Hell welcomed Robert. He had been gone for over a month, and the world had changed once again. It was raining. Big droplets of water fell from the sky, shining by reflecting the constant lightning strikes snaking through the sky.
The sand had turned into quicksand, and Robert didn't fancy his chances by stepping out of the stone circle.
He looked down at the green gem that allowed him to travel through the universe and sighed. "There was so much more I wanted to do there. Become a noble, gather a secret society of mystique enthusiasts, pretend to be a butler in front of guests, find more mages or what happened to Rodell in the end." His horns kept twitching and growing, a sign that the mess on the other side wasn't over yet.
He sat down and looked forward to going back to Sefora to catch up with Caras. He was a man of his word and had a promise to maintain.
Robert turned his attention to the wall. He had no idea how it worked, but the book said that as long as he pushed enough mana in a spell, the mana would figure out how to achieve the goal.
He assumed a lotus position and focused on the image of the walls moving back. He didn't even think of damaging the circle as he would be stuck down here.
From his brain, he sent the image to his horns. He could feel the mana from all around him converge on top of his head. In Sefora, his horns seemed to pull the mana from themselves, but maybe they were connected to the netherworld.
Immense quantities of mana had already condensed in a sphere above him. He couldn't understand its purpose. It moved by itself, lowering to his chest height and emitting a suctioning force.
Robert didn't resist, unafraid of his spell, then a shadow came out of him. He recognized the shadow as the young summoner he killed when he arrived to Sefora. The shadow looked in horror at the world around, but before it could do anything, it was sent to the wall.
All four sides shone brightly. They started from the ground and extended higher than the clouds. Then without fanfare, they moved back half a step.
A shadow moved in the wall, like a fish in an aquarium. Robert looked in surprise at the event and then reflected. "If I had to guess, killing the man let me absorb his soul, and offering the soul to the wall granted me some extra space." he clapped in acknowledgment. "So, this is my purpose for existing. Like the demons of old, I have to collect souls and bring them back to hell."
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He looked down at his ruined butler's uniform with nine identical holes. "Next time, I have to prepare better. No more winging it or doing stupid stuff. I'll prepare a few spells, finish reading Rodell's journal, and when I'm ready I'll get summoned." He decided and went to work.
The days passed quickly, but the storm above didn't calm down. Titanic shadows swam inside the clouds, unbothered by lighting. Robert wondered how vast the netherworld was and what kind of creatures it would birth.
Instead of useless wondering, he focused on preparing his spells. His arsenal at the moment looked like this:
1. Push! : It would generate a strong kinetic force that pushed away anything in its path. He had two alternative names, 'fus-ro-dah' and 'yeet', but he would feel cringy at using them.
2. Pull! : The same inner working, but would attract a specific objected towards the palm of his right hand.
3. Bang!: Would seed a small compressed kinetic force that would explode in all directions. It could be generated even inside of objects, as long as they were empty, otherwise, the displacement of matter would drastically increase the mana cost.
4. Zap!: Would shoot a current of electricity through physical contact.
5. Stop!: Would generate a sphere around him, absorbing kinetic energy from approaching projectiles and converting it into light.
6. Simon Says: His favorite creation. It would create an area where gravity would follow his finger motions.
7. Poof: Would apply a camouflage effect to his target by distorting light around it. In order to be usable, he had to scale it back to reflecting light, it looked like covering something in mirrors.
Some would wonder why such spells when he had infinite mana at his disposal. The problem lay in the fact that big spells had to accumulate enough energy. He remembered how fast he could pull mana from his horns, and for anything bigger than a candle worth of fire he would need a few seconds of accumulation.
He considered creating a medium for storing mana, but he couldn't create matter from nothing, and nothing around him allowed transmutation.
Lastly, he didn't dare mutate his body. He didn't dare think what would happen if he fucked up his body in the netherworld. He had finished his book and read of demons mutating until they couldn't even speak anymore, becoming invincible little killing machines.
He didn't fancy that end for him, being anthropomorphic ruled! Two opposable thumbs and no fucks to give.
He approached the gem, ready to continue his tour of death when he heard a voice behind him. "So that's it? That's all you ever want to do? Kill until you stop coming back? You are no freer than when you were taking pills."
Robert turned around but saw no one. He felt furious by those insinuations and left through the gem with a harrumph.
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In a dim basement, a group of five hooded men chanted in unison. They were all on their knees around a summoning circle drawn in chalk. In a corner of the room, a tied young woman witnessed the actions of the group.
Rochelle held no fear of death and was close to breaking the ropes by rubbing against the wall. She had been kidnapped two days ago while coming home from the gym, the group had put a hood over her head before pulling her in an unmarked van.
Then she had been kept in a flower shop run by one of the members, referred to as Azatek by the others. Whenever they took off her gag to feed her, she would spit on them in disdain.
"You are a bunch of nobodies playing pretend in your mama's basement!" She had said once, and it seemed to hit a nerve as for the first time they kicked and verbally abused her.
They eventually stopped interacting with her in fear of damaging the designated sacrifice for tonight's ritual.
Azatek Raised his arms to the sky and begged. "Oh Lords of Hell, bless us with your presence!" he cut his wrist and sprayed blood on the altar, the blood disappeared, absorbed by the symbols on the ground, the next moment blinding red light exploded in the room, shocking even Charlotte the unbeliever.
When the light abated, Robert appeared in his blood-covered butler uniform, his horns casting shadows to the tune of the candles flickering.
"Why have you summoned me?" He asked with his deepest voice.