I was not prepared for what I saw inside that room.
His form was incomprehensible. His shape would flicker and ripple, constantly changing, as if he were made of liquid, but not smooth. Eyes would appear and dissapear across his skin, limbs stretching and retracting as he moved across the floor towards me. His outline seemed to blend into the air around him, making it difficult to tell where part of him ended and part of him began.
I could do nothing but watch, frozen in fear.
He stared me down, his three burning green eyes looking deep into my meager pink ones. A twisted grin was peeled across his beak.
But he didn't say anything, not at first.
I didn't want to be stuck here forever staring into the eyes of a mad god. I had to initiate conversation.
"I brought you dinner, sir."
That was all I could squeak out. I was too terrified for formalities and didn't want to say anything that could possibly upset him.
With a low growl, he extended one of his limbs backwards, retaining eye contact the entire time, never blinking. He grabbed the pipe from one of his hookahs, I hadn't even noticed they were there, I was too taken aback by Filo himself to have really analysed the room. Bringing the pipe up to his mouth, he took a long drag, and exhaled the iridescent smoke through his nostrils and into my face. For a moment, there was the sound of screaming, but it wasn't coming from Filo himself. It seemed like the screaming came from the smoke. I knew in an instant it was the memories of Filo's previous victims.
"I don't want any of that muck."
He spat. He had a deep, rough voice, and his speech was slurred like he was intoxicated.
With a swipe from one of his wings, he tossed the platter of meat across the room. Before I could realise what was happening, I felt his tallons wrap around my body and the floor dissapear from beneath my feet. Filo carried me across the room, and held me in front of a large black jar.
"I have acquired some, new toys, and want to try them out on you."
He said, as his grin appeared to spread down the length of his neck. With one of his scaled limbs he opened the lid of the jar, which was filled with wriggling, purple things. He pulled one out and held it up to my face, turning it slowly so I could get a good look at it from all angles.
It was some sort of slug, though what set it appart was the two long tendrils on its head, which were capped by a pair of black pinsers. It snipped at the air wildly, as if trying to find something.
"Do you know what this is?"
My throat was so dry. I couldn't speak a word in reply. I just shook my head.
Filo cackled the most raucus cackle. The world around us seemed to spin as he did so.
"You're about to find out."
Filo took a fistfull of the slugs out of the jar and held them towards my ear.
And that was the last coherent thought I would ever have.