Crowley was left on his own devices, or well, to a point at least. There were live feed security cameras and the hunter Carolyn was staying in a small cabin with her nephew not too far away from there. At least this time he could move about and such, no stiff collar around his neck or unpleasant shackles. He took his time with examining the book, looking at the crest very closely. It was an intricate crest. The base of it however was simply a circle with a line straight down through it. There was a wide trident from above the circle going down into it, and on the very top of the line there was a little cross. On the bottom there was another, much narrower trident, starting just above the circle and cutting through its edges. Of course, there were other little lines, such as one in the middle going across but not through the circle, and some other little scribbles that made it almost look Asian. Everything in the crest was connected, and he couldn't help but feel as though he had seen it somewhere before. He just couldn't quite place where. Rome? Atlantis? Stroking a hand over his scruffy beard, he frowned. It was about time for a shave. Stupid human vessels.

Sucking in a deep breath, he leaned back in his seat to finally open up the book. As far as he knew there had only been a handful of scriptures in Elymian found on earth. In Hell however, it was a different story. Elymian had always existed there, for as long as even Lucifer could remember, and there were old scrolls and tomes written in the language. A few more than a handful, but still not an impressive number. Apparently, they had been found buried in what seemed like an old, underground library, but that had been before his time. However, Crowley prided himself in being linguistically knowledgeable, and he had studied all languages that he had come across.

"So, gorgeous, let's see what secrets you hold.." He turned the first page carefully. The writing looked as though it had been burnt into the skin, then filled in with blood. It was faded, but fully readable, at least for him. Smiling to himself, he began to read, pleased with the find.

...

The next day, Carolyn alerted the brothers that Crowley seemed to be finished with the book, as he kept shouting at the camera. It wasn't wired for sound, so she could simply guess what he was saying. It took them a number of hours to get down there, but eventually they arrived. Castiel had decided to remain at home but had promised he would come if called; he simply wished to keep Amy safe in case Crowley attempted something. What that something was, he had no idea, but he was rather safe than sorry. The group of hunters, now Noah included, entered the barn together.

"Finally! I was starting to think you didn't like me anymore." There was a rusty laugh in his voice as he spoke, his eyes following the movements of the group. Carolyn shot him a cold glare and he smirked. Humans were so easy to rile up.

"Alright Crowley, spit it out." Dean demanded with a firm stare. The demon held out his hands, eyebrows raised in a wondering expression. "What, not so much as a hello?" The silence that followed got him to raise an eyebrow before rolling his eyes, slapping the arm rests of his chair with his palms.

"Oh alright! Jeez, you've gotten so boring, all business and no fun." He spat out the words at them before snorting, picking up the book from its place on the table.

"It's a kind of journal, with a hint of a history book." The hunters frowned and eyes flickered among each other before focusing on the demon again. "Doesn't do it for you, hm? Alright." Taking a breath, he idly browsed the pages, not even looking at the hunters.

"The first section is just history of, well not Hell, but what was there before, very interesting. Highly recommendable read. Then it goes into more of a journal theme. Seems like the guy's describing where he's been and what he's done. I must say, man of my own taste, seems like he has quite the grudge against that silly little God of yours." Dean shook his head, trying to take it all in at once.

"Hang on, the history before Hell? I thought God created Hell?" Crowley looked up and blinked, pointing at the book. "Oh, not according to this." He tapped the hide lightly with two fingers, looking at the group of hunters. "No no, according to this little darling, Hell was all sorts of nasty way before Lucifer got shoved into his precious little cage." Dragging a hand over his hair, Dean thought about what Crowley had just said as he approached him, sitting down on the edge of the table to look down at their current associate.

"How about you read that entire passage to us?" Crowley chuckled lowly, leaning back in his seat. "I can do better than that; I can read the one page that contains all the juicy stuff." Dean threw out his arms with a bit of a grin. "Alright, get to it then."

"Just as heaven has always existed, so has Hell, in one form or another. It is a vast place with various dimensions that the inhabitants can travel freely among, much like angels can with the various, personal heavens.

It is stated that God created Hell and that may be so, in a way. God created Hell as you know it, as a prison for Lucifer. However, the dark dimension had already been there, and Lucifer's cage was much like putting an apple down on the floor of a castle.

The original Hell had no name. It had no souls to torture. There was no way in, or out of it. There were no such things as demons. It was simply a network of dimensions much like the continents on earth. It was a world where creatures that had never seen the light of the sun lived. Or at least, their sun wasn't at all what you see yours to be. Their source of light came from suffering, the collected pain and misery from all the other worlds and dimensions. It looked much like a sun, but was nothing but a massive orb of compressed energy. It was not bright nor warming, it simply shone quietly with a dim glow.

It was oblivion. The abyss. The darkest pit with no bottom. Here lived creatures that no other world would ever lay eyes on. There were laws and rules, cities and even families, all drowned in constant war and misery. The children were sacrificed to curse another family; the creatures slaughtered each other for scraps.

And above it all, stood the Lord. He was the ruler of the Abyss,born with the sole purpose of creating his kingdom, his people and leading them. He was as old as oblivion itself, and he was tired. Tired of bathing in the blood of others, tired of basking in the light of pain and suffering. But the pit needed its King. Despite all the violence, it was a functioning society. It was a society he had created with his own two hands, every different kind of creature was after his own design, and he could not abandon them, for he was their Lord.

Everything changed one day, when the walls of his home were torn open. The light that entered was hot and bright, blinding the creatures, causing them to burn, one after another. Watching his citizens die, twisting and wailing in pain, the Lord swore revenge. Because no matter how tired he was of ruling, the citizens were much like his children. And now, the corpses of his children littered what was left of the streets. The buildings were burnt down; even his palace had been leveled. Everything had been destroyed, turned into dust and blood, yet he stood unharmed. All his creations, all his work, burned into nothingness.

But for all that had been lost, the pit had gained something new. A caged angel with vengeance in his heart, as well as a gateway to other, unknown places. The Lord approached the angel, demanding to know what had happened. The angel told him that God had torn apart the walls of his sanctuary to put him there, renaming it Hell, as well as his cage. After eons of leading his people, he had lost his empire to the whim of a God.

Things had changed now that God had forced his will into this home of his. The gateway allowed souls that God deemed unworthy of heaven to descend into the newly reformed Hell. His kingdom was long gone, and he knew and cared little of God's plans for his home. Thus, he offered the caged angel Lucifer a deal.

"If you swear your silence, I shall name you the new King of Hell. God is not to know of my existence, for he shall believe that I burned with the rest of my brethren, and in exchange I shall give you the power to do as you please with this realm of mine."

Lucifer agreed, for he had no knowledge of how to handle the wicked souls. The deal was sealed with a kiss, and the former Lord of the abyss left his home, leaving the fallen angel in charge, albeit still caged. Lucifer took the knowledge and power that the deal had granted him to twist a human soul into what would become the very first demon. That was the beginning of Hell as you know it, and the end of my rule."

A thick silence fell in the massive barn as they simply let the words sink in. Crowley, having read it several times before, simply scratched at his beard with a yawn. Three, two, one.

"That's why demons kiss when they seal a deal? And make deals at all? Because Lucifer did it?" Dean frowned as he stared at Crowley.

"Well he had to get it from somewhere, didn't he? Come on, it makes perfect sense! I mean have you ever met an angel who's spontaneously thought of the idea to kiss? Or wanted to strike a deal? I sure haven't, it's always all or nothing with those guys." Crowley did his best impression of Castiel's voice as he spoke the words 'all or nothing'. Dean blinked and then gave a tilted nod in agreement. Angels were not ones for making deals, nor did they spontaneously kiss. It made sense for Lucifer to have been inspired by someone, as all traditions and demons in Hell came from him.

"I suppose that also explains how Lucifer knew how to twist a human soul into a demon in the first place." Sam added, looking over at his brother. "I mean, it's not like doing that is part of a regular angel's repertoire."

"Moose is right. Now, tell me what the signs of a unicorn are, and I'll be on my merry way." Carolyn stepped forward with a stern look in her eyes.

"Hey, you've only told us one page!"

"Have I? Oh yes well, the rest is really not interesting. The Lord goes places, does things, complains about God, that sort of thing. Very tedious, you'd be asleep in two minutes." Never once averting her gaze from the demon, the woman firmly sat down on the table.

"Try me."

Luckily Sam suggested that they got it all written down as well, to have a translated copy of the book. It was much to Crowley's dismay, as he had already gotten a ways into the book when the suggestion was made, but better late than never. It took them a few days to get the entire book written down in English, mainly because the King of Hell kept stalling through needing to stretch his legs and such things. Carolyn nearly lost her patience with the man several times, having to be put on break by her nephew so that he could take over the writing. Any joke or pointer Crowley had coming at the man seemed to simply roll off, which eventually forced Crowley to give up on ever agitating the other. He'd never seen such a content hunter in all his life. Must be something wrong with him. Dropped on the head, perhaps. A chuckle slipped out of him but Noah didn't pay any attention, as he was writing down the last paragraph of the book. Leaning back, he stretched out his arms to the point that his back crunched slightly, and he let out a content sigh.

"That's that." He smiled, getting up from the table. Crowley did the same from the other side, clapping his hands together with a smile.

"Marvelous. That means you can let me go now." As little as Noah liked having to let the other go, a deal was a deal. The last thing he needed was a massive group of vengeful demons on his ass; he had enough to handle without being hunted. Reluctantly Noah approached the demon only to walk past him, moving over to a wooden cabinet. As he opened it, there were a large amount of electrical equipment. There were fuses, wires and an assortment of strange buttons, as well as a password panel. Shielding it from view, Noah swiftly entered the numerical password before pulling a small lever. A rattle and a hum was heard as the ceiling split in two, thus breaking the trap.

"Hm. Impressive. Well, toodles!" Crowley put his hand to his forehead much like a salute before disappearing into thin air. Pulling up the lever, the ceiling returned to being a complete devils trap.

"Why do I have the feeling this is going to come back to bite us in the ass?" He shook his head lightly as he heaved a sigh, adjusting his cap. Well, at least they had the translation.

Now it was just time to make sense of it all.

Crowley returned to Hell with a lot on his mind. That book had even managed to push Abaddon and that whole ordeal out of his mind for the time being. Wandering through the many corridors of cages with wailing souls inside, he kept his head down, thinking quietly to himself. While he didn't have the book in hand, he still had all the information. However, so did the Winchesters, but he could look past that little detail for now.

The only other one that could possibly add to his wealth of information in this matter was Lucifer, and asking him was out of the question. It was a part of Hell he wasn't too keen on visiting, but it seemed like it was the one place he could find more information. The cage itself was minuscule compared to the vast space it had been put in. There was nothing in that part of Hell, and since seizing the throne he had never really thought about making something of it.

"I suppose it's time for a little field trip." He smirked to himself as he took one more step, ending up in the dimension of Hell that was left untouched. Stepping over some rubble, he glanced about with nothing but a lack of interest in his eyes. He was unsure of what exactly he was expecting to find there, besides some scorched old bones. The cage was placed in the middle of the particular level of Hell, and he took quite the detour around it. Frowning, he began looking closer at just how the landscape behaved. From the cage, rubble laid in waves. Everything was aiming away from the cage, as though it had been the center of a massive explosion. It seemed a lot more violent than how the book had described it, put perhaps the horror had been lost in translation. Chuckling to himself, he moved on. To think that this vast place, that all levels of Hell had been the home of a kingdom. It was difficult to believe, even for him. However, now as he held that knowledge, it was easier to see the remnants of a city. There were still streets stretching over the landscape, even though they were cracked and for the most part ruined. The rubble was no longer random piles of debris, but ruins that had been left to crumble for ages.

Venturing up on a hill, he looked around. Now here there had been no ordinary building. How come no one had seen it before? Stroking a hand over a lone, shattered pillar, he smiled to himself. It seemed as though there had stood a castle there once, or a building of similar properties. Up on this hill, the debris and rubble were of the purest obsidian, as black as his own heart, if one was allowed to get poetic.

"You really are a man of my own taste, Lordy." The demon let out a gravely chuckle as he moved on, determined to find something more useful than a broken pillar.

Eventually, he found it. Underneath a pile of loose rubble, he caught a glimpse of something that looked less broken. Having cleared away all the shattered obsidian, a pair of doors built into the ground were revealed. They were cracked, but it seemed like they were so thick that the cracks hadn't managed all the way through.

"Where's a brute when I need one?" He heaved a sigh; he wasn't much for the back-breaking kind of work. However, being the King of Hell had its perks, and it didn't take long before the massive doors creaked open. His lips twitched into a satisfied smirk as he laid eyes on the inside of the doors.

"Well hello there, I've been looking for you." The same crest which had been burnt into the book had been carved into the back of these doors.

"Now we're getting somewhere." With those pleased words, Crowley began walking down the steps into the darkness, eager to discover anything that could be of use.