A man walks through the forest following a witch. In retro spec might not have been the best idea to follow one, through a deep dark forest, under a full moon, during the witching hour. He was sure there was a fairytale somewhere warning him off such things or perhaps common sense. When he was asked to put on a robe before going in he thought it was normal. After all he had asked them to cast a spell for him, why wouldn’t he follow instructions.

It was about halfway through the forest following the witch who once used crystals to keep him alive, that all that occurred to him. “Jillian, this isn’t just a way to sacrifice me under the full moon is it?”

She snorted, “Now. You ask? I swear when I thought you’d question it when I brought the robe.”

Nicki didn’t feel any malice, nor was he afraid. It was just kind of funny at this point. “I thought I was respecting your belief or whatnot.”

She was quiet for a bit before shaking her head, “Thats nice. I was going to pretend with my ritual dagger when we got close. You know mess with you for a bit.” She pulled out a very ornate dagger with what looked to be runes, and intricate metalwork all along the blade and handle, with a massive emerald in the pummel. Nicki recognized the work, pull his own ritual dagger out.

She stared blinking at it, “He got you to?”

“He’s very persuasive. And I thought if we’re doing a ritual—” His voice trailed off as he suddenly felt embarrassed at bringing the thing.

Jillian just laughed, “He got everyone. Its a bit of a tradition to bring your to these things now.”

Nicki felt his face laugh as he followed a witch deep into the forest to perform a ritual.

#

In an impossible office, deep in the thought what what is real, not, and somewhere in between. A Doll and a God have just finished going through all of the Heroes Drystia helped. They had been going through them almost non-stop, each taking an hour or two. Some she felt proud, all too many were sad filled with excommunications, and then there were the ones who didn’t deserve their fate. Being used by the world they were there to help. In the end, she felt tired but determined to do better.

“That’s all of them. Only took a solid week.”

It took a minute for Drystia to realize what she said. It wasn’t the longest time she had sat around without a break. I mean she used to sit on a shelf for about a decade, except this felt way too quick. Though this was the first time she had been actively doing something. “Huh. Didn’t feel like a week.”

Drystia snorted finding her reaction funny.

“What? Was it not a week, or is it a time moves differently here thing?”

“No,” She pointed to a big pile of folders that were suddenly sitting on the podium, overflowing and falling over. “You just helped a lot of Heroes. And you don’t really get tired here. So we just kind of kept going. I mean there were fifty people on that bus alone.”

“Huh. So I think I understood the point of this but to be sure—”

Ge smiled, “It’s just important that you see these Heroes as people. You mustn’t forget that you are sending them to a new life. Some a life they could never have on their worlds.”

That made a lot of sense to her. She had plenty of people who did not have a good life or everything was just going wrong for them. She had done what she could to help and guide them as much as possible. Then there was “What about…” She couldn’t finish a growl escaping her throat.

Ge became serious, “Yes. Destroy them if you have to. I read the file, and you did the right thing.”

That was a load off her chest. “So…” She cleared he throat, “How I’ve been sending them is alright?”

Ge raised an eyebrow, “Depends. How have you been sending them?” with genuine curiosity in her voice.

“You can’t just read their file?” Was she skipping that part of their file?

Ge seemed to struggle with something before tentatively saying, “I probably shouldn’t tell you this but you’ll figure it out eventually. The files don’t update here.”

“What?”

Ge nodded.

“That seems like a massive oversite.” We could be doing horrible things here. The thought made her shiver in disgust. Now know this she was determined to make sure it never happened.

Ge seemed to catch Drystia’s thoughts, “There are a couple of safeguards in place. I made Del put those in to make sure the power isn’t abused.”

Who was Del? Was it Ge or Del who made this place? Not knowing what to say, and unsure of what to do next. She decided to go back to what started this. “Might be better to show you how I send them.

Drystia pulls up her tablet and the room changes setting from a temple to an infinite expanse of sky, to a tree on a hill. “Hmm…Oh!” A smile tugged on the little doll’s lips.

Ge for her part looked on in wonder at what was happening. “This place just keeps evolving.” She said barely audible under her breath.

The room turned dark, almost sinister. The ceiling raised a blue flames burned around four massive pillars and a throne where the podium once stood. Around the walls skulls, fountains of red, and portraits depicting red-skinned demons hung.

Drystia suddenly shifted to her Amazonian form, excitedly running over to a door by the throne that had always been, opening to find a massive wardrobe filled with any and all costumes that could be, “Now, we need the right outfits.”

Ge smiled.

#

She sits upon her throne high above him. Beautiful and terrible, her eyes glowing red, a slight upturned smile looking pleased. Upon her brow, two horns protruded obsidian wrapping back behind her head. Wreathed around her a crown of fire, her red dress full and ornate. A lazy tapping on her black dipped fingers as she looked down at the man below.

Absolutely, beautiful. That was Devin O’Brian’s first thought. The second was: Where am I? The third was: This is probably not good. In all his life he had never thought of himself as a bad person or a good person. More neutral than anything, yet with his last memory of attempting to grind down a three-story staircase railing, he realized he must be in hell. Why else would there be a massive woman with a crown of fire?

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

His gaze must have lingered too long as the demon queen’s smile turned sharp and predatory. Suddenly, Devin felt something reaching into him, a palpable dread calling to the darkness inside him. One, to his horror, responded. His eyes widened as he took a step back. The feeling passed as suddenly as it came.

“Welcome Hero.” Her voice resounded through the room seeming to echo in his mind. A strong voice deep yet sensual. Leaning forward she smiled revealing serrated teeth, “You will serve me well.”

That’s not good. Devin’s world went dark.

Consciousness only returned when he felt a small hand nudging him. "Come on wake up." The voice was small and desperate. "Please wake up."

The man awoke first thing he noticed were the iron bars. He was inside a cell, then the small hand nudging him registered as he looked over to see a petite woman, looking to be in her twenties, with long brown hair and small stubby horns barely above her brow. It all came back to him, the giant demon, the throne room, even the skulls he missed before sitting below her feet. He ignored them before but now they seemed to jump to the front of his mind.

Seeing this smaller version of the queen made him take a step back.

“Please don’t be afraid.” Her voice pleading.

“You’re a demon.” He spoke hoping she would deny it, but at the same time, he didn’t.

The woman smiled hesitant, “Yes.”

With that confession, Devin knew he should have been afraid, terrified. He should have been praying to God to save him from the pit. Instead, he found himself excited. This was his first interaction with a non-human. A demon, sure but why not?

“So you’re actually a demon. Are you from hell? Is there a hell?” He asked rapid fire taking the demon girl off guard.

“Hell? I don’t know what that is. This is the Demon Lord’s castle.”

Devin raised an eyebrow, “Isn’t Hell where demons are from?”

“No. We come from…well, I guess the same place as you humans. We just have a bit extra magic.” She said with a laugh.

“Oh. Then you’re not all evil?” Devin felt stupid immediately.

The demon girl’s eyes narrowed annoyed, “Not any more than humans.” She shook her head, “But that’s beside the point we need to get you out of here.”

“What?” Was this a breakout?

“You’re a Hero. We need you, but if you stay here you’ll do more harm than good.”

“Then why am I here?”

“To help. But my mother wants you under her though while you’re still malleable. Which won’t end well for anyone.” Opening the cell door she stood inside beckoning Devin through, “Le’s go.”

That’s when it hit him the heavy urgency, as the sound of footsteps reverberated off the wall. The sound seemed to reverberate through his chest. Each step heavier than the last, bringing dread.

“RUN!” The demon girl yelled as the boy ran through the cell into another world.

#

The world was filled with the sounds of chanting, crackling fire, a rhythm beating on a drum, as witches danced a witchy dance, chanted a witchy chant. The cauldron bubbled a boiled, stirring for trouble.

Behind the cauldron, a witch cackles, and stirs, as a witch should do. While a man watches wonder clear in his eyes. Magic danced along with every movement, grabbing more and more power as it swirled all around. The air became filled with potential, and when it became almost solid Jillian spoke to the man by her side. “Focus on what you desire. Think of it and nothing else. It must be truly what you desire. Focus and speak. Repeating what you want will help.”

Nicki took a deep breath and focused on the book inside his mind, “I desire a book.” He said looking into the cauldron. The magic shifted moving into the stirring pot. The liquid moved faster.

“Keep going.” Jillian encourage.

Nicki began his own chant, “A book of magic. One that was taken. One that must not fall into evil’s hands.” The last portion just felt right for a bit of dramatics.

“Now keep repeating”

“A book of magic. One that was taken. One that must not fall into evil’s hands.” He repeated the chant constantly visualizing the book in his mind. The whirlpool churned faster with every repetition.

As the air became so thick Nicki could barely breathe Jillian spoke, “Now look.”

His eyes fell on the swirling liquid cloudy and turbulent. Quickly it cleared showing into a room. What looked to be a living room, with a woman Nicki vaguely thought looked kind of familiar. She was sitting on a couch looking really nervous. Who are you? She was talking to someone. There was one thing missing, “I don’t see the book.”

Jillian leaned over speaking softly, “What you desire should be around there. Maybe she’s sitting on it. It is a book, so there might be a shelf behind the couch.”

Nicki hunted for any clue about the book. “Maybe?”

“Do you recognize her?”

“She looks familiar but I don’t know from where.” It was right there, just he could not remember how he’d seen her before.

“Keep looking maybe there’s a clue who she is. Or where the book is. This spell has never failed. The book is at the very least it’s in that room.” She said reassuringly.

The chanting and dance all around continued but Nicki could sense the energy thinning as it was pulled into the cauldron. He searched seeing a normal room, a cup on the coffee table. A basic kitchen, but there was nothing to identify her. Thinner and thinner the energy began to wane. That was when she into the frame. A beautiful woman with deep green hair. “Lilly?” You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

“You know her? That makes it simple.”

Nicki let out a self-deprecating laugh, “No. She’s a barista down at my favorite coffee house.”

Jillian stared at him then the woman then the man. Nicki watched the cogs turn in her head. She raised an eyebrow, “And there’s no way she could have taken your book?”

Nicki had thought of that thinking maybe she had the book, which might explain why the compass led to her. It just didn’t make any sense. “I don’t see how. I’ve never spoken to her outside of coffee, well except a week or so ago, and the book was long gone by then.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” He sighed.

“So got a major crush on her then?” It can interfere.

“I guess.” He said with a shrug. “The same thing happened when I made a desire compass.”

“Like from that pirate movie?”

“Yeah.”

“Damn. That’s some crush.” She said sympathetically. The image faded and the dancing came to an end. Many of the witches fall to the ground.

“Took me by surprise.”

Jillian gave him an odd look. “Well, back to the book. I had an idea if you could get another copy we might be able to get a sympathetic link to lead you to it.”

“Like a voodoo doll?”

“Similar.”

“Why didn’t we do that first? Sounds much easier.”

“It would need to be an almost perfect match, and you said it was a rare book. And you wouldn’t believe the difference in books just from different printing runs. But if it’s close we might be able to get a week link.”

Nicki could only stare at her dumbly. He had an exact copy of the book and every other book that would ever be. “I might be able to get one.”

#

Two women sit in a dark throne-like room as blue flames flicker in the light.

“So that was how you sent them?” Ge asked as she pulled off her fake horns wincing as the adhesive tugged at her skin.

Drystia smiled, “Pretty much. Change it up depending on the person.”

“So.” Ge thought out loud, “You read the file then customize it for them?”

“I’d like to say yes, but honestly it’s just fun. Also tends to help get them to stop screaming and or not hit on me. That was not something I expected.”

“The screaming?” She asked playfully.

Drystia rolled her eyes causing Ge to laugh.

With a sly smile, Drystia asked, “Here’s a fun question. What cheat did I give him? Or when did I give him one?”

When? “You gave him a cheat?” she asked in disbelief.

Drystia gave a smug smile, “Yup! It will be up to him if he wants to use it.”

“What was it?”

“To harness the darkness within. At least that’s what he picked whether he realized it or not.”

Ge was quiet for a while going over the scene when it hit her, “The ominous chanting?”

Drystia switched back to her doll from the fake horns popping off, and falling around her. She let out a squeak when they hit the ground surprising her. Pretending she never did that, “A “Dark” gift given by a demon. Should help keep him in check. He won’t remember who were or why but he will feel cautious using the shadows. The great little narrative isn’t it?”

Ge was in wonder of Drystia and this place. It was growing in way she could never have guessed. She could only smile, “I think you’ll do fine.”

* * *