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DYK 1.2 Registration part 1
🕑 Added 2019-03-14 10:03:34 +0000 UTC
It took some time for Theo to finally settle himself into the reality he now inhabited. How much time, who could say? On a small patch of rock floating in an endless nothing, beneath the ever-burning sky of the Endless Chaos, what the heck does time matter? All in all, he didn't consider it to be completely his fault, no matter how irritated Bbl became. He had appeared here, without any clear memory of his past, into a place that defied every aspect of the concept of 'normal' that he somehow maintained.
Taking some time to examine his own mind had helped somewhat. There were many words and concepts that still made sense to him, some were comforting whereas others were confronting, and he couldn't quite remember why either of those might be the case.
He was human, he knew that much. His name was Theodore Gray, he knew that too. He ran into some trouble when he tried to recall his own age. He knew he wasn't young, he also didn't think he was old. Bbl was over two hundred years in age apparently, and Theo was sure he wasn't that old.
He'd examined his own appearance as much as he could and it felt right to him as much as these things could. He was thin, practically gaunt, with a thinning head of dark hair, wrinkled, pale skin, and long, nervous fingers that seemed to be constantly in motion, twisting through each other, reaching up to brush his face or tapping against the side of his leg. He'd had to ask Bbl what colour his eyes were and the crab suggested they were dark brown, almost black.
He also was naked, which distressed him.
"I understand not having a shell or some kind of protective layer is wrong, but I thought you flesh bags are all like that. Why get upset about it now?" Bbl demanded, frustrated by their slow progress.
"I don't know!" Theo replied, exasperated, "I just feel like I should have clothes on. I feel … exposed."
"To what? There is only me here and I care not how you appear, skin sack", Bbl gestured towards Theo's nakedness with one casual claw, "besides, as I've said, if you proceed with activating the Realm Stone, you'll be able to resolve your… nudity, during the registration process."
Theo sighed. Ever since he had reached the slightest modicum of peace within himself at his knew existence, Bbl had been insisting he get on with the process of getting his Demonic hell empire up and running so they could start torturing souls as soon as possible. The next step consisted of activating the Realm Stone and undergoing some sort of 'Registration' process. The crab's descriptions of said process had left Theo's head spinning, it all seemed so bizarre, but there had been one point the former Demon had continually insisted on.
"If you want to me to keep you around so badly" Theo snapped at his crustacean companion, "don't you think you should speak a little more politely?"
Bbl froze for a moment on his rock, his eight legs twitching a little before he turned to look up at Theo. "No? My words are eminently sensible and the best course of action for you! Would I be worth retaining as an advisor if I weren't frank with you?"
Theo had to admit that the tiring crab had a point. Bbl had been at pains to point out that his life was quite literally held within Theo's hands at this moment. Separated from the Realm Stone, Bbl was no longer a 'Great Spirit', and without a source of power to maintain his existence he would eventually fade into nothing. He was running on fumes now apparently, the barest wisp of what he had been able to save. In order to preserve himself, he was attempting to convince Theo to take him on formally as his advisor during the registration.
Theo felt vaguely uncomfortable at the idea of having a hand in Bbl's death, on the other hand he also found the crab quite irritating. Something within himself suggested that wasn't a good enough reason to let him die and Theo felt inclined to agree.
"Alright, fine" he breathed, "how do we start this registration again?"
Bbl leaped with delight and clacked his claws. "Excellent. Finally you have seen sense, human! Now remember, it is most important that you put my name forward as your advisor. They won't suggest on their own, it has to come from you."
"Yes, yes" Theo nodded, "so what do I need to do?"
"Simple take the Stone and hold it in one hand. The registration should begin automatically."
"Alright."
The newly crowned king of his personal slice of Hell reached down to the pick up the inoffensive red stone that was at the centre of his new existence. It was warm to the touch. The heat on his skin was pleasant but also shocking. Only now, as the unnaturally smooth stone nestled in his palm did Theo realise that he hadn't been felt temperature in this place until this moment. He was neither hot nor cold, nor was the stone beneath his feet. Perhaps that is why it took so long for him to register his lack clothing?
How long would he have to hold this -
POP!
Agonizing pain exploded inside Theo's head! So intense he couldn't breathe, couldn't scream!
He shut his eyes and clawed at his head desperately, trying to relieve the pain.
Then it was gone.
There was a heavy sigh.
"Please step into the bathroom through there and put on the clothes that you find inside" the Demon said slowly.
Theo blinked. What happened?! One second he was in agony and now he was, apparently, in what looked to be a reception desk in an 80's office. There was even a water cooler against the left side wall!
Behind the desk sat a Demon. Technically, Theo was a Demon himself, he understood that somewhat, but this a proper Demon. Bright red skin, little horns protruding from a bald head, fashionable goatee and for whatever reason, a pitchfork in one hand, despite sitting behind a desk in an office chair.
The Demon sighed once again and Theo noticed that his teeth had been filed into sharp points. "Are you going to get dressed or not, Mr Gray?" he drawled.
"Hah!"
Having had his attention drawn to it, Theo finally looked down and realised he was still exposed to the world. With a wordless cry he clapped his hands down to cover up his genitals but exerted a little too much force doing so, bringing a tear to one eye.
Shamefaced, but maintaining his slim shield, Theo hobbled to the door the Demon had indicated and inside found a small, white tiled bathroom with a plastic hanging plant and mirror. He also found a simple set of clothes on a hanger which he quickly put on and emerged feeling much more comfortable, if still a little tender.
Tentatively, he approached the desk. As he did so he noticed a simple nameplate that read 'Ned'.
"Hello, er, Ned? I believe I'm here for registration?" Theo asked.
He sighed internally at his halting speech. He could feel that talking with others was not one of his strengths. Quite the opposite really. The Demon simply ignored him and pressed a button attached a small speaker on his desk.
"Ms Addie, your appointment is here to see you."
"Wonderful" a clipped voice answered instantly, "please send him through."
Rather than get up, the Demon simply pointed at the door next to its desk with one lazy hand. Theo stepped around the desk, keeping an eye on the receptionist Demon as he did so. When the Demon failed to respond to his actions, Theo reached out and turned the handle, pulling the door open only to find someone waiting immediately inside.
"Gah!" Theo yelped in surprise.
"Theodore Gray, welcome to your registration. Give us a shake, all human like. There you go. Welcome, step into my office, don't mind the carpet, it doesn't exist in reality. Sorry about the pain, we like to present ourselves in a way that appears somewhat 'normal' to our new arrivals. Helps put them at ease and all that. Don't worry about Ned, he like to play his jokes. I've asked him not to but he insists on it. Said it 'drives home the reality of the situation' or some such blather. Grab a seat right there. Thanks. How've you been? Enjoying Hell?"
"Ah" Theo gulped, eyes nearly crossed from the machine gun of words smacking him the face.
No sooner had he opened the door than a business like woman with severely tied back brown hair and thick rimmed glasses that took no prisoners had grabbed him by the hand and pulled him into the office, talking in rapid fire, no nonsense way that quite overwhelmed him.
The office itself was unremarkable. Almost oppressively so. Cheap looking office furniture was positioned in an orthodox way away the room, dulling the senses just as quickly as they dulled the mind. On the desk rested a name plate that read 'Addie' and an out of date computer with a CRT monitor. Theo felt both familiar with, and contemptuous of, what he felt was poorly performing tech.
Theo stopped letting his gaze wander around the room and tried to focus on the professionally dressed woman before him.
"I'm, getting there, I suppose?" he stammered.
A knot twisted in Theo's guts. He felt a familiar, resigned frustration welling up in himself. He'd never been adept in social situations, he could feel that. He'd been fine conversing with Bbl, possibly because he was a crab.
For her part, Addie just nodded, gave a tight lipped smile and moved to sit behind her desk, indicating for Theo to pull up a chair, which he did.
"Now then, Theo. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Addie and I serve as the Administrator of Hell, or the Endless Chaos, if you prefer."
She raised one eyebrow at Theo enquiringly and he nodded.
"Right then. A little history. When the multiverse sprung into existence this place was also created. It has always been here. In many ways the Endless Chaos is an intrinsic part of reality, one of the foundation stones, if you will. In this place we are connected to every part of every universe. There's a whole lot of implications to that but we'll go into more detail when your orientation comes around."
Theo's mind spun. Every Universe implied more than one. Multiverse. Just how many possible separate Universes existed?
"Try not to get hung up on the little stuff Theo" Addie advised, watching the confusion play over his face. "The multiverse is big, make a note and move on. The important thing I need to press on you, which I do for all my new arrivals is exactly what it is we do here. What do you think you are here to do, Theo?"
Theo felt his mouth was suddenly quite dry and struggled to swallow, trying to clear his throat.
"Well, I'm a …" cough, "Demon now. I'm here to, uh, torture souls?" once again he managed to end his statement as a question.
Addie once again smiled her perfect, business smile and captured his attention with her eyes. "Not quite Theo. Allow me to clarify in terms I hope you find familiar. You are not so much a Demon as you are a Demon Lord. You are not responsible for torturing souls per se, you are instead tasked with creating and maintaining a realm in which your servants, demons, if you will, carry out that task. What we hope for is a smooth running realm that carries out the intended purpose of the Endless Chaos, extracting pain from the damned and feeding the Endless Chaos with agony as reality intended."
Theo sat, stunned at the onrush of information. A Demon Lord? So he didn't have to torture people? He was more of an … bureaucrat?
He felt a lot better about that.
"Of course you can torture the souls yourself if you prefer" Addie crushed his comfort mercilessly, "We don't care how the pain is extracted, only that it is."
She turned and pressed the button on her intercom.
"Can we get some coffee in here Ned? Thanks."
Comments
Bob
I like it. Pressure to perform. So long as he has a "carrot" to offer of some sort, he can easily get souls to torture themselves. A whore house and tavern, next to a dungeon. That has possibilities on every side. How are you going to quantify "Souls in Hell"? The all inclusive temporary version everyone needs to go through to be purified? You slapped some kid for playing on his phone at a movie theater, that's 22 Pain. With the 99% Luxury tax for choosing Theo's Hell, and the 99% Premium Player Package, minus the 50% for joining the Realm Defense Force, that comes to 44 Pain, rounded up. Or in layman's terms, fighting a loosing fight, naked, against a swarm of sewer rats, non stop, for 6 hours. Then Sin 872 will be off your conscious forever, as if it never happened. But what about kids, the insane, and the pathetic? Sin & Evil are non-discriminatory, so wouldn't that be on him to deal with? That's normally the function of a management system in a Purgatory based Hell.
Couch potato20
lol well thats one way to explain thins =)
