Starvation gnawed at Zeke, gripping him in an iron vice and never relinquishing its hold. It was so intense that he’d begun to look at the landscape with desire in his eyes. He’d never been so hungry, a feeling which turned the gluttonous actions of the local wildlife – if it could even be called that – from disgusting to understandable. If they felt half of what he did, he could sympathize with the furious commitment to sating their hunger.

  Yet, Zeke managed to refrain, and not just because the disgust he felt every time he saw a misshapen creature tearing bloody meat from one of the fleshy trees or burying itself in the similarly constructed ground. Instead, he did so because he knew that if he took one step down that road, he would never return. He was like an addict abstaining from just one drink that would send them spiraling down the path to ruin.

  Divine energy helped with that endeavor, but it was not a perfect shield. Perhaps such a thing didn’t exist.

  It did allow him to resist, doing much of the heavy lifting for which simple willpower was insufficient.

  The hunger – perhaps because he refused to give in – cast the entire circle of Hell in a curious light. Nothing seemed quite real, but at the same time, it was all so enticingly solid that it felt more fully formed than anywhere else he’d ever been. Colors – mostly red – were more vibrant. Sounds were louder. Smells were far more potent.

  It was like a fever dream, though one that left him reeling as he considered that it was reality.

  Hunger made manifest colored everything. The landscape was made entirely of rolling hills of bloody flesh, while even the vegetation – such as it was – followed the same theme. Seeing what looked like a palm tree, but with plump fingers instead of fronds was more than a little disconcerting. Especially when Zeke wanted nothing more than to climb the trunk and rip into those fronds with reckless abandon.

  The natives certainly had no reservations about doing just that. Everywhere he looked, small creatures with disproportionate features waged a war of mastication on the terrain and one another. Fights were common, and the losers not only lost their lives, but were immediately consumed in a fit of gluttony.

  The smaller monsters were no worry for Zeke. They still attacked him, and without anything approaching caution. Yet, he killed them without issue, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. However, the larger monsters were far more concerning. Some – like the spindle-legged, big-bellied humanoids he’d fought upon arrival – were incredibly dangerous. They weren’t terribly powerful, but they were smart, and they showed enough restraint that they were willing to lay traps and wait.

  Zeke forged through each attempt to entrap him, using his immense attributes to turn their plans to ruin. Still, it wasn’t difficult to imagine a situation where they were successful. If that happened, he might find himself in similar circumstances to what he’d experienced when he’d first set foot in the circle.

  Then there were the largest creatures. Some were only the size of houses, but in the distance, Zeke had seen many that were much, much bigger. Huge, slug-like monsters that consumed everything in their path. The only solace was that they could barely move faster than a normal man’s walk, and so, they were easily avoided. However, Zeke had spent more than a few hours just watching as they inched across the landscape.

  But it was only towards the end that he realized the truth.

  They weren’t slugs. Rather, they were normal creatures – some even resembled humans – whose stomachs had grown so distended that they looked like slimy invertebrates. Would that happen to him if he succumbed to the starvation gnawing at him?

  After that, the divine energy didn’t need to work quite as hard to keep him from indulging his hunger. That path wasn’t without issues of its own, though. As days passed, Zeke felt his body withering away. His limbs became thinner, and his steps started to falter as his strength failed him. Eventually, the only thing differentiating him from the other monsters was his dogged determination and the lack of a bulbous stomach.

  Still, he did what he always did. He endured, secure in the knowledge that if he indulged – even a little – he would be lost forever. To distract himself from the hunger, he focused almost entirely on the divine energy coursing through him. He’d already resolved to use his descent as training, and it was time he truly gave it its due.

  Every cycle of that energy left his body in ruins, but it was quickly counteracted by [Hand of Divinity]. And after a few weeks of stumbling through the circle of gluttony, Zeke realized something he’d been missing.

  [Hand of Divinity], as the name implied, used divine energy as fuel. Not primarily, but it was there, all the same. Compared to the trickle that had since escaped the cage, it was barely a thimble to an ocean, but its presence sparked an idea in Zeke’s mind. The system had given him a key to unlock his own potential, and it was up to him to figure out how to use it.

  So, even as he cycled divine energy through his body, counteracting the destructive effects with his skill, he studied the flow of [Hand of Divinity] as it mended his body. At first, detecting the divine energy within the current of mana was difficult. As he’d previously noted, it was far too thin to sense. Instead, he found that the only real way to see it was to observe how the mana reacted to its presence. In that way, it was like looking at a shadow and trying to figure out what sort of entity had cast it.

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  The general shape of it was easy enough, but anything more than that was like pulling teeth – difficult and time-consuming. However, trekking through the circle of gluttony was no quick matter, and as a result, Zeke had plenty of time on his hands. So, he bent a portion of his willpower to the matter, and all the while, he lamented his lack of an academic background.

  Perhaps a theoretical physicist would have done better.

  But what Zeke lacked in mathematical or conceptual skills, he made up for with sheer determination. He might not have been an ideal candidate to study the phenomenon within his skill, but he attacked the problem with the same verve and vigor with which he confronted any other obstacle.

  Straight on, and without a hint of hesitation.

  He battered at the issue before him, using his mind instead of his withering muscles. And eventually – after weeks of effort – he came upon a commonality. He’d long known that runes were more than just ephemeral symbols. Rather, they were conduits of energy – usually mana – that reacted with one another to create specific effects. The collection of symbols and glyphs that governed [Hand of Divinity] were no different in that respect.

  But there was more.

  Something slightly out of phase that he’d somehow missed in his previous inspections of the skill. That’s when he recognized that they were all like that. Each of his skills had an underlying mesh of other, invisible runes that had escaped his notice.

  That was more than a little disturbing. He’d spent countless hours examining and building skills, so if he’d never noticed them, then the chances that anyone else had were absolutely nil. It was so distressing that, for a while, he didn’t believe what he sensed – and that wasn’t a surprising development. It was like learning that his entire world was a lie. Or that he’d only been seeing a piece of the world.

  Or a reflection.

  Divine energy was reality, and everything else was just shadows dancing on a wall.

  He stumbled and collapsed to the fleshy ground. On hands and knees, he really looked at the terrain. Past the disgustingly meaty earth, there was something else there. Something he could sense but not quite see.

  Divine energy.

  That wasn’t all there was to it, but once he sensed the underpinnings of the world, he couldn’t ignore it. He needed to see more. He needed to understand the rest of it. But try as he might, there was nothing else to see. Whether it was due to his level of progression or a simple lack of experience, Zeke couldn’t sense anything more than a flicker of divine energy underlying everything.

  It was both frustrating and enthralling. Terrifying and exciting. But more than anything else, it gave him another goal. He wasn’t meant to simply make it through the various circles of Hell and emerge on the other side. He intended to continue studying the phenomenon he’d so far only begun to sense, and by the time he reached his destination, he would truly understand it.

  Or he would die trying.

  With that in mind, Zeke pushed himself to his feet just before a lumbering rhinoceros-type creature smashed into him. The monster was no different from all the rest he’d fought in the circle of gluttony. Too thin in all the wrong places, with a bulging stomach that dragged the ground.

  And it was obviously hungry, judging by its slavering jaws.

  Zeke stepped aside, ramming his hand out in a straight punch that sent the monster tumbling across the fleshy landscape. It was a strong monster, but Zeke was far stronger. And when it tried to rise, it stumbled around drunkenly, under a clear concussion. Not surprising, considering that Zeke had felt the thing’s skull crack under his blow.

  He pounced on it, hammering his fists into the monster’s head until it had descended into mush. The hunger remained, screaming at him to claw out a few hunks of delicious brain and skull so he could have a feast, but for whatever reason, it was easier to resist.

  After he’d seen a glimmer of truth, the circle of gluttony’s hold on him felt less real than ever before. Even the divine energy coursing through him wasn’t as destructive. Certainly, it still left calamity in its wake, which he was forced to heal with [Hand of Divinity], but it wasn’t as painful.

  That gave him hope.

  On and on he went, wandering aimlessly for days that turned into weeks, which in turn became months. Zeke lost all track of time, but he was too engrossed in his task – as well as the hunger – to notice the passage of time. That seemed to be a theme with each circle of Hell. Passage through each one was a time-consuming endeavor, and the Circle of Gluttony was no different.

  He did not regret it, though. On the rare occasions that he let himself entertain stray thoughts, he found that he was almost glad for the opportunity. It let him truly dive deep into the nature of divine energy and the underpinnings of reality he’d sensed. He barely made any progress, but that was to be expected. Figuring out the nature of the universe was no quick process, after all.

  However, after some interminable amount of time, Zeke made a breakthrough. He sensed something he hadn’t expected. Beneath the surface of his reality, he could sense a tiny thread of symbols stretching off into the distance. He followed it, more to continue studying the phenomenon than because he wanted to see where it led.

  But then he sensed something difficult to ignore.

  Somewhere far ahead, there was a veritable explosion of divine energy. It was far more structured than anything he could summon, but he could still feel it pervading the entire area. So, he headed in that direction.

  Gradually, he continued to cover ground, fending off the gluttonous natives and fighting a personal battle against the hunger gnawing at him. At first, he had no idea what he might find, but then, he caught sight of an obstacle that did more than just give him pause.

  It was one of the sluggish creatures he’d only glimpsed from afar. Yet, it was the size of a mountain. Visible from dozens of miles away, the thing was larger – and more powerful – than anything he’d yet sensed in the Circle of Gluttony.

  But it was not the source of the divine energy. Instead, it lay before it, obscuring it. The task was clear – if Zeke wanted to see what produced so much energy, then he needed to go through that bulbous monster.