Hell’s Consort

****************************

Archdemon Empress Luna

****************************

'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.'

This phrase had stuck into Luna's mind whenever she felt like dying.

Unfortunately, Archdemons like her don't die.

She chanted this like a mantra in situations where she felt so weak and vulnerable.

It was a prayer she would utter when her persecution began, which became a habit later on.

It was initiated by the Grand Torturer first--murmuring in that disembodied and distorted voice of his—that what doesn't kill Luna will make her stronger in the long run.

She believed it.

The Grand Torturer had told Luna once that she should count herself lucky that she was chosen to learn Archdemon Magic under the best Master, claiming that hardships, pain, and suffering will make her stronger and pick up these powers faster compared to others.

 It was his special blend of mind conditioning.

'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.'

The Grand Torturer's deep baritone was difficult for her ears to comprehend, but her mind could.

It showed how easy the firstborn Archdemon could invade a fledgling's mind. 

Luna had learned Archdemon Magic with the Master Satan only to be delivered back to her cell and punished by the Grand Torturer without reason.

Satan had considered Luna as one of his favorite students.

He never missed accompanying the Grand Torturer to her prison cell because he enjoyed watching the Grand Torturer break her spirit after his lessons.

Luna had secretly enhanced her knowledge and abilities in silence.

Sometimes, she pretended like she couldn't do some of the training exercises, hopeful that the old man would buy her act.

When she had recovered from the Grand Torturer, Luna would have a special lecture with Satan when it came to 'Portal Creation' so that Archdemons could finally pass through the Middle and Upper Realms.

Luna swore she had become better at it, or she had promised herself.

That was the only way she could escape from this prison.

After the Grand Torturer would make her suffer, he would feed her strong demon souls of high quality, giving her immense strength after his repeated torture.

He was a psychopath and his Master Satan, who gave her both the poison and the cure.

How could he act as if nothing happened?

Like the bastard didn't hurt her!

Like his Archdemon blood didn't spill all over the prison cell!

Just because Luna had the capacity to heal herself as an Archdemon because she had drunk their blood and ate dark souls for her nourishment didn't mean that the trauma he had put her through was gone, making her mind a clean slate.

These Archdemons had their empathy shut off ever since the day they were created.

Their sick form of joy was indifference to others' pain and sucking other creatures' life force with a smile on their faces.

The wound might not have existed because it had been completely sealed shut, but the pain remained and stored in her memories forever.

They said only the Archdemon of Sloth had survived the Grand Torturer.

Mayhap, he had snatched his own memory with the Grand Torturer, including his name and the memories of his past life, to get rid of the nightmares he had inflicted on Sloth.

Sometimes, Luna had regretted treating Ravin and Luxen callously for being two bored Archdemons vying for her attention to become her husbands.

Luna had no idea why they were acting like this when her attention wasn't anything special at all.

Of course, it all came down to the nature of the blood bond they have forced on her.

For some reason, Luna had cut her soul tie for Luxen but for what cost?

She both had the seed of an Archdemon and a Vampire inside her, waiting to be born in this cruel world.

Luna was tempted to die so that she could relieve herself of her suffering, but Satan had turned her into an Archdemon, and Archdemons didn't die in Hell.

+++

The Grand Torturer was also known as 'Morning Star,' and he had that name for a reason. 

A metal club with an attached ball, with one or more spikes, hit his target with a blunt force and a puncture attack to kill or wound.

He had shared that it was his favorite weapon when it came to torturing rebellious fledglings.

The prison cell would either be suffocating quiet due to total isolation or pierced with her screams when the torture began.

The Grand Torturer didn't like to see or hear her cry and wail.

He would ram her skull to the thick iron walls to shut her up. 

Luna had quickly figured out that he preferred the screams.

The Grand Torturer didn't talk much, but the moment she could feel a slight drop in the air temperature in her cell, that was the announcement of his arrival.

Tonight, Luna could sense his presence despite waking up from her slumber.

Luna had a bed without a mattress attached to the walls and a thick blanket, but it was useless when she found comfort on the ground, lying in her pool of dried blood.

Overcome with paralyzing fear, Luna's body went rigid as hair lifted on her nape down to her arms.

As her right cheek lay firmly on the dirt, Luna became aware of the chains digging unto her wrists and legs.

She couldn't move because she was restrained without her notice.

Every time she stretched, straining against the chains with all her might, it still wouldn't budge.

Luna knew that 'Morning Star' had come.

Her muscles had tensed as she anticipated for the spiked ball to hit her.

The pain had taken over her entire brain.

She felt her spine split into fragments as her mind almost blacked out, her vision blotched with violent spots and colors, moving and merging into undefined patterns behind her closed lids.

Luna slowly blinked as her eyes forced themselves to open.

She had expected to see the Grand Torturer showing up in her vision.

It was her husband, Apollyon, who had swum into her view.