***The Infernal Planes of Gluttony***

***Demonling***

I turned and edged forward into what was likely not a crypt, but some sort of ritual chamber. As I took step after step, the runic script around me glowed brighter and I hesitated. “Is that normal?”

“How should I know? I collect artefacts, I never said that I know how to make them,” came Sozzudon’s reply.

I drew one of my bone daggers and scratched at one of the runes which had the unsurprising effect of grinding down the dagger instead of the rune. Bone on stone, I could have predicted that.

There was nothing I could realistically do about the situation, so I advanced carefully to the other side of the door which was at least a metre thick. Amon really didn’t want anyone apart from a demonling to disturb his rest.

“Keep going. The magic would have already zapped you if you had been recognized as a target,” Sozzudon urged from behind.

“Geez, thank you.” I couldn’t help but feel a little bit bitter about my contractor. But he had to know what was on if he had already fried some drones in an attempt to get the spear. If he said so, then I wouldn’t end up as fried demonling today.

Probably.

Not you too! I shook my head and took another step which brought me fully to the other side. The sacrificial chamber was glowing ominously, but aside from that, the new perspective was giving me a lot more details.

The chamber wasn’t perfectly round, but more shaped like a ‘U’, which allowed for some storage space to my left and my right, outside of Sozzudon’s field of vision.

I briefly wondered whether I should tell him.

Are you nuts!?

The other really couldn’t understand a joke. As if I would be so naive to give up information for free. And I really had to stop thinking of the other as a genuine person! It was just a fraction of my own mind that had developed a will of its own because my current body was unable to house such a powerful soul.

I took a deep sigh to steady myself and once more scanned the room for any dangers. Slow and steady was the first rule of survival. There were the storage spaces to my left and to my right, the floor was empty except for Amon’s corpse, and above.

Two huge mandibles filled my vision.

“Ieeeee!”

Petrified in fear, I screeched for everything I was worth and had I not held the metal wire with a death grip, the huge spider would have bitten off my head. Alarmed by my scream, Sozzudon pulled the wire back in just that moment, yanking me out of immediate danger.

I landed on my butt just as the mandibles closed around the space where my head had been. Then I scrambled backwards on all fours, trying to gain some distance to the monster which was now following me into the opening.

“That’s one huge motherfucker!” Sozzudon commented with slight amusement in his voice.

I pulled my bone daggers and quickly stabbed one into the eye of the creature which was following me with the single-mindedness of an insect that had found its prey. It reached for me with its forelegs, but I darted away. The barbed hooks on the creature’s legs were something I didn’t want to have anything to do with.

Stabbing and dodging, I slowly retreated step by step.

Aside from the wound to one of its eyes, which was now oozing a green puss, I hadn’t done much damage to my opponent. The chitin was too thick and hard for my bone daggers and aside from mandibles and claws, there wasn’t much to hold onto for my Death Grasp ability. If it had meant instant death for the spider, I would have tried it, but given the time it took to incapacitate the opponent with my ability there was too much opportunity for the spider to mess me up.

“Duck.”

I threw myself to the ground and a moment later, a weakened version of Sozzudon’s energy ray shot past me and burned a hole into my opponent’s forehead. The spider shuddered and twitched, and then slowly curled in on itself.

“Ha!” I jumped back to my feet as soon as the energy beam shut off. Then I charged my prey and stabbed my dagger deep into the already injured eyesocket to make sure that it was dead.

Then I pried the mandibles apart and used my second dagger to poke at the many teeth inside the creature’s mouth.

“What are you doing?” Sozzudon’s voice came from behind me after a few seconds of wild stabbing.

Wasn’t it obvious? “Searching for the tongue!”

“I… I don’t think that spiders have tongues…” The older demon actually sounded slightly heartbroken, having to be the bearer of such a message.

“No tongues?” I stopped my undirected mutilation of the corpse. “Abomination!” How could such a thing exist on the Plane of Gluttony? How could it taste its meals!? It was truly an Abomination!

Sozzudon rolled his eyes and then he reached into the opening to pull out the corpse of the spider.

I had to press my body to the wall in order to avoid the dangerous barbs which were all over the creature, and then I picked up the wire which I had dropped during the fight.

With my path now clear, I advanced more quickly this time around. Once on the other side, I checked the ceiling first but aside from some webbing, there were no more spiders. There were also no spots where more of the same creature could easily hide.

After surveying the ceiling for a few more seconds, I instructed Sozzudon to slowly give me more wire and stepped over the viewing hole’s edge. My descent went without problems and the slowly lowering wire allowed me to practically walk down the door while holding onto the loop at its end.

Then I was on the floor and took my first step into the ritual circle. The closer I came, the brighter the runes shone.

I sighed and tried to ignore the increasing intensity of the runes. As far as I knew, it was just a light show. The ominous corpse which was kneeling in the middle of the room was of much more interest.

Uncertain of how to proceed, I put the wire down once I was a metre away and edged a slow circle around the body to see if there were any obvious traps. Amon was quite clearly dead. His body was dried up and mummified, but in an amazing condition given how much time must have passed.

He was kneeling with his head bowed and his right arm still holding the spear. Two long horns that were covered in runic scripts were emerging from his temples and running backwards along the sides of his head. There was also a tail and what looked like wings folded around his hips. Either that, or he liked skirts while he was still alive.

His left hand was holding the hilt of a sacrificial dagger which was buried in his chest right where the heart should be.

I shuddered upon realizing that whatever dark ritual Amon had performed, it required him to sacrifice himself. Was he so certain of achieving godhood that he was willing to take the ultimate risk? I couldn’t imagine that there was no better alternative to go about this.

At last, my attention went to the book which lay on the floor in front of him, opened to the last page.

Finished with my inspection, I returned to the wire and took it.

“What are you waiting for?” Sozzudon’s voice came from the viewing slot in the door.

I approached, and when nothing happened, I looped the wire securely around the spear’s lower end and tied it.

Sozzudon yelped with glee and pulled, which forced me to dodge the falling spear and the mummy’s arm which broke off.

I cringed when the spear met the floor with a loud ‘Clang!’, but nothing else happened except for Sozzudon quickly reeling in the spear.

Before I could think of holding onto the weapon, the lower end was pulled up and into the viewing hole where it vanished with the sliding sound of metal on metal.

“Finally!” came Sozzudon’s shout from the other side.

I returned to the door and realized that the viewing hole was now out of easy reach. “Could you throw the wire back in?”

“Why?” came from the other side. “Our deal is done. You performed the deed and I held up my side of the bargain. From now on we are even on this account.”

I gaped up at the viewing hole, even as I felt something pass into me. “But how will I get back out!?”

“That isn’t my problem. And on another note, you are now where you are supposed to be. Which means that my debt is paid.” And with that, I only heard Sozzudon’s retreating footsteps.

“Debt!? What debt?” I called out, but Sozzudon had already left, leaving me in this deathtrap of a room! For a few seconds, I just stood there, trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I had just been abandoned.

That was to be expected! Did you think he would adopt you?

“Shut up!”

Of course, it had to be expected, I had no illusions about our relationship! We knew each other for less than a day. What I didn’t expect was that he would leave me in here for no good reason other than out of spite. Was he angry that I forced the contract on him?

I growled and turned to look around the room. There must be something in here that I could use to get up to that viewing hole.

The body wasn’t an option. It may be desiccated, but it was still far too heavy for me to move. Maybe I could fashion some rope out of the cloth.

Then I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. I certainly wouldn’t die in here. Sozzudon abandoning me like that wasn’t a death sentence. It would just delay me until I found a way out of here. First, I had some loot to go through.

Thank the Infernum that I hadn’t told Sozzudon anything about the stashes and the other items in the room. It was possible that he wouldn’t have cared, but after his betrayal, it wasn’t certain that he wouldn’t have forced me to bring him the rest too.

First, I inspected the stash to my left, which consisted of pots that were filled with fist-sized, red crystals. Above them was an even larger one throned on a pedestal with an inscription beneath it.

“The Art of Slaughter,” I read the ancient text without problems. Apparently, the demonic script hadn’t changed in recent centuries.

I frowned and switched over to the other stash which was organized in the same way, only that the crystals were blue and that the inscription said, “The Art of the Mind.”

There was no way to be sure of what that meant, but what I knew of Amon’s story would allow for some conclusions.

This room wasn’t just Amon’s attempt at becoming a god, it was also his fail-safe in case something went wrong. So if I were a powerful Demon Lord, what would I leave behind for my future self? Of course, I would see to it that if everything went to the Infernum, I would have something that would allow me to rise back to power as quickly as possible. Which meant powerful souls!

I was so eager to test my theory that I was already reaching for the gems in front of me when I stopped myself. Simply taking these without consideration wouldn’t be the smart thing to do.

Aside from my first soul, I had gotten a second one from my deal with Sozzudon, but I could already tell that it wasn’t powerful. Likely just some random mortal. If so, it would mess up the perfect opportunity I had for a powerful evolution!

Sozzudon said that only the progeny of really powerful demons would get such a chance.

How could I get rid of the soul?

I closed my eyes and simply followed my demonic instincts. Instead of accessing the second soul’s memories, I shoved it away from my astral body with all my might and surprisingly enough, that did the trick without a hitch. I felt it as the soul departed, leaving me only with my original one. After all, manipulating souls was quite natural to my people.

Grinning in glee, I considered what to do next.

I already had the soul of some powerful wizard, so taking another big wizard-soul wasn’t a hard decision. The question was, should I go all in and absorb all the blue gems that were offered one go?

From Sozzudon’s description, a big part of my development would be influenced by the sequence in which I absorbed my first few souls. What I was now faced with, was in which order I should take them.

Unfortunately, I had absolutely no information about what was possible.

Since I already had magic in my build, I saw nothing wrong with doubling up on the magical ability that I already had access to. First, I would try touching the large blue gem which was presumably more powerful than the others. Then I would have two strong magician souls. But since I also liked weapons, I would also include the strong warrior soul in my initial setup for certain. Then I would simply have to decide how much of a warrior I wanted to be.

Maybe seven parts magician and three parts warrior? No, eight parts magician would be better. I needed warrior skills only in the case that something got past my magic.

With the decision made, I climbed up the pedestal and touched the blue crystal.

It immediately fell to dust and I felt something pass into me.

Since that had worked without problems, I quickly took in the strong warrior soul and then proceeded to take in more souls until I reached the tenth crystal.

The moment I absorbed the tenth soul, I felt my body itch all over and an incredible pain slowly spread in my lower back. I screamed and bit down on one of my bone daggers as the world faded in and out of existence. At last, I couldn’t take it any longer and tore off my lizard-thing armour which suddenly felt much too small for me.

The worst of it wasn’t the pain or what happened to my body, it was that something was changing my mind. It felt like it was expanding and rearranging itself, giving me access to more of my souls’ memories. Finally, it was over and I was left sweating and panting on the ground. My vision refocused, and I studied my armour with surprise since it was now much too small for me. I also had wings now… which felt strange.

Had I become an imp with wings?

Well, it was better than being a normal imp. And with my new size, I certainly wouldn’t have to be afraid of spiders!

Emboldened by this result, I went on a wild consuming spree until I absorbed all the crystals in the stashes, which turned out weren’t as many as they initially looked. In the end, I landed at eighty-seven souls which weren’t enough for my next evolution. Sozzudon mentioned that I needed one hundred.

With the two stashes robbed, I now noticed that the runic script throughout the chamber had visibly dimmed. Were the two large gems somehow fuelling the ritual? I must have done something to interrupt the flow of power.

There was no way to know. My mind felt different now, and I had access to more knowledge. Of that I was certain. Sadly, the understanding of runic script wasn’t included in my broadened horizon.

That only left one other thing that I could loot.

I slowly turned my attention towards Amon’s body.

Several minutes later, I was equipped with Amon’s sacrificial dagger, which was more like a sword to the new me, an amulet that I had taken from his neck, two rings, and a wristband. I wasn’t certain what the trinkets did, but since Amon had worn them I strongly assumed that they were magical. And if not, they had to be at least of some worth.

The book I left alone for now since it gave me a bad vibe.

Cackling, I imagined myself using the sacrificial dagger to carve a bloody path through Gluttony until I eventually became a proper demon. Taking the hilt with both hands, I swung it with glee, hacking an imagined lizard-thing in two.

With a sizzle, a red band of energy emerged from the blade and scorched the ground.

Startled, I dropped the dagger and took a step back, upon which, the red band of energy vanished.

“That’s no normal dagger…” I touched the hilt with the tip of my clawed toe and scowled. Was I supposed to wield a red ribbon in battle? I could understand an energy sword, but this?

Gathering my courage, I picked up the weapon and tried another test-swing.

The red energy appeared again and I lashed the floor with it.

The ribbon energy was too short for an adult demon to be a whip and too… noodly to be a sword. How did Amon fight with such an inconvenient item? Was he dancing?

Scowling, I tried to find the right combat-style by performing a few slashes and whips, pirouetting around myself. Each time I hit something, there was ‘Zing!’ or a ‘Sizzle!’

When I was done with my test-run, I looked back at the path of destruction I had carved through the sacrificial chamber… and the tip of a tail… and the arm on the ground which was no longer attached to the rest of my body!

“Ow!” I dropped the dagger again and howled!