The Goddess of the Under Realm

“You will never reign supreme! No self-respecting demon would follow orders from a weak w***e like you!”Olio breathed his last words as  I was holding him by the throat, crushing his larynx. I heard the cries of other demons in the underworld screeching and wailing in terror. I finished him off with my claws, dug deep into his throat, and ripped it apart. Blood was everywhere and the assistant demon was watching me from behind a pillar about to be next. I threw Olio’s body from the throne and to my feet as I took my proper place on my new throne.  I was now the leader of the underworld. A female reigning the underworld from here on out. I didn’t care who or how many demons I needed to kill to keep my reign, I would do it. Men like Olio and Alexander are monsters and disgusting, putrid creatures.  “Alexander, I know you are hiding behind that pillar! Come forth. NOW!” I commanded in a stern, venomous tone. Now that I was the Goddess of the Under realm, he had to follow my orders whether he chose to or not. I am the ruler, so when I bark a command, my subjects are compelled to follow even if it is not their will. In the Under Realm, there is no free will unless I grant it. The sniveling conniving bastard stepped out from behind the pillar and begrudgingly obeyed my command, standing at my feet by his previous master's dead body, his face at first horrified, and then it contorted into anger for me. “I do not know who you think you are gazing upon, but I would wipe that look off your face before I do it for you. I am your Goddess now BOW! Pledge yourself to me or you will see a similar fate to your old wretched master!” If I made the right-hand demon bow before and pledged his loyalty to me, then there would be no contenders to challenge me as the rest of the Under Realm would follow his judgment. If he chose not to comply, I would simply get rid of him. What is another body?  “You! You wretched skank! You dare to demand me, the right-hand Demon Lorde, to pledge and bow before a useless being who means nothing to the Under Realm I sh-” Alexander was cut off mid-sentence as I exercised one of my many powers of cutting off his air supply and twisting his neck until it snapped off and then another lifeless body was at my feet. If he didn’t want to comply, fine I had no use for him. I stood up and inhaled deeply, tilted my bloody face upwards, and let out the loudest, most blood-curdling scream anyone had ever heard from the depths of the Under Realm to the highest tops of the Heavens. I. Am. God. Thousands of demons, tortured souls, and servants entered my throne room and I took a seat again, waiting to see how many had heeded my call. As I gazed upon my audience, I saw a fallen angel in the midst, a few of them actually. Fallen angels who had once served the Heavens. If they served the self-serving Gods, then they wouldn’t be here. I found interest in this. It wasn’t typical for them to follow many of the Under Realms' needs or commands. This intrigued me. Fallen angels typically liked to live their immortal sentences on the Earth with humans, in hopes of winning back their place in the Heavens eventually. I was curious to know why they chose to come to my call. I stood to address the sea of thousands of faces, some supernatural, some pure demons, and some although few mortals.  “As you can all see, Olio and Alexander are dead for good. I slayed the pathetic excuses of ‘leaders’ of the Under Realm and you all before me will now be serving me. The Goddess of the Under Realm.” I could see some confusion and concern in those many faces, some whispering to others besides them as I took a breath to speak again. “My reign is supreme and I will demand to be shown respect and treated as your true Goddess. Follow me and there will be no more pain for those of you who have been oppressed and beaten down by Olio and his lackeys. I give you this one opportunity to bow and pledge yourself to me, Goddess Malia of the Under Realm!” I paused, there was silence and then one of the Fallen angels stepped forward. He was a fine specimen, tall, olive-toned skin with dark hair and bright green eyes. He was not wearing a shirt exposing his chiseled torso and hip bone line, he was wearing dark denim jeans-almost black.  He stepped forward and knelt with his arm across his chest facing me. “My queen Malia, Goddess of the Under Realm, I pledge myself to serve you and devote myself to you fully in every way to serve you until you deem otherwise.” I nodded, gazing down slightly. I motioned with my hand for him to raise up and he did so. Then he turned to the crowd and began addressing them. “We should all pledge ourselves to this beautiful creature who has risked her own immortal life to be with us and guide us as a sorry excuse for-a God Olio was nothing but a s*x-fiending tyrant. All hail Queen Malia, Goddess of the Under Realm!” The crowd cheered and followed his lead, yelling in unison “Hail Queen Malia!” They all knelt before me and he turned back to me kneeling.  “You are all dismissed, I need 2 servants to dispose of these disgusting excuses for men's bodies and make sure it is ground up and burned, and force the rapists to eat the ashes of these ‘men’, as they should taste what their fates truly hold in the Under Realm.” Most of the beings that had been in the throne room began leaving and 2 servants grabbed the bodies and dragged them off to the Under Realm's unforgiving eternal flame room. The fallen angel still knelt before me and it was just him and I. “Stand. Tell me your name and tell me what your concern is here in the Under Realm?” I demanded to know why he and several other fallen had wanted to join me.  He stood and smirked looking wicked, but not in a threatening way, but in a mischievous way. Usually, I detested the sight of a man trying to be my equal, but something about him made me feel comfortable, at least in the sense that he wasn’t against me. “Your highness I-” “Do not address me that way when we are alone. If you must address it, use my name Malia. You will be right-hand support and rally for me when the time comes. Now answer my question. What are you and the others doing in the Under Realm?” I was risking a great deal offering not only my trust but a chance at real power for someone I knew nothing about his true intentions or why he was here. It was a test to see if it was a chance at the power he was after. He brought his eyes to meet mine and took a deep breath, then began chuckling.  “Do you always speak that way to someone who just helped you secure your reign?” He looked smug and like he was trying to playfully challenge me. As if I needed his help securing my throne, my place above the other demons. I could do that all on my own. Hades wanted me to be in this place after himself as he didn’t desire to rule forever as the Gods had sentenced him to. It did make it easier though when the Fallen endorsed me.  “Do not patronize me. I do not need the help of the scum of the Heavens and I certainly didn’t need you to secure my throne as it is rightfully mine. Last chance to tell me what you are doing here before I force you to tell me and then I will do exactly what I just did to Olio to you. What the hell are you doing here?” I fixed him with a glare that would normally strike absolute terror into my victims, but he seemed unphased. I am annoyed by this, to say the least, as it would be terrible to kill my main supporter after he did ‘help’ me as he put it. It would make me a ruler who uses the fear of others to rule and that is not what I wanted to be. That is how Olio did things and I will never be the same as him when I know I am 100x the demon he was.  The Fallen then met my icy glare with an almost humored look in his eyes before he spoke saying, “Malia. The other Fallen and I are after the one thing I think you would know if you are as you put the ‘rightful’ ruler of the Under Realm. Perhaps we should discuss this in a more private place? Away from… All of this?” He vaguely gestured using his hands and looked around. I had no idea what he was referring to, but I could sense that there were prying eyes near and the walls had ears so I will humor him I suppose.  “Fine. Meet me in my quarters. 600th floor, room 66.” I said with a curious grin of my own seeing if he would take the bait. He stepped back, outstretched his arm and told me to lead the way. I stood up from my throne and descended the few steps that led down to the floor of the great room. There were flames engulfing the great room and it smelled of iron from all the blood that had never been cleaned up from the floor of the room because Olio always thought that it was intimidating to others who came here, his subjects included. I hated the stench on any given day to tell you the truth, but today it did serve my purpose. I would have to have a new decorator and architect come in and help refine the Under Realm palace. I missed the Earth side of the world because they had normal structures and beautiful buildings that had been preserved and looked dignified and that is how I intended for this place to soon look. I always hated how Olio would keep this realm looking archaic and barbaric. I stepped into the elevator where one of the lowest level demons was sitting on a stool in a bellhop uniform next to the button panel. She was short with a blonde bob and small bone structure in the face. Most demons nowadays didn’t stay in their true forms because they liked how the humans looked so many would incorporate those features on themselves.  “Which floor, Queen Malia?” Squeaked the tiny demon. It was rare that a demon would squeak anything, but today was different as I had just slaughtered the last ruler and his right hand. I gave the woman a small grin to encourage her to calm herself and she looked a little less uncomfortable. She must be new or at least new to being a demon.  “Floor 600, please. What is your name?” She quickly keyed the button panel for the proper floor and relaxed a little although still nervous. She then stood up off of her stool and was a mere 4’11” maybe, much shorter than me and looked up at me.  “My name? You care about my name?” She slowly enunciated each word and her eyes were glistening, threatening to dribble tears out but she held it in as Olio probably forced anyone with weakness to be put to permanent death. I said nothing but nodded my head slowly trying to be patient with her as she is probably terrified. “Lorde Olio never provided me a name, he said a low-level demon like me didn’t deserve to bother with the power of a name..” I smiled a smile of pity for her. “Well, I think you should name yourself in that case. What do you want to be called or known by?” I said, shrugging my shoulders, trying to be encouraging. She looked down for a minute thinking with her index finger tapping her chin taking her time. After what felt like an hour she looked up at me excitedly.  She puffed her chest out and raised her head looking accomplished, she said “Sherrice. I want to be known as Sherrice.” I smiled.  “Sherrice it is then. Have a seat. How about we go shopping in the human realm together sometime, Sherrice?” Sherrice climbed back up onto her stool as I asked this, she was smoothing her uniform out to free it of wrinkles.  “That would be amazing! I can’t wait, thank you Queen Malia!” she said enthusiastically now starry eyed with happiness. I may be the Goddess of the Under Realm, but I am not a heartless monster. In truth the only reason I took the Under Realm and slaughtered Olio was because I refuse to believe that demons have no soul or heart so to speak. We can be kind and loving and there is no reason to cause others horrendous misery and unhappiness if they don’t deserve it. Olio, on the other hand, was cruel and would rule with an iron fist, he was only the second ruler the Under Realm had ever had as Hades himself was the first. I missed Hades. I admired him because he wasn’t a monster, he simply did his job the best way he could, but he was compassionate and kind to his demons and servants. That enraged Olio that Hades had been adored and loved by merely all of the Under Realm, Olio believed that not only should people and supernaturals who did wrong be tortured for all eternity, but that anyone who wasn’t a pure demon or who was imperfect should be treated as worthless scum. Olio overpowered Hades and took his place of him on the throne a mere 4,000 years prior to today. Not many respected Olio or the way he gained the throne as it was commonly believed he underhandedly and unfairly took the throne because Hades was granted true immortality by the Gods when he was initially given the Under Realm so he was not supposed to be able to be put to permanent death whereas all other demons would be able to face a permanent death. The suspicion was never confirmed of course, Alexander made sure of that. Demons believe it or not had a lot of integrity and dignity when it came to rules and regulations and didn’t like when the laws or rules were broken by others.  We arrived at floor 600 and I got off of the elevator, the handsome Fallen was trailing me closely saying nothing. What is it that he had mentioned in the great room? I was unaware of any special item or thing that I needed to be after. I walked to the end of the long hallway and there was a dead end and a plain red wall at the very end of the hall. The fallen looked confused, he looked to the left and right as there were 2 doors on the entire hallway one labeled 65 and 67 but no 66. I loved bringing anyone to this room because they were always perplexed. I hadn’t shown this room to anyone though in thousands of years as I never wanted Olio or Alexander finding it. He looked me in the eye, “I know I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I see only 2 rooms, 65 and 67. Where is 66?” He ruffled his hair concerned feeling dumb. Good serves him right for assuming I was supposed to know what his riddle meant earlier. I let out a weak laugh and gestured to the plain red wall.  “It is right here, can’t you see it?” I gestured my hand in front of the wall where there was nothing. He looked so confused. This was entertaining. He was so nervous, probably thinking I lost my marbles. I faced the wall and said the enchantment making the plaque 66 appear and a cut out of a door appeared. His eyes widened.  “Okay. Good to know. But how did you do that?” Whenever I said the chant if there was anyone present the magic of the chant made it seem silent to anyone else's ears except the one saying it. It was a protection I had put on this room so that it could be used as an emergency room for hiding, or panicking, or if you had things you didn’t want anyone to have access to. Room number 65 belonged to Olio and room number 67 belonged to Alexander, they had searched for room 66 for their entire reign and could never find it. Only true rulers of the Under Realm knew about this room and could access it, as Hades had had it hexed and spelled by the first ever mage in existence Heldia. Hades had shown me this room once and allowed me to know of its existence because few knew this but Hades had wanted me to rule the Under Realm and had offered to hand me the title of Goddess of the Under Realm a few hundred years before Olio had ripped his existence away from us all. I was taking a huge risk exposing this room to the Fallen, but my intuitions were rarely wrong and I felt I could truly trust this one. In fact, in my 10,000-year existence, my intuition and visions only steered my wrong one time, but I think that was user error. A costly error.  I swung open the door and gestured for the Fallen to walk in. He looked hesitant. “It’s not a trap I swear,” I said smiling and he shrugged and walked in the door. He stopped mid-step and just marveled and I followed, sealing the door behind myself. I knew it was a lot to take in for someone who wasn’t familiar with the room. In the room there are beautiful marble floors and a breathtaking painted ceiling with the lore of the Under Realm painted on it. There was a sitting area, a dining area, a full chef's kitchen, 8 bedrooms each with private bathrooms, and Hades’ office and conference room. “You can pick your jaw up off the floor and follow me.” “How did you do that? What is this place? A penthouse? A penthouse in Hell?” He said, wandering over to the couch. I sat across from him in the recliner and just stared for a second deciding how I would answer without revealing too much before getting my questions answered.  “Ah ah ah. Answer my questions first. What were you referring to that you didn’t want others to hear? Why are you here really?” I leaned into the recliner, my eyes watching his body language carefully to ensure I could trust what he was about to tell me would not be a lie.  “The reason I am here is the same reason why you killed Olio and his henchman. Because Hell needs reform and we need a formidable leader to make that happen. When I heard that you were trying to overthrow Olio and had been working on it I was waiting until you took the throne back because that is the first sign that things are in motion for the final war to end all wars between good and evil and start to make amends to being partners again. I’ve watched you for years now, I started paying attention a couple of months before Hades was defeated.” I winced slightly hearing a Fallen talking about the final death of Hades. He relaxed into the couch stretching his arms across the back, and leaning against the cushions in a way that indicated he was trying to relax. His open body language told me that he has nothing to hide.  “What war? What you're talking about is like a.. A peace? Between Heaven and Hell? We are at peace now I thought. The Gods have not interfered with anything here even when I thought it necessary as Hades was supposed to be the one being powerful enough not to ever suffer a final death. This doesn’t make sense!” I said exasperated and confused, was this Fallen trying to play games with me? He moved over to the bar cart across the room so swiftly and smoothly it caught me off guard as I was lost in my own thoughts. He poured himself a whiskey neat and sauntered over to me with a glass the same as his. “No thank you, What is your name?” I said standing up now, meeting him almost eye to eye. I stood an average height of 5’8” and he was a good 7” taller than myself, probably around 6’3”.   He took his seat again and set his glass down on the coffee table between the recliner and couch, leaning his elbows on his knees and his hands interlaced with each other, looking serious, but like he was searching for a way to speak. I sat down back on the recliner this time on the edge of the seat. “Have you ever heard of the prophecy of the reciprocity of the moon? It is said in Heaven, it is the first great prophecy told by the first ever mage and the Gods say that it was never meant to come to pass as it would cause the heavens to collapse under the pressure of the fist of the child of Hades and because of this collapse it would cause a tear in the fabric of time and space and all of humanity and the supernatural world and the Heavens would be engulfed in the darkness and heat of Hell. The first mage was created by the Gods, as a pure and infertile being that was forced to serve only them for millennia, but the mage couldn’t help herself wanting more freedom and a family. The Gods gave her a choice; she could come and go between the Earth realm and the Heavens if she wedded Zeus and be granted fertility by the Goddess Hera. The mage refused their offer because she had fallen in love with the one of the Gods and had relations with him. You guessed it, it wasn’t Zeus and this caused great anger and jealousy between the Gods as they all agreed the beautiful mage was to be pure and untouched. So, she ran away from the Heavens and tried to hide on the Earth realm before humans were there and it was a world of the supernatural, the other Gods searched high and low for them and threatened to banish the supernatural to the pits below the Earth if they were caught harboring the now fugitives. So, eventually one sleazy supernatural Mechi, a changeling, turned them in. When Zeus learned of this he was so angry that he opened up a pit that split Earth open and he threw all those helping them along with Hades, the first mage’s love and the first mage herself in the pit and sentenced Hades to rule the Under Realm and to accept the people and creatures that were not holy enough for the heavens for one reason or another.” As the Fallen finished explaining his tale I took a sip from his glass he had placed on the table. “Hey! I offered to pour you one, this one is mine.” He said, attempting to snatch it out of my hands like a petulant child.  “Technically this alcohol and glass are mine anyway and I don’t recall you asking to have it, so I will drink what I want.” I said snottily and took a sip. “You never answered me, what is your name?” I wasn’t going to react to anything he would tell me until I had everything I wanted.  “Titan, but my name when I was Earthside my name I picked was Angelo. I actually prefer my chosen name over my given one.” He said as he walked back to the bar cart and poured himself another drink, this time scotch on the rocks. “Which brings us to now. It was all believed to be nothing but a rumor that the child was real and that the child was said to be a myth up until the last few hundred years of Hades' life. The child that was to never be has been and has taken…. Her rightful place as the Goddess of the Under Realm.” I began shaking, confused and torn. I was not the child of Hades or the first mage. There was no way, it is impossible the mage was infertile.  “You are bull shitting me now. What you are saying is impossible! There is no chance that Hades had a child. He was madly in love with Persephone before I was here and that ended because the selfish b***h wasn’t about it all because he technically kidnapped her and kept her here for a few thousand years. There was no other love for Hades. Plus, I don’t have parents. I just am.” I was so confused and kind of shocked, but also kind of scared. What he was telling me is impossible. The lore of Hell was literally painted on this ceiling…But had I really looked at the painting from a history perspective? As an entirety? Angelo showed up two seconds ago and is schooling me? “Angelo, I don’t think that what you’re saying is possible or true, but if it was, what does that have to do with the Fallen coming here?”  He was looking at me seriously, not a change in his expression or tone. “Heaven doesn’t want peace, they want separation. The Gods do not want to see you rise to the great power you are meant to be. You are not just destined for here. You are destined to rule over all. You have more power than they do. You are the key to balance. The Gods banished us to an Earth sentence so I want the rightful leader to reign. The first step is rallying behind you and helping you defeat Zeus and the other Gods. We first have to find the first mage.”  “Angelo, I don’t want to rule the Heavens, I didn’t even want to rule the Under Realm. The only reason I took the throne was because Olio was out of control. You and the Fallen are free to stay here as long as you wish, but I will not be chasing anything. I have no desire to pursue any chaos and I will not engulf humanity and the supernatural into the fist of Hell. I need a right-hand man I can trust fully and I feel like you are that person so if you would like to stay, I need you to be a Lorde.”  “ You may not want that now, but there is no stopping the first prophecy. The only thing we can do is prepare you for it. They will come for you, your life is not safe and it won’t be ever now that you have risen to power because Zeus wants to eliminate the child of Hades and the first mage. Zeus will bring the fight here once he figures it out, and the signs have already begun showing that you are the child. If you don’t want to pursue it the rest of the Fallen and myself have pledged ourselves to you and are protecting you. I will take up my post as your Lorde, but just know my first priority is to prepare you for your destiny.”