Before Jasper could say anything, Cerana lifted Artie up by the collar of his shirt and tossed him across the room. Looking back at Jasper, he saw the mask sinking into her skin, her flesh crawling over the dragon scale to absorb it. After the mask disappeared beneath her face, her skin took on the dark red color of it. Her face was still hers, but two horns sprouted from her forehead and stuck straight up. She grinned maliciously at Jasper, her teeth turned to fangs.

Jasper ran towards her without thinking - his only plan to restrain her. Before he could even get her within arm's reach, a thin tail that ended in a spade-shaped point burst out of her infirmary gown behind her and whipped him in the face. He stumbled to the ground, his cheek stinging and blood welling up from the laceration. He held his face and looked up to see large bat-like wings spring forth from her back.

Cerana - or a demoness that looked like her - smirked at Jasper and walked to the closest window. Jasper's instinct was to draw his wand, but he couldn't hurt her. A couple of nurses appeared and shrieked in fear, only one of them running up to her. She tried to grab Cerana, but the demon backhanded the elderly woman, sending her sprawling on the floor like Jasper. Cerana shoved her hand out and blew the glass out of the window with an invisible magic and dove out.

Jasper picked himself up and ran to the window. Below, Cerana spread her wings and began a terrorizing flight over the city. Screams of panic and confusion could already be heard from the streets.

Artie came up next to him, a look of worry on his face. "Come on!" he said. "We've got to stop her!"

Jasper was spurred into action. He followed Artie as he ran. He was too afraid to ask how his friend intended to stop her. His only solution was to kill her, but there had to be another way. Was Cerana still in there, or had Ba'arith taken over? They didn't have much time. As they ran through the wizard college, they could hear the alarm bells in the city ringing. More shouting and panic followed.

Several people inside the college were scrambling around, coming out of classrooms and dorms to see what the commotion was. Some of their professors yelled at them to stop or asked what was going on, but Jasper and Artie kept running as fast as they could, causing some people to follow them.

Once outside the doors of the college, Jasper tried to pinpoint where Cerana was by the noise. The entire city was in an uproar, and so he couldn't decipher her whereabouts. Just then, he saw the shadow of something gliding through the sky on giant bat wings. Looking up, he saw her disappear around one of the towers of the college and head in the direction of the Church of Rhore.

They got to the church in time to see Cerana swoop down and scatter a group of city guards. They were ill-equipped to face a demon, much less one with wings, but the wizarding professors from the college were prepared to fight. They drew their wands and began hurling all manner of spells - fire, lightning, gravity, earth - any and all that they thought would help.

"Wait!" Jasper cried, waving his arms to try and get their attention, Artie following suit. "Stop, that's Cerana!" they both screamed.

Around them, guards, soldiers, monks, and other citizens ran away as Cerana continued to dive at them. The professors ushered Jasper and Artie behind the cover of a nearby building and gathered around. "You must explain yourself!" their aeromancy professor - Dedalis - said, an older man with no hair atop his head.

"That's Cerana," Jasper said again. "She's been possessed by a demon named Ba'arith."

"We must stop her immediately!" a woman wearing the traditional hat like Artie's said - Isidore Larue, their demonology professor. "Ba'arith is a minor demon, but he's still a menace, and he'll kill at any moment!"

"Cerana's still in there," Artie pleaded. "She hasn't killed anyone yet. I think she's fighting Ba'arith's bloodlust."

"There's got to be something we can do," Jasper said. "Professor Larue?"

The woman wracked her brain for a moment as she watched Cerana fly through the windows of the church one at a time, sending stained glass exploding inside and out into the streets. "How did she become possessed?" the professor asked.

"We... We gave her the Mask of Mandu."

"None of the legends mention it being a demon-possessed artifact..."

"We killed a demon to get it, or at least we thought we did. Please, Professor, do you know how to help her?"

"Ba'arith must have faked his death and instead inhabited the mask..."

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A thin, wiry man, the youngest professor in the college - Qreleus, Professor of Potions - said, "We have to do something. Anything!"

"I know a spell that can be used to draw out a minor demon, but it takes time," Isidore said. "We'll need to restrain her long enough for me to cast it. It'll take a few minutes. I'll need everyone's help."

Qreleus nodded and stepped into the street. "Jasper, Arthur, stay out of harm's way. Dedalis and I will draw her in. We can cast binding spells on her to keep her pinned to the ground, but you two will need to distract her."

"We'll do whatever we have to," Artie said, pulling his hat down tighter.

"I still need to get you a pair of these boots," Jasper said, running past him. Having his teachers on their side bolstered his confidence.

"Here she comes!" Dedalis said. Cerana was barreling down the street toward them, and the professor flicked his wrist.

The spell he cast caused the air beside her to crack like a whip, and the sonic boom forced her to veer and crash into a flag pole jutting out from a nearby building. She couldn't control the disruption to her flight and she couldn't get her wings back into position quickly enough before she hit the street, sliding across the cobblestones. Professor Qreleus ensnared her body in a binding energy spell, trapping her arms and wings close against her with a magic orange lasso. She flailed and kicked her legs, struggling to get free.

"Go quickly!" Qreleus said.

Dedalis and Isidore ran towards her, wands pointed at her. Dedalis used the same binding as Qreleus, and Isidore began chanting under her breath, staring unblinking at Cerana. Jasper and Artie stood frozen still some distance away, hoping and praying that this would all be over soon. Cerana stopped struggling and glared at the three professors, fangs bared.

Isidore crept closer, wand pointed, unwavering, still chanting under her breath. Cerana started to murmur words of her own, and Isidore's eyes widened. The demon was speaking in a foreign tongue, her words growing louder and louder. Finally, she screamed and fired a blast of energy that rippled through the air, throwing Isidore, Qreleus, and Dedalis onto their backs and tumbling down the street.

The energy spells were broken and Cerana climbed to her feet. Without hesitation, Jasper and Artie ran in front of her, both holding their hands out in peace. Cerana reared back to strike, but stopped, a look of recognition in her eyes.

"You know us!" Jasper said. "You have to stop before this goes too far, Cerana!"

"Fight it!" Artie urged, taking a step closer. "You have to fight it."

Cerana's eyes darted between the two of them. Her face contorted in a myriad of facial expression ranging from pain, to anger, to sadness, with tears rolling down her face. "Please..." she pleaded through her blubbering. Though her skin had taken on the dark red color of the Mask of Mandu, her features were still clearly hers. "I'm losing control..."

Jasper swallowed hard and walked up to her, passing Artie by. "Cerana, we're here with you. Don't succumb to it. Keep fighting!" He sheathed his wand and reached out slowly, placing a hand on her shoulder and looking her deep in the eyes.

Her face contorted again, and her sniffles turned into a hacking cough. her voice deepened again, and she looked at him with a sneer. "She will be my puppet!" Ba'arith's voice cut through.

"Leave her alone!" Jasper shouted.

Cerana's voice said again, "Jasper, please just kill me!"

"No!" Jasper shouted. "You deserve to live! You've been through so much!"

"Jasper," Artie said calmly. He had noticed the sharp-pointed tail curling behind Cerana like a scorpion's stinger. "Jasper!"

Jasper snapped his head to look at Artie over his shoulder and didn't see the tail lancing forward like a spear towards him. What he did see was Artie throwing himself forward, pushing him out of the way. Jasper fell to the ground and rolled, stopping on his stomach and propping himself up on his elbows. Looking up, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened with fear.

The pointed tail of the demon had impaled Artie through the stomach and burst through his back. The demon grabbed Artie by the throat and held him up, snarling in his face. "No!" Jasper screamed.

The demon turned its attention to Jasper, letting go of Artie and letting him fall to his knees, his hat tipping off his head. It ripped its tail out, making Artie grunt, and leaving him wheezing in the street, blood pooling around him. The demon strode over to him and raised its clawed hand to strike, but before it could, and arrow lodged itself in the palm of the hand. The demon cried out in pain and held its hand.

Jasper saw Rogue John nocking another arrow and preparing to draw. Udai rushed past him and leapt into the air, shooting his leg out and kicking Cerana in the side of the head. Slade and Ryujin were right behind him, weapons drawn. The tail whipped out, but the dragonborn caught it and pulled hard, lifting her off her feet. Slade's sword swept down and severed the tail. Cerana shrieked and took to the skies.

"Are you all right?" Udai asked, helping Jasper to his feet.

"I have to check on Artie!" he said, pushing the dark elf out of the way and running to his friend's side.

"We'll go after the demon," Ryujin said.

Though his voice was weak, and he croaked when he spoke, Artie said, "That's Cerana! Please do what you can to spare her... Take... the professors..."

"Quiet, quiet," Jasper soothed, kneeling next to his friend.

Slade, Udai, Rogue John, and Ryujin gathered the professors and ran off after Cerana.

"I need... to lie down," Artie mumbled.

Jasper helped him onto his back, holding his head off of the rough cobblestone street. "I'm going to go get help, Artie."

"No time... I want to tell you something... I'm sorry..."

Jasper furrowed his brow. "For what?"

"I... hated you, sometimes... I was jealous, because I loved Cerana... but she... loved you..."

Jasper's eyes stung as the tears began to roll down his cheeks. "You don't owe me an apology."

"Where... where's my hat?" Artie's eyes fluttered between closed and open.

Jasper grabbed the pointy wizard's hat and put it on his friend's head.

"That's better," he said with a weak smile, blood dribbling out of the corner of his mouth.

Jasper nodded. "I get it now, Artie. You were right."

"About what?"

"All great wizard's wear the hat and slippers."

Artie breathed his last, with a smile on his face.