Of Demons and Reptiles.

Samuel Urbanetto

        They held me in their gold-lined jails, those rhinestone eyed lizard-like men. They mocked me with their grim and glint of jewels which made their teeth. The Reptiles, as I’d come to call them, were vile things, their mere glance filled my body with hate. It was then I understood why I’d been told about them, why I’d heard tales of their regalities and glamours in the darkest of lights. Lizard-like men made of nothing but expensive zirconium, their eyes made mockery of all they saw and of their own owners. I’d come to despise those most despicable beings, yet as I stood, no better was I, than those shimmering freaks.

        Just when hope was nearly lost, it was then that I’d felt a most shivering air breathe upon my neck, a being whose smugness was only rivaled by that of the Reptiles themselves, he flew outside my jail cell, on air stiffer than the bars which held me, flew like he was eternally in freefall, like he tried to slow his descent. I jolted to the bars, with violent force held onto them and shouted at him, the lizard-like men frozen in place, perhaps too shocked by the realization someone could be as pompous as they, maybe even more.

        - Get me out! - I shouted at him, a plea to which he answered with laughter as he began to face me. - I can not tell who’s the biggest fool, you, or that sickly idiot. I am of no help to you, vermin like these stand no fucking chance even against someone such as you, realize it and go back home! - The slick Demon known to me only as David flew away with haunting, gaudy laughter, and after him the Reptiles chased, with war cries and screams, flung themselves down the halls, in a lust for violence and a shimmering end.

        The remaining lizards kept in mockery with their garbled tongue, pointed and laughed, idiots all of them. Idiots who’d walk right up to my bars, idiots who’d hold onto them to bless me with their choking laughs, idiots who despite being taller than me, would still leave their heads just in reach for me to grab them, idiots who grew silver spikes on the back of their heads, spikes not painful enough to stop me from smashing their heads against the bars until their skulls caved and the bars broke, now shaped like the skull of a Reptile.

        The others ran over as they heard and witnessed the scene, ran over to watch the ape capable of murdering their kin, ran to watch as it grabbed the spear of their fallen comrade and with it levered open the door to the gilded cage. Their egos were sized to match their own planets, their brains the same as geckos. Harrowed screams of their comrades filled the halls, the lizard-like men shouted over each other as they watched me run, they had my trail of red breadcrumbs, they were too afraid to come after me. The Demons were there among us, even just David’s mere presence froze them, the Demon whomst never touched now flew among them in extended and distorted mockery.

        David flew east, I ran west, wherever he got in through, I’d use it as an exit. I ran through the white halls, encrusted hides now under my feet, it didn’t take long for them to lead me to David’s entrance, a majestic breach on their castle’s walls, dust still flew in the air, highlighting shafts of light created by the three moons above us, moons excavated by the lizard-like men in order to build a castle, which shone white in mockery of the beauty they’d destroyed.

        As I ran towards the gaping hole, the rubble moved, and from beneath it, rose several of the Reptiles, different from the others. Their eye-shaped rhinestones a bright red, their decorated clothing torn and tattered, their prideful bodies covered with glitter scars and washed by their pearlescent blood, they shrieked like banshees, but they hadn’t noticed me. No, they turned towards the outside, in a flustered mix of agony, anger and desperation. Ten thousand horses from hell made noise like I hadn’t heard before, the whole castle shivered around us as the blackest of smokes seeped its way through the breach.

        After the horses finished their scream, there was no noise. As the smoke cleared, the Reptiles had been reduced to skinned hides laying atop pools of pearlescent blood. A suave idiot awaited me on the other side, the Demon known to me as John, with hands in the pockets of his suit, and a warm smile reserved for me. His face was pure happiness as I came through the rubble, then quickly shifted to killing worry as it witnessed my now crimson hand. He rushed over to me, kneeled on a single leg, and with tenderness unparalleled, asked to see my hand. With both hands he gingerly held it up at his eye level. - May I fix this for you? - he pleaded, and I nodded.

        With a swift motion, he engulfed my hand in his mouth. It didn’t take long for him to take it out. Now, instead of dotted by holes and painted by blood, it was merely slimy, fully healed and with no pain remaining. He gave me the sweetest of smiles, before walking over to his car and opening the door for me. - We’ve got places to be, my prince. - he told me, and I laughed. Ten thousand horses of hell screamed around us, I didn’t have the slightest idea of where my gentle captor would take me next or if the Reptiles would ever be seen across the universe after that day, all I knew was that the morning dew which hit us as we flew amidst suns and supernovas had never been more refreshing.