***The Infernal Planes of Gluttony***

***Demonling***

It took a while to reattach my arm and tail with the help of my healing magic. At first, I was in such agony that I couldn't think straight, even though the loss of a limb wasn't lethal to a demon. I had watched dozens of my hatchmates being amputated and survive the ordeal for a long time afterwards. What ultimately killed them wasn't the injury, but their own brothers and sisters who sensed the weakness of their wounded brethren.

Given how fast demons could heal even without a skill, an amputation wouldn’t be a problem to any demon if they only could manage to hold onto their limbs. But as it was, bits and pieces that were detached from one's body were seen as nothing more than meat which was food and therefore free for the taking.

So it happened that I did a little dance, celebrating my agony while splattering blood all over the ritual circle. All the while I screamed and cursed with enough fervour to put any adult demon to shame.

Once I had managed to get my wits back together, healing myself was just a matter of picking up my lost arm and tail and holding them in place while channelling Healing Ray. If I would have had this little accident back at the hatchery, my arm and tail would have been swarmed and eaten within seconds by the other demonlings.

With my arm and tail back in their proper place, I could finally focus on my current situation. Which meant getting out of here now that I had looted everything.

That was when I realized that I had a problem. “By the Infernum!”

I cursed while looking up at the viewing hole that was now much too small for the new me! My accursed greed had barred my only way out of this deathtrap! Not that the former me would have had any chance of climbing the flat surface of the door in the first place.

There had to be another way out aside from killing myself. I already theorized that Amon planned all of this in case of a catastrophic failure. It would make little sense to leave behind all the souls and items only to give them up soon afterwards.

After picking up the dagger, being careful not to activate it, I studied the room until my eyes inevitably returned to the creepy book which had given me a bad feeling earlier. My instincts still told me to avoid it, but there was apparently no other choice to proceed except for killing myself and leaving all the items behind.

I sighed and scuffled over, deciding that a single look wouldn’t hurt me… probably.

Upon closer inspection, I found out that it was less of a book and more like a tome. It was bound in thick leather with a slightly red tinge. Please don’t tell me that Amon skinned some poor demon for his tome! What a bastard.

I already liked his way of thinking, since I also wasn’t someone who liked wasting resources.

The tome was opened to the last two pages which were made out of a thick paper and it was handwritten with a jittery form of calligraphy as if the author was barely in control of himself.

As I squinted at the lines of infernal script, I had to concentrate really hard. The words kept fading in and out of sight and glowed with a life of their own as I read. The message wouldn’t allow me to look anywhere else as some discordant tones without sense or rhyme went through my mind like music. The noise gave me the sense of a melody, a mad dance of sounds and words that never repeated themselves and still managed to burrow deep into my psyche.

And as I read, it was as if Amon himself was giving me instructions.

Little Demonling,

Know that your presence in this place and on this day isn’t a coincidence! You have to understand that I, Amon, the Slayer, Eater of Souls, am your Progenitor!

I have travelled the Infernal Planes and conquered those who dared to stand in my way. Gluttony himself was in my debt after I conquered his plane. Demonkind shuddered in fear when they heard my name! I have looked into the Abyss of Chaos beyond the planes and even if I was unable to claim it as my own, I lived and returned to tell the tale.

Yet, all of my accomplishments pale in the face of ultimate power! Today, I am going to perform a ritual to strengthen my Immortal Soul. The goal is nothing less than to become a God. Death or Sucess, there is nothing else, because I won’t play to the rules of the Infernum. To become a Planar Lord and replace Gluttony would be nothing else than to shackle my limitless potential.

And still, I have to admit that my success isn’t certain and that if you are reading this, then I have failed.

But that’s exactly why I created this tomb and filled it with my legacy, the strongest souls in my possession, the most powerful artefacts in my collection, and my will. Instead of becoming a God, my Immortal Soul was cast out into the Infernum… maybe forever… but now that you are here, it means that it found its way back into a suitable host and that one of my minions found it and was able to honour the eternal pact. He brought you here!

Everything in this room is for you. Take my enchanted rings which gift you Arcane Sight and Infernal Shield. Take my amulet, the Dark Armour, and the bracelet, which grants your mind increased resistances. Pull the dagger, the Eldritch End, out of my chest and take up the spear, Final Death. There should be nothing that can stand in your way with the complete set. And in time, learn to wield the Arcane Magic to control my diary, as it will lead you even beyond the Infernum and deep into the Lower Planes, a place of insanity and madness beyond the Multiverse, but also of incomprehensible wonders and power. As of yet, you won’t be able to wield the Diary, but it will return to you in time. Know that it is bound to your soul and that you will find it again once you are ready.

Take up my mantle and rise back to what destiny intends for you, little demonling! I hereby name you, Amon, as you are me and I am you! Let nothing stand in your way. Loot and pillage, slay and conquer! Seek all you can find and take what you want. Finish what I have begun, become a God and bask in the taste of my power once the tome transports you out!

HahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA!

As Amon’s insane laughter kept reverberating through my head, his mad diary suddenly crumbled in on itself, ripping a hole into reality itself. What I glimpsed beyond the pinpoint hole which opened to another layer of reality made me want to scream and run away to huddle beneath some rock. I would have never gone through that portal on my own, not even for a million souls, but it simply sucked me in. My body flowed like water into the pinprick of a hole between realities. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn't think, I couldn’t move as I was compressed into a state of existence that simply rejected the rational mind.

There was a sense of movement and glimpses of things flashed by that even a demon wouldn’t dare to touch. Here, in the layer between dimensions, everything was possible and impossible at the same time.

Then I unfolded and was returned out of that state which shouldn’t be. After chewing me, the non-reality, the Chaos, spit me back out into existence and I landed with my back in the dust with Gluttony’s violet sky above me. The hole in reality winked out of existence with a mournful sigh, as if it was a great loss that it had to give me up after the strange teleportation spell was over.

The diary had vanished without a trace.

I breathed in, and I breathed out, and then I screamed as loud as I could while I writhed on the ground – because I could. Then I rolled over and my body decided to do the sensible thing – to regurgitate the contents of my belly until it was empty.

“What by the actual Infernal Demise just happened!?”

Sitting up, I realized that I was still hyperventilating. Well, that was actually a good thing. Maybe I should also piss myself while I was at it. It felt like the appropriate reaction to what had just gone down.

I was above ground in the rocky landscape that surrounded the tomb, alone and for once with all my limbs attached.

Amon was a real Demon Lord, and a total psycho! Who would want such power after actually experiencing it? Why would anyone want to have anything to do with a dimension that was the personification of Chaos!?

I wasn't sure whether I actually liked what I had learned today, so I decided to stay put until I properly thought over everything that had happened through.

The most important point to take away from this message from the past was that my first soul was apparently immortal – whatever that meant. It was necessary to find the answer to that one sooner rather than later, because souls were currency in the demon world and if anyone found out that I was running around with something very valuable I would be in deep shit.

The second point, Amon wanted me to take up his mantle and to become a proper Demon Lord. That was something I could get behind, although exploring this Chaos wasn't something I was keen on. I would gladly pass on that.

The third point, Sozzudon had cheated me out of my inheritance – if I actually were to believe the bullshit which I had just learned from Amon’s diary. And while I liked Sozzudon well enough despite his betrayal, good old demonic chivalry only allowed one response to that. The only problem was that Sozzudon played in another league. There was no chance in the Infernum that I could simply take back the spear from him.

Had I forgotten anything of note?

Oh, yeah, I was now alone – again; had no clue where I was – again; and was likely still weaker than most other predators in the region – again.

So, in other words, nothing much had changed. Except that going back to the valley with the hatchery didn’t make much sense. With my recent increase in power, continuing to hunt lizard-things was a waste of time.

My silent musings were interrupted when a familiar feeling tugged on the very core of my being. A summon that I instinctually answered without thinking about it. The Anima Stone network had finally deemed me worthy of another venture into the mortal world, whether through fate or because of my recent increase in power was anyone’s guess.

The only thing I cared about was that I finally got another chance to be a demon… and that it was a convenient way out of this landscape. At least for the time being.

I appeared inside a summoning circle, not unlike the one that had called me into a mortal plane the first time. And like then, I had lucked out with being summoned to some kind of schooling for inept humans.

One of the younger ones was kneeling in front of my summoning circle, gaping at me as if I was a big spectacle. He leaned in with gleaming eyes as he studied me, almost passing the boundary of the circle in the process. A little more and he would have drooled on the floor at my sight. Unfortunately, he was saved before I got the chance to bite off his tongue.

“Step back, Tybalt!” An older human stepped in and pulled the kid back. “This is no regular summoning! You were supposed to call upon an animal and not an intelligent creature. It has jewelry and a dagger!”

Wisely not speaking, I chose to spread my new wings instead, admittedly showing off a little upon hearing the praise. Nobody had ever called me intelligent before.

“We have to banish it! You shouldn’t pact with something irregular. Prepare the incantation.”

Now, that didn’t sound very profitable for me! How would I get souls if everyone simply decided to banish me upon seeing that I wasn’t a mere imp! I scanned the room, and upon finding no similarities to the place I first spawned in, I decided to risk it.

“Banish me!?” I squeaked.

The humans looked at me as if I had just grown a second head.

I quickly cleared my throat and lowered my voice. “I demand payment! Even if there are no services rendered, the very least you should do is to reimburse my travel costs!”

I had no clue what I had just said, but my memories told me that it was the appropriate reaction. Most human societies were weird about their currency systems and most services rendered required a complicated system of weighing the worth of transactions. It was so much easier to just use souls.

“It talks!” The older human reached for his chest as if he was about to suffer a heart attack. Then he turned on his student. “Tybalt! What the fuck did you do to the summoning circle?”

“I didn’t do anything, Master!” the teenager defended himself. “I only copied it from the book and made some improvements for a personal touch to the familiar-spell. Just as you told us to.”

Maybe he is a natural warlock? No, wait, what was I thinking, there was another problem here.

“Familiar!?” I interrupted them. “I am no mere familiar! What do you think I am?” My eyes trailed to the circle on the ground. “Wait… does that mean that this isn’t a proper ritual-circle for demon-summoning?”

The older human turned and apparently really looked at me for the first time. “D- d- demon!?”

I inched towards the edge of the summoning circle and took a close look. The runic system was very different from what the caretaker had taught about proper contract magic. More importantly, it didn’t look like there were any clauses that forbade the demonic party from violence… or from leaving.

Tentatively, I tested the edge and when nothing happened, I stepped outside. There was no heavenly retaliation or some mysterious force-field that kept me inside an invisible cage, so I slowly raised my head and grinned, showing them my pointy teeth. “Looks like someone forgot stipulation one; the contracted party is not allowed to cause harm or to leave until a contract is struck.”

The stupid mortals all took a step back.

It only took a moment to consider what to do next. My lesser hatchmates likely would have been unable to withstand the urge to cause mayhem and death given such a chance. But the caretaker had warned us that such a course of action would be very short-sighted.

A few minutes of killing might bring me a few souls, or none, depending on how capable these humans were. I still reached only their knees after all.

Compared to that, showing that I was a – within limits – trustworthy party would ensure that they summoned me again and again over the course of aeons. There were so many more souls to gain if I only showed enough patience to play the long game instead of giving in to my instincts. But for that, I had to make a name for myself.

I also didn’t want to collect any random souls. What I needed were knowledgeable ones.

Still smiling, I let my eyes wander over the assembled mortals. “That said, there isn’t anyone among you who would like to make a proper contract?”

Of course, there wasn’t.

The students started screaming over each other, some offering me to become their familiar, while others pointed out the obvious, namely that I was a demon. The older human unsuccessfully tried to restore order. The scene reminded me of a tamer version of the ‘feeding time’ in the hatchery.

I tried really hard to be patient, but when the situation hadn’t changed after a minute I decided to wander off, leaving the ‘classroom’. This institution clearly wasn’t professional when it came to demon-summoning. It looked like I had lucked out with some regular wizards this time.

Unfortunately, my path was barred by even more humans in black robes who wielded pointy sticks which they were waving menacingly at me, barring me from leaving.

“Uncontrolled creature on the loose!” one of them screamed upon seeing me. “Security! Uraham, you reported an interdimensional breach during summoning lessons?”

When did the teacher do that? I hadn’t noticed him using any spells.

I searched my memories and raised both hands in a gesture that was supposed to be non-threatening to humans and decided that it wouldn’t hurt to repeat my demands to the newcomers. “I only want to get paid for the time I am forced to spend here.”

They ignored me.

“What is it?”

“It said that it is a demon and that it wants payment for being summoned!”

The leader of the men in black snapped his head to me and narrowed his eyes. “You want to get paid? What kind of demon are you!?”

I rolled my eyes and actually considered whether a short-lived rampage through this mortal plane would be less of a hassle. “Look, I don’t know what kinds of demons you have met so far, but the way this is supposed to work is that I get summoned and then we negotiate on a task with appropriate payment. Once both parties agree on the deal, the contract is struck and I serve whatever stupid needs you mortals might wish fulfilled.”

One of the men in black leaned closer to his master. “It is certainly a strange one.”

“What kind of needs?” the leader asked.

“Gah!” I waved my hands in the air. “Whatever! Knowledge, battle, spying. Heck, I will teach contract magic if you guys want me to! That said, you really should replace this guy. He has no clue how to teach summoning classes if his students end up calling demons instead of familiars.” I pointed at the human 'teacher'.

“What’s the payment?”

“Souls.”

“For washing dishes?”

“Souls.”

“Do you take anything else other than souls? A whole soul is a lot for merely washing dishes.”

I hesitated. Damn, what was his problem with washing dishes? Negotiating with these mortal misers was tough. Sozzudon wasn't so stingy with his soul. “Tongues?”

Their expressions said that they also didn’t want to hand over their tongues.

I got the feeling that this new adventure of mine might take some time…