Eli opened the door closest to him, revealing a chained naked man in the corner. Blood red eyes glowed in the dimly lit room, and sharp veins protruded from beneath his upper lip. 'A Vampire', Eli thought. The man lunged forward with a crazed look on his face. It appeared he hadn't been fed in a while.
Slamming the door shut, Eli began to systematically the rooms one after another.
Having nearly the same experience for three more doors, it wasn't until the fifth that he found another daemon. The daemon was a woman, straddled atop another vampire, though it appeared she had been feeding him chunks of his own flesh considering the missing pieces of him and the knife in her hand.
Much like the guard, Eli made quick work of her, consuming another orb into himself. 'Disgusting,' he thought as he looked at the groaning vampire man. It was nothing short of what he'd expect from these monsters.
More rooms were cleared as Eli continued getting rid of the awful beings. As he continued to absorb the orbs, he could feel the energy within him start to grow. His strength felt like it was increasing with each one he took in.
Finally, Eli arrived to the last door, slowly opening it. Inside, another daemon leaned against a wall, shirtless and casually smoking tobacco as he gleefully looked down at the bloody mess on the bed. Eli's stomach dropped at the site.
"What the fu-" the man started but was instantly cutoff as Eli's fist collided with the man's jaw, knocking him out cold.
Eli turned to the bed, running over and placing his hands above the person beneath. Eli's healing began to take place, much faster with the help of his ominous power. After a minute, it appeared the person beneath was breathing and fine, just asleep at the moment.
Relief came over Eli's face momentarily, soon being replaced with something more than just rage. It came from somewhere deep. Somewhere that he had only scratched the surface of feeling once before.
The quiet whispers no longer remained quiet. Instead, voices screamed into his head, clouding his thoughts. Then they disappeared. Only silence remained. A deafening silence and no clear thoughts, Eli moved on instinct.
Expressionlessly, Eli grabbed the unconscious daemons leg, dragging its bare upper body against the rocky and uneven floor. Once they were outside of the room, Eli turned, gently closing the door behind him.
Looking back the way he had come from, and then forward, Eli once again grabbed the ankle of the daemon, dragging him further into the cave.
The black tether still connected to Eli's chest was now straight ahead of him. But his mind was in no condition to think about it anymore. Eventually they pair had come to a cavern with no other openings. A dead end.
The room was empty except for a circular formation directly in the center. In the middle of it sat the opposite end of the tether connected to Eli.
A pained groan escaped the throat of the man Eli had been dragging. By now small cuts, bruising, and raw skin coated his upper body. Walking up the circle, Eli effortlessly tossed the man into the center.
"Ah fuck," the daemon groaned as he landed, consciousness slowly returning to him. He grunted as he started to sit up, only for Eli to shove him back down to the ground.
The switch Eli had felt before flicked within his mind as he held the daemons head in place. Eli's gaze bore deep into the man's. Screams began to erupt from the daemons throat as his mind began to be invaded.
When Eli previously locked eyes with others, before him accepting this power, horrific images of violence and evil would flash within whoever met his gaze. Yet now it was different.
Eli had trapped himself and the man within his own psyche. There, Eli didn't hold back. The daemon was trapped powerlessly within his own mind with Eli, who took apart the man piece by piece, only to make him hole once again, then repeat it. Time was endless there as Eli kept up his torment of this daemon.
How much time had passed within the mans mind? Eli didn't care. He kept going. Kept repetitively tormenting this damned soul for an unknown amount of time. Eventually, the daemon became numb within his own mind. That was when Eli knew it was time. So, he then began to physically do the same thing he had as he had within that mindscape.
Once they were back in the real world, Eli started to dismantle the man's flesh once again. This time, it would be for good. The screams continued for hours as Eli emotionlessly continued his work. Only a single thought had remained during this encounter.
Worse. You can do worse. Worse. You can do worse. Worse. You can do worse.
A scream erupted from behind Eli, pulling him from his mantra and his worse.
Slowly turning his head, Eli could see the backside of the daemon woman from earlier. It appeared someone had finally come down to check on things.
Eli turned back to the man, now only a chunk of flesh, blood, and bone strewn about the room. The circle beneath him glowed red, and the ethereal black tether connecting him to it began to syphon energy from the dark sigils below.
A few seconds later, the tether between the circle and Eli dissipated. He felt different now, though he wasn't focused on that. Instead, Eli stood and faced the daemon woman. Her whole body trembled as she took in the bloody sight of Eli. There wasn't a part of his body that wasn't covered in blood.
Eli cared not for his appearance, however. Taking a step towards her, Eli locked eyes with the woman, causing her to freeze in place. Worse. You can doworse.
By the time Eli's mind had returned, he found himself walking out of the front door of now closed restaurant. Bloodied and exhausted, Eli sat down in the doorway, his consciousness slowly fading as the light from the sun returned to the world once again.