I spent a few hours sitting on the grass and looking up at the moon. It was the only thing that seemed to calm me down. It was hard to make myself head back to the castle. There were times when I wished to be human, rid of all these problems and eternal life. A lot of humans had existential problems though but in my opinion there were far worse fates than death. Maybe I should've let Abaddon send me into the void.

Sucking in the air, I stood up from the ground and finally opened up a portal. I entered it and stepped out in front of the door of the castle. There were more secrets to keep and it was getting quite tiresome. I pushed the hard metal door and walked inside but the moment I closed the door behind me, I noticed no other than King Paimon himself approaching me. His hair was long and white with a white gold crown decorated with precious stones sitting on top of his head. Paimon was a very tall and slender demon with an androgynous tan face and full lips.

Being the Devil's right hand, it made me wonder what he could've possibly wanted from me. Naturally, there were a number of reasons but if Paimon was sent then it had to be relatively serious. It meant whatever was about to happen Devil wasn't ready to get his hands dirty. Paimon approached me slowly and with grace, standing before me looking taller than a mountain.

"Follow me." Paimon said curtly. He only glanced at me once and turned around. Without responding, I started walking behind him. To be honest, I had never expected him to be this rude but apparently when one works too long for the Devil, his attitude starts to rub off on them. I expected to go up to the boss's office but it seemed like that wasn't the case. We were going downstairs for some time now and it started to concern me. Could I not have one calm day anymore?

"Excuse me, but where are we going?" I brought up the confidence to ask. The white-haired demon didn't reply, he just continued descending another set of stairs. It was at this point when I started hearing screams and cries coming out from the basement. That was when it started dawning on me where we were headed to. It was a prison where so many lost and damaged souls resided. Among them were also many unruly demons and apparently now me. I stopped in my tracks instantly and attempted to flee but then a couple of demons ran up the stairs and grabbed me after Paimon yelled out an order to get me. The two of them grabbed both of my arms and pushed me down the stairs, making me roll down the last few and into the basement. The fall wasn't too bad so I immediately sat up and turned around to look at Paimon.
"What is this for?!" I hissed out. I heard footsteps behind me and then a familiar voice.

"Well, Asmodeus, you have come a long way to get here." Devil said through a smirk. I quickly got up, turning towards him and the two demons instantly came up behind me to hold me in place. He was staring straight into my eyes, his face looking even grimmer than usual.

"What the fuck?!" I cried out and tried to get out of their strong grip.

"That's for not staying away from my dear assistant."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. That was the reason for locking me up?! I was left speechless as I was staring at him with complete bewilderment shown on my face. There were no words to express the disgust I was feeling towards him at that moment. As there was no response from me, Devil put his hands behind his back and nodded towards the two demons holding me. They pushed me lightly to get going and one last time I looked at the Devil, then said through my teeth, "I will get out and I will kill you."

His grim expression softened very lightly but enough for me to see that my words struck somewhere deep inside.

I gave up struggling and we started walking through the long hallway. Each side of the wall was filled with prisons and inside of them the most horrified faces I had ever seen. Some of them were crying and some were screaming out in agony. I wondered if I was going to reach that stage here. However, apparently they had other plans for me and led me down another flight of stairs on the whole other side of the hallway. We entered this single dark room with a big prison covering half of the room. Paimon approached the door of the cell and unlocked the door, the two demons pushing me inside and he quickly locked it back up. They left quickly after, leaving me between these stone walls. The moment they closed the door of the room, it got even darker inside with only light coming out of the creak at the bottom of the door. The cage was protected with magic of the highest degree making it impossible for me to use any powers. There were many sigils covering the poles, indicating that if I even tried to use my own strength against them, I'd end up dying in the most excruciating pain.

Coming to terms that there was nothing I could do, I sat down on the cold stone floor and leaned my back against the wall. The rage within me started growing stronger, I didn't even know it was possible for it to become more intense. But there was nothing left for me to feel so I just let myself get consumed by it. I closed my eyes and let the feeling enter my whole being. It started to flow through my entire body and I started feeling it in my veins. Ironically, the feeling itself made me quite peaceful. However, there was a hint of a thunderstorm brewing inside as well which could've gotten set off at any point. With that feeling overcoming my whole being, I let myself drift off to sleep, happy to be returning my very old and familiar self.

The following few days or weeks, had felt like a whole eternity. The two demons, whose names, later I found out, were Belphegor and Belial, were visiting me every day for a torture session. Knowing I was powerless inside the cage and that they were backed up by the Devil, they just let it all out on me. By the end of the first session, my arms were locked inside two metal cuffs hanging from the ceiling. And they didn't bother letting my arms loose after they were done. In fact, they kept me like this so it was easier for them to continue doing the same the next day.

The torture sessions consisted of a lot of whipping but with a whip that was specifically made for demons. Ordinary whips naturally didn't work for demons, so our dear Devil made sure to specifically make one for us if we misbehaved that actually burned us on touch. They would also pour gasoline over me and set a hellfire on me. The problem with being a demon, especially a higher ranking one, is that a lot of wounds healed quickly. So that meant that every new session felt like a first one, not allowing me to get used to the pain.

Despite it all, I never allowed myself to shed a tear or let out a whimper. I couldn't allow them to see any sort of emotion coming off me. Although I made sure to show disdain every time they showed up. I never spoke to them either even though they would send snarky comments my way or say something between themselves. Throughout the whole experience I was gathering more and more rage, making sure to dig deep enough and root it in my base being.

I had lost track of the concept of time but at one point I was paid a visit by the dear boss himself. I was already dozing off due to enormous physical pain that didn't seem to be going away when he came in. My eyes were partly closed but I had known him well enough to recognize the footsteps and the familiar presence. He crouched in front of the cage, with a small smile playing on his lips. I couldn't believe he had the audacity to show a smirk but I guess it was the Devil after all.

"Have you learned your lesson yet?" He asked in a low voice. I slowly looked up at him and made sure to spit at him, aiming at his face. There was an obvious surprise on his face as he chuckled lightly, wiping it off with his coat sleeve. "Guess you haven't." He stood up and was about to turn around and leave when I finally decided to say something after days of being mute.

"Why?" I was staring up at him almost begging him to explain to me the real reason behind this all. The whole Pandora affair just didn't do it for me. It was still unnerving to me that someone who I looked up to and respected so much had become someone I loathed.

The Devil simply put his arms behind his back and said nonchalantly, "I don't know what's not clear. You went against my direct orders and now you're here."

His non-caring tone struck a nerve and I growled as I tried to lunge towards him only to be pulled back by the chains around my wrists. "Spare me the bullshit." I spat. "Tell me the real reason." I was glaring daggers at him while his face remained as unbothered as ever. However, I could feel a small spark within him, telling me that he was trying to fight more delicate emotions. That made me feel a bit better knowing that he wasn't as heartless as he presented himself to be. Although I also had a feeling that this small part of him was going to die soon.

The Devil furrowed his eyebrows and went back into a crouching position, looking me directly in the eyes. "As I said, you went against my direct orders, then you barged into my private office where you rummaged through my things. It's not only an invasion of privacy but you keep forgetting I'm your ruler and some things are simply inexcusable." He stopped for a few seconds before adding, "Do you understand now?"

Was he really not aware that I went to see Lucifer? If that's so, then his personality was becoming way worse than I initially assumed. Since I wasn't speaking as I was trying to kill him with my gaze, he gave himself permission to continue talking and make me loathe him more.

"I'm not your friend, Asmo. You have to understand. You'll be treated as equal as anybody here."

"Equal!" I snorted. " Equal my ass." I cackled, his face showing a surprise. He seemed not to like my response as he stood up and said,

"Well I'll see you later. When you're in a better mood."

"I will never be in a better mood as long as you're alive."

"Now, now. That's rude." The Devil retorted before sending a smirk my way. After that, he turned away and left for good. I was surprised that the sole intensity of rage I was feeling didn't break these chains. This only meant that the Devil really made sure to design them for me. How kind of him.

Not even sleep was helping anymore, all I could do was dissociate for hours on end. There was nothing else left in me. I guessed that was how Lucifer felt as well except much, much worse. Who knew how long he was in there. That was why I needed to find a way to get out for both of our sake.

Not long before the Devil left, Belial and Belphegor were back to keep me company. Belial was the first one to open the door of the prison, his tall frame towering over me. And then close behind him was Belphegor who was short in stature and a bit chubby with a bit of muscle as well. They exchanged a few words before laughing out loud and then Belial kicked me in the stomach, making me grunt. He grinned from ear to ear as he heard me make a noise for the first time in weeks probably.
"Well, isn't that fun!" He cheered and looked over at Belphegor who then brought out a knife from inside his boot. I frowned a little bit as he made his way towards me. He pulled my hair harshly, making my head bend backwards. Belphegor went behind me as he started circling with the knife over my face, making a few cuts before pressing the blade against my throat. That was when I started panicking. I believed that the Devil wanted to have me punished but not executed.
"Wouldn't he be a pretty little corpse?" Belphegor mused. I started struggling before Belial kicked me in the stomach once more, making me gasp out a lot of air.

"Be still or this will get messier than anybody here wants." Belial said calmly.
"You can't kill me, the Devil will kill you once he finds out and you both know it."

Both of them started laughing out loud as Belphegor slowly pulled away from my throat.

"Oh look, he speaks!" Belial exclaimed happily.
"Was this just a ruse to get me to speak?"
"Kinda… we don't like our subjects to be quiet." The taller demon shrugged. "We've got something else prepared for you." He added and then nodded over towards Belphegor who quickly went out of the room and then got back, carrying a wooden bucket. He placed it on the floor which is when I saw that it was actually an extremely hot hell tar. I couldn't hide the slight fear in my eyes which made Belial smile a little bit. Belphegor then also gave him a conical paper cap and poured tar using a ladle into it.
"Say cheese!" Belial joked grimly and immediately started pouring the tar over my head. I couldn't hold it in anymore as I cried out in pain. The pain was nothing like I had ever experienced. It was radiating. The tar began sliding down my face, forcing my eyes to close and then someone forced my head back. Something got pressed against the front of my head when I realized it was a scalpel. The sharp edges started scraping over my head as I was almost whimpering in pain. It was going on for a while as Belial made sure to get every little bit of my hair left and to press deep enough into the scalp, leaving large and throbbing scars. When it was over my eyes were full of tears because I was trying so hard to suppress the pain. However, it was only over for a few seconds before Belphegor poured another batch into the cone. I tried protesting but naturally, they didn't listen to me. Belial spilled hot tar over my body before he quickly started scraping with the scalpel, making me growl and hiss. They continued doing the same process over and over until there was nothing left in the bucket. By the end, my entire body was completely red, riddled with scars and a few wounds. A lot of them were also bleeding, the ones on the head and stomach being the most intense.

After they were done, they actually unlocked the chains and let me fall to the floor. Belphegor then spat at me as they turned away and left the room. Underwear was the only piece of clothing left on me as I just lied there on the floor, grateful at least that they finally let me down. The pain was so immense that I couldn't think about anything else. I let a few tears drop but I quickly wiped them off and slowly closed my eyes. There was no way for me to sleep this time either as the pain was so distracting. It felt like it was never going to end. I tried to hold on to the fact that the wounds usually healed fast on demons but it didn't seem like it in this case.

I don't know for how long I was laying there unmoving and staring at the wall. By then some of the scars had started healing but not fully. Although I was starting to feel better physically, I felt like my mind was falling apart. I didn't hear when somebody opened the door and walked in, however I did notice that they were trying to be as silent as possible. I wanted to turn around and look but I was still feeling way too weak. At this point if they were to kill me, I'd be looking forward to it.
"Hey…" I heard someone whisper and it sounded familiar but due to my mind being very foggy, I couldn't remember. I slowly started turning my head towards the newcomer and my eyes slightly widened when I saw who it was.

"Mammon…" I said weakly. Of all the people I expected to see here, he was nowhere on the list. "What are you doing here?"
"An enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"What?" I was so confused and the brain fog didn't help at all.

"Demonic powers don't work here, but do you know whose do?" I saw a satisfactory smirk lingering on his lips before I saw that his hand was safely tucked away inside the front of his jacket. Then before I could ask any more questions, he started pulling out his hand, revealing a raven being squished in his grasp. Suddenly, a shot of energy sprung through me and I immediately got up in a sitting position.
"What in the…" I had so many questions but I knew we didn't have much time if they came here for what I supposed they did.
"Man, you look horrible." Mammon stated. "You're bald too."
Ironically that made me feel a bit better as I hadn't seen a friendly face in weeks probably. And if Mammon was the friendly face to see first then so be it.

He didn't waste too much time as he quickly released the raven from his grip. The bird transformed into a red mop of hair I hadn't seen in a very long time. My face instantly softened upon seeing him and he smiled softly back at me.

"You're bald, dude." Loki said, laughing lightly.
"Thanks, dude." I chuckled for the first time in a while. Suddenly, the remaining pain I was feeling didn't seem so bad anymore. I still had no idea how these two came around to meet each other. Must've been Beelzebub's doing. But where was Beelzebub? I left the questions for later though.

Loki held onto the two poles in front of him and at once, they started melting. I had no idea he had so much control over fire and heat in general. It was actually impressive.

Once the poles melted completely into the ground, Loki squeezed in partly just to lend me a hand. I moved closer and grabbed his hand before he pulled me up using his core strength and we both squeezed through the gap. I realized once more how strong he actually was. Due to his personality, you could very easily underestimate him and forget he was an actual god. Loki was even a trickster in his appearance.

"How are we going to pass without somebody seeing us?" I asked because I was concerned that they didn't think this through that well. Turned out I was wrong however.

"As I said, godly powers. Our dear boss doesn't think we have a god at our disposal." Mammon replied, which didn't really make things much clearer. That was when Loki grabbed my forearm and squeezed it tightly. I looked at Loki and then Mammon in pure confusion. "You're going on a trip." He explained.

"WHA–" Before I could finish, we suddenly warped through space and appeared somewhere I had never been - no portals, no anything. I pulled away from Loki and looked at him in horror. "What the hell was that?!"

"I see you got your strength back!" He said mockingly and rolled his eyes. I looked around the place where we arrived. It was a simple small room with only a twin-sized bed with a white wooden night stand next to it.. The walls were made of white gold and it looked squeaky clean. It was incomparable to the entire palace in Hell. I walked over to a square big window on the wall next to the bed and my jaw dropped. The entire city seemed to be built out of white marble and gold. The buildings and giant statues of gods were glistening from the sun.

"Welcome to Asgard." Loki suddenly said which made me turn around and look at him in disbelief.
"You brought me to Asgard?!"
"You're welcome!" He sounded slightly annoyed this time. "You know, I could've let you rot there." He added before going over to the bed and let himself drop down on it with his arms behind his head. I was still standing there in absolute bewilderment. I noticed the scars had finally started to heal but there was still stinging pain here and there whenever I'd have made a sudden move.
"I'm sorry… I'm still confused." I finally said in a calmer tone and looked carefully over at Loki who had his eyes closed. "What's going to happen to Mammon?"

"Unfortunately, he's going to have to report your disappearance and while they form a search party, you're going to stay here." He replied, still not opening his eyes. I mean it was a relatively good plan but for how long would it be good? They would eventually end up finding me. If not by themselves, they'd for sure start interrogating every single demon that had any sort of contact with me. And honestly I was scared of what they were going to do to Beelzebub.

"Am I going to stay in this room this entire time?"

Loki finally sat up and leaned on the wall, now facing me. "Yeah." He shrugged.
"Can you at least bring me alcohol in the meantime?" I figured there'd be no use in complaining as it was a better situation than being constantly tortured. However, I believed that I was actually going to go insane the longer I remained imprisoned like this.

"Sure." He nodded. It was odd seeing him in such circumstances, I felt really weak and vulnerable. Especially because of the lack of clothes. Then I remembered I was no longer stripped off my demon powers and started manifesting a simple shirt and pants. It was only then when I started feeling less exposed.

I slid down the wall and sat on the floor as there was no other place to sit in. "What happened to Thor?" I asked after some time.

"Oh, you remembered!" Again with the sarcasm. Was he annoyed that I dared to be locked up? That was when he started getting on my nerves as well.

"What's wrong with you? If you're going to be such a pain in the ass, please return me. I'd much better prefer getting beat up every day than listening to you whine." I snapped at him and he shot me a glare, clearly getting angrier now. I couldn't possibly think of a reason why he was the one to get mad.

Then, without raising a tone, Loki just said, "I was waiting for you for so long only to find out you got locked up. Then I got really pissed off, and I still am. Do you not realize you could have died? What would I do then?"

I was trying my best not to start laughing upon hearing his words. It took everything in me not to start mocking him. He kept staring straight at me, waiting for my response while I was just pressing my lips together, trying not to let a chuckle escape my mouth. I coughed as an attempt to relieve the urge and it helped slightly.
"Yeah, yeah, I realize that." I said, coughing out once more as I felt laughter coming back up. He was so cut out from any emotions that he had no idea what he was feeling. He was just blurting out and going along with whatever feelings rose up at the given moment. However, I wasn't really the one to talk. I was terrible at emotion. "But you have to realize as well that trouble follows me and if you're with me now, then trouble will find us most definitely."
"Norse world is the last place they will look for. You don't need to worry for a long time."

I snickered, "Wait for it."

I knew they were going to find out within a week and then it was really going to go down. Although I had to say that this vacation was going to recharge me for whatever was about to come. I wasn't exactly looking forward to it but I desperately wanted to get back at the Devil. And I knew deep down it was going to be so sweet.

"But, yeah, Thor is still alive, thankfully. They have taken away a lot of my rights though." Loki decided to change the topic and he sounded much less irritated.

"Like what?"

"Like I pretty much can't do anything anymore. I can't be at their meetings, I can't be part of any events, I can't do deals. I'm blocked from influencing the human world indefinitely."

I shouldn't have been surprised because it was Thor he was trying to kill after all. It was still sad, especially since I saw it clearly bothered him a lot. Although I wish I was just blocked like this instead of tortured consecutively. This kind of punishment seemed like heaven in my eyes. It was surprising though that Loki was still risking bringing me here. Why did he care so much? I probably should've asked but I didn't want to poke the bear further.
"Well, hey, at least we didn't start an apocalypse yet." I chuckled.
"Sometimes I think we should speed it up." He sighed in annoyance and it made me wonder if he was only willing to help me to speed the whole process up? But that speech from earlier was pointing in another direction. I didn't reply to that as I didn't agree at all but I didn't want to start another argument.

"Is there any other place I'm allowed to go? I don't think I'll be able to stay in this room for who knows how long."

"Well, technically, you can leave any time, I just wouldn't recommend it. You can probably walk around this building as no one really comes around but anywhere else inside Asgard is dangerous. They will kill you on sight." He stopped here, making sure I lodged the last sentence in my memory. Also, did he "own" this entire building? What strange concepts of living Asgard had. "And, you can go anywhere in the human world but as you know they will find you very easily. I can bring you to see other parts of the Norse worlds but that's also very dangerous except maybe the Dream world which is riddled with fairies, elves and other land spirits. And also the dead."

"You guys have a dream world?!"

"Yeah but it's really confusing, you can get lost very easily as one path that led you there isn't guaranteed to get you back." Loki explained and almost sounded like he was talking from an experience. Knowing him, that probability didn't surprise me.

"Sounds a lot like the fairy tale Alice in Wonderland." I said, laughing lightly.

"Well, isn't the first time humans took something from Astral and twisted it to fit their worldview."

"That is very true." It was true that not all humans did it deliberately but a lot of them did. Some of them would have a chance to take a glimpse into this world and due to their brain being incapable of comprehending it, their brain would remember it in a very simplified manner. Alice in Wonderland was however also a very good depiction of how the human brain tries to understand anything bigger than him.

We sat in silence for a little while and at last I started feeling like I could relax my body and mind. Being used to constantly worrying about when Belphegor and Belial would come, it was an odd feeling not to have to fear it anymore. I wanted to thank Loki and hug him but my pride was way too big. It was going to take a while for me to be able to express anything. It was so awfully unfamiliar to me.

I was so lost in thought, staring at the wall when suddenly Loki got up. I looked up at him and he had a wide grin from ear to ear. "You know, we should celebrate getting you out of there!" He exclaimed cheerfully. Honestly, I couldn't agree more. Alcohol would definitely help me let loose a bit more and I also didn't get any sort of "unhealthy" habit in a while.

"Get something good." I smiled with a small smirk.
"You got it." He responded and opened a giant portal in the middle of the room.
"Wait… why didn't we use that earlier instead of that weird space warp?"
"Efficiency. Although it has drained me. That's why I don't usually use it." After that, he simply stepped inside the portal and it quickly closed once he disappeared into the darkness. His explanation made sense, I didn't know why I didn't think of it sooner. Although it was true that my brain was all fogged up until like an hour ago.

Only when Loki was gone did I feel a sense of relief. I felt like I had to keep up the front of being better mentally with him. I knew it wasn't his fault, it was just me being unable to show weakness. It felt like everything in me was slowly falling apart even though I was way less stressed out. That was when I realized that all the things I had gone through back in imprisonment was going to take forever for me to fully make peace with. I didn't think I was going to feel truly happy in a very, very long time.