***The Infernal Planes of Gluttony***

***Demonling***

So becoming a mere imp was actually the lowest evolutionary path to take. It would be virtually guaranteed to happen by just collecting any random souls I came across.

It was just like me to set my goals so low. Or rather, it was just like the caretaker to do nothing more than necessary. Why would he give his charges any more information than necessary if he got paid either way?

As if you would actually manage to collect the souls for a powerful set. Quit dreaming.

“Oh, I wish the other would quit haunting me with his negativism!” I grumbled.

“What are you mumbling about, demonling?” Sozzudon asked in return.

“N- Nothing!” I quickly shook my head. “Just talking to myself. A bad habit which I picked up while living alone.”

“I see.” The older demon only shrugged. He was clearly not particularly interested in my peculiarities. That, and there was also the fact that we reached the valley’s exit at that moment.

Sozzudon pointed at a distant mountain that was gently rising over the horizon in the distance. “Do you see that? That’s where you can find the region’s Lode Stone. It is located right on that mountain outside the city, should you ever gather enough souls to leave this plane. In that case, I suggest going to the Infernal Plane of Sloth. Heard that their lifestyle is pretty laid back compared to the rest of the Infernum. Their Planar Lord forbade open warfare; too much effort, so the only problem is all the backstabbing and assassinations between factions.”

“I only heard that Lode Stones allow demons to travel between the planes,” I reiterated what the caretaker told me. “Why are you here and not in this Sloth-place if it is so much better there?”

He snorted and started walking downhill from the valley's mouth. “Do you think that the Planar Lords would allow travel for free? There is a hefty price on moving between the planes, just like it costs souls to revive. It put me in a hard place just to get to this plane. The gods can cross the planes as they please, but a single planar shift through a Lode Stone costs a thousand souls. I had to save up for quite a while. Such a sum is only paid easily by Demon Lords or Legion Commanders.”

“Hoooh?” I wait for him to explain further, hoping that he would tell me where he came from, but Sozzudon wasn’t forthcoming with this particular topic. Still, the fact that he apparently paid a hefty sum in souls just to get here was foreboding. It also partly explained why he is so low on souls. “Why didn't you ask one of these gods then?”

“Hahaha! Good joke, but no. They generally stay away from the Infernum and those who do not are at least as dangerous as a Planar Lord. People like us better stay away from such beings if we don't want to put an early expiration date on our lifespan.” He pointed at the distant city next to the hill and moved on to the next topic. “That’s Baaar, the most shitty place in the Infernum. Don’t ever go there for any reason. I heard that the people there eat demonlings for breakfast.”

The city wasn't what my memories told me a city should be. Instead, it was a conglomeration of round, muddy-looking structures which were slapped together without sense or meaning. Where there should have been clearly identifiable buildings, there was just a bulbous mass of dirt which could have been easily mistaken for an ant-hill.

“That alone doesn’t exactly make it worse than any other places I know of,” I commented in return, trying to remind him that I had lived in a hatchery.

“Oh, forgot that you grew up in Faras’ hatchery.”

“Faras?”

Sozzudon sighs. “You really don't know much. Faras is the name of the demon you call the caretaker.”

My employer was walking down a steep slope while we talked until we reached a strange artefact that was hovering in mid-air. It looked like a bike. But where there should be wheels, there were strange orbs attached to the contraption.

“What’s that thing?” I pointed at the device which was quite obviously a creation of mortal technology. No clue how I knew that but it was so, and I knew for certain that I was right. “More importantly, what’s it doing in the Infernum?”

My guide mounts the hover-bike. “You could call me a collector of artefacts. It’s a hobby of mine. I took the bike from some strange mortal in white armour after another idiot summoned me to a mortal plane. He had a helmet like a skull, but couldn’t shoot his energy weapon to save his own life. Normally, I take every artefact I can get my claws on, but that blaster wasn't worth the metal it was made from. I threw it away after I took it from his cold fingers. The bike, though, that's another story.” He lovingly petted the device.

Then Sozzudon flipped a few switches and suddenly the bike bucked forward with enough force to almost throw me off his shoulder. Luckily, I was already done with eating my tongue or I would have lost it. All I could do was to hold onto the demon’s leather harness so that I wouldn’t be blown away by the wind.

“Wheeee!” The device’s speed gave me an unexpected thrill and I screamed my delight as the landscape started zipping past us. Never in my life had I moved with such speed. “Faster!”

Sozzudon honoured my wish by flooring the bikes' pedals. We quickly accelerated to speeds which made it impossible to talk and made our way further away from Baaar and through a dismal landscape of rocks. From time to time there was some reddish plant-life and swarms of insects that I didn't get to inspect further.

The older demon only stopped our trip once, when we encountered some strange creature which stood on six legs. Sozzudon spontaneously decided to hunt the thing by running it over with his bike. I wasn’t exactly thrilled when I realized what he was up to, but thanks to some energy shield which he projected from his fist it was the creature which took the brunt of the impact and not us.

So I got to eat ‘rockstalker’ tongue while Sozzudon ate the meat.

“So, care to tell me now what we are up to?” I asked while loudly munching on my tongue. It wasn’t as chewy and tasty as lizard-thing tongue, but the softer texture gave the rockstalker tongue its own appeal.

“There was once a powerful Demon Lord and I happened to get my hands on his memoirs. We are going to raid his tomb,” Sozzudon informed me quite blatantly of his intention.

I stopped chewing and spoke with a full mouth. “Mon'd mink I mam melp mou.”

My elder rolled his eyes. “Do not worry your little head. I already took care of clearing out most of the place. It's the last section I have problems with, but the rewards are likely worth it. The Demon Lord ruled this region with an iron fist, all thanks to his weapon. In fact, had he risen any further in power, he would have had to challenge the Planar Lord of Gluttony himself.”

So we were on a treasure hunt.

I swallowed. “So why didn't he? Did the Planar Lord slap him down a notch?” From what I heard about the Planar Lords, they are equal to the gods. Us regular demons would be unable to touch him.

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Sozzudon shook his head. “It didn't come to that. You see, this powerful demon ruled a large part of Gluttony thanks to his influence. People in such a position of power are privy to knowledge we can only dream of. His memoirs aren't clear on that point, but it sounded like the Demon Lord found out how to achieve true immortality. He aspired to become a god and so he cast aside his chance to become a Planar Lord in favour of achieving an even greater power.”

He clenched his fists, admiration sparkling in his eyes. “The texts I found weren’t clear on how exactly he would accomplish that, but it involved something about casting his mortal shell aside. The only problem was that he wasn’t certain whether he would succeed. In case that his ritual failed and he simply revived as a demon, he built a hidden tomb and sealed it so that he might return and take his wealth back. The text I found was heavily damaged. I think it was stolen or somehow escaped his possession. He definitely didn't intend for anyone to have it.”

I nodded in understanding. “But isn’t going after such a treasure risky? What if he returns and finds his belongings gone? Wouldn’t we make ourselves a powerful enemy?” No matter how daring I was in stealing a skill-scroll from one of my hatchmates, I wouldn’t dare to piss off a Demon Lord.

“The memoirs and the tomb are hundreds of years old.” Sozzudon waved his hand dismissively. “Either he succeeded in his goal and by now doesn’t deem his belongings worth retaking, or something went so horribly wrong that he never managed to return. In any case, he should no longer be a concern to anyone who manages to take hold of his inheritance.

The war demon was done with his meal and stood to get back onto his bike.

I quickly stuffed my mouth and hurried to get on myself, this time choosing one of his empty leather pouches as my perch. As much fun as it was to feel the rushing air that was trying to blow me off his shoulder, holding onto the leather harness was tiring.

“So, this inheritance of his is what you are after?” I asked, hoping to learn more before I was thrown into the heart of a heavily protected and likely trapped tomb. “And judging by what I learned about your preferences, it has to be an artefact.”

Sozzudon ramped up the bike and accelerated more moderately this time. “The ancient script never mentioned the author’s name – which is to be expected from a diary. After I found his memoirs, I researched historic records for everything that hinted at his identity and found only one Demon Lord that could fit the described events. Amon, the Slayer…”

Apparently, this Slayer was a feared maniac who rose to power within a few decades and held a sizeable part of the plane under his rule for a few centuries. The normal rise of a Demon Lord who commanded legions would be a bloody affair that took centuries. More importantly, their eventual demise was never peaceful.

The quick rise through the ranks of society wasn't the only exceptional thing about this Lord. What made the end of Amon’s reign so interesting was that he simply vanished one day on the height of his power. Many supposed successors claimed that they had a hand in his disappearance, but none managed to hold onto his legacy and so his legion eventually fell apart.

A great ruler had entered and disappeared from the Inferum’s annals like a whisper on the wind.

The only thing that remained were rumours and fear among the powerful. Fear that Amon’s body would eventually be found. Amon was known for wielding a great weapon, a spear known as ‘Final Death’ that was rumoured to suck the souls out of its victims.

No matter the target, may it be a lowly warrior or a Lord with thousands of souls, once felled by the spear they wouldn’t respawn at the Anima Stone. Some even feared that Amon had made a pact with the Lord of Gluttony himself and that the spear offered the taken souls directly to the Planar Lord.

It took the better half of the day to reach the tomb. Sozzudon probably could have taken us there quicker, but he regularly changed directions to throw off possible pursuers. He didn’t want to tell me who might be hunting us, but I only thought it reasonable to be careful when such a history was involved with our goal.

I wasn’t certain how many enemies Sozzudon had, there was clearly more to the war-demon’s history, but one didn’t need enemies with an artefact such as the Final Death. The first time the spear was used in public, the word would spread and demons would inevitably flock to the spear’s holder. Either to serve or to challenge him and take the spear for themselves.

From the outside, the tomb wasn’t much more than a hole in the ground, located at the foot of a hill which granted some protection from discovery.

Sozzudon took his time hiding the bike in a nearby ditch. It was clear that he had spent a lot of time and effort excavating the site. The older demon had ensured that his activities couldn’t be spotted from afar.

Aside from the bike, none his belongings were left outside, mainly because it wasn’t easy to bring the large machine inside. My employer had broken through the ceiling of the crypt’s upper level which resulted in a straight drop to the floor. Sozzudon’s whole camp was restricted to the tomb’s first room where he had stored digging tools and other necessary items. Yet everything looked like Sozzudon would have no qualms about ditching the place in an eye-blink if the need arose.

There were no artefacts of real worth, only technology which he must have snatched from some mortal dimension.

“We have to go deeper.” Sozzudon rummaged through a pile of items and brought forth a large lantern. “I’ve cleared the upper floors and disabled all the traps, which wasn’t easy. Had to pay quite a few souls for that.”

“You cleared the traps by triggering them?” I asked from my spot in his belt-pouch while he made his way towards a stairway.

“Of course not.” He snorted and brought the lantern closer to the walls. “You see that? Runic script, the whole tomb is full of it. Ancient magic that activates when some condition is fulfilled. I had my fair share of trouble with figuring out how to avoid or to deactivate them. Unfortunately, some of them were so devious that I never knew what killed me. I just explored a new room and the next thing I knew was that I was standing next to the Anima Stone in Baaar.”

He shook his head. “There was this one trap which would even somehow dispose of the body afterwards. All I could find was an empty room upon return. Took me twenty-three tries to figure out that the whole thing was an illusion that sent me stumbling into a spiked pit with a false floor. A simple crypt-guardian would have been much preferable.”

Sozzudon descended several levels, passing dead bodies that had a disturbing similarity to him. Sometimes, we simply walked through rooms and other times Sozzudon paid great attention to where he was placing his feet, showing his familiarity with the area.

Finally, we arrived at a large and ominous looking door which was also covered in runic script. The antechamber was filled with tools which Sozzudon must have brought down here. I recognized pickaxes, drills, hammers, even a device that my memories identified as a mining laser!

“Wow, you spent a lot of effort trying to get through that door,” I commented as my eyes wandered over the black steel which didn’t have a single scratch.

“I also tried going through the walls, but no luck, this chamber is the end of the road for anyone with power. It’s infuriating, especially since the monster who created this crypt left just a little hole to mock everyone who made it that far.” Sozzudon’s pointing finger drew my attention to a rectangular cut-out in the centre of the door, which was just wide enough for a demonling. “I think that he intended it like this, though I don’t understand why he thought that he would reincarnate as a demonling if the ritual failed.”

Sozzudon took me from his pouch and held me up, right in front of the hole.

Beyond lied a room which was covered with glowing runic scripts and in its centre, right in the middle of a ritualistic circle, a figure was kneeling with his back to us.

“Is he still alive!?”

“Of course not! That’s a mummy.” Sozzudon pointed over my shoulder. “But look what he is holding.”

The dead body was kneeling, but it was still holding a spear in an upright position. “Could that really be the Final Death?”

“It must be, and you are going in there to wrap this steel cable around the lower end.” Sozzudon held up the looped end of a wire next to me. “Once you have done that and I pulled out the spear, your side of the bargain is fulfilled.”

My eyes narrowed in suspicion and I touched the heavily enchanted door. “Why me? Why not some technological device? You don’t seem to have trouble with getting stuff from mortal dimensions.”

“I have tried,” he replied defensively. “Everything I send in there gets fried. Magical or technological, makes no difference. I assume that Amon intended to return as a demonling and to take back his belongings, so you should be safe.”

“Unless he placed some more traps to keep others away.”

“Then be careful.” Sozzudon set me on the edge of the hole which was more like a tunnel to me and handed me the wire. “I would be very annoyed if I would have to find another demonling.”

I pursed my lips. “How about a soul? I could try again if I failed. You would just have to pick me up at the caretaker’s Anima Stone.”

Sozzudon crossed his arms and grinned. “Once you have tried this once, you would likely be free to do as you please. I don’t trust verbal bargains enough to believe that you would have to wait for me. And I seriously doubt you would try again, now that you know what I want. The risk is also too big that you would tell someone. No. Either you succeed, or you die trying, both is fine with me.”

I gulp and look back at the tunnel, realizing that my deal wasn’t as smart as I thought. Sozzudon was also right that I wouldn’t want to try again if this turned out to be a suicide mission. All he would have done is to waste a soul on me. I weighed my options, but a deal was a deal, and I wasn't keen to find out what the Infernum would do to a demonling with a single soul who broke one.

“F- Fine!” Determined to succeed, I took a step forward.