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Read Time: 8 minutes
In a world where violence, murder, and disloyalty is normalized and approved of, one would think that a demon as heartless as the Underling would thrive in such an environment. The Underling, however, is far from thriving. It doesn’t make any sense. No matter how hard they try to fulfill their role of being the “big bad” demon that they’re supposed to be, they fail. Even when they get the balls to step up and assassinate the overlord, they mess it up. They mess everything up. They’re a failed demon.
As the fire consumes the Overlord’s room, The Underling looks up towards the Overlord. They can’t help but think how things could’ve gone differently. Maybe if the Underling knew how to do their fucking job, they’d still be here. Maybe if they didn’t trust their ‘friends’, maybe if they had a working fucking brain. Maybe if they dealt with the maiden right there and then, maybe things would be normal.
If only they were normal.
The Underling looked down at the hands surrounding their neck, then at the burning humans beside them. They look at the fire that their so-called friends caused. They could’ve stopped them. After all, they knew them their whole life – before they could even pick locks. Even then, their friends would still betray The Underling. Somehow, they aren’t all that surprised. They recall when they and their friends were little, about 12 or so demon years old.
Their friend Zorp invited the underling to their 12th birthday party, handing the invite card. Their eyes went wide, and quickly got up for the mud to grab the card with their teeth. The underling was ecstatic to finally be invited to something, especially by their best friend of all time. They spend all their time together in the castle, and have lots of fun talking about murder and eating humans! Sure, Zorp refuses to be around them whenever he’s with any other demon, and also doesn’t talk to the Underling unless he absolutely has to, but that’s just because he’s a busy guy!
The taller demon grimaced and awkwardly walked away, leaving The Underling to themself. Huh, weird. Guess he was busy.
After a few hours pass,they arrive at their party – albeit a little dirty as they forgot to shower. They look around Zorp’s room, and see lots of other demons surrounding him, with Zorp in the middle. He seems a lot more lively and talkative than when he is with The Underling. Maybe he’s just extra excited ‘cause it's his birthday! My presence will probably make him 10 times more happy anyway.
The underling walks over to the crowd, chest puffed out and all. When the other demons see them walk through, their conversations fade into silence as all their attention is put onto them.
One of the older demons looks to Zorp and whispers, “Why’d you have to invite them? They’re stinking up your room…”
The rest of the demons snicker, and Zorp awkwardly laughs. “I dunno,” his eyes shift, looking at the Underling, “They think we’re friends or something.”
Their entire posture drastically shifted, their back almost hunched over. They play on the ‘joke’, and scratches their head before asking, “hah, w-what do you mean red?”
“Listen man. I invited you here ‘cause my mom said I had to invite every demon. And even if I didn’t, you would’ve invited yourself here since you can’t ever get the hint.” The Underling can feel their claws sharpen, and stares Zorp down.
Zorp looks the Underling over and laughs, standing up from the chair he was sitting in to get closer to them. “Funny thing is, you always think you got the balls to fight, or to actually murder a human like you always say you would. But you’re literally the weakest, scrawniest demon I’ve ever met. I honestly hang out with you ‘cause I feel bad. I mean, look at you,” he snorts.
The Underling can feel tears stinging the corner of their eyes before pouncing onto Zorp, attempting to claw out his face. However, due to his taller frame and strength, they barely managed to leave a scratch.
Zorp pushes them off immediately, then slams their head on the wall. The Underling starts to feel tears on their cheeks, staring helplessly at Zorp. The taller demon gives a kick for extra measure, before laughing and telling them to leave.
The Underling props themself up slightly onto the wall, hugging their stomach tightly. They don’t say a word, staring directly at Zorp. The birthday demon yells, “You wanted to pick a fight, huh? So move,” causing the other demons to move even closer to both Zorp and the Underling.
Completely overwhelmed from the situation, the Underling shuts their eyes as tight as they can, looking away from the overhead lights and the other demons. They sit there, unable to budge.
Zorp started to get impatient, kicking the Underling again. “Are you deaf? Or maybe you’re retarded. I’ll repeat again so you can get it in your stupid brain – move the fuck up, you pussy.”
They sit there, in silence. They want to scream, they want to hit Zorp as hard as they can with all their might. Maybe tear out his eyes and make them splat. But they know they can’t do anything. They couldn’t hurt anyone like that, even if they tried. Not even a human. They’re a loser.
Zorp’s friend looks to the birthday demon, then at the Underling with a shaky smile growing from ear to ear. He looks to everyone in the crowd, and they all nod their heads.
Each demon teams up to grab the Underling by each limb, and throw them out the castle with full force. They sit there in blood stained sand from their wounds, and curls up into a ball. They close their eyes and their ears, blocking out anything that could come from the outside world.
They open their eyes, to see the fire surrounding them again. They look back at the door that their ‘friends’ locked, then back at the Overlord. As the fire consumes everyone in the room and their vision turns pitch black, the Underling mutters,
“Couldn’t even do this right.”