The Demonic. Chapter 2

The woman’s hands shook. She almost dropped the dagger.

I’m not a murderer.

But she knew full well what would happen if she didn’t do what was required. She’d seen many times what fate befell the disobedient members of the cult. These people did savage things. She couldn’t have imagined even in her worst nightmares that human beings were capable of something like this. The torture they made those poor people to go through was too awful to describe in words. No wonder they say the worst monsters of all are humans. Her own life would be taken away in a most painful way possible. Her body would be desecrated in a most unholy way. She knew the price of disobedience and failure. Despite them telling her she was special and destined for greatness, it didn’t mean she had the rights to disobey.

She looked at both people sitting inside the symbol on the floor. Both were begging for mercy with their eyes. The young cultist bit her lip. This was too much for her to bear. And the chanting… It was getting louder with each minutes, irritating her nerves more and more.

“He who waits behind the wall

He who waits to end it all

In his right hand he holds a dead star

In his right hand is the candle whose light is Shadow

And his left hand is stained with blood of Am Dhaegar

All that you know, all that you are

He will tear it apart and leave you afar

He called upon the beast to devour your soul

He will take the world and make it unwhole

He comes”

“Now!” the high priest commanded. It was sudden and almost deafening, easy overpowering the voices of the others. The woman felt something snap inside her. Now she knew what she was going to do.

No, I’m not a murderer. I won’t do that.

She raised her hand with the dagger.

“Very well, sister,” the priest said. “Now do it.”

 She closed her eyes and smiled. Now or never. Die or suffer in hell.

In one swift movement, she brought the blade to her neck and slit her own throat. Blood gushed from the wound, and she collapsed on the floor. Her eyesight was fading with each second, and she waited for everything to end, not paying attention to the angry and panicked screams of the cultists.

“You fool!”

“Do you realize what you’ve done?!”

“Traitor!”

“We’re doomed!”

“We’re all going to die!”

She didn’t care. Whatever was about to happen, she would be no more to witness it. She slipped into a peaceful bliss, letting the darkness embrace her. She never felt the ground starting to shake violently, and the next second, fire enveloped everything. The cultists around her were burning alive, but no one heard their screams. All the windows and doors in the house were firmly locked, muffling all the sounds that came from there. Lucky for the woman who had just committed suicide, she was already dead at this moment. Her flesh burned with the others, but she didn’t live to go through this suffering. And most importantly, she eliminated those lunatics with just one simple action, preventing them from harming more innocent people.

She died happy.

***

Cursed mortal!

Zalgo roared in rage, and fire erupted from his maw like lava from a volcano. The entire palace shook from the deafening noise, and fireballs began to fly in all directions. A bunch of demons surrounding Zalgo at that moment fled as far as possible, as they knew better than to stay nearby when their lord was angry. He had quite a temper, and that was nothing to fool around with. When Lord Zalgo was in rage, stay away from him for your own safety.

Zalgo’s frustration felt endless. He was so close to freedom! So close! And now that damned mortal had ruined everything! Damn her! Damn them all! And it wasn’t the first time those mortals had failed him. Each time there would be one weak human that ruined the entire ritual. And those idiots called themselves his loyal devotees! They should know better than to recruit weaklings who are unable to fulfill their duties.

Now he was destined to stay locked inside his palace for another long period of time. Who knows how many years or even centuries would pass? How long would he have to wait until another group of mortals start worshipping him as their deity, and he would have a new hope to be finally released?

This frustrated the demon lord the most. He was, in fact, dependent on humans, and he hated that. His power in human world was limited only to brief release of fire during the angry outbursts and mild corruption of human mass media. Zalgo shook his horned head. Corruption of media! It felt so embarrassing to even mention this. He felt so weak. He, the lord of all demons! But he could do nothing about it. His name wasn’t even mentioned in any grimoires available to humans, and only the most sensitive people were his hope He could reach to them in their dreams and corrupt their minds, making them form cults to worship him.

He had no other choice but to wait. Not that it was a problem for a being like Zalgo. As an immortal being, he had all the time in the world and beyond. He came to Earth long before humanity had started its existence. Not without war it was, though. This planet had other inhabitants at those times – a race of beings called Am Dhaegar. As Zalgo was an invader by his nature, he began war with those beings almost instantly. And they provided serious challenge. Am Dhaegar were not just strong, but also clever and inventive. The war lasted for eons until Zalgo had managed to wipe out his enemies. He made sure no one was left alive. But, unfortunately for him, the Elder of Am Dhaegar used his last trump against the enemy. With his power, he sealed Zalgo inside the dimension he could never get out, not by himself at least. His minions could also do nothing against it; they were as powerless as their master. Since then, Zalgo had stayed behind the wall he could never break, no matter how he tried. And recently he discovered that with the help of the worshipping of mortals and their numerous blood sacrifices, he might have hope to be free.

Now all that remained was waiting. And the demon lord did just that. He remained sealed behind the wall, docilely waiting to be released once again.