Lilith

A Life Before A Living

“Have you ever thought of traveling to the human realm, Asmodeus?”

Leviathan calls out to his companion, who lays, resting in an impossible position, atop a pile of mangled demon carcasses.

Asmodeus, the most human-looking demon other than Lucifer, has two genitalia and a pair of breasts. The hermaphrodite of a demon also has cherry-red skin with a leather-like feel and look. The demon is the shortest in the group of rulers, who watch over Hell. However, what the demon lacks in height, they make up for in strength, self-proclaimed wit, and appendages. Those appendages being it’s thick long tail and two pairs of arms that operate long, sharp, hands.

Leviathan’s pile is much more grandiose. The being coils around it like a cat, nursing its kill. It was a simple affair, now finished by the newcomer who once lived in a world of c*****e. The purgatory realm, a place where all of God’s failures are trapped in a battle of survival of the fittest. Leviathan, being the biggest and strongest of the monsters, was chosen by Lucifer and given eyes so they could see outside of their pitch-black home. Now Leviathan serves Lucifer like a loyal dog, and because of this, the King of Hell favors the demon.

“Of course not, there’s nothing but ignorant humans and mindless animals there. All you could do is look around, and that sounds more boring than being locked away in this wasteland.” Asmodeus swings around a decapitated arm like a pointing stick while speaking. Once done, the precocious demon tosses it to the side, just as they tossed Leviathan’s question. Out of sight, out of mind.

In reality, the thought of traveling to Earth had been on Asmodeus’s mind before. A place of endless adventure and growth. Much more interesting than the wasteland of rubble, heat, and responsibilities where they currently lived. A devilish temptation for Asmodeus, a being who seeks pleasure more than anything else.

However, Asmodeus has faith in Lucifer, and the lustful demon knows that what had been promised would come to fruition. That promise being, that they would turn Hell into a den of sin and pleasure, just for them. A place where they would rule like Gods.

“Oh? Humans... That sounds familiar.... Wait! Isn’t that what Lucifer’s lover was, a human?” Leviathan blurts out thoughts and continues to bother the annoyed Asmodeus.

Leviathan is the strongest demon next to Lucifer. The monster looks however they please. Because of this, it would be almost impossible to identify the being’s birth form.

However, currently, Leviathan is a giant beast. The monster’s scaled with what looks like metal and fitted with a head a quarter the size of its own body. The demon’s armored and ready for a battle already won.

However, this scaling is lost as Leviathan morphs into something grotesque. The monster’s bones c***k and flesh tear only to make itself new again as it places itself in the desired spot on the monster’s shifting body.

“Is this what they look like, the humans?”

Leviathan morphed into a creature with two legs bent in three spots, the lanky limbs out of place and awkward. The monster’s torso is too short, so its stomach and chest connect like a circle rather than the more rectangular figure of a human. Their neck is split in two and connects again at the head, which again is wrong. This head is cone-shaped with an impossibly small mouth and bulging eyes, laying vertically and stacked above it. Leviathan’s arms are now like a baby’s, short, stubby, and useless; they protrude from the monster’s rounded body like a fat bird’s skinny legs.

“No, you look repulsive. Humans are not nearly as gross as you’ve presented them. I heard they look beautiful.” Asmodeus spits words like a scoff at Leviathan’s revolting display. Humans, a being that Asmodeus knows only to be praised by Lucifer, could never be so grotesque.

“They resemble Lucifer, with no wings.” Asmodeus recalls how Lucifer would musingly talk of Lilith when they were still in Heaven. Leviathan listens to its friends retort and transforms again, bones breaking and shifting.

“Like this?” Leviathan poses, laying on the ground. His body, an exact copy of Lucifer’s, which is a hundred times more appealing than the monster’s previous display of a human.

“You’re the spitting image! Try talking like Lucifer!” A few more things shuffle around in Leviathan. Once done, the monster clears its throat, readying to speak.

“Asmodeus, that’s enough! Have you done what I have told you yet? You pompous i***t!” Asmodeus stabs a displeased glare at Leviathan before pointedly turning away and walking back to the mound of carcasses the demon claimed as a bed.

“He would never say that to me.” Leviathan sighs, morphing into what resembles a large mammal but nothing completely comparable to that of the mammals inhabiting Earth.

Leviathan dons the coat and body of a leopard, the feet of a bird, a head that comprises exposed bone, poking from the skin of its neck, and finally a long whip-like tail.

“Has the headcount been completed?” Mammon floats into the expanse of scalding rock and corpses, a voice hissing like hot oil.

Mammon’s a tall demon. The being seemingly stands on two legs, composed of a diverse skeleton and a black mist that cloaks the ghastly demon like a suit. However, Mammon isn’t the skeleton at all, rather the smoke. This smoke is more like an airy goo, functioning as a gas, but comes off like a thick liquid, sticky and dense. As of now, Mammon’s greedy obsession is bones. These bones were from the decomposed carcasses of fallen angels, usually lower ranking ones that opposed the new rulers of Hell after they had lost their war against Heaven.

“No, we haven’t done a headcount. That’s Belphegor’s job.” Mammon groans, shuffling around their bones to collect another, lying on the ground. The demon preoccupied only physically continues to speak.

“What a scatterbrained fool you are. No, it isn’t. Belphegor’s supposed to take care of the sins, and you two are to do a headcount.”

Headcount, a task created by Lucifer to take a daily tally of all of his children, who die a hundred a time each day. However, this headcount is also used as a means to ensure Lucifer's vexing children stay out of trouble.

“Don’t call me the fool! You’re the one who assumed I would do anything you said. Let alone use all the energy it takes to pay attention to you.” Mammon ignores the blood-red demon’s remark, taking themselves back to whence they came. After Mammon is out of sight, Leviathan moves, shuffling away.

“Where are you fleeing to?” Leviathan, in a quick disgusting sounding development, turns into a giant serpent. As the beast slither away, Asmodeus takes off into the air, landing on the Leviathan’s back.

“I can’t fathom why you wouldn’t want to do Headcount. It’s a simple and entertaining job.” Asmodeus makes a mewl of a sound at Leviathan’s prying questions, lounging on the serpent’s body.

“We can’t kill them, no matter how bothersome they are. I feel as though they’re holding a secret, and they won’t share it with me. Their stingy behavior makes me want to tear them apart more and more day by day. This sin of mine is making me ravenous.” Leviathan doesn’t speak for a moment. The sound of the monster’s massive body scraping against the ground and moving rocks out of the way permeating the air.

“I think I know of what you’re talking about. There is a hut I’ve seen before and they refuse to let me near it. Like they’re concealing it. Last time I saw it, a couple of them were guarding it. I didn’t think any of it because I don’t care enough to pry into their lives. But if you find interest in it, I think we should impregnate their fortress. They might have something.”

As they near the hill that Lucifer’s children normally populate, the pair see that none of them are encompassing it as they normally would. Instead, all you can see in the distance is a fort and a large crowd surrounding it.

The hut in question is made of the hardened rocks surrounding this barren land. It was welded together with the lava puddles that form; it looks sturdy. Leviathan bands around the group encasing them with the serpent’s length. However, the demons don’t show any signs of concern. Instead, all of them are more entranced with the building.

Asmodeus stands a good five feet above the rest of them when on top of Leviathan. “Let us make this quick, bastards! How many are there of you today!” A demon with long white hair, light tan skin, and her father’s eyes turn around and jump, flying to land on top of Leviathan. The female demon has a long black leathery tail and black leathery wings twice the size of her body.

“There are two hundred million, and one.” Asmodeus looks at her with a hesitant confusion on his face. “Which one of you has bred, and with whom?” The girl smiles, sliding off Leviathan, flying over the crowd, and pushing her way into the house. Subsequently ignoring and answering the demon’s question.

“I didn’t know they could procreate.” Asmodeus thinks about what Leviathan has said and nods.

“I was certain they couldn’t.” Asmodeus slides down and pushes through the children.

As soon as Asmodeus gets to the entrance of the molting hut the children encompassed, the woman who approached the demon before smiles, warm and alarmingly inviting. “She’s ready for you.”