He punched his hands through the thick mahogany, sending paper and leather and wood splinters flying through the air. I dashed away from the burst and avoided his grasp, but was surprised again as he pulled his arms back through and proceeded to shove the entire case on top of me. I scrambled away from the toppling obelisk of knowledge, and made a dive for the floor before it crashed down loudly behind me. I looked back and saw him dusting off his hands as he looked at me evilly. I frantically tried to get back on my feet to start running yet again, but was surprised at the resistance I felt pulling at my leg. I flailed it wildly, thinking I could shake him off me. A wave of sharp pain surged up my leg and into my body. I turned around, and screamed at the sight of a large chunk of the bookcase branching off of the main part and impaling straight through my shin.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" The pain was unbearable. It felt as if my leg was being attacked by salt-and-lemon-juice-covered fire ants with flaming chainsaws for pincers.

Vesania looked down at my injured leg humorously, giggling at my agony. He bent down over me, examining it like a doctor who enjoyed his job just a little bit too much. "Hmm... Looks like someone got a little splinter in his leg. Heh-heh. You know, if you cover a splinter with a dab of Elmer's glue, let it dry and then peel it off, it makes for easy removal. Now if only we could find some glue... Bah-ha-ha!"

He reached down for the injured leg, and I wanted to beg him not to touch it, but I know no amount of begging would keep him from playing with the toy sitting in front of him, bleeding out on the floor. He grabbed the chunk of wood protruding from my flesh daintily. "And one, two..." He snapped the wood shard off of the bookcase, sending more of those malicious fire ants into my nervous system. "...three..."

I scrambled clumsily away from him, gripping my leg and leaving a trail of blood on the semi-clean floor. He ran a long, gross finger through the long puddle of crimson and sucked on its savoriness. A shiver visibly ran down his spine, and he caressed himself sensually. "Oohh... that's some good stuff. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever tasted you yet, have I?"

I got to my feet-correction: [i]foot[/i]-and hobbled quickly away from him, knowing that I couldn't outrun him should he give chase.

"Oh, come now; you're smarter than that, aren't you? You know that all I have to do is kill you with a swipe of my hand, don't you?"

"Then why don't you do it?!" I yelled.

"Because it's more fun this way! I like to play with my food before I eat it. And you know what, I think I'll play with you [i]just a teeny bit more[/i]..."

[hr]

More chasing ensued. This time he was kind enough to give me a full five-minute head start, considering my injured leg. He believed the chase wouldn't be as [i]fun[/i] if his catch would be so easy. I made it into the infirmary I had woken up in earlier, and breathed a gigantic sigh of relief.

Then began the tedious task of tending to my hideously injured leg. Reluctantly, I tapped the shard, timidly testing the pain and calculating how much it would hurt to remove it. (It hadn't hit any arteries, suggesting that I wouldn't bleed out, if I treated it properly.) My initial guess was somewhere between " A Hell of a Lot" and "Good God, Let this Agony End."

The moment I touched it, that pain alone was out of the ball park with both of those guesses. But I had to get it out; I couldn't just limp around with a chunk of wood clawing at my nerves the whole time.

I steeled myself for the deed which had to be done. I grabbed some items lying around the room: some gauze, rags, and a bedpan to collect the blood. I cut off the circulation with a rag tied tightly around my leg just above the wound, and put one in my mouth to bite down on.I tenderly took hold of the shard, firmed my grip, closed my eyes... 1...2... 3!

Out came the wood, along with a long, thin streak of blood that it flung through the air. My cries were muffled by the rag, but that didn't do anything to impede the pain. I sat there for a bit, blood dripping into the pan and quietly screaming, then I worked up the courage to finish the job.

I soaked up most of the blood with some surgical sponges and more rags, and then wrapped some rolls of gauze around my shin. I didn't bother with any antibacterial spray or anything, due to time. I looked around the room for a crutch, or at least something I could use for one. As I limped over to one sitting in a corner by a sink, I noticed several small jars of powerful medical numbing agents, and I said quietly to myself, "You've got to be kidding me..."

I hung my head in embarrassment at my nonobservant mistake of not applying a numbing agent to my leg before that dreadful "operation." As a consolation to myself, I irritably grabbed a handful of painkillers and downed them with some water.

I looked back at the bedpan that had collected all the blood, and my determination and resolve filled me up again.

"Okay: We're gonna do it right this time..."

[hr]

After one more round of setting up traps, (the [i]right[/i] way) I pulled up a chair and sat in the wide corridor, awaiting Vesania with irritation, resentment, and a dash of overconfidence. I had been so clever this time, drawing the symbol, that I felt positive that this time would work, and he'd be returned to his hell with his demons, and all he'd ever destroyed would be avenged. Here, now; I would win for the sake of everything I'd loved, and every[i]one[/i] I'd ever loved.

I slouched in the chair that I'd dragged across the tiled floor, leaving various scratches across the shiny white surface, and waited. And waited. And waited. I stared down that hall until my eyes hurt, listening and watching for the tiniest thing: a creak, a low rumble, a minuscule shadow, et cetera. Finally, his thumping footsteps resounded around me, but I could discern that they were coming from directly in front of me.

My stomach had butterflies, and I could swear I was losing my mind, for I almost felt... [i]giddy[/i] as I waited for him to show his face. I began thinking that maybe his bloodlust had worn off on me somehow, and shook off the feeling, not wanting to be like him. At last, he emerged around the corner, and He had a look of boredom on his face.

"Oh, there you are. Listen, this whole running around business is rather taxing, don't you agree? I think I'll just end it here and kill you now, whaddaya say?"

I tried to play it cool and stayed motionless in my chair, though inside I was a mass of nerves.

He scanned over the floor between him and me and raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm? No traps? No Necromancy symbols to avenge your girlfriend and everybody else?" He moved closer to me, still examining the ground everywhere. He shot me a look. "Given up, have we? That doesn't seem like you, Nobody..." I said nothing, but glared at him with a look of utter defeat. "Well! That just makes my job easier, doesn't it?"

He arched his back menacingly with his claws outstretched, and he salivated as he tiptoed towards me. I could barely contain myself; the moment was so close. He was going to fall straight into my trap! Just one more step...

He froze. No! Take one more step! Come closer to me, you disgusting monster!

He looked directly at his feet and stepped back. My heartbeat accelerated with frustration and worry. He examined the tiles at his feet and dragged a sharp fingertip along the grout, knowing that something was amiss. The dry grout came off in cracked, long chips around the tile, and when it was all removed, he stuck that fingertip under the tile and pried it up gingerly, revealing the small, ancient symbol drawn in blood underneath. It was blown. there was no chance of him falling for it now.

"Under the tiles; very clever, I must say, but you really should've done a better job of hiding the grout-work."

He picked up the tile and flung it over his shoulder, smashing a stained-glass window. I cringed at the tinkling sound of the glass on the floor. My heart was beating so loudly that he could no doubt hear it. He eyed me sarcastically as he removed more white tiles, one by one, revealing the symbols under them. I had set a whole line of them in the hall as sort of a minefield that he had to step on in order to get to me. But that plan had failed, awfully. He cackled at my dismay as I shuffled in my chair uncomfortably.

We stared at each other for a few seconds, him smug that he'd foiled my plan so easily, me terrified and angry at the failure. I thought quickly of what I should do next, and was ashamed at what my immediate plan of action was.

I flung the chair aside and ran-more like limped swiftly-away from him, panting with fear. I heard an animal-like roar from behind me, and shortly after felt a massive weight slam into my back and knock me onto the ground. I flailed my arms desperately as he rolled me over onto my back to probably get a look at my terrified expression. Some of his saliva dripped down onto my jacket as he hovered over me.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow. You know, I think I might actually miss you... Nah!" He opened his mouth wide and theatrically lowered himself on me. "Any last words?"

I immediately dropped the act of fear and desperation and put on a cool, smug demeanor.

"Yeah: Shove it up your ass you son of a bitch!" I ripped open the front of my shirt to reveal the blood-drawn symbol I had put on my chest.

He instantly went wide-eyed and his jaw dropped. He tried to jump back and scramble away from me, but before he could barely make a move, the symbol glowed white for an instant, and a giant disc of swirling, pulsating reddish light appeared hovering just a few inches above my chest. I heard his panicked and struggling noises as I slid on my back from under the bright disc.

I finally got out and stood up to see Vesania looking at the disc with fear in his eye-holes. I watched the strange light as well, but not with fear, with curiosity. It just stayed there, motionless aside from its pulsing and swirling, and yet Vesania looked as though he was staring at a doomsday device that was about to go off.

But it stayed there, still, and I found myself captivated by the sight. My eyes were fixated on the supernatural anomaly of demonic wonder. I thought that if I stared much longer, I'd get sucked in. But then a strange, indescribable sound erupted from it, a sound that grew louder and louder and louder until the windows all shattered at once, and my ears started to bleed. From the center of the light a form emerged, a tall, thin form. It was dark, and had long, white deer-like horns on its head which rested on its broad shoulders. (The first thing I thought was that I screwed up yet again and summoned [i]another[/i] demon that would cause more problems. I don't think I could bear the guilt of making that mistake.)

It was facing Vesania so I couldn't see its face, which was probably for the better.

Vesania looked at the figure, and the fear in his eyes grew immeasurably.

The figure stared at him for a good long while before speaking. The very first thing out of his mouth was some unrepeatable garble of made-up letters and sounds, reminding me of the first time I saw Vesania possess my body and try to say his name. The figure's voice was booming, and yet subtle, smooth and calm.

"(Vesania's name), I have found you..." At this point, Vesania sort of shuffled backwards cowardly.

"Eh-heh-heh... U-um, listen; I know you're probably kind of steamed, what with me being gone for a little while-"

"Six hundred years."

"Y-yeah, about that, I-I, uh, I tried to get back to you, b-but something went wrong! I-I was trapped in some selfish human's body, and then another, and then I realized that I couldn't survive in this world without a host body! Yeah, that's it! I-I sincerely wanted to return to you, M-Master, really! But there was-"

"Enough of your lies, (Vesania). You never were good at lying. It's in your eyes. You left the Underworld when I was conversing with Faust, and you did not desire to return. That is all there is to it. But now you will have to be punished for your abandonment of your fellow demons..."

Vesania was no longer the sadistic, uncaring, cool monstrosity that I knew him as; he was a disgusting creature filled with fear and panic.

"No! Please, no! I-I didn't do anything wrong! I-I was just having some fun on the surface! Please, I-I-I-"

"ENOUGH," boomed the figure. He silenced Vesania instantly, and then swiveled on his intangible perch of the disc to look me in the eye. His body was solid black, with a line of small flames poking through here and there, as though the blackness was a cloak over a flaming body. His head was a pure white deer skull with orange blazing fireballs in the eye-holes. "You."

I froze with fear.

"Are you the one who summoned me?"

I nodded hesitantly and slowly as a bead of sweat trickled down the side of my face.

He leaned down to get eye-level with me, making my face warm with the heat of his eyes.

"Thank you for contacting me. This demon shall be punished for his insubordination." He turned to look back at Vesania, who was on the verge of wetting himself. "You have killed over two hundred humans and consumed their souls without authorization. I must confiscate all the human souls you have consumed. I will leave the [i]other[/i] souls here; I have no jurisdiction over them." He raised a dark, gnarled hand and gestured at him with an open palm, and a spot on the ground near Vesania exploded, and a dark chain shot out of it and impaled his left hand and implanted itself in the ceiling. He cried out not in pain, but in fear. The figure rotated his hand palm-up and twitched his index finger upwards a bit, and another chain burst from the floor and through Vesania's other hand and into the ceiling. He twitched another finger, and another chain shot through his shin, another finger, another chain, until eventually Vesania was strung up by his limbs on the dark chains and suspended above the floor while he bled (or [i]leaked[/i]) odd yellowish blood.

I was filled with a sense of disgust, and equal pleasure: I felt delectation at seeing this monster feel pain. Though nothing would be as satisfying as seeing him feel the emotional and mental pain that he's put me through, physical pain would have to suffice.

He hung there, bleeding and whimpering softly. The figure turned to me and looked at me with its piercing fiery eyes, making me freeze with fear.

"I thank you again for returning this insubordinate to me. Is there anything you wish in return?"

I thought about asking for my family back, both, in fact, but somehow he read my mind.

"I cannot return you family to the world of the living; it is outside my power to resurrect human life." He paused. "However, I may be able to set free the souls of the people he's killed from this world."

I lit up instantly. "Yes! Please, that! Bring back everyone here!"

He raised up a fiery hand to silence me. "They will not be [i]alive[/i] when I set them free. They will merely be mindless souls wandering the world."

I felt a weight crash down on my feelings. I looked down at the ground defeated.

"Is there... Is there [i]any[/i] way you can bring them back?" Tears began subtly welling up in my eyes.

"You do claim to be a necromancer, correct?"

"Y-Yes."

He stayed silent for just over a second. "A necromancer may be able to guide lost souls back into their host bodies. But it takes a massive amount of power and concentration; you do not seem to-"

"Do it!" I demanded. "I don't care what it takes; I'll bring them back!"

He looked surprised at my outburst, but then regained his composure as the tears made their passionate way down my cheeks. "Very well..."

He looked back at Vesania, and the flames in his eye sockets turned blue and roared immensely. Vesania began convulsing, and his red-orange insides also turned to a dark shade of blue. He moaned and groaned in what seemed like incredible pain, and white liquid began dripping from the corners of his mouth and onto the floor. With suddenness a large blob formed in his throat and moved up towards his mouth, causing him to tear up. Funny: I could never in a million years imagine him crying, and here it was before me.

The blob sent powerful, thin beams of white light out of his facial orifices before it fully emerged from his jaws, making him scream, and split up into fast-moving threads of light that arced downward and outward and stopped at the floor. I was temporarily blinded by the brilliance as the figure stared at the sight, unblinking (assuming he [i]could[/i] blink). I opened my eyes again to see over a dozen blue, transparent shapes hovering around slowly and aimlessly. I looked at the shapes more closely, and recognized them as the bodies-no-souls of all the people I've met here. I saw Fluttershy, Twilight, AJ, Nurse Redheart, and... Luna!

I ran over to her and tried to embrace her, but foolishly ran straight through her form, reminding me that they were completely intangible. However, I still felt the urge to paw at her and grasp at her ghostly hands in vain attempts to feel her smooth skin once again as my tears flowed.

I immediately turned back to the dark figure. "How do I put them back in their bodies?"

"...As a necromancer, you-"

"Tell me how! How?!"

He merely stared at me, and though his face was incapable of expression, I felt something like pity emanating from his flaming eyes.

"...Please..." I pleaded once more.

At this, he spoke. "I cannot tell you the means to bring back the dead; doing so would be against my code and out of my jurisdiction. You must perform this feat yourself, with no assistance from any demonic or otherwise force other than yourself. This is absolute, and no leniency will be granted."

"B-But I do-"

"Enough!" he boomed. "I have delayed here too long as it is, and there are other matters I must attend to currently. Good day, sir..." And with that he vanished back into the fiery portal that hovered above the ground, making it close swiftly with a boom.

I looked around at all the souls that I didn't know what to do with, and then my eyes fell upon the now-withered, weak, and bleeding Vesania, still chained up in the corridor. What about him? I thought the figure was supposed to take him back to the Underworld where he belonged. What now?

Before I could ask another question, the chains quickly loosened themselves from the ceiling and floor, dropping his frail body to the ground with a thud. He groaned again and tried to right himself and stand. But before he could barely raise his head off the ground, the chains came alive and wrapped around him like bloody, rust-covered snakes. They constricted him tightly as he writhed violently and screamed some more.

"No! I-I don't want to go back! Please! I beg you! Don't make me go back!"

From down the hall a ways, a large crack split the clean marble, and unearthly red light burst through it. The crack grew in length and width as it snaked its way toward Vesania. He saw it and his fear grew several more unimaginable degrees.

He looked at me pleadingly, and I felt a knot in my stomach at seeing his dismay. "Nobody! Do something! Please! Don't let him take me back! I'll do anything, just- Please! Help me!"

The crack finally made it to his feet, and he sunk into it a bit. He struggled more and more in his chains, sending his arm free just as he fell into the crack completely and catching himself on the edge near me. He pleaded over and over again for me to do something to save him, and I just couldn't take it.

I turned away from the horrifying sight. I looked at Luna's dead eyes. They no longer had the stars in them that I fell in love with. I could not feel her soft skin, could not hold her hand, nothing. As I stared into her eyes that look at me and saw nothing, I remembered something: This bastard deserved it. He deserved everything that was coming to him in that hell waiting for his arrival.

I looked back at him, and heard him gasp with hope that I was going to do something to save him.

"No," I said coldly with hate in my eyes

The hope left his face.

"W-What?!"

"I said 'no.'" I stomped on his pinkie finger as... emphasis. "This is for my family..." his ring finger this time, "...[i]both[/i] of them..." middle, "... For my friends..." thumb. I savored the index finger.

"... And for Luna..."

I watched him fall into that flaming hot abyss of evil, screaming all the way, with nothing but hate on my face. His cries echoed through the halls for a long time.

I turned around as the heat from the crack heated my spine. I looked at Luna one more time, longingly.

"Now... let's bring you back" I said as a smile broke out on my face with more tears on the side. I raised my hand to caress her untouchable cheek, but was halted by a sudden pressure on my shin.

"I'M NOT LEAVING UNLESS YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!" cried a loud, angry voice from behind me.

I looked down to see Vesania hanging on to my leg with his other hand, and then the next thing I knew we were both plummeting down into the fiery abyss...