Shevata’s Rebuttal by C.C.Cole

“Have you had enough listening to the endless whining of the walking livestock known as Zermon, so-called ‘Ruler of Hell?’  While imprisoned in hell by this massive beast, the worst torture was listening to his ridiculous banter.  He thinks he knows it all, imagining humans, the god of the dead Abbias, and myself in the palm of his hand. 

“He’s telling the truth about his management problems.  The underworld brims with his underlings, whose intelligence is an insult to most plant life in the human world.

He cannot tolerate the presence of his own serving demons, hence the kicking them back into the hellish flames repeatedly.

Impressed by my survival abilities and my methods of rescuing the living souls, he imprisoned me and used stupid torture tactics considered entry level in the work house where I was raised in Gastar.  With the audacity of thinking he could force me to tell him I paid off demonic informants to find the people, released them to find a beacon to open where Harathgus waited for them, and I killed all witnesses.  Only in Zermon’s limited mind could that be some kind of mystery. By forcing foul unholy water down my throat to make the transition from human-to-demon forced me to accept my fate, so I jumped into the hellish flames.

“I learned the most about Zermon from Mathiam, his twin brother, and personal assassin, who rescued me from the fire.  Mathiam’s tragic story began while he and Zermon were human boys; he was the greater twin, more powerful and intelligent than Zermon (that’s really not much of a comparison), but never accepted the eternal fate of evil that Zermon did.  Therefore he became his faithful servant and followed him into the underworld.  I wanted Mathiam to escape hell with me, but he didn’t want another chance. Unless I helped him, I’d never escape hell.  So I did what I had to do, watch someone I thought could be helped destroyed by my hand. 

“When I saw Zermon this past time, I’m not sure where he went, but hell will always be his final destination.  For a horned hollow-headed monster, Mathiam warned me of something very important about his brother:  He doesn’t use weapons because he doesn’t need them.  Size and strength may not be everything, but in Zermon’s case, it counts for a lot.  And if we meet again, I’ll be ready for him.”