Hyde lowered his head in embarrassment. while trying to pretend he couldn't see the look of disdain on Solomon's face.

"I can't believe you just said that. You even shouted it. What were you thinking?" Solomon asked in disbelief.

Embarrassed, Hyde squirmed in discomfort.

"I'm sorry, ok? I just got too excited at the whole situation. Just forget I said that."

"Let me pick your second name and I'll think about it." Solomon bargained.

"No way. why do you even want to pick my second?" Hyde asked suspiciously.

"Don't worry about it." Said, Solomon sneakily.

Right before Hyde could continue to pester him about his motives the gangplank was lowered. With a boom, the wooden plank hit the steel dock and everyone began to disembark.

Using this distraction, Solomon escaped Hyde's questioning and got off the barge. Judging from the smug look on Scorn's face they would be on their own from now on.

Taking in the hustle and bustle of the dock, he took a deep breath and turned to look back at Hyde as he disembarked. Making up his mind, he walked over to Hyde and asked him a question that had been on his mind since they first got onto the barge.

"Do you want to stick together until we get everything sorted out and start the 'Penance'" He asked while fidgeting somewhat awkwardly.

Hyde responded with confusion.

"Obviously. There's no way I'm walking around a city full of demons alone. You never know what sorts of dangerous things could happen." He replied naturally.

Relieved, Solomon grinned and then they started to come up with a plan of action.

Fortunately, Hyde's expectations of a dangerous city full of demon's were subverted. As they walked through the streets while pushing through the swarm of monsters they were met with friendly waves and smiles.

Someone, noticing the basic clothes they were wearing even gave them helpful directions to their first destination. It seemed like, just as Scorn had said, Demon's all tried to be nice to each other to gain good karma.

Feeling suffocated by the strange atmosphere, they arrived outside a place called the information centre. One of the few permanent structures in the city, it was probably prepared for new arrivals.

The building itself was made of grey stone and towered above the surroundings looking somewhat like a library. Demons constantly came and went from inside in an ever-moving stream of activity.

When they walked through the huge stone archway they were met with a cavernous building filled to the brim with demons and any other type of monster you could imagine.

The walls were covered from floor to ceiling in various leaflets, books and maps. The most popular section was labelled 'Penance Tips and Tricks'. It seemed that most of the people here were looking for advice on how to pass onto the next circle.

Feeling like taking the 'Penance was far in the future, Solomon and Hyde headed to a section marked 'Newcomers'. They each picked up a set of leaflets and maps bound in a rubber band which was recommended by a helpful passing demon.

This set of information was crucial, although it looked like it would be tiring to read. The problem was they had nowhere to read it. Everything in this city was always in motion and so far they hadn't seen anything resembling a cafe or inn.

Since all of the structures here were temporary, they could guess that no one stayed In the first circle for long. As a consequence, there wouldn't be anyone with enough free time to set up and run a hotel or inn.

Hoping they might find out some information about where they could stay to rest, they flicked through the leaflets and tried their best to decipher the sprawling and congested maps. The reason there were so many maps was that the city itself was always changing in shape and size.

"Why are there so many shops for weapons and monster parts?" Hyde asked confused

"Look here," Solomon said as he pointed to the map.

Noticing where he was pointing, Hyde had a sharp intake of breath.

"A soul emporium, I hope that's not what I think it is." He muttered.

"I wonder why there are so many shops for climbing gear." Solomon mused.

When they had finished their initial scan of the leaflets, they decided on a plan of action and made their way to the docks again to try and find work. After all, they needed money to do anything.

Pushing their way through the endlessly flowing stream of demons they arrived back at the dock and started to search for work.

The first thing they came across was a stall at the gangplank of the barge with Scorn sitting at it. He was holding a clipboard and sitting behind a makeshift desk below a banner that read: 'Hiring Miners'

They went up to him and asked about the work. According to Scorn, all barges needed fuel and materials for weapons, and that fuel was gathered by the weaker demons on the upper levels.

The pair were unconvinced until Scorn lent in and whispered that the job came with benefits. One of which was the miner's camp and canteen, a place to stay and eat.

Seeing as they already knew that Scorn wasn't a bad guy, they decided to accept the job.

Following the route Scorn had laid out on the map, they arrived at the entrance to a miners colony. They knew this was the right place because of the billowing clouds of black dust and soot rising from the centre of the camp.

After showing the documents Scorn had given them to the quartermaster, they were led on a short tour. The only really important things were the canteen and the living quarters. Which were equally Filthy and unkempt.

They arrived at Hyde's tent first and, after wishing him goodnight, Solomon went on to his tent while doing his best to ignore the cry of disgust Hyde had let out once he entered his tent.

After settling down in his tent, Solomon piled all the stuff the previous owner had left in a corner waiting to be burned.

With a deep sigh, Solomon looked at the ceiling and quickly became lost in his thoughts. He was plagued with self-doubt and worry. 'It's too much, I don't think I can do this. Why do I have to suffer for crimes I don't even remember committing? The only other people with karmic flames were Hyde and the Captain, What did I do to deserve this?'

Not that moping about would help. Solomon was simply overwhelmed and his negative thoughts were spiralling out of control.

He, as he was now, had only existed for a single day. The rest of his memories were wiped from his mind and with no past experiences to draw on, everything was simply too much for him.

Hearing footsteps outside the entrance of his tent temporarily drew him out of his depression as someone grew closer. They finally stopped right outside his tent and then seemed to pause.

After a few seconds of indecision, Hyde, who was standing outside of the tent coughed and set down a tray piled high with strange meats and fruits.

"I got you food because it looked like you were tired earlier. Don't sleep in or we'll miss our shifts in the mine." He called out to the quiet tent and then left.

Once Solomon finished eating the meal, which quite frankly was disgusting, he smiled a little. before going to sleep. Just because demons didn't necessarily need sleep didn't mean they couldn't.

...

Perhaps because he went to sleep in a better mood, when he woke up he felt great. Pushing open his tent flap, he walked out into the squalid communal living area and made his way towards Hyde's tent.

Deciding he would repay Hyde kindness from yesterday, Solomon decided to stop at the canteen and get Hyde breakfast. This simple but brilliant plan met an enormous stumbling block whenever he caught sight of one of the dinner ladies.

"What are you doing here dressed as a dinner lady?" Solomon asked

"Well... I came to get your food after serving hours last night, so they would only make it if I promised to help with making today's meals. Sorry I won't be able to make it to our shift today. can you cover for me?"

Solomon pinched himself on the cheek.

"Ouch, So I'm not dreaming. This means that the person with a hairnet and apron serving me breakfast really is Hyde. And more importantly, he asked me to cover his shift on the very first day." Solomon couldn't remember when Hyde became a comedian.

Hyde looked embarrassed and promised to save Solomon an extra serving of food for when he got back.

Solomon, after eating another hideously bad meal from the canteen, made his way to the central square of the whole camp.

Filled with noise and the demonic equivalent of testosterone the square was packed with burly demons of all shapes and sizes. There was plenty of female demons as well as male ones but they all shared one thing in common. Bulky and muscular bodies. Mining wasn't easy work.

This meant that Solomon, who was rather slender and didn't look particularly manly stood out like a sore thumb amongst this sea of strong demons.

At the centre of the square, the quartermaster was bellowing orders to anyone who would listen with a strained expression. After he shouted at someone, they would organise themselves into a group and head off in various directions.

Solomon waited until most of the demons had emptied out from the square and nervously made his way toward the quartermaster.

The quartermaster noticed Solomon's rather slender build and threw him a pickaxe from a pile at his feet. Before telling him to join a nearby group of demons who looked very experienced.

Walking up to the group of demons Solomon counted 9 in total. While other groups were filled with intimidating and strange-looking Demons, this group was particularly weird.

They were crowding around a demon that looked blind, with pitch-black leathery skin and no ears and a snout and resembled a bat without the wings. The group surrounding him acted like he was a mafia boss and seemed very protective of this particular member.

"Oi newbie! Pay your respects to the Boss if you wanna join our group." Shouted a particularly scary demon with clawed hands and the lower body of a snake.

Thinking that arguing that he had been told to join the group by the foreman and didn't actually want to join this group in the first place wasn't worth the hassle. Solomon turned to the bat demon and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Idiot! he's blind. Say something to him." Shouted the Lamia demon in annoyance.

'This guy really likes shouting huh' Solomon thought in annoyance before greeting the Boss properly and introducing himself to the group.

Seeing his respectfulness, the attitude of the gang eased up and they greeted him with familiarity. Spouting off cliche mafia movie lines like "We'll show you the ropes." and "You don't want to get on the shouty guy's bad side"

This weird atmosphere didn't transfer outside of their group as most of the other groups acted with indifference towards each other. Theirs was the only group that seemed particularly close.

Noticing Solomon's confusion a demon that looked somewhat like a rat walked over to Solomon and said. "Come with us and you'll see why we call Boss the Boss."

Before going to bed the previous night, Solomon had taken the time to read through the seemingly endless leaflets on the underworld and had a few questions, which he planned to ask the group on the way to their destination.

Once they had left the outskirts of the bustling city and walked for a couple of hours, they were greeted with an enormous wall of black rock that stretched from the floor to the ceiling of the cavern. The Rock wall was covered in so many winding Tunnels it looked like a honeycomb.

When they reached the foot of the rock wall, everyone in the group, except for Solomon, turned to look at the Boss with an expectant look on their faces.

The Boss, who seemed completely unfazed by their enraptured attention turned his head to face the rock wall and started to make a strange high-pitched clicking noise with his tongue.

Everyone watched with bated breath as the Boss listened for something with an intense expression on his wrinkled face.

After waiting in anticipation for what seemed like hours, Solomon, who didn't even know what he was supposed to be excited about ended up getting caught up in the atmosphere and stayed silent as well.

The Boss answered their expectations when he smiled and pointed towards a particularly distant tunnel quite high up the rock wall.

"The rock there is the densest." Whispered the boss in a raspy voice.

The group of mafioso demons jumped for joy and gave endless praise to the Boss.

Noticing Solomon's confusion and lack of celebration a rat demon pulled him aside and explained the situation.

"No way! The Boss can use sonar to find the best resources." Solomon cried out in disbelief.