Chapter 12: Dealing with Demons

Even after explaining how my power works to Rispy, he's determined to come along with us anyway. "Not being immortal has never stopped me from fighting before," Rispy says with a smirk.

"We might get into dangerous situations and wind up all dropping dead, though," I say.

"Then I will run," Rispy says with a shrug. "I don't see how it makes a difference."

"I'll try to keep you out of trouble if it looks like we're about to be doing something utterly suicidal, though," I say. "Sometimes I do that just to test the waters. But sometimes, death can't be predicted."

"Getting killed doing something useful is still better than sitting around in the swamp."

I can't really argue with that sentiment. "Suit yourself, but I did warn you."

I suppose Rispy's answer shouldn't surprise me. I couldn't really have expected anything else from him. Despite all that's happened to him differently, he's still Rispy. He's still the same person.

"So, are we heading for Rising next?" I ask the others, munching on some breakfast.

"Nah, it can wait," Gellert says.

I look at him in surprise. "I thought you were eager to get there."

"There's still things to do around here," Gellert says. "We haven't finished exploring the Magus Complex, for one."

Cassie snorts. "You just want to steal from the Awakened."

"No, I just want to see what they're hiding," Gellert says.

"What makes you think we're hiding something?" Rispy asks.

"Do you know what all is in the Magus Complex?" Gellert asks.

"No," Rispy says. "But I'll come along and help if it'll prove that we have nothing to hide."

"There was also something in Ellhrah's tomb that we might want to investigate further," I say. "We cleared out a bunch of ghosts in there, but the deeper section looked dangerous, so we left it be."

It was poignant seeing the gravestones with so many familiar names, serviles I had met on Sucia Island. I hadn't known them for very long, but I remember them. So determined, so strong. Even Rydell, once the leader of the Obeyers, believed firmly in the path he followed, even if it only led him to disappointment in the end.

The five of us Apparate over to the Magus Complex to look around. It's a huge, impressive structure, and reminds me in a way of Hogwarts, and yet it's nothing like Hogwarts at all. The people in this world approach magic in an entirely different way. There's so much energy here, so much raw power just waiting to be tapped.

We first make a stop at the library to do some quick reading. There's even a book on languages here, but after skimming through it, I find no matches for Sharon's book. It must be written in an awfully obscure tongue.

Our wanderings around the Magus Complex wind up taking us to what appears to be Tuldaric's private chambers next. I can't help but wonder if Gellert only wanted to come here just to see if he was hiding any canisters back here.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I say.

"What are they going to do, kill us?" Gellert says. "Besides, I just want to see what's in here."

"You're as bad as Sirius," I mutter.

Aside from the lock on the door, which is readily defeated, the defenses in here don't appear to be spectacular. I'd been concerned about reaper turrets or something. But the only defenses inside at all are a pair of golems guarding, sure enough, a canister. After we hack and blast apart the golems, Gellert gleefully goes over to claim his prize.

"I hope Tuldaric doesn't notice..." I murmur.

"You haven't met Tuldaric," Cassie says. "He's not likely to notice much of anything, and even if he does, he's not likely to trace it back to us. I have to wonder if he even still sleeps..."

We head back to explore the storage caverns behind the Magus Complex next. There's a lot of rogues being kept back here that we need to fight through.

Then, we step into one room to see a dark, demonic shade, wreathed in flame, standing in the midst of a runed summoning circle. "Come closer, mortals. I would speak with you. I cannot harm you from here. But perhaps I can help you."

Cassie freezes and stands still in the doorway for a long moment, staring at the creature. "A demon?"

"Yes. I am a prince of the infernal realms. Tuldaric has imprisoned me here for his own gain."

"Really," Gellert says. "Perhaps this explains where the modifications and powerful spells he's been dealing with came from."

"Indeed," the demon says. "Tuldaric would use me to increase his power, to allow humans to call forth magic far beyond their normal capacity."

"The Awakened are consorting with demons?" Cassie says in a small voice, as if hardly able to believe it herself.

"Technically, Cassie, I am a demon, too," Gellert points out. "Or have you forgotten that part?"

"I try not to think about it," Cassie says.

"You are no true demon," says the infernal being. "You are a mere mortal who has taken it upon yourself to use dark rituals to gain some measure of demonic power. True demons are born."

"Whatever," Gellert says.

"Still, you may be of some use to me. I can help you, and you can help me. I wish to be free of this place, to return to my home in the Abyss. But the spells that bind me are too strong. If you killed Tuldaric, I could be free once again."

"I'm not sure that I'm overly eager to consort with a demon myself," I say. "My present traveling companions notwithstanding." I smirk.

"If you can free me, I will make it worth the trouble," the demon says. "I can make you stronger and more powerful."

Rispy's staring silently at the demonic creature, gaping a little. Gellert notices Rispy's expression and elbows him in the ribs. "The Awakened aren't hiding anything, huh?"

"I... I had no idea Tuldaric was doing this," Rispy says. "I didn't know that the servile casters' power was demonic in origin."

"Would I be a hypocrite for thinking ill of Tuldaric for this, given my current assocations?" Cassie asks.

Tom looks at Cassie appraisingly and turns to the demon prince. "Tuldaric will likely wind up dead before we are done in these mountains, but we will probably not be going after him immediately. Will your offer still hold if we don't get to it for a few weeks?"

"A few weeks?" the demon says. "Acceptable. I have been held here for years. I can wait a little while longer, with the thought of imminent freedom upon me."

"How do we know you won't go slaughtering everyone if you were freed?" Rispy demands, finding his tongue again.

"Fool. I have no interest in this petty realm, nor its mud and filth and the vermin that scurry about in it. I only wish to leave. I will give you an absolute oath. Kill Tuldaric, and I will leave this realm. I will bring no further harm to anyone here."

"That seems reasonable," I say.

"Consorting with a demon to kill someone for consorting with a demon just seems wrong somehow," Cassie says.

"You don't want me here," the demon prince says. "And I don't want to be here."

"I suppose," Cassie says uncertainly. "Let's... Let's just go."

"I can't believe the Awakened are consorting with demon princes," Rispy mutters as we trudge into a tunnel behind Ellhrah's tomb. "I know most of them probably don't even realize it, but it still casts a- a taint on everything we've accomplished."

I stop by an obelisk flanked by glowing runes and pits of lava, and read the words aloud. "Realm of the Bound One. Come be devoured and feed the glory."

"This would explain the problems in Ellhrah's tomb, I think," Tom comments.

Among the more conventional guardians we encounter, such as spectres and golems, we also run across ornks that spray acid and explode.

"Okay, the golems and whatnot are just tough, but this is sick and wrong," Cassie says. "Just when you think you've seen the most ridiculous, bizarre, heinous thing possible, the world proves you wrong, I suppose."

"And I thought exploding roamers were bad..." I mutter, working on healing my acid burns.

Further in, we encounter a human man, a warrior, who seems completely mad and babbling about serving the Bound One and slaying us in the name of his master. Cassie simply raises her hand and strikes him with a Kill spell.

"Let me guess," Cassie says, shaking her head a little at the corpse. "This Bound One is probably another demon, right?"

"Can't be certain," I say.

"It would not surprise me," Tom says.

In the next chamber, we free some ghosts that the Bound One was tormenting, who confirm its identity as a demon and give us some advice on fighting it. I have Tom stun me before we continue. This definitely sounds like it could be bad news.

We head into the master's chamber. The Bound One appears to be a demon contained in the shell of a golem. It doesn't even seem to have noticed us yet. I frown a little, and cautiously walk up toward the creature, prepared for a fight.

"Visitor," the Bound One says. "Weak. Not a threat. Will spare, if it behaves."

"How did you get here?" I ask.

"Summoned. Captured. Imprisoned by foul Barzahl. Tried to control me. He could not. No one can hold me. Fled."

"So, the Barzites are summoning demons too?" Gellert says, snorting softly in amusement.

"Must break free," the Bound One goes on. "My spirit, tied to rock. Want to be free. Want to fly. This space is tiny. Too tiny."

"Maybe we can get you back to your infernal home," I comment. "We'd just need to destroy this stone shell."

"No," the Bound One says. "Trickery. Lies. Will destroy you."

The Bound One attacks, and we find ourselves fighting for our lives. We hold nothing back, showing the golem with the most deadly spells we know. Tom's battle alpha gets squished rapidly as though it were a mere thahd. But even the Killing Curse has no effect upon the creature, perhaps because it's not actually alive to begin with.

I realize pretty quickly that this isn't a fight we're going to win. "Rispy! Run for it! We'll cover you!"

"But-"

"No buts!" I snap. "You don't need to die, too."

Rispy hesitates for another moment before popping off one more reaper thorn at the golem, and then he turns and breaks into a run down the passage we came in from. The demon is too occupied with me to care much, and I try to keep his attention for as long as possible to give Rispy a head start in case it decides to chase him. The powerful stone fists pulverize me, shattering my skull.

I wake with a groan and rub my head. "Alright, what do you say we leave the Bound One alone for the moment?"

"That... would probably be for the best," Gellert says. "Cassie's the only one of us that's been modified."

"And stronger creations would help as well," Tom says.

"As would me wearing a helmet," I comment. "Oh, and Rispy? Next time I tell you to run... don't hesitate. Please."

Rispy looks at me in puzzlement for a moment before piecing together what must have happened. "You got killed?" he says in surprise.

"We were no match for the Bound One," I say. "I think you managed to get away, though."

"This is so very confusing," Rispy says.

"Just go with it," Tom says. "If it helps, just think of it like we can see the future and avoid disaster."

"Right..." Rispy says.

Perhaps it would have been best not to take Rispy along after all. It was a lot easier to deal with when I didn't need to worry about any of my companions.

We Apparate back to Triola and decide to explore the marshes around there a bit more. At a nearby crossroads, we come upon a camp of armed serviles.

"We Takers!" says their leader. "You no pass here. You come close, and you die!" He tries to sound bold, but I can sense a note of fear in his voice. He clearly doesn't want to have to fight us if he doesn't have to.

"Wait!" I say quickly, not wanting to kill any Takers if I don't have to. "We're allied with the Takers."

"You have pass?" asks the leader.

Rispy steps up and says, "I Taker. I have pass." He pulls a strange token with feathers on it from his robes.

The Takers nod to that, and the leader says, "You Taker. You can go. Taker allies too."

We move on past the guarded crossroads, and once we're out of earshot, I ask Rispy, "Where did you get that?"

"My commander back in Triola gave it to me," Rispy says. "They'd found it on a Taker they'd killed."

Walking through the swamp really isn't much of a break after all the poking around caverns and getting killed by demons that we'd been doing. At least there are things to kill to take our frustration out on that don't kill us back. In another stretch of marsh, we come upon a large group of serviles camped around a fire.

"Shapers? Shapers die!"

"Wait! We have pass!" Rispy says, holding up the feather token again.

"That Taker pass. We not Takers!"

"Barzites, then?" Gellert wonders.

"No! We cult of High Vizzendra! Now you die!"

"Cultists?" I say. "Fine, we can kill cultists."

There's a number of serviles, including one caster, but they're really no match for us. Tom had replaced his battle alpha to serve as a meat shield, and Cassie pours out powerful spells to sweep them away, along with Gellert's and mine.

We head in to explore the nearby fort and exterminate more of the mad cultists. Even Rispy doesn't seem to have any problem with slaughtering them, and they're all clearly insane. That part is confirmed when we find a small library in the warren. Along with useful books on magic, there's also one describing the meditation rituals and litanies the serviles here used to attain magic without any modifications whatsoever.

"They drove themselves mad just to learn magic," I say quietly.

"I can't say that some of the Squibs in our world wouldn't have done the same if they had found a way," Cassie says softly.

Elsewhere in the fort, we find a couple of canisters, which Gellert quickly claims, and a package of herbs marked for Medab. We also come upon some writings that indicate that one of the serviles we just killed was apparently named Eko Blade. He was a Taker back on Sucia Island. How did he wind up getting caught up in these cultists? Well, it just cost him his life. I have to feel a little bad about that, but I already feel bad about killing serviles in general, cultists or no.

In the back of the warren, we find a ritual chamber with a circle of runes, filled with a number of servile casters. One lucky shot from their leader slays Tom's battle alpha before they go down.

"Why do I even bother?" Tom mutters, looking at the pool of essence that had been his creation.

"Because it beats one of us getting hit," Gellert says.

I take a look through a book on a nearby pedestal detailing notes on the magic they were using, trying to figure out what they were using this ritual chamber for. I just have to sigh when I realize what they were doing. "Guess what? They were summoning demons too."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake," Cassie mutters. "Does everyone in these crazy mountains summon demons?"

"Well, we don't have any evidence thus far that the Shapers or the Takers have been," Tom says. "That could still change."

"I don't see what your problem with demons is," Gellert says.

"I said, don't remind me," Cassie replies.

"It's just something that's never really a good idea to get involved in," I say. "Bad news. Trouble waiting to happen." I shake my head. "I think I've had enough of dealing with demons for one day. Let's just grab all the loot we can find, dump it on the nearest merchant if we don't want to keep it, and go back to headquarters for the night."

"Hmm, this looks interesting," Gellert says, picking up a focusing orb from the pedestal in front of the summoning circle and tucking it away in his bag.

"At least they didn't actually have any demons present that we had to fight," Rispy comments.

"Thank fuck for that," I say. "I don't like having my head crushed in."

"Get a helmet," Tom suggests.

"That was awfully nice of you to return that servile's book, Gellert," Cassie says.

"She didn't even give me anything for it," Gellert grumbles. "At least the herbalist paid for his package being returned."

"You did it just for pay?" Cassie says.

"Why else would I do it?" Gellert says. "Maybe it's just as well that we never found those ornks. They probably got blown up by exploding roamers."

"Gellert, there's something you should know," I say.

"What's that?"

"You're glowing."

"Huh?" Gellert looks at me oddly, flashes of unnatural light within his eyes. Was that what I looked like after I'd spent a while on Sucia Island? No wonder people had been so wary of me.

"Your skin. Your eyes. The canisters are making a mark on you."

Gellert grins broadly. "Excellent. I'm becoming more powerful by the day."

"I don't know that I'd call it excellent..." I murmur.

"You're just jealous of my might!" Gellert snaps.

I sigh softly. "Relax, Gellert. That's the canisters talking. Keep control over yourself."

Gellert looks as though he's going to get angry, but then Cassie puts a hand on his shoulder gently, and he calms down a bit and looks at her. "Right... No more outbursts from me."

"Do the canisters really change people so much?" Rispy says.

I give a nod. "That they do."

"Have you seen Tuldaric?" Cassie says.

"Right, Tuldaric..." Gellert mutters. "I don't want to end up like him. Clarity? Purity? He could hardly tell what was going on around him any longer."

"Now you see why I warned you about the canisters?" I say.

"I'll be careful," Gellert promises.

"So, Lexen," Cassie says, sitting back in her comfortable chair. "Were you thinking of adding Rispy to our little circle on a more permanent basis?"

"What do you mean?" Rispy says.

"I don't know," I say, looking at him thoughtfully.

"I don't know if adding more soul bonds is a good idea," Tom says. "Your soul seems to be holding stable for the moment with three, however."

I think I owe Rispy more of an explanation. "Rispy, we're all bonded together so that we can travel the multiverse together. We're immortal, sharing in one another's power. When I go back in time, they all go with me, with full memories of the events."

"I see," Rispy says. "Although really I don't. I won't pretend to understand the half of what you talk about. I'm no caster, and all this talk of magic is a little beyond me sometimes."

"We explore other worlds," I say. "On the worlds we've visited before, there are no Shapers, no serviles, but entirely different sorts of magic users."

"So... everyone is free, then?" Rispy asks.

"Sadly, it doesn't quite work out that way," Cassie says. "People always find other reasons to hate one another, to enslave or kill each other, to put themselves into positions of power over other people."

"So we sought to explore the multiverse, to gain knowledge and power," Tom says.

"And... you're offering to take me with you?" Rispy says. "Just because you knew me in another life?"

"If you wish it, I won't deny you that," I say. "I would be glad to have you along."

"I'm going to have to think about this," Rispy says. "I don't think I'm ready to make any sort of permanent commitment right now, not of the permanent, eternal, immortal sort."

"Take your time," I say. "I'll do my best not to let you get killed in the meantime."

"Thanks," Rispy says.

"I don't know why you even want this little servile along, anyway," Gellert mutters. "He's not even a wizard."

"He could be," I say. "But he's no less capable or intelligent than any of us."

"I should probably be insulted at that," Gellert says.

"Gellert," Cassie says. "Enough."

Gellert grumbles a little and says, "Forget about it. I'm going to bed."