The life (and afterlife) of one Elias Teufel

Chapter Two

Everything was pitch black. Nothing felt real. A sudden 'Ding!' rang throughout Elias' sensitive ears, the sound was similar to something an elevator would make before the two doors would open, allowing people to ride the lift... The fiery haired male began to open his eyes slowly, a blurry sight indeed, but what stood before him was in fact an elevator. Surrounding himself, and said lift, was a blank, light grey room..? Nothing stood between him and the freight, leaving him in an odd feeling of both loneliness and fear. Elias stood to his feet, noticing how he was somehow still clothed, and barely burnt whatsoever. The male turned as he looked for a sign of any other living being, yet to no avail. He walked towards the the freight, allowing himself in through the open doors. The doors slowly, yet creakily closed behind the red haired man. The only button near the door was a simple downward arrow. As any normal person would react, Elias' instant reaction to such a button was concern. He then pressed it, since there was nowhere else to go to. 

As the elevator began to lower and descend, a strong smell of smoke and ash began to seep throughout the elevator's spaces. Elias knew where he was headed, at first, he knew he had no clue if he were dead, or this was all some odd traumatic dream, but now, he recognized and accepted it. As the Hellish environment became more and more prominent, the more identifiable the structures around the location were from this high up... It almost seemed like an office building? How.. Odd.. 

As soon as the elevator had reached it's destination, the creaky doors opened once more, allowing Elias through. A sudden shrill, loud Bostonian accented voice shouted out, "HEY! YOU! RED HAIRED FELLA!" the voice yelled out. Elias looked around, before pointing at himself in confusion. "YES, YOU! Do ya see any otha' red hair men around here!? Get ova' here." Elias walked towards what seemed to be a receptionist desk with a red colored, middle-aged demon with pitch black hair, with tints of grey on the sideburns, behind the table. "What's ya name, kid?" Elias responded almost instantly. "Elias. E-Elias Pech Teufel. Or just Elias Teuf-" Elias was quickly interrupted by the demonic figure halfway through his voice-cracked sentences. "A'ight, Elias. Da' boss is waitin' for ya. Luckily fo' you, you don't gotta wait with any of those losers ova' 'dere." The demon said, pointing over at the rather pathetic excuse of a waiting room with 3 and a half people waiting to see what the receptionist called 'The boss', with a pen. "Well? Get goin'." Elias gave a small smile, and a wave to the demon, worried of what was to come.

 He walked towards the two doors by the receptionist, the sign saying both 'The King's Office.' as well as 'Torture Rooms.' both with two different arrows pointing in opposite directions. Before Elias could make his way through to the King's office, the receptionist stopped him once more. "Do ya'self a favor, kid. Don't mention any sorts'a food, especially any kinds'a muffins to the big boss. He'll go off on ya." Elias couldn't help but be confused at what the demonic receptionist had mentioned, but carried on his way.

The hallway was rather long, not excruciatingly lengthy, but indeed very extensive. It seemed like the walk lasted hours, but it was most likely a 5-10 minute long walk. Elias finally made it to what seemed to look like a regular office door, it must be some sort of sick, demented trick that  you don't expect before being tortured for all of eternity, right? The door read out a rather regular name as well, no Beelzebubs, nor Lucifers, just a plain 'Leopold Belzeb' written out in an easy to read font across the blurred window. The redhead inhaled deeply, before exhaling his worries out softly. The thin man quickly brought up his fist towards the door, knocking a generous 3 times. A loud, cartoonish voice boomed from the other side of the door in a hurried tone. "Oh! Good golly, just a moment!" The voice said with a Mid-Atlantic accent. The male, who was presumed to be Leopold took a couple moments, before clearing his throat, and saying a very excited and quick; "Come in!" Elias shuddered, opening the door, only to be greeted by a normal looking office, and... A very odd looking man sitting behind the normal looking desk. 

The man sat with his hands crossed on the oak desk, an extremely animated grin plastered onto his face. The so-called 'Leopold' embodied an odd skin tone as well, the short male was completely white, with grey freckles spattered across his cheeks and nose, and dark, raven hair. Not to mention the oddly cartoonish, completely black eyes featured on his face. Leopold looked towards the papers splayed beside his hands on the desk, looking at the name of the male who had just entered his office. "Mr. Teufel! Welcome, welcome. I hope the elevator ride wasn't too bumpy for you... It can be extremely frightening waking up in some odd place and then being in an old, creaky elevator, scared it could break and kill you in an instant!" The chubby demon said with an awkward smile, accompanied with a nervous laugh right after. "Yeah... Anywho! Take a seat, I don't bite!" Elias looked at the black, leather chair that apeared to be extremely worn out and ripped, right before taking a seat.

 "Gee, Elias," Leopold said with the papers in his hand, looking up at the thin man sitting before him, "You're here for a few reasons! Oh, goodness gracious... Burning your spiteful ex's home down, stealing from your best friend, and... Sleeping with and engaging in a relationship with a married man..." Elias looked towards the ground with shame on his face, and disappointment in his mind. "Amazing, Mr. Teufel! Those are some crazy points down here, haha!" Leopold spoke, sounding rather pleased and proud of the man he had just met, all for ruining a marriage and proceeding to kill partygoers, and most likely his ex in a fire planned by himself. "What do you mean!? I'm terrible, sir! I-I killed so many.. I mean, I don't know if I did, but... There were so many screams.." Elias spoke, sighing as he looked back up, tears beginning to form in the corners of his big, blue eyes.

At this very moment, Leopold was awestruck. This gorgeous, fiery haired, thin male was right in his office. Something about this fact struck the King's heart almost immediately, and he felt something he hadn't felt in quite some time, a crush. "No, no! You're not terrible! Gosh, you just made some bad choices, is all, Mr. Teufel. Can I call you Elias?" Leopold asked, forgetting that he had already called Elias, well, Elias. The nearly sobbing man looked up, nodding. Elias was always rather quiet, unless he was around his loved ones, where he was a loud chatterbox with plenty to say. "So, this Hans fella, he was your ex, hm? He had alerted the authorities about your sexuality, so you burnt his mansion down. What a power move! Goodness! I've never seen such a... A well thought out plan!" Leopold giggled, kicking his feet excitedly. "Well, Eli, we have lots to discuss. Care for a walk?"