Introduction

There is a place beyond what we know, beyond our reality. Some men have managed to peek through and visit it for a little while. In fact, some spiritual people believe that that is the place we go to when we die. But they have never really grasped how vast and big that place is. You may call it afterlife but it would be better described as "other life".

You see, in this vast space there lived all sorts of beings. In fact, all those beings have been known in mythology and all of them live in the same world. But even that world has its own little worlds where the same type of beings operate. There is heaven and there is hell, but there is also Jahannam (islamic version of hell), there are also 9 Norse worlds that we know about. There is also an Underworld, full of our ancestors and loved ones. They sometimes move on to a higher plane in Underworld, but sometimes they stay on the same one for the rest of the time. It all depends on how ready they are to let go of their humanity. All mythological worlds coexisting in one giant vast space. These are just a few mentioned to get the idea. The beings from these worlds sometimes even come across each other and become friends which is what this story is about. About a very unlikely friendship that has managed to last through several lifetimes.

My name is Asmodeus. I'm a demon of lust and all the pleasures in the world. That is the easiest way to describe it. The roles of demons can be a bit hard for human to grasp so they often dumb them down. In fact, lust is not just sexual. It covers a range of deep carnal desires, even deep-seated hatred and thirst for revenge. Think of all the deep, passionate feelings you felt that you knew you weren't allowed to feel. That's me. However, people often come to me to ask for help with love and usually it's the very desperate ones. Sometimes they even call me the demon of despair because you have to be real down in the gutter to ask for me to help. Usually it's due to a seemingly difficult love triangle and humans know I specialize in those. Little do they know I like to sometimes have my fun and just make it worse for them. But just trust me, nothing is as bad as the despair and misery the humans that come to me feel. I merely give a little push closer to the brink.

Chapter 1

I heard rustling while I was laying in my bed, already in deep sleep. You see, demons can sleep but the trouble is they can't dream. Our sleep is more like a meditative state than what humans like to call sleep. But apparently someone in my room did not know that otherwise they wouldn't have been sneaking around.
I shot my eyes open and grabbed the wrist of the being next to my bed. We take human forms because it's easier to operate around with human appearances. But in case of emergencies we become animals, blobs or even just energy.

I looked at the being whose wrist I grabbed and frowned. I did not recognize him. "Who the fuck are you?!"
The deity I was looking at had red ruffled hair, pale face and blue eyes. The clothes he was wearing seemed to have been giving a sign of a higher rank. He was wearing a long red coat with a raised collar. It was covered with all kinds of different swirls, some of them looking like sigils or even runes. The coat was unbuttoned and underneath he was wearing a simple black shirt. He had big boots on and wide black pants.

Must've been one of the Norse ones. He tried to pull away from my grip but he underestimated a demon's strength.

He started laughing as if to ease the situation. "No problem, I'll just leave. It'll be like you never met me."

"You're not going anywhere until you tell me who you are and what the fuck is going on!" I almost growled at him and could feel black smoke coming out of me due to rage.

"I mean, don't you recognize me?" He asked with a smirk. As if I'm supposed to.

"Don't play games with me!"

I almost saw a bit of fear in his eyes but it looked like he was trying to keep it cool. I respected that. He didn't want to give in before the demon.

"Loki, of course." He said with a grin. "Now if you'll let me go…" He managed to pull out of my grip and pushed me away. "The demi-god, the one and only."
I was more confused than ever before. What could he possibly be doing here of all places?

I stood up from the bed and was finally eye to eye with him. "YOU?! The trickster god?!"

"Yes, precisely. Not that different from your own boss here… Just a little bit cooler." He made a small pause while I was trying to gather my thoughts, "Now if you'll excuse me." He said and turned himself into a raven and attempted to escape through the window of my room. I quickly made a sign with my hands to put a seal on the window to prevent him from leaving.

"You're not going anywhere." I said a little calmer than before as I watched him fly straight into the glass and fall hard against the floor. I stood up and picked him up by the leg. "Good try. Now you're going somewhere special." I was about to get out of the room and bring the raven to the boss of this place so they can decide what to do with him when he started cawing really loudly. He started wiggling around and managed to get out of my grip once again and turned himself back into human form.

"Okay, okay." He sighed and put his hands in front of him in a defensive stance. "But you have to listen to me carefully."

I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall. "Okay, I'm listening. This better be good though." I wasn't ready for war anyway. If I turned him in, who knows what could have happened. It's not like I was scared to fight, I just liked having fun more.

Loki took a deep breath and went over to my bed and sat down. He was silent for a bit, staring at the floor before his dark blue eyes met mine. Only then did I see the seriousness in his expression. I guess this wasn't going to be too fun.

"Have you heard of the prophecy? Has anybody here said anything about it?" He asked me and I had to frown.

"A prophecy? Haven't heard anything remotely like that recently." I shrugged.

"Well, here's the deal. You've heard of Odin, right?"

"Yes, of course."

"Well, according to his vision, you and I are supposed to jump-start the apocalypse. He didn't give much information but he mentioned you and I would be involved. So… I came here to eliminate you so that doesn't happen."

I was standing there speechless. "Apocalypse?" I still couldn't even process the word he just uttered. "And you came here, met me and you think this was somehow supposed to prevent it?"

"Well, I didn't exactly think it through."

"That I can see!"

It was quiet once again for a little bit. He was just back at staring at the floor while I was just looking through the window at the many hellish volcanoes and craters.

"So, his prophecies are usually pretty correct?" I asked just to be sure. I knew Odin was a big deal in the Norse world but you can never be too sure.

"They're 100% correct." was all Loki said before a brand new silence had set in. I didn't know what to think. There were too many thoughts running through my mind. This was one of the rare times I was actually worried. And, me, Asmodeus himself being worried?! That never happened. And despite Loki being the trickster I knew he was speaking the truth. There was so much turmoil inside of him. A trickster knows a trickster after all.

Loki suddenly stood up and took a deep breath, "Well, I–" he was just about to say something before we both heard footsteps outside the door. We looked at each other in panic before we heard a knock.

"King Asmodeus, is everything all right?"

I frowned, "Yeah. Who's this?"

"It's Amon."

I sighed in relief when I heard that. At least it wasn't one of the higher ups.

"I just sensed some strange energy coming from your area." He added.

Well this wasn't that good. This meant that the sense had kicked off and others were able to sense an intruder on the premises.

"Yeah I just… have a cat in here." I looked over at Loki and he looked at me like I said the stupidest thing in existence. However, he acted fast and turned into a black cat with huge green eyes. Well at least he was a shapeshifter.

Something was telling me though that Amon wasn't too convinced. So I had to take the inițiative before he went and told everyone else there was something strange going on.

I opened the door and the mop of blond hair greeted me outside the room. He was dressed in a formal knight attire like from the medieval times. Amon was one of the "prettiest" demons here that I sometimes wondered how he wasn't the one to be chosen for the demon of lust.

"See for yourself." I said and kicked the door open wide and leaned back against the wall. Amon slowly walked in and was greeted face-to-face with Loki the cat.

"That really is a cat." He stated. "How did it even get in here?" He turned towards me.

"Oh I just was… experimenting with some stuff… '' For a demon, I sure sucked at lying. But Amon always admired me so he didn't question me much. I honestly had no idea what else to say. We really held our barriers properly sealed and not many things can pass through. It is Hell, after all. To be honest, I was actually fascinated how Loki even managed to break through it and come here. Guess Norse mythology wasn't fooling around.

Amon frowned and then looked back at the cat who just meowed at him. He waved a hand in front of his face in a dismissive motion and then just said, "well, whatever. Keep your secrets. At least you're not hiding another being in here."

I laughed in a way that almost sounded fake, which it really was. I guess I know now how Loki and I would bring on an apocalypse. If we continue sneaking around like this, the hell would freeze over from the boss's wrath once he'd find out. And after that… Well, the survivors will tell the story.

"Anyway, that's not why I came here. The boss proposed a meeting in like 30 minutes. Says it's some sort of emergency." Amon said before going back out of the room.

"Again?" I was confused and then sighed in frustration. The Devil stopped showing his face on those meetings for ages yet he still arranges them. Most of the time he spent his time holed up in his chamber and would just send his voice messages from there to the meeting room.

In fact, not many demons have seen his face. Only a few of us who were among the higher ranks saw him but even that was only a handful of times.

"All right, I'll see you down in the hall in a few."

Amon nodded and left the hallway. I closed the door and turned back at the cat and it quickly transformed into Loki.

"Dude, why did you choose a cat? I hate cats!" He whined.

"Well, it's either being a cat or being a fried norse God. Your choice." I shrugged. Loki actually laughed at that and then continued,

"Anyway, I'm going to go now. But you have to unseal the window and after that, I promise you, you won't ever see me again."

"A trickster's promise is a joy for the foolish one." I said but then unsealed the window anyway. I didn't want him to linger here any longer than needed. If they caught us, we'd both be fried, not just him. I still wanted to enjoy my life.

"Okay, go now. Better procrastinate the prophecy as long as possible."

Loki didn't say anything after that, he just shapeshifted into a falcon and flew out of the window. Still, he left me wondering how he managed to go through barriers. I may have been dealing with someone much stronger than initially anticipated.

I stood there for a few minutes and thought a bit more about the prophecy. That was the first time in eons I felt the inescapable sense of doom. I took a deep breath and left the room, heading down the hallway. I wonder what the emergency was about now. Hopefully it had nothing to do with the "intruder" situation. But I doubt he sensed anything. He was too preoccupied with isolation. He could've been having an existential crisis of his own.

I went down the stairs into the enormous hall that looked like ballrooms in the human world. Amon was waiting for me downstairs and as soon as I reached him, I asked, "So what's the emergency about?"

"I don't know honestly. I'm just a messenger of a messenger."

"You're right. I don't know why I thought you would know."

The closest person to the Devil himself was King Paimon at the moment. He was the one who was giving us orders and was basically the Devil's right hand in all matters.

"By the way, that cat reeked of some strange energy. Please don't ever bring it back." Amon said and I looked at him as we were walking to the meeting.
"Uh yeah… Like I said, it was just an experiment…" I mumbled and hoped this matter would never be brought up again. We entered the room with a long table and almost all demons were already seated. I went up to my seat number which was three. All the demons had their designated seat depending on their class and rank.

"Now that we're all here…" We heard a deep and rumbling voice but saw no face behind it, per usual. "There has been a breach inside this realm." As soon as he said, everyone started murmuring with each other, an obvious confusion lingering in the air. Only I felt the sweat going down my back as I pretended not to be there and hoped nobody would ask me any questions.

"Now, I don't know what has happened nor did I get any reports which is pretty concerning. Some of you who have been guarding the realm have not been careful enough. In that case, some of you will have to build a much stronger wall." When he said that, there were a lot of grumbles among the seated demons. I decided to remain quiet for all the time being there. Personally, I didn't know why I hadn't just dragged Loki all the way to the lock-up. Maybe it would have prevented the whole apocalypse thing. I hope I wasn't going soft. If I came out now and said what had happened, I didn't know what could've become of me.

I noticed Beelzebub across the table eyeing me. He knew that I was usually the one to complain about extra work due to being my closest friend here.

"I won't hear another word!" The Devil continued because the demons started being louder with their complaints. "We wouldn't have come to this if you idiots had paid attention to what was going on in front of you!" His voice felt like thunder whenever he would yell and any time it would have happened, there was instant silence. "Now, the marquises and the lower ranks will be responsible for building stronger protection and the ranks from princes and above will be responsible for guarding and monitoring the work. I want you to be working on it until I say it's good enough. The meeting's dismissed."

As soon as that was said, everyone stood up from their seats. No one was exceptionally pleased with this decision. Everyone was looking forward to torturing some souls. Just kidding, we don't do that here. In fact, we just make sinful souls into demons of lower rank - much lower rank. They were used like the reservists in the human military. Although quite some time has to pass for a human soul to become demonic. And not all of them get to become us.

Just as I was about to leave the meeting room, Beelzebub appeared right next to me. I had a feeling this would happen, I probably should've been quicker in getting away.

"You know you can tell me everything, right?" He said without any subtleties and that's when I may have assumed he knew what was going on.

Beelzebub was one of the nicest demons you'd meet. He had a very protective aura over people he cared about although he could be extremely strict if someone was being an idiot. He was just taking a kind approach to me now because we were through a lot together.

"What's this about?" I asked, trying to act confused.

"Nothing, you were just weird today during the meeting. Seemed kind of nervous." And, yes, he was kind of good with reading people and I guess I wasn't the best at being secretive.

They all knew me as someone who would boast about all the good and bad I did. I never felt ashamed admitting I did something. This time was different though. Even though I could've possibly escaped the punishment, I didn't want something happening to Loki. Those were some new feelings I still had to understand.

"Ah, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about really. I just… had a weird dream today." That was the stupidest thing I could ever think of. Considering that demons having dreams usually meant somebody was summoning them in the human world or just relatively important psychic visions.

"What?!" Beelzebub half-yelled and sped up his walking pace and stood in front of me. "You had a vision?!"

I panicked and put my hands over his mouth. "Come with me."

He looked genuinely confused - and had the right to be - as I grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him all the way to my room.

"What's going on?!" Now he started to sound a bit angry. I didn't say anything until we were inside the room, I locked the door several times while Beelzebub was looking at me like I was going insane.

"You can't say this to anyone because I feel like it is supposed to stay top secret." I really felt like I had to tell someone but maybe just change a few details. "I think Apocalypse is coming." I said and Beelzebub was just looking at me with an extreme blank look.

"A what now?"

"Yep, you heard me."

"Okay, but do elaborate."

"I think it involves me and one more… deity? I'm not sure if it's a demon or not." I really had to lie a bit. "There was nothing really interesting in the vision itself. The apocalypse just looked very Biblical. Pestilence, famine, death and those fellas."

There was yet another long period of silence surrounding the room.

"Why would it show the vision only happen to you though? Shouldn't it happen to the Devil first?"

Good point. In which case I just shrugged.

"I wish I knew… I just know I've been spooked ever since that vision."

"Huh." Beelzebub rubbed his chin and circled a few times around the room. "I hope you're wrong though."

"I mean I hope so too but the vision was pretty convincing."

"So, are you going to report it to the big boss?" He frowned a bit.
"I don't know… Maybe there will be more dreams about it. So until I'm sure that it is what I think it is, I don't think I'll be telling him. That's why I'm begging you, don't tell anyone."

"Okay, if you say so. I just don't see the difference if I say it or not."

"Just… Trust me on this please."

"Alright. You're almost like my family. Your secret is safe with me." I felt like a huge stone fell from my heart because I knew Beelzebub never broke his promises. I also felt better about someone else knowing about the apocalypse other than Loki and me. I wasn't sure when I was going to see Loki again to discuss this further. At least I had Beelzebub now to talk to if I felt an existential crisis coming over me.

"Thank you."
"Well, I have to go now. Gotta guard those walls." He chuckled and headed towards the door.

"Oh, right. We have to do that now." I rolled my eyes and then sighed. "Let me go with you before the big bad boss whoops my ass."

Beelzebub laughed and both of us headed outside of the castle was going to take a long time…