I turned my attention back to the system, scanning the rest of my profile for anything I’d missed. “So, exp, I assume you get that by killing… stuff?”

  “That and completing certain quests, page four in your booklet.”

  “Yup, uh huh,” I said quickly. “And, skills, how do I use those? I have one called Demonic claws…”

  “Ah, yes, you can access them by thinking of their name in your head. It will use up a portion of your mana, however. Watch.” Kril faced away, sucking a humongous breath into his tiny form. His chest swelled like a balloon. A single fireball sputtered from his mouth, landing harmlessly against a rock in the distance.

  I applauded politely. “Well done.”

  “Thank you.”

  I focused, thinking of my only active skill.

  [Demonic Claws]

  The name could use some work.

  My fingernails sharpened into pointed blades. I ran towards the boulder that Kril had fired his fireball at, slicing with my right arm. It cut cleanly into two halves.

  It was now the small Imp’s turn to applaud. “Not too shabby!” He called out.

  We began to walk again—he floated—until I suddenly asked a question. “So… what exactly are we trying to do?”

  “Don’t you have a quest?”

  “I do,” I said, bringing up the menu.

  “And it says…?”

  “Escape from Hell.”

  “Then that’s what you try to do!” Kril finished simply.

  Seriously? Just follow quest after quest? I mean, simple enough, I guess…

  “Well, I don’t really know how to do my quest,” I said. “What’s yours?”

  “Hmm? Oh.” The Imp stared ahead, likely looking at his own personal blue panel. “Help a Friend.”

  “The objective?”

  “Find a fellow newborn demon and gain one level together.”

  How’re we gonna do that?

  As if to answer my call, I caught a movement in the corner of my eye. A creature of molten jelly, hopping along without a care in the world. They glowed orange, similar to the lava river they danced around. A smaller panel than usual appeared in my peripheral vision.

  Maybe I need to kill one first to get the unknown info.

  [Demonic Claws]

  My fingernails sharpened, and I ran forward, slicing at the slime. It burst into an explosion of magma. A handful of glowing orbs appeared from its now-melting form, flying into my chest.

  [Exp +1]

  [Gold +1]

  [Magma ball +1]

  [Sizzle Slime added to index!]

  I checked the slime's panel again.

  “Good job!” Kril called before preparing his own attack. He puffed out his chest, blowing a fireball towards a second slime. It landed, the sizzle slime slowly expanding like a balloon overflowing with air.

  An explosion.

  [Nearby Friend Bonus!]

  [Exp +0.25]

  A buff for being near an ally?

  “Let’s kill a few more.”

  Kril nodded back in agreement.

  The wake of our destruction wasn’t bloody, as the sizzle slimes had no blood, but they would surely tell tales of the demon and its imp companion who tore apart their brothers without mercy.

  Another pop-up appeared in my field of view.

  Interesting.

  But I didn’t have time to choose a reward. The screen flickered intensely and suddenly became a deep, dark red.

  “Hey, Kril,” I said worriedly, and the imp put a pause to his massacre of the local slime population.

  “What's up?”

  “Has the system ever… rebooted, before?” I asked, feeling an odd numbing sensation in the back of my head.

  “It never said anything like that in the booklet.”

  “Of course it didn’t.”

  A new screen appeared.

  Unique skill? Does that mean I’m the only one who can have it?

  Then, a second screen.

  So, you’re saying that even after death, I still have a parasite in me?

  [Perchance!]

  What the hell do you mean by “perchance”?

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Nothing happened, but I swore I could feel the world shrugging. I stared at the flickering red system message, written with ominously dark lettering.

  Fuck it.

  I mentally selected the icon.

  Then, my entire world came crashing down.

  My chest seized, each breath a shallow gasp caught beneath an invisible weight. My heart thundered wildly, less a rhythm and more a frantic assault, like a jackhammer gripped by a rabid beast. Then came the headache: not a sharp sting, but a full-body crescendo of agony that made every other pain I’d known on Earth feel like a paper cut.

  Suddenly, it all stopped.

  [Hey there.] A menacing voice whispered into my mind. I stared at Kril, but his mouth hadn’t moved.

  Who the fuck was that?

  [What did you just say to me?]

  “Kril, are you messing with me, dude? Cuz that’s not cool.” The Imp stared at me, confused.

  [It’s not him, buddy.]

  Great. A creepy voice in my head. “Who the heck are you?” I demanded out loud.

  “Kill him?!” I shouted.

  Kril took a sudden step back. “Uh, Lucivar, mind telling me what's going on exactly?”

  “Nothing!” I reassured the small imp. I may not be the most morally righteous person out there, but I was vehemently against killing my only friend down here in Hell.

  [You don’t need him.] The sinister voice made my skin crawl, as if hundreds of tiny spiders had laid their eggs all over my body.

  Shut up.

  [You’ll need me soon enough.] The ominous voice faded away into an evil laugh.

  My head doesn’t have enough space for all these… personalities.

  Kril clutched at his small brown cloth fearfully, looking me up and down as he hovered in the air.

  “It’s fine, dude,” I said reassuringly.

  “Says you! What kind of evil threatens to kill their older brother!?”

  If anyone, a demon would be the most likely candidate.

  “I’m not gonna kill you, there was just… something weird.”

  Kril stared at me for a few moments, but eventually relaxed his guard. “Well, if I’m gonna die, I guess I’d rather it be you than that guy.”

  I followed the imp’s floating finger, now pointing straight at a tall, menacing demon in the distance.

  “Holy shit! Hide you idiot!” I replied in an urgent whisper. We dove behind a nearby boulder, and I could hear the demon's footsteps stomping closer to us. He stood at least ten feet tall with pale, ghostly skin, standing out against the surrounding landscape. White wings protruded from his back, and long, pearlescent hair cascaded downwards, settling somewhere above his shoulder line. He wore white and gold plate armour, glowing and shimmering like the lava around us.

  He’s so… white.

  “What do we do?” I whispered.

  Kril shrugged his tiny shoulders, peeking out from behind our rock at the menacing demon. “That’s gotta be a Greater Demon, maybe even a Demon Duke.” The unfamiliar terms went right over my head, but they sounded strong.

  It’d be nice to have that booklet right now.

  Suddenly, I remembered something. We still had a few moments before the demon would reach us. I raised an arm, bringing up my profile. Then, I scrolled to the level-up notification I had received earlier.

  I sat in thought for a moment. Upgrading a skill could be useful, considering I wasn’t sure what would happen if I selected a new skill. I could get a dud, or it could be amazing. A random reward seemed like a gamble, but could also turn out great.

  I could also upgrade the demonic parasite…

  I let the thought fade away. I wouldn’t entertain something that wanted me to kill my only tour guide after all.

  Water damage…?

  “I’m in fucking Hell!” I shouted aloud, but I realized my mistake too late.

  Kril tried to clamp a tiny hand over my mouth, but already, I saw the unnaturally tall demon closing in on us.

  We’re gonna die.

  Thinking quickly, I remembered something. “Kril! Didn’t you complete your quest earlier?”

  He nodded.

  “Well? What did you get?”

  Kril reached into the air and pulled out a tiny, black pitchfork.

  We’re so dead.

  “Come out, lesser demons. I mean you no harm.” Unexpectedly, the tone of voice was rather… friendly.

  I slowly walked out from behind the rock, arms in the air. Kril floated just behind my shoulder, mostly hidden from view. “We come in peace,” I said nervously.

  “Don’t fear, young ones.”

  I stepped forward.

  Maybe he’s a nice demon?

  “It will all be over soon.”

  Suddenly, the world began to fall. No. I was falling. My head pounded, my vision faded to black, and Kril fell on top of me. The last memory I had was seeing the demon's eyes, glimmering with cruelty, and a dark, insidious smile.

  —

  I sat up, banging my head on the metal bar in front of me.

  “Goddamnit!” I cursed, shaking the cage violently. It swung back and forth, making me slightly nauseous. We were now in some kind of evil lair, surrounded by a horde of demons varying in shape and size. Some looked similar to the fellow who kidnapped us, while others were smaller, more human-like, aside from their horns sprouting from their heads. I saw one demon, red-skinned and at least twenty feet tall, knocking a separate cage around with a huge wooden club.

  Are there trees around here?

  “Lucivar! You’re awake!” Kril flitted nervously from one end of our cramped cage to the other, his tiny body testing every gap between the bars, but even he couldn’t squeeze through.

  “What are they doing?” I wondered, but it wasn’t Kril’s voice that answered.

  “Welcome, everyone, the time to open the Umbral Gate has come. Please, lower your sacrifices.”

  Oh great, I’m a sacrifice now.

  “We gotta do something, Lucivar!” Kril shouted as our cage slowly descended.

  “Well, unless your pitchfork is gonna summon a god to come smite these dudes, we’re toast,” I replied, somehow resigning to my fate for a third time today.

  [Kill the Imp!] The sinister voice that had grown quiet suddenly spoke up again in my mind. I turned, looking at Kril’s flying body, but he had gone completely still.

  The menacing form of the white haired demon strode forward. The others parted like a current of waves, allowing him to pass through. That’s when I noticed the runic circle inscribed into the ground below us, as well as a hollow black gate against the cavern's wall. Several other circles dotted the floor, placed under other similar cages.

  “Brothers and sisters, it has finally come time for us to ascend into the mortal realm and take what is rightfully ours!”

  The demons cheered, evil cackles spreading throughout the cavern.

  “I, Luminarch, the Primordial White, hereby declare that every last one of you will have your revenge!” He turned, facing up at our cages, staring directly into my soul. I shivered briefly, then he continued. “Those of you who lie in your cages, my children, fear not, for your sacrifice will be worthy!”

  The demons cheered once more.

  “Once I have returned to the mortal realm, I will open the umbral gate, and you, my brothers and sisters, will march against those who took everything from us!”

  He continued to ramble on and on about how they were gonna kill this and destroy that, honestly, it was rather boring.

  “Lucivar,” Kril began suddenly, taking on a serious tone. “I… I just got a quest.”

  “Really? What is it?” I sat up straighter.

  Something that will get us out of here, hopefully.

  He raised an arm and slowly read out the lines of text that only he could see. “Allow Lucivar to kill you.”

  [Thank god.] The voice sighed.

  I stared worriedly at the stern-faced Imp.

  “Are… are you sure, man?”

  “Yes.”

  “What's the reward?” I asked.

  “Unknown.”

  We sat in silence, the cage slowly lowering to the ground.

  [Just kill him already.] The voice whispered, exasperated.

  I can’t kill my only friend.

  “There’s gotta be something else we can do! C’mon, we’re brothers, right? We can work this out, here, give me your pitchfork…”

  “No!” Kril shouted, tears streaming down his tiny face. Our cage came to a stop against the ground, landing with a loud thud.

  “Don’t give up! We still have time…”

  “Lucivar,” he interrupted. I stopped rambling, letting the silence hold for a moment. “This is the only way.”

  “And now, we may begin the ritual.” Luminarch’s cruel voice boomed across the cavern, and the gates to our cages flung open magically.

  “Do it!” Kril called, desperation lacing his every word as he sobbed. “I’ll never forget you!”

  A tear dropped from my eye down to the steel floor of our cage.

  “Neither will I.”

  [Demonic Claws]

  My nails sharpened, and I positioned them over his minuscule torso.

  “Goodbye, brother,” Kril said, closing his eyes. I hesitated briefly, but a heavy clang and a scream urged me forward. I let the claws sink into his chest. He gasped a final breath, then went still, a smile still clinging to his lifeless lips.

  A worthy sacrifice.

  I quickly scrolled through the system, searching.

  I found it.

  [Kril’s essence added to inventory!]

  A demon grabbed me by the hair, dragging me into one of the runic circles scribed into the reddish landscape. Three other demons were placed beside me, too frightened to move. One female and two males.

  “Stay close,” I whispered, looking each one in the eye reassuringly. They stared back with frightened stares, confused. Luminarch stood at the front of the blackened gate and raised his arms, mouth opening to speak.

  He never got the chance.

  [Abyssal Rift]

  A torrent of black tendrils spilt from my chest, enveloping me and the three demons sitting beside me. Their eyes widened in fear, unsure of what was happening. I watched Luminarch, the Primordial White, as he called himself, and his jaw dropped in shock.

  “Do not let them escape!”

  Numerous Demons rushed into action, charging straight at us.

  But it was too late.

  “For Kril!” I yelled, and we were swallowed by darkness.