Meeting the Devil

Nothing can be seen as he was nearing the bottomless darkness of this water he's sinking into, his entire body was crippled by the pulling force of the water that keeps on pulling him down into the abyss while his mind is paralyzed due to the mental burden that he's experiencing right now.

It was a moment of complete loss, this is the rock bottom of his entire life.

Every sense of the body and the mind were ripped away from him, the pain from his wounded arm has long turned numb, and the feeling of emotions was nowhere to be seen as he stares at the surface with a blank gaze.

For a moment there, the darkness around him seems to move. But he doesn't react at all.

At this current moment, Samael simply doesn't care what is inside this darkness with him. It would be better if he died right now so he would be freed from this dark world where God is not real, and evil people are rewarded.

Samael now fully believed that this world is not worth living in, it's better to die just like Lucius did.

Despite the desire of avenging those that killed his family and also those who have done wrong to him is still flickering inside his heart, there's simply no way that he could achieve that now with the only way that can help him being robbed from him.

'Hah... damn this world. If I had known, then why bother to be a good person?'

Just as he was starting to let natural course takes its way, killing him through suffocation, he closed his eyes and waited for the reaper to take his soul away and plunge it into whatever there is in the afterlife.

Oblivious to this, the darkness around Samael started to swirl around him and pulls him down.

Splash!

It was only when his body escaped the water and his bodily reflex forced him to breathe that he opens his eyes, 'Hmmm...?' Samael widened his eyes when he saw the water he was in earlier was above him, it stayed afloat as if there was some kind of barrier that stopped it from falling down.

But then he feel a gush of wind breezing his back, and when he turned around, he was shocked.

Samael doesn't know how but he's now free-falling, the sensation of the rushing wind clearly indicates that he's falling hard. It was very dark, his eyes can't see anything in this place, and when he hit something then he would definitely be squished to death.

'At least it'll be a quick death...' he thought, embracing the fate of his death.

Brak!

A forceful groan escapes his mouth when he feels the right side of his body hit something, that hit break most of the bones in the right side of his body, and blood crawls in his throat forcefully and gushed out of his mouth.

Not stopping there, his body hits what feels like a rock a couple more times.

Even though he was expecting a quick death from this free-falling, he can feel his body is completely broken right now and some of his limbs are twisted in the wrong direction due to the devastating speed of his fall and crashing against rocks along the way.

Moreover, due to the hits the speed of his fall immensely slowed down.

Brak!

With one last hit right on his chest that knocked the wind out of him, he finally reaches the bottom.

Samael coughs a couple more mouthfuls of blood as he lies on the cold and rough ground surrounded by complete darkness, he wanted to die and yet he miraculously survives the fall despite not being able to move his body at all.

If God was actually real, he can't believe that he didn't even get the grace of a swift death.

"JUST KILL ME ALREADY!!" Samael shouted, his anger-filled voice echoing in this dark spot that is so thick he can't even see his own gruesomely injured body. Each echo of his voice was like a mock to him, showing that nobody is there to listen and cared for him.

No rewards are given to the good person, not even as little reward as swift death to end his misery.

People that cared for him and listen to him were all killed at the hands of those wicked people, people that are so intrinsically evil that they can do sin as easily as they breathe. It was them that were rewarded and given satisfaction to fulfill their barbaric desire.

Despite the darkness, Samael can feel he was slowly bleeding out.

Instead of being squished to death, he was given a slow and painful death of bleeding out. But he decided to not complain anymore, there was nobody that listens to him, and he should just accept this the way they are and suffer alone.

Samael closes his eyes, the pain he was inflicted with climbs with each passing second.

But that last shout has taken most of his remaining strength and even if he wanted to shout to appease the pain, he doesn't have that much energy left. Another addition to the bad things that happen on his way to death.

As he was at the end of his life, lying in his own pool of blood, he felt a warm sensation around him.

"My poor child, your pain... I can feel it"

Out of nowhere, a rasping whispering voice resonates in the entire place which jolted Samael's eyes awake, the voice came from behind him but he can't turn to look as his body is completely mangled and crippled beyond measure.

Despite not being able to look, he finds that the place is not shrouded in darkness anymore.

Samael realizes that he was inside some kind of underground circle-shaped space surrounded by stone walls that are man-built. Inside these walls are what seems to be glowing lava, emitting heat that reaches even him.

Moreover, the same skate torches as the ones above can be seen. But the fire here is hellish red.

Desiring to see who's the one that said those words he heard earlier, Samael was surprised to find that the hellish fire from the torches shot towards him. He thought that he would be burnt alive, but instead of being burnt, he can feel the pain all over his body disappear completely.

It was outright shocking, he sits up and finds his entire body completely healed.

If not for the pool of blood that is surrounding him right now, he would've thought that he was never injured in the first place. 'Magic...? It's definitely magic, but I can't decipher what kind of fire has the ability to heal.' Samael thought.

But realizing that he can move, he looks back and spotted the person who had spoken to him.

Samael was surprised to find that the person who had spoken to him was not a person, it doesn't seem to be a person judging from its appearance. Sitting on an elevated throne made of black skulls and bones is a figure shrouded in darkness.

The figure has no face to see, its entire being gives a sense of ominosity and enigmatic feeling.

What can be deciphered was the fact that the figure has a pair of horns curving forward and up that looks like the horns of an unholy being, and the figure's entire body is covered in a black robe that hides everything from head to toe.

One thing came to mind when Samael saw this figure, 'Is it the Devil?!'

Upon realizing that the entity in front of him resembles the Devil itself, Samael's heart tighten as his entire being started to be enveloped with fear. Sensing this, the entity glanced at him with a slow movement.

It can be seen that the entity is glancing at him from its hood turning towards Samael.

"Do not fear me, my child. I'm just a simple watcher that resonates with your pain..." the entity said almost as if it was resonating with Samael's feelings, it was something that Samael thought an entity such as this is incapable of doing.

Samael hesitated, but he eventually braced himself to ask, "A-Are you the Devil...?"

"For someone that has lost faith in God already, do you still believe in the Devil?" the entity asked with a light overwhelming chuckle. It frightens Samael to no end, and the chuckle seems to make the hellish fire around the place glowed even brighter.

Upon hearing this, Samael widened his eyes as he looked at the entity in shock.

'How did this thing know about that?' Samael thought in utter shock, the only one that knows that is only him as it happens very recently. It was only when the third Divine Axiom was broken has he truly lose faith in God.

For some reason, this devilish entity knows that as if it can read his mind.

'I don't know if meeting this Devil is better than actually dying...' Samael thought with a frown.

But upon thinking about that, he cursed at himself as he was now not the same as he was before. 'God has never helped me as he was never there, and I can't judge this entity as an evil one from its appearance alone that makes it looks like the Devil itself'

Gulping harshly, Samael then looks back firmly, "Then, is God real?"

"Of course, God is real. Just because no one saved you doesn't mean God is not real" the entity replied.

Upon hearing this Samael clenched both of his fists as he finds these words hurt his heart, but he decided to keep calm in the weird situation he was in right now. "If you said God is real, then how do you know that God is real?"

"How you say...? It's because you're looking at God right now" the entity replied again.

Samael was forced to take a couple of steps back out of sheer surprise as he was not expecting that answer at all, it was not in the realm of his anticipation. It completely makes him look at the entity in a different light.

"But God was supposed to be a force of light, you... you don't have that resemblance"

As if the entity has just heard the funniest joke that it has ever heard in its entire existence, the entity laughs as its shoulders raised up and down. It makes Samael confused as the entity finds his question funny even though he didn't mean it that way.

It's the common sense of the people, God is the force of light, not hellish fire like this entity.

"Who you're talking about is the opposite force of me, you're talking about the force of good while I am the force of evil. Good and Evil can't exist without the other, that's the ancient belief. But you mortals have a common misunderstanding of Good and Evil" the entity lifted its hands, harnessing a black fire in its right hand and a white fire in its left hand. "Let me tell you the common misconception of mortals"

Upon saying that, a change happened to the black fire and the white fire on the entity's hands.

Even though it's small, Samael can see that there's a hint of blackness in the white fire and also a hint of whiteness in the black fire. "The Force of Evil is grounded in evil acts, yet I can still do something good just like helping you right now. Similarly, the Force of Good is rooted in virtuous deeds, but it doesn't mean incapable of doing evil"

With a wave of its hands, the entity dissipates the flames in its hands and leans back to its throne.

Even though what it said might be simple, the meaning behind it completely stuns Samael to the core. Following that, the entity then continues, "Mortals like you misunderstand us. Essentially, we are Gods, and if anything..."

"We can do anything we like, even if it's doing the opposite of our nature"