In a red field, a translucent red monkey was running at full speed.
"Ahahahaha! Come on, you mutts, too slow!"
Behind it, large black hounds gave chase. Their eyes glowed like embers, and foam dripped from their fangs. While the monkey seemed to be playing some kind of game, the hounds had no such expression. They looked hungry and vicious.
Suddenly the monkey felt a strange energy in the distance, something that didn't belong. It changed direction and ran toward the source.
Finally, it saw a large humanoid being lying in a fetal position, shaking violently.
As the hounds caught up, the monkey quickly materialized a piece of raw meat in its hand and threw it far off to the side. The hounds immediately lost interest in the chase and ran after the food, their instincts taking over.
The monkey approached the shaking figure cautiously.
"Mmmh... mind torture. Must be fresh here."
It crouched down and studied Sage more closely. The being was clearly not from this realm. His clothes were torn and stained with blood, More importantly, he was alive... and not corrupted by death.
"New arrival," the monkey muttered to itself. "But how did you get here... the gate's been broken for centuries... and you're not dead..."
Sage continued shaking, his eyes squeezed shut. Tears streamed down his face, and occasionally he would let out a broken sob or whisper something incoherent. The monkey could see the mind demons at work, invisible parasites feeding on his pain.
Without hesitation, the monkey reached into a small pouch and pulled out a vial of murky liquid. It transformed into a snake, slithered up to Sage's face, and forced the liquid into his mouth.
The effect was immediate. The repetitive scenes that had been torturing Sage began to fade. His mind cleared as the voices grew quieter and quieter until they disappeared completely.
Sage's eyes snapped open. He saw a translucent red snake looking directly at him and sat up fast, reaching to grab it.
The snake popped into smoke the moment his hand tightened around it. Red smoke swirled and reformed into a bird perched nearby.
"Woah woah woah there, buddy. Tight grip you've got there..."
Sage stared in shock. The creature was actually speaking—not communicating through feelings or instincts like normal animals, but using real words.
"What... what are you?" he asked, his voice hoarse from screaming.
The bird tilted its head. "Better question is, what are you? And how did you get into this realm without going through the proper channels?"
Before Sage could answer, the bird studied him more intently. "Are you a god?"
Sage flinched at the question.
"Probably not. I've never seen a god this pathe— uhm, weak. And if you were a god, you wouldn't have been stuck with mind demons."
"Mind demons?" The phrase stuck with Sage. Was that what had been torturing him?
"Yeah, welcome to the realm of the damned. This place feeds on people's darkest memories and nightmares. The mind demons burrow into your head and replay your worst moments until you go insane."
"But what did you give me? How are you not—"
"Not being tortured? Demons can't be tortured in their own realm. As for what I gave you, that was my last mind protection potion."
Sage looked at his healed body, then at his hands. When Hati's memory started to surface, he gulped—
PAHH!
A sharp slap across his face. The bird had transformed into a monkey and was shaking its head frantically.
"Hey hey! I used my last protection potion on you. Don't think about painful memories, or it'll all be wasted. Now, if you're not in a hurry, we should leave before they finish eating."
Sage looked where the monkey pointed and saw the black hounds in the distance, their heads bent down, tearing into something.
"What are those?"
"Flesh hounds. The name explains what they eat. Some dumbass made a noise while I was trying to sneak past them and—" The monkey paused, pieces clicking together in its mind.
"You!" It pointed accusingly at Sage. "You made that scream! It woke those beasts up and almost got me killed!"
Before Sage could respond, the monkey was already moving. "Come on, follow me!"
Sage looked at his situation, alone in a hellish realm with only this strange monkey for company. He stood and followed.
The red ground beneath his feet felt spongy and wrong. Behind them, he could hear the flesh hounds' growls echoing across the barren landscape. The monkey moved with purpose, shifting forms as needed, bird when it wanted to scout ahead, snake when it needed to slip through tight spaces, monkey when it needed to climb.
Sage struggled to keep up, his body still adjusting after everything that had happened.
"Where are we going?" he called out.
"Somewhere safe," the monkey replied without slowing down. "Those hounds won't give up easily, and there are worse things than them out here."
They ran across the crimson wasteland until a massive tree came into view. It had a wooden door built directly into its trunk.
Sage stared at it. 'A tree house?'
He pushed the door open and was immediately disoriented. The space inside was impossibly larger than the tree itself, but everything was scaled down, tiny furniture, miniature shelves, small bowls and cups scattered about.
He had to crouch to fit inside.
The monkey scurried past him and immediately began rummaging through containers, muttering complaints under its breath.
"Uh," Sage started, still hunched awkwardly under the low ceiling, "is this your place?"
"No... it belongs to those mutts," the monkey said sarcastically, then immediately corrected itself. "Of course it belongs to me. What, you think I'd bring you to someone else's place?"
Sage opened his mouth to respond.
"Actually, don't answer that question," the monkey cut him off, continuing its search.
Sage remained silent, watching the demon toss items aside. The interior was surprisingly cozy despite its size, with warm lighting that seemed to emanate from the walls themselves.
"So," Sage began hesitantly, "what exactly is this place? Besides your home?"
The monkey paused in its rummaging and looked at him with an expression that suggested the answer was obvious.
"This is the realm of the damned, kid. It's where things go to suffer. The question is
what did you do to end up here?"