Hell's Actor-Chapter 96: With The Devil

"...and now, they think Satan and I are one and the same," Lucifer complained.

Lying next to him on the gray surface and staring at the bluish-pink sky was Averie, nodding with apparent disinterest.

"I mean, Satan is a devil." While pacing around, Lucifer put up his hands. "But he isn’t the Devil, now, is he?"

"Uh-huh."

"I feel like I am not appreciated enough."

He was treating Averie like his therapist.

"Yeah, Satan."

"And—what?"

Averie looked at him. "What?"

"Did you just call me Satan?"

"What? No!" He made an offended expression. "Why would I possibly say that?"

"I think you did say that."

"Impossible." Averie shook his knees anxiously. "We have been best buds for decades; how could I mistake you for Satan?"

Lucifer furrowed his brows. "I’m pretty sure you called me Satan."

"Come on, you heard it wrong. I have known you for so long. Remember how we used to skip around Hell, holding hands while saying ’no homo?’"

"Yeah," — He nodded his head thoughtfully — "those were the good times."

Averie breathed a sigh of relief. ’How did this come to be?’

***

Some time ago.

Averie opened his eyes and instantly cursed.

"Fuck."

He was in Lilith’s womb.

He got up and did the usual routine.

Once again, Asmodeus popped up.

"How have you been, you filthy reject?" Averie greeted him warmly. "Let’s do our exercise quickly, alright? I have something big planned for today."

Asmodeus rushed at him, and after a short bout, Averie put him down.

"That’s where you belong, maggot!" he screamed at the gray surface like a madman.

He thought that would be enough to end this nonsense for tonight. But he felt something unusual. He felt a presence behind him.

Averie shifted his weight and jumped to the side. Rolling on the floor, he looked up.

A figure stood where he had been standing moments ago.

He was dressed in black, and in his hand was a glaive with a shining red blade.

"But why?" Averie wondered in despair.

The man before him was none other than the Dread of the Living, Allaryx.

He spun his glaive fluidly and rushed at Averie. But the diabolical actor dodged the blade and smacked the back of Allaryx in a single smooth motion.

"Allaryx isn’t this slow, moron. What a cheap imitation."

The fake Allaryx tried again, but Averie dodged skillfully.

"You are not him, bro." He shook his head dismissively. "Nah, you are not him."

He taunted and smacked him around.

"This is easy. Easy with a z. Eazy."

Once again, the black flames flared from his tattoo.

"Time to return to where you came from."

He kicked away Allaryx’s weapon and embraced him tightly.

"I’m not like the other guys." While the imitation burned, Averie solemnly whispered in his ear. "I’m not usually this clingy."

Once Allaryx was gone, Averie looked up. And as if to prove his instincts right, the sky shook.

Soon, Lucifer floated down.

***

Back to the present.

Averie chewed on his lip. "Why are we here again?"

"I don’t know why you are here."

"And you?"

"I was bored."

Lucifer was sitting in the air, which made Averie jealous.

"Don’t you have anything fun to do?"

"Well, I was playing this game before sleeping. It’s kinda cool."

"What’s it about?"

"Some loser college freshman." Averie shook his hands as if they were wet. "He is enjoying his new freedom, studying, playing sports, dating, all that stuff."

"Isn’t that human life you are describing?"

"Nah, it’s way more fun than life."

Lucifer looked at him pensively. "So, you are into pixelated girls?"

"It’s less about the girls and more about planning, strategizing, and using your limited time well to flirt with girls. In the end, you can only choose one of them. There are multiple endings, depending on the choices you make."

Averie thought about it for a moment. "It’s kind of weird how much effort the developers put into such a thing."

"Humans are weird, man."

"Totally, dude."

"Like, for real."

"For real fr, bro."

"Like seriously."

After a long moment of pretending to be young, Lucifer broke the silence.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Make it short, yeah?"

A sane man would not have said that to the literal Devil. But then again, if Averie had any semblance of sanity, he would not have twirled an imaginary mustache as he said it.

"Why did you create such a dangerous acting method? Where did you even get the idea?"

Averie didn’t exactly have an answer prepared for that.

"There was no reason not to do it."

’An actor must know his character.’

"Do you understand the relationship between a character and its actor? Do you understand how it differs from the relationship between a writer and their character?"

Lucifer silently listened without making any remarks.

He had a lot more knowledge than Averie, but even he did not believe he understood the art of the stage better than the nonchalant man in front of him.

"A writer creates fun characters without caring for realism. The details and explanations are stacked later, not before the conception of the role."

"I would have thought differently."

Averie nodded. "There are those kinds of writers, of course. But most don’t want to, and neither should they, create characters with realism in mind. They don’t chart a logical course. They chart a course and then make it logical."

"Why?"

"It’s fun like that."

But actors could not afford to do that.

"Actors must dive deeper into the script to make sense of their role’s every action."

If something did not make sense, then they had to talk to the director.

"Or they could create a backstory in their heads that explained the nonsensical bits, just a little detail that would go unnoticed by the audience."

Averie had done that himself.

"I did the same for Asmodeus Binsfeld."

Lucifer looked entertained. "What do you mean?"

"Why was he so obsessed with Sarah Raguel?" Averie playfully bobbed his head from side to side. "You could explain it with something like love."

"You don’t think it was love?"

"Not the romantic kind."

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