As hinted in the previous chapter, this may not be suitable for everyone. However, if you've allowed yourself or are allowed to watch Seinfeld/Friends, you're likely able to stomache this. Oh well, here's an extract. Soon it became clear that I was rapidly being dragged down deep into the earth and if I don't do anything soon, I may never get out ever again. So I punched and kicked and clawed at the metallic rocks around me with little effect. I blasted a hole in front of me, which only made a small hole that was immediately filled in by more of the metallic rocks. In my desperation, I started to suffocate and getting increasingly anxious. I've never liked small spaces, ever since that one day in my childhood when I was trapped in a small closet that locked automatically as it closed. Author's Note: This chapter has been heavily modified. Where before, it is only about the punishment that Ilyse had to endure, now it also tells of Lesser Lilith's role in this story. The Half-Lilin Chapter 10 by Shin Eris

---

 
From last chapter:

 
As I began to lose consciousness, I thought back to all the people who had shaped my life. My dad--who was always grumpy, Little Tell--who was always in trouble, Chris--who was always cruel, and mom--who was always kind. I missed the old dad, the one who was friendly with everyone. I recalled the day when Little Tell got her nickname as she told mom that I skipped school for a smoke. Chris, how I wished we could be friends like before that stupid oath. And mom, I wanted to see mom again.

Is this what dying feels like? If it is, I don't like it at all.

With the last shred of consciousness, I silently called, "Save me! Anyone? Please?”

“MOM, HELP ME!”

Chapter 10

 

I was in a dark place, as in pitch dark. There was not a single source of light, yet despite the darkness, I could see my own fingers, my own hands, my own body as if it was bright as day. It felt like I've been here before though. It felt familiar, comforting and scary at the same time.

What was this place?

Just then, I heard a barely perceptible sound of footsteps from behind. I turned around and from afar, a long line of light shone, ending under my foot. It seemed like the light form some sort of pathway. I wondered if I was supposed to walk, following the path.

My question was answered by an emerging figure from the light at the end of the path. It was hard to discern any details at this range, what with all those mist swirling around the figure. I tried to step forward to see better, but my feet were rooted to the spot as I watched this figure walking serenely towards me.

As the figure got closer, I managed to spot some details suggesting that it was a womanly figure. She sported dark forest-green hair, and her skin the colour of desert sand was visible through the thin mist surrounding her. Her steps were soft and sounded as if she was walking barefoot on soft dry sands. As the mist around her face parted, I could see that her eyes were the darkest blue, like the colour of the deepest ocean where whales and dolphins frolicked untouched by human hands.

"Mother!" I said as I ran towards her.

Her rose red lips made a slight smile, and her hands cupped my face, stroking it softly.

This felt strange. She had never shown any compassion before, at least not like this. Although she was never hostile or rough, she was always somewhat distant. Despite the weirdness of the situation though, I didn't back away from her. I loved what she was doing and it made me feel loved and happy. If Mother was intending on treating me like this from now on, then who was I to argue?

Then she let go of my face, though her piercing blue eyes still focused on mine. "Mother, what's with the touchy feely thingy? You've never done it before, not that I'm complaining", I asked.

She made a sweeping motion with her left hand, bringing up a number of moving pictures that seemed to hover in mid-air. It was like a paper-thin TV screen showing videos of anything that went on in her mind. I have learnt before that this was the way she communicated, that these pictures she showed me were a journey into her own exquisite mind.

Several pictures appeared at the same time. Some lingered for quite awhile. Some only appeared briefly and was gone when I blinked my eyes. I managed to catch the birth of a baby, a mother kissing her child's temple, a boy's first fall from a bike as his father helped him get back on it and long-lost brothers hugging each other. Then the images changed and I saw a man kissing a woman, a family laughing and having dinner together and sisters hugging each other as one of them wept and the other patted her head.

I couldn't understand much from what I saw, but I did know that it felt warm and kind, a feeling that was pretty much far in the background whenever Mother came to see me. I couldn't figure out what this meant, but it didn't matter. I loved it when Mother cupped my face, when she patted my head, when she held me close. Whenever I was in her arms, it felt like the world didn't matter, as if I could ignore the world and lived forever in her arms.

Then she raised her right hand, her long manicured fingers pointing straight at me. I was confused. She made a gesture with that same finger, as if asking me to turn around. So I turned around and my eyes fell on two chairs, or probably more appropriate to call them seats with armrests. Both chairs were illuminated by lights from above, of which I could see no point of origin.

I stepped closer to the chairs, admiring each of its finer points. One of the seats was a simple wooden chair. It was ornately carved with motives of flora and fauna. The seat was made of the nicest cushion filled with the softest cotton. I assessed that this chair will not be out of place in an exclusive restaurant or a fancy dining room.

The other one however was simply amazing. It looked like a throne in every way one looked at it. The surface was coated with a layer of gold, making the shining light even brighter on my eyes. I knocked on the gold surface, and deduced from the sound that this thing was very dense. Either it was filled with lead or this entire thing was casted out of pure gold. Fitted all over the surface were polished gems, probably diamonds of the highest value that shined with a blinding reflection, giving the seat a truly majestic brilliance. The seat was covered by layers and layers of soft fur. Some of these furs belonged to animals which I could not identify. I was truly amazed. This was not a mere seat, this was a throne fit for am emperor!

I looked back at Mother. She was watching me with a gaze that suggested... was that curiosity I saw in her eyes?

"Are you asking me to choose one of these, Mother?" I asked, slightly bothered by her sudden show of emotions.

Despite knowing her love and compassion before, she had always acted as if emotions were beneath her. As if it was a wasteful habit to show how she felt. This time, her emotions were obvious. She was feeling curious and anxious, as if expecting something to happen.

She nodded in response to my question and I could sense her anxiousness increased.

I looked at the two seats. I told myself that if my only choices were these two, then my choice would be obvious. There was no denying which one appealed to me the most.

And so I sat down on the golden throne.

As I looked at Mother, she bent over backwards. Her mouth wide open, her face facing skyward as if howling to the sky, yet no voice was heard. Her hands clenched tight until orange coloured blood seeped through her fingers and landed with a splat on the lighted path, releasing smoke and turning grey.

She straightened and looked at me directly in the eyes. Her ocean blue eyes were wet with tears, falling down her distraught face. She mashing her upper and lower teeth together, in a show of anger. When she unclenched her hands, the flow of magma stopped, but in her left hand, something that looked like the stalk of a plant was forming and enlarging.

I was suddenly very afraid of Mother and started pleading for her to forgive me for whatever I've done.

Mother replied by throwing the stalk of the plant straight at me. I didn't even think of evading it before it buried itself into my heart and pinning me to the throne. I coughed blood as I felt the plant expand inside my body. From the wound, I saw small tendrils of plant life emerging. I suddenly found myself hard to breathe as the roots of the plant burrowed into my veins and arteries, clogging my lungs and invading my organs.

The last thing I saw through the rapidly growing flowers and leaves were Mother's crying face.

Mother, forgive me!

-----

I opened my eyes. Half expecting myself to still be in the tangle of tree limbs growing out of my own body. I was glad that it was still me, pretty much whole and... what's this heavy thing on my back?

I turned around and saw my wings. Have I always had a pair of wings?

"Having nightmares?" came a voice from somewhere above me.

I looked up and there it was, Mother Lilith staring down at me. She was sitting atop a large jutting rock, her long legs dangling at the edge. It was then that I recognised the surrounding. It was in many ways similar to the place she took me to last time. The ground was composed of rough metallic rocks and glassy sands, the sky was red, with thunder shooting here and there, giving a terrifying view. From afar, screams of agony could barely be heard amidst the roaring voice of the erupting volcanoes and shooting thunders. The entire place stinked of sulphur and rotten eggs.

She got up and then jumped down from her position, landing right in front of me. Instinctively, I scrambled backwards away from her. Being too close to her could never be healthy.

We spent the next few moments just watching each other. Unlike Shaina, Mother didn't seem to be in a hurry, so this 'few moments' might've went for hours. I don't know how long exactly, it's hard to perceive time in this place. It could've even been days for all I know.

I was glad that she didn't do anything else though. Actually, that made me curious. Why weren't she doing anything at all? Before this, she always taunted me, or at least said something to get a rise out of me. Now she was... silent, and relaxed... almost like she was waiting for something.

Just then, my wings started to get heavier and I fell to the ground on all fours. In front of my eyes, the skin of my hands started getting dry and wrinkly. In a few seconds, it spread upwards to the rest of my body. Where the skin wrinkled, cracks appeared developing into tiny wounds that bled. I fell to the ground, not even having the strength to get up. My wings had fallen to my sides and my tail had already lain lifeless.

Problem with the skin, child?

Mother, what's going on? It hurts.

I've told you before, did I not? Your lilin self will be consuming your own male essence. In this case, your wings and tails are feeding on your own body, which is not looking very good at the moment.

Help... Mother. Please.

Help? Why should I? Maybe this should be your lesson for not listening to me.

Pause. I could no longer reply as my mind became inarticulate.

What? You're talking gibberish. I can't understand a single thing you said.

Pause.

Oh fine, i'll save you. Next time, remember to take off your skin first before you switch forms.

In my numbness, I felt a hand tug at my neck and pulled something off of my body. My body suddenly regained its strength and the first thing I saw the second I opened my eyes were Mother's feet. At that time I had a really crazy thought of kissing her feet for saving me. Soon as it emerged, I pushed the thought away.

I looked up at her, I noticed something smoky in her hands. It looked something like a garment, like a robe of sort. It looked nasty, like a crumpled skin of a pig. The edges of the long sleeves and lower hemline of the 'robe' was smoky and seemed to be disintegrating. The smoke instead of going up, went lower and washed over my face.

"What the heck is that, Mother?" I asked between coughs.

"This?" Mother said as she shook the garment, "Why, it's your skin, of course. Don't worry, it'll return to you soon enough," she said as she threw the garment (my skin) at me.

I was expecting to be enveloped by the 'garment' but surprisingly, the 'garment' turned to dust the moment it touched me. It was even worse though as the dust entered my lungs and I couldn't stop coughing. I thought I must've developed tuberculosis.

"Now, let's talk about the events that brought you here," she said. Her voice barely heard through my continuous coughing and wheezing.

I wanted to ask her what she was talking about, but couldn't as I needed my lung capacity for breathing and coughing.

"Oh for heavens sake..." she said. Through the corner of my eye, I saw her snapping her fingers.

I stopped coughing. Period. I didn't know what happened, only that it was easier for me to breathe now and I no longer have feelings of irritation in my throat and lungs. I took in lungfuls of air, feeling better and better each time.

"Why did you even bother with breathing?" Mother asked, in a tone that suggested curiosity or probably mild amusement.

"Because everyone breathe, Mother. Don't you breathe?" I said as I got back up on my feets. My wings and tail felt much lighter and more alive than before.

"Not here. You're in ethereal form now. You don't need to breathe at all."

"What? Then what did I just do? I definitely felt air going into my lungs just now."

"That wasn't air, child. That was ether. Sheol is full of it, but you don't need to breathe it in." she said, this time clearly appearing amused by my nonexistent knowledge of the universe.

She turned her head to watch an erupting volcano far in the horizon. "A pity to those poor things. Their only sin was for saying that God was a horrible bullying child. Which was not all that far from the truth, though of course still very wrong. God is indeed a bully, but He was not a child, neither was He horrible. Anyway, let's talk about the events that brought you here."

I panicked, thinking that she was talking about what happened to Shaina. "Okay, first of all. It was an accident. I didn't intend to kill her. I don't know what came over me".

"What are you talking about, girl?" she said, an eyebrow raised slightly.

"Huh? I mean Shaina... I just... she just... umm... nothing, Mother." I kept my mouth shut. It was all fine with me if she didn't know about Shaina's death. I would probably be safer if she never knew about it.

"Were you talking about your supposed to be mentor, Shaina who was blasted away by pure ethereal energy?"

"Umm... she was my mentor?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Silly girl, she wasn't dead. You can't kill a Lili with that pitiful thing. Despite the corrosive nature of pure ether, there are plenty of ways to escape from it. Even if she wasn't able to get away, her natural defense would still be able to withstand the corrosive stream."

"But... there was a pile of grey dust where she was standing."

"Most likely her human skin. I'll tell her to pick it up later."

"If it's her human skin, then why not tell her now. It is hers, isn't it?"

"Because my voice can't reach her now. She's lost in a feeding frenzy."

"Feeding frenzy?

"Your attack drained her of most of her energy. She had to use her last strength to blink away to one of her marks. If not because that man had her mark, he would've been twice dead by now. After that, she simply moved on to the next marks and once she ran out of marks, she went after civilians instead."

The she looked at me, which made me back away from her, and continued, "Regardless, you need to be punished. When I told you to do something, I expected it to be done. I can understand why your greed caused you to attack Shaina, but you should've controlled your urges. If you've fed more, you would've had enough strength of mind to suppress your urges."

She took a step forward, which caused me to panic. I spread my wings and leapt to the skies. Flapping my powerful muscles, I flew away from her. I didn't want to experience the thousand years of torture again, nor the burning sensation in and out of my body.

I must've flown for miles and miles, my wings had gotten really tired with the continuous flying. Maybe I should've exercised more. I decided to land and rest for a bit. I took a gentle dive as I spotted a flat clearing below me. While the descend was smooth, the landing was not. I tripped over one of the jutting rocks and stumbled several feet away.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, "It was amusing watching you fly in circles. However, I'm getting slightly annoyed at having to watch you make a fool of yourself for so long."

I panicked, so I did the only thing I could think of. I turned around and blasted her with my stream of pure energy. I instantly regretted doing that.

Through the dust, I said, "Umm, Mother? I'm sorry, I panicked. I didn't mean to do it".

"Foolish, but harmless," she said as she walked out of the cloud of dust looking none too worse for wear. This time she looked mighty pissed off and it might've been my imagination, but I could feel tremors on the ground as she stomped her way towards me.

I held my hands in front of me, hoping against hope that she would stop, "Please, Mother. Stay away, leave me alone. I don't want to fight you".

I fed my palms some of my own energy to show her I was serious.

She stopped, thankfully. She looked straight at me and said, "Is this what you call a fight? No, child. This is just you throwing a tantrum. A real fight is something beyond your ability and understanding."

She continued, "Did you seriously think that such an attack would be good enough to harm me, little girl? You're like an infant compared to me."

"Your techniques are childish and immature. The same immature technique I've seen from Sarai when she was young. The only difference was that hers was 100 times more powerful than yours. Want to know the outcome of that childish outburst?"

I didn't think I want to. I had a feeling it would not be pretty.

She continued anyway, her beautiful face still showing anger, "She got her human body ripped to shreds. It took us two years just to gather enough of her human body to rebuild it. Do you know what will happen to you if you lose your human body?"

I didn't answer.

"You will become a lost soul. Wandering Assiah or Sheol looking for a new host body. You will rapidly forget your old self and you will be no different than a Legion bug. Do you know what a Legion bug is? They're those tiny insects that fly around in swarms draining the energy of Lilim and possessing humans when they got lost in Assiah. That would've happened to Sarai if I didn't capture her lilin self before she lost her mind. She had been docile ever since. The pain of having your body ripped to shreds would be enough to make anyone docile. So if you want to feel that pain, child, do what Sarai did. Use all your powers and send forth a stream of pure energies at me. Either do it now or do as I say!"

Despite my fears, I spread my wings and attempted to take to the skies. Anywhere would be safer than this place.

The moment I was about to leap upward, I felt something caught my ankles. I looked down and saw my feet vanish into the ground. I flapped my wings as hard as I could, but still could not escape from the clutches of the ground beneath me. It appeared as if the harder I flap my wings the faster I got dragged under the rough surface.

I gave up struggling as my leathery wings tore and my bones snapped when my upper body sunk into the ground. My cries of pain were unheard. The sounds of tearing wings and broken bones seemingly louder in my ears than my own voice.

Soon it became clear that I was rapidly being dragged down deep into the earth and if I didn't do anything soon, I might never get out ever again. So I punched and kicked and clawed at the metallic rocks around me with little effect. I blasted a hole in front of me, which only made a small hole that was immediately filled in by more of the metallic rocks. In my desperation, I started to suffocate and getting increasingly anxious. I've never liked small spaces, ever since that one day in my childhood when I was trapped in a small auto-locking closet.

In my panicked mind, I thought, I'm going to die, I'm going to run out of air and suffocate to death. That thought made me renew my punching and clawing of the rocks in front of me until I realised that I no longer have any more space for movement.

I pushed my nails with my finger muscles to make it a bit longer and used it to slit my own throat, just so that I wouldn't have to suffer death by suffocation. I had pretty much accepted my death and was trying to choose the lesser of two evils. So I closed my eyes and sang Jingle Bells in my head while waiting for my end.

A while later, I finished singing Jingle Bells, so I started with Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.

I finished that as well, so I started singing I Don't Wanna Close My Eyes, twice.

I finished that one too, and so I thought, 'what the hell, how long will it take for me to die?'

The rocks had stopped moving by now, though I was still very much stuck. The only things I could move by now were my fingers and my toes. I could also move my mouth and eyes though unless I started developing optical laser or dragon's breath, I didn't think it would be much use.

It was amazing what you could accomplish when you stayed calm. It was more amazing what you could think of when you were buried deep underground. I tested the rocks and the soil integrity by cutting the rocks slowly with a concentrated stream of pure ether. After what felt like an hour, I managed to cut enough of the large metallic rocks into small chunks that fell to my feet thus freeing my arms.

Slowly and carefully, I moved my palms so it faced the wall of rocks above my head. I took a deep breath, concentrated my ethereal might on my palms and blasted away. It took some time and my feet kept sinking into the rocks beneath me before the pressure from the ethereal blast lessened and I again got a glimpse of the red skies of Sheol. Ignoring the pain in my broken wings, I crawled and climbed the hole back out to the surface.

Once back on the surface, I sat on the ground, trying to nurse my wings back to health. I heard the popping sounds of mending bones and skin as I concentrated on the healing of my wings.

"Finally! I thought you were going to stay down there forever."

I gave Mother a petulant look. It made her even more angry but I no longer cared. Her stomps were obvious through the tremors in the ground. I winced when she pulled me by the hair, making me hang on the threads of my hair as she looked me in the eyes. I immediately dropped my eyes to evade hers.

"Did you pay attention to the memories I conjured for you just now? You're alone now, child. Gaea has forsaken you. Sarai has left you. Barbiel has already washed her hands off you. And not to mention your mentor was almost dead, thanks to you," she yelled as she shook her hands causing my body that was attached to the hair in her hand to swing back and forth.

"So in case it hasn't register in your brain, yet, you have nowhere to go. You have no one to turn to. I'm the only one you have. So you'd better show some respect, stupid child."

I was trying to dislodge my hair from her grip when I heard a ferocious roar from somewhere, far away. Then I heard a sound similar to a galloping horse, but much subdued, as if it was galloping on a road of cushions. I noticed the roars sounded getting closer and closer. From afar, I saw a dot in the horizon growing larger and larger as it got closer. I stopped my struggles when I saw the carriage closing in on us.

The thing that scared me the most was the lions, if it could be called lions. It was more like birds with the head of lions. Six animals with the head of lions and the body of owls tied to the carriage in pairs was running, or flying as fast as the wind, while pulling the huge carriage as if it weighed nothing. Somehow, I knew that this was the Anzu bird, Mother's pets. The carriage on the other hand was ornately carved, with symbols and figures of people and... some kind of ritual. Don't ask me how, but when the carriage stopped next to us, I was able to identify the carvings on the carriage.

The carvings detailed Mother's life. It started from her humble beginning as a glob of mud empowered by the eternal darkness at the beginning of the world to being the favourite child of Heaven. I noticed the words 'strength', 'judgement', 'power' and a seemingly much newer carving, 'concealment' next to the story. There was another word in front, 'shell', which from the look of it was meant to be erased, without much luck.

Then I read of her fall from grace as she left Heaven and her beloved Adam, thus being chased around the Earth by the three angels sent by The Great Sovereign to bring her back. Then they fought and fought and fought, until the earth cracked and split, mountains tossed and rocks fell down from the sky. I read of the deal she made with the three angels and noticed her glee at how much the angels squirmed at being forced to accept their new task, as watchers of Lilith and her children. Next to the story was something like a prayer, or incantation:

Great is the daughter of Heaven who tortures babies
Her hand is a net, her embrace is death
She is cruel, raging, angry, predatory
A runner, a thief is the daughter of Heaven
She touches the bellies of women in labor
She pulls out the pregnant women’s baby
The daughter of Heaven is one of the Gods, her brothers
With no child of her own.
Her head is a lion’s head
Her body is a donkey’s body
She roars like a lion
She constantly howls like a demon-dog.

Then it detailed the meeting between the weakened Mother with the child-goddess Ishtar, daughter of Anu and how she would help Mother get back on her feet if Mother would serve her for one day. Mother refused, fled to the fruitful river and made a home in the trunk of a Huluppu tree. One day Ishtar accidentally pulled the tree she made a home in from the river Perath and that shocked the child-goddess so much, that she ran home and pleaded Gilgamesh to chase Mother away. Gilgamesh succeeded and Mother was driven away from her home and had to walk the Earth again. Next to the story was the word, 'Utnapishtim'.

Mother finally fell exhausted on the cracked grounds of the wastelands east of the Red Sea. Then a storm came, bringing with it strong winds and pouring rain, and Mother became whole again. She flew to the beach of the Red Sea and settled there, mourning for her loss. That was until the three angels returned and told her of the creation of Eve. The rest of the paragraph detailed Mother's journey back to the Garden of Eden and how she persuaded Eve to eat the forbidden fruit with Adam. Next to the story was carved the words, 'regret' and 'longing'.

Then it told of the birth of the Lilim, Mother's children. The story continued up to the legend of the Tower of Babel. It mentioned in great detail of how Semiramis, herself one of the Lilim, persuaded her husband, King Nimrod to seek an alliance with Mother so that the Tower could be built faster and stronger. Mother agreed and so Lilim and humans worked together to build the greatest monument ever made by man, a symbol of mankind's unity and strength.

God was angry at their arrogance, so he brought down the confusion of tongues against them, and for the first time, men were unable to speak to one another and the Lilim lost their power of speech. Then God struck at the Tower with hundreds of lightning and scattered humans around the world with a great hurricane. The inarticulate and confused Lilim were easily picked off one by one by the swooping angelic army and out of thousands, only one survived, by love and grace of Mother.

Mother was angry and together with Samael, transformed into great serpents and threatened that she would drown the world unless her children were returned to her. God refused, He slew Samael, and cooled Mother, so she would never bring harm to the world again. In tears, Mother took the last Lili, dived into the Red Sea and sought refuge in the shadowy domains.

"Enough reading," Mother abruptly said as the door of the carriage suddenly opened and I was thrown inside.

-----

We arrived at a lush countryside. There were tall trees and green plains as far as the eye can see. In front of us is a kind of castle, not unlike medieval castles I've seen before. If not for the red sky, I would've thought that we're back on Earth. The sight of life sized fairies flying around was another major giveaway that this was not Earth.

Weird though, were they flying around with their hands clipped to their backs? What a strange style of flying. My pondering was cut short when the massive black door of the castle start to open. Once it was fully opened, Mother simply walked in through the courtyard as if she owned the place. I started to wonder if this was Yenne Velt.

Nope, can't be. If this was Yenne Velt, then I'm sure nobody would be brave or foolish enough to sit on her throne, I thought as my eyes fell on two figures in the distance. One of them was one of the fairies, the same kind as the one flying above us. The other was a mature man, who appeared to be around the age of 40 if he was human. By each side of the throne, two suits of armors were standing still as if guarding them. I couldn't tell if there were anyone in the suits of armors because they didn't move at all.

"Oh, how wonderful it is for you to fall. How amazing your beauty is. How beautiful your wings reflect the light of creation. And how great is your eternal elegance," I heard the man say.

We walked closer to the throne. The fairy was sitting crosslegged on the throne. She was smiling down on the man, who was holding her left foot in one hand and kissing her toes. I thought it weird that even sitting, I couldn't see her arms. Only as we got closer did I found out that it wasn't because she kept her arms behind her, she didn't have arms at all!

"Oh my goddess of the skies, I worship you in all your elegance and grace. Know that my love for you is eternal, and shall never wane," the man said.

I was mesmerized at how beautiful the fairy was. She had flowing white hair, and quite a long pair of legs. Her wings were painted with all the colours of the spectrum within a complex tapestry of forms and lines. Her eyes were totally white, suggesting either that she didn't have irises or even her irises were totally white. I didn't realise that Mother had stopped walking until she grabbed my right wing and pulled me back to her. The man seemingly aware of our intrusion into his private domain turned around and looked straight at us. By this time he had already let go of the fairy's feet.

"Your lies are truly magnificent, Asmodeus. Do you seriously believe that anyone would fall for your sweet words?" Mother said.

The man simply stood up without a word. He snapped his fingers and the fairy exploded into a million fragments with a loud scream. Even after the fragments turned into fine dusts, her screams continued to echo around us. He then moved a few steps back and sat on his throne.

"Disgusting, Asmodeus. You have just disintegrated your 'eternal love'. Have you no shame?" Mother taunted.

The man made a dismissive wave with his hand, "Bah! It's no big deal. She was just in my way. I can resurrect her anytime I want to, anyway. So what's the big deal? Besides, she got boring".

Mother made an obvious frown, then said, "Whatever you do in your own domain is your own problem. I won't interfere..."

I heard him murmur, "Yeah, right."

"Shut up! Let me finish.. I'm here..."

"Don't tell me to shut up! We're of the same rank. You are no longer my superior!"

I watched as the atmosphere became tense. Their stares locked into each other, their postures ready. Ready as if to pounce on each other. I saw the suit of arms made little movements, but otherwise still stationery in their stance. I positioned my right hand behind me, feeding it power, bit by bit, in case trouble erupts. It may not work on this man, Asmodeus, just like it didn't work on Mother, but I was hoping that it would work on those suits of arms.

Then Mother seemed to give up as she relaxed her arms and ceased her hostile glares, though she still kept her eyes on Asmodeus.

"I am not here to pick a fight," Mother said, "I'm here to request for your assistance".

"Assistance?" he grinned as recognition dawned on his face, "Another one into the lion's den?"

Mother pushed me forward. "Here you go. Help me make her more docile, will you? I'm getting tired of her attitude."

I was stunned. I recalled how Asmodeus 'removed' the fairy just because she was 'in his way'. I looked at Mother, hoping that she was merely joking, but she was not. She was serious about giving me to Asmodeus, and nothing that I could say or do would change her mind.

Asmodeus simply sneered, "You called me disgusting. Yet you're the one giving up your own daughter for someone else to abuse."

"I am not here to discuss the intricacies of immorality. Are you going to do it or not?"

"Sure," he said as he pulled two pointy white stalagtite thingy that stuck out of his armrest.

"I just have to do this first," he continued right before he hurled both stalagtite-thingies at me.

I cried in pain as both of those rock stakes punctured my shoulder bones and came out of my back. Shortly after, I felt weak, as if all my strength has drained away. I tried to pull both out with my hands, and when that failed, I tried to pull one of those with both hands. It failed. I fell to the beautifully tiled floor and continued to get weaker. I tried to feed power to my fingers so that I could cut the stony stakes into twos and push the stakes all the way out of my body. My hopes died when the ethereal beam flickered and disappeared.

Mother just looked at me and said, "I'll be picking her up after 80 years of your time. I want her alive and well when I return."

Then she turned around and left through the massive doorway. As the doors slammed shut behind her, I realized, that I was all alone.

"Now let's get to business," I heard Asmodeus say from behind me.

I turned around and watched as he got up from his throne and walked towards me. His manner and gaze was peaceful, almost kind, and his face was like the most handsome middle-aged man I've ever seen. His words and gestures were cultured and almost gentleman-like. I guessed aristocratic would be the best word to describe him.

He squatted in front of me, looking me in the eyes, and then offering me a smile. It was a smile that people made when they were giving someone else a present. It was a smile Dad used to have back when he was kind and cheerful. It was a smile that people would make when offering to help an elderly cross a busy street. It was a smile that warmed my heart and gave me hope.

"Can you stand, my dear?" he said as he offered his hands. The smile on his face was still warm and friendly.

I accepted his offer. I took his hands and he helped me stand. Funny, although I was feeling weaker, the stakes and the wounds on my shoulders no longer hurt.

"Thank you, are you really the Lord of Lust, Asmodeus? You're not like how I expected you to be at all," I asked as I noticed him continue to hold my hands.

"Oh, I can be many things, my dear. Lovely fingers by the way," he said as he scrutinized my hands.

I thought it was a bit weird that he would be holding my hands and watching my fingers so passionately. Though since he pulled that facade with Mother, I thought that maybe this pervert deserved to spend some time looking and touching me. He couldn't possibly be the evil man that obliterated his love in front of Mother and me. Maybe he just teleported her somewhere and would bring her back soon.

He raised his face and looked into my eyes as he said, "Too bad these fingers will be the first to go."

I was like 'huh?' when I felt him break the middle finger of my left hand. I screamed loudly, the pain was so intense!

I fell to the floor again, inadvertently pulling him down with me as he still had a strong grip on my left hand. He didn't fall, but he did drop down and knelt beside me, still holding my left hand. I screamed anew when he broke my forefinger. I screamed three more times as he broke the rest of my fingers. Then he let go of my hand. I pulled my hand towards me, my fingers stuck out at odd angles. Cradling my ruined hand, I formed myself into a ball as I wept and sobbed at the pain.

His strong hands grabbed my face and pulled it so that my face was looking at him. He no longer had that smile, but his face was neutral, as if watching a sobbing woman cradling her ruined fingers were normal, everyday occurences.

"My dear, you become numb much too soon. I enjoyed it when women scream in pain for hours. Not to worry, nothing a little hocus-pocus couldn't accomplish," he said as he let go of my face.

I heard he uttered something long, but although I was able to catch a few words, the rest of the words were foreign and unlike any language I've ever heard of before. Right after he uttered the last word, I howled in pain.

I was thrashing on the floor, all my fingers gave me the same pain as the one I felt when he broke them. Except this time, the pain was 5-fold, as all of the fingers sent shocks to my brain at the same time. My shoulders also gave me much pain, and it got worse as I rolled on the marble floor.

I was very terrified when he grabbed my right hand. I tried to push him away with my left arm and my legs. I begged him to have mercy, to let me go. He didn't bother to listen. I howled 5 more times as he broke my other fingers.

He grabbed my neck this time, while his other hand grabbed my face. I thought, 'good, now I can finally die'. It was not to be.

He pulled my face close to his, closing my mouth and spoke in a cool, clear voice. "As you may have noticed, women in my realm don't have hands. So over the course of the next few days, I will enjoy destroying yours. You will be allowed to roam freely in my domain within reason, just like the fairies you see flying over us. You will make yourself available to me when I require your screams to sing me to sleep".

He threw me to the floor. "Now off you go," he said as he walked back towards his throne.

I flew up to the skies. Tears streaming across the surface of my face and my screams continued to echo from my throat.

-----

Day 2

I was flying around, the pain on my shoulders and ruined fingers were still as intense as ever, but I had learnt to accept the pain and no longer needed to scream in pain all the time. I was very careful not to let my fingers hit anything though because the pain would've been intense. Sometimes I would land just because I could no longer stand the pain caused by the flapping of my wings.

Then I felt an overwhelming tug. It was so overwhelming that I changed course right away and increased my speed without any idea why. When I saw the castle from afar, I knew why. He was summmoning me!

I tried to turn back, to stay away from the castle. Away from him. Away from the tortures that awaited me.

I failed. I kept flying straight to the castle and landed right in front of his throne. He merely looked at me with interest.

"Kneel, that's what you should do when you're in front of your lord and master," he said, sounding very smug.

I knelt and kept my face to the floor. My wings relaxed and furled behind me. I looked down at my ruined fingers as I imagined what other cruel tortures he would have for me.

"That's a good pet. Now show me your fingers," he said as he got up from his throne.

I was reluctant at first, but upon seeing that smile on his face again, I relented and raise my hands in front of me. I was offering my fingers for his inspection. In my mind, I was hoping and pleading that he would be merciful and gave me my peace.

He took both hands, scrutinizing it again. He moved it around and he stepped a bit to the left and right, looking at it from different angles. Then I noticed a very burly demon stepped into my peripheral view.

"How do you feel, my dear? I am sorry that you had to suffer yesterday. I must've been possessed or something to have done such a horrible thing. Would you ever forgive me, little one?"

I looked up at him, wondering if he was telling the truth, then realized that it didn't matter. "Please, my lord. Please, have mercy. I've learnt my lesson. I won't ever disobey Mother anymore. Please, would you let me go back to my sisters, to Mother, my lord?"

He chuckled, "No, that won't do, little one. You see, Lilith expected me to keep you here for 80 years. What kind of man would I be if I break my promise? Besides, I can't let you tarnish my reputation."

He smiled as he broke my fingers into twos. He then threw me to the floor and said, "Smash her palms".

The demon grabbed my arms and put it both down to the floor. Another demon came into my vision. He was wearing partial plate armor and holding an infernal-looking hammer in his hands. I struggled, but it seems that I wasn't able to move my hands even an inch.

The demon swung his hammer and I howled in pain again.

-----

Day 3

"Smash her arms into pulp," Asmodeus said to my cries and pleads for mercy.

-----

Day 4

"Smash every bones in her legs," he said amidst my tears and whimpers.

-----

Day 5

I fell to the floor as I landed. Without working arms and legs to slow my descent and to land, I fell like a broken doll. My breasts were the only thing that cushion my fall, and it was very painful as I skidded to a halt and my breasts suffered full abuse from the rough landing. The pains in my body from the previous days tortures were still obvious and still very excruciating.

He merely watched as I fell to the floor, with no ability to get up. "I think your wings should go next," he said as he took a sip from his goblet.

I could only cry as the demons ripped off my wings.

-----

Day 7

I was slithering slowly towards his throne. With my arms and legs gone, and my wings ripped and torn off its hinges, there was no other way for me to move. I had to pull myself and slide slowly with either my face, my breasts, or my waist.

When I arrived in front of him, he looked at me with satisfaction. Even after the events of the last few days, I still had some hopes that he would eventually be gentle to me after he got his rocks off and allowed me some mercy.

"Kiss my feet, my little worm," he said, sounding amused.

I kissed it, and when he told me to lick it, I licked it too. I looked up at him, trying to see if I met his approval.

He did, he did approve of my grovelling. When he smiled, I felt happy, despite all the pains. But I was curious about the large hammer he had put on the right armrest.

"You have become a much enjoyable entertainment for me and my guests, my little worm. But alas, there was nothing more to do with you and I suspect that you have outlived your usefulness," he said as he picked up the hammer, "So off you go, worm."

He then swung the large hammer and as the hammer got closer to my head, I recalled being thankful that finally it was all over.

-----

Day 10

I gasped as I woke up in a large cauldron. It was very hot and I was surrounded by burning oil. My entire body was on fire and I was struggling to crawl out of the inferno. It was made much harder as my burning hair cut off my vision and I had to rely on instinct. My hands and feet danced wildly as I attempted to crawl out of cauldron. After what must've been hours of trying, I was finally able to get out of the cauldron and jumped away from it.

I tried to catch my breath and tried to heal my burning body. To my amazement, despite my nakedness, I was unharmed. I grabbed a lock of hair and it was as beautiful as ever. I touched my wings and made a sigh of relief as I found that it was again functioning and no longer just dangling behind me. I swished my tail and was so happy to have my tail back that I grabbed it in my hands and kissed the tip. Then I looked around, trying to see where I was.

The place was familiar. There were fields and fields of flowers of all kinds. There were small insects flying around above the flowerbeds and there were fairies flying merrily up in the red sky.

Wait, fairies?

It was then that I recognized the moving shape in the distance.

NO!!! Not him. Not him!

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me.

-----

Day 262

"Hello there," came a feminine voice from above me.

I was again reduced to a worm-like existence. Unable to touch, unable to walk, unable to fly. My existence was now on the ground, and my domain was a patch of beautiful thorny flowers that scratched and ripped my skin.

I looked at the direction the voice was coming from. First I saw a very long leg that reached to the skies. Then I saw flaring hips and slim waist that would make any woman envious. Then I saw the most perfect globes mounted on the most perfect torso. And then I saw her face.

"Mother?" I said to the goddess that was looking down on me with a smile.

Giggles, "I got that often," she crouched down, "look at me, do I look like 'Mother'?"

"Please get me out of here, Mother," I wept.

This time she groaned. Then she pointed two of her fingers at her own face and said, "Look into my eyes, little one. Look deep into it and tell me what you see."

There was a pause.

"Mother?" I said. I didn't see anything in there but Mother and how much I wanted to apologize for disobeying her.

She sighed, "Fine, I'll make it simple and clear things up. I'm not Mother".

I simply looked at her. Wondering if this was another torture. Who else would have that beautiful face, that gorgeous body and that mane rose-red hair?

"Not Mother?" I asked, confused.

"Yes, not Mother. My name is Lilith, yes, and I do look like Mother, but I am not her. As much as I hated this name, I was always identified as Lesser Lilith. Now, I don't tell people this name because I don't like to be called 'lesser'. So call me Lilith and not Lesser Lilith or Mother. She's my mother too, you know."

"You're not Mother?"

She smiled, "No, I'm not. I'm the consort of Asmodai, and diplomat for Mother. I'm pretty much the safeguard that prevents war between Mother's faction and Asmodai's."

Then for some reason, I couldn't stop my tears from flowing. "Please get me out of here," I said as I wept.

She groaned, threw her hands up and stood. "I'll leave you to calm down, we'll chat later," she said as she turned around and walked away.

-----

Day 20,439

I awoke with a gasp. I didn't need to open my eyes to know that I was back inside the Resurrection Couldron. The heat and the pain induced by lava was enough of a giveaway. The pain was still as intense as ever, but at least now I have learnt to accept it, embrace it even. As long as I made myself belief that the pain was nothing more than foreplay, it was easy to live with it.

Despite the sizzling hot surface of the Couldron, I worked myself to touch it and climb out through the opening above. It felt like my body was being stir-fried on the Couldron's hot surface, but just like the other pains I've felt, I learnt to accept it. Once out of the Couldron, I let myself fall to the ground and just laid there making small movements with my previously missing limbs.

"Finally! I've been waiting here for a full day. I was wondering when you would come out," mumbled a familiar voice. So I opened my eyes and looked around. There standing just behind me was Mother!

Well, not Mother really. By this time, I've become somewhat an expert at seeing the slight difference in auras. Where Mother's aura always chokes and intimidates, Lesser Lilith's aura is mostly chaotic and exciting. I smiled cheerfully. Lesser Lilith has always been nice to me, though my definition of 'nice' may have changed since living here. "Lilith! Taking me to one of your parties again? Isn't it a bit too early for a party?"

"Party? I sent you here to be taught a lesson and all you did was partying around? You disappoint me, child," she said with an obvious feeling of contempt.

Wide eyed, my subconscious self slowly worked up some fear into myself. From previous experiences, I was sure that this was Lesser Lilith, but now I wasn't so sure anymore. I thought that aura was Lesser Lilith's but I was sure that Mother was powerful enough to change her aura signature at will. It was curious to see that the aura still felt the same despite the anger in her face.

When she broke into a laugh, I almost shit myself. "Oh dear, that look on your face was priceless! I can't believe you actually fall for that. It was almost worth the time I wasted waiting for you to emerge from the couldron."

"Bloody hell!" I yelled when it finally registered in brain that Lesser Lilith was just messing with me, again. "Don't do that, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

She simply rolled on the ground laughing her ass off.

I was annoyed, very annoyed. "Okay, why are you here? Don't tell me that there's another party celebrating the non-existent full moon."

She giggled merrily and said, "No, no party for you in the near future. You won't need the escape since Asmodai has ran out of ideas to torture you. He's afraid that he's getting repetitive and he almost hate that in himself. I've always told him that he worked on you too fast and too soon, that he should've waited a few days for the experience to soak in before administering the next one. He wouldn't listen to me, I think he's actually quite fond of you."

Frowning, I said, "Oh please, he's fond of everything with a pulse. That old coot would fuck anything. Do you remember how he fucked that girl who had that cow udder bag on her stomache?"

"That night was hot, which one did you prefer?" she grinned.

"What?"

"Did you prefer the brunette, the blonde or the asian? I'm personally quite partial to the brunette."

"...So if you're not here to invite me to another party, then why are you here? I assume you haven't suddenly become Asmodeus' errand girl?" I said, changing the subject.

"Straight to the point, huh? You need to lighten up a little. Have some fun, throw a few giggles. I know you can, gosh, you were hotter than firecrackers back there."

I was exasperated with her constant attempt to derail the conversation. "Get to the point. I expect that Asmodeus will summon me for his fun soon."

"Didn't I tell you that he has ran out of ideas for you? You won't be tortured anytime soon. I told him to cool it down and find some other toys to play with while he think of new ways of torment for you. So for now, you're mine."

"So... what... you want me to lick your cunt day and night now?"

"What? No! I'm going to teach you a few spells. It's preposterous that you spent decades here without knowing how to cast a single spell. It's almost an insult to my talents."

"You have talents? I thought you only know how to throw a great orgy."

She giggled, "You have no idea."

-----

Day 20,440

"Okay, I've got it. I think this spell should work in sealing those things you have jutting out of your shoulders. That should give you the ability to retain your energy until it expires. I just need a sacrifice to finalize it."

"What sacrifice?"

She looked at me as if I was a retard. "You had to ask?"

"Fuck!" I cursed as she stabbed my heart with a mean-looking dagger.

Through the fog as I slowly lose consciousness, I heard her say, "You'll be as good as new by tomorrow."

-----

Day 20,442

"Now, listen well, I'm not going to repeat this again. The source of Lilim power is the ether. There are two ways to do this. First is by consuming pure ether, and that is something that you do naturally whenever you connect to a source of ether. Ether is the most common element in Sheol and simply by being here, you'll be consuming ethereal energies through your horns. Unfortunately, there are no ether on Earth, unless if you managed to get to the Ozone layer or deep underground."

"So that's why we need to feed on humans?"

"Not just any humans. Lilim can only digest male human essence. You can consume female human's essence, but it will be nothing more than a piece of candy. You won't get any nutrition from human females."

"What if I don't want to consume male essence? I can just stay in Sheol and consume pure ether here, can't I?"

"I don't think it works that way for Lilim. Lilim horns are not that efficient, as it can't take in all your needs. The number of horns increase the amount you ingest, but the more horns you got, the faster your body uses the ether. So Lilim like Sarai, will need to feed at least twelve times a week while Lilim like Adela only need to feed once every half of a century."

"Now," she paused, looked at my face and then said, "While pure ether is the power source for magic, Lilim can use it to manipulate the basic elements of earth, fire, water and air. This is most commonly known as Common Magic. Some Lilim can also use magic that involves elements of light, darkness, space and time. We call this High Magic. You may be able to cast some High Magic when you got older, but it's really hard. Now, let's begin!"

And so starts my hellish training. If not for the Resurrection Couldron, I'd never be able to learn a single thing. Lesser Lilith was a real slavedriver.

-----

Day 20,446

"Right, this is not working. For a Lili, you don't seem to be able to grasp the concept of control that Lilim know by instinct. I wonder why," Lilith mused.

"So... are you saying that I can't cast spells? Are you saying that stabbing me a few days ago was pointless?" I was still very annoyed at her for killing me and making me wake up in the couldron again so soon after I emerged from it.

"No no, don't get me wrong. You have the power, it flows without any obstruction. The only problem is that you can't manipulate it other than to simply gather it into a concentrated ball or a thin stream."

She looked thoughtful. "I suppose I can teach you how to empower yourself with pure ether... but that's no fun. Besides, only three-horned berserker-type Lilim, like Marabitha and Delilah would do something so crude and enjoyed it. No, I'm going to teach you how to cast fun, party spells even if it takes me a decade."

-----

Day 20,470

"Get your butt off those pieces of junk!" she said referring to the pile of bleached white bones I mistakenly conjured. I was supposed to conjure the nectar bowl that the psychais, those butterfly winged fairies thought to be more valuable than their own life. Lilith thought it would be fun to see a great number of psychai flying around trying to find it.

"You're off by many miles. Those bones are props that Asmodai keeps in his store to scare off newbies. Focus!" she admonished as she flicked a whip at me.

"Whipping me will not make it any easier, Lilith!"

"I agree, but it's sure fun to see you squirm. Now get up and do it again. I'll send these bones back later."

Cleaning my legs off the dust the bones brought with them, I said, "You know, if you gave me a little more hint, I'd probably be able to do it sooner."

"Learn it on your own. Gosh, you Lilim, always wanting freebies."

I was weirded out by her remarks, so I said, "Us Lilim? You're talking as if you're not a Lili."

"Of course I'm not," she snapped, "Do you see horns, wings and tails on me?"

She did have a point. Like Mother, she had neither horns, wings nor tails that identified her as a Lilim. I noticed it before, but I discounted it as just some kind of transformation, that she removed her wings from my view on purpose. Come to think of it, she didn't sprout wings or horns or tails when she lost control during those parties too, I imagined it must've been hard maintaining the illusion at that point. The more I thought of it, I began to notice how human, however unearthly, she was. She even felt more human than Mother, and I knew that Mother was the only pure human still alive.

Seeing as I didn't respond, she continued, "Don't be fooled by me living in Ashmedan. I'm entirely human. That was why Asmodai agreed to the terms of the peace treaty. He wanted a human female to nurse his broken heart, none of his psychai was able to do anything about it. I supposed you could say that I was a copy of Mother, though that's not entirely true as I did have human parents once."

-----

Day 20,501

"Okay, now that you've learnt how to control the flow of your own energies, we're going to learn some fun spells."

-----

Day 20,541

I was having the time of my life snapping my fingers and burning Asmodeus' prized scavenger worm. Those worms, the largest of which had the girth of my thighs and the length of my legs, had been a very frequently used instrument in some of my torture and it felt good to be able to pay them back. It was easy to lure them too, just need to lie down on the ground and let my cuntjuice soak the ground. They'll come knocking in droves. I just needed to make sure that I was in the air so they don't get to sneak up my gorgeous legs from under the ground.

"Having fun?" came Lilith's voice from below.

"Lilith! Don't stand there. There's scavenger worms down there. Get off the soft ground!"

She shrugged, and I could notice that she was somewhat unhappy. "They're not a problem. Watch," she yelled before clapping her hands.

Not a second later, I saw those scavenger worms leapt into the air and dived into the soft ground about a mile away. I believe they were running away.

"Scavenger worms are very sensitive to smell and sound. Give them a good dose of painful music and they'll run like their lives depended on it," she paused, gave me a sad smile and said, "Come down, I want to tell you something."

I landed on the upturned ground in front of her. Feeling a bit worried, I asked, "What's wrong, Lilith. You don't look too happy."

She gave me a small smile before she said, "Asmodeus wants you back. He's going to summon you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? But what about the lessons? You said you're going to teach me how to turn whisky and beer into piss," I said, probably in a somewhat sulky tone. I was really looking forward to that lesson.

"Sorry, he's the lord of the realm. Not even I can do anything to change his mind. You know how stubborn he is. Oh! Remind me to cancel the sealing spell on those things jutting out of your shoulders. He would be pissed if he found out that I tempered with it."

I sighed, "Guess it's inevitable. I knew this was going to happen someday, still got a few decades more before Mother returned and take me home, you see. But if he's going to summon me tomorrow, why can't you teach me that spell today?"

"Oh no, not possible. You're going to be very busy today," she said as she grabbed my right arm and pulled me to walk beside her.

"Busy doing what?"

"You'll be spending the entire day and night between my legs," she replied with a giggle.

I gave out a loud groan. Oh well, I could think of worse punishments than that. At least her gash smelled and tasted like honey.

-----

Day 29,210

I was on my knees licking Asmodeus' boots when the massive black door opened and in came Mother. I noticed Asmodeus jerk and almost seemed to pull his legs away from my tongue. He then relaxed and let me continue my grovelling.

"Ilyse, you little slut! Come here!" she yelled the moment she was close enough.

I jumped at her voice and crawled on all fours towards her as fast as I could.

"What happened to you?" she asked me.

I was unsure what to tell her about my crushed feet, but it seemed that she figured it out anyway.

"What the hell! Asmodeus! I said I wanted her alive and well when I return."

The Lord of Lust simply shrugged, "You came back a week early. You should've called".

I could sense that Mother was annoyed. Then she dropped down on her knees and touched my feet. At first it was painful, then it was warm and then it was no longer painful. The feeling was strange, almost unnatural. It has been so long since I've ever been free from pain, at least in my feet.

She got up, fuming. "Why did you put her on Eternal Torment? I only asked you to teach her a lesson, not send her to Hell!"

He shrugged again, "It was just a stroke of brilliance on my part".

"Lust!" she cried as the beautiful marble floor cracked under her feet, "Naamah will hear of this! I swear she will hear of this and you will not look as smug as you are now when she found out."

"Now now, Envy. We both know that she may have already known about this. The fact that she hasn't shown up for the last 80 years was probably because she didn't care."

Mother grabbed me and pulled me up. Then she pushed me back to the black door and said, "This is not over, you damned bastard!"

"Wait! You can't just leave. She has my..."

"We ARE leaving, Asmodai. Are you willing to risk a war by stopping us?" Mother cried.

Asmodeus was looking rather conflicted. Serves him right. Mother grabbed my neck, turned me around and pushed me forward as we walked out of the massive doors.

"Keep walking, don't turn around," Mother advised.

The carriage was already waiting for us outside the already opened massive black door. This time, I stepped in, willingly and gladly.

-----

In the carriage, Mother had her eyes looking outside to the Great Plains of the Baked Sands. She was still looking murderous. The pain in my body had lessened, becoming some sort of soreness and the wounds on my body had healed completely, thank Mother for that. So that was what she meant by 'eternal torment', it meant that I would never become numb to the pains and to the tortures inflicted upon me.

Mother turned her head and fixed her gaze on me. "I suppose I should say sorry. I didn't know he would go that far. He had never done that to any of your other sisters, so that was a shock to me as well".

Then she raised her left hand and did a complicated gesture with her fingers. "I've removed the enchantments on Raphael's Collar. You can pull them out now. I can't touch it, we can't afford another war".

I slowly raised my hands and grabbed both of the stakes. I looked at Mother, unsure of what I should do. She just gave me a nod and looked elsewhere.

So I pulled. At first nothing happened, the stakes wouldn't move even an inch. Then I pulled harder and slowly, it slid out of my shoulders. I thought I was totally numb, but this pain was something different. It felt like I was pulling my own bones out of my body. This must've been what Wolverine felt when Magneto ripped out his bones in one of those old X-Men comics my cousin used to keep.

Finally, the stakes became loose and I was able to pull the entire thing out of my body. Wow, the thing must've been as long as my forearm, I couldn't believe that something this long could've been stuck inside me for nearly a century.

I was about to give it to Mother when without looking at me, she said, "Keep it. As I said, I can't touch it. It's yours now".

Then she turned her head and looked at me, "Do you know what you are holding in your hands, child?"

I shook my head no.

"Those things were called Raphael's Collar. It was part of a set that was once used to bind Asmodeus, effectively distancing him from Sarah and her new husband. It was said that whoever possessed all three of the pieces will also be the master of Asmodeus."

"Really? Wow..."

"Amazing, don't you think? Rumours said that it was made out of Raphael's own collarbone, broken into three pieces and empowered by the Nile".

"Angels have collarbones?"

"Oh yes, they also have skulls and spines. Maybe one day you'd have the opportunity to break a few angel spines. They crunch and break really well, almost like biscuits."

Then she giggled like a schoolgirl.

-----

We arrived at a lush tropical-like place. The carriage landed on a long stretch of road that led deep into the forest. This time the carriage moved at a slow pace. Despite the long travel, not another word was spoken between Mother and me.

Then the carriage stopped and we both got out. I looked around and saw that we were in a large meadow, a clearing in the forest. Just like everywhere else in Sheol, this place was quite shadowy and lacked direct sunlight. Far to my left, a throne sat on a raised platform. Around us, there were many other Lilim. Some were walking around. Some were chatting and laughing. Some were flying above us. Some were engaged in what I would call lesbian sex and orgies.

Mother said, "Welcome to Yenne Velt, Ilyse my child. This is the sanctuary for all Lilim. If you ever need to run away from anything, you can always come here."

Then she walked away and the carriage left amidst the roars of the Anzu birds. Mother was walking towards the throne while I noticed every Lilim stopped whatever they were doing and eyed Mother. Some who were in Mother's way simply stepped aside, knelt and worshipped at Mother's feet.

When she sat on the throne, every Lilim in sight abandoned whatever they were doing and knelt in the clearing in front of her. Two Lilim in particular walked up to the platform and sat on the floor on either side of her throne, with Mother patting their heads as they purred in delight. Behind Mother's throne was another Lili, though she looked different and her presence was... null. I couldn't feel her presence at all. With Mother, I could feel an overwhelming presence that made me feel small and insignificant. With her, it felt like she didn't even exist.

Then I noticed someone creeping up behind me. I looked back and noticed this youngish looking Lili. She was cute, in a lolita sort of way. Her hair was platinum blonde and she had the cutest button nose. Her twin horns jutted from the sides of her head just above her ears and pointed backward and slightly down.

She smiled at me awkwardly, "Hi, my name is Nediva. You're Ilyse, aren't you? I heard what happened. If you want to talk, I'm willing to listen, if you'll let me".

I turned around and left her standing there. She followed me. She said something about how sisters should help each other and that she was willing to be more than just another sister to me if I want. I simply ignored her. I didn't feel like talking to anyone right now.

"Really, I'm serious. I've never been sent there, but I can guess it must be horrible. You can talk to me, I'll listen," she said, still following me.

I was really annoyed. I really had no interest in talking about it to anyone. Her persistent interruption to my peaceful little space became really irritating though, so I snapped my fingers.

"Aww, my face! My face!" she cried as her head burned fiercely.

I noticed every Lilim sitting in the clearing was looking at us. Mother was looking at me disapprovingly, but said nothing. I didn't understand what the big deal was, she was bugging me.

"You damned bitch!" she cried again as she ran around with her hands trying to douse the flames without much success.

She ended up hitting her head on a tree, fell unconscious, at the same time setting fire to the tree. Several other Lilim went to her and after a few minutes successfully doused her flaming head.

I just walked away.

I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.

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Psychai = Daughters of Psyche, the only named psychai was Hedone (Pleasure) or the Voluptas (the Roman version)

Author's Note: This chapter has been heavily modified. Where before, it is only about the punishment that Ilyse had to endure, now it also tells of Lesser Lilith's role in this story.