Journey of the Dead King, Landon G. [best books to read for self improvement .TXT] 📗

Chapter 1
Escape From Hell

I was slowly coming to, I didn’t know what happened, all I knew is that it was very hot and there was a low rumbling.
My vision was slowly coming back; there were a lot of fiery orange blurs and a large black blur.
I could finally see straight after a minute or two. The orange blurs were
apparently molten lava, and the black, a cloaked figure, eyes glowing red inside its hood and a large scythe in hand.
“You have finally awoken, Darian,” said the figure, “I thought you’d never wake up.”
“What...? Who...? Where...?” I said, my head throbbing, barely noticing that I wasn’t completing my sentences.
“I suppose you mean to say,” said the cloaked figure, “‘What happened? Who are you? Where am I?’ Correct?”
“Yeah,” I said, still a little dazed.
“To put it as simply as I can,” Replied the figure, “You were assassinated, I am Death, and you are in hell.”
“Wha- What?” I yelled, “Assassinated? But, by who?”
“Delacroix, your half demon adviser, and also my son,” Answered Death, “Now, I am guessing that you don’t expect a second chance, seeing as you’re going to use it to seek revenge upon your assassin. Well you’re wrong; I despise my son, despite our blood relation. He has cheated me for years, and it’s not wise to cheat Death.”
I remembered something from the Book of Hell, which I spent much time reading when I was king, some people got second, even third chances from death. Second if Death had an interest in them, third if they had some kind of bond with him. I suppose I should have felt honored, death having an interest in me, but he could have also been using me as a pawn, to kill his son who should have died long ago.
“What’s the catch?” I asked, “Why are you letting me go? Do you have interest in me or do you plan on using me?”
“Ah,” said Death, slight surprise in his voice,” so you’ve read my book I see, well, I do plan on using you, but I also have interest in you. As for the catch, well I cannot return you straight to your body. I can only release your soul, getting to your body will be your own problem.”
I expected something like this, it did not surprise me that he would take such precautions, it was against the Laws of the Underworld to release someone from hell, but souls were classified as things, therefore if they were released, there would be no penalty.
“Oh, and one more thing,” He added, “you will not be completely human once your soul leaves Hell, you will be a Deimos Child.”
“Deimos Child... Isn’t that a human made demon?” I asked.
“Yes, you would take the form of a wolf, your demon will come out at times of great physical or emotional pressure, though the most that will change is your ears, eyes, finger and toe nails, and you will grow a tail. Are you ready to leave?”
I nodded. “Very well,” he said, raised his hands, and in seconds I was gone from the camber I was in, and on a walkway surrounded my lava.
I walked down the walkway, which twisted and turned, went up and down stairs, bones and rotting corpses hanging from chains and ropes and floating in lava. I came across an enormous lizard-like skeleton; the first thing that ran across my mind was “I’d hate to meet that thing when it was alive... Or what killed it... No! Now’s not the time to terrify myself...” As I thought that I ran my hand through my scruffy purple hair, trying not to think about dragons.
I soon came to a large platform littered in skeletal remains and the first living things I came across down here, Imps. They were small, blue, winged, horned demons that mostly traveled in packs, the leader being larger, red, and fiercer. The leaders were called Hellfire Imps, named for their consistency to use their Imp Hellfire spell.
I took one step onto the bone-littered platform and every single imp, including the leader, stared at me. For several tense minutes, they stared at me, their yellow, glowing eyes fixed on my red eyes, then they attacked, swooping in on me, attempting to scratch, bite, and burn me, but they never got a chance. “Dark Vortex!” I yelled, and a black, swirling hole opened in front of me and sucked in most of the imps. I closed the vortex once all that weren’t resisting were inside. All that was left was four or five and the leader. They all used Imp Hellfire on me, creating an enormous wall of fire, which I blocked, by pulling my staff, which was compacted, out of my bag, pressing a button on it, causing it to extend to full length, and twirling it.
I charged in, smacking the first two imps and making them fly into the burning lava. A third imp bit my arm, and I ripped him off and tossed him at a fourth imp, knocking them out. The fifth imp got scared and knocked itself out by continually smacking its head against the ground, all that was left was the Hellfire Imp.
It blew fire at me, which I dodge and countered by smacking it, making it fly across the lava, but it recovered from the blow and regained flight before it could burn. It flew at me at supersonic speeds and head butted me in the stomach, knocking the air out of me. It continued by scratching me and biting me up and down my arms and legs, then catching me before I hit the ground, flying about twenty in the air, and pile driving me into the ground. My head was pounding and I was sick of the little vermin.
“Dark Fire!” I shouted, and I could feel a strange force traveling up, through my lungs and out my mouth in the form of purple flames, which knocked the imp out of the air and into the lava, melting it within seconds.
I stumbled down another pathway and up a steep flight of stairs, out an archway, and into the real world. I thought it was all over, but I was wrong, everything was going purple, I could feel my ears disappearing from the sides of my head and growing out the top, my nails growing, whiskers growing from my cheeks, and a tail sprouting out of my hind end. I let out a fierce howl and started to sprint though the field, destroying everything in my path. After several minutes of this uncontrollable rampage, I changed back and passed out.

Chapter 2
Razor

I was slowly waking up, everything was blurred and I heard voices. I didn’t recognize the voices but I could tell that they belonged to two women, one about my age the other elderly.
As my vision once more cleared everything came into focus. The ceiling and floors were wooden; I was sleeping in a small wooden bed. The room was small, a picture of a meadow hung on the wall and a door on the other side of the room.
I sat up and got out of the bed. My bag and robe were no where to be seen. I stood there in my black cloth pants and leather tunic. My shoes were against the wall by the door; I walked over, put them on, and went out the door.
I stood in a large living room, a pink couch stood in the middle in front of a fireplace. Another door stood on the same wall as the one I just exited, a door across from me leading outside, judging by the window next to it, sunlight pouring through it. Another doorway stood diagonal from me, which by what I could see led to the kitchen.
The young woman who as I guessed before was my age walked in. She had somewhat scruffy black hair with, oddly enough, orange ears sticking out of it. I guessed she was part demon or something along those lines, she also had a bushy fox’s tail. She wasn’t wearing much, a black furry top with reddish trim and a matching skirt; she also had a thorn covered belt. Besides the fact she was different, she was absolutely stunning.
“Oh! You’re up! I didn’t expect you to awake so early!” she exclaimed. “I’m Razor, I found you passed out in the fields near the forbidden cave, you know it’s dangerous to be around there.”
I was nearly speechless, but to keep from looking like an idiot, I quickly found my words, “Oh, yeah, guess I just wasn’t thinking. I’m Darian, umm... where exactly am I?
“Well, you’re in my house, well my grandmother’s house,” she replied, “It’s on the edge of the Arcane Forest. Hold on, Grandma! He’s up! Make some tea!”
“Okay, dear.” I heard from the kitchen.
“So,” Razor continued, “why are you out here? It’s not like the towns people to come out here.”
“Well, it’s a long story and it’s kind of hard to believe-“I said.
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” she interrupted, “I know that if anyone was near that cave then they must have a ridiculous sounding story.”
“Well,” I continued, “Okay.”
I started to tell her the whole story, about how I was assassinated, how I escaped from Hell, how I turned into a demon, everything. I expected her to think I was insane, but as I continued, she got more and more interested. Once I finished, she looked like she just had the most exciting adventure of her life.
“Wow,” She said, “I never thought that the Forbidden Cave was a gateway to hell...”
At that moment, Razor’s grandmother walked in, carrying a tray with a teapot and three cups on it.
“Here’s your tea dear,” She said, “So, who’s your friend?”
“This is Darian, he is actually a ghost-“
“Uh,” I interrupted, “I’m a spirit dweller it’s like a ghost only I can touch things just like a living person.”
“Ah,” said Razor’s grandmother, “and I’m guessing you are also a Deimos Child?”
“Uh, yes,” I answered, surprised, “How did you know?”
“I found that book in your bag, I read a couple random pages and found out about quite a few things. Oh, by the way, here are your things.”
She handed me my bag and robe, I took them, put on my robe, and slipped my bag around my shoulder.
“Well, I should go, I have a long journey ahead of me and I’d rather get it over with as quickly as possible.”
“Oh, wait!” said Razor, “Please! Take me with you! I’ve always dreamed of seeing the world! Please!”
“Uh...” I said kind of nervously, “I don’t know...”
“Oh please! I won’t be a burden! I can take care of myself!
“It’s a dangerous world out there, you could get hurt, or worse.”
“What? You don’t think I can protect myself? I’ll show you! Come on, let’s take this outside!”
“Uh-,” I stammered, but I couldn’t say anything, she gripped me by the front of my tunic and dragged me outside.
“Very well,” I said, “I don’t want to hurt a lovely young lady like yourself, but I guess I have not choice.”
I pulled out my staff and extended it, then threw my bag aside and got into a battle stance.
Razor, who was standing about ten yards away from me, pulled a scythe from a sheathe on her back and spun it around her a little, then got into a battle