Escape

I moved at full speed, my misty form slipping through the cracks of Hell's twisting corridors, following the voice's instructions. There was no room for hesitation, no time to second-guess. If I stopped, I was dead. Or worse—dragged back to my old existence, shackled in torment for eternity. I wasn't going to let that happen.

The voice had guided me well so far, though I still didn't know who—or what—it was. But there was no time for questions. I trusted it because I had no other choice.

Then, the roar came again. Louder. Deeper. A sound that carried the weight of authority itself. Everything around me seemed to freeze, as if Hell itself had held its breath. The very air trembled, the wails of the damned silenced, the rivers of fire stilled. I had never heard silence in Hell before.

And then—

Reality shattered.

Like a mirror cracking, everything around me fractured, leaving me suspended in an abyss. The flames, the rivers of suffering, the grotesque architecture of Hell—all gone. Instead, I was floating in a vast, dark expanse streaked with eerie golden light, as if the void itself bled radiance.

My mind could barely comprehend it. I had never seen anything like this before.

"Shit," the voice muttered, breaking my stunned silence.

For the first time since my escape, the voice sounded... uncertain.

"Alright, Charis, brace for impact."

Before I could ask what that meant, an invisible force clamped down on my form, paralyzing me midair. Every wisp of my shadowy essence froze in place, completely locked. Panic surged through me. No, no, no—I tried to move, but whatever held me was absolute.

Then I turned. And my mind nearly shattered from sheer terror.

A figure—taller than anything I had ever seen—held me in its palm. A radiant being of immeasurable beauty, so perfect that just looking at it hurt. It had six wings, not of feathered purity, but of deep darkness, stretching outward like veils of the void itself. Its form radiated an aura of overwhelming presence, raw and suffocating.

An angel.

Not just any angel.

A fucking archangel.

Despair sank its claws into me.

"No..." I whispered.

I wasn't an idiot. Even though I was relatively new to Hell, I knew its history. There were only two angels in Hell—Lucifer, the ruler, and his right-hand man, Samael. Both fallen archangels, both rulers at the apex of Hell's dominion. If either of them was in my way—

I was already dead.

I tried to struggle, but it was pointless. Samael's grip didn't even tighten; it didn't need to. It was as if I was a mere speck of dust, completely at his mercy. His piercing gaze bore into me, golden irises filled with unreadable emotion.

Then, the voice in my head spoke again.

"So I miscalculated," it said, sounding more amused than worried. "I thought that since Lucifer wasn't currently in Hell, this would go smoothly. I completely forgot about Samael."

A chill ran through me.

"Forgot about—?" I started to say, but the voice cut me off.

"Charis, listen to me. I'm going to give you the exact direction you need to escape Hell. When I say run, you run."

"What?!" I shot back. "Look around! There's no direction! There's nothing here! I'm trapped—"

"Trust me. We don't have time to argue. Lucifer will learn about this soon, and once he returns, it's over. So we need to deal with Samael now."

I swallowed hard. "Deal with Samael? How the hell are we supposed to do that? He's a goddamn archangel!"

Before the voice could answer, Samael spoke.

"Little demon," his voice reverberated through the shattered space, smooth yet terrifying. "What gave thee the courage to steal something belonging to His Majesty?"

His words carried the weight of millennia, of absolute dominion, of something that should not be defied. Even my very essence trembled. My fear was suffocating, but before I could respond, a sudden force yanked me out of Samael's hand.

The archangel's golden eyes widened slightly.

"What is this?" he muttered, watching as I was pulled away from his grasp.

He raised his hand, and suddenly, I felt my existence unravel.

Pain unlike anything I had ever known crashed into me. It was as if my very being was being erased, wiped out of existence. I screamed. There was no physical wound, no fire, no chains—but this was worse. My essence was dissolving, vanishing into the abyss.

Then, out of nowhere, a new force erupted around me. An invisible shield.

"Okay, Charis," the voice commanded. "Now. Run. I'll see you on the other side."

I didn't think. I didn't hesitate.

I bolted.

Hell's reality was shattered, but the voice had assured me that space itself remained unchanged. Even in this strange void, if I followed the right path, I could still escape. I pushed myself to my limit, moving faster than ever before.

Behind me, Samael let out an enraged snarl. "Thou art not going anywhere!"

He snapped his fingers.

A wall of golden light formed in front of me, closing off my escape. My heart stopped—

—but the moment I touched it, it shattered. The same invisible force protected me.

"What manner of sorcery is this?!" Samael roared.

Then I heard something that sent ice through my core.

A scream.

The same scream I had heard before, the one that froze all of Hell. But this time—it was in agony.

I didn't dare look back. I didn't know what the voice was doing to Samael, but the very idea of an archangel—the being that could slaughter all of Hell's demons with ease—screaming in pain was beyond comprehension. It shattered everything I thought I knew about the balance of power.

Legends had always told of the Heavenly Wars—how even with a ratio of 1 angel to 10,000 demons, Hell had lost five times and barely managed to tie the other two. Angels were absurdly powerful, their very existence an antithesis to demons. Even the lowest angel could rip a high-ranking demon apart. A Hell's Knight could only dream of matching one in combat.

But now...

A single entity was overwhelming Samael.

"Who the fuck are you?" I muttered under my breath, referring to the voice.

No answer.

I reached the coordinates given to me.

An unseen force latched onto me, pulling me into a vortex. The air around me twisted, bending, warping. A deep suction force took hold of my being.

Then—

FLOOP.

I was gone.

And for the first time since I became a demon, Hell was behind me.