Reborn to Devour: A Demonic LitRPG

[Ishmael]

Something was strange.

I had stepped triumphantly from the misty region that served as the border between realms only to find a ticketing office and a set of turnstiles. Neither Yoshitsune nor Vendetta had joined me, but I had expected that our times within realms would not be the same. I looked around to see nothing else but a set of sliding glass doors behind me. I could see a world outside that delivered striking feelings of sentimentality.

A frozen landscape that was a mirror of the world that I once lived in sat just on the other side of these doors. Commuting cars were stopped dead in their tracks. Leaves dislodged from a tree by the wind never managed to float all the way to the ground. And people on the sidewalks stopped mid-step.

People.

Human beings. It had been such a long time seeing so many in one place that it felt uncanny to me; as though they were mannequins or humans crafted from a foggy memory. My mind struggled to reconcile that I was once one of these people.

I had grown so accustomed to my transformation that I no longer saw myself in them. Despite how much nicer that realm was to where I currently existed, I could not say that I missed it. I missed eating a nice burger or drinking a cold beer or relaxing under the sun, but I did not miss being a human being. I did not miss the feeling of being the one that didn’t belong.

My hands moved away from the doors that separated these worlds. I turned my back to the doors and moved further inside this building.

When I reached the ticket office, I saw that nobody stood behind the counter. I stuck my head through the window, but saw no doors or spaces for someone to hide. I shrugged and moved to vault the turnstiles and continue onwards.

A mana barrier smacked me in the face and sent me stumbling backwards. A curse left my mouth as I rubbed my stinging snout. I reached out my claw and slowly dug them into the magical surface to test its durability. It felt like scratching a brick wall with a fingernail and did not give at all.

Notice

Ticket Required

I sighed and turned to go back to the ticket office. Still, there was nobody there and no tickets sitting on the counter to grab.

“Hello?” I asked like an idiot.

Nothing responded to my voice. I walked around the side of the ticket office to see if there was anything behind the structure. All I found were stone walls all the way around the building to lead me right back to where I started.

Even though I hadn’t seen a tutorial box in a long time, I could almost anticipate what it would say. It would be something ridiculous like saying “ticket please” or manifesting it with your mind.

Choosing the less annoying of the options, I requested a ticket with my mind. I did try it multiple times; each time with slight phrasing variations. But, it was of little avail. I sighed and quickly looked around to ensure that nobody had magically appeared behind me.

“Fuck it. Ticket please?”

Notice

Profile analysis complete. Ticket awarded.

Please follow the directions and be mindful of other passengers. You will be automatically boarded into your proper seat upon next arrival.

Tickets cannot be exchanged or sold.

With a grumble, I passed through the turnstiles. I felt the mana envelope me and spit me out the other side. Large signs read the word “Terminal” with an arrow directing me forwards.

To either side of me were empty storefronts and restaurants and restrooms sealed behind walls of mana. Brands and items and signage that I had not seen in a long time brought a contorted feeling of nostalgia. A sense of unease crept up the back of my neck as primal forces whispered of unknown danger.

I wondered by whose design this place came to be. If it was one of the five that I had come to know or another’s design. But, I did not think for long. Staying in this place felt wrong.

I moved quickly down the hallway and eventually found the end of the path. A large sign sat overhead that pointed directly down, indicating that my destination awaited below. However, I had also stumbled across life. Various demons were sitting around a set of stairs. My newly arrived presence quickly stole their attention. I slowed down, inspecting each one carefully. They did not look overly impressive, but I knew that it was meaningful that they had managed to reach this place at all.

“Calm your nerves, young buck,” a demon with a salmon’s head informed with a tone of an aged man that idled his waning days on a sunny porch. I could picture a wad of tobacco lodged in his lip and a beer in his hand. “We aren’t going to do anything if you don’t first.”

“Sorry, old timer,” I replied as I relaxed my posture. “This place has me on edge.”

It felt awkward showing hostility to someone with the feeling of a neighborhood grandfather. I was reminded of the aged farmers and tradesmen who drove old sputtering trucks and crowded out the local bars every night like it was church. Every liquor and convenience store in the county was propped up by their patronage. They bitched about everything all the time. The weather, the government, the wife, you; anything that they saw was a nuisance in their experienced eyes. But would give you the shirt off of their backs and their last dollar if they even smelled that you were in some shit.

Out of their memory, I would play nice.

“I’m not reprimanding you, boy,” the salmon said with a chuckle. “This place has all of us a little confused and very tense. Moving up isn’t quite as straightforward as it was last time. Down there is crawling with gangs of demons. If I knew that I wasn’t making the trip alone, I would have planned a little differently.”

“Are they fighting down there?” I asked, the small flicker of interest flickering in my head like a dying filament.

“No, but they are stretched to their mental limits. If you are looking to go down there, I’d fix my expression if I were you,” he advised. “The folks downstairs are restless. Their nerves are frayed by constantly looking over their shoulder. Show up with that bloodthirsty look and they will all turn on you. But, you are more than welcome to stay up here and wait with the rest of us. We will not be left behind up here.”

“I appreciate it, but I’d like to see it more myself first,” I replied with a nod.

“Suit yourself. The offer stays, regardless of what condition you may return to us in.”

Not to speak ill of my elder, but, staying up here without seeing the scene for myself would be a disgrace. I descended the stairs to see a large pavilion made of gray stone. From all appearances, it could only be a train station. A set of tracks ran the entire length of the building. Clocks that didn’t move sat at regular intervals set to different times of day.

A giant board read out the next arrival as: Soon.

And, like the elder salmon had stated, it was choked with demons sitting and lounging around like they were all hiding out from a natural disaster or an air raid. They hunkered down in groups; many of which shared commonly styled armor or colors. Wide spaces between crowds showed the dividing lines between alliances. There were not any open hostilities in these places, but the suspicious gazes constantly ricocheted between them.

As though an unspoken truce rang out, the untrusting gazes turned my way. I had to instinctively resist the urge to respond with malice and allowed the sage words of the elder salmon to guide my way.

I raised my hands, the only way I could think of how to make myself seem unthreatening. A few demons rose from their position and moved to greet me at the base of the stairs. A demon with the head of a lion led the group.

“Hail, newcomer, I am Brother Roderick, Captain of the seventy-third Grigori chapter and acting leader of our small cohort,” the lion introduced. “I apologize for the cool welcome, we have been down here for quite some time. Who may you be?”

“My name is Ishmael,” I replied with as warm a smile as I could produce. Even if I had just quarreled with their allies, I had no reason to reignite those hostilities for no reason.

“Ishmael…” Brother Roderick spoke to himself. “You have a good, Christian name. Tell me, do you have a favorite verse from the good book?”

“Psalm 23:4,” I answered with a deadpan expression.

The Grigori exchanged glances before nodding at each other.

“Your answer is acceptable,” Brother Roderick said with a reluctant nod. “If you are willing to assist us in maintaining order over this place, we will allow you to stay here and receive our protection.”

“Fine,” I grunted.

“Find a spot wherever and await future orders. You’ll know if we need you,” the Grigori Captain said before turning their attention elsewhere.

I took a short stroll through the area before finding an unoccupied stone bench. I planted myself on the seat and pressed my hand to my chin to make a statuesque pose. A sharp exhale left my nostrils as I waited for the train to arrive.

Nothing interesting happened anywhere around me. Like a cold war, the tension in the room never boiled over. Words never led to action. Any signs of scuffle were immediately intervened upon and mediated between the leaders of the affected groups. These competent displays of leadership bored me.

Eventually, I stopped showing any interest in any of the sounds that surrounded me. Until I saw the demons around me leapt into action or blood coat the floor, nothing was worth my time.

I turned into a gargoyle sculpted atop this bench, only rising when the Grigori ordered me to patrol. As I walked the border between groups, part of me wanted to instigate conflict. There had to be someone else that was willing to fight. But, all I just saw were cowards that didn’t want to risk anything when they were so close to moving on. Nobody knew what happened if you were reduced back down to Level 19, and nobody wanted to be the one to find out.

And, after all of this time, I had not gotten a single hint of Yoshitsune or Vendetta’s arrival. Perhaps they had joined a different group in a different part of the terminal. My hasty affiliations made it impossible to find out myself.

I fell into routine; the mind-numbing monotony that I hated about mundane life. A mantra of endurance scrolled through my mind. I just had to wait for the train to arrive.

But, the clocks never moved and the arrival board said the same four letter word no matter how many times you looked at it. My feet stepped on the same stone floor and sat on the same stone bench over and over and over and over and over. Eventually, I was only left with a single thought.

How long had I been here?

“How could I pick a single verse?” A familiar voice yapped and yanked me out of my half-comatose state. “To choose a single verse from the good book would be like daring to choose the favorite of God’s children! It is simply impossible. My apologies, but I cannot fulfill your request.”

The regular Grigori welcome party barred the path of a hyena in a blue coat. They held their arms extended to either side as though they were about to give Brother Roderick a hug. However, they looked unimpressed.

“Fine,” Capitaine with a sigh. “Would Proverbs 13:20 allow you to see reason? I worry that you have been overexposed to demons of paranoid disposition. Was it in your teachings to greet everyone you meet with such sharp distrust?”

“You are right, we have been too untrusting,” Brother Roderick said with a sigh. “You are welcome to join us.”

Capitaine began to prowl around the area, looking back and forth intently. I lowered my head and looked at the floor, hoping beyond hope that they would find somewhere else to exist and someone else to bother.

“Friend!”

My solitude was not meant to be. The hyena seemed like they had perfect knowledge of my location at all times.

“Don’t fucking ‘friend’ me,” I spat. “Why is the fuck is it you that I see first? How the fuck did you get here at all?”

“Well, I am not certain as to how to answer your first question,” Capitaine answered with a thoughtful tilt of their head. “But, I can answer your second question quite simply. I thought that if I asked to join you, you might kill me. So I followed you instead. You didn’t expect me to stay around and face the aftermath on my own, did you?”

“So why are you standing next to me then?”

“I don’t know anyone else,” Capitaine replied with a shrug. “These Grigori weren’t the ones in Brunswick when I was last there. They didn’t even know that I was a wanted criminal. I almost feel disappointed to be forgotten in this way.”

“I don’t care.”

Why did they continue to try to speak to me? Even after our previous run-ins and my constant hostility, they always ignored it in pursuit of their own wants. The threat of death meant nothing to them. At least, in that way, they showed more backbone than anyone else in the fucking dreary place.

“Is what I did so worthy of your eternal scorn?” Capitaine said with a sigh. “We’re going to go to an unknown place, isn’t it better to be allied with someone you know than someone you don’t?”

I scratched my scales with my claws. As much as I loathed Capitaine as a being, they always knew how to show their value. I shifted on the bench and allowed a spot for the hyena to sit.

“Just don’t annoy me.”