The world is not beautiful, but it doesn't have to be that way. There is cruelty and betrayal behind every shimmering mask that others portray. The only way to make the world a beautiful place, is to rip those masks off the faces of those who dare use them for evil. In his heart, he knew even he had done the same. A false persona, a false identity, a false mind, and a false love. The only thing within him now was the ever-marching reality of time. There was no going back to the past, no changing the outcomes of any event. The only thing he could do was set his sights upon the future.

  To change the world, and to change himself, he would have to become the very thing he hated most. A demon. Only with the power of a demon would he be able to return to her, by creating a world without suffering. Without pain and heartbreak. Only within a world devoid of evil would love thrive, and he would stop at nothing to get it. Victor Agnello was now truly dead, the only one remaining was Ephram. He knew now that he was no longer human, but no longer demon either. He was something else entirely. Something new.

  The graveyard mist had cleared, revealing the thousands of tombstones staring back at him like a shocked auditorium chock full of captivated spectators. They all looked towards the three demons, waiting patiently for something amazing.

  "E, are you... okay? What's happened to you?" Mays voice called out to him as he rose to his feet, dusting off his clothes as he slowly got his bearings.

  "Call me Ephram... please." He said, but his voice sounded different. It was stronger somehow, more resilient. Everything about his demeanor had changed from the confused and scared demon with millions of questions, to the one holding the answers.

  "Before you ask, let me explain something to you both. I am no longer a demon, but once was a human. I am now... neither. Ephram is not the true name of a demon but was once part of my human identity. It's safe to call me by that name, don't worry." He said, standing up taller than before, his shoulders back and chin up to the sky. Everything about his timidness had seemingly corrected itself the second he stood from the grave.

  May and Silo looked at him with awe and confusion, not entirely sure what to ask. He must've seen something after he'd fallen unconscious, but neither of them were sure why it had affected him in this manner.

  "What do you mean you used to be human? That's..." Silo began, but looked down at the grave beneath their feet, "...impossible."

  "Let me explain, this is the grave of my late wife and I. She had taken her life after being paralyzed in an accident, and not long after I decided to die by her side. I don't know how I became a demon, but nevertheless, I'm here. Somehow I traveled to Hell before I died completely, without the use of a sigil. I awoke in the garden shortly after and became a full fledged demon, but my memories were shattered in the process."

  "But... without a sigil!? Oh my... I think I get it now! You must've created a new body for yourself in the form of a demon, using the pain of losing your wife to create it! You don't have a human master because you are your own master! Holy shit!" May yelled, throwing her arms up in shock.

  She was completely amazed by this unique situation, she had previously thought it impossible for a human to become a demon. It was entirely possible for them to become angels in the afterlife, but to become a demon was absolutely unheard of.

  "I think you're onto something May, you're quite a clever demon. You too, Silo, the both of you have been an overwhelming help to me... so, I'm sorry." Ephram said hesitantly, looking at the two of them with a mixture of gratitude and sorrow in his heart.

  "What? Why are you sorry?" Both Silo and May asked, unsure what he could be talking about.

  "I don't want to drag you two down the path before me, you two are very precious to me... I hope you remember that." He said, suddenly dropping to one knee in front of the two of them.

  "E... I mean, Ephram, what are you talking about? What path before you?" May asked, taking a few steps back as she watched Ephram make the impossible happen.

  Silo jumped into Mays hands as they watched the events unfold, their gaze never leaving Ephram as he began to cause the air around him to shake with a ferocity. They watched as the space around him began to melt away like hot candle wax, the very air around him turning into a shimmering pool of glass. It was too late when they finally realized what was happening, unable to stop him any longer.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Just like they had traveled to Earth using Aberlain's sigil, Ephram had begun to cause the exact same thing to happen around him. May and Silo both wore shocked expressions as they understood what he was doing. His magic manipulation was to control the very space between reality, to travel between worlds at will without the use of a sigil or a human master. As they watched him kneel upon the soft ground of the graveyard, they tried to call out to him. Their words couldn't penetrate the thick layer of air surrounding him anymore, but his voice still rang out from within.

  "Both of you... I'm going to save this world. I'll make the world a kinder place... for all of us. For Silvia. For everyone. To do that... I have to do it alone. I'm sorry." Ephram said, looking up at the two of them as everything around him finally faded to black.

  He slowly got to his feet, looking around at the darkness surrounding him. If he was to change this world, he'd have to do it soon. Evil ran rampant through the hearts of everyone, corrupting even the strongest of wills. He's seen it with his own eyes, what kind people would do under the right circumstances. Nobody was immune to the temptation of evil, not even himself. To defeat evil, he knew he would have to stain his own hands with evil. Even if it meant leaving behind his own soul, he would sacrifice himself for what he believed in. All for her. For Silvia. Without her smiling face within the world, there was no point.

  If he could bring Silvia back, if there was any chance at all, he knew the world would need to be changed. A smile alone wasn't enough to change anything but the hearts of a few. He needed to change the hearts of everyone, stomping out the thought of evil for all eternity. There was no way he could allow Silvia to live in a world of cruelty any longer, he refused to believe that was reality. He'd already bent reality to his will once before to become a demon, and knew in his heart that he could do it again. By any means necessary.

  As Ephram caught sight of the small white light on the black horizon, he covered his face in his hands. Remembering the words of Aberlain, he knew the white light would soon engulf him.

  "Close your... eyes." Ephram said aloud, and it suddenly dawned on him. When he first went through the sigil with the Rootlord, he had been told to shut his eyes, even though he possessed no such utilities as a demon.

  Perhaps it was just a fluke, but something about that encounter with Aberlain still didn't sit right with him. First, the Rootlord accused him of not being who he claimed to be. Second, he told him to close his eyes even though he didn't have any. Third, May seemed to be afraid of her own father for some reason. Ephram always had a feeling the Rootlord was hiding something, but now that his memories were clear to him, he knew in his heart that Aberlain most definitely had some kind of ulterior motives for helping him.

  The shining bright light engulfed him entirely now, only fading away slowly once Ephram brought his hand back down to his side. He found himself exactly where he wanted to be now, in the midst of Palace Estella. He seemed to be standing in the forest he had seen once before, the colorful trees and bushes surrounding him like guards to a castle. Looking up to get his bearings, he saw the glass hallway leading to Aberlain's study sitting far away in the distance above the trees. He must've been quite deep into the forest, but still noticed he was standing upon a small dirt path winding between the trees and flowers alike. The forest floor looked more like a thick colorful carpet of miscellaneous flowers, each one more vibrant and beautiful than the last.

  Ephram found it disgusting how much beauty was trapped within these solid walls of the Palace, as if Aberlain was hoarding everything beautiful for himself. There wasn't a single flower or blade of grass outside the palace walls he had seen, beside the garden of hellfire roses. Everything about this forest screamed at him to run, or else he too would one day be trapped here. The only thing stopping him from fleeing, however, was the iron will of change he kept within his heart. To change the world one must traverse fear without stopping, forever taking step after step forward towards the ultimate goal. To change the hearts of many, Ephram knew he must first change his own heart. Fear had no place within him, it was a useless and unnecessary feeling that blocked his overflowing rage for the world. A world of evil and despicable cruelty, one that must not be feared, but changed by force.

  "This place... it feels... wrong." He said, feeling the air around him. Something about it seemed off to him, as if it wasn't air at all.

  As he continued walking through the forest, he noticed a large clearing up ahead, it seemed to be the source of the odd feeling he'd been getting. Unsure of what could cause him to feel so uneasy, Ephram pushed past the bushes and flowers of the forest to get to the clearing. Upon seeing it, however, he felt a sudden boiling animosity fill his entire body. His soul lit like a firework, screaming through the sky until its inevitable explosion. The searing hot rage he felt was enough to burn the entire forest down to nothingness, leveling all of Palace Estella to his feet.

  Stepping out of the forest and entering the clearing, he began to get tunnel vision as he stared forward at his target. The first one to show him just how cruel this place could be, the one who nearly destroyed the beauty in his heart. Ephram felt his heart speed up, but unlike before, it hadn't sped up from fear or uncertainty. The only feeling he could safely say he had at the moment, was unwavering fury.