All around, there was darkness. However, it was not a peaceful darkness. It was enveloped in a thick red mist and the smell of copper and sulfur was so agonisingly, unbearably ever present that one would surely lose the contents of their stomach the minute the smell assaulted their nose. This, unfortunately, was not the only horror to bear. Screaming. Shrill shrieks of terror and misery. Ghostly wails and haunted sobs, and the cackles of demons could be heard in this place of unending suffering. And the sounds never ceased. One never got used to the tortures of Hell. One simply endured whatever sadistic form of pain was administered for the sins they had committed; in a sense, growing accustomed; complacent in their agony. Losing track of time as the blood was drained from your body and memories fogged over, melding together until all you could remember was pain and nothing more. Perhaps, that was the only blessing to be offered. A reprieve from the memory from before you were ravaged by disease and torment. What you don't remember cannot be missed. That is, until all dignity was ripped from their souls once again as their suffering was renewed with more fervor.
The demons were always so creative with their toys. That's why Jeez adored his job. The scaly creature was almost as old as time itself. He had been there long before humans had tainted the earth with their filth. Before the ice age. Before the dinosaurs; even before the creation of the universe. Back then, he was young. Just a fledgling of sentience, without a shape or form in which to inhabit. And, for a time, one might even say he was confused and insecure. He had no purpose to speak of. He was but a consciousness. A sort of gaseous cloud floating amongst the vast expanse of bitingly cold space and the vacuum of nothingness. If it were possible, Jeez would have wept from the sheer loneliness of it all.
Then, something astronomical happened. Literally. Where there once was blackness, there now existed light. An energy that could only be described as an overwhelming onslaught of pressure, heat and cold, colour, sensation; pleasure and pain erupted into being. The darkness was filled in an instant with trillions of balls of light. Dotting the expanse of space with their illumination. Debris collided into each other, clumping and splitting and forming into lifeless spheres of potential. The fiery ball in which would soon be known as the sun shone its first light upon all of the universe. And Jeez was elated. He had never before experienced such phenomena. There was much to explore.
Having been in the cold for so long, Jeez was drawn to warmth. It was an entirely new sensation to him and he enjoyed it. The sun was fascinating. The large orange sphere bubbled and popped angrily. It's tumultuous, burning body seared anything unfortunate enough to be pulled by the star's' gravitational pull into nothing but dust. And though Jeez was intrigued by the destruction the ball of lava caused, he felt something missing. There was still so much out there he hadn't seen yet. The essence that was Jeez traversed the never ending pit of darkness that was his home. He hopped from planet to planet, followed meteors and trailed after asteroids, observed and wondered how everything existed. How could these wonders come from nothing?
Jeez had all the time in the world to explore his wonders. But still, something was missing. And then he came across something rather peculiar. He noticed that the planet he had yet to explore; he had ignored it because it was rather drab and uninteresting to him at first glance, had something rather odd occurring in its atmosphere. He had seen clouds before when investigating other planets, but it was the formations of untainted, giant blue pools that covered the planet's surface that brought his curiosity to fruition. He was almost certain they hadn't been there when he first discovered the planet. But he had no frame of reference to distinguish how long it had been since he had first visited the planet. He decided to investigate.
His gaseous form had adapted to the atmosphere, slowly dispersing amongst the heavy clouds. And that was when he noticed them. The were only little specks swimming about in what was to be called water but they were indeed moving. Jeez slowly melted into the water, becoming a part of it. The little organisms swam right through him. They multiplied at such a ferocity. At first, there were two, then four, then six, then sixteen, then a hundred then two hundred. Jeez did not know what to make of it. In him, he could sense a feeling of wonder, and a strong desire to join them. While not really becoming a part of their ecosystem, his gaseous form was abandoned and soon found itself in the form of an amoeba. Jeez was like a spectator, taking in every little detail of the world around him and its changes, either subtle or large. Little did Jeez know, he would soon become so much more than that.
In the blink of an eye, the whole world shifted and changed. The single celled organisms moulded together, forming larger, more advanced creatures. They grew eyes, mouths, fins. Some dwelled in the darkness, while some preferred the light. Likewise, Some began to prey on others while others still, grew accustomed to vegetarian diets. It all happened so fast, and soon, the beings kept on evolving. They grew long tails and scales and legs. That's when Jeez saw them leave the water. The home he had called for so long. It both frightened and empowered him. What would he discover above the surface? Breaching the surface, Jeez discovered a whole new world. Dirt and vegetation as far as the eye could see. Giant beasts crashing through the tropical forests, grazing on what the land had to offer. Jeez rather liked the way these creatures looked, He grew green scales, horns, claws, and a beak, looking much like a triceratops would.
And still the world changed. A meteor struck the Earth, plunging the world in darkness and turmoil reigned. All the dinosaurs died off, leaving cold the only thing left. But there were some creatures that survived. Mammals. While Jeez admired their resilience, he did not see what was so special about them. The were nothing like the enormous, lumbering beasts which, until now, had ruled the land. The mammals were smaller. Meek. Surely there must have been a mistake? How could something so powerful be smited so easily? But Jeez soon learned that brawns was nothing compared to brains. And so dawned the age of man. They were scrawny, mindless things at first, but Jeez realised he had never before felt so at home. As they progressed, Jeez felt more and more attached to them. And while he still retained the scales, horns and claws of the dinosaurs, he found himself changing shape. A sort of amalgamation of a bipedal, scaly horror. And he sure liked himself this way.
Throughout all of his experiences, the one constant that Jeez had experienced was death and torture. He grew so accustomed to its presence that he began to enjoy such a nature. With his appearance the stuff of nightmares, he took it upon himself to terrorise the humans. Every form of human knew him some way or the other. His existence was documented through cave paintings, hieroglyphs and scripture. He was known by many names but they all meant the same thing. Jeez was the boogeyman. The thief of children or wanderers in the night. Slayer of all and servant to none. The inflictor of pain and suffering. He had lived through every war waged by man. From when they first invented tools, to present day. He had tasted the blood of thousands of dying soldiers. Relished in his abilities to make them squeal. Drank in their pleas of mercy and sucked in their last breaths. Some of his favourite eras, he noted, were the rise of the Mayan empire, the Egyptians, and the World Wars. They were all so deliciously brutal. Currently, he was enraptured by the most recent disputes mankind was engaged in. He wore the crisp, blue uniform of a Nazi soldier, complete with metals and trademark Swastika arm patch.
But still, he felt empty. Humans were nothing like him. He was a god, demon, or devil. However way you put it, it didn't matter to him. He was above humans. But, contrary to popular belief, however, he was not the creator of Hell. And he had only met one other like himself. It was so very long ago. Jeez remembered the day it happened. Born out of humanity's greed and bloodlust; when they had first discovered the thrill of killing, Lo was created. Lo was a pale, Satyr-like creature, but still a demon just like Jeez. Why Lo had never existed before the humans like himself, Jeez did not know. But he knew he wasn't alone anymore. Lo seemed just as malicious and blood-thirsty as he was, and soon, the two became close.
Out of the killing, more demons sprang into existence. Hell, it seemed, was never needed before man. It was their intellect that had set them apart from the dinosaurs and the the mammals of the ice age. Their sentience would be their undoing. Humans created Hell. And the demons were happy to oblige.
Jeez finally seemed to have found where he belonged. He had everything he could ever want. A place to rule; to torture the pathetic human race. Underlings with which to do his bidding. Even his own Jazz band. But his complacency was shattered after Lo disappeared. He searched for the demon, eventually capturing him and dragging him back down to Hell. Jeez did not understand what had inspired Lo to try to escape. Wasn't this enough for him? It was in his nature to kill. So… Why did he leave?
And then Jeez met Justin.