Above Your Station (chapter one)

Chapter one - Lust and Loss (Lyric)
I was getting nervous. What if they didn’t show up? Why were they taking so long? I began to bite my nails, and glanced around the room. There weren’t many others in here. This bar was practically dead, save for the bartender who was currently scrubbing out an empty beer glass. 

    “Are you waiting for someone?” He asked, looking over at me. 

    “Yeah.” I said. The lights flickered, and bugs skittered across the floor like neurotic cats. God I’m thirsty. I’ve been waiting for almost an hour now. I know they aren’t going to back out, we’re relying on each other for our lives. 

    “Hey, if you don’t order something I’m gonna have to kick you out.” Said the bartender. 

    “Fair enough, I’ll have-” A bowl of peanuts and a large glass of beer was shoved down the counter to where I was sitting. 

    “I’m allergic to peanuts.” I told the bartender.

    “Well that's literally all I can serve you. I could serve you a dead animal, but pretty much all humans I meet tend to be repulsed by the idea.” said the bartender. 

    “You’re not human?” I asked. 

    “Nope. Dionysus, greek god of wine and parties at your service.” Said the bartender. 

    “I thought all the greek gods died years ago.” 

    “Nope. We went into hiding once Odin and his bunch of jerkoffs took over. When that regime fell apart, we were able to come out of hiding. Jurys still out over whether or not I’m gonna have to hide out in my basement for the next thousand years.” explained Dionysis. 

    “Yeah, good luck with that.” I said. The new regime had made their mark fast. They had already come up to the human world. Not many of them, but it was clearly the beginning of an invasion. A bell signaled the door opening, and a man in a tuxedo walked in. He had a short beard and goatee, with short black hair. He looked like he stepped off the cover of a bad romance novel. 

    “Where have you been, you’re an hour late!” I asked in a panic.

    “What are you talking about, it's 3:00, like when you said to meet,” he said. 

    “No, it's 4:00!” I yelled.

    “Time zone differences. We’re under the eastern time zone, not central.” Explained Dionysis. 

    “See, I’m not late.” He said. He dumped a large package onto the bar in front of me. I unwrapped it quickly. Inside was a jagged bronze blade. Perfect. 

    “How do I know this is the real deal?” I asked. 

    “Why don’t you test it out on him?” 

    “Oh hell no, I’m not going near that thing.” Said Dionysis. The bell at the top of the door rang a second time. Two men in black cloaks and gas masks walked inside. Each of them carried a scythe and a large machine gun on their back.     

    “Dorothy Smith. You have been condemned to hell by the hand of your father, and are to spend eternity drowning in blood. Lyric Terranova, you are currently trespassing in the land of the dead. You will be executed, and then spend an eternity locked in an iron maiden. Dionysis, you are a servant of the dead king Zeus. You will be electrocuted for all eternity, while a vulture eats your liver repeatedly.” Said one of the men in a sickly, robotic voice. 

    “As appealing as that sounds, I’m afraid we’ll have to decline.” Said Dionysis. 

    “Likewise.” I said. I grabbed the sword that Dorothy had given me and rushed forward. I made a clean cut through the first man. As the sword passed through his body, he simply turned to dust. The other drew his scythe and rushed toward me. He would have cut me clean in half if Dorothy hadn’t intervened. They kicked the man in the face and crushed his head with the underside of their foot.

    “I told you a million times before. My name is Lust now. It's been that way for a hundred years.” Said Dorothy. The man leapt up, mask destroyed and head completely missing, but still ready for a fight. I was able to down him permanently with my new sword. 

    “You weren’t lying. This is the real deal.” I said.

    “Was there ever any doubt?” Asked Lust.

    “Wait, you’re Lust? You’re one of the generals of the last king?” Asked Dionysis.

    “The one and only.” 

    “I thought you were born as a man when you were alive.” I said as I sheathed my sword. It fit cleanly into my old scabbard. It was good that I had been able to get a replacement so fast, the material this was made out of was absurdly hard to obtain. 

    “You use non binary pronouns now, right?” I asked.

    “Yeah. Listen, you need to hold up your end of the deal. I don’t have one of those elithium swords I just sold you, and those guys aren’t gonna stop. Time to pay up.” Said Lust. They were beginning to panic. Not too surprising, from what I heard, the old generals were being hunted down relentlessly. The rest of the seven deadly sins would surely be panicking in the same way. I reached into my bag and pulled out a small golden coin. I tossed it to Lust. 

    “That should be enough to send your soul back to the living world. Now then. One more thing.” I said.

    “Right. He is in this building's basement.” Said Lust.

    “Seriously?” I asked.

    “Why else do you think I told you to meet at a poedunk place like this?” Asked Lust.

    “I’m right here. But yeah, your old boss has been in the basement doing nothing but drinking, sleeping and badly singing old tragedy poems when he's drunk.” Said Dionysis. 

    “Alright then. We’re done here. Lust, thank you for your help.” I said.

    “Likewise. Good luck with whatever you’re planning. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you all down here in the near future.” Said Dionysis. 

    “I disagree. I’ll never be seeing you again Dio!” Said Lust as they walked out of the bar, coin in hand. Dionysis walked out from behind the bar and unlocked a large metal door. There were dim red lights illuminating the ceiling, and stairs that went down seemingly forever. Dionysis stepped back from the door, and I began to walk downstairs. With every step I took, I wanted to turn back. I wanted to run home and hide under my covers and cry like an infant. But I couldn’t. I had to do this. He was my only chance of saving her. I took the final step into the basement. It was dark, cold and sterile. Iron jugs of wine were stacked as high as I could see, some of them with gigantic scratches and holes in them. I took a step forward, and stepped right into a pool of red wine. 

    “You have a lot of nerve coming down here.” A deep voice rang out through the darkness. Two eyes, the color of fire, stared at me from the darkness. I reached for some kind of light switch, staying silent as the creature in the dark tracked me. I found nothing but a candle by my feet. I picked it up and looked around for something to light it. All of a sudden, a bolt of fire came rushing out from the darkness. The creature had opened its mouth, and lit the candle by its fiery breath. 

    “It is you. They weren’t lying.” I said, my voice shaking as I stepped back. It was him alright. The almighty king of hell, the fallen angel, the original devil himself. Satan. He was here, standing right in front of me. He was ten feet tall, with huge muscles and black battle armour. He had red skin, and thick black horns, with a huge row of sharp teeth. I never thought I would ever be unlucky enough to meet him. And I never thought that if I meet him, my first instinct would be to pity him. His ornate black armour had been ripped to pieces, revealing a chest and arms covered in deep, fresh scars. One of his horns had been torn clean off, leaving only a short stump to the left of his head. 

    “What are you doing here? Have you come to gloat? Are you here to kill me, use me as a trophy?” Asked Satan. He was clearly drunk, and even past that, he sounded tired. 

    “I need your help.” I told him.

    “Fuck off.” He told me as he drank a massive jug of wine in a single gulp.

    “Hear me out. A friend of mine is trapped-”

    “Are you fucking deaf now? Get out!” Shouted Satan.

    “Listen to me for just a second, please-”

    “GET OUT!” 

    “I’m begging you, you’re the only one I can turn to for help anymore!”

    “Fine then. I’ll kill one more human before-”

    “I have a way to make you king again!” Satan looked like he was reaching for a sword that wasn’t there. He stopped when I said that. 

    “What?” he asked.

    “If you agree to my deal, and everything goes well, you will be the king of Hell again.” I said. 

    “So you’re deaf and stupid. Fine, I need some entertainment. Tell me what you want.” Said Satan. He sat down on the floor and kept drinking. 

    “Okay. I was part of the H.U.R.D.-” I began to explain. 

    “The what?” Asked Satan. 

    “The Heaven and Underworld Research Division. We were in charge of investigating what actually happened to people when they died. We went into Hell a few times to-” 

    “Oh, we all just called you the asshole team. Because that's what you were.” Said Satan. 

“Are you going to let me finish?” I asked. 

“Fine, go ahead.”  

    “One of our team members was captured on a mission down here. That was right before they officially closed down the organization, but I didn’t stop coming in here. I kept going in here long after, doing my own research. The one that went missing is Emily Richards. I tracked her to the bottom of hell, to your castle. But then the man in the gas mask took over.” I explained. 

    “I think I know where this is going.” Said Satan. 

    “I want you to lead me down there to save Emily, kill the man in the gas mask, and let us go home. Once this is over, the two of us will never return to Hell. Unless we somehow end up in there after death.” I said. Satan laughed. 

    “I fought the man in the gas mask already. It was a one on one fight. Do you know how that went?” Asked Satan.    
    “I’m guessing-”

    “The man tore off my horn and stabbed me in the gut with it! Then he threw me out into the void below and tore down everything I worked my whole life for!” Satan slashed open several jugs of wine in anger. He slammed his body against the walls over and over again. A few jugs fell to the floor. I backed into the stairs to avoid his fit of anger.

    “I have an Elithium weapon! That can kill any demon!” I told him.    
    “It's not going to work! That thing can’t be killed! It's a fucked up thing from beyond Heaven or Hell! It's the stuff of nightmares, and it makes the things I’ve created down here look like a theme park! You are still alive. Get out of here while you can.” Said Satan.    

    “Are you scared of it?” I asked. 

    “Yes. I am very scared of it. And if you have half a mind, you should be to.” Said Satan. 

    “Emily is down there. She's at the deepest point of Hell, how terrified do you think she is? She didn’t do anything to warrant going to Hell, but she's stuck down there anyway! Please, I need to save her!” 

    “There are billions of humans still alive, go make friends with one of them!” Shouted Satan. 

    “Wait-”

    “End of conversation! Leave me be.” I stood there, silent. I drew my sword and held it out in front of me.

    “So there's nothing I can say to get you to help me save Emily?” I asked.

    “Yes. Piss off.” 

    “Then this is for my girlfriend, asshole.” I was about to cut Satan's head off, but he spoke before I could make a move.

    “Wait.”

    “What?” I asked.

    “She's your lover? The one you want to save?” 

    “Yes.” Satan stood up, towering above me as he did. He stood tall and straight, fists clenched and with a grim expression on his face.

    “We’re going to be going deep into Hell. You are going to see things that will give you nightmares for the rest of your existence, and if at any point you die, you will be sent to my castle's jail. I made sure that it was excruciatingly painful, and with the man in the gas mask in charge, it will have been made worse. Are you still prepared for this?” Asked Satan.

    “Yes.” I said with no hesitation.

    “Then let's go.” Satan walked past me and up the stairs. I quickly followed behind him. He threw a wad of bills at Dionysus, who was currently drinking the beer he had given me. I kind of can’t believe that worked. I figured worse case scenario I would just turn his remaining horn into a trophy, but this turned out well. If going into the land of the dead can be considered a good outcome. 

    “Do me a favor! When you two die, come back here for a drink! We’ll hide out in the basement and have a jolly good laugh about the funny way you died!” Called Dionysis as the two of us left the building.