Millie and Xera, after they stopped being annoyed, accepted Striaster into their party. Jay asked him a question before they left the area. "What are your abilities?"

  "Huh? Shapeshifting, really."

  Jay nodded. "How did you create the black mist?"

  "I turned into something that could-a type of basilisk, to be exact-then released its poison over the area."

  Jay raised an eyebrow. "Is this your real form?"

  Striaster looked up at the sky. He seemed a bit saddened by the question. "I don't know. It's one of the problems with being a shapeshifter. If you shift too much as a child, you don't know what your real form is."

  Jay decided not to press him further on this. He watched people around the city slowly get up, their recent return of emotion probably disorienting them. A few tried to stop them on the road, Striaster probably being the reason, but Jay and his crew pushed past, heading for the center of town, where Striaster had said the demons were located. It was almost nighttime. Jay had insisted that they wait for the night, and had refused to explain why. He turned to the moon, just poking over the horizon, and felt a gaze from above. He smiled at the sky, performing a small wave, before continuing. Night was watching.

  There was a palatial building at the center of town, screams emerging from within with regularity, not stopping in any way. Old screams would die down and new ones would start all the time. Jay quirked a brow at Striaster. "They like ripping chunks off humans and eating them while they're still alive."

  Striaster shuddered. "It's supposed to be good for one's soul, but it just feels corrupting. I mean how would you feel if someone did that to you?"

  Jay nodded. "So, a plan. Our objective is to get in, steal stuff and kill the Metallic Councilors. Also, if they have a portal to another realm, it needs to be closed." Striaster nodded at him. "We're not strong enough to fight those demons, most likely, given just the black mist did that much. We need a distraction of some kind. I would expect that someone knocking down the gates would be sufficient." His Mastermind blasted out at full. "Then we need to get in. Striaster probably won't be able to do that, but we could-"

  Jay frowned. Striaster had been rattling off the same exact plan, with some information Jay didn't have. Striaster stared back, surprised. They both spoke at the same time. "You have a planning skill of some kind," Jay said. Striaster also spoke. "You have a tactician skill!"

  They both stared at each other for a moment before laughing. "Mastermind. Lets me plan really far ahead." Jay said.

  "Think it Through. Gives me lots of possibilities for each step of the plan, with more likely possibilities being more 'visible'."

  They shook hands once again, Jay leaning in. "I know that you don't know anything other than shaking hands, but at times like this, us humans do something called a 'high-five'. I'll teach you later."

  More screams emerged from the mansion. "We should speed this up," Millie said, awkwardly watching them have a moment.

  "Yes. Of course," Striaster said.

  Jay turned to Xera. "When I tell you, run at the gates and raise all of hell for a moment before getting yourself out of there."

  Striaster turned to him. "There's a sparsely guarded entrance into the dungeons. We can use that. No freeing prisoners until we're done, though. We can't have anyone looking to take revenge or doing anything to compromise us."

  Jay nodded. He pointed at Millie. "She's not exactly... subtle, I'll say."

  Millie spoke up. "I'm right here, you know!"

  Striaster nodded thoughtfully. "Send her in with Xera, then. Have 'em attract extra attention then get out of there."

  Jay nodded at Millie, who was slightly fuming. "You're going with Xera."

  Millie shook her head. "I'm coming with you. Those demons need to be taught a lesson."

  Jay stood, looking into her eyes. "What do you think happens if we get found? Do you think we can fight off a compound of demons, all at least as strong as Striaster?"

  Striaster got up as well. "Most are far stronger than I am. I'm one of the few who was never interested in strength. If you face Ridnel, or gods forbid, Astaroth, you're DONE. There's no way you're getting out of that alive."

  Millie paled in the sheer seriousness of Striaster's speech. Xera looked up, concerned. She hadn't yet readapted to her emotions. Xera grabbed her warhammer, finally speaking. "We- We'll go slap them around," she said, sounding shaky.

  Jay nodded, slightly concerned. "After causing a disruption, leave immediately. Don't stay behind and die."

  Everyone nodded together, and they were off.

  Striaster led Jay to a solid wall, poking at it for a couple minutes. Then he nodded. "There's a new code, but I can get us in." Seeing Jay's questioning look, he continued. "If you say the password, the door opens. It's a fun bit of magic that's supposed to be our escape plan."

  Jay nodded. "What's the password?"

  Striaster wrinkled his nose. "You really don't want to know."

  "I probably don't, but I should, just in case."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Striaster nodded. "Fair enough. It's 'Humans taste good'."

  Jay sighed. "Yeah. I didn't want to know."

  Striaster put his hand around Jay. "The more you know-"

  A very loud crashing noise echoed around them. Jay heard shouting. "It's warhammer time!," he heard a faint Xera cry. Millie shouted too. "I'm still drowsy!"

  "That's our cue," Jay said, walking up to the door. The next words left a bad taste in his mouth. "Humans taste good."

  The door opened, the wall simply retracting and sliding aside, leaving a passageway in. It was part of a room with cells on both sides. They stepped in and started to run. There was no time to waste. They ran past rows and rows of cells, voices calling out to Jay. They didn't slow for any of them until he recognized one. "...Jay?"

  Jay stopped, listening for the voice again. "I'm over here," it called again, feebly. Striaster tugged on his arm.

  "We have to go! There's no time!"

  Jay shook his head. "One of the prisoners is the king. We cannot leave him until we finish this."

  Jay inspected every cell, looking for a trace of the king, until he found him. An emaciated man sat in a cell, everything about him tired and old, except for his eyes. They shone with defiance. "Finally." the king said. "You Gemstones took too long."

  "To be fair, we didn't know you were here. Aren't you at the palace?," Jay asked.

  The king spat to the side. "I was replaced by a doppleganger and taken immediately after I left the school that day."

  Jay nodded. He grabbed the door, wrenching it out. The king was shackled, with runes covering the chains. That seemed to be their method of keeping people in check, not the door. "Diamond, we found someone. Get them out, now."

  Diamond's voice spoke in his ear. "The hell is the king doing here?"

  A portal appeared under the king and he quickly disappeared, the chains suddenly not existing, as if they weren't there in the first place. Striaster quirked an eyebrow. "Who's 'Diamond'?"

  "A really powerful dude. He's the head of the Gemstone Council, who are basically the good guys. I'm actually part of the council, but I'm not very strong."

  Striaster nodded. "He got rid of chains that Astaroth himself made. He's incredibly strong."

  Jay nodded. "Now, we continue at full speed."

  They started running again. Striaster knew the paths well, so Jay let him run ahead. Jay bisected a few demons as they passed. They had black, beady eyes, wings, and tails. They were also relatively small. Striaster suddenly stopped at a door, opening it. The silver bow Jay had prepared loosed arrows, each striking one of the demons inside. Striaster went for the ones on the right side while he took the ones on the left. After he shot an arrow, the silver liquid dissipated, and he felt it return to him, ready to be used again.

  Quickly, he realized what the price of range was. This tired out his soul easily, and he wouldn't be able to keep this up for too long a period. Creating a sword, he dashed forward, quickly taking out the rest of the demons. Striaster ran to the center of the room, where a circle of runes were engraved on the floor. They both knelt, studying them. "It's not powered by any energy we use," Striaster said, shaking his head.

  Jay continued to examine them. The runes seemed to contain a more... evil energy than the ones he was used to. It had the characteristics of both Voice and Note, corrupting emotions imbued into music which would carry them into someone's heart. "This is the product of Voice and Note, two benevolent energies, but it seems to be a corrupted version of them. Evil emotions carried by the world's music."

  Striaster nodded. "I don't like the sound of that."

  Jay sat back. "I can probably force it to break, though I don't know what the side effects will be."

  "Do it," Striaster said. "This is the portal everyone came through, and I don't want anyone else coming here. You don't know what my so-called 'friends' were like, and if mother comes through... bad things will happen."

  Jay looked over to him, seeing fear in Striaster's eyes for the first time. This truly was something he couldn't slack off on. "I'll do it, then."

  He condensed Note and Voice in his hands, Note in his left and Voice in his right. Then he planted his hands on the runes and poured his entire reserves in. The runes immediately started glowing, but he hadn't powered them correctly. The Note and Voice was set to blow, his intent telling it to do so. Grabbing Striaster, he stepped out of the room, closing the door behind them. A muffled boom sounded as they stared into a demon's red eyes. His entire body was black, with wings extending from his back. "Oh, Striaster. Participating in treachery, I see. You're lucky your mother forbids me from killing you. And who's this human?"

  Jay. I-I just gained a new ability. When you killed... those things. I got it. And I really hate it. And I DON'T WANT IT. But I. I -I may have to use it now, if there's no other choice. Um. What I mean is IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO WIN WITHOUT IT I'LL USE IT.

  Jay immediately paused. Amon seemed desperate about the ability, like she didn't want anything to do with it. Something was wrong. "Oh, uh, hey, Astaroth. How are you doing today?," Striaster asked.

  Astaroth's face turned red as he turned into an almost perfect copy of Striaster, except with purple eyes. "I'll deal with you later. For now, the human."

  He seemed to teleport to Jay, and his neck was suddenly in Astaroth's hold. "He looks tasty," Astaroth said. "I might keep him to scream for a while."

  Use it.

  A-are you certain. There's no going back.

  Use it.

  You're really sure.

  I trust you. This is a last resort, but it has to be done. Jay sent some love along with the image. He immediately felt Amon brighten.

  Fine. I'm sorry.

  Jay felt a presence reach into his mind. It was Amon. She ran through it all, running to her destination. Jay followed her progress, ignoring Astaroth's inspection of him. Then she stopped at his chains. She tapped his eighth chain, and it unraveled.

  Jay's body exploded with power, as his emotions disappeared, but it wasn't enough. His cold calculations told him that Astaroth would still match him and win, at the power he was showing. This also probably wasn't his full strength.

  Break more. It is necessary.

  You're not in your right mind. No. This is enough strength to call Diamond. Have him save you so you don't lose more chains.

  BREAK THEM!

  No. Amon stayed resolute in her refusal.

  Then I'll do it myself.

  Jay shoved aside Amon and grabbed the next chain. He was about to break it, when he heard her... start weeping in a corner of his mind. His eighth chain suddenly almost snapped back into place, and he ran to her side. "Sorry. Sorry. I'm so sorry," he kept whispering as he hugged her. Amon laid against his chest, her crying coming to an end. "Call Diamond," the silver lady said, turning up to look at him. Then she dissipated, returning to his soul. There she stayed. Jay immediately followed her, cajoling her to go to sleep, or rest, which she eventually did. They had time inside of his mind, and he would make things up for his previous transgression.

  After she was sleeping, or something similar to it, Jay returned to the outside world. Astaroth spoke again. "Maybe I can break your chains and make you go mad."

  He felt another presence grab his chains, but he knew what he had to do this time. Astaroth snapped the chain, but Jay didn't lose any of his emotions. He clung to them, knowing just how important they were. A shining link formed, a single link of an unformed chain, aiming in the direction of his soul. Then another. And another. Then a bright chain was formed, tying his consciousness down to his soul. Memories appeared in his head, of this happening countless times before, every time with Amon helping, not sad and asleep.

  His guilt drove him as the chain finally connected. Astaroth's eyes bulged. "What is this sorcery?"

  Jay opened his mouth and barely managed to croak two words before falling unconscious in Astaroth's hand. "Diamond. Help."