Sins Of The Demons

I yawned and stretched as I woke up from my spot on the cliff. I scratched a mark on the wall with a claw. I looked at the thousands of marks that took up the entire nearby wall. I sighed and pressed a pale hand against the wall. “Happy hundredth anniversary in Hell.” I muttered, brushing some dirt off my body.

As a Demon my body was more or less the opposite of what it was like as a human. Where I was once slightly fat I was scrawny, my stomach area in particular sucking into my body and you could clearly see each of my ribs. Then came the more extreme additions and changes, based on who I was in life. There were several jewels sunk into my skull, a ruby by my mouth, a sapphire just above my right eye and a topaz in my chin. My right arm, from the shoulder to the joint of the elbow, was covered in gold, the flesh around it burned and red, my hands had small circles of silver over the knuckles, with my claws made out of some kind of platinum. My eyes were thankfully normal, minus the glowing golden colour they had become. Yet despite all that my face was undeniably handsome, I had never really cared for my looks, I had been average looking enough, but I guess that was all part of the irony that was thrown at me, it had been the last time I sassed a Demon Lord.

I stood and stretched my legs, the ragged, holey pants would have fell off my thin frame if not for some rope I had stolen from some Lust Demons and used as a belt, I tried really hard not to think of what the stains on it were. My legs and feet were human enough, if not exactly sightly, made of the same leather like skin as the rest of my body.

I sighed and looked around Hell, there was no fire, no ice, just a long, dry cave filled with Demons hoarding precious jewels and gold, roaring in rage, fucking in the middle of public or just eating as many rocks as they could. I was sick of it. I had been stuck in the same damn cave for the past hundred years since I died, never able to find the end of the cave, yet always seeing some illusionary light at the horizon.

It said a lot that even after a hundred years I was only just getting used to my body. I flexed my claws before groaning, “Fuck this.” I jumped off the cliff and fell for several seconds before landing on a Gluttony Demon’s large belly and springing off him. He let out a snort and muttered something before rolling over and falling back to sleep.

I scooped up a rock and made my way through the crowd of Demons. I spotted a Sloth Demon with a basket full of meat and grinned. I threw the rock at his side as I passed him. As he slowly looked towards the rock I rushed in and stole two large chunks of uncooked meat. By the time he realised, I was lost to the crowd laughing at him. I snuck off to an unoccupied corner of the cave and tore into the bloody chunks. After a hundred years I loved the taste of the uncooked meat, even if it was once human or some other sapient creature. Maybe I’d lost touch with my humanity at some point, but in Hell it was eat or be eaten if you got too weak, both metaphorically and literally.

As I finished my first lot of meat I heard heavy footsteps approaching. I looked up and saw a short, obese, purple blob with feet approaching, it’s head just barely visible beneath all that blubber. I grabbed my remaining meat and clutched it protectively, “Back off, tubbo, I see you rolling over here, don’t make me start hating!”

He grumbled under his breath. “You have been requested.”

I blinked. Ah, shit, who’d I piss off this time? “Yeah, yeah, by who?”

He wheezed there for a few seconds before giving me vicious grin, “Lord Malice.”

I gulped, of course it was the guy in charge of being summoned and torture. “Right. Lead the way.”

As he led me through the streets I had plenty of time to think. The only time I'd stolen from Malice I managed to frame someone else for it and got a month’s worth of meat from it, but I was in no hurry to steal from him again.

The Demon Lords were a group of the strongest Demons in Hell, in charge of the most important things, there was even a rumour that they hid a way to some deeper layer of Hell. Just a stupid rumour I'm sure, if it was true it would have been found by now. Anyway, the Demon Lords were the ones in charge of Hell, the ones who decided who was punished and who did what on a daily basis, the only thing they couldn't control was who was summoned by a mortal. Actually, come to think of it, Lord Malice was in charge of summoning, but I doubt I've been summoned, if I haven't left Hell in a hundred years I doubt I'll manage it by being summoned now, my best bet was working on my escape plan. I'd managed to avoid the Lords attention in all my time in Hell, my conversion to a Demon not counting.

Any questions I asked were answered only by the fat, lard bucket’s heavy breathing. So I began sassing him. Seemed like a smart idea at the time. When he started rolling after me, making me sprint towards Lord Malice’s mansion? Yeah, not so much. But I did manage to snag the ruby on the rope he had around his neck. What? He attacked me, that makes it mine by the laws of ‘Go fuck yourself.’

When he finally stopped chasing me I looked over the fancy mansion with envy, I wish I had a house. “Must be nice to sleep on a bed.” I muttered bitterly.

“Shut up and go in.” The fat blob growled before waddling away.

I shrugged and pocketed the ruby before knocking on the fancy double doors. As they slowly opened I shifted from foot to foot. When I saw who it was opening the doors I put on a happy facade. “Wraith!” I called cheerfully whilst simultaneously looking for an escape. “How long’s it been? Five years?”

“Ten.” He rumbled, his large, muscular body slowly raising and falling as he breathed, fire visible through the numerous cracks across his body.

I twitched nervously as his bone like scales seemed to sharpen towards me “Ten years? Wow! Well, hope to see you again soon, I’m sure you’re busy, hate to keep you, bye!”

He watched me intently, even his two dead heads at the side of his neck, both lit up by unholy light coming from the eyes and mouth, seemed to stare at me, the scars across his remaining face really not helping. “Runt.” I gulped, it was always a bad sign when he called me that. “I am to be your escort to see the Lord.” He slammed his trident onto the ground. “I shall not tolerate any distractions!” His lizard like tail swished dangerously.

“R...right. Understood.” I said as he started leading me through the building. I knew he’d like nothing more than to remove my head right there and crush my soul to stop me from ever coming back. The only thing that kept me alive was the fact I knew his True Name.

Now True Names are a tricky subject, they aren’t the name you’re born with and are a culmination of your entire being, you need to know a Demon’s true name to summon them, well, to be honest you really only needed the first syllable of their True Name and the rest just had to be close enough to sound like their given name. Yet we couldn’t even give other Demons our True Names, as Demons aren’t really the most trustworthy of beings, go figure. Those with the knowhow can use them to bind creatures to themselves, usually mages and wizards, witches and sorcerers with Demons, to do their bidding. Though with Demons the binding erodes extremely fast when binded to a mortal, they usually only last a decade or two at most. Hey, for a Demon that is fast. Anyway, when a Demon comes across a mortal’s True Name the result tends to be...apocalyptic. Let’s just say the reason my world ended was because of some idiot, but even as low rung as I was even I had a chance to show him my displeasure at what he’d done. But for a Demon, even a rookie Demon, to lose their True Name to another Demon was almost unheard of. If a Demon did know another Demon’s True Name they could make them their puppet at worse and a slave at best.

Now when I learned Wraith’s True Name, purely by accident, what did I do after telling him I knew? Nothing. I let him go about his life as normal. Well, I occasionally used him to get me out of a tricky situation, him being the most feared Demon in Hell and all, minus the Lords. But for the most part I just used it as a deterrent when he started getting aggressive.

Like right now. I ducked beneath a stab of his trident as I said something that pissed him off. Something about how maybe I could maybe one day become a Lord of Hell myself. “Hey! Name knowledge here!” I yelped.

He growled and lowered the trident. “One of these days I will erase you from reality.”

I chuckled, “And on that day I’ll let everyone know your Name!”

He continued to grumble under his breath as we entered a room filled to the brim with piles of gold, jewels and precious sparkly things. As I passed one of the mounds of gold I quickly snatched a gold coin up and shoving into my pocket, no one was going to miss a single coin!

Wraith’s trident suddenly appeared barely an inch from my face. “Drop it.” He growled.

“What’re you talking about?” I said with a grin, raising my hands and doing a small hop to knock the coin back onto the floor. “I’m innocent!”

He glared at me, “Touch anything else and I’ll use your spine as a back scratcher.”

“Whatever.” I scoffed.

We passed through several rooms, Wraith keeping a keen eye on me as we went, until we came across a simple wooden door. Wraith knocked on the door and waited. After a minute an old voice said, “Enter.”

Wraith pushed the door open and dragged me in. It...was a giant library. Books littered desks around the room, the walls were just giant bookshelves, it seemed...to go on forever. I couldn’t even see a bed or anything to live with just more books. “How many books are there?” I muttered, in awe of the place.

“As many as there are books in existence throughout every reality.” I jumped at the sudden voice and looked to where the voice had come from. There stood besides a desk with a book in hand was a tall skeleton dressed in a black suit with a pair of glasses somehow perched over its eyes.

“Lord Malice, the one you requested.” Wraith said, bowing deeply. I blinked for a second before realising what he’d said and following suit.

Lord Malice gave a laugh, the sort of laugh you’d hear from a kindly grandfather, “Oh, Wraith, you know that isn’t necessary.” He turned to me and smiled, it was then I noticed he had flesh and skin around his mouth and had blue eyes. “And you, young man, I don’t care much for the bowing and title, but be careful you don’t forget it the next time you encounter a Lord, some of the others would kill you for less. Now, please follow me.”

He led me further into the library, Wraith following close behind us. I wanted to ask a bunch of questions but for once I narrowed it down to just one, “Um, Mr Malice? What...exactly am I here for?”

He stopped and turned to me, “You mean no one told you?” He gave me a kind smile, “My dear boy, you’re being summoned today.”

I froze in my tracks. I was being summoned? After a hundred years? I grinned happily, “All right! Time to get out of this hellhole, pun fully intended!” I fist pumped.

Malice chuckled, “Ah, the over-excitement of youth. Yes, child, which means you can give up your silly plan to escape Hell.”

My eyes widened in fear and shock as I stared at him. “I...uh…”

He just laughed again, “Don’t worry, my boy! I planned the same when I was in your place. I almost put that plan into action as well, right before I was summoned for the first time!” His glasses glinted as he gave a devious grin, “That said...I expect to see you up here as a Lord yourself in a few hundred years!”

I smirked, “A few hundred years? Huh...You know I never put too much thought into it...mostly as I don’t know much about what you Lords do.”

“I can’t say much, but trust me. It is worth it.”

I grinned, “In that case you better make room for me! If it’s worth it I’ll be up there a lot sooner than you think!

He nodded, “Yes, it’s good to have goals.” Then, faster than I could see, he smacked his book against the top of my head. As I clutched my head and groaned in pain he continued, “But don’t get too cocky.”

I looked away and scratched my head, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. At least until I’m powerful enough to back up that confidence.”

“Indeed.” He said as we turned a corner and came to a large, glowing circle on the floor. “And here we are, I hope you have a good time wherever it is you’re going.”

“Er...how long do I have to wait?”

“Two hours. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some books to read. If you get bored feel free to read, just get in the circle when it starts glowing white.” He informed me before walking off.

As I waited around I kept glancing at Wraith, plotting. Yeah, it’s time I got the gang back. “What do you want, Runt?” Wraith eventually snapped.

“Wraith. You know the group I arrived in Hell with. You were there and you don’t forget. Find me their True Names, not the entire thing, just enough to summon them.” I said with a smirk.

“How do you expect me to find that out, exactly?”

“Well, if mortals can do it, then I have no doubt you can. And if you manage it…” I took a deep breath. “Then you can have your Name.”

He stared at me. He knew what I was offering, his True Name would be stripped from my mind. I would have no hold over him. “I...may not be able to retrieve all of their Names in time.”

I waved him off with a cocky smirk, “That’s fine. Just Promise to send them to me when you find them.” A Promise is a Demonic Oath. If we didn’t uphold it...well, we’d be torn apart at the atoms, never to return to life but always in pain.

“Very well, I Promise to return your companions Names to you, in return for you removing my True Name from your mind.” There was a small pulse of power, signaling the Promise had happened. “You Promise me now. I don’t trust you.”

“Alright. I Promise that after getting enough of my friends True Names to summon at least one of them I shall strip Wraith’s True Name from my mind.” There was another pulse of energy.

He nodded to me, “I will return.” He left the room.

I chuckled, “That was easy.” I grabbed a nearby book and started reading it. Ah, some kind of variant of Harry Potter. Cool.

I snapped the book shut and put it back in its place. That...was disturbing. There was something about reading your favourite character as a kid be eaten alive by his family and go through some variant of Hell.

I shook my head and sighed before glancing at the circle. It had lightened, but it was yet to turn white. I had heard the doors open a few moments before so someone was coming. “How much longer is this going to take?” I muttered.

“Just a few moments longer.”

I yelped as I jumped. It was Malice. I clutched at my chest, “You’re sneaky.” I muttered.

“Ah, yes, sorry about that, I tend to forget just how quiet I can be.” He smiled, “But the circle should be ready in a few minutes now.”

I sighed, “It’s fine, I’m just waiting on Wraith now.”

Malice grinned, “I heard your deal with him. Just how did you find his Name?”

I chuckled, “Uh, sorry, I Promised him I’d never tell.”

He sighed and slumped slightly, “Oh, darn, I was hoping to embarrass him later. I’ll just have to pull out the stories from when he was younger.”

“Like what?” I asked, hoping to get some dirt I could use instead of having to rely on the Name.

“Do not tell the Runt.” Wraith said as he turned the corner. He stomped up to me, smelly water dripping off him. “Here.” He thrust two pieces of paper at me. “I will send the rest when I find them.”

I grinned as I read them and made sure to memorise them. “All right!” I chuckled. “Time to uphold my end of the deal.” I focused on Wraith’s Name and made a conscious decision to forget it. I felt the Name disappear from my mind. I smiled, “I’ve fulfilled my end of the bargain, I’ll be off soon.”

He chuckled, “No longer shall I be your lapdog, Runt!” His laughter started getting louder.

I shrugged and pulled a long strip of paper out of my pocket and inspected the long string of words and sounds on it. As I finished reading it, the knowledge leapt from the paper and embedded itself in my mind. It had taken me a year without eating to be able to afford that, but it was worth it. I handed Wraith the paper and gave him a smug smirk, “Pleasure doing business with you.”

He froze as he saw the words on the paper. “You...you can’t…”

I mouthed his True Name and he jolted up. “Sorry, big guy, but I had to keep my deterrent. You’re the reason I haven’t been squashed into mush at this point.”

“You broke your Promise!” He roared.

“Nah, I let your Name get stripped from my mind. I never Promised to get rid of all traces of it. Now, I expect you’ll still keep your Promise?” He gritted his teeth but nodded, “Excellent! Well, I’ll see you around, Wraith!” I headed over to the summoning circle as it began to glow.

Malice burst out laughing, “You are tricky! To use Remembrance Paper to remember his Name?! Ha, ha, ha! He got you, Wraith!”

He was still laughing as a flash of light consumed me and everything went silent. When I heard whispers around me I opened my eyes and saw I was now in some sort of run down building. I started laughing as I took my first breath out of Hell in a hundred years. Ah, such fresh air!

I looked around and saw a good twenty of some sort of four legged creatures. As I looked them over I realised they were equine in nature. They were all dressed in the same brown cloak. I noticed there was one in front of me and it was lifting it’s front hooves from an intricate summoning circle. So this was the one that summoned me.

The summoner gulped and spoke up, “Demon! I have summoned you here to…” He trailed off as I stretched an arm out, feeling for a barrier or containment field. Nothing. I grinned and I took one look at the equine that had summoned me and, feeling no ritual circle to make me let him talk anymore, grabbed his face in my claws and grinned as I tore his eyeballs out and, amidst his screams, crushed his skull. As he fell to the floor a bright orb floated out of his body. I caught his soul on a claw before it could be sent to the afterlife and ate it. The rumours were true, souls were succulent.

“Oh, mighty Lord!” One of the other equines called out, bowing to me. It wasn’t long before the others were offering similar praises and bowing. Yeah...they were cultists.

I looked over the cultists bowing before me and praising me. I raised an eyebrow, “Where am I?

“The land of Equestria, oh, Demon Lord of Damnation.” One of them spoke.

Demon Lord? Heh, looks like someone fucked up somewhere, not them I’m going to tell them that. “Right. Heh, heh. Tell me,” I grabbed the nearest cultist by the throat and lifted him up into the air, “Where exactly am I?”

“T...the Castle of...the Two Sisters!” He wheezed.

I clicked my tongue and threw him across the room, the soul I had devoured began feeding me information. Equestria, magic, Alicorns, Celestia and Luna, Elements of Harmony and the people of this world. I now knew about them all. I gave a confident smirk, “Well, what is it you would dare risk summoning such a great Demon for?”

“We wish to kill the Elements of Harmony.” One of the ponies in a different coloured robe stood. “Without them to poison the media, the truth may be revealed! The truth that Celestia is a true tyrant that kills all who oppose her!”

Ha! What a delusional nutcase! But...perhaps I may use this to my advantage. “Summon another of my kind.”

He blinked, “What?”

“I have decided to bring in my fellows to assist in this job, or are you questioning me?!” I gave him a vicious grin, showing off my sharpened teeth.

“No, my lord!” He whimpered, “I am but a servant to you, my Lord and master!”

I smirked, “Call me Greed.” I shall bare my sin as a name in this land for all to see. “Now get to work, I want back what is mine.”