deepblackdreaming – Page 4 – The Shogun of Sorrow

deep-black-dreaming

“I um,” it was almost embarrassing to talk about. The falling sensation making her breath hitch mid sentence and make her rethink how she was going to word it.

“Its a ring.” she answered. “Being rainy gave me the idea to hide it in a hole. And this is the most familiar place to me aside from the hotel we’re staying at. It’s complicated.”

‘I see…,’ he said with an undertone of suspicion. But if Casper thought she could dodge the question that easily, she was wrong.

‘Why do you feel you must hide this ring? And with such urgency. Is it stolen?’ he guessed. ‘Cursed? Why else do you seek to be rid of it?’

deep-black-dreaming

“N-no,” she panted heavily. “I just needed a proper hiding spot.” she answered. “F-for now.” she slumped against Aku’s tree stump, taking the time to catch her breath finally. “Sorry.”

Aku growled softly under his breath. There was nothing in this world that didn’t seem to irritate him, no matter how small.

‘Very well but do not forget it here.’ There was no particular reason behind the warning other than Aku being his usual grumpy self.

As Casper rested against his trunk, he radiated visions of darkness at her — tendrils of black and two massive clawed hands curling toward her as if to grab her and pull her into the tree. It might give her a brief sensation of falling but nothing more.

‘What is it you are hiding and why?’ he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

deep-black-dreaming:

unspeakablyevil:

@deep-black-dreaming

The sky above was gray and a light rain fell across the barren landscape. Aku was still there, locked away inside his prison just as he’d been the day before, his hatred quietly radiating toward the palace in the distance. Much of his time was spent this way, hating the Emperor, hating humans and the Gods.

He wondered if he would ever taste freedom again. He wondered if the power he felt building inside would be enough to break free. And if it wasn’t, how long could he continue to exist like this before madness set in? …He wondered if Casper really would return to visit him again.

Return she did, bolting through the rain as if running from something or someone. Casper’s distress was evident on her face when she finally arrived, panting heavily, indicating she hadn’t stopped to catch her breath until she got back to Aku. Her breathlessness stole her words, so she dropped to the muddy ground around the great tree and dug a hole.

Fingernails filled with dirt as she desperately dug the hole, reaching into her skirt pocket she removed a lovely amethyst adorned golden band and dropped it into the hole. Quickly as she dug it she buried it with the same air of desperation.

She was clearly running from this commitment.

@deep-black-dreaming

Aku observed in silence as Casper approached his tree in a panic. It was as if she was being pursued and yet he saw no one trailing after her. She was in luck, for the rain had softened the hard earth around his prison enough that it could be easily dug.

The trapped demon watched as she dug a hole, then as she slipped a hand into her pocket and buried something in the dirt. Whatever it was had been too small to properly see. Soon, he was directing his suspicious thoughts at her:

‘What was that? It better not have been garbage. I am no dumpsite!’

@deep-black-dreaming

The sky above was gray and a light rain fell across the barren landscape. Aku was still there, locked away inside his prison just as he’d been the day before, his hatred quietly radiating toward the palace in the distance. Much of his time was spent this way, hating the Emperor, hating humans and the Gods.

He wondered if he would ever taste freedom again. He wondered if the power he felt building inside would be enough to break free. And if it wasn’t, how long could he continue to exist like this before madness set in? …He wondered if Casper really would return to visit him again.

deep-black-dreaming

“Maybe, but it sure passes the time.” she acknowledged. “I’ll be coming back while I’m here, if you’ll permit it, oh evil one.” she stood, dusting herself off.

“Gotta go back before he blows up my phone and decides to take away the hotel room key.” she picked up her sketchbook. “Ultimate evil or not, hang in there, okay?”

‘You say these things as if I have a choice,’ came the demon’s unhappy grumbling. The rolling of his eyes was nearly audible. Like it or not, he would be here whenever she decided to visit him next, forever and always.

‘Now off with you. And have a horrible, rotten, NO-GOOD DAY!’

deep-black-dreaming

“He doesn’t know where I am, but he does think I’m sick on some level.” she answered. “He brought me here on his dime, I shouldn’t be wandering around, but I left a note. He’ll live.” she concluded.

“If this is madness, then I don’t want to change, it’s the most normal I feel as far as anything. Changing that would be sickness I think.”

‘Perhaps he would rather see you as sick than believe in that which you see and speak. And so here you are, seeking refuge in the company of supreme Evil instead of the ones you love.’

The demon growled in disgust at the word. L o v e. Ech!

‘What a foolish waste of time and emotion. It breeds nothing but weakness. ’

deep-black-dreaming

Yes it was painful, but still she didn’t scream, she had asked for this. Casper didn’t deserve the luxury of crying out in agony. Barely deserved to cry as she was. They say that burning alive was the worst pain a human could suffer before dying. But she didn’t sway, didn’t stop from keeping her lips sealed.

Casper sobbed out a cough, but nothing more, eyes going back up to Aku.

Though no words were spoken, she just took in the visage of her captor and tormentor, every beautiful expression he wore like that of a dream.

Was this a dream?

Would it hurt so bad if it was?

The demon played with her for a few more minutes but it soon became obvious that a scream was not forthcoming. She didn’t seem to have it in her and Aku’s interest was waning fast. Finally, after breathing upon her with his fire breath, he opened his jaws wide and surged forward to devour her whole. Darkness suddenly descended upon her once again and the flames were gone.

The next time Casper opened her eyes, she would find herself in a much more hospitable place. No longer was she in the Pit of Hate but instead she lay at the foot of Aku’s throne.

deep-black-dreaming

Still she didn’t scream, in her mind it was twisted, broken. But she didn’t scream.

Casper looked up at Aku, tears in her eyes despite the ever persistent heat.

“M-mercy.” she forced out from her tightened throat.

“Heh heh heh, what’s that you say?” The flaming visage of Aku turned its head as if he hadn’t heard the barely audible plea. “Mercy?” he repeated, grinning wide with fiery, flickering fangs. “I know nothing of it.”

Again, he laughed over the roaring flames. For a moment it seemed as if he might grant her request and the inferno drew away from Casper, dying down a bit. The flaming outline of Aku’s face, however, continued to hover there before her, still wearing an expression of wicked amusement.

For all her obvious pain, he had noticed the lack of screams. All other beings that had come before her in the Pit of Hate had screamed their throats raw in the first few moments. It was unusual that this one remained so silent and Aku saw it as a sort of challenge. What could he do to make her break that silence?

The fiery demon opened his maw and out slid a forked tongue of orange flame long enough to coil around her. He lashed it across her body once, twice. Then he dragged it slowly upward from her chest to her face and back down again, leaving flames and pain in its wake.

deep-black-dreaming

A traditional witch burning. Casper couldn’t deny the surprise she felt when the torture shifted to something so medieval. Suffocation, burning, what came next. Casper couldn’t help but watch the flames as they rose higher and higher, it made her heart race, yet she remained silent. Sweat trickling down her face, why couldn’t she scream?

Because she did it to herself? Was she really so far gone?

Casper couldn’t even gauge for herself why she was like this, she wanted to scream. But it just wouldn’t come, her mind only spoke time and time again that it was her fault so she should just take it.

But why?

“Why?” she muttered against the roar of the flames.

The flames were lapping at her feet now and climbing along the stake behind her until they spread along the cross to which she was bound. Before long, the fire was catching her hair and her clothes. And then it was on her, engulfing her entire body in the inferno.

But as much as the searing heat burned her skin and made the flesh bubble, her body was not reduced to charred flesh and ash. No, Aku’s magic would not allow her body to die or find escape from the pain. It forced her to persist in the face of what would naturally kill her. And it would force her to persist for as long as Aku desired — hours, days, even centuries.

But after about 5 long minutes of letting his guest roast, Aku’s jeering laughter reverberated from the Pit itself. From the flames surrounding Casper, an outline of Aku’s grinning face emerged and hovered in the burning air before her.

“Had enough yet?” he asked, taunting her.

deep-black-dreaming

“Trust me, if I could release you just to prove a point, I would.” she assured, people would suffer, but she would for the sake of her own sanity. No one, not even her boyfriend believed her. It was enough to drive a person absolutely mad.

Amusement was the last feeling Aku expected to get out of this encounter but here it was. Inside his prison, inside his mind, he grinned.

‘A bit wicked, aren’t we? Or perhaps a bit mad.’ Whichever the case may be, she seemed trapped in a Hell of her own. Again the visions came through her point of contact with the blackened tree. A great mass or darkness surrounded an unknown sun and its satellite worlds and extinguished both light and life as it swallowed them whole.

‘What about that human male who I’ve seen escorting you? Does he know where you are? Does he think you’re crazy too?’