The dark was hungry.

William had no idea how long he had existed in the lightless expanse, dotted colossal barren rocks and desperate, starving demons like himself. The distance between the planet sized chunks of debris was vast, and though the number of demons was near limitless, they were barely a dusting within the Hollow. This was good, because it made it less likely that you would be preyed upon, but it was also bad, because it meant it was harder to prey upon others.

Hunger was the law in that place; you ate or you fell, and though nobody had ever returned from such a journey, the idea filled those present with dread – William included. The dread was the only thing he felt, in fact, other than the Hunger.

Apathy – or the force they had called Apathy on Purgatory – was the only thing that was dense, in the Hollow. It was everywhere, suffusing all of realty as if it made up space itself. And it soaked into you. The only way to resist the downward pull of the Apathy was to eat, to consume others, and in doing so take their Experience. Buoyancy against the Void.

William had no idea how long he had existed like that, the Hunger a constant gnawing impulse, and underpinned by the dread. He had learned a lot though, for when a soul was consumed, you gained by their Experience and their experiences. He had lived a thousand, thousand lives, their inner voices added to his own and echoing their hunger and dread atop his. He knew he was a demon, as they had known from eating others. A legacy stretching back into the infinite recesses of time, though such a concept had little meaning, in the Hollow. He remembered others leaving, clawing their way back to Purgatory by force, to eat those there and save themselves for another day, and being forced back by the weight of the accumulated Apathy.

There was little sense to it all, to William’s mind, it lacked logic, held no reason. But reason was not something the Hollow cared about. The Hollow held no care, only purpose. Contain the Void. William had no idea what that meant, it was a fragment of a memory devoured a billion times. Contain the Void, return the Apathy. Dispose of worthless souls.

William dragged himself across endless distance, searching for those weaker than him, so that he might take them. The Hunger increased with each being he ate, the Experience preventing the fall, but the Apathy providing an additional weight, like a millstone hung about his neck.

Sensing a splash of Experience nearby, William knew somebody had fallen from Purgatory close to him, and though the free Experience was quickly devoured by the Apathy – by the Hunger – it was like blood in the water to demons, and he shifted course immediately, senses extended as he felt for others of his kind.

It did not take him long to find the newcomer, the Hunger was already at work within it, driving it to feed, and it had sensed William’s approach, as he had sensed others on his arrival. And it was coming to him, as quick as darkness, but as dangerous as a baby to the now ancient demon.

The two collided, the contest decided in an instant as William wrapped himself around the fresh meat and ripped it to pieces with claws formed from his blackened soul, devouring theirs in moments. The Hunger, of course, grew rather than fading, but he knew at least that it would keep him from the Void. For another day.

The ability to manifest his soul constructs was a definite advantage, in the Hollow, allowing him to devour demons more efficiently than his brethren. He had not found much use for his Manifold Mind, as attempting its activation mostly caused his new memories to be given full form, reinforcing them and dropping them back in with louder voices when he finally collapsed the ability.

Leaving the location of his feed before the others could gather and a frenzy ensued, WIlliam shuddered as new memories flooded his mind, but he was used to that, had been through it uncountable times. What did impact him was the renewed twinging of his connection back to his undead army. The tether, which was thin and tremulous in Purgatory, attenuated through time, was strange, in the Hollow. It seemed both incredibly accelerated and frozen hard in place, a sensation that made him feel as though it was lost, like a blind man groping for the way forward. It niggled at his soul, causing a kind of existential nausea. William would have hated it, if he could still feel hate. But there was only Hunger, and dread.

***

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*

The darkness roiled, a demonic battle consisting of billions had been raging for time out of memory, and William watched. It was the first such battle he had seen in person, caused by a particularly dense insertion of new souls into the Hollow; they had been quickly devoured, but the sheer number of them had dragged demons in across the infinite distances, victor feeding on victim, and being fed on in turn. Eventually, there would be a few, or even just one, and William would eat them.

More time passed, or seemed to, and William picked off demons at the edges of the conflict; he had wanted to wait, but the Hunger does not care for wants. The numbers were down to the thousands, bloated shapes darker than the lightless black around them now moved at the mass’s centre, vaster than any William had ever seen, though there were vague recollections in the oldest of his stolen memories. He knew, somehow, that once the frenzy was over, those leviathans would fall into the Void, unable to sustain the Experience needed to keep them buoyant against the drag of Apathy, against the Hunger. It was a memory that had not surfaced until he had sensed them, and it had put something of a chink in his plans.

Much later, William hid within a bare rock the size of a galaxy, his senses extended beyond its near endless spires as it hung motionless against the black; he had no idea how long it had been, as there was no way to mark the passage of time, beyond the Hunger, and that was unreliable, as its call was ever present and increasing. But it did not matter; he had been subsisting on the other watchers, but they were all gone or eaten by then, and of the leviathans, only one remained, its bulk comparable to planets, but still dwarfed by the William’s hiding place.

William was observing its final moments as it shuddered and tried to resist the pull of the Void, but it was futile; it had grown to such a size that its absorption of Apathy was exponentially more than it could counter, especially given that it had eaten every demon present, save one.

The utter dark twisted, tugging the galaxy size asteroid towards it, a force of such intensity that Hunger, as great as it was, was but the palest of imitations, weak and tremulous before this all-consuming force. William glimpsed the Void, though he could not describe it, and even a being that had been changed so much by the energies working within him was driven to the edge of madness and beyond, howling soundlessly as his mind shivered and shattered.

With all consuming dread skittering around the seed of insanity that was his perceptions, William called upon his Manifold Mind and gave it the madness, an old voice given new life there in the black, and held in check to keep the demon safe from the echoes of the Void. William almost felt relief as the manifest insanity gibbered away, but such things were beyond him. Survival, dread, Hunger.

The leviathan, for all its power and accumulated strength, was dragged into the absence, tentacles and pseudopods lashing back and forth, but ultimately, its actions posed no more resistance than anything else, and finally the Void was sealed once more behind and underneath the Hollow.

William shuddered in place as the madness spoke to him in garbled, half-said words, urging him to live, to die, to kill. Conscious of the onrushing rock, he did his best to ignore the new presence in his mind flexed his body, and clawed his way out from between its spires and craters, towards the last place he had sensed the leviathan.

There, in that place, he could feel the scrabbling link to his former life come close to connecting, and driven by the spectre of his own assured future, the demon bent his will towards it, clawing his way through, body ripping at the fabric of the Hollow and that thin place not yet fully healed.

All at once, space gave way and William burst up and back into Purgatory, sensing its denizens all around him and driving him into a frenzy, like a man long deprived of water faced with the sight of a cool drink. He did not hesitate, launching himself up and out towards the greatest source of Experience, and falling upon them like the night come alive, devouring them in less than moments, blood spattering the cold stone as he shredded flesh to get to soul. For hours, William fed, the connection that had called him there seemingly confused again, faded and distant enough to be forgotten in the frantic feeding.

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Eventually, the Hollow called him back, the weight of his Apathy like an anchor around his neck, the world around him too thin to support his weight any longer. Plunging black into that endless night, William simply turned and attacked once more, eager to rehash his repast.

The Hollow had not been granted its chance to heal, and with furious swipes, William found his escape once more; normally, he knew this would not be possible, but such a large Fall had allowed enough of the Void out to thin reality and make it possible.

Back in Purgatory, the demon sensed a familiar shape, a building he had once called home; knowing that this was a place often occupied by those with the power to hold it, William burst through its door without slowing, the flimsy wood and metal nothing before the Hunger. He began to devour those within, feeding and growing the empty pit of his Hunger with every breath. He knew this visit would be shorter, could already feel the pull again, but he was a being driven by Hunger, and so he fed. He fed until, from below him came a snack he could not resist, burning with rainbow light that made his Hunger shudder and shake, driven back like the dark before a flame.

William attacked, the connection within his soul shaking and snapping, but he felt a pain as something grey and sparkling silver shot out from his latest morsel, and for the first time in an eternity, the demon felt his Apathy truly lessen.

Within the orbit of his senses, William felt the Hollow open and braced himself to fall, but it was not he who fell, but rather his target. And as he did, the connection which had seemed so uncertain snapped home once more and Experience filled him, draining into him as if from a great distance.

He felt his body shift and reform, the Apathy contained in its entirety by the Experience flooding him and dragging him back from the breach.

Human once more, William fell to his naked knees, retching uncontrollably as the world swam around him and he felt emotions and sensation long absent. But this was not the end of his transformation.

As he knelt upon the frigid stone, sweat soaked and shuddering, he felt his long-blackened soul tug in a direction he could not name, and suddenly insubstantial, he was dragged into an endless river of stars.

*

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***

William sat up with a gasp, heat both burning and brilliant filling him, surrounding him as liquid joy coursed into and through his body, bleaching his soul a dull, light grey.

Looking around, eyes wide and almost panicked, William saw his Golem standing guard, saw the room in the castle he had laid down in so many lifetimes before. He had no idea what was happening, and had no time to process it, as lifetimes of Experience poured into him from the energy rich environment, filling him beyond mortal capacity, filling his undead network, and more as its existence was contested by the Apathy that was so alien to that world, until finally, after what seemed like years, the two forces lay in equilibrium, as he had been when he left, or how he had intended to be, an Emperor. But he was also so much more - a demon on the Aspirant plane, for the first time in all of its long history.

*

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“Oh, he’s back.”

Deiry looked at the smiling star nearby and shrugged.

“All’s well that ends well, I guess. He should be an Emperor now; I hope he hurries up and completes his damn mission.”

***

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*

William stood over the unconscious form of the Crown he had been tasked with killing an eternity before, a new prompt appearing in his vision, making demands before his last task was even complete, though its end was all but inevitable. William did not care, he had wanted the Crown for his own purposes, to learn their secrets. Not for some false god.

Grey claws formed of his soul and edged with the blacker black of Hunger extended from William’s fingers, anticipation warring with other voices and other emotions inside of him. There were so many, thousands of minds and lifetimes all held in suspension by his Manifold Mind, returned to full working order by his return. They controlled the army, and they spoke to him. And his pet madness.

William let out a laugh that echoed oddly in the great vaulted cavern, and plunged his fingers into the Crown’s heart, drinking her soul even as he tied her energy to his; he would not waste her as a mere undead, he would bind another’s soul to her, and reform her flesh. He had no Authority, as he now knew it to be named, and so he could not use the true powers of a Crown, and he could not achieve it naturally, as he was. But he would find a way.

*

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*

William was enraged; he had murdered every Crown known to exist in the world, overcoming their armies, their Authority infused creations, but he was no closer to empowering his own. Authority, it seemed, was too slippery to catch with the claws he had. He needed to find a source outside of a person, a Tribulation or some other remnant. And then he could use his Crown puppets to drink it for him, their re-worked bodies already able to accept it.

It was strange to the living demon, that no Crown had attempted to do what he was doing, in taking other Crowns, and using them in grow in power. He knew there was a world – a plane – beyond that one, the next step, and to reach it required a certain density of pure Experience. But they had all seemed hesitant to take that step. He would interrogate their souls, but the madness of the Void had been whispering in their ears, and they gibbered along with it now. Like so many others.

“I need a new source of Authority, yes we do. Any ideas?”

The voices howled, and memories flooded in, of wars between worlds, and other systems of magic.

“It’s time for us to move on, maybe. After us!”

William laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

*

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*

William was in a foul mood; for decades he had been trying to leave the world and find another, but that bastard god stood in his way, and for all the power the Hunger granted him, he could not directly defy the pretentious prig. Luckily, Deiry was as lazy and indolent as William could ask, and provided he did not try to leave the world, he was not interfered with – painfully.

William had completed dozens of tasks for the god – the Ascended – and other than his attempts to leave, was quite in favour. William spat to one side, his host of undead, millions strong, arrayed before him in their multitudes.

He had not been able to prevent his death, nor his soul’s excursion to Purgatory, William thought, the problem echoed by a billion chattering voices. He did not want to die, but perhaps he could move... more directly.

He could feel the pull of the Hollow, as distant as it may have been, with no real chance of dragging him in. He thought he could rip a hole into it, and from there, Purgatory once more and finally... elsewhere.

It was a desperate plan, but the voices agreed it might be the only way to escape the god’s grasp. It would mean leaving behind his host and starting over, but he had done that before; as an Emperor, and with his Manifold Mind, it would be easy to get back to where he was again...

***

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*

William tumbled into the Hollow as the blackness spilled out into his throne room, ripping the Experience from his army and from his network. He just laughed into the endless night, an alien sound in that strange place. As his army died, his Minds collapsed back into his, and they knew they would not have long to make their escape before they were once more wholly demon.

Claws extended, Williams began to rip and tear, focusing their Hunger on devouring reality itself, as they had learned in their long years of practice, and slipping free of the Hollow with barely any weight added to their soul.

Purgatory was as they remembered it, cold and lifeless and dull, though in comparison to where they had just left it was positively merry and welcoming.

William laughed at the thought, his face hidden in a shadow with no source. With a wide grin, William bored another hole in reality, and stepped through.

*

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***

William tore soul after soul free from the gathered aristocracy, severing their ties to their undead as insane rage flashed across his face, though none could see it beneath the shadow. He had returned to his own world, though the population had seemingly replenished itself.

They had arrived there, in the court before a Crown, and Williams had been forced to abase themselves until they could reform their army and their network. But that was over with, he was recovered and they were paying for their temerity.

His light grey, soul-wrought suit shed the blood without effort, and rage assuaged, William stood amidst the corpses and laughed, carefully moving amongst them and making their bodies his.

Their minds spoke to him, whispering that he had killed the nobles of his world, that the world he was on was not his, but similar. And that meant he might leave.

“My Lord-”

The voice fell silent at the site of the blood-soaked floor and the shambling remains of their former masters. With a laugh, William turned to look at the retainer, one of the few peasants not constrained to the farms.

“What is it, snack? We were having a discussion. Me and us, I mean. Come on, out with it, I won’t bite, or do we?! No, I have other methods, if we get hungry.”

The retainer gulped, eyes flickering back and forth between William’s shadowy face and the fresh, once-noble army.

“M-my Lord? A Gate has opened – The Gods call us to war!”

“A Gate? Better still, a free pass! Shall we?”

William had been planning on opening a bore, but a gate ready made for him was something altogether better. Striding out, William gathered his army, and laughingly went to war.

*

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*

William laughed, but he also ran. His army, and the armies of the other Emperors and Crowns had made good progress, at first, until the monsters began to make their presence known. Men and women that moved faster than even his Golem, or at least his current Golem, had ripped through them, and while some bodies had been recoverable, only those that specialized in pure spirit had made any headway, leashing them to their wills to pass through those that attacked and damaging the soul directly.

William could have killed them, taken their power and their souls, if he could have seen, caught them. But they were too fast, too strong. Different. But, the voices whispered, he had plenty of time. He was beyond the reach of Deiry, with free reign to explore the Plane. And to make it theirs.