Broken • Choi Yeonjun

Judecca

"This is not good..." Andromalius rubbed at his chin as he looked down at one of his many hellhounds. This one had found the trail for Valefar, but it could not track an exact location.

"What?" Yeonjun snapped as he looked from the hellhound to its owner.

"The trail leads to Judecca... Where I can not go without permission from Satan himself."

"And if you do go there?"

"I could be thrown into Cocytus with Apep for going against the devil," Andromalius replied monotonously.

"How is Valefar there then?"

"He is the king of thieves, after all. He is able to go many places many of us can not. He has far more demons under his command than I. Satan will not worry as to why he is there, he is doing what he was made to do, steal."

"Isn't Satan worried about Rerek becoming free?"

"Apep will not be freed if Valefar takes the powers from Evelyn. Valefar will be able to have far more control over them than her. Satan is probably on Valefar's side."

"How do I get there?" Yeonjun needed to get moving before something happened to Evelyn, and there was not saving her.

"You have to know, Valefar is no lesser demon, he is strong, old, and very cunning. If you go after him, you may not win."

"How do I get there?" Yeonjun repeated between clenched teeth.

Andromalius lets out a sigh, knowing there was no stopping Yeonjun. Not that he wanted to.

"I can open a portal to Judecca, I just may not go through it myself."

Yeonjun waved his hand, not concerned over the fact he was being rude to his powerful boss.

Andromalius points a clawed finger into the air, dragging down slowly, ripping a hole into the dimensions.

He beckons Yeonjun over. "Just be on your toes, Judecca has many demons that do not have rulers, they will attack anything and everything. Find her and get back home as quickly as possible."

Yeonjun nods before ducking his head and stepping into the portal.

Going through a portal made in the human realm was much easier than going through one in hell. These portals were filled with souls that were lost in between the dimensions, no real place to rest. They would be better off in hell than here.

Yeonjun could hear them calling to him, begging for him to help him, some reaching out to try and grab at him. He knew they could not touch him as long as he did not acknowledge them.

He gets spit out of the other end of the portal, to a part of hell he had only been to once, when he had first fallen from heaven. Judecca was one of the places where souls were sent if they betrayed their higher-ups. May that be God, Satan, or a king of hell. That was why no one down here had a ruler, it was a free for all.

Yeonjun was one of them for a while before Andromalius had made his offer to him. Become a soul collector, or stay here and fight for your life until the end of time.

Yeonjun did not miss this place at all. The demons down here were power hungry, that was why they were here. They wanted more power, more free will to do whatever they pleased.

Yeonjun had ended up here, all because he wouldn't send his mother to hell. He gave up his spot in heaven to try and win her some peace. In the end, he ended up in hell, and his mother's soul was sent to be lost forever in between the dimensions.

Home sweet home, my boy.

"This is no home of mine," Yeonjun replied to the voice in his head.

This is where we became one.

Yeonjun ignored the voice as it called to him. It was too strong here for him to lock it up as he had been doing.

~~

It seemed like hours as I fought against the black smoke that held most of my body down. At this moment in time, I wish I had never let Andromalius block Rerek from messing with my mind.

If I knew anything about demons, it was that they did not like being weak. Rerek would know that this demon was going to take his powers from me, and then there may be a slight chance he would try and help me.

My thoughts were cut off as the demon returned, its giant lap dog right on his heels.

"Seems we may need to speed things up, you have Andromalius looking for you. But, he can not come here, and neither can any of his pawns."

My heart sank a little as he spoke, there was a big chance no one was coming for me. I needed to get out of here, on my own.

The demon walks over to the cave wall to my left, pulling something from the shadows.

As he came closer, I could see it was a knife.

The knife was long and slender, it had to be about the length of a short sword almost. Most of it was gray save for the dark forging lines along the bottom half of the blade, and the light blue stones that had been embedded into the top of the blade as well as one slightly bigger one where the blade and the hilt met. The hilt looked like it was made from the same gray rocks that lined the cave walls, a long triangle had been cut in the center of the hilt to be replaced by gold. 

Demons also seemed to have an eye for shiny things.

I tried to back further into the wall as the demon came closer, crouching down right in front of me.

I bit my tongue to keep any pleas for mercy down, knowing it would make no difference in what was about to happen. It would only make me feel even weaker than I already was.

I couldn't hold down the gasp of pain as the demon drove the thing right into the middle of my ribcage.