"Cacodaemon?" repeated the voice.

Rasmus opened eye and looked back. The giant white insect beetle ball of destruction wielding a spear was gone, instead there was a slim naked man standing atop of him, leaning on said spear. He was very pale, almost albino, and his physique was more lean than muscular. For a brief foolish and hopeful moment Rasmus thought his attacker had simply vanished and was replaced by this creature, but they both shared the same dark inquisitive smouldering eyes, and he knew he was still in danger.

"Are you deaf," asked the pale man. "You mentioned a Cacodaemon. Presumably the spell, not those misbegotten and misnamed creatures from the fifth age or perhaps those creatures from the plane of the doomed, what do you know of it?"

Rasmus was confused, he replayed the recent events the best he could but did not say much of anything other than his practiced and apparently useless command phrases, and was not sure if he mentioned the word Cacodaemon.

The pale man sighed and rolled his eyes before tapping his own forehead with an outstretched figure. "My apologies. I accidentally read your mind, well not exactly read, but more of a skim. Telepathy is not my strong point, and I much prefer talking rather than having some sort of mind meld between us."

The creature then took a step back, releasing his foot off of Rasmus. The mage was surprised at the amount of pressure the lean man could exert and wondered if the fiend was simply taking on an illusion.

"No illusion, I'm afraid. I'm using a low level alter spell, " explained the pale man. Rasmus assumed he once again read his mind. " My humanoid body is simply very strong, definitely not as powerful as my natural form but it compares well versus….well yours."

Rasmus nodded in agreement. Though he was a relatively large man, raised in the mountains and spent a great time outdoors, he was at heart a book worm which even Vandia teased as soft.

"Enough of this," said the pale man impatiently. "Explain yourself, before I bite your head off, eat your brain, and sort through the information the hard way. Speak!"

While master Leroung certainly had a commanding aura about him, this creature's presence was overwhelming. Rasmus gulped nervously and complied. "I escaped the fog, the ward, my master's ward. My magic couldn't escape, but I knew my master kept a scroll, so I used it. Summoned you, but the binding was too weak. Please don't eat my head."

The pale man shook his head. It was then that Rasmus noticed small horns beneath his hair. Though its skin and eyes were already a dead giveaway, the horns confirmed that the shape the creature took was that of a tiefling, a minor outsider which he assumed was used to throw off his opponents. "Slow down. Explain from the beginning, but don't bore me with little details. I don't have much patience for useless exposition. Just tell me who you are, who is your master, what is this fog, and why you summoned me. In that order…understand? Or do I have to do the head biting thing."

Rasmus nodded nervously and took a deep breath. "I am Rasmus del Strada, a minor …err noble from the Menador mountains. I pledged my services to a master mage to learn the art of magic, Lord Leto of the house of Leroung of Cheliax…."

"Ahh Cheliax, that I know of. So I am in Golarion . I've never been here, but I have heard good things about it. The thrice damn house of Thrune, the hell knights, an actual legitimate church of Asmodeus, Hah! Amirah will be so jealous when she finds out. Oh never mind my rambling, continue. Why and more importantly how, did you summon me."

" To my best knowledge, my master's tower was under attack and some type of ward spell was released. A cold fog that not only obstruct vision but also misdirects was released into the corridors. Some doors and all windows were arcane locked and other magical hazards suddenly sprung up in the tower. I stayed in my room at first hoping my master will handle this unknown invader and dispel this enchantment, but after days, maybe weeks I felt myself being slowly drained to death. So…so I made my way to my master's laboratory, after barely surviving the mist."

"Hmm…a modified version of the guards and wards spell,"concluded the pale man. "Almost all employ defensive spells, but this is the first time I've heard one using an enervation spell. Or at least I think it did, your face does bare signs of some type of energy drain. "

Rasmus touched his face, and felt his gaunt cheeks. While he knew he was being drained, he didn't think it was something as powerful as energy drain. That was something undead and powerful fiends employed, it not only sucked ones lifeforce but would impair one's abilities. That would also explain why he failed in the invocation of the Cacodaemon spell.

The pale man snorted. "I don't think you failed the spell because of a few negative levels. You simply drew the circle too small. I mean, you could easily fit a Lemure, or maybe a Hamatula or even an Erinyes in the circle you drew, but I'm a bit more….hefty. Not that I couldn't break that spell with my own will, but you certainly drew and enchanted it correctly. It was just too small. Now please forgive my interruption and continue."

Rasmus was stunned. He failed a simple matter of geometry and now he was at this creature's mercy?

"Yes, yes. You can fret about that later. Now continue before I do the head biting thing."

"In the past, I saw my master use scrolls that he procured from some ancient foreign market to summon dark beings beyond what his magic could normally handle. I believe it is an ancient forbidden magic called Cacodaemon that was inscribed on these scrolls. Though he was secretive, I watched where he hid these artifacts. While trapped in the fog, my own magic was insufficient to escape, so I gambled that if I could get to his stash of scrolls, I could summon a powerful fiend to escape."

The pale man considered his statement and scanned the room. After a few seconds it spotted the now blank parchment that contained the spell and its now empty scroll tube. It picked both up and sniffed the pair, before revealing a thin smile. "Well, you are correct, it was a Cacodaemon spell that summoned me, never though I would see one of those again. I mean they stopped using that magic during the first age, more specifically the advanced stages of it. They outlawed that spell, not because it was too powerful , I mean modern calling spells can accomplish the same thing, but because it was way too wordy….and sinister sounding. The cosmic censors certainly didn't like that. It literally starts off saying it is a perilous exercise in dwemeorcraft. More importantly, it was a muddled mess, and that's coming from a fiend like myself that loves convoluted annotated contracts. I mean the spell if properly inscribed in ones spell book is most likely the longest most confusing spell ever, and that's saying a lot considering it was initially penned by the mad mage Xagyg."

Xagyg? Did he mean Zagyg Yragerne? Rasmus only heard veiled mention of that name from his master. The mad mage that ascended to divinity from the mythical realm of Oerth.

"His name is Xagyg, get it straight. It starts with an X not a Z, there's no Z in Gyg….oh nevermind, let my continue. I was going to mention from the smell of them, that this mysterious market your master procured these scrolls from is likely from a gatetown. I'm guessing Torch, given its faint Gehenna ash smell. Not a legitimate place of business, but you do find some rare oddities there. Also, before you beat yourself up about making the magic circle too small, your magic would have failed anyways. Mainly because you didn't offer a sacrifice."

"A..a sacrifice," asked Rasmus tentatively, fearing that would ultimately mean himself.

"Avernus no," chuckled the pale man. "What type of magic do they teach around here, you don't sacrifice yourself . I mean it's not possible …is it? By sacrifice I mean some type of payment. Think of it as the consideration aspect of Infernal tort law. You call me into your circle, you ply me with gold, jewels, magic items, the blood and soul of an innocent(obviously not yourself) and we negotiate there depending on the specifics of the task you require. This payment varies depending on how powerful the sumonee(myself in this case) is and the difficulty and length of the task the summoner (which is you) wishes. If an agreed upon exchange is not reached, either the sumonee will break through your circle and in my case, bite the summoner's head off, or the summoner will enforce his will by placing a Spiritwrack on the summonee, torturing him until he is more amicable to the terms set. By the way, Spiritwrack is another ancient advanced first age spell, it's not as wordy as Cacodaemon but still forbidden, more because it's basically useless without its more notorious aforementioned companion spell. Which is important, because you may have noticed, you didn't employ one."

Rasmus quietly cursed Leto and himself. His master never mentioned Spiritwrack, or maybe he wasn't spying effectively enough. Regardless of the case, he was at this creature's mercy.

"So…..what happens now?" asked Rasmus, fearing that his head would soon be snipped off and rolling on the ground.

"Oh no, I wouldn't let your head roll on the ground. I wouldn't want my food to get dirty like that. As for your fate…..well I accept your offer."

Rasmus winced and then opened his eyes. "Ummm…what?"