Felix’s few words apparently did not suffice to calm his sister down, so she dropped her voice to an urgent whisper.

“What’s going on?” Marcia inched closer to him. “Isn’t this carriage whitelisted?”

The psychic’s telepathy hopped around from one mind to another in rapid succession, gleaning the relevant information he required. He did not want to risk another unnecessary surprise after this one.

“Surprise baggage area check, even for whitelisted vehicles,” he stated. “Newly implemented security protocol. No matter what happens, don’t make a sound. I’ll take care of this.”

Felix focused his mind on the three security guards walking towards the backdoor of their carriage. There seemed to be a fourth object as well, although his mind could not make contact with it. Probably a drone of sorts. It didn’t matter; the humans were all he needed to convince.

The lock on the back doors twisted open.

Sunlight burst into the dimly lit trunk of the carriage as three uniformed men flung the doors open. Felix steadied his breathing, telepathically blocking their minds from registering any presence before them.

“Is this even necessary? C’mon, man. I’m already running late.” The driver walked into view as well, gesturing impatiently. “Of all the vehicles you guys inspect, it just had to be mine—”

A loud bark cut him off.

“Fuck…” Felix muttered under his breath as a guard dog clambered into the back doors, barking at him. So it wasn’t a drone…

“Oi, get that damn dog under control,” the driver complained. “It almost knocked me over, for goodness sake!”

“Watch your tongue. Our dogs are trained to detect even those concealed by invisibility charms. Show some respect,” a security guard warned sharply, before pulling out some kind of goggles. “If there’s an Arcani presence, I’ll see right through their spells—”

The dog swung around without warning, snatching the goggles away from him and running off into the distance. The other men gave chase immediately.

“See? It’s still a beast.” The driver threw his hands up in exasperation. “Can I go now?”

Felix heaved a sigh of relief as the back doors closed again. The engines came to life again soon enough, purring contently as the carriage continued its way into Devil’s Gate.

“Thanks, sis. That was close.” Felix closed his eyes, patting his sister gently to thank her. “Didn’t know your world used animals to help with security too.”

“It’s okay, big bro. I got you.” Marcia smirked, tapping her head lightly. “I never knew your telepathy doesn’t extend to animals as well.”

“Of course not. They’re too stupid for me to make any meaningful contact with their mind.”

“Ouch, I can talk to them. So what, are you calling me stupid too?”

Felix shifted his eyes towards her before a cheeky grin spread on his face. “I didn’t say that. But if the shoe fits…”

He flinched as a well-deserved smack hit him lightly on his arm, accompanied by a giggle. Felix laughed as well, releasing the tension in the air.

The carriage entered the Devil’s Gate without further mishap.

~ ~ ~

The siblings practically sauntered into the main hall. After all, acting all nervous and inconspicuous would only draw more suspicion, considering they were supposedly the messengers of the ‘would-be queen’ of Devil’s Gate Gaol. Felix even made it a point to show off the silver staff in his hand as much as he could.

“Sorry, come again?” the moustached warden asked, nervously flipping through the records. “You want to speak with…”

His voice trailed away as if saying the name would invoke the prisoner’s presence right then and there.

“You heard me.” Felix folded his arms, exuding a badly exaggerated air of haughtiness. “Are the wardens here all hard of hearing? Warlock Vulcan will be disappointed.”

“No, I mean—” the warden dropped his voice. “You really wish to speak with… with the Mad Badger? You do know he’s being held in solitary confinement for a very good reason, don’t you? I wouldn’t touch him with a ten-metre pole if I were you.”

“And that is why you are not us,” Marcia said with a much more solid sense of authority. “We’ve been tasked to do so. It would help us very much if you could give us as much information as you have on this prisoner.”

“If this is how Vulcan treats her messengers, I dread to think about how she’s going to treat us when she takes over.” The man shuddered, before pulling out a differently coloured record. “Okay, let’s see… First things first, the Mad Badger’s identity. He was an unregistered Meta, so the government didn’t have information about him to start with. But the constables did find out his birth name after some investigation: Gaius Matthiou.”

It took Felix every fibre of his being not to flinch in recognition at the name. The ‘Gaius’ in his world had ‘Deusdedit’ as his last name, but only because a childhood accident had converted his race into the Magi race. This version of Gaius must have missed the accident somehow and thus retained his original surname.

“Abilities… Massively enhanced reflexes as well as unbridled passive regeneration,” the warden continued reading from the record. “He was rumoured to be in possession of a corrupted spellcraft which resulted in his psychotic breakdowns, although that tome was never found. Okay, here’s the part you’ll be interested in.”

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The siblings leaned in closer.

“Prisoner Gaius Matthiou is being held in an Arcani-nullifying cell. We only have one in here, since it takes up a lot of magic to maintain such a room and keep it sealed. Our other prisoners only have Arcani-dampening collars on their necks; the Mad Badger is the only one dangerous enough to be imprisoned in that cell. So, changed your minds yet?”

They stared at the warden silently.

“Didn’t think so…” he muttered, thinning his lips. “I hope you don’t regret this. If that monster gets loose, don’t count on us to rescue you. This is just a job; we don’t intend to lose our lives for it.”

The warden picked up a wand and got out of his seat.

~ ~ ~

The siblings found themselves in front of a cold, metallic door after making a hundred turns in the maze of a prison. Of course, the warden scurried off the moment he showed them the solitary confinement door, leaving the two of them alone in the rundown hallway. The silence that followed was remarkable.

Felix stilled his body, ignoring the chill that ran through it. He would be lying if he said he assumed this place wasn’t abandoned. It reminded him of an old children’s book, ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’. In that story, Dantes was imprisoned for more than ten years. Would anyone even survive that? Would anyone even be sane after that? At least Dantes had the Mad Priest to keep him company in the latter years.

But this place? There was nothing.

His ears pricked at the strange scraping noise on the opposite end of the metal door. It was rhythmic, yet uneven. And another sound came along with the scraping. A voice.

“All you that in the hole do lie,” the voice sang. “Prepare you for tomorrow you shall die.”

The siblings backed away from the door, although they found their eyes strangely locked onto the cell. Felix barely registered his telekinetic senses warning him about the mass of flesh creeping up against the door.

“Examine all yourselves, in time repent—”

He had heard that nursery rhyme before, but never in such a malicious, off-key tune. The movement stopped.

“— That you may not to eternal flames be sent.”

A loud thud sent reverberations along the hallway as both Felix and Marcia jumped in shock. It took them a moment to register the yellowish teeth thrust against the small aperture in the door.

“Does it come to kill us?” a raspy, lilting voice spoke. “Shall we kill it first?”

Felix grabbed his chest as it throbbed again— No. This wasn’t mere physical discomfort. It was his soul that was now resonating harder than ever.

One of The Solstices is just behind that door.

“Gaius,” Felix said. “No, we have not come to kill you.”

“Oh, it knows us! But… it does not know us. It comes from elsewhere, somewhere tumultuous. Yes, yes… its soul is so very different… And so succulent.”

Felix could practically hear the manic smile from his side of the door. “That’s… not important. Rumour has it that you’re in possession of one of Janus’ books, I take it?”

“The book, the book… No one knew where to look!” Gaius giggled. “They couldn’t see what it made me to be.”

“Well, may I borrow it?” Felix asked, trying his best to ignore how creepy this deranged man sounded. “Only for a bit, then you can have your precious tome back.”

“But it lies. Oh, how it always lies. No matter, we see right through your guise. Best say your goodbyes before someone else dies.”

Marcia glanced at Felix nervously, shaking her head. Felix pursed his lips, finally listening to what his psychic senses had to tell him. There was a person behind the door, alright. A person whose mind was so turbulent, he couldn’t even begin to read it. But that wasn’t even the most disturbing thing about him.

The worst part? He had more than one soul. Or rather, he had more than a thousand souls crammed into his body.

“Is there someone else here?” Gaius shouted excitedly without warning. “Come here. Come closer. Be a dear!”

Marcia took a few steps back as a black, scaly hand thrust itself through the door hole, swiping around blindly. The rust from the metallic door was scraping its skin off, but the arm was rapidly regenerating its flesh.

Felix stared at the hand. It looked slightly familiar, although he could not recall where he had seen something like that before.

“Oh, fuck me. This guy is fucking insane.” Marcia kept a wide berth from the writhing limb, before leaning towards her brother. “You said you can sense the two books. Well, does he have it?”

Felix nodded with a sickened look on his face.

“He stitched one of them into his own body, where his heart is. Judging from the way the organ is wrapping around the book now, I think he ripped out his own heart and put the book in its place. His new heart regrew itself around the book.”

“What the fuck…” Marcia whispered. “How do we get it out?”

“I can rip his heart out, but we still have to get these doors open somehow,” Felix said. “You should probably get out of here when I break it. There’s no telling what Gaius will be like once he’s loose.”

His sister huffed, putting her hands on her hips. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by her earpiece vibrating. Marcia pressed on her earpiece to answer the call.

Felix looked at the cell again. Gaius had withdrawn his hand and was being eerily quiet now. Images flashed in his mind as he attempted to read his mind again. There were a multitude of conflicting memories, but he was sure of at least one thing now.

The souls in his body came from different worlds. After viewing the different possibilities in the multiverse, Gaius became obsessed with activating the spellcraft. However, he had only managed to turn it into a one-way gate. Departed souls of the other worlds promptly came through and resided in his body, driving the final wedge into his madness.

“Felix?” Marcia’s voice cut into the psychic’s mind. “I have bad news. Kleopatra beat up my men and managed to escape.”

“Oh gods, we don’t have much time then.” Felix turned his attention to Gaius’ body and focused his mind—

An alarm blared as a commotion erupted from outside the hallway. The siblings whipped their heads back in surprise, but a soft whoosh brought their attention back to the cell in front of them.

“Felix…?”

“That wasn’t me.” Felix stared in horror at the metal slowly swinging open.

Spindly fingers gripped the edge of the door.