A God and Several Hundred Demons

Chapter 4: Jacob's Ladder

Hydrium walked up to Ank after Ash and Marin left. "I'm a little concerned about this." he said.

"Something's up with Marin," said Ank. "Her story. She hesitated when mentioning what attacked Ionia Minor. And it isn't in this part of the universe. It's a completely deserted world in the Adjikiian Spiral. There would be no reason for the Skeletalians to attack it."

"To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if she turned out to be a Skeletalian in disguise herself." said Hydrium.

"Skeletalians don't really use disguises. They're much more blunt. And she hesitated before saying 'saved them all'"

"If I may weigh my two cents in on the matter," said Grim. "I also feel like her randomly chiming in to say she saved them all was a little suspicious. I mean, think about it. It seemed overly prideful with the way her tone sounded, don't you agree? I feel like if someone actually went through something like that, they'd be more traumatized about the event than proud of what they'd done."

"Loboto, Hydrium, and... uh... Rave - go check on her and Marin. I'll call A to help you. Something's up." Ank then turned back to his beer.

"I can back you guys up if it helps," said Grim. "Feel free to pay me back another time. Or not at all, I'm just glad to help out."

"Yeah sure, I guess." said Hydrium as he turned to Ank. "Ank, did you not teach your daughter why going to a stranger's house right after meeting them isn't a good idea? I feel like this is something she should have known."

"It mostly works for me." said Ank. "I'm gonna go get drunk now."

Loboto and Hydrium stared at Ank, then left - Grim and Rave Pharaoh following closely behind.

A few minutes later, the group of beings stood outside of Marin's house. A two-story affair, it was made of metallic plates.

A probe followed them, then dropped A down. The probe flew into the atmosphere of Sarra after saluting A.

After another minute of waiting, Hydrium said "Can you see what's going on from here?".

"I have a drone that could see through the window." said Grim as he put the controls for the drone in his hand.

Loboto then got an idea. A really stupid idea probably inspired by slapstick comedy but an idea nonetheless. To form a human ladder.

"Human ladder." he said promptly. "Guys. Human ladder."

"That seems like a poor idea," said Rave Pharaoh. "But it sounds like fun! Human ladder? Fuck yeah!"

"Human ladder?" said A. He then morphed his body into a ladder - an impressive feat.

"Suit yourself I guess," said Grim.

Loboto then turned to Grim. "Oh come on it'll be fun we'll all be like."

Loboto then attempted to gesture a human ladder while being one person.

"Now that I think about it, aren't I technically the only human here?" said Loboto.

"Hydrium doesn't count?" asked Rave Pharaoh.

"Yeah no he doesn't count." said A. "Now hurry up I can feel my bones melting into place. This is painful ow my bones ow ow ladder ow."

Loboto looked at A with a look of pity. Looking up from A, he yelled out "Yeah let's do this!"

A few seconds later, the ladder had been formed. Rave was at the bottom while Loboto was at the top. "How likely do you think it is that they're having intercourse? Like a percentage." said Hydrium - who was standing on A's shoulders while Loboto's feet dug into his.

"Alright so let's see what's going on in this fnky place." said Loboto, his eyes right up on the second-floor window.

Inside of the bedroom, Ash was flopped onto Marin's bed. "So, why don't we begin?" asked Ash - displaying herself for Marin.

"Alright!" said Marin as she slid onto the bed. "But before we begin I have to show you one thing." Marin then pressed onto her neck. A light click could be heard. Shortly after this, Marin ripped her "head" off - revealing it to be nothing more than a mask. Underneath was a leathery demonic face. Blue hair and yellowed horns topped the head. Her mouth was filled with fangs.

Loboto was distracted by something he just thought. "Wait, why don't I just do the thing where I look through someone's eye-" That's when he heard Ash's scream of "Oh my god!" and looked at Marin. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" he yelled in shock of the sight he had just witnessed.

Marin then put the mask back on. "You cannot tell ANYONE about this. Understand." said Marin.

Ash gave a meek "Alright." and readied herself.

Marin got into bed - and then placed her head onto her temples with her face contorted in pain and concentration. "No, I'm not going to! No! You can't make me! They're not yours! No!". She then screamed in pain.

Back on the ladder, Rave Pharaoh yelled out "You know what everyone above me I have an idea. Get in front of me."

Rave waited a few seconds before walking out from the ladder - letting everyone else fall to the floor. "You know what fine."

The robotic disco ball that followed Rave everywhere then created a shockwave - causing Rave to be launched upwards. A attempted to stop him so that he could rejoin the ladder. The ladder was all that he knew. The disco ball knocked A out for a second - allowing A to come back from his ladder-based trance.

"We.. we have to go." said Marin after recovering from the mental onslaught. Ash replied to this with a meek "What?"

Marin turned to her. "We have to go now! Ok?! I have a ship we can use."

As Marin and Ash ran to the ship, they were stopped by Grim. The unwashed mercenary provided an intimidating figure." I'm gonna need you to step aside... Marin, was it?" grim then pulled out a knife.

Marin simply barrelled past him - dragging Ash along. "Hey, no. Get back here!", Grim yelled as he watched Marin and Ash jump into a small ship - small enough to only fit two people.

The roof folded outwards as the ship ascended up - into the skies of Sarra.