THE MEDIUM

Helios was now walking through the woods and looking for a way to get out of it. He was what humans called, completely lost. The surroundings were completely unfamiliar to him and as he walked in silence, he used the time to look around and see what was surrounding him.

There were only tall trees wherever he looked, and the place looked abandoned. He was hoping to find some cabin on his way or an inn that he would use in order to finally feed himself. The woods were dark, but he glided through them with ease as his eyes were used to complete blackness. He smelled nothing besides moss and moisture mixing with the smell of trees and cold air. There was no human smell anywhere around him and that confused him entirely. Usually, humans would not walk around the woods at this midnight hour, but you could feel them as their smell would vaguely evaporate from their houses.

Suddenly he saw some lights in the distance. They didn’t resemble fire which he remembered from before nor anything he encountered until this moment. It looked like a thousand fireflies were dancing, moving fast, getting in and out of the picture in the blink of an eye.

He hurried toward the source, his wings scratching the trees while he passed by them. He quickly folded them, and they disappeared into the empty space of visible and invisible, becoming undetectable and untouchable to humans.

He was at the edge of the woods now and the lights had become brighter. He could still not compare them to anything he saw last time when he was here, so he was curious to go and explore further.

He finally was able to smell a human. With the lovely aroma of his skin, he could also sense fear and nervousness. He loved all those smells, and he knew that they will suddenly become feelings of utmost admiration and sexual attractiveness. It was what he did to humans as an Incubus, they couldn’t resist him, and they promised their complete devotion to him if he wished so.

Slowly the shape of a figure standing in the dark was starting to appear before his eyes. He didn’t even need to see that human or speak to him in to conclude he was waiting for him. There is only one possibility why this person was there at that moment, feeling how he was feeling. He knew it was probably the Medium, waiting for him to give him further instructions regarding the mission. That, however, did not explain why he couldn’t sense other people in this abandoned place and why there was no one else in this hollow place.

“My lord.” The figure spoke the moment Helios appeared behind the last tree dividing him from the human waiting for him.

“This is an odd place for the Medium to come and search for me,” Helios spoke with a cold voice still naked and not accustomed to the surroundings yet.

“The message from the Ruler was clear. I was to wait for you at this spot and take you immediately with me to instruct you further. Earth is not as it was, everything changed.” The human voice was fake, humble, and sly but Helios was focusing on the way he is dressed and how his appearance does not match the past memories he had about this place.

“After we exit this area, we are going to be very close to the city.” Helios just noticed he is carrying a small black bag with him, and he turned his gaze toward it once the human started to open it. “Please wear this for now. It will help you to not be noticed inside the city and to melt with the crowd.”

“What is that?” Helios spoke while taking a hooded shirt from the human’s hands. “How does one wear this?”                                                                                                                                          

“You just put it over your head, like this.” The Medium explained while restraining himself from trying to touch Helios. He could now feel the mixture of devotion, love, fear, and hesitation coming from him.

“There is also this,” he added while patiently waiting for Helios to put the shirt over his head. He was in his human form, so this was possible. If he was in his demon form that would not be the case.

The human pulled out a pair of pants Helios knew humans wore, but these were much different from what he wore before. They were not made of hard leather or thick raw fabric. Instead, when he touched them, he could feel that the fabric was anything, but hard and strong. It was very soft and light complimenting the hooded shirt he had put on a minute ago.

“I can see the human sense of wielding the materials improved greatly. Only by this, I can see much has changed.”

“Yes, my Lord.” The Medium spoke and slowly raised his hand showing him the direction in which they were supposed to go.

Finally, Helios could see a road ahead of him, but it was not a muddy road, nor was it made of stones. The material humans used was nothing he saw before but he refrained from the comments, now following the Medium and his guidance.

“I’m hungry,” Helios spoke plainly and he could sense a shiver coming from the Medium. It was almost instant when he said those words out loud.

“Just a bit more.” Replied the human and continued to walk towards the road.

The road was blocked by a steel box with four wheels and lights that were blinding anyone coming near them. The amount of light coming from the giant box was overwhelming to Helios and he felt a sudden urge to attack it.

They stopped in front of it and the door on the steel box opened. The human now carrying a false comforting smile on his face raised his hand one more time, showing him to enter the box.

“I will not enter this. What is it?” Helios asked walking around it and trying to control his urge to break the thing in half.

“This is called a car and it will be your primary way of transportation throughout the city.”

“What happened to the horses and chariots?”

“This is an improved version of that. Humans stopped a long time ago using horses as transportation. Instead, they turned towards the machines and this one is the most common you will find in the city.”

“You want to tell me that this thing moves without a horse?”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“How does it work?” Helios asked now walking to the front of the car.

“Well…” The human started to explain, unsure, how to present all that to the creature which knew absolutely nothing about life on Earth at this moment. “There is a driver who controls the wheel and the pedals at the front of the car. He uses those pedals to control how fast the car goes and he can also use them to stop at any point.”

“Show me,” Helios says with a stone-cold expression on his face.

“I will, but you need to enter first.” The human speaks finally trying to urge him with a hand gesture to sit behind the driver’s seat.

“No, show me how the wheel and the pedals work.”

“But, my Lord!” The Medium exclaims and now Helios could see sweat coming down from his temples. This conversation was causing him a great amount of discomfort.

“I said, show me,” Helios spoke darkly and waited for the human to open the front door.

“There are rules in the traffic. If you do not follow the rules, we will become a source of great interest to the public. We cannot afford that. I cannot afford that.”

“Your arrogance displeases me,” Helios says and he can feel anger rising inside him. This human will be dead in a matter of seconds if this continues.

“I apologize. Please sit so I can show you.”

Helios sat in the front seat now looking at the wheel and the pedals beneath him. The human sat next to him while trying to control his trembling hands.

“This is a very dangerous machine if not operated carefully. In order to do so you need someone to teach you the rules before you attempt to drive.”

“So that’s what it’s called? Driving?”

“Yes, but please…”

“How does it move?” Helios asked now completely ignorant of the reeking fear coming from the lower being.

“You need to press this button here.” Helios pressed the button the human showed him and suddenly besides lights, everything else inside the cabin was on fire.

He wasn’t afraid of that, he was instead, very intrigued by it.

“Now what?” He asked the human which was slowly reaching a desperate state.

“Now you need to press the pedal on the right and that will move the car. The harder you press it, the quicker the car will go and the driving will be faster.”

Helios pressed the pedal on the right to the maximum. He could feel it touch the floor and he pressed it even stronger then, making sure the steel box starts properly.

At that moment, the human on the right screamed and quickly used his hands to buckle some sort of belt around him. Helios noticed that but didn’t care much about what it was for.

The car slashed toward the dark road ahead while the rubber burned on the asphalt, and the machine immediately grew tremendous speed. This excited him and the speed he could accumulate in this machine was nothing compared to the speed a single horse could achieve.

The human suddenly grew green in the face and Helios knew he was about to vomit, and he was about to throw out a serious amount of very displeasing odor and liquid right next to him.

“Control yourself,” Helios says, now speeding ahead without remorse. “Control yourself or I will kill you.”

“M…my… Lord.” The human stammers and begins to wipe his forehead. He was stuttering and losing control of his behavior completely. “Please stop, you will kill us.”

“I cannot die in this realm,” Helios says with a sweet smile on his face and turns his face toward the human next to him. “You, I don’t care about.” He flashed his demon eyes at him making the human swallow a large amount of saliva collected in his mouth.

He, however, released the pedal and the car was slowly stopping now. The speed dropped and he was letting the machine stop now entirely. The Medium suddenly let out a single breath, holding his chest.

“Thank you, my Lord. Thank you.” He says with great relief still trying to sustain himself from vomiting. “I am unable to express my gratitude.”

“Take me to my residence. I’m hungrier than ever.”

“Certainly!” He exclaims and quickly changes the seat with Helios. He was now on the side, watching his surroundings. He didn’t want to be interrupted by the small talk or any talk whatsoever. 

Soon after, the car glided through the woods and Helios finally managed to see how much the Earth changed. Around him were buildings so tall that he could not see the end of them, and the roads were swarming with metal boxes just like this one. They were less attractive than the one he was driving in, but they were all proof of human development and the rapid growth of their civilization.

“We are almost there.” The Medium spoke and suddenly the car started to slow down. He entered some sort of passage between two buildings and drove in a large spiral, reaching deeper into the ground.

“This is called a parking garage.” He explained further. “It’s where we leave our cars when we don’t use them.”

Helios said nothing. He didn’t want to admit to himself or anyone that he enjoyed this very much. The Earth now had bigger sources of fun besides mindless fucking and feeding on human women.

The human parked the car between one of the numerous lines on a huge plateau that was housing a large number of these machines.

After they left the car, he was introduced to an elevator and soon was walking through a hallway looking at the various numbers on the doors.

“This will be your temporary accommodation.”

“What is this place called?” Helios asked following the human walking through a hallway, but not entering any of the doors offered.

“This is a hotel. It’s where people can rent a room and sleep for the night. Or several nights, depending on their desire. You will be residing here until the arrangement for your apartment is made.”

They finally entered one of the rooms and Helios looked around himself.

“This is the best room the hotel has to offer.”

Everything here was screaming luxury and it was absolutely nothing Helios expected to see. He couldn’t understand half of it no matter how hard he tried, but he knew he will get accustomed to it very quickly.

“Now for your hunger…” The nervous being spoke looking at Helios. “Everything is prepared and once you accommodate yourself inside the room and I have shown you everything, you will be satiated.” He rubbed his hands one against another. It was disgusting to Helios. This person had no spine, had no self-worth.

“Where is the real Medium?” Helios spoke entering the room and looking around himself.

There was a large hallway in front of him consisting of things he knew nothing about. He walked through that hallway and entered a large bedroom featuring a huge bed that did not look like anything from before. He realized at this point that he would have to manually test everything out and learn as he goes.

“How did you know?”

“Leave me.” He spoke to the spineless creature without looking at him.

“But…” The human hesitated.

“Now,” Helios spoke, interrupting any future conversation. “I expect to see the real Medium once the sun rises.”

“Yes, my Lord.” The human walked toward the door trying to make himself as silent as possible.

“I’m still hungry,” Helios spoke one final time and looked at the bed. He liked the idea of feeding on it.

He also liked the idea of residing here for such a long time. Earth changed, but for the better and he was about to enjoy it fully.

The nervous creature quickly said he will provide him with promised and evaporated through the door.

Helios waited for one moment before the doors closed completely and then walked to the window to look at the scenery outside.

Everything changed, yes. Everything except him. He was still hungry for power.