Between light and darkness (adamsapple)

Abysses of the soul

Lucifer awoke to a deafening roar echoing in his ears, as if a bomb had detonated in the distance. He stretched lazily between the sheets, a yawn escaping his lips, and with sleep-laden eyelids, he struggled to focus on the dimness of the room. It was then that reality filtered into his consciousness, and he realized he wasn't in his own bedroom, but rather in the guest room. The initial confusion faded as memories of the previous night flooded over him like an icy torrent. A sigh escaped his lips, a mixture of exasperation and resignation, as he slowly sat up, the sheets disheveled around him.

"Damn it, Lucifer," he muttered to himself, a whisper heavy with self-critique. "You had one bloody job to do." In his role as guardian of the underworld, there was no room for indulging his desires.

Did he regret it? Yes. Was it entirely his fault? Also yes.

The silver lining was that his job was done.

Perhaps he lost control, but he reckoned he did quite well, considering it had been over seven years since he last punished a soul. Lucifer was aware that dealing with all sinful souls would be overwhelming, a nuisance, so he reserved himself only for the worst ones, which, though not few, didn't amount to the millions entering each year. For the rest of the sinners, there was a filter: purgatory. There, they had the chance to repent for their sins and return to heaven, but the corruption of the human heart by desire and greed sincerely hindered repentance, so most ended up in hell.

Lucifer's job is to make those souls corrupted by perversion and evil suffer, and believe me, he makes them suffer effectively. So much so that few survived his torture. And the truth is that Lucifer isn't bothered by this; if a soul has to die in suffering without the possibility of reincarnation or living its afterlife in hell, so be it. Many of them never learn, and he feels no pity for any of them.

As king of the underworld, Lucifer punishes souls with the worst intentions, those who have caused the most suffering to others in life. He has the power to decide whether to make them suffer or not, and although he could have tortured any soul, it simply wasn't worth it. The truth is that Lucifer was rusty; it had been a long time since he had fed that dark part of his soul with the suffering of sinners, let alone an angel who had not yet been corrupted by hell. That must be the cause of his loss of control, he thought; without a doubt, it must be that. A nervous laugh escaped his throat. He must be more careful from now on; if he continued to torture Adam, he couldn't so easily succumb to his desires, no matter how many emotions Adam's agonizing face stirred within him.

He took a deep breath and slowly got out of bed, lazily slipping on his slippers while searching the room with his eyes for the robe from the night before. He found it lying near the door. Had he returned in such a bad state that he didn't even bother to hang it on a chair? He sighed wearily. Despite having rested better than usual, it still wasn't enough. He bent down to pick up the robe from the floor, covering his naked body as he pondered the suffocating need for coffee. However, instead of heading to the kitchen, he opened the door of his room and requested a servant to prepare him a coffee and bring it to the main room. He needed to check on the angel peacefully resting in his bed.

Lucifer crossed the hallway and entered his room. From the doorway, he could see that Adam hadn't moved an inch. Although the tears that so beautifully adorned his cheeks the night before had ceased. Lucifer had left Adam trapped in that mirrored room and he probably isn't able to leave since it is Lucifer who is in control of his dreams. However, he also had no intention of allowing him to escape that room anytime soon. First, he needed to talk to Charlie. He walked to the other end of the room and opened the window, allowing the morning light to penetrate and illuminate the man lying in his bed. He needed to examine if the wounds had bled through the bandages. As he approached the bed, a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Instead of allowing them to enter, he quickly approached the door of his room himself.