9

I had accepted the fact that I was now the thing I had been fighting for so long. I was not sure what this place was, but I was certain it was one of the Hellverses that Demons and Devils called home. I had been walking for what seemed like forever in the direction of a building on the horizon. It didn't look like it was too far away, but i sorely misjudged the distance. The building, as result, must be much larger than I originally thought. It’s not like I’ve got any other place to go.

I walked for must've been several days, though I had no way of knowing since night and day didn't really exist here. It seemed like the day cycle was random as far as time went. I finally reached the building, a massive expanse of rock fashioned into a fortress. I assumed whoever ruled this Hellverse must be inside. I don't know what compelled me to enter the palace, but I could tell from the aura of the place it was a bad idea. I pushed the colossal stone doors open and tread into the sinister fortress. I entered into a huge hallway, which was lit by some sort of glowing fungus that grew on the ceiling in huge clusters and were covered on some sort of web. There were doors along the walls of either side of the walkway that lead God knows where. I walked down the hall mindlessly. I could tell this was a mistake and commanded my body to turn and leave the fortress but to no avail, it didn't obey my commands. I just kept moving forward, one foot after another. I was moving towards a seemingly empty chamber at the end of the hall. This place was far too quiet, by now I should've been at least approached by security.

  I passed through an archway, exiting the hallway and entering the dark room. I only entered a few feet before my body came to a halt. "Hello? I'm sorry to intrude, but I seem unable to control my body. Hello?"

I called into the darkened room. I can sense something powerful moving in the shadows.

 The glow of the luminous fungus bathes the room in a soft light. A large spider-demon sat in a throne on the far side of the chamber. Spiderwebs covered all the walls and criss crossed the room in spots. There were cocoon shaped lumps in the walls that caused me to go on guard...as much I could anyways.

 "Welcome, and who might you be?" The spider asked

 My body bowed and I spoke, "I am Deveroh Valentine, a new comer to this verse. And may I ask who you are?"

 The spinnerets on the demon twitched and stood again. "I am Azareth, the reigning Devil of the verse."

 "A pleasure. If I may, do you use all your subjects as marionettes?" I asked

 Azareth looked shocked, "You figured it out already? You're a sharp one Deveroh, you could be valuable to me. Perhaps I won't eat you after all."

 "Greatly appreciated, however I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline being a pawn." Shadowy flames began to lick the webs that controlled me, burning them away. "Now that I understand how your trick works it will fail to ensnare me again." I smiled, "I'm afraid that you're not as lucky however, I've had a long journey here and I'm incredibly hungry." I licked my lips. The flames quickly engulfed the webs and began to burn anything touching them. I ran toward Azareth and morph my arm into a fleshy blade.  

 He tried to impale me with his two front legs, both of which I dodge and chop off at the joint. As he fell forward I catch his jaws on my blade and send my weaponized arm through his skull. I absorb the Devil's soul directly through my weapon and siphon every last bit of life from his hide.

 The flames ate away the webbing that lined the walls and the cocoons fell and burst open, scattering the withered remains of demons that fell before Azareth before I came.

 I walked forward as more Demons rushed into the chamber and sat on the throne. "You're under a new rule. Surrender now or die." I said propping my head comfortably on my fist.

 As I expected, the Demons submitted and kneeled to me. All but one of them looked down at the floor. The single demon glared at me as I lounged on the throne. For some reason this unsettled me.

 "You there, what is your name?" I asked him

 "Sha'var." he replied. He was reptilian with two ram horns. Colorful feathers stuck out from his elbows and his head.

 "Sha'var." I repeated to myself, "Why do you not bow like the rest?"

 "You do not deserve the throne. You're an outsider and did not operate by our ways. You used a dirty trick to kill Azareth." Sha'var spat

 "And using his webs to immobilize his prey and lead them to him wasn't dirty?"  I inquired

 "Only outsiders like you, those who don't belong in Albetrin. I may not respect you, but I'm not stupid enough to oppose you." The reptilian demon said

 "Good. You all are free to go. Spread the word to all the others that dwell on this realm. Should any wish to challenge me that are free to come to their death." I commanded

 I reigned as the Devil of Albetrin for several months before the revolt. I'd forgotten my life as an angel completely. A group challenged me, lead by Sha'var, and exiled me. I spent several weeks wondering, preying on other demons and the occasional Salith. I'd begun to go mad. I finally decided to go back and challenge Sha'var again for my throne. I walked into the fortress and entered the throne room directly. A battle ensued and I was overwhelmed again. This time I was taken deep into a Salith nest to die. I was able to escape and encountered a group outside the nest.

 I was having the life squeezed out of me by a four armed demon named Drog. I had killed a razor winged demon that was with them. A serpentine demon named Kalner was leading them. They worked for Sha'var, I remember this now. Drog chanted my name mockingly as he tightened his python's grip. My vision began to fade as I struggled to take in air. My skin lit again, but the shadowy flames seemed to do nothing against the four-armed Drog. Suddenly something happened, I could breath again. Drog was sent sailing back against the wall behind us. Kalner was shaking in terror.

 "Y...you can't be this powerful. You've been exiled for monthssss, how can this be?" Kalner stuttered

 I lunged a hand out and caught him by his slender neck. My hand was different, it had become clearly demonic. What had happened to me? I felt far more powerful than I ever had before. I grinned menacingly and tightened my grip on the snake. My hand was different; it wasn’t my usual hand, nor a weaponize morph. My fingers were larger and looked as if i had grown armor under my skin; each finger ended in a sharp point. “Go, tell your master death is coming.” I flung Kalner away and turned my attention to Drog, who was getting up. I noticed, for the first time, that i was no longer walking but floating. I wasn’t about to complain, this was a nice change of pace.

 Drog, in to much of a blind rage to take concern of my new form, charged me again.

 I caught him by the head and lifted him up off the ground, over my head, and slammed him on the ground on the opposite side. I step on his head to hold him in place. Talons on my feet puncture the flesh on his chest and his shoulders, making the upper two arms useless. I reach down and grab hold of his lower two arms as they tried to pry the claws out of his body. I pull them away from his body until there was a distinct pop and then a ripping sound. I lifted his detached arms in front of his face, “Lose something?” I asked sadistically then began to beat Drog with his own massive arms.

 He lied there defenceless, glaring at me defiantly as he took blow after blow until his eyes loled and his head body untensed. He had died.

 I smiled, one less pawn to worry about. I stuck one of my hands into his torso and a faint tingling traveled along my nerves as I absorbed his soul into my own life force. It wasn’t long before he was nothing more than a dried up husk. A glanced over at a small pool of blood that had accumulated and saw my reflection for the first time. I thought it was another demon come to try and kill me at first. I looked nothing at all like i had. I was taller, so it seemed, and I had wings again, though these weren’t as glamorous and appealing as my angel wings. These wings, though perfectly capable of lifting me into the air, were rugged and looked mangy. My features had darkened and my horns had grown into larger versions that took up most of my head, like curved stalactites growing from my head. My torso had seemed to have been pumped full of muscle. Looking at my hands more closely i see that each digit isn't as flexible as it had been, but a blade had grown from the tip down the length. This was the true form of a Devil, the form that would once again reign over Albetrin.