Author's Note: This is a list of oneshots, probably multiple parters that'll pop up here and there! Fair warning, these are going to be a little long. This was requested by @Mr-War
Enjoy! (Artwork doesn't belong to me)
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He dusted off the old book, it's binding worn with faded lettering barely there enough to distinguish. 'Liber ex mortuis'; roughly translating from Latin to 'Book of the Dead'. Being able to discern this made Y/n feel a little better for all those ridiculous Latin classes his mother made him take back in Highschool. Turning the old book in his hands, Y/n laughed a little. It was a funny prank, wasn't it? With all the tattered leather binding and the shape of a twisted skull carved into the front, this thing looked too much like something out of a movie to be real.
Opening the book revealed a treasure trove of the dead language, and what appeared to be rituals of some kind. But, being intrigued and a little amused, he added the old book to his list and went about to the front. The librarian, an old withered man with gold rimmed glasses, gave him a look as he placed the stack of books on the check out desk.
"Sonny, I wouldn't recommend this book." He held the Latin one up for emphasis.
Y/n was usually respectful of his elders, and just took this as part of the joke. Maybe the staff were in on it? "But it was on the shelf over there..."
"I know. This is a newer library and the regulations state we can't legally take it from the shelves without being charged a fine for stealing from the company. But I promise, this thing isn't a good idea." The old man jabbed at the book like it was nothing but trouble.
Perhaps he was simply superstitious, Y/n thought to himself, and insisted. "Thanks for the warning, I guess? I'd still like the book."
The man sighed, but checked it through and placed it into the bag with the rest, whereupon Y/n payed and left. He frowned a bit, looking back, but shrugged and continued on to his car. He never did understand how people got worked up over the supposedly supernatural. Y/n almost wished that he could believe in such ludicrous fantasies. It would make his mundane life a whole lot more interesting.
He pulled into his driveway just as it was beginning to rain, grabbing his new items from the trunk and fumbling with the key to get inside. It was a quaint little house; nothing too extravagant but definitely nice considering he was the only person living in it. He threw his stuff down on the couch and proceeded to make lunch... but his thoughts continuously drifted back to the book. It looked cool, and he briefly considered showing his friend tomorrow at work. Then again, bringing that old thing in would probably get him funny looks from his manager. She was already a bit of a pain.
After eating, Y/n indulged himself in (favorite show) for a few hours. And he would've liked to continue doing so... but a crack of thunder sounding painfully close decided otherwise. There was an electric whirr and whiz as the power suddenly cut off.
"Wha- oh, come on!" He complained, being left very suddenly in the dark. Sighing heavily, he picked himself up and began blindly trekking through the house, waving his arms in front of him to avoid running into anything. The several scrapes and surprised exclamations proved this attempt unsuccessful.
Y/n's mother had provided him with some of those vintage red candles for Christmas; not something he really cared to have but not wanting to seem ungrateful, he took them and stashed them away in the bottom section of his bathroom cubby. How thankful he was now for her random gift.
Finally finding them, he took the lighter from his pocket and began lighting them, placing them throughout the living room until it looked like an eerie horror setting. Though, it was beautiful in a way. Each subtle orange glow flickered across the ole walls, and flames danced with each slight change of wind. He plopped down, pouting at the TV as he contemplated what to do in the meantime. Maybe he relied too much on the convenience of technology sometimes.
His eyes drifted over to the book...
It was on the table, somewhat poking out of the bookstore bag beneath two other novels he'd gotten. Y/n could choose any one of those books; it didn't have to be the creepy old one that literally said 'Book of the Dead' on it. But he did choose that one... Why? Because the setting was so perfect! Eerie candles lit amongst a dark room, he was alone, suspense created at the mere idea, and the coincidence of all these things falling into place.
Y/n didn't believe in the supernatural. Demons weren't real; he knew this. So what would a little messing around hurt?
He took the book and began looking through the various rituals. Some were more obscure than others and he had a feeling that college level courses of Latin would be required for him to understand the other older phrases. It didn't help that a lot of this was in an older rendition of Latin, but for the most part Y/n could understand what he was reading.
His gaze fell upon one in particular. A ritual titled at the top 'Pudicum', or 'Decent'. The description beneath roughly translated as follows...
Down the depths of tainted mind
The world of material left behind
In this practice you shall reap
The broken world where sinners weep
Proceed ye who yearn to be cloaked in darkness, and you will be welcomed with open arms.
Y/n read over the passage a few more times, and couldn't help the few snickers that came afterword. It was the most cheesy thing he'd ever read in his life. This sounded like a harmless one, and so he began following the instructions. He took some of the candles he'd placed and rearranged them into what looked like an advanced form of pentagram.
But then he came to the part where he needed to provide a drop of blood... Y/n hesitated, wondering if the whole 'cult' experience was worth that. But eventually, he shrugged and went to get a kitchen knife. He poked a little pinprick in his thumb and squeezed a drop out on the center pivot point of the circle, just as the instructions said. His mother would be throwing a fit if she knew what he was doing right now. She did believe in demons and Hell and such. He never understood why.
Then, the moment of truth. He took the book and read the incantation. He doubted his pronunciation was as sharp as it had been when he was in Highschool, but close enough. It did sound funny, the words rolling off his tongue one by one, and at the last line... something sank in his stomach. He got the darkest impression that he shouldn't be doing this. Y/n frowned, hesitating a moment, before shaking it off. It wasn't real... Why was he getting cold feet now?
He finished the chant.
Y/n waited... one second... two seconds... Nothing. He let out a chuckle, shaking his head. Honestly, what was he expecting? Still, the experience was satisfying enough. Now he could tell his friends jokingly that he'd performed some sort of voodoo ritual.
He stood up, brushing his clothes off... and that's when it happened.
The candles all flared up and crackled, making Y/n jolt with surprise. He clutched a hand to his chest, startled and wide eyed at the thin jet streams of fire that had extended upwards towards the ceiling. Pages of the book began blowing back and forth widely before they landed back on the page he'd performed the ritual. He watched as the Latin words began to glow a fiery burnt gold and rise up off the page in streams.
"Holy shi-!" Y/n exclaimed, jumping back as far as he could without burning himself on the candles fire. This... this wasn't seriously happening!
The Latin words spun and twisted until they formed a sort of golden glowing vortex in the ground just below the book. It ate completely through the wood of his floor and seemed to grow larger by the second. Y/n inhaled sharply, but felt his feet begin to skid across the ground. His eyes widened and he reached to grab something outside of the pentagram to hold on to, but a jet stream of fire from one of the candles seared across his arm. He yelped in pain, stumbling backwards. Suddenly, gravity seemed to grow stronger and he was sucked down into the golden vortex with a loud cry of shock.
His stomach churned as he tumbled through, spinning wildly along a hot electric stream of sorts before he was spat out again... his face hit open air and he could feel the wind screaming in his ears.
By the time Y/n finally convinced himself to open his eyes, he desperately regretted it. He was falling through the air at a terribly quick speed, and began flailing his arms for some sort of traction. A desperate and futile attempt to slow his decent. He fell farther and farther, hundreds of buildings and lights below him, and the ground grew painfully close. A dark mass of something was just below him and all he could do was clench his eyes shut and plead for his life.
His body came to an abrupt halt and everything went black...
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The first thing Y/n registered was a searing pain all over his body; an awful aching, especially in his neck. He blearily blinked his eyes open, attempting to move his toes first and little by little working the feeling into his body. All that his eyes could see was red... a reddish auburn sky? And was that... a pentagram? He squeezed his eyes shut with pain and slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, noting that something at least somewhat soft had broken his landing.
That was the second thing he registered; an awful putrid stench. It reminded him of the time his cousin took a dead skunk and threw it in the kitchen trash can with all the rotted food. His uncle ended up buying a whole new trash can because they could never get the smell completely out. Y/n gagged slightly, and despite the painful protest of his muscles, forced himself to crawl his way out of the dumpster.
He let out heavy wheezing breaths, trying to collect his thoughts and recall just what had happened before he blacked out. Then, it all hit him at once. Little snippets of memory... The book... the power outage... he lit candles... performing a silly ritual... fire... falling out of the sky... Y/n paled, and finally lifted his head, looking around the alleyway. What kind of sick demented dream was this?!
"What're you standin' there for, trying to serenade the f***ing garbage?" A voice cackled from behind, and Y/n spun around. He couldn't see the figure, who was hidden in the shadows of the corner of the alley, but... were his eyes slightly... glowing? Y/n blinked, thinking he had to be imagining it.
"No- erm, sir? Could... could you tell me where I am?" He stammered.
"What do I look like to you? An f***ing map?! Get lost before I put a bullet in you for pestering me!" The voice suddenly growled.
Startled by the sudden transition and unhesitant threat, Y/n quickly backed away. Not wanting to risk it, he turned and immediately left the alley. He could hear the guy mumble something behind him about 'Damn druggies', but hurried on his way towards the sidewalk... just in time to run into another person.
No... not a person.
"Hey, watch it!" A voice, which sounded withered and overcome by years of smoking, snapped. Y/n paled and took a step back away from the... the... what was that thing?!
It had bloodshot eyes, four to be specific, and dozens of various length horns protruding from its head like a crown. Even if Y/n wanted to believe this was some kind of sick costume, the fact that the rest of the creatures body was nonexistent made it a little difficult. He was staring at a levitating head that was about chest height to him. It glared up and sneered... before it seemed to take notice of Y/n's not very monstrous appearance.
"The hell? You almost look human!" The head blurted, as if this were somehow shocking.
Y/n didn't wait behind to hear the rest of what it had to say, taking off in the opposite direction despite the screaming of his sore muscles. And it wasn't the only one... There were dozens upon dozens of them as he wildly pushed his way through the streets. Every shape and size. Each one gave him a nasty or just generally confused look as he powered through the streets. Some of them resembled humans more than others, but they all had at least one decidedly not human feature.
He panted heavily, darting into a different alleyway that didn't appear to be occupied. (at least, he hoped it wasn't) Y/n leaned against the cold brick wall, tears stinging his eyes from all the exertion he'd placed on his body. His thoughts were screeching incoherently, demanding answers for all questions bouncing around his skull.
What was this?! Hell?!
Y/n stopped... the questions all went silent.
He began to recall the words of the summary to the ritual he'd stupidly read out, piece by piece. Down the depths of tainted mind...... The world of material left behind..... In this practice you shall reap... The broken world where sinners weep.
World of material left behind...?
Broken world where sinners weep...?
Hell...
He was literally in Hell.
Now seemed as good a time as any to faint. But Y/n forced himself to keep conscious as he lost his wits. That dumb movie prop, brand name, cheap knockoff looking book was real?! Y/n slapped a hand to his face angrily. This couldn't be happening... and yet it was. If he'd just been a little less stupid he could be enjoying some beef ramen and reading something more practical! Like Twilight!
......okay, maybe something a little more practical than that, but still!
All those ridiculous stories his mom said, all the nonsense about not letting demons into your home, keeping away evil spirits. She was serious! And actually right! Y/n was about to start pacing, uncertain of what he should do now. Did the book fall out of the death portal with him?! He should've checked the damn dumpster before he left!
Then, the atmosphere grew tense... Y/n stiffened, unsure of what this meant, but he had a feeling it was nothing good. That's when a shadow descended over him and grew across the the brick wall.
Y/n turned around just in time to duck as a knife was slice across the air. It made a horrid scraping noise against the wall. He rolled away from the hooded figure and dived, trying to put distance between them. He could see dozens of red glowing malicious eyes of various sizes from under the hood, like a spider, along with a wicked grin.
"Come on, now~ It ain't gonna hurt for more than a second~" The voice, having an echoed overlay to its words, cooed sweetly.
Y/n scrambled but the figure dove and caught him by the ankle, dragging him back. He kicked fiercely, pale and wide eyed. It couldn't end! Not like this! Thankfully, for as cruel as this figure was, it didn't seem prepared for the amount of stubborn fight Y/n was putting up, and growled, trying to pin his limbs down so it could get a good swipe at his throat. That's when Y/n sucked in his breath, drawing his feet up and lunging the figure off.
He crawled back, gasping for air, just as a blade pierced into his leg. Y/n let out a cry of pain, and looked up through panic to see a large pipe jutting out of the ground. Giving a frantic look back revealed the attacker to be getting up, ripping the blade out of his leg on the way. Y/n gripped the pipe, pulling and pleading for it to come unstuck.
It budged...
A shadow fell over him and he turned back with dread to that wicked grin.
"You gave me a nice fight, but times up~"
He poised the knife up and Y/n yanked with all his strength; the pipe wrenched free and in the force of the pull, was immediately swung at the attacker's head. The demon fell back with a yelp, dropping the knife, but wasn't given a chance to recover as Y/n scrambled to his feet and landed another solid blow straight to the skull... there was blood on the pipe.
The figure fell to the ground, and he watched several rivulets of crimson dribble down the demon's face. The hood had fallen off, and it lay there motionless. A tension settled its way into Y/n's bones, and he went to nudge it, but the demon just sort of... vanished...? It's body faded, clothes and all, and all that was left was the small bit of blood that had dripped onto the concrete.
Afraid of lingering, Y/n immediately pulled the hood of his jacket up and left the alley, keeping his head low so as not to alert anyone to his less than demonic appearance. How was all of this possible? He put a hand to his face, trying to clear all the questions and focus on what to do now...
"-and growing up, I always tried to see the good in everything around me."
Y/n stopped at the voice, sounding from a short ways away. He looked that direction to see dozens of people, er- demons? gathered around a set of several television screens. After a brief moment, of contemplation, he went up and tried to see what the screens were showing.
"Hell is my home, and you are my people..." The voice didn't sound as malicious as the others, and he pushed his way to the front while keeping his face hidden under his jacket hood and trying to act as natural as possible. Getting to the front, he saw... a girl? She looked normal enough, save for the rosey circles on her cheeks that popped out so much he questioned whether or not it was makeup or part of her actual skin.
"We just went through another extermination. We lost so many souls and it breaks my heart to see my people being slaughtered every year; no one is even given a chance!" Y/n watched, a little dumbstruck by the passion in her eyes as she declared her love for her 'people'. "I can't stand idly by while the place I live is subjected to such violence! Isn't there a more human way to hinder overpopulation here in Hell? Perhaps there's an alternative way to change souls through... redemption? Well, I think yes! And that's what this project aims to achieve! Ladies and gentleman, I'm opening the first of its kind; a hotel that rehabilitates sinners!"
There was painfully long and awkward silence... scratch that, someone coughed. Y/n, despite himself, felt a twinge of pity as the girl on screen began to get gradually more uncomfortable trying to keep her smile when the announcement didn't receive the reaction she was likely looking for. She seemed to mumble something to continue the announcement, but he didn't catch it.
Finally, she sighed. "Look, each and every one of you has something good deep down inside. I know you do." Then, she smiled. "Look... maybe I'm not getting through to you."
A voice in the background mumbled, "Oh no..."
Then, a piano appeared and a light shined overhead. Y/n blinked and raised an eyebrow; what on earth...?
"I have a dream~! I'm here to tell~!"
Oh...
Oh dear...
She's singing.
Y/n, despite not even knowing this girl, cringed with embarrassment for her as she erupted into an entire frantic musical number. Was this planned?! And she only seemed to get more passionate as it progressed, as if the rest of the world wasn't staring at her with befuddled expressions. At one point, somewhere along the lines of- 'you'll be so swell', she went full on demon, sprouting horns and drawing a sinister smile despite the good intentions of her song. Then, just like that, she was back to normal.
At the end of it, she was smiling breathlessly on the piano, as if she'd just given an Oscar winning performance. There was shocked silence... and then everyone burst out into hysterical laughter. Not just from the demons in the news casting room, but also the ones around him.
Y/n winced for her, hearing someone else exclaim. "Wow! That was shit!"
He decided to weave out of the gathered crowd, not wanting to watch the poor naive girl suffer in humiliation anymore. As he was leaving however... he stopped. A hotel that rehabilitates sinners? He turned with a frown. She seemed to be the only person down here so far that has any sense of empathy. Maybe she could be his ticket out of this fiery pit? A long shot, but it was his only lead. He thought about it a little more before lingering to gather more information.
He needed to figure out where this hotel was...