Adam walked down the street, taking in the ambiance of the beings around him. Most were human and fairly well dressed while a few looked and acted out of place. The employees of the various business were easy to discern. They were hurrying along in some work uniform or another. The rich were also easily recognized. A few were walking around but most were riding various vehicles that were in the area. Cars, horse-drawn carriages, flying mounts. All were evident. He could also see demons in the area but most wore business suits or dresses and seemed to be blending in. As he took everything in he noticed that the only flying demons he could see were either very far away or west of 5th Avenue and the turnstile. Adam allowed his chaos to wash over him and transformed his clothing into a nice business suit as he stepped up to the entrance to Audrey’s Steakhouse.
An attendant opened the door for him as he walked in. The establishment had a very nice relaxed ambiance.
“Good evening sir, will you be dining alone or with someone this evening?” a maître d’ asked.
“Alone, thank you,” Adam replied.
“How will you be paying this evening?” The maître d’ asked.
Adam held out his hand as the maître d’ scanned his bank glyph with a scanner of some kind. The maître d’ looked at the screen and then looked up with wide eyes, “Very good sir, would you like to dine with the commoners or will you be descending this evening?”
“Descending?” Adam asked.
“Of course, Sir! As a Platinum Glyph holder, you may descend to our dining facility for those with more exquisite tastes.”
“That sounds fine,” Adam said as he followed the maître d to an elevator.
“This is where I leave you, Sir. Are you new to Hades, Sir?”
“Yes, why do you ask?” Adam asked warily.
“Well Sir, you’re taking in the surroundings as if you’ve never seen them before, it was quite easy to notice,” the maître d’ explained.
“Thank you, I will work on his poker face, was there something else you wished to say?”
“Yes Sir! The ability to pay for services is required everywhere, Sir. Everyone pays in some way. Let’s say someone comes in here and is unable to pay for their meal in the main dining hall. That person would be escorted to the kitchen to work off the remainder of their bill. Then, if they survived without food until they finished their work they would be escorted off the premises. Those that enter this elevator have proven that they have the means to pay for their tastes. If anyone fails to pay their bills below, they become part of the festivities. I see by the look on your face that you do not understand. It will become quite apparent when you exit the elevator.”
“Thank you again,” Adam said, as he pulled out $10,000 and handed it to the maître d’.
“Sir, that is far too much…
“I insist, and trust me, I will not run out of money. It is karmically impossible for me to do so,” Adam explained with a laugh.
“If you insist, I will accept the tip but karmically impossible, you test Fate, Sir.”
“I do,” Adam admitted.
The elevator opened and Adam stepped into a very nice elevator with only two buttons. The first button, “1*”, was lit up and the button below it had a simple “D” on it. The maître d pushed the D which lit as he stepped back out of the elevator making one final remark, “We hope you enjoy our hospitality, Sir.”
The doors closed and the elevator started descending. It was a good 5 minutes before the elevator stopped and Adam stepped onto a floor that looked almost identical to the restaurant above except that the floor was made of glass and below him, he could only see what he could describe as a butchering assembly and kitchen.
“Welcome Sir, are you looking for anything specific tonight?”
“This is my first time, what exactly is on the menu?” Adam asked.
“In addition to our normal menu, anyone and anything that exists within Hades can be on the menu if they have been caught and processed as a bounty or volunteer.”
“How exactly does that work?” Adam asked
“Sir, there is a pamphlet at each table that you may read while waiting for your meal. It details the legal steps required for anyone to be put on the menu. You can look over the menu which is magically updated, or you can enter the holding pens and get a firsthand look. Once payment has been received we have areas where the livestock can be tenderized by you or some of our chefs before it is prepared. If such cuisine is not to your liking we can of course provide anything on the normal menu as I’ve said. Through the one-way glass floors, you can watch as various meals are prepared during any step of the process you like.”
“As this is his first time, I think I’ll stick to beef for now while I take in the atmosphere.”
“Very good Sir, if you’d follow me,” he said as he led Adam to a door that opened into a booth. As he sat down he asked, “Anything to drink?”
“Your very best red wine would be perfect while I look over the menu,” Adam replied.
The waiter left, allowing the door to close. Adam picked up the pamphlet and quickly flipped through it. Another system that Anthrax had set up to give him a never-ending influx of XP and DP while ensuring that eventually, everyone that allowed this depravity to become a necessity would most likely be in this exact position as part of the menu eventually. Again, the level of thought that had gone into this system, ingenious really.
Curiosity reared its ugly head, and Adam looked through the floor. It took a moment then he saw a miniature version of the scene where Bae Doona was slaughtered and turned into food from the movie Cloud Atlas with a lot more torment and torture added. As that kind of thing wasn’t his thing, he ignored it. Adam did notice that anything was on the menu as he saw individuals from every race of humanoid he’d ever heard of represented. There was also the slaughter area that allowed the patrons to watch their “cows” get prepared from scratch if they liked, be it an actual cow, or one of the other creatures on the menu.
Adam picked up the menu and then coughed. A beef steak was $1,000,000 to watch a cow be slaughtered for your meal while a female elf was only $5,000 for a full roast. Why such a high-cost disparity? Then he thought about it. Adam picked up the pamphlet and flipped through it quickly and it all just came together. Steak would be more expensive because they had to grow them and then slaughter them which meant a huge investment. Adam looked at the menu again and a steak without watching the butchering was only $100 per plate. All costs doubled if someone wanted to participate in the tenderizing process which was just a euphemism for torture. The costs varied depending on creature type and demand.
Just then a naked female human came in with a piercing through her left nipple with a metal tag that read “For Sale.” She carried a glass of wine into the room and set it down on the table before him.
“Are you allowed to talk to the customers?” Adam asked.
“Of course Sir, I am here to meet every need you may have.”
“Okay, let me get this straight. If the tag you’re wearing is an indicator, I could ask you to do anything in here and you would?”
“Yes Sir,” she said.
“For any customer?” Adam verified.
“Yes Sir”
“Does that include becoming my meal?”
“Of Course, Sir?”
“Why?” Adam asked.
“Excuse him, sir?”
“This entire realm seems to revolve around the idea of self-interest so why would you subject yourself to this? Why turn yourself into food even if you do come back in 24 hours?”
“Because it’s a way to make money for the things I want to do, Sir.”
Adam understood immediately that the answer she had given would be the only one he’d get. What a shame. He turned his glyph over so she could see it, “I’m new to Hades, is there a way for me to transfer funds to you directly as a tip?”
“Yes sir,” she said excitedly, “You just touch your glyph to mine and transfer what you’d like.”
“Hold out your glyph,” Adam said.
She did so and he touched his Bank Glyph to hers and transferred $1,000 to her.
“Thank you, sir, what would you like me to do?”
“That is for answering his questions thus far. I will give you $1,000,000 to answer more of my questions fully and truthfully. Why are you allowing yourself to be slaughtered, what do you get out of it?”
“Do you even have the million dollars?” she asked
“I do,” he said as he tapped the menu for a cow to be slaughtered and the Prime Rib cut to be prepared for him, then touched his glyph to the circle that appeared in the table for payment.
“You just spent a million dollars to prove that you could spend a million dollars?” she asked.
“That and I wanted a fresh prime rib.
“Sir, they have spells to reduce the time it takes but it’ll still be hours before it’s ready.”
“Good to know, but that information will not get you a million dollars.”
“Yes sir. To answer your question anyone can volunteer to work in this restaurant. If you work upstairs you are paid $10 an hour plus tips if you’re a waitress. Upstairs tips are scarce as people are just trying to get some fancy cheap food. Down here you earn $100 for the day working as a servant for 12 hours, plus half whatever they can sell your meat for which is added to your banking glyph right before they slaughter you. That way when you come back in 24 hours you already have the cash. They also have beds down here which they only charge $10 for us to use for the night if we’re going to work until our goose is cooked,” she said giggling.
“How many times have you done this?”
“I’ve lost count but not too many, I only have $250,000 in my account right now.
“Hold out your bank glyph,” Adam said.
Adam transferred the million dollars to her and said, thank you for the explanation. Quick question, which I feel should be covered by the funds I just transferred.
“Absolutely sir, in fact, if you’d allow me to show my appreciation…”
Adam cut her off by saying, “That is quite all right for now. My question is this, is there any other way to earn money faster down here?
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Faster no Sir. If I’m slaughtered nightly my price will continue to go up as more and more people request me. That happens because people start to bid on me. For instance, Myra Hindley, the woman that killed all those children in England and possibly abused them. Well, here there are a lot of people that remember who she was and make their way in here to buy her off the menu. She sells each day and almost every time the customer buys the rights to tenderize her. My understanding is that she has so many people after her that she keeps coming back to make money to pay off the really depraved ones.
That sounded a lot more like the hell I had expected to find down here. “If I might ask, why are you down here, you don’t seem like an evil sadist or selfish person.”
“Oh, I’m selfish enough, but I realized I’m never going to get ahead if I don’t have money so I’ll be doing this for as long as I can,” she said as a bracelet on her left wrist buzzed and the words on the nipple tag changed from “For Sale” to “Sold.” She looked down at the tag then up at him and said, “Times up for tonight, looks like I’m on the menu. It was nice talking with you…”
“Adam, and you are?”
“I go by Trixie now,”
“Can anyone watch you get processed?” he asked.
“Sure, just say ‘Follow Trixie’ after I leave, and a screen will appear in front of you. You can do that for any livestock in the building,” The wristband buzzed again, and she headed out.
As she did, Adam said, “Follow Trixie” and sure enough a holographic screen appeared in the air before him. Adam played with the controls and found that he could change the angle so that he could look over every square inch of her body and zoom in and out as desired. That was a pretty invasive camera. Adam followed her progress as she made her way downstairs and a man in a chef’s outfit said, “Looks like you’re going on the spit tonight Trixie,”
“Alive and twitching or dead and done,” Trixie asked.
“Alive and twitching. It’s a big party, with some demons, they want to watch their meal suffer.”
“Damn I hate this part,” Trixie said as Adam turned the monitor off. He didn’t need to watch them turn her into a spit roast. Nothing about the process interested him. Adam was more concerned that there was no way for people to work their way out of a system where they were being paid to become food. He could even forecast how individuals like Trixie might think they were getting ahead only to find themselves behind and offering themselves up for even more depraved services.
Anthrax had set up a system where those that wanted to act out their depraved fantasies could do so, for a cost. The more they gave into those urges the quicker they would go broke. When they were out of money they’d become the victim and do anything to earn back the ability to give into those urges again. A vicious never-ending destructive cycle based on personal self-interest. They could stop whenever they wanted but wouldn’t. It was an utterly depraved system, and utterly brilliant.
Adam enjoyed his Red Wine as he watched the various scenes that played out through the see-through floor. He wasn’t really paying attention but he made it look like he was for anyone watching him. Trixie had been correct it was almost four hours before his Prime Rib showed up. It was cooked to perfection and fresh. There was also a baked potato and some green beans. People within feet of him were eating other sentient beings and he was just enjoying a normal steak in Hades. Adam had to admit this was probably the weirdest place he’d eaten steak. Also, it was weird seeing souls acting as if they had pseudo-normal lives as compared to the mortal world.
Adam was jostled out of his thoughts when there was a knock at his door. A moment later a different nude female, an elf this time opened the door. Like Trixie, she had a breast tag that read “For Sale” on it, “Excuse him, Sir, there’s a gentleman here to see you?”
“Please show him in,” he said.
“A glass of whatever he’s having, on his bill,” a thin weaselly-looking human man said as he stepped past the female elf and allowed the door to close before sitting opposite Adam. He sat there and stared intently at Adam as he continued to eat his Prime Rib while he waited for his drink. Moments later the elf returned and handed him his drink.
Adam reached out and touched his bank glyph to the table to pay for the drink then looked to the elf, “Your glyph please dear” Adam said as she reached out and transferred $1,000 to her. She turned and then quickly hurried from the room.
As the door closed the man sitting across from Adam demanded, “You will give him his dagger back now, or I will kill you before you take another bite?”
“Aren’t we in a Safe Space?” Adam asked.
“That doesn’t matter to me,” he said
“Me either,” Adam said as he took another bite of his Prime Rib. It was almost agonizing to watch as his eyes gave away his emotions. He went from disbelief to rage and then finally to malevolent delight as he cast a spell and chains shot out to try to grasp Adam’s arms and legs. While the chains were attached to Adam, he continued to eat as if he wasn’t hampered at all.
Quickly moving the weasel of a man pulled another Dagger of the Undying from somewhere on his body, probably a belt of holding, then lunged forward to stab Adam in the throat.
Adam moved, breaking the chains, and tossed his plate, fork, and knife straight up as he pulled his Chaos Blade and performed a called strike to take the hand holding the dagger off at the wrist. Simultaneously he molded his chaos into the form of a dagger in his left hand which he used to pin the severed hand and dagger to the table as he dispelled his chaos blade and casually reached up to catch his plate, knife, and fork, putting them in his personal storage. No need to waste a perfectly cooked Prime Rib. Wasting a perfectly cooked Prime Rib would have been criminal.
The man stepped back and looked to be about to shout when Adam’s chaos wrapped him like a mummy and immobilized and gagged him. As Adam touched the table where the Bank Glyph went and said “I need to see a manager”
A voice entered the room, “Right away Sir”
Momentarily a fully dressed succubus in a business suit entered the room and her eyes went wide, “What is the meaning of this?”
“This individual attacked me in a Safe Space and I defended myself, what are the penalties for attacking and or defending oneself in a Safe Space?” Adam asked.
“If you were attacked there are no penalties for you so long as you did not injure or kill anyone that did not participate in the attack. Lesser deities, such as Devan here, are not bound to the rules of safe spaces. Also, the truth of the matter is whatever the victor says it is.”
“Interesting,” Adam said then looked thoughtful for a moment. “If I were to assume that there are many demons here that might look favorably on bad things happening to this non-demon lesser deity right here, would I be correct?”
She nodded once.
“How many would like to see some form of justice, specifically against this individual?”
She held up 9 fingers.
“Very interesting,” Adam mused before asking, “As the manager of this establishment I like to verify something from you. I was warned that entering the elevator meant that I could become part of the festivities. Is that true for all creatures that have entered your establishment?”
“Why yes it is, but any fee that you might want to pay could be counter-paid off by an individual if they are neither a bounty nor volunteer. They would have to beat whatever you were willing to pay. If they do, you are on the menu.”
“Very well, I would like to purchase this person as the main course for a party of 9 that will be able to toy with and tenderize their meal before he is slaughtered for them to enjoy. I would like him prepared like Trixie was earlier.
“That will be a minimum of 18 million dollars plus whatever, he counter pays with, are you sure you’d like to make this purchase?”
“Absolutely! Adam said as he released the gag from the man who was trying to laugh”
“I’m going to feast on your bones,” the man said, “You can’t afford to make me into a meal!”
“How much would you like to wager on that?”
“I’ll wager all of his Divinity Points save 1,000 he said?”
“Why 1,000?” Adam asked.
“Do you accept his wager?” the lesser deity countered.
“How many DP are you wagering otherwise?” Adam asked.
“I have 10,556 currently. You will receive 9,556 DP if you win this wager. Do we have a wager?”
“Absolutely!,” Adam said
“You may release him now,” the manager said. “A wager has been made and witnessed. If the lesser deity Devan, doesn’t abide by the wager he forfeits his demon status and is returned to the state of mortality and is treated as such.
Devan looked at Adam before he said, “I’m not going to cook you and eat you. I’m going to cook you alive, heal you, and do it again over and over, then when I’m done making you suffer, which will be for a very long time, I’m going to kill you with his dagger and watch as every level you have is stripped from you each time you enter The Courtyard of Choice.
“Assuming that what you say is true, you’d want to watch me come back day after day for 764,935 years and 78 days. Wow, that would be a really long time?”
“What are you talking about, even if you were level 5,000 I’d only be watching you day after day for just over 13 and a half years,” Devan said.
“Level 5,000 you say?” Adam asked as he laughed, “I met a man like you once Devan. He was much like you and was the catalyst for why you are going to lose this wager.
“Lose this wager, there is no way I can lose this wager. You haven’t even been here a day; how could you possibly have more money from Hades than I do?”
Adam just smiled as he said, “Time to put our money where our mouths are,” as Adam placed his arm on the banking glyph, he thought, modify the order to a party of 10, and waited for Devan to do the same. Still smug, Devan placed his banking glyph on the table as well and a message popped into his vision.
Devan has converted 1,000 DP into currency increasing his current funds to $1,000,055,335.
You have spent $1,0020,055,336 to negate Devan’s attempt to turn you into his meal and have created a Party Platter out of Devan the Lesser Deity following preparation directions laid out for Trixie.
Your party will commence shortly.
You have been awarded 9,556 DP
Adam picked up his dagger quickly, leaving Devan’s hand on the table and putting the second Blade of the Undying into his personal storage.
“That’s my knife!”
“Would you please escort my food to the preparation room?” Adam said.
Having none of it, Devan called forth a black magical blade and was about to strike at the manager when Adam casually severed his arms and legs at the socket and had his chaos cauterize the wounds so Devan wouldn’t bleed out. He’d drawn his Chaos Blade and moved so quickly that the Manager and Devan had only seen him flicker before he was dismissing his sword.
The Black blade flickered out and Devan fell to the floor in a pile with his arms and legs. With a flick, Adam added his hand to the pile of body parts as Devan started screaming. The Manager looked at Adam in utter disbelief and then quickly snapped her fingers twice. Two large demons entered the room through the door, picked up the various pieces of Devan, and departed.
“Will there be anything else Sir?” The manager asked respectfully.
“Collect your party, and have your fun with him, I’ll follow on the monitor from here. I modified the order to include myself so when you’re all done playing I’d like to make sure he gets to see his dagger back one last time.
“Very good Sir!” she said with a hint of a smile. She turned and quickly walked out of the room.
“Follow Devan,” he said as the screen reappeared and he watched as Devan was followed into a room by the Manager where another man sat on a throne, “Devan, what am I going to do with you, he said as he picked up a collar around Devan’s neck. You should have just lost with some dignity. Now, if I’m reading this right, you have zero Demon Points and it’s going to be a while before you’re ready to go back out and work for our Master again. So be it.” The man on the throne turned to the Manager, “Take him to the processing room and have your fun, it’s been paid for,” the man on the throne said to the manager. The manager actually squealed as her business suit disappeared and eight other Succubi joined her and helped carry Devan off to be tenderized.
Adam didn’t watch what they did, he pushed the screen off to the side and pulled out his meal to finish it. When he was done he looked up to see that they had finished with him and were now in the Chef’s room. He’d been prepared just like Trixie.
“Adam please follow the green arrows to Devan’s final preparation,” a voice said over the intercom. Adam took a swig of wine, willed himself not to puke at what he was about to see then followed the green arrow. As he walked into the Chef’s room a burly Pit Fiend was laughing merrily as he threw seasoning that only demons could like onto Devan, who was still very much alive.
Adam’s eyes sought out the manager and he motioned for her to join him as he pulled out one of his two Daggers of the Undying. “I have a question for you, will the curse on this dagger work on him as well?” Adam asked.
“Yes, once marked the curse remains until it is cleansed by holy magic or the afflicted is reduced to level 1.,” she said.
“And it only takes a single point of damage?” he asked.
“That and the intent to lay the curse of course.” She said.
“Will he pop and disappear if I mark him?” Adam asked.
“No, if someone is marked by one of these daggers out here, the curse remains on them but doesn’t instantly kill them until they enter the courtyard. Once he dies, he’ll reform in a day and then the curse will become active when he makes his way to the courtyard,” the Manager explained.
Adam walked over to Devan who was trussed up and hanging like a chicken ready for a rotisserie. Adam moved to where he could meet Devan’s eyes then nicked him for exactly 1 point of damage on his cheek under his right eye. Devan was trying to scream but the Chef had gone all Vlad the Impaler on poor Devan and the spit exiting his mouth was preventing anything but gurgling sounds.
Adam turned to the manager, “How long before he dies?” he asked.
“It’ll be a while, maybe a couple of days but he’s not going anywhere. Anthrax was so disappointed that one of his lesser deities was beaten both physically and mentally by you that he’s allowing the Regenerator to attend. The Regenerator will keep him alive and regenerate missing body parts so they can be served over and over. When the party finally ends, well then the Regenerator also has an ability that prevents all healing which can be used to force him to die.”
“Very well, I think I’m done down here. I’m going to head upstairs to the hotel and take a much-needed break. You ladies and all of your friends enjoy your meal,” Adam said.
“Oh, we will, this one is a bit of a sadist, we are going to enjoy him, make sure he knows we enjoyed him, and then taunt him every day that he is reborn and grows weaker. When he is finally level 1 I plan to kill him again just for fun,” the Manager said.
“I’m not going to receive any backlash for this?” Adam asked.
“Not at all, Anthrax is happy with you. You followed all his rules after all.”
Adam stowed the dagger, turned, and left. He made his way back up the elevator to the 1st Floor and noticed three women waiting to get in the elevator.
“Common Chrissy, it’ll be fun. It’s quick cash and Lizzy swears that it’s a quick way to make a quick buck.”
“Ladies, Adam said as he stepped out of the elevator and walked out of the restaurant.”
It wasn’t his job to save all these souls. If he could, he would at a later date. For now, he just needed to blend in and survive. Ruthless self-interest it was then. Though, he’d be damned if he became a cannibal willingly.