The Underworld

❖

No one could have seen it coming. I’m not sure what happened, the last thing I remembered was sleeping back on Earth. Was this a dream then? It could have been but it seemed too surreal for the dreams I have.

I was in some sort of hell with a large door standing five-ish feet away from me. I wasn’t the only one there though, there were hundreds of beings larger than humans. They had thick red skins and black horns on their heads. But most of them laid unconscious on the stone floor. Unconscious was wishful thinking, most of their injuries stated death.

The few devils who were still standing surrounded a small human boy with caution.

The child looked no older than eleven, maybe twelve. He had a slightly thin frame that made him appear as though he was recovering from malnourishment. His unkempt hair was a shade brighter than a pale blue which contrasted with his solid gray eyes. He had scars and fresh wounds everywhere on his body.

‘How did he get those?’

A half beaten devil picked himself up from one of the piles of bodies. As he advanced closer to the human, the others followed. It seemed he was the leader of them.

“Ahsha keeo easkorba!” The leader shouted.

‘W—what did he say?’

Either the boy didn’t understand too, or he didn’t care because he still faced the devils with the same calm he had prior. The devils both tensed up while attempting to relax their muscles.

*Vrrmmmmmm.*

A gray aura surrounded the leader’s right arm who now stood feet in front of the boy. My eyes closed just for a moment, just to blink. Within that half-second I heard a rush of footsteps and attacks being hurled.

“Gaaaaah!”

When my eyes opened I saw that the boy held the detached left arm of the leader. Blood dripped onto the ground that already had far too many souls lost to battle.

‘Did the k—kid… He ripped off th—the devil’s arm?’

The others moved fast to get closer, but the child used the arm as a club, swinging it around to keep distance. Despite the child’s injuries looking far more severe than the devils, he moved and fought far better than them.

*Crack!*

“Argh!”

One of the devils got too close and had his arm struck; I could hear the devil’s bone dislocate, or did it shatter?

Whatever the case, the arm used as a club had also broken and was now flaccid. The devils noticed this and they all rushed to attack.

The boy turned to face one of the punches being thrown. With the flaccid arm, he used it like a rope and wrapped it around the devil’s arm before tugging it to the side. Using it, he blocked another devil’s attack before elbowing the devil’s arm.

*Crack!*

“Kralgh!”

The gray aura surrounding the leader’s right arm grew more intense as he swung at the boy from behind, however because of his size—and the boy’s small size—the boy was able to duck and side-step underneath the leader.

The leader turned to his right, trying to follow his movement. However, the boy was too fast and delivered a punch which forced him onto another devil.

“Yat!”

The leader placed his hand on a devil to rebound himself, though the devil swatted his hand away.

‘There’s smoke coming from where the leader touched the devil. Is that because of the aura?’

While the leader was recovering, the boy attacked the other devils. All he needed were a few swift punches. For one of the devils, he only needed a strike to the head to bring it down.

By the time the leader turned around to face the boy, only a handful of the already meager number devils remained. Before the leader could do anything else, he was greeted with a kick which tumbled him, and the devil behind him, onto the ground.

The boy jumped in the air, going much higher than what would be logical for any child his size. I could see purple streaks glow through his leg as if his skin was translucent. The purple streaks quickly made its way to his left arm which he used to punch the head of both the leader, and the devil who was under him.

*Splat!*

*Drop, drop, drop.*

The blood that splattered up onto his shoulders dripped onto the ground. He took a moment to survey those standing.

Aside from me, there were only two devils remaining.

One of them yelled to the other. “Colo sicokez pkamzl!”

A few more frantic words were exchanged before they dashed in opposite directions.

*Thud! Thud! Thud!*

The boy’s footwork looked light, though the sounds it produced stated otherwise. In half the amount of strides a devil took, he caught up to one of them and slammed its head to the ground.

The other devil ran to the door, to me.

*Thud! Thud! Thud! Bam!*

The boy slammed the devil’s head into the door. Its blood splattered onto it, and in turn the door slowly started to glow blue. As he stood in front of the door, he saw me, a devil still alive.

Was it because I looked weak? Instead of rushing at me mercilessly as he did with the others, he only slowly walked up to me, though his intentions were the same.

I flinched, turning and covering myself. “W—wait! Don’t attack me, please!”

“...”

“...”

“You spe—eak… human? You speak human?”

I looked back at the boy, he stood still with a confused face.

“E—English? Yeah I speak...”

I was completely still, unsure of what was happening. He stared into my eyes, I looked back into his. Using his eyes as a mirror I could see that…

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‘I… I’m a devil!?’

I moved back, shocked by my appearance. I saw that I was much larger than a human with red skin, but instead of two black horns that jutted up, I only had one horn that curled down.

‘This is too real for a dream, but this is too surreal for reality. There’s no way that I’m a devil? I was just sleeping moments ago, what happened to that?’

My sudden movement caused him to jump forward, still cautious of me, but not wanting to harm. However his movements made me shift back even more and my hand landed on the leg of a corpse.

“Ahh!”

I jumped away and the boy leaped after me. His hand was just a few inches away, but then it froze. Everything froze for a moment before quickly becoming more distant.

‘What is this feeling—!’

I could feel myself getting sucked into some sort of gravitational pull. It tugged at my center, pulling me away from the frozen reality.

‘Did I touch the door by accident?’

My hand stretched out trying to reach back, though it was futile.

‘Is this… how I die? Or maybe… Will I wake up from this dream…’

I tried to stay conscious against the force pulling at me which tugged my eyes down and made me lose consciousness. Although it was possible that this truly was a dream and I could simply wake up from it, a part of me doubted it.

‘When I looked at the kid… among the confusion on his face, I saw repressed anger, sorrow, and regret. Just what kind of kid can make that face, feel those emotions so intensely? What happened to him before we met that made him like that?’

Whatever the truth is, I guess I’ll find out when I wake up…

❖

World 23465

❖

“Only one? I heard the last time the Gate opened, thousands of devils popped out instantly.”

“You’ve been reading too many stories.”

Standing in front of a large door were two soldiers, one with auburn and the other with dark—near purple—hairs. They both had pointed ears and carried spears and a small shield. The “Gate” looked exactly the same as the one that all the deceased devils were surrounding.

However, they were not standing in the same environment as the devils. They were in the middle of a thick forest with lush green grass all around. The tall trees made it hard to tell, but some parts of a beautiful blue was visible. The birds chirped, and the smaller animals rustled around.

“It’s called staying educated and after all, look behind us—”

The two soldiers looked around, seeing hundreds of men. Those standing closer to the gate held weapons while those in the back held ranged weapons, those in the far back carried supplies or large machinery.

“—The lord must’ve expected nothing less than an army to appear, after all he sent all of us here, right?”

“If that’s the case, then…”

They both turn back to the Gate, seeing only an unconscious devil with just one horn instead of two, and that horn being curled down.

The auburn haired soldier poked at it with the handle of his spear with no response back.

“So Mr. Reader, I thought devils were supposed to have two horns that curled up?”

“Maybe it’s a hybrid devil?”

“Does being a hybrid explain the curled horn, or the single horn?”

“Whatever, whatever.”

The dark haired soldier bit his lip and looked at the gate, seeing that its blue light appeared just a moment was already gone.

‘The lord wouldn’t be dissatisfied with just one devil, right?’

“Agh, whatever. We’ll just take it to the lord.” The dark haired soldier turned to the other, instructing him to get everyone to retreat back while he prepared to transport the devil.

The dark haired soldier cuffed the devil’s arm behind it before wrapping a chain around it.

“Staun, you need some help?”

A woman with blond hair coming down to her shoulders walked over to the dark haired soldier.

“If you could, call one of the carriages over.”

She nodded and walked off while Staun, the dark-haired soldier, attempted to lift the devil.

‘Why… is it… so heavy!’

Staun couldn’t fully lift it, though he was able to drag the devil through the ground to get closer to the carriage.

‘I know I barely had any of his blood, but I can’t be *that* weak, right?’

His fears washed away when it had taken three other men to lift the devil onto a carriage.

“Hey, Lru,” Staun spoke to the blond girl from earlier. “You can sit with the devil’s carriage and watch over it, right?

Lru smiled and nodded. “By the way, you looked cute when you were struggling to lift her.”

Staun snorted, “her? You mean the devil?”

“Yeah it’s a girl. Only female devils have their horns curled down.”

“Really? Is that the only way to figure out which’s a guy and which’s a girl devil?”

Lru smiled. “It is, but you should be concerned with going back to your position now. Oh and, try not to get scared when you see the lord, again.”

“Yeesh, that was one time and who can blame me? Besides, I’ll be getting promoted after we bring the devil to him, I know it.

“Good luck with that, pissy-cat.”

“Bah! Be quiet!”

Lru giggled while Staun waved and walked away

❖

The hours passed, the unit had been moving back without stopping for a long while.

‘Why… why is it so…’

“Cold.” Muttered the devil.

The devil woke up, bumping up and down because of the moving carriage. She looked around, seeing nothing but a dark sky and tall trees. In front of her were multiple men who were seated and sleeping, all of them carried some sort of weapon.

‘What the hell? Was…’ she thought about the bloodshed committed by the young boy. ‘Was all that not a dream?’

The last she remembered was touching the door, and now she was here. Rustling around, she felt that her arms and legs were shackled.

‘Am I really a devil then? Where am I? And… Why is it so cold—where is that light coming from?’

At the corner of her eye, the devil saw a few sparks of flame float over to her, providing just a bit of heat and light. She heard a voice, but it was in a language that she didn’t understand.

*Step, step, step, step.*

The devil saw a young, blond figure with a warm smile walked over to her. The figure looked behind, seeing that the seat right in front of the devil was taken. The figure carelessly moved the sleeping soldier over without waking him up.

The devil stood up, attempting to get closer to the light and warmth.

The lady spoke. “Qem.”

The devil immediately sat back down, causing the carriage to bump, but not causing anyone to care.

Again, the lady spoke, but in a language that the devil didn’t understand.

“What?”

The lady blinked in confusion, though her smile never faded. “Oh? You speak human? That’s a surprise. So you don’t know The Underworld tongue?”

The devil shook her head.

“Well then. My name’s Lru, and please refrain from making any movements on your own.”

“What? Why?”

Lru paused to think. “Well, the simplest answer is that you’re a prisoner, but only temporarily. You see, we took you from The Underworld using the Gate. You’ll become a member of our lord’s forces.”

Lru pointed a finger at the small flames and wagged it down, causing the flames to lower closer to the devil. Mentally, the devil was thanking god for the little bit of warmth, the cold was truly unbearable.

“I don’t see how that explains not letting me move?”

“Everyone else here speaks Elvish while you only know the human tongue. If someone else saw you doing something suspicious, there’d be no way of trying to get out of it.”

“Couldn’t you explain myself for me?”

“You’re the prisoner here, I’m one of the guards. Doesn’t sound right to be on your side.”

‘Then why are you talking with me…’

“Isn’t communicating with a ‘prisoner’ suspicious?”

“Well the only people who can hear us talk are within this carriage, and well…”

One of the guards’ heads shifted on her shoulder while the carriage bumped up and down. Using just her finger, she flicked it away.

‘I feel like that flick that strong would hurt.’

“Are you using magic to keep them asleep—?”

“Do you remember a name—?”

“You remember what magic is—?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s—”

The two went silent, preventing themselves from interrupting the other.

Lru continued the conversation. “Yes, it’s magic. It’s a common Generation Two spell called Fireflies.”

‘Magic? So this is a fantasy world?’

The devil leaned back and looked at the sky. Lru didn’t seem to mind the sudden break in conversation.

‘This is crazy… I was just sleeping so how did I end up here? Of course, this could always be a dream but…’

The devil looked up at Lru who bore a friendly, warming smile.

‘This feels too real for a dream… At first there was… that boy, and then I became a devil. I touched that door-thing and now I woke up here… If this is a fantasy world, does that mean I was born in hell, but transferred to Earth?’

Though the devil shivered because of the temperature, she found it cooling. There was something peaceful about the cold that helped her think about the situation.

‘I don’t know what the hell happened with that boy, but there’s no point in shying away from this world. I should treat this as reality, as my real life.’

“I haven’t introduced myself… My name… It’s Cu Cole. I have a lot of questions, so please answer as many as you can.”