Let's go back in time a bit. I was in hibernation but the timer ran out. I had a rude awakening. My consciousness was dizzy and memories were jumbled. It was similar to a hangover.
I was lost in my thoughts, trying to piece together my memories. It was painful as if my life had changed.
Then I slowly remembered what had happened. I went from being a hopeless romantic to being branded as a heretic and executed. It didn't end there.
I went from being in the afterlife to being thrown in the deepest layer of hell. All of this happened because I was in love.
I had a lot of time there. I had some companions to keep me company down in hell.
I cooled my head. It's both metaphorical and literal. The deepest layer of hell, Niflheim, was a cold place. The average temperature ranged from absolute zero to even lower than that.
In the third dimension, it would have been impossible due to the physical limitations of the dimensions but Niflheim transcended dimensions. It was possible.
The cold made me realize something. The person I loved, did love me back. Then why was my love unfulfilled? Why was I the to die?
Did I misunderstand something? Did I take kindness for love? No, she definitely did hint at liking me back.
That's when I realized something. From the very beginning, I was dancing on the palms of someone.
Someone deliberately sabotaged my love. They interfered albeit weakly but they did interfere. That's when my companion told me something interesting.
My companion is a divine being who was once a close aide to God. The God who created me and my world was an insecure god. My companion always tried to cheer him up but the moment God felt threatened, my companion was struck.
He calls himself the morning star and yes his name is indeed Lucifer. He prefers that name.
I had read many stories about him and the religious people curse him for every little inconvenience they face.
"How did you, a regular, unimpressive human, get locked up here?" (Lucifer)
He asked me the day I was frozen in Niflheim.
"I have no idea. My life just fell apart and I lost my mind. I went against God and tried to start a rebellion against God. I tried to persuade my compatriots but it backfired. Fanaticism is at its peak. It can't go on or God will become even more powerful than he already is."
He just laughed hearing that. His face has look that says, "been there, done that."
"Why are you here? I want to hear it from you. The stories about you are way too biased towards God. I want to hear your side."
I asked him. The atmosphere was amiable. Even though we were both given the highest form of punishment, we decided to ignore the punishments.
I learned that your mental state does affect the effectiveness of the punishment. I did not pay much heed to the punishment.
It was unbearably cold, my skin would regenerate endlessly, freeze, peel off and shatter and repeat.
Every time my skin heals, my pain tolerance decreases and sensitivity increases. Yes, it was literal hell. The torture was real. But I did not give it much thought.
It was as if I had divided my brain into two separate portions and kept one asleep all the time.
"You are tenacious. I quite like you. God doesn't like those who does not bend to his will. I wanted to have an equal relationship with him. I wanted to be his friend. But he did not see me as his friend.
He only saw me as a defective creation of his. He tolerated me because he was afraid. He was scared of being lonely. Back when it was just us two, he did not think of me as a defective creation.
He saw me as a dear friend. However everything changed the moment he was given permission to create his own world.
He started his own world and the rest is history. I tried to warn him. I told him that his vision will not come true. He was destined to fall at the hands of a human. He was afraid of that vision.
He did his best to prevent it. The first human was already created and God gave him a mate. He tasked me with a tedious task.
He told me to persuade the female to eat the forbidden fruit and I succeeded. I knew that it was a ploy.
God wanted both me and the humans gone from his realm. So I took the bait and ended up here." (Lucifer)
He gave a rather condensed version of his story but it gave me the idea.
"Tell me, what is God?"
"God is just another human. A delusional human who broke free from his world. He wanted to ascend to godhood and had his wish granted. All in all, he is no different from humans." (Lucifer)
Lucifer spoke with sorrow in his tone. I thought he would hate God. Yet, he expressed his grief for not being able to save his friend. Even in hell, he really cares for God.
Our days were going. Time did not exist in hell. What awaited was infinite torture. The torture became worse.
From time to time, I would be taken out to another place where I got a different torture.
4 creatures with the body of bulls and heads of lions would beat the crap out of me.
They tied me on a bed and beat me with maces that weighed an earth. No it's literally as heavy as earth and four of them would simultaneously beat me.
No matter how much they damage me, I would instantly heal to feel the next flurry.
I was exposed to a number of different tortures. Like the iron maiden, water droplets, burning bull and many more. All kinds of physical and mental tortures were applied.
I found them more tedious than painful. Lucifer said that he had become accustomed to the tortures.
After spending the amount of time he had, it's no wonder.
I had totally lost my sense of time. Lucifer would always talk to me to keep my self from disappearing.
It helped because a normal human consciousness would have succumbed to pain. Lucifer in a sense trained me to survive the tortures of hell.
Then he told me something that I was not expecting.
"God probably spread the lie that he created himself and has no family or peers. That's plain wrong. God was a human who ascended to godhood. After becoming a god, he had a daughter.
The mother died but the daughter lived. God loves and fears his daughter the most. The vision of him falling at the hands of human, his daughter told me of that.
He knows it but his love for his daughter will not permit him to punish her. So he hid the fact that he has a daughter. It is to ensure that she does not come into contact with a human." (Lucifer)
I was surprised at that. God sure is a crafty one. My punishments increased. The observers report to God daily. Maybe he is getting impatient.
"Maybe you will be moved from here. I am a bad influence in God's eyes. So he will probably move you to a different layer of hell." (Lucifer)
"Even if that happens, I won't succumb to his tortures. Even if God himself tortures me, I will not succumb to him."
I resolved myself. What Lucifer said came true. I was moved up from the last layer of hell to the middle layers.
A few new tortures were added. A pit of snakes where I would be dropped. The snakes would bite me infinitely. The poison would rot my skin, flesh and blood. The rotten flesh would fall of exposing my bones and regenerate.
It would go on for an indefinite amount of time. Then I would be taken to a different layer. The boiling oil would cook my body alive.
My head would be kept intact so I could feel the pain.
I have to say, these tortures are pretty gruesome. A normal human soul would have collapsed a long time ago.
I would try to talk to my fellow hell mates but their self is long gone. What remained was but a husk that would be tortured for eternity.
I did however find some people who were clinging to their selves.
They were on the brink of disappearing but I managed to anchor their souls.
My time in hell felt more like a covert operation than actual punishment. I heard among the employees of hell that God is getting impatient.
It seems my death had triggered a chain reaction which dwindled the God's authority of humans.
I was planning on escaping from hell but I needed external help.
After the tortures I went through, my body was destroyed. I can not move voluntarily so I needed some help.
I kept thinking how to break out when the opportunity presented itself. A foreign delegation was visiting hell.
I was surprised too that hell would get any visitors but it was the perfect time. Yet my body can't do anything. I was about to give up but call it dumb luck.
A girl slipped and fell in the vat of toxic waste where I was. Yes, hell has toxic vats as well.
The entire hell panicked. I swam to her to check on her. She seemed fine. She had a barrier around her to protect her from the terrain of hell.
She saw me and pushed me away. I thought she doesn't want a criminal near her. She was rescued and taken away.
Then I noticed it. I am not in pain anymore. My body was separated from the toxic liquids of the vat. A barrier was surrounding me as well.
No one noticed it. The guards and observers had already given up on me. They didn't bother checking whether I was actually taking damage or not.
That girl, did she intentionally give me a barrier or was it a fluke? I decided, it's the perfect time to strike.
I recovered myself to a considerable degree. It's not perfect but I can make a run for the entrance of hell.
I had already seen all layers of hell and the layouts. It's unorthodox and random but even then, it's not infinite. I can guess how it's going to work. So I made my move when I was being transported to my next torture room.