Gateway to Pandemonium [Open Novella Contest III] || Completed

V

The man stood from the fountain and opened his arms as if he was going to give me a hug.

"How wonderful of you to give me a visit." The man talked as if we had known each other for a very long time. But his tone had a pretentious undertone that matched the grin he was wearing. The man. This incredibly handsome, young adult male slowly walking towards me wasn't just some man. I felt his power radiating off him, felt how he just owned everything around him. I had the faint impulse to fall unto my knees in front of him and just give him anything he asked of me. The Devil. This man was the ruler of Hell.

It didn't surprise me that he didn't look like the stereotypical way people would depict him. He had no red skin, no horns or pointy tail. The only unnatural thing about him were his bright orange eyes, borderlining on red. Just like the mountains outside. He was just an incredible good looking man, almost too good looking. Too good looking to be human, that was clear. When I blinked I could have sworn he had wings. The same black, blueish colour of his hair and matching his suit. But there were no wings to be seen. Just his opened arms and too welcoming smile.

I didn't say anything back as I warily eyed my surroundings. I found the other boy standing somewhere to the right, leaning against a black marble pillar. He was observing me again, his arms crossed over his chest and his face pulled into a natural, almost bored, look.

Don't trust anything. Or anyone. I reminded myself. But then immediately thought that I was about to give everything I had to offer to the Devil, the most untrustworthy person in the world. I was already in a situation of no going back, I already had trusted a complete stranger and ended up exactly where I wanted to be. I had arrived at the end of the line. Now I needed to achieve my goal. I would do anything for that. Even if all my instincts would scream at me to just go, I wasn't going to listen. I was going to get what I needed.

"Please come on in, we don't bite. Yet." The man – The Devil – winked at me as he reached me and threw an arm over my shoulder. He lead me further into the entryway. He snapped his finger and invisible hands opened a door to the left that seconds before hadn't been there. The big heavy black doors glided to a stop as we passed them into a spacious dining room. Everything in the room was in various shades of red, black and dark blue, from the floor to the drapes that hung beside fake windows showing nothing but darkness. From the high ceiling hung three large chandeliers, similar to the one in the entryway but smaller. Real candles burned in the chandeliers and lit up the room.

The... - I didn't really know what to call him, as he didn't seem all that evil when he looked all human like, but wasn't a real man either – Devil, I decided to settle on until I truly knew his name, directed me to a high chair at one of the ends of the table. It pulled back by itself. The Devil pushed me in without my consent.

"Oh how I missed human contact for all these decades. Talking to demons and dead people gets boring after a while you know." The Devil chatted as he sat down all the way on the other side of the table on a similar high chair. He snapped and a drink appeared in his hand, another drink in front of me. Dark red liquid reflected the light of the candles.

"You look absolutely dreadful." The Devil said, his eyes roaming over me. I looked down as well at my wet, torn clothes and injured hands. Splashes of blood covered my arms alongside dozens of small cuts. I knew I had a cut on my cheek as well that had been bleeding. My hair was surely still sticking to my head with the filthy thick liquid of the river. If I were to look in a mirror I was sure I would look even worse than 'dreadful'.

The boy had followed behind us but did not sit down. He lingered by the doorway, leaning against it like he did earlier against the pillar.