Chapter Text
It happened in an instant. The loud honking noise that suddenly cut out like one of those perfectly cut moments. I had, absentmindedly, walked onto the asphalt of a busy road not paying attention to the vehicle that was approaching. I should be dead. I should be a splatter, a smear on the fender with my shoes firmly in place where I had been struck like all those urban legends say. But that wasn’t the cause as I felt most assuredly alive. The truck inches next to me, unmoving, the sound of complete silence, people motionless in their tracks. Time was frozen with the exception of myself. Was this a dream?
“It most certainly isn’t.” A voice called to me. I wasn’t alone in the frozen time as I looked around for the source of the voice. I found it, walking around the fender of the vehicle. A blue demon leaning against the right side of the truck that was almost going to slam into me. Dressed in a black and red robe, they turn to me and give a smile as one would meeting a friend, 4 horns glowing eerily despite being in the middle of the day.
I didn’t care. I’m not even the most religious person, but seeing a being like that, I knew I had to escape. I quickly turned and started running, shoes hitting the pavement as I tried to get away from the being that was probably dangerous. Yet though my feet touched and pushed off of the asphalt, my body wasn’t going anywhere. Somehow the asphalt was like a treadmill, something that once more made me think that I was in a dream. I only had to wake up.
“Again.” The demon I was trying to escape from spoke once more, its presence drawing closer to me and my futile attempts to run away. “Despite appearances, you’re not in a dream, Larry. This is reality, just paused for a moment. Mostly because I want to offer you a deal. Now would you please stop trying to run away? It’s not like you actually get that much exercise to maintain that sprint. Adrenaline has to run out sometime, right?”
As if on cue, I felt my body screaming at me for pushing myself trying to run away. Like it knew. Same with my name. Every bit of my logical mind was telling me that only something within a dream would a scenario like this happen. But surely I would be awake at this point…
“The logical type.” The demon walks around me as my pace slows down and I begin to catch my breath, my chest heaving. “Let’s put it this way. If this was a dream I bet you wouldn’t be able to remember how you got to this moment, correct? Just take two seconds to think about what happened right before I stopped time around you.”
My day so far? I woke up late in the afternoon, went to make some cereal despite the hour, found out I had no milk because low and behold my roommate Terrence didn’t get any when he had gone out while I was asleep. So I decided to go grab a bite to eat and then the loud honk…
“What the hell are you?” My mind realizes that there were no gaps in my memory leading up to the events that happened.
“Just a human like you. You know, despite how I look. The name’s Zel.” The demon bowed like he was an actor finishing a performance. “And I’ve come to offer you a deal.”
“Is that why you look like how you do?”
“Well, not really. It’s the look I’ve decided on. I could have been many a thing. For example…”
The demon’s body warped, the blue hue of its skin shifting into a skin tone that a human would normally have. Its skin wrinkles as the horns and wings melt into its body, green hair whiting, the fabric of the robe shifting into a suit and tie. It was a matter of seconds until the face of the 43nd president of the United States stood before me.
“Would you rather I be Dubya?” The demon even sounded like the former president, the same tone, the same way his words would carry. “Nah, that would be strange as all hell.”
The demon’s body warps again, clothes and all, skin tightening as its appearance gets younger, and skin tanner. The suit it wore turned into tight, black latex as its once flat chest expands out. Long voluptuous blond hair takes over the thinning grays, its face now feminine with plump lips donned with red lipstick.
“Or maybe a sexy blond.” The demon’s voice now sultry and intoxicating. “Then again, that might have made you think this was a wet dream. Not that I wouldn’t mind a little action, little man.”
It gave me a wink before changing once more, tits shrinking down, though not deflating completely as the latex body suit becomes a T-shirt and shorts. The blond hair shortens as it becomes brown as I recognized the body it was turning into…
“Or maybe your high school crush?” Once more, it sounded just like her. Just like Tiffany. “Though there would be the question of how she’s here and all that non-sense. Plus it just adds to the whole dream-like scenario.”
“Alright, I get your point. Can you move on and explain your so-called deal?”
“Certainly.” The demon, while still looking like Tiffany, cleared its voice.
“Without looking like Tiffany.”
“Suit yourself.” With a snap of its fingers it had become a demon again, as if the transformation sequence was just to show off. “Now in this fraction of a moment is the last bit of your life on Earth in this universe. If this moment continues you’ll be dead. As is the will of the universe.”
“So you stopped it for me to survive?”
“Kinda. The funny thing about our Universe, and yes there are others, is that it’s harder for it to justify paradoxes. Small ones here and there, yeah, it can deal with them just fine. But larger ones not so much. For example, you stepping out onto the road here. Between the timing of the truck and your disregard for your own safety no matter how unaware it may be, the outcome can’t be changed that much. Mostly because the universe itself would have to justify those actions. Like maybe you took a second to stop to look both ways, but that’s not really in your nature, correct?”
“Hey. I’ve done it before.”
The demon clicked its tongue before lifting its hand up, palm flat. Manifesting above it a seam, as suddenly moments within my life played before me. Specifically moments where I crossed the road. Most of which without looking, with some close calls as someone stops me. The demon just stands there and shakes its head as he judges my previous actions against my own words.
“Maybe in a different Universe, one of those many you would, just like in another universe you would have chosen not to go out. But these are the choices that you’ve made and for that, well your life was cut short. Which of course brings me to my deal.”
The demon points to the position that I was in before investigating where its voice was coming from. A sense of existential dread washed over me as I saw my own body, frozen midstep. The missing piece of the scene that had been frozen in time.
“Right there is a near perfect clone of yourself that I’ve made. I say near perfect because there’s not a functioning brain in that little body of it. You take my deal, that thing gets splattered and the universe gets to be happy as it doesn’t have to deal with the paradox of you not being where you were supposed to be.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You’re a smart person, you already know the answer to that question.”
It was obvious. I would be back in that place, time would restart and I’d be dead. Could be a quick one, could be agonizing, but dead nonetheless.
“What about the afterlife? Does it follow those rules?”
The demon pauses for a second, hmmmming as something rattles in its mind.
“The afterlife… you know I’ve never really asked that of Miss Know-it-all Guardian. Let’s just say this. I’ve asked “God” and she said that as long as a person was about to die I could present them with this deal.”
“So even you don’t know if there’s an afterlife.”
“Not for this universe. Of course it's not the same for all universes out there. Some do and some don’t. Not that it matters. After all, you’ve admitted to not being the most religious guy.”
“And yet I’m talking to a blue demon who just said a God existed, even with scare quotes.”
“True, though she’s more of a supervisor that can be replaced rather than a creator god. But we’re getting into the weeds a bit. I need to propose my deal. I’m looking for volunteers, people who I can toy and play with without repercussions and in perpetuity. Experimentations and the like where I can change any and all aspects of my volunteers at a whim, even granting them permanent abilities.”
“Ok, but why offer this to a person that’s right before death’s door. Couldn’t you just ask any random person?”
“Sure, but it’s a bit shortsighted. Let’s say I offered this to you this morning before you left your apartment. Suddenly, you disappeared without a trace, police get called, an investigation takes place, witness testimonies and the like. Now we add that per each and every person I ask to be a volunteer. Suddenly we might have a string of disappearances with one or two commonalities. Sure it can be ok if that person was a loner with no family and friends. Or in a universe where disappearances are common due to various factors. But in this one here, the one where I make my home, it’s probably for the best to offer it to people right before they die.”
“I think I see your point. Still feels a bit wrong though. You are pressuring me from a point where my only other option is death. Almost like you want me to take the deal.”
“You could look at it this way. I’m giving you the isekai choice.”
“Isekai?”
The demon clicked its tongue again as if it expected me to know the term.
“You know the Wizard of Oz? How Dorthy winds up in the land of Oz which isn’t a place on Earth? Just in this case Dorthy had the choice of either going to Oz or dying and there’s no way back home to Kansas.”
“I think I get that.”
“Good. Now, any other questions you have for me?”
I took a moment to think, coming up with one answer.
“Have any others accepted your deal?”
“One other. Funnily enough, not a person from our universe. Give me a second.”
The demon lifts up its robe, showing off the shiny tight black pants it wears underneath, but more importantly its stomach. At first it appeared flat, but suddenly began to bulge out, expanding outwards and downwards as the faint outline of a curled up person could be seen with their back towards me.
“Her name is Tilly.” The demon continued. “She’s from one of those universes where disappearances are common. Mostly because there’s a high chance of being eaten by someone much stronger than she was. Though she has her own thoughts about that. Hey, Tilly, can you turn around and press your face against the inner wall for a second.”
I watched as the demon’s belly began to shift, its skin bulging from the movement. Clearly defined hand prints… not, those don’t look like hands, more like paws, where pushing outwards before the outline of a face forms. It didn’t look human, but rather like an animal. Something with a short snout and a relatively squashed head.
I was only allowed a few seconds to look before the distended gut on the Demon was sucked back up and into its body.
“As you could tell she’s not human like you are. I could tell you what she is, but I think that would ruin the surprise. Of course you’ll be sharing a space with her for the time being until I get the pocket dimension designed that would be my volunteers' new homes.”
“So taking your deal, you would have to eat me? And I’m supposed to believe that won’t lead to my death?”
“I mean it isn’t technically my stomach she’s in, kinda like a weird storage organ I created for volunteers. She’s not being covered in masticated food and drinks from being in there for the last day or so.”
“A day?”
“There about. She’s kept herself busy while in there, though I have toyed with her a bit. She really loves… well that would be saying too much.” The demon gave me a smile. “But enough about the girl inside of me, let’s get back to the question at hand. Are you willing to take the deal?”
My mind went back to what my prospects were. On one hand, certain death. On the other hand, uncertainty. I have no reason to trust this demon, everything that it had shown me could be a complete lie. This situation could be a complete lie. I could say no and there’s a chance that the truck that’s right there is not even real. But do I risk it? Am I willing to gamble one whether or not the being in front of me was telling the truth?
“Tick tock tick tock.” It started to repeat over and over again, reminding me what little time I had.
“Fine, I’ll volunteer.”
“Excellent!” The demon had a smug look on its face like it knew what I would have chosen, clasping its hands and licking its lips. “I promise that you won’t regret your decision that much.”
I wanted to retort but the sudden feeling of my clothing disappearing off my body, being exposed to the elements took me by surprise. And the demon in turn took it to make its move. My vision becomes obscured as suddenly my face was shoved into something dark and wet. Teeth scraped against my skin as I felt its hands and tails wrap around me. Despite its thin, weak frame, the demon was able to lift me straight up in the air, upside down as it began to gulp.
1… The initial gulp sends my head and upper body straight into its stomach, my head colliding with something that feels like wet fur as my eyes fail to adjust quickly enough. 2… I felt my crotch reach its lips with the second gulp, cock flailing as my head pushed further onto that wet fur, squishing what I could only assume was Tilly against one side of its stomach with only an “eek” coming from them. 3… Only my feet were outside its mouth, my body now halfway in this stretchy, damp organ. The feeling of squirming wet fur against my back as the original occupant is pinned from my weight.
4… 4 gulps, 4 seconds. My fate had been sealed as I was now in this demon’s “storage organ” as it called it. I had hardly the time to orient myself nor did my fellow roommate, as the demon suddenly took off, shaking our confines. The sounds of gurgling surrounding me only being pierced by one thing. The sound of a horn blaring, which became distant quickly along with what I assume was a scream.