Oh no.

“Uh... Well, he may or may not be splattered all over some tree.”

Jesse raised an eyebrow before moving closer to me. “Oh, that’s nothing. He’ll be fine.”

…

What?

“I’m sorry, is this some joke I don’t understand? Every organ in his body is either completely destroyed or bleeding. What the heck do you mean ‘he’ll be fine’? I don’t-

Suddenly David walked out from behind Jesse’s back. “That kind of hurt.”

WHAT?

I was flabbergasted beyond belief.

“How... What... How are you alive?” I looked back at his corpse. It was still there. “WHAT?”

“Okay, okay, calm down. Me and Jesse, well... We’re not human, per se.”

I wanted to keep this a surprise for later, but I actually know these two. They are what we demons call groundlings. They are tortured souls of former humans sent to the living realm to... well, annoy the living. They are immortal until a higher demon banishes them back to hell to be tortured again.

I... I guess that makes sense.

“Are you two aware I'm possessed by the demon known as Luca?” I asked the two guys.

The two of them immediately sat down on their knees, bowing before me. “M-Master Luca! We had no idea it was you!”

Uhh, okay?

Luca manifested his head outside my body. “Get up. If I wanted to banish you two, I'd done so already.”

The two groundlings continued to sit perfectly in place, almost as if waiting for a command.

Luca sighed. “Fine. I declare you two hereby bound to this host for an as-per-now indefinite amount of time.” He Manifested his right arm outside my body, before firing a small bolt of hellfire at the two.

Jesse and David both got down on all fours, convulsing.

Luca took this opportunity to retract his manifested body parts back inside my body.

Before long, they both got up again, now with a reddish flame in their pupils. “Yes, demon lord Luca.”

Ugh. I hate formalities.

“Shall we continue onward to the cave, or are we needed elsewhere?” I could tell they were asking me and not Luca.

“Uhh, I guess we’ll continue moving forward. And please do drop the formalities, I don’t think Luca likes it.” The two nodded, before turning around again, walking forward as if nothing had happened.

I scratched the back of my neck. This is all mighty confusing...

-

When we reached the cave, Luca manifested his hand like he said he would and drew his symbol on the wall. It flared up with a red glow, before a massive explosion of hellfire erupted from the cave entrance.

That should do it.

Luckily the hellfire didn’t affect me now, else I'd definitely got 3’d degree burns from this event.

Jesse stood there with a menacing smile. “More souls for hell to consume... More power for Luca.”

He’s right, with every soul that passes on into hell my strength grows a tiny amount. Unfortunately, I have to split the power with the three other most powerful demons. Still, one soul contains a lot of power.

Good to know, I guess. ‘By the way Luca, is your manifestation here in the living world 100% of your power, or do you keep more locked away in hell?’

I’d say this manifestation contains about... 10% of my power.

Damn.

-

“Okay, we will need around three handfuls of crystal lavender, and a lot of fool’s water.”

David and I were the only ones in the room. Jesse had gone further into the cave looking for other supplies.

“Okay, any idea what to look for? I’ve never seen either of the two before.” I asked David.

David picked up a brightly shining flower off the cave floor. Its petals were made of pure crystal, and it looked very brittle. “This is crystal lavender. Handle them extremely carefully, they are very brittle. We need them to be intact for the meth to be top-quality.”

I memorized the look of the flower. “Allright, I got it. How about fool’s water?”

“Just fire some hell energy into the water. If it doesn’t dissipate, it’s fool’s water.”

Hmm, okay.

“I should regroup with Jesse. You just collect lavender and water for now, and we’ll regroup later.

David jogged further into the cave before turning a corner.

Do you have any containers of sorts on you? We need to store the ingredients somewhere.

Oh shoot. I don’t. ‘Well, any ideas?’

I’ll think of something. You just collect some flowers or whatever in the meantime.

I shrugged, before bending down to pick a lavender. It was truly shining bright despite there being no illumination in the cave. I carefully put it down in between some rocks next to the other one David plucked earlier.

After collecting about a dozen of the flowers, I looked around the room for any water source or otherwise.

Hey, I have an idea! Get ahold of some sand, and you can melt it into glass.

‘Good thinking! Only question is, where do we find sand here?’

My guess, you find fool’s water, you find sand.

Allright, better than nothing, I guess.

Since there obviously wasn’t anything in this room, I decided to follow the route David and Jesse had taken earlier that went further down the cave. Despite there being no access for light to pass into the cave, it was still bright because of all the Lavender that was around everywhere. It grew on the walls, floor, and there were even some on the roof.

Turning a corner, I spotted David lying on the floor. I tilted my head in curiosity, before approaching him.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Are you okay?” I looked down at the muscular man.

David looked up at me with a grin on his face. “It's just so good to be able to lie in water after all that time in hell. By the way, this is fool’s water. I’m sure you noticed on accord of your legs not disintegrating.”

Actually, he was wrong. Luca had the foresight to retract his energy from my limbs in case there were any water leakage in the walls.

No way, a whole spring of Fool’s water? I can’t believe it!

Luca manifested one of his legs outside my body.

Ahhh, it’s been a while since I had a good soak.

Luca manifested his head, before looking down at David.

“David, keep pressure on Anders’ neck. I’m going for a swim.”

Eh?

“Sure, boss.” David got up and immediately tackled me to the ground, with his hands wrapped around my neck. Before I knew it, Luca had manifested his entire body outside mine.

“Now just stay there. I won’t be long.” I heard a splash coming from my right side, and what I assumed to be Luca submerging into the lukewarm water.

The neck wound I got when we merged reappeared, and I held my breath to keep blood from entering my lungs.

“Luca, be quick! Your host won’t make it long like this.”

David was right, I was running out of air. I couldn’t fight my body’s reflexes anymore and took a deep breath of air. Unfortunately for me, this only served to fill my lungs with blood. I coughed, spraying the red substance all over David’s face. “Oh yeah? Well fuck you too!”

Luca must have sensed my struggling and had emerged from the water again. “God, you’re like a child. Fine, fine, I'll help you. Not because I like you or anything, more so I don’t lose my connection to the living world permanently.”

God fucking dammit, just help me already! My vision was starting to go black, when I felt the fiery touch of Luca on my skin. Not long after, my neck wound began closing itself.

There, isn’t that better? Let’s get all this blood out of your lungs.

Involuntarily, I violently coughed up all the blood in my lungs, along with probably a decent chunk of them too. They quickly regenerated of course.

‘Fuck you man.’

Hey don’t blame me! I wasn’t the one who got my neck slit by some mage. Your ass is just lucky I'm here to save you from passing on like you should.

His words irked me, but I did indeed owe him my life.

David released his grip on my neck. “Not even a thanks for keeping all your blood inside your body? Well, safe for the stuff you coughed all over me, but I had no part in that.” He plucked some lung pieces off his face.

“Whatever man. How about you try having your neck split open someday, and maybe then you can tell me how easy it is to keep your composure?”

David didn’t answer that question. “Anyway, where is Jesse at? He was going to gather flame shards last time I saw him.” David pulled out an orange crystal from his pocket and showed it to me. “This is what us lesser demons need to use for substitute to your hellfire. It burns much hotter than wood, and thus perfect for melting down the crystal petals of the lavender.”

He gave the shard a little tap, making it pulse with a bright light. “We grind them down and mix it with about ¼'ths of Fool’s water.”

Oh, they’re still using the old method. Well, I can’t blame them, they are around 300 years old each. Some habits die hard.

300 years old...? No, that definitely isn’t the weirdest thing I've heard today. At this point I'm not even surprised.

Before we exited the Fool’s water spring, I grabbed a handful of sand which Luca somehow molded into a somewhat normal-looking flask. I filled it with some water, and we went forward into the next chamber of the cave.

Before I even stepped foot inside the room, I could tell by the heatwaves coming from it that it was blazing hot in there. Still, I felt nothing of it. I assume it’s just another effect of having a demon possessing me.

The room was bathed in a bright orange color that took my eyes a few moments to adjust to. When they adjusted, I saw that the entire room was covered in flame shards. It almost looked like we were standing inside a huge geode of sorts made from the crystalline material.

“There are very few living beings who can bare the heat of a fire shard deposit. Luckily for you and me, Hellfire burns hotter than fire shards, and thus our bodies are used to it.” David looked around the room, before spotting a crack. He produced a small chisel-like tool from his pocket.

“Fire shards are very sensitive to physical trauma. Setting one of these Deposits off with, for example, gunpowder, would make an explosion capable of completely eradicating everything within a 5-mile radius.”

He carefully inserted the chisel into the crack, before tapping it with his finger. “Naturally forming cracks like these are what you got to look out for. They are naturally weak-” Suddenly, the crack in the wall spread around and formed a neat circle, before a long rod of flame shard slid out. David caught it. “-And when you hit them, they usually comply with minimal risk.”

“Hey David!” Jesse’s voice sounded throughout the cave. “I found the camp of whoever lived here before we arrived.”

“Allright, just stay where you are. Me and Anders will come find you.” David handed me the fire crystal. “Luca will know what to do with this.”

He’s right. Demons like me can store Fire crystals inside ourselves, and transform them into Hellfire energy. We can also create Fire shards from hell energy, and most of the deposits around the world are made from demons.

A large chunk like this might fill my reserves by... 0.06% if I consume it. It does depend on what purity the shard is, which I have no way to check without consuming it.

Luca manifested his hand and picked it up, and the shard began slowly sinking into his palm.

Oh, well that’s a pity. These shards are incredibly impure. It added virtually nothing to my reserves.

‘How about the entire deposit?’

Nope. Not even worth the effort extracting these. Luca manifested his head again. “David, throw away the shards you’ve gathered. These aren’t even worth the energy it takes to carry them around.”

“By your bidding, Master Luca.”

“And drop the formalities. It’s getting on my nerves.” Luca said before moving his head inside mine again.

-

“Damn, these guys had a whole operation going down here!” Jesse said, picking up a flask of some orange liquid inside. “They even knew the recipe for liquid fire! Too bad the fire crystals it’s made of is completely useless.” He said, before throwing the flask at the floor, shattering it. The liquid lit aflame, before disappearing into a cloud of smoke about two seconds later.

“Tch, this junk couldn’t even make a single batch of meth. Let’s go guys, we’re done here.”

As we were making our way out of the cave, I felt this weird pulling sensation coming off the walls of the fire crystal room. It was almost as if the walls were pleading for me to step into them.

That feeling you’re experiencing right now is the souls contained within the Fire crystals. They are attempting to appeal to your humanity, hoping that you free them from their prisons.

God, were there actual people inside these walls? I shuddered to think about how it must feel to be crammed into a small, confined space like that.

-

After we’d exited the cave, Luca told me he knew of a high-quality deposit of fire crystals we should visit. I told Jesse and David about this, and they immediately agreed.

Apparently, the deposit was on top of a certain mountain called Pillan, guarded by what Luca described as a glorified iguana.

I was curious as to what he could meant, but assumed I'd know when I saw it.

Well, before we do anything else, we should get some sleep. It’s been a long day, and the sun’s already gone down.

I didn’t feel particularly tired, but agreed nonetheless. ‘Okay, so back to the city, or what’s your plan?’

Now that we have two perfectly suitable thralls, that will no longer be necessary. We can now perform one of my favorite rituals.

‘Ritual? I don’t like the sound of that.’

Shush. Just get the two idiots over here.

“David, Jesse, get over here.”

The two ran over to me and kneeled down on one knee. “Of course, what is your command?”

Kill them.

...

‘Excuse me?’

You heard me. Kill them.

‘WHY?’

Luca sighed. The ritual requires two bodies worth of blood. Is that a good enough answer for you?

‘Okay, I know they are immortal, but I can’t just kill them! I at least got to ask them before I do the deed.’

BOOORING.

God, this guy.

I sighed. “Apparently, I got to kill you two for a ritual. Are you okay with that?”

“Yes.” They both said in unison.

I’m surrounded by psychopaths.

-

Two punches later, and the two laid lifeless on the ground.

I don’t think I'll ever get used to the feeling of killing. It doesn’t feel right. It’s almost as if I'm breaking some sacred unspoken rule.

Allriight, party time. Put your two hands together with your palms pointing in the general direction of the corpses.

I did as he told me. To my horror, my joints froze up, keeping me in the position. ‘Uh Luca? I can’t move my arms.’

“Ah, you’re performing the -summon dorm- ritual. Luca really likes that one.” The voice of David hit my left ear.

At this point, I could have seen a purple unicorn riding on a green polar bear and been completely unphased. This entire day had just been madness from beginning to end.

Yeah, your joints are locked in the process, so you don’t mess it up. Okay, I'll perform the ritual now.

Luca summoned his arms and drew a circle in front of me with Hellfire. It lingered in the air, until Luca spoke the name of the ritual.

-𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝕆ℕ 𝔻𝕆ℝ𝕄-

The flaming circle glowed brightly with red, before shooting into the earth.

As soon as the fire entered the ground, it began shaking violently.

A few moments later, A chunk of earth erupted from the ground in front of us. It had an indentation in the shape of a door.

The Hellfire from earlier came swirling up from the ground and aligned itself in the outline of the indentation.

Finally, the whole indentation became covered in a black color. I felt my arms loosen, and I was able to move my body again.

And finito! I present to you, a portal to hell. Well, to be more specific, my castle in hell.

‘Damn, you have a castle?’

Of course! It's only natural considering how powerful I am.

Ah, fair enough.

“See you on the other side, Anders!” David said, diving headfirst into the flames.

“Yeah, see ya soon.” Jesse said, walking into the doorway calmly.

Oh, come on, don’t be a baby. It’s not like you’re walking into hell or any- never mind. You get what I mean.

I sighed and stepped through the portal.