1 Descending Through Hell
Everything went downhill for Deon after he died.
The events following his death had at first terrified him. When he descended to the first level of hell and realised that he was doomed to an eternity of suffering, it was only natural that he panicked.
However, Deon quickly learned that things weren't as bad as he originally expected. He wasn't the worst person during his life, he often wondered what he even did so wrong to be sentenced to the underworld.
He assumed that he must have broken some unknown rule, as he was sent to the first of the 999 levels of hell. His actions in life were supposedly judged as being 'evil', but he was deemed to be the mildest class of evil, whilst his few good deeds were sufficient to compensate partially.
He found this ruleset to be arbitrary and unfair, but Deon quickly learned that there was no such thing as fairness in this world.
The 'torture' on the first level of hell, was to be chased by a demon for the rest of eternity throughout a vast and endless wasteland lacking in food and water.
This might sound bad, but this demon was actually a crippled midget that could hardly crawl a couple of miles each day. Deon was forced to travel each day to avoid being caught by the demon, but it really wasn't so bad.
He didn't actually need food or water since he only existed as a mortal soul in this place, but the atmosphere made him feel mildly thirsty and hungry at all times. His punishment was to feel mildly irritated and uncomfortable whilst enduring the loneliness that came from this empty world. His only comfort came from the small animal like demons that scurried around and sometimes followed him curiously.
Also, it turned out that this punishment wasn't actually eternal! It was possible to repent for his sins by accumulating good karma, eventually ascending to heaven.
All of this knowledge entered Deon's mind after his death, it was quite mysterious, but he could only accept that this was the world he lived in.
Only, how was he supposed to repent when he was alone with only demons for company? There were no instructions on how to do this, he was clearly supposed to work it out for himself, but how?
Deon did not work it out successfully.
He tried helping demons, then he tried killing them. Eventually, after an unknown but certainly very long period of time, he lost his composure and killed the demon that had been assigned to chase him.
After slaying that demon, he was grasped by karmic shadows that stretched out from the ground, then dragged down into the 2nd layer of hell.
The punishment on the 2nd layer was nearly identical, only the chasing demon was slightly faster and Deon was more dehydrated than before, whilst the air was sort of dusty and made him cough now and then.
Realising that he had essentially been assigned to the same fate only slightly worse, Deon totally lost it. He killed the chasing demon again, then fell down to the 3rd layer.
Again and again, he killed that annoying demon assigned to chase him, until he found himself at the 50th layer. The demon here was actually capable and could even catch up to him, whilst the hunger and dehydration were strong and weighed down on his mind.
From the 50th through to the 99th layers of hell, Deon found himself killing the demon in self defence.
When he fell down to the 100th layer, he experienced a change.
The atmosphere was dry and roasting hot, whilst the ground burned his feet and corroded his skin with a mild acid. He wasn't being chased by a single demon, but by a horde of large wolf-like creatures. For the most part he could run and hide, but every now and then they caught up and ripped his soul-body into fragments.
Deon was unaware at first, but eventually learned from some of the more 'intelligent' demons that repenting simply meant enduring the suffering whilst apologising sincerely and changing your ways. This almost always worked, as people would become submissive and lose their nerve in the face of such terrifying torments.
Deon was not such a person. Instead, he found himself fighting constantly, until he killed any threat in his way. The endless torment only increased the rage and hatred in his heart, he never had a single thought of 'repenting'.
Like this, he slowly descended further and further into hell. He had been burned, cut, frozen, starved, tortured, hanged, stabbed, boiled, eaten, decapitated, tormented, deluded, tricked…
Finally, Deon found himself at the 999th layer.
There had never been a case of someone descending from the 1st down to the 999th layer. Honestly, it was exceedingly difficult to descend through the lower layers, since it required the person to kill their tormenter, which should be nearly impossible.
But Deon's ability to fight demons had skyrocketed during his agonising descent. He had totally lost himself around the 600th floor, descending into a world of killing, forgetting where he was, who he was and his reason for being here. He was entirely obsessed with killing the threats directly in front of him, which only led to a faster decline.
The 999th level was an endless black floor with no landscape in sight. The only lighting was that of emitted by the abyssal demons that dwelled here, beings that revelled in the misery of others. Made from pure demonic energy, fighting them was impossible. That was the common belief held by anyone unfortunate enough to arrive at this floor…that is, until Deon appeared.
Time here was irrelevant, but the years must have stacked up as he fought endlessly against the abyssal demons. He was killed over and over again in an unending number of horrific ways. Apparently, the soul would never die for real in hell though, he was just resurrected time and time again and forced to endure the same punishment across an endless loop.
Eventually, after enduring through countless losses, Deon's soul grew stronger.
He managed to kill the demon that had been playing with him for so long. Deon didn't know what happened to the demons he killed, or why they disappeared whilst he did not, he had never really thought about it.
After somehow catching that thousand foot tall abyssal flame hound off guard, his situation finally changed. The black flames, the toxic air, the unending pain…
It all ended at once.
Deon found himself inside of a large palace hall. He hardly noticed it himself, but a large quantity of black mist was rapidly being sucked out from his soul in this moment. As the mist dissipated, his sanity gradually returned to him.
"Wh…what am I…huh…" Deon blinked a few times, an extreme confusion visible on his face. He stood there motionlessly for some time, before the memories in his mind organised themselves and he came to an understanding.
His mind returned to him, along with an ordered set of memories that had disappeared somewhere around the 600th floor. He showed a strange expression, then closed his eyes and sighed.
"So what exactly is going on now?" He opened his eyes and looked around doubtfully. This palace hall was the first place where he had experienced relief from his endless suffering in the past who knows how many years.
He was suspicious, extremely suspicious. As he mulled over his experiences since arriving in the underworld now that he had a moment of respite, Deon realised that some things didn't add up. His doubt led to him scouring the room with his gaze, until he paused on a book that sat atop a podium in the centre of the hall.
Deon didn't hesitate and walked up to the book directly.
What was the worst that could happen? He was already in hell. Worst comes to worst, he would just fight his way through like he always did.
The book had a golden cover, with the word 'Inheritance' written across the front. Deon opened the book and started reading.
If you are reading this book, then I must congratulate you for completing my inheritance…
From the moment he started reading, Deon didn't stop until he had finished the book. His expression changed many times as he read through, hardly able to believe that this was all true. However, he had no choice but to accept it.
Earth, humanity, god, satan, karma, repenting, sin…
It was all bullshit.
The book explained that there was no 'heaven', only earth and the underworld. What's more, these two realms were only part of a separate dimension created by a being known as 'Blood God'.
Truthfully, this entire dimension was located within a single point, in an insignificant small cave on a continent called the spirit continent. This dimension itself, inclusive of earth and the underworld, was simply a trial, a trial where the successor had the opportunity to obtain Blood God's inheritance.
The separation of heaven and hell was simply a ruse. After dying on earth, the soul would be sent to the underworld, somewhere between the 1st and 99th layers depending on how they had lived their life on earth. It was true that one could ascend through the layers and leave the underworld by repenting, but that would mean failing the trial.
Blood God had no mercy for failures. Any soul that earnestly repented, rising above the 1st layer of hell, would have their soul burned to a crisp.
The only way to complete the inheritance was to defeat the demons one by one, descending past the 999th layer and into this inheritance palace. Apparently, Deon was the only one to succeed in doing so thus far.
The entire underworld, the demons and the trials…it was all just an artificial construct, created by this Blood God.
The book explained that Blood God was originally a human from the spirit continent. The spirit continent was a place filled with magical and demonic creatures, a place where humans could train as shamans to increase their individual power and even extend their lifespans.
Blood God was once a prevalent figure on this continent, but he had offended too many people and was ambushed at the worst possible time. This attack caused him to fail as he attempted to ascend past a certain limit. The inheritance was his last effort to preserve his legacy, he himself had now long since died.
Deon stared at the final page of the book for a long time.
My successor, once you look up from this page, you will face my final trial. Pass this trial and you will live once more as a human shaman on the spirit continent. My final trial will be difficult to pass, yet it is also a great opportunity. My successor, I hope that you will step onto the demonic path as I did back then, and use my most prized spirits to rain terror down upon this world once again.
Slowly, Deon looked up from the book.
