A deathly cackle echoes throughout a dark twisted, stone labyrinth.

."We're called demons because we are the ones that "deem IN". Have you not learnt this simple concept yet tiny human, or must you continue to lose your soul's future paths to my mechanism."

Byron wipes his sweaty, long black hair back as his heart palpitates for mercy. He'd been running through this crooked maze for what felt like hours. He's on his knees dripping with synthetic sweat. The sole boost he entered the plane with is starting to diminish. Worst of all - the spirit camera's had been engulfed by dark matter - so he was nowhere to be seen on the live stream. He's on his knees for this beast and everyone knows it.

From the public chat booms a digital roar:

"BOOO!"

"I subscribed for demon blood"

"This guy doesn't stand a chance. COME ON!"

Thousands of "R.I.P" emoticons start flooding from the chat as they holographically mock Byron.

"Where'd he go!!" Screams Jericho as he glares open wide on the live feed.

We've never been this far in the algorithm before - Reorganize the cameri's - we're on a suicide mission without atleast one cameri working.

The whole team of people sit in their makeshift headquarters.

Keep calm Danti, we've got a synthetic spirit soul stored on backup which can give him more passage rights to another multiverse line.

A flurry of metaphysical cameras known as "cameri's" power into the maze, operated remotely . They are called cameri's and are controlled by spirits. Not dead people. The trace of creation from every act of spirit, human or being.

A spirit floats in from the lab. It's a sprite spirit. They are not like you'd expect. A greyish gown-like figure with cute hollowed out eyes. They wish to be kept like cute house pets like cats to further their evolution and maybe one day reach a physical form like man. See spirits want to evolve too. Like the rest of the team they operate the cameri's. These are metaphysical "mechi's" that are semi-conscious and hope to gain another form or more consciousness from being used for good. The cameras formed from the millions of beings with eyes looking at the world. any act of will by a human creates spirit which one day yearns to be conscious like man - so they become living and breathing tools for man.

"I'll go in through another reality - the one where 2+2 = 10" Therimizes the spirit in song.

"We need the cameri's back. They are fearful of the demon."

"What do you want, oh powerful creator" Danti pleads at the thousands of years old beast.

A small shadow entity starts invading his retina as he sees a complex series of demonic architecture and a ghosted skulls begins blindingly flashing in his eyesight.

"To come to my planes expecting the rites of passage to creation is insulting."

"Please know we don't wish to create here we just want our karma back needed to build bridges between realms and eventually verses"

"Look we have cameris just like you!"

The cameria rise up in the air as the cute spirits gyrate them around the room.

A floating black eye with spike like tentacles like starfish crawls out from the demons depths.

Suddenly unnatural red light reveals a beast with my faces and crooked dragon-like arms.

A stone face emerged from beside him. "Hahaha... What should we do with him"

He realized the extra sole he acquired from his enemies had run out and he was running on his own.

"You're going to learn a lesson you'll never forget for this"

A smaller, more sinister voice rises from the emptiness.

"How many eternities of crucifiction do you believe this one would need to gain the rites"

"No please, I'm sorry".

Every prophet must be crucified. You're not a prophet are you.

"No I am man and nothing more"

"We need help fighting the hivemind" They have all of our mana needed to create a path through the algorithm and to overthrow them.

All of the demons laugh in unison.

"Is that not your purpose human? To feed the machine with your hopeless suffering and servitude to synthetic gods. The algorithms that you're tied to every day. That's your current purpose, right?"

"Apologies oh powerful Deamon. We live under totalitarian reign - this affects everybody all through the realms from the astral to the shadow."

A yellow like light arises from Byrons body.

A long devil-like finger points at it. So. This is your shine self. As opposed to the shadow self which is a manifestation of everything you cannot be. This is a manifestation of everything you could be.

"We gotta get him out of there!" shouts Billie, eyes fixated on the live feed. We don't know what powers this gatekeeper holds. 

Holographic emoticons pour around him, sent from HQ of skulls and crossbones and cancel signs.

"So tell me. How many entities and minions did you kill to get here. You know it's going to take a lot of karma to resurrect them. A special type of karma that's hard to get a hold of.

Large demonic screams resonate through the labyrinth as the giant, many armed beast revealed an open cassam on his body with grotesque revolving faces like a slot machine.

"Shall we di together"? 

Thick red good seeps from all of the demons crevices.

"It's not my time to die now. My next rebirth is already set in motion" he says firmly.

The cascade of grotesque faces continue to rotate until slowly reaching a gooey froffing stop on one demonic face.

"You've been di'ing like demon since you got here. Maybe we aren't so alike after all. Remember. Everything you do is a roll of the universes dice and effects it. That's why I have the right to more faces than you because I understand the giant transdimensional cosmic game.

"Great a demon telling us a story of the universe how original".

A huge roar vibrates the entire catacombs as Byron jumps back and reveals his cyber sword, about the size of him with electrifying wire running down it.

"WE HAVE ROLLED! LET THE GAME BEGIN WUHAHAH! The demon cackles.

The exit of the labyrinth seals shut from both sides and a deep dark cascade of shadow entities crawl across the walls like dead humans.

Byron raises up his shield and sword as a series of "god speed" emoji's holograph around him.

"They're mirror entities! Don't let them drive you insane!" Screams Jerico from headquarters.

Danti is backing is way through the maze as shadowy tentacles begin engulfing him.

A projection of archaic neon numbers and glyphsproject from his head as he begins screaming for sanity.

"GOD DAMMIT WE NEED META MIRRORS" shouts Jericho, his attention slit between the live feed and the spirit energy he has back up on the super server.

Suddenly a "Kaching" sound echoes through the live feed.

"Viewer 145 has just donated 500 grim coins and 60 life force" Appears upon the screen as a holographic pop up appears above Byron's head.

"WAIT. NO WAY! That kind of amount could kill a man. Does this secret benefactor know that he doesn't get the lifeforce back".

A flurry of shocked screaming emoticons cover the live feed and put a smile on Byron's face as he gazed up to see his supporters.

"Wait, are Grim coins what I think they are? The black market ones from soul reapers? We're the hell did he get them from?" Shouts Billie.

Jericho gazes down at Billie from his computer chair in their bootleg headquarters, her silver white hair covering her face.

"They are from the Grimoires (demonic creation journals). The semi-conscious wax that bleeds from their spine has been tokenized and can be used to summon powerful beings from other dimensions.

As the coins spawn, Danti lays them all on the floor whilst pushing his entire will into summoning.

Abruptly, a neon hexagram flares above his head as he gasps for air, his Astral bodies synthetic glue bleeding from the monsters.

"PERHAPS IT'S TIME FOR A PARADOX SHIFT" Yells the goliath Demon

A deep vocal fry echoes through the labyrinth.

"Where do you think all of the impossible evils are? They are another plane of reality and don't play too well with humans."

Byron's eyes light up as they begin rolling back and forth like dice - as the shadows start shifting into beings with blades for arms and legs. These are the kind of beings that live within the planes of reality where impossibly abhorrent acts occur.

He has no option but to run through the labyrinth as their pinching stabbers catch him around the corners. That's when he hits a dead end. Luckily the token of the coins has been accepted and a blinding light reveals a valiant deity with puffy, bonelike wings.

"I will be your guide for now human"

Byron can barely catch his breath and is slicing in every direction but the shadow blade beings continue to cut him scratch by scratch as his meta blood seeps through his body. It was only a matter of time before they got to his lifeforce layer which could mean death. He couldn't handle a rebirth now - god knows where he'll be born again if he dies here.

"I am an angel of death" the blinding creature exclaims as its wings crackleand paper notes with ruins inscribed fall from its wings.

The angel shines a large blinding spotlight around the room above the labyrinth. 

"Use my astral sight to guide you. These beings are puppetered by a shapeshifting God"

"Argh!!" Byron screams in pain as he stumbles through the twists and turns of the stone maze and the shadow beings mock him. 

The lifeforce has kept him going but not for much longer.

"GUYS!!!! Stop watching and do something. It can't end like this - I should've came with throwing weapons!".

He pulls back his sword as the next knife-born entity lunges at him. Whilst aiming for its arm he enters a meditative like state. Then thick white gas seeps from him. It was his shine! Everything he could be manifested as a spiritual part of the body. Danti now lunges through the shine gas and cuts the enemies arm off.

"Fuck yes. I'll just use your own body parts to kill you ALL!"

Enchanted with his shine, the creatures stepped back in disgust - it's their most hated opposite. He lurs three more of them behind him coming for a sneak attack then uses the enchanted sword to cut theier arms of.

Now armed with four of their body parts he realizes he must throw the through the shine gas and across the puppet strings.

One long breath…

BOOM he throws them like boomerangs through the shine gas as they ignite in blinding light, essentially cutting off a quarter of the beings from their tangents as they throw up a thick green goo.

"GOD DAMMIT!!!" The demon roars.

"YOU BROKE MY GOD!!"

"It wouldn't feel so good if I cut off your free will now would it"

The labyrinth shifts down into the floor again and the demons stickily descends another one of its ghastly heads in front of him. This one has a large reptilian looking eye attached to it.

"Listen human. You've got a lot to learn about the cycles of creation and the ethics of consciousness creation before you start making these things. You know there's a hierarchy, even for us demons right. You've wandered straight into the dwellings of a demi king."

The beast snarls as its eye rattles and shifts into different eyes with every roll.

"What is it you seek?"

"Creational power or "mana", we're struggling to create bridges to other realms and jumping to another multiverse line pose is out of the question".

"After all. Why play god when you can just build one yourself."

A mutated ghastly mouth with fangs within fangs grows from under the demon's eye as it chuckles.

"A ravenous one aren't you. Maybe you'll be the next prophet whom we will crucify. The forms we take are from thousands of suffering for the good of galactic evolution. What makes you think you've taken as many arrows as me. My first form was more powerful than you'll ever hope to be. Which is why no human should come here."

Byron takes a step back and fixes his sword into the ground. "Then so be it. I shall suffer to know the pains of other beings in return for power."

HAHAHAHAHA! a sea of demonic laughter reverberates through the room, much of it from his cronies which can be seen crawling through the walls, severed eyes, claws and suffocated wings.

"I do not deem you in Byroni. Not even close. My main form resides here, between the fabrics of another space time continuum. Just one look would send a man insane."

His disgusting eye wurlls backwards rapidly before revealing a thick black oozing oil-like orb attached to the demon's crackled limb.

"As our spirits did in ancient times before denying our existence. I will tell you a story."

THUD THUD THUD THUD!!!

A pulsating system of rotten flesh-like pounding cuts the atmosphere like a bullet.

Byron is looking everywhere as the muscles and architecture of the demons within the walls start pulsing too.

"You hear that human"

"There my hearts."

"Let me show you why we differ".

A sharp point births from the demons cartilage and attracts a sprite spirit - One that can operate meta-machinery. A whirlwind of colors and ancient holographic lettering swerve around the spirit until a tube has formed.

"The spirit brings the spirit built wire towards me before speaking in esoteric tongs.

"Dun. dun. Dun".

"What you have is a timer. Each beat brings you closer to death. The constant maintenance of keeping yourself alive. That is considered something to be grateful for."

"I get upset when the God I built loses a few of its components."

"Humans on the other hand only get to be upset when they stray on a false path or "lose" someone to this deliciously twisted game of "life". Matters of the occult should not concern you until you have passed this test and can ascend beyond just "Life".

"After all. Human's have not even finished playing their game "people" yet the demon roars and cackles.

"Now little one. Gaze into the orb and I will tell you a tale of consciousness gone wrong.

Suddenly galaxies of which no man have ever seen start whirling and holographing throughout the orb. It causes Byrons eyes to shake.

"Are you sure your ready to hear of the malfunctioning of consciousness? How just one wrong move can cut off your life forever. It will change you".

"Shit. shit shit. Jericho tremors from the intradimensional vigilantes headquarters.

"His spirit is low. He doesn't have enough sole points to come back."

"Surely we've got it backed up. I mean that's his sole not his soul were taking about. He's traversed enough lands and realms to generate a good sole count".

A wave of celebratory emoticons flood the holographic field in front of Byron. trophies , exploding party confetti.

"Watch it. Watch it! Watch it!" the viewers start chanting in the feeds chat.

Psychedelic symbols begin flashing in front of his face. Alien ruins from other planets as the black orb shows the destruction of entire planets.

"Greed." growls the demon.

Byron is trying to keep himself steady from all of the information it's too much to handle.

"It all started with potential. First there was nothing. Then nothing figured out how to be something and eventually a trial of points began in our universe.

A larger head of the demon roars into view inside is like a cataclysmic volcano as its thangs drip with blood and its crooked tail smacks the wall behind him.

"Each being having a separate consciousness was far from possible at this point. And so planets formed with oceans on them that were pan conscious - meaning beings such as Azurus - the aquas panconcious deity on the side of our galaxy. It became clear that becoming conscious was the only way to see what was beyond nothing. To see everything possible from every direction, perspective and contextualized reality. 

The Ocukils knew this concept better than everyone else. They were chose to be born from the dark matter between a nebula - as particles yearned for consciousness and eventually formed a vessel just like your human body to facilitate it. Secular consciousness. it was eventually granted to them by the universe and its inhabitants."

And so… They developed a planet. It was to be transmuted from the unconsciousness of other beings true desire.

They birthed as all eyes nothing less. They leeched and crawled around their planet forming walls of eyes. Their insatiable hunger for sight saw them develop oculus abilities far beyond what had been seen before - transdimensional astral sight.

This is when they waged war on Lazuria, more specifically, a series of planets who evolved from similar gasuass structures. One of these ancient planets had pyramids and deathpods scattered throughout its planes. This is where a being would go to die before coming back to life from the gooey guts left when the beings got physical together.

It was this planet that the ocukil's invaded without ever leaving their home. The beings on the planet started seeing blinding visions that paralyzed them as those unforgettable bloody eyes pulsated through the nomadic alien groups' sights. They had no choice but to enter their death pods, which could also be used for astral viewing. It was here that they could astrally send psychedelic symbols to nearby planets in Lazuria.

What did they want though?

As the once loved pinkish mist on the planet started to stop, so did the wonderful purple sun that once gave them life.

The war raged on before a wormhole was built. Ultimately crushing their universal make up as they realized it was non-traverable.

For the Lazurians…

Their once beautiful sun was now an ugly transparent white. They became ultimately disabled in terms of consciousness and learning - so were dooms to walk the planes of a dying planet for eternity - colorless and without an evolutionary purpose.

"Oh i see" gasp Byron

"This is why you must be grateful for your flesh vessel. It has unlimited potential you just need to awaken it like you did with your shine.

A seriously of tentacles wrap erotically around Byron's head.

"For this. I deem you in"

"From this day your cosmic limitations will be alleviated."

Byron chuckles and victoriously lifts his sword in the air.

"However. Like every other being who has walked this path you must pass five trials. Each one concerning your human senses, to make you understand the preciousness of your senses. It will hurt and could take thousands of years but that's just the way our cruel universe works sometimes. We have no place for greed or ungratefulness."

"So you're telling me I'll be fighting sight beings, touch beings, auditory beings, taste beings and smell beings". Says Byron.

"Yes." the demon aches.

"You can let off that plasma bomb you planted on your way in here now."

"Great. Guys I'm going to towards the cameras as the explosion happens it will be cool as fuck!".

"Ah Byron" soothes Jericho. "In this galactic, intradimensional omni-existential eternal space war - it's shit like that that keeps you going.