The lantern struck the floor. The glass shattered. The flame made contact with the gasoline-soaked hides on the floor.

Cobalt's head struck the floor behind him as Lilith kept him pinned to the ground, all the while the basement burst into flames. In an instant, the heat spiked to almost unbearable levels as a horrific stench filled the room. As smoke began to fill the air, the Devil dragged Cobalt back from the fire, coughing and spluttering as her single eye watered.

"Get up, kid! You gotta run!" she gasped, hauling Cobalt to his feet.

"But what about Elya?!" he cried, leaning against the wall for support.

"That isn't the Elya you knew! Never has been! Now get going, before this whole fucking place goes up!"

She merged back with the Incubus, returning a little strength to his legs.

"This place is rotted through, so the wood won't burn so good. But if she's soaked the place in accelerants, and the supporting walls go down... Agh, we've only got a minute - maybe two - at best!"

The Devil's intruding thoughts urged him to turn towards the stairs, but the Incubus forced himself to peer back into the basement. The flames were everywhere, and yet Elya was just sitting calmly upon the altar, clutching Immoderata close in a singed hand. Her eyes were shut, and her body was limp. She was... sleeping...?

"I can't just leave her here," Cobalt breathed, stepping towards her.

The heat was overwhelming. The stench of burnt hair and fur almost choked him.

"Don't be an idiot! You're gonna get yourself killed!"

He looked down at the floor, frantically skimming through his mind for something to help him. He knew leather was flame-retardant; once the gasoline and animal hair burnt down, maybe the fire would die enough to allow him to cross. Or, the hides reached pyrolysis before that and he was burnt to a crisp.

"Just leave her, kid! Please! This is no way for things to end!"

Cobalt clenched his fists.

"I will not let you throw your life away for a fucking Curse!"

He bared his teeth. The stench of gasoline in the air, the heat licking at his skin, his friend - no, more than that - lying so close by him... It was all too familiar, and yet his mind offered no explanation as to why. Just a blank, fuzzy void where his memories once were. But he had a feeling in his chest. He felt as though the last time this happened, it didn't end well.

He couldn't leave Elya here. She needed him.

"I've been burned before."

"Kid, don't!"

"She loved me, Lilith. I can't repay that by abandoning her."

"Wha- are you crazy?!"

Cobalt took a deep breath.

"You tell me," he murmured, before rushing headfirst into the fire.

He had felt heat before. From Izzbelle's rampages, from accidents in the science lab, from cooking mishaps... But never heat like this. With only a pair of pyjama bottoms to protect him, Cobalt's lower half was subjected to the raw, unfiltered agony of being burned alive. Not even the heat of his own boiling blood could compare. He screamed in pain the moment he took his first step, and began to cry by the second, but through all the smoke and pain, he forged on towards Elya, intent on reaching her before the flames did.

"Aagh! Kid! Th- This is-! Why?!" Lilith screamed, her voice setting his teeth on edge.

He tried to ignore her. He could smell himself burning, but eventually he staggered out the other side.

"E- Elya!" the Incubus cried, toppling towards the Fallen.

She was completely unconscious, sitting upon the altar with a small smile playing across her lips. No matter how much he screamed and shook her, she didn't wake up. Elya just kept a tight grip on the dagger as she awaited her end.

"Wake up, please!"

"Sh- She's fixing to kill you both! And you just-!"

"Lilith, you're not helping!"

Swearing beneath his breath, he heaved Elya into his arms. She offered no resistance; she didn't even stir in her sleep.

"I need to get her out of here," he gasped, wincing as his scorched legs twinged.

"Leave her!"

"I told you to shut up!"

Turning back, Cobalt held back a cough as the flames spread higher, burning up through the support beams and setting the shelves alight. The blaze was spreading upwards into the house above, just as Lilith had predicted.

He couldn't allow the pain to hold him back. Not after everything they had been through. Once all of this was over, Cobalt was going to have a long, hard chat with Elya. Everything that he had forgotten wanted for remembering.

Pushing the agony out of his mind, the Incubus shut his eyes and ran back through the fire, holding the Fallen high in an effort to keep her from getting burned. The air was filled with sparks and he could barely see a foot in front of himself, but with his breath held, Cobalt forged on up the stairs, screaming with every step he took. He could feel his skin split with every movement, but he kept his bleary eyes forward. He didn't want to look down; losing his nerve now would spell the end for them all.

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"One foot in front of the other, come on... Get it together, Trayer...!" he panted, barging out onto the ground floor.

Smoke was eking up from the floor below, squeezing through the gaps in the boards underfoot. He could already see firelight flickering from the living room, urging Cobalt to weigh his options carefully. Climbing back up to the attic wasn't an option; he'd never be able to get Elya outside without seriously hurting her. But all of the windows were boarded, and the front door...

It looked old, and the nails were rusted...

"Agh..." Cobalt gasped in response to another spasm of pain from his legs.

He couldn't think, not when everything hurt so much. His throat was dry and filled with smoke, and his strength was draining by the second, all while Elya seemed to just get heavier and heavier in his arms.

"Keep... going..." the Incubus muttered to himself, pushing on towards the door.

Flames began to lick through the floorboards as the entire house lurched. Cobalt struggled on, hugging Elya close. She was cold, barely even present. Like she was a mere husk. The incongruities in his mind snapped at one another; Lilith's harsh words battling fiercely with his own faded memory. Her experiences versus his own. And yet, no matter who was right, none of that took away from the fact that right here - right now - he needed to get Elya to safety.

He... cared about her. Despite everything that she had done to him and others, there was always that strange, fluttering sensation in his chest urging him to treat her leniently. He thought it was because they were friends, that he owed her the benefit of the doubt. But no, that...

That was love, wasn't it...?

As the ground floor began to burn, Cobalt came to a stop in front of the house's front door. Sure enough, the wood was old and worn from age, but the door had been boarded from the outside. He couldn't just pull them off; he'd have to break through.

"Shit..." he rasped, reaffirming his grip on Elya.

Gritting his teeth, Cobalt ran towards the door and turn at the last second, slamming his back against it with full force. It shuddered and creaked, but did not budge. He tried again, biting his tongue in an effort to ignore the stench of his own roasted skin. It smelled hideous, and yet enticing all the same.

"Come on...!"

Again, he tried to break the door, only to almost drop the Fallen as the wind was knocked from his lungs. The flames were rising, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe.

"Just open already, you stupid... fucking... door...!"

With a roar of irritation, Cobalt wound his head back and abruptly slammed it into the door. The force of his headbutt coupled with the strength of his iron horns tore straight through the old wood, rending it into splinters and casting Cobalt out into the night. As he toppled forth, he clutched Elya tight in a protective hold, saving her from the worst of the impact. He felt his head strike hard earth, and for a moment his vision darkened. Sensation left him as his mind dulled, leaving only one thing for Cobalt to focus on.

The pain. The burning, agonising pain. From his feet to halfway up his thighs, Cobalt's legs still burned and stung. The agony kept him from passing out completely, but as his perception kept wavering in and out, he felt himself lose track of time. It was only when a rough hand grabbed his shirt that he was pulled from his reverie.

Lilith stood by him, holding a protective hand in front of the Incubus as she kept her pistol ready. A few feet away, Elya stood before the burning ruin of her house, gazing up at the mighty inferno as she gripped Immoderata tightly. Guttering in the smoke-filled air, Cobalt's eyes slowly flickered down to his legs, purely by accident.

He regretted it immediately.

The Incubus' skin - what remained of it - was scorched black by the flames, and wherever it had split, glistening red flesh shone through. His nerves were screaming in some places and silent in others. He didn't have the strength to scream. He didn't have the will to cry. All he could do was stare as Elya slowly turned to face them, her eyes glinting dangerously in the light of the fire.

"I don't understand, my love. You choose to forsake me, and yet you deny us a beautiful end," she breathed, slowly cocking her head.

She began to slice through the bindings of her dress, stripping away the hides until she was left wearing nothing at all.

"Do you love me?" she asked, not breaking eye-contact with him for a moment.

Lilith took a step forward, urging Cobalt to remain where he was as her finger grazed the trigger of her pistol.

"Stay where you are, Iota!"

The Fallen flinched.

"... I don't know why you keep calling me that, deceiver, but I assure you that-"

"ADROC XE ORREF!"

As Lilith's sudden outcry of Tongues rang out through the glade, Elya's eyes snapped wide open, her entire body freezing up. The Devil gritted her teeth and straightened up, adopting a strange stance as she did so. Dispelling her pistol, she raised her left arm in a fist while touching two fingers to her chest.

Cobalt's eyes widened. A salute.

"SAMINA XE EBYLAHC!" she continued, glaring daggers at the Fallen.

Elya stared back, completely blank-faced.

"C'mon... finish it, you bitch..." Lilith breathed.

Slowly, she shakily adopted the same stance, her entire body juddering as if it were fighting every movement.

"Muc... subitnedra... subitnem..." the Fallen rasped, her dialect of Tongues sounding completely different to Elya's regular incantations.

The two stared at each other from across the glade as they spoke the final line in unison:

"Sumicaf. Sumipac. Sumignarf."

Elya blinked a few times as the words left her mouth. A smile broke out across Lilith's face, though it was twisted and filled with malice.

"Iota, Chief Infiltrator of Pandemonium, Commander of the Paranoiacs. You never could remember the whole chant," she spat, her words dripping with venom.

Elya shakily shook her head and turned her gaze to Cobalt, who could do nothing but stare, wide-eyed.

"Do not listen to her, my love. She speaks-"

"STAND TO ATTENTION, WASTER!" Lilith roared at the top of her lungs.

Instinctively, Elya straightened up, only to snap herself out of whatever compulsion had taken hold of her.

"You... Devil... enough. Leave me to my own affairs," she warned, eyes glinting dangerously.

"Not a fucking chance. I'm not letting you slip. Not after what you did. To him, and to me."

Her hand grazed Cobalt's head; a rare reassurance. He could only sit up slightly taller, completely bewildered by what was happening. Lilith was yelling an old Tongues war chant, and Elya was responding...?

"... He is mine. Not yours. I staked my claim a long time ago," the Fallen breathed, her voice edged with an insidious tone.

"You make one step toward him, and I'll put so many holes in you that you'll bleed dry before you hit the ground!"

The Fallen cocked her head, her expression blank and lifeless.

"... And if he comes to me...?"

She raised Immoderata and fixed Cobalt with a cold, dead-eyed stare. Those eyes... They weren't...

"I'll have need of your voice, my love; clearly this one no longer carries meaning."

With that, Elya opened her mouth wide and plunged the entire length of the iron dagger down her throat.

"NO~!" Cobalt screamed, forcing himself to his feet.

The pain, the confusion, the exhaustion... it all left his mind the moment he saw red begin to bubble out of Elya's mouth. The Incubus shoved past Lilith and dove at Elya, grabbing the handle of the dagger before she could twist the blade within her neck. He pulled it free, spraying the pair of them with blood.

But the moment he held Immoderata, every sense he had went numb. His sight dulled, his hearing went silent, even the agony in his legs ceased. All he could hear was that stark, dour voice in his head, like the slamming of a coffin lid.

I REMEMBER YOU. YOUR HUNGER. YOUR DESIRE.

Lilith was screaming at him, but he could hear nothing but the voice.

No... he could hear nothing but Immoderata.

A PACT STANDS UNFULFILLED. A HALF-DECADE IN THE MAKING.

His fingers wrapped tight around the handle of the dagger. He felt... good. He felt right. This... This was fine.

RESUME YOUR WORK.

Slowly, Cobalt turned around. A Fallen lay bleeding at his feet. A Devil stood staring at him with a single, horrified eye. In the back of his mind, he could see black, burning flames, and little else.

His stomach growled, and the hand holding the dagger ached as it gave the order.

FEAST.