Set

Lights and colors break through the darkness as Amos opens his eyes. The sky is so bright, it's blinding. Then again, I'm the one who burnt the roof down, so maybe I can't complain.

Amos gets up and looks in horror at the ruins of his home.

"Why are we here?" he asks.

I smile. "Because it's time for the most fun part of the game to begin!"

He looks at the floor, eyes searching the burnt carpet.

"C'mon, Amos! Do you really thing I'll give you your staff now?"

He clenches his fists. "Why are we here?"

I laugh. "Don't worry about it. Just to collect some things. Fix up. We have a big day ahead of us. It is my birthday tomorrow, you know? Maybe we should pick up some party clothes?"

He's about to say something smart, I'm sure. But all his sarcasm and wit go out of the window, replaced with the horrific realization that his legs are moving.

"No." he whispers.

Amos tries to stop, or at least to slow down, with no effect. His consciousness presses against mine, banging at the front of his scull.

I sigh. "Amos, calm down. Let's avoid the headaches while we can, huh?"

He continues to struggle. Our left hand twitches slightly, muscles strained by the effort.

"Even though I would love to see you ruin your own body as you slowly descend into madness," I continue as I walk into the ruins of his room. "I have a much more important task for you."

Our left leg goes out of rhythm and we trip on a piece of Amos's bed. His soul is frantically tugging on every possible body part, waiting for a response. My steps are getting annoyingly unsteady. I close my eyes and open them on the inside.

Amos Kane's mindspace is a mess. I spent half the night yesterday redecorating in here, but his mind doesn't like it. The red floor looks more like spilled blood than anything else. Nice, but not the vibe I was going for. Amos himself is looking at me, eyes filled with rage. Before I can react, he pushes me away from the glowing circle in the middle of the room. Left with no one in it, the control centre dims.

"Leave me alone!" he shouts. "You don't need me! I won't hurt my family and you know it! Just find someone who's like you!"

I laugh, closing the distance between us.

"But you are like me."

Amos shakes his head.

"No?" I ask him. "Are you sure? Amos, Amos, Amos. What am I? Who am I?"

"You're the god of evil!"

"First of all, I'm the god of chaos. There's a difference, thank you very much. The Abrahamic religions came up with the whole 'evil' concept and in English my name gets mistranslated. Second of all, somebody's gotta do it! Violence and chaos are a part of nature, Amos. Animals devour each other. People devour each other. I devour my siblings. It's how the world works."

"I'm not like you. I would never hurt anybody."

"Really? I'm pretty sure you would hurt me if you could."

"You're hurting my family. I'd do anything for them."

I nod. "Tas."

Amos's eyes widen as a red ribbon wraps around him.

"No more pushing me out of control." I tell him as I drag him into the circle. "We're fixing up your appearance, getting the crocodile and finding the younglings. They trust you. They love you. So, you'll betray them and lead them right into my trap."

"You can't pretend to be me."

I clench my fist. Amos hisses in pain as the ribbons tighten around him.

"Oh, I won't." The circle begins to glow again as we enter it. "I'll simply watch over your shoulder. The moment I'm not happy with something you do…"

Amos squirms.

"Now that's a good toy." I tell him. "Hurry up! We have a hell of a birthday party to arrange. We can't meet our guests unprepared, can we?"