Beneath the surface of it, nothing much had changed. My role in Hell was to step up to demons and put a shot through them. Well, that’s what the Org wanted of me. Part of me desired the violence, too - I couldn’t deny it. But I could be something greater. Maybe on a tomorrow that would eventually come.

//Others are in position. On your call.

Now standing at the front of the warehouse, my eyes on the door that led to further conflict, I wasn’t sure how I felt. My back was up, as if spending a day sight-seeing would make me more comfortable with doing my job. Despite the area looking like a reasonable reflection of the city I myself lived in, I had to remember these were demons in Hell.

The three of us about to assail this building fit that description to some degree as well.

Then came to the question whether I actually felt more comfortable being in a Mids city than a human one in the mortal plane. If given enough time, I was sure of it. Despite how well I managed in my day-to-day life, I was too broken and traumatized to filter back into normal society once the world was saved. Perhaps meeting my end and fulfilling my destiny would be a mercy. Rest at last.

Such thoughts sunk from my mind as I placed my hand on the front door. Something simple. Cool to the touch, and metallic. It relented to a gentle push, no lock barring me from entry. Suspicious, but I allowed it room to breathe. The latch slunk away slowly, almost silently, as I pushed the door open further.

Inside, the hum of fluorescent lights that painted the gray stone brickwork and sheetmetal in a white light. Almost felt unlike the Hells, but this was new territory. A small holding room that ran off to the side, shelving filled with boxes and crates to the right. I closed the door behind me as quietly as I was able before drawing my revolver. Now out of sight, it was time to be dangerous.

//Pearl and Wight are closer to hostiles, so will engage once you start.

I nodded to the empty air.

//This corridor runs around a main room. Twelve hostiles there. Eight in a back room further down, close to where Wight will enter.

My brain felt sluggish, as if tactics and nuance was lost on me. I just had to be quiet until it was time to be loud. Bigger room with twelve sounded like the main staging area where they were doing to possessions. I imagined a runic circle of crimson and black, hooded demons standing around it, chanting amidst candlelight. Something cliche like that.

I turned the corner to see that the larger room had windows running along most of it. Dusty and obscured from the granular smoke and grease their spells let off, but I could see the shapes.

Ever the prescient, it was pretty much as I had imagined it. Red demonic light, darkened shapes in a rough circle, some latent noise - oh, and the pinpricks of candles here and there. Almost disappointing, in some ways. The door in was halfway down the wall of the room, so I ducked into a crouch and started to slowly step toward it. As fun as being reckless would be, we couldn’t let any escape - and putting a True Cannon through the walls would open up too many new exits.

Would be quite the way to wake up the neighborhood, too.

I reached the door and settled down.

‘In range to hear me?’

[Affirmative]

‘I’m outside a room with twelve in. There’s eight in a room closer to you.’

[Not for long.]

I smiled, despite the circumstances. Unlike me, but I was hesitant. As if I was staring at a jack-in-the-box, having wound it up to the point where I knew it would pop. Not even worried it would scare me… but the anticipation - standing at the cliff edge ready to jump, was something I mentally had to accept.

This was the Mids.

I stood and applied my boot to the door with a swift kick. It flung open, a wash of foul air thick with demonic magic flooding over me as I stepped in with the revolver up and ready.

The hooded figures turned to me, confusion and surprise on their faces. Humanoid to a greater degree than any I had met in the Lowers - if it weren’t for the sharp teeth and various odd shades of skin they could almost pass as humans. The naked male figure in the middle of the ritual circle made it clear they had horns beneath their hoods, at least.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Closest robed figure slumped to the floor as I hit them with a barrage of shots. One, two, three. Then I switched target, tapped the forehead of one, neck shot for the last bullet in the cylinder downed a third demon.

“The ritual is unstable,” one nearer the back hissed.

As I spun the gun, ejecting spent casings as I reloaded, the remaining nine started to prepare to fight back. Well, except the one amongst the glowing runes, who now just looked panicked - frozen and looking up at an odd angle.

Muffled in the background, I heard bangs and stomps, before the heavy thud of Wight’s shotgun. We’d soon mop up.

I twisted and ducked beneath the wide swing of a heavy mace. Placed a shot in my assailant’s knee-cap, before emptying two shots into the gut of another. A blast of something took out the wounded demon while peppering my jacket with burning shrapnel. The thick leather absorbed most of the damage, but I spun around to face the guilty party.

A shotgun of some kind that pulsed and oozed as if it were a living object. The muzzle was wide like a blunderbuss, but dotted with moist openings like some kind of hellish nose. It squirmed as it readied to fire again.

I hoped that this didn’t count as ‘fireworks’ and tried to ensure my line of fire wouldn’t puncture through onto street level. Three of the demons received three shots each instantaneously, disabling the weird shotgun wielder and shredding two others. The last shot went through the temple of the naked ritual demon.

A blast of energy hummed through the room, sending me stumbling backward from the force. I looked up to see the magic circle brimming with energy - arcs of power striking between the floor and the felled demon, who now rose into the air, glowing in bright light. The three still standing were dumbstruck, unsure what they could do to stop both this surge and yours truly.

Turns out they didn’t have to wait long for the decision to be made for them.

Large hands burst from the naked demon, erupting from his chest and stretching out as if clawing forth from a portal. Three of them, each lashing out and grabbing at the hooded heads of the frozen ritualists. A brief pause before they were each crushed in turn - the clawed hands now receding and taking back their mushed rewards into the body of the sacrifice.

As if nothing had happened, all the latent magical energy throbbing through the area suddenly went inert, and the spent corpse dropped back to the floor as the headless figures flopped over. Pools of dark blood seeped together as my victims emptied their inert bodies of their foul life energy.

I stood up, back to stable footing. Managed to take one deep breath, ready to sigh, before the roof above me collapsed.

A burst of gray stone and debris clattered down, a dark figure of white hair and purple skin flourishing a flaming blade amongst the cloud of dust. Pearl paused, before relaxing and turning around to face me.

“Oh. Quicker than I thought. Not that I expected you to struggle.”

I shrugged. “Caught them unaware. They were pretty flimsy.” I’d also take credit for the ones I didn’t technically kill myself.

“True.” She pulled a face and stepped over to me, stopping briefly to push her sword through one that wasn’t quite dead yet. “Mids a disappointment for you?”

“I wouldn’t say that.” I rubbed at my chin. “It just feels too… normal.”

She furrowed her brow, but any further questions were cut off as Wight stepped into the open doorway. His feathers were soaked through with blood on one side.

[There is something you will want to see this way.]

We raised eyebrows at each other, but went to follow him. It probably wasn’t his blood, so I imagined his part of the adventure had gone about as smoothly as mine had. At this stage, it was pretty par for the course when it came to Org missions. Either they were something simple because they thought I was stupid, or something to see if they could kill me off.

They weren’t very successful, either way.

Down the hallway, we reached the back room, the smell of blood and death clear even without seeing the broken bodies and shrapnel damage to the brickwork.

“This guy is half gone, Wight.” I wrinkled up my nose at the shocked expression on what was left of the body. “Did you use Entropy?”

[No. I was just a little overeager.]

I nodded, although wasn’t too sure if I understood that. Maybe he could but more of his energy into his shots… overcharge it? A question for later when we got home and did the debriefing.

//All hostiles neutralized. Return when ready.

A bit of a delay of Rodney’s response. Either the Mids were proving awkward for his tech, or David had just spent the last five minutes throwing up.

“Ah, shit.” I clicked my fingers. “We didn’t save anyone to fully erase them.”

Pearl shrugged. “This feels more like a trial run, anyway. Get you acclimated.”

Didn’t really do much to help me feel any better. What was the use of killing all demons if their death was only temporary? There must be some other way to destroy demons without knowing their true name… but if even my divine Lantern energy couldn’t do it, then I wasn’t sure what could.

I raised an eyebrow at Pearl. “You know something I don’t, don’t you?”

“Rather vague, Eric Redd. Of course I do.”

Something for later, then. I pulled a face and swung my attention over to a door Wight had led us to. A dark metal and actually locked. Rather sturdy looking. My brow furrowed as I considered that we must be near the outer walls of the warehouse already.

[A basement?]

There was something else about it that I couldn’t place either. A familiarity, but also something odd and new.

Pearl crossed her arms. “There was nothing in the schematics about a basement or side door.”

//No hostiles below you… or any real room that I can detect.

I watched as Wight tried to open it before Pearl stepped forward. Even as she strained against it, her fangs extending as she growled… it didn’t even shift an inch.

“That’s strange,” I said, as they moved away. “It looks pretty simple, actually.”

Despite their glares, I approached it calmly. Reached out with my hand to press against the cold metal.

No resistance, as instead I fell straight through.

And continued falling, into an abyss of infinite darkness.