Screams of agony stretched unendingly within the space from every direction. The sound pressed against pressure, imitating skin. I looked with my pressure, imitating eyes for any rays of light that I could interpret. Only waves of air pressure from movement gave an impression of the surroundings. Fleshy trees from people mashed together like ants, forming a massive object towering toward the heavens. The people trees surrounded me, crafting a pale, fleshy forest. Eyes opened and gazed at me as a thousand mouths opened to scream. The tree stiffened before launching itself at me. Bodies bunched together into an enormous mass used their bulk as their weapon.

I threw myself to the side as bodies lost their grip and tumbled away from the group.

“No, I have to get back. I can’t be alone.” A massive hand reached out and snatched one of the fallen souls.

I turned and saw dozens of massive creatures with gaping maws and ghostly pale skin. Some were women with long black hair that hid their faces except for a vertical slit where the hair parted. Blood and viscera matted the hair around those sections.

A hand swiped for me white with long blue veins bulging from the flesh. It snatched one of the discarded bodies from the tree and quickly brought it to a gaping maw in the creature’s gut. I pressed my foot against the ground and saw that there were bones and dried blood all around my feet. Even the screams couldn’t hide the crunching sounds coming from the victims of the hungry ghosts.

When another hand reached for me, I grabbed a finger and pulled, ripping the digit free. I pressed on it with my pressure, and it was reduced to nourishment for my soul. The natural filter removed everything I didn’t need, leaving a pile of shredded flesh and blood from the remains of my meal.

The hungry ghost shrieked as blood gushed from its digit. One of the ghosts pulled a long whip of leather and bone from his side and flicked it. I felt the slash nearly tear me in half before I heard the pop.

I flung my soul arrow, and the hungry ghost looked down at its chest in astonishment before it fell over dead.

A creature towered over the others, clad in the hide of hungry ghosts. It reached for the fallen hungry ghost while the others fled. I stared at the towering behemoth, large enough to fall trees in a few bites. His eyes were a massive beak that opened wide, revealing rows of fangs before it dug into the fallen hungry ghost.

I watched the massive creature grow larger, consuming the downed, hungry ghost. Parts of its body shifted as tentacles grew out of its head and around its face. Something was happening here. The hungry ghost wasn’t getting much bigger. If anything, some of it was shrinking. Was it compression or something else?

I could tell that this place was a prison for souls. I stared at a sea of hungry ghosts battling it out and ignored the souls falling in. They weren’t whole souls, only the remnants of those slain by the tribulation. Either way, they weren’t enough for the larger souls to bother with.

I stared at the giant, hungry ghost, who looked back at me with a head of purple tentacles and a beak fit for cutting steel. There was still time left before my next arrow would be ready, and until then, I had no guarantee of finishing this fight.

The creature turned its head to the side. “Fear not, brave youngling. I do not hunt the small. You wouldn’t satisfy my hunger regardless. I can’t even feel any pressure from you,” the hungry ghost said.

That was right. My spiritual form was a tiny pill, while my body was only a manifestation of pressure. I had to limit its range to keep my body relatively solid. Hungry ghosts expanded freely, showing off their spiritual bodies.

“You ate my kill.”

“I can't imagine how you managed to slay one of the famished infantry. To slay a Starved Lord is beyond you. I have secured my evolution into one of the great lords. Time is the only limit.”

“If you’re not a great lord, killing you can’t be that hard,” I said.

The hungry ghost chuckled. “Insolence and courage are good in younglings; the timid are eaten first. Why are you out here in the wilds, away from the city, where home and hearth await you? This is no place for a youngling.”

“What is this place, and why do you keep calling me a youngling?” I asked.

“This place is the badlands, the lawless outskirts far from the safety of the commune of hunger. Here, a hungry ghost can live according to their nature and grow more powerful. It is also where the religious order of the mad tree goes to give themselves to the collectives. The creature said.

I stared as a red door appeared before a chain carrying another soul barreled inside.

“It looks like another youngling has come to enjoy the commune. Let goodwill, purpose, and happiness be upon them.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

One of the creatures in the sky charged at the door before others tackled him out of the way. A female creature covered in raven feathers with a large curved beak flew through the portal instead. They were all much smaller than the hungry ghost I spoke to.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“It’s simple: when one becomes a famine king or queen, the body shrinks and compresses into a much more powerful form. This allows them to pass through the barrier out of this place. Of course, no matter how many enter here, only one can leave per portal.”

I nodded and floated off the ground. His eyes widened in shock as I blasted up as a powerful, hungry ghost charged me. The portal opened, and I saw hundreds of king-level hungry ghosts. None were budding soul realm kings, which must have meant core at best.

…

Fighting monsters all in the core realm who have been fighting their own kind as equals for God only knows how long was frustrating. A claw raked across my back as one of the queens bit my shoulder and shoved me down into a sea of acid. My pressure fought as I tried to put the queen into a submission hold, but she was half snake. Her body wiggled and struggled out of every hold I managed until I had to abandon my attempt and run away.

As my pressure body slowly reformed itself, I watched her fly into one of the trees and inhale every soul. She quickly consumed acres of massive trees with her immense hunger fragment until her wounds were fully recovered.

I was left staring as she slowly turned to me and grinned before her expression sank when she saw me.

“How do you heal so quickly?” She asked.

“Lucky, I guess,” I said.

I stared up at the door as another hungry ghost exited. “Do you want me to teach you how to form a hold properly?”

“How can I trust you not to try and eat me?”

She turned her reptilian head to the side. “You act like a youngling that has never had a single lesson. That is bizarre but not important. Do you want to learn to do something right, or would you rather flounder?”

I stared at her, uncomprehending what she meant.

The Famine queen clicked her tongue. “Royals can’t evolve any further by consuming each other. We need natural hunger treasures to advance. Those can’t be found here at all. Once you hit the royal rank, you no longer have anything to fear from your fellow royals and everything from lords,” She smiled, revealing sharp fangs.

“My name is Basma, and I’m a famine queen who loves to get close and personal with my foes. When I get out of here, I will first roll around in the desert sand all day and clean my scales until they glimmer.” Basma smiled

“I’m Atom Newman” She placed a finger to her lips, and I cocked an eyebrow.

“It's bad to lie on our first meeting. Don’t let any lords touch you ever unless you kill them immediately. They will know by your pressure.”

“Is it that different?” I asked.

She gyrated up on her snake half and bobbed up and down like a cork in a river. Her massive brown breasts, held back only by a hidden bra, giggled with her. It was an act that didn’t move unless she wanted eyes on them.

“Your pressure is nothing like our spirit bodies. The longer one of us touches you, the more likely we will figure it out.”

Basma taught me how to put someone on a hold they couldn’t escape. I held her in a lock she showed me before as we spared. She pressed her chest against my arm and fluttered her eyelashes when the softness touched my arm. Then she wiggled out of the hold and put me into one.

“This is how I know you aren’t one of us. No one who made it out of the Lord's rank would fall for flesh. Most of them die because they see some boobies they like, and that’s it for them.” Basma said.

I forced my way out of her hold and placed her in an identical one.

“I know you would have used your venom immediately,” I said.

“Yes, when you can go for the kill unless it’s a battle for a door, there are rules to that race,” Basma said.

Doors appeared constantly, so there were rules to keep bloodshed minimal. “So all I’m learning is useless,” I said.

“You cannot use the hold to position them for a throw. I have a friend who’s good at those if you want to round out your experience. She’s in the city and goes by Harper. She’s a Kangaroo queen. Or you can ask De Zimo, a dragon that likes to throw people, to set them up for burning. He’s over past the acid lake,” Basma said.

“I will check him out. The city doesn’t sound like the right place for me.” I said.

She shrugged. “You aren’t bad at submission holds, but don’t make them your main form of attack. At least don’t try it here.” Basma said.

…

A dragon-hungry ghost with large pointy horns, wings, and a tail stared at me with interest. He sat on a rock and tapped it with his foot, causing dust of flesh off, revealing bone underneath. De Zimo looked out at the expanse where hundreds of famine royals fought for the doors that appeared and vanished.

“I’m never leaving this place. Do you know why?” De Zimo asked.

“You’re too big,” I said.

He pointed at me and snapped his fingers. “That’s right, I’m too big, especially with my wings. Don’t get me wrong, I’m strong enough to get to a door, but sliding in with the smaller guys skulking around won’t work. Then, of course, there is the penalty for leaving.” My eyes widened at that. “One of our own came back after leaving, and we lost two ranks when we left. That’s easy to get in here, but out there, when there are so many enemies and few resources, it's impossible. Hungry ghosts can’t make it through the barrier without losing a large chunk of their power. We can’t easily get back. You’re not one of us, so that it won’t be an issue for you.” My eyes widened. “Basma told me that girl wouldn’t keep something like that from me since I’m training you.”

“Okay, learn my amazing training, which is guaranteed to get you out of here. I want you to break the box when you get out. Well, don’t do it just anywhere. Find a place that’s perfect for us where lots of death chi is around, like a place after a disaster or war, and free us all.” I opened my mouth and closed it. “Sounds like a great deal, right?”

I thought about it and couldn’t find a downside, which worried me. Just because I couldn’t find one didn’t mean they didn’t exist. Getting out was important. I needed to confront Elder Yu and Lui Fang. Even if it hurt, I wanted answers and closure.

My fragments hummed in my soul space. Maybe if I grew my pressure enough, I could cultivate a pressure body, or perhaps that was just wishful thinking. While the dragon’s body wasn’t the most effective on my pressured body, it helped solidify and strengthen it. With a throw, I could take another step and round out my tool kit.

“Alright, I will do it.” The dragon hopped off his rock and grabbed my shirt before chunking me into the acid lake. I burst out burning and rushed to shore.

“Pay attention. I’m not much of a teacher, but I do it well. Copy what I’m doing and try and use it on me. Once you manage to throw me in the lake, we will move on to the next move.

I tried to pay attention to his legs, but he was too fast. Before I knew it, I was soaring through the air and falling into acid. I stared at his feet next before I felt myself submerge. I positioned myself almost like him and struggled as he took me off my feet and tossed me in again.

, I made him stumble slightly the next round, but he still fell into the lake.

…

I lay face down on the beach as I heard splashing slowly approaching. “Well, that’s one down. Get up. No one said you could take a break. This is the easy stuff.

When I stood up, I was to see a red-scaled dragon with no acid burns to speak of.

“Why do you look undamaged? I asked.

“Did you think you would toss me somewhere that could hurt me? For me, that lake might as well be a warm bath. Good try. I bet you feel good about yourself.”

“I should have gone with the kangaroo,” I said.

The dragon smirked. “Don’t be like that. Wouldn’t you have learned nearly as quickly if you had gone with Harper?”

“What now,” I asked.

After training for days with the dragon, going from throw to throw, I began to get the hang of it. “You need battle experience.” De Zimo said.

“I’ve fought a few people,” I said.

“Yeah, I can tell you know how to look like you know how to fight. What you need is to know how to fight. That only comes when you’ve fought loads of people. So before you go through one of those doors, I want you to fight every royal up there at least ten times. That’s the only way to be sure these lessons have sunk in,” De Zimo said.

I nodded slowly and stood up. “Thank you for this opportunity,” I said.

He waved his hand as if warding it away. “Don’t just keep your end of the deal.” De Zimo said.