The thing stood in front of me, silent if silence could even exist here.Even the screeching that had been drilling into my skull was gone. It was just me and… it.
The figure's shape flickered in and out, like bad cable signal. It looked human for a second—then not. Its edges bent and rippled, trying and failing to hold together. The only thing that stayed constant was that horrible, grinning mouth.
Then it spoke.
"You shouldn't call me or compare me to those… disgusting things."
The smile didn't move, but the words came anyway, crawling into my head.Each syllable was a razor dragging through my skull.
The screeching came back louder this time. Thousands of voices layered over one another, all screaming different things. Pain, hatred, laughter it was chaos, and I could feel it echoing in my bones that I didn't even have anymore.
Every time it spoke, the air around it fractured. Like reality itself couldn't handle its presence. The outline of its body twisted, jittered, breaking apart and reforming again glitching in and out of existence.
My breath if I was even breathing caught in my throat.
"W-what the hell are you?" I thought.
The smile widened, impossibly wide. And when it laughed, the entire void trembled.
"Are you afraid, Delian?"
If I could've nodded, I would've done it so hard my neck snapped twice.
"That's… disappointing," it said, its voice a thousand whispers scraping together. "I'm trying my best not to make you afraid."
What? My thoughts tripped over themselves. What do you mean by that?
"I am taking human form," it said, that wide, broken smile never fading. "And smiling like you humans do when you greet each other. So you won't be afraid."
I almost laughed. I really did.
Human form? Smiling? This thing looked like something that crawled out of every nightmare ever whispered by man. Its body twitched and jittered, glitching through shapes my brain refused to understand. If this was what it looked like when it was trying to be comforting, I didn't want to see it angry. Apparently, it heard that thought.
"That's rude," it said flatly.
I shut up immediately. If I had lips, I would've bit them bloody.
I wanted to cry not from pain, not from fear, but from how absurd this all was. Maybe I really did fall asleep on that damn bridge, drunk out of my mind. Maybe I'd wake up any second now, shivering in the cold with a hangover and a bruised ego.
But the thing must've read that thought too.
"You are not dreaming, Delian," it said softly. "You truly died that night."
The words hit me harder than the fall ever did.
"So," I finally managed to ask, my voice or whatever counted as my voice here shaking slightly, "what do you want from me?"
The thing tilted its head. That warped smile stretched wider, as if it had been waiting for me to ask that exact question.
"I told you already," it said, voice echoing through my skull. "I want to help you."
I let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah? What's the catch?"
It paused. Then, in a tone that almost sounded amused, it said, "You help me… and I help you."
I frowned, though I doubted it could see the expression in this pitch-black place. "Even if I agreed which I'm not saying I am. I'm dead! Stuck here. Kind of limits my ability to help anyone, don't you think?"
That laughter came again, low and layered, rumbling through the dark like thunder beneath water.
"Oh, that won't be the case forever," it said. "You see, Delian… you did a very bad thing before you died. And they're still looking for you."
My gut twisted. "They?"
"The gods," it said, almost with glee.
I blinked or thought I did. "Why the hell would the gods care about me? I'm just, just some miserable drunk who said a few bad words before falling off a bridge."
It moved before I could think. In the blink of a thought, icy fingers long, skeletal, wrong wrapped around my face, forcing me to look at it. The cold seeped straight into whatever I was now, cutting through the numbness like a blade through wet cloth.
"That's just how they are, Delian," it said softly. "They don't forgive. They don't forget. Whatever you were taught about them about their light, their mercy, their divine order it's all a lie."
Its grip tightened. I could almost feel the bones grinding against my skin.
"They are selfish things," it whispered, voice vibrating with venom. "Driven only by their own desires. They use you. They break you. And when you're no longer useful…"
I managed to steady my breathing, if I was even breathing. "You really hate them, huh?" I said, trying to sound braver than I felt. "The way you talk about them... it's like you've got a personal grudge."
The thing's grin somehow widened.
"Hate?" it said, almost mockingly. "No, Delian. I don't just hate them."Its voice deepened, the distortion crawling beneath my skin."I despise them because they are beneath me."
It laughed a sound that cracked through the void like glass shattering underwater and then finally let go of my face. I didn't realize how cold its touch was until it left, and the chill lingered like frostbite in my soul.
"Trust me, Delian," it continued, tone shifting into something eerily calm. "If you think your life was bad on that tiny world, they'll make it worse the moment they find you."
I froze. I didn't want to believe it. I had no reason to trust this... thing. But if there was even a hint of truth in what it said if those bastards up there really remembered me then that meant... That meant everything I'd suffered through before, all that misery...wasn't over.
The thought hollowed me out.
"I don't want that," I said automatically, the words slipping out before I even realized. "I-I can't do that again."
"No," the thing said softly. "Of course you don't. No one would."
The darkness seemed to shift around us, breathing with its voice.
"That," it said, the grin returning, "is why I told you, Delian....."Its tone sharpened, vibrating like metal on stone.".....I help you... and you help me."
I didn't understand what I was feeling. Maybe it was exhaustion or maybe it was just the weight of my life finally catching up to me.
All those years clawing to survive. Working, scraping, begging fate for a single good day, only to have it stolen the moment I smiled. I'd always thought I was cursed. Maybe I really was. I couldn't deny it I died a pathetic death, and it was my own stupidity.But my life?That was another story.
If I'd been stronger just a little bit stronger maybe I could've protected what I loved. Maybe I could've protected myself. Then... something flickered.A smell.A memory.
"Delian, eat this. Mom has to go work now."
A small biscuit, half-broken in my tiny hands. The only food I'd had that day. I couldn't remember her face anymore not clearly but I could still see her smile as she turned to leave, the sound of the door creaking shut behind her.
I'd nibbled on that biscuit, tears rolling down my cheeks."When I grow up, Mom," I'd whispered, "you'll never have to suffer again."
I laughed. A bitter, broken sound that echoed into the dark."I lied to myself," I muttered. "I couldn't protect her... not even once."
The thing's voice seeped into my mind."You didn't lie, Delian," it said softly, almost… comforting. "You still tried your hardest."
That only made me laugh harder."What the hell would you know about me?" I shouted in my head. "Just because you can read my thoughts doesn't mean you know me!"
"Oh," it replied, its grin audible in its tone, "but I do know you, Delian. Even without reading your mind."
The darkness around it pulsed faintly like it was smiling wider without a face.
"That's why," it said, voice dropping into something low and tempting, "if you desire strength to protect what you love..." It leaned closer, and for a moment, I could feel the void itself tremble.
"...I'll grant you that strength."
The thing's grin never faltered, even as I glared at it with every ounce of defiance I had left."Maybe," it said, "you didn't have the best of it in your old life. But if you accept my offer, Delian... you won't have to suffer in your new one."
"New... one?" I asked, the words tasting foreign.
"Yes."Its voice slithered around me, echoing in places I didn't know sound could reach."So this isn't the last stop, huh?" I muttered, half to myself.
The thing laughed a deep, rumbling distortion that made the air ripple."Not even close." A chill crept through me."You mean there's something after this?"
"There's always something after," it said. "Death is only one door, Delian. I'm simply offering to show you another."
I didn't like how easily it said that like it was talking about changing seats on a bus instead of crossing the boundaries of existence itself. "So what's the catch?" I asked, even though I already knew there was one. There's always a catch.
The thing tilted its distorted head."I already told you. You help me... and I help you."
It stepped closer, and I could almost feel its grin stretch wider than its face should allow."Accept my offer, Delian Lyren," it said, my name echoing like thunder through the void. "And I will give you the power to never be powerless again."
"Accept your offer, huh?" I said, my voice sounding foreign even to me hoarse, dry, like it came from somewhere else. "For a guy who hates being called Satan, you sure like acting like one."
The thing chuckled. The sound crawled across the space low and sharp, scraping against the inside of my head until it made me shudder."I'll let that insult slide this time," it said.
Something about that made my skin crawl, though I couldn't even feel my skin.
"Since you can read my mind," I muttered, "you already know what my answer is."
"Yes."
"If I could move," I said, forcing a weak laugh, "I'd probably shake your hand or something."
"Then why don't you move?"
I blinked. "What?"
"You heard me," it said again, that warped grin never changing.
"I've been trying to since I woke up," I snapped. "I can't."
The thing tilted its head, distortion rippling across its shape like static. "If you can wake up in just a few months, then surely you can move."
For a second, I didn't even understand what it meant. "What are you talking about? I'm trying!"
"You're using your mind," it said calmly. "But you've forgotten your heart."
I stared. "My... what?"
It didn't answer. Just stood there, watching. I tried again, concentrating until my thoughts hurt. I imagined moving standing, raising my hand, something. Nothing happened. My body or whatever counted as one refused to respond.
The thing's voice cut through my frustration. "Let me reframe that, Delian. Think about why. Why did you struggle, and why are you still struggling so hard for?Use those thoughts to get what you want."
That question hit harder than it should've. My mind went quiet.
Why?
I thought of all the years I spent crawling just to survive. All the times I begged, got up, and got knocked down again. Every single breath wasted on surviving, not living. What was I even fighting for anymore? I didn't want to beg anymore. Didn't want to bow, to scrape, to grovel.
What did I want?
Freedom.
To do whatever the fuck I wanted.
Something clicked.
My finger twitched. Just barely but it moved.
A sharp grin spread across my face before I even realized it. My eyes rolled, shifting in their sockets for the first time, and I turned toward the thing. My feet touched the ground, the invisible force that had held me finally easing its grip.
I slumped, body heavy and numb, but it didn't matter. I could move. Slowly, I straightened myself, standing upright.
That grin stayed fixed on my face, stretching wider as I looked at the thing still smiling that impossible smile at me.
"I'm so back," I said.
And I meant every word.
I exhaled slowly, the echo of my own words still hanging in the air. The thing or whatever it was didn't move. It just stood there, that warped grin still fixed on its face like it was carved into reality itself.
"You already know my name," I said finally, breaking the silence. "But I don't know what to call you."
The grin twitched just slightly.
I hesitated, my thoughts slipping before I could stop them. The thing.
The distortion pulsed violently for a second, the sound of static hissing through the air like broken glass grinding together.
"The thing?" it said, and I could feel the offense in its tone. "How… crude."
I swallowed hard, unsure whether to apologize or just shut up entirely.
It tilted its head again, the outline of its form glitching as if reality itself couldn't decide what it was supposed to look like. "I do not have a name," it said, voice layered with countless others whispers, screams, and sighs. The darkness around us seemed to shift, pulling closer, swallowing everything but its shape.
"But…" it continued, and for a moment the voices aligned, becoming one. "I do have a title." My pulse quickened, though I didn't even have a heart to beat anymore.
"I am the one who watches from the dark. I am the one who owns the Abyss. I am the one above the light."
"I am the Abyssal Lord,"