“Good morning, Ed.”

Stretching as he sits up, his hand lands on the book. I’ve got an hour; I can probably take a quick look. Getting out of bed, he has a quick breakfast and gets ready for work before sitting down on the couch. With the book in hand, he runs his hand across the cover. Introduction to the myriad of intelligent species in existence.

The first several pages act as a glossary, ordering the creatures in the book based off of the deity that created them. As he flips through the pages, he realises that the glossary is nearly endless. A long list of names that continues on indefinitely. What do I even do?

Examining the book further, he finds that the thickness on one side in no way matches up to the amount of pages he has flipped through. Flipping back, he confirms that the thickness isn’t changing at all. How can I read this book if I can’t get past the glossary? Getting frustrated he closes the book for a moment, taking in a deep breath to calm down.

I can figure this out. Opening the book again, he begins to focus while flipping the pages. Maybe something will happen if I focus on one of the names? Stopping on this page, he focuses in on one of the names. As he does, the words around the page change. Most of the writing disappears entirely, with the deity’s name being found at the top. Looking at the list, Ed notes that the names on the page seem to be the names of particular species instead of individuals. So that’s how it works.

He focuses in on one of the creatures, letting the page rearrange itself. Hellborn imp. As the page finishes rearranging itself, the first thing Ed notices is a photorealistic image that takes up the entire first page, just under the title of Hellborn imp. Short in stature, with a deep red skin tone, a long-spiked tail, goat’s horns, and large bat-like wings, the creature appears to be somewhat humanoid. That matches up fairly well with what I expected.

Looking at the second page, he sees that it contains basic information pertaining to the creature. “Imps are among the lowest standing creatures in Hell and can be found almost everywhere within. They are so prolific that they have been found in dimensions and realities outside of their original home, although they are most commonly found dwelling in similar, fiery locations...”

For the rest of his morning, Ed continues to read the entry on Hellborn imps, learning almost everything there is to know about them as a species. I might want to ask Buddie about Hell, I'm curious to learn more about it.

With ten minutes left until the file arrives, he sets the book aside and heads out to work. This time, Zara is already there waiting for him.

“Morning Ed. What took you so long? Usually you’re here before me.” She says, looking at him with slight concern.

“I got my hands on a pretty interesting book yesterday, so I spent the morning reading.”

“Ooh, can I see it?” Her concerns dissipate upon hearing the answer, immediately being replaced by curiosity.

Sure. Why not? “Yeah, I’ll show it to you later.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

The two continue to chat until their files appear on screen.

Name: Adrian Funar

Age: 51

Occupation: Taxi driver

Biography: Born to parents Valentin and Ramona, Adrian grew up in a small, tightly-knit village. He received his education in a small, shoddily built schoolhouse until he was 14 years old, when his father decided he was old enough to work full-time on the family farm... As he grew older, he yearned for the outside world. Eventually, his younger brothers and sisters were old enough to take care of the farm without him, and by the time he was 28, he had saved up enough money so that he could move to the big city... He struggled from job to job, eventually settling in comfortably as a taxi driver... As he grew older and the years flew by, he grew more and more tired with life, taking up drinking to deal with the loneliness... One night, after one too many drinks, he was driving back home through a deserted old street and drove the car straight into a teenager who was on their way home. Without checking to see if the kid was okay, he continued to drive on home... When he sobered up, instead of turning himself in, he did his best to get rid of any evidence that he hit the kid...

-End of document-

It seems like it was an accident, but he shouldn’t have been driving in the first place. And he only made things worse by trying to hide it. I can’t take the punishment for someone this reckless. “Buddie, is the person he hit okay?” I need to know how bad the situation is.

“Because of the time and location, no one was around to help the teenager receive medical attention. They died shortly after the event took place.” Buddie replies immediately.

Okay. That’s pretty bad. Opening the app, Ed quickly gets started by recreating the street that the accident took place on. Looking at the street, he finds that it looks nothing like what he’d expect to see in a big city. The sides of the street are almost empty, with just a few old rundown houses on one side, and an abandoned factory on the other. It looks like an old factory district. The houses probably belonged to the workers before the place was shut down. No wonder no one was around to help the guy.

Finding the street too short to give Adrian a chance to do anything, Ed decides to rebuild most of the route Adrian took that night, hoping to give him a chance. Ugh, I need to increase the risk of death somehow. “Have it that he has to keep driving until he gets home, he’s not allowed to stop at all. He’ll follow the same route he did that night, and everything will be identical, including the teenager walking home. If he hits the guy, have him suffer the damage as if he was the one being hit. Also...” Ed pauses for a moment, taking in a deep breath. “... make it that he’s drunk.” That should be enough.

“We will get started on it right away. Although this project is significantly larger than your other ones, unlike with Josephine’s trap, this one will take a similar time to complete as the others.”

~

On Zara’s side, her sinner is someone who would brutely torture and maim stray dogs and cats they found. How could she do such a thing! The poor little guys... Reading through the biography, Zara is disgusted and saddened by what she reads. Out of anger, she makes the woman suffer the same abuse that the animals went through. I don’t want to give this person a chance at all. But... Knowing that she has to give the woman a chance at survival, she thinks about what she could possibly do. Oh. That could work! “Buddie, I want all of this to happen in a small cage within the room, and her captor will have a key to said cage. If she can convince the key holder to release her from the cage, then she’ll be free to go. The key holder will have absolute control and ownership over her, and can do with her whatever they please.”

“Is there anything else you would like to add.”

She thinks for a moment, a sadistic smile blooming on her face. “Yeah, one more thing.”

~

“Thank you for submitting your plans, I will inform you both when they are ready.”

Getting out of their seats, the two leave to go have lunch.