Beginning at the End

"Hakken Slash. The mighty hero. Legendary Class. Fallen. Dead, dead, dead." A low dry rasping voice says from above you. "He he he he. Such a shame."

You are on your hands and knees, your head bowed. Hard packed red sand beneath you. Your lungs burned and your teary eyes stung.

How did you get here? What was happening? You couldn't remember...you just...couldn't...remember.

You feel his presence at your side. You feel his power and grandeur without even looking up. You could just see the glint of a black cloven hoof out of the corner of your eye. You try to look his direction but find you cannot. Your mind rebelling against the command. Refusing to look at something that was too terrible to comprehend.

You knew who it was you were prostrate before. One of the great lords of hell. Lord Grim. But why? Why were you here?

"Dead?" You gasp before coughing out the dust choked air. "It can't...be..."

"He he he. Oh yes, even a hero like yourself cannot live forever. You chose a dangerous line of work. It was bound to catch up with you." The hot hiss of his breath flays the back of your neck. "You weren't alone, your **** was followed by many many more. Thousands of souls. Those you were protecting. Those who were looking up to you, depending on you. Their screams were...delicioussss."

You couldn't remember any of it, but in your tortured heart you knew he spoke the truth. You could not stand. You could not even raise your head. You continue to stare at the cracked earth beneath you. Your tears falling and soaked up into the baked crimson sand in an instant.

"You're...you're not my god! Why have you claimed my soul?"

"Ohhhh foolish mortal. You thought the being you gave lip service to was your god? You thought us deities care about your gold and silver in our collection plates? Ha ha ha!" His laugh was a parched desert wind. "It is how you live. That is what we care about. Your choices, your actions, what was in your heart. Ha ha ha! Oh no, you are mine. Through and through."

NO! No, no, no! An eternity...here! You had been a hero...hadn't you? It was all so foggy now. So distant. Maybe you weren't perfect. But surely you didn't deserve...this.

NO!

"Yessss!" The Hell Lord rasps, hearing your very thoughts.

You could not stand so instead you buckle. Collapsing the the ground...defeated.

"But..."

But?

"But...it is not everyday I receive a hero of your stature into my realm. I do not want you broken. Not yet. There is fun to be had. I wish to be entertained." You feel him loom down over you, inspecting you closely.

Entertained!? Fun!?

"F-f-fuck you!" You spit, rising once more to your hands and knees.

"Ha ha ha ha! Oh no. When I take you it will be me doing the fucking...mortal"

Every fiber of you wanted to fight him. A fool's errand on the mortal realm. But here, in his domain, he was simply too powerful.

"Don't be angry Race. I'm giving you a second chance. You should be thanking me."

You cough violently, your throat on fire. "...second...chance...?"

"Yes. I'm giving you a way back. A path back to life. Not out of mercy though." You feel a great clawed hand wrap fully around your torso and lift you from the earth. He begins to walk. Carrying you in one hand as easy as you would a lantern. "If you make it, and I do not think you will, I am wagering that you will continue to do my work under the guise of righteousness. Hidden even from yourself. You are a creature of your appetites. I do not believe you can deny your true nature. In the meantime...this should be fun to watch."

You were retching, the toxic atmosphere searing you inside and out. How could you feel such pain if you were dead?

Bobbing up and down limply in the dark Lord's hand you manage to look up. Through stinging tear filled eyes you see a blasted and broken landscape. You see in the distance dark shapes, dark humanoid shapes. You cannot hear them but their movements are those of agony and ****.

Ahead of you is a mountain. An towering peak that dominates the landscape. Piercing the very clouds. At its foot you see an opening. A small cave. It grows closer and closer, the devil's long shaggy legs covering impossible distances with every step.

Like so much trash he tosses you to the mouth of the cave.

"There you are adventurer. Adventure! Prove your worth. Step inside and reclaim your fragile mortality." His dry mocking voice rakes at your soul.

Still you cannot stand. Still you cannot face your tormentor.

All you could think about was escape. He had offered you a way out and you were going to take it. Crawling forward on your hands and knees you enter the cave.

Behind you his dry howling laugh is heard. "Ha ha ha ha!"