C'thelli's Demonic Orphanage

13

"Woohoo!" Feimo cheered as he whizzed through the forest. The air threw his hair in every direction as it whipped across his face. He was celebrating - they were celebrating. Father Dom's new get-up worked brilliantly, protecting his flesh from the sun during the day. It may have been big, and round, and made him clumsy, but it worked. 

Well, it had been working until the priest had slipped and fallen onto his side and began to roll downhill away from town. In that moment the demon took it upon himself to jump on top and use his feet to propel them forwards, you know, to keep him away from hurting any civilians, the thrill from rolling away at mach speed had nothing to do with it. Balance was key to a smooth movement. One step, two step, shuffle! It was like a ballroom dance, or that's how he imagined they went at least.

The only issue was that he was yet to figure out how to stop the impossibly large piece of armour before they fell off a cliff, or slammed into a big tree, or fell into the ocean. Dom had warned him through heavy breaths that there was only so much land between them and certain doom. As they rolled along and zipped past the rustling forest, Feimo felt Dom's body lurch and bounce along the terrain.

With a rising sinking feeling in his stomach, he realised that they were travelling downhill at an increasing speed. If the wind had been a ferocious gale before, then now it was a violent whip across his face. Wiping the smile from his lips, his confidence wavered as he struggled to maintain his rhythm before devolving into a full-on sprint just to save himself from being dragged across the ground like dough beneath a rolling pin.

At the bottom of the muddy slope, a clearing presented itself, along with a large body of water. Was that the ocean? It was hard to tell from the air in his eyes, and the branches scratching at him as he passed. He couldn't get a good look at it. "Dom, how do we stop you?" the demon cried out through heavy pants.

"I don't have a clue? The arms are too stiff to grab anything!" he called back in a panic.

"Then I hope you can swim." Feimo braced for impact just before the land curved up to meet the water.

"What?" The word came out in a shrill yelp, as they rolled from the land and into the air. For those brief seconds, Feimo wondered which occasion of flight was worse, his kidnapping at the hands of C'thelli, or this. Before he could decide, the wall of liquid hit him in the face. The cold touch shocked him to his very core. Definitely this, he'd take C'thelli any day compared to this sudden, treacherous blanket of pure chill. 

It engulfed him, wrapping around him and threatening to freeze him still. He was trapped, overwhelmed and sinking. It was dragging him down, deeper and deeper into the dark depths until the sun touched surface glistened and glowered heavenly above him. This was nothing like the lava pits of the Underworld. This place was a nightmare, a hostile locale that constantly sought to wipe out the life that inhabited it.

Tasting the water in his mouth, he fought in vain against the overbearing weight of the lake as an oppressive weightlessness began to rock him to sleep. As if rewarding him for his submission, he felt himself being pulled up by his wrist. Slowly, his body began to ascend and with a sudden racket of water splashing around him, his head broke the surface and his hair flopped over his eyes whilst he gasped for sweet succulent air. 

With one arm unresponsive, he slapped his mane from his face and squinted through his stinging eyes. He found himself being suspended by a thin blanket enwrapped around his wrist as he was lifted further from the water. His saviour looked down at him with an unimpressed frown as they brought him over to land.

After a weak 'thanks', he cast his eyes over the area. It was a clearing within the forest, the small body of water trickled and whirled within the confines of the earthy pit within the centre of the green. It would have been beautiful, tranquil and loving had he not have been splayed across the ground like a half-drowned rat. Beside him, Father Dom wriggled back and forth, just as soggy as he.