my demon to take over my vessel. This included my chest piece and shoulder plating growing until I was completely covered in a hardened black metal. The armour down my arms, legs and feet had already encased my flesh the moment my demon side had erupted back in the Temple. And thank fuck it had because one thing was for sure, there had been no way in Hell I would be stepping through that portal dressed like a fucking tourist and sporting hiking sandals!
I walked the small distance back to the area I had seen from above and without a moment to waste, walked through the portal, ignoring the slither of stolen energy it consumed. For one such as I, it was barely even noticeable. But for those much weaker, then they would no doubt have felt it enough to require rest once they had arrived. It wasn’t surprising that down here, it was survival of the fittest and power was everything.
However, one look back as I stepped through and I knew why the portal had been so active…it was like a damn ‘welcome to fuck land’, the sexual playground for supernaturals for God’s sake! I was just surprised it didn’t have writing carved into the arch of bodies that said, ‘Play hard and stay hard longer’.
“Fuck me,” I muttered with a shake of my head, ignoring the not so subtle arch of bodies that were connected sexually. The dip of a male’s head was mostly hidden by being at the centre of a woman’s legs and framed either side by her thighs. It was as if he had been frozen in time during his sexual meal. The couple looked carved out of wood and then strangely burnt with a blowtorch. The man’s feet and the woman’s hands were also fused against the boards on the dock that also had that blackened charred effect.
I looked beyond the eternal image of such a sexual act, trying to ignore the memories a sight like this conjured up. Especially when remembering the sweet taste of my own girl’s release on my tongue as I feasted on her.
Gods, but I missed my girl.
The calmness of the black river was a contrast to the surrounding sandstorm that raged around the realm and could be seen in the distance. One similar surrounded parts of my own castle and were an effective way to keep not only enemies out but also that of unwelcomed magic.
I couldn’t help but recite what Dom often did when he mentioned that of his father, and I never understood why until seeing that storm,
“But to that second circle of sad Hell, where in the gust, the whirlwind, and the flaw of rain and hail-stones, lovers need not tell their sorrows—pale were the sweet lips I saw, pale were the lips I kissed, and fair the form I floated with, about that melancholy storm. …” It was by John Keats, named, ‘A dream after reading Dante’s episode of Paolo And Francesca’. I think it had something to do with the history of his parents as theirs was a tale of forbidden love like no other. The Demon Prince and Archangel were never meant to fall in love and achieve the impossible by creating life. And just like that forbidden love, Dante’s inferno told of the story of Francesca and her brother in law, Paolo, who were both condemned to Hell for adultery. Dante was touched and held sympathy for their condemned love and the cruelty of their death because of it. Francesca was portrayed as being compelled by love and unable to stop it, for the power of the heart is an unrelenting force.
As for the Prince of Lust, it was said that the storm that surrounds his kingdom began the day his precious Sarah was taken from him and to this day has never once stopped. The power of the heart was an unstoppable force indeed and had the power to affect us all or so it would seem. And now, one glance back up at the colossal castle that overshadowed the town below, and that power most certainly wasn’t in question when it came to its ruler.
The castle was easily the size of a city itself and a towering mass of black stone carved into giant sentinels. It was said to be built from the underbelly of a volcano that mirrored Mount Merapi in the mortal realm. One which was situated in the centre of the island of Java, Indonesia.