Turns out, the lady was speaking the truth.

The other demons were out to kill me.

Unfortunately, they died when Faron accidentally stepped on her.

But I had made her a promise.

A promise to not let any more harm befall this place.

And that promise? Well, I can’t keep that promise as long as there are demons outside my control running around.

Luca.

My eyes scanned through the pitch-black surroundings. The moon was up, but it didn’t give off enough light to illuminate the ground.

The ash-ridden fields I were standing on were blending together with the dark horizon. The only contrasting color there were Faron, me, and my floodlight-like eyes scanning the field.

“So… it comes to this. To think, all this could have been avoided if I had simply let you die that day in the cave.”

Luca’s voice was coming from every direction at once.

Then I realized why.

There were hundreds, no, thousands of Lucas all around me.

“You don’t stand a chance Luca. Just give up. I have more power now than you could ever imagine.”

“That’s what you think. Power isn’t everything in this world, my dear Anders…”

I smirked a little. “By all means. Try me.”

One of the Lucas threw out a blast of hellfire at me, probably to test the waters.

I let the attack hit, and it did nothing.

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I whipped my tail, hitting a couple dozen Lucas all at once.

“You can’t win this by attrition, you can’t win with numbers on your side, and you definitely can’t win with power. Your best shot would be to give up, and have a quick and painless death.”

Luca sent out one of his clones from the crowd, and I locked eyes with him.

…

“Well? Are you going to say anything?”

The clone put one finger on my mouth, almost signaling me to be quiet.

“Anders… That’s your weakness. You’re naïve.”

I was going to bite him, but then I came up with a better idea. I stretched out a hand toward him, and instantly absorbed the clone into my mass.

Perhaps this is exactly what he wanted.

All the Luca clones started exploding. Each of the individuals were going off like I apparently had when Jesus had killed me.

Oh fuck.

I tried to get into the air, but something held my foot down.

Ten Luca clones were all clinging onto my foot like mosquitoes.

Then, they exploded.

-

I opened my eyes.

Was i… underwater?

A crab was standing on my torso, apparently trying to rip off some of my flesh to eat it. It didn't affect me at all, as expected.

It appeared that I had returned to my human form too.

I looked to my arms and legs.

They were missing.

I let out a little yelp, but all I accomplished was losing some air precious air from my lungs.

“Anders!”

I heard the muffled voice of Faron. His gigantic, looming wolf form was standing at the shoreline.

Then he locked eyes with me.

He jumped into the water, and swam down to grab me off the floor.

I was starting to lose air, and my lungs involuntarily gasped in some seawater.

My vision started to blur…

And then the sound of water splashing hit my eardrums.

I coughed up some water.

“What… what happened…”

Faron looked down at me with sadness in his eyes.

“The good news is that Luca is no more.”

“The bad ones? Well… You can see for yourself.”

I was both relieved and sad.

Relieved that, for the first time, I was truly the only one in control.

But at the same time… If my limbs were ever going to grow back, the demonic regeneration would have kicked in already.

“So… I’m God. But I’m also permanently a cripple.”

I looked to the sunrise. The scene was like out of a movie, with water silently splashing up against the beach.

The soft grass was flowing neatly in the wind, and brushing up against my battered body.

I inhaled deeply.

The salty smell of seawater filled my nostrils.

I exhaled again, looking up at Faron. The towering figure of the spirit-wolf was looking down over me like a concerned guardian looking out for its child.

“Looks like that’s the case.”

I watched the sun slowly rise up into the sky like a fiery signal of a new beginning.

And of new possibilities.

-

-

“I’m okay with that.”