Chapter 3 - Anticipation

"HALLEJUH PRAISE ME I'M OUT!!!!!!!FINALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

The Demon roars in exuberant jubilation as its consciousness races out from its prison, for a split-second it feels regret in leaving its body behind, but that regret is drowned beneath a tide of unstoppable euphoria. It could always steal a new body.

"FINALLY! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!! IT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING!!!". The Demon laughs and laughs and laughs for the first time in millennia. It could never even imagine the day actually arriving! For how many eons had it felt its mind crumbling piece by piece in that abominable place, its sanity eroded iota by iota by the epochs of sensory deprivation.

But not I'm out! I'm free! My followers have finally, FINALLY freed me!

As my consciousness soars out of my real body a euphoria beyond words fills me, I feel every pent-up emotion slip away from itself as its mind travels through a starlit void. It is beautiful beyond words, the endless glory and potential of a soul made manifest before my immortal sight. I wonder what has changed whilst I have been sealed, and who has released me.

The Demon ponders if it is some sorcerer of legend who has delved too far into taboo secrets? Some cult dedicated to its revival? Perhaps a fallen angel driven to destroy the world for some unknowable reason?

What mysteries drive the soul who has freed me?

Either way they will have my eternal gratitude.

I will have to kill them last after I sterilises this unclean world.

The thought reinvigorates the Demon as the truth of its freedom strikes it again. Freed at last! "Freed at last!", it screams into the starlight void. It will at last be able to right the wrongs of the past, it would finally, finally complete its great purpose. It would save this poor blighted world and watch over its rebirth into something greater, "Something better", the Demon murmurs the words to itself as it feels itself rapidly approaching something. Slowly the shining stars around it begin to vanish leaving the Demon rapidly approaching a wall of utter darkness. Grinning it braced itself.

The Demon's consciousness races forward and slams into something, its mind crashing into the meat of another beings soul. The Demon's impact scours the soul, burning and reforging it, remoulding its exterior in its image as its mind seeps slowly inside of it. For the first time in epochs uncounted the Demon returns to the mortal realm.

It's senses seep outward pouring into its newfound host and puppet. It intermingles into every blood cell pumping through its host veins, whooping with joy it rides the electrical currents of his nervous system, it screams its song of jubilant freedom as it drives the taloned spikes of its mind into the flesh of its host brain. Electrical stimulus threatens to overwhelm the Demon as it processes every firing synapse of a human mind simultaneously. It roars at the challenge; it seizes bundles of nerves and wrenches them out of shape seizing control over them. The host tries to fight back, the duo engage in a tug of war over each firing neurone. Its host is fierce and rages against the intruder but is hopelessly outmatched and shortly overwhelmed. A strange reverberation passes through its hosts panicking thoughts as a sudden wave of power threatens to cast the Demon from it mind.

The Demon roars at the challenge and redoubles its efforts, synapses burnt out crispening within the hosts cooking mind. The host was strong, but it was far past its peak, the lactic burn of exhausted muscles stain its thoughts and its response to the incursion is already sluggish. In contrast the Demon freed for the first time in eternities is boundless, it roars in its hosts mind drowning out its thoughts, smothering sentience with nothing more than brute animalistic fury. The strange wave of power tries to recoalesce but it is too slow, the Demon drowns the gathering power with its own malign power bury the strange energy beneath a tidal wave of raw power. It's host never stood a chance.

The fight finished before it could even begin the Demon seizing control over its hosts brain as it completes the process of hijacking the human. The thought form of the Demon breathes hard, not from exertion but from the effort of trying to contain its power and not unmake its host in a single overwhelming wave of power. Still grinning it reaches out tendrils of thoughts and seizes the optic nerves of its hosts, already an irrevocable part of the vessel it begins to skin ride its new puppet. Slowly it opens its new eyes.

And what wonders great its sight.

The sky is a beautiful azure cloud drops stain the heavens like flecks of paint, the sun burns in the sky a beautiful golden orb. Unpolluted winds blow tickling my nose bringing the fresh scent of food and humanity, the hairs on my arms rise and fall as gentle as tide as the heavens welcome my return.

Sensations I had thought lost to me return in a tidal wave almost overloading my mind, it is too much, too glorious to behold! The wonder of creation, the endless myriad complexities and mysteries of this beautiful world spelled out in front of me in a cornucopia of delight. The Demon tastes the gentle flow of magic in the air, it feels the gentle heartbeat of the world slow and steady ringing in its ears, it feels the bite of the world as it instinctively tries to reject it and the shifting patterns of horror in the magic around it as the world recoils from its very presence. He feels the gaze of ancient sons and daughters all suddenly snapping to stare at him, he feels their joy, their shock and supplication, but above all he feels their hunger. He feels the clawing all-consuming hunger and their feral joy that with his return the terrible knowledge that at last they can be satisfied.

He feels the weight of those desires and expectations like a weight slamming onto his indomitable shoulders. "Soon", it promises the sound slipping from both puppet and Demon. "Soon". It turned to the world around him as he hears ancient echoing calls screech from a plane behind reality, soon the time will come when he can answer those calls. But not quite yet. First he wants to enjoy his freedom for just a little while.

For the first time in eternities, I feel tears prick at my eyes, as water leaks gently down my soft unmarred cheeks I want to laugh at the feeling of having two eyes again rather than one. At the feeling of being truly human. It is something beyond euphoria, a feeling that goes beyond words, it takes a deep breath revelling in the simple sensation of air flowing into lungs. It knows such joy cannot last but for a few moments at least the Demon wants to enjoy the world for the wonder it is, his perfect vision can spot birds flitting gently through the sky. Their bodies biological perfection crafted from ancient unending processes, slowly the Demon lets out a bone deep sigh.

Such joy cannot last, even as I stare through tear-stained eyes, I feel the familiar eternal rage stir in my heart. Fury seizes me and my new body with an indescribable intensity as I stare at this beautifully uncorrupted world. I can feel that same rage mirrored in the gazes of my beloved comrades, I feel the bloodstained face of my host twist into a macabre facsimile of a smile.

What a wonder this world will be to destroy.