We fell through the dark endlessly. Wind whipped through our hair and burned our eyes. "What are we going to do?" I yelled.

"I don't know!" Lilith yelled. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Because you're in front of where my face is pointing?" I yelled, shrugging.

"This isn't helping!" Raphael yelled.

"Someone do something! Dave! Figure it out! You always have an answer!" Lucifer said.

He was right. I always seemed to have a solution to every problem lately. I just had to think. At least we had endless time. We weren't going anywhere and there didn't seem to be a bottom to whatever this was. We needed an escape. And then I had an idea.

"Raph! Can we use that corridor of Gostelf here to escape?" I said hopefully.

Raphael shook his head. "There has to be a wall that can be turned into a door."

"Damn it! That was my one idea," I said. If only we had a wall. Wait, how did I know there wasn't a wall? We hadn't moved in any direction except down. How did I know that this just went on forever in all directions? The answer was I didn't. I looked at everyone. "I have a new idea. We're going to hold hands and just float sideways as far as we can go to see if there is a side to this endless falling tunnel."

"That's not a bad idea!" Raph said.

"There you go, Dave! I knew you wouldn't let us down!" Lucifer said.

"Let's just hope it works," Lilith said.

"Ever the optimist," Lucifer said.

"What's wrong with being practical?" Lilith said.

"Guys! Focus! We need to hold hands," Raph said.

We fumbled around a bit until we formed a circle. "Now everyone, lean toward me!" I said.

We all leaned and started to drift in a direction. Nothing happened for a good while. We just kept drifting. Suddenly, I fell and hit concrete with my face. "Ow!" I said. "Lucifer! You didn't turn my invincibility back on?"

"I forgot to—Whoa!" Lucifer said as he fell and smashed his face into the concrete.

"Watch out for the drop!" I yelled, as Raph and Lilith fell.

"Ah!" Lilith said, putting her hands down and slamming them into the ground.

"Oh, geez!" Raph said as he tumbled and rolled on the ground. Lucky bastard.

I didn't know how far we fell, but the impact wasn't terminal velocity like it should have been. It was a hard fall, but it felt like the impact from a 10-foot fall. Not thousands of feet like it should have been. Everything was dark, so I couldn't see much around me except my companions.

Lucifer snapped his fingers, and a light floated above us, illuminating the darkness.

"You could do that the whole time?" I said.

"Yeah, I just didn't think we needed a light. We could see each other just fine," he said.

"Can you make it brighter?" I said. "I want to figure out what was going on with the endless falling and then suddenly concrete."

"Sure," he said. He sent the light up higher and made it brighter.

It illuminated a massive room. I couldn't see the edges. It just faded into darkness. However, right next to us was a curving metal wall that hummed slightly when I put my ear against it. I climbed up onto it and saw a wide circular grating and wind blasted me in the face. I almost fell back onto the concrete it was so strong. It was a fan. An enormous fan, hundreds of feet wide. That's why it felt like we were falling forever. We were being blown up into the air by the fan to simulate falling. They had things like this at skydiving schools to teach people how to maneuver their bodies while falling out of the sky.

It was a trick. A trick to keep us in one place. To keep us distracted. And it worked. It would have worked much longer if it hadn't been for my quick thinking. The next question was, how did they get us here? I looked through the grating and the spinning fan blades and saw strange markings and geometric patterns etched into the concrete below and painted with blood.

"Hey, Lucifer," I said. "What is that?" I pointed at the patterns and markings.

He had to climb onto the fan to see. His eyes widened. "It's a devil's trap. That's why we ended up here rather than your apartment. It redirected my teleportation. That's what devil's traps do. I can't teleport us anywhere except here now until this trap is destroyed. And with a massive multi-ton fan sitting on top of it, that won't be happening anytime soon."

"That's ok. We can still use the Gostelf corridor," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"You don't understand. I'm naked without my teleportation. It's like wanting to have sex, but not being able to. I have ED now," he said, pouting.

"What does ED stand for in this context?" I said, confused.

"Extra-liminal Dysfunction," he said, almost in tears.

"Get over it, you big baby! We'll find some way to fix it, but first, we have to make sure we're safe. If someone trapped us here, it's likely they don't have good intentions," I said.

Strange guttural sounds pierced the quiet. Vowels and consonants that shouldn't and don't exist in any human language. "KTHULHU R'LYEH WGAH'NAGL-" A mass of tentacles emerged from the shadows towering above us. "BUSINALL VEEGOTH SHYA-achoo!" The tentacle monster erupted into a fit of sneezes and coughs that echoed through the massive, as of yet unknown sized room.

There was the sound of someone wiping their noise and then, in a normal if hoarse human sounding voice, it said, "Does anyone have a tissue? I've been dealing with this cold all week! It's been a nightmare!"

"No offense, but you're a nightmare," I said.

"Offense taken, my friend. Can't you look past appearances and see the heart of gold I have inside?" He said pleadingly.

"Uh, no? We've just met," I said.

"I have a tissue!" Raphael said. "Here!" He held out an unopened bag of tissues into the air. A long black tentacle snatched the bag and brought it back to the body of the monster.

"Thank you," it said. I heard it blow its nose. "That's much better."

"Are you saying you're not here to harm us?" I asked.

"No, I am," he said.

"So then I judged you appropriately. What are you giving me flak for?" I said, throwing my hands up.

"Just because I'm a violent monster compelled to bring doom and despair to all that I meet, doesn't mean I want to be seen that way," it said.

"Tough shit!" I said.

My words were punctuated by the sound of a wall exploding in the darkness.

"Bring the light a little closer," a voice said.

Lucifer moved the light, so it shined on a hole in the wall, where a woman stood proudly on top of a piece of rubble, holding a flaming sword, like she was posing for a movie poster. I recognized this woman. Her name was Sarah. She was the ex of mine who semi-recently moved out of my apartment. Well, it was 'our apartment' at the time. Now it's 'my apartment'.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Sarah! What are you doing here?" I said, shocked.

"I'm here to pay you back for what you did for me. Or what you will do for me in the future. I'm from the future is what I'm saying and I'm here to rescue you from this monster!" She said.

Sarah leaped into action. She jumped over the monster, doing a flip in the air, and stabbed it when she landed on the other side. The monster caught fire from the sword and shrieked. Its tentacles wildly lashed out at her, but she dodged them all with a series of flips, side steps, cartwheels, and bending impossibly backwards without falling down. After her nimble display of acrobatics, she began slicing off the tentacles that came at her one by one.

"What are you doing?" The monster said. "Stop!"

After she had sliced off the last tentacle, she ran up to the blob-like monster and stabbed it all the way through. It fully caught on fire from this and shrieked as it burnt to death. Sarah climbed on top of the still somewhat burning creature and did another hero pose before going, "Ow! Hot! Hot! Hot!" as she jumped off the smouldering corpse.

"Was that necessary?" I said.

"Of course! He was going to kill you!" she said.

"I'm not so sure. He said he was here to harm us, but he made no moves to do so. Also, how do you know it was a he?" I said.

"Slip of the tongue," she said.

"Wait. None of this makes sense. If you're from the future, because of something I will do for you, that means we would have gotten out of this situation without your help. So you showing up was completely unnecessary," I said.

"But I just saved you. You saw that!" She said, pointing at the corpse.

"Also, our break up ended rather badly. How am I supposed to believe you're here to help me?" I said, putting my hands on my hips.

"Damn it, Dave! You always were too smart for your own good," she said. She lunged at me and stabbed me with her sword. It hurt. It felt like my insides were burning because they were.

"Dave!" Lucifer said.

"Ouch," I said. She kicked me off her sword as Lucifer, Lilith, and Raphael charged at her. From the ground, I watched them face off against her.

"That's Azrael's sword! How did she get it?" Raphael said, summoning a sword made of light.

"I don't know?" Lucifer said. "Why don't you ask her?" He focused and covered his hands in darkness that turned into clawed gauntlets. He used them to deflect and block her sword.

Lilith summoned a whip made of flames that she fought with. "Stop arguing and kill her!"

Raphael crossed swords with Sarah. They were evenly matched. I had no idea when Sarah got so good with a sword, but she was kicking ass. I shook my head. I shouldn't be rooting for the person who stabbed me.

They got stuck in a sword lock, pushing swords against each other. Raphael had the upper hand in strength at first, pushing her sword close to her own throat, but then Raph's sword started to crack. Spider web cracks etched themselves through his sword, made of light. He tried to cut her throat before his sword broke, but he was too late. His sword shattered and Azrael's sword cut through Raphael like a hot knife through butter. It took a few seconds, but Raph's head slid off his body and plopped to the ground, a look of shock frozen on his face. His body followed soon after.

"Ahhh!!!" Lucifer ran in and engaged Sarah close range while Lilith whipped at her at long range. "How dare you kill my brother! Only I'm allowed to do that!"

Lucifer swiped left and right, but Sarah blocked every blow. He went high, low, middle, left, and right, but she was already there every time. It didn't make any sense. Lucifer was an angel, or former angel, why couldn't he just out speed her?

Then, all the blocking jostled her enough that something fell out of her shirt. It was a chain. It had multiple medallions hanging from it. One was an hourglass, another was a heart with a jagged line through the middle, the third was the head of a goat, and the last was the symbol of a sword. That must have been what was making her so strong. Each medallion must give her different powers. The hourglass for time travel, the goat's head for either countering demons or gaining the power of a demon, the sword for her sword skills, and the broken heart for I don't know what. I get that it symbolized her anger towards me, but I couldn't think of what ability it would give her.

"Why am I fighting you?" Lucifer said, while jumping back. "I can just charm you!" He grinned and stared at her.

Sarah suddenly went still and stopped fighting. Lucifer grinned wider and said, "Come here." Sarah started walking towards him and stood in front of him. He put his claws up to her throat and said, "That's better. It was nice meeting you. I'm sorry we have to part ways so soon."

"Me too," Sarah said and stabbed Lucifer in the stomach.

He fell to the ground and looked up at her. "How did you do that?"

Sarah tapped the goat's head medallion. "Anti-demon charm. Your abilities don't work on me."

"Damn you," Lucifer said, closing his eyes and breathing out for a long time.

"No. Damn you," Sarah said with a chuckle. "You've already been damned, so I guess that's unnecessary."

"Damn you!" Lilith said as she swung her whip at Sarah.

Sarah blocked it with her sword, and it wrapped around the blade. Lilith tried to pull it out of her hands, but Sarah held on tight. She focused and the flame whip began to get drawn into the sword. The sword was absorbing the whip, and pulled Lilith along with it. Lilith tried to pull the whip out, but it was useless. When she got close, the sword began drawing Lilith into it.

"Noooo!!!" Lilith roared as she was sucked into the sword in a puff of black smoke.

"Fuck," I said. I needed to get up. I needed to avenge my new friends. Acquaintances? I didn't know what they were to me, but I knew somewhere deep down I could never forgive myself if I didn't try to make their sacrifices mean something.

I could feel the weight on my karmic scales. I had a boon coming when I rebalanced things. I just hoped it would be enough to defeat her. I pressed the mental button and waited. At first, nothing happened, until Lucifer opened his eyes and said, "Ah!! Adrenaline!!" He grabbed Sarah's foot and yanked hard. She fell to the ground and dropped the sword.

It bounced over to where I was lying on the ground. "I'm turning it back on, Dave." He snapped his fingers, and I felt better all of a sudden. The invincibility had come back. I looked at my stab wound. It wasn't bleeding. The burning sword had cauterized the wound, so I wouldn't bleed out, but I'd probably still die from complications if I didn't get medical attention soon. But at least I was invincible to further damage.

I could probably kill myself with the sword and win the bet now. Azrael's sword could probably get through the invincibility, but what would be the point of that? Sure, I'd win the bet, but the world would be doomed. What was the point of winning if I couldn't enjoy it? No. I had to save the world and avenge my acquaintances. That was the only option.

I pressed the sword against the ground to help me stand up, but it sank into the concrete some. Oh shit. I didn't realize this thing was that powerful. I stood up on my own and pulled the sword out of the ground. I wielded it with both hands and pointed it at Sarah.

"You killed my acquaintances. So now I'm going to kill you. I think," I said.

"Is that the best you got?" she said.

"I didn't think our relationship was that bad. Why are you doing this?" I said.

"You ruined my life!" She said.

"How?" I said.

Sarah hated her job and told me so every day when we lived together. One day, she got fired. Then she complained all day every day about not having a job.

I said, "Go get a job then."

"It's not that easy!" She said.

"Sure it is. You go down to the grocery store and ask for a job. If they say no, then go to another grocery store or a fast food place or a gas station," I said, taking a diet soda out of the fridge.

"No. It has to be in supply chain management. That's what I went to school for," she said, holding her head in her hands.

I sat down on the couch next to her and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Well, are you getting any replies back for those kinds of jobs?" I said.

"No! They all say I'm either too qualified or not qualified enough!" She said, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"I get that it sucks you can't get a job in your field, but any job is better than no job. I can't afford to support both of us on my salary. As long as you help with your half of rent, I'll cover the rest," I said.

I really couldn't cover her half of the rent. I could cover everything else like I said, but not the entire rent and everything else.

She moved out a few days later. Said she was going to live with her mom. Said she couldn't deal with me anymore. I didn't understand it. I thought our relationship was fine.

I snapped back to the present. "You tried to control me!"

"By asking you to get a job? By saying I couldn't cover all our expenses? In what world is that controlling?" I said.

"In my world it is!" She yelled.

"Well, I'm sorry. I never wanted to make you feel that way. I just did what I thought would help us both survive," I said, swinging the burning sword at her.

"Oh, really? You're not the evil man that I built you up to be in my head?" Her expression softened and showed vulnerability.

"I don't think I am. I just wanted what was best for both of us. I loved you Sarah. I was crushed when you left. I didn't know what I had done wrong, but I would have done anything to get you back," I said.

"Really? I thought you hated me for being a drain on your resources. That you wanted me to get a job or leave," she said.

"Hell no. I would have stuck it out with you even if you never got a job. It just would have been tight, money wise, and that scared me. I was worried we'd starve or go homeless. That's all," I said.

Sarah put her against my face and said, "Oh, Dave. I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking."

Then her heart medallion glowed purple and purple electricity crackled along her body and shocked her. It even shocked me some, before she pulled her hand away from my face. When it shocked me, I felt an overwhelming hatred towards her. I started to feel every tiny thing I disliked about our relationship bubble up and become enormous in my mind. It became all I could think about, and then it was gone.

Is that what the medallion was doing to her? Was she being controlled by something or someone to act this way? It was the only conclusion I could come to. That was horrible.

Sarah looked at me again with hatred in her eyes. "It's too late for apologies. What's done is done," she said. She tried to punch me but it did no damage to me and hurt her hand. "What is your face made of? Rocks?" She shook her hand out in pain.

"Maybe?" I said. I swung the sword several more times, trying to cut the chain and free her of the pain the heart medallion was causing her, but I accidentally got her in the arm slightly, and that was it.

She held the hourglass medallion and summoned a portal, presumably to the future, but I didn't know for sure. "You may have won this time, but I'll be back!" She jumped backwards into the portal.

"No! Sarah! Don't leave!" I said.

The portal closed behind her. I started to feel pain in my abdomen that spread throughout my body. I collapsed to the ground in pain and curled into the fetal position. I stayed like that for a while.