"Oh Hell"

Chapter 4: "A fucking Demented Shadow on Meth or Crack"

Ella had finally come up with a plan. She had no way of being sure it was a good one but that hardly mattered at this point, she was wasting time. She would have been wasting more if she hadn't decided to start journeying through the circles. Based on what Apophis and Belphegor had told her she was in for a difficult journey, but she had managed to overhear the names of Demonic Princes and Princesses who would not be friendly to her from the guards gossiping about the current political climate down here. The first she wanted to avoid was Kimaris. He was the Prince of Envy, and although Ella had learned about him already, she hadn't known just how dangerous he was in other ways. His primary motivation was power and the guards had more or less confirmed he would all too willingly use Ella as a bargaining chip if he thought it would get him those things. If not he would happily give her to his underlings so they had a new toy or whatever the demons called live humans to play with. The problem was that like all the Princes of Sin, and apparently princesses because Hell was so progressive in its values, Kimaris could sense anyone passing through his territory with or without permission. If he sensed her and wasn't pre-occupied then he was almost certainly going to investigate which meant no more Ella Lopez. She hadn't quite figured out how to avoid Kimaris as of yet, but he wasn't as big of a threat as the others she needed to avoid. Absalom was a coin toss on whether or not he would be in a friendly mood. She had heard him described as the Prince of Fear, Blood and Terrors of the Night. Ella had no idea what drove a being like that which made the Prince of the Second Circle something of a wild card. Absalom had no known motivation and seemed to be something of an isolationist. The boarders of his circle were only ever opened as far as official business for other Princes, Princesses or if her luck was really bad, Lucifer himself. Other than that, the ways in and out of his circle were closed to all save for the dead humans who were sent to him for punishment. So far the circles were nothing like Dante had made them out which took away pretty much any advantage Ella might have had when it came to navigating her way to Lucifer's throne, if indeed that was the only way for her to get out. The biggest advantage she had when it came to the second circle was that Absalom was at least loyal to Lucifer. It meant that at minimum he would do her no direct harm. She had no idea about his minions but she was sure about one thing for certain. Absalom was not going to interfere on her behalf. She didn't know if this was because it was forbidden or if they simply had no obligation to aid her. Belphegor had allowed her temporary immunity in his circle but that seemed to be more voluntary than law. Ella pushed her concern away from Absalom under the belief there were worse Princes and Princesses to avoid. She was right. Belial was the Prince of Sloth and by all accounts was a troublemaker. She didn't know specifics but Ella had gotten the impression that he was not favoured by Lucifer which was a problem. The guards seemed to be under the impression that Belial's only motivation was power, though whether it was literal or political they didn't seem to know, and she hadn't dared ask. What she did know was that he was powerful and punished people who stood by idly in times of crisis or when they could have saved someone. Ella's mind flashed back to Carlisle and that whole debacle. She wondered if he was currently under the Prince's care, and then decided she didn't want to know. Another thing worth noting was that while he wasn't an opportunist Belial seemed to be interested in only himself. Surprisingly this wasn't the norm for all Demons. There was a degree of selfishness that all shared but it very rarely affected their work or became so much of a problem that Lucifer kept an eye on them. Belial supposedly was one of the outliers in that regard, and often had Lucifer's personal attention or the attention of one whom he trusted. Belial often relied on being direct when it came to trying to achieve his goals. Ella supposed that was because he was too lazy to be subtle, or because he simply didn't see the point. The final being that Ella was currently most concerned with was the first of the Demonic Princesses that she would likely fall upon. Malath was the Demonic Princess of Lies and Schemes, and her disloyalty to Lucifer was legendary. From the information Ella currently had to work with, Malath was more than an opportunist. She was as devious as her titles implied. She relished on scheming to increase her own standing and power within Hell and was skilled at manipulation. According to the guards she had eavesdropped on, Ella knew that Malath was so much of a problem that she was constantly being watched by one of Lucifer's loyalists or spies. She didn't know which to call them. Supposedly, it was the Archduke of the Fourth Circle, Yomiel, was the real power in that part of Hell. Ella knew nothing about Yomiel but she did know that Malath supposedly hated her, and that meant she had options if she was in danger. All Ella needed to do if she was in too much danger was seek sanctuary from Yomiel, and hope that she agreed to grant it. There was no way of knowing if that was how things would happen though. Malath preferred to watch and wait as opposed to use brute force to get what she wanted, the problem was no one seemed to know what that was. As she thought through all of this, Ella's mind went back to the closest threat. Kimaris. Although Ella technically had to get through the second circle before she made it to the Realm of Envy, she wasn't going to pre-judge Absalom and decide he was unwilling to help her before she made it. She was effectively dooming herself to his wrath if she thought that way. She was under no illusions about Kimaris though. He was never going to help her. He didn't fear her. The only reason he hadn't acted against Lucifer was his fear of him. The guards had made it obvious he hated him, and rumoured that he wanted someone known as 'Nyx' dead. He dared not act against them without help for fear of retaliation. He had no such qualms about harming Ella if he came across her. Social science and psychology was far from Ella's strongest suits but she had studied them in college, more because she needed an elective to fill and it had been interesting enough. The profile on Kimaris spoke to a demon who wanted what had once been his. It likely meant he felt like he had been wronged. That someone had taken something he viewed to be his by right. Whether or not it was birthright was a little harder to guess. Before now, Ella's understanding of Demons had been that most were Fallen Angels that had turned into demons after the war in Heaven, but the words 'Lilim' and 'Shedim' had very quickly dissuaded her of that notion. Ella didn't know if they were the only kinds of Demons but somehow, she doubted it. They were just most dominant types. Kimaris was likely angry that anyone had even dared take anything from him. Envy was hardly the strongest Sin anyway, and while it was powerful Ella and most of the religious people in the world considered it to be the least likely and the weakest sin, which meant its embodiment was just as weak in some ways. That wasn't to say the concept wasn't powerful, a lot of people fell victim to it. Compared to the other Princes of Sin, beings she had heard Demons reverently call 'The Seven' which on its own sounded like a bad Justice League movie by Zack Snyder, Kimaris was considerably weaker because of how weak his Sin was. Envy was mostly deadly to people who felt entitled or spoiled, everyday citizens and the majority of the population knew that wasn't how the world worked. Its why some such as Pride, Greed or Gluttony were considered to be much more dangerous because anyone could fall into them, even if their intentions were noble. Even Sloth was more powerful because there were plenty of people who felt too lazy to do anything to make the world better, such as talk to the cops after a murder had been committed. Kimaris probably knew all of this and yet he was stuck with the weakest of them. It was ironic that he perfectly embodied it but Ella hardly considered that relevant. What she did consider to be relevant was what the Prince of Envy was up to. Despite being the weakest of the Princes of Sin, Kimaris was still a god like being, he was just the one that Ella had to worry about the least. Of the powers that were universal to all the Demonic Princes, at least those of sin as far as Ella knew, they were all able to create their own sub-realms. They weren't pocket dimensions exactly but they served as a nexus to the Prince's power. In short, it was where Kimaris would be strongest. It stood to reason that he would spend as much time within his realm as possible, likely trying to find a way to use its energy to boost his power or at least use it to make what power he did have greater whenever he was within the Realm. That meant he was going to be a bit more dangerous than he might have been if Ella came across him outside it. That didn't mean Ella had no chance. If Absalom could be reasoned with, he could have someone accompany Ella or inform her of a way to avoid the Prince of Envy's attention. There was no doubt such a thing was possible but it wasn't likely to be easy and if Ella was found things would be a lot worse than if she had been more direct. Ella's chances at sneaking through were entirely dependent on whether or not Absalom was in a good mood and was feeling charitable. It was far from certain that Ella would find him that way, and even if she did there might be rules in place preventing him from offering her direct aid. It didn't matter right now. She had to get to the Second Circle before she even had to worry too much about Kimaris, yet for some reason she couldn't stop trying to figure out how she was going to handle the situation. He was still the Prince on Envy and that wasn't something she could just ignore. Ella forced her mind from the subject of Kimaris, and instead took a few deep breaths. "Keep things realistic" she told herself. She could worry about Kimaris when she got into the second circle and had a chance to rest. After that she needed to reach Absalom or someone who could promise her protection on some level and then she would be just a little bit closer to home. All she wanted was to get out of here and it wasn't going to be easy. If she was going to get through this with her sanity intact then she needed to focus on the here and now instead of what came next. Those problems would still be waiting for her later but the ones she had to deal with now needed to be solved. The first circle was mostly safe and she needed to get through it to even have a small part of this journey over and done with. That wasn't going to happen if she panicked and let her fear consume her as it had been threatening to do. It was only going to happen if she stayed strong and believed in herself and in her abilities. Time to prove to Chloe and everyone else that she was worthy of their faith in her. She forced herself to take a deep breath as she kept walking. She had a feeling that the real danger was about to begin.