Unhappy Medium: Between the Devil and the Deep, Dark Sea

IT KEEPS GETTING BETTER

Niko drew up a fae portal to allow Mallomor to see Alric.

Mallomor's wings fluttered.

Niko put a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, will you?"

"If I fail, I'll be imprisoned in the coldest pits of Hell, or kill myself waiting for the beaucratic system to get me there."

Despite being a place of chaos and suffering, the worst part of hell is its bureaucracy.

"Alric won't just stand by and let you be captured. And Dullahans are greatly feared, wherever they go.

Don't worry, but be on guard."

Mallomor hugged Niko. "Pray for my safe return, will you?"

Can you even pray for demons? "I will. Good luck, Mallo."

Mallomor stepped outside, finding Alric on the other side. He wore black, polished armor, a bone whip at his side, a bloody bag on his hip, and his trusty steed Arwel behind him.

"Want a ride?"

"Of course!" Alric got on Arwel, and pulled Mallomor up on the horse.

In what looked to be five minutes, they were in the Imperial Database. Hell had never updated its technology from hand-lettered scrolls that only certain demons knew how to navigate efficiently.

"How's it set up?"

"Popularity, I think...? Loving a human helps, but everyone just assumes it's lust."

"Spare me your life story. Just find your scroll."

Mallomor found the scroll at the very bottom. After pulling it out, he found Donnatello on the other end. He was in his true form.

"Still wanting to become a shedim?"

Mallomor smacked him with the scroll.

"Leave me alone. It's not as if you ever liked me."

"I respect you enough to not let you down this path."

Mallomor smacked him with the scroll again. "Go away! You can't stop me!"

Donnatello responded by pinning Mallomor to the ground, his jaws snapping at his neck.

Alric heard the struggle, and pulled Donnatello off of Mallo. Arwel then kicked Donnatello into next week.

Mallomor put the scroll in the saddle bag and mounted the horse. "I'll dispose of it in the lava lake not too far from here."

Alric mounted Arwel, pushing Mallomor to the side. In a couple gallops, they arrived.

Mallomor dismounted and walked over to a cliff, looking at the lava below. There was a many headed, feathered serpent swimming through it.

Mallomor took a deep breath before he prepared to drop the scroll into the firey depths.

"Mallo, don't!" It was Vivalda, behind him.

She took the scroll from Mallomor's claws.

"Mallo, I don't understand. Why would you do such a thing?"

"Hell isn't for me. I haven't any friends here-"

Vivalda took Mallomor's claw. "I'm here for you. I've always been, you just spent too long struggling on your own."

"There's more to it than that. I don't like having to torment humans to get further. I don't like having you vouch for me every time someone tries to slander my name. I don't like being bullied by Donnatello and not being able to do anything about it, since he's of a higher rank than me!"

Note: "tormenting humans" in this context is a lot worse than anything that Mallomor ever did to Niko. A lot worse, something that Donnatello would do.

Vivalda's green eyes grew more intense. "Do you realize how selfish you're being right now?! I should just throw you into the lava from the shit coming out of your mouth right now!"

Mallomor smirked. "You won't. You're not that cruel. Just give me the scroll."

Vivalda looked at the scroll, and gave Mallomor a wicked grin.

"I should've done that a long time ago. You need to re-learn your fear of me." Vivalda made the volcanic wasteland into a garden of horrors.

Mallomor became entangled in thick thorns, piercing his hide.

Alric heard his cries of pain, and rushed to see what was going on. He cracked his bone whip to get Vivalda's attention.

Vivalda undid the spells once she saw the Dullahan.

She looked at the wounded Mallomor and felt a wave of guilt. But she couldn't be seen with a shedim, so she left.

Alric patched him up and led him to Niko's houseboat. He was silent on the short trip, and Mallomor thought it was because of anger. In reality, Alric just didn't know how to speak with Mallomor after seeing someone close to him hurt him.

Mallomor opened the door to the closet, the black maneki-neko had no effect on him.

Niko jumped when he heard the door open, but relaxed when he saw it was Mallomor. Mallomor sensed that something was wrong.

"Did something happen while I was away?"

"Redir swung by and demanded that I sign a contract with him or I give up the inkstone.

I honestly forgot I even had it, so I gave it back to him.

But Redir still fucked with me-"

Mallomor held Niko. "What did he do? Tell me."

"Does it matter? I'll be fine, and he won't show up after getting knocked back by a black cat figurine."

Mallomor was still fearful, pulling up Niko's shirt. "No bruises?"

Niko, a bit flustered, pulled his shirt back down. "I told you, I'm fine."

"I just had to make sure." Mallomor then kissed his cheek.

AN: The next chapter is going to be a bit less intense. Hope that's cool with you.