Zeke fell upon his foes with ruthless violence in his heart. The creatures moved with boneless agility, like terrestrial octopi able to contort their bodies in all the wrong ways. Still, Zeke managed to grab hold of one, and when he did, he nearly recoiled. Its skin was slimy and rubbery, like a garden hose that had been slathered in grease, and it defied his grip.

  He clamped down even as it latched onto his shoulder, digging its shark-like teeth into his flesh. Then, its face started spinning, and it shredded his muscle with ease. Even as bits of flesh sprayed in every direction, its mouth became a vacuum, sucking the liberated meat from his body.

  Zeke screamed in agony as he was eaten alive, the creature’s saliva serving to soften his defenses. Flexing, he ripped the monster’s arm off. It flailed and flopped, slapping him with ineffectual blows that Zeke ignored. Instead, he threw the dismembered arm at one of the other creatures, then tore into one trying to make a meal of his shoulder. It ripped free in a shower of blood, but Zeke paid no attention to the now-missing hunk of flesh.

  A second later, he had his hand wrapped around its spindly neck.

  He squeezed, and the monster let out a wheezing laugh that soon turned to panic. All the while, its lamprey-like mouth continued to spin, its teeth like a chainsaw. Finally, Zeke’s efforts bore fruit when the thing’s head came free. Blood and something milky white sprayed from the stump, but Zeke paid it no mind. He focused instead on ensuring the thing’s death, tearing it to pieces one limb at a time. In moments, it was nothing more than a dismembered pile of rubbery flesh, fluids, and various organs.

  Zeke didn’t look too closely at the puddle of viscera. Nor did he pay attention to the horrid smell that came with its death. He was too focused on the other monsters to give it any real consideration. Though he did notice it. Regrettably. If he’d been even a little less distracted, he would have vomited.

  Fortunately, he had plenty of monsters to fight, because the creatures who’d posed as his family had been joined by many, many more. And they were all hungry to take a bite out of him.

  Deprived of his favored weapon, Zeke met their charge with fists and feet. He was no kung fu master – indeed, his unarmed fighting style was better described as mixed martial arts combined with the savage fury of a wild animal. But over the years, he’d found it to be effective enough. It was doubly so in the current fight.

  He ripped and tore, bit and clawed. Normally, he’d have gone for broken bones or dislocated joints, but these creatures were completely boneless. So, there was nothing for it but to tear them apart, one bit of flesh at a time.

  Zeke sank into the battle, but for once, he didn’t lose his focus. He knew that if he let the trance-like state he normally employed take over, he would lose himself to the hunger gnawing at his belly. Even with his entire mind dedicated to the task of keeping that twisted sense of craving reigned in, he struggled to maintain it.

  He was just so hungry.

  So very hungry.

  The only thing that kept him from succumbing to those urges was the trickle of divine energy flowing through him. It left plenty of damage in its wake, but so long as he kept [Hand of Divinity] active, it wasn’t too much for him to handle. So he fought, his own divine energy doing far more damage than the monsters could ever hope to inflict. Because of that, the fight went on for far longer than it should have.

  But Zeke didn’t care, largely because it was much better than the alternative. It wasn’t difficult to imagine descending into a state of pure hunger and joining the monsters in their ongoing and doomed quest to sate it.

  Eventually, though, Zeke’s superiority won out. At that point, he found himself standing amidst a pile of foul-smelling corpses, contemplating a feast of rubbery flesh. In his addled state, he just knew it would be the best meal he’d ever enjoyed, on par with any Thanksgiving feast he’d ever experienced.

  Yet, Zeke wasn’t so far gone that he would let that affect his actions. He felt the hunger down to his very bones, but he refused to allow it to infect the rational parts of his mind.

  He was tempted, though. Sorely, and with more ferocity than he’d experienced in a long, long time.

  Pushing that aside, he closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath. The smells that infected him were cloying. Sweet and sour. Garbage and freshly baked cake, and it brought with it the feelings that came with those smells. For a moment, they warred for dominance, but in the end, Zeke managed to subdue them.

  Again, he suspected that was only possible because of the divine energy coursing through him.

  “How does anyone else deal with this?” he wondered aloud.

  It was a valid question. According to Eveline, the descent was not something many completed. Most who embarked upon the quest fell victim to its insidious dangers. However, Zeke wasn’t certain if her knowledge was accurate. After all, it was based on myths and legends, rather than basic facts. What’s more, there were obvious some people who’d managed to descend. And given that Zeke was far and away more powerful than even those at the peak of the Eternal Realm, he had to wonder what he was doing wrong.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “You have many flaws,” came a voice. Zeke turned to see a much larger version of the creatures he’d just killed. It was just as spindly, with an even more bulbous belly, and its lamprey-like mouth was at least as large as Zeke’s body. However, it carried itself with far more control. “You possess power, there is no lie. No doubt, it is wondrously delicious. Yet, Hell is not meant as a test of your power. Instead, it is a test of character.”

  “Character? For demons?” Zeke asked, willing to allow the truce to continue even if his every instinct told him to attack the monster. He knew it would come down to a fight, but he didn’t want to push for that until he’d gotten some information. Eveline was once again silent, so she would be no help for now.

  “Ah, yes. Demons are known for succumbing to their base instincts. They embrace their sinful natures, which makes these circles that much more insidious. If all it took was power, then the next circle would be a truly crowded place. But if it is only populated by demons who can control themselves? Well, that is much rarer and far more dangerous. The last battle has no use for those who cannot control their instincts, after all,” it said with a chuckle that sounded like wet meat squishing together. “You have come far, little cambion. Perhaps you will continue, but power will only suffice for so long before you are forced to understand and confront your own flaws.”

  “Any tips?” Zeke asked, not expecting much from a monster who’d been consumed by its own gluttony.

  “You look at me as if I am a monster. I understand this attitude, and yet, it curdles my stomach to know what I have become. I was once like you. We all were. We failed in our descent, just as you will,” the creature explained. “If you are to make it, you must learn more control than you have so far displayed.”

  It sighed – a bubbling sound that put Zeke in mind of the feeling he got when he was on the verge of vomiting – then said, “The time for discourse has passed, for my hunger grows more insistent by the moment. Know that when I consume you, I will regret my actions. Most of us my…brethren cannot say as much. If you emerge victorious, you will be like them. A mindless creature of pure hunger. A powerful one, to be certain, but limited by your own flaws. I hope you never have to experience that.”

  With that, the monster lurched toward Zeke, and faster than his eyes could track. Before he even knew what was happening, the thing’s mouth had closed around him. Then the teeth dug in, and all Zeke knew was agony. He screamed a scream that no one else could hear, and he fought a battle he could not win. No matter how much he struggled, he could not escape that orifice of whirling, blade-like teeth.

  He was ripped to shreds.

  And yet, he persisted. Somehow, he managed to leverage his control over his own endurance and vitality to combat the damage done, but he could do no more than achieve a stalemate.

  So, he suffered.

  But if nothing else, Zeke was more than prepared for that. It seemed that his entire life since being reborn in those troll caves was characterized by suffering. Even when he experienced good times – like with his found family – it only highlighted the pain he’d be forced to endure.

  It was not a pretty way to live, leaping from one bout of agony to the next, but it did serve a singular purpose in preparing him for his current situation. He could not escape – not yet – but he could endure. And in the interim, he would grow. He would push himself forward by sheer force of willpower.

  With that in mind, Zeke yanked on that thread of divine energy. It barely budged, regardless of how ardently he pulled. Yet, even a miniscule amount of movement was enough to affect change. The trickle thickened by a nearly imperceptible degree. That, in turn, fueled his manipulation of his attributes.

  It also sparked a moment of understanding.

  It was all connected. He couldn’t quite understand how, but mana, will, his unnamed control over his most powerful attributes – it all came from the same source. It was all an expression of divine energy. Different sides of the same concept, but with a common thread all the same.

  But he would need a lot more time – years, perhaps – before he managed to figure out how it all fit together. Maybe he never would. For now, though, Zeke continued to pull on that thread. He paid the price as more and more destructive energy flowed through him. However, it also empowered him, strengthening his muscles and enhancing his durability as he struggled to keep himself together.

  Eventually – what might have been hours or weeks later – he started to gain ground. Even as his body regrew, bit by bit, it resisted the monster’s sharp teeth a little more until, at last, Zeke found himself once again whole.

  He wasn’t in good condition, and he questioned whether or not even his closest friends would recognize the skinless near-corpse he had become, and yet, it was progress. Zeke continued on, steadily outpacing the monster’s efforts until, finally, he managed to latch onto its whirring teeth and yank them free.

  The monster went wild.

  Convulsing violently, it first tried to swallow him. Then, realizing that it couldn’t accomplish that seemingly insurmountable feat – not with Zeke actively resisting – it spat him out.

  Zeke tumbled along the fleshy ground, rolling away until he came to a stop. Like that, he lay there, covered in grotesque saliva and still far from fully recovered. After a moment or two, he pushed himself to his hands and knees and looked up to see what he guessed was a horrified expression on the monster’s face.

  “How?” it asked incredulously.

  “You say I need to overcome my instincts, right? Well, I disagree. Enduring things like this is my nature,” he said, finally rising to his feet. His footing was unsteady, but he felt strong enough to continue. “This fight isn’t finished yet.”

  Then, he channeled some of his divine energy into his strength and threw himself forward. He clearly used too much, because when he hit the monster’s bulbous belly, he passed right through like it wasn’t even there. It exploded in a shower of pus, blood, and half-digested meat.

  Zeke hit the ground a moment later, where he tour through the gooey landscape, digging a twenty yard long trench before he came to a stop. The monster fell a second later, dead before it hit the ground.

  Breathing hard as [Hand of Divinity] healed the damage he’d just done to himself, Zeke looked around. The most immediate enemy was defeated, but he was no closer to escaping the circle of Hell devoted to gluttony. So, he rose and, after looking around for a few moments, he chose a direction at random and began his journey.