I ran so much that I didn't concentrate on where I was going that I bumped into a tree. I realized that I ran all the way to the outside of the castle. At first look, I thought I ran into a forest. But when I moved through the trees, I saw a land that was separated into 7 sections. I could see souls being tormented in every section. Tormentors, giant red devils, were stationed in all sections, whipping every soul that passes them. Some were carrying big rocks behind their backs. Some were dragging them. Some were careful not to fall in crevices that spew flames, or in carnivorous fish infested lakes. Some were also careful not to step on green plants that lay still in their path in order to not get tangled in. Despite their efforts, none were lucky. Some were in neither of these sections, and were after me.
They were staring at me as if they have never seen a mortal before and never tasted one before. They surrounded me as I cowered in fear. One leaped at me but I was able to duck and run away, leaving them to chase me.
I ran as fast as I could, but the more I run, the more the dead souls came closer than ever. I suddenly came to a dead end and got nowhere else to go. They were closing in on me as I closed my eyes and braced my end as one of the souls jumped right at me.
I thought my life was finally over, when I realized that I hadn't felt the attack. I opened my eyes, only to see Satan fighting off the souls. Some of them were fighting back, but Satan overpowered them all. They soon cowered with fear upon realizing that they couldn't beat him.
"Never touch her again! Understand?" He bellows at them with anger, "She's mine!"
The souls hurried away and I was left with Satan. I was surprised; He actually saved me. The Evil Lord risked his life to save me. Before I knew it, he lifted me into his arms and carried me back to the castle.
I didn't pay much attention to where Satan was taking me. That's probably because I was mostly paying attention to Satan himself.
He saved me. He actually saved me. I suddenly felt warmer than ever. My heart beats faster and I could've sworn I heard Satan's heart beat faster as well. I was so caught up in the moment that I never noticed that he was actually in a conversation.
"I told you keep those filthy creatures away from her." He sharply scolded seven people in front of us. I recognize one of them as Envy.
"Our apologies, my Lord." Envy apologizes, "There were so many souls and all, and there were not too many of us for the job and Sloth was…"
"I don't care how you could get your job done in time. However, I expected you to follow my orders and get it done right." He interrupted Envy in order to further his scolding.
"But Sir, how would you expect us to work in two places at the same time? " One guy who looked like he never got his sleep protested tiredly. He didn't seem to notice that he was protesting to the Devil in his pyjamas.
"Easy for you to say, Sloth!" One guy who looked like a military officer, complete with a crew cut and military uniform, snapped at him. His face was completely red (literally), "While the rest of us were hunting for souls, you were drooling in your sleep and spilling your spit all over us!"
"Well at least he had an excuse to not steal souls from the rest of us, Wrath." A guy wearing sunglasses, a black shirt and grey jacket and pants argued with him.
"Hey! I wasn't planning to steal any of your souls, Greed! I had my own set of souls that I gathered myself!" Wrath snapped back at Greed.
"Boys, boys, relax." A woman in a long red dress which revealed her top coaxed them with a soothing voice. She went behind Satan and placed her hands above his shoulders, "You're waking up our little guest." She said as she gazed at me.
Another guy, a big fat guy, also looked at me and smelled me.
"She sure smells tasty, Lust." He drooled.
"Gluttony, she's not good for your health." A guy in a black tux told him (and thank goodness).
"Enough, all of you." Satan said as he began to walk away, "I have other things to attend to. In the meantime, my 7 Deadly Sins better get back to work, or else..." He said the last part sharply which cause the Sins to part quickly. With that, he carried me back to his room.
It was the same place I woke up in. The same architecture, the same furniture, the same curtains, the same rugs and the same bed where I woke up. There, Satan carefully laid me down.
"I'm sorry about what happened." He apologized to me.
"Well, they seem to be a nice group." I commented sheepishly on the Sins.
"I mean the accident with the souls." He corrected which left me embarrassed.
"Oh. Uh... Thanks for saving me." I said. Both of us became silent until Satan spoke.
"I'm sorry. You were right to run away from me. I have been nothing but trouble since the beginning of time." He told me glumly.
I was surprised that he actually said that. The King of Evil admitting his evil personality and sounding regretful? I almost felt sorry for him.
"When you made a deal with my father, did you regret doing it?" I asked.
"I never should have made that deal with him." He answered which surprised me, "Even if he was born to a family who worshipped God, he took his faith for granted." Smoke came out of his hands and formed a hazy screen that showed a clear vision of my father as a kid.
The screen showed scenes of my father giving donations to the poor, feeding the hungry, helping the elderly... these were the things our family, except me, had done for generations. However, despite the fact that he had done all those deeds, the screen showed his true colours; he would get high praises and high recognitions for his deeds, but he would also boast about them. There were times he would scold other kids for their sins only to leave them miserable and offended, while he leaves with smug looks of satisfaction. He would also do anything to make his good deed known to everyone and make their good deeds look like a kindergarten project.
Then the screen disappeared. I was left surprised and heartbroken. I have looked up to my father as my role model. And now, I felt like I have been living in a lie. The girls back at school were right about me. They were right about my family. We haven't done anything good except making people look bad.
"I can't believe he would do this." I told Satan.
"When he first laid his eyes on your mother, he knew his luck would run out. So he made a deal with me." Satan told me and another screen appeared.
It showed the many attempts Dad tried to get Mom's attention, but failed. None of his "good" deeds worked on her. Then one scene showed the greatest of Dad's sins; making the deal with the Devil. I saw the way Satan appeared in front of him. A dark aura surrounded him.
"Your family has been servants of God for years." Satan explained with a sorry tone, "God kept good and close relationships with them ever since. But not as close as me and your father. His hunger for lust forced me to come to him. That's when we made the contract. I tried to persuade him to stop and right his wrongs, but he didn't. You know what happened next." After that, the screen vanished again.
I laid down in bed in disgrace. Now I knew the entire truth. I looked at Satan with sorry eyes.
"You were never all that bad, were you? I asked, "You were just trying to do the right thing." We both became silent.
"What's going to happen to me now?" I asked him.
"I never gave that a thought. I was only trying to teach Florante a lesson." He told me.
"When I fall asleep, do whatever you want to me." I told him as I closed my eyes.
It took long for me to fall asleep when I felt someone slowly ruffling my hair. I looked up to see Satan ruffling it. He began to lay down and wrapped his arms around me with a palm of his hand on my cheek.
"You told me I could do anything to you. You never told me I couldn't do this." He told me as he started kissing me on the forehead and then on the nose. I closed my eyes and felt his kisses. I had this urged to plant my lips unto him and I did. It took faster than expected because I opened my eyes and found my lips near Satan's. We both closed our eyes, our lips still together, and made love in bed. I never even minded him stripping my clothes off.
