Chapter 2 - An Awakening

*A few minutes earlier*

The Demon kneels in chains.

Kneeling uncomfortably in chains was the Demon's favourite hobby. It had many hobbies that reflected its vast and nuanced personality, for instance it enjoyed kneeling whilst bound in chains. It was also an avid enjoyer of monologuing to itself whilst kneeling in chains.

Truly it was a creature of such sophistication.

"OH, THIS TRIPE, TRIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The Demon bellows to itself whilst it characteristically kneels in chains. " By the divine realm and the constellations above".

"I"

"AM"

"BORED!"

Of its many nuanced hobbies, the Demon preferred complaining about its situation the most, although when the choice is between breathing and the unending silence of a prison cell complaining made a lot of sense. The Demon let out an undulating groan that slipped from its craggy lips and tried to rock its head backward but the chains around its head and neck only allowed half of the action before they yanked taut. "So, help me when I get out of here if I ever see a chain again!" the Demon muttered to itself.

Suffocating silence filled the room as the Demon fell silent.

"Ahem", the Demon cleared it's throat in a very convincing impression of a cough for a being that didn't have lungs. "I will know formally begin the daily log, today's log marks entry … twelve billion three hundred and fifty-five million and one as my arbitrarily assigned day night cycle goes". The Demon cleared it's throat again, "As always I am still here, yay", the Demon's gravelly voice raised in fake joy that died as quickly as it summoned it. "Concerningly the pillars have started to talk to me, again, I would say that I suspect my mental state is reaching some kind of breaking point, but as this is the third time, I have said that and I am not even sure that I can still be qualified as sane". The Demon nodded to itself as though someone had spoken, "Fun fact, as it turns out being immortal does not render you immune to the long-term effects of sensory deprivation, but makes its wooooorse, so much worssssssssssssssssssssssse!".

The Demon turned its blind head to stare at the pillars surrounding it staring blinding at beautiful murals, "Speaking of worse, Gal would not shut up last night, I may not need to sleep but celestials above respect my made-up day night cycle! So as of today, he's officially in timeout, until I forget why he there, again, … what was I taking about?". The Demon spat a goblet of black saliva at a column where it splattered messily onto a stone mural of a great gargoyle like creature and quickly melted the stone which just as quickly remoulded itself as though nothing had happened. Gal'vorak the avatar of war a huge gargoyle like creature was currently busy being decapitated by a hooded priest and so made no response to the Demon.

Also, because it was a pillar.

"Zarkanthor as always remains in indefinite timeout you bloody traitor, so feel free to bully him Gal whilst your there, anything to make him shut up!". Zarkanthor a humanoid demon with twin curling horns holding a sword made of fire was impaling another demon made entirely of loose folds of skin bound together to form a many legged panther like creature. If a panther had three heads and a half dozen open bleeding jaws that is. Zarkanthor also gave no reply, but his depiction seemed vaguely smug.

"Does anyone else have anything to add before we continue the meeting?", the Demon paused expectantly. Unsurprisingly the pillars made no comment. Because they were pillars. And assholes.

The Demon sighed and sank into itself as much as the chains binding it would allow. Which was about an inch.

"As always in my logs I will recap my current disposition and goals to reach before the next log entry". The Demon took in a long breath, completely biologically unnecessary but pivotal to stabilising its crumbling mental state.

The Demon cleared its throat and began speaking in the monotone voice of a thirty-year-old salary worker, "For those unaware I currently sealed inside this damnable hell hole, completely unjustifiably sealed I should add!"." How is trying to destroy the world even a crime!" it added in a pouty tone.

"I will now perform the mandatory speech just in case someone actually manages to breach this seal".

The creature stopped breathing for the first time since it had begun, since it had shattered the gag made from blood of universe and smiled, the action a mockery of biological laws, its jaw twisting impossibly muscles shifting in a way that was simply not possible.

The creature smiled, teeth locking together it a parody of amusement, for it was finally time to begin. The entity straightened its back as much as it could pushing its body into a marginally more impressive and comfortable position against the chains, dust fell from the pillars as the chains groaned under the weight, but they would not break so easily. The creature turned its shackled head towards a spot where absolutely nothing stood and waited before it spoke.

"My foolish hero; my glorious seal-bearer I have waited for eternity for you, you seek power young one, the power to save the lives you cherish. I have such power".

"You need only reach inside ... and take it".

Silence filled the chamber.

"And as always, ABSOLUTELY NO ONE RESPONDS!!!".

"WHAT IN MY DIVINE BALLSACK ARE MY MORTAL FOLLOWERS DOING!!! HURRY UP AND GET ME OUT OF HERE YOU INCOMPETENT PARAMECIUMS!!". The Demon roars out is frustration in a voice that sounds like wet gravel sloshing around a container. As always, the words are doused with unimaginable rage and fury though had any mortal heard it and survived, they would have thought it sounded unbearably hollow.

The Demon falls into angry silence for a time, occasionally it tests its bonds just like it always does but the chains here will never weaken. As it has done uncounted times before and likely will do uncounted times again.

The Demon blew air out its mouth in an exhalation of depression before it began its rhythmical breathing pattern again. The Demon continues to breath in that empty space for a long time, even the Demon had no idea how much time had passed, for a long time it had passed time in its confinement by counting but once it had broken into the quadrillions, it had just become depressing. At some point it had made up a day night cycle in an effort to keep itself entertained, but with no natural light it was impossible to even speculate how much time has passed. Not that any natural light would have mattered since it's eye was bound beneath layers of chains.

After a very long it had stopped caring how long it had been in the cage. After an even longer time, it had struggled to remember what it was like outside the cage. After an even longer time it had begun to wonder if there had even been a before the cage. The Demon kneeled in chains, it joked to itself to pass the time, it raged at pillars that made no comment and fought off the eternal spectre of madness. It breathed to pass the time. It joked to itself. It knelt in chains. It breathed. It joked. It knelt.

The pattern continued for an indescribable length of time. At some point the Demon forgot what log number it was at and had to start again. After even longer the Demon began passing the time counting by how many times it had forgotten what number its log had reached. Eventually the Demon began to forget even that. Still it joked to itself, it taunted the pillars around itself, it made poor puns about its situation, it recited its speech just in case someone broke it out. It knelt. It breathed. It joked. And after an eternity, the pattern simply repeated itself for another eternity.

Until after another eternity, it changed.

When the change occurred, it was subtle. Almost unnoticeable. Had the Demon been anywhere else it never would have noticed the change. But for so long all it had done was, breathed, joked and knelt that any change to that order shined like the sun. The Demon felt the change as a subtle increase in air pressure, it froze mid-joke as it's brain registered the sudden change in stimuli. The change was so small that it was hardly worth mentioning, but it was a change.

The Demon's chained head ever so slowly rises and stares directly forward at the blank circular walls of its cell. It cocks its head to the side curiously as it stares forward at a blank wall of white nothingness. Its mouth hangs open slightly as it stares dumbly forward, it has been so long that the very concept of change stuns the Demon to its core. Ancient thoughts arise for the first time in eternities as the Demon's breathing falters for the first time in uncounted epochs.

And then it happens.

CRACK.

The demon recoils backwards yanking on its chains accidentally bending the great jade-stone pillars backwards genuinely scared for a moment. In the blank featureless white wall, a single feature has appeared. A single tiny crack radiating multicoloured rainbow light splits the wall directly in front of the Demon. It is barely a centimetre wide and three long. The tiniest crack in an otherwise uninterrupted white surface. It barely exists for a even two whole seconds. It is enough.

The Demon's reaction is instant.

The Demon roars! A tidal wave of power erupts from it's maw, energy carefully hoarded beyond the seizing grasp of the seal for millennia hurtles towards the split-second crack in the once impregnable defences.

As the crack begins to vanish the Demon's depleted power slams into it. For a few terrible heart-wrenching seconds nothing happens. Despair seizes the Demon's heart as the tenacious spectre of hope begins to vanish for the last time. Then it happens.

Crack!

The sound rings crystal clear throughout the silent space. The tiny crack splinters, a fissure growing out of the crack makes a splintering sound as another crack lances outward. Centimetre by centimetre the crack in the wall grows and grows. Slowly but then faster and faster a growing fissure in the featureless wall grows and spreads birthing new cracks and fault lines that tear open the white walls of the circular chamber in front of the Demon. Stress lines tear into the walls and more cracks spread outward from the original, the Demon feels the walls of this terrible place start to shake, softly at first but then with the strength of an earthquake the room begins shaking itself apart. The pillars holding its chains tremble as dust falls from the constellation covered ceiling as the cell is rocked to its foundations.

The Demon's maw trembles. Black fluid leaks from the chain around its eye as acidic tears leak from the monster. The Demon feels the terrible spectre of hope rise inside its black heart for the first time in uncounted epochs. The cracks in the walls continue to spread, the pillars shake as though caught in an earthquake.

Countless calculations roar through the Demon's mind as it feels rather than sees its cage begin to come apart at the seams. The Demon could feel it deep in his long-suppressed soul, the seal was breaking, the thought caused the grin on its face to spread far enough that it tore the edges of its lips. He felt the seal as it broke and his power began glacial slow returning to him, that was fine, the Demon had waited for years uncounted, it could wait a little longer before it escaped this place. "Still though", the Demon mumbled to itself, "Someone must have fundamentally disrupted the seal from the outside, but how?". The thought lingers in the Demon's mind, curiosity burns within its black heart as it tries to speculate how such a thing could be possible. Was there a flaw in its construction somewhere? Some invisible weakness somewhere? But what technique could possibly damage this place?! "And who could do such a thing?", the question slipped from the Demon's grinning maw as it watched the cracks in the wall grow with its immortal senses.

The cracks in the walls continued to grow until they form a single colossal fractal portal covering the front third of the chamber in front of the Demon. Impossibly it grins spreads further still, the sound of ripping flesh filling the air as it grins spreads beyond any biological possibility. Pure unaltered joy covers its chained face. It should say something to mark such a momentous occasion, it should make some grand statement or witty remark. The pillars agree with the Demon, one or two even offer a helpful prompt. The Demon nods to itself as it thinks, before deciding on the most appropriate words.

"Run and hide little gods, for you only ever had the one chance to stop me and you just failed".

With those final poignant words, the Demon turns towards the fractal portal and roared again. Power races outward forging a link between the Demon and the portal. The Demon's body fell limp as its consciousness darts out of its cell and tears towards the mortal world.