“We all look the same in the dark,” he snarls with his ugly red demon eyes. Clearly, he is very fucking wrong. Demon bosses were pricks.

I snap forward, flashing my human sized sword. I know he can see it glow in the shadows. I hope he knows just how much damage it can do.

The demon growls, “Petty human.” Jaws reveal white predatorial canines, like any other animal.

“Petty hellspawn,” I say, before my blade sinks into his chest, and he explodes into a hot mess of black sludge across the Void.

~~~~~

I continue moving down.

The next floor is just a maze of…maise. Corn fields stretch in high dense walls farther than the eye can see. I sprint through it towards the center with good luck, reaching only two dead ends on the way. Both times, I was met with grossly engorged Voidspawn crawlers, but I slashed through their bellies before they could land a pincher. They explode.

When I reach the center, stairs reveal themselves, and I follow.

~~~~~~

Down onto the next floor, and I am met with a cliff edge that I almost run straight over. The ocean crashes over two hundred feet below.

The sea breeze is nice, except for the fact that a large flying Voidbat is diving right at me, laughing, like that other demon.

Rude.

“Hey, ugly!” I call. “Quit flapping!”

It screeches a cackling war cry as it shoots its talons towards me. Light from the coastal sun shines right through the large, paper thin, membranous wings. I swing my sword and slice through the veins. They pop with black sludge, and the demon bird explodes over my head, so gross.

Now where are the stairs?

Oh. Down to the ocean.

And for a while I hug the cliff-side to my back and sidestep all the way down a switchback staircase until the next floor reveals itself.

~~~~~

I am in darkness again. The glow of the sword is just light enough to allow me to see footprints in front of me. Smaller than rabbit-sized. Are there more than one pair?

Oh yes. There are. I swing around, and feel the presence of multiple hellspawn _rats_ crawling around my feet, nipping at my ankles.

One jumps and manages to catch the sleeve of my elbow and hangs on, squeaking. Red eyes glow like little beaded orbs. Tail swings full of spikes.

“Ew.”

I shake it off, and don’t even bother with the sword. I stomp them all into bits. The spikes on the bottom of my shoes help me immensely. I’m glad I installed them before entering the labarynth.

Wren would probably give me a thumbs up at the idea. Wren was dead, though, so I’ll never actually know.

“Would be nice of your ghost to show up, right about now,” I mumble. The Void rats stop squeaking under my heels, and I’m more annoyed than concerned about how a hundred more spawn in through the sludge of their exploded kin.

I find the next stairway before another wave fully respawns. Wren would have hated this part, and I would’ve laughed. I miss him.

~~~~~

“We alllll look the saaaaame in the dark,” says another demon boss. The Void just love to mock me, don’t they?

“Shut up,” I growl, gripping my silver hilt. “I’m tired of that shit.”

“It’s _trueeeeee,”_ it purrs.

This boss shines hellish red through the eyes, too, except it waves around eight long limbs and two flame coated tails. Lava pools illuminate it from below. It’s hot as sin on this floor.

I’d like to get this done and out of the way as fast as possible. Unfortunately, this Voidspawn is faster. I swipe my sword to the side and feint a blow when I realize the speed of the thing is miles better than the previous.

“Youuuuu,” it seethes, “looook the saaaame as usssss. Yesssss.”

“Too fucking bad!” I yell, pushing another blow foward, stepping back to block a parade of limbs. “I bleed blood, not explode like a goddamn piñata!”

Prick.

Humans were not so powerless. Not when they came installed with revenge.

Not when a murder of their best friend was on the line.

No, sir.

“Die, you ugly imp!”

My sword makes a landing across the base of one of its tails. It’s a small sacrifice to make, taking a face full of flames in order to defeat this thing. My rage doesn’t make it any easier, but it does give me resilience.

Wren is worth it.

Fuck these demon spawn for doing what they did to him.

~~~~

For the record, I don’t even know if his soul is trapped at the bottom of the labarynth. It’s all one big what if.

I descend further, not knowing when I’ll reach the bottom.

If Wren is there, I’ll laugh in his face and say, “I was _right_!” And probably burst into tears when he hugs me.

I’ll show him my new sword, too.