Before the story progresses further, its important I give you some information about demons. You see, they are not born like humans are. Instead, there's a constant amount of demons. When one dies, another is created, fully-grown and aware, wandering the many planes of hell.

When a demon is created, they are weak. Some of them can barely even lift a sword. And there's only a few ways to get stronger. They can train their bodies, exercising and working to make themselves physically stronger. They can train their minds, studying, learning, and practicing to gain magic abilities. Or, they can steal the work of others.

If a demon is dying, they disappate into ash and smoke. This ash and smoke, when consumed by a demon, passes the dead's skills onto the consumer. If a demon becomes strong enough to defeat other demons, their power will grow exponentially.

But eventually, demons get bored. The planes of hell are nothing special, after all. If you've seen one volcanic lake of hellfire, you've seen them all. So, demons will leave hell, usually as soon as they're strong enough to pierce the veil dividing Hell from Earth.

But once they do so, they need to look human. They need a body. They need a host. They find a human they can overpower, and they unknowingly flip a coin. You see, when a demon takes a human hostage, there are two possible outcomes.

Outcome one; they gain control of the human. They live the humans life undiscovered, experiencing the human world until the body dies, and the demon needs to either return to hell, or find a new host.

Outcome two; they are discovered. The control is unsecure, leaving the host scrabbling against them, and the host's friends and family aware something is wrong. This then has two results. Either the host will die, by their own hands or by complications involved in the process. Or, the host will be exorcised. The demon dies, and the human regains full control.

I am one of the exorcists called upon during the second outcome. Most of my fellow exorcists call my methods "eccentric", or "a mockery of the art". But dislike my methods all they like, they cannot argue with my results. While it takes most days or weeks to exorcise a demon, it has never taken me more than an hour.

Lock me in a room with the possessed and a few witnesses, and my "eccentric" chants will leave the demon dusted quicker than any one of my colleagues could manage if they got thousands of years of practice.

You see, Im a demon. When I left hell, my coinflip landed on outcome one. I experienced earth in another's body until they died, and then I went back to hell, with new understanding of the difference between Earth and hell.

I used this knowledge to grow my strength even more. And when I went back to Earth again, this time, I tried something different. Instead of taking a body by force, I found a human who was willing to have a passenger. I did not vie for control, I simply watched. I watched how humans' walked, how they ate, how they grew, how they thought. How they lived.

I learned everything about them firsthand, from the way their cells replicated and their neurons communicated to their unconcious body language. I learned what their every tone of voice meant, I learned about their technology, I learned everything my human was willing to let me experience.

And in exchange I gave them what help I could. I lessened their pain, I aided them with their studies. I helped them maintain schedules, helped them remember things. Rather than a parasite-host relationship, I and Ella maintained a beneficial relationship. The day that she passed, I learned firsthand what the humans called Sorrow.

I retreated to hell again, hiding away for a long time as I picked my way through this new experience called grieving. Decades passed before I crossed the veil again. But this time, I used everything Ella had taught me, and I made myself a body from scratch. My frist attempt crumbled, and my second turned to sludge. But my third attempt was perfect. It fit me just right.

So I became the first demon to walk Earth in a body all my own. And the knowledge spread through all of Hell. And the very idea terrified every demon alive.

"No demon has ever done that before" They whispered to each other. "How strong must they be to manage that feat?"

I'm not sure if my strength of the time had an effect on it. But with my job exising those demons who are possesing humans, I'm even stronger now. I can do anything I want without repercussions. And what I want is to live a life among the humans.