Living was overrated.

What did it matter to one who had an abundance of it? Too much as far as Luizitine was concerned. He could rip off his own head, and he’d get a new one without issue. It might take some time, but he wouldn’t die. He never died. His true body was one that would neither age nor wither. A mind that would never deteriorate. A soul forged in the fiery pits of the underworld that would impart him limitless lives.

What did any of it matter? For Luizitine, the prize of immortality was nothing but a hoax. The power to relive his failures over and over without end. This made the ten-thousandth.

“Push harder, men! We’re almost through!’

He breathed a long sigh, the sounds of the armies outside filling the chamber. He could hear his demonlings and harpies getting slaughtered by the dozens. Damn, there goes Perciza. Many suitors would be weeping in the afterlife. Not him, of course. Death still held a grudge for the water spout incident. Maybe that was the real reason he kept losing so often.

“It’s giving way! Push! Push!”

Luizitine slicked back his hair, dawning his demonic mask.

His horns extended, eyes glowing white and nails sharpening into daggers. That foolish wizard and his holy magic. If this was to be his end, he’d be sure to get a nice meal for the road. Something to stave off the blood frenzy so he didn’t end up killing a small nation again.

“Heave!”

The doors burst open, soldiers with shining weapons and radiant armor plowing into his personal chambers. They were all covered in the blood of his allies, a state which the hellspawn refused to let go unpunished. The first was dead long before she could swing her sword. The next two were quicker, but his nails sliced clean through their armor.

Foolish wizard. How many lives must I take before you’re satisfied?

He leapt onto a wall, grabbing a soldier with his long tongue and tossing them onto a nearby wall. Another tried to impale him with a javelin, but he leapt aside, pointed fingers relieving them of their head.

His chamber was quickly filling with tasty morsels. They all lined up like snacks fresh from the bakery, ready to be eaten. He tore from one to another, leaping at a small squire when an arrow shot knocked him backward.

“That’s enough, demon!”

Luizitine got up only to feel another arrow pierce his left shoulder. His right. His chest. He was pinned to the ground, a child’s face appearing over him.

“It’s over, Luizitine!” the wizard shouted, bow drawn back at the ready.

The stars hadn’t been kind this particular cycle. The wizard had been reborn as a young man with scrawny arms and giant spectacles. His small frame paled in comparison to Luzimine’s, even without his demonic mask giving him the height advantage. And yet, the kid had managed to rally an army to fight with him.

Truly the cycle was a cruel one. Luizitine grinned.

“I’ll see you in the next li-”

An arrow lodged in his skull.

***

As was tradition, Luizitine woke up sometime later on a different plane of existence, his astral body floating over a brightly lit room in an unfamiliar world.

“Dammit.” He held his body, the pain lingering as it often did with each subsequent death. “Curse that wizard. I’ll make sure to boil him in oil when I find him this cycle.”

He looked around, trying to get his bearings. The hellspawn was in a room composed of brick and tile, what looked to be two sets of washbins arranged before him. The area was devoid of any windows or tapestry. In fact, there was only one person in this room. A human male was standing before a clear reflective portal.

“Cripes,” the man smacked himself. “Get it together, Justin. It’s fine. Everything’s fine.”

The human was a bit bigger than Luizitine was used to, his tan skin covered in thick folds covered up solely by a pair of black trousers. His messy brown locks and round squishy face didn’t exactly command fear, but he would have to do. The less time Luizitine spent as an astral body, the better.

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“Just gotta buck up,” the man was saying as Luzimine crept towards him. “Plenty of fish in the-”

Luizitine fell into his host, the man’s soul sending shockwaves in self-defense. They tickled a bit but did little damage. Beat it, human.

The shockwaves lasted a moment or two before ceasing, the former resident running out of juice and getting destroyed in the process. Luizitine flexed his fingers, the tensile sensations a bit unnatural, but merging with his mind little by little.

Alright. Stage 1 complete. Now I suppose I better-

The sounds of clattering feet rushed towards him, claws scrapping against carpet. He looked over to see a small brown creature slide into view, shouting at the top of its lungs. Whatever the creature was, it walked on four legs and had a tail beating behind it.

“Oh. Are you a guardian?”

The brown creature continued its verbal assault. Whatever it was saying, Luizitine didn’t like its tone. Perhaps destroying it on the spot would teach it a lesson. But then, he was in a new land and a new body. Better to get his barrings first.

“You will be my first minion,’’ he said. “Now OBEY!”

His eyes flashed white, the creature halting in an instant. Its body contorted and darkened, limbs growing as brown fur turned a deep shade of black. Two extra sets of eyes grew over its elongating snout. The transformation took only seconds, Luizitine relaxing as he looked over his new demonling.

“You can understand me now, correct?” he asked.

His minion sat down, enlarged tail falling at its side. It nearly reached the ceiling as big as it had grown.

“Bark. Yes, master.”

“What is your designation, creature?” Luizitine asked.

“Bark. This one is known as Gingee. Bark.”

Luizitine nodded. “Gingee. And what is my designation? What is this vessel’s name?”

“Bark. This one goes by Justin. This one is pleasing to me. Bark. I wish to play with him.”

“Maybe later.”

Gingee made a small whimper. Luzimine walked past, expecting his new living quarters.

Far from the castle he’d grown to love, he’d been degraded to a small chamber with a strange lantern. It held no fire and yet it could produce light like the sun. Fascinating. Hmm? Luizitine halted. There was a view portal at the head of the room. Several fools were congregating in what looked to be a tavern of sorts, an unseen minstrel playing music in the background.

“Hmm.” An echo of laughter rose from the other tavern guests. Luizitine snapped his fingers. “Minion Gingee, what are we witnessing here? Was this Justin fellow a sorcerer?”

Gingee scratched its ear. “Bark. That is the magic box, master.”

“Magic box?” He rapped his knuckles against it. It felt like glass. Whatever it was, it didn’t respond to hand gestures.

“Bark. The humans refer to it as a ‘television’, master. Bark.”

“Television?” Luizitine nodded thoughtfully. Perhaps the magic of his new host was more powerful than he assumed. The portal seemed to switch targets at random, moving from person to person and even to different points in time. And always with that minstrel in the background. Were they too a sorcerer?

He put the thought aside as he watched the scenes unfold.

The world he’d been dropped within was indeed a strange one. Through the view portal, he saw carriages that roared like dragons. Birds made entirely of metal that the humans climbed inside for transport. And what were those tiny devices they kept lugging around? They didn’t appear to be weapons, not unless the humans liked putting daggers to their ears.

This cycle. He expected the box more closely, finding jet-black ropes attached to a wall. Just what kind of sorcery was it? So much I don't understand. So much to learn. He smiled, a feeling he hadn’t felt in centuries rising in his chest.

Immortality was nothing but an endless lifetime of boredom and getting beaten by that foolish wizard. A myth that so many would deny if it were ever to grace them. No, the true prize was always in death. In reaching the height of power and resetting to take over the next world.

And what a world to be dropped into. Luzimine tried different incantations, but nothing seemed to work on the magic box. It was so powerful. What matter of creature could conceive of such a conduit?

I’ll have to study this television more closely. Learn its secrets. Tame it. But first. He felt his stomach rumble. Though he was inside a new body, he was still a hellspawn through and through. Unless he fed regularly, he’d be subjected to the blood frenzy.

“Minion Gingee,” he said. “Take me to your hunting grounds.”

“Bark. Yes, master. Bark.”

He followed his large companion as it descended the steps of their new home. The walls shook as he walked, a few paintings falling over, but Luizitine made a mental note to make repairs after he fulfilled his biological urges.

“Bark. Will Master be dining with this one? Bark.”

“I don’t see a problem with that, Gingee.”

The creature’s tail started to beat back and forth.