Horrid dust piled endlessly over the barren and scorched wasteland. There was no sky to be seen, only an interminable darkness that flowed over the shadows below. Cliffs and chasms crowned the landscape, yet they could barely be discerned past the thick smoke that tangled in the air.

While the sight could look like a dormant volcanic sierra at first glance, there was nothing natural in it. There was no earth, only ashes, which were twisted and condensed for millennia to shape the black stones that rose all over. Whatever smoke there was, it seemed to rush constantly into the voids, like a ravenous intake of breath.

There was no sound other than the rumbling of the depths, a concealed fire flowing fervently and perpetually below the charred surface. However, that did not mean nothing lurked in the upper and cold rifts…

Where there had been complete darkness, a light gleamed suddenly. It did so in a trembling manner, shivering while it brushed the walls of the chasms it traversed. It was no figure, but a small red and white wisp. A remnant of a life.

Death was not what one should fear, but what would come after it. Sadly, no one could ever predict plunging into such an infernal fate. Pain was the least terrible thing to dread.

The wisp had stopped and hidden in a small crack between two tall ridges. It flowed anxiously, trying to stay as still and small as possible. Although no longer gifted with a body, it could hear and listen.

Things lurked indeed… much more capable than it. Hungrier too. Hiding was just a pointless delay. They would follow to the ends of hell, desperate and intent.

This was hell, not only metaphorically. There was no point now, but the soul deeply regretted the existence it carried before its last breath. A mediocre one, without success or relevance, unremarkable in integrity, malicious enough to be sentenced to this.

As faint snarls echoed from the darkness, it stopped debating if such small sins were worthy of this torment. There was no time to ponder; instinct kicked in. Four shadows peeked from the ridge above, their very sharp eyes the only thing it could perceive. There were fanged smiles there, and it knew that they were sneering as they set their gazes on its small immaterial form.

Like the wind, the wisp gushed out of its hiding spot. In turn, the four shadows bolted too, following its trail with malicious and uncanny dashes. Laughs began to echo, expectation and adrenaline flowing in the breaths of those pursuers.

In hell, only the strong and vile could survive. And the wisp was not one of those. It was easy to see. The weakest of preys was always insignificant, the bottom of the food chain.

The four figures were, as some said, playing with their food. One of them, the smallest, kept dashing and blocking whatever attempt the wisp made to hide, forcing it to keep flowing away. Meanwhile, the other three kept chuckling and creeping closer, savoring and anticipating what they would do once they had their fun.

Although many did descend into this scorched and dark abyss, there were very few instances in which they were able to hunt like this. If sinful enough, a soul would twist into beings like them. No longer pure, they would grow flesh comprised of the dust that flowed.

This wisp still held some of the humanity they lost, the only thing they could feed on, apart from the disgusting and unfulfilling meat of their own kind. Non-material, yet so alluring and scarce.

Although cannibalism was very common between devils, it always implied a fight. Upon the sight of defenseless and delectable prey, they could not let the chance pass. One of them was more eager to grasp that energy and consume it, not all that entertained by the rare novelty of a chase.

“Enough running!” She growled deeply, jumping onto her fours and opening her wide maws in a passionate growl. “I hunger!”

The two that ran behind her scoffed, seeing her jump down a ravine to race in a more feral manner. Although they were indeed toying with the wisp and enjoying its fear, they were hunting it with all their might. They really did not want to let the chance pass, something that could happen easily.

“Bitch, you better not gobble it all up!”

His sharp green eyes narrowed as soon as he yelled that, hearing a snarl behind him. He tensed and readied a fist, knowing what was coming. When he suggested that the meal could be hoarded, his associate behind him got ideas.

Wanjala huffed, bending slightly when Samuel punched his stomach, preventing his claw from descending onto the back of his head as he planned. The slender yet sly demon kept running ahead, while the other halted there in pain.

“A-asshole!”

Samuel yelled back, taunting Wan with a long wave of a black spiked tail.

“Serves you right, you greedy opportunistic bastard!”

They all were. Well, perhaps all but one. Not too far, Raivo had managed to corner the wisp, no longer needing to stop its attempts at seeping into holes where they could not follow. Those small rays of light shivered again, slamming and gushing onto the wall of stone behind it.

“Yes, you are right to cower…” He loomed threateningly over the light, shadowing its glimmers. He leaned his head with disdain and let it admire his five horns, his viper-like fangs peeking as he cursed it. “Look at you, tiny and insignificant. Oh, how I hate your sight.”

He snatched the wisp, cutting its form with his long nails. With cruel calmness, he raised its twisting form in front of his black eyes, giving it a repulsive scowl and taunt.

“You had a chance of avoiding this place, yet you still fell. Such potential, thrown away!” He opened his mouth, licking his lips with his snake-like tongue. “I’ll take it from you then. I shall devour you and-“

“You will not!”

Raivo gasped and went wide-eyed when a fist suddenly hit his face. In a millisecond, he dropped the wisp and slammed onto the stony ground, another one taking his place and cornering the light.

Jasna laughed loudly, her mouth opening far too much. Rows and rows of teeth peeked while she salivated, inching closer towards the soul with her clawed hands open.

“I’ll be the one to eat it! Its energy will give me strength! Enough for me to leave and seek more!” The mere thought of being able to hunt more souls was making her shiver in wanton. “Yes, I could devour so many! Imagine-!”

“Don’t need to!”

Raivo had managed to pull himself up a little, only for him to be sent down again when Jasna dropped on top of him, struck as well. Both devils growled loudly while Samuel speared the wisp with his tail, stealing it away from them. By the time they stood with their claws open, he had already climbed up the nearby cliff, to then stand there smugly, looking down at them with a cocky grin.

“Seeing that you don’t intend to share, I’ll take it!”

“Samuel, you son of a bitch, get down and give me back my morsel!”

He laughed sharply, but he did acknowledge the threat of Jasna climbing up towards him. It did not help that Raivo and Wanjala were as intent, even if less feral than her.

“No way in hell!” He purposely waved his tail, agonizing wisp with it, jumping into another chasm to avoid their grasp. “Even if this little thing could satiate you enough for you to leave, you would still fail to acquire more prey! If this soul will really give us sufficient vigor, it is me who should go back!”

“You were just a simple drug dealer and gang member!” Raivo shouted, leaping past Jasna to tear at him. “I was a serial killer, so I’m much more capable of killing again up there!”

Samuel dodged him efficiently, letting him swing a claw, his drive sending him off when he failed to hit him. When Jasna tried to bite his jugular off, he swung a leg and hit her groin, throwing her to the ground. He made sure to take more steps away when Wanjala crept cautiously toward him, both eyeing each other’s moves.

“Come on, guys.” Samuel shrugged, smiling even if he knew he was playing with fire. “We’ve been over this before. Last time, you failed to break the barrier, Wanjala.”

The gluttonous demon huffed and hit his thick tails on the ground, resenting that reminder.

“The wisp I ate was an insufficient feast; it did not grant me the power I needed.”

“Maybe the meal was not to blame; perhaps the insatiable gobbler that swallowed it was at fault!”

Although it was true that Wanjala was voracious and bigger than the rest, he loathed the fact. Prideful of the strength he needed to sustain zealously, he took one step closer. It only made Samuel react as well.

They all had spent decades together, hunting at every chance they got; but it was a relation of convenience. If they collaborated and tolerated each other, it was to form a pack, defend themselves from other hungry devils who could wish to sate their own famine. There was no real bond.

Brash as always, Samuel acted arrogantly upon Wan’s advances. One of his green eyes winked, while his tail leaned up, letting his claws tear at the speared wisp. He began to claw at it, like if it were made of paper, toying with its energy to taunt the other.

“Now, I say it is my turn to try! My strength, unlike yours, does not come from my mass. What little energy this soul has, it will surely let me ascend!”

Wan gasped, seeing Samuel rip at the wisp enough to twist its form, pulling a thread of light towards his mouth. His fangs brushed the light, and he managed to breathe some of it, causing the wisp to writhe… but he did not swallow it all.

Samuel yelped, while Wan roared. Both demons rolled down a slope behind them after the fierce tackle, falling into a very deep ravine. It took them a minute to stop battering against stones and sharp ledges, and all the while, they kept exchanging swipes of claw and tails.

The landing was not gentle at all. As they plunged down, shadows grew, intensified by the increasing roar of the dusty winds. The rush pulled them deeper, the core of hell hungry itself. When they finally stopped rolling, Samuel prevented Wan from pinning him by slamming his head against his, making sure to use his two elk-shaped horns.

While the two scuffled, Jasna and Raivo peeked from far above. She snarled and tensed, ready to leap down and fight for the wisp too. However, she ended up halting. Like her, he quickly noted something that Wan and Sam were ignoring.

“Fuck.”

Jasna was the first to move away, always driven by instinct. It took a predator to know another; although she was a dangerous one, she was not the worst. Raivo stood there, capable of ignoring the constant famine devils felt due to his pragmatic thoughts.

The earth was twisting, more than usual. Something stirred, and it was far more dangerous than any other fiend they could have alerted with their quarrel. For a wisp like that, they would have fought, yes… but this was far too risky.

“Yeah, no.”

He moved away too, deciding to go back to the depths where they had been hiding before they smelled the fresh wisp. The chance of eating a soul like that did not outweigh being devoured as well.

The four of them were stronger than many other demons that lurked in the chasms; due to it, they acted impulsively, not afraid of encountering others. As always, they never doubted to assert dominance. That was why Samuel smiled when Wanjala backed off, stumbling away from him with a wheeze.

“That’s right, bitch!” He sneered, completely oblivious that he was not looking nervously at him, but at what was behind him. “Now, scamper to your hole and stay there! Otherwise, I’ll think twice about bringing back any-!”

He could not finish. His sudden bafflement was not due to Wan bolting away with a trembling whimper, even if that sight was rare on itself. His tail curled on itself as he tensed; the wisp could have slipped off then, but it was all too weakened by the ripping of their nails to struggle much.

A shiver ran down his back when another rumble echoed, all too strong to be one of the depths. Fear was something he had not felt in years, because he had managed to impose himself soon after his death. There were very few threats that made him feel small.

Shit…

Devils rarely pondered their luck, having been sentenced to live in this dammed realm. Now, however, he had to curse it. He slowly turned around, only to see how fire seeped into the chasm he stood on. The ridges were breaking apart, and it was no natural rumble caused by the smoldering of the depths.

It took him a second, but he did run. His claws slammed onto the wisp and pulled it against his chest like if it was a bullet-proof vest, while his hooved feet struck the ground to help him gain speed. All was literally breaking apart around him.

He panted, feeling how the earth was giving in behind and over him, the chasm opening up more with each second that passed. In a minute, a scream escaped him, for he had nowhere to go as the floor opened below him.

Leap he did, outstretching a claw to try to grasp a ledge ahead. It also broke apart, right in front of him. The beast that had awoken broke everything while it stirred to grasp him, something it did with ease.

Samuel gasped and wheezed, a gigantic hand stopping his fall, only to juggle him in the air like if he was a rodent held by a feline. He tried to keep the wisp in his hold, even trying to bite onto it in a last desperate move, but then another huge claw prevented it.

In a second, a big black nail tapped onto the wisp, stabbing it through like his tail had done. Then, it pulled it away from his hands. Lethargically, they both were moved like simple playthings, by a beast that only needed to stand to break most of the landscape.

He took deep trembling breaths, any kick or swing he attempted pointless. His green eyes were forced to meet those huge bloody ones, bigger than his whole body. The name escaped him, without him even realizing it.

“Aodh…”

The demon smiled, causing his huge, tusked maws to tear through the smoke that rose due to his emergence. He gave Samuel a faked curious glance, every subtle move of his causing a rumble.

“I did not expect to be served a two-course meal, much less one this appetizing.”

He said those last words while eyeing the wisp, something that took Samuel out of his shocked horror. Aodh raised an eyebrow when the smaller devil began to kick again with his hooves, smacking the huge nails that held him with his spiked tail.

“Don’t you dare take it! I had it! Drop me down, you big pile of-!”

“Very well.”

Samuel gasped, feeling how those nails twitched and pulled at the back of his collar. He paled, seeing himself being lifted even more, right over those huge maws, which opened below him.

“Nonono! I almost had it!” Aodh was ready to swallow him whole, surely not bothering to bite down. He had seen how he tended to consume other devils, and the way smoke came out of his throat always silenced any prey he snatched. “You fucker! If I could gobble as much as you do, I could kick your fat ass up to heaven!”

He closed his eyes and clenched his sharp teeth, inches away from brushing those long tusks that peeked from Aodh’s maws. Pain was all he expected, so he could not help but yelp when he felt a yank instead.

With another gasp, he opened his eyes, to then watch wide-eyed how Aodh laughed loudly. He had lowered him back in front of his scaly face, enough for him to discern the other two mouths on his shoulders. When the demon stopped chuckling, he examined him intently, with curious narrowed eyes.

“Oh, I have not heard a good joke in millennia.” He twirled the wisp in his other claw and pointed at him, amused by his outraged but powerless glare. “Okay, I’ll break your neck before consuming you so you don’t feel anything. But you have to make me laugh again with another absurdity!”

“It was a fact, not a bluff or joke!” Samuel swung his head and tried to stab those fingers with his horns, to no avail. “If I had the chance of devouring more souls, I could rip you apart instead!”

Aodh kept smiling, giving him a funny look while he kept kicking. Like many others before him, he could simply bite down onto him, with extreme ease. However, he just hummed to himself for a moment, even leaning back against the ridges to ponder those words he found entertaining.

Far away, on a cliff, three figures observed, hidden behind some rocks. Their sharp eyes hinted both bafflement and fear for what they were seeing.

“Why the hell has he not swallowed him up yet?”

Wanjala answered Jasna, scoffing.

“He sometimes plays with his food.”

While the two saw a simple predatorial display, Raivo saw something different. He noted Aodh’s posture and expression; they were ones he displayed when he was alive, finding satisfaction while he chased some of his victims. If police managed to layer him with bullets, it was because he indulged too much in letting his targets scurry off and think they had a chance.

Indeed, Aodh was voracious, but he also craved novelty. He was one of the most dangerous demons around, and finding prey was no struggle for him. By simply breaking the ground apart, he could snatch devils that tried to hide in the depths.

“More souls, you say.” Samuel flinched, because the claw that held him moved again. To his surprise, it did not rip him in two, but dropped him to the ground below. Once the nails retreated, he looked up at those red glimmers above, which were piercing the rushing dust to glare at him. “Let’s put your affirmation to the test, little devil.”

Samuel stared blankly while that other claw lowered too, but not to strike or grab him. Aodh presented him the wisp he snared from him, keeping it still in front of his green eyes. An odd offer was presented too, something that was dreadful and encouraging at once.

“Go on, take and consume it as you wished. Tear the barrier that keeps us demons trapped and hunt for more souls in the living realm. Gain strength, as much as you can… because I will be waiting for your return. You will be back eventually, and I shall remind you of your claims.”

It took Samuel a minute, but one of his claws eventually moved. It did so shakily, but Aodh did not blame him for it, knowing that the mere sight of his presence made many faint or crumble in terror.

Sam took the soul into his hold again, staring down at its desperate and pained squirms in apprehensive bewilderment. He did not dare move while Aodh leaned away, multiple cliffs breaking down as he turned to leave. There was one last warning, about something that was certain.

“If this soul does grant you enough strength to ascend back, remember that you won’t have much time. Whatever purity we consume never lasts for long. Hunting the living is not as easy as seizing prey here… You will struggle, and surely fail, sooner or later.”

Each step caused a rumble, as intense as an earthquake. He could have very easily dropped to his knees with their force, but what made him kneel was the sight of Aodh digging away into the earth.

He sat there, his nails stabbing deeper into the soul in instinct. No matter how much he tried to breathe in and out, it was not helping him ground himself.

His green eyes slowly glanced at the wisp, which was still struggling to escape his grasp for dear life. All ever slowly, his gaze twisted. What had been a dreadful scowl turned into a resentful and angry sneer, his next growl prideful.

He teared the wisp in two, snarling as he ripped it into smaller pieces, which he quickly bit into. Each thread struggled to escape his mouth, yet he did not allow the light to flow away. Gasping, he swallowed everything frantically, his mind full of rage and impotence.

Each breath made his heartbeat drum faster, while his body felt heavier, stronger. Soon, no light was left, all hidden inside him. When his eyes opened again, they seemed to be aflame, his horns enlarging.

He stood with a silent hiss and glared up at the twisting blackness that separated them from the living. A furious smirk grew on his lips, as he thought of dragging another soul here to devour… one pure enough to grant him the strength he needed to rip that beast apart.