In the end, I couldn’t do it. No matter how tempting the darkness’s words were, or what the darkness might offer, I simply couldn’t do it. No matter what the darkness offered, in the end, I simply couldn’t be tempted. No matter what else I might be in this life – or any other – I’m faithful. I’ll always be faithful to my wife.

A devout believer, my wife would be rolling in her grave, if she even imagined me submitting to the will of a demon. Sure, this might be a different world. Sure, “demon” might just be a title the so-called gods placed upon the fallen. It doesn’t matter. My wife would never approve of me becoming a demon worshipper – no matter the semantics involved – and thus, there’s nothing this Shaitan could offer to make me become his.

Nothing in this world, or any other, could ever shake my loyalty to my wife. Laulaia and Alaina might claim to be my “servant-wives”, but the truth is, I can’t consider them that. I didn’t woo them. I didn’t pursue them. Get to know them. I didn’t propose to them, and I can’t say I deeply and honestly love them. I love the concept of them – beautiful young women who will stay with me and never leave me – but I can’t say I actually love them, yet. Perhaps in time, the two might grow into a place in my heart and become a true wife of mine, but for now, I’ve only ever had one true wife in my life…

And I’m not going to betray her, or her memory, by listening to some dumb ass demon!

Had the darkness lied, and called itself another god, I would’ve been tempted. Had it called itself simply “a spiritual being”, I would’ve been tempted. Hell, even if it’d have called itself a “fallen angel”, I would’ve been tempted. But it hadn’t! In fact, the darkness never ever introduced itself. All it ever did was try and convince me how great this Shaitan was, and how terrible Casper was, in comparison.

Arrogant bastard darkness couldn’t even deny that Shaitan was a demon. All it did was point fingers at the gods and say they’d gave it that title. I didn’t ask who the hell gave it the title “demon”. All I wanted to know, was if it was one, or not.

Since it didn’t deny that Shaitan was, there’s nothing more for it to say to me. My wife wouldn’t want me cavorting around with demons, or making pacts, bargains, or deals with them. Ergo, fuck off Shaitan!

And, for some reason, telling the darkness to pisser off, seems to make it angry. It ranted at me. Warned me of the mistake I was making. Threatened me. Threated those with me. Hell, it even threatened my family – which is when I knew the damn darkness was all bluster and no bite!

The gods can’t freely travel between the worlds, so I doubt there’s any way a mere demon could. Even if it could, who the hell is the darkness going to harm? My bitch of a daughter who’s already abandoned me? Who couldn’t even attend her own mother’s funeral? Good! Do me a favor and go rip her from limb to limb!

By threatening my family, I realized that the darkness wasn’t all-powerful, or all-knowing. Certainly, it seemed to know things in general about me and the girls, but never once had it given any detailed specifics. It’d never called either of the girls by name. It’d never even called me by name – not Steven, nor Steffan, nor any derivative of either. Honestly, it didn’t even seem as if the darkness truly knew where we were.

Looking back on it, our whole conversation seemed as if it simply took place in a dark void somewhere – pardon the obvious! I never saw who was speaking. I didn’t really know anything about them, except they were apparently some chosen tempter for Shaitan. What made me think they might know much more about me?

Talking to the darkness was oddly reminiscent of talking to a sales rep over the phone. I can just imagine the darkness’s supervisor strolling arrogantly into its cubicle and tossing a manilla folder down upon the desk. “Now, this next guy has been tricked and shackled by his goddess. He’s got two women, and they’re both supposed to serve him, but now they’re in control. He’s ripe for the taking! Go get his soul and report back after. Got it?”

And, it was at this moment, when I was trivializing the power of the darkness and amusing myself, that I felt a strange calmness wash over me. Feeling almost of if a cool breeze was blowing away a dense fog, the darkness’s voice got fainter and fainter, until it finally faded into nothingness. For the briefest of moments, I feared the return of the silence, but instead I was relieved to hear Laulaia worried calling my name.

“Stef! Stef! Alaina, what’s wrong with Stef?” Opening my eyes, Laulaia had me cradled tight in her arms, rocking me gently back and forth as we sat nestled atop the small grassy mound. “I’ve checked, she hasn’t been hurt, but she’s completely unresponsive, and the Lady Life isn’t saying anything!”

“Figures,” I croaked, trying to stretch and squirm myself upright. “Casper never seems to be there when you need her.”

“Stef!” Squealing with delight, Laulaia half tugged me upright into her arms, and hugged me tightly. “What happened? Are you hurt? Should we go back? Do you need to rest? Are you sick?” The questions came a mile a minute, and I could scarcely breath, she was hugging me so tight.

“I’m fine,” I assured her, “but I would like to breath again sometime today.”

“Are you hurt? Tell me the truth.” Placing both hands on my shoulders, Laulaia shoved me backwards to stare directly into my eyes. “What happened?”

Much to my surprise, by the tear stains on her cheeks, and the look on her face, it was obvious Laulaia did indeed care for me. “I’m sorry,” I told her, surprisingly meaning it. “I’m fine,” I reassured her, again. “I was simply dealing with some demon trying to tempt me to renounce Casper and follow them instead.”

“What!” Laulaia was so shocked, she jerked backwards hard enough to fall off the mossy mound, splooshing down into the slimy swamp. “What… What do you mean a demon was tempting you?” Eyes big and round, she looked completely shell shocked by the news.

“It’s fine. I’m fine,” I assured her again, stretching lightly. “I told the damn thing to bugger off. I’m not that easy to tempt.”

“Really?” Laulaia asked, eyes wide with worry.

“Really,” I stated, calmly.

“Really, Really?” Biting her lower lip, Laulaia was struggling to believe me.

“Really, really, really,” I assured her, sighing slightly. “You told me to tell you the truth. I couldn’t lie to you even if I wanted to, thanks to these shackles,” I reminded her, gently, trying to ease her worry.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Huh?” Blinking a few times, Laulaia looked like a fish out of water. “Thanks to the shackles? What?”

“The shackles I’m wearing,” I reminded her, holding up my left arm and pointing to its wrist shackle with my right hand. “While these are on, I have to do what I’m told to do. Remember?” I’m beginning to worry about her, all at once. How the hell can she forget about something so important as that?

“Shackles with dominate magic upon them?” Alaina was the one who spoke up from the side, making me be the one to jump nervously this time. I’d been paying attention exclusively to Laulaia and had barely even registered that she was still there! I guess that’ll teach me to pay better attention to my surroundings when I first wake up from some sort of demon-induced delusion!

“Yea… yeah. I guess that’s what they’re called.” Shrugging my shoulders slightly, I tried to gloss over the stutter which leaked out from my startled heart. This damn dark and silent swamp is killing my nerves!

“Mine doesn’t have any magics like that on them,” Alaina said, frowning slightly. “At least not that I’ve noticed…” Trailing off into thought for a moment, she rubbed her chin a few times ruefully. “Though, that would explain a few things with your current behavior…”

“Explain things? What things?” Somehow, I was starting to get as confused as Laulaia looked. Exactly what the hell were we talking about again? How’d we drift from demons tempting my thoughts to magics on the shackles?

“I’d thought you were just being a stubborn ass!” Alaina said, half barking a laugh. “I’d tell you to rub yourself, imagining you’d quit when you didn’t think I was looking, and yet I never could catch you not doing it, no matter how hard I tried. I thought it was some sort of man-way to show defiance. A type of, ‘Fine, tell me to do this type of shit, watch how well I do this type of shit!’. You listened and obeyed so well, I thought you were mocking me, and it made me want to punish you for it!” Laughing lightly, Alaina seemed actually both relieved and amused by the revelation.

“No… I have to do what I’m told to,” I explained, frowning slightly. Why’s my shackle the only one with such magics upon it? Was it intentional? Some elaborate scheme of the goddess’s? Or was it just coincidence, with only one set magic, and chance responsible for whomever wore it?

“But she’s not the one who put the shackles on you!” Blinking furiously, Laulaia stood up and tried to wipe the slime and grime off her newly shaped skirt. “Why do you have to listen to her?”

“Because you told me to,” I reminded her, completely puzzled. “Remember? I asked about it, and you said, ‘Of course. She’s the elder, with superiority, or something similar, and that I was supposed to listen to and obey her.”

“But… But…” Blinking several times, Laulaia bit her lower lip hard enough to make it bleed. “I didn’t know,” she whispered, blinking back tears and looking completely flabbergasted. “You never said anything…”

“I couldn’t,” I reminded her. “From nearly the moment you placed the shackles on me, you told me not to complain as long as you were my owner. Remember?” Apparently, simply reminding her of a past event didn’t count as a “complaint”. I’ll have to make a mental note of that. Apparently, it’s not what one says, but the motivation behind what one is saying which makes the shackles trigger their magic. If I want to bitch about not being able to refuse an order, I can’t say a word – but it’s apparently fine to speak up, as long as I’m doing so to simply jar my lady’s memory.

“I… I didn’t know! Waaahhhhhhhh!” Crying loudly, Laulaia tossed herself into my arms and buried her head deep in my shoulder.

Standing there awkwardly, all I could do was gently pat her back and try and figure out what the hell had just happened. One moment I’m being taunted by a demon. The next, I’m consoling a woman because she didn’t know she was bullying me? What the hell is wrong with this whole world?!!

----------------------------------------

By the time Laulaia had calmed down, and counting the time when I was lost in my own little dark world, the night was about half over once again. Every bit as late as it was the night before, when we decided to pack up and return back to the temple pool, Laulaia decided we were going to do the same tonight.

“Come on guys,” she sighed. “We’re just not meant to be out here tonight, I don’t think. I know my mind definitely isn’t set on the task at hand anymore. Let’s head back, get our head in the game, and try again tomorrow.”

Six days to ever damnable herbs to turn me into a woman. Two more days simply wasted just finding the dead, and barely killing any of them. We had passed the halfway mark of our task, and hadn’t even made it to the entrance of the tomb yet. The chances of us getting our full reward were slowly slipping away, and I had a sinking feeling I knew who was going go get the short end of the stick if we only got a partial reward.

“I’m fine to fetch the dead,” I assured Laulaia, even as my body was being compelled to turn and walk away. “For all we know, tomorrow night might be just as bad as tonight, for some odd and unknown reason. We should do what we can now, and if necessary, clean the stragglers up tomorrow.” Hell, with the stupid gods and demons of this world freely invading a person’s thoughts at any given moment, who knew when they could ever plan for anything, without divine interference?

“Are you certain?” Eyes still red from where she’d been crying, Laulaia chewed her lower lip worriedly.

“I’ll be fine,” I assured her, not certain of anything, except I was tired of holding the short end of the stick. I definitely want to get in on whatever reward it is that Casper is offering so we can speak this world’s language. If I ever do decide to abandon everyone and everything again, I’ll definitely need a way to communicate with the natives.

“Then you’ll need this,” Alaina said, holding out the torch she’d been carrying. “It’ll burn out after about half an hour, or so, give or take,” she shrugged, “but hopefully we’ll either be done, or else have plenty of fires burning by that time.”

“Got it.” Taking the torch, I couldn’t help but tremble slightly. There’re people in this world who will claim that they could take it, rush out and dance around the dead, and not have a lick of fear in them. There’s also a shitload of liars, braggarts, and psychopaths in the world – and anyone who makes such a claim has to fall into one of those categories. I was scared. I was damn scared! I was going to be bait, run out into the dark, and coax the dead into chasing after me to try and eat me.

But, I took the torch anyway. Fear of the dead, I can overcome. Fear of dying? Pssshhhht! Like hell I have any concern over that. Now, I’ll admit, the idea of running out, tripping in the dark and breaking an ankle, and having to suffer through a thousand bites and scratches from the dead – now, the thought of that does frighten me, but I can overcome it.

As long as the girls are going to be here with me, and I’m not going to be completely abandoned, I’ll be fine. I’ll find a way to overcome any difficulty this world might toss at me, as long as I’m not alone.

Steeling my breath, I stretched my limber body left and right, in preparation. “Any advice in particular? Or do you guys just want me to play it by ear as I go?”

“I… I haven’t seen the tomb, or the dead, so I can’t think of anything to tell you,” Laulaia sighed, fidgeting. Part of my mind couldn’t help but wonder if she was going to be okay. She looked terrible! Apparently, Laulaia is one of those women who can’t cry without her whole face swelling up and becoming blotchy. I just hope she’s actually up for the task! Maybe backing out for the day, wouldn’t be such a bad idea?

“Just don’t get eat,” Alaina said, patting me on the back heartily. “It’s straight ahead and slightly to your left from here. Count to a hundred as you run, and if you haven’t found them by then, come back and try again. The entrance to the tomb isn’t that far from here, in all actuality.”

“Go show her the way,” Laulaia ordered Alaina, “while I stay back here and prepare my essence of fire.”

“Certainly, my lady.” Snapping to attention, Alaina laughed happily and quickly snatched the torch back from my hands. “Come Shadow! Come Stef! Let us hunt.” If she was the least bit nervous, she certainly didn’t show it the slightest.

“This way!” Turning and skipping over the wall in one smooth little hop, Alaina started moving out away from our little campsite. Barking happily, Shadow chased at her heels. Sighing deeply, I forced down the lump in my throat and rushed to try and keep up with the two of them.