Reunion from Hell

Agnus and Greg were highschool sweethearts who had their entire lives mapped out, but their dreams came crumbling down before they even got the chance to pursue them. Just as they graduated, Agnus fell terminally ill with cancer. The doctors gave her six months, at most.

Greg was never a regular churchgoer, but once Agnus fell ill, he visited the local parish every day and prayed for her recovery. After three months of continuous praying, he grew sick of it. The girl he loved was deteriorating before his eyes and there was nothing he could do to ease her pain and suffering. He visited her every single day, but towards the fifth month, he couldn’t take it anymore. Greg could not bear to see Agnus in the state that she was in.

Soon, he started drinking every evening to numb the pain, but those thoughts and feelings he pushed down only returned stronger once he was sober. He stopped seeing Agnus, and he barely even left his room. Agnus kept calling him, but Greg ignored her calls for a week before dashing his phone on the ground. His parents tried to convince him to see Agnus, but he shut them down as well.

Weeks passed and the sixth month was closing in. Greg sat by the beach with an empty bottle of hard liquor and looked ahead into the dying light on the horizon. He felt alone and defeated; all his hopes and dreams had withered away. There, in that solitary silence, he cursed himself and questioned his faith.

Why…? I prayed so much yet got no answer. Why does this have to happen? I’d give my life away if it meant Agnus would live.

“Do you really mean what you say?” a voice whispered behind him.

Greg looked around. He could barely see straight, but he could make out a blurry silhouette approaching him.

“Who’s there? Dad, is that you?”

“No.”

The figure placed their hand on Greg and, suddenly, he was sober again. “Wha—” Greg backed away along the sand. “Who are you? How did you do that?”

“I’m who you people call the Devil.”

Greg didn’t believe the man at first, but he waved his arm and split a nearby boulder in half.

“Now do I have your trust?”

“What do you want?” Greg asked.

“Your soul, in exchange for Agnus’ health.”

Greg was unsure at first, but what choice did he have? If he couldn’t place his faith in God, he would in the Devil. If it meant that Agnus would live a long and healthy life, his soul was but a small price to pay. Greg was allowed one chance to say goodbye to her. With the Devil’s help to conceal his presence from people, he snuck into the hospital that night and, for the final time, watched over Agnus as she slept. Greg sat by her side in tears, explaining what he had done before saying his last goodbye.

“I’m sorry, Agnus… I won’t be there to watch you achieve all that you’ve dreamt of. I won’t be able to be by your side as you grow old.” He wiped the tears that cascaded from his eyes. “I’m so sorry I abandoned you before, and I’m sorry I’m leaving you for good this time. I love you. Goodbye…”

As Greg walked out the door, he heard Agnus murmur in her sleep. “I love you, too.”

Agnus recovered the following morning and Greg was missing without a trace. He became a Demon Lord under the Devil’s command and swore his servitude to him for all eternity.

Around fifty years passed in the world of the living, which was barely a quarter of the time span in the Netherworld. One day, Greg, now bearing the title Demon Lord Agnuron, found himself summoned into the living room of a cabin in the woods. He looked around and saw sigils drawn on the walls, but his eyes widened as he looked at the floor before him and saw one of his old shirts neatly folded and placed within the summoning circle.

“It has been too long, Greg.” A woman’s voice rose from behind him.

Greg turned around to find an elderly woman smiling as tears streamed down her cheeks. “Agnus?”

She smiled through her tears and nodded. Greg ran into her arms. “I’m so sorry,” he said repeatedly.

Agnus reassured him that everything was alright, and that she didn’t bear any ill thoughts for his actions, even though she considered them reckless. She said she had a vision the night before she recovered that he had visited her to say goodbye. She couldn’t believe that it was what truly happened, and for the longest time, she filed that memory away. But as she grew older, she said she needed closure. And so, she learned witchcraft and performed a summoning spell in hopes of seeing him.

The two of them spent several hours catching up, and Greg was overjoyed to hear about Agnus’ countless achievements throughout her life. He asked her to summon him whenever she liked, promising that he would visit her any time. Agnus held him to that promise.