南瓜影院

At first, the darkness around him was familiar. He remembered feeling it many times when had experimented with death.

\'Is that what this is?\' He wondered, \'Did I die again?\'

Henry looked around and for a second, he wondered if he was going to be stared at by those horrible eyes of death again. The memory of how that haze had been so powerful that it was shredding his very soul caused Henry to shiver.

When that shiver passed and he was again capable of critical thinking, Henry realized this darkness was different. For one, it wasn\'t suffocating.

It was so pitch dark that he couldn\'t see his own hands, but it was a far more comfortable experience so far.

\'So I\'m not dying,\' He thought and let out a breath (as much of a breath as a soul could let out),

\'That\'s good.\'

Henry had no idea how long he spent falling.

It could have been hours, it could have been minutes, it could have been days. What he did realize the longer he fell, was that he was being pulled. Something was dragging him deep. What it was though, he had no idea.

And then came the suffocation.

A powerful wave of energy swarmed over from all sides and choked at every part of Henry\'s soul. It was like he had been forced through a grinder that churned with the intent to turn him into a paste.

And then, there was heat.

Violent heat. Henry recognized that Heat. He had felt it from the uncontrollable Mana Yelena had led out except this level was so intense, he was sure he should have melted already. That he was still \'alive\' enough to struggle was frankly miraculous.

And then came light.

It came from below.

Henry looked down —still suffocating from the pressure—, at what was undoubtedly a lake of fire. His eyes went wide. He had seen fire before.

He had seen it rage many times in his past life from mountain fires to entire towns being set ablaze during certain violent raids but never had he seen fire move so much like liquid.

It flowed, it ebbed and sometimes it rose in powerful waves like an ocean as it slammed against a hellish riverbank that was so dark it resisted getting shone on by the lights of the flames.

The \'Hellish\' description was intentional.

Henry was sure; This could only possibly be Hell.

Unfortunately, whatever was pulling him, continued toward that lake of churning violent, strange liquid fire.

"No!" Henry said out loud, surprised that his voice worked but too busy trying to leap away from the fire to pay it any attention,

"No! I\'m not going close to that thing!"

But he did.

He had no choice.

He was powerless against the pull.

His body touched the liquid fire and it burned through him with a scorching heat. He tried to yell but the pressure his body was under forced his mouth shut.

And then it was over.

The Heat was gone.

He was no longer getting pulled.

For the first time in a while, Henry\'s soul was stable.

Henry looked around. He was in a massive dimly-lit study. The only light was coming from a large desk at least ten feet away from Henry.

Someone was sitting at that desk; A woman— the strangest woman Henry had ever seen. Her skin was red and two giant horns were sticking out of her head and curled malevolently. Her raven-black hair was also tied in a tight bun.

Whoever she was, she didn\'t pay Henry any attention and just held a quill as she scribbled away on a piece of parchment on her large desk. Stacked on that desk were multiple large books and scrolls and parchments she had either discarded or very recently written on.

Henry would have spoken but the pressure was still keeping his mouth shut.

"Welcome," the woman said in the most sarcastic tone Henry had ever heard,

"I trust you enjoyed the journey."

"…"

"You won\'t say anything?" The woman asked when Henry was silent,

"What? Are you disappointed? My Study is underwhelming to you? Let me guess, you were expecting a Throne room— A pedestal where I stare down at you imposingly?"

Henry still couldn\'t speak but if the woman just once looked up from whatever it was she was writing, she would have read his intentions clearly in his eyes as he yelled in his head,

\'What the hell are you talking about?!\'

The woman paused but still didn\'t raise her head,

"Oh right," she said like she suddenly remembered something, and with a wave of her free hand, Henry felt the pressure around his body loosen, finally freeing his mouth to speak.

Henry stared at the woman for a good few minutes as she continued to write and then he asked,

"Who are you?"

"Bold," the Woman said.

"To ask a question?" Henry asked, confused.

"Yes," the woman answered,

"You don\'t have the right to demand an answer from me."

"Demand? Lady, I only asked a question—" Henry started.

"Lady?" The woman repeated the word like it was ridiculous,

"Is that what you think I am?"

Henry\'s eyes widened as her voice hit him with a wave so powerful and fiery that it threatened to burn his soul to ashes. The idea that that was even possible was horrifying.

"What— are you?" He asked.

"Yet another demand." She said and finally raised her head.

Henry saw her face. Like an amalgamation of the most seductive beauties he had ever seen all his life in a mix that definitely worked and drew him in with the promise of eternal entrapment.

Henry saw her eyes were completely black. No pupils at all. Just two black voids that seemed to suck him in both in an ensnaring way and a horrifying way that promised he would lose himself if he stared for too long.

So he looked away and his eyes fell on the parts of her body he could see with her seated behind that desk. He saw quite possibly the largest breasts he had ever been opportune to see and yet they did not arouse lust or interest in him. They scared him instead.

\'How can breasts be terrifying?\' Henry asked himself with no one to supply an answer.

He knew what the \'woman\' was now. How he hadn\'t realized before now was quite frankly a mystery considering her large horns and red skin were the first things he noticed about her when he first arrived in this Study;

"You\'re Demon," Henry said.

"And you\'re the scummy mortal who bonded with my Spawn," the Demoness said.

"Your— Spawn?" Henry asked slowly before realization dawned in his eyes,

"Yelena?"

The Demoness had her elbows on her large desk now and her chin rested on her hands while the corner of her black-painted lips curled into a smirk,

"You have no way of knowing this, but I hardly entertain deals with mortal Sorcerers but that girl… her talent for Magic— Well, I couldn\'t let such a fascinating soul slip through my fingers and fall to another Demon, now could I?

Three centuries she spent trapped and useless to me. And all the while, I thought; \'Well, the payoff will be great once her soul is here with me\'.

\'It\'s only a matter of time\' I said.

And then it was finally happening and with a spectacular explosive bonus too.

But you got involved."

The Demoness\' eyes locked on to Henry, with those black voids pulling at his soul,

"I don\'t know if I should thank you or smite you," she said.

"Thanking me sounds good," Henry said and struggled to smile because the mere mention of \'smite\' had his soul smoldering close to non-existent.

The Demoness ignored him,

"On one hand, you kept her on that mundane mortal plane and have given her the freedom to be useful to me. That pleases me.

On the other hand, you have her bonded to that insufferable mechanical nonsense in your head…"

\'She knows about the System?\' Henry asked.

"Yes," the Demoness answered.

Henry\'s eyes widened,

"Can you read my mind?"

"That amazes you?" The Demoness asked as she leaned back in her high-backed chair,

"I brought your soul to me in Hell and you think your \'thoughts\' are private?

Laughable.

Now about thanking or smiting you—"

The Demoness paused and tapped a clawed finger against her black lips as a tail coiled and undulated behind her, occasionally catching the light.

"I\'ve decided," she announced,

"I\'ll do neither."

"Okay," Henry said slowly.

The Demoness nodded,

"Yes. Thanking you is beneath me. Smiting you does not satisfy me."

"Alright," Henry said with a nod.

\'As long as I\'m not dying,\' he added in his head.

The Demoness smiled,

"That bond you formed with my Spawn goes both ways. You included her in the— what\'s it called? \'Exclusivity Clause\', I believe. Made her a \'Third Party\' or whatnot?

When you included her in that, you included me as well.

More than ever, your life, your Soul, Henry Morgan, is within my reach.

Please me and I won\'t have to bring it all to a sudden and excruciating end."

Henry said nothing.

He couldn\'t even think of something to say.

"That will be all," The Demoness said, and with a wave of her red claw-tipped hand, she dismissed Henry\'s soul from her Study.

She dismissed his Soul from Hell.