Demonic Magician

With the last of the flaming houses now put to rest, the terrible smell of smoke still lingered in the air. Unfair, since damage to the surroundings was minimal, but the constant pressure of it had me feeling tired.

Or it could just be the blackout-like rage that had caused me to pulp the remaining demons to death, in ways that I could not recall. Definitely the smoke.

“What makes you think this will work?” Ren had removed the rifle from my shoulder after Tanya had confirmed that hearing damage was a likely side effect of using me as a stand.

“It most likely won’t.” I turned an eye to her before looking back at the pristine house before us. “More a case of… does the System know that? I’ve come to understand it is less a static set of rules than it should be.”

There was a very specific use case that I was relying on to make this work. swapped me with a targeted demon I had summoned. Simple on the surface. Technically, Roger was a demon that I had summoned. All good so far.

However, the difference between him and my dove was that while I was borrowing the latter from Hell, the large rabbit was my pact demon. He was bound to me, and in some ways, me to him.

Would this bond allow me to shift some of the targeting across? I was willing to find out.

Roger stood patiently as I sent the hell-dove up into the top-floor window. It didn’t immediately combust or fall foul of anything offensive, so I raised an eyebrow at my pact demon.

While I was a magician in the basic sense - someone who did tricks and illusionary forms of ‘magic’ - the System gave me the fantasy flair that paired with an innate understanding of the moving pieces. A mix of both worlds that allowed me to do the unthinkable on occasion.

My eyes narrowed as I tried to find the invisible strands that determined targeting for my spells. Hand raised and there was the string leading from me to the hell-bird in the house. Was easy enough to sever and reattach it… but I couldn’t move it. Frustrated, I stepped over to the rabbit inhabiting the demon corpse and placed my hand on him.

Severed the connection just after my hand and felt the end of it twirl around, resisting being attached to Roger instead as if it they were repelling magnets. Useless. Just needed more power.

Drained my reserves as if I had pulled the plug from the sink. A swirl of mana that thickened the line and caused it to be brighter in my mind’s eye. Slowly, I was gaining more control of it. Teeth clenched together, and then there was a snap.

I stumbled forward into the flapping wings of my dove. Eyes went up to the window, and a demon-head poked out, his purple eyes glowing down at us.

“Whoa, Boss. That felt weird.”

“Secure the building and open the door,” I requested of him, and he vanished back inside.

“That didn’t look too easy,” Ren said. Stepping over and placing an arm on me as I wobbled.

“Never is,” I replied. Hadn’t bled for it, but it was mentally exhausting. What a bad day we’d had so far - and this was before we’d seen what was troubling the Eternal Wardens.

“Probably nothing wrong with the building, either.” She clucked her tongue and pulled a face at the rest of the outpost. “Still have a bad feeling, though.”

“Same. Be nice to not have constant combat encounters on the way to our destination.” I shrugged, even knowing I may have doomed us to just that.

The door swung open to reveal Roger standing there with his arms crossed. “Seems okay, Boss.”

“Hmm, thanks Roger. Make sure you drop the body outdoors when you leave.”

He nodded and walked out, two steps away from us before he faded away to mist, the empty body of the demon puppet now flopping to the ground.

Quinn looked to be improving, but was just about as exhausted as I felt. Pushing ourselves too hard, just after the hell we went through.

“I’m going to say you go bathe first, Max,” Ren offered, seeing what others felt about the notion. “Just because you are literally caked with demon gore.”

Reluctant acceptance had me stepping forth into the odd building before the others - perhaps her intention all along. It looked… normal, as if it had just chosen to sit out of the event that was happening around it.

“Keep your eyes peeled, just in case,” I warned them, as I was already halfway up the stairs. Would have been nice to share a bath with Ren, but we didn’t really have the time to be distracted by romantic notions. Maybe at our next stop.

Bathroom door closed, and I was over to the tub. Taps turned on. Normal water. One of these days I was sure it would be poison gas, or spiders… the System liked to keep me on my toes. Set my outfit to repair and removed my underwear.

Into the water before it was even half full. Eager to get some comfort and energy back in my body. As I sighed and leaned against the side of the wooden bath, I figure it was a good time to get caught up on some admin work.

[Max: Hey, Fiona.]

[Fiona: Max. Not dead yet, then?]

[Max: Sorry to disappoint.]

[Max: Have an update for you.]

[Max: Necromancer is dead, along with a couple of other groups.]

[Fiona: Impressive - so the east and center are relatively clear?]

[Max: Correct.]

[Fiona: We’re moving to the second area with another group.]

[Fiona: Priority will be leveling, but we can assist you.]

[Max: At some point we will need to march on Candlekeep.]

[Max: Your help would be greatly appreciated.]

[Fiona: When the time comes, you’ll not find us absent.]

[Fiona: I’m… glad you’re okay and still kicking ass.]

[Max: I know. Stay safe, Fiona.]

Normally, I’d talk to Ruby, as the goblin healer was a lot more affable. With Fiona being the leader of her Party, I wanted to approach the request for assistance in a more… official capacity.

Taps off, the water was nice and warm - and the bath as full as my head.

[Max: Anything you can tell us?]

[Dimitri: Unfortunately not.]

[Dimitri: I realize how unconventional that is…]

[Dimitri: But you will understand once you arrive.]

[Max: If it’s some kind of trap I will be really pissed.]

[Dimitri: It’s nothing of the sort.]

[Dimitri: I have to go now.]

I grumbled to myself. This stunk to high heaven. The Eternal Wardens had been keen for me to show up and meet them for a while, but I wasn’t sure why. Promising answers on the Guardians had been less of a draw now that we had a rough idea - or at least since we knew how to work them, then the details didn’t mean much.

Other than if there was an easy way to get rid of the Lady. I daydreamed about Ren taking her out from half a mile away. Things were never that easy.

So I cleaned off the blood and grime from the rest of me. Would have been nice to have a proper soak - but having to share the extravagance with the rest of the Party had me feeling guilty if I took too long.

Out. Dry. Clothed once more. I sighed and flooded some mundane cards around my hands. Drew four different kings into my hand. Flicked them away and then drew five of the same king into my hand. Lifted the hat from my head and a waterfall of cards fell out onto the wooden floorboards. All jokers.

A point to this exercise? I wasn’t sure. Sometimes motions took me, and I followed the feeling until a result was shown. A bit like… a tarot reading or something. Despite being relaxed and clean, it felt as though something uncomfortable remained, a splinter in my mind. Knew it was there, but fingers were too clumsy to grip at it.

Shook myself and went out of the bathroom, immediately almost striding straight into someone waiting.

My mind skipped a beat as I thought it was Quinn, but it wasn’t.

Older man with a gray mustache and a blank look in his eyes. Heart skipped a beat from the jump scare. “Sir?”

“Terrible weather today.” His mouth moved, but the rest of him didn’t.

“Max!”

I skirted past him and hit the stairs, racing down to meet with the rest of the Party. They weren’t alone, as two other System-created had appeared in the living room area, equally as inert.

Ren had a sour scowl on her face, unimpressed at their appearance. “I guess the outpost is bringing back all the NPCs.”

“I suppose.” I continued from the stairs and over to the window at the front of the house. Wolf way laying by the front door to ensure we didn’t have any surprise guests. My eyes went slowly from left to right. “Oh.”

The elf leveled her glare at me. “What is it now? Something to stop me from having a bath?”

I ran my tongue across my dry lips. “I mean… potentially not, but…”

Not taking my limp sentence as an answer, she came over and jostled me to the side to look - rather than going to the other window.

“The fuck is this?” She sighed and pressed her forehead against the window.

That was enough to get the other two over and looking out on the other side of the room. Made sense why Roger had thought there was nothing wrong, in retrospect.

I placed a hand against the glass, warm already. “I’m hoping this isn’t real.”

Quinn moved away from the sight and put a hand over his face. “I think I may just throw up again.”

Tanya was silent, her brow furrowed, trying to make sense of it. Amber light illuminated her clenched jaw, as if the lighting took a few minutes to catch up with the change in location.

Ren seemed fed up with everything. Couldn’t blame her.

I just wavered, my legs energized but weak. A grumbling in my stomach that almost rivaled Quinns, but I was led to a different solution to rub away at the terrible feeling flashing through my body.

Wolf shuffled away from the door, not clued in to the picture just yet. But I… I stumbled to the door, smiling despite the emotional turmoil gripping at me.

I pushed the door open, allowing a warmth to wash through us. Now there could be no denying we weren't imagining this.

Turning my head away from the jutting spikes of rock, the ruddy hues, and perpetual bursts of flame, I looked at the dark sky and closed my eyes.

“Welcome to hell,” I announced.