The Demon's Escape

Beneath the palace, away from the eyes and minds of the royal family, a demon prince rested on the cold, damp stone floor of the dungeon’s hidden chamber. Under the cells of the other prisoners kept for treason, malfeasance, and general discourse of the city’s faux tranquility. Decades spent toying with the minds of the ancestral blood that held him rooted to the floor of this place had begun to pay off. The execution of the lovebird’s draconic mate was merely a catalyst. Now the reaction had started to climb to the tipping point. “My Prince…it is done.” A voice that was unheard by the lonely guard, Aldwin, crept from the depths of Seere’s mind. The demon grinned and opened his eyes slowly to take in the darkness of his cell. A subtle glow stretching beyond his irises to cover his mismatched sclera. The demon answered aloud, as he was prone to do with all voices in his head. “…Deetra..my favorite arcane horror…I knew I could rely on you.” Seere took in a deep breath. The witch beyond the castle walls had completed her ritual with Damien in tow to help provide the rarer ingredients. Angel feathers, a spectre's vessel, and a small, heart shaped locket containing the hair of a Gifted maiden. It was only a matter of seconds before the results of her magic became apparent. Seere sat up slowly and chuckled to himself quietly as the chains that bound his wrists together rattled throughout the long, dank corridor. “What now? Find another poor girl to torture?” Aldwin spoke up from his lonely chair set a few meters away from the edge of the enchanted iron bars that held the longest sitting prisoner in Mirim. Seere stood and faced the man while stretching his arms behind his head. “The inverse…actually…a young girl contacted me this time...with some exciting news.” The guard lifted his head and looked towards the solitary confinement with a peaked curiosity. Exciting news for Seere could not bode well for anybody in this kingdom. “Okay…I’m curious. What news is that?” The red-headed creature smiled wide, exposing his second layer of teeth, and put his hands behind his head. The metal of the chains rested against the back of his neck as his hands hung limp from the sides of his face due to the shortness of the shackles.

“…I’ve been pardoned…” There was something different about the man’s voice. In all his years running shifts in the dungeon, Aldwin had become familiar with nearly every voice and every tone that escaped the demon’s lips. This one seemed both happy and ominous. An uneasy feeling hit the bottom of his stomach, and a warmth began to build up in his hands. A nervous tick from the sudden flood of unfamiliar dread that he was feeling. For a brief moment, the guard looked away and down the length of the hall. It was in this moment that the feeling was gone. Replaced by the usual emptiness. When he returned his gaze to the awaiting demon the feeling of terror came rushing back. Another one of Seere’s tricks then? “Pardoned? Ha! You know, I also heard the Captain Jokela found six more guards capable to watching you. I get three days off next week. Since, you know, we’re sharing good news apparently.” It was obvious sarcasm, and Aldwin intended to sit back down, but something stopped him from doing so. That hungry look in Seere’s eyes rooted him to the spot. The demon simply began to chuckle lightly. This off-putting sound was followed by the creaking of metal. Both familiar noises to the only watchman down here, but never have they followed one another. Just as he was coming to terms with that sound a rather brutal snapping echoed across the stone walls. Aldwin watched as the demon’s left arm twisted unnaturally before slipping from its restraint. The right hand fell forward with the weight of the manacles and another terrible crack was heard originating from the shoulder. Where one would expect a normal man to scream, Seere only laughed louder. The demon then stepped forward and rested his head on the bars of his cell. The sigils placed there by Ebony lit up like tiny flares against his skin and the sizzling of his flesh now joined the loud hysterical laughter. “Oh…Aldwin…one of these days I’ll be able to reach out and touch you..”

To make his point clear, Seere lifted his broken hand past the bars and dangled the torn wrist outward towards the warden. Aldwin grimaced slightly before regaining composure. There was at least ten feet between the two of them. Separated by dense, enchanted iron. The work of his Gift in tandem with Ebony’s own intended to keep the creature from fleeing into the city proper. Aldwin swallowed and managed an amused smile. “Yeah...well..not today demon. Like I told you last week. And the week before when you said the same thing.” Seere returned his smile, adding a head tilt across the front of his cage. “Oh? Why not today…? Why not…now.” As he spoke, the demon’s bones began to snap back together. His hand returning to an unblemished state, and the feeling of dread that Aldwin had felt before increased rapidly. His chest became tight, and if he could have managed it a scream might have come from his throat, but something prevented such a noise from becoming more than a strained yelp. The guard’s body was frozen. Literally. Held in place by something he could not see, and before he could process what was happening, he was being quickly pulled towards Seere’s cage. His body slammed into the bars, and the prisoner gripped the front of his vest tightly. “Sssh…sssh. It’s okay. I understand. This must all be very confusing for you…is it real? Or just another nightmare…hm? Well…” Another chuckle accompanied by a rather pointed shift in balance. Aldwin was moved across the doorless cage so that he could peer inside of the cell where Seere was kept. Along every inch of stone there was a glowing rune. A variety of colors that would have made for a beautiful kaleidoscope if not for the circumstance under which it was being created.

Seere leaned forward, seemingly past the bars, and spoke into Aldwin’s ears. “…Decades…Aldwin..decades I’ve been gathering this up…in truth I thought it would take centuries but…oh..that dragon. Atticus’ death was the greatest gift of emancipation that Jero could have given me…” The demon reached through the bar with his other hand and pulled at Aldwin’s wrist. The guard fought as much as he could, but there was no overcoming the strength of a demon prince. The guard looked down and finally saw it. Thousands of tiny white cords wrapped around his arm in an oddly flexible vicelike grip. “And now for your gift to me…nothing much…just a helping hand.” A hot, searing pain shot through Aldwin’s elbow. The recognizable sound of bones crunching together rang in the man’s ears. The white threads around his throat, again, preventing more than a whimper as Seere ripped Aldwin’s hand from his wrist. Then, Aldwin was tossed against a wall. Pinned down by the magic strands, all he could do was watch as the demon stuck his fingers into the detached wrist of the thermomancer’s torn off hand. “And with just a bit of magic…” Aldwin’s eyes grew wide as he saw Seere activate the guard’s Gift through use of some demented, Abyssal necromancy and use it to melt down the bars that held him in the custom-built prison. It took a few minutes, but after the cage was nearly disintegrated Seere took his first steps into the stone hallway. Just outside of where he had been held for nearly a century. The demon fell to his knees and dropped the guard’s severed hand. A deep inhale was the only sound that could be heard beyond the muffled screaming. Seere smiled and shakily stood back up before grabbing his head and shaking it a few times. “Whoa…I forgot what it was like to be free of a magical barrier…”

The demon prince leaned his head back. It felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. A mountain of arcane prevention crumbled behind him, and the seal that Ebony had placed on his forehead started to burn away to leave a scar. “WHAT A FUCKIG RUSH HUH?!” He screamed. Seere nearly ran over to where Aldwin was bound to the wall and licked at the bleeding wound where his hand used to be. “Oh..come now. If you wanted me to stay behind those bars…you know better than to be so full of dread…hm? Now…what to do with all this freedom? Oh! Yes. I will go upstairs…and slaughter every soul held in this prison. Take them to the Abyss. How is that? No worries though…Ebony and Riva get to stay…I’ve developed somewhat of a soft spot for them...and you of course.” A bloody kiss on the cheek was what followed his small monologue. And then the demon was gone. Vanished into the air in a red mist, trailing a deep and joyous laughter. Seconds later the screaming could be heard above through the stone floor. The demon prince slaughtered the armored men that stood in his way before he began to move to every cage and kill whoever was inside. The entire floor above Aldwin was awash with crimson and pieces of torn, charred, or partly eaten flesh. A scene for the reinforcements to stumble upon in abject horror before succumbing to a rune that was drawn using the blood of a captured pixie that held an incantation which instantly dissolved anybody who responded to the pained screams of the final prisoners. When Seere finally emptied the chambers of any existing life he disappeared in a rage of indigo flames. Aldwin’s bindings dissolved into nothing and he dropped from the wall, clutching his disfigured stump of bone and sinew. A final thought chattered through the exhausted watchman’s head, nearly drowned out by the tortured screams coming from the hidden entrance to the solitary tunnel beneath the palace.

“Rosth shall perish beneath a literal sea of blood...so speaks Seere the Lord of Aldmarsh.”