This Hell place was a wonderful. It had many things that the endless void did not. It had an up and down. It had air. It had heat. It had physical material such as rocks, plants and animals. And most importantly, it had efficient grind spots. Devouring hordes of mindless demons of all sizes was far more nourishing than the reapers ever were. The lesser demons that made up the majority of the population were about the same strength as the peaceful executioners of the void. The greater demons were actually rather annoying in large numbers. And then, there were archdemons.

 

--

 

"Is that all? How very disappointing. You really got my hopes up." A distorted symphony of voices called out to its opponent.

"Shut up!" The clearly irritated opponent cleverly rebutted.

The two combatants were fighting so fiercely that the surroundings have been all but destroyed. An archdemon which resembled a man in a black suit was fighting a slightly transparent humanoid mass of grey smoke. 

Beams of pure destructive energy, streaks of red lightning, waves of black fire, showers of spears, dagger like spikes and jets of pressurized air raced through the sky, each side attempting to dodge as much as possible without stopping their offensive. This beautiful and deadly dance in the skies of hell concluded with yet another victory for the strange outsider. It was hardly close, but, to be fair, having an easily angered opponent did simplify things.

"You coward." the dying demon spat. The grey from just watched from a distance as another opponent died. She found no happiness in victory, no meaning in combat. She fought to get stronger. She got stronger to fight better. She had no purpose other than survival.

 

--

 

There was almost nothing left. The first layer of Hell laid empty and desolate. The second and third layer was drained of all life with a surprisingly intact landscape. The fourth one was a blazing fire from the battle that had taken place.

"You will never rule Hell, mortal." A man in a tattered royal suit of red and black said weakly. He had many wounds including two stumps on his back which were once his wings. Surrounding him was a pile of bodies that had yet to disperse as the magical density was far too high. He knew he would soon follow the fate of his army.

The grey figure just stared at him. She was in an even worse state. Her left leg was missing. Her right hand and a side of her head was missing. She had so many deep wounds that it was hard to find a part of her left untouched. And yet she still stood. And yet the king of Hell was writhing on the ground. She pointed her remaining hand at her adversary. A single bolt of red lightning to deliver the killing blow. Soon after all the bodies turned into smoke and were sucked into a vortex so powerful it shook the very foundations of Hell.

 

--

 

??? "Oh dear, a world's hell was absorbed by a stray spirit."

??? "What was a spirit doing in hell?"

??? "I say spirit mainly because of its power. It appears it used to be a regular soul that was caught up in Limbo and refused to move on."

??? "Why are mortals so against the idea of dying? Don't they live their entire life knowing they would die?"

??? "Beats me."

??? "...sooo...will you do something, or should I?"

??? Sigh "I'll go."

??? "Thanks, you're the best!"

 

--

 

She was quite drowsy after waking up from a food coma. She found herself in the void once more, except now her senses could detect anything within what just might have been a lightyear.

"Still no other gate, must've been quite lucky to be so close to this one."

"Do you often talk to yourself?" She heard an enchanting female voice. The problem was: she couldn't sense her at all.

"Only after meals, I find it helps me digest everything that has happened." to this reply came only a laugh.

"So, might I ask how I can be of assistance?" She asked while looking around. The moment she caught onto a presence, she turned and bombarded that spot with everything she had.

"How rude." The unknown female voice said with clearly faked sadness. Once the smoke from the spells dissipated a woman of inhuman beauty was revealed. Her skin was smooth and flawless, her eyes like stars and her hip long raven black hair drifted weightlessly. She was completely unharmed and so was her simple black dress. "And useless."

"It was worth a shot." The grey figure replied nonchalantly.

"Why? Because so far everything you've met has tried to kill you?"

"Either that or they just ran…..huh, guess I fit right in."

"Right..." The woman put on an awkward smile "Oh, my name is Mystra, goddess of magic by the way." she tried to act like a forgetful ditz, but the performance was just sad.

"Mhm."

"What do you mean 'mhm'?!" The goddess yelled while waving with her hands. After taking a second to collect herself she continued: "You have managed to become very powerful through your own efforts and absorbed an entire plane of existence. You are quite the specimen." She stopped for dramatic purposes. "While I must congratulate you, I'd also like to ask you to not do that again, lest you bring too many worlds out of balance."

The grey figure blinked a few times before replying. Or at least she would've, but she didn't exactly have facial features. "So….I'm not getting killed?"

Mystra smiled warmly. "Not by me, that's a certainty. We aren't really supposed to interact directly with worlds, just keep the integrity of the rules by which reality must abide. The closest I could do to punishment would be to bring you to the council of spirits that govern the world you brought out of balance. They would, however, most likely just thank you."

"Why's that?"

"Each physical realm ruled by spirits has its assigned 'hell' and they sometimes connect. This is meant to challenge the world, to incite progress and innovation. You just ate their boogeyman."

"In my defense I was left unsupervised."

The goddess once more laughed "Yes, our hands-off approach with the afterlife doesn’t really work with overly willful people such as yourself, we’ve had quite a few similar cases already. Although they didn't devour a hell, so you are still an outlier."

"Reincarnation? You're saying I could've just waited and I would've been fine?"

"Pretty much. Souls cannot be destroyed, so they simply lose their memories when ‘killed’. After losing your memories you would’ve reincarnated."

“Isn’t losing all your memories and becoming a completely new person the same as dying?” The goddess just smiled warmly in response as if looking at a naive child."I see… What now?"

"Now I try to bribe you not to devour more planes."

“No need to bribe me, airline food is quite bad."

Mystra laughed "You amuse me. It’s a shame you really think you can fool me that easily. You might be a better actor than me but I can pretty much read your mind.”

“Whatever might you be talking about?” The voices started out with a playful tone but by the end of the sentence they had become a single monotone voice devoid of any emotion.

Mystra smiled slyly. “That’s more like it. Now, what do you ask for?”

 

--

 

A single wooden carriage drawn by two horses was moving through the winding roads in the Valrose woods. That was until it was suddenly forced to stop. The coachman simply yelled at the three black robed creeps standing on the road. "Oy, get outta the way! We’re in a hurry!"

The three figures began to chant perfectly synchronized: "In the name of demon lord Akiran may the fires of the underworld bend to our will and-" "Annoying." A girl twelve years of age had leaned out the window, and shot a massive bolt of red lightning at the three robed men. After a flash brighter than the Sun and a noise louder than a roar from the mightiest of dragons there was no trace of the robed men, not even ashes. The driver just stared blankly at the small crater. He then turned to see the girl was right in front of him preparing to punch him in the face. And the world turned black.