Page 115 of Hell-Bound

“Ziemia, as is her way, was creative. Humans and Orcs always lusted for each other, reproducing the fastest, so they were given the shortest lifespans. While Elves and Gnomes tend to mate less, and thus, she gave them more years. Faydir followed her lead, allowing his passive children to age slowly but ultimately pass on.

“But in my greed, I couldn’t let go. I couldn’t stand the idea of my children dying and something taking them from me. Death meant pain and abandonment, and the thought of their lives living elsewhere made me envious. Therefore, I allowed my creatures to remain Immortal, living long lives full of adventures and experiences.”

He paused, eyes darkening.

“This gluttony to see them thrive pushed me to start offering them small doses of my power. Signing contracts that I naively believed would help them. I allowed them to surrender their Immortality in exchange for magical prowess. After all, not everyone wanted to live forever, and it felt like a fair compromise. But understand, I also received power from these exchanges. More power to create and control—I loved it.

“But something went wrong. For millennia there were no sleepers, only Devils with their small gifts. Then, one day, when Adhan tried to pass over to The Heavens…he didn’t. He stayed and turned into what we now know as a sleeper.

“I was devastated. The only creature I had ever given myself to fully was gone. A shell. I tried all the magic at my disposal to help him, to bring him back, but it was no use.

“I couldn’t fathom why this had happened. The only consequences for Devils in the past were their lifespans. It was the only way for me to give power and, while harsh, onlymeant they would eventually go live with my brother. I hadn’t realized my brother Nainaur’s growing ambition for power.

“It started small. He began visiting the Mortals on my sister’s plane, evangelizing. Ziemia was the shyest of our siblings and preferred to show her love through plants and nature. Blessing her children with the light from her sun and the blooms of her flowers. She didn’t mind Nainaur receiving the worship and the power that came along with it.

“Then our planes began to change. Ziemia’s nature began to betray her as natural disasters destroyed her beautiful creations. Faydir’s plane was blighted. The fragile ecosystem he’d created began to die, and so did its occupants. On my plane, the people started to change. More sleepers appeared each day, many of whom I had signed contracts with. Others from my High Devils, a creation I also gifted with the ability to offer contracts. Then suddenly, there were too many sleepers to count.

“All the gods gathered together to find a solution to the suffering of our people. Nainaur blamed us for refusing to create the proper balance. He said balance was the only way to true happiness and for our children to reach their full potential. Nainaur swore to us that day that he would help us maintain that balance, gifting us some of the power he’d collected from the Mortals to aid us protect our planes. He pointed out that the transfer of power could only occur via contract. I, having invented the process, believed him and was the first to sign. I trusted my brother, the self-proclaimed god of truth, to keep to his word.

“One of the exchanges was that he would intervene on behalf of the sleepers if I remained their constant custodian in The Hells. The contract, worded strategically, trapped me here, in The Hells, in exchange for his help. I had no desire to leave, so the sacrifice felt minimal at first. But to my horror, his intervention amounted to forcing the sleepers to work in the mines, extracting my precious vurmite. It took me several centuries to realize why he was doing this. These stones, magicin their own way, have been fueling my brother’s power. It was the vurmite, along with the mass worship from followers of The Mortal Plane, that allowed him to lord over us, all the creatures and my siblings included. Since this realization, I have tried to stop it, but…”

He stopped, eyes distant.

“He punished me. Captured me and unleashed an Immortal god’s level of agony and torture upon my person. He didn’t scar my body, but—but my people. Diseases and destruction erupted across the lands. Devils were dying by the millions. One for each piece of vurmite I had stolen from him before finally releasing me.

“It went on like this, the suffering, the death until Faydir suggested we write Vutar’ka Zhartun. He wanted our children to know the truth. He believed they were intelligent enough, wise enough, to see past Nainaur machinations. They would turn from him if they realized his depravity, weakening his power enough for us to intervene. But Faydir had also signed a contract, and he knew the consequences of sharing his knowledge. He was a god, so he could not become a sleeper. He simply died—vanished rather. He and the power he provided to The Fae Plane. It is because of The Ultimate Truth that I can speak to you now without vanishing myself. It protects us from certain consequences of our contracts.

Since our brother’s death we’ve kept the tome secret, my sister and I, believing that one day we would find a way to stop Nainaur and bring peace to the planes. But somehow, my brother discovered its existence and will stop at nothing to destroy it and silence us again—prevent us from sharing The Ultimate Truth.

“It wasn’t long before Nainaur began the rumors of my malevolence. I didn’t deny them because they were true. I had created the sleepers. I had already signed innumerable contracts before I realized what I had done, and I couldn’t stop. At first, I felt like I was helping, allowing my children to choose. Then it just…spiraled. I forgot why I was doing it, and, inmy grief, it didn’t seem to matter. Once you’ve caused so much pain, you become numb. I was numb, have been numb for a long time. I have become what my brother always said I was. The embodiment of evil.

“I know now that no matter what I do, there is no going back for me. I am too far gone. My sins, the souls I have taken, and the agony I have caused outweigh any good I can do. I am lost to evil. It is my only companion. My lust, greed, envy, sloth, gluttony—it feeds my broken soul. It is the only way Ifeelanything besides the overwhelming numbness.”

He paused, pain carving deep lines in his face. Azur closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tree. Ren noticed his pulse throbbing in his long neck.

Ren didn’t say anything at first. She simply reached out and touched his leg. His head jerked as if he’d forgotten she was there.

“I’m so sorry, Azur,” she whispered.

“Don’t be,” he said, perhaps harsher than he’d intended. “I am what I am. I could have let him take me the way he took Faydir, but I didn’t—I continued.”

His eyes looked shiny, glistening with emotion.

“I could have found a way to use The Ultimate Truth before now—but I didn’t—I haven’t.”

Ren hugged her knees to her chest. This revelation would indeed turn The Mortal Plane on its head. Societies were built on their belief in Nainaur. Even with the tome, with The Ultimate Truth, it seemed impossible that people would turn their back on their god. The one they credited for creating and maintaining their life by blessing their crops and keeping them safe.

But Nainaur was not the benevolent almighty that they believed him to be. He was using their worship to fuel his power by manipulating their love. Faydir had believed Mortals wise enough to make the right decision, but Ren wasn’t so sure. After all, ideological differences were the catalyst for starting the Fae wars. There was a price to this truth.

She understood why Azur and his sister hadn’t yet moved against their brother.

She ventured one more question.

“But why me? Why did Nainaur sendmeto get the tome?”

He smiled sadly to himself.

“He knew what you meant to me—what yourrequestmeant to me—your contract. I can’t reveal much else, but I can say that you were the first being to come to my doorstep that reminded me of myself. You desired the same things I did, and I craved to give them to you. You stood before me, the embodiment of wrath, envy, gluttony, lust, pride, and yes, even sloth in some ways. I wanted to see you—and selfishly, as I am selfish—see if you succeeded.

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