They say that when you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up.

I say that none of those people have ever been in my situation.

As I had mentioned before, jealousy has never been a stranger to me. But I had never envied Laura’s affections for Alverd. The two were, in my opinion, destined for each other. I felt that, in time, I would meet someone who would see past my sarcastic outer shell and see me for who I truly was: a lonely soul, one who put forth a strong front to hide the pain inside. Laura had always told me that as long as I kept hope in my heart, I’d meet a girl who would make me feel special.

Gods, if only she could see how true her words had been.

I fished the bracelet Deotra had thrown to me out of my pocket. I hadn’t had the guts to look at it before, but now I needed the motivation to do…whatever it was I was planning to do. It was simple red twine, attached to a charm made of some kind of animal bone. A strange rune had been carved meticulously into the bone. I had never seen writing of its kind, and could only guess at its meaning. I slipped the bracelet onto my left wrist, and it fit there snugly. I took a deep breath, and forged ahead.

I stormed down the path that lead to the Forest of Familiars. Before me rose the entrance, the black iron gate with its pair of guards in their colored cuirasses. They moved to stop me; with a wave of my new staff, I picked the two men up and threw them against each other. Their heads smacked together with a satisfying crack, and they crumpled to the ground. I stepped over their unconscious bodies and into the Forest with a spring in my step.

This wasn’t like me. I wasn’t the sort to go off without a plan. Yet I couldn’t stomach the idea of an innocent girl being devoured by a demon. Even if that girl had raised a lot of red flags with her words. I knew damn well what I was getting into. But I was seriously winging it. I had no right to expect anything less than the very worst.

With all the trouble we had gotten into up to this point, I had had plenty of time to see that I was the one who contributed the least during battle, possessed the least control. Alverd and Sheena would never say such things to my face, but Alicia…she wouldn’t beat around the bush. Our contract was to protect Sheena (just another detail that made me twitch), and if I couldn’t be relied upon, then I was just dead weight. I knew that doing what I was about to do was nothing but gratifying my own ego. To try and save the damsel in distress.

I was also angry. Angry at how Sheena had chewed me out on the Palace commons after Lord Necce decided to try his little assassination attempt in broad daylight. She had no right. By leaving herself alone with Alverd, she’d made herself a prime target. Her selfish, childish behavior had nearly gotten herself killed. If not for me and Alicia, she might have just done that.

I was so busy making sure that no one had seen me gank the guards that I didn’t notice the eyes on me until I looked in the direction of the Forest. In the middle of the path, sitting there like it had every right in the world to, was a fox. A simple, red-furred fox. It cocked its head at me and stared at me with its golden eyes. Then, after a moment, it yipped, turned, and ran back into the Forest.

I found the encounter odd. On my first trip through the Forest, the animals had all given me a wide berth. Perhaps this one creature’s curiosity had been too great for it to contain. Then I remembered that I had always had a strange affinity for foxes. They used to follow me around in my youth, back in the days when I was still in the orphanage. They’d watch me from the shadows of trees or the underbrush, then scamper back to obscurity when I got too close.

The oddest encounter I’d ever had with a fox, however, was shortly after I had arrived in Irinholm, and placed in the dormitory for the mage apprentices. I was a child with no friends who didn’t know who to avoid and who to be wary of. After a long day of being made fun of by my “upperclassmen”, I had gone to bed stifling tears. But after a short bout of restless sleep, I had awoken to find a fox curled up on my stomach.

It had woken up, looked at me with its wide, golden eyes, and then stared at me until I realized that it wasn’t going to leave or do anything else. I dismissed it as my sleepy mind playing tricks on me. In the morning, all of the children who had bullied me found their clothes and robes slashed to bits. Even Professor Farnus couldn’t figure out what had gone on, but I was smart enough to put two and two together. In a fit of childishness, I chose not to inform him of the nighttime intruder who was no doubt responsible for the act.

Then a story from my childhood surfaced in my mind. Professor Farnus had told us that, when it came time for an apprentice to find a familiar, that there was was a far more insidious danger lurking in the forests where they dwelled. Sometimes demons would hide in the woods, waiting for foolish apprentices to make contracts with them, pretending to be familiars until it was too late. Once the contract was made, the demon would eat up the mage’s life, enslaving them until the day they died. I remember having a nightmare about that the very night Farnus told that story.

It started with me approaching a simple dog in the forest. A harmless looking dog. But before my eyes, it transformed into some shapeless horror, a cloud of bulging darkness with horrible glowing eyes and a gaping mouth of yellowed teeth. It seized me with deformed arms made of muscle and rotting flesh and made to shove me into its jaws. I screamed and no sound escaped my lips, and I watched my doom come closer and closer.

But something had happened. That nightmare had ended in the strangest way. A blazing ball of light, small but almost as strong as the sun, zipped forth and slammed into the demon. It shrieked in pain and let go of me, dropping me to the ground. I watched as the light smashed into the demon multiple times, and it slunk back into the dark of the woods, making the same hurt noises as a wounded dog. The light bounced over to me, and then took the form of a fox, nuzzling my face with its muzzle affectionately before disappearing like a snuffed candle.

Odd that I’d remember that dream now. But it served to teach me that nothing was ever as it seemed. That was what scared me now. Who was to say that Deotra wasn’t some demon mimicking the form of what I considered perfection incarnate, setting up some ornate trap to snare me and turn me into its food and plaything? I shuddered. If it was true, if Deotra really was a demon, then she could be any kind of hellish abomination. But given what she had tried to do to me, I figured she had to be a certain kind of demon. A succubus.

Succubi, and by extension incubi, their male counterparts, were demons that fed off the life force of their victims. Although years of mythology and the bastardization of those myths said that they stole peoples’ life force through the act of sex, it wasn’t entirely true. Succubi tempted men with whatever they wanted; power, prestige, earthly delights…so long as they corrupted the judgment of their prey, it was easier to feed off them without realizing it…until it was far too late.

What didn’t make sense, however, was why she had let me go. Without my staff, I had been helpless. She could have easily overwhelmed me, taken me against my will, sucked every last bit of my life force out of my body like a vicious spider and left only a mindless husk. Instead, she’d given me a new staff and disappeared. A perfect opportunity, wasted. Was she playing some bigger game? I couldn’t tell. And at this point, I didn’t care.

I looked at the staff in question. The smooth, polished mahogany wood fit in my right hand perfectly. The ruby set in its tip sparkled only when the staff was in my possession. When I wielded the staff, I no longer felt the exhaustion after a single spell that I did when I had used Farnus’ staff. When it was in my hand, my concentration deepened, and I could tune out distractions easier. It was as though the staff had been made for me. I shuddered when I thought of the implications.

But it didn’t matter. Even if I had been a bit freaked out by Deotra’s shameless advances, part of me had reveled in it. Welcomed it. Needed it. It was the first time I had ever kissed a girl. And before Deotra had gone off the deep end, before her eyes became filled with that horrifying emptiness, I think she had still been that same sweet, helpful girl who had reached out to me in my time of need.

It was beyond stupid for me to think that way. That look in her eye should’ve been the confirmation of her demonic nature. Demons were characterized by their hunger; it didn’t matter what type of demon they were, at the end of the day it always boiled down to the same thing. They were creatures of insatiable hunger, always looking for their next meal. And the longer they went without feeding, the more dangerous they became, like packs of feral wolves.

And judging by the look I had seen in Deotra’s eyes, she had looked very, very hungry indeed.

Demons also possessed great magical knowledge. For hundreds of years, bards had told stories, composed songs, and even wrote entire operas about how demons could bestow the secrets of magic upon those willing to pay the proper price. And for once the spoony bastards were right. Mages could indeed become vastly powerful if they bargained with demons for the means to further their own magical strength.

But there was always a catch. A price to pay. The demon would always collect, and the story would always end the same way it was meant to be told; a cautionary tale designed to teach the foolhardy that it wasn’t worth the risk. And now, I was about to head into the domain of one such creature.

It was reckless for me to pursue this. Even if my motive and heart were in the right place, even if I wished to stop being the dead weight, all it meant was that Deotra had exactly what she needed to hang me from the yardarm. She’d tempt me with all the power I desired, and the moment I sealed a contract with her, CHOMP. I’d spend the rest of my very miserable life as her mindless slave as she fed off my energy. Then I’d die, and she’d find some new sap to ensnare. The nature of the beast, and the law of the jungle, hand in hand and on full display.

I had to operate on an assumption. It was the only way to stay focused. And the only assumption I was willing to stomach was that Deotra was a victim of the demon, and that there was still time to save her. I would fight tooth and nail for her.

I hurried through the forest, paying no mind to the familiars scattering from my path. I headed for the clearing where I had fought the dragon-familiar, and where I had made my first connection with another soul. At last, I broke through a line of trees and into the clearing. The cave I sought loomed before me, its dark maw rising up as if to swallow me whole.

As I entered the clearing where I’d saw her last, the often-ignored corner of my mind that housed what little common sense I possessed screamed at me full tilt. Run, it said. Run and don’t look back. This is your last chance. I’m warning you. But I pushed it out of my head. I had made my decision. It was a stupid decision fueled by my anger, at Sheena for playing me and at me for swallowing her lies, and I was determined to see it through, damn the consequences. If it really did end up like Farnus had warned me, then nobody would ever have to worry about me again.

I wondered if anyone would even care if I was gone. I decided to not ponder that further.

Slowly I inched to the mouth of the cave, peering deep into its depths. Like it had before, the dark recesses of the cave were too deep for me to see, and I doubted that even my lighting spell would be of much help down there. I picked up a pebble and threw it into the cave, mirroring Deotra’s action the first time I had met her. The pebble bounced in the darkness a few times, then fell still. I waited, expecting another creature to come racing out, but nothing happened. I moved up to the very edge of the cave mouth, and called out in a voice barely above a whisper, “Deotra?”

Nothing. At first, there was nothing. Then a burst of air came sweeping out of the cave mouth. It blew over and past me, and it carried a voice. “You came back. How quaint.” The voice hadn’t changed from before. It was velvety smooth and vaguely disinterested, almost as though it regarded me as a nuisance. I shouted back down the dark tunnel. “You get one chance, demon. You give me the girl or I go in there and kick your incorporeal arse until you do.” I tried very hard not to let my voice shake. I didn’t succeed.

The demon was silent for a moment. Then a bout of laughter came tumbling out of the cave. It wasn’t raucous, overblown, or villainous. It was just the sound of a very amused, very skeptical entity calling my bluff. But then something came hurtling out of the dark, slamming into my face and knocking me on my butt. When I picked myself off the ground and looked at it, I winced.

It was Deotra’s lantern. And it had very deep claw marks dug into it.

The demon was sending me a very clear message. She wasn’t afraid of me. She had every right not to be. She didn’t know fear. She didn’t know honor. She only knew hunger. But I was definitely going to find out if she could feel pain. I grabbed the flimsy lantern and held the ruby in my staff to the wick on the candle. It lit, and I held the lantern aloft in my left hand, staff gripped in my right. I took a deep, deep breath, and walked into the cave.

The cave itself went straight for the first five minutes of my walk. Then it began to slope downward. The descent wasn’t steep, but the uneven stone floor made sure I had to watch my footing. Another five minutes in, the floor began to become slippery with loose gravel. I took note in the event I might have to beat a hasty retreat that I wouldn’t be able to rely on the ground beneath me.

As the descent became more bearable, I heard the voice once more. In the narrow tunnel, it echoed off the walls and ceiling and gave it a more menacing quality. “Ohoho…so you still think you can wrest her from me, do you?” I shouted back down the tunnel. “I’m not leaving. Not without her. Be a good little soul sucking monster and give her to me alive. Then I go right back out without having to punch a few holes into whatever you call a face.” Again, my knees were knocking hard. If I encountered the demon, I had no idea what I’d do to stop her from killing me.

“Is that so? How romantic. You think you can ride off into the sunset with the damsel, boy?” As I heard those words, there was a strange sound, almost like someone taking a deep breath. The loose stones on the ground rattled. Then a huge gust of wind came roaring down the tunnel. “AND WHAT MAKES YOU WORTHY OF SUCH AN END, WHEN ALL YOU REALLY DESERVE IS TO DIE HERE IN THIS CAVE?!”

The gust and the sheer force of the scream knocked me back. I lost my footing and fell. The lantern hit the ground and the light went out. I curled into a little ball and held my head between my arms, squeezing my eyes shut. I was afraid. More afraid than I’d ever been in my life. Nothing had ever frightened me as much as this one moment.

The voice came again, this time soft, but dripping with haughty disdain and arrogance. “Oh dear. I’ve lost sight of you, worm. Come now. Spark a light, if you have the courage. IF you have the courage to admit that you’ve lost. Come now, boy. Light the lantern, and I’ll show you just what the girl is.” I fumbled for the lantern in the dark, finally managed to grasp the iron ring at its top. I stood up the best I could, and, fearing the worst, lit the wick again.

It was scrawled everywhere. The ground, walls, even the ceiling. It hadn’t been there before, but now it was there, plain as the eye could see. A word, scratched over and over and over again across every surface, with jagged edges as though they had been dug into the stone by cruel, unfeeling claws. Just. One. Word.

MINE.

Not gonna lie. I whimpered softly as the fear really took hold of me.

Only now, when faced with the prospect of utter terror, did I realize just how screwed I was. What a harebrained thing I’d done. I had vastly underestimated my foe. I had run into her den without truly being ready. This was the moment when it really just…hit me. The odds that I was going to die here in this cave were so much higher than I’d believed.

And yet, there was only one thing to do.

I pressed on. Holding the battered lantern in front of me, I continued down the cave path. The floor began to level out, and I was no longer in any danger of tripping over my own feet. As I made my way through the dark, I could hear the low laughter of the demon in the distance. Then her voice slid its way back to my ears. “I suppose there’s no point in telling you to turn back at this point. You’ve always been a fool, boy. Why didn’t you make them pay? Those children who bullied you in the orphanage. They would have had it coming, so why didn’t you?”

I froze in my tracks. The demon had somehow dredged up a terrible childhood memory. How could she possibly know about such a thing? I’d never met her before. I would have known if I’d crossed paths with a demon so far back in my childhood. But I wasn’t going to let her shake me so easily. Even if I was scared beyond all reason, I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction. I called back out into the emptiness. “You don’t know a damn thing about me, demon. You don’t frighten me.” An abject lie, but she didn’t need to know that.

The demon’s voice came back with a retort of its own. “Really? Then how about those magelings back in Marevar? They mocked you because all you could do was basic elemancy. You were consumed by self-loathing. And because you couldn’t perform even the simplest of healing spells, you had to watch Laura die. Shall I go on, child?”

I wanted to howl bloody murder at the demon for bringing up Laura. About bringing up my insecurities about my own skills. I’d didn’t even care how she was managing to rake me over the coals with her uncanny ability to conjure up my past for her own sick amusement. I wasn’t going to take that crap from a demon. “Enough!” I shouted. “You had your fun, bitch! Come out and face me, if you’re so convinced that you can take me!” My voice echoed down the tunnel, and then…silence.

After what felt like an eternity, I heard the voice again. “If you are so eager to die, boy, then perhaps I can indulge you. The girl yet lives. Claim her, if you have the nerve. Come closer…let me show you my teeth.” A guttural growl resounded through the tunnel, not unlike that of a hungry beast. I steeled myself, remembering that Deotra’s life hung in the balance, and moved forward.

After another five minutes, the tunnel opened up into a chamber. Stalactites and stalagmites littered the floor and ceiling, and I could hear the steady dripping of water from somewhere in the room. Inside the cavernous expanse, bioluminescent mushrooms provided dim light, allowing me to get a sense of the size and shape of the cavern. All around me, small pools of water littered the floor, catching the moisture falling from the ceiling. And in the very center of the room, propped up against a pedestal, was Deotra.

She was unconscious. She didn’t appear to be hurt, but I hurried over to her to check. Upon closer inspection, I could see that she was barely breathing. I put the lantern down to the side and picked up her right hand in both of mine; although her hand was cold and clammy, I could feel a pulse in her wrist. I cupped her head in my hand, trying to stir her. “Deotra? It’s me, Kuro. We have to leave. Please, wake up.”

Then the demon’s voice came, echoing across the chamber walls. “It’s no use, boy. Her life is mine. She is bound to me by contract, and there is nothing you can do to stop me from draining what is left of her life. That is, unless…” The demon interrupted herself to utter a sick, sadistic chuckle. “…you make a bargain with me?”

I stood back up, looking left and right to see if I could sense the demon’s location. No dice. “You think me a fool? I know better than to make deals with demons. Give me the girl before you piss me off further.” As I spoke, I noticed something move off to my right. I whipped around, waving the lantern in its direction. Like a cockroach, the oddity scattered from the light, until it slipped behind the pedestal. But then it reared up, claws made of smoke and black fire slamming into the ground between me and Deotra. I gazed straight into the seething mass of ebon flame that was the demon, and a face-at least, what passed for a face in this instance, emerged, gazing at me with blazing red eyes. A mouth opened, revealing twin rows of horrible, pointy yellowed teeth.

At this point, it was do or die. With a scream half rage and half fear, I lifted my ruby-tipped staff and struck. Lightning coursed out of my chest, down my arms, and out through the business end of my staff, blasting the demon square in the torso, if it could be called that. The damned thing let out a piercing shriek, either from pain or surprise, and reared back. With a wolflike snarl she swept one of its shadowy claws at me in a blind haymaker. Pumped full of adrenaline, I saw the windup of the attack and ducked under it as best I could.

The claw came closer than I was comfortable with. Again, I willed the electrical impulses in my body into the staff in my hands. Another brilliant bolt of golden fury lanced across the room, illuminating the darkness even as it slammed into the demon’s chest. The demon threw up her claws to block my next shot. My next thunderbolt splashed harmlessly against the demon’s defense. In return, the demon opened her mouth and from it spewed a torrent of black flame. I crossed my arms in a warding gesture, just in the nick of time. Augmented by my new staff, a shimmering sphere of blue light enveloped me, protecting me from all around, pushing the unholy fire to the side. I was amazed at how much stamina I retained after the flame subsided; the staff in my hands seemed to make all forms of magic effortless for me.

The demon faltered as I let the shield spell fall away. I pressed my attack, willing electricity from my body into the tip of the staff. Yet another thunderbolt shrieked forward and impacted the demon’s chest, and it roared in pain and anger. I took a few steps forward, intensifying the thunderbolt. I wanted that demon to suffer. I didn’t even realize that I was screaming in my own fury, pushing as much power into my attack as I could muster.

The demon finally gave up the ghost. I could see cracks developing across its skin, with golden light streaming through them. The demon gave one last swipe of its claw at me, but faltered halfway through, missing me by a foot. Then, it shattered into a million pieces, fragments of dark matter sprinkling down like rain.

Breathing heavily, I ran over to check Deotra again. Her skin was warmer now, and her breathing not so ragged. When I touched her face, her eyes fluttered open, wide and scared, until they focused on me. “…Kuro? Is that you?” I reached my arm under hers and gently pulled her up off the ground, leaning her weight against my shoulder so she could steady herself. “Yeah, it’s me. We need to get out of here, now. I don’t think that demon is ready to give up the ghost. It’ll be back soon enough, I’d wager.” I started to drag her towards the cave entrance when she pulled on my robe.

“No, we can’t leave yet…” She pointed at the pedestal. “That’s where the demon was sealed. We have to reactivate the seal or the demon will be free to do as she pleases. Help me…” I nodded, then pulled her back over to the pedestal.

It was wrought from flawless ivory, its white finish a stark contrast to the pitch black surrounding it. Strange runes were etched all over the ivory like the chickenscratch of a young child. Upon it was some sort of relic. As I drew closer, I could see that it was some kind of idol. It appeared to be made of silver, and was fashioned in the shape of a woman in a cloak, wielding a long staff that was taller than herself. It wasn’t the work of a master, but that wasn’t what was so special about it; instead, I sensed a powerful magic pulsing from it, steady and strong, almost like a heartbeat.

“How do I do this?” I asked her. I had never seen anything like this. I’d never had any practice with sealing magic. Deotra put her hand over the idol. “Here. Let me show you.” She took hold of my hand and put it on the idol. Luckily for me, she didn’t see me blush when she grabbed my hand. I could feel the pulses of magic through my palm, echoing up my arm and into my chest. “Now, imagine a key turning in a lock. Focus on that image as best you can, and put forth your energy into the idol.” I did what I was told, and as I did, the magic of the idol changed, its power now radiating outward at great intensity.

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I expected a lot. I expected fire, or lightning, or monsters, or even a boulder, but nothing happened. For a few seconds, I stood there, the idol in my hands, expecting the worst. Then, light sprung out of the pedestal. Bursts of color, like little will o’ the wisps, emerged. They swirled in the air, painting a picture. It took me a minute to realize that it was a map of the known world. Once the entire map was complete, five dots appeared. Red, green, blue, brown and yellow. They streaked to different parts of the map, hovering over five areas like buzzing bees. They painted lines that I eventually recognized as the borders of countries. But the borders didn’t match any modern maps that I knew of. The dimensions were all wrong. Territory I knew belonged to certain nations intersected with other countries. I moved closer, trying to make sense of the strange map. The five lights ceased their flight and hovered over five distinct locations, pulsing like fireflies. I squinted in the dim light, trying to make out the locations.

The first was simple. The brown light was hovering over the nation of Kierhai, which was south of Algrustos. The green light had streaked southwest and was hovering over a tiny island near the coast of the industrious country of Margloom. The yellow light had settled over an area just to the west of the now annexed territory of Marevar, indicating it was in the country of Guilford. The blue light had zoomed down to the southern part of the map, to the Theocracy of Shardin. And the red light was now seated in the very far northwestern part of the map…in the country of Ishmar. I reached up to try and touch the lights, as if touching them would help me understand the significance of what I was seeing.

And then, I heard laughter.

Slowly I turned. Sure enough, it was Deotra. But something was very different. Her once sparkling eyes had now become narrow and sinister, and she was radiating an aura of pure malice. When she grinned, I could see that her canine teeth had elongated. She looked very much like a predator waiting to devour its prey. She pushed past me, ignoring me completely, and traced her arm through the air, memorizing where the dots were.

“And now I know exactly where you all are. She tried to hide you from me, and now her failure is almost complete. I’ve waited a very long time for this…and now I can finally do what I’ve wanted to do for centuries.”

Her voice had changed, too. But it wasn’t the voice I’d heard when I’d “angered” Deotra the night before. This was a new voice, as if it belonged to someone else. It was deep, husky, sultry; the voice of a temptress. It was thick and luxurious, like melted caramel, and it would have instilled a feeling of arousal in any young man who heard it…had they not been terrified of the face that went with it.

Suddenly, she turned to me. Her wicked grin became even wider. A chill ran all the way down my spine. Whatever this…thing was, it wasn’t Deotra anymore. It was something else entirely, some force I couldn’t comprehend. It had to be a demon. A demon that could show me anything I wanted if it helped accomplished its goals.

I had a chilling revelation. The demon had said “contract”. It was very likely that the demon had already devoured Deotra’s soul and was now using her body like a sock puppet to lure me in. I began to move away, towards the cave entrance, but the demon saw me, and rounded on me menacingly. Her voice, still rich and confident and seductive, poured from her mouth again, filled with a sadistic glee that frightened me to my core.

“And I have you to thank for this. I’m so very pleased to meet you, Kuro. I’ve had my eye on you for some time now, and I admit, I had to question whether you would come through for me. The little vixen put on quite the song and dance for you. Had you eating out of the palm of her hand. So cute and helpless and innocent. Guess that sort of thing really lit your fire, so to speak? Heh heh heh…”

Deotra chuckled sinisterly to herself. “I have quite a low opinion of your kind, Kuro. Yours is an untrustworthy lot, and unreliable to boot. I think you only helped me because of your misguided feelings towards this girl. Easily manipulated. Not a good quality…or is it?” As she laughed again, I found myself clenching my teeth. I didn’t see this ending well at all.

She came over, reaching toward me with her hand. I was rooted to the spot. I stiffened and braced myself for something horrible. Instead, she ran her index finger across my cheek, then my lips, then my other cheek. When she’d passed me, she drew that same finger back to her own face, sliding it up to her mouth. “In the end, it could have been anyone, really. But she chose you. She thought you were so noble! I didn’t see it. But I saw other things in you, things that I found useful for my ends. Things that I found…appealing.”

Her lips parted and she gave me a haughty, amused smile. “Am I so frightening that I’ve scared you into silence? Come now! Speak! Tell me how it feels to have been tricked so easily! To fall for such a simple ruse. I always knew you were smart, so it’s a bit odd to see you abandoning good sense so you could fulfill some stupid manly instinct! Not that I’m complaining. I’ve had a lot of time to plan this little snare, and you’ve fallen into it exactly as I’d hoped.”

The hairs on the back of my neck bristled when she said the word “snare”. I had a horrible image of some demonic creature chewing me up and spitting out my bones. “I only did it for Deotra. And maybe you’re right, maybe you fooled me, and maybe I’m gonna die, but at least I can die knowing I did what I did because I…” I hesitated. “Because I wasn’t of sound mind.” Deotra laughed again. “Love makes you crazy? That’s your reason? That’s rich. You can put that on your gravestone, along with the millions of other men who died because they were too busy staring at a pretty girl to think straight.”

“Still, I’m pleased to see that everything worked out nicely. I had to restrain the little girl quite harshly to ensure she didn’t give away the surprise before it was time. I’m so glad this little vixen finally managed to pull off her role in this charade, and to have kept herself in control for as long as she did. To be honest, I expected her to do more than latch onto you and wrestle you to the ground the first moment she was able. I’ve lived a very, very long time, and I thought I’d seen it all…I guess I stand corrected.” Deotra laughed again, moving closer to me. Oh gods, the look on her face was the stuff of nightmares.

I stepped back, nearly tripping in the dark. “Who are you? Reveal your true form to me!” I pointed my staff at Deotra. I watched her like a hawk, waiting for a response.

My defensive stance did little to deter her. Instead, she made a gesture with her hand, and the staff flew out of my hand and into the darkness. I was now completely helpless, utterly powerless before her now. I backed up, but found myself pushed back against a stalagmite, with nowhere else to go. Deotra stood before me, her grin reaching her ears, a malicious gleam in her golden eyes.

She knelt down, putting her face mere inches from my own. My eyes peered deep into hers, the depths of complete madness going on for forever. “Oh, no no no. It’s not time for me to reveal who I am. But know that I am no simple parasite. You could call me a spirit. I’ve been very interested in you, Kuro. As is the little vixen. I believe you might be the one we’ve been looking for.” She grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently. “But you are so dense! I had that girl hand you the bloody Staff of Farewells, the most powerful magic staff in the world, and you squander its power, its potential!”

What the bloody hell was she talking about? “I don’t know what you’re blathering about! You’ve got to slow the hell down and explain to me! I don’t have any idea of what it is you want me to get, here! Help me understand!”

Deotra scowled, and her eyes flashed evilly. “You don’t tell me what to do. Perhaps you don’t understand what’s going on here, young Kuro.” She picked me up, effortlessly, and I felt my feet dangle uselessly as they left the ground. Deotra’s face was twisted into an expression of satisfaction and triumph. “You’re mine, now. I’ve seen men stronger than you, better than you. I’ve broken every single one of them. So trust me when I say that a whelp like you is nothing but child’s play to me. I’m going to teach you exactly what your place is in this world! It’s on all fours, crushed beneath my heel!”

Deotra began radiating waves of force that slammed me into a nearby wall. I thanked my lucky stars I hadn’t hit something pointy; when the wave subsided, I fell to the ground. The next wave slammed me against a stalagmite, snapping it like a twig and sending a fresh wave of pain up my back and into my shoulders. When the pressure ceased, I crawled forward, taking shelter behind the ivory pedestal. After a few moments, the waves ended, and I peered over the pedestal at Deotra. She was floating two feet above the ground, an aura of golden light surrounding her. She spied me, and floated back down to the ground. She started walking toward me, and I hid back behind the pedestal. But there was no place to hide. Deotra walked around the pedestal, until she could plainly see me. With a wave of her arm, she yanked me up to her eye level. Her magic was powerful, too powerful for me to fight against.

I awaited the moment when she would kill me. But instead she kissed me.

But it wasn’t like before. There was no suffocatingly overwhelming need behind this kiss. It was…innocent, pure. The kiss of a young girl pouring all of her feelings into one expression of her affection. When she parted lips from me and stepped back, I could see that the angry, violent alter ego had disappeared, and the soft side of Deotra had somehow returned. Her golden aura had also faded, though a bit of it lingered like an afterglow, giving her an unearthly but gentle beauty. She smiled at me shyly. “It’s me, Kuro.” I let loose the deepest sigh of relief I’d ever made in my life.

Deotra bowed to me deeply. “You’ll have to forgive me. I’ve only gotten as far as I have because of that spirit. She’s not really a demon, and she doesn’t share much with me, but she did tell me her name…it’s Drache. She has a bad habit of trying to put people in their place, and she can be a bit heavy-handed. But she knows potential when she sees it. Given time, you could be everything that we hope you to be. Therefore, it is in my best interest to keep you safe…as I always have.”

I blinked. “So then…all of this, was just a test?” Deotra nodded. “I’m really sorry that it had to be like this. But Drache insisted that this was the best way to test your character. You have no idea how happy it made me when I saw you come back…” She bridged her fingers together as she smiled. “I’m usually not a fan of deceiving others, or telling lies. But the truth would have been too much for you. So I had to trick you, for a little while. Thank goodness that’s all over with.”

I could still feel the blood pounding in my veins from Drache’s display of anger. Some of the things she said, however, still stuck in my mind. I went fumbling around in the dark for my staff, finding it after a moment. I showed it to Deotra. “Hey, what’s the Staff of Farewells? I heard that demon say something about it just now.”

Deotra frowned at me. “Please, Kuro. She’s not a demon. She’s a spirit. There IS a difference, you know.” She said that rather petulantly. Then she walked over to me. “This is a relic of great power. And it belongs to you now. Drache doesn’t want me to tell you too much about it. She wants you to try and unlock its true powers yourself. Think of it as a test.”

She leaned over and tapped the ruby on the tip of the staff. “I’m sure you’ll do just fine with such a powerful weapon. I’ve waited a very long time to give this to you. There were times when I was scared you’d die without me beside you. So I helped you, as best I could, without your knowledge.”

My attention was drawn away from examining the staff in my hand. “You said something about that before…how you’d been following me for a decade and a half. Have you really been shadowing me for the past fifteen years?”

Deotra’s smile widened, her long, sharp canine teeth on full display. “Yes. I have been beside you far longer than you think. I’ve followed you ever since you were just a child in Marevar. I’ve been making sure to intercede only when absolutely necessary.”

Then she sheepishly wrung her hands. “Although sometimes, I admit that I used my powers a little frivolously…to make sure you were taken care of. I know you didn’t have parents, so I wanted to look after you…” Suddenly that nightmare made sense. The fox that had protected me from the demon. “You used magic…you chased away my nightmares! When I was a child, every nightmare I ever had always ended the same way. Always a fox, wreathed in golden light, chasing away everything that scared me…that was you, too?”

Deotra smiled again. “Yes, that was me. I couldn’t bear to watch you suffer. In any way. If it was within my power to keep you happy, I did what I had to. Drache always scolded me but I wanted you to always be the same boy that I…” She trailed off for a moment, but then made a herculean effort to look me straight in the eyes. “…the same boy that I fell in love with.”

I stammered. I didn’t know what to say. Deotra had just come out and told me that she loved me. Every conscious thought in my head came to a grinding halt. I’d never had a girl, or anyone for that matter, tell me that they loved me. It was a novel sensation. I could feel my heart speeding up, my lungs become short of breath. The earnestly on Deotra’s face communicated her feelings to me as plain as day. I had no words to express the way I felt. I didn’t need any.

Then Deotra became depressed, and she hugged her arms tight around her chest, in what looked like self-loathing. “I’m afraid I have a bit of a temper. And being called out like that, I realized that I’d pushed too hard. I wasn’t mad at you, Kuro. I was mad at myself. For not being able to ease into it. For scaring you. I want you to understand me, to understand my feelings. And I think, the best way to do that is to tell you the truth.”

Deotra seemed to gather up her courage, and took a deep breath. Then, she made an effort to turn her golden eyes up from the ground and look me in the eye. “The truth of the matter is, I am not human.” Deotra quickly turned her eyes away from me in shame. But instead of being afraid, as I should have been, and had every right to be, I felt confusion.

I blinked. “If you’re not human, then what are you?” Deotra looked at me with sadness in her eyes. “I am what your kind would call a familiar.” I blinked again. Then I registered surprise. “Wait, what?! You’re a familiar?!” I looked Deotra up and down (a bit slower than necessary), as if looking for proof she was yanking my chain. She looked perfectly human. Very heavy emphasis on the “perfect” part.

Deotra averted her gaze again, her soft voice trembling. “I want to show you, but I worry…I worry that you will reject me. Please believe me when I say that I have good reason to suspect such. I don’t know if I could take that kind of rejection. I’ve suffered it for so long, and from so many; if you rejected me too, I think I’d I just want to stop living.”

She looked really sad. I couldn’t blame her. Rejection was no stranger to me, either. We all had secrets. If we were lucky, we’d find people we could trust with those secrets, who’d stand beside us in spite of those secrets. Deotra, whatever she was, was going out on a limb. She was reaching out for me, asking me to trust her. I didn’t know if I could. In a place like this, where nothing was as it seemed, I wasn’t sure if I could trust her. But I looked into her eyes and saw all I needed to see.

So much pain. So much betrayal. I saw a little girl crying alone as everyone around her laughed with mouths as wide as hungry wolves’. I saw her running and running, but never escaping. I saw tears and sobs that went on for years. There was no way anyone could fake what I was seeing. This pain was all too real, too visceral, to have been the product of a falsehood.

I reached out and took Deotra’s hand. She stiffened when I did, and she almost pulled her hand away. Her other hand wrung itself around the glove, as though she thought I had tried to remove it. “What are you…” I gripped her hand and cupped it in both of my own.”I won’t reject you. Whatever it is you have to show me, I will not run. I will not abandon you. Show me what you must.”

Instead of shrinking away, like I thought she would, Deotra took a step forward. Her normally shy voice gained a strange edge to it. “Do you promise?” I was taken aback by her sudden change in tone. But she pressed again. “Do you promise, Kuro?” I stammered a reply. “Um, yes. Of course.” She took another step forward and the tone in her voice became almost frenzied. “Say you promise! I won’t believe you until you say that you promise you won’t run!”

From that dusty corner of my brain, my common sense screamed at me that something was very wrong and that this was my very last opportunity to run and save myself. But I pushed it aside again. I calmly spoke the words she wanted to hear, so there would be no mistaking my intent. “I promise I won’t run away, Deotra. Show me what you must.”

When I said the words ‘I promise’, her eyes glittered. She clung to those words, as if she were but a child trying to find truth in an adult’s lies. “Alright…remember, you promised…” Deotra pulled her hand free, and then, closing her eyes, spread her arms and enveloped herself in a bright light, blue flames emanating from her feet, spreading up her body with blinding speed.

The fire spread up, past her chest and up over her head. The light became too bright for me to see past, and I shielded my eyes with my hand. After a moment, the light began to fade. As the blue flame died away, I removed my hand, and beheld Deotra in her alleged true form.

I had to look down to do it. Because sitting where Deotra had been only a moment ago was a fox. A very familiar red-furred fox. It looked up at me, yowled, and then shimmered in form; the little fox disappeared again, and in its place was Deotra. I stammered for a moment, becoming aware of the expectant look on her face. I knew I had to be diplomatic with my answer.

“Then you’re…a fox familiar?” I had heard of such familiars. They were incredibly rare, had a talent for transformation, and generally did not end up as mage familiars due to their low magic power. I knew that Deotra would think I was judging her based on her being a fox familiar; because a fox familiar would be of no use to a mage who regularly saw combat…like me.

Which explained why she could appear human. As a familiar who specialized in shapeshifting, it made sense that she could assume human form. I had no way of knowing if fox familiars could really do that, given that I’d never met one or anyone who had, but everything checked out so far. I was about to comment on how peculiar it was for her to be out here when I noticed her fidgeting. She was waiting for me to make a judgment about her revelation.

Gods. She looked so pitiful. Nothing I’d seen before could compare to how pathetic she looked now. She seemed smaller, as if she wanted to just fade from sight by sheer force of will. There was no way in the seven hells I was going to blame this girl for a circumstance that was out of her control. I didn’t know if a platitude would be enough to settle her doubts, but I had plenty to choose from, having followed Alverd for so long. Good to see that I had learned something from that thickheaded lug.

I moved next to Deotra and put my hand on her shoulder. “Hey, you know what? So you’re a fox familiar. So what? I’d be damn lucky to have someone as thoughtful as you as my familiar. I mean, sure, it was kind of weird when you forced yourself on me, but it’s not like it wasn’t all that bad. I kinda like you, Deotra. You helped me out, and I’d like to do the same for you, given the chance.”

Deotra’s face lit up like the morning sky when I said that. Gods, she wasn’t cute then. She was beautiful. I was stunned, in awe of this girl who, despite having only just come into my life, made me feel special. She nestled against me, and I embraced her as she cried tears of joy into my robe. We stood together like that for awhile, lost in a moment that I didn’t want to end. But end it did.

She looked at me with an uncharacteristic amount of determination in her eyes. “I won’t let her hurt you like that again! She may be powerful and wise and really, really angry, but it’s my body we share, so if she gets out of line I’ll forcibly take control. Now that I’m finally by your side, I won’t let anyone harm you in any way. I promise…” Her attempt at putting on a tough face was adorable. She looked like a big kid, trying to convince her parent she was more of a grown up than she looked.

Suddenly, she blushed and turned her face away from me, covering her face with her gloved fingers. Her eyes peeked out at me from beneath her bangs. “By the way, this is what I really look like…I swear I’m not changing my appearance with my fox magic. I hope…I hope you approve of it. I’ll change anything you want, you just have to tell me…” She waited with bated breath, her eyes drilling into my own with a subtle intensity.

At first I thought it was a trap. That whole “never tell a woman she isn’t your type” sort of crap drunk men would spout after too many mugs of cheap ale. But looking at her, silently awaiting my judgment, I realized that she was serious. But even if I hadn’t made that observation, it was a moot point. Everything about her was my preference. Long red hair. Curvy figure. Shorter than me but not too short. Even the slight blush in her cheeks was adorable. And her shyness? Arrow to the heart. She was, for lack of a better word, perfect. I stammered a bit before getting my reply out.

“N-N-No! You’re great! To be honest, you couldn’t be more perfect than if I’d built you from scratch with alchemy. You’re…oh gods, how do I say this…you’re absolutely gorgeous. And I’m not just saying that. You don’t need to change a thing.” When I said that, Deotra blushed harder, and stared at the ground; I could hear little bursts of gibberish emerge from her mouth, but she sounded happy, so I let her have her moment.

It was good to see this version of Deotra back in charge. Seeing what her demon friend was truly capable of was nothing short of terrifying. After calling my staff back to me (a neat little trick Deotra instructed me in) I took her hand once more, and together we walked back out of the cave. When we reached the clearing again, the moonlight greeted us with its gentle radiance.

I turned to face Deotra. “So…I know you’ll be my familiar now, but…can I at least take you out, maybe get something to eat? I imagine that even familiars eat, right?” I fumbled for something to say. I wanted to spend more time with Deotra, to get to know her. I wanted to talk for hours, just about her. I wanted to know every little thing about her. Was that the effect of love? Again, I didn’t know. It was all so new to me.

Deotra frowned. “I’m sorry, Kuro, but you mustn’t tell any of your friends about me. We can only be together in secret for now. I fear that if my existence were to be discovered, I would be locked away forever.” Deotra’s eyes began to water. “Drache told me about men who would take me away. She called them scholars.”

That made sense. Standard familiars, while able to change their form, had never had the power to assume human form. If Deotra was indeed a fox familiar as she claimed, then revealing such would lead to her being locked up in some academy where researchers would poke and prod her for the rest of her life. I would never let such a thing happen. I instantly promised her that I would keep her secret. I noticed that when I used the word “promise”, her eyes flickered again. It was almost too quick to catch, but since I had seen it before, I was able to recognize it a second time.

But then a thought struck me. “Maybe if you maintain your humanoid form, nobody would see through it? Then you could accompany me everywhere. No one has to know.” Deotra smiled wearily. “It’s an option. I’ll think about it. Because nothing would make me happier than being by your side, Kuro.”

Then she took my hand. “I see you still have the charm bracelet I made. That’s good.” She pulled a similar charm from the sash around her waist and placed it on her right arm. “I made these before you came here. Where I come from, there’s a belief that two people who are destined to be soulmates are bound by an invisible red thread. They’re meant to find each other, no matter how far apart they are. I knew one day I’d find you, so I made these. I hope you’ll take good care of it.” I tugged at the red twine to make sure it was snug around my wrist. I didn’t want to lose it, not after what Deotra had said.

Suddenly Deotra smacked herself in the forehead. “Gah, I’m so stupid! Our contract hasn’t been completely finalized, yet.” She held her hand out to me, and a small blue flame sparked to life in her palm. “If you would be so kind, Kuro. Place your hand in mine and claim me as your familiar. I will share your life, and join you in death. Go ahead.”

I slowly put my hand over hers, and at that moment I was struck with how delicate and frail Deotra seemed. Even under the glove, I could feel how soft and small her fingers were. The blue flame wrapped around my hand until it engulfed it; strangely, there was no heat or burning sensation. Her face flushed again. “Alright. Now you declare your intent to take me as your familiar. My full name is Deotra Tsukishiro. Claim me as your familiar and our contract is complete.”

I was a bit embarrassed myself, sheepishly holding her hand. But then it occurred to me that this was a moment Deotra had probably looked forward to her whole life. I wasn’t going to deny her that. I took a deep breath, and did what I was supposed to.

“My name is Kuro. From this day forth, Deotra Tsukishiro, you are my familiar. From now until my last breath, you and I are bound together. I promise to look after you and care for you for here on out.” As I finished my fumbling declaration, Deotra reached her arms around my neck and hugged me tight. I was a bit embarrassed by her sudden show of affection, but considering that she was keeping that demon of hers under control, I let it slide.

At last, she let me go. “Oh, Master. With this, it’s official. I’m yours, and you are mine. As your familiar, I’ll follow you anywhere, obey your every command, and protect you until the end of your days. This I swear upon my name, Deotra Tsukishiro, formerly of the Clan Tsukishiro, Third of the Ten Fox Clans.” She clasped her hands together and gazed at me lovingly. “There’s just one last thing I need to make certain of, Master. Those girls who accompany you…the angry blonde, and the dim-witted witch. You’re not interested in either of those girls…are you?”

I could have sworn I saw the spark of something malicious in her eyes when she said that. Such an offhand question, but there was something wrong about the way she looked. I told her the truth. “Alicia prefers to just abuse me and Sheena…well, she’s obsessed with Alverd. So, the answer is no.” Still, the look in her eyes bothered me, so I pushed it further than I should have. “Why would you ask me something like that?”

Deotra seemed very surprised to hear that. “Oh, Master…you’re so silly.” She said that with what she probably thought was an innocent giggle. Then she leaned in close, so that her face was inches from mine. Her eyes suddenly went dull, and she gave me a toothy, predatory smile. “I just had to make sure. Because you belong to me now, Master. And if there’s one thing you can be certain of…” She leaned in even closer, so that her mouth was next to my ear.

“…it’s that I suffer no one to take what is mine.”

I felt a chill run the length of my entire body, and it had nothing to do with the night air.

But then Deotra backed away, and she was sweetness and shyness incarnate again. “As long as you remember that, we won’t have any problems, Master. For now, I must take my leave of you. Drache requires me to go back to the cave, so we can look over that map. But when you need me, I’ll be there. You need only call my name, and I’ll be by your side. Farewell for now, my Master. I’m looking forward to our long, happy lives together.” She leaned forward one last time, and planted a chaste but firm kiss on my cheek. And with that done, she disappeared in a swirl of blue smoke, leaving me alone in the clearing.

I stayed in the clearing for a moment, contemplating her words. Then I began the long trek back to the entrance of the Forest. When I arrived, I found quite the sight waiting for me.

A small hunting party was gathered at the mouth of the Forest. Alverd, Alicia, and Sheena were at the head of a group of ten combat mages. Sheena was issuing orders, presumably for a search-and-rescue mission. When I stepped through the gate, however, all chatter stopped, and all eyes fell on me. Silence reigned for a few moments.

Alicia ran up to me, ready and raring to go. She opened her mouth and screamed all kinds of obscenities at me, mainly about my little field trip into the Forest was depriving her of precious sleep. I brushed her aside, and her ranting instantly stopped. She’d never seen me stand up to her in such a way, and I was astounded that I’d even consider doing such a thing. Alverd started to say something, but thought better of it. Instead, he merely stepped aside and let me pass. Sheena moved as well, to my surprise.

I’d never felt more confident in my entire life. And it was all thanks to Deotra. As I walked towards the Palace, the image of her bashful smile and the sound of her girlish laughter swam through my mind. This time, it was a pleasant memory. For once, things were looking up.

For the first time in my life, I was wanted. And it felt amazing.