"So you are describing these demons as reptiles, and birds?" asked Alex.

"You have encountered their remains before." replied the man in red sitting on the couch.

"No, I have not, I've never seen a demon in my life!"

"People tend to display such terrible mockeries of nature in large buildings so that they can learn why such things should never happen."

"Wait, are you talking about dinosaurs? Were the dinosaurs the demons?" asked Alex frantically.

"I have heard them referred to as such in more modern times," replied Lanetli.

"Holy shit, you are old," said Alex before he could control his tongue.

"Indeed," came the sad reply before Alex could take back his words. Then the story continued.

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The demon was much more human-like than the other one. Disturbingly so.

It was clearly reptilian, with an elongated maw and a tail swishing back and forth across the ground. It wore clothes, and they looked rich, like those of a monarch. Atop its head was a crown of bone protrusions sticking from its skull. It carried a scepter of gold and bone, topped with a human skull with gems inlaid into the eyes.

I started summoning my chickens, being as quiet as possible. I managed to enact the ritual without its notice as I followed it through the wilds, but as soon as the chickens were out they were just too loud. I pulled my blade from the pyramid and prepared to fight, but the demon did something unexpected.

"The king of beasts sees all," it said before sending a pulse of Corruption into the scepter, which then magnified and directed the magic to command wildlife in the vicinity. Demons nearby, wild animals, and summoned creatures were all affected. Even my summoned creatures. They now not only had Time magic on their side but now the demon was infusing them with Corruption. This was not an ideal situation.

I killed the chickens quickly with the help of my familiar, who was immune to such trickery. Then the massive lesser demons appeared, Corruption giving them a corrosive quality that made them much more dangerous than they were before.

I was cutting into demons left and right, but they still drove me back. I cut several down, but as the hydra of myth, more would rise to take its place. I decided that the eternal moment was necessary, so I drew on the power and cut some space for myself. I caught a glimpse of the greater demon, seeming much less happy with himself as he watched me cut through his minions with ease. I fought through the army in a straight line toward it, working as fast as I could. I broke the back line and got hit with a bolt of pure Corruption to the chest. I flew back, my body able to fight back the poison coursing through my body from the attack, but it did decent damage. I looked up, activating my instant regeneration and seeing another bolt headed right for me.

I rolled away and up to my feet. I ran at the demon, preparing the area in my wake to be claimed. I managed to get close while dodging between bolts of magic. I got right in close and swung for the demon. He blocked with the scepter, which had a blade of magic emanating from it.

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"If I must, I will take things into my own hands, human." said the demon in his raspy and slightly slurred voice.

We fought, neither gaining ground over the other, but I was running out of eternal moment. We crossed blades one last time before converting the area into Time. The demon's eyes widened as it fell to the ground.

"I never would have guessed that I was fighting a son of the tower," it said, fear evident even in its alien eyes. I finished it, not questioning the odd statement. The head rolled across the ground as my power grew for a moment. I healed and killed every demon in my reach, tar-like blood flooding the ground and covering plants.

I opened a door to the tower with a thought rather than drawing the runes, and I stepped through before my control ended. I entered the tower and felt immediately drained of all life. I dragged myself to my room and allowed the reality around me to make me comfortable in my dreams.

I woke later, not sure exactly how long I had slept, and not sure if it was night or day, because the only thing inside or outside of the tower, were concepts and lack of reality. I left the tower directly from my room. I saw the tar-like blood that had hardened into a rubbery substance strong enough to stand on that completely covered each body in the area. I walked out, sure that the demons had some way of keeping track of each other and finding that two of their greater demons were killed, and were, somehow, not being reborn.

I left quickly, more focused on finding people than anything else. I continued in a straight line out, seeing nothing, not even a lesser demon. I walked until I found a mountain, large, and featuring a giant castle among its cragged peaks. That castle, to my knowledge, had not existed previously.

There was no decent way to the castle, and it was being circled by flying demons, and one would periodically fly into the building that looked more like a natural formation than a building, but it was lit from the inside, and had catwalks between peaks and a large door at the front of the palace. There was a small ledge there, but no way to the ledge, unless I could climb up the shear walls of the mountain. I sat down to contemplate the situation, and my life in general.

I needed a way in, and I needed that way in fast. Or at least, that was what I thought. As I sat down I realized that I don't need to get in anytime soon. I just needed in eventually. I could simply wait for the stone to weather down, although that likely wasn't the most productive use of eternity. I also missed company but had learned that I functioned well alone as long as I wasn't murdering my own people. I decided that eternity was to be alone, as all things die eventually, even, though I had learned, the icons. Eternity is the only thing left after everything else dies, and even when new things are born, they are still the only thing left of their Time, and as Time is the creator, and only child, of eternity, I too, should be alone, if in mind if not physically.

I went into the pyramid, not of my own accord, and met with my patron, the tower shield that was a clock ticking in a rhythm I felt even better now with my steps into eternity. "You have understood another fundamental truth of TIME, that to be eternity is to exist alone. As you have accepted this a new power finds you. To change the past is to stop existing, but the future is in an immeasurable state. I give you the curse of eternal insecurity, a curse that will leave them never having enough TIME to make decisions and never enough to enact said plans." said the icon.

"I humbly thank you. I would like to get. . . Son of a bitch." I said, forgetting about the giant constellation Minotaur. I just remembered that I could teleport. I looked back up. "I'm sorry, I just remembered something. You were saying?"

"Run along. The faster you advance the faster I may leave this room for good," he said. I didn't hesitate after that and teleported out of the room and onto the ledge in front of the castle gates.