The smell of blood in the air thickened as Despera approached the large doors. Though it was kinda weird, she walked on. It’s not like milord to get himself a toy. She thought, not even considering it a possibility that the blood wasn’t coming from a damned.

She swung the doors open with a single push to greet her King with a smile which soon turned to a grimace, and she screamed.

Her King, Astaroth, sat on his throne with a sword through his chest, and covered in blood. Suddenly the smell of blood in the air became unbearable.

She ran across the room to his corpse before collapsing at his side. His skin was pale and his eyes were pitch-black. The blade ran through him, and through his throne.

She grabbed his hand tightly. “Get up! You can’t be dead!” She yelled at him, refusing to believe it. Tears welled up in her eyes and two drops fell on his hand. “You can’t leave me…”

At that moment, the guards entered, led by Superbia. “By order of King Lucifer, I strip away your powers and status as a Sin!” He yelled. “Guards, seize her!”

In seconds the guards had restrained her, and prised her away from Astaroth’s lifeless and deathless cadaver. They pulled her to Superbia as she kicked and screamed.

The guards threw her on the floor in front of the Prince. “Greetings, Despera. You’re in a lot of trouble.” He said, grinning.

Despera looked back at her King, then back to Superbia. “What? You don’t think I did this, do you?”

“Well, if you didn’t who did?” He retorted, acting confused as if he believed her.

“I don’t know, but we need to find them!” She answered, almost believing the Prince of Pride cared. She tried to get up before the guards pushed her back down again.

He got on one knee, putting himself closer to eye level with the Princess. He pulled her chin up and looked her in the eyes. “Frankly, I don’t care whether you did it or not. You’re getting punished anyway.”

“What!? Why?!”

He chuckled. “Why else?” He asked. “For your sins of course.”

She was confused. She had been in Hell for decades without punishment.

“Let me put it together for you.” Said Superbia in his usual condescending tone. “You’re a Sin without a King. You know what that makes you?”

The girl didn’t answer.

He whispered into her ear, “Nothing.” He stood back up and said to the guards, “Take her to serve out her punishment, for the rest of her death.”

As Superbia walked away, he laughed. “The Sin of Despond, is being punished for committing the sin of despond! I love the irony.”

While being dragged out the room, Despera made loud protests and took one more look at Astaroth just before the doors shut with a loud thud.

 

She woke up crying in her bed, and sweating so much she’d drenched her sheets. “I guess not all my punishments were lifted.” She said to herself, still shaken. “I don’t know why that surprises me. I still had nightmares before I fell from royalty.”

They never did find the real killer, so everyone still believed it was her, but it’d been so long, that no one cared any more. Her time in the well was at its worst when the demons were angry at her. At that time, the rape was personal, and hate-filled.

Demons never had to sleep, but sleeping was something Despera didn’t want to give up, even with the punishments.

The bed was soft and comfortable, and so was the blanket. She hadn’t felt this comfortable in a long time, so she decided to enjoy it a bit longer while she recounted the events of the day before.

 

After Lucifer told Despera the terms of their deal, she, against her better judgement, agreed. He extended his hand towards her hoping she’d do the same, but instead she shook her head and said, “We’re doing a verbal contract. I’m not letting you trick me into shaking on it.”

Lucifer could command anyone to do a lot of things, but commanding them to make a deal, was one thing he could not do. Or rather, if he did, it wouldn’t be as binding.

He sighed. “Fine. A verbal contract it is.” He said, clearly disappointed. A verbal contract wasn’t as compulsory as an actual deal, but the only way out was resisting it with great mental, and magical strength.

“Now what’s the information you promised me?” The girl asked.

“The target is female. She looks to be somewhere in her late teenage years.” He stated. “Furthermore, she has blue hair.”

Didn’t I know someone like that? Despera thought, searching her memories.

“And her name is…”

Her face turned to shock at the realization. No. It can’t be her.

“Tear. She has no last name.” He concluded. “I believe you know her.”

It can. She tried to recompose herself.

Tear was a girl Despera knew back when she was alive. They were very different at the time. She was always happy and Tear was always sad, but Despera never knew why, so she kept trying to make her smile, with little success.

One would wonder how Tear was still alive after well over 200 years, but time in Heaven and Hell passed by much faster than on Earth. But the real kicker, was that the last time Despera saw Tear, she was walking into the ocean to drown herself.

“I did.” She answered. “But there must be a mistake. She died before I did.”

“Well, my source is 100 percent reliable. So she must’ve been resurrected, or didn’t die in the first place. Either way, the objective is unchanged.”

“Even if she is alive, how’d she end up in Hell?”

Lucifer paused. “I don’t know.” He said, hating each word.

That must’ve been tough for him.

He cleared his throat. “In any case, it is your duty to bring her here alive. If given the chance, will you be able to?”

She hesitated before answering, “Yes. I have no lingering feelings for her. This place has had centuries to destroy any positive feelings I had, and it did well.” She wasn’t entirely sure if any of that was true, but she knew it was what he wanted to hear.

Lucifer grinned. “Good. You have until she’s brought in. And to aid in your pursuit, I am returning your power and status as a Sin, as well as all your belongings.” He stated, extending his closed fist to her. Then he opened his hand, revealing a pin of a black raven, the symbol of despond.

As soon as Despera touched the pin, she felt the rush of her powers returning, and it felt great. “Thanks. Much appreciated.” She said, trying to hide her excitement. Then a thought came to mind. “I assume that includes Despond Castle.”

“Yes.” He answered.

She felt like screaming, but bit her lip to hold it back. “I’ll be going then.” She said, turning to leave.

“Wait.” He said.

She turned back to face him.

“Let me be the first to welcome you back.” His tone almost made her believe he was being sincere, but she knew she was dealing with.

With that, she left with a smile, staring at her pin. This is the best day of my death.

 

Eventually Despera decided to get out of bed. She went to the bathroom to enjoy my first bath in over two hundred years.

The water felt great on her skin, and the heat felt amazing after centuries of laying on the ice cold ground. She just sat in the bath, relaxing for a couple hours, often re-pouring the water to make sure it stayed hot and clean.

After laying in the dirt for so long, she was still surprised at how much filth came off her just from soaking in the bath. Not many demons cared about being clean, but she was one of the few.

When she got out the bath, she felt clean and refreshed. “That was amazing.” She said, drying herself off with a soft towel.

She walked over to her dresser and looked for an outfit to wear. Everything she had to wear was from centuries before, but luckily, things stayed in style for a very long time.

I have a lot of issues to work out, so let’s go with… these. Despera slipped on a simple red hoodie – to hide blood if it came down to it – over a black sleeveless shirt, and jean shorts. It felt good wearing a dress again, but she thought she’d go with something more casual for this. And of course, she put her pin on her shirt so it was hidden by her hoodie.

Finding someone required blending in, and a way of getting information. Now that she was a Sin again, Despera was slightly worse at the former, but very good at the latter.

If anyone gets in my way, I’ll break them. The Princess started thinking about her accumulated anger from the well. Someone, please get in my way.

She admired herself and her clothes in the mirror for a minute, before leaving the room. Outside her room was a lesser demon on each side of the door frame standing guard. “Greetings your Highness. You’re looking beautiful.”

“Thanks…” The girl replied, confused at the random compliment. One of them accompanied her downstairs to the dining room where a feast was waiting.

The night before, she had requested the cooking staff to prepare for her as much food as would fit on the table. And they did just that.

Of course these demons weren’t her’s though. They were half of Lucifer’s staff who he sent there for her. And though referred to as ‘staff’, they weren’t actually paid. They obeyed their masters and they let them live in return. That’s how things worked in Hell.

Despera sat at the 10 metre long rectangular table and took a minute to marvel at the food. Most of it was meat like deep fried salamander, barometz mutton, and roasted dragon’s tail with the scales peeled off – her favourite. There was even a few bottles of the finest blood wine to go with it. Right after the minute she took to behold the food, the girl started devouring it.

In Hell, demons normally ate the damned souls, then the souls regenerated so it was a never-ending buffet. When Despera became damned, demons often went to her well to eat part of her in the hope that they’d gain some of her power as a Sin, even though she didn’t have them anymore. She on the other hand, had never actually eaten a soul before, and didn’t plan on trying it anytime soon. Luckily, they had semi-normal food in Hell for when someone wanted something different.

As hungry as she had been during her sentence, she was full after a fifth of the food laid out before her. Still, she continued to eat for the taste alone until a quarter of it was gone. Since she was free, she loved using her senses of smell and taste to the fullest.

Satisfied, she got up to leave the room. “The rest is yours. Enjoy.” She said, giving the demons around her permission to eat the rest. Lesser demons rarely got to eat such good food, so they swarmed the table while she walked away.

While they ate, the Princess decided to step out onto the balcony on the same floor. She stood on the balcony with her elbows resting on the rail and arms crossed as she took in the sight.

The sky was black and red, and a large portion of it was covered in clouds of smoke. The land was littered with deep holes sealed with steel doors holding the damned. And it was barren, moreso than the rest of Hell because it was in the Despond Faction. Despera’s faction wasn’t necessarily scary or painful like the others, it was just sad.

Screams could be heard coming from all directions, but none of them came from her faction, because the souls that were sent t here had an entirely different kind of torture. The kind she had to deal with. Some probably wished they were in pain so it would distract them from how hungry, thirsty, and lonely they were, along with the mental anguish that stemmed from reliving the worst moments of their lives.

Having experienced what they were experiencing, it made the Princess a bit sympathetic towards them.

As she was lost in thought, the demons had finished their meal and were now back at attention. Some were doing their duties, and others were awaiting her orders. And the one that escorted her down the stairs was standing in the doorway of the balcony, waiting the entire time.

I wonder how long I could keep him standing there. She grinned at the amusing thought. Pretty long I think. I heard Lucifer has high standards for perfection.

“Hey guard, what’s your name?” She asked, leaning back on the rail.

The guard in the doorway seemed stunned for a second after she asked him the question. “My name is Veroth, your Highness.”

Despera repeated his name. “Veroth, huh. I like that.”

“Thank you, your Highness.”

“Stop that.” She told him. “Call me Despera.”

“Yes, Ms. Despera.”

“Tell me, Veroth, do you know anything about a living being in Hell?”

“Every demon under the Pentagram knows about the human in Hell.” He replied as though it was an urban legend. “Unfortunately, I haven’t seen or heard anything relating to the human.”

Despera sighed in disappointment, though she predicted that answer. “Well, that’s to be expected. It was only announced yesterday after all.” She paused to think about what to do next. “Guess there’s no other option this early in the game.”

Veroth was a lesser demon clearly meant to be a guard. He was red, tall, and built for strength, but still lean enough for his size not to be an issue in battle. The way he held his spear made her think he at least had some skills with it, and probably other weapons too. His horns were covered in marks that showed his training in the past.

He was confused by what she had said, and why she didn’t say anything after. “Sorry, I was thinking.” She said, finally. “Veroth, you wanna go for a walk?