"You little..." Sylvera grips my collar, but then lets go of it. She throws her hands into the air. "You know what? I'm not even surprised. Not one bit. The first sinner after a month of leave, of course he's a hybrid." She turns around, pacing around the room.
I shake my head in disbelief. "Holy shit! That worked! Oh, thank God…" I look at Sylvera's eyes, gleaming with a manic rage, obviously directed at me. I can barely hear her whisper to herself: "Calm down…Calm down…"
Finally, Sylvera takes out a book from the air, and flips to a random page, before scanning it. "You know what? Screw it. If you become a demon, at least I can worry less about you dying." she says, before releasing the binds, allowing me to free myself. Sylvera then summons the same liquid used to bind me and makes a circle in the same shape of his binds around me.
"Hey…What are you doing to me? I know this isn't good." I try to protest, but Sylvera puts a finger to my mouth, still looking at the book.
"Look, I'm just turning you into a demon. It's not that deep." says Sylvera casually while closing the book.
"A demon?! What? I can't go living with a tail! That's gonna be a huge inconvenience!"
Sylvera looks at me questionably, raising an eyebrow. "That's what you're worried about? Anyway, you don't have a choice. Accept, or I'll be breaking your soul for another month."
I sigh. "Fine. What do I have to do?
"Repeat after me. On the will of Satan, I cast aside my humanity."
"On the will of Satan, I cast aside my humanity."
"I will lose myself to the ecstasy of evil."
"I will lose myself to the ecstasy of evil."
"I renounce the will of God, and embrace the teachings of Satan."
"I renounce the will of God, and embrace the teachings of Satan."
Sylvera summons a small knife on her index finger, and slices my neck a little, causing some blood to drip, and fall into the circle. "Be ruined, Son of Man, and embrace thine sin." The circle flashes white, before forming a pentagram, which flashed...Purple. The circle then grew tendrils, which then stabbed my head.
I brace myself for it to hurt, but...it doesn't? Sylvera laughs a little. "Don't worry," she says. "It doesn't hurt. The golden ichor pumping through your head won't hurt. Sheesh. Anyway, you'll be seeing some flashbacks, but it's not that mu-"
A room. A black room filled with tools. I see myself covered in blood, my body dancing happily in the dark. Not a care in the world, with a woman I can barely see. I can't see her face, but I can certainly hear her voice. "I love you...With my whole heart." I remember whispering. "I love you too," whispered the woman, before kissing me. Her lips feels soft to the touch...
"Wah!" I snap back to reality, the tendrils still in my head.
"Sheesh. Chill out, dude." Sylvera claps her hands the tendrils disappearing from my head. "It's done. Now...Forgive me for what I'm about to do." She grabs my head, and slams it into the ground. I feel the pain, spreading around my body, the pain...flowing throughout my body. The pain...is flowing. I can feel the pain, around my body, and I can control it.
"You feel it, huh? Now try to gather the pain inside you." Sylvera says, while letting go of my head. I close my eyes. The pain feels like water, flowing freely, but after some time, I manage to conjure a tiny bit of it. When I open my eyes, I see a small black orb floating in midair while vibrating.
Sylvera looks unfazed. "Wow...Nice." I try to touch the orb, but Sylvera stops me. "Don't. That's antimatter. That thing will explode if it touches anything."
"Won't antimatter explode anyway because of the particles in the air?" I ask, the orb disappearing from my lack of concentration.
"No. That's impure antimatter. Only pure antimatter reacts like that. This antimatter will only react to solids. The emotion of Emptiness, huh...Fun."
"If this was a video game, what would my power be?" I continue to ask.
"Well, demonic powers are based of the emotions related to the sin you committed while living, at least for hybrids. The emotion of Emptiness would be classified as Rare, in video game terms. It's pretty overpowered, that it can summon black holes, and also antimatter, at the cost of it being very hard to summon. Even the top demons with this power can only summon black holes the size of basketballs." replies Sylvera.
"I see...What now? Do I have to go to like, school or something?"
"Yes, actually. Demon school is situated in the depths of hell, where each circle of hell is like your grade. I'm only in Lust, the first layer. To decide your standing in the school, you have to sit through a practice fight with a mentor, who will evaluate you. Speaking of, I have to bring you to my master. He'll be teaching you the ins and outs."
"Isn't that a little too hasty?"
"Don't worry. He's a benevolent one. Some, and I mean myself, can say that he's...terrible to be around with." Sylvera snaps her fingers, and the door opens. "Well?" She stands at the doorway, waiting for me.
I sigh, and stand up, walking towards her. "Guess I don't really have a choice, do I?" I ask. Sylvera said nothing, and led me onto another floating platform which appeared in front of us.
~~~
While on the platform, I stare out of the windows on the pure-white halls. I saw a barren wasteland tinted with a blazing red light. I don't know if it was me being a demon that helped, but I could see the buildings from really far away, and the people. Demons looked...surprisingly normal. They looked almost identical to normal humans. No tails, no horns, nothing. It looked like an actually sustainable community.
"You're awfully chill about this," comments Sylvera.
"What can I say? I'm used to going to Hell, and getting transformed into a demon in the first 30 minutes." I comment sarcastically.
Sylvera tilts her head downwards. "I'm...awfully sorry if this is progressing way too fast for you. I understand it may be a little...strange. You'll get used to it." Why the sudden kindness?
"What's your power?" I ask.
Sylvera summons a small dagger made of ice in her hand. "I have control over the emotion Apathy, ice to be specific. That black liquid used to restrain you, it isn't my power, but an innate feature of the demons, to control and manifest their sin, called "Liquid Evil". Pretty unoriginal name, in my opinion."
"Was it strange for you?" I ask. Sylvera's face falls a little.
"It was...Fortunately, my master helped me through it. Speaking of, here we are." We arrive in an area, where the white colors of the halls slowly blends into a shade of scarlet, where a dark oak door stood in front of us. "Open it. My master should be in here."
I open the door, to see...a familiar figure, sitting on a table. One who I had not forgotten about. And one who I was most certainly sure was female.
"Oh my gosh! You're a hybrid? Nice!" said the all-too cheery voice of...Receptionist.
~~
I stare at Receptionist, her-no, his slick black hair flowing down his pale face, chest and curves. He winks while holding out a peace sign.
I hold my hand out. "No-no. Not again. I did not just get trapped. Fuck no."
Sylvera sighs. "Yes, you did. His name is Cleiera, a demon with centuries of training, currently in the Heresy circle of Hell." Cleiera gets off from the table, hugging Sylvera tightly.
"So, Ethan's a hybrid? Ooh. What power? No-wait." He runs his slender, ladylike fingers across my neck. "Emptiness? Cool!"
I push him away. "So...uhm...what happens now?" I ask.
"Well...you converted at a rather great time. The entrance exams for new demons are about to start. In fact, they're waiting behind this door right now!" He points to a door at the back. I contemplated for a moment. Should I really go? I'm not very prepared, I might get my ass kicked...
Sylvera places a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry. The judges will not judge you based on winning, but rather how well you do."
I walk to the door, hesitating for a moment, before reluctantly pushing open the door, and walking in, to see a whole crowd of demons. Turning their heads, staring at me. Hundreds of eyes stare at me, in a university-like hall, with a dojo at the front, where I assume I will get beaten up like hell.
I slowly walk down the seats, to the first empty one, all the way up at the front, very empty for some reason. Why? All of a sudden, Cleiera appears in the middle of the dojo. Wasn't he in the room earlier?
"Welcome, fellow entrees! I assume you all here for the fun, FUN time that is the entrance exams! Now, I don't like speech bullshit, so I'll let the fighting commence. Now, any volunteers?" The room falls dead silent. Not a breath, not a whisper. Cleiera stares at the crowd, before-
"Alrighttt! First person at the front!" She points to me. Ah. That was why no one wanted to sit there. I try to protest, but a leash attaches itself around my neck, and travels towards Cleifera, who dumps me on the floor at the opposite end of her.
The leash disappears from my head. In an instant, a hand slams my head into the ground. "First rule. Never assume your opponent lets you get up." He backs away, chuckling to himself.
"If I may ask...What's your power?" I ask, coughing out dust.
He chuckles, summoning cards in his hand, smirking while looking down on me. "I reside over the power of Schadenfreude, the feeling of malicious joy." He sneers. "As for the rest..." He throws the cards, while enveloping the room in a mysterious purple fog.
"Well then, why don't I show you how us demons clean unwanted trash out?"