On this very special, yet utterly unremarkable day, a grand total of two people occupied Adam's small, cramped room.
A nurse, her face etched with a weariness that spoke of countless similar scenes, and an observing employee from the notorious 'XXXX' company. A man whose tailored suit seemed to mock the simplicity of the sterile room as he stood over Adam's frail, pale body.
There was no ceremony, no protracted goodbyes. Just a simple, almost perfunctory injection with a syringe into his paper-thin arm.
A dozen years of struggling, of fighting for every shallow breath, every flicker of consciousness and reluctance was ended in an instant. There was no struggle from Adam, no complaints, only a final, definite silence.
An utter mockery of his helpless hopes and faith in survival; a waste of years fighting indignantly.
"Time of death, 3:33 pm," the nurse murmured, her voice flat, after the flatline shriek from the heart monitor sliced through the quiet room.
The employee, after having done his job of observing, offered his perfunctory condolences and a curt, emotionless thanks before turning on his heel and walking off, his face a mask of indifference with every step.
The nurse sighed, a deep, helpless sigh that seemed to carry the weight of all the suffering she had witnessed, before gently covering Adam's face with a sterile white cloth.
The pain, the darkness, the suffocating presence that had accompanied him his entire, miserable life had finally, truly disappeared.
The end of Adam.
Yet, with that termination, came the birth of something new, something ancient, something... demonic~
An unknown amount of time passed.
Endless darkness slowly coalesced, not into light, but into a faint, pulsating red hue.
Adam's last, fractured memories of the syringe being injected into his arm began to surface, only to cause him more profound confusion during this 'awakening'.
Slowly, almost gently, realization and consciousness weaved into his fractured memories.
Then finally, like a dam breaking, the last, potent emotions he had felt when he was alive flooded his entire being as an overwhelming torrent of despair, fatigue, and incandescent rage.
The surge of these raw, extreme emotions seemed to become visible, manifested, and tangible within this unknown plane.
The very air distorted, roiling and churning, as the pure, negative energy converged, forming into a dense, pulsating cloud of crimson mist.
Pure emotions of hatred, agony, and a deep-seated thirst for revenge slowly, undauntingly, began to form the outline of a human-like figure within that seething red haze.
Within the seething rage!
Around him, in the vast, swirling expanse of this new reality, bloodthirsty red eyes slowly gathered, countless pairs glinting from the new surrounding gloom.
Intrigue, raw greed, and a heavy dose of primal instinctive caution was reflected in all of the onlookers as they watched the horrifying birth of... something.
After a couple of minutes of the torrential winds sweeping through the hellish surroundings, Adam slowly, almost painfully, regained his full consciousness, and the lingering emotions that came with it.
This awakening was not merely a return to awareness, but also an instantaneous download, as a plethora of new, fundamental information flooded his mind.
A profound understanding of his new 'circumstances' was clearly and undeniably defined within his mind and surging memories.
Instincts, intelligence, and a natural cunning blended into his being.
A understanding formed within his mind.
He had truly died, but he had been reborn once again.
Yet, this time, he wasn't human. He was something far greater, far more powerful, and truly evil.
Adam's red, burning eyes shot open; a bloodthirsty rage and overwhelming pressure hit the onlookers like a tidal wave.
Adam had been reborn as a Devil within the 1st layer of Hell itself!
His new eyes, burning with an infernal fire, slowly took in his surroundings. He turned his gaze, scanning the various demons that had surrounded him.
An innate, chilling understanding filling his mind as he gazed upon their grotesque, brutish forms. Their hulking, misshapen bodies, their fangs and claws, their eyes glinting with avarice, were all instantly categorized, their general levels of strength and maturity assessed.
Their very being capable of breaking the minds of weaker mortals, as corruption and sin trailed them like a cloak of damnation.
Well, he now donned the same attire…
Adam didn't have much to compare their monstrous appearances to, having lost his sight at only five years old.
The vague, unreliable images of what 'normal' people should look like had long ago merged, in his fractured memory, with the horrifying visages of monsters and demons he had seen in the fleeting, flickering moments of childhood movies and videos.
The demons before him made him feel nothing, but the monsters from when he was human filled him with a carnal, unending wrath.
Rage and a desire to kill filled Adam's mind, threatening to flare up and scorch those who stood before him.
The constant, unceasing pain and mental fatigue, intertwined with the crushing fear and simmering hatred, had long warped Adam's fragile human mind.
Without that profoundly broken mental state, without the crucible of endless suffering, Adam could have never fostered enough negative energy, enough pure, distilled malice, to become a devil himself.
It was a dark, twisted blessing born from the deepest pits of human despair; he was a blessing from hell itself.
Where righteousness and goodness lack to give salvation to those in need, and within despair, the gates of hell open wide for your tormented soul.
Becoming a devil, Adam had gained not only a new form but a new identity, a place within the infinite, terrifying, and perilous layers of hell.
Restrain.
A calmness, forged by years of being trapped within his own mind, allowed Adam to smother the rage to fully understand his current state.
Slowly, his gaze became steady, and his killing intent was reeled back.
After accomplishing a state of focus, an innate sense of authority and chilling pride began to fester deep within Adam's mind. It was a foreign, yet utterly natural sensation.
A thirst to kill and destroy those who stood before him urged his desires, but he held back.
He had a new figure: his body was of a young, strikingly handsome man with flowing blonde hair and eyes like twin embers. He stood tall and unbowed against the multitude of onlookers, his perfectly sculpted physique appeared to be an unmovable wall.
He stood naked, yet his eyes held no sense of embarrassment or discomfort. Such trivial normal thoughts were beneath him now.
Instead, Adam was filled with a profound, intoxicating ecstasy from the raw feeling of immense strength coursing through every fiber of his new body.
The ability to move, to see, to hear, and even to breathe normally; to simply exist without the crushing weight of his former prison was like the most intoxicating wine, a forbidden elixir that Adam greedily devoured, every molecule of his body reveling in the sensation.
His new, blood-red eyes slowly closed as he indulged, savoring the pure, unadulterated sensation of power and freedom.
The lesser rank demons, witnessing his stillness, began to grow restless, their primitive minds sensing an opportunity, a moment of vulnerability.
Their gazes flickered between one another and Adam's silent, still figure, as a hungry anticipation grew within their grotesque chests.
Just as they were about to make their move, to take the risk and lunge at the newly formed devil, Adam's young, yet already ruthless, primal eyes snapped open once more.
A deep-seated hatred, a chaotic thirst for primal carnage, swirled like molten gold within the blood-ember depths of his gaze.
Their gazes met.