I Hate Them

"Rade. That's a nice name," Faye said to me after shaking hands. "We should try and find at least one of the others like us. I can already see others forming groups."

She was right. I looked around and saw many of the others forming groups to tackle hell with. One was even as large as ten people, most likely an attempt to mimick the group originally formed by the Ten Pillars, the firsts to enter hell.

They will not all survive. Not if the demons are as strong as Hell Watchers say they are.

"Look, there's one now," Faye said, as she pointed to the sky.

A form was falling, and he had clearly fallen much later than the others. His hair was white and short, and he was taller than both me and Faye, but still slender. His skin was a caramel colour, a contrast to his white hair.

He seemed to be young too, as we all did. But what stood out to me most was the time of his arrival.

Why had he arrived so late? I was kicked down at least five minutes ago.

As he landed, Faye made her way towards him, and I hesitantly followed behind.

The man seemed relatively friendly. The opposite of myself.

"Hello, whitehair. What's your name?" she asked the man, and he raised an eyebrow at the name he had been given.

"I'm Adom. Yourselves?" he asked me and Faye, his voice confident yet light-hearted.

"I'm Faye, and this is Rade. We all seem to have been forced to come here, so I thought it would be a good idea to stick together. The other divers seem to be, after all."

Faye and I watched Adom as we waited for a response, but it wasn't a long wait. The man seemed happy to be included in our group.

"Sounds good to me. You're right, those like us should stick together, who knows what we will find out here." he said, turning his head to look around the field.

Some of the other groups had begun to travel through the field, though I was sure they didn't know where to go. There was nothing to be used as a basis for direction.

"Do you know anything about the first floor of hell?" I asked intently. I would rather not waste time. I needed to gain power and knowledge as soon as possible. Especially if I wished to achieve my goal.

They both shrugged their shoulders, but it was Adom that spoke.

"Probably just as much as you know. Survive the first night in hell and you're granted your Curse."

The Curses were like classes, apparently granted to those who dove into hell. There were many different types of Curses and each could be powered further after acquiring them. The nature of the powers was still mostly unknown, at least to regular humans, but the ten pillars were the first ones to earn then, as they were the firsts to enter hell.

Many things have been unknown since hell opened..

However, we would need to earn our Curse if we wished to tackle the deeper floors of hell, and to do that, it was known that we needed to survive the first night.

"Then let's get moving," I said, taking the lead. "The sooner we find some sort of shelter, the better." my confidence was false. I knew nothing.

I didn't wait for them, instead heading in a direction of my own. If I let one of them lead the way, I would be accepting their leadership over me.

And being led was something I was not willing to do.

I am not a pawn.

I heard their footsteps on the grass behind me as they followed.

---

The field was large, and even though I had no way of telling the time, it was obvious that we had been walking for at least ten minutes, still with no sign of a change in terrain.

Above us was no moon or sun; the world was simply lit by the red sky, adding to the atmosphere of the underworld.

Faye and Adom hardly spoke behind me, but when they did, it was awkward. After all, what did one speak about after being forced into hell?

I was about to break the silence myself, when I suddenly heard a sound come from ahead. A screeching sound, like a baby crying, but I couldn't see where it came from.

"Stay close to me!" Adom shouted, and I turned to see Faye listening, hunching up close to the white haired man.

I said I do not want to be ordered around.

Out of stubbornness, I ignored him, but stayed alert and ready for whatever it was that made the sound.

Then, a fog began to take over our vision, seemingly covering the entire field before us. I turned to look for Faye and Adom, but I could not see them. The fog was too thick.

"I said stick close, you fool!" I heard his voice shout, but it did not come from where I thought he was. In fact, it had no direction. It echoed all around me.

"Where are you, Rade?!" Faye called, but her voice came from all around me, so I ignored it.

Just stay alert. Expect the worst to happen.

Suddenly, the cries came louder, loud enough for me to tell where they were now coming from.

Above me!

I looked up to see a form shooting towards me from the mist. I just about managed to dive out of the way, and roll against the grass, ending up on my feet in a readied position.

I was an athletic young man, so such maneuvers were easy enough for me.

What I saw in the field, though, was not something I was prepared for.

Where I had just stood was a creature. Or at least part creature, as it had the head of a human baby, but the body of a large bat.

Its wings sprawled out behind it, much larger than itself; its claws were sharp and deadly.

I slowly backed away from the beast, and it watched me with red eyes, and a smile on its face. I had no desire to fight such a thing, especially with no powers. But the creature wanted a fight.

"Rade?!" I heard Adom and Faye shouting, but I ignored them. It was only confusing me.

Why can't the beast go for one of them? Why does it have to be me?

Then, the beast's face began to twitch in a strange way. It took a while for me to realize what was going on, but with every movement of its mouth, it became obvious. It was trying to talk to me.

I waited for a few moments, though remained on guard.

Then the beast spoke to me.

"Demon? Like me?" it asked, its tone inhumane and terrifying.

"Like you?" I said to myself, hands clenched and beginning to fill with an anger I was familiar with.

This creature thinks of me the same as it. A beast.

Because of my horns?

I could not contain myself any longer.

"I am no demon!" I snarled at the beast, and charged with rage.