In another part of Hell, in a place that could be called the capital, we have Pentagram City. Situated in the top layer of Hell is the Pride Ring, the only area of Hell that is habitable by the deceased souls of humans who lived on Earth. Contrary to the typical ideas of Hell, the souls of humans, called Sinners, are not out right tortured as they go about life similar to that on Earth. The greatest threat to Sinners, besides themselves, are the yearly purges commenced by hordes of angels from Heaven, the Exorcist, in a an event called "Extermination Day".
Lets rewind a little to before we left off.
Once upon a time, there was a glowing city protected by golden gates. This place was known as "Heaven". It was ruled by beings of pure light called "Angels". These beings adhered to a set order that worshiped good and shielded all they protected from evil.
Images play like shadow puppets in an elegant theater.
One of these angels was Lucifer, a passionate dreamer who contrived extraordinary, fantastical ideas for all creation. But his ideas were not praised, leaving the dazzling one seen as a troublemaker by the elders of Heaven. For they believed his way of thinking was dangerous to the order set forth. Ignored, Lucifer was tasked to watch as his peers began to expand the Universe in their ways. During this, the angels created a planet and named it "Earth"; and from the dust of Earth, they created the first of mankind, man and woman, in a place called "The Garden of Eden".
The show displays a forest and the creation of the first man and woman.
The angels named these beings, Adam and Lilith, the first of their kind, as husband and wife, as equals. But, despite this, Adam demanded control, and Lilith refused to submit to his will. Overcome, the first woman fled her from husband out the Garden. Lucifer saw this and went after Lilith, finding the lost woman crying all alone. Drawn to her fierce independence and their mutual dreams that rebelled against the established order, Lucifer and Lilith found themselves deeply in love.
But that is not where their story ends. After Lilith rejected Adam, the Angels created another wife for the first man. This time, out of one of Adam's own ribs, and named her Eve. Together, Lucifer and Lilith wished to share the magic of free will with humanity, offering the Fruit of Knowledge to Eve.
From Lucifer's hands, he presents Eve an apple from the Tree of Knowledge and Eve accepts it.
But what was intended to be a gift came with a curse. For with this single act of disobedience, evil found its way into Earth. With it, a new realm of darkness and sin. And the order Heaven worked to maintain was shattered. As punishment for their reckless act, Heaven cast both Lucifer and his love into the dark pit he had created, never allowing him to see the humanity's beauty, only it's cruelty and wickedness. Ashamed, Lucifer, once the brightest dreamer, lost his will to dream.
But Lilith thrived, empowering demonkind with her voice and songs, the first woman brought Hell to new heights. And as the numbers of Hell grew, so did its power. Threatened by this, Heaven made a decision. A truly heartless decision. That every year, they would send down an army, an Extermination, to ensure Hell and its sinners could never rise against them. But Lilith's hope remained. And her dream was passed down to their precious daughter, the Princess of Hell.
On the outskirts of Pentagram City there sits a hotel that caters to a special cliental. The Hazbin Hotel is a project formulated by Charlie Morningstar, The Princess of Hell, as a way to redeem Sinners so they can ascend to Heaven and end the yearly extermination forever.
As she finishes reading from her book, "The Story of Hell", she looks out to see her beloved city in the aftermath of a previous Extermination.
"I promise you, Mom. I'll make you proud." She spoke aloud to give herself strength.
Charlie was a tall woman with long, blonde hair tied into a ponytail. Her eyes were red with yellowish sclera; brilliant, white teeth with fanglike canines on top; black lips that emphasized her chalk white skin, and red circles on the corners of her mouth. Charlie wore a red suit with a bow tie and pointed dress shoes.
"Charlie?" Vaggie, the Princess' best friend/girlfriend/partner in the Hazbin Hotel, walked in.
"Aah! Oh, shi- did you hear any of that, Vaggie?" Charlie asked, a little embarrassed, while the key she'd been holding turned into a cat cyclops, KeeKee, and scampers away.
Vaggie was noticeably shorter than her girlfriend, with big, grey hair that ran down to her legs with a red bow. Her attire consisted of a red, short-sleeved with black accents, a dark skirt, grey stockings, and white flats. But her most striking feature was that Vaggie had a single eye on her right with the left being covered by an eye patch with a red 'X'.
"Uh, yeah. I was right in the doorway." The one-eyed woman pointed to the doorway.
"Sorry, I just get pretty worked up after an extermination happens. And reading this story... helps."
"I know." Vaggie chuckles. "Don't worry, I enjoy your theatrics. But are you okay?" She sits beside Charlie.
"I'll be fine, I was just thinking of... family stuff." Charlie sadly answers.
"Have you heard from your mom?" The shorter woman waits for her bestie to shake her head. "Oh... how long has it been now?"
"Not that long, Vaggie. Only... seven... years." The Princess of Hell gave a nervous response. "She's just off doing important stuff, I'm sure! But, this kingdom was something she really cared about. It's our home, and I care about it too."
"At least you aren't alone." Vaggie comforted the most important person in her life.
Charlie reciprocated. "I just hope what we're trying to do here will work."
"It will; I have faith in you." KeeKee leaps into Charlie's arms as Vaggie gets to her feet. "Alright, let's go. Alastor says he has something to show us."
Charlie watches as Vaggie leaves the room before following. Before she does, Charlie takes a final look out to see the bell tower of the Heaven Embassy in the center of Pentagram City. I building that is almost never used, save for the clandestine meetings her father has with representatives from Heaven. She knows that if things to go as plan, there will be another Extermination to come in one year.
"Vaggie's right, we can make this a happy day in Hell." Charlie snuggles KeeKee as she walks out.
Returning to our protagonist, Lincoln finishes reading the sign outside the Hazbin Hotel when he caught sign of IMP waking up.
"Ow, FUCK!" Loona is the first to regain consciousness. "What the actual Hell happened?"
Lincoln realizes he can't be on Earth, his body has undergone unexplained changes, and his voice won't work. But he understands that whoever the people that were after Mr. Stillman can't be trusted to not harm him, and the large book with a moon on it has powers similar to the one his murderer used.
Off to the hellhoud's side laid the grimoire. When the boy saw this, he understood that having that was his best chance to get an understanding of what happened; so he dashed towards Loona and swiped the book.
"What- BLITZ!" Loona tried to shake the aforementioned imp awake. "That kid is making off with the book!"
"Huh?" The head of IMP was disoriented, but the severity of the situation caught up. "Satan Dammit, after him!"
Lincoln was still dizzy from what happened, but he pushed himself to run from his pursuers to the only place nearby, the Hazbin Hotel.
"GET BACK HERE, BRAT!" Blitz calls after Lincoln, the rest of IMP following their boss.
Barely making it to the door, Lincoln beats on the door with all his might. Soon, the assassins reach the boy; Blitz walks up to the demand the book.
"Alright, enough is enough! Hand over the fucking book, or I will kill you a second time!" The imp assassin pointed his gun at the boy.
"Blitz, he doesn't know any better." Millie tried to talk her boss down.
"Plus, if anything happens to the book, Stolas will be angry, Sir." Moxxie added. "We can't afforded to anger an Ars Goetia."
During this scene, Loona just stared at her phone, disinterested. Lincoln barely knew what the imp in the conductor blazer was talking about, but the point was the book is valuable and it belongs to someone named Stolas whose an 'Ars Goetia'. Snapping the boy out his thoughts, the door opened to reveal a one-eyed woman with large hair.
"Can I help you?" Vaggie asked, mildly annoyed.
Seeking sanctuary, Lincoln hid behind her and pointed to IMP.
"Is something wrong?" Shed asked the obviously frightened child.
"Get lost, that kid is nothing but a thief and con artist." Blitz clearly didn't like a Sinner getting involved. "He stole something from us and we want it back.
Vaggie didn't want to risk anything happening to the hotel, but didn't like the looks of the three imps and the hellhound. She turned back to see the boy, who didn't speak but was clearly scared.
Still unable to speak, Lincoln had to mine for communication. He pointed to Blitz, then made a finger gun gesture pointed to his head, then stuck out his tongue to mimic dying.
"Sorry, but whatever you claimed this child did, I'm afraid you'll have to leave." Vaggie wasn't sure who to trust, but she wasn't going to allow a child to be harmed.
"Listen here, you one-eyed-" Before the IMP boss could finish his insult, Vaggie presented her angelic spear to the imp's neck.
"Think about what you're going to say, and see if I'm playing." Protectively placing hand around the boy, she closed the door to the hotel.
"Fuck! Now we have to find out how to kill that Sinner bitch and get the book back!" Blitz bellowed.
"Sir, don't you know what this place is?" Moxxie pointed up to the sign. "This is the place were the Princess lives, if we try to attack will be killed."
"Well shit, Mox, what would you have us do?" The shorter imp's boss asked sarcastically. "If we don't have the book, we can't do our job!"
"We could call Stolas." Millie gave a suggestion. "Even if he can't intimidate the Princess, she's more likely to listen to another royal."
"Not to crush your dreams, but what will he say?" Loona spoke this time, fully sarcastic. " 'Excuse me, but the magic book I gave to a bunch of lowborns in exchange for fucking their boss has been stolen by a boy they killed on Earth.' "
"Technically, we didn't kill him." Moxxie clarified. "We killed the guy who killed him."
Blitz was caught between a rock and hard place; take the book back and get killed, or get Stolas involved and get killed. Begrudgingly, the IMP leader picked up his phone and made the call.
Inside the hotel, Lincoln is amazed by the structure. If he was there under different circumstances, he would have asked about it; even asked to bring two of his sisters, Leni or Lola, over to see.
"Are you okay, kid?" Vaggie asked, concerned.
Lincoln moved his mouth as trying to talk but could say nothing. Once again, he got a look at his current state; like his hands the rest of him was devoid of any color. His skin was unnaturally white with only black lines to signified joints; similar to his clothes, white with black accents. He turned around and was shocked to see he now had a tail, a pointed tail like a the imps but shaped like a white spade with the two circular bumps curved in like an arrow, along with a black diamond at the tip.
"You haven't been here long, have you?" Vaggie could tell from his confusion. "Don't worry, it may take a while to get adjusted to your new body, but you'll be fine."
"Hey, Vagina." Loving the opportunity to make a joke, the only patron of the hotel called. "We're done filming, so what's the word on-" He stopped talking when he caught sight of Lincoln.
This new arrival was a tall, spider demon that clearly towered over both Lincoln and Vaggie. He had white fur with pink spots, four arms with two different colored pairs of gloves, mismatched eyes, and a gold tooth. For attire, this spider demon wore a white and pink striped suit on top with a bowtie, along with a par of pumped boots.
"Angel Dust, meet... a kid I just pulled off the street from a group of maniacs." Vaggie spoke in exasperation. "Kid, meet Angel Dust, someone you should spend as little time around as possible."
"Woah, Vaggie, I thought you and Charlie may have your tastes, but this is a little extreme don't you think." A mix of humor and distaste, the spider demon commented on the boy's presence.
"NO, YOU HIJO DE PUTA, he's a child who was being chased by some hellborns and came to our door!" Vaggie explained, dismissing any possibility she was into children. "He can't speak, and I think he just came to Hell. Once Charlie gets back from her meeting at the Heaven Embassy, we'll have a discussion about what to do with him."
Appearing in a blur, a cyclops demon with a red bob appeared. "Oh, do we have a new guest already. Is he a bad boy?"
This excitable demon was roughly the same height as Lincoln, if not shorter, and wore a red, puff-sleeved dress with a white apron that had red spatters on it. When she saw the new boy, she wasted no time getting in his personal space.
"He's a child, Niffty." Vaggie introduced him. "We don't know his name because, for some reason, he can't speak."
"Ah, why couldn't we get a bad boy." The cyclops demon gave disappointment. "Anyway, Hi, I'm Niffty! Are you a new friend!? Do you have family here? Do you have an older brother? Is he tall? Rebellious!? Dangerous!?"
Lincoln was still unguard around these new people. Feeling cornered, he ran off down the hall.
"Great, you just scared him off." Vaggie reprimanded the two Sinners.
Still running, Lincoln tried to find a place to think. He kept running through the hotel until he saw an open door. Lincoln walked through to find a room with a long couch in front of a giant window that looked out over the city below. As hard as it was for him to admit, the white-haired boy found it to be kind of pretty, if it weren't for the clear signs of dystopia.
Finally able to take a break, Lincoln sat down and took deep breaths. From the scarce information he obtained, he realized that this place was Hell. If he's right, that would mean he died and got sent here. The thought of this didn't scare him so much as confused.
Out the corner of his eye he spotted another book, this one being red instead of blue like the one he stole from those 'hellborns' he heard Vaggie call them. Curious, he put down the blue book to pick up the red one. To his surprise, it was a story about how Hell was created. As he kept reading, the boy got a papercut on his finger, spilling his black blood on the book.
Similar to what happened after Stillman died, Lincoln's blood created a reaction. The book glowed reddish orange as magic altered the book and its pages until it barely resembled it's previous self. When the light subsided, the book was now twice its previous dimensions; the cover was white with orange accents along the spine, and in the center was large, white circle with a long, orange diamond in the center that gave the visual of a predator's slit eye.
Fascinated by what he did by accident, the devil-tailed boy open the book but found no words.
"Surprising, am I right?" Another voice commented.
Lincoln turned to find another person crouched next to him. She was about as tall as his sister Lori, but had a fashion sense closure to Luna and features that weren't distinctly human. The mystery woman had light yellow skin, indigo hair styled into a punk fauxhawk, and wearing round sunglasses with a orange tint. For clothing, she was dressed in a t-shirt designed with the Rising Sun flag, ripped blue jeans, combat boots, and leather short jacket.
Cautious of this new woman, Lincoln backed away slowly.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." Her voice sounded arrogant yet honest, and implacably accented. "If you don't know who I am, I wouldn't be surprised. Despite having an array of information, I have a sum life history of under one minute."
Suspicious, the boy looked back to the book. He pointed to the book then pointed to the woman.
"Yeah, I came into being when your blood touched that story book. That gives me more insight to what happened then you do." She takes off her glasses to reveal a pair of slit eyes like the one on the book, then turns towards the reader. "If you think things were weird before, wait until the story gets back to us."
"How can you not have found him by now?" Vaggie chewed out Angel as Niffty swept the floor. "This is a hotel, not an amusement park."
"He's a kid, Vag." Angel argued, sitting at the bar on his phone. "Just wait for him to calm down and he'll come back. Besides, I'm not looking forward to babysitting."
Getting between the manager and the guest's argument, Husk poured the spider demon a drink. "You're telling me a kid just ran up here."
Husk was a tuxedo cat-like demon with wings and a feathered tail. Besides his black pants he wore with a pair of matching overalls, his only clothing was a red bowtie and a magician's top hat.
"Please explain how a kid even got here, let alone how you two just managed to lose him."
"Well, I could give you adeep explanation." Angel Dust flirted with the bartender. "If you buy a guy dinner first before we talk about having kids."
"Get serious, Angel Dust." Vaggie was still mad. "He's alone, dead for less than an hour, and still adjusting."
Before any of the three could continue talking, Alastor the Radio Demon appeared from the shadows. Alastor looked surprisingly human for a demon; grey skin and red hair with tiny antler aside, if you saw him on Earth you'd think he was an ordinary guy if not for his red, pinstripe suit and eyes.
"Salutations, my associates of the damned!" Alastor greeted the others in his usual distorted voice. "I just came in from getting a timeslot for our little commercial, when I overhear news that a child is now a resident."
"He's not a guest, Alastor." Vaggie tried to defend the boy. "He can stay here until he can find a relative or something to take him in, but you can't go near him."
"Oh, do you think so little of me that you'd assume I'd harm a child for nothing." The Radio Demon feigned hurt feelings.
"Yes/You bet/Bet my last dollar." Vaggie, Angel, and Husk all answered, much to Alastor's mild anger.
"Trust me, once Charlie gets back from her meeting, we'll figure out what to do about the Chico." Another knock at the door interrupted Vaggie, and she went to answer. "He's only a child, what kind of trouble could he possibly get in."
Opening the door, Vaggie and the rest of the group were introduced to another surprising visitor.
"Greetings, Dear Sinner, I am Prince Stolas of the Ars Goetia." The royal demon introduced himself; Stolas was extremely tall owl demon. He had the face of an owl but with four, bright red eyes; dressed in usual finery of a red and gold waistcoat, grey breeches, a red cape with a fur mantle, and a top hat with the design of a crown on it. "Please forgive my intrusion on the Princess' little project, but I'm afraid I have business to discuss."
"THAT'S RIGHT, BITCH!" Pushing past Stolas was Blitz, acting like it was payback time as the rest IMP looked at their boss in anger and worry. "NOW GIVE US BACK THE BOOK!"