[Location: Pits of Hell #777]
The air stunk of dense sulfur, and there was an endless shriek of souls in torment as a massive, what was possibly hundreds or even thousands of kilometers across, pillar of what seemed to be faces of people in anguish and agony spiraled into the sky for what seemed like forever.
The purple vortex wasn't the only oddity, however; although it was, in fact, very odd, the sky itself was now a deep crimson with clouds of black ash raining fire down below.
To be honest, Nero had no idea what to make of the situation, but as he sat to think, staring at the scene, everything seemed to click for him. He could remember it vividly, in fact, the very moment that chunk of rubble fell on him, snuffing out his life in an instant.
But if he was dead then how was he.... alive? Nero thought looking down at his hands only to be met with lightly scaled skin, black as night and ending in clawed fingers.
"No way...." Nero thought as he looked himself all over and came to a conclusion.
"Did I get reborn or something, or..." He looked around at the chaos all around him even spotting a dozen or so other purple vortexes spread far between each other.
"Maybe I just went to Hell..." Nero said sighing to himself as he stood up and stretched.
"Well, I'm not human anymore if these are any indication," he mumbled at the small pair of wings and the long tail he now had.
"So I may as well get accustomed as best I can to this new world... although it may be dangerous if those massive vortexes mean anything, I mean they don't exactly scream safety and comfort"
Looking around the area, Nero gave his wings a test flap. It somehow felt natural, possibly due to his new race, whatever that may be.
Taking a leap and giving his wings a powerful flap, Nero began to fly. Yet even with the natural feeling he had, it was much harder than expected to control his trajectory. He eventually got it down and began to sore over the hellish landscape.
All around was an environment of twisted trees made of flesh and blood, massive lakes of magma, thick clouds of ash sweeping across the land, and off the shore he just left he saw an endless ocean of boiling blood constantly releasing a red vapor into the air.
"Damn, this place sucks..." Nero thought as he shook his head.
Squinting his eyes, he could see countless creatures that looked like him also flying through the sky, all heading toward one of the massive purple vortexes.
"Where are they going?" Nero wondered and followed behind them, though he kept himself from entering. The crowd directly just in case something went wrong.
It took hours to reach the vortex, and when they finally reached it, it put its size into scale. Nevertheless, Nero kept floating in the air as he watched what the other creatures did, and when he saw them all fly or crawl into the hole the vortex was coming from, he first checked to ensure it was safe before carefully following suit.
For 40 minutes he fell in silence, wondering many times if he should just fly back up, but he was patient, and soon he saw a bright light below himself.
He soon found out what that light was, when he entered what he could only assume was a lower layer of this hellish place. Opening his wings to land safely, Nero landed a bit rough kicking up red dust.
"*Cough, cough* Shit why was that fall so far?" Nero muttered when a loud and booming voice was heard.
"Greetings young Demons! My name is Azarok, the Infernal Warden of Soul Crucible #87" a booming voice spoke calmly yet easily loud enough. For all of the little. Black demons to hear.
Azarok's voice alone caused a chain reaction throughout every single young demon present. It was as if speaking to a higher existence, and his voice alone caused them all pain.
This included Nero who clutched his head like many others. Azarok merely grinned at their pain before resuming his speech.
"I'm sure you little runts are dying to know about so much ever since you were born on the surface and found your way to the first real level of Hell. So for starters, I want you all to activate the system ingrained into every one of your souls.
When it first opens it should show & tell you all about its inner workings." He spoke in a high, mighty tone, making Nero a bit annoyed, yet he felt it'd be a terrible idea to voice his opinion to the man.
"Simply think the phrase system open, or merely will it to appear. It works all the same." The man said as all of the young demons closed their eyes to obey.
"Does this guy have some kinda control power or something? How is he getting these rowdy guys to listen and act so...calm?
They were so wild and untamed a few seconds before that Azarok spoke and ever since..." Nero couldn't put his finger on it, but even he felt compelled to listen to the stronger demon's words.
However, it wasn't time to dwell on that. Following the simple instructions, Nero called forth his system in his mind and a swirl of black and crimson light manifested before his eyes.
"At this moment, you all should see a holographic panel floating in your vision; this is your system and the key to how your life will turn out in this world.
It will be up to you to master and adapt to your system to develop and, if you're lucky, actually become someone meaningful, Havana!" Azarok laughed, his deep and gravelly voice hurting their ears.
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Name: Nero
Age: 0 (26)
Titles: (N/A)
Rank: Lowly Demon
Race: Imp
Affinities: Darkness
Evolution Progress - (0/100%)
Stats:
STR: 50
DEX:30
END: 50
WIS: 40
INT:45
SKILLS: (Survival Instinct), (Deal Maker), (Dark Ally)
[———————————————————]
"System give a description of those skills" Nero commanded and the screen in front of him shifted.
It wasn't rocket science to figure out that this system most likely worked just like the ones in fantasy novels and the like. So having read a few in his last life, Nero didn't find it difficult to understand the system's purpose.
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(Survival Instinct: Subconsciously alerts the user whenever there is danger nearby or the user is about to do something that puts them in harm's way. Does not clarify what or where the danger is or where it's coming from.)
(Deal Maker: Due to the user being a demon, the skill Deal Maker has been empowered via the user's race. Deal Maker allows the user to form many kinds of contracts of different levels. It also allows the user actual power in their deals granting extra reinforcement on one's words.)
(Dark Ally: Due to the user's affinity with darkness, the user may merge with the shadows, manipulate the dark (minor level), and even heal when hiding in a shadow. At higher ranks the user may even drag others into a pocket dimension of their darkness.)
[———————————————————]
"This is all surprisingly useful," Nero thought.
You'd think that a Lowly Demon would have worse stats but perhaps demons are a naturally powerful lot. As Nero finally dispelled his system he waited for what Azarok had to say next. It was better to get as much info as possible before he moved on to somewhere else.
"Alright, that should be more than enough time to look over the system; if you need to look into it more, you can do it later.
Now, I'm sure you all saw the evolution meter in your system screens. That meter shows how close you are to undergoing demonic metamorphosis and evolving into a higher lifeform." Azarok said as the other what Nero now knew where imps looked on excited for the topic.
"The usual method to increase this meter is consuming the souls of others. This can be done with all life forms with a soul and it even increases a demon's power even between evolution.
However, you can also increase the meter by consuming special materials not only throughout this Hell but also in the infinite other Hells and even worlds outside of hell. In fact, you'll all soon be thrust into a world outside of Hell for your... Let's say demon trials" Azarok suddenly smiled a bit as if hearing an inside joke.
"This trial will let my Master see if any of you are worth adding to his army for a certain project he has underway, so when I take you all there try your best to impress him, because he's always watching... for new talents," Azarok said though the sudden odd pauses whenever he speaks of his "Master" are unsettling, especially with that face of his.
"This is probably gonna make me hate my new life won't it..." Nero thought as he and all the other imps got led through a portal that Azarok manifested with a casual wave of his hand.