I woke up gasping for air. My lungs felt compacted, and my eyes were covered from a red hue. My hands and arms were burning, and I felt something inside me was about to tear itself off my skin. I screamed. It continued for a few moments before I finally felt the feeling die down. My body went back to normal, and I inhaled slowly, letting air fill my lungs. Something felt different. It was a feeling I couldn’t express. I felt like I had control of body like never before.

I was on a bed. An actual cotton bed. With white sheets and a pillow. I fell back down, enjoying the soft luxury beneath me. God it felt so good to be on a real bed. I couldn’t remember how long it had been since I slept in a bed like this.

The room was designed similar to those ancient manors, with a fireplace and a set of chairs by a window draped with curtains. A portrait of the man I killed hung above the fireplace, and as soon as my eyes met the set piece, I looked away. The guilt was still there. I had killed him, and I was getting punished for it.

And somehow the punishment involved a soft bed and a pillow.

My conversation with Lucifer felt like a vague dream. I still couldn’t believe everything that was happening was real.

I was in hell.

Seg, Mole, Twig…all of them were dead.

Kate….

It felt like my heart was lurching out. What would she think?

The door crashed open, and a dark skinned man wearing black robes plunged in. I almost jumped out of the bed, searching for a weapon.

“You’re awake!” he cried like a father who had found his long lost son. “Thank Lucifer, I thought the spell I used was too hard on you.”

“Spell?” I touched my body. I was still wearing the same ragged clothes. “Who are you? What did you do? Where am I?”

“One question at a time Lord Nero.”

“Lord-” I stopped. I never knew killing a man turned you into a noble.

The man knitted his eyebrows. “I know who you are and what you’ve done. But that is in the past. The past should be forgotten.”

“Right…right.” I rubbed my eyes. Things were happening way too fast. “What about my three questions?”

“Of course,” the man cleared his throat and gave a bow. “You are currently in your mansion, and I am your servant Abel. I gave you a treatment to put you to sleep and calm your mind.”

“Alright,” I tried to piece things together. “Mansion. Abel. Weird treatment. Got it.”

I walked towards the curtains and drew them. The light entered almost blinded my eyes.

“There’s a sun in hell?” I asked, covering my eyes.

“No my lord, it is the mist.”

“Wha-” I opened my eyes, and then realized the white mist I saw back before at the tower was now glowing in a iridescent light. It was shining in the distance. Apparently mist generated light…or was it a mist?

“Do you have coffee?” I asked, hoping another luxury I desperately wanted existed.

Unfortunately my servant just cocked his head to right as if I asked whether ghosts existed.

“Coffee?”

“Nevermind, what do you drink in here? Anything hot will help.”

“My lord, we do not drink.”

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I stared at him to see if he was joking. “What?”

“We are superior than mortals. We don’t eat, drink, or excrete.”

My hand immediately went to my pants see if my most important organ was there. Somehow it was in the right place.

“Then what do you do to survive from hunger and thirst?”

“We don’t have hunger or thirst. Our sole purpose is to survive and fight the monstrosities of the Labyrinth. Such actions are not needed for us.”

Suddenly I would have given up anything to have even a small glass of water. But surprisingly I wasn’t feeling thirsty, nor hungry. In fact, I felt powerful. Like someone who was finally using his body for the fullest potential.

“Do you wash your skin?”

“Of course we do my lord. Should I prepare a bath?”

“If your term “bath” means dipping the body in something hot, yes please.”

Abel gave a short bow. “Right away my lord.”

I watched him leave and checked the view out of the window. I felt much closer to the city than I was back in the tower. But what I couldn’t believe anymore was how I was in hell. I was in actually bloody hell, and somehow I was a tower lord in it.

I tried nudging the windows, but they were sealed shut from the outside. So I stared at the mist until Abel came back and informed me the bath has been prepared. I walked behind him through a set of corridors with paintings depicting demons and figures in cloaks. We took a turn to the right, and I entered a room filled with steam. My skin immediately began to tingle, but my eyes went to the hot water. It had been ages since I took a proper hot bath.

“I have prepared you new robes my lord,” Abel pointed at a small bench that had a set of folded clothes on it. “Please let me know if you need anything.”

“Of course,” I said, my eyes still on the water. “But I think I’ve got all the things I need.”

“That’s good to know master,” Abel gave a short bow. “Now that you’re awake I already called the contractor. We should start things as soon as possible.”

“Sure, of course…wait wha-”

But he retreated faster than he approached, and the door closed, leaving me alone in the room.

“Who thought I would enjoy a hot bath in hell?” I said, stripping off my clothes and jumping to the water.

I nearly shivered when the water touched my skin. It felt so good to enjoy a bath than the rainfalls you had during the days. I arched my back and lifted my legs, letting the warm feeling spread through my veins.

Then I closed my eyes and tried to think what the hell I’ve gotten myself into.

§

I still remember the rest that happened like a vague dream. I stayed for nearly an hour in the bath (if that’s how time worked inside this world) and then dressed in my new robes. They had a strange smell - like it was draped in old wine. Then I wandered across the halls, trying to find Abel. I had half a mind to shout his name but another part of me wanted to explore whatever there was in my hellish mansion.

There were a lot of closed rooms, some small, some twice the size of the room I was in. There was one open room, and a burnt smell escaped from the slightly open door. I peeked inside. There was nothing. The whole room was glowing with blue light, and there was something similar to a large tattoo drawn on the floor. This room had no windows, just the four walls surrounding it.

Something about it made me feel creepy, and before long I was sliding away from the rooms towards the staircase. Once I walked down I found myself facing a large living room with a set of sofas, a fireplace and a large window that overlooked a garden.

“Was the bath good Master Nero?”

I nearly jumped. Abel was beside me, giving a short bow.

“B-bath? Yeah. And you should stop scaring me for god’s sake.”

“I apologize. But are you ready to meet the contractor? He’ll be here shortly.”

I walked and sat on one of the chairs. “Listen Abel, if you know my past then you know I’m not from….this world. I don’t even know what is going on. So when you are speaking to me in strange words, you’ll have to explain to me what those words are.”

“Of course, young master. You are now what we call a ‘tower lord’.”

“Yes, Lucifer told me that.”

“Lord Lucifer,” Abel snapped, then changed his tone again. “A tower lords main job is to stop monsters from entering that specific Court. This is a task he cannot do alone, therefore you need the assistance of several agents.”

“Agents? Like who?”

“Sorcerer, demons, warriors, the undead… the list can go on.”

I bit my lip. “Alright…so they are like my servants?”

“Yes, you may call them that. Contractors are people who own such agents and sell us to them for a certain price. Then that servant will be bonded to your soul so you may use them anytime you want.”

I was slowly starting to understand everything, and certainly trying to process the bizarre facts I was hearing.

“You said we were buying them? That means we’re paying them?”

“Yes, a payment is required. But you don’t have to worry about it. Everything will be handled by me in the time being until you get used to living in here.”

I nodded. “I appreciate it. So is this tower-fighting hard? Do I die? And if I die where am I going next?”

Abel’s lips slowly curved to a smile. “My lord, if you’re captured by monsters then you’ll be turned into a monster. Then you just have to wait until another tower lord arrives and kills you. And even if you survive, you’ll face Lord Lucifer’s wrath. Out of the two, I recommend becoming a monster.”

I didn’t like the way he was smiling. Suddenly being a ‘tower lord’ wasn’t such a good thing.