Vayanna

Endless twilight.

It was an infinitely-sized, unbounded realm of perpetual dusk.  The faint, diffuse light coming from nowhere and everywhere at the same time, barely piercing through the thick haze that permanently settled over the land, and tinting everything in  various shades of  purples and grays.  At times, a wind gusted and tore across the realm, screaming its fury across the barren, cloudy wasteland.  The thick fog, upset by this violent and unseen force, haphazardly swirled around in intricate patterns and had the tendency of teasing any passerby into seeing mirages upon this obscure plane. Illusionary silhouettes of objects and people could lure the victim into walking several miles in the wrong direction, or worse, into a trap set by some malicious fiend.  Other times, there was a dead calm.  No wind, no sound.  Nothing at all. 

A deliberate misconception…

The demon hadn’t been busy with anything particularly important (nor entertaining) when a grey, diminutive creature shambled by upon twisted legs, groaning out its discomfort.  Its deformity of gnarled joints and disproportioned limbs drew an uneven, painful gait, causing it to lean forward at times and put most of its weight upon its knuckles --using those upper appendages as another set of limbs.  The creature’s arms were longer than its legs, so this was a very easy feat to accomplish, and it helped to subside the pain from its pelvic and lower back region.  Sometimes it wasn’t enough and the poor thing had to stop, giving a little pause in its journey. And it was right there, in front of the entrance of the demon’s dwelling, a jet-black structure with an open archway serving as the entrance and exit, where this unfortunate individual halted.  Unknown to the victim, he had stopped just long enough for Vayanna to notice and gain an interest in him. 
   
Heavy-lidded and slightly drowsy, her eyes strayed away from whatever they had been looking at and veered northward, fixing on the squatted figure whom was still seeking relief from its aching bones.  Her beautiful features never changed.  Nothing had been indicated within those abysmally black eyes to show that she was sympathetic to its distress, nor did they show the fact that she might have been taking great delight in seeing it suffer.  Vayanna was simply staring at the creature,  sitting in complete silence, and that meant only one thing: trouble was brewing.

“Come here.” 

The soft, dulcet tone of the feminine voice startled the poor thing into jerking upright, a guilty scowl etching into the folds of its grotesque, grey face.  It had believed to be alone while taking his quick rest.  Taking a quick glance around he saw no one, save for the fog churning lightly all around him, and began to relax again in that hunched over, knuckle-balancing posture. 

“Come here.” 

The two word command was uttered once more, with less warmth than the previous time.  The squat figure could have sworn the female voice sounded slightly annoyed and with a grunt, he pushed from his comfortable slouch and peeked through the archway of the structure he had thought was abandoned.  Surprisingly, he saw  a handful of candles and set in a staggered pattern along both sides of the hall.  They must have been recently lit, because the heat emitting from their flames had yet melted any of the wax.  Maybe that was why he hadn’t noticed them before.  And there was just enough light to show that there was a chamber beyond this short corridor. Now curious, he shuffled inside the obsidian passageway.



Sinister silence.

There was no other light source inside this small, circular room aside from the soft illumination of candlelight from the hall. Yet there was enough of a glow to reveal the lay of the chamber.  The walls were bare, devoid of any tapestries, and that proved to be same for the floor as well.  He also noticed that the only exit out of this room was by the way he had come in.  But even though the room was bereft of any precious decorations, there was something there that certainly grabbed this misshapen beast’s interest.  Sitting there upon a raised platform in the center of the room was a statue of an exquisite-looking creature.

Whatever artist had created this masterpiece, they had definitely spent a godly amount of time in adding as much detail as (in)humanly possible.  The statue was of a winged female and she sat in a sort of crouch, slightly leaned over the edge of the dais as though she were in the process of leaping forward.  Her wings, they looked to be of the feathery type, were partially unfurled and captured the essence of her being frozen in that particular forward-bounding movement.  Thick, lengthy locks spilled over her shoulders and past rounded hips, framing a face that surpassed beauty by all means.  Aristocratic features were delicately crafted into an expression of perpetual boredom.  Dark, hooded eyes were fringed in thickly curled lashes and her mouth was set into a pout, with just a corner of the soft flesh being plucked between teeth.  That boredom nearly crossed over the line of intentional seduction.  Smooth and satiny.  Her skin was a jet-black hue just like the rest of her and looked to be so real in its appearance, with its more than accurate depiction of a nude female, that the hellish imp found himself reaching out to touch the magnificent statue.  Like any male, regardless of species, grubby fingers grabbed at her breasts.

An astonished snort escaped from the deformed creature, noticing the statue not only felt warm, but also soft ...real, living flesh. Immediately, beady eyes darted upwards to steal a look at the statue’s face, and to his horror, those fathomless depths were staring back at him. Silently, he watched the statue's face transform from the previous bored expression into an amused one; the corners of her mouth curling upwards and revealing a set of white, razor-sharp teeth.

"Can I help you?"