Unbinding the Demon

Rough Reconciliation

The winds violently howled outside the dark gloomy cave, imprisoning us with their foreboding shadowy presence. My knees pressed into the hard stone cave floor, as I carefully bent back and grabbed my bare heals, stretching into camel pose. It was tricky and slightly painful doing yoga on such a hard unforgiving surface, but after being held in the same position in Azathoth's arms for so long, I felt like I'd literally die if I didn't stretch. 

Azathoth was leisurely lounging on one of the larger stones. He rested on his side, propped up using his elbow, with his head in his hand, like a chillaxed lazy lounge lizard. His large wings were folded and tucked in close to the back of his body, while a long flowing lock of hair cascaded over his shoulder and coiled on the rock in front of him. To pass the time, he had untangled most of his braids, but he missed a few, and I wasn't going to tell him. An endearing twinkle glimmered in his eyes, as he watched me with a dorky half smile stretched across his handsome face.

I exhaled a long deep breath and slowly came out of my pose. My eyes met his fiery orbs, as I sat crisscross applesauce on the floor facing him. I reached out to grab the satchel bag that rested next to my boots, and pulled my favorite red reusable water bottle out of it. "So, how much longer do you think we'll be stuck in here?" I curiously asked, then flipped the cap open and guzzled down a large refreshing swig.

He shrugged and languorously pushed himself up into a seated position. His large wings fell forwards on either side of him, scrapping against the floor with their sharp spikes. "It's hard to say, but I'd guess no more than an hour tops." He grabbed a small stone, tossed it up in his hand once, then playfully threw it against the far wall. A few loud clanks echoed throughout the cave as the stone bounced, then stilled on the floor.

A whole hour? We're never going to get out of The Abyss at this snail's pace.

I grumbled to myself while putting my water bottle back in the bag, but then stopped when I saw the book. I curiously ran my hand over the black otherworldly manuscript, which held the incantation to unbind his powers. My gaze shifted back over towards him and I bit the inside of my cheek. I still fully intended to tell him that I wanted to unbind him. Especially now that I knew that not only did Aunt Elowynn want me to do it, but he would actually die if I didn't. It was kind of a no brainer at this point. But I suddenly figured that maybe it would be a good idea to feel him out first, just to make sure that he didn't have any sinister plans, like destroying the whole town or something, because, you never know... 

I vacantly glanced down and twiddled with the hem of my dress. "So, um, Azathoth?"

"Yes, Buttercup?" He lazily half grinned at me, revealing his sharp white fangs.

"Well, I was just wondering, say, hypothetically, if I were to try to unbind you.." His head immediately perked up and his eyes got slightly brighter, cutting through the darkness of the cave like two luminescent citrine gems. "..you wouldn't do anything super destructive, like destroy the whole town, would you?" I quickly squished my lips together and curiously peeked over at him.

A soft chuckle rumbled out from his chest and quietly echoed off the walls. "Well no, I wasn't planning on doing something like that, but I can't promise anything." Silky raven locks fell over his shoulders as he leaned forwards towards me, with a loving look in his eyes. "If I do get unbound, I plan to return to Hell... and take you back with me." He smirked. 

My fingers caught a loose thread from the hem of my dress, while I nervously plucked at it. I wasn't sure how I felt about going to Hell with him. Despite Satnakium, the city where he grew up, sounding really cool, my guess is that it would still be kind of scary there, since it was, well, Hell after all. Although I honestly did want things to workout between us because I loved him, I was still very hurt and unsure if it would actually be for the best to salvage this relationship, let alone go live in the land of fire and death with him.