The First Circle of Gehenna, also known as ‘Limbo’

Here, in a dark, ashen pit of decaying corpses and unrepentant souls, stood a golden gate. Its exterior was filled with crude carvings of Demonic sigils, whilst two sculptures of goat-like Demons held the door from both sides.

“Damn it.”

And lying flat on the barren grounds before this gate, was the figure of a battered young teen.

“Damn it!! Damn it!!!”

Even as he was covered head to toe in the toxic grime of Limbo, the young teen began thrashing around like a man possessed.

“I can’t believe I lost…how…”

Mustering all his strength, the teen began to savagely claw at his face with his bloodied hands. His eyes began to bleed, whilst scorching red marks were left on his cheeks where his fingers touched. Unable to break out from the deranged cycle, the boy continued to claw and claw and claw everywhere at his own face and body, until even the tongue he was speaking from began to bleed and fray.

Muttering the last of his strength, the teen howled out towards the silent pit of Limbo.

"How…did, I—!!!!”

Until a ‘voice’ cut him off.

[Tis only natural oh young lord]

A sweet, enchanting ‘voice’ filled the air, and before the teen could even realise what was happening, the scenery around him had already changed. Lifting his mangled head, the teen glared at his new surroundings. His mouth could no longer speak, but his thoughts rang out with blazing fury.

‘Teleportation magic’

The teen was now standing atop a small, dead cliff. Surrounding him was a world of death and clockwork. In the near distance, colossal factories towered over the lands, stretching beyond what the teen’s remaining eye could see. They emitted a never-ending stream of orange fumes that dyed the sky above in the same colour. Tilting his head downwards, the boy then looked at the lands below the cliff. What he saw was a series of massive valleys, filled to capacity by the disfigured bodies of wasters and hoarders. They moved about in mindless herds, constantly pushing, pulling, shoving and screaming at one another over small pouches of glimmering metal. Several of these wasters briefly turned upwards towards his direction, though not for long. They soon resumed their savage struggle against one another, and their tame acceptance of their own greed.

The teen pruned his eyes at the sight. He recognised this place.

‘The Fourth Circle Of Gehenna. The Circle Of Greed.’

He wasn’t expecting an affirmation, but that was what he received.

[Correct]

As if reading his thoughts, that same sweet ‘voice’ responded from behind. Turning his head, the teen was greeted by a large humanoid figure towering over him. Their body was covered with a spotless black suit and tie, adorned everywhere with glittering jewellery and vain extravagance. Their head was that of a white goat, whilst its horns were coated with a mixture of glittering gold and ivory.

The teen was busy staring at the figure in confusion, when the mouth of the goat suddenly began to move. And though their mouth moved, yet no sound came out. And though no sound came out, a ‘voice’ resounded anyways, filled to the brim with a devilish honey.

[I believe this is the first time a youngon like yourself has stepped foot here]

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Staring at the fellow ‘Demon’ before him, the teen’s thoughts answered himself.

‘Mammon. One of the Seven Deadly Sins.’

The goat’s lips curled into an arrogant smile.

[Tis a pleasure to make your acquaintance Belial]

The Goat-Demon standing before him, Mammon, then snapped their fingers. Almost instantly, several golden spears materialised out of thin air, before piercing the teen’s chest and impaling him into the ground. The grass around the teen then began to shrivel and burn as purgatory flames began to ignite all around them, consuming his body.

The teen, known better as the Demon ‘Belial’, screamed a mental scream of agony.

‘Aagh–!!’

Mammon smiled at his agony, before speaking a flurry of words that wormed their way directly into Belial’s mind.

[Your actions have thrown quite the wrench in our plans]

[Because of your unreasonable manifestation in the human world]

[The Gods of ‘Paradise’ and the Spirits of ‘Central’ and the Angels of ‘Eden’ have all pointed their blades at us]

[Whilst even our allies the ‘Dark Gods’ have expressed displeasure towards this arrogant young lord]

The Goat-Demon then bared their golden teeth. Even whilst pinned to the ground, Belial’s body instinctively cowered in fear against the Goat-Demon. Mammon’s smile only grew wider and wider, until it stretched from one end of their face to another. Their rectangular pupils began shaking with tangible glee.

Lifting their bejewelled hand, Mammon then snapped their fingers for a second time. A noose made of searing heat suddenly manifested around Belial’s neck, before pulling up and strangling the Demon mid-air. Seeing the display of struggle, Mammon then snapped their fingers for a third time. A black wall covered in metal skewers appeared behind the struggling Demon, before puncturing his body head to toe, down to every last limb. Clumps of flesh splattered downwards in a bloody heap, before immediately sizzling from the sheer heat of the ground.

Seeing the now-mangled body before him, Mammon spoke once more.

[It appears to me and my colleagues that you must learn the word ‘restraint’ before you scamper back onto your miserable throne]

Belial’s dead eyes snapped alive at Mammon’s words.

Enduring the untameable agony, he yelled back in a voice full of wrath. “‘Restraint’? To Abaddon with that!! We are ‘True Demons’!! The primordial personification of man’s purest desires! Why should we live our whole lives restraining ourselves against the likes of Gods or Angels?!”

As he screamed, Belial’s eyes began to cloud with a maddening darkness.

“That Goddess ‘Vynl’, I must slay her!! I must!!!”

Meanwhile, Mammon stared at the young Demon before them with a hint of amusement.

[Such ‘Greed’ and ‘Wrath’]

The Goat-Demon then paused in thought, before continuing.

[Though I seem to remember yourself being rather excited during the fight]

Belial grit his teeth, be it in pain or anger, before opening them again to scream once more, “That was before I lost!!”

At Belial’s childish immaturity, Mammon’s lips curled into yet another smile. But it was a different kind of smile. It wasn’t a smile of condescension or arrogance. It was the smile of pure, inexplicable pleasure. The Goat-Demon snapped their fingers for a fourth time, releasing Belial from their bind.

Belial then spent several minutes sprawled on the ground as he recovered from the immutable torture. And when he finally lifted his head up, he was confounded by the sight before him. His expected scene of factories stretching across the lands was now nowhere to be seen, instead being replaced by a massive black wall, stretching as tall and wide as his eyes could see.

Confused, Belial turned towards Mammon, but the Goat-Demon shook their head to deny their involvement in this phenomena. Instead, they opened their mouth to exclaim.

[Now this is a most unexpected development]

Belial only felt further confusion at their words. With blurry eyes, he turned his head back towards the massive wall, only to be met with shock and epiphany.

“That’s…!”

He realised that the ‘wall’ before him wasn’t a wall in the first place. It was an impossibly massive gate. A gate that was identical in appearance to the one that had brought him into Limbo in the first place, after his untimely death at the hands of ‘Vynl’.

Standing beside him, Mammon spoke with a mixture of awe and pleasure.

[Abandon all hope ye who enter]

The only difference was that this gate was far, far larger, and far more intricate. Countless ethereal sigils swirled around on its surface like ominous totems, whilst both of its sides were guarded by nine ornate statues of goat-like Demons. Just making eye contact with one of the statues was enough to send shivers down Belial’s spine.

Meanwhile, the other Goat-Demon, Mammon, was merely staring at the impending gate with silent intent. Then, after several seconds of stillness, their rectangular pupils suddenly began to oscillate and warp with indecipherable emotions. At the same time, the air and sky around them began to tremble and shatter. The great factories of distant horizons began to wane and crumble like stacks of cards, whilst the wasters below toppled to the ground like puppets with cut strings.

Belial’s eyes opened wide in astonishment.

“This is…”

The entire Circle was trembling in response to its master’s emotions, performing a violent orchestra of discord and chaos. But of course, such euphoria could never last long. And after several moments, the trembling soon began to die down. There, standing above their world set on fire, Mammon turned towards Belial with gleeful eyes.

[It seems our Sovereign has demanded your presence at his court]

In response, Belial’s shoulders trembled. There was only one being in Gehenna that a Demon as powerful as Mammon could call ‘Sovereign’.

With those same gleeful eyes, Mammon gazed at Belial with an indecipherable intent. Belial, standing up firmly, returned that gaze with a trembling one of his own. The air around them shook with horror and ecstasy as a brief confrontation ensued between the two proud Demons. After several seconds, however, Mammon finally broke contact first.

[It is best not to keep our wrathful Sovereign waiting]

And with a melodramatic gesture, Mammon motioned for Belial to enter the looming gate. Belial, in turn, stared at the gate for several more silent seconds. The dark clouds of insanity began to clear from his eyes as he stared thoughtfully at the domineering authority before him. Finally, after bated breath, the wounded Demon unfurled a set of wings from his back.

But just as Belial was about to fly off, Mammon turned to speak to the nascent lord one last time.

[That ‘Greed’ of yours is wonderful]

[Even if it does only lead to an unattainable vengeance]

They smiled.

[I shall watch over your impossible quest from afar]

It was a smile of utter depravity.