The sky pulsed with a dull crimson red from horizon to horizon, creating a heavy fore boarding atmosphere. Infernal flames bloomed across the featureless backdrop, deepening shadows across the land.
The air shimmered with flecks of ash, billowing with the forceful emergence of the bright red flames. The ground, a barren wasteland of ash and soot, wriggled and writhed like a living entity. sending tremors through the distorted air.
Crested on a distant hill, sat an enormous castle built entirely from black obsidian. Its sharp spires jutted into the skies like dark fangs. It's presence was overwhelming, it's dark walls exuding a sense of imminent dread.
Around the desolate courtyard of the castle, figures hung like broken marionettes, spears jutting through their flesh at cruel angles. Thick greenish-yellow puss ran down the shafts in continuous grotesque globs. They writhed upon the spears, moans and screams of pain tearing from their slack decaying maws.
Walking through the crucified figures, was a man, or at least what looked like one. The figure was hulking, rippling muscles covered by dark grey leathery skin. His footfalls sounded like a war drum, black hooves striking the ground with crushing force, sending quakes in concentric circles.
The creature, Norrix walked through the yawning entrance. Space folding before his frame as he appeared in a vast chamber. The chamber was bare, lacking anything mundane except for the gigantic bed at the center.
"How are you my lady," his voice rumbled, so deep that it reverberated through the ancient walls.
Seated on the bed, was a woman of unparalleled beauty. Her hair, an abyssal black, fell to the bed creating an illusion of the dark seas. She let out a soft groan, her eyelids stirring as she opened her cat-like crimson eyes.
"Hmm... Norrix. The parasite is stirring." She hummed, holding her very much pregnant stomach. "I think it's almost time."
"I hope so my lady, the legion of-"
He paused, sensing a ripple of energy emerge from the stomach of his liege. He watched as it writhed, shaking the entire castle.
Feeling a dull ache, lady Sybil turned to her stomach. "Fuck-" she managed before a scream tore from her throat. The walls fractured, sound tearing through the outside terrain like an exploding sun. The air shattered, the ground quacking as it split for hundreds of light years.
Norrix braced, feeling his ears burst and his brain rattle. His demonic Qi reversed, roaring through his dantein as it snaked through his divine physique. It tore through his meridians leaking through all his orifices as black blood rained from his hulking frame.
The barrage continued, before just as abruptly as it came, it ceased. The sound reversed, like a receding tide it returned to the source. It swirled, condensing until it the air felt suffocating. It compressed before seeping into the writhing womb.
Norrix watched as a hand stretched the stomach from within. It rose, stretching until appeared like a hand pushing through tight plastic paper. Obsidian black blood seeped from the indentation of the fingers as they tore through flesh, exposing an arm. The fingers flexed, before the other arm pulled at the wound expanding the hole until a small head popped out.
The infant twitched, emerging from Sybil's stomach as it bathed in her blood. The child, a boy opened it's toothless mouth and sucked in a deep breath. The ambient Qi roared to life, vibrating at a resonant frequency as it rushed into the child's mouth.
It flowed into his throat, then his lungs and then his bloodstream. It stretched into every ligament and senew in his body. Coiling into microscopic meridians that propagated into every part of his being.
By the time he was done, his body had grown into that of a seven year old.
At this point, Norrix had moved across the room to check on his lady when his skin prickled. He turned as he felt the heavy gaze of scrutiny settle on his shoulders.
"Where am I?" the boy spoke, and Norrix trembled. He clenched his teeth, feeling his soul shudder. 'It sounds like a man'
The boy tilted his head at the silence. Space fractured and he was upon the demon, his hand piercing it's chest as he squeezed it's soul flame.
"Where... am I?"
Norrix was used to pain. He had roamed the hells for trillions before the corruption of this realm settled into his soul, breaking his mind and lessening his pain by turning him into a demon. Torment permeated every facet of this realm. From the cursed ground they walked upon to the very air they breathed. There was no rest, no reprieve from the pain they suffered.
The demon was sure that pain would never faze him again. In the Hells, it was the least of his problems. But he was wrong, oh! how wrong he was. He felt the child's touch on his soul. His body froze, he felt such a feeling of violation that his soul prickled. His demonic soul flickered, before blazing into colorless flames, using itself as fuel to try to pry the iron grip off of it.
Soul crushing pain came next. Norrix opened his mouth in a silent scream. So unimaginable was the pain, that his divine mind fractured even more.
"You know... the soul whether divine, demonic or mortal, cannot be destroyed. Father made it so. So no matter how long yours burns, it will never stop- well unless I will it so," Norrix heard the manic voice through the pain. "So I suggest you start talking."
The boy withdrew his hand, watching as oceans of blood flowed from the wound on the demon's chest.
Norrix dropped to his knees, clutching the gaping hole in his chest. His body trembled, sending vibrations through the ground.
"W-we... we are in Avernus M'lord. First layer of the Nines, dominion of king Baal."