I flew through the portal, hitting the ground hard and kept spinning until my body slammed into a wall. I tried standing up but was so dizzy that I couldn’t help but fall a few times. I clasped onto my throat as I tried to breath in the hot air. Red filled the entirety of my vision. I was in some sort of tunnel, one made of crystal see through walls. Beneath this crystal was a flowing orange magma that was oozing from the top and falling on all sides.

And it was like standing in an oven.

The tunnel stretched outward a good fifty hundred with a black oval opening at the very end of it. Behind me was nothing but more tunnel. Going forward would be my only means of escaping this heat and I had to get there quickly before I passed out from lack of air. Already my back was drenched with sweat and my long black hair stuck to the sides of my neck. The only part of me that didn’t hurt was, of course, my demonic arm.

I tried to take one last breath, which ended up more like a gasp before I ran as fast as I could for the exit. Heat burst into my face and I nearly cried out when I breathed it into my nostrils which was like snorting pepper flakes.

The blackness was getting closer and closer and I could feel my lungs already pulsing in my chest, practicing for the air they thought they would receive soon. A sticky something latched onto my right boot, halting my escape and nearly toppling me forward.

I looked down to red burning magma seeping through the cracks and pouring over my feet. I screamed out as the lava melted almost instantly through my boots and touched my skin. I fell to my knees and directly into the scorching puddle. No more screams came out of me because I had no air to do so. The blackness was so close yet so far away. I reached out for it.

A face appeared then. Triangular in shape with almond-shaped yellow eyes. Two massive white teeth jutted from the top lip and over the bottom like a snake. There were no pupils on this beast making it look so much like a mindless insect.

But I knew who he was.

A smile curled upward on my father’s face. I could see from here the yellow eyes rotating as they looked me over. It took a step into the tunnel revealing an extremely thin body which looked to be mostly bone with no meat. Just skin. He was a good fifteen feet tall and looked nothing like I’d imagined him to be. Still, the monster before me radiated insidiousness.

Seeing my father should have scared me. In fact, I think that was his plan all along. He didn’t think me strong enough. He doubted me. He doubted my training and my resolve. He doubted my faith in the Almighty.

Seeing this terrible demonic face reminded me of my months of training. I was surprised as to how easy it was to awaken my unholy bloodline. The horrible burning pain in my legs began to fade as I felt the familiar feeling of the demon blood taking control. I gave my father a reflection of his smile as I stood myself up, the tops of my pants revealing my pale skin turned a dark red. I could breathe now and the temperature around me felt like Springtime. In fact, the smell of molten lava gave me the same feelings as if I was smelling a beautiful rose.

I took a step out of the lava which poured itself back into the cracks of the crystal floor.

“Father,” I said. “I’ll give you one chance to call back your army of demons and I promise no harm will come to you.”

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The head of the devil flicked to the left and ticked back to the right as it studied me. I expected a verbal answer but what I got was one of its creepy thin hands snapping towards me and grabbing me tightly by the shoulder. With ease, it flung me out of the tunnel and into the abyss of blackness. I floated for a while, my eyes clenched together as I waited to slam into some unseen wall. But nothing like that happened. There was nothing out here.

The devil appeared before me and grabbed me by the waist, stopping me from experiencing a perpetual ride in wherever this was.

“I must show you something,” said the devil without moving his lips.

Slowly, it raised its hand and pointed at the darkness, its face still looking at me. With a snap of his fingers, millions and millions of demons appeared in an instant. They did not move and did not even look to be breathing. There were multiple forms of them. Small ones with wings, tall humanoid ones with spears, giants with two heads, and some that even matched the height of mountains. Most of the species I could see weren’t even listed in the books I’d read at the library at the Refuge. Auracle wouldn’t stand a chance against an army such as this. No kingdom could, not even if they worked together.

“Here, in hell, I am the creator. This is my sandbox and from it, I can manifest an abundance of anything I like. The mortal side of you comprehends these creatures from a negative viewpoint but I’m here to expand your higher half. The half that makes you a god. There is no good nor evil, son, only perspective. Here, you can experience the bliss all conscious aware species strive for. After all, happiness is the only reason your people do what they do. They work for happiness. They have sex for happiness. They procreate for happiness. They build homes and businesses for happiness. Well, I can give you that with a snap of my finger. For all of this, I only ask that you help me destroy-”

“Heaven?” I interrupted. “You want me to fight against the army of the Almighty and his angels?”

The devil tilted its head. It looked to be confused but without eyebrows, it was hard to tell.

“I thought you to be a pastor. A man of the good book.”

“I am,” I said, my voice much deeper with the demonic blood flowing freely through me. Half of me wanted to punch this bastard in his face but… I had to hear what he had to say. Maybe he’d give away a clue on how to defeat him.

“Are you sure about that? And your good book told you that there is a heaven?”

“Of course,” I said. “It says that multiple times in fact. It’s very clear. You should read it sometime.”

“You’re a fool. You’ve listened for far too long to that filthy meat sack I laid my seed inside of.”

I couldn’t help it anymore. I threw a demon-fueled punch at the devil’s face but he caught it with ease. He gripped my fist and I could feel the bones creaking, almost to the point of breaking as he brought me closer to his horrendous red face.

“No mortal can know anything beyond the world of senses. They seek for some place of eternal bliss as if it exists anywhere besides within themselves. If only they knew the power each of them held in the depths of their heart and mind. And that, my son, is why I must destroy them. Who knows? Perhaps one day one of these creatures will figure out the secret and use it to defeat me.”

“And so your plan is to just wipe everyone out? Then what?”

“Then, and only then, can I rest,” hissed the devil. He let go of me and shoved me backward but kept his eyes planted on me.

“Why have you brought me here?” I asked him but really I was just stalling. How could I defeat him if I was on his playing field? He could do and create anything he wanted here. He could set that whole army on me if he wanted to!

“Of course, I’d prefer you to join me,” said the devil. “With that option, you would get your eternal bliss and everything along with it. I could even spare your mother, your trainer, Gauss, and your woman of choice. Don’t think I haven’t been watching you, Ira. You are my son after all and I want you to be happy. That’s all you want, right? Happiness?

It snapped into my head then that I wouldn’t be making it out of this place alive. I just couldn’t see a possible way to defeat him. I would either have to kill it or die trying.

“No,” I said. “That’s not what I want.”

The devil tilted its head once again, this time very slowly.

“Oh? And what do you want?”

“To live,” I answered.

“Then you will die.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “That’s the risk of living. You never get out of it alive.”