Mammon took a deep breath in, enjoying the crisp winter air. It had been winter, he saw, with fresh white snow covering everything around him in a blanket of sparkling crystals. He never liked the cold, not very many demons did, but Mammon didn’t mind it this time. He enjoyed the chilly air and frosty breeze on his exposed flesh, savoring the pain.
The town he was in showed signs of bustling activity, at least on the major alleyways and streets, and Mammon enjoyed the absence of modern conveniences like electricity and the ever-rumbling noise of machinery. This place looked like it was still in pre-industrial times, although some strange sights told him of the subtle differences between here and the rest of the Earth that he knew so well.
For one, there were streetlamps, but these were glowing with some kind of force that Mammon couldn’t identify. It was similar to the magicks that Mammon employed as a demon, but the source of that energy was different. They were powered by a type of crystal and shone with more light than should be possible. This same type of illumination could be seen inside the various buildings that littered the place, and some humans walked around dressed in clothing that was way too light for the weather. Yet these same people seemed to be doing better than the poor folk clothed under multiple layers of dirty rags.
His eyes focused on the strange light source and it took Mammon a few moments to realize that it was dark out, his demonic eyes provided his body with perfect reason regardless of the ambient light, and it gave Mammon little reason to care about the time of day. But not this time, he wanted to remember and mark down the first time he had set foot in… well, Mammon supposed he didn’t know what this world was called. Another thing to learn, he supposed; there were a lot of things he looked forward to learning here. It would be a nice change of pace.
There was another change that Mammon noticed after the novelty of the situation wore off, and it was how diminished he was. That was expected, all things considered, as the demon was now cut off from the unending conveyor belt of Greed and Sin produced by his cooperation. It mattered little for Mammon, he had climbed the merciless power structure of Hell multiple times already, and he had always relished the challenge.
After all, when was the last time Mammon had to use his wits and ingenuity to solve a problem instead of the brute force method? A long time indeed. The CEO of hell took a deep look into his new state and saw that he had the ability of, perhaps, a Lesser Fiend. A force to be reckoned with for the average mortal, but still relatively close to the bottom of the totem pole in demonic society.
But power was not fixed, and Mammon knew that if there was Greed, then there was opportunity. In fact, he felt something new course through his being after establishing that contract with the boy Wren. There was a new source of energy, one fundamentally different from the demonic forces that he was used to, yet it was so tiny that Mammon had almost overlooked it, but there nonetheless.
Understanding that power could wait until later, for Mammon had a task at hand that he needed to achieve now. He felt unusually giddy thinking about getting his first tiny morsel of coin in this strange new world. Yet how should he go about it? The easiest way is to simply slaughter the whole lot of them and take what he wanted, he could do that even with his limited powers, but there was no finesse in that. And it would negatively impact his future profits.
So for now, he had to limit his operations, at least until he got a better footing in this new world before he could afford to make a big splash. Caution would be best practiced here, while he was still relatively uncertain about the power structure of this place. He had the advantage of surprise and anonymity right now, and he will use that to his advantage.
Walking down a side street, Mammon waited for the right time to strike. Now the CEO of Hell had spent more than enough time with his inferior cousins in the Courts of Lust to know how to seduce unknowing mortals before taking everything from them, but that was too slow, too cumbersome, and more importantly, too debasing for the Archdemon of Greed to try, but the principals of the deed were important.
Lust was a useful tool to isolate mortal fools so that they could be conveniently and violently relieved of their earthly possessions. Mammon found a suitable individual as his first victim. The demon eyed the young man who looked to be at least moderately wealthy given his expensive and well-ironed clothing, and there was nothing in any dimension that could hide the unmistakable scent of coin from Mammon.
Now how did those damned Succubi do it again? Mammon never did bother with those sex-crazed fools after gaining enough power, but here he was wishing that he had paid more attention. Well, the best approach when it came to business was to feign vulnerability before striking, so that can’t be too different in this situation.
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Mammon slouched and appeared doe-eyed as he inched closer to the other man’s position. He forced his body to assume a more feminine appearance, accentuating the hips here, a slightly bigger bulge of the chest there, and just the right dose of vulnerability to top things off. He faked a stumble and crashed into the man.
“I’m sorry sir!” the demon stammered, “I didn’t mean to!”
Alright, now all that was left was to wait for him to demand compensation in the form of bodily gratuity, and Mammon’ll just lure him into a quiet corner and give him some sensations that he will never forget.
Yet that didn’t happen.
“Not a problem, young lady,” the man answered with a smile, “And you should best be careful out there. Here, take a small donation from a concerned citizen and get yourself some food and shelter.”
He gently placed a few large coins in Mammon’s dumbfounded hands before bowing slightly and walking away. The demon just looked on in awe and disgust. Had he… had he just been a recipient of a donation? That term filled the demon with primal disgust as he undid the changes he made in his body. That wasn’t supposed to happen. He cursed at himself for even bothering with trying to employ a different sin than Greed. It had been a waste of time.
Instead, Mammon went with the most direct approach. He walked around for a few minutes before finding just the right target. Here was an isolated individual - perhaps not as wealthy as the first - but this man was close enough to a dark corner of the street that Mammon’s next step would be simple enough. To no one’s surprise, the man did not put up his guard when he saw Mammon approach his position, why would he when the demon looked like a prepubescent child?
That was a fatal mistake.
With a quick swipe of the hand, Mammon had his whole arm inside the man’s stomach. Before his victim could even scream, the demon eviscerated the body and tossed the corpse into the nearby alley. Mammon glanced around to make sure that no one saw the deed before walking into the dark corner to see what goodies the kind gentleman decided to donate to his cause.
There was still the look of obvious shock and dismay on the dead man’s face as he bled out on the snow, still incredulous about what had happened. Mammon saw the soul leave the dead man’s body before nodding at himself for a job well done. Wait… the soul, where had it gone to? Mammon tried to follow the path that it took but he couldn’t perceive it fully in his diminished state. What he did see was it streaked through the sky before being taken… somewhere, and Mammon had a distinct feeling that whatever being had taken this particular soul had noticed his presence.
It was a cursory glance over his way, and Mammon did his best to hide his already feeble presence, but he knew that as he grew in strength, more and more beings would notice his invasion. Well, it would be inevitable before some higher being noticed, and he still had a lot of time before he had to worry about divine intervention. For now, Mammon still had a job to do.
A few minutes of picking through pockets, most of them ruined and stained with gastric juices, and Mammon had a small pouch of coins and some silver trinkets that he was sure could fetch a decent price. Mammon was about to turn to leave when he remembered something. There was still the chore of cleaning up the mess he caused and taking care of the dead man’s body. Normally such a task would be so beneath his status that he wouldn’t even think about it, but things were different now. He was hardly stronger than the fiends that cleaned his shoes back in Hell and had no servants to call his own. For now, that is.
Mammon frowned. Now how did the lesser demons do it again? He considered fire to burn the corpse, but even in the dead of night, a blaze and the subsequent smell would certainly alert the locals. Could he bury them? It would be feasible, although he’d have to cut the body up so that he could transport it easily, and then there’s the problem of all the inside bits of the man that were now outside.
The demon frowned again before sighing to himself. He had gotten sloppy, still too used to the way that things were. So with forced determination, Mammon spent the next hour or so cleaning up after his own mess before finding a suitable spot to dispose of the body. With the cold, it shouldn’t rot for a few weeks, and hopefully, he could think of a better plan once he got his footing in this world. He’d have to be more cautious going forward.
Now all that was left was getting Wren some food. That also proved to be a challenge, as few stores were open so late in the evening, but eventually, Mammon made his way to a small food stall serving what appeared to be wraps. The demon’s instinctual understanding of money and currency made figuring out the price of things easy enough, and a round of bargaining later, Mammon had secured enough food to last the next little while.
The demon smiled at himself. Oh, how it felt good to be up and about again, to get things done with his own two feet! He skipped happily back to the dingy basement with a bag of wraps and grilled meat in tow, whistling a tune as he went. Yes, he could already feel it, this would be a grand opportunity ripe for his picking. There was so much he could do, so many ways to accumulate wealth and power that his mind worked like it hadn’t for centuries prior.
But all of that could wait as he opened the door to Wren’s hideout. For now, Mammon was content to eat his food and marvel at the first bit of coin that he earned in this strange new world.