I slowly hollowed out the fire imp making sure to keep it alive just enough. It could not struggle against me as I ate its meat and probed its bones. I tried to find what resisted me but my swirling mind slowed as more memories from the imp filled it. They burned with emotion as I learned its name, Dra. Dra was a proud general who had slowly rosed in power as it fought its fellow imps and envied the demons. Those 2 demons were among the most feared and revered across the layer of the lord, Exacerbate. A land of hatred that wanted to swallow everything and Dra was tasked to spread that land even further. To my home, to my layer but instead, it had been disgraced and beaten. When the flying imp, Ign, was injured the clothed demon had to heal it. The plated demon looked down at them as if they were small imps that were worthless.
No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t find the names of those demons as I found traces of another power in the memories of the imp. As I tried to look deeper into the memories, to learn more about that layer the latest memory I can see was the clothed demon smiling down at the ground imp before grabbing its head. Memories that should have followed were of the trap and that fire pillar but nothing. Gone and empty like someone erased them or made sure they couldn’t form. That smiling-clothed demon was the last thing I thought before my mind went under. The ground imp hated me personally so its power fought back far more than I thought was possible being removed from its body. It tried to cling and tear at my mind like a flame but the way it struggled only made joy float around me. I was almost tempted to let the power exist in some corner of my mind, but hunger soon dominated. I snuffed out the flame completely sucking in everything I could as I felt my hunger grow to even higher levels.
To my disappointment everything in the pool, the imp and slivers of pieces of me were dragged into a hole at the pool's center. The hole was me, my hunger that started to eat at pieces of my mind. I felt loose pieces of my mind that came from all of the imps I ate be dragged into the hole and the hole grew. More pieces that I collected from eating all the imps and shadows were dragged into the hole until 2 large pieces remained. One felt familiar to Rat while the second reminded me of the black crystal with purple streaks. They shook as the hole tried to drag the pieces in and the crystal was dragged in. Instead of disappearing the crystal joined the hole as I felt something change. The hole grew tendrils that swam through the pool and into the sand. There were some shadows around the pool despite all the shadows still fighting the burning imps. Instead of dragging the shadows inside of the hole they injected power into the shadows.
The shadows were warped and bloated. Some started to balloon and smaller pools like the one I was in started to appear. The other shadows started to stain the sand black as the shadows became more solid. These were made of the same material as the pools and slowly moved spreading their stain, their taint. Some of the hole’s tendrils reached toward the ceiling doing the same thing to the shadows there. They started to join together into large stalactites that reached low to the ground. Those above pools reached even lower than the others and the one above me grew long enough to touch the pool. Thin tendrils from the pool grew upward on the stalactite over each other as they spread across the ceiling and other stalactites.
The hole started to shrink as I felt myself stretch further. The piece of Rat that was still in my mind remained where it was, heavy in my mind. I thought I had discarded what remained of him but here it is unmoving. It was a ball that released his voice. “Why? What is the point of all of this?” “To feed my hunger.”
“What then? What will you do when your hunger is full?” “Nothing. Let my mind slow until something stirs my hunger.”
“Isn’t it a waste? To eat and sleep being a scrooge over all that isn’t you.” “Why would it be? You sold yourself for a ring.”
“I was weak and just wanted something to blame. Used for a plan that will fail. I watched through you as you used the weight of my soul to abuse those who should be stronger. It won’t last and we both will burn.” “No light shall prosper here. This layer is mine. Mine.”
“Just like me, you claim what isn’t yours and just like me, you are used for someone else. Just like me, will be forgotten as others trample over your corpse, nameless.” “No, I refuse to die like you. I’m more than you were.”
“How? You aren't even enough to eat my soul whole. You are so much less than the weakest of us on the surface but claim to be strong. You don’t even amount to 1 soul on the surface.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The piece of Rat slowly faded away in the background of my mind as my mind started to swirl with burning anger. No matter how hard I tried to grab the piece and destroy it, it sunk deeper into my mind where I could not reach it. Anger overflowed from me and up the tendrils across the ceiling. Bubbles of hot fumes popped as I tried to reach deeper to find that place again. Nothing. I couldn’t reach where Rat's soul went even though I knew it was still there. As the anger slowly faded away I felt empty as the pool slowly settled. My mind felt empty as the emotions of all that I ate were gone and the only emotions left tasted like Rat.
As I explored my now-empty mind a half-eaten imp flew into the pool. My attention rose to the surface, shadows were dragging into nearby pools, the ceiling wiggled as fires were snuffed out and blood fell to the floor. Shadows swam in the pools and left changed like those I changed that didn’t turn to pools. Worms, the word floated to the top of my mind as images of living things that lived in the ground. They didn’t exactly fit the liquid shadows that moved through the sand but I couldn’t think of another name. The worms dragged the imp’s broken bodies to the pools and shadows followed them. As the shadows entered the pools they would come out just like the worms. The battle with the burning imps seemed to be over and now the shadows were fighting for scraps while the worms fed the pools. I still saw lights in the distance as imps ran for their lives only to be hunted down by worms and shadows. The shadows on the ceiling grew farther as smaller stalactites grew between my tendrils. The larger stalactites slowly joined over pools and continued to lower themselves as the pools released fumes that aided in their growth.
The shadows that made up the stalactite ceiling were as hard as the stone that the sand covered. These shadows fed off of scraps of scraps of the imps that were tossed into the pools. They slowly spread further and with them my tendrils. My tendrils across these shadows helped keep their shape and nature as some of their power was slowly fed back to me. No longer did large shadows stay near me, now small pools of shadow ate and changed any shadows that got near. These pools grew slowly as well but very slowly just like the ceiling. Through the tendrils, I could look down at the ground and saw large gaps between pools as worms slowly moved staining the sand black. Shadows kept forming but they were either pulled into the pools or absorbed by the worms. The biggest of the worms barely moved at all staying near my pool, some even entered it but they didn’t disappear like before. The smaller worms moved outward hunting down the surviving imps. Soon they would be gone and the shadows would have to each other to grow. On the outskirts of the black sand, I saw some large worms joining together and forming new pools. Above these new pools, larger stalactites would form. The closer you got to my pool less and less movement you saw as the large worms slowly moved between pools and shadows barely existed long enough before warping into worms. It is so beautiful.
I watched as shadows that flanked a small worm went through the sand under a few burning imps. The imps are encircling a few wisps that appeared outside of the fumes of the pools. The shadows and the worm seemed to wait for something as the imps jumped at the wisps and ate a few while the rest escaped. When the imps give chase the shadows surge ahead of the worm and drag 2 imps under the sand. The 3rd imp stopped while the last imp continued to chase the wisps, and gathered some of the fire on it but before it could attack the shadows the worm came up under the imp. The imp’s fire was snuffed out immediately as the worm surrounded the imp and dragged it under. The imp couldn’t even react before dying in an instant to the worm. The worm went after the final imp as the shadows struggled with their meals. Soon the imps all around fled beyond my sight but worms and shadows hunted them down and I felt joy float in my mind as I knew that the flames of Exacerbate wouldn’t spread here unless it was through stronger demons at me.
The clothed demon and the plate demon were the only real threats left as I searched through what memories of Dra I could remember. At least those stuck out the most in my mind. The clothed demon seemed to use the destructive nature of the flames far differently than any other demon while the plated demon was the definition of destruction. The clothed demon seemed to do whatever it wanted twisting flames and imp the like in a cruel show of power. Its flames burned green with power that promised a far different fate than those of the imps. The plated demon exuded power and showed apathy to all. Its flames burned even imps and glowed white in the intensity of it all. There were other demons but they seemed lower in respect and in turn, power compared to the 2 demons that I saw. ‘Well, that clothed demon will regret letting me live. When that Exacerbate wakes it won't be able to get me like that other shadow.’ I thought to myself as I remembered the invasion that made Dra a fire imp. Exacerbate flames burned the very layer itself and the shadow was so thin that it merely assisted in spreading the flames further out. The 2 demons hunted down large shadows that wandered that layer and either tore them apart or burned them completely. Dra didn’t do much during the invasion besides survive Exacerbate’s flames which killed nearly all the imps that came during the invasion. Exacerbate itself looked to be a walking flame and molten rock in the shape of a very large human. So large that it could easily reach the ceiling.
If I wanted to push those fires out of my layer I would need to thicken the shadow over my home. The fumes of the pools and stalactites help with it but I need another step. If I could make the entire layer a massive pool then it couldn’t make flames but I don’t have the time. Another invasion by the demons should be coming and the pools grow too slowly. I start to release my power through the tendrils on the ceiling. If I can cover the land in crystals made from me then I should be able to at least create a wall where their flames can’t burn. My hunger resisted the action but I continued to release power out into the land and only let a small amount flow back to me. It will take time but already I see something start to form in the air but it's too small to tell what.