After I jumped into the first nightmare portal, I was instantly transported into a hotel lobby room. The place looked super deserted and there were only strange cartoon cutouts of monkeys dressed up as bellhops. I immediately got a bad feeling about this, but I ignored that feeling as I needed to stay focused on the task at hand. Suddenly I heard Bierce's voice in my head.
"What a charming little hotel. Does this bring back memories to you dear?" I then remembered that my ex-boyfriend worked here and that's how we met. 'Those were the better days' I thought to myself sadly. I looked around and something stood out to me. Out of all the dust and cobwebs, a perfectly clean and bold box stood out on the front desk on my right. I walked up to it to see what it was. It was adorned with red paper and a black bow with a hint of silver in the mix. I looked at the tag and I was in shock; it had my Nickname on it. After the accident, I never used my birth name ever again. I just used an old nickname from an old friend. I opened the box and looked inside. From what I saw made me start to tear up, it was a mask from my past that was lost to time. The mask brought back memories of my father, his craftsmanship, and the time we spent together. I wonder who had made this, completing my father's legacy, and felt a pang of grief thinking of our last project together. As I put it on my head, it fit perfectly, like a puzzle piece just for me. The original mask was an Oni mask from Japan, but my father and I put a spin on it making it more cyberpunk. The original mask was just a pale imitation of what could have been. We were only able to make the basic layout of the mask and glued it together. We never added the strap in the back or the LED lights. Every time I looked at it was just a painful reminder. Whoever did this saw my entire plan for it and completed it for me.
"That's interesting now, who could have left that for you? Not that it matters but get going!" Bierce said to me, and I began to walk down the hallway to the elevator at the end. I stopped and noticed a sign that said, "welcome! Breakfast and murderer free every day until 10:00 AM." This made me uncomfortable as I continued to walk toward the elevator. However, I saw a large silhouette of a monkey's head and body standing inside the elevator. As I began to approach it the doors on the elevator closed and started to go up.
The doors opened again empty thankfully and I stepped inside the moving machine. The doors auto closed and started to go up before I could hit a button. I thought of the monkey silhouette again but with a creepy smile on it, I shivered at my own thought. The elevator stopped and opened its door to a deserted room with boards up and cobwebs everywhere. In the center was a statue like the one back in the ballroom.
"See those floating bits of crystals? Those are soul shards, fragments of human spirits that are scattered throughout the halls of this little maze. Each shard is a human who has met their end here. Gather them all here and the first ring piece is yours." Bierce explained to me as I saw the crystals behind the boards. I started to tear down the boards before I heard Bierce ominously say, "Oh and one more thing you're not alone here. There are monsters here and they are looking for you."
Then out of thin air a tablet looking device appears in my hands. "Here you are going to need this. It shows we're all the shards are. It was left behind by the last guest who disappointed me here. A very clever girl, just like you, only she was not a very fast runner. Well, enough chit chat and get those shards." Bierce started instructing me.
I suddenly heard noises of feet running towards my direction. I then ran down the hall as I gathered shards along the way. As I was running, I didn't pay attention to where I was going and bumped into something hard and fell. As I looked up to see what I bumped into my blood went cold. Standing in front of me was a monkey with a large head, sharp bloody teeth and huge red beady eyes. Its 'hands' were sharp knives that were coated in blood. It appeared to be dressed as bellhops like the cartoon cutouts downstairs. I frantically scooted back and covered my face, awaiting the pain to follow. But nothing happened. I looked up to see a monkey man just standing there staring at me, like a puppy waiting for food. "Um, hi?" I asked him nervously. The monkey then suddenly helped me up onto my feet and tried to dust off any dirt that was on me.
"I hate to interrupt this little reunion, but there are soul shards to collect. Don't make me lose my patience, dearie." Bierce warns me. I look back to where the monkey man was only to find him gone. I decided to shake it off and continue collecting the shards.
*Time skip*
The shards were within sight, just a few moments away. I could glimpse the monsters through the narrow passageways of the maze surrounding me. They seemed to be moving faster than I could run. My heart pounded in my chest, and I tried to push forward with renewed speed. The next shard was just around the corner. I had to hurry. I frantically searched the halls for it, the monster's footsteps echoing loudly behind me. Yes, I've managed to get all the crystals while avoiding the monkey's that chased me. I ran back to the statue and got the first ring piece. As I got to the elevator, one of the monkey's popped out of nowhere, though it looked a little different than the others, like pure rage was coming from it. It looked like a chef monkey with pizza cutters for its 'hands'. Luckily the elevator closed quickly before it could enter.
It reopened its doors to the ground level of the hotel again, and I began to walk back to the portal. Suddenly, all the other doors in the hallway began to open and a swarm of the monkeys were running towards me.
"End of the line mortal! Why don't you just give up and become mine forever!?" A male demonic voice calls out to me. I ran from the hostile mob that was closing in on me, fast. I finally saw the portal and jumped in, escaping the monkey madness. I fall to the floor and take a breath or two before looking up at Bierce.
"Well done you managed to get the first piece and escape, without even a scratch on you." Bierce said, trying to congratulate me on my endeavor. "Uh Bierce, what was that demonic voice I heard, while I was escaping?" I asked curiously.
Bierce then had a smirk on her face before saying. "Oh yes! It seems you have also met my 'companion' here." Bierce says while pointing to the red colored door with a large glass covered eye in the middle. Suddenly it opened its eye and began to look around before landing on me. I could have sworn I saw love and lust from its gaze.
The eye rotated to look at Bierce before talking in an annoying state. "Bierce still persistent after all these years. Ha how foolish." It rotated back to look at me and spoke in a softer tone. "Please don't listen to her, my flower. Bierce is just using you and then leaving you behind to suffer. Trust me and I'll grant you anything you desire. You already took my gift I left for you, just how you remembered it, though I would rather see your gorgeous face." I lifted up my hand to touch the mask as he spoke. So, he was the one who left it on the counter. But how did he know about it, and how to complete it? "But, if you continue to help Bierce, I'll be forced to use extreme measures to stop you. This will be your first and only warning."
I was in deep thought about this, until Bierce interrupts saying, "oh my yes. Listen to the giant eyeball instead, the same one who tried to kill you. Now that's a funny thought. Don't pay any attention to him, he can't reach us here. Now go put the ring piece on the altar, dear." I went over to the statue and put the first ring piece inside. It glowed a light purple before disappearing.
"You see this ring called 'the riddle of heaven' has the power of the most powerful and feared demon In all existence. He is the one who chased after you or the talking glass eye. His name is Malak, if you complete the ring all of his dark powers will become yours. And you will be able to fulfill your deepest desires. Or that's how the legends go." Bierce explains as I walk to where she was. Then, another scary portal opens up with a scary girl's face for the symbol.
"Well one down twelve more to go!"
YOU ARE READING
Love and Madness: a demon's desire
Fanfiction(y/n) was an (age) years old, who had a decent life and an loving family, however a tragic incident took their family from them. After years of fighting to get their life back on track, things finally looked like they were turning around. But only t...
