The Twelve Apocalypses: A Damned Soul's Path to the Abyss

It felt odd to just know things, to have them drift into my mind as fully formed ideas and convictions when a stray thought triggered recollection.

Previously, I knew nothing about ascension beyond the advice I was given and my own limited experience. Now, I knew I could track the entire process when observing a mortal. Just by looking at them, I could gauge how many souls they'd sunk into it already and how close they were to the Abyss. I could even intuit the Emotion they would eventually merge with.

I knew I had a way to view souls. I knew I had a way to detect and observe emotions, and even feed on them. I knew all of that and a thousand other subtle facts.

But I had never done a single thing on the list. I was working with a whole new set of senses which I had zero practice using, having literally just awakened to them.

It was definitely a good idea to complete my ascension within the station. Seeing as it provided perfect isolation from the world outside, I wasn't immediately bombarded by a thousand new sensations I had no practical experience with.

Then again, I'd handled my new sight well enough, even if it was still odd to have nearly 360-degrees vision. My ascension had strengthened my mind enough for that. Maybe that meant I was already equipped to deal with all the other adjustments.

Trusting in this theory, and finally dressed once more, I took a confident step outside of the station.
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I was wrong. I was so very, very wrong.

It wasn't that I found myself incapable of processing everything. The glow of souls, the way they billowed out from demons as they went about their daily lives, the press of Emotion from every direction… my new senses fed it all to my brain and filed it away with remarkable efficiency.

It was, ironically, the sheer beauty of what was suddenly revealed to me. There were so many secrets hidden in plain sight, so many layers to existence I simply had no way to perceive before. Saying that I had been blind in the past was by no means a sufficient descriptor.

For a moment, I stood there in a daze, just taking it all in. I went so far as to close all my eyes and simply breathe, inhaling the mana and emotions lingering in the air.

I immediately scrunched up my nose, though. Sure, the traces of apathy and boredom were appealing. They all fed into Woe, sating something deep within me. Torment, however, hung heavy in the air, and it kind of ruined the taste.

It wasn't that I couldn't feed on that Emotion. Woe encompassed plenty of Torment, after all. But in this Abyssal layer, Torment was so thickly concentrated that it was liable to make me sick.

The worst part was that I had no idea how to block it out, or even if I could. My instincts and odd, inherited knowledge taught me plenty about how to manipulate emotions, coax them out of people, amplify them, or even guide them to take root in people's minds artificially. None of this applied to cutting myself off from my own food source.

"Hayden?"

The question came from a well-known voice, but it was quiet and tentative, as if the speaker wasn't sure they were addressing the right person.

Jolted from my current state, I looked in Bronwynn's direction, opening my mouth to ask him what was up with his tone. Then I froze, thoroughly startled.

"Affection? Really?" I couldn't help but ask. The Emotion billowed forth from Bronwynn like a bonfire, entwined with his being as surely as Woe was with mine. I glanced at the soft color of the demon's skin. "That explains the pink, I guess."

He flushed a deep mauve and dropped his eyes.

Glaustro's laughter echoed out into the street, drawing my attention. "Oh, you're embarrassed now, are you?" he taunted, grinning wickedly at Bronwynn.

"Wrath," I mumbled, watching the burning pyre of said Emotion as it crackled around Glaustro.

Glaustro obviously heard me, because he sent a glare my way. "And? What of it?" His voice was oddly challenging, which made me tilt my head at him in confusion. Just as oddly, he was the one who looked away and winced. "Sorry. Don't worry about it."

I almost dropped the subject, but both his reaction and my curiosity pushed me onwards.

"Is there something wrong with Wrath? I mean, isn't it one of the more powerful Emotions? What am I missing here?"

I wondered, briefly, at the ease with which I'd forged on. Before my ascension, fear would have led me to avoid any uncomfortable conversations with a demon, even if it was Glaustro and Bronwynn. Now, I felt at ease.

Just as briefly, I noted how dangerous this confidence could be. Demon I might be, but I was freshly ascended. Though I had no real idea how I stacked up against other demons, the answer was unlikely to be 'well.'

For now, though, I was safe. Glaustro's voice was quiet, but he showed no sign of blasting me for impudence.

"It's… people do not usually associate leadership and good reasoning skills with Wrath demons," he admitted. "Most of us are nothing but brutes and frontliners."

A whole new level of understanding opened up to me. No wonder Glaustro was convinced he didn't measure up to his brother. If you continuously fell short in comparison anyway, then got told your Emotion made you unsuited to magic and leadership, you'd probably end up with a few confidence problems too.

"Glaustro, as both your subordinate and your friend, trust me when I say I don't think that's true at all." I spoke with enough conviction that the older demon flushed and looked away, the emotions of embarrassment and fondness flashing briefly from his direction.

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I couldn't hold back the small smile that danced across my lips. It was rare to see him so caught off-guard.

I was also relieved to see that a demon's Emotion didn't rule their life. Wrath certainly fit the Glaustro I had met way back on Berlis, when he first became my superior officer. He absolutely still knew how to get angry. But he was also definitely not dominated by the volatile Emotion that so obviously marked his existence.

Same with Bronwynn, come to think of it. The pink-skinned demon's Emotion was clearly Affection, but he could be a real sourpuss when he wanted to.

It was Bronwynn who spoke next, drawing the sergeant back into conversation, but I was a little distracted. Other than their primary Emotions, which blazed as clearly as two blinding suns, it was tricky to detect what the other two demons were feeling moment to moment. I'd only caught a glimpse of Glaustro's emotions when they really got out of hand, and just for an instant.

I assumed older demons were more skilled at reading nuanced emotions, but I couldn't help hoping that we all struggled at least a little. It would certainly make me more comfortable in my new demonic life.

Unfortunately, I couldn't spend any more time examining my new senses. In spite of how relaxed Glaustro and Bronwynn tried to act, occasional surges of worry and stress still peeked through their facades, like little flashes of light that wound through the coronas of their primary Emotions. Eventually, these glimpses jolted me into the present, reminding me that we were missing someone.

"Mia's still not out?"

My question cut off their chatter, and both demons turned to regard me with carefully controlled expressions. Even their emotional auras stopped swirling and went strangely still.

"She hasn't emerged yet, no." Glaustro gave a backwards glance to the station. "That doesn't mean there's trouble. Some people just take longer than others."

I nodded stiffly. I didn't think they would outright lie to me, but the stilling of their emotions was clue enough. They weren't as certain that Mia would be okay as they would like me to believe.

"Come on, let's sit down over here." Not waiting for my response, Glaustro moved towards one of the benches placed strategically around the station. "Standing around is not going to speed things up. Besides, I'm sure you have a few questions you'd like to ask? We can be a lot more open now, about everything."

Reluctantly, I lowered myself on a bench across from them. The seat was exceptionally uncomfortable, though whether because of its base design or Torment's influence, I couldn't tell.

I did my best to put Mia's predicament out of my mind as I turned towards the two, eying the way they had squeezed themselves onto one bench. The sight was almost comical. Bronwynn was 'average' sized for a demon, but with Glaustro's bulk, the two barely fit on the bench together. It was enough to raise my spirits slightly, though I was careful to tamp down any trace of mockery from my emotions.

Of course, my mood tanked once more when I realized I had no idea what to ask them. Where could I possibly start? There was so much knowledge swirling at the back of my mind. It promised both aid and incredible power, if I could just unlock it.

But I had no clue how.

"Here, kid," Bronwynn said, his voice amused. "I'll start things off with a question of my own. What do you know about demonic nobility?"

I was halfway through saying I knew nothing at all when the question sparked a veritable avalanche of knowledge. I almost gripped my head at the sudden headache pulsing behind my eyes.

"Th-the noble ranks start with barons, and go all the way up to grand duke. You need… you need at least an ascendant level soul to become a noble. Radiant isn't enough. Right?"

The knowledge that had just blasted into my brain contained so much more than that. So many little differences between a baron, viscount, earl, marquis, duke, and finally grand duke of the Abyss.

Only one thing really mattered, though: the difference between a baron and a grand duke was wider than the difference between a regular mortal and a demon. Barons were just starting to dip their feet into the demonic ranks capable of directly manipulating the base power of the Abyss. Grand dukes ruled entire layers.

No, that's not exactly right.

They didn't just rule layers. They practically were the layers they managed to claim or create.

The idea seemed ludicrous at first. But then the Torment that choked every corner of the layer I currently called home pervaded my senses again, confirming the suggestions of my newfound knowledge.

Every bit of this layer contained the mana of the Grand Duke of Torment, and, as such, his soul. His essence permeated the very air I was breathing. A grand duke within his own layer was practically invincible.

"That's right. Now, here's another question: what rank of demon are you?" Glaustro's voice was soft and gentle, clearly trying to coax me along rather than overwhelm. In spite of that, I still froze up when I tried to reach for the answer he'd demanded, because it cut right through my conviction that I was still worth very little.

I had wanted to say his question was silly, and that I was a normal demon at best. Yet the merest dip into my inherited knowledge shot that claim down with laughable ease.

Demons were classified according to their soul level. Annoyingly, the demonic rank was always one tier below the soul. Mortals who ascended with normal rank souls became lesser demons. If you wanted to become a baseline, normal demon, you needed a greater soul. Superior souls became greater demons, and radiant souls became archdemons. Only ascendant souls could enter the nobility ranks.

Processing it all, my mind started to catalogue the demons around me according to these new standards. The cute young couple walking down the street had greater souls, reflecting their baseline demon status. The stall owner further away had a superior soul, which made him a greater demon.

I felt several of my eyes twitch as they took it all in. Even with the instant understanding I'd received, my head was spinning.

Greater souls are 'base' demons, and superior souls are greater demons… how does anyone keep this straight? I groused.

But grousing couldn't distract me from the fact that Bronwynn 'only' had a superior soul, making him a greater demon.

Nor could it help me deny that my own soul most closely matched Glaustro's.

Glaustro, my Abyss-granted knowledge insisted, had a radiant soul. That made him an archdemon, the very peak of 'peasant' ranked demons.

He was the highest a demon could go before crossing over into nobility… and so was I.

For better or worse, my panicking ass didn't have too much time to fret over the realization that I was apparently stronger than Bronwynn. The next moment, with an absolute wall of roiling pressure, someone emerged from the station, their presence at once familiar and utterly alien.

When my many eyes snapped over to the newcomer, I was on my feet before I could stop myself. I didn't want to stop myself, of course. Why would I, when Mia had finally appeared?

A smile already stretching over my lips and her name at the tip of my tongue, I lunged forward — and ran straight into Glaustro's outstretched arm. The shock of the impact cleared my head a little, and the wave of anxiety churning around the older demon finished the job, leaving me composed enough to take in my friend properly.

I didn't like what I saw.

Mia was moving, but each motion was a jerky mess. Her eyes were vacant. The Emotion surging out of her screamed at the world, laced with unmistakable hostility.

"Mia…?"

My voice was a whisper, yet her eyes snapped to me anyway. I saw no fondness in them, or even recognition. Instead, a spark of viciousness claimed her features.

That was my only warning before her claws slashed towards my face.