So You Summoned a Soulmate

Chapter 4 - 𝔭

What the f**k do these prisoners have to complain about anyway? They’re always griping about ‘I’m not supposed to be here’ or ‘I’m innocent’. They cry through the walls when they hear me walk by as if I will care one little bit about their turmoil. Or like I have any say in their punishments, I just work here. Hell, I’m basically imprisoned here alongside them all. I’m just on the outside of the cell, but I’m still locked in this big-ass never-ending maze of cell blocks. Still cast to this dimension to toil away as a guardian of Hell’s prisons for all of eternity.

It’s not all the rocks though. For instance, I do have my own cell with a bed. At least I’m not like some of the other beings that are guardians — a few of them knew a life of freedom before they sold their souls for one reason or another. That would be the worst. At least I was created fully formed, all I know is this prison. These walls and rules are everything that makes up my life – if you can call it a life. It’s pretty f*****g boring since I’m not one of the guards who take prisoners to their torture assignments. I just make sure they are all in their cells as I do my rounds every couple of hours. Always at different times, ya know, so they can’t plan on me.

I’ve been having these dreams for a while though, it's just all black water surrounding me. Warm though, so I’m not freaking out when I pull my hand up and I can’t see the red of my flesh through the murky dark water. I don’t know what it means, it’s been haunting me for days now. Maybe it could be that I need to read the gruel that they serve us and not just pick at it. I’m demonic so I don’t really need the sustenance but breaking up the monotony of my endless days with regular activities has really helped stave off the boredom.

I walk silently down the corridor, trying to avoid the moaning of prisoners that are alerted to my presence as I make my way to my cell. I guess I should call it a room or something, but it’s a cell with a nicer bed in it. Why should I disillusion myself that I am anything but a prisoner here – when I know I’ll never escape?

This hallway is my routine.

This prison is my home.

This dimension is my prison.

When some of the other guards talk about their past lives — of the grass that is green or the skies that are orange where they came from — I long to escape. I know I shouldn’t, that it’s a waste of time, but I still do. My mind just wanders when I lay here in my bed like I’m doing now. Thinking about what it could be like in another dimension. Seeing different places, having the freedom to come and go as I please, but mostly never having to see these gray walls again. It’s a waste but an infernal can dream.

Almost imperceptibly I hear a whisper. c*****g my head to the closed door I jump to my feet and run to the endless hallway but there isn’t a sound echoing through its chambers. Slowly I relax my stance and settle myself back into my cell -uh room. The voice calls out again, to my soul. Glancing around I don’t see anyone here, there are only the gray walls of my cube. Where is the whisperer and how did they get free from their cell?

My heart beats loudly in my chest as I think of the consequences of letting someone escape the prison, death, or slavery in the Colosseum. There is no way in all of Hell that I’m letting that befall me. No one gets out on my watch. Eyes tracking the room I’m waiting for another whisper, just the tendril of a noise when the crashing of water meets my ears.

What the f**k?

Standing in my cell I’m swallowed by invisible water. Holding my breath I thrash about as the whispering becomes louder.

Come to me my soulmate.

The one meant to match my life force with their own.

Come find me across the dimensions, across the timelines, howsoever far it may be, come find me.

Interested and terrified I thrash to get out of the water as I feel myself being lifted. Pulled this way and that. How is this water in my cell and who is calling through it to me? A soulmate? For me? I doubt I even have a soul to match with another being.

As the water pulls me away, through some dimensional rift or another I realize I don’t have to hold my breath and I spend the time plotting. I can use this freedom to my advantage. Live the life I never got to have here in Hell, at least until they started tracking me down. They always do come for what they think is theirs, but I’ll make them regret that choice. Smiling I relax and let the waters take me away until they plop me down into the early morning hours of a small multi-room dwelling. I immediately move to the large glass openings and see that the sky is a dark blue being lit up orange by a bright sun. I wonder how many suns this dimension has. I can’t keep the smile from my lips as I catalog my new surroundings.