Welcome to Hades
Hades was real? Wow. Adam looked around and noticed that he was standing on a very crowded platform that people and creatures kept appearing on. There were humans, gnomes, high elves, dwarves, Yaun ti (if the texts he read concerning monsters and races were correct), and Lexi, quite a few Lexi as well as other creatures of all shapes and sizes. Most were nude. Some like himself were clothed though. The dais he was on was much larger than he’d first thought.
As he took in the multitude his thoughts were drawn to the conversation he just had with Serena and the nature of souls. This didn’t make sense. Then his mind took all the random bits of information and stuck them together. The rules had been changed so that when people died they were graded somehow, sorted, and put somewhere else as they reformed. They wouldn’t know that of course. Why do that? Because the only way to progress was through Divinity Points, and those trying to earn Divinity Points needed followers. What better way to get points than from slaves? If he was right, and he was sure that he was, there was probably a tithing system where the Neophytes gave a percentage of their XP or DP to their Demi-Gods who gave a percentage of their XP or DP to their God. Which would allow them to do what exactly?
While he was taking it all in and making the mental connections a voice called from somewhere in front of him; “What are all you waiting for, an Invitation? Get your asses moving, I have a quota to meet!”
Adam ignored the voice and started going through his prompts.
Welcome To Hades
All entries and exits into and out of this Layer are made from your preset location.
This Layer is Ruled by the Greater Daemon Anthrax, The Daemon God of Decay.
The voice he heard before drew his attention back from the prompts, “Okay you maggots, listen up. I am now going to read the standard greeting our Supreme Overlord has prepared so listen up and don’t interrupt, I don’t answer questions. Your lives have ended, or you are starting over because you were killed here. For you new arrivals, Welcome. Fresh meat is always welcome. As you earn your place within your new home you will come to enjoy its simplicity and promise. What simplicity? The strong prevail. What promise? If you are strong you can do whatever you want here. For those of you that have just reappeared your Divinity and Experience are taxed every time you die.”
“That’s not fair!” a human male declared as a ballista bolt fired from above traveled through his head, into his body, and pinned him to the ground killing him instantly.
“Anyone else want to interrupt? No? Then let him continue. Where was I? Oh yeah, to ensure that everyone loses the same amount the Boss has set the loss to 1% each time you die. A little side note I’m going to refer to the idiot that couldn’t keep his mouth shut as Bob. Bob will be back here in exactly 24 hours having lost 1% of his XP. If he’s stupid again, he will lose another 1% and return 24 hours after that. This will go on until he learns his lesson. Does anyone here want to be like Bob?” the voice said. Adam still couldn’t see him because there were too many people in the way, but he saw a lot of heads shaking as they all agreed that, no, they did not want to be like Bob.
The voice started up again, “The next most asked question is this, how do I get out of this place? There are exits to other Layers of Reality, some layers are like this. Other layers are much nicer. The problem is that whenever you die, you will end up where your alignment indicates you need to be. This alignment is determined by your fundamental world view so you will need to make a very hard choice and prove that you are unwavering in that choice when you die. After you die, you will be shunted back here if you weren’t able to prove you belong somewhere else,” the voice said pausing for a moment to look around.
“Finally, for those of you that have traveled here, but have not died yet. Welcome to Hades. To leave you must find another platform like this that allows you to leave if you are permitted to do so. There are a few other requirements but why ruin the surprise? There are two other ways to leave. By Anthrax’s direct intervention or by following the River Styx. So, on behalf of his Master, once again welcome. “
The voice paused for a few moments then continued, “A couple of other things you should know. There are creatures here much more powerful than any of you outside the cities. Out there, you are food and sport for them. Inside the cities, you are prey and sport for any who think they can get away with taking advantage of you. One way to stop this is to pledge yourself to a lesser deity or demon. By doing so you promise to donate a percentage of any experience or divinity you earn. Different demons and deities ask for different percentages but offer greater protection. Those that request less could be a good deal but might not be able to protect you. You’ll have to decide which one you will pledge yourself to. Now make your way down the pledge booths, or not. It’s completely up to you. When your done head to that tunnel over there,” he said pointing to a tunnel in the rock wall.
“Don’t listen to…” a man started to say as another Ballista Bolt was shot from above went right through him and pinned him to the ground, also killing him instantly. Adam looked up but couldn’t see anything above them for the life of him. He tried to activate True Sight and received his first shock.
WARNING Spells in this Layer must be cast using Divinity Points and Mana. Mana is sufficient. Divinity Points = 0. Your Spell True Sight has failed.
Well, that wasn’t good. Adam tried to activate his willed movement to lift him off the ground by about a centimeter and became slightly relieved when that worked. It looked like whatever laws had been modified or changed here didn’t affect all his abilities. Spellweaver let him cast spells, but he still had to pay a cost. If that cost value was added to it and he didn’t have the additional currency. Had to give it to Anthrax credit, that was one way to keep self-centered mages in line. Deities and Demons that used Divinity or Could demons call those points Demon Points, I’m sure they didn’t want to think of themselves as divine even if neophyte, demi-good, and God were the ranks they held.
It looked like getting to Apolyn was going to take a little longer than he thought. Unless things went sideways of course. Who was he kidding, things had already gone sideways, up, down, diagonal, and backward. Shit! he was so smart, and he hadn’t thought someone on one of these layers might find an easy way to neutralize spellcasters.
Adam was drawn back to his present as someone called “Next!” and he was put in front of a naked demoness, a succubus if he wasn’t mistaken. Bat wings, dainty horns, tale, full breasts, yep a succubus.
“Would you like to serve our mistress Glazya, daughter of Azmon Ruler of Hell,”
“Can I change his mind later?” he asked
“Of course, you can,” the succubus said as she smiled seductively.
“Then no, I think I’ll keep looking around, though you are quite beautiful,” he said
“The succubus sighed, everyone says that,” she said.
“But can everyone that does that do this,” he said as he created a platinum necklace with a ruby that would hang down and rest just above her breasts.
“No,” she said hungrily, “is that for me?” she asked.
“Of course, it is he said holding up. She leaned forward, turned to the side, pulled her hair up, and let him clasp the necklace together. Adam released the necklace. As she turned back the ruby rested exactly where he’d wanted it to just below her throat and above the line of her nipples.
“The color of the gem matches your eyes perfectly,” Adam said with a smile
“May he ask your name stranger?” she asked.
“I’m Adam, nice to meet you.”
“I’m Izzy, what would you like for the necklace?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said as everything around him went quiet and multiple eyes looked on with interest.
“You are literally in hell for the selfish. Seriously, what do you want?” She asked again.
“Let him guess, there is only one currency that I may ask of you and not doing so would be considered an insult?”
“So, you weren’t born yesterday,” she said smiling. “Understand when we are done you will be brought right back to this line.”
“Understood, do I get privacy, or do I have to embarrass myself in front of all of these ‘nice’ people?” he asked.
“For this necklace, we can do privacy,” she said as she rose, grabbed his hand, and walked him behind the booths to a row of doors in the wall. As they walked out of line a lot of the males and even some of the males in line started giving him catcalls.
Adam played to the crowd and said, “I guess it’s my duty to please that booty,” which garnered even more catcalls and some snickers from the demons and other succubi in the area. After they were in the room, which had a very nice stone mattress, “Why is there a stone mattress?” he asked as Izzy took off the necklace and put it on a dresser.
“I wouldn’t want the necklace to melt,” she said seductively
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Oh, you’re a creature of hell, let him guess this is the part where I start screaming and you and your friends start laughing because you’re too hot to touch?” Adam asked with a smile.
“Not so slow after all.”
“Sex is still on, I take it?” Adam asked.
“Sex is required. I must pay you for the gift which I do want to keep,” Izzy said.
“Can I ask a question first?”
“By all means, she said seductively,” as she lead him to the bed, undressed him, and manacled his unresisting body spread eagle face up.
“What Is the time ratio between this Layer and the Mortal Universes”
“Which one? she asked as she locked the last cuff around his left ankle and stood above him on the bed, allowing her tail to stroke up and down his left and right thigh.
“Earth?” he said
“Earth? That’s easy. For every day that passes here, one hour passes there.” She said watching his eyes.
“Second question, how long do I get you for?” he asked.
“As long as you can handle me?” she said with a wicked grin as she wreathed herself in flame and dropped down on him, probably expecting him to melt on contact. Instead, the chaos of his body exploded upward and wrapped completely around her entire body. In a moment every part of her available to the world was touched by his chaos. She tried to wiggle herself free, increasing the intensity of the fire coming from her body only to remain completely sealed up inside the cocoon of Chaos he’d created.
The chaos spread throughout her body and mapped her physical structure, nerve endings, and the pleasure centers of her brain. As her hips stopped moving and she realized something wasn’t quite right he reached up from the bed, the manacles dissolving as his wrists passed through them. Adam easily overpowered her and pulled both her hands up and out as he put her in a spread-eagle position. he lifted her until she was standing over the bed and his chaos-formed manacles made of adamantium that attached to her wrist and chains that reached to the wall where he converted some of the walls into embedded adamantium blocks so that she couldn’t break free.
As the manacles and chains formed they lifted her up and away from him until she was standing. he let her go and stepped back. Chains exited the Chaos that surrounded her and remained taunt to the wall. She was still generating heat, so he remained nude as he stepped away from the bed. Adam allowed the Chaos to recede from her eyes until she could see him standing in front of her. Adam stood in front of her looking into her eyes. Even though she was wrapped in chaos, except for the wings, tiny horns, and tail, she looked mostly human for the most part, but she was a demon. She tried to say something, but the chaos cut her off by flooding into her mouth and forming a ball gag. Adam allowed the Chaos to cover her eyes again and then activated all of her please centers at once burying her in sensations of pleasure. Her question turned to moans which eventually grew to cries of joy, then silence as her brain became overloaded with pleasure and the chaos cocoon before him began to twitch.
With Izzy handled, for now, Adam tried to figure a way out to use his magic. It was a straight-up no-go. Every time he tried an actual spell it failed. he could use his chaos to make things and he still had plenty of mass to work with, but magic was out. he could not earn Divinity, or Demon Points as a mortal. They could be gifted to him, but he could not convert experience or do anything else to earn them. He had to be at least a Neophyte to get them, and he didn’t want to do that yet
Adam even tried to connect to Thor to have him open a portal to his location and that didn’t work. Quantum entanglement was blocked here as well. While he tried various ways to get some of his power back, the cocoon of Chaos over the bed continued twitching.
On the 7th day, the door lock was tested which caused him to react quickly. Izzy was still standing above the bed inside the cocoon of chaos. Adam uncovered her mouth and had his chaos force her to scream and beg for more as the chaos surrounding her withdrew to allow her naked manacled form to become visible again. The chaos within her caused her body to moan though her mind was still just a mass of overloaded neurochemical stimulation. Adam also had the nanites create a whip in his hand as traces of whip strikes were drawn on Izzy’s skin by the chaos to make it appear that he’d been whipping her for a while. The door opened and a female high elf looked in, saw his naked body, the whip in his hand, nodded, and closed the door. He’d ask Izzy who she was when they were done.
Adam cocooned her in chaos again. He kept Izzy like that for the next 17 days, before he turned off the stimulation to her pleasure centers, withdrew his chaos, and released her from the manacles. Izzy flopped down on the stone bed panting and looking at him with lust in her eyes, “More?” she begged.
“Perhaps someday, but I’ve already been here for 17 days, I think it’s time I get a move on.
“Give him a minute, What the Fuck are you?” She asked still panting.
“Are you hurt?”
“Yes and no, as you well know”
“I do,” he said slyly
“Why?” she asked
“Why do you think?” he asked back
“There isn’t a succubus that will hear what you’ve done to me in this room that won’t want to try what you did themselves. It is so hard for us to reach that state and you kept me in it for 17 days? They are going to want the same!” she declared.
“While I technically didn’t touch you, my lover might forgive what I did to you because of my circumstance. I very much doubt she will forgive me for forcing orgasms on multiple demonesses. I think she might cut his balls off and put them in a jar.”
“You have a lover that can handle you?”
“She’s a dragon,”
“Well shit balls, you don’t go small do you?”
“Do you?”
“No,” she said as she stood on wobbly legs. “What did you do to my legs?”
“Have you never had an actual orgasm before?”
“Of course, I have, I’m a Demoness of Lust. I’ve had an orgasm, just not such a prolonged one.
“The nerves in your body and legs are a bit fried right now. Your regeneration should have that all sorted in a couple of minutes tops.
“I bet,” she said wryly.
Adam had his chaos reform his clothes then picked up the necklace and opened it as she turned her back on him. he clasped it around her neck, “Well, Izzy it’s back to the line but before you go”, Adam covered his hand in a very light film of chaos which he converted to holy energy and pressed against her right-ass check which read “Grade A”
“Owww, what was that for?” she said as she quickly turned to face him.
“Something to remember me by, Also, I want everyone to see that I marked you, a succubus and that I don’t have a mark on me.
“Not a mark,” she asked as claws extended from her hand and she dragged them down his right arm shedding his shirt and drawing blood.
Adam healed immediately and had his chaos repair his shirt, “Not a mark,” he said agreeing with her.
“What are you?”
“Someone trying to do the right thing.
“Sounds like you’re in the wrong place,” she said.
“No, I’m probably where I would have ended up if I hadn’t changed,” he said.
“Well, it’s been, how long has it been?” she asked.
“It’s been 17 days”
Just before they made it to the door he asked, “Who was the High Elf that looked in on us?”
“If a high elf looked in on us, that would have been one of Glazya’s top lieutenants. She was just checking to make sure I was still here, “Are you sure you won’t declare your loyalty to my mistress?”
“I’m sure. Also, thank you for a lovely time,” he said.
“But I didn’t do a thing. I’m literally and creature created to pursue lust and I have to admit that was one of the most intense experiences of my life.”
“Don’t forget me?”
“How could he, you marked my ass”
“I know, right?” Adam said with a grin.
“Why isn’t my regeneration fixing it?”
“Just a guess, but he’d bet because that was holy damage,” he said
“Holy damage? I can only heal holy damage normally. It’ll be weeks before that stamp fades.”
“Good to know. If I need to find you I’ll know how to tell it’s you?”
As we stepped out of the room every succubus, and demon started clapping.
Adam took a flourishing bow as he pointed to Izzy, turned her so that her ass was toward the crowd, and made a motion as if to say “Ta Da!”
The crowd roared even louder and Adam could swear that Izzy blushed, which was pretty impressive since her skin was already flush with a red hue.
She whispered to him under her breath, “Are you sure you’re not a demon?”
“You would know,” he whispered back and made his way back to his place in line.
“Hey, why does he get to cut him in line?” a belligerent teenage human boy asked.
One of the guards looked at the kid, “Did you hear that sexual moaning and screaming that’s been going on since you got here?” he asked the kid.
“Yeah, so?”
“That has been going on for 17 days straight?”
“So?”
“This guy is the person… Ah, forget it, Izzy!”
“Yeah boss, have one that needs an eye-opener?”
“But he just….” Izzy started to say.
“And exactly how long do you think this will take?”
“Okay boss, she said as she walked over to the teen, took his hand placed it on her breast then led him toward the room?”
Adam started laughing.
“What’s so funny sir?” a guard asked with a hint of respect in his voice.
“He’s not immune to infernal fire is he?”
“No,” he said with a wry grin.
They looked each other in the eye, then burst out laughing”
A couple of the people in the lines asked one another “What are they laughing about?” which only caused the guard and Adam to start laughing harder, even though they were trying to stop. After a couple of minutes, they’d started to calm down then the screaming started. It got louder and louder until it ended suddenly which caused them to start laughing again.
When they finally calmed down he asked, “First time here?”
“Yep, a hell of a lesson on the first day?” the guard said. “Also, not all Succubus burst into flame while they’re having sex, most just have sex, but Izzy is a special case, her father was a fire elemental.”
“Damn, I’m impressed!” he said
“17 days, now that is impressive. Now move along you’re holding up the line.”
“Yes sir,” Adam said as he saluted and then began moving down the pledge line. He saw Izzy a few moments later, still wearing her new necklace. She saw him, smiled, and then sat back down gingerly trying to keep the weight off her right ass cheek. Adam wasn’t a complete pervert, at least he didn’t think of himself as such. Though, he had to admit he needed some alone time with Adaline, and soon.
Adam continued through the different booths, saying no over and over until there were no more booths and he was left in a line with people in front of him who were now talking freely. Most had chosen to pledge themselves but a few, like him, had not. As the line came to the end of the tunnel everyone stepped into a chain-linked fence that wound back and forth down a hill to a courtyard some 500 feet away. The lines were covered so there was no way to fly out of this line. Interesting
Adam could see a tunnel on the opposite side of the courtyard. All around the courtyard were various groups of people and demons. There was a loner dressed as a spec ops operator complete with the 50-caliber sniper rifle. Another group was a band of smaller devils that were lazily floating over a corpse they had just finished with, and another group of demons had a wizard. Everyone around the courtyard was scanning the group. Adam noticed when the wizard’s eyes locked on a young man that had just exited the chained-length fence. He saw the Wizard point as the man tried to run off to the right. The wizard cast a spell and the kid froze. Adam heard the demons say, “Fresh meat!” as they launched at and eviscerated the poor sap right there in front of everyone. Some of the people around him gasped but those that had come out of the tunnel early ignored the show.
Adam watched this same pattern go on for the next half hour and realized that there was indeed a pattern to it. None of the groups jumped at once. The sniper attacked the next person, then the group of only demons, then the group with the wizard.
They were killing anyone that hadn’t pledged themselves. The pledges weren’t even looked at as they were allowed to exit through the tunnel on the other side of the courtyard. The non-pledges were all killed in the courtyard. No wonder no one was allowed to talk when you first arrived. If they kept people ignorant it was free experience and possibly DP that went right to Anthrax. Again, he had to hand it to him. A nice, elegant system to earn experience. That wouldn’t help him now, but honestly, he expected that he wouldn’t need help. His time with Izzy had allowed him to test his capabilities and he was sure anything except a demi-god was in for a surprise, even without the use of magic.
Just before he stepped into the courtyard he pointed at the sniper and said, “Let me step to the side, he wouldn’t want you to accidentally kill a pledge.” The sniper nodded and he stepped out into the corridor, looked at the sniper, and took his best Captain Morgan pose. Adam really should be taking this more seriously, but he was pretty sure only outrageous behavior was going to achieve the outcome he was looking for.
Adam felt pressure hit his groin. It didn’t hurt, didn’t penetrate just hit his clothes then bounced off his body, then he heard the gunshot. The asshole tried to shoot his dick off. Well, if outrageously flamboyant wasn’t going to work, he guessed there was also outrageously brutal. In a moment he was behind the sniper and kicked him so hard between the legs that his legs flew off in opposite directions as his head launched up and away from the expanding mess of the rest of his body that had turned into pink mist.
You have defeated Master Sniper Jay “Dead Shot” Pierce
Try to shoot my dick off will you, Adam thought as he barked, “Who’s Next? Adam called with the full breadth and might of his attributes.