As the two of them walked through the city gates, Ephram looked back to where they had walked from. They had passed through the canyon sized crack in the dome, and what he saw from outside the Garden was almost indescribable, he just couldn't find the words.

The unfathomable gaping maw of darkness surrounded the roots of Yggdrasil, the only light came from the tree itself. There were other large dome-like structures built into the tree, each giving off their own light. Ephram realized these must have been the other levels of Hell, similar to the Garden. Each dome was surrounded by a large city, the one outside of the Garden, however, looked to be the largest from his perspective.

"What... is this place?" Ephram asked, awe filling his voice as his eyes tried to soak up the wonders he saw.

May chuckled as they continued walking, outstretching her arms as if to embrace the surrounding void.

"Welcome to Hell."

Ephram and May continued to walk throughout the city, the stench of sulfur filling the air. As beautiful as the place may seem, the closer you look the uglier it gets. There were small humanoid demons everywhere, most of which seemed to just wander about aimlessly through the streets. Water ran through the streets from a backed-up sewer system, and the surrounding homes looked to be mostly abandoned and hardly kept clean.

It was quite interesting to see the difference between the demons and their homes here by the gate, as opposed to those further into the city. Ephram noticed that the farther into the heart of the city they got, the livelier it became. The demons farther into the city seemed to be a bit happier, they had cleaner homes and the stench of sulfur was much less noticeable.

"May, I have something to ask you." He said, suddenly remembering a conversation he had earlier with her.

She stopped walking to turn and face him, curious as to what he could want. She looked at him without saying a word, waiting for him to continue.

"Earlier... the wind? I've been thinking about it and I'm not sure exactly how you did that? Can all demons do things like that? Can I?" He asked quizzically, afraid to broach the subject too much in case she decides to give him another demonstration of her power just for laughs.

May nodded in understanding, scolding herself for having forgotten to explain her abilities to him.

"Every demon you see has a unique ability, whether that be magic manipulation like I, or a physical attribute. My own ability is to manipulate the wind in whatever way I see fit." She continued walking with him in tow, following closely to her side as she explained.

"Within a few days of being born a demon, everyone awakens a unique ability. Most named demons born in the Garden are bestowed with some form of magic manipulation, while the lesser and unnamed demons receive a physical attribute of some kind. The most common of which are sharp sword-like bones protruding from somewhere on their body." She said with satisfaction, indicating that she was relieved there were no sharp bones protruding from her own body.

"I see... do you think I'll get some kind of magic manipulation too?" He asked, and she shrugged as a response.

"Possibly, I guess we'll have to wait and see. I sense something odd about you, hence why I went to the Garden to fetch you. You could possibly awaken something quite powerful." She said with a hint of anticipation in her voice, the suspense of waiting to find out why she had taken this interest in Ephram must've been killing her.

As the two of them walked in silence for a moment, Ephram took in his surroundings to try and get a sense of where they were exactly. He could still see they were in the slums, but something about the demons of this particular area seemed off to him. They all seemed much too happy, for their living conditions this was not normal.

"May..." As he was about to inquire to her his thoughts, a whisper from underneath his feet stopped him in his tracks. May seemed to hear it as well, seeing as how she followed his example of keeping quiet to listen.

They were standing directly above a manhole, the voices echoing softly from within. The two of them couldn't make out any of the words, but the tone itself sounded hostile.

"Who do you think is down there?" Ephram said quietly.

May gave him no response, only looking at him as she slowly raised a finger to where her lips would've been. But as the two of them stand still trying to listen in on the whispers, the manhole cover begins to slowly move.

"Back up!" May shouted, jumping back from the manhole cover as quickly as she could. Ephram, however, did not get the memo soon enough.

A long gray and black arm came barreling out of the now open manhole, grabbing his ankle. He tried to escape the hand's grasp, but the amount of force behind whoever was holding him was obviously too much for him to handle.

"No!" May yelled, realizing what was happening, but it was too late.

The arm pulled back into the manhole with astounding speed, knocking Ephram off his feet and slamming his head against the ground, knocking off his hat as he was dragged into the dark and filthy sewer. He tried with all his might to fight back against his assailant, but he was just too weak to make any difference. He felt completely helpless, unable to save himself from this nightmare. As he was dragged along the sewer floor, scraping his back and head against what felt like uneven concrete and metal, he tried to look at the demon dragging him.

"Who are you!? Unhand me!" He yelled frantically, but was met with only silence.

It was too dark to see a thing down here, and as soon as he tried to catch a glimpse of whomever had kidnapped him, he felt the hand let go as it threw him.

A sudden rush of water consumed his entire body. His clothes were now soaked and fear began to settle in, he started to wonder why it had come to this. Just a moment ago, he was walking through the city with May, and now his life was in danger. He scolded himself for letting it come to this, for being too weak to fight back.

He fought to get to the surface of the water, and as his head emerged, he noticed a dim yellow light coming from directly above him. It hadn't been on before, but he was glad it was here now.

He could see that he was in some kind of water reservoir, with four tunnels dumping water inside from every direction. No sign of his assailant, however, but Ephram was sure they were still close by. Continuing to scan his surroundings, he noticed a single ladder leading up to one of the tunnels. He decided to try his luck with it, there was no telling when the demon who dragged him down here would be back.

Climbing the ladder and entering the tunnel, Ephram was glad to see lit torches on the wall, at least now he could get a sense of where he was.

"What is this place..." He trailed off as he walked, the squishing of his boots echoing throughout the narrow tunnel.

"Hell, obviously. What did you expect?" A raspy voice spoke from directly behind him, closer than Ephram would've liked.

Fear coursed through his body, he didn't dare turn around. He could feel the putrid hot breath of a demon standing uncomfortably close behind him. His mind raced as he tried to think of how long this thing had been standing there waiting for an opportunity to snatch him up again.

"Keep walking... I have something to show you." The voice said, this time an odd gurgle escaping its throat, as if it was speaking with a mouthful of water.

Ephram took a few slow steps forward, trying to keep his composure as he continued on down the tunnels, trying to think of a way to escape this situation, and wondering if May had made it into the sewers to find him. If she would even try to find him. She owed him absolutely nothing, there was no reason for May to risk her life to save him, and that thought haunted Ephram to the core. Maybe she wasn't looking for him at all, and decided to find some other newborn demon to harass. They hadn't known each other for long at all, there was no use in saving a pathetic demon such as him who couldn't even attempt to save himself.

"What... what are you going to do to me?" He spoke, his voice beginning to shake a bit. Ephram heard his own voice filled with fear, and it disgusted him. He knew he was a pitiful sight, but what could he do in a situation like this? No knowledge of the world around him, and no strength to fight back.

He didn't wish to be this weak. He knew he had so much potential to grow stronger, but he also knew that this was just the way the world worked. Potential is snuffed out before it's given a chance to develop into anything beautiful. For some reason, this was something Ephram held very close to himself, the beauty of the world. Even in the cruelty of it there was always something beautiful tucked away, hiding in the corner from the towering monster that is fear.

"You'll see." The voice snickered, unable to contain its own laughter.

Once the demon stopped laughing, Ephram felt the sense of dread kick in more than ever before as he saw up ahead what was waiting for him.

Bodies lined the walls, their arms and legs staked into the concrete with large rusty nails. Each one had cuts and scratches covering them from head to toe, and a large gaping hole through the center of their torso and the middle of their chest. The smell was indescribable, the stench of sulfur and pus completely replacing whatever oxygen was in the air. Ephram was grateful he didn't have a mouth, or else he would've thrown up just from the stench alone.

The demon behind him began to laugh again, this time gradually picking up in volume. Ephram got the sense it was enjoying every moment of this, feeding off of his fear and torment.

"What... is this..." He tried to speak, but his voice began to die out as he saw something even more disgusting than the bodies.

The tunnel led into a large round room with a low ceiling and single table in the center. Ephram tried to calm himself down as he saw the creatures standing around the table, he was unable to contain his fear upon seeing them.

Two large grotesque rat-like demons stood there, watching him as he took his last step forward into the room. They were at least 9 feet tall, hunched over from the low ceiling. Their large white eyes looked like spoiled milk, their sagging skin a mixture of black and gray. These demons had mouths and a large rat-like snout protruding awkwardly from their faces. No ears, however, could be seen. In their place were small holes in the side of the creatures heads that looked as if they belonged more on a lizard.

Ephram nearly lost it as he realized what was in the back of the room, behind the two menacing demons. A large wooden board had been propped up against a wall, with what seemed to be a dead demon tied down to it, a bucket strapped just above its waist. Its head hung down, staring at the floor with lifeless white eyes. This particular demon seemed to be another rat-like humanoid, but was much smaller than the other two.

Ephram couldn't understand what he was seeing, but the very sight of it sent shivers down his spine.

"Do you know what this is?" The demon from behind him spoke up, his voice scratching the air as if he were attacking the very space of the room.

He stayed silent and still as the demon slowly revealed itself, standing directly in front of him. It bent over slightly to stare directly into Ephram's face, examining him like a doctor checks over one of their patients. The demon looked to be exactly the same as the other two rat humanoids, but one key detail set it apart from them.

Just as May had explained, a large curved bony protrusion seemed to be ripping through this demons head. It was longer than the demons actual body, the tip of the bone dragging across the floor as it moved. The bone itself seemed to be lodged through its head, entering through the back of its skull and protruding through its chin. It seemed to use the bone as a makeshift cane, the weight of it obviously had taken quite the toll on the creature, its legs looking quite thin and frail.

How this monstrosity had dragged Ephram into the sewers was beyond him, but he made a mental note not to underestimate this demon. It looked to be weak and frail, but Ephram knew that to be quite untrue. This demon was not harmless, and it intended to hurt him, there was no doubt about that in his mind.

As the rat demon shuffled its feet and moved to the other side of the table, it looked back at Ephram with cold, dead eyes. A smile crept onto its face, showing off a few jagged and plaque covered teeth amongst the gaping holes where the rest of its teeth should've been.

"Fetch me a rat, boys." It said slowly, as if it were savoring the words like a juicy steak.

The two other humanoid rats began to slowly drag their feet across the ground, and Ephram looked down to notice they were all barefoot. Blisters and large scabs covered their feet as if they hadn't sat down in quite a long time. As soon as he realized this, he noticed something else as well.

In the dimly lit room, the only light source being a few torches on the wall between a couple of strung up bodies, there was a sea of other small rat-like demons hiding amongst the shadows. They looked up at Ephram with quivering white eyes, they seemed to be deathly afraid of anything and everything.

As one of the humanoid rats bent over, it jumped forward with incredible speed into the sea of smaller demon rats. Thrashing about for a moment and struggling to capture one, it suddenly stopped as Ephram heard a pathetic wail.

"What are you doing! Stop!" He managed to cry out, but could only watch as the humanoid slowly stood back up, clutching a small rat demon in its mangled dirty hand.

"Please! I'm begging you! Not me! Take someone else! I can't do this! I can't! Please!" The small demon rat cried out, begging for the humanoid to put him back down.

Ephram watched in horror as the other humanoid rat lifted the bucket attached to the strung up demon on the wooden board, the rat soon after being thrown forcefully in. The humanoid rat then slammed the bucket back onto the other demon, and held out its free hand as if waiting for something.

The demon with the bony protrusion hobbled over to his companion, taking a torch from off the wall and handing it to his partner's outstretched hand. Ephram stared at the events unfolding before him, unable to believe the cruelty he was about to witness. He knew he was in Hell, but this was almost too much for him to bear. He was too afraid to run away, yet too weak to stop these monsters. Ephram felt completely alone within himself, as if he were a completely helpless and useless sorry excuse for a demon.

The humanoid rat holding the torch slowly brought it to the end of the bucket, heating it up until it became too much for the small rat demon to bear. It squealed and screamed uncontrollably as it fought to get out of the metal bucket, but to no avail. The only way out was through its larger rat-like counterpart.

"ImsorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry..." The rat cried out, repeating the words as it began frantically ripping through the flesh of the demon tied to the board.

Ephram hadn't realized it before, but the demon on the board was not as dead as he previously believed. He watched as the demon slowly looked up to meet his gaze, its small white eyes begging for death. Ephram could see it was trying to scream, but what came out was anything but. The demon must've pleaded and begged for so long that it had destroyed its own vocal chords trying to scream out for help.

Now, the only thing to escape its mouth was a faint hoarse groan, a tired and sorrow filled sound that no living creature should ever have been able to create.

To his horror, similar noises began to start up all throughout the tunnels. Each body he had passed on the way here had begun to cry out with the same tired scream, their voices broken and hoarse as they cried out nearly silent for someone to save them. He realized what fate awaited the demon strapped to the board, it had yet to receive any lashes across its body. The humanoid rat demons must've done this exact thing with the other demons, and began lashing them to continue their pitiful excuse for screams.

Ephram was swallowed by sheer terror as the rat-like humanoids began to laugh with pure joy as the demon slowly lowered its head again, accepting its fate and watching as the rat demon came bursting out of his chest, its mouth full of gray flesh and dripping a thick tar-like blood. It tried to choke out a few more words of apology before the humanoid rat demon with the bone snatched it up and heaved it at the wall, back into the shadows where it came from.

Ephram dropped to his knees as the two other rat humanoids untied the demon on the board and began hauling him through the tunnel, preparing to nail him up on the wall next to the other bodies.

"It's your turn!" The demon with the bone through its head exclaimed with excitement, it seemed as giddy as a child on Christmas.

He tried to protest, but not a single noise came from him. He sat there in disbelief, unsure of why he was being put through something this atrocious. He had only just been made aware that he was in Hell to begin with, how could it have come to this so fast? He searched for an answer within himself, yet could find nothing but terrified compliant silence.

The world is uncaring. The world is not beautiful. There is nothing but senseless violence here, and there always will be. These are the only thoughts circling around his mind as the rat humanoids hoisted him up to the board, tying him down and securing his arms and legs tightly. They had stripped him of his coat and undershirt and he began to feel his will to survive fade away. The rat demon with the bone walked up to him, its milky white eyes staring directly through him.

"Fetch me a rat." It said, never breaking its gaze from Ephram.

As one of the other humanoids began to search for another rat demon, the one eyeing Ephram didn't move an inch from his face.

"I hope you're a good screamer. That last one set the bar quite high for you. The demons of this town absolutely adore the sweet lullabies we create down here, it puts quite the smile on their face... so... sing me a song!" It exclaimed, lifting its hands like an orchestra conductor as it hobbled away from Ephram.

For the first time, Ephram wasn't sure what he felt inside. He was always able to understand his own thoughts and feelings since waking up in the Garden not too long ago, but now it was different. This must be what life as a demon was like, full of uncertainty and around every corner lurked the manifestation of hatred. It was in all demons, he knew that now. It explained the feeling he got from May when she first approached him, every demon he encountered harbored a deep writhing pain.

The only thing, however, was that Ephram wasn't sure if he felt the same. What was there to be so angry about? The only thing tormenting him was the torment of others, the weakness of demons incapable of controlling their own thoughts, feelings, and actions.

As a rat humanoid slowly tied the bucket around Ephrams waist and the other finally caught another squealing demon rat, he found himself questioning the reality of his situation. His immediate surroundings came second now, what came first was the burning hot sensation of an unanswerable question he had continually asked himself in his mind.

"Who... am I?" He said aloud, surprising both himself and the rat humanoids.

The demons all stood around him now, puzzled expressions plastered to their rat-like faces. Not a single one said a word, not entirely sure what Ephram was going on about.

"Have you already lost it? That's no fun." The rat demon closest to him finally said, disappointed in how long it took to break their new toy.

Ephram felt a wave of peace envelop his body, all of a sudden everything felt warm and comforting. As he hung his head down in defeat, the humanoids threw the rat into the bucket angrily, slamming the bucket down into his midsection.

The rat humanoid with the bone slowly brought the torch over to the bucket, heating it up until the demon rat inside writhed in pain, begging him not to do this.

"Please! Forgive me!" It squealed as Ephram began to feel the small claws of the creature make contact with his skin, desperately scratching to get out of the bucket.

He couldn't feel a single thing. That's what surprised Ephram the most, was the horribly anticlimactic feeling of the demon rat gnawing at his skin. This confused him quite a bit, seeing as how the other demons strapped to this same board had seemingly cried out in anguish each time before him.

Instead, the screams came from inside the bucket. The rat demon had begun to boil alive, its pitch-black fur burning to a crisp as it desperately continued scratching and biting at Ephram, but to no avail. He felt the claws slowly come to a halt as the rat continued to melt, its hoarse screams slowly stopping as its bubbling skin popped like a bag of microwavable popcorn.

The rat humanoid with the bone slowly dragged its feet over to the bucket, shoving the other humanoid out of the way. It lifted the bucket off of Ephram and watched as the contents oozed out like hot tar, the demon rat was now an unrecognizable pile of gooey black flesh.

The humanoid bent over, silently inspecting where the rat demon had tried to escape. There seemed to be no scratch marks whatsoever, not a single indication that anything had happened at all. Ephrams skin was just as smooth as before he had been put on the board.

"In all my years... what are you?" The bone demon asked, standing back up and grasping Ephrams head in its mangled gray hands, forcing him to stare into its eyes.

Ephram didn't say a word, he didn't have a clue either. As the bone demon backed away slowly, unsure of what was to come next, it sneered at Ephram with a fiery hatred behind its otherwise dull white eyes.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep these demons above us happy? If they don't hear my sweet music soon, I'll be the one on that board. Trust me when I say... I'll get through to you." It said with an urgency in its voice, it seemed to be afraid of the demons living on the surface.

Ephram could feel the fear in its voice, as if it were coming off the rat humanoid like a smothering dark fog. If this demon was afraid of the others above, he couldn't even begin to imagine what horrors lay on the surface.

Something made Ephram stop feeling the overwhelming sense of dread as soon as he looked up. A small black mouse scurrying among the pipes above him tried hard not to be seen, but its small white eyes shone brightly, staring directly at Ephram as he looked up. This particular mouse seemed all too familiar, and it gave him just the slightest bit of his will to survive back.

He looked back down at the rat humanoids pacing about the room, still trying to figure out what to do. He looked past them and into the tunnel he had come from, seeing someone else standing in the distance amongst the bodies nailed up against the wall.

Her short blonde hair stood out amongst the darkness; its golden hue seemed warmer than even the torches lining the sewer. As she walked closer towards the room, the bodies began to look up at her as if they could feel her presence. They seemed livelier somehow, almost like the air around her was giving them the will to continue, like an infectious disease of hope.