The world is changing.

Everybody knows that by now.

Famine. Death. Wars. They're all over the globe and the news, causing more panics. More hatred. More fear. I remember the Devil laughing about all these once, its booming voice reverberating all over the Underworld. The loudness was almost enough to mask the suffering moans of millions of souls burning deeper within the earth.

I've always hated that sound. I hate the way their cries for mercy seem to wrap around my throat, pulling me in to suffer with them. I hate how they beg. How they scream for some ray of light that might come save them. It's pathetic.

There's no more saving here in Hell.

I walked the pavements to the Devil's throne because it seems like It has another job for me. Well, it's not really a throne, though. More like a slab of rock the boss always fancy of sitting upon. The Underworld isn't really as everyone on earth has imagined. It's not as "fiery" as artists like to draw. There's no flames around or lakes filled with lava instead of clear water.

It's more like darkness. Unending darkness and fog that covers your every path. A forest. A ghost town. A riverbank. Like fragments of the mortal world puzzled together awkwardly just so creatures like us will have a place we can thrive in. Once in a while, you crossroads with lost souls who always seem burdened by Hell itself. They look helpless. Tired. But most of the time, angry. Sometimes you bump into someone like me, a Fallen— Those who the Heavens thought are too imperfect to be playing in the clouds. Too imperfect to be worthy of staying in paradise.

I scoffed and threw my cigarette to the ground, stomping on it just as the Devil's cave came into view. It's by the foot of the mountain where dead trees seem to die even more. There's black mud everywhere, like the dead soil enveloping this place. Torches line a crooked path and I followed them, feeling more at ease as the orange light gives me more view.

The cave is almost bare if not for shadows you know are just looming around, trying to reach for you. I could feel lost souls, too, those who walked the earth and cried for revenge. There's also those who traded their souls to the Devil and seek for its help. They make me laugh. Imbeciles. The Devil doesn't trade. It takes everything It can.

Soon, all the brightness went gone. And I knew I already reached the end of the path.

"You like walking with the mortals," the Devil greeted me just as I stepped into a large clearing, its throne the only thing worth looking at. There are mourning figures by the sides but they are hidden in the shadows. Their presence seems to entertain the boss.

I looked at the pack of cigarettes I've been holding. "I do," I answered. "They are interesting."

"True enough."

I have never seen the Devil's true form and today, It is a nine-year-old little girl in a pretty white dress. She looks innocent with her big red bow holding her jet black hair in a ponytail. She also seems harmless and even beautiful, like an angel descending from the skies. But that's until you look into her green eyes and see how much hatred to the world there is. How much pain and suffering she is willing to impart to everyone.

"You called for me," I said, frowning. "What do you need me for?"

The girl pouts. "In a rush again, Kai?" she rested her chin on a hand. "What, you're not going to tell me stories about your visits to the mortal world?"

I tossed the pack of cigarette to its feet. "There's nothing much," I said. "Just people whining why Christmas isn't the same anymore, or why more women are getting raped, why more families are getting separated, why more evil politicians are running for the senate," I noted the sparkle in the girl's eyes. "Just things like that... Things you like."

The Devil giggled. "Oh, you know me so well," she cupped her face happily. "Just a little bit more, Kai, and we'll be ruling their world again." 

I pursed my lips, nodding.

"What," the Devil stopped suddenly and the ground almost shook. I swear her eyes just turned red. "You don't believe me?" She gripped her throne and her nails slowly turned black, getting longer and sharper as they sliced the cold rock.

"I do," I said.

Her eyes blazed. "You're lying."

"We never say the truth, do we?" I answered back and the Devil stared at me longer, its eyes digging deep into my now hollow chest. Sometimes I forget that I don't have a soul anymore. That sh*t is already rotting somewhere. When the girl just continued staring at me and trying so hard not to burn me right now, I sighed. "The heavens," I looked up as if I could see the clouds from here. "They worry me."

The Devil slowly retreated, its features coming back to that little girl. "They worry you?" she smirked. "Well, that doesn't sound right."

"They always have a way of ruining everything for us," I hissed. "They may seem weak right now because of everything that is happening in the mortal world but hardships come and humans always seek for their help. They look for their god or anything they can run to—"

"Isn't that why you're here?" the Devil looked at me dead in the eyes. "Your job is to make those filthy humans feel like there is nothing left for them but more hardship. That there is no hope for sinners. Destroy their faith and make them crawl to me. Isn't that your job?"

I looked down. "It is."

"I didn't take you in just so you could come here and smoke cigarettes, Kai," the Devil's voice belongs to a girl but it feels like it's scratching at the back of my head, bleeding cold blood. "We've felt inferior ever since we were banished from the heavens and to this Hell, and we are not taking more of that anymore. Those angels can't keep riding their high horses, looking down on us from their golden plates and trumpets. Roam the earth and seek the faithful. Ruin their beliefs. Grow their horns and destroy their humanity," the girl's eyes are blazing red again and her lips are suddenly red with blood dripping from her mouth. "Make them mine. Their souls are mine alone."

The anger was almost enough to suffocate me that very moment.

But in a split second, I'm suddenly standing in the rain, holding a luggage in one hand. A huge university is looming in front of me.

"F*ck you, Devil," I hissed. "Just how many souls are we taking from here?"