Meeting The Little Demon

The sound of the music continued to echo throughout the hallway, making him feel out of place when he heard his footsteps going against the tune.

As he continued to walk, he noticed the voice from before was humming with the tune, as if he had all the time in the world to enjoy and wait for Stigma arrival.

He didn't know why, but the more he got closer a sense of nostalgia had struck him, it's if he had been to such a mysterious place.

He tried to recall from his memories if he had been to such a place, but nothing came up.

'Why does it feel familiar...'

The wall had the same design from having picture-less frames with red velvet curtains for no reason, he also found some empty pedestals. If the place was not so clean, he would have guessed the place was robbed entirely leaving behind the less valuables furnishing.

At the end of the hallway, he could see two closed doors where the source of all the music and humming was originating. When he got closer he saw the two huge door had a beautiful mural.

To feed his curiosity on how the door was fully designed, he took a step back and looked up but instead of being amazed, he was baffled.

He had expected the design to be detailed like the ones in front of him and wanted to see the whole picture, what he didn't expect that the doors would reach up to the dark sky. He had seen some drawing or novels exaggerating such structures, but now he was looking up just to see the end.

Because of the lack of illumination, he can barely make out its exact measurements, but he can't be sure if such an end exist from where he was standing.

While he was trying to figure out how it was possible for a structure to exist, the doors started to open by themselves and a voice brought him back to his senses.

"COME IN! COME IN! WE HAVE MUCH TO TALK ABOUT!"

He saw a dim light room with red curtains covering everything, beside the door he was facing had two pillars. He can't make out the size of the room, but the can tell it was in circular room based on how the pillar were positioned.

'It's a trap, isn't it...'

With nothing to lose, he moved forward at the same time the curtain behind him had closed. When he rushed back to pull away the curtains, he found that the doors have disappeared with no traces behind, while the pillars remained.

He wasn't sure what was going on, but he could tell the one behind this was only toying with him.

Then all of a sudden, he saw one of the curtains opened up followed by bright lights.

"COME IN! COME IN! DON'T BE SHY!"

He again heard the voice with shrill delight. This time it sounded more impatient, wanting to meet Stigma, as soon as possible. He didn't feel a sense of danger coming after him, so he gave in to the request and moved forward.

After his vision adjusted from the sudden change of light, he turned around and found himself facing in front of the same type of door that defied logic, soon he heard footsteps walking towards him. He then assumed he would be facing the Demon infant so he prepared himself and turned his head.

What greeted him was a faceless stewards gesturing a greeting, giving Stigma quite a shock, behind him/it was a theater that looked similar to an opera house. He can already guess where the music was coming from, but he had no idea where the voice was.

The multiple seats were positioned in an arched position, but that didn't make Stigma amazed, it only made feel the unease of being alone. From above, he was amazed to see a chandelier large enough that it could light up the entire room.

He can tell there were other intricate designs with meaning, but he ignored it, since he had to follow the faceless figure walking away.

After following it for who knows how long, he saw a row of figure standing in salute to him as if they were waiting for an important guest.

The figure leading him pointed at the end and saw a dinner table with some light candles, he didn't know why, but if he went there a lot of his questions will be answered.

As he walked towards the dinner table, the figures slowly followed behind him in an orderly manner like in RPG games where you can see your whole team, but such an action didn't stop him and soon he found himself standing what appears to be a VIP lounge that was facing the stage.

He wanted to look around and relax but he couldn't relax, since he saw a dwarf creature standing by the table with a hint of joy in his face, showing his rows of sharpened teeth.

"Greetings!...Greetings!...Dear Sir! I am humbled by your appearance... I am the newly born Demon Infant. HEHEHEE!"

Each time he ended his sentence the words were stretched out followed with his eerie laughter, his voice sounded childish but the way it spoke was like a professional was the one speaking rather than a child.

Face with such a bizarre creature for the first time, Stigma finally came to his sense when he heard the key words.

'The Demon Infant! ...So this is what looks like...'

The Demon Infant he imagined was quite different, he assumed it was a child shaped appearance that can barely speak, and what was speaking to him was merely the system. But the demon before him was similar to the size only.

His overall appearance was like a small grey Orge with red tattoos all over his face and hands, the hair on his head was white with a black highlights with small horns.

It was standing over one and half foot tall and was walking on his two feet, his arms were rather long for his body size and had black fingernails. He's ears were pointed and was wearing a black mask or makeup around his eyes. His nose was pointed and wide, while his eyes were completely white almond-shaped eyes.

He had a small and thin black tail with a fuzzy end that looked like a lion's tail. He was wearing a black suit with a white polo tucked underneath, his small figure along with his mismatched arms made him look comical.

But the wide and eerie smile along with his sharp teeth, made Stigma remember he was not here to look like a clown.

"One after another, strange things are popping out..."

"That was quite rude, but I'll let it pass since it is our first meeting..."

He then turned around and clapped his hands, behind Stigma the attendance had started moving and made preparation in setting up the table, in a matter of seconds the once empty table was full of utensils and plates with two seat facing the stage.

"Come! Let us join a feast, I'm sure it is to your liking...Hehehe"

When Stigma and the demon took their seats the attendance stepped forward and placed a set of dishes. One after another the food he ate was something he had eaten before, it was from his world!

Burger Steaks, fries and ketchup, fried chicken, cake, ice cream, his favorite brand of soda and numerous food that made him feel at home, even his mother cooking was here.

"Oh!....You noticed, you see I have lived inside you for so long, so I thought it would help if we had a meal that made you feel comfortable, I hope it is to your liking...heheeeehehehheheeehe"

"...What are you."

"Like I said, I am the Demon Infan..."

"No games!"

He had already seen beast in abnormal sizes, and a woman who can walk on air, seeing such a bipedal beast sounded like something in dreams.

"... Oh alright, geez, you really are no fun when you are serious..."

Like on Que, the stage started to light up, and shadow figure started emerging from the ground constantly changing shape as the Demon spoke, the figure started performing the story that could put to shame any award winning actor or actresses.

"Now then, let me explain who I am to you. But first let me tell you this, you sir, are quite a difficult person to grasp, you are for one thing, quite a capable person. But don't me wrong I believe every human has potential, but you are for one with many talents yet refuses to train them."

Grabbing a wineglass the faceless figure started pouring soda and the demon gulped it down in one go, as the attendant continued to refill his glass the story continued.

"Humans you see are capable of adapting to all sorts of problems and crisis, which lead them to developing their lifestyle like making a society to support one another. Yet you are the type of person who can survive on his own just by trying."

...

"Hehehe, that right, you sir are quite a capable person with some shortcomings, every human has potential in polishing their skills. But you sir, are the most talented I can ever compare, after all the only problem with you, is the fear of failure."

...

"You see dear sir, you are a man with many talents but your constant fear of failing got the best of you and had continued to built up over the years, then there was the death of your parent, followed with being a working student, along with managing your constant expenses, etc, etc. You see over the years you fear, your desperation, your anxiety, your depression, deprivation, anger, rage, frustration, and many more had been bottled up inside you and then, I was born."

'What...'

"Oh, caught your attention, well listen closely because this is important. Although I called it being 'born' it was more like I was aware what was going on, but I had no conscience at the time. To make it sound realistic, I am a state of mind like an 'ego' if you will, I was the reason why most of your anxieties or fears disappeared when they kept on building up over the years..."

"As time passed, I was slowly learning around me from your perspective, and I have learned a lot of things from you. In fact, everyone in your world has one, but they get rid of beings like me easily."

"...Then you were born in my world."

"Yes and no, I was technically born inside you and had gained my sense of self or conscience after you finally crossed your limit in this world. After having your first time killing someone with your own hands, followed with killing unintentionally an 'innocent' wolf have left you questioning yourself, if living the same idea from your world should be better or should you accept killing as a daily occurrence, so here I ask you. Why did you suddenly change?"

...

"Heheehe, couldn't answer. Alright the fun was over already so I will make the reveal, it was because of me."

Like insulting Stigma, he gave his widest grin and stared at Stigma with his eyes bloodshot as stabbed his knife on a piece of steak on the table causing all the plates staked up to shake from the tremor.

"You see dear sir, I am your Alter Ego a split personality if you will, born from the bottled up emotion you have pushed down and after absorbing the Grudge energy I had gained the right to have a form and conscience."

"When you go to combat, I take over your state of mind halfway, shutting down anything related to fear and replacing it with a state of nihilism, where you feel no empathy or apathy after committing such atrocities like brutally torturing someone, I am technically taking over you, you get..."

....

"Just so you know, I can't lie to you, understand."

"Then what about everything here."

Stigma gestured around him because he was confused about the explanation, if he was born from his constant stress, then what about this world.

"Heheheehe, this world is the manifestation of your hopes, dreams, talents, and fortune, namely your inner world."

He thought back for a moment and piece together on his findings.

Like before, he had tried opening all the doors by the hallways, but only found three to be accessible. When he entered, there were some light heading upward, making it easier for him to see inside.

Each had a wide room that could fit about twenty people with a staircase leading upward like an antic. When he looked up the staircase, he found a second level and saw that each one had another stair case leading upward but a human sized chess piece positioned on the steps.

Each chess piece was normal from the bottom half, yet on top had a stone tablet with carved figures: one had a man throwing a spear, another had a man wielding knives, and last one had a man following a beast.

He had his suspicion but he ignored them for a while, and went back to follow the music. He then noticed that each one had different levels when he entered, like the one with the man throwing had about two floors, the knife one had two as well, and the last had the same thing but the stairs leading upwards were missing a few steps when he counted.

If his guess was right the rooms were his representations of his talent, then what about the empty frames.

"Those are your former dreams you see, by the way since I am in your world I can read your mind as well."

'Then everything else has a meaning...'

"That's right, everything..."

Stigma thought for a moment and realized something was odd, if those represented his dreams why were they empty, the rooms must have been the talents he had but why were they looked, the more he looked into it the more he realized how complicated his world was.

'But that's not important...'

He lifted his head and turned to the demon smiling at him.

"You...are lying about something aren't you."

The demon started smiling deeper from having his trick exposed.