image [https://imgur.com/3UMCd7U.jpg]

While following Marek into that building, it certainly seemed like he wasn’t just ignoring us. Something was preventing him from seeing us at all.

“It has to be him,” I said, confirming that with my party menu. “Trust me, I can tell.”

“Then why does he look like a twig?” Indena asked. “Where’d all that muscle go?”

He was a lot scrawnier than before, but his face was identical.

“Kinda reminds me of how you're a kid now, and I'm a grown up.”

Indena wasn't very amused by my comparison, but she knew I was right. The fact that Marek was much thinner now must have had something to do with the dream reality.

The inside of the building was pretty bland, save for a few decorative paintings and a big chandelier. Marek set his focus on a simple door off to the left of the entrance and walked right in. When the door was closing behind him, he took notice of it swinging back open a second time as Indena and I came in.

“What was that…?” He came over and looked at my spear. “What is this?”

“Huh?” I held out the spear, which prompted him to fearfully jump back.

“Is there a ghost in here?!” he cried out, running to a corner and cowering.

“He can see your spear,” Indena said. “He's also acting like a total wuss.”

“You might be afraid of ghosts too if you were alone in an old building like this,” I said. Marek was just a human. And if this was his past self, he definitely would have been a lot weaker.

I dematerialized my spear for now. Whatever caused it to appear to him was worth experimenting, but not until I could do it in a way it wouldn't frighten him.

“Is the ghost gone?” He turned all around and couldn't see my weapon, so he brushed the sweat from his forehead and found a seat at one of the various tables. “If you're still in here, just let me eat before you scare me off.”

“That’s a fair request,” Indena chuckled.

Marek flipped open his briefcase and pulled out a lunchbox full of very fancy looking versions of breakfast foods. I didn’t realize you could make scrambled eggs and toast look like it belonged to a five star restaurant.

Despite the mouthwatering meal, the most appetizing part to Marek was a bag of cookies. Those treats had little glowing heart shaped chips in them, accompanied by a cute message attached to the bag wishing him luck on a debate he had today.

“Cynthia…” Marek let out a breath of joy.

“Oh la la.” I joked, figuring that might have been his girlfriend or something. Did he have a girlfriend?

Suddenly, my body shook as an odd presence approached the room. It felt dark, but subdued, as if it was masking its power.

Another man entered through the door… Dark energy was his natural musk. A crazed look was in his eyes and his breath was heavy, but ir seemed more out of desperation than being psychotic.

“Father.” Marek stood up. “It is early to be meeting today, no?”

“Marek, I have good news…” his face started beaming from ear to ear. “You've won the debate! No... You've won my seat!”

“I haven't even gotten on stage yet with Mr. Lucas. What is this about?”

“I’ve made a new strategy for you. One that’s so easy that you could beat him in your sleep.” The dark aura around Marek’s father became stronger. I could have sworn I saw a small flash of red in his eyes.

Marek’s Face remained skeptical, as if he could sense something wrong too.

“But what about the platform I’ve made already?” Marek sighed.

“No, forget whatever you’ve done.” His father shook his head. “It’s too weak and too much work to maintain.”

“Can I help it that Mr. Lucas has a much better campaign than me?”

His father slammed his fist down on the table. “Mr. Lucas is our enemy. He’ll say anything to win votes!” his father breathed deeply to lose his anger. “Read this…” he handed Marek an envelope with a document inside. I looked over Marek’s shoulder to read along with him.

The page had details of a massive scandal involving Marek’s opponent, Mr. Jackson Lucas. According to this, there was evidence that he’d been getting campaign support from shady foreign investors in exchange for information that could compromise the country.

“Father, I’ve known Lucas my whole life,” Marek claimed. “He has not once ever thought of betraying this country. Where did you get this info?”

“I never said it was all true,” his father admitted.

Marek crushed the page in his grip. “Then you expect me to lie? How ludicrous!”

“My son, you do not understand. We do have evidence, more than enough to lead the courts on a wild goose chase.” His father was smiling, but with a worried look in his eyes and a shaky voice. “It may be fabricated, but it’ll be enough to make the people question his integrity.”

“And ruin his career!” Marek argued, to which I nodded along in support. “I can’t do this. He’s a friend, even if we're foes in this debate.”

Good on you, Marek! Don’t give into lies!

As happy as I was to see Marek pushing back against lying, Indena didn’t look nearly as convinced of his conviction. “Keep watching,” she said.

“Why?” I raised a brow. “He’s clearly against the idea.”

“Nah, somethin’s about to crack.”

What a pessimistic view on life she had. Sadly, it did sow some doubts in me as well. Daddy always said politicians were liars and cheaters, and I worried Marek wouldn’t have the strength to deny that temptation.

“These are desperate times, Marek. If the Pole’s party gains a majority in the Royal Council, do you realize what that will mean?”

Marek let out a groan and lightly shrugged.

His father continued. “It will be the first time ever that the Queen’s party doesn’t hold the government seat. Do you want to be responsible for letting them shove us out of power?”

“I…” Marek struggled to come to terms with that.

“The Pole’s want to turn this country into a war machine. If we don’t fight them, they’ll be able to do that!” his voice turned even more loud and desperate.

“I know!” Marek teared up, sitting down and holding his head low.

“War…?” I uttered under my breath.

“Look…” his father sat down next to him, putting a hand over his shoulder. “It will be easy for you. You just need to listen to me, do as I tell you, and it would bring you closer to our goal. I’ll do all the work, you just need to be the face. If we fall, I’ll take the blame.”

His father was too desperate, too invested. Even if his goal had a good destination, he’d taken too many side roads in the hopes they’d cut down the journey, only to find himself lost. This was why politicians were something beyond my understanding, because they take good men and turn them sour.

I couldn’t stand this anymore. Marek was having his will broken away the longer his father requested he take up an age-old fight for power.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The only visible thing on me to Marek was my spear. Given that everything else Indena and I had with us was invisible, as far as he could tell, there had to be something about it that made it different. The only thing I could wager at was stardust.

Stardust had some unique properties, so if that was something visible here, there might have been a way to communicate to Marek and give him a morale boost. He needed a little angel on his shoulder to counter that devil.

There was a support power I had that could easily surround me with solar energy. It was Stardust Aura. That would give me the light affinity and maybe allow me to be visible too.

“Stardust Aura!” I announced, bringing to life a sparkly solar brilliance around my body.

Brightness flooded the room. A visible indication of my successful test was that Marek had to turn away from the light. But as it faded, leaving behind a dimmer, yet still brilliant show, his eyes turned toward my direction.

“An angel?” he uttered in shock.

“You could say that,” I spoke. “Listen, Marek…”

His full attention was on me. Whether he was actively going to listen or not was hard to tell, but he was certainly looking my way.

“Don’t listen to this jerk!” I warned him. “If you’re going to win your father's seat, you have to do it fair and square!” There were words that sprung up in my throat, ones I couldn’t control speaking out. “Don’t bear false witness against someone!”

“Foolish child.” A deep and sinister voice uttered out from where Marek’s father once stood. The light cast over the room revealed the truth of who had been tempting Marek to ruin a man’s career.

“We meet again, demon lord!” I squinted meanly at him.

The demon lord had no intention of hiding himself any longer, so he cast aside what little remained of Marek’s father, donning evil looking dark robes and a scowl.

“So we do, child.” He hardly gave me a glance. “But this human is in need of me. And I will aid him away from his strife.”

“No!” Marek shouted. “I won’t make that mistake! I’ll fight fairly.”

“But that didn’t happen all those years ago…” the demon lord confidently snapped his fingers, causing a sudden fog to cast over everything, “did it?”

The fog cleared as quick as it came, and we were all standing in the audience of an auditorium. At the very center stage was a different Marek shaking the hand of his opponent.

“May the best man win,” the presumed Mr. Lucas spoke just barely loud enough for the crowd to hear. His smile was genuine, like a true friend’s might be.

But as Marek accepted his hand shake, he couldn’t look him in the eyes.

“You knew your father’s orders,” the demon lord said. “The guilt ate away at your soul, but this was the only way to get the position he wanted for you.”

Time fast forwarded, going through the speech of Marek's opponent very quickly, slowing back down at key parts. Things like “Compromise” and “Unity” were uttered a lot, giving a clear idea of what Mr. Lucas was all about. With just that speech alone, it was clear that Mr. Lucas was interested in trying to work with people he didn’t agree with. If he was telling the truth, that is.

Regardless, the crowd seemed to love him. I got the feeling that he was somewhat of a breath of fresh air.

“Right now, there’s a struggle for power in the capital city,” Marek spoke. “Two political parties, both vying for control of the government. We’re so busy making up empty promises, we forget to actually keep any of them.” he turned to me. “Lucas was one of the few voices who wanted to hold our parties accountable for their shortcomings. The best part was that he had a plan to do it.”

“But you didn’t support him because you were loyal to your own people,” Indena concluded. “Like a good little bootlicker.”

“When it comes to politics, you only get so many allies. Pissing them off is the last thing you want, because then you’ll have nothing but enemies all around you.”

I could see what he was saying. There’d be nobody to fall back on if he got in trouble. Even if he didn’t believe in something, he had to force it out anyway. Lying was a symptom of that.

Finally the fast-forwarded speech ended, and the crowd was all cheers and excitement. Things were stacked against Marek, seeing as his opponent was a hard act to follow.

“Oh no…” the real Marek said, pressing his hand against his forehead in shame.

After being introduced to the audience, a modest amount of applause rang out.

Both the Marek in the room had identically distraught faces, and even the crowd was murmuring in anticipation as to why. After a deep breath, the one on stage shot first.

“I’m sure the speech of my rival today was rousing to you all. Perhaps I would have thought so too. But I bear bad news…”

“Make it stop…” the real Marek commanded. “Please…”

The demon lord’s brow raised as he eyed Marek. Then he snapped his fingers again to pause the speech.

“Does the guilt hurt, knowing what comes next?”

“It does…” Marek began crying. “I can’t see what I did again.”

“I can feel your heart, my son, how broken it is.” The demon lord's voice turned soft. “How deep your regret goes, and how you yearn for a night of rest away from it.”

The demon lord hovered forward, pushing me aside with a meager wind.

“Hey!” Those were the last words I spoke before a shadow covered up my mouth. It was strong enough to even bypass my stardust aura.

“My son,” he floated until he was hovering just ahead of Marek. “If it’s rest you seek, come to me. I will make your dream come true and reverse the words said on that fateful day.”

“But, what about my father’s seat?” Marek gestured to the stage. “If I didn’t do this, our enemy will take that from us.”

“If that is what you wish, it will be yours. But is that really what you desire?”

“What?”

I could see it in Marek’s eyes, he was falling for it hook line and sinker. The demon lord was pressing all the right buttons to trap him in his evil web.

With all my might, I was trying to tear away the thick tar from my mouth that the demon had forced onto me. I grew stardust over my nails and clawed at it until the tar began to flake off.

Turning over to Indena, I was hoping she’d help, but unfortunately it seemed like she was put to sleep. Her virtual nametag had three Z icons to indicate the affinity of slumber.

“You’re dream... What is it that you want?” the demon lord asked.

“I need to take my father’s seat.” Marek replied, less than convinced of his goal.

“A need is not a want.”

Marek put his hands over the sides of his head, breathing as he jostled about uncomfortably. He was fighting a losing battle of desire.

“I… I want…”

“Mmm!” My clawing became more desperate as I continued to cut away at the tar over my mouth.

The demon lord patiently waited for Marek to finally state his wishes.

“I want to support the one I love!” he cried out. “I want my lover to be my wife, but we can’t. They’d never allow us to get married.”

So he was in love with someone, but he couldn’t be with her for some reason.

“Ahh…” the demon lord uttered. “The maid? I see…”

Suddenly, we were in a hallway of some simple looking house. At the end was a door leading to the outside street. There was an elegant looking woman there, long yellow hair with bangs going just below her brows. She had a cute smile and waved for him to follow her outside.

“Cynthia…” Marek reached out to her. “I won’t leave… Not again…”

Her smile fell. “You won’t?” She held up a picnic basket. “But I made us lunch. We’re going to the park. Don’t you remember?”

“The park…?” he wiped the tears from his eyes, then trotted his way toward her. “Of course, that’s where we were going, no?”

“Yes.” She snickered. “We don’t have many days off, you know. Let’s enjoy this one.”

Marek was about to take hold of her, but upon their touching, she turned to ash and fell through his fingers. So too did the house, revealing that we were back on the stage of the debate.

Marek was standing at the podium, ready to address the audience. The demon lord was at his back, and I was hidden behind the curtain. Not very well, so I quickly went back on stage.

A dark forcefield prevented me from entering. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get through it. I clawed at it with my shining nails, then prodded it with my freshly summoned spear. All I managed was to tear a small hole in the darkness.

Marek desperately turned back to the demon lord, clinging to his robes and getting on his knees.

“What must I do to have that life?”

“All you must do is lay down and rest. I will give you anything you want, and make all your dreams come true.”

A bed spawned next to them, and the demon lord gestured for Marek to lay down on it. With a comforting hand on his back, he guided him all the way to the bedside.

“Mmmm!” My voice just couldn’t break through the tar over my mouth.

Wait, what am I doing? I can speak through my heart!

“Marek!” A very muffled version of my voice projected out of my crystal heart. “He’s the demon lord! He’s trying to trick you, just like he did with me! Don’t listen!”

I spawned forth a handful of stardust glitter, then tossed it through the small hole I’d punctured in the dark forcefield.

*Pwoof!*

The demon lord flew backwards to avoid touching even the most tiny speck of the glittery solar particles, but Marek choked on it, like breathing the air of a dusty room.

Suddenly Marek’s eyes were opened to the true tempter who’d been working against him this whole time.

“Who…who are you?” he cowered, climbing over the bed and heading for me. “You’re not my father!”

The demon lord was unamused, glaring at me with a detestable frown. “If you wish for reality to stay as it was, then the consequences of his sins are now yours too.” He said to me, snapping his fingers. Suddenly a fog covered reality once more, sending us into a tiny metal room with a pair of bunks and a small counter top.

“Oh no!” I freaked out. “Are we're in jail?”

“No…” Marek grunted, sitting down in one of the beds. “This was actually my room on an aircraft carrier…”

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