Lost Soul

"Dumb. Tough. Flies. On fire. 'Nuff said."

-Doom instruction manual

The Lost Soul is a demonic species of flying, lowly demons made from the souls of Humans and other mortals damned to Hell.

Biology
Lost Souls appear as a body-less flaming skull with horns, burning eyes, and broken teeth, capable of flight. They do not naturally reproduce or spawn, but rather, are made from mortal souls damned to Hell, forged into Lost Souls within the bodies of Pain Elementals, and possibly able to form outside Pain Elementals. Despite this, they strangely appear to have had some stages of evolution, possibly reciprocating the evolution of their "parent" Pain Elementals, originally appearing to be human-like skulls with horns, later evolving to become larger and more demonic in appearance, with armored ridges, longer, curved horns, blue flames, and what appears to be some flesh on certain parts of their "bodies," such as within their mouths and at the base of their horns. A certain "breed" of Lost Souls, or possibly another species entirely that is only similar to them in function, resemble organic Human heads with unhinged jaws, and a cybernetic thruster for flight. Lost Souls, or at least some of them, appear to be parasitic, possessing weak hosts and ejecting the souls of the host, which in turn become new Lost Souls. All Lost Souls attack by flying directly at a target and exploding in a blast of Hell Energy on contact, which the possession-type Lost Souls utilize to weaken a host enough to possess. The cybernetic Lost Souls presumably require a host in order to manifest, initially appearing as a spectral form of the original "breed," and violently bursting out of the head of the host, killing them in the process. Most Lost Souls do not appear to desire a host, instead seeking their own destruction, as their existence is torturous, with the minds of the souls they came from broken and driven mad with a sole desire to find a final death. Despite their overwhelming desire for suicide, they seem to only seek out non-demonic living beings to blow themselves up on, wandering aimlessly if no such being is in sight, possibly an instinct to destroy the living that supersedes their own self-destructive urges. Lost Souls appear to be able to be controlled to some degree by the Pain Elementals that spawned them, such as floating around the Pain Elemental and allowing it to throw them.

History
Lost Souls were once mortals who were damned to Hell, such as Humans, whose "bodies" in Hell are broken by slave labor, sent to have the remains of their souls extracted. Those who managed to escape the extraction were reduced to incorporeal essence, which know nothing but madness, their mortal identity left as nothing more than a distant memory. These essences are then brought into the bodies of Pain Elementals, who forge them into physical skull-shaped beings, and then expel them, while some appear to have formed "naturally." Lost Souls were considered lower than Imps, despised by other demons. While most Lost Souls seek out nothing more than living beings to destroy with themselves, some began seeking new hosts for their essence, possibly to alleviate the pain of their existence. When the Spider Mastermind launched an invasion of Mars in 2022, Lost Soul swarms were present in the invasion force, but were destroyed by a lone unnamed Human marine.

Combat Characteristics


A very frustrating enemy, the Lost Souls float around until spotting an enemy. They then quickly fly up close to attack, if they miss they will continue flying until striking an object. Lost Souls are mostly found in groups, it is uncommon to see one alone. When defeated, the Lost Souls explode, leaving no corpse behind. The Pain Elemental is the only other DOOM demon that emulates a similar death. Pain Elementals will release Lost Souls from their mouth when in combat with an enemy, which is their function in Doom II, Doom 64, and Doom Eternal.