Kutris slammed the heavy door behind him and leaned his back against it - yet another lavishly decorated empty suite. His breath came in short, ragged gasps. The notion that he needed to breathe at all was ludicrous.

  Something about this place had sapped away the vast reserves of Soul Energy which could typically sustain any vessel he chose to inhabit indefinitely. Yet now he slid down the door, desperate for a reprieve from this maddening game of hide and seek. His limbs felt leaden, sweat ran down his brow and into the jagged laceration above his right eye.

  Kutris had grown estranged to the concepts of pain and discomfort, and now they tormented him ruthlessly as though making up for lost time. He rested for a moment with his back against the cool surface.

  His torso was exposed and riddled with gashes and puncture wounds which all poured acrid smelling smoke and steady trickles of nearly black blood. The horrific demon in cat form had torn away his armor like cheap wrapping paper, and had mocked Kutris’ normally invincible spells with that grating chuckle that would surely haunt the mage’s dreams forevermore.

  “Too many things.” He began before spitting a mouthful of blood onto the snow white rug. “It HAS to be a sophisticated illusion. I just need time to unravel it!”

  The painted metal of the door at his back suddenly heated up in a flash. Kutris heard the sound of sizzling skin before he could even register the pain from the severe burn. He dove forward in a desperate roll, casting yet another healing spell, sapping away even more of his precious dwindling energy.

  He turned to face the door to see the wilting patch of flesh he had left behind, stuck fast to the now bubbling and smoking paint. The door soon began to sag and distort. The paint evaporated, revealing the dull orange glow of a weapon fresh from the forge.

  “I don’t much care for fire - too excitable, always getting up to this and that!” The demon’s voice scraped the insides of Kutris’ skull, making his teeth clench even tighter. “But a certain someone insisted on this, you see.”

  Walls of raging flame suddenly engulfed every wall of the suite with a sudden Whoosh. The heat was unbelievably intense, the blood and sweat on Kutris’ body began to turn to steam.

  “It doesn’t look like him.” A child’s voice ripped his attention back to the door which was now a puddle of liquid metal and slag.

  There stood a tiny four armed girl with light green skin, and a tangled, matted mane of dark hair shot with streaks of deep purple. An oni child? She was a wretched sight, covered in soot, snot, and tears. She reminded him of someone, and it finally hit him.

  “Vermillion?” He blurted, his voice dry and cracking.

  “No.” The child whispered but could somehow be clearly heard over the roaring inferno all around them. “That cursed name you gave me for being a child born of fire and blood was never mine.”

  “What is this? What are you talking about? They captured you, right? You’ll help me escape!” As he spoke, he reached out spiritually and touched her Soul Brand with his magic.

  She grimaced, then her face went blank. For a split second her true form flickered in the place of her child body, towering over even the seven foot tall borrowed body of Yuther. Kutris smiled wickedly, so it was all a mere trick.

  “That’s right!” He continued soothingly. “You wouldn’t stand so defiantly toward the man that rescued and raised you, would you?”

  “M-my lord?” Vermillion shook her small head and took a few steps forward. “My lord, Kutris? What is happening?”

  “It’s all right, child. Just come to me and all will be well. You know only I can protect you.” Kutris smiled warmly, hiding his true thoughts.

  All he needed to do was touch her, and he could destroy her Soul Brand and consume her Soul Core. That would replenish his energy and allow him to turn the tables on that bastard demon.

  She was close, nearly within lunging distance. Her matted bangs hung down, obscuring most of her soot covered face. The flames were closing in, growing hotter by the second. Just as Kutris’ desperation began to peak, she drew close enough. He leaped forward, hands extended. He gripped her tiny upper arms and yanked her to his chest savagely.

  “What luck!” He growled in triumph. “Huh?”

  Nothing was happening. He looked down slowly, and to his horror realized he was not holding the child Vermillion at all, but a wickedly grinning black cat with a mouth full of needle sharp teeth. Its jaws opened impossibly wide and the huge golden eyes glittered. The nest of white teeth sank into Kutris’ chest, and vile magical poison flowed in.

  As always, an insidious urge to lie down and simply give up festered within the wounds. His iron willpower was beginning to truly fade, yet he still managed to violently dislodge the small cat and send it flying away where it vanished in a puff of dark smoke. It wasn’t gone, of course. It was never gone. In fact, it reappeared a second later sitting upside down on the peeling and bubbling paint of the ceiling.

  “It doesn’t look like him.” The little girl’s voice repeated from the doorway, where she had never moved from. “But it sure acts like him.”

  “Now...” The deep, silky bass voice sounded positively giddy as it slithered through Kutris’ mind. “As promised. Recite your prayer, little one. Make your angry wish. Allow this very old and very wicked thing make to it so. Ah! I keep forgetting. Meow.”

  “You laughed.” Vermillion’s voice carried a chill that any tomb would envy. “I tried to hold her, but she fell apart in my hands. You laughed. She brushed my hair, and her singing made pretty birds come to listen. He was my sun and sky, always shining strong. He kept everyone safe for so long, and when he carried me on his shoulders I could reach the good cherries. I hear his teeth popping in my nightmares as you burned him, and you laughed...” Her voice cracked only once, and it grew in volume with every word. The ice was melting as rage replaced it. “Then you stole them from my mind, made me LOVE the man that laughed.” Her tone fell a bit, and the ice crept back in.

  “I… never meant for all of that.” Kutris’ eyes were wide, aghast with a mix of terror, and sadness, and perhaps even a hint of shame. “The Oni could have simply submitted to me! I warned them, it was war!”

  “Please, if anyone can hear me. Please hurt this man! Burn him up forever and ever. Feed his ashes to beasts and bring him back to do it again.” Vermillion spoke the words exactly as she had so very long ago, words carved into her heart and long buried under the weight of manipulative sorcery.

  “I gave your pathetic life meaning!” Kutris shrieked in sudden outrage when his pitiful act failed. “I am destined for feats you can’t begin to fathom! The loss of a few termite mounds on that path is of no consequence!”

  “Oh!” Baelphegor exclaimed in mock surprise. “Classic misunderstanding. Meow. Whatever should we do? Take back the wish and let him walk away after a light scolding?” He broke into a long and wicked chuckle as his body flew down from the ceiling and circled the ranting man’s head. “If only he still had legs.”

  Kutris heard igniting fire and violent sizzling from below just before a fresh explosion of pain radiated up his body. He dropped to his back and gurgled and spit as he rolled from side to side. Two cauterized stumps had replaced his legs at the thigh in a mere instant.

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  The sight made bile surge up his throat, and he vomited blood that was thick with Baelphegor’s torporous venom. Through the racing jumble of thoughts he heard a brand new voice in his mind, distinct from the wicked demon’s.

  “We can eat it? It is food?”

  He looked around and caught sight of a gaunt wolf cub emerging from the inferno at his side, staring in his direction with deep, sunken eyes that glittered with hunger.

  “Yes, little Fenrir. We may certainly eat it. It is indeed food.” The demonic voice answered the raspy wolf’s. “But just the ashes, I’m afraid. Meow. The wording of the wish was quite clear on that.”

  “Okay.” The rough voice sounded disappointed, but not very.

  It approached slowly, swaying gently back and forth with each step. Kutris instinctively scrambled back gritting through the waves of agony assaulting him with every movement.

  The wolf reached the small piles of ash that had once been his (or rather Yuther’s) muscular legs. It licked at the ashes tentatively at first, then appeared to find them quite delicious. It lapped them up and swallowed ravenously, and was soon licking the scorched marble floor clean. It then looked up slowly and fixed its gaze on Kutris who had backed up as far as he could to the now burning bed.

  “More.” It growled desperately, pulling its lips back into a snarl that revealed jagged teeth and drool dyed black with ash.

  “Wake up!” Kutris screamed at himself, smashing his fist into the side of his own head. A fresh cut and another welt was all he gained from it.

  “Oh, you’d like to wake up?” Baelphegor hovered before him as he asked. “Why didn’t you say so!?”

  Kutris’ mind barely registered the words as the smell of his own burning flesh mingled with the sensation of infinite agony and the sound of mocking laughter to create a symphony of pure misery.

  The next moment all sensations ceased and Kutris found himself waking up with a violent gasp in a most familiar place. He looked frantically all around, and yanked the covers away to reveal his intact lower half. It was his original body, and he was in his luxurious bedroom in the Blackgold Tower of Sorcery.

  “Impossible.” He grunted. That was no dream. He had lived thousands of years since he had last spent a night in this room! He clutched his head in both hands, feeling a familiar feature that had been lost thousands of years in the past.

  He stepped gingerly onto the cool stone and took a sweeping view of the room. Every detail was in place perfectly, including an expensive artifact that he now approached gingerly. It was a mundane mirror, made without magic. Such devices were a novelty to nobility due to the level of craftsmanship required in their construction.

  His reflection sent a wave of nostalgia sweeping over him. He was sharp featured, with gold colored skin and a spiraled horn in the center of his forehead that seemed to be made of pure ruby. His first body had belonged to an Almiraj Prima, the highest evolution of the race that had once sought dominance over all creation.

  Such ambitions were never his, however. Kutris was the leader of the faction that opposed the idea of Almiraj supremacy. His ideal was a world in balance, and at peace. It was perfectly possible with the use of the newly emerging magics able to open doors to entirely new dimensions teeming with resources and precious habitable space.

  Ancient memories began to surface, and the dream that had been a life of bitter failure and rage drifted to the background as dreams did. The mind would always seek to adapt to what was before it, and Kutris wanted nothing more than for this to be real with every ounce of his being.

  “Is everything alright?” A concerned, sleepy, feminine voice coming from his large bed made his heart skip more than a beat. “Still stressed about the meeting?”

  He turned slowly, and saw the love of his life sitting up in bed. She was more beautiful than he remembered. She wasn’t an Almiraj Prima like him, in fact she wasn’t an Almiraj at all. She was a demideva, the unwanted offspring of an Almiraj and a being from the upper realm. Her flawless skin and hair were suffused with inner light, and changed in hue based on her mood. Rather than a long horn, a rough pink gemstone stood out on her head, marking her as inferior in Almiraj society.

  She had once been an orphan, living on scraps and fighting for survival in the slums. Now she was married to the second most powerful magic user in the world. Kutris’ eyes drifted down and his heart sank. There was an unmistakable bump in her silken nightgown. With his magic, he could already sense the miracle of life happening within her.

  “Y-yes Ami, It’s alright.” Kutris struggled to separate his memories from the lingering dream. Could that have been a vision of what was to come? In the dream, his tower was destroyed by his political rivals while he was away at a peace conference with the Grand Overfiend. In that same disaster, his wife and unborn child were lost. “How would you like to come with me on the journey to Cairne Carna? They have some interesting shops we could visit.”

  “I’d need to reschedule some things here, but that sounds lovely.” She answered with a smile and stretch that sent his hear fluttering.

  “Maybe I can actually change everything…” Kutris’ thoughts raced with possibilities as he muttered to himself. “…prevent SO many tragedies…”

  Hope swelled within him, and he rushed over to his desk, conjuring a heavily enchanted notebook and quill. He wrote furiously, recording as many details of the vision as he possibly could and detailing a grand plan to fix every mistake he might one day make.

  “Always working!” Ami walked gracefully to his side and bent down. The floral scent of her platinum locks heralded the firm kiss she planted on his cheek.

  The scent suddenly turned acrid and foul, and sharp teeth tore into his cheek. Kutris screamed in shock and pain. The caricature of his wife cackled at him mockingly before she spat the chunk of flesh back in his face. Kutris gaped in utter horror as she then plunged her own hand into her belly. Blood welled around the gruesome wound and she ripped forth a tiny black shape, slick with gore.

  She held the wriggling mass up, and Kutris watched in rapt horror as a familiar shape revealed itself. Two damning yellow eyes popped open, followed by a row of sharp white teeth. It was the demon cat, eyes gleefully drinking in Kutris’ revulsion like a fine wine.

  Fire sprang back to life all around him once more as the tower room was replaced by the burning suite from before. The pain and scorching heat all returned in a rush. Vermillion still stood in the doorway, watching with a cold expression. Fenrir still stared hungrily at him with drool steadily streaming to form a steaming pool on the floor.

  “There is no sharper tool in the torturer’s arsenal than hope.” Baelphegor’s deep voice said with a sagely tone in Kutris’ mind. “Oh look your legs came back! Maybe you can get away!”

  “No.” Kutris denied with a deep sigh of sudden realization. “I’ve walked into a hell lower than The Pit willingly, haven’t I? No matter how I struggle, even if I win and carry out my plans, I’ll never know when the rug will be pulled and I’ll find myself back here. I should have known the moment I sensed your true age. I’m a doomed soul that simply swam beyond its depth.”

  “Blegh.” Baelphegor made an unhappy noise. “Earnest acceptance is awfully boring. Oh well, a deal is a deal.”

  Kutris decided to abandon his plan. Ahura would have to carry on alone for awhile. The death of this body was his only way out at this point. He used the last of his Soul Energy to form a sharp blade of wind around his hand. He moved to decapitate himself, but his hand was restrained by something that burned his wrist. The sensation repeated on his other wrist, both ankles, and his neck.

  A pentagram of flame had appeared on the ground with Kutris in its center. Five Chains made of flame shot out from tiny circular portals that appeared at the points of the star.

  The chains now wrapped around Kutris’ limbs and throat, causing his flesh to blister and smolder instantly. As each limb blackened and became numb, the chains pulled them off easily and tossed them to the starving wolf where they crumbled into piles of carbonized chunks. He ate them greedily. Minutes passed and he felt his consciousness fading.

  “I WILL allow you to die… eventually.” Baelphegor assured over the sound of Fenrir chewing. “Hmm?”

  The sudden shift in tone was one Kutris hadn’t heard from the evil beast. It was uncertain, and perhaps even concerned?

  “I suppose it can’t be helped then.” Baelphegor said audibly in its kitten voice.

  Everything went black and all sensation ceased for a moment, and then Kutris’ eyes fluttered open. Some internal instinct told him that he was somehow back in true reality as he looked up at a rather plain white ceiling. He jerked himself upright, noticing that strange strings were affixed to his skin at various places with sticky pads. He had been lying on a plain cot in a blank room with a single door.

  He tore the strings away from his skin, and put his bare feet on the floor. All of his clothes and equipment were in a neat pile near one wall. His Soul Energy was his to use once more, and he sent it out, probing for information. The presence of Fenrir was nearby, the enchantment he had devised to track the beast was practically humming. Strangely, there were no other signs of life within at least a hundred paces in any direction.

  He walked cautiously to his equipment, and dressed himself, every moment expecting to find himself back in that hellscape. Nothing happened even as he approached the single door, and it slid silently open automatically. There was a hallway extending to his left and right, and another identical door across from him where he could feel the presence of Fenrir.

  “It’s not possible that they just left me alone.” He muttered. “This is another trick.” He continued. “But what to do anyways? Sit in the bed and wait for more torture?”

  The sound of a distant explosion made him flinch. Magical vibrations flooded the hall, and he sensed a drastic change in the environment. A familiar silvery tear in space appeared a few feet away, and Kutris’ lips split into an involuntary smile. Finally!

  A sleek, alien humanoid with a dark blue exoskeleton emerged from the portal and bowed deeply before Kutris.

  “Neferthotep, we need to seize Fenrir and get out of here. We can talk after that!” Kutris ran through the door, and found the unconscious wolf cub hooked up to the same strings as he had been. “Send him to Lobius immediately.”

  With a simple gesture, Neferthotep complied and the unconscious wolf sank into the small silver portal that appeared under it.

  “To the desert sanctuary!” Kutris ordered urgently.

  He held his breath for several moments even after the familiar earthen walls surrounded him, and the sense of thousands of tons of rock and sand above him settled in. That damned demon really HAD planted a permanent sliver of unease in his mind. He exhaled, and forced himself to dismiss it. If it was all just another illusion then so be it, the alternative of paranoid insanity simply wasn’t productive.

  He had somehow escaped and secured the divine beast, that is what he would choose to believe.

  “Report on your mission.” Kutris finally demanded as he sat on a wooden chair.

  “The negotiations with the crab god Un’kuthuku were successful. My queen is transporting him to Bl?dgard as we speak. There is a complication regarding the divine dragon Andvaria.” Neferthotep gave his matter-of-fact report telepathically.

  “What complication?” Kutris found that he wasn’t even angry at the report that would have boiled his blood just hours ago. As long as he wasn’t burning alive in a hopeless hell, he was happy.

  “Her sealing chamber was breached, and she was taken. The few surviving dragonkin describe an invincible warrior of absolute death, and judging by the aftermath, I can’t call their words an exaggeration. I may be able to track them down, but your distress call interrupted my investigation.” Neferthotep reported mechanically.

  “You’ve done well.” Kutris said sincerely. “There was always a chance that Andvaria would be impossible to subjugate. A contingency is in place. How long until the nexus queen will be ready to take us?”

  “Approximately thirteen hours.” Answered Neferthotep, bowing at the unexpected praise.

  Kutris took a deep breath and let it out slowly, ready to settle into meditation to recover as much power as possible. A distant chuckle in his mind sent a shiver up his spine.

  “Real or fake?” The deep voice mocked before chuckling again in his mind. “Meow.”