If you’re reading this, it means I’m not hallucinating. I really made it back, at least for now. He told me I had 24 hours, maybe less. I want to let you know my experience and warn you in case I don’t make it back a second time. I don’t know who you are or how you stumbled upon this, but you need to listen. I’m not supposed to be here—I shouldn’t be anywhere. I died. I remember the impact, the twisting metal, the silence that followed. But I never moved on.
Something found me in that in-between place. It gave me a choice.
I don’t know if I made the right one. Maybe I did. Maybe I doomed myself.
All I know is… I’m still here. And I have a job to do.
This is my story:
I don’t remember much about the crash, but apparently, I had died. I was having an out-of-body experience, floating next to the wreckage, watching my lifeless body. Before I could register what was happening, someone appeared in front of me. He was tall, well-dressed, and somewhat skinny, with red skin, black hair, and horns curling from his head.
I froze, my breath catching in my throat. What… what are you?!
The figure smiled, an effortless, almost amused expression.
“Me? Im a collector, investor and an innovator – he paused – And I can tell you and I are gonna be good friends.”- added with a sinister smile.
There was something about the way he spoke—calm, measured, too confident—that made my stomach twist. I gasped. "Are you the Devil? Am I going to Hell?!"
His golden eyes gleamed with something unreadable. "Not quite, my friend." His voice was warm, almost inviting. "I am the Archdemon Mephistopheles, and I’m here to help you."
Help me? Yeah, right. A demon appearing at the exact moment of my death, offering help? No, this was a trick. This was where it all fell apart. Hell. Damnation. Eternal suffering.
I swallowed hard. “Help me how? You want my soul?”
Mephisto chuckled, stepping closer—just enough for me to see the faint glow of embers swirling in his pupils. “We demons get a bad rep, you know. But, well…. some of it is true. I can grant wishes. I can bring you back to life, so you can live happily ever after with your wife and daughter.”
It was too good to be true. My mind screamed trap, but there was something… something in his voice. It felt convincing, comforting, like I was talking to an old friend. Was he hypnotizing me? Was my response even mine, or was my faith already determined?
"Why would you do that?" I asked, my voice shaking. "Why help me?"
His smile deepened, but his eyes never changed. "You have something I want. And I," he gestured grandly, "am a sucker for a good deal."
"A deal? For what? My soul? My undying loyalty?"
Another laugh. "Oh, no, no, nothing so dramatic. I like to be fair with my trades. All I need from you is to collect a handful of souls for me. Sixteen, to be exact."
The air felt heavier.
"What?!" My voice cracked. "You want me to kill for you? No way! Forget it! Crawl back to whatever hellspawn you came from!" Mephisto didn’t react. If anything, his expression softened, like he was indulging a child throwing a tantrum. "Let’s not call it ‘killing.’ Think of it as… collecting. And besides," he added, feigning a look of concern, "I would never ask you to harm an innocent soul. What kind of monster do you think I am?"
"Then who?" I asked, my fists clenching.
“All I need is for you to clean up a dungeon full of creatures and bring me their souls. You’d be a hero, really—ridding the world of pests.” – he replied, obviously pleased with himself
My pulse pounded in my ears. “I’m no fighter. I don’t know how to slay creatures, I cant ”- I replied, my voice barely a whisper
“Ah, but you won’t be alone! I’ll grant you a small fraction of my power to get you started, It will be like we are fighting together. You know, teamwork” – he smiled wider – “And the dungeon? It’s full of weapons and items—just look for the shiny ones.”
I hesitated. He was making it sound easy. Too easy.
"And after that?"
His eyes gleamed. “After that? You’re free to go. I’ll bring you back to life, and your daughter will have her daddy again.”
My throat tightened. Jessica. My baby girl. She was going to be seven next week. My wife. My love. My perfect life, everything I fought so hard to build and right when I had it —ripped away in an instant.
I had done everything right. I worked hard, built a home, stayed out of trouble. And yet here I was, staring at my own corpse while this… thing stood there, offering me a way out, to get back what I lost.
My hands clenched into fists, I asked "And will I ever have to see you again?"
Mephisto’s grin widened, smooth as silk. "Only if you want to."
He extended a hand. "So… do we have a deal?"
I stared at him, at the wreckage, at my own lifeless body. It wasn’t fair. I deserved another chance. Anger engulfed my thoughts and with a determined voice I said: “Okay. Get me my life back.” Before shaking his hand and sealing my fate.
Mephisto smiled, his sharp teeth glinting: “Good choice”
I don’t remember closing my eyes. One moment I was shaking his hand and the next, I was… here. I was standing in a hallway. It stretched endlessly in both directions, dimly lit by an eerie reddish orange glow that seemed to seep from the very walls. The air was thick, like I was breathing through syrup, and it reeked of sulfur and decay. The stench of the dungeon clung to my throat and made me want to puke. My limbs aching, my mind foggy I fell on my knees. The floor was cold and dusty, I felt bugs start to crawl up my legs. I was about to pass out, this was it, what was I thinking making a deal with a hellspawn. Then I felt it. For a second, something pulsed inside me, an unnatural heat crawled through my skin seeping into my veins, into my bones. It was Mephisto’s power. It felt good, it felt amazing. My senses sharpened. The air no longer strangled me; the filth, the stench, the crawling insects—they were nothing now. But already, I could feel it fading. The power was bleeding away, slow but steady. I had to move. Fast. I turned, expecting to see Mephisto standing there, watching, waiting.
But I was alone.
The only thing that greeted me was the glint of metal. A pile of weapons. Armor. Trinkets scattered across the floor like discarded relics from forgotten battles. I crouched, running my fingers through the rubble. Most were broken—rusted, shattered, useless. I tossed aside splintered bows and dull daggers until my hand closed around something barely intact—a long blade. It was dulled and chipped, but whole.
I exhaled sharply. This was it? This scrap of metal was supposed to save my life? Frustration bubbled up. "This?!" My voice echoed down the endless corridor. "This is the best I get?!"
Then—something inside me shifted.
A piece of that demonic power tore from my body and sank into the sword. The metal shuddered. The rust peeled away. Before my eyes, the dull edge sharpened itself, the chips and cracks knitting together as if time was reversing. When the transformation stopped, the blade was as good as new. Back to its former glory. Suddenly my body felt… heavier. Weaker. The air felt denser. I had given up some of the demonic energy keeping me together to restore the sword. But looking at it now—feeling the weight in my hands—I finally had a chance.
My joy however was short lived. Just as my blade got restored I heard a faint skittering. Slow, deliberate. I froze. My fingers clenched around the hilt of the blade as I turned my head just enough to catch movement in the shadows.
Our eyes met.
It was huge. A spider-like creature, as tall as me while standing on its eight legs. Its fur was a deep, sickly purple, and its blood-red eyes gleamed with hunger. Etched into its back, was a pentagram—burned into its flesh like some kind of cursed mark. It took a step closer. Then another.
I stumbled backward, nearly tripping over my own feet. It kept advancing. I had to think of something quick. Its body was massive, but its legs were rather thin. Brittle. I could cripple it. If I could just cut off its mobility, I had a chance. I crept forward, careful not to make a sound, gripping my sword tightly. I swung the sword with everything I had.
CRACK.
One of its legs snapped clean off.
The creature let out a piercing screech, its body convulsing in rage. I barely had time to react before it lunged. I threw myself back, just dodging its fangs, but my leg got caught on something. Its web. Sticky strands coiled around my ankle, tightening like a noose. I tried to yank free, but before I could, the creature was already on top of me. I swung once more but missed. Its leg slammed into my thigh, pinning me down, and searing pain tore through my body as one of its fangs pierced my calf. The venom burned as it entered my bloodstream.
I screamed.
Desperation took over. I gripped the sword tight and thrust it deep into the spider’s body.
The creature let out a horrific screech and recoiled, tearing its fangs from my leg in the process. My muscles snapped like rubber bands. The web ripped apart, but so did my leg. A chunk of my own flesh dangled from its fangs.
I didn’t wait. I forced myself up and ran.
Each step was agony. The pain was unimaginable. Bones grinding together. Blood gushing down my ankle. But I didn’t stop. I found a crack in the wall—barely wide enough to squeeze into. I threw myself inside and collapsed, panting, trembling.
The spider thrashed outside, it scraped against the stone but it couldn’t reach me, I was safe. But the pain, the pain was too much, I couldn’t take it anymore, I went into shock and fainted.
I woke up to silence. I searched for scars but found none, my leg was all healed up. No torn muscle, no exposed flesh. Just smooth, unscarred skin. Yet, something was wrong. The air felt heavier. My limbs, weaker.
The demonic power inside me—the one keeping me alive—had faded even more. My time here was running out, I had to act fast. I grabbed my blade and crawled out of my hiding place, heart pounding, my body still aching. The dungeon was different now. No longer just one endless corridor—now there were turns. Rooms. Paths. Twisting tunnels. I moved carefully, scanning every shadow, every flicker of movement. I needed to find something smaller, something weaker. Something I could actually kill. You can imagine the excitement I felt, when I finally saw it – a rat like creature, barely larger than a dog and it hadn’t noticed me yet. I crept closer preparing to attack
– that’s when I felt it,
a sharp cutting pain on my right side. Unbeknownst to me as I was stalking my prey,
something else was stalking me.
I turned slowly and saw a group of three skeletons. Silent, expressionless and armed. I tried to defend myself but it was no use, they had stabbed me in my liver and my body went into shock. I could barely move my arms. They swung again piercing my gut and a third time piercing my chest. I fell back, the room turning dark, I was bleeding out. In the distance, I heard a roar and it was coming closer. My vision gave out, everything went dark, but I was still conscious, barely. I heard screams and a tussle. I heard bones breaking. Were they mine, or of the skeletons I don’t know. That’s as far as I remember before fainting again.
I don’t know how long I was out, but when I opened my eyes, all I saw was black. Absolute, suffocating darkness. I could hear drops of liquid dripping somewhere in the distance. Slowly. The air was dry, carrying a pungent stench of decay, yet it didn’t have the same crushing weight as before. My body felt… intact. Healed, at least to an extent—enough to move. The demonic power Mephisto had given me was almost nonexistent now, just a faint ember in the pit of my soul. And yet somehow I was still around and kicking. Still breathing.
Still alive.
I was sitting on something that creaked beneath my weight. A rocking chair? I pushed myself up, only to immediately step onto something soft and damp. My foot sank slightly into it before I pulled back, my pulse quickening. I pressed forward, feeling my way through the pitch-black void. The space was vast—I couldn’t find any walls.
As I navigated blindly, my fingers brushed against broken fragments of wood. A shattered table? A chair? I couldn’t tell. There were more of them, scattered all around. Then, my hand found something else. Was that skin?
I yanked my arm back instinctively, expecting to be attacked. But nothing happened. The thing didn’t move. Heart pounding, I forced myself to reach out again. My fingers ran over smooth, ice-cold skin. I felt a body, but there was no head. Whatever this thing was, it was long dead.
Where the hell was I? I needed to find a way out. Fast.
But as I took another step, my foot caught on something, and I collapsed forward. A sharp clattering sound echoed through the space as I landed on something solid. Something hard.
I knew that sound.
Warily, I reached down and traced the shape with my hands.
Skulls. Jaws. Long, brittle bones. Piles of them.
A cold shudder ran down my spine. Was I in the skeletons’ lair? The same creatures that had nearly killed me before? No… no, this was different. These weren’t animated soldiers. These were just remains. Leftovers. Leftovers from something much worse.
Before I could react, something grabbed me. Something big.
A massive arm wrapped around my torso, lifting me effortlessly off the ground. I gasped as a deep, raspy voice murmured: “You’re hurt, dear. You need your medicine.” - The voice was wrong—distorted. It was a mix between the voice of a woman and a growl of a wild beast.
I was carried through the darkness, cradled in a grip far too strong for me to break. My body was still weak, my blade was gone—I had no way to fight back. I was at the mercy of this… thing. She set me down gently. I was back on that rocking chair.
Then, something in her hand flickered. A dull red glow. It wasn’t bright, but it was enough for me to finally see my captor. She was massive—easily seven, maybe eight feet tall. Long, black, unkempt hair hung over her face. Her limbs were unnaturally long and meaty, her fingers ending in black, jagged nails. She was wearing an old white gown, riddled with holes.
But really, it was her face that made my stomach twist.
The skin didn’t fit. It sagged, loose and drooping, as if it had melted and barely clung to the bone underneath. The excess flesh hung over one eye entirely, while the other barely peeked through the folds. She tilted her head slightly, the motion making the skin shift and stretch in unnatural ways.
Then, she smiled.
Her teeth were crooked, uneven, like shards of broken glass forced into a grin. “That’s enough for now, dear,” she whispered “Soon, you should feel much better.” The amulet in her hand stopped glowing. Utter darkness surrounded us once more. I heard her footsteps retreating, fading into the void and leaving me by myself. And yet… she was right. I was feeling better. The pain was dulling. Strength was returning to my limbs.
Whatever that amulet was, it was healing me.
This pattern continued for what felt like an eternity. I would try to find an exit, but before I could even reach a wall, she would find me. Every time, she would patiently drag me back to that old rocking chair and say: "You’re hurt, dear. Come back."
"The outside is dangerous, my child. Stay where it's safe."
She never acted hostile—never raised her voice, never struck me. But her sheer size and her imposing presence… it was enough. Enough to keep me trapped. She treated me like I was her child. She would try to feed me, offering chunks of creatures she hunted in the dungeon, but I could never stomach them. So, she kept me alive with the amulet instead. Just enough to stay conscious. Just enough to keep me moving. Never enough to fight back.
I tried communicating with her a couple times, although my tries did not yield much success. Once, I told her I was feeling weak and needed more energy from the amulet. Her response, however, was rather disturbing:
"No, no, dear. Too much of a good thing is bad. It will turn you bad. It will turn you rotten." Her voice was soft, almost mourning. "Rotten and evil like the others. The ones before."
I hesitated. "The ones before… were they the skeletons? The corpses I found?"
She shook her head slowly. "The amulet… the demon… he turned them bad. Made them sick. Evil. I had to put them down. My children… my poor, poor children."
I swallowed hard.
"Are you talking about Mephisto?" I asked cautiously.
That was a mistake.
Her entire body stiffened. Her fingers twitched, nails scraping against the floor. Her head jerked up unnaturally, like a puppet being yanked by its strings.
"Evil." Her voice dropped into a harsh whisper. "Evil demon. Liar. Deceiver. Don't trust him. Don't trust him, my child."
For the first time, there was something sharp in her tone. Something dangerous. But just as quickly as it came, it faded. She slumped, murmuring an apology before leaving me alone again.
I was surviving. But this wasn’t living.
She hated Mephisto, that much was clear. But I needed to collect souls. I needed to escape. Time was slipping away from me and I needed to get back to my family, my real family.
I didn’t know how long I had been trapped. The darkness, the isolation—it was starting to get to me. But there was one thing I noticed. Every time she left to hunt, I would hear it. A faint, distant sound. The shifting of bricks. It was subtle. The sound of dripping liquid also made it difficult to hear. But with enough practice and concentration I got the hang of it. I didn’t have enough time to find the exit but I could run to the bone pile and back. Bit by bit, I moved bones from the pile closer to me, sharpening them against each other in secret. I couldn’t hold onto them—she would see and take them away—but I kept them nearby, within reach.
She wanted me to call her Mother, so that’s what I started calling her. I had to play along. I pretended to love her. I let her believe I was different from the others.
But then, one day, I got careless.
I had finally finished sharpening my weapons. I guess I was too excited as I didn't hear her approach this time. Out of nowhere her massive hand gripped my wrist, lifting one of my makeshift spears. "Sharp and dangerous, my child." - Her voice was calm, yet sharp -"What are you doing with these?" My heart pounded. My body went cold. I had to think. Fast.
"They’re a gift, Mother," I said quickly, forcing warmth into my voice. "For you. So you can hunt those evil monsters easier." Silence. Then, she let out a deep, pleased hum. "Oh, child… you are not like the rest, are you?" She patted my head, almost affectionately. "But Mother is strong. She doesn’t need these brittle bones."
And with that, she crushed every single one of my weapons with her bare hands. I was devastated. All that work. All that time. Gone. What now? Then, things got worse. One day, as I sat in my rocking chair, she returned from her hunt… but she wasn’t alone. With her was another body.
She sat it down next to me, her loose, sagging face pulling into something that resembled a smile. "You have been such a good boy, dear," - she said - "So I brought you a friend. What should we name him?" The person she had brought was no more than a corpse. Freshly killed, judging by heat that surrounded the body and by the smell of it. Perhaps she tried to save it, just like she did with me but wasn’t as lucky. She tried to revive him with the amulet, but it was too late, he was gone. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop her from acting like he was alive. She leaned close, her breath hot against my ear:
"Dear… I said, what should we name him?"
A cold sweat broke out down my spine.
“Ahh, Rey sounds like a good name Mother.” - I said with a shaky voice
Her jagged teeth gleamed in the dim light of the amulet. "Ah… wonderful, child. Let’s name him Rey." She giggled softly. "I hope you two get along."
And then, she left. I was barely holding it together. I was trapped. Barely alive. Going insane from the darkness and isolation. And now… now I had to talk to a corpse as my companion. But then, I noticed something.
Tucked beneath “Rey’s” stiff, cold fingers was a dagger. She must have overlooked it. It wasn't strong enough. Not yet. To really give it strength, I needed to infuse it with Mephisto's demonic power, the way I did with my first weapon. But the only way to obtain more demonic power was through the amulet.
I had to get it somehow.
I started planning. I got the dagger, buried it below the moist ground next to my rocking chair, and moved “Rey” further back. I broke the legs of his rocking chair so that even a small push would make him fall.
And then… I waited.
When the Mother came for our usual dose of the amulet, I threw a small rock at the other rocking chair and “Rey” fell over. "Mother!" I gasped. "Rey fell! He is hurt! I’ll hold onto the amulet—you check on him. You can trust me, Mother!" In an instant, she rushed to his side, leaving the amulet in my hands.
This was my chance.
I dug out the dagger and clutched the amulet tight, letting its power surge through me. And for the first time in a while, I felt Mephisto’s power fusing with my own again.
It felt good. It felt amazing.
I felt just like I did when I first entered the dungeon.
It wasn’t as subtle as I hoped however. The dim glow turned into a blinding, crimson light. The entire room lit up. For the first time, I saw everything clearly. The Mother turned around. In an instant, she lunged at me screaming "No, child! Don’t! It will corrupt you! It will make you undesirable!"
She smacked the amulet from my hands.
The light didn’t fade however, It was too late. The amulet was already activated. I had already gotten its power and imbued it with the dagger, so I lunged forward, slashing her in the torso. I could see I hurt her but this one slash wasn’t nearly enough to finish her off.
"I trusted you, child!" she shrieked. "You betrayed me! Just like the others! Now you are sick, wicked. But it’s okay… Mother will put you down."
She lunged.
Her claws slashed across my side, sending me flying across the room. Blood filled my mouth and some was dripping from my back and side. I had never imagined she was be this powerful. As soon as I got up on my feet, she was already up on my face, her drooping skin even more unsettling on the eerie red glow of the amulet. I managed to dodge her attack just in the nick of time and slashed at her ankles. She screamed in pain and lashed out, her sharp talon-like nails slicing clean through my right arm—severing both flesh and bone. Before I could react, she hurled me across the room again. The impact shattered what little remained of my unbroken bones. The pain was unbearable.
My arm was gone, and my dagger with it. My body was broken. I was done. And she was coming closer. Then I saw it—one of my bone spears. She must have kept it as a souvenir. It was just within arm’s reach. With the last of my strength, I grabbed onto it, channeling what little demonic energy remained in me, pouring nearly all of it into the weapon. If I had any chance of piercing her skin, this had to be it. But as the energy drained from my body and into the spear, the pain intensified, threatening to pull me into unconsciousness.
Then the Mother lunged.
I forced myself into position. At the last second, I drove the spear into her heart.
She crumbled beside me. From her body, a blue flame emerged—her soul, perhaps. It drifted toward me, then sank into my chest. A wave of relief washed over me, dulling the agony, if only for a moment.
I had collected my first soul.
As I laid there, staring at the crooked ceiling bathed in the dim red glow of the amulet, I blinked and was met with a blinding white light, I felt warmth on my skin and felt hot small pebbles beneath me. The air felt fresh and filled my lungs with vitality. I heard sirens and chatter. Where was I?
As my eyes adjusted to the light, I realized it was the sun. I was back on earth. Or… at least it seemed like it. I turned my head I was next to some cheap Motel; the people did not seem to notice me however. I turned right, my arm, my arm was back and my wounds gone. I was back to full health, or as close as I’ll ever get I guess. I heard slow clapping from behind and a chuckle? I turned around and there he was:
“Bravo, bravo I knew you could do it” – said Mephisto, standing there with a wide smile.
I was too disoriented from everything that happened, I couldn’t gather my thoughts to talk, to ask a question. Mephisto took a slow look around.
“Isn’t it nice here?”
“Is this Earth?” – I asked, expecting to be pulled back into the horrors of the dungeon.
“Well, of course,” he said, tilting his head slightly. “I figured you deserved a little reward after all that effort, wouldn’t you agree?”
A strange mix of emotions welled inside me—relief, exhaustion, suspicion. “I… I did it. I killed her. I got the soul.” – I said with a shaky voice.
“Indeed. Your first taste of victory. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves now, you still have 15 more souls to collect”
The people around us kept moving, carrying on with their everyday lives, oblivious to our conversation. “The people, the people around us can they see us” – I asked, barely keeping it together.
Mephisto chuckled. “Oh, of course not. I wanted a little privacy between us.” He stretched his arms, as if enjoying the atmosphere. “You have about twenty-four hours here, give or take. After that—duty calls.”
”So make the most of it will ya.” – He said tilting his head to one side and giving me a wink.
After that, he was gone. Not in a blink. Not in a swirl of shadows. He was simply… no longer there. Like he had never existed at all.
At that moment, I heard a voice in the distance calling me.
“Sir, sir, are you alright. Do you need help?”
I turned. A motel employee stood nearby, concern etched on his face.
For a moment, I hesitated. Then, without saying a word, I followed him inside. The rest of the staff greeted me. Despite me not saying a word to them, they welcomed me and gave me a room to stay in. Probably thought I was homeless or something. They were kind people. I guess that was the reason Mephisto brought me here, his idea of giving me a break. I still didn’t know where I was exactly, I was too tired to ask. In my room, I found a Laptop, the same one I’m using to type this message and next to the Laptop was this old book with beautiful engravings on its cover, Its pages were empty however and next to it was a sticky note that read:
“A little something to get you going. You got this.” – with an “M” at the bottom—one end of the letter curling into a devil’s tail.
I didn’t know what to make of it so I opted for the Laptop.
I arrived at the Motel around 11 AM yesterday. It’s currently 10.30 AM. I don’t have much time left, I hope I managed to remember all the important stuff. Whoever is reading this, this message is a warning. Don’t trust Mephisto. Death is a better fate than the one that awaits those who are foolish enough to make a deal with him.