"Hello, child…" The jester said with a melodic voice as he came towards me. When he stopped, he was only a few feet from where I sat.

I turned completely around, to see him better. "H-hello…" I choked out.

"Are you surprised to see me?"

"I… I was sure… there was no one left…"

"Yes, well…" He began to float in circles around me. "I'm not from around here, you see. I come from a different world entirely."

"A… different world?"

The jester nodded, pausing in front of me again.

"What are you doing here?" My world was a remote and desolate place, especially since the demon had come into being.

"I was wandering dimensions…" He said, looking at me with a mischievous smile. "I was searching for power."

"What kind of power? You mean, for yourself?" I had the strength to stand up now. Still, I only came up to his waist while he floated.

"In a way…"

"Did you find any?" He was floating around the area, looking at the destruction.

"Yes, actually. I found a great and monstrous beast. It ravaged a city and killed all of the inhabitants." He paused to pick a sharp, red stone out of the ground. "It spit these out of its mouth. They seemed quite deadly…"

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. "You were… impressed?"

His smile widened. "Very…"

He carelessly tossed the stone aside and continued. "I had never seen a beast quite like that, or with such extraordinary power… So, once the city was obliterated, I stuck around to see what the monster would do next."

The jester turned to face me again. "Imagine my surprise when it cracked its neck and transformed into a little girl…"

I felt blush creep onto my cheeks. "You saw it?"

"Dear girl, I saw everything… You seem to quite enjoy your powers…"

"They… aren't mine…"

The jester gave me a funny look, as if he didn't understand what I was saying.

"I'm possessed. There's a demon in my mind. Sometimes I'm in control, and sometimes she is… when she comes out, she looks like…"

"The monster?"

"Yeah…" I hung my head.

"Now, now… I don't think you quite understand…" I felt his cold hands on my shoulders, and looked up at him. "You have a magnificent power, child!"

"I told you. It's not even mine! Sometimes it just… happens…"

His hands slid off of my shoulders. "So, you have no control over it, whatsoever?"

I hesitantly shook my head, afraid of what he would say. For a moment, I thought I saw his smile falter for a brief second. He slowly turned away from me and floated off.

"And here I thought you had real potential…" He said as he left me.

"What?"

The jester simply shrugged his shoulders. "When I saw what great power and destruction you were capable of, I thought you might actually be worth something…" He turned to smile pityingly at me. "My mistake…"

"What? No! I am worth something! I could be worth everything to you!" I realized the desperation in my voice. I couldn't just let him leave me all alone.

"Right… You could, but you are not… Like chess pieces seized by the opponent, you might have once held use to me, but no longer do… Ciao…"

"No! Wait!!" But I was too late. With a snap of his fingers, he was gone in a distortion of the air.

"No…" I whispered, dropping down to my knees again. He had thought I was worth something. He had thought this monster that possessed me was a good thing.

How could he do that? How could he play games with my already abused mind like that, and then just vanish into thin air?

"How could he do this to me?"

He had been searching for me. Did he not say he had found nothing like me? That I was extraordinary? That I had potential for whatever it was he was doing?

"How could he?"

I was sobbing now. My heart was crushed. Always, I mourned for the poor lost souls that I destroyed, but this time was different. This time I was the one who had been hurt.

I had been hurt. I had been crushed. My heart was broken. My eyes flowed over with tears. I could feel my anguish weighing down on my body like a crushing boulder…

"How could he do this to me?!" I heard my voice crack, now glazed over with another.

The voice of the demon.

This time, I allowed it to happen. I was so angry, I wanted to destroy.

Standing up, I cracked my neck. I heard the straining sound as my body resisted bending that way. Then, it snapped.

My eyes glazed over, and I felt a creepy smile curl its way onto my face. My head, now hanging loosely, spun in circles around my body. Finally, it came to a stop, now completely upside down. My eyes flashed as I slipped in and out of consciousness, alternating between a distorted view of the ruins and the dark void of the demon's lair.

The arms on my body, now handing limply underneath me, split into three different parts, and shot out to form six long, black stilts. My eyes closed. I no longer had use for them.

I saw the long legs of the monster stick into the ground and pull the head upwards, my body now hanging limply in mid-air. The monster ran off, its legs skewering the ground and breaking it apart, searching for life worth taking.

I was now inside the depths of my own mind. The demon stood before me, her dark form only a mere distortion in the darkness. She laughed viciously and turned her cold, empty eyes on me. They were glowing white, with no pupil or iris. She smiled like a jack-o-lantern, with what looked like fire in the back of her mouth.

I smiled and thought of the capital city. The only source of life left in my barren world. The thought echoed around my mind, and the demon seemed confused as she heard it. Then, when she saw my thoughts of the jester, and felt the anger radiate off of me.

She smiled, and understood.

The monster scurried towards the world's final safe-haven, where the remainder of its people had gathered, and tore apart the forest as it went. Giant, red stones were shot from its mouth, the trees bursting into splinters upon impact.

Then, we reached the city. I had never felt like this before. Each drop of blood, each piece of rubble, each lost and dying soul sent chills up my spine. For once, I felt I could see through the demon's eyes. I could feel the sadistic pleasure in the destruction. I felt incredible.

Hour after hour of killing and destroying, the demon's maniacal laugh, and my own building up anger… Never had I felt so… powerful.

Finally, just after sunset, the city was completely gone. All those in hiding had been found out and brutally murdered. Even the forests and gardens had been knocked flat. There was absolutely no life left anywhere in the world other than myself.

As the monster scampered about, still unsatisfied, it suddenly stopped. I was confused; the demon, enraged. The monster tried to continue, tried to move, but found itself unable to carry on.

We were trapped. Someone had set a clear, magical box around us.

"Ah ha ha ha ha…" Something was laughing behind us. The demon was very confused, but I recognized that voice. Suddenly, I felt my spirit in the monster's body, though it didn't register until later that I was controlling it.

I thrashed about, desperate to get out of the box. When I saw that creepy smile painted on that horrible face, I became even more enraged, hurling my stones at him with no effect whatsoever.

At last, I was exhausted. As the stones rebounded off the walls of the box, I struck myself repeatedly. I was too tired to carry on in this form any more.

In a poof of smoke, I was myself again. I was crumpled on the ground, gasping for breath. However, when the box disappeared and he was suddenly in front of me, I somehow found the strength to fling myself at him.

The jester caught my arms and held me away from him as I tried and tried to hit him. I wanted to wipe that stupid smile right off his face. I wanted to hurt him just like he hurt me.

I was crying now, growing weaker and weaker. I stopped thrashing as he pinned my arms to my side and glared up at him through the tears. "Why are you here?!"

His smile widened and he shook his head, laughing at me.

"What?! What's so funny?!"

"Why, you are, my dear… Don't you see? I never left…"

"…What?" He had left me. I saw him vanish into thin air.

"No, I've been right here the whole time. I saw you… You turned into that monster of your own will, didn't you?"

I was stunned. It took me a moment to realize what he had asked. "No, that was the demon! I already told you that!"

Rather than replying, he let go of one arm and gently lifted my chin, turning my head side to side. I knew what he was seeing: my face was red with my anger and still stained with tears from my heartbreak.

"It's set off by emotions…" I faintly heard him murmur. He didn't seem to be talking to me anymore, but to himself. His smile widened and he spoke to me again. "How would you like to come with me?"

"Huh? What… what're you talking about?"

"Well, you recall that I was wandering the dimensions searching for a great power, yes?"

I nodded mutely.

"I think I've found it. Upon discovering that you can control the monster, with perhaps a little more practice, you have the potential to be a vital key to a certain plan."

"Wha… plan?"

The jester nodded. "Indeed… I'll let you in on a little secret child… all worlds are coming to an end…"

"Really? How do you know?"

"Because, I'm one of the few causing the end… You see, I am a minion to an esteemed Count… He has with him a mysterious, dark tome filled with ancient prophecies regarding the end of all worlds. With it, he plans to destroy all."

The end of all worlds? That sounded strange. I never would have considered that the worlds could end. "But… why does that have anything to do with me?"

"The prophecies tell of four heroes that will stand in the Count's way. The Count has been searching for powerful minions, much like myself, to aid him in destroying the heroes, so there will be no one to stop him."

"But, why would he destroy the worlds? Then, there won't be anything left…"

"Not necessarily… The Count plans to replace these old, awful worlds full of pain and suffering with perfect, new worlds for him and his minions to thrive in."

"Wow… that sounds… amazing…"

"Yes… So, what do you say? Will you come with me?"

For a moment, I considered what would happen if I did. But, if I went with this mysterious jester, what was my guarantee that he wouldn't abandon me again? That he wouldn't crush me and play games with my mind?

"Let me put it this way…" He said with a playful tone in his voice. "When the worlds end, you can die here, alone… Or, you can come with me now, and belong with all of us. You can have a perfect world of your very own, and always have a place to call home."

I considered that. What really put me over the edge, though, is what he said next.

"You know, that demon of yours has run out of things to destroy…" He bent down next to me and whispered now. "How long do you think you have until she grows tired of you?"

"Alright… I'll go with you…" I agreed, reluctant and nervous.

He laughed softly, with a bit of a frightening tone in it. "That's a good girl…"

The jester took my hand. Before he snapped his fingers, I raised a question that, surprisingly, I had only just thought of. "What's your name?"

He smiled the widest he had yet. "I am the master of dimensions and the pleaser of crowds… I am Dimentio, the Charming Magician…"

I smiled. Dimentio was a lovely name.

"And yours, my dear?"

I paused, somewhat ashamed of my simple name. "I'm Mimi… because of the noise the monster makes when it transforms…"

"Interesting…" With that, Dimentio snapped his fingers, and the world distorted around me, bending and twisting.

That was the last I saw of the barren wasteland that was once my home planet, and the last of the life I once knew.