The Crown's Obsession

Music Recommendation: Leaks and Lawsuits by Tim Wynn

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In the underground world, fire blazed at the top of tall pillars that stood around a black tower, where one could hear the screams of demons and other souls from all the sides. Even though there was fire burning in some parts of Hell, no smoke appeared in the air.

The walls of the tower were wide, and one of the demons whose oily hair was combed to the side, made his way through the halls. Odin carried a couple of rolled scrolls in his arms and his body swayed back and forth. As he walked through the other halls, lower demons who were working at the sides serving their Master.

The demons weren't human-like in appearance, but instead, they had horns on their head, and their body looked deformed compared to the people of the living world. They snickered looking at the servant demon because he hadn't changed his appearance from the living world.

"Do you think Master is going to throw him in the dungeon?" asked one of the lower demons who was carrying a bucket of coals in his hands.

Another demon who was holding the other side of the large bucket snickered looking at Odin's retreating figure from there, "It might be any time soon because of the number of mistakes he has committed. I heard that he even plotted to kill someone. No wonder he is in his lower demeaning form of a human. Disgusting creatures," spat the demon.

"I knew that Master would always return. The others are so much in trouble who had thought that Master died," cackled the first demon and they continued to carry the bucket of coals so that it could be fed to the offenders. "Do you think Master will consider taking me as his assistant? I would be of so much use than that useless Odin." Thinking about the servant, the demons snickered again.

In the meantime, Odin continued to walk, unaffected by the words of the demons as no matter how much they were considered to be efficient, he was still the most loyal servant his Master relied on.

Vladimir's servant vampire made his way to the Grand Hall where his Master now sat on the throne, that rightfully belonged to him as this world was ruled by none other than the devil himself.

"There you are, Odin. I thought I would be seeing you once I would go back to the living world to meet my grandson. Did you bring in all the names?" questioned Vladimir, who sat with his legs placed one over another with his back leaned against the stone throne. The devil rubbed his chin when his eyes fell on the scrolls that his loyal servant carried in his arms.

To greet his Master, Odin went to bow down, but this only resulted in some scrolls falling on the ground. Vladimir rolled his eyes. The ever clumsy servant of his.

Odin quickly picked up the scrolls and took two steps forward towards Vladimir, "Master, all the names are in here. I made sure to add even the ones who had indirectly tried to offend Lady Constance or Master Calhoun. Another list is being prepared who has offended Lady Madeline."

"How thoughtful of you, Odin," hummed Vladimir in praise for his servant and Odin beamed with the small compliment.

Odin had always worked hard for Vladimir. He had been serving Vladimir even before the devil had turned to who he was today. Though the servant's intention had always been pure towards Vladimir, to please the devil with his work and receive compliments, Odin didn't know why, but things always went in the wrong direction. He brought catastrophe with him.

"Why don't we have the first important guest from the list? I can barely wait to break and torture people," said Vladimir bringing his hand forward to check his nails that he often made sure to keep them as sharp as possible so that he could tear people with his own hands without having to rely on weapons. The joy of tearing people was incomparable compared to killing them within a second. "Since I have woken up from my sleep, I feel very unlike myself, Odin."

Odin, who had pulled one of the scrolls, he looked at his Master. "Would you like to take a bath in the acid, milord?"

"Maybe once I am done with the imbecile fools," murmured Vladimir. "Now, bring that insect whom you didn't find earlier, and instead mistook my grandson to be the offender."

Odin wondered if it was a jab for his mistake, not that he minded. It was much better than the last time when his Master had left him in the boiling iron for hours for his mistake. Thinking about it brought sweat on his forehead, and he unconsciously wiped his forehead using his hand.

"Yes, Master," obliged Odin, bowing his head again, he turned to look at the demon who was responsible for bringing the souls in and out from the locked prison of Hell that was dark and murkier in appearance where the demon guards who had the stag-like face tortured the sinners. "Bring the Sinner!"

Suddenly in less than two seconds, a person appeared in front of Vladimir who wore nothing but skimpy underwear. The person appeared to be in his late forties, and his body appeared to be tortured with dark lines because of the whipping.

The person had dark red eyes, and hunched back. It was the previous King of Devon, Laurence Hawthrone, the man who had sullied his pure daughter, Constance. Vladimir wondered what his daughter had seen in this scum. He also concluded that his grandson had inherited his genes and not from this low-life.

The previous King of Devon looked broken, and he nowhere looked like the person he once used to be. Finding a man sitting on the throne with clothes, who looked like he belonged to the human world, Laurence folded his hands and quickly pleaded,

"Please help me! Save me from this place!"