Dennis and the Devil

Dennis Pouter was a nobody. That was, until he encountered the Devil.

More precisely, he was a dove struggling to make a name for himself as he staggered through the pieces of a broken life. He was prepared to end it all one dark stormy night following a string of his only band ditching him and getting a broken beak from his father after he tried to protect his mother from his abuse. Even his guitar had been destroyed by his own hands in anger.

So there he sat, a crying mess, on the railing of a highway bridge, his fists clenching as the cars rolled by under him. Suddenly a voice called his name from the shadows. Dennis turned, startled, to see a dark figure watching him that would then introduce itself as Satan.

It was only a simple contract. It promised fame and fortune. It promised his name appearing in giant neon sized letters on the strip and printed in the ink of every newspaper. It promised audiences in the hundreds of thousands that not only saw him but adored him. It promised for all of his problems to be solved the moment he was finally heard.

After all... "God doesn't give chances to the right people, Dennis."

The only catch was that he had to trade his soul. Feeling that he had nothing else to live for, Dennis signed the contract. From then on, his hopeless life changed forever.

Everything he'd ever wished for, he now had. Records across records in the charts, waves of loving fans, even had his own mansion that was completely paid for. Perhaps he had to give up some freedoms along the way. But so what? The Devil had kept his word, or so it seemed.

Notes

• Dennis' main guitar is a one-of-a-kind custom, pearly white with simple wings on each side of the top of the body. Getting it was a big moment in Dennis' life as before then he'd only ever used cheap guitars. Needless to say, the difference in sound was huge!
• When he was younger, his father had smashed his left index finger in a drunken rage. This was only a mild problem when it came to playing, but as his label began to overwork him, the issue became far worse until the finger appeared black one day. He was nearly dropped by his label once he had it amputated. This was early in his career, however, so rest assured our boy Denny can play just fine with three fingers!
• His manager, a blind owl, always gave Dennis a bit of a bad feeling. Even more so when he started appearing in Dennis' own nightmares about Hell. Come to think of it, he never did sign that record contract, did he?