Darned to Heck

Symbiosis

"So uh, Azeolar, I was just thinking-"

"That sounds dangerous." I was cut off mid-sentence by the stumpy tailed little demon that trotted along on all fours ahead of me. And not for the first time either, in fact it seemed that cutting me off was this thing's new favourite hobby, much to my annoyance.

"Hey listen you little- little... thing, you owe me answers."

"Correction: I owe you nothing. But I suppose if you must fill the joy of silence with your incessant chatter it might as well be productive. Ask away, oh great and powerful master."

"Ok first, why were you living inside my head for so long?"

"For my own personal gain. Next."

"Hey no! explain, what the hell do you mean by that?"

Azeolar stopped so suddenly I nearly tripped over him and turned to face me before sitting with a dramatic show of exasperation, probably rolling his eyes to the heavens under his mask. "I used your body, much the same way a parasite would to fuel my own body. I eat the energy of life, in this case your life. 'Oh but why did you choose me Azeolar?' because your soul was delicious and unusual and highly powerful. Even in its dormant human state it was simply intoxicating. I whispered into your ear when you were barely out of diapers and you welcomed me in, you could say we go way back. Because we do, because I have used you for longer than you can remember." His voice was cruel as he spoke.

His answer was greeted only with silence, as I couldn't think of any way to answer it.

"Oh don't act so shocked, I'm a Demon for God's sake."

My lower lip trembled unconsciously and I felt the sting of tears in my eyes yet I had no idea why.

"Hey, hey what... are you crying?" Azeolar questioned, the harshness had dropped from his voice and he tilted his masked face to the side as he looked at me. "Fucking humans..." he muttered softly before reaching out his tiny hand-paws and climbing up my leg, then my arm, stopping to sit in the crook of my elbow like some small furry infant.

"Hey look at me." he placed a paw on each side of my face and turned my head to him "You ever hear of something called a 'symbiotic relationship'." I nodded, a tear broke free and ran down my face which he subtly wiped away. "Well that's the difference between me and an actual parasite. I don't just take. It might not seem like it but I've been looking after you for a long time, not that you've ever made it especially easy for me." He paused in thought for a moment. "Remember that time you were at the bar and that creep put a pill in your drink?"

"What, no!?"

"Yeah you don't remember because I jumped inside that filthy fuckers mind and had a little conversation with him before he got the chance to. He took a long walk home by the bridge that night and decided to take a permanent dip in the river."

"Oh my god..."

"Yeah, so stop crying, it makes your face look like a baboon's ass." With that the little demon hopped back onto the floor and resumed walking ahead of me, I smiled slightly in the knowledge that this odd creature cared for me more than he would like to admit and followed him on through the endlessly dark maze.

It didn't seem to matter how long we walked, it never felt like we really got anywhere, because it always looked the same. Everywhere was bathed in a kind of absolute darkness, like more than just the absence of light, like the place had never even been touched by light. And the whole thing was made of the rock; it had been used to form hundreds, possibly thousands of miles-long tunnels that crisscrossed and wound their way in every direction imaginable, including down, which I had somewhat painfully discovered upon my landing from where we had set off.

The only reason I had any way of knowing where I was going now was because I could see it all through the mind of the rock, this also meant that I could see that there was no end to it, if I was in Hell before then this was definitely limbo. How Azeolar knew where he was going I had no idea, and I suspected that he actually did not at all, but kept walking regardless.

"Wait!" Azeolar hissed suddenly, stopping dead still and grabbing onto my leg as I continued to walk a step past him, completely wrapped up in my thoughts.

"Huh? Wha-"

"SHH!"

I shut my mouth obediently and stood in silence, I couldn't sense any kind of danger, but I knew by now better than to question Azeolar on these things.

Do you remember when I was joking around about your tall mysterious friend?

Yeah...

Well I changed my mind, this thing is no joke Allie, we need to get out of here. Now.

With that Azeolar began to walk back very slowly the way we came, tugging insistently at the fabric of my clothes which he still had a fistful of. But there was something, something small that told me that we shouldn't, I didn't know what it was but it felt like an itch that I couldn't scratch. After a few stumbled steps backwards at the adamant pulling of Azeolar I stopped and planted my feet firmly.

"What the hell are you doing!?" He whispered urgently, reaching out a second hand-paw to lock onto me and tug backwards. He sure was strong for his size.

"We need to keep going." I stated, still refusing to move.

"Did you not hear me the first time? We have to go now, and keep your voice down for fucks sake!" He seemed genuinely panicked by my stubbornness.

"No, I know it's dangerous but you have to trust me on this. We have to keep going." I repeated, determined to continue now even though I had no real idea why.

"Trust you?! You're insane! And you're going to get us both killed, and I mean actually killed this time you moron."

"Azeolar." I turned to the frantic little creature "You know when people go skydiving, and they jump out of the plane knowing that if their parachute fails, they are going to die. So a lot of people would say 'why would you jump out of a plane if you could die?' they jump out of the plane because they trust that their parachute will open, because they trust that the person who put the parachute on them knew what they were doing. I am the person putting your parachute on, and you'll have to trust me that it will open."

"Don't make analogies; I'm not used to you sounding smart." He sighed, letting go of my leg.

I smiled at him and continued to walk through the tunnel, one hand trailing across the rock wall so I could see where I was going. It wasn't long before I sensed what had frightened Azeolar. The shadow creature, it was close. And it was dangerous.

I thought about my options, leading our little party of two added a lot more stress to the situation, and I at the best of times would be considered somewhat of a scaredy cat. I was the very definition of the phrase 'all bark and no bite'. So now I guessed I had to hope that my bark was loud enough to scare the shadow creature, or at least fool it that I was not so afraid. I had to think of something to say, something meaningful, respectful? Something that would tell the shadow creature that I needed it's help, or that I at least needed it not to kill me, my life could very well depend on the next words to come out of my mouth...

"Hey."

What the fuck was that Allie?? Was 'hey' really the best thing you could come up with?! We are so dead. we are so-

The creature turned.

Shit.