In a vast expanse of nothingness, was a dark husk of a dimension long forgotten. There in the place long forgotten by god there floated a vague outline of a human figure.
The figure was like a black hole in human shape. His very being seemed to glitch in and out of reality. With the occasional glimpse of something akin to stars flickering in his very being, albeit brief and barely noticeable.
The figure moved and the space seemed to ripple like water and threatened to tear like wet paper.
He opened what can only be described as eyes, two twinkling lights like suns… but something was wrong or maybe off about them.
The eyes showing clear confusion darted around the empty void as if searching for something familiar to cling his sanity to.
But upon closer inspection nothing could be found making the figure who should be moving with confidence… majesty even fling his limbs around like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
Then a sound showing human character escaped his mouth.
"Where THE FUCK am I?" the figure moved around like a drowning seal showing no finesse… luckily he was alone.
The sound of his voice made the very space vibrate and flicker. The figure showed fear at what he had done. Moving his head to try and assess the damage, he once again showed off his… finesse… but it worked somehow by some miracle and well… the damage was none, the space was completely fine, it was as if his voice was all theatrical.
Knowing his voice could not implode the space he was inhabiting he opened that…mouth? Of his to once again voice his dissatisfaction.
"What happened?" the figure said thinking aloud. "I remember having just walked my cobra then about to go to bed and I even remember feeling the newly washed bedding against my skin." The figure seemed perplexed at the situation and why he ended up in a dark void as something clearly not human.
Just then his eyes that previously showed confusion now condensed and then he froze seconds passed in this quiet.
Then his eyes moved, no longer showing confusion but a newly found understanding.
It was understanding of his situation. He had become a dimension lord, he ruled the space he was in and he was as close to a god as you could become… inside his dimension.
On the outside… well he wasn't a god, that's for sure. Not that it mattered as he couldn't leave even if he wanted to.
He was his dimension and his dimension was him.
Before he could condense his dimension or.. condense himself to be able to leave, he would need to stay here.
But to condense himself he needed souls.
Yes, souls as if he was some kind of demon mephisto typa creature.
And the only way to obtain souls without leaving his… crib?Was to get them delivered and to do that he needed to reach people on the outside.
And the way to do that was to find susceptible people and approach them in dreams and sell his ideas that they could buy with souls.
Well, as a developed young man from the modern world, he as all other young men feared a job application so he was well versed in the ways of door dash, and of course other home food delivery services.
Also, he had no clue how to do that… how to door dash a soul, he had the powers but not the knowledge to wield them so first he would need to understand what his powers even entail and how to connect with the outside world and also what world he would connect to.
Hopefully he connected to a world with good and cheap restaurants… I mean a world with a lot of desperate, susceptible and gullible people who were willing to sell their or others' souls for their own benefit… or others' benefit… if you're a saint.
Anyway back to the powers.
"I guess it's just to use your imagination, like when you were a kid and tried to use TK on the tv remote" he mused, trying to use jokes to distract himself from the weirdness of the situation he has found himself in.
When he was done reminiscing he raised his hand only to slowly lower it again.
"What am I even supposed to use TK on when it's just an empty space…?"
He needed a different approach, one that didn't need a medium.
"Should I try to materialize a rock?"
With this new idea in mind, he tried to imagine a rock forming in the void in front of him.
And to his surprise it worked pretty well.
He watched as a rock that was just as he imagined, human-sized, ordinary, rocky… it was a rock that he could now use his TK on.
As the idea crossed his mind he got to work, he raised his hand and imagined the rock circulating himself like he was the sun.
And it worked, so he tried some more stuff like speeding it up, making it spin on its shoulder as he spinned it around himself, well the possibilities were endless.
Then it snowballed. He tried all kinds of powers: pyrokinesis, electrokinesis, teleportation, reality bending… the usual god stuff, very novel.
But after the novelty of the situation he found himself in the depths of hunger, his hunger for souls was suppressing the novelty of his powers.
So with his new found understanding of his powers he closed his eyes and focused, he tried to "see" outside of his dimension.
And it… kinda worked. What he saw wasn't normal human vision, just dots… like fireflies in the night some glowed brighter than others some barely even visible.
He felt himself drawn to the ones with the most glow, they reeked of despair, sadness, depression, ambition everything that made them susceptible to selling their soul.
He seeked one out with a "give it a try mentality" and was surprised to find himself with a god's view in some guy's dream.
The guy wasn't dreaming of unlimited money, women, power or anything like that. Which was confusing.
But after a quick check at his memories it became clear. It wasn't that he didn't want those things, it was just that he wanted something else, something more human.
He was a medieval farmer with a little farm, wife, roof over his head, all he could've wanted… but that was mostly because he didn't know anything else, but still.
But he was stricken with sudden illness and was now bedridden. His wife stood by his side at first hoping for recovery… but recently she's not been home much and before this started she spoke of their neighbor alot… like alot.
So it's like double pain, one to the gut and another to the balls.
And this was all very sad.
But it did give to a very good opportunity, he would swallow my deal with hook, line and sinker without hesitation, making him my ideal target.
And so I approached showing him images of the last few weeks, of his wife's weird behavior and how his care from his wife had gotten less and less.
He simply stared, then I whispered "Do you want to be cured?", "Do you want revenge?", "Do you want power?".
He turned his head, his face showing a look of fear but soon his anger and hatred betrayed him he answered. "Yes, I want all of that." he said I showed a grin, although I know he can't see me, not really he can just see a dark mist.
I cracked a happy expression and said "You can have all of that and more, but you will need to help me collect souls, otherwise I will take yours."
He nodded and then I established a connection with his soul as he signed a contract I conjured… spoiler he can't read and he's basically my slave and more.
But… since he is my first subject I still kinda need him to connect to more soul sellers.
In the real world his body got covered in a dark mist and then his eyes shot open and his eyes slowly turned a blood red crimson and his complexion turned a sickly pale his skin nearly see through.
Just then a bang was heard, it was the door to the house…or shed they lived in.
His wife had come home… and she had no idea what situation she would find herself in, in 10 seconds or so.
The man slowly stood up walking out from his or their room but soon to be his room and his wife standing just a few feet inside the door showed a surprised expression then said.
"Husband, you're up? Feeling better?" she said as she showed a concerned expression.
The man, her husband didn't respond, he just kept walking till he stood between her and the only exit, the front door. It was at this point the wife understood something was wrong, very wrong his eyes before were a beautiful shine of blue but was now blood red.
She backed away showing a wary expression.
But the man didn't want to hear any of it, and picked up an ax by the door and moved at superhuman speeds, the ax only a blur before the woman's head was severed, blood going everywhere like a fountain.
The man just stared at the scene as if he didn't just chop the head of his wife, just as cold blooded he had been killing her he extended his hand, that slowly got covered in a dark mist like substance that started to exhibit a sucking tendency.
The woman's corpse now on the ground in a pool of her own blood slowly started to glow a slight grey ghastly light. It was her soul, a grey mist with slight human figures flashing that got sucked out of her dead corpse and into the man's hand and swallowed by the dark mist.
I was in my own dimension thinking when I would get my first soul from my investment. And just then I felt a soul enter my dimension and I shot my head in its direction and used my TK to pull it over.
The soul was held in my grip like an everchanging grey mist that was glitching human characteristics.
I read its most recent memories and a smile broke out on my face… not that anyone could see it… but I was happy my investment was paying off.
It was indeed a good decision to make him my subject. If I'm not completely wrong he should also be heading to the neighbors place to finish the job.
And as I was thinking, I couldn't help but swallow the soul. It had a bland taste, no real flavour. But the warmth and fullness it gave was intoxicating.
I could barely wait for the second soul, the neighbor.
And as expected, while I was waiting eagerly my trusted new subject was moving along a dirt path leading to the only other house in the area, the neighbor.
As he was walking his thoughts raced, he had killed his wife, the one he had taken oaths with at their marriage, he had killed her, and… he felt good, relieved to be exact.
"Marriage can do that to you" the man said aloud, giving himself a chuckle as he mused the absurdity.
As he was deep in his thoughts he arrived at the house of his neighbor, snapping out of his thoughts he walked up to the door and simply opened it, no locks, no nothing.
The house was even shabbier than his own it was not even a wooden floor, just dirt,
Just then he heard a man's voice.
"Honey, you're back already."
The man had been sceptical of his wife's unfaithfulness but now it was all but confirmed.
Walking towards the room of the voice the man who was named Loyd saw a man the neighbor standing looking amused at the door, but as Loyd came into view the amused smile faded at lightning speed, especially at the sight of the bloodied ax.
"Loyd, what are you doing here, aren't you sick?" the man said with a slight trembling voice.
The neighbor or the man was confused and scared, especially when he saw Loyd's eyes glowing red like crimson sapphires.
Loyd chuckled and ignored him, making steady steps towards the man with clear murderous intent. The man upon seeing Loyd ignore him went into a flight or fight mode, looking around for an exit or escape but the only way into the room was behind Loyd.
Lloyd took a quick step forward and swung the ax, still unfamiliar with his newfound strength he missed and only hit the man's arm creating a huge gash from the elbow to the hand.
The man let out a guttural scream, Loyd feeling annoyed at missing clicked his tongue and got into position and swung the ax once more this time, not missing hitting the neck.
It was like deja vu, the head flew just like his unfaithful wife's and the blood making a familiar arch as the blood spewed like a fountain. All that was missing was making a wish.
Loyd with practiced ease extended his hand and sucked the man's grey mist like soul.
A bright smile formed as he said "For the lord."
The lord he spoke of was eyeing the new soul in his dimension with joy and most of all hunger, then he ate it in one fell swoop.
"This subject is the best door dash employee I've ever seen, he's like a minority."
The being chuckled at his own joke as he reminiscent the lingering warmth of the soul.
On the other end Loyd was making his way back to his house, he had decided to abandon the farm to live a nomadic life. Living here in this god forsaken plain of a land where the birds don't shit, how could he serve the lord? Where was he supposed to get souls? How was he supposed to spread the lord's greatness here?
No, he had to move.
So he went back to his house, not sparing his unfaithful wife's corpse a second glance he packed the essentials and valuables, then headed out.
He had decided to head to the nearest town which is around a 5 days walk from here. But with the blessing of the lord he doesn't need sleep, rest, food, water and other essentials humans usually need.
So the 5 day trip was cut short to a 3 day trip. Luckily no unexpected situations appeared on the road, just smooth sailing.
He stood on the top of a small hill on the forest line, overlooking the small town, which had no name, at least not an official one.
He walked forward and the houses looked much better than the one he used to live in.
And he also saw a bunch of wandering souls he could offer to the lord. So he moved fast, after getting approached by the unofficial town mayor or leader of this… society?
He was allowed to stay at the town mayor's house, because he was familiar. He used to come here to buy tools and sell stuff produced at the farm. So he wasn't a total stranger even though the major looked suspiciously at his glowing red eyes.
He was still the same old Loyd.
Until night fell and Loyd had been waiting the entire day for this. As the mayor and his wife fell asleep he snuck into their room and killed them. Two chops with the ax and it was done. And he needed to absorb the soul of course.
After absorbing the soul he moved onto the next house, then the next, next, next, next, until he had gone over all the houses except one.
That's when the lord sent a message.
He wanted him to recruit the person in this house since he was a susceptible one.
Loyd the ever faithful servant complied.
Entering the house. There he saw a young man, perhaps he was in his early 20s, Loyd cut straight to the case, told him, either he becomes the lord subject or die.
The young man, after hearing the pros, agreed immediately. Superhuman physique, and the possibility for more power if promoted, he'd be an idiot to say no.
As for the whole collecting souls ect, that's easy he had no qualms about killing especially not when getting benefits for it.
So the contract was established and the happiest was the lord he had another subject who could secure souls for him.
Also he had been thinking recently and he needed a name so he decided on Malrik. Yes, it sounded ancient, demonic, dimension lord ish.
The unexpected duo of Loyd and the young man named Thorn packed the essentials once again and moved onto the next town.
They had already found a map. The old town's mayor had some good stuff.
All they wanted was to serve the lord, serve the lord souls, make the lord able to appear in the physical world.
END OF CHAPTER.