lips. “Don’t make me put you down and force it into your mouth, because I will if I have to.”
My eyes widened from the fear of him putting me down in this horrifying place. “Alright, alright!” With great reluctance, I released my grip on his neck. My hands trembled as I finally grasped the sandwich, a mix of hunger and unease swirling within me.
His arms cradled me as I peeled the plastic away and began nibbling on the crust like a paranoid little mouse with cheese. Strange, otherworldly sounds swirled through the air, creating an unsettling chorus. While shrill ululations echoed from every direction. It prompted me to stay vigilant while I quietly enjoyed my sandwich. Azathoth was unbothered by anything we came across. He continued to casually explain about this bizarre alien world of inverted life and eternal darkness, babbling on and on as we headed deeper into the gaping jaws of the forest.
Heavy boots thudded along the jagged rocks and ashy terrain as Azathoth’s steady footsteps softly bounced me up and down. My pale hands wove together one of his silky black locks, making almost half of his head now covered in long Viking braids. I suppressed the urge to laugh at how ridiculous it looked because I was not skilled with hair at all. Hours had passed, and we were still walking through the damn abysmal forest. It was thinning out, making it easier to see, but it was still dark and ominous.
It felt like I was being carried around in the arms of death himself. Azathoth obliterated anything that had dared to come near us like a menacing top predator. Bloodlust twinkled in his incandescent eyes each time he mercilessly slew some grotesque critter. There was no denying that he was a hellish beast designed to kill. I gave up trying to keep count of how many terrifying creatures he casually pulverized. What impressed me further was that he did it all while keeping me safely wrapped in his monstrous embrace.
It was unnerving at first to have a front-row seat for all the action. But I felt a sense of ease knowing that nothing could hurt or eat me with such a fearsome demon protecting me. Hell, I even started cheering him on. I pretended to be an enthusiastic sportscaster, adding commentary to all his gruesome butcheries. And boy, did he fucking love it.
In between all his macabre slaughtering, he explained how this was going to be a“fun adventure.”We were supposedly on a quest to find some obscure weapon called the Teloch Axe to murder Adelstein with. Apparently, when someone was killed by it, they couldn’t reincarnate, and their souls were cast into the abyssal pits. There they would writhe in agony for all eternity. I thought that was all fine and dandy, because fuck Adelstein. That was until he mentioned it was hidden within the depths of some decrescent pantheon and guarded by an insane three-headed zombie dragon known as The Corrupted Vovin. I freaked out and spent the last hour trying to convince him to take us home and kill Adelstein the normal way.
“Alright, fine! If you’re not willing to bring us home, then can you please use your weird teleportation ability to teleport us to the damn axe so we can leave already!?” I huffed and yanked on one of his braids, knowing full well it wouldn’t actually hurt him. “I mean really, why the fuck haven’t you done that yet? We’ve spent hours lollygagging in this hellhole of a forest!?” I waved my hand, gesturing all around us.
“You say hellhole like it’s a bad thing.” He raised an amused brow and chuckled. “And no, I can’t do that here. Well, technically I could, but it would be a terrible idea. You see, every world has a shadow realm that mirrors it, and I use the shadow realms to teleport. However, The Abyss’s shadow realm is full of dark abyssal essence and pesky entities known as lloigors. If we entered it, you would become corrupted, and the poison in my arm would spread so fast that I’d be dead within the hour.” His arms gripped me a little tighter as he hopped over a rotten log.
A long, irritated breath escaped my lips, and then I narrowed my eyes at him. “Well then, why can’t you just fly us there?” I poked at one of his sturdy wings.
“Oh, trust me, I’ve been dying to stretch these bad boys out all day.” A cocky, evil-looking grin stretched across his face, as he gently flapped his wings like he was trying to show them off... I rolled my eyes. “But it’s better to wait until we’re beyond the forest. There are these things, sort of like gargoyles, that are quite territorial of the skies over this forest. They loathe anything else with wings.”
As he rambled on in great detail about yet another abyssal species, I couldn’t help but dwell on what he said about the poison killing him. I scanned the large web of black veins that covered his shoulder and stretched down his arm and onto his chest with unease. It was hard not to notice it had, in fact, gotten larger and darker since the first time I saw it, blending with all his real tattoos. As I traced one of the jagged lines with my fingertip, I recalled Adelstein had also said the poison was killing him. A sickening feeling of dread pooled in the pit of my stomach as I looked back up at his face with worried eyes.
“And so, unless we want to be swarmed by hundreds of undead skeletal gargoyles, it’s best to just walk through here.” He smiled down at me with a loving twinkle in his eyes as he finished speaking.
I reached down and began twiddling with the hem of my dress. “So, yeah, the gargoyles sound cool and all, but what did you mean when you said that the poison would spread so fast it would kill you within the hour?” I avoided eye contact and gave a small shrug.
He stopped moving, and I felt his muscles tense up. “Well...” He started walking again. “I guess there’s no point in beating around the bush with this.” His jaw clenched, and I could practically see the smoking gears turning in his head as he struggled to answer my question. “The poison is killing me.”
What!? No, no, no!
My jaw dropped and my heart sank. It felt like I’d been kicked in the gut repeatedly by an irate, bodybuilder Bigfoot sporting steel-toe boots. This behemoth never missed leg day, and his wrath hit hard. Sure, our relationship was on the rocks, but I knew in my heart that I still loved the lying, murderous, demon freak of a guy. And I most certainly didn’t want him to die! My heart broke, and I felt like throwing up at the mere thought of it.
The look on my face became one of deep concern as I jolted more upright. “There’s a way to cure it, right?” Dismay laced my voice, and my heart thumped in my ribcage.
His eyes shifted to me with an uneasy look in them. “Well, I don’t want to sound like I’m pressuring you or anything, but I can only heal it if my powers are unbound.”
I stared at him for a second, taking in what he’d just said. “How much longer do you think you have?” I stammered, feeling a tight knot of anxiety in my stomach.
He shrugged, his expression relaxed despite the grim circumstances. “There’s no way to know for sure, but judging by the rate it’s been spreading recently, I’d say a few months, tops.” Brittle twigs snapped around us as he traversed between a few intertwined branches.
Only a few months!?
I opened my mouth to speak a few times, but no words would come out. I wrapped my arms around him in a tight embrace, burying my face in the crook of his neck. The delightful scent of fiery spice enveloped me. But beneath that warmth, worry gnawed at my heart as I grappled with the harrowing thought of losing him. I realized he had to be set free for survival, not just to claw back his status as a powerful demon. His long, dangling braids danced in my line of vision as I made up my mind then and there about what I needed to do.
Fuck, I need to unbind this kooky demonic guy.
Azathoth stopped walking, causing me to look up. We had finally made it out of that godforsaken forest and were standing on the edge of a large, jagged precipice. It overlooked an endless sea of black, which blended in with the equally black sky. To the right of us was a huge escarpment with another tall cliff off in the far distance. The black depths made a wispy wall along a desolate, ashen valley that rested below, stretching between the two higher landmasses.
