Storybook of Hell

Azilom was the current king of Hell and demons that resided in that place. He was a red-skinned demon with one voided eye and one blind eye. Azilom had long, braided, black hair that matched his dark tunic, stockings, and brown boots.

Azilom had sent four demons on a mission; Armaros [demon of Envy], Yosemite [demon of Wrath], Abaddon [demon of abyss], Achan [demon of Greed]. The mission was to go to the mortal world to get a very long list of groceries for some picky demons.

It was getting to be eight o’ clock in mortal time, the tasked demons had not returned yet. It was until twenty minutes after eight o’ clock, Abaddon and Achan entered into the large, burning castle of Azilom’s rule. Abaddon had his hands full with ten or more bags, Achan happily walked into the castle with a new, rich tuxedo on.

“Allow me to assist you with that.” Azilom spoke, kindly taking a few bags from Abaddon’s hands as they made their way into the kitchen. Once they made it into the kitchen, they put the bags of mortal groceries away.

Azilom and Abaddon walk back into the main room of the castle, the large room built with bricks and burnt glass. He (Azilom) let out a small sigh.

“Where may Yosemite and Armaros be at this hour? I asked all of you to get mortal goods and only two of you did the task.” Azilom asks with a somewhat annoyed tone.

“I have not seen them since we all split up, Achan and I met up and then came back here with what we each had bought.” Abaddon explains, Achan nods in agreement. That is when the doors of the castle swing open and the two demons enter the castle empty-handed.

“Ahem. I have sent all four of you on a specific task, do you mind telling me what that specific task was?” Azilom calls out to Yosemite and Armaros who stand blankly in the doorway.

Yosemite shakes his head, “What task?”

“I had assigned you four to get some mortal groceries since Bane [demon of Gluttony] had eaten all we have here. It seems as only Achan and Abaddon followed my task, what were you both doing that was much more important than the task I assigned you?” Azilom raised his voice to be at a louder tone.

“You didn’t make it clear that we had a damn task!” Yosemite shouted back at Azilom, Achan stopped breathing for a second.

“Excuse me?” Azilom clears his throat, his expression darkening. Yosemite felt his temper turn into fear based on the feeling of his trembling legs.

“I… uh, I…” Yosemite spit out stuttered sounds, Armaros looked just as frightened beside him. Abaddon walked around the two trembling demons and made his way to the Hell gates.

“Do you mind explaining to me what was so important that you decided to neglect and forget about the task I had assigned you?” Azilom repeats, making the question clear for the demons in his front-facing direction.

“Y-Yo, we had j-just y’know… it slipped our minds!” Yosemite raised his brutal-looking claws in the air. Armaros stayed still and silent.

“It slipped your minds, yes?” Azilom confirms with slightly squinted eyes.

“No, they were too busy walking around in the rain. I saw them walking into some kind of park when we all split up.” Achan says as Yosemite’s eye twitches in anger at him being exposed so easily.

“What did ya just say to me, you stupid Greed demon!” Yosemite lunged at Achan, tackling him to the ground. Achan’s temper started to rise as well, he got anxious and frustrated at the same time. Yosemite raised a claw and slashed Achan’s face, the claw mark gushed out blood as Achan wrapped his money green tail around Yosemite. It took one more slash across the face for Achan to use his tail to yank Yosemite away, Armaros gritted his teeth.

“Enough of this!” Azilom slammed his boot against the hard floor. Yosemite growls in protest, Achan stands up as the blood gushes down his face.

“Achan, sit down so I can properly bandage your wounds.” Azilom commands, Achan sits down on the nearby sofa. Azilom walks over to the burning drawer of bandages, gauzes, wraps, and other medical supplies in case a demon got badly injured.

Azilom grabs some bandages and a wet cloth, he walks back over to Achan and inspects the wound for a moment. He gives the wound a small dab with the wet cloth, Achan winces as his tail smacks against the wooden legs of the sofa.

“Did that hurt? It will sting a lot worse than that, trust in my word. Just a few more dabs of the cloth and you will be good to be bandaged, do you understand me? I am simply helping your wound.” Azilom speaks in a somewhat caring tone, as he gives a few more dabs and a wipe on the wound.

Achan kicks Azilom in his kneecaps, causing him to fall backwards. Achan’s eyes widen as he realizes what he did in natural instinct of the final sting.

Azilom sighs, “That is a good instinct you have for pain, and that was a great kick. Try harder next time, maybe I can flip you off of the sofa as well.”

“I… t-thank you?” Achan calmed down. Azilom chuckled.

“Do not be so soft, Achan. You need to learn to form a thick shell around your fears and pain limit, but it will be built over time so worry not.” Azilom speaks, he wraps the bandage around Achan’s face to cover the wound properly.

Achan nods once Azilom is done and he stands up. Azilom glances over at Yosemite, who remained on the ground in defeat.

“Yosemite, stand.” Azilom commanded, Yosemite growled but stood to his feet. He angrily looked at Azilom, who just gave an annoyed smile.

“Control that temper of yours and focus on your assignments next time, you will never improve unless you listen to my advice on putting in the effort. Kindly, put yourself to the work of remembering your duties.” Azilom spoke.

“Yeah, yeah…” Yosemite growled, “Whatever.”

“Do not give me the whatever card, Yosemite. It is important to learn and put yourself to the test on abilities you seem to lack. Is my intention for you not understood in the slightest?” Azilom replies to Yosemite’s minor complaints.

“I acknowledged your stupid complaint, what else do ya want from me!?” Yosemite rolled his voided eyes, storming off into the kitchen.

“If only you did more than just acknowledge my words, Yosemite. You might one day realize that I am trying to help you.” Azilom mumbles, giving a small sigh.