First was Sheba, eager to prove herself and regain her standing.
She wore a veil as instructed and even softened her voice to suppress its natural allure.
“My lord,” she said gently, “this is the concubine chamber. Within are some of the most beautiful beings in Gehonom—each handpicked and trained for your service. They are all untouched maidens, selected across species and dimensions to match your precise preferences.”
The chamber was vast—elegant, intoxicatingly fragrant. Unlike the rest of the valley, this place carried a genuinely sweet aroma. The women—nineteen in total—bowed gracefully, each uniquely beautiful. They offered him fruits, drinks... even their bodies.
Taryn’s heart didn’t waver, but his eyes told a different story. Somehow... every one of them aligned perfectly with his subconscious desires. His taste. His weaknesses.
He narrowed his eyes.
“You said they were selected to my liking. How do you know what I like?”
Sheba moved her hair aside, revealing the sigil at the base of her neck.
“As a succubus demon, I am cosmically linked to you through your sigil, my lord. I know your heart. Your passions. Your lust. Even if you do not. I have observed you since birth—your dreams, your longing, your innocence.”
Taryn’s face flushed in embarrassment.
Sheba noticed and bowed slightly.
“Please do not feel ashamed. I have glimpsed the vilest depths of humanity. Compared to them, my lord is a saint. Your thoughts are modest. Controlled. You are not one who is ruled by desire.”
Taryn composed himself, then caught a deeper detail in her words.
“You’ve observed mankind... beyond the tortured souls here?”
Sheba hesitated.
Then she reached into his mind—not with words, but with something heavier. A psychic whisper that crashed through his spirit like a celestial revelation.
“Master... I am not native to Gehonom. I was imprisoned here. My origin is from a dimension called the Barzaq Dreamworld.”
The moment her voice left his soul, Taryn stumbled. Sweat beaded on his brow. Her transmission had pressed against something far beyond his current level of perception.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
She stepped back respectfully.
Taryn didn’t ask more. He feared another such revelation would break his consciousness entirely. But he remembered: the archdemon had also mentioned being imprisoned. Perhaps all of them—Sheba, Ox, Imp, even Fenrir—were exiles. Caged gods in a realm of punishment.
Do they see me as their key to freedom? he wondered.
He refocused.
“Tell me more about your abilities.”
“I specialize in charm and seduction,” she said plainly. “It is my nature. I can also enter dreams—of those I’ve marked, or those consumed by lust. Once inside, I may possess... or devour.”
Taryn’s eyes narrowed.
“How strong would I need to be to summon you?”
She paused, then offered a strained smile.
“At Sovereign World Candidate cultivation level.”
“Sovereign World Candidate?” Taryn frowned. “That’s not a rank in my world. We only know five levels: Cosmic Warrior... Cosmic General, Cosmic King, Cosmic Sage, and the legendary Cosmic Lord.”
Sheba couldn’t help herself. A small laugh slipped out.
“My lord... forgive me. But your world’s cultivation knowledge is primitive. Even the flies and worms in Gehonom are born at what you would call the ‘Cosmic Lord’ level. That’s not even considered a realm here.”
Taryn’s blood ran cold.
She continued more gently.
“Your world only became a Sovereign World Candidate about 900 years ago. You lack the libraries, the legacies, the spirits that teach truth.”
“Sovereign World Candidate?” Taryn echoed.
She lowered her head.
“Please grant me respite, my lord. I’ve already said too much. Some truths... would only harm you now.”
He didn’t push. But he needed something concrete.
“Then just answer this: how powerful is a Sovereign World cultivator?”
She looked him in the eyes.
“At that level, a mere snap of your fingers would annihilate your entire world—and ten parallel planes alongside it.”
Taryn went silent.
He couldn't even begin to comprehend that level of power. And yet... he was the master of beings who required it just to appear beside him.
Sheba offered one last insight.
“There are two ways you could summon me before reaching that level,” she said.
“The first—” she paused “—is to indulge in your carnal desires. Feed me with accumulated lust, and I can appear temporarily through a contract.”
“That will never happen,” Taryn snapped.
She smiled faintly beneath her veil.
“I assumed as much.”
“The second way,” she continued, “is to summon a fragment of my essence—my cosmic serpentine form. I will be weak. Vulnerable. But still capable of entering dreams. And feeding.”
Her eyes shimmered with danger.
“But I will only do so if you swear to protect me while I exist in your world. Otherwise... I risk total destruction.”
Taryn nodded slowly.
“Fair.”
He then turned his attention back to the concubines. Each had been collected by Sheba years ago, in anticipation of the next Dimensional Sovereign’s arrival. They were trained, graceful, loyal. Everything a ruler could want.
But even at twelve years old, Taryn wasn’t like other boys. Even if his heart hadn’t been frozen... his mind was always too clear. Too focused.
His hand stroked Xara’s silver hair in the physical world, cradled still in his lap.
His body may have wandered into hell.
But his soul remained hers.