The Destiny of Nexus

Chapter-21

                           I cleared my mind. As per what Charlie said it takes 2-5 days for them to attack. So, I have a minimum of two days in my hand. Two days here are so long compared to the Earth. I can go to the Demon world, free the souls and come back to save my people before 2 days. Before going to Demon World, I better do my homework about them. Who should I ask about it, I thought and Charlie popped to mind. I sent a message through my mind to his, requesting his presence. I became good at these mind things and all. Charlie approached me. Interestingly, you are picking up the pace so fast. I must admit it. How can I help you? Charlie asked. I decided to go to the Demon World and I need your help to know about the place. Well, Demons are the evilest creatures of Nexus. It's like hell where people's souls are tormented. The souls whose bodies are possessed by the Demons are tormented. So it's better not to piss them off since we may go there in a worst scenario. The main purpose of our kingdom is to keep demons in check. Preventing them from portal jumping to other realms. They have the ability to possess people and infiltrate the unknown territory. They desire to rule over all the realms. We prevent it from happening. No one visited The Demon World till now. No one dared to. Why? What powers do they have? I asked. Well, they can cause blindness, inflict physical damage and diseases, can make you go rogue, possess you, inflict mental illness. These are the things we are aware of. Who knows what more they have. Demon World exists underground upon which The Lava River flows. Be careful, I'll send you the location just outside the Demon's territory.  Thank you, Charlie, for all the help. I'll return as soon as possible. I lifted my bag and teleported to the location Charlie shared.

                        I arrived there. I couldn't see a single tree. All I could see was non-uniform barren land. It's better to be invisible, I thought. I recited, “Invisique” and turned invisible. I kept walking in the forward direction. The temperature was so high there. Maybe it's because of the Lava River. Using too much magic will get me caught, I thought. So I walked instead for about half an hour. Then I could see The Lava River which is flowing down into a hole. As I moved forward, the intensity of heat I felt increased. How do they stay here? I thought. Finally, I reached the hole. When I looked inside, I could see fire falls just like water falls. The question was how would I go down? I never tried levitation using my mind. But that's the stealthiest way, I thought. I concentrated really hard and managed to fly. I slowly went down. It was so hot and dark down there. If I were claustrophobic, I would've headed back. Finally, I reached the land but everything was empty. I couldn't see anything. It didn't feel real somehow. These might be illusions created by Demons in order to prevent outside people to see their world. I opened my spell book to see if there is any spell for this sort of situation. The first page which used to be empty was now displaying a spell. That spell seemed appropriate for the situation. It's a spell that is used to reveal whatever is being concealed. I figured out that the first page shows the spell that is required at the moment or something like that.  I recited it,

                   “No one here can hide their truth, bad

                      eggs will crack, for sure, forsooth."

            The illusions started to vanish and slowly I could see the actual Demon World. The scenery I could see was the opposite of serene. There were a large number of Demons tormenting the souls by punishing them in various ways. Some were being burned in the lava, some were tied and being eaten by scavengers. The Demons thoroughly enjoyed what they were doing. It's like tormenting souls satiates their hunger. One of the demons walked beside me but have no clue about me being there. Demons are a bit dumb, I thought. As I have seen the faces of people in The Cursed Land, I could recognize some of them here. I started to explore this world to find Selene’s people. Now I could see people isolated in cells and sobbing. There was a board that read "The Cages of Nightmares." Seeing them I felt like they were experiencing all the bad memories of their life on a loop. I overheard two demons talking.

Demon1: How are our special guests doing today?

Demon2: Those pathetic fools have developed resistance to the pain.   They are not screaming as they used to.

Demon1: Let's pay a visit to them and take their suffering to the next level. I'm sure then we can hear the screams of the filth.

             I followed them to see where they were going. They opened a door and went inside. There I could see the faces of the people that I had to save. Their hands were tied, legs in the lava and were being beaten with thorny rods. It was horrific. I didn't know what crime they could've possibly done to deserve this kind of punishment. They tortured them for a while. I stood there behind watching them suffer and hearing their screams. I wanted to burn those Demons alive. But that will sabotage the mission, I thought. I decided in my mind that when I become the king, I'll control the Demon World too. After some time both the Demons left, leaving them in the lava. I flew to one of the people and said, don't scream, Selene sent me here to save you guys from this misery, I said. She laughed sarcastically. One of their stupid tricks again, she said in a low voice. No, no. I'm not a Demon. I revealed myself to them. They were so weak that they couldn't even express their happiness. Where is everyone? I asked. They give us different punishments daily, I'm not sure where they are, she said. It's okay, don't worry, I'm going to get you all out here. Along with these I thought of setting everyone free but that would raise suspicion. I promised myself that I would save everyone once I achieve unification. I teleported their souls back to the living world. As soon as the souls were out of the Demon World, the physical bodies in Sarman came back to life. I kept going forward, some people were tortured by hell hounds. They had black fur, red eyes, and foul odour. I couldn't imagine their pain. How the heck a soul can be tortured, I thought. I grabbed a burning candle from beside and recited a sleeping spell,

                             "By this candle, they do sleep,

                               hidden from the day, in the night so deep.

                              O Lady Moon, guide their dreams,

                              cover them with your beautiful beams.

                              As the candle flame dies,

                              please close their eyes."

                  I removed the candle flame and the beasts went to slumber. I approached the people and teleported them back. I rescued more than half of Selene’s people. Only a few were left. I continued to go forward. I saw a big hall that looked similar to our royal hall back in the Citadel. It was empty. I continued progressing forward, now I could see people who were being forced to fight with the Demons. The Demons were beating the s**t out of them. I sneaked past them to the place where the souls were waiting for their turn to fight. As soon as I entered there, a demon mistook me for being a soul and carried me outside to fight with them. It's time for payback, I thought. The Demon landed a punch, I stood still. He got surprised. He went for the second but now I kicked him hard and he became unconscious. The people behind cheered for me. Two other demons came to strike me, I knocked them off as well. Then I teleported the remaining people as well. I took a long sigh. I did it finally.

                    Before I teleported myself, two other demons spotted me. Intruder, they shouted. Shut up, I said. To my surprise, they did shut their mouth. I could feel warmth inside me again. Like fire is circulating along with my blood. Why the f**k I am silent, said a Demon. It worked. For some reason, they were obeying my command. Hit yourselves, I said. They hit themselves. I walked close to them and said, don't tell anyone about my visit and kill those three f*****g demons. Yes, master, they said. They lifted the three knocked demons and threw them in the fiery pits of hell fire. I then teleported back to the Citadel.

                    Charlie and Luther were already waiting for me in my room. Charlie was shocked to see me and looked as if he saw a ghost. Were you successful? He asked. Once I decide, I will make it happen, Charlie, I said. What were you thinking, Steve? If you would have been caught. You would be tormented by those demons for eternity. Extracting you from there would be near to impossible. And next time if you plan anything, say me, I'll come with you, said Luther. Thank you for your concern, but I'm alright Luther and fine, I’ll inform you.

                     Meanwhile, in the Sarman forest, Selene was overjoyed to see their entire coven alive again. It felt like a dream for here. A dream come true indeed. Selene hugged her mother and cried in pain. Don't cry dear, we are back now and we are not going to leave you never again. A person came like a guardian angel and rescued us. He said that it was you who sent him there. Who is it, my child? Her mother asked. His name is Steve, mother. He would soon be the King of Nexus. We love each other, Selene said. This is the kind of king we were waiting for. He went to the Demon World itself for your happiness. Never lose him, child. I won't, mother, Selene replied.

                         The name of Steve Weisman became so famous. Archie grew bitter. But he remained silent because their kingdom was still facing the problem of extinction. To stop it, he requires the help of every Arcana in the kingdom, including me. Now I have to think about the problem we were facing. I opened my spell book and started learning spells. It's time to enhance my knowledge and be ready for any danger that comes ahead. Every day was an adventure for me these days. One wrong move and I'm dead. I should never let my guard down. All the Arcanas in our kingdom are keeping hopes on me and if I fail I'll be the one responsible for their extinction. I cannot allow them to die for me. And in the history of Nexus, I'll be depicted as one who endangered their own kind for his selfish deeds.

                         I wanted to share how I controlled the demons and the monster with Luther. Luther arrived and I immediately closed my spell book and said about the whole incident. How is that possible? He asked. I have no idea and that's why I'm asking you. As far as I know, only the prince of hell can control the demons. What are you, Steve? He asked seeming confused. I had to figure it out before meeting with the Witches. For that, I need to go back to the Earth.