Shackles of a Demon

Chapter One

Chapter One: imprisonment

~ Zakaru ~

To break away from the reality of where I was, I often listened to the other demons tell stories of the outside. Since I had never known anything outside the walls of Xeno's prison, it was reassuring to know that if I'm ever lucky enough to leave this place, there is something better waiting for me on the outside.

I've listened to stories of rocky mountainsides, fields of beautiful flowers, and wide-open bright blue skies. I've heard of streams of water falling off of cliff sides, trees taller then the ceiling of my cell, and a big warm light they call "the sun". I've heard of babbling rivers full of creatures called "fish", and wide open sandy plains called "deserts". Some of my favorite stories were of families. Demons that have been brought here that have brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sometimes even demons that have sons and daughters. I could listen to them go on about how they played in the grass, dance around in open meadows, and lie in pastures overflowing with different types of animals.

I dream about going to places like these. More then anything I wish I could be free. I wish I could sit down in a field of flowers that smelled like the river, and stared up at the sky looking at the white fluffy things called "clouds". I wished I could swim in the rivers and take in the smell of a warm crackling campfire.

I've also heard of places called "cities". Places where humans normally lived. Places surrounded by tall buildings made of cement and steel, and stores to buy food, fun things in amusement parks, the interesting smells in dog parks, the sound of people shopping and cars driving by. I wanted to go here too. I wanted to go to an amusement park and ride on the roller coasters, and stand on the top of a building breathing in the smell of the fresh air that you can obtain at such a high altitude. I want to know what the rain feels like. I want to know what its like to bask in the sun and have lots of clothes to wear when it's cold. I wanted to know what it's like to feel grass beneath my feet instead of the cold hard stone I was used to.

I wanted what the other demons called "freedom".

"Hey, Zakaru?" I heard Maria call out. She was one of the demons down the pathway that Xeno used right before me. I stood up and walked over next to the bars.

"Yeah?" I whispered back.

"Want to hear about the time me and my little sister went to the beach?" I blinked and tried to see if I had heard that word before.

"What's a beach, Maria?" She giggled faintly. "It's a little like a lake, only it's a whole lot bigger, and there's lot of sand to play in, and tons of people with children."

"Wow! Bigger than a lake?" I asked thinking about how big she had told me Lake Okeechobee is. "Really? Can you swim in it? How many people are there at it?" I heard her laugh a little.

"Really big, yeah you could fit thousands of people in it, all the people in the whole world could fit in an ocean! People go there year round to play and make memories." Wow, the whole world? That's a lot of people isn't it?

"Wow, that's so cool." I whispered fondly.

"And you're a very easy person to please. So my sister and I went there a few years back. She wore her bathing suit with the sunflowers on it." I closed my eyes and pictured the little demon girl dancing around on the sandy beach. I pictured the huge sunflower on the front of her swim suite and the swirly pink smoky looking colors that covered the rest of it. "She had brought a bucket with her and filled it all the way up with lots of sand. I helped her turn in over and we made a sand castle. We even put a starfish on it."

"What's a sand castle? And a starfish?" I asked.

"A sand castle is just that, it's a huge pile of sand molded into the shape of any castle you want. A star fish is a sea creature, and animal, that's pink and shaped like a star." I smiled when I thought of the starfish they put on the castle crawling away trying to get back to the ocean.