Redemption in Hell

Explanations

      Destraer began to lead me down a hallway. "So how does food work when you're dead?" I asked. He shrugged. His cape was dragging on the floor behind him. His black hair was slicked back under a crown and his horns came out from the top of his forehead a little of to the side. "It won't affect your weight or health since you're dead. Depending on if you go to Edenia or Phalodia. Phalodia food tastes like ash. Edenia food tastes like nectar made by gods." I frowned. "On second thought, we could skip food. I'm not that hungry." I said, trying not to sound rude. He laughed. His black shirt flowed elegantly as he continued walking but stayed tucked within his black trousers. "The food you'll eat will be from Edenia since you would have gone to heaven." He said. "Oh." That was a relief. "What about you? Since you're a god what do you eat?" I asked. He smirked. "Souls."
My eyes widened. "Oh." I said. He laughed. "I'm kidding. Anyway. This is the dining room." He said.
I hadn't even realized that we'd stopped in front of another set of smaller double door. The doors opened without either of us touching them. I held my breath. "It's magic. It senses me and opens itself." I let out my held breath.
"Oh. So I guess there's a lot of magic here, huh?" I asked. He nodded. "That would make sense since I'm the one who created magic." My mouth fell open. "You are?!" I asked. He nodded and looked at me with an amused smirk. "So you can do more than the chair thing?" I asked. He nodded. "Simple." I was freaking out. "Do something wonderful." I said excitedly. He smiled. We walked into the dining room.
"Here." He said pulling out one of the tens of chairs sitting around a large gold colored table. "Sit." I did as he said. "Look around the room and memorize it." He said. I did just that. White walls covered in golden designs. A floor made of marble with a carpet beneath the table. The carpet was gold with fringes around it. The lights were nowhere to be found which was strange but I assumed it to be magic.
"Now close your eyes." I did so sceptically. "One. Two." He counted down. "Open them." I opened them and...
The whole room had changed. It was covered in red. The table was covered in a red satin cloth and now smaller. Only ten chairs sat around it in all. A chandelier hung far above the table and diamonds made a trail from the door to the table. "Is this wonderful?" Destraer's voice caught my attention and I remembered he was in the room. I turned to look at him. He now wore a blood red suit shirt and pants. His black hair seemed ten times darker than before. "Yes." Was my curt reply. "Good. Now, food." He snapped his fingers and a plate sat before me with a strange variety of food I'd never even dared to dream of. I automatically prayed then realized how stupid it was. I stopped myself. "I mean thank you." I said. He just smiled.
I ate quickly trying to mind my usually nonexistent table manners.
"You eat like a child." He said after I wiped my mouth. "You talk like an old man." I said back. And here I thought I was acting like a lady. "I am an old man. If we're speaking about age. I'm over a million years old. So it makes sense that I'd speak more proper than the slob men you were around when you were alive." I smiled. " I'm not sure how I feel about that." I said. He shrugged. "I'm still the best looking man you've ever seen." He said. I laughed. "Maybe." He sat down beside me.
"Were you close to any men while you were alive?" He asked me. I shrugged. "My two best friends were men. They left for the army a year ago though." I said. "That's always fun." He replied. I frowned. "I bet they're gonna flip once they find out I'm dead. I wonder if my mom has figured out yet..." I drifted off in thought. "Well, that's enough of that. Come on." Destraer said standing up. I did as he said. "Do you want to see the garden?" Destraer said as we walked down the hallway of mystery again. "Yes!" I've always loved the earth and the magic of growing things. A smile played on his lips. He continued to guide me throughout the halls silently. I felt it was my turn to speak.
"How do you remember all these hall?" I asked. He shrugged. "Millions of years gives you a lot of practice time, and I designed it so that helps." I smiled a bit. "You really like to make things for a god of destruction." I said. He shrugged again. "I was not always this wonderful, you know?" His face went more serious. "The servants I have are many so I might as well tell you now about what you will hear." He sighed. "I was once the person you first thought I was. A spiteful beast feared by everyone. And I still have my moments. I killed thousands of mortals... Men and women along with children. Thousands of them. I would disguise myself as human or elfen just to start wars. I even kidnapped a few hundred women... I'm not going to go into detail about what all happened in the past, but the point is, is that it is in the past. So there." He said and his ears were a little red. I nodded as he looked at me as if questioning me.
"Did you enslave the women?" I asked. He shook his head. "Did you eat them?" I asked remembering the folklore that my village elders often spoke of. He shook his head again. I was confused. "Then wha-" he gave me a sad, strained look and I understood what he had done. "Oh." I said. "That was long before you were born though." He said. I nodded but remained silent unsure of how to reply.
I was the one who had asked. It's not like we were married. I did just meet him. Maybe I would have been the same way if I were in his shoes. I never had a mate. I understand how lonely he must have felt. Many times I found myself questioning my existence. I thought maybe I should have been born elfen. I was never a normal mated. I was a beasted. One who was cursed to live life without a mate. When someone's mate dies they're known as beasted because they go crazy. I was the only beasted to ever be born without a mate. That's why everyone thought I had a cursed mark. The joke is on them. My mate is a god. I laughed a little under my breath and felt my mood lighten. Destraer looked at me quizzically. I smiled at him and he smiled back. "Here we are."
The doors before me were made of what seemed to be ice. It reminded me of the colored ice that covered our waters in the season of cold. "Is it cold?" I asked wondering how the ice had stayed cold this long. He shook his head. It must be ice though. "Can I touch it?" I asked him. He gestured with his hand that it was okay so I cautiously touched it. My eyes widened. "It feels just like a table or a wall!" I said. He nodded with a chuckle. "It's glass." He said. "Wow..." I said. This place was the most magical place I'd ever been.
"So .... The garden." He said. "Oh. Right." I took my hand off the door and Destraer opened it. "Only some of the doors have magic placed on them." He explained.
He pushed the door open and I was in awe. "Do you like it?" He asked. All I could do was nod in silence. I could only describe the garden as heaven. And for the gates were hedges reaching towards a sky I could not see. "Would you like to go down there?" He asked gesturing to the steps leading down into the garden. I looked at the garden and then him. He was so handsome. "Yes." I said with a smile and he took my hand in his leading me down. I was so awestruck I didn't notice I was holding his hand until he said. "You're about to break my fingers." I guess I got so excited and my grip tightened. I let go of his hand with a blush only to have him put my hand back in his moments later. "Just don't break me." He said. I smiled looking at all the exotic flowers surrounding us and the warmth coming from his hand.
  "This is nice." I said. It really was. I'd never dated or talked to a guy aside from my two best guy friends and my sisters fiance. No one wants to talk to someone who has a cursed mark. "I am glad you are enjoying yourself." He said. I smiled a bit averting my gaze from him. He probably thinks I'm a total weirdo.
  "You don't need to hide your blush from me." His words caught me off guard making me blush even more. "I'm not blushing." I said trying to cover it up. "Lies." He whispered in my ear as he pulled me against him. "You wouldn't lie to a god would you?" He whispered and I shook my head frantically feeling my heart race. "Then... Tell me you were blushing." He said moving a piece of hair from in front of my face. "I wasn't." I denied again. He frowned. "You shouldn't lie to me." He said again louder this time. "Were you blushing?" He asked pulling me closer. I held my breath but nodded.
  He smirked and released me from his hold. I let out the air I'd been holding. He kept our hands entwined but their was a great distance between us. "These flowers change with the seasons of earth. It close to autumn now so they're mostly red, orange, yellow, and all that. They'll change come winter. Mostly to blue and white. Bushes will replace most of them. A few pine trees here and there." He said. I smiled. "That's amazing." I said. He nodded.
  "I could show you many amazing things."