"What do you mean? There has to be some way out," I said, trying to calm my growing anxiousness.

The man sitting in front of me just laughed. Then, without warning, he got up and walked off into the distance. I gave chase, but as soon as I reached where he was, he vanished into thin air.

"Hey! Where did you--"

I was cut off as an arm wrapped around my neck and violently yanked me backwards. My vision began to fade and I struggled to keep my eyes open. Before I knew it I was in an area filled with a group of people. There was a single orange flame flickering weakly in the middle of them. They looked like campers sat around a fire.

"A new one, eh?" said a reptilian looking man.

"And a demon at that. So even they can get trapped here," exclaimed a woman sat beside him.

There were around ten others there. However, all of them except the reptilian and the woman were silent and too heavily obscured in darkness to make out their features. I could sense their piercing glares and couldn't help but shudder. The man who I'd first met stood behind me, looking smug.

"Well, I guess karma does exist, right guys?" he said.

"True. I'd never have expected him to end up here. How did it happen then? I thought you were the only one who could do this?"

All of their gazes were fixed on me. I awkwardly began to scratch the side of my face.

"I'm really not sure what you're talking about. Demons come from another world, and I'm very new to this one so I'm gonna need some explanations."

I laughed lightly as I said this, trying to come off as friendly but just seeming awkward.

"Don't lie to us. We know you've been in this world a long time. You're the one who put us here," the reptilian man spoke up.

"I-I never did that. Maybe that was my predecessor. Yeah, it must've been..." I struggled to recall his name, "uhhhh."

"Ok, we'll believe you for now. Also, don't bother trying to remember his name. This place does something to your memory. Try all you want, but if you can't think of it now then it's forever lost," the man behind me said.

"H-how much of my memory will it have taken?"

He narrowed his eyes.

"Not much. Just small stuff like names and times. But the longer you stay here, the less you'll remember. The only thing most of us remember is that you trapped us here. The rest of our memory just comes from the moment we arrived here."

"And there's really no way to get out?"

"Well. I guess there is a way, if you could call it that, but it's practically impossible to actually use it. There was a time when we tried relentlessly to get out. We used the way I referred to. But everytime, no matter how hard we tried, we never could get out. We tried for what felt like centuries, never getting any closer to escape. And now..."

"And now what?"

"And now we no longer desire to escape. We've lost nearly all of our memories of what it was like outside. This is our life now. We wouldn't know what to do if we got out. In all likelihood we probably wouldn't last long out there. Even if we retained our memories, think about how much time has passed. We wouldn't recognize the world anymore anyway. No one we knew would still be alive. Would you really want to go back to a world like that?"

I thought for a second.

"Yeah. Yeah, I would. I've already been thrust away from my old world and into this one. I've already done it once before. So, even if it takes me centuries. Even if it damn near kills me, I'll do whatever I can to get out. I refuse to live in this...place forever. I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to get the hell out of here and then I'm gonna kill the stupid bastard who put me here in the first place. And then...and then I'll finish the job. I'll kill the rest of his pathetic little friends! I'm getting so fired up at the thought, I may even just march straight into a human town and kill the hero while I'm at it."

The man grinned at me.

"I like you. I have no idea what half of what you just said meant, but it's gonna be fun to watch your confidence slowly break. You're my new source of entertainment in this boring world. The more fired up and confident you are that you'll escape, the greater the despair you'll fall into when you realise you can't. It should be fun to watch unfold."

I reciprocated his ominous smile.

"So, how do I get out?"

"Well, let me first explain where this place is. Where we are now isn't the same plain of existence as where you once were. We're in another dimension. This world is created by the spell that was used to trap us here. The only points of entry and exit from here are those where this spell has been cast. In order to return to your dimension you'll have to walk far away. In any direction. Once you get far enough, the test will start. You walking away from where you entered is a sign to this place that you desire to take the test and leave."

"A test?"

"Yes. A test of mental fortitude. This place has the ability to see your most painful memories. You'll be forced to relive those until you find the exit."

"And how do I find this exit?"

"Hell if I know. I'd assume it has something to do with your memories. Something relevant to you."

I nodded and looked sternly into the never-ending sea of black.

"Time to get moving then, eh?"

***

My legs were numb. I'd been walking for what had felt like six hours. Nothing had happened. I had just been strolling through darkness for the entire time. I fell down to my knees and let a large sigh break loose.

"When will this test begin already?"

As if hearing my complaint, a bright jet of light emerged from the black and engulfed me. Before I knew it, I was standing in a city. I recognized the towering buildings around me and the smell of cigarettes and coffee that bombarded my nostrils. I was back home. I glanced down and saw that my body was human. I wasn't far from my workplace. After a wave of relief and joy washed over me, I came to my senses and surmised that this was probably just part of the test.

I began walking forwards cautiously. My pupils darted around in my eyes, looking for something to help me get out. As I was distracted looking around, I heard a piercing scream ripple through the crowds of people that I found myself drenched in. I looked over some of their shoulders and noticed a man carrying a knife soaked in blood and a corpse lying on the ground before him.

No sooner did I notice it, than the entire crowd surrounding me vanished into thin air. I was just stood there, looking at the killer. He now had his arm firmly wrapped around a woman's neck and was holding his crimson knife up to her chest.

I recoiled in horror, remembering something I thought I'd buried.

"You bastard!" she screamed.

However, rather than screaming at the killer, she was directing her anger at me.

"You did this! You gave me to him! I'm dead because of you!"

"No, I only did it to--" I stuttered.

"And after that, you couldn't even save your own worthless life."

I felt wells of tears breaking from my eyes. She was right.

"But it all worked out for you. You got a second chance. I didn't get that privilege."

"No, I didn't want that. I'm sorry. I-I--"

"It's all your fault. I'm dead because of you."

The killer then drove his knife violently into her chest and a physically impossible amount of blood sprayed from it. He looked up and smiled eerily at me.

"How many more would it have been?"

"What?" I said in a weak voice, quivering.

"How many more. If you hadn't stopped running, how many more people would you have thrown to me in order to save yourself."

"I-um--"

"Selfish bastard. You deserve to rot forever and you know that, right? You got lucky, you asshole. Every time you go outside, you sentence another person to eternal damnation whilst you get to live out a second life as an all-powerful demon. And you have the audacity to complain about it."

"What do you--"

"Confused? Let me fill you in on something, there is no paradise after death. Just eternal pain, torment and grief. And think of how many you've sent to experience that."

I could barely speak. I bit my bottom lip, wiped away my tears and started shouting.

"No! You're just messing with me. You're just saying that. I'd never send anyone to experience something like that."

"You can deny all you want, but it's true."

I started to run away and my head slammed into the stone wall of a small hut. I was now standing in a small village. The woman was stood in front of me again, blood still gushing from her wound.

"Looks like I was just the first of many."

The killer was standing behind me, wearing his trademarked sadistic grin. Small families began to step slowly out of the village huts surrounding me.

"Is that the one who did it, Mummy?" a small girl asked her mother.

"He's the one who killed us, isn't he?" her brother asked.

"Why did he do it? We were happy. Why did he take that away?" the girl questioned, small tears forming in her eyes.

"I hate you!" the boy shouted at me.

Their mother remained silent and stared at me with a melancholic and distant expression. The killer started laughing behind me.

"Haha. Look at how many people you've killed. The children, too? You really are scum."

I realised I was now back in my demonic form and found myself unable to cry. I started to feel a little remorseful.

"I had to or the Devil King might've killed me," I shouted in an attempt to justify my actions.

"Ha. What a load of crap. You think he'd kill his brand new henchman. And how would he get a new one? Your predecessor had to choose to pass on his role. You wouldn't have done that if the Devil King was the cause of your death. Maybe you did it to impress the girl. To make your dream of having a harem come true. You'd really slaughter a group of innocent people just to get laid?"

"Hey, that's not--"

"No. Maybe you were really scared of the Devil King. Maybe you're just an idiot. Your own idiocy led to the deaths of all of these people. But, you felt pleasure when killing them didn't you. You killed the woman in your old world to save yourself but now you're a full-blown sadist."

I covered my head with my hands as he kept on shouting. The voices of the villagers and the woman created a cacophony of misery around me as they all began to scream.

"You killed us."

"You took everything away."

"It's all your fault."

I felt despair rush over my body and I started screaming at the top of my lungs. They were all right. I'd killed all of them. And for what? I wished I'd never been summoned. I wished that the killer had never stabbed me with that knife. I wished I wasn't chosen to be the next henchman.

Wait. That was it! The exit!

I shakily stood up, feeling weak and numb all over from the pain of the guilt.

"I've already crossed dimensions once before. All because of a stabbing. So it should be simple to do again, right?"

I rushed to the killer, who still had a grin dominating his face, and grabbed his knife. Unhesitatingly, I plunged it deep into my chest. Blood began to pour from my wound and I felt immense pain surge over me. The crimson liquid trickled slowly from my mouth. The blade had easily pierced my demon skin and my vision was fading.

"Well done, you selfish bastard," the killer said to me as everything returned to darkness.

Before I knew it, I was in a purely black space, just like before. Several passageways opened up before me. I assumed they led to all of the locations that the spell that created this place had been cast. The old guy had told me that they were the only exits, after all. I set off down the one right in front of me, strangely confident that it would lead back to Sevitar's kingdom.

I still felt horrible after what had just happened. I felt like I needed to atone. But the experience did give me a newfound confidence in my decision-making.

After some walking, I reached an end to the passageway. It was a bright, white door. I opened it and stepped through. As soon as I left I found myself back in Sevitar's kingdo--wait. I wasn't there. I had no idea where I was. I turned around, panicking, only to see that the door I had used was no longer there. I could only find it in myself to utter one word.

"Crap!"