Chapter 16:

I spent the next five days hunting for Belferon, but he was nowhere to be found. I still believed he held the topaz ring in his backpack, tucked away in one of Ren’s trousers’ pockets - a crucial piece in my plan to escape this nightmare.

The persistent thought that Lida might discover my plans gnawed at me constantly. Knowing she could read my thoughts left me at a severe disadvantage. To counter this, I focused on two strategies: keeping my mind as clear as possible of any thoughts about the topaz, and hoping her strained relationship with Belferon would work in my favor. If tensions between them were as high as I witnessed thus far, perhaps I wouldn’t have to face them both if the worst-case scenario came true.

I pondered whether I should visit the jailhouse again, hoping Sona and Jhad might have gained some new insights. However, the memory of Lida’s punishment held me back. She had already proven herself to be cunning and merciless, and I couldn’t risk Ren’s safety on a whim. If, in the end, I decided that my escape required their help, I’d have to break them out - but only when everything else was already in place. Acting too early would be foolish and far too risky. The last thing I needed was to draw Lida’s attention again.

In the evening, with the ritual of sacrifice looming just three days away, I decided to pay a visit to the infirmary, determined to check on Ren’s well-being. I cautiously circled the building, casting careful glances through the back windows to ensure that Vera and her nurses weren’t present. Once I was certain the coast was clear, I pried the window open and climbed inside.

Once inside, I approached Ren’s bedside. It was the first time I’ve seen her since Lida's wicked punishment, and my heart raced with worry. Gently, I touched her forehead, checking for any sign of fever, then ran my hands along her arms, searching for any injuries beyond her still very purplish arm. Lowering my head close to hers, I listened for the steady rhythm of her breathing, reassured that she was still alive.

I sighed with relief and spoke softly, hoping she could hear me, or maybe just needing someone to vent to.

“I still haven’t found Belferon. He’s just an old man, so why is he so hard to find?” I whispered. “And Vera…I haven’t seen her since the day we got here…”

As I paced the room, sharing my concerns with Ren, I noticed something unsettling. Of the four comatose patients I had seen when we first arrived, only two remained: the red-haired woman and the little boy. Whatever happened to them, it likely wasn’t good. If prisoners from the jailhouse could be taken away and never seen again, there was no reason to believe the infirmary’s patients, these simpler targets, wouldn’t meet a similar fate. From the start, patients like Ren had been kept here alive as leverage, manipulating their loved ones and giving them hope to cling to. If some of the captives were already executed, then there was no point in keeping their loved ones here.

“Hello there, Luca.” Vera’s voice pierced the air from behind, and I suddenly realized she might have been in the infirmary for all this time, even though I was sure it had been empty when I slipped inside.

I turned to face her. She was leaning against the wall in the corner of the infirmary, eying me from head to toe, a faint smile playing on her lips.

My muscles tensed, ready to attack. Lida was nowhere to be seen, and if that remained the case, no one would be able to stop me. If I could kill Vera here and now, the entire ritual would be doomed.

“I would advise you against whatever you’re planning right now.” She remarked, casually making her way around the back of the room toward the shelves.

Her comment caught me off guard. Could she read my thoughts too? Did she have a pink stone of her own?

She reached the shelves, her back to me, completely exposed.

I silently grabbed a metal scalpel from the table beside me and analyzed the situation. This was it. The golden opportunity. It shouldn’t be too hard - her back was already facing me.

But as I hesitated to take a life, doubt crept in. Was this moment too good to be true? She just stood there, calmly rummaging through the shelf, as if waiting for me to make my move.

Eventually, I realized it didn’t matter. I just needed to act. Without her, there would be no ritual. I closed my eyes, heart pounding, and quickly paced toward her, the scalpel gripped tightly in my right hand.

My hand trembled with fear, but my heart was set on going through with it. I raised the scalpel and stabbed her in the back, aiming for what I believed would be her heart.

There was no reaction. No painful groan, no sharp intake of breath – nothing. No blood came from the wound as well. In fact, she continued to calmly run her hand over the glass jars on the shelf, completely unbothered.

“Didn’t think you had it in you, really.” She said eventually.

My hand instinctively released the scalpel, which remained lodged in her back, and I took a step back. I stared at it, reassuring myself that it had indeed gone in. So how? How was she still standing, unaffected?

The scalpel suddenly slid out of her body and clattered to the floor. Her blue shirt and her back looked exactly the same as before – as if I had never stabbed her at all.

She turned around with a smile and placed a hand on my chest. With a swift motion, she flicked me with her index finger. The measly strike sent me flying across the room, crashing into the table in the center of the infirmary.

Pain shot through my back from the impact, and I reached for it instinctively.

“I warned you.” She remarked.

My mind raced, trying to make sense of her overwhelming strength. A hematite? No. Even for a hematite, a single flick from a finger shouldn’t have caused so much damage. Was it a different mineral that enhanced strength - one I hadn’t heard of? But that still wouldn’t explain why the scalpel, which had clearly pierced her body, had no effect.

“How?” I groaned, still reeling from the pain. “What mineral grants such physical strength?”

She began to laugh. “No stones. See?” she said, holding up her hands. None of her fingers bore any rings.

Then how? Maybe she had some other magical accessory on her?

She pointed her right hand at me. At first, I braced myself, expecting her to attack again, but instead, I felt the pain in my body fade away. In an instant, I was revitalized, like a new and fresh version of myself.

But where is her healing stone?

My confused expression seemed to amuse her, and with a sly smile, she spoke. “You know what? I’m in a good mood. Let me show you something.”

Her words were as cryptic as they were terrifying. There was a sinister cadence to her voice, and though I didn’t understand what she wanted, refusing her wasn’t really an option.

She brought her hands together, forming a symbol with the middle and index fingers of both hands – a triangle turned upside-down, pierced by a diagonal line.

The infirmary trembled, and behind her, the floor yawned open like the maw of a giant beast. She smiled, signaling for me to follow, then began descending into the darkness, down a long staircase revealed by the chasm she’d created.

I stood up and peered into the abyss before me. I had no idea where it led or what awaited below, yet curious and hopeful that I might uncover something useful to escape drew me into the unknown.

As I descended the stairs, a sharp, metallic scent filled the air, assaulting my nostrils - the unmistakable stench of blood. My senses heightened, and an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.

Upon reaching the bottom of the staircase, my foot landed on a cold, wet surface. The darkness obscured its nature, leaving me unsettled and disoriented.

Vera was nowhere to be seen, so I proceeded cautiously, trailing my hand along the wall for guidance, trying to maintain a connection to my surroundings. My fingers grazed the cool, damp surface as I moved forward. In the distance, a faint light flickered into view. As I approached, the stench around me became viler with each step, leaving me on the verge of throwing up.

When I finally reached the light, I found myself in a large chamber of horrors.

The dim, red glow unveiled a haunting image that sent shivers down my spine - human body parts scattered haphazardly, some bearing grotesque wounds, as if torn apart by monstrous bites, while others were brutally dismembered. The liquid underfoot, once a mystery, was now visible – blood, pooled in thick puddles beneath my feet. It was a nightmarish sight that made me tremble with fear.

At the center of it all was a pile of bones and human remains. At first, the sight of it turned my stomach, forcing me to look away, but my gaze was drawn back, and I realized it was shaped like some sort of throne.

I covered my nose with my shirt, trying to shield myself from the overpowering stench that clung to the air. Among the remains, I recognized a head – one that belonged to a bandit who attacked us upon our arrival to Vedem, one of Jhad’s men. My mind immediately flashed back to my conversation with Jhad and Sona. This is where the prisoners who were taken away ended up.

Questions swirled in my mind: What was this place? Who could commit such atrocities? And more importantly, who, or what, was Vera?

My gaze darted across the room until it landed on a peculiar symbol fashioned from human bones and hanging on the wall. It was an upside-down triangle, intersected by a diagonal line - the same symbol Vera had made with her fingers to open the entrance to this nightmarish place.

My heart skipped a beat as a hand gently rested on my shoulder, and Vera’s all-too-familiar whispered in my ear. “Welcome to my domain, Luca.” she uttered calmly, her tone sending a chill down my spine.

The air seemed to grow heavier as she glided past me and settled onto the morbid throne of body parts. She crossed her legs, one on top of the other, and straightened her posture, appearing as graceful as a queen. The sight of her sitting on that grotesque throne sent shivers down my spine, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was done for.

“What is this place?” I managed to choke out, my voice barely rising above a whisper.

“My home.” She said, her eyes gleaming with amusement. Her smile was unsettling. “Well, just a cheap imitation of it, if I’m being honest.”

Vera, perched on a mound of lifeless bodies, seemed like a different kind of evil altogether. Both she and Lida stirred a similar feeling of fear within me, but while Lida was the master of mental torment, Vera’s chamber was the manifestation of physical horror. Lida’s cruelty felt almost mundane compared to the brutality I had witnessed here.

“Congratulations, Luca, you are the first human in forty-three years that I’ve invited here.” she suddenly declared. “I admit, it was disheartening that the last forty-one sacrifices were nothing but pathetic losers. They lacked the courage and will to truly fight for their lives. But you...you’re different.”

Her words echoed in the chamber, but I ignored them for now, trying to understand where exactly I was.

“What is this place?” I asked again. She called it her home, but that did little to explain things.

“Is that really the question that bothers you?” she replied with a smirk.

I swallowed hard, realizing she had a point. I shifted my focus, changing the question, striking the heart of the matter. “What are you?” I asked, my voice a mixture of fear and curiosity.

“Now that’s a better question.” She replied, her grin widening. “Let me show you.”

As she finished her words, her appearance began to shift. Slowly, a pair of horns rose from her head, their tips curving outward at the edges. Her skin darkened into a blueish hue, and her eyes, once human, turned completely black, with red pupils blazing in their centers. Her teeth elongated into sharp points, and the nails on her hands grew, resembling small knives more than anything else. A long, slender tail swayed behind her.

In that instant, the realization hit me - she was a demon.

My heart was gripped with fear as the understanding settled in. She was unlike the normal hellspawns that emerged from the demonic breaches – mere beasts those were. No, she was something different - a being of great power, far beyond anything I could hope to combat.

A chill ran down my spine as I recalled what little I knew about demons. They and their realm were said to have been destroyed by the great hero Sepharion five centuries ago. Yet when the demonic breaches began reappearing, many feared that demons and, worse, the archdemons – the true rulers of Hell - would return soon enough.

“You’re a demon...” I whispered, more to myself than to her.

She raised a finger, correcting me with a wicked smile. “An archdemon, to be precise.”

My heart sank even deeper. My predicament was getting worse with each second. If she truly was one of the ten archdemons of Hell, then any hope I had of escaping this place alive was gone. Only the champions could match a being like her in power.

“Don’t worry, Luca.” She purred, her tone growing lower, a distinct beastly hum accompanying it. “I’m actually quite overjoyed to have you here.”

Her attempt to reassure me only increased my fear. The surreal sight of an archdemon, once disguised as a human, terrified me to my core. Suddenly, my fear of Lida felt insignificant. It was beings like Vera that I truly needed to be afraid of.

Her eerie laughter echoed through the chamber as she looked down at me, her amusement only growing. “Don’t worry.” She repeated, grinning. “I don’t plan on hurting you…for the time being.”

Then, as if sensing my skepticism, she raised her right hand, deftly crossing her index and middle fingers. With an evil grin, she declared. “It’s a promise.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

A shiver ran down my spine, but to my surprise, a faint glow emanated from the bone-made symbol on the wall. A strange, subtle reassurance washed over me, and I exhaled slowly, calmer than before, yet still on edge.

Cautiously, I gathered the courage to ask about the symbol. “What does it mean?”

“It’s my name, actually.” She explained. “Vorlexia. Or what you humans would call ‘Insatiable Hunger’ in your many languages.”

As I pondered the demonic meaning of her name, the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together. The true nature of the upcoming ritual – the consumption of the sacrifice - and the scenes within this chamber only confirmed the true nature of the archdemon before me - Insatiable Hunger.

“Why are you here?” I asked, trying to make sense of the mystery.

Vorlexia leaned forward, her pitch-black eyes locking onto mine. “This village, Luca, is my feeding ground. A buffet of hope and despair, of fear and agony.” She said, her voice chillingly calm. “I was exiled from Hell, believe it or not, four-hundred and twenty-eight years ago. Weakened beyond recognition, I needed sustenance to reclaim my power. Luckily, this shithole called Vedem existed. The people here, their belief in Vitara, made them so stupid, so gullible - it was laughable, really. With one simple lie, I swayed them. So pathetic.”

She laughed briefly, and when she noticed I didn’t join her, she continued. “You know, I met Vitara once. Let me tell you this - she doesn’t give two damns about human lives. Clearly her least favorite creation, from what she told me.”

“The goddess of life doesn’t care for human lives?” I asked skeptically, suspecting this was just another attempt to unnerve me.

“Humans weren’t the only lifeforms she gave life to, you know.” she pointed out. “I’m pretty sure she likes dogs the most.”

“Why the healer charade then?” I asked, shifting to a different question.

Perched on her throne of corpses, Vorlexia grinned wickedly. “Oh, don’t you love the irony? Healing, mending wounds, only for them to meet a more terrible fate.”

Her words made my skin crawl, but I pressed on, determined to understand why she invited me to her chamber. “Why am I here?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

Vorlexia chuckled, the sound echoing through the chamber. “Why, I just wanted to give you a small reward for fighting so hard. Don’t you feel honored, being here with me?”

“A reward?” I asked, surprised. “No offense, but I wouldn’t call this place a reward.”

She laughed at my words. “Oh yes, I forget how you humans like to act soft in front of others, all the while plotting the most evil and sinister things against each other. At least in Hell, we’re upfront about it.”

She paused, waiting for a reaction. When she got none, she continued. “You’re the key ingredient in this year’s grand feast…as you already know. Your fear, your struggles, they make the harvest all the more satisfying. I figured I should give you some sort of reward for making it this far without losing hope. So…ask me anything. I’ll probably answer most of your questions.”

Seeing as I had nothing to lose, I tried to gather all the unanswered questions that had overwhelmed me since I’d been imprisoned here.

“Vitara...Why her? I understand that the villagers were her followers, but how did you convince them that sacrificing and consuming humans was in her name?” I asked, trying to understand how she had really pulled it off.

She chuckled, her laughter echoing through the chamber. “Oh, the simplicity of human belief. I told you they were dumb, didn’t I? They yearned for a sign, a glimpse of the divine. I gave them just that. A touch of the unknown, and they willingly embraced the lie.”

She continued, revealing the details of her manipulation. “All of Vedem’s villagers believed in Vitara, but their levels of faith differed. Half of them clung to the old ways of worship, while the other half believed that change was needed. Their differences, combined with the harsh environment they lived in, grew with each passing year, threatening to boil over. And then I came along and stoked the fire...” She smirked. “The old ways died, replace by the new ones, following my every word as Vitara’s prophet.”

A mixture of disgust and horror washed over me as I envisioned the villagers blindly following the commands of an archdemon, naively believing it was their goddess will. I pressed on, desperate for more answers. “Having differences, even fighting and killing over them, is something I can imagine.” I said, before my voice took on a tinge of disbelief. “But cannibalism? That’s a leap too far. There’s no way they all believed you.”

“You’re giving them too much credit.” She leaned forward, her eyes gleaming. “The conservatives were the ones sacrificed in the first ritual. The ‘progressives’, as they liked to call themselves, became my servants. They pledged their loyalty to me in exchange for eternal youth and prosperity.”

The gravity of her words sank in. I didn’t want to believe Belferon and Lida, but seeing an archdemon in front of me now made their claims undeniable – they were indeed hundreds of years old. The villagers had traded their morality for eternal life. In a sense, they were victims too at first, deceived by an archdemon, but right now, after participating in hundreds of human sacrifices, they could never be forgiven.

“In their defense,” Vorlexia added, “this village used to be the nastiest place you could possibly imagine. Full of swamps and disease that were left here by my brother, Thalzor. I kept my part of the agreement and made it prosper. They even became one of the top providers of cotton and wheat for the entire kingdom.”

“So, the villagers believe they’re sacrificing for Vitara, who grants them youth and blessings, while in reality, it’s you who feeds on the souls of the sacrificed.” I stated, my voice steady.

She nodded, her eyes gleaming with evil, sending shivers down my spine. “Precisely. The energy released during their sacrificial rituals is a feast for me. The more malevolence and wickedness they exhibit, the more I revel in their actions - and the more power I gain.”

“Is it really the consumption of human flesh that keeps them young?” I asked, my voice full of disgust.

Vorlexia’s reaction answered my question before she even spoke. Her laugh echoed through the chamber once more. “They are a gullible bunch. I even asked them to sacrifice their own children and refrain from having any more during one of the first feasts, and they gladly agreed. They are a sick bunch…and I love them for that!”

“Belferon...” I mustered the strength to say his name, my voice filled with anger. “How did he really become a part of this?”

She smirked. “The old fool was an unexpected delight. He didn’t even believe in Vitara when he and his naive brother first came here.” She paused, her grin widening. “His desire for immortality was something beyond reason. He was dying, you know? Caught some disease during their travels. The thought of death drove him mad. When he sacrificed his own brother, the sheer malevolence unleashed was the equivalent of a royal banquet for me. His actions, powered by desperation and greed, made his brother’s soul oh so delicious - it provided me with sustenance for years. And the best part? I didn’t even have to lift a finger to make him do any of it! I never promised him immortality. He sacrificed his brother simply to gain my trust. Everything was of his own accord. Back then, and every year since.”

He was a fool. A fool beyond redemption.

“And Lida?” I spat out her name with bitterness. “Is she one of your kind? Another demon in disguise?”

My hatred for her and her wickedness was overwhelming. It was almost as if I hoped she was a hellspawn disguised as a human. At least then I wouldn’t have to live with the realization that humans like her could exist.

Vorlexia’s laughter filled the chamber once again. “Oh, no. Lida is just a mere human, like you. She’s simply an example of how easily a broken soul can be molded. I gave her the one thing she was missing her entire life – love and affection - and she was willing to do anything for me. I gave her the quartz ring, and after that, it was all her: both ideas and execution. Even now, hundreds of years later, she’s still thinking up new ways to torment, purely for her own enjoyment. She’s the only one here that knows the truth about me. She was also the one who guided me to Vedem in the first place.”

My fists clenched involuntarily, my disdain for Lida intensifying. She wasn’t just a pawn; she knew that Vera was Vorlexia, an archdemon, and still served her willingly.

“What now?” I managed to utter, my voice filled with a mix of resignation and defiance. All of Vorlexia’s answers had left me reeling, yet I couldn’t shake the sense that she still had more cards to play. From what I knew about demons, they didn’t care for humans at all. She could claim she wanted to reward me for surviving as much as she liked, but in reality, this meeting served her own purpose. I just hadn’t figured out what it was yet…

Her eyes glinted with delight as she leaned in. “Now, my dear Luca, everything proceeds according to plan. In three days, you will be the star of our grand ritual - a sacrifice to feed my insatiable hunger.”

I couldn’t help but push back against the supposed inevitability of my fate. This wasn’t the answer I was expecting. “But why?” I asked. “I’m here now, fully aware of the truth. What’s the point of the ritual? Just kill me now.”

She chuckled. “Ah, Luca, but I already explained, didn’t I? It’s not about the end; it’s about the journey. Three days are enough time to let you scurry around, desperate to escape your fate. The fear, the desperation, the futile hope - all these emotions enhance the flavour of your soul, and even your flesh, making it the tastiest of feasts for me.”

The feeling that it was still not the entire truth kept gnawing at me. There had to be a different reason she’d invited me here. There had to be. “Why am I here?” I pressed. “I know it’s not to reward me. Answer truthfully.”

Her smile widened, revealing her sharp teeth. “Why would you think I’m lying?”

I cleared my throat. “Call it a gut feeling.”

She watched me with her malicious gaze for a moment, as if weighing my words, before finally speaking. “Very sharp of you. You see, this is actually my last feast.”

Her words took me by surprise. Why would an archdemon abandon such fruitful feeding ground? A monopoly on human souls in these parts. A plot that had kept her fed for so long.

“Your last feast?” I asked, puzzled.

She nodded. “At first, Vedem was just a place I wanted to use to regain my strength, but everything went much better than expected. Over the centuries, the number of souls I devoured made me stronger than ever before. Now, I think it’s time.”

“Time for what?”

She smiled chillingly. “To reclaim what was taken from me in the depths of my real home – Hell.”

The thought of her leaving earth to return to Hell was oddly relieving, but I still couldn’t understand how it involved me.

“What does that have to do with me?” I asked the impending question.

She smiled. “How should I put it? You see, since I’m already strong enough, I was willing to let you go for free. But my sweet Lida went through all the trouble of tormenting you and building up your hopes of escape, so now I feel like I can’t anymore. Imagine human food, for example: you’ve marinated a steak and put it on the grill. It’s cooked perfectly on one side, and now you’ve flipped it to the other. The smell is wonderful, and the juices are spilling everywhere, making your mouth water. Would you suddenly stop and send the meat back to the butcher? Of course not! You’ll finish cooking it and feast on that delicious steak.”

Her words hung in the air as she closed her eyes, seeming to savor the metaphor she’d just presented, likely imagining human flesh and souls instead.

I was at a loss for words, but she continued. “At the same time, seeing you struggle and fight for survival is inspiring. I haven’t had a hopeful soul like yours in at least four decades.”

I looked at her with questioning eyes, still struggling to understand her point.

“So, after careful consideration,” she eventually said, “and out of sheer benevolence, I’ve decided to gift you a chance to save yourself.”

I raised an eyebrow, unsure if I believed her. “A chance?”

“Glad you asked.” She nodded, her grin widening. “What would you say if I offered you a deal?”

A deal with an archdemon. I heard enough about demonic deals to know there was no way I was going to agree to it. All demons did was deceive humans. Even the best deals on paper would somehow end up as your worst nightmare.

I knew all that, and yet…I was still tempted to hear her out.

“What kind of deal?” I asked hesitantly.

Her smile widened even more, and the red pupils in her eyes seemed to glow brighter for a moment.

“I was thinking of something like this,” she began. “I won’t intervene in any of your plans to escape Vedem over the next few days, up until the day of the ritual - including the day itself. If you need to steal – steal. If you need to kill – kill. I won’t warn Walden. I won’t warn Lida. I won’t interfere in anything you’re planning.”

Having the archdemon who run everything here promising not to interfere was reassuring. Her unimaginable power could easily crush any of my plans, so having her out of the picture seemed like the only way to succeed. Still, it didn’t make sense why she was suddenly willing to give up on my soul.

“I find it hard to believe.” I admitted. “All this effort to catch and torment me, and now you’re saying you’ll let me try to escape?”

Her laughter echoed through the chamber again. “It won’t be for free, of course. You haven’t asked what I want in return yet.”

I sighed and cleared my throat before speaking. “What do you want in return?”

She smiled malevolently. “A soul. In exchange for yours.”

Her answer left me even more confused. She was willing to let me go if I gave her a someone else’s soul? It didn’t make much sense, and her grand scheme was still eluding me.

“A soul?” I asked, baffled.

“Yes. A soul for a soul.” She replied, her grin widening. “But not just any soul. I want the soul of the most hopeful person around here. Besides you, of course.”

The soul of the most hopeful person around? Was she referring to someone specific? Demons were known for their cunning, and it was the small details that were said to matter most. I knew I had to be sure of what she meant before agreeing.

“Are you referring to anyone in particular? Or are you just speaking in riddles?” I asked.

She smiled. “Yes.”

Her answer only confused me further. “Yes to which one of the questions?”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “It’s someone in particular.”

I tried to think of who could meet that criteria…the first name that came to mind was Belferon, but it couldn’t be that simple, right?

I was also shocked - and terrified - by how my mind was already weighing the idea of agreeing to her deal. But I didn’t have many choices. I’d rather play her game than have her actively interfering with my escape. If she did, I wouldn’t stand a chance. A simple flick of her finger had been enough to hurt me. I didn’t want to imagine what she could do if she really tried.

“What if I give you the wrong person?” I asked, trying to clear the last bit of confusion.

“It’s simple.” She replied. “If you bring the wrong person, I’ll take your soul as originally planned.”

“I don’t understand.” I admitted. “You already have my soul in the palm of your hand. Why ask for a different one?”

She smiled. “You won’t truly understand my reasons, so I won’t waste my time explaining them to you.”

I went over the terms of our impending deal in my head, trying to make sure I hadn’t missed any details that could backfire on me. She wouldn’t interfere in my escape attempts, as long as I captured and brought her a soul in exchange for my own. And it had to be the soul of the most hopeful person around, aside from myself - or she would take my soul. Someone in particular, someone she had already chosen.

“Does this soul belong to someone I know personally?” I asked, fishing for more details that might help me.

She laughed. “Why would I tell you that?”

“Because it wouldn’t be fair otherwise.” I explained, doing my best to sound naive. “If it’s just some random villager - which would be exactly the kind of trick a demon would pull – I’d never be able to figure it out.”

She remained silent for a moment, then rolled her eyes. “Fine. It’s someone you’ve spoken to.”

“And considering I can’t leave the village because of Lida, I assume this someone is still here?” I asked, making sure I understood the boundaries of the challenge. If the person she wanted had left Vedem, it could be impossible.

She nodded. “Of course.”

I nodded slowly. Someone hopeful, someone I knew personally, someone I’d spoken to, and they were still in Vedem. There were only a few people who fit that description. Vorlexia already seemed irritated by my previous questions, and I figured pushing her further might trigger an angry outburst. I decided not to risk it and shifted the conversation. “What about the other prisoners?” I asked, thinking of using Sona and Jhad in my escape plan. “Will they be able to escape with me?”

She shrugged. “As I said – do what you must to escape. I won’t interfere.”

She didn’t answer the question, but I knew I wouldn’t get anything clearer from her. At the very least, it meant I could use them in my escape plan for Ren and me. Their ultimate survival was never my concern anyway.

As I continued reviewing the details of the deal in my mind, she spoke again, sending a chill sown my spine. “It amuses me how Alaric searches for you, while you’re here, not that far from Willox.”

Dread washed over me at the mention of Alaric Belton. His promise to retrieve the calcite and make me suffer echoed in my mind. Now, with Vorlexia reminding me of his threat, my knees shook. I gulped, trying to steady my nerves. What does she know about him? About their pursuit? I had told Lida, under her magic’s influence, that the champions were after us, but Vorlexia sounded like she knew more than what I revealed.

“Alaric Belton?” I asked, my voice shaking. “What does he have to do with it?”

She remained elusive, refusing to clarify. “I’m afraid I can’t say.” She smirked, her eyes glinting with that familiar malevolence. “But don’t worry, I won’t tell him you’re here. You’re my little secret.”

As I recalled the encounter with the champions in the treasury, a troubling connection between Alaric Belton and Hell began to take shape in my mind. His ruthlessness, and that of the Stormbringer, easily matched that of hellspawns. Vorlexia almost sounded like she knew Alaric Belton personally.

Could that be why Axel Bane unexpectedly allied with me? He had sounded wary and untrusting of Alaric Belton...or was he just playing his part in some intricate demonic plan?

As I pondered his intentions, Vorlexia watched me with amusement, clearly reveling in my uncertainty. “Tell you what,” she suddenly said, her voice dripping with mock generosity. “If you manage to bring me the soul I want in exchange for yours, I might tell you more about Alaric Belton and that little calcite you had stolen. To sweeten our little deal.”

“What do you know about the calcite?” I asked suddenly, but she just placed her index finger on her lips and smiled, as if gesturing that she couldn’t speak.

My heart pounded with fear over what I was about to do, but the prospect of having an archdemon out of my way - and the chance to learn more about the man hunting me, and the treasure we’d stolen - were too tempting to resist.

I nodded. “Alright. I agree to the deal.”

Suddenly, Vorlexia’s laughter echoed through the chamber, sending a shiver down my spine. She shifted on her throne of corpses, her eyes locking onto mine. “Splendid.” she purred, her voice chilling.

She extended her hand and waited for me to do the same. Hesitantly, I reached mine out, and she caught it midway, shaking it firmly.

The mundane handshake felt oddly anticlimactic. I had always imagined demonic deals to be more…magical. Eerie sounds, flashing lights – something more dramatic.

“Were you expecting something different?” She asked, as if reading my thoughts. Then she motioned for me to leave. “Now go. We’ll meet again in three days. Not going to lie, I’m crossing my fingers for you to succeed.”

With a casual wave of her hand, she dismissed me, and suddenly I found myself back on the cold floor of my dark confinement, wondering if this entire encounter had just been a part of my imagination.