much damage to Lucifer's own forces as to the opposing side. Thus quickly deeming him useless for war.
After this and the mayhem he had caused to many places in Hell, including even a few earthquakes upon the mortal realm, the Devil had no other option other than to carve out his very own realm, one that would house the Beast until a more permanent solution was found… a solution Lucifer was still waiting for.
Of course, one solution he could not use was death, for Hell’s King of Kings soon discovered that Abaddon could not die. He could not be beaten, destroyed or in any way stopped, other than be eternally caged. A prison it is said he has no real knowledge of. Which meant that for thousands of years, he was simply to exist. And for Lucifer, Abaddon’s only usable quality left to him was that of a threat made to all who dared to anger him. In essence, he became the very thing that demons had nightmares about; a place to send those that Lucifer reserved a special punishment for.
The likes of me, for example.
I had no idea why myself in particular had been deemed fated to receive such a punishment, as I knew from experience throughout my long life and histories lived through, there were far more Dark Souls worthy of taking my place, for the death on their hands far exceeded those of my own crimes.
But alas, here I was, a slave to the Beast with my only hope that I would make it through my 100 year sentence without being the next worm on a hook. A hope I was soon to realise was far too much to ask.
Although, I had to confess, I was also somewhat curious about the Beast as, call me insane, I also felt sorry for him. After all, he didn't ask to be made, to be created with such rage he was deemed uncontrollable. It also made me wonder what became of the lustful part of him. Sure, the lingering remains of these souls that had helped in creating this Beast had aided his survival, but what of his character? What of his temperament? For surely there must have been something other than just burning rage deep inside the monster.
There must have been something he wanted…
Something he desired.
Of course, I was still terrified, but naturally the curious part of me wanted to know the answers to my questions. That being said, I wasn't suicidal enough to go searching for it and wisely kept my mouth shut on the matter. However, this was me we were talking about and well, there was only so long I could go by unnoticed for good behaviour.
I was an Imp after all.
We weren't exactly known as the most well behaved of creatures, which was why I hit my limit on playing nice and compliant, because after another long day of shovelling death worms into a cart, the very last thing I wanted was for some big bastard to prod me in the ass with a big stick. And no, this was not meant in another way, like riding below the crupper. A term that meant being done from behind like a mounted dog or anal sex, for a crupper was a piece of horse-riding kit that kept the horse's tail erect… poor bastards.
As for the one that had poked my ass, and had been doing so for what must have been weeks now, he was like most of the other guards here. Known as a Haugbúi demon, which translated meant ‘barrow-dweller’. They were loosely related to the Draugr, who were defined as ghosts or spirits of the dead. Ones that inhabited a corporeal body that lived close to cairns, being a manmade pile of stones that were used as landmarks. These were so they could prey on travellers using these landmarks to guide their way, travellers who soon found themselves faced with a far worse fate than being lost. Of course, the Draugr could also be found in graves or even royal palaces, often guarding treasure buried with them in their burial mound.
Both species of demons were used as guards down here, and both types were just as deadly. But whereas Draugrs looked like the living dead recently risen, the Haugbúi looked more fierce. They were at least seven feet tall, with wide muscular frames that they kept protected by lengths of hardened bark. This had been stripped from the trees that grew in the Dead