An few hours later, Phaedra opened the door without knocking, and a line of guards filed in behind her. Despite how little I enjoyed seeing the Black-and-Golds in their noisy armor, holding their matching spears, part of me couldn’t help but feel hope—would I finally see Mona?

“Unshackle him,” Phaedra said to the guard standing beside her, handing him an iron key. “Do not, under any circumstances, remove his collar.”

I couldn’t help but smile at her. “Are you worried about me, Phaedra? You shouldn’t be. I keep my promises.”

Phaedra raised an eyebrow but nodded. “So do I. You’ll see her, godling. I’ve already fetched her from the dungeon.” She turned to the guards. “Let’s go.”

They unlocked me with a smooth efficiency, shackled my hands and feet together, and soon I was being led to the elevator. I still wore my torn clothing and hadn't bathed in days. I suppose that was how you treated cattle.

The elevator ride was paradoxical, only a few short floors but somehow the longest trip of my life. I couldn’t help but think we were over the elevator’s weight allowance, as the elevator shuddered more than usual.

When the door opened, I was marched down a hallway lit by flickering blue flames in sconces—if nothing else, the tower had a consistent aesthetic—and shoved through a door into Phaedra’s laboratory. My heart pounded.

Phaedra’s laboratory was about how I’d expected, with shelves of chemicals in sealed containers and all sorts of devices and lab equipment which seemed to run on magic, as I saw no electric cord in sight. But all my attention was taken by one demoness.

Mona stood on the other side of the lab in a glass bubble connected by cables and wires to something that looked like a giant obsidian cube. Mona looked at me, eyes wide, but she did not look pleased to see me. If anything, a terror crept into her eyes now that she knew whatever was about to happen would involve both of us.

She was still wearing her old robes, though they were severely torn. When we locked eyes, she turned to Phaedra, stepped forward, and slammed her fist on the inside of her glass bubble. It didn’t yield but did make a dull thud.

Phaedra cursed at her and hurried to a nearby console. She flicked a switch, and an electrical current began to arc from a metal prong at the top of Mona’s confinement. Lightning arced across her body, and she let out a deafening scream.

I surged forward, or tried to, forgetting myself for a moment as the guards blocked me with their spears and held me back. I felt the butt of a spear crack against my stomach, blocking my path and sending me doubling over. I reached for what Greg-Theryx had taught me, the monstrous form I required to stand a chance, but it didn't feel as natural to grasp the power I had commanded before I’d been captured. I wasn't entirely sure whether Phaedra’s collar inhibited it or if Greg-Theryx had since destroyed it in his rage. Maybe a bit of both?

Phaedra turned off the switch, and the lightning stopped. Mona collapsed to the floor, shaking.

“Desdemona, do not try to damage my equipment again,” Phaedra said into a microphone. “That was just a warning.”

The guards marched me into another bubble like Mona’s, then closed a metal-and-glass hatch behind me with a hiss. I looked at Mona and felt lost for what to do now. She still lay on the floor, though her shaking had subsided. “Mona!” I tried to shout through the glass. The sound must have been muffled, but she did stir after a moment and looked up at me. She gave me a weak smile.

“I’m fine,” she mouthed.

“There are two metal handles in front of you,” Phaedra said. “Grip them now—don’t try to tear them off, Desdemona, or I’ll cook you a second time.”

Mona slowly rose to her feet, glared at the other woman for a moment, then hesitantly placed her hands on the grips. Watching her, I did the same.

The steel was cold in my hands as I wondered what kind of experiment we would be expected to perform. Phaedra fiddled with some controls at her console, and then I felt a strange hum within the bubble.

“Godling, you’ll notice your beloved isn’t wearing her mana absorption collar. I removed it after ensuring she understood that she'd never see you again if she tried to burn anyone. But you’re still wearing yours, aren’t you?” Phaedra paused for a moment, looking somewhat satisfied with herself. “If my intuition is correct, this will prevent the godling from wielding his magic, but Desdemona, you will still be able to link to the godling through—”

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Though I could not hear her well, Desdemona’s lips were clear, “He is no mere godling, Phaedra. You have put our Master in prison. When he is freed, your life will be forfeit.”

I appreciated her confidence.

Phaedra didn’t bother to answer. “Then draw his Will into yourself. A manasteel conduit links your contacts to his. I surmised that if Desdemona can draw on the godling’s mighty soul, it must happen through some connection. If the connection could be directed to flow through manasteel, its magnitude can be precisely measured.” She tapped a finger on one of her instruments and smiled, looking pleased with herself. “So do what you did when you almost blew up the tower, Priestess Fell. Draw upon his power.”

Mona turned to me with a sad look in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Master,” she mouthed to me.

I shook my head. “It’s fine. Go ahead.”

It felt different through a metal conduit than through the air, but soon I felt that familiar pull, my Will coursing into my hands and flowing outward. It wasn’t uncomfortable. In fact, it felt strangely calming because I could sense Mona’s presence at the other end. It felt good to be connected to her again, no matter how terrible the situation or the strange medium through which our bond now flowed.

“Yes, that’s it,” Phaedra shouted, a hint of glee in her voice now. “Keep going, Desdemona. You can draw much more than that, can’t you?”

Phaedra wasn’t wrong—I could feel Mona’s hesitation. She was trying to be careful of me, perhaps worried she might take too much from me. Either that, or she wanted to undersell her power in front of our enemy.

But Phaedra could tell her heart wasn’t in it. “Don’t make me fucking zap you again,” she said. “Draw upon his power! Take as much as you can.”

The pull on me increased, and I felt a sheen of sweat form on my face. A twinge of pain started in my chest, and I coughed. Mona looked worried, but I shook my head and gave her a smile.

“Go ahead, Mona. It’s okay,” I said. I wondered if Phaedra had considered how much power there truly was and whether it could be contained.

I felt the energy flowing out of me increase, and this time I couldn’t help but double over as a wave of exhaustion swept over me. How could I be so tired? I hadn’t done anything.

On the other hand, Mona was doing something she had never done before—drawing power into herself without using it on a spell.

Her skin had begun to glow faintly, and her eyes shone with a blazing orange light.

“It feels…” Mona’s voice trailed off, but from the smile on her face, I could tell it felt good. On the other hand, I was struggling to stand upright and continue gripping the handles. I’d decided that was enough, and I gently let go. With my head swimming, I tried to take a step back and stumbled sideways, resting against the glass surface.

“Why did you stop?” Phaedra said, a note of outrage on her face. “I never said you were done.”

“I… That was… I’m passing out, Phaedra. That’s my limit.”

Her pink skin still glowing, Mona looked at me in concern. She turned to Phaedra and said something, but I had trouble hearing her. Dark spots danced in my vision. It was how I’d felt after giving too much blood to Rhea. Perhaps the loss of Will, as much as the loss of blood, was difficult for my body to handle.

“We were just starting to get useful readings when you prematurely interrupted the experiment, godling. Your weakness can no longer be tolerated…”

Mona shouted something I couldn’t hear, but I felt such warmth from her, such reassurance that her fire burned for me. “…you’re a fool, Phaedra. He is no godling. Something may have happened to our Lord, but if he is not Greg-Theryx, he is certainly his Prophet and is our savior either way.”

A Prophet of Greg-Theryx? That was not how I would have described myself, even if I supposed that I had spoken strictly to who they considered their god. But I had nothing to do with that monstrous creature who haunted my soul.

However, I could see Mona’s words had struck a chord because Phaedra paused, and her eyes flicked between Mona and me for a long moment before she continued. “Hogwash,” Phaedra said. “Godling, get up. It would be best if you made the most of your time with Desdemona. The better you perform, the sooner you will see her again.”

I stood up straight and stumbled back towards the handles. I knew that Phaedra was manipulating me, of course. But if I mustered my Will, I could go a little farther.

And then Phaedra flicked a switch. Electricity gathered in the ceiling of my bubble, and I looked up in time to watch the lightning arc, flowing from my head through my body and into the metal floor under my feet.

Every cell in my body ignited, a storm of pain that sent my muscles twitching from the current as I screamed in agony. I cried out and heard Mona shout, banging her still-glowing fist on the wall of her bubble.

Phaedra, apparently satisfied, flipped off the switch.

I fell to my knees as if the last of my energy had been burned away, stripped by the passage of the electricity. My body weighed a ton, and my muscles had turned to jelly. Mona looked at me, her hand still against the glass, and then something changed in her eyes as if she’d made a decision.

She turned to Phaedra, and a flame began forming within her outstretched hands. I expected this would reduce the glow in her skin and eyes, but if anything, she began to burn even brighter as the flame grew into a larger and larger orb of blue flames.

A moment later, I gasped, the fire continuing to grow until it engulfed Mona’s body herself, and for a moment, I panicked until I realized I still felt her Will. I closed my eyes and realized she had not been harmed—if anything, she was bathing in her own fire, and it had strengthened her—it seemed as if some of the energy she had drawn from our connection had been used to surround her spirit in a gleaming shell of chaotic energy.

I expected the fire would stop once Mona had been engulfed, but it continued until it filled the glass bubble. The glass began to crack, only to shatter a moment later as fragments exploded outward.

The guards were beginning to run in, their spears extended, though from the corner of my eye, I saw Phaedra looking unfazed by it all, a smile on her lips as if this was what she’d been hoping for all along.

A true demonstration of Mona’s power.