Hyde watched a sullen Solomon walk out of the canteen and he couldn't help but feel bad. It's not like he didn't want to go with him, but last night he had promised the cooks he would stay and help them today.

Just thinking about last night gave him chills. Solomon had left him in his room and gone off with the quartermaster. Hyde was having a good feeling about living in the mining camp, that was until he had seen what was in his room.

When he walked in, he was greeted with a bed covered in some sort of disgusting mucus. The weird slimy substance permeated his entire room. Tainting everything.

Hyde had made the snap decision to move into a new tent and try not to think about what sort of creature used to live in his tent. Luckily, the tent next door was empty so he didn't need to worry about moving far.

After sitting in his tent for a while Hyde became restless, since he had gotten bored and needed to find something to do, he remembered how exhausted Solomon looked and decided to get him some food to cheer him up.

This led him to where he is now, In a kitchen serving demons soup. Beside him, a demon with four arms worked with extreme efficiency serving soup. Her arms were a blur of bowls and spoons.

Mesmerised, Hyde ended up completely stopping serving people altogether and just watched her work.

The four-armed demon was sick of being watched by the slack-jawed Hyde and shouted at him in exasperation "Oi! stop staring at me, you pretty boy. Why are you leaving all the work to me?"

Hyde blushed in embarrassment and quickly went back to serving soup. The problem was that he struggled to hold the bowls. His claws would break them and kept making them slip out of his hands.

"I'm sick of these stupid claws," Hyde grumbled. He was reminded of last night when he accidentally shredded his pillow when he picked it up. It was difficult to get used to carrying around 10 unsheathed knives constantly.

It's not like he thought his claws were useless. On the contrary, he was pretty sure that they would come in handy during a fight. The problem was that there wasn't much fighting to be done in the kitchen.

It wasn't easy walking about like Edward scissor hands during his daily life. Every time he went to pat someone or touch anything soft he had to be extremely careful or he would end up skewering them.

"Is there anything else I can do to help out?" Hyde asked the four-armed demon. While gesturing towards his uselessly sharp claws.

"Eh, are you struggling with your new body Mutt?" she asked.

"Yeah, and can you stop calling me Mutt?" Hyde replied in annoyance.

Completly brushing him off the four-armed demon replied "Same thing happened to me when I first got here, you just have to use the new parts until you're used to them."

Hyde had figured this would be the case but he was sort of hoping there would be a shortcut. "Well can I go cut vegetables or something to get used to these?" he asked while swinging about his claws dangerously.

The four-armed demon nodded vigorously, she wanted to be rid of this dangerous guy. Then she shipped him off to the kitchen.

When Hyde explained his problem to the chef, they were suspiciously happy to let him help and he soon found out why.

As Hyde's claw cut through the wrinkled green vegetable a cloud of pungent gas came out and he nearly threw up. He could tell that it wasn't just his enhanced sense of smell that thought this gas was foul because all the other chefs in the kitchen were as far away from him as possible.

Not only had he gained claws, but since he was a canine type demon, his senses also became much stronger too and currently he was cursing his improved sense of smell.

Every time he cut into the vegetable a wave of hideously bad smells washed over him and almost knocked him out.

"Fuck me! I will never work in the damned kitchen ever again," Hyde swore as he chucked the sliced vegetables into a bucket and wiped the tears from his eyes.

He couldn't wait for the end of the morning when he could leave. Every single second that passed and vegetable that was cut felt like a little piece of his soul went with it.

When the chef came to tell him he was free to go, Hyde almost shed tears of joy and bolted for the door. Completely ignoring the strange looks he got from the kitchen staff.

'At the very least, I got a little pay and I feel like I've gotten a little better control of my claws and am more used to my stronger senses.' Hyde admitted now that he was outside. 'Although, I'm not sure when Solomon will get back so what should I do now?'

Looking at the little money he had, Hyde didn't think it would buy much and decided to save it for later.

He remembered that the chef had told him they got all the meat from fish and monsters caught in the magma river they had come in from.

Curious as to how this worked, Hyde made his way to the docks and asked around to find out where the best fishing spots were.

A demon with a harpoon at the elbow of one of his arms told him that he was heading to a good spot after he ate lunch. He offered to let Hyde have a go if he carried his equipment.

Happy to agree, Hyde nodded and after waiting for half an hour he set off with the harpoon demon, Fike.

Fike and Hyde struck up a conversation about mostly inane topics as Hyde quizzed him on the Leaflets he read last night.

Eventually, Hyde ran out of questions about the leaflets and started to ask about Fike's job. "How big are the fish you usually catch?"

"On a good day, maybe... as big as me. On a bad day... Much bigger." Fike responded before adding "But most of the time it's not fish."

"What is it then? is there anything else that can swim in that lava... Actually, can fish even swim in lava." a confused Hyde asked. "Wait, Why would it be bad for the catch to be bigger?"

"I don't know what I would call what I would call what I catch, to be honest. It's probably easier for me to just show you when I catch it." Fike added. "You'll definitely know what I'm talking about once you've helped me kill a few."

Feeling like this sounded somewhat ominous, Hyde avoided asking any further in the hopes that he could avoid anything untoward happening to himself. He was living by the saying 'Hear no evil, see no evil.'

The pair followed the circular coastline around for a few miles, walking through ashy fields full of strange vegetables and beaches of washed-up volcanic rock.

These beaches had a few scavengers hoping to find a golden ticket to wealth and luxury. Fike turned to wave at a few of the scavengers.

"Find anything today Billy?" He yelled.

"Not yet, But I feel like today's my lucky day!" the demon named Billy yelled back.

Turning back to look at Hyde, Fike whispered "It was his lucky day yesterday too. He must be really lucky huh."

"Why doesn't he just get a job or take his 'Penance'?" Hyde asked confused.

"Maybe he's just lazy, or maybe he's just scared of failing his 'Penance' I've heard that not all demons complete their first 'Penance' and those that do never end up the same," Fike replied after some thought.

"How scary must these 'Penances' Be?" Hyde wondered out loud.

"It's not necessarily that they are scary. I've just heard that when people get part of their memories back they start to change for the worse." Fike explained. "There's even some who can't accept their previous lives and take their own lives. After all, most of the people in hell are hear because they did something bad"

Frankly, Hyde had been worrying about this as well. He wasn't sure why he hadn't kept his old memories, But since he hadn't, why would he want them back? They were someone else's memories now and he was his own person.

Not long after they passed the beach, the pair arrived at a cliff that jutted out over the magma. Fike started to get set up and took his bags from Hyde.

He pulled out a sturdy steel rod with a thick metallic rope attached to one end. At the end of the rope was a wickedly sharp metal hook, which Fike added bait to.

Fike took a step back and swung the rod with all his strength sending the hook sailing out over the cliff and into the lava. "And now we wait," Fike said with the confidence of an experienced man.

Hyde was looking forward to seeing what they would catch, and he didn't have to wait long. After only a couple of minutes, the rod bent sharply. Something huge was clearly at the other end.

Seeing the rod starting to bend, Fike waited a few seconds for the bait to be fully caught and he yanked on the rod with all his strength.

Keeping his attention on the spot in the lava where the hook was, Hyde saw bubbles start to appear and began to get nervous. "So how are we going to kill this thing?"

Grunting under the strain with his single arm bulging with muscles Fike grinned at Hyde and said "What do you think your claws are for?"

Hearing this Hyde started to sweat. He would have liked to complain but any other thoughts were swept away when a monster burst out from the magma. It had the mouth and head of a crocodile with the lower half of a tadpole. Its whole body was covered in red scales and was 5 metres long.

Taking a big step back and letting out a roar, Fike swung the rod over his shoulder and the monster was yanked from the ocean of magma and onto the cliff.

"Get the bastard," Fike shouted as he stabbed his harpoon into the monster's tail, pinning it to the ground.

Hyde remembered seeing people stop crocodiles by jumping on their backs, this was because they couldn't turn their heads around. Although they had a powerful bite strength, they weren't able to open their mouth once it was closed.

Plucking up all the courage he could find, Hyde shouted and jumped at the monster. He was abruptly sent packing with his tail between his legs when it snapped at him. He could tell that this thing could break him in half with one bite.

Fike, who was caked in sweat, shouted at Hyde to hurry up. "Get this thing already. It's going to rip off my harpoon."

Seeing Fike's desperate state, Hyde swore and glared at the crocodile's black eyes. The vicious creature seemed to have a mocking twinkle in its eye.

Hyde growled at this and leapt for the creature. Right as it was about to crush him with its vice-like mouth he ducked and rolled to the side. Hyde sprung back up from his roll and manoeuvred around the vicious jaws. With a grunt, he flung himself onto the crocodile's back.

Hauling himself up onto the back of the monster, Hyde was glad of his claws. They stopped him from slipping off the slimy smooth back by digging into the monster's flesh like climbing hooks.

A weird thought crossed his mind when he thought about whether or not it was one of these creatures who had used to live in the room covered in slime.

Hyde felt like he was riding a bull as the Monster bucked underneath him. His mind was blank and all he could do was hold on for dear life.

"Go for its throat!" Fike yelled while struggling to keep the tadpole tail pinned to the ground.

Growling, Hyde wrapped his legs around the monster's waist and took his hands off the monsters back. Recklessly, he leant forwards and slashed across the creature's neck with his razor-sharp claws.

Each claw produced a spurt of green blood from the monster's scaly neck. Defeated, the monster slumped to the ground in a puddle of green blood, raising a cloud of dust and debris.

With a sigh of relief, Fike yanked his hook from the tadpole tail and slumped to the ground. "You can get off that things back now." He called out to Hyde.

Hyde robotically unwrapped his stiff legs and white-knuckled hands from around the monster, sliding off and onto the ground with a thump.

The two lay there panting for a good few minutes before eventually, Fike stood up with a grunt and walked over to Hyde. He grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up.

Fike was grinning and clearly in an excellent mood. "Since it's your first time I'll let you keep the heart," Fike said while chuckling. "It's the best part and helps you get a bit stronger."

Hyde grinned and didn't refuse, he was grateful for this kind offer. His gratefulness was replaced with shock when Fike slashed open the monsters smooth underbelly and ripped out its heart.

Fike promptly handed the still-beating heart to a shocked Hyde. "The faster you eat it the better it is for you," he added helpfully.

Honestly, Hyde wanted to turn Fike down and hand the heart back to him. But For some reason, he had started salivating and when he looked at the bloody, pulsing heart in his hands, his own heart sped up. He could tell that was his demonic side telling him to eat it.

Hyping himself up, Hyde held his nose and stuffed the heart into his mouth. Blood gushed down his throat and the taste of iron filled his mouth. He wanted to gag, but strangely it felt good. Almost immediately, warmth spread from his mouth, into his stomach and throughout his body.

Fike laughed at Hyde's rapid change of facial expression and patted him on the back. Then, he turned back to the corpse and began separating the useful parts from the rest.

A strange feeling came from Hyde's chest. In the end, he could only begrudgingly admit the gruesome truth. "That tasted pretty good"