“Where am I? Is this hell?” he wondered.

…

“Everything’s dark. I feel like I’m swimming,” he mused.

…

…

“Finally, looks like that’s our last one,” a woman’s voice echoed. “Hey, you can open your eyes. Hope you realize that.”

He opened his eyes, only to find the surroundings just as dark as when they were closed. There were five people seated in the void, seemingly on chairs made of air. Three men, two women. He tilted his head when he recognized one of the women.

“Huh, I know you. Barbie, right? I’m Rayan,” he lightheartedly introduced himself. A small spark of joy manifested in a smirk on his face when he saw her irritated scowl.

“Oh god, this again,” one of the men said with a chuckle. “Hey, at least she’s pretty. I’m-”

“Shut up, Trevor. Nobody wants to listen to you,” the other man growled.

“That ray of sunshine’s named Christopher, since we’re swapping our intros,” Trevor interjected.

The other woman sighed. “Nobody wants to hear you snapping at Trevor either. I’m Chelsea, but you can call me Chelsie if you want.”

“Hmph. I obviously don’t need to introduce myself, but it’d be nicer if you called me by my name. Maria,” the first woman huffed.

“And that leaves…” Rayan trailed off, looking at the last man, who hadn’t spoken up yet.

“If you must, call me Leon. Talking to you people is such a waste of my time,” he muttered.

Chelsea frowned. “You’re not a CEO anymore, you’re dead like the rest of us. You don’t have to act like you’re still high and mighty.” She then turned back to Rayan. “Also, we’re one short. Don’t freak out when Mutae shows up.”

Before Rayan could respond to that, a tremendous sound like wind echoed through the space. Rayan’s eyes locked onto a dim shape that was rapidly approaching. Its size became more apparent as it got closer until he realized that he was looking at something that was as large as a mountain. Though he wanted to get out of the way, he felt frozen in place. A rumble shook the empty space, and then an immense head moved down into view as several weaker tremors rippled out. The head was reptilian and everything about the being that he was witnessing screamed “dragon”. Adjusting itself, the dragon rested its head on its arms.

“Greetings. I am Mutae.” The dragon’s voice was strong, thrumming, and had a feminine inflection. “To answer your question, yes, we are in what you would call “hell”. Our spirits are bound together here, awaiting a body. Now that you have arrived, it is likely that we will form one soon.”

Trevor stood up, stretching. “Hey. Maria, Chelsie. Do you wanna chat elsewhere while Mutae explains stuff to Rayan? It’s hard to hear anything when she talks.”

Maria and Chelsea exchanged glances before shrugging. “Sure. Better than sticking around and being bored,” Maria said as she stood up. Chelsea followed suit, and the three walked together into the blackness until they disappeared.

Leon nodded to Christopher and got up. After the wordless interaction, both of them walked in the opposite direction until they disappeared as well.

Left alone with the dragon, Rayan turned his attention back to her. “Um, alright. So we’re all going to be in one body together?”

“It seems so. Considering that we are all sinners, I am almost certain that the body will be demonic in nature. Speaking of the body, the others agreed to relinquish control of it to me. However, I find myself repulsed by the idea of controlling a demonic body. Would you be willing to take this task on for me?” she asked. Something about her tone didn’t make it sound like Rayan had much of a choice, though.

He listened as she slowly spoke, his eyebrows furrowing when she asked him to take on control of the body. “I guess it’d be better than floating around in this void stuff. Would I still hear you guys talking?”

Mutae nodded her head, a movement that softly shook the fabric of the ethereal world. “I will offer you guidance, and the others might also offer advice of their own. And of course, we will be able to control the body if it is required. If its life is in danger, I will act accordingly to protect it. Worry not, your second chance will not be cut short.”

Just then, a rip formed in the blackness between Rayan and Mutae. Blinding light streamed in, making him squint and grimace.

“Reach in,” Mutae urged, “take control.”

One hand over his eyes, Rayan reached his other hand toward the rip. The light gradually grew, taking over his entire vision. He closed his eyes to protect them until the light faded.

Opening his eyes again, he looked around. He was in a room lit by candlelight. Bookshelves lined the wall he was facing, and in front of him was a boy with a pointed hat and a cloak that dragged on the floor due to being several sizes too big for him. He looked like he couldn’t be older than fourteen, which made it worrying that Rayan seemed to be a couple inches shorter than him.

“Wow, you actually summoned an imp? All I got was smoke!” a girl to the left exclaimed.

“Aww, that one’s really cute. I thought an imp would be ugly like in the textbooks,” another girl mused.

An older man spoke up, probably some sort of teacher to these kids, “Since you managed to summon an imp, recite the incantation to make it into your familiar. Strange that nobody else was able to.”

The boy in front of Rayan nodded, taking a deep breath. He spoke softly, though steadily, in a language foreign to Rayan. He flinched as the chant continued, feeling phantom chains wrap around his neck. The sensation eased when the boy finished, though he was still conscious of a ghostly collar.

The teacher seemed pleased, congratulating the boy. “Well done. It seems like you have yourself a new familiar.” A bell then echoed from afar, making the teacher turn to look at a clock. “And it seems like that’s all the time left in our summoning lesson. We’ll have to try again tomorrow for the rest of you.”

Everyone but Rayan and the boy filed out of the room, leaving the two alone.

“Um, Celien. You may call me that,” the boy muttered. “Er, follow me. We need to get to my next lesson.”

Celien turned around and walked toward the door, opening it and looking back to Rayan. “Uh, normally I’d have to dismiss you, but I’m supposed to have you here for the, um, entire day. Please don’t distract me during a lesson.” He then turned around again, walking out the door.

Rayan let out a short sigh, following the boy who had an obvious confidence problem. He took the time to inspect himself. His body was human-like aside from the grey skin. Thankfully, he was covered by some ragged clothes. Sharp, black claws adorned his fingers, and he could feel something like a tail and wings sprouting from his back. Reaching up, he felt short horns sticking out from his head. Yep, demonic.

“You can fly,” Mutae’s voice echoed from his head, “like this.”

Rayan was surprised when his wings flapped from Mutae’s control. He mentally thanked her, taking over the movement to flutter along behind Celien. At least it wasn’t as tiring as it seemed like it’d be.

After several minutes, Celien arrived at another room and went in. Rayan went in after him, landing behind Celien when he took his seat. The same kids from before were all seated, but of course the teacher was different. Glancing over the board at the front of the classroom, Rayan figured that this was some sort of lesson on spellcasting. Maybe it could be interesting.

The teacher cleared her throat, picking up a mug from her desk afterward and sipping from it. “Everyone’s here, it seems. As well as a familiar. Congratulations, Celien. I hope to see more of your adorable familiars in the coming days,” she mused. Staring blankly at the back of the room, she then continued, “I’ll start the lesson, then.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Ooh, we might be able to learn something from this. Casting spells could be cool,” Chelsea remarked. “Hopefully they’re not too complex.”

“In the last world I lived in, magic was based on the use of catalysts. Unfortunately, I was not quite familiar with it,” echoed Mutae.

“Since most of you have become adept at the use of the Water Shot spell, today we will begin learning about Fireball,” the teacher began. An excited murmur erupted among the students. “Fire is mostly known as a destructive force, though it is necessary to our lives in nearly every way. Correctly controlled, Fireball can be one of the most powerful spells in your arsenal.”

One of the students in the front raised her hand.

“Yes, Ramise?” the teacher called.

“My mom is able to cast a white Fireball spell, is that special?” Ramise asked.

The teacher paused, leaning on her desk and taking another sip of tea as she went into thought. She then spoke slowly, “A white Fireball is either a more powerful version of a regular Fireball, or one charged with holy light. If it’s the latter, you might have the same ability. Holy light is often passed down through families.”

Ramise beamed. “She did say that my grandmother was a priestess. Maybe I’ll cast a holy Fireball.”

The teacher smiled. “Be careful around Celien’s familiar, then. Now, I’ll take you all to the practice room.” She set her mug down, walking over to the door out of the classroom. Tracing her finger in a circle over the handle, a glowing rune appeared there. She then slid it open. Instead of the hallway Rayan had been in before, there was a large, pillared room. The students got up and followed her into the large room.

Celien got up with a quiet sigh, looking down at Rayan. “Let’s, um, go.” He shuffled over to the practice room, Rayan following.

As soon as he got inside, Rayan was met with a tingling, itching feeling that spread across the skin on his hand like a legion of ants. He shuddered and lifted his arm to look at it. Oddly enough, a light glow emanated from his hand.

“Any idea what this is about?” Rayan wondered to Mutae.

After a moment or two of what was likely contemplation, she responded, “I believe that our body is absorbing some of the ambient energy here.”

“Why’s it so uncomfortable, then?” he thought, narrowing his eyes at the building luminance.

“Gaining power is not always as glamorous as it may seem,” she remarked with a soft chuckle.

He let out a huff, dropping his hand and looking back up toward the teacher. She had stopped walking and turned to address her students again. “Now that we’re here, focus on stirring the power of fire within yourself. Don’t feel pressured to cast Fireball today, practicing is fine for now.”

Rayan eyed Celien, who sat down after the teacher had issued her instruction. Maybe they had to meditate to practice magic, or something. Seemed a bit lame. He noticed that the other students were sitting down in a similar fashion. Yep, meditation. Rayan stretched languidly and fluttered his wings, using them to stay aloft in a lounging position. His tail hung down in a lax fashion, the diamond-shaped tip brushing against the floor. Just as he had crossed his arms and closed his eyes, he was shocked out of his relaxation by the teacher.

“You seem strange for an imp,” she mused, staring him straight in the eyes. She was kneeling down to be at eye level with him, even when he was fluttering. “Most aren’t as sponge-like as you are. I wonder how you have an ability like that.”

Furrowing his brows and tilting his head as a show of confusion, he finally spoke up, “What do you mean?” Eugh, he sounded like a child. Probably looked like one too, considering that he was called “cute” before.

“Please don’t drain this room of magic entirely. But do drain some, I wonder what will happen if you absorb a lot of magical energy.” As she spoke, she reached toward Rayan. Grabbing his arm, she held it up to examine his hand. “Magic concentrating around the hand is usually a sign of natural talent. I hope that you will pay attention to my lessons as well.”

With that, the teacher let go of his arm and stood up straight. She turned on her heel and walked to the center of the group of students, slipping a small book from a pocket on her robe. Rayan watched her for a few minutes before closing his eyes again. Silently retreating into the mindscape out of boredom, he figured that he might try to socialize with the people he shared a body with.

Rayan opened his eyes, being greeted by the familiar void. Nobody was around at the moment, but he figured that one of them might show up if he called for them. Chelsea seemed to dislike him a bit less than the others, so he decided that he’d chat with her.

“Hey, Chelsea, you around here?” he called out.

Only a brief period of silence followed, broken by her answering, “Yeah, I’m here now.”

He glanced behind himself, seeing her there all of a sudden. “Hey. So, I’m pretty bored. Nothing’s happening out there, and you seem like you don’t hate me. Wanna chat?”

Chelsea shrugged. “Sure, nothing better to do.” She walked forward, sitting down in an invisible chair in front of him. “I am pretty curious about you. You’re new, after all. I’ve pretty much exhausted every interesting bit of information about the others. First question then, how did you die?”

Rayan snorted, amused at the directness of her question. He then glanced down before deciding that he could try to sit like how Chelsea was sitting. Surprisingly, the thin air supported him. “Oh, that’s weird. For your question, it was a car crash.”

She frowned, a look mixing sympathy and pity. “Oof, that must’ve been rough. I got shot in the head. Was dead before I even knew it happened. Where were you going?”

“The hospital, my mom was driving us there. We were gonna check on my brother.” He leaned back, loosely crossing his arms and resting his foot on his opposite knee. “He was at some party when he overdosed on something.”

Chelsea tilted her head, intrigued. “Do you know if they lived?”

Rayan sighed in mild annoyance, going into thought for a moment. “Yeah, probably. My brother was in ‘stable condition’, I think. And the car got hit on the passenger side, so my mom is probably fine. She was wearing a seatbelt.”

Probably noticing that the subject irritated Rayan, Chelsea decided to change it. “Time for simpler questions. How old were you? You look like you’re fifteen, maybe fourteen.”

He groaned quietly, turning his head to the side. “Everyone says that. I was sixteen. Knew some guys my age who could grow a beard.”

Chelsea snickered, a grin spreading across her face. “Aw, you’re the youngest one here. Leon’s almost twenty years older than you.”

“He’s just old, then. What about you?” Rayan turned his gaze back to her.

“It’s impolite to ask a lady her age, didn’t anyone teach you that?” She crossed her arms, sending him a mock glare. It only lasted for a moment though. “Just kidding, I’m twenty-four. So, any hobbies?”

“I was on the hockey team at my school. It was something pretty fun to do, and it was a good way to waste time. Other than that, I liked to read.”

“Ooh, you actually have a good answer. I asked Christopher about his hobbies and he just said he hung out with his girlfriend. Then he got mad and ranted about Trevor for about an hour. Were you thinking of becoming a professional hockey player?”

Rayan shook his head. “Hell no. I just wished that I would disappear before I became an adult. Dying was almost a good thing for me.” He let out a bitter chuckle, sitting up straight again and letting his leg fall. “Guess I got my wish, huh?”

Chelsea stared blankly at him. “Huh. Yeah, I guess you did. Since we seem to be in a morbid mood, wanna hear about why I’m stuck here like this?”

Rayan shrugged. “Sure, I’m curious. What’d you do to end up here?”

“Well, it’ll probably make you think I’m some sort of monster, but I accidentally murdered my aunt. See, my grandma died and left me out of her will, so I robbed my aunt for what should have been mine. My aunt was going to call the police, so I knocked her out, but it ended up killing her,” she explained. “Her brother, my uncle, was the one who killed me.”

Rayan listened silently, an impassive expression betraying his low interest in the tale. “Well, at least you didn’t mean to kill her,” he remarked once she stopped talking. “I don’t have a clue about what sent me here, though.”

“Really? No clue? Pretty much everyone else had some big, horrible thing they did,” Chelsea remarked. “Hell, Trevor’s here just because he broke a bunch of girls’ hearts and convinced Christopher’s girlfriend to cheat. It could be something that seems small.”

“Well, maybe it’s that time I broke a kid’s arm on accident. That seems a bit too minor, though,” Rayan thought aloud.

“Hmm, what about your brother? Did you ever go out partying with him? Maybe you did something bad then.”

“Yeah, a couple times. Never took anything, though.” Rayan leaned back in a relaxed position again.

“Huh. So you knew about what he was doing before the overdose? Did you ever tell your parents?” Chelsea leaned forward. Maybe she felt like she was getting close to the truth.

Rayan shook his head. “Nah. Didn’t really care.”

A smile spread across Chelsea’s face. “Bingo. You’re here because you didn’t do anything. Mutae told me about why there’s seven of us here: each of us has our own sin. Yours is probably sloth.”

Rayan blinked. “Huh. I guess that makes sense. Pretty unfair to be sent to hell for that reason, though.”

“Yeah, Trevor felt that way, too,” Chelsea idly remarked.

“-believe we’re done for today,” echoed the teacher from outside.

Rayan glanced up in attention, then looked back at Chelsea. “Guess I should leave. Talk to you later?”

Chelsea nodded. “Yeah, seeya.”