Hail to the King

Chapter I

"Ezekiel! It's time to wake up, kiddo!"

"Ugh." I groaned as I rolled onto my back. I reached over to my bedside table and grabbed my phone to check the time.

7:45 AM

Monday, April 29

Yippee, another day in He- I mean, school. I sat up and groaned while stretching my arms above my head. I got out of bed and walked towards my dresser to grab some clothes when I heard a scream from outside my room.

"Mom?" I called out. There was no response.

I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, "Mom? Are you ok?"

I stepped into the living room to see a humanoid thing with bat wings hunched over my mother's body. Before I could even react it shoved its hand into her back before ripping out her spine, skull included.

I stepped back in fear and tripped over my own feet. As I hit the ground, the creature's head shot up and it looked right at me. It grinned with its sharp, bloody teeth as I started shaking in fear. It licked its black lips before lunging at me as I raised up my arms.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" I screamed as black flames shot from my hands and burned the creature. It shrieked in pain as the fire spread, covering it entirely. It continued to writhe as it's skin burned away, it's muscle and bones following soon after.

I was still shaking as I looked down at my hands which were still covered in the black flames. The flames didn't burn me, in fact, they felt good, natural. I clenched my hands and the flames disappeared.

I looked up from my hands and my attention was brought back to my mother's body. I felt tears well up in my eyes and I crawled over to her bloodied corpse.

As I held her, her blood seeped into my pajamas but I didn't care. My mother, the woman that had sacrificed so much for me, was dead. She didn't deserve to be killed so brutally.

I knew I couldn't stay here. The thing that had killed her was burned from existence and I was soaked in her blood. I stood and wiped my eyes before running back to my room to get changed and pack.

An hour later, I stepped out of my front door dressed in a red hoodie, black jeans, and red converse. I also had my black backpack sling over my shoulder, full of clothes, food, and water.

I turned back to my home as a tear escaped my eye. I quickly wiped it away before igniting my hand with the black flames. I pressed my hand against the house and it caught fire almost immediately.

"I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to protect you, mom," I said quietly to myself. "But I will avenge you."

I turned and began walking down the road before I heard screaming. I turned back to notice a crowd had formed outside my former home.

'Word gets around fast.' I thought to myself. 'I better get outta here before the cops show up.'

I was tempted to run but I remembered the first rule of being on the run. 'Don't run, walk.' I let out a breath and continued walking as though I was on a morning stroll. No one noticed me and I was able to navigate the streets of Las Vegas easily. 'Thank you, Natasha Romanoff.'

I eventually came to an intersection and contemplated which way to take. 'If I go left, I'll head towards Pahrump. If I go right, I'll be on my way to Arizona.' I bit my lip as I thought of which way to go.

"Go right."

I whipped around, trying to find the source of the voice. "Uh, hello?"

"Hello, Ezekiel." Said the voice. "Go right, you can trust me."

"How can I trust a random voice in my head?" I asked the voice.

I heard a grumbling sigh in my head before I received a response. "My name is Astaroth, and I am your uncle."

"Uncle? My mom didn't have any siblings." I said. I realized that I was slowly being surrounded by people so I put my phone up to my ear to make so they didn't think I was crazy. Though, maybe I was starting to go crazy.

"I am your father's brother."

"M-my father?" I asked, confused. "I've never met my father."

I heard another deep, resonating sigh. "If you go right, I'll tell you everything you need to know."

While I still didn't completely trust the voice, I wanted to know more about my father. I made my decision and started to walk right.

"Ok Astaroth, I went right," I told him. "Now tell me about my father."

"Please Ezekiel, call me uncle." He said. "Anyway, the reason your father was never able to see you is because he is an incredibly powerful man."

I was even more confused. "Mom said that he died in a mining accident. How powerful could he be?"

As I said those words, the ground started to shake a bit before stopping. It rattled me but I continued walking. Small earthquakes were common in Nevada.

"I wouldn't say such things, nephew." My uncle said. "Your father isn't dead, in fact, he's nearly impossible to kill, being the King of Hell and all."

As he said those words, I froze in place. King of Hell? That impossible though. That would make my father...

"Satan, yes." My uncle said. "Your father is Satan, young prince."

"Prince?" I asked him. "I'm not a prince! I'm a fifteen-year-old kid!"

"Quite the contrary, nephew," Astaroth said. "All hail Ezekiel Alvarez, Son of Satan, and Prince of the Damned."