I have been known by many names, I prefer Nemesis. Like all deities, my origin and true purpose have been forgotten, denied and sanctified by folklore. I was the dispenser of Justice before justice became a blindfolded woman in the courts of men. I see into the hidden depths of your soul and make manifest your most despised fears, I deliver what you truly deserve. It is not karma, it is not an eye for an eye, it is pure punishment. I will take both eyes and every other organ as well.
I take pride in my work; the dead squabble at the gates of my kingdom as if vying for entrance to an exclusive club. Only the very top skimming of filth, those responsible for the most extraordinary cruelty may proceed. There are many realms of Hell. The common evil doers toss and tumble in pits of flame for eternity, a monotonous suffering fit for the feeble minded. Liars, thieves, adulterers, blasphemers, you will wish you had the balls to really follow your dark urges when you are sentenced to those seething pits of tedious torment. Those pathetic souls are not fit to be in Hell but, of course, the gatekeepers of Heaven will not take them so here they remain: moaning, bitching, squirming; just as they did in life.
Every moment fresh hoards are ushered through the screaming fields where they first witness the horrors they will be subjected to. Row upon row, as far as can be seen, the damned are staked and raked, enduring visions of torture I project upon them.
Among my elite charge are infamous mass murderers, pedophiles, tyrants and politicians, and my favorites, men of the cloth. I have them to thank for the more creative implements of torture at my disposal. I don’t often get my own hands dirty, I have gimps to perform the menial tasks, but sometimes a particular soul will beg for my personal attention.
I have created my world to beautiful perfection. The Infernal Lord respects my artistry and allows me to proceed as I wish. I stroll through the black smoking fields, the rolling hills of ash and debris, piled high with torn limbs, rotting organs, shattered bones. My vulturous familiars flock and feed on the remains, their red eyes glistening like jewels in the fog. The shrieks of the damned are a blissful, primeval hum; the stench of decay is always flourishing. I walk along the rivers of semen and bile that trickle into a thick sea of blood, and I find peace in my work. For a thousand years I have been content in my kingdom. And then you, my beloved, appeared at my gates.
I, of all beings, should appreciate the irony of Universal Law, but I was stunned, you took my breath away. Never did it occur to me that I would see you again, how could I have been so naive? One of my favorite tasks is to torture soul mates, making one watch the other suffer, squeezing them empty of the precious love they believed so rare. And then you, my beloved, were delivered to me.
I was working in the fields happily, the spread-eagled sod before me began a pleasant, pathetic wail at the mere sight of the rake I held. I raised the tool to begin but suddenly paused, shocked to feel your presence. The distinctive energy of you was close. A flock of dead, shrouded in black clouds of hate, were being ushered through the gates and you were amongst them, shuffling along, your head hung low.
Your body bore the marks and lashes of other kingdoms, you had been in Hell a long time but it was apparent you were not yet truly broken. In sheer audacity you clung to the shreds of your royal attire, wrapping them around yourself as if still a noble man. I stared as you walked past, then I returned to my work. Distracted, I tore the fellow before me into thin strips with one quick movement.
***
I left you strung up for days in the fields, uncertain of how I was going to approach you. Never before had I experienced this doubt in my own realm. Was this a test? Was I, Nemesis, being ridiculed? It baffled and insulted me. My prayers to the Infernal Lord were met with silence.
My gimps became nervous as they watched me grow withdrawn and silent. “What task today Mistress? What wonders may we do today Mistress?” they sniffled and groveled at my feet and I kicked them away, impatient and angry.
“Hang them by their balls! Hook them up by their holes,” I shouted and paced. “Dip them in boiling fat then set them on fire! I don’t care, think of something! Do as you please and leave me alone!”
Brooding, I locked myself away, turning my back on my exquisite realm, until I could avoid you no longer.
***
I lifted your head with the tip of my pitchfork. My great and powerful king, slayer of children, defiler of men, strung up like a corpse waiting to be gutted. I can still see that steady look on your face as you swung your jeweled sword and sliced off my head. You didn’t pause, you didn’t hesitate. Do you see me now? I have evolved; I have become something other, something more, while you have remained a wretch, stubbornly clinging to ideas that no longer serve you. Your royal birth, your blood line, is of no significance here.
Your eyes were glazed and gray, your once handsome face nothing but stretched skin over bone. In your mad delirium you mumbled the ancient hymns of your powerless pagan god. I stuck the spears of the pitchfork deep into your throat to get your attention. You lifted your eyes to meet my own. What traveled between us, in our gaze, horrified me and I let the pitchfork fall. A black putrid liquid seeped from the holes in your neck and trickled, streaking you with slime. We stared at each other. I thought it impossible, but it was there, tangible, the remnants of our love.
You recognized me and the mask of your face changed. Something in my long dead and hardened chest began to swell. Your eyes watered. Your tears were of black slime too and the thick drops sat on your cheeks like little bugs. A sound gurgled in your throat as you struggled for a voice. I heard you whisper my name, the name I had in life, and your whisper rattled my kingdom.
“My darling, my darling, is it really you?” you croaked. “Save me.”
A feeble plea dripping with sweet humiliation. Yet my sight blurred, a strange haze surrounded me. My rotten, phantom heart beat louder. Tears, my own tears, that I thought I would never need cry again, began rolling down my cheeks. I cried the blood of devils. I dropped to my knees and wept.
The ravaged earth below me laughed. It was the cruel laughter of the Infernal Lord, pleased to see me, the great Demoness Nemesis, broken. And then I looked up to see you too were chuckling, spluttering your black venom.
My tears stopped. A rage infused me, more glorious than I’ve ever felt before and I shrieked triumphantly at the pleasure of it. Without another moment’s hesitation I stood and rammed the pitchfork through your chest, then jacked it open. Your withered heart was a stone. I yanked it out and swallowed it.
Then I set to work, with renewed delight and focus. Once we reigned as king and queen in a fertile and noble land. Now I reign alone over my own dominion. Your rule was cruel and villainous but my reign is without limitation.
I administered the tortures that you had enjoyed watching as king. I cut your tongue into thin slices, a slice for every lie and bribe you had spoken. A long stake through your anus and out your mouth, for the rapes of young men, women and children. I lost myself in a frenzy of dismemberment, plucking your ribs and vertebrae, savoring each diseased organ, weaving a lace of bondage with your own intestines.
My Lord appeared to me, breaking my reverie, so pleased was He with my work. I prostrated in obedience and we fornicated on your remains. Your gouged eyeballs watched, hanging out of the sockets of your severed head. Your twisted and scalded penis twitched, aroused. Your hands crawled away like bleeding spiders. My gimps came to scrape you up and put you back together again. Your torment will never end; it is a nightmare you will dream for eternity.
I will always be your Nemesis and you will be mine.
~ Veronica Magenta Nero
© Copyright 2016 Veronica Magenta Nero. All Rights Reserved.
Wow! Awesome write. Your story telling is amazing. This really grabbed me to read more. Thank you for sharing. Very cool writing. 🙏➰
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Thanks so much, glad to hear you liked it.
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Just speechless loved loved it ! Truly amazing story left me yearning for more 💞
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Hi Angelwings, thanks you very much!
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Breathtaking in scope and execution, your talent is boundless.
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thanks so much Steve x
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Bravo! So wonderfully told , with a great feel and strangely moving! the way you wrote of the fields made me smile , as it reminded of old Harry’s game! Again , bravo!
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“Harry’s old game”…I’m sure theres an intriguing story to be told there too! Thanks so much Angel.
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Old Harry’s game , is an radio comedy made by the bbc. It’s very funny and wonderfully written! It is one of my favourite audiobook. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Harry%27s_Game
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oh ..I was imagining something more sinister !
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No ….. But then it very funny take on something dark! I do know one or to darker ones too, but I’ll keep my powder dry for a bit 😉
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I loved this tale. The heroine justly torturing who had once been her love when she was flesh. The descriptive prose had me imagining how Vlad Tepes`s fields must have looked. Excellent.
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thank you Adele, I tried to capture the image I had in mind of ‘screaming fields’. Thanks for the reblog
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Reblogged this on firefly465 and commented:
A beautiful bloody tale from pendofthedamned.com
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Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie and commented:
Wow…read this if you dare…
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thank you for the reblog!
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Love it ! Your words and way of writting is so Alive, if that makes sense 🙂
👍❤
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oh good..I hope the words crawl off the page and lodge themselves in your mind…slowly leeching terrifying but also beautiful things…
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Nemesis, indeed! Wonderfully crafted, Veronica, and seeped in cruelty and despair. Fitting for such a dark deity… I loved reading this 🙂
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thank you Joe, glad you enjoyed it… “nemesis” is such a intriguing and complex idea to play with…
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I love the idea of this love/revenge story being set in Hell. Awesome description ! Made for great visuals. Dark and twisted, I truly enjoyed it.
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Thanks Lee, Hell is quite a fertile ground to set a story thats for sure, I really enjoyed dreaming up the landscape…
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An incredibly visual and almost poetic piece, Magenta! You managed to give an elegance to Hell and suffering while maintaining a horrifying tone. A great piece that I thoroughly enjoyed!
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Thanks Jon! I’m so thrilled you found my Hell elegant, Nemesis is quite an artist isn’t she, temperamental, brooding, unpredictable, but committed to her work.. thanks for reblogging
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Reblogged this on and commented:
NEMESIS by Pen of the Damned’s Magenta Nero
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Reblogged this on THOMAS BROWN.
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Magenta, this is breathtaking. I’m sorry I’m only just catching up. Really, I was enthralled; by the writing, the story, the character and her past. I could read it again and again and again. Beautiful and horrifying in equal measure.
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If I have managed to tell a story both beautiful and horrifying then my job is done …thanks so much Thomas
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