CHAPTER VII: RISE
It was during this period that Hell's power grew immense and the infernal armies were forged into the nightmarish legions that you fought against. I am old and possess great knowledge, but it is still a mystery to me how you, single–handedly, could defeat whole armies of Hell and their masters. How could you do that – only you, with your frail human body, low–quality armor and imperfect human weapons? How? Questions that will never have answers... Even you cannot comprehend that. Even you did not believe for a second that you have gone as far as you have. On this, we might contemplate later...
It may be true that I had not assessed the strengths of humanity properly, as I, just as every other demon, had always thought of mortals with contempt and outright mockery. We could not suppose that you could actually put aside your human weaknesses and fight just like the champions of other races. The strength of our armies was in their single–mindedness and determination to achieve their goals, no matter the cost. On the other hand, I had seen humans being treacherous, or running away driven by fear, thus appearing to be an inferior force to our legions. I had also been very astonished with your passion for fighting one another – all wars on Earth were fought between humans, maybe because you had never encountered an enemy race that would unite you, the way you were united when Hell invaded. But I am getting distracted – I was to tell you about my missions and the Earth...
My second visit to your rather unpleasant planet was many centuries after my reign in the jungles of that southern continent. I was to test my newest skill – the skill of devouring. We, the council of the Thirteen had detected a place of potent evil somewhere on... give me a moment... somewhere between Africa (is the name correct) and Asia Minor. Some desert area. A great ancient human kingdom was there – a powerful kingdom, yet so corrupted. Its kings were vicious and ever hungry to conquer new lands and dominate over the rest of your kind. The name of that kingdom I have forgotten. Not that I care much about it.
Hell's attention was attracted by a complex of mines. Those were mines where precious metals and gems were gathered. You are puzzled? You don't know how such a place can be evil? Oh, trust me, human, it can be. The purposes of those mines were foul. The treasures dug from it were used for evil purposes – supporting the research of black magic, the funding of armies that would spread over the continent and slaughter millions. And other purposes which I will not disclose – there are things about human history that you'd better not know. My mission was to devour the mines – use powerful force fields to tear away those mines from the Earth and send them to Hell, where they would be used well... What? Ah, yes – what I was about to do was similar to what happened to Deimos, though a different spell was used then. And so, I manifested myself upon the Earth in the guise of a simple traveler.
Your civilization was starting to advance – the great age of Atlantis was long lost but you were still doing well enough for a primitive species. I found those mines, and during a dark night, I started my dark ritual. The mystic symbols in my magic circle glowed with eerie light as I cast my incantations and summoned great infernal power, shaping it into a magic field that would produce the desired effect. A bright flash of light, screams of terror from scared humans and then silence. A great canyon stood before me – a canyon that wasn't there a few seconds ago. The mines were gone, together with a large piece of land.
Before going back to Hell, I spent a few additional days on your planet. I was strongly tempted to visit my ancient kingdom once more, and once again feel the power of the Temple of Darkness that was buried deep under the cold earth. But I managed to restrain myself and spent the last days trying to teach some tribe of nomads in the ways of human sacrifices.
Again, I was surprised by the readiness with which your brethren were ready to slaughter each other, instead of being united against the hostile world they lived in. Many demons thought that self–destruction was innate to your race, and that could only help us destroy you. I think that our invading forces would have had more difficulties if you were able to quickly unite and respond to our assault. I leave it to you to think about that – and I do advise you to think about it if you care for your race. Digressions – I really should avoid them. So, what happened next?
When I returned, I had to take care of Hell's newest asset. You remember your second journey in Hell, human? Yes, the Abandoned Mines you passed through are those same mines I am telling you of. They were very useful as all those metals and gems inside were imbued with the spirit of human evil and foulness. Once in Hell, those energies emanated with great power and strengthened all who dwelled the realm. We also made good use of the workers – some fresh meat and blood make for a good feast. And the corrupt viziers that were personally overseeing the mining operations... Oh yes, they did – the king's viziers were there to make sure that all riches will be collected and brought to his Foulness's treasury. Those fat greedy men were morphed by the infernal energies of Hell into putrid corpulent demons known as Mancubi. Yes, those same Mancubi. Their greed and gluttony were enough to spark that transformation and curse them for all eternity.
The evil of the viziers was great – that's why every Mancubus could eventually be reproduced. And thus we spawned many more of those blobs of grease and slime. Baphomet gave me the honor of choosing their purpose in our army. I implemented an old idea of mine – I ordered my minions to attach powerful flamethrowers to those monstrosities' limbs. Their mass was enough to keep them stable in position, and the excessive fat of their bodies would fuel the flames; thus my plan for double living flamethrowers came to fruition. You have had quite some bad time with those demons, haven't you? And you saw how masterfully the mines were integrated into the fabric of Hell?
Trophies of other worlds were a valued asset that we kept as a symbol of our triumph and domination. Many alien things were consumed by Hell – temples, machines, spaceships, tombs, and even a statue from the ruined city of a civilization that we had exterminated. Other trophies and loot was stored in treasuries and vaults – all kinds of objects could be found there – from skulls and bones, to tomes and enormous precious gems. Of course, there were also demonic archives that depicted, in detail, our victorious battles, and memorable conquests. Some of the armies that we encountered carried splendid battle standards and we had a formidable collection of those – a grim reminder of all that had fallen before our merciless advance. Still, among all the loot that we possessed, everything related to humanity was held in the highest esteem. You and your kind had always had a special role.
Humanity kept unknowingly increasing Hell's powers. Your souls were perfect for our purposes. Your blood was so fortifying (and delicious) that one of the other Gatekeepers built a facility specially designed to crush human bodies and collect their blood – the House of Pain. It also had magical devices that gathered the victims' death pain and spread it over Hell through the facility's tall "smokestacks." That pain made Hell's atmosphere and aura very powerful and increased the abilities of all infernal spellcasters – including the Gatekeepers.
It was also at that time that we made experiments in the Unholy Cathedral – using the power of the ancient Unholy Bible, we were able to create orbs that granted invulnerability. The drawback was that this invulnerability was very short and the recipient's vision was weirdly white while it was in effect. You know those green invulnerability orbs – they helped you survive quite a few times, as well as several other artifacts that you could use – like the Soul Spheres that you consumed to heal your wounds.
And now, we are getting closer to the time when a living human entered Hell for the first time... No, it wasn't you – another human did it, and now I'll tell you his tale.