Never Ending

Slow and Steady Pt.2

Kostas weakly peaked open his eyes as he finally came to. Cautiously, he looked down his leg; it was even more twisted than it had been before. He gritted his teeth and growled in agony. With a sigh, he tried to stop the room from spinning.

"He's awake! He's awake!" A shrill voice sounded.

At the sound, Kostas growled in annoyance. "Would you shut up? Just kill me already."

The hyena and sloth looked over at each other and shrugged. "Alright." The sloth said as he picked up a spear.

Kostas watched as the combined creatures approached at an agonizingly slow pace. Even though he had asked for it, he felt his pulse quicken with each step the duo took. Finally, they were beside him and pressed the hard metal against his chest over his heart. Steadily, the Hellion applied pressure; in no particular rush to end his life. Kostas cried out as he felt his ribs begin to cave and pierce into the frantically pounding organ.

Kostas felt himself quickly fading as the spear went completely through him. Once all life faded from his eyes, the sloth swayed and fell to the ground--both creatures were fast asleep.

Dreary, Kostas blinked open his eyes. He was not sure why, but there was a sharp pain coming from his chest. Curious, he opened his eyes further and looked at his chest to see what the source could be. There standing straight and tall was the spear--still going through his heart. "How?" Kostas breathed. He then remembered something the woman with flaming hair told him. "That's right." He groaned. "I get to live no matter what." For a moment, he stared at the metal that caused a sharp pain with each heartbeat. 

He looked to the side to find the sloth and hyena asleep--much like the half boar-half bear creature had been when he revived last time. Kostas then cast another wary glance at the spear lodged in his chest. "What am I going to do?" Even as he asked the question, he knew the answer. The spear had to come out and he doubted the Hellions would be willing to help him with the unpleasant task. However, the pain was already enough to cause his head to spin. 

Taking a sharp breath, Kostas grabbed the spear with both hands. The slightest movement increased the pain to levels he did not realize were even possible to achieve. At the anticipation of pulling out the obtrusive object, his heartbeat sped up--only serving to again increase his misery. With a cry Kostas yanked out the spear. Both relieved that the deed was done and in incredible pain, he nearly threw the spear across the room; however, something caught his eye.

There, skewered on the spear, was his heart. Kostas looked in horror as his organ still pulsated. Hurriedly, he grasped his heart and carefully tugged it free. His breathing became labored as he fought to keep consciousness. He could feel the blood pouring out of his chest as he fought to keep a grip on his heart. Quickly, Kostas thrust his organ back in his open chest cavity. At this point, he was not sure whether to panic or just give in to the darkness. After trying to adjust it correctly, he knew he could not stay awake any longer. Yanking his hand out of his chest, he watched helplessly as the blood continued to pour out of his body. He reached his hand up to wipe away the tears that were streaming down his face, but one look at his hand had him pulling it back away. Both of his hands were covered in his blood. Limply, he dropped his arm back on the ground as he once again felt his death approach.

Kostas opened his eyes with a start. He quickly glanced to his side to find the Hellions still passed out. Though he was still in pain, it was not near as bad as it had been before he died. Tentatively, he looked at the wound in his chest. The hole had already scabbed over so he was no longer freely bleeding on the floor. However, Kostas found that his body was incredibly weak and soaked in his blood. With a grimace, he realized that he was currently lying in a large pool of his crimson life essence. 

He closed his eyes and tried to relax. Kostas could feel that his heart still had not healed all the way, and its erratic pounding was only increasing his pain. Taking deep breaths, he coaxed the organ to calm itself. Knowing he would heal fastest when asleep, Kostas tried to summon slumber. However, a groan from his side caused him to jolt back awake. At the sight of the hyena waking up first, he let out an exasperated sigh. 'Of course the parasite would wake up.' He thought in annoyance. Still desperate to hurry his healing process, he tried once again to sleep. 

"Wake up!" A shrill voice yelled.

Kostas peaked open an eye to find the hyena trying unsuccessfully to wake up the sloth. He knew sleep would be impossible with all of the noise going on right beside him. As the ranting continued, he could feel his patience for the high-pitched creature completely snap. Not caring if he angered it anymore, Kostas finally gave in to his annoyance. "Would you shut-up and let me sleep?" He barked.

The hyena growled in his direction. "Just wait until this moron wakes up. Then I'll let you sleep."

Kostas rolled his eyes at the immobile creature. "Does it not have a name? You always insist on calling your friend some insult."

The hyena laughed as though he had just asked the stupidest question it had ever heard. "Moron over here has a name, but there is no way he would tell me what it is."

"Why not?" Kostas asked out of mild curiosity.

"Do you know nothing? Fine, let me give you a quick lesson on demons. If you know a demon's name, you have control over them. For this reason, we never give our names to anybody." The hyena replied while still poking the sloth's face in hopes that it would awaken.

"So, you don't know his name even though you two have been together all your lives?" Kostas asked, enjoying the hyena's explanations more than his screaming and ranting.

"I have not been with this numbskull my entire life--only for the last century or two." The small creature crossed its paws in defiance. 

"You weren't born like that?"

"No." The hyena shook its head. "I was once the greatest and fastest Hellion there was, but the Enactors thought I was causing too much trouble."

"Enactors?" Kostas questioned.

"You really know nothing." The creature replied in annoyance. "The Enactors make and enforce Hell's laws. They also know each demon's name so we are under their complete control. Anyways, they thought that I was too killing too many humans and that this idiot" It motioned to the sloth. "was too lazy at his killings. So they decided to combine us so that we would level each other out."

"I see." Kostas replied indifferently as he closed his eyes.

"What no tears? That's okay, we'll make sure you shed plenty before you leave here." The hyena giggled.