It stood there, at the edge of the worlds …

Well, stood isn’t the right word since it has no legs … but who cares.

It stood there, at the edge of the worlds, fulfilling its purpose. Observing unseen and protecting the mortals from their own foolishness. It arrived the moment it sensed the magic build up. A declining empire decided to open a portal to some other world, hoping plundered resources will shift the tide in its favor. These people decided to put the whole world at risk to erase their own mistakes, a choice the mortals love making when they don’t perform well.

But it didn’t stop them, as it had no right to do so. Still, it wasn’t worried. It knew such an undertaking is massive in scope, which means many things can, and will, go wrong. It was ages since the last time someone dared to do something similar, and back then it was done by the people who were far more competent than this rabble. There was no doubt in its mind the spell will fail spectacularly at one point.

Still, it had to give it to these people. Although they clearly lacked the talent when it comes to magic, they were at least aware of it, so they decided to take it slow. They poured magic slowly and carefully, throughout many moons.

And it was there during all that time, observing unseen.

The truth is, it had nothing better to do.

Eventually, they managed to pour all the magic they needed in. It was time for the spell to be cast. Once again, they approached the problem carefully. The spell was cast much longer than it was supposed to, but it was worth it. The portal formed steadily.

But once the portal opened, there were no plentiful, fertile lands to be seen on the other side. The spell failed and not in a way it has expected.

Those fools managed to open a portal to hell.

And a frozen one at that.

The crippling cold rushed through the portal as soon as it opened, chilling everyone in an instant. The mortals scattered quickly, running for their lives. The satisfied looks of achievement the mages had on their faces once they realized they succeeded in opening the portal were replaced with pure dread once they’ve realized what they’ve done.

It found all of it amusing though, for it knew there was no immediate danger on the other side.

But something was unnerving about the other world, the frozen hell. It was unlike any other world it had peered into. It was there when opening the portals to the other worlds was a regular occurrence during the time of enlightenment, as the mortals call it, so it got a glimpse of many worlds. But not even the fiery hell the demons came from was similar to this one.

You’d expect hells to be similar, but that wasn’t the case.

The air of this frozen hell was … empty. There was nothing it could latch on to, there was no way for it to explore it. It could only look over the edge, going further into the nothingness would certainly spell its doom. Only once before has it seen a world it couldn’t explore, and that world was nothing like this frozen hell.

In both of those cases, there was no magic in the world.

And yet, both of them were full of life.

At first glance, this new world appeared to be a frozen wasteland. Frozen water was everywhere. And yet, life was there, right in front of the portal.

All around it.

Since the worlds collided, a small window of magic forced itself into hell, just how the cold had forced itself into its world. And that meant it could step into hell. Just a little bit, but it was enough.

Step … bad choice of words once again.

Anyway, once it had entered the hell, it realized the portal had opened in the middle of a forest.

And what a forest it was, a forest unlike any other.

It was impressed with the trees. Although those trees weren’t splendorous as some trees from its own world, they were without a doubt the proudest trees it had ever felt. All of them were rugged and unmoving. They stood tall, big, and defiantly green. In a place devoid of any magic, without any fertile land, and in a freezing cold, these trees stood proudly, defying everyone and everything. Their very existence was a challenge to the gods, a dare to make anything similar and fail.

Trees in hell … who would’ve thought?

After a few days, animals appeared. Impressive beasts, strong and enduring. The chilling cold didn’t bother them at all. Their furs and hides were so thick, regular mortal weapons would have very little chance of piercing them. And even if they did, it would serve no other purpose but to enrage the beast, for its hulking frame could easily take such punishment.

Seeing the beasts, it decided to give the mortals a hand (yeah, I know) and create an illusion on the other side. There was no magic in the other world, but there was enough of it along the edge to make a sustainable illusion along the entire portal. In a few moments, the spell was cast, and a mirage was created to cover up the portal from the other side. The side placed in its world looked like a regular portal, while on the other side the portal was hidden entirely. The only thing that could indicate something was odd was the lower amount of snow around the portal as a lot of it got thrown into its world.

And an aura of dread it enchanted the portal with.

“That should keep those beasts out,” it thought. It wasn’t proud of its work at all. There was nothing special about it in its mind.

“It just needs to do its job.”

With the illusion and the aura in place, the beasts lost interest in the portal. So, a few days passed where it did nothing besides admiring the trees on the other side.

And eventually, they came.

First, it heard the sound, the sound similar to the horses galloping in the sky. It couldn’t help but wonder: “Why would any creature gallop in the sky? The pegasi fly with their wings, they don’t need to use their legs.” Yet, the sound was the same as if the hooves were hitting the sky.

It could hear whatever was galloping going around and around. Still, it was slowly getting closer and closer.

Its assumption that something was hitting the sky was right, but it wasn’t the hooves.

The sound was produced by the chariots, two of them. Flying chariots made from unnatural materials. It could sense the metals were mixed with all kinds of stuff to create a material far superior to what can be found in nature.

And there they were, inside of those chariots.

The demons. And just like everything in this hell, they were empty.

Once it sensed the chariots properly, it quickly understood the principles those were working on. An insanely flammable fuel was being burned on top of the chariot, right above its passengers’ heads. The enormous heat produced that way was being converted into motion energy, which was then used to spin massive blades that would cut right through the air. These chariots were literally cutting their way through the air.

Peering into the passengers’ minds, it understood their language quickly. And it was pleasantly surprised when it learned how they named the contraptions carrying them.

Choppers.

These demons seem quite logical and to the point.

What surprised it even more was that all the passengers knew exactly how their flying chariots work. They knew they were sitting right below the burning inferno, which depended on unbelievable balance to work right. They knew the machinery could break easily and kill all of them. They even trained what to do once the inevitable happens and it does break.

Yet, they didn’t care.

There was no doubt in its mind the ones riding those infernal chariots were demons. Only the demons could show such disregard for their safety. Only the demons would trade their safety for convenience.

For several days, those chariots were coming and going. And every time they’d come right at the portal’s position without fail. That’s because, although these demons were empty themselves, they’ve created contraptions that could detect energy for them.

So, they knew something was there, in the woods. They just couldn’t see it due to the illusion.

Eventually, once they realized they wouldn’t find anything from the skies, they sent some of them on foot. Since those chariots couldn’t land in the middle of a lush forest, frost demons showed once again just how little they care about their lives. They dropped their people, from the chariots flying in the sky, with nothing but a rope for the poor sods to hold onto.

And it actually worked.

The beasts scattered a long time ago, as soon as the flying chariots started circling around. The dread they felt told it everything it needed to know about these demons. Now the horrifying demons stalked the land, and no beast would dare oppose them.

They found the portal very quickly, despite the illusion, which made sense. As soon as it understood those sky chariots, it knew it would be impossible to stop them from crossing the portal.

The one thing that surprised it though was how easily they ignored the aura of dread coming from the enchantment. It felt their fear, but it didn’t expect them to feel excited about it.

It could swear the demons enjoyed the spooky atmosphere.

The way they found the portal can only be explained as a product of a stupidly genius idea. They noticed the amount of snow was much smaller in front of the portal, so they started throwing snowballs around. Soon enough, one disappeared right in front of their eyes.

However, contrary to what people would expect the demons to do, they didn’t summon a horde to go on a rampage. These demons were very careful. First, they sent their crawling constructs, then their flying constructs. For several moons, they probed the other side while collecting the samples.

Once they’ve realized there are people on the other side, the demons started communicating with them indirectly. The demons sent their books, so people on the other side knew what to expect. Surprisingly, they had no horns.

The excitement these demons felt was very contagious, and it felt exhilarated as it observed them do their work. The enthusiasm the demons showed when solving all kinds of problems was beyond anything it felt before. The demons were eager to meet the people on the other side, not to conquer them but just to interact with them. One wouldn’t expect that from the creatures coming straight out of the hell, but it made perfect sense once it learned more about them. Now that the area around the portal has been secured, the demons started bringing their scholars in. And their minds revealed the truth of this hell to it.

These demons, who call themselves humans, were eager to meet the other species because all the other sapient species of their world were exterminated a long time ago, by the very world they live in. In its insatiable hunger, the hell they live in had swallowed everyone else, and it waited eagerly for the day it will feast upon their species too. They were all alone in a dark, uncaring universe.

That made it sympathetic towards them.

Finally, a day came when the chosen one of their species was about to be sent to the other world.

A perfect example of their species stood alone in front of the portal, defying the aura of dread surrounding it. But not because he was an incredibly courageous individual, the suit he was wearing made him immune to the aura.

He wasn’t defying the aura himself. His people made it irrelevant through their collective labor.

Armed with the will and the wit of his people, he was ready to close the gap between the two worlds and plunge everyone and everything into the unknown.

“Ground control to Major Tom,” he heard an oddly melodic voice over the radio.

“I hear you loud and clear, over!”

“Ground control to Major Tom.”

“I repeat, I hear you loud and clear, over. Can you hear me?”

“Take your protein pills and put your helmet on.”

“… the fuck are you talking about? I’m in a hazmat suit. Over!”

“Ground control to Major Tom.”

“…”

“Commencing countdown, engines on.”

“Are you fucking serious?”

“Check ignitionnn and may god’s love be with youuuu.”