Kristasia nearly sighed in relief at being free of the spider’s grasp. She knew she had to think and act both well and fast or she and the child would not survive their encounter with this beast. Having been a slave since her early childhood, Kristasia had become exceedingly good at doing both for the sake of her own survival. Her choices of late hadn’t been so good, though. Running from her master into a group of demons, from a group of demons into a demonic realm, and from a group of demons in a demonic realm to a demonic spider beast in its own nest, was really the definition of jumping from a frying pan into the fire and then again into an inferno. She knew she had to escape this beast, but she certainly hoped that didn’t mean jumping into a volcano this time.

“If you’ll come to me, then take off your clothes join me in my nest,” the spider stated, motioning to the nest of webbing in the corner.

“I… I will. I’m so thirsty though. Is there no water here?” she asked.

“If you will stay, I will bring you some. But you mustn’t leave. If you do, I’ll kill you,” the spider threatened.

“I’ll stay right here. I swear it,” Kristasia replied.

The spider man looked her over once more, and she wasn’t certain he believed her, but he finally nodded and turned to leave the den. Kristasia counted to ten as soon as he disappeared before she ran to the pile of bones, rummaging through them for anything she could use. She came away with a bone shard that had broken to leave a pointed, jagged edge. She tucked it away into the pocket of her dress and turned around expectantly just as the creature appeared, a jug of water in its hands.

“Here you are,” the creature told her as he handed it to her.

Kristasia turned the jug up to her lips and pretended to drink. She spilled a bit of the water down her chin, but drank none before handing it back to him. She didn’t trust this creature at all. He placed the jug on the table before crawling towards his nest.

“Are you ready now?” he demanded then.

“Are you even sure it would work?” she questioned him then. “I… I don’t have the same anatomy you’re meant to breed with.”

“You certainly do. I do as well,” he stated as he motioned downward.

Kristasia paled a few shades as the creature motioned down to his scrotum. The area just below it turned to a spider’s abdomen, but just above a strange slit in his skin began to open and a long, thick appendage began to emerge.

“I… I mean with children. Don’t spiders lay their eggs? Humans don’t, you know,” she said, wanting to run from this beast with every fiber of her being, but forcing herself to stay still.

“I suppose there is a chance the eggs may hatch inside you and eat you from the inside out, but I sincerely hope that isn’t the case. I’d like to keep you,” he replied rather nonchalantly. “Now come, or I’ll get you myself.”

“Do you have a heart like a human?” she then asked softly.

“What a ridiculous question,” he muttered as he stepped towards her again.

“I’d only like to know about the anatomy of the creature I’m about to breed with. Is that ridiculous?” she asked as he drew closer with his large, throbbing appendage poised and ready still.

“I suppose not. Yes. I have a heart, like that of a human, in the same place and all. I have all the correct upper anatomy of a human and all of the correct lower anatomy of a spider. Enough questions. I want you now,” the spider hissed as he grabbed her and drew her in.

In a split second Kristasia had grabbed the bone shard from her dress pocket and had jammed it with all the force she possessed into the spider’s heart. The creature let out an awful shriek and his hands clenched her in a bruising grip. All eight monstrous eyes went wide and its mouth opened fully to show the inner jaws and fangs of a spider. Kristasia screamed in terror as the creature screamed in its death throes, but then he fell away and crumpled to the ground before her.

She collapsed, adrenaline coursing through her veins as she fell to the webbed floor. The bone shard fell from her limp fingers and tears trailed down her cheeks. However, Kristasia knew she had but a moment to collect herself. She quickly pulled herself up and ran to where Lonia lay, still unmoving and barely breathing. The child was pale, but alive.

“Lonia. Lonia, baby, wake up. Please,” Kristasia whispered as she shook the girl softly.

The child would not wake.

Suddenly the mass of webbing beside them began to shake and tremble. A strange moaning sound cried out from within. Kristasia pulled Lonia away from the mass of webbing and watched it with terrified fascination. It took her mind a moment to realize that something was alive inside it. Fearing the worst and hoping for the best, Kristasia grabbed the bone shard up from the floor and began to cut the thing loose. What popped out was far worse than what she’d hope for.

A strange tawny beast leapt out of the web sack with razor claws ready for battle, its long and scaly tail balancing out behind it. Sharp, pointed ears pricked up and a vicious maw of teeth sat barred beneath narrowed black eyes. The creature looked around itself several times, lifting itself up on its bipedal clawed feet, before its dark eyes lost their narrowed vicious glare and settled on Kristasia.

“You free Scawp?” the creature demanded in a nasally voice.

“I… well… yes,” Kristasia stuttered as she looked over the strange little creature, only half her height.

“You kill spider beast?” the creature, apparently known as Scawp, then asked.

“Yes.”

“You save Scawp life!” the creature cried happily as it danced up and down on its little clawed feet. “Scawp like you now! You Scawp new master!”

“What?” Kristasia asked, taken aback by the little beast.

“Master name?” the creature then asked as it turned its eyes up to her like an obedient dog.

“What?” she repeated uncertainly.

“Name! Name, master. Name?” the creature repeated quickly, its head bouncing up and down expectantly.

“Kristasia,” she finally answered the beast.

“Kris… Krista… sus… Kristaza?” the beast began to repeat until he felt he’d gotten her name right.

“Close enough, I suppose.”

“My name Scawp! Master Kristaza must come. Not safe. Must leave,” the beast stated urgently.

“I can’t leave without her,” Kristasia stated, motioning to Lonia who still lay comatose on the floor.

“Master other servant?” Scawp asked curiously.

“She’s a child. She’s in my care. I love her. I won’t leave her,” Kristasia explained.

“She Master other servant?” Scawp asked again, clearly not understanding.

“Oh, yes. I suppose so, if that’s all you’ll understand. But I can’t leave her.”

“Master Kristaza so kind. So good Master not leave servant! So good Master not leave Scawp! Scawp carry servant! Scawp good servant too!” the beast exclaimed as he picked Lonia up and threw her over his little shoulder. “Come! Good servant Scawp show way home. Leave nasty spider beast.”

“Well, I suppose. You know where you’re going, don’t you? Are you certain?” Kristasia asked him.

“Scawp know! Scawp good servant. Smart. Scawp find way out,” the creature replied confidently as he grabbed the lantern off the table with his free hand and, holding Lonia secure on his shoulder, began to lead the way out.

An hour or so later they finally emerged, amazingly unscathed, from the dark catacombs. Scawp laid Lonia down gently beside the lantern and stretched up on the tips of clawed toes to scan their perimeter. Lonia began to groggily wake up.

“Krissy, where are we?” the child asked softly as she rubbed her eyes and looked around.

“Safe, for the moment,” Kristasia replied as she helped the child up and hugged her tightly.

“What happened to the awful spider man?”

“He’s gone. That’s all that matters.”

“And what is that thing?” Lonia then asked as she laid eyes on Scawp who was still dutifully searching for any threats.

“That would be Scawp.”

“Safe, Master!” Scawp declared joyfully as he came down from his toes. “Ooh! Servant wake! What name?”

Scawp, not terribly much taller than Lonia, looked down at her with studious eyes.

“My name?” the frightened child asked as she clung to Kristasia’s dress.

“Name,” Scawp repeated.

“Lonia.”

“Scawp better servant than Lonia,” Scawp announced dismissively.

“Scawp, I tried to tell you. She’s a child, not a servant.”

The creature shrugged dismissively as Kristasia took a moment to survey their surroundings. Far off in the distance she could make out the canyon they’d left and the fiery red portal at its end. Just beyond that was an ocean of steaming lava as far as her eyes could see. Before them was a rocky, mountainous terrain and at its horizon were three black towers.

“We go there?” Scawp asked as he pointed to the distant towers.

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“We go there. There safe. Here not safe. Here spiders and hedans and jeggas and more scawps. Not nice like Scawp. Bad scawps. Mean scawps. Nasty scawps,” Scawp explained. “People there.”

“People are out there?” Kristasia asked hesitantly.

“Lots of people. Scawp old master there. Old Master not nice. He send Scawp for in…inge…gre…dens…ingedens for nasty water,” Scawp explained. “He drink nasty water. Make Scawp get things. Scawp not like. Scawp get hurt. Scawp not like hurt. New Master good! Not make Scawp get hurt!”

“Krissy, he’s silly,” Lonia stated, though she appeared to no longer be afraid of the creature.

“Alright, Scawp. Take us to the other people,” Kristasia agreed.

Scawp nodded happily and they started off again through the rocky desert land. The sky above was still red and the huge purple clouds still grumbled as the orange lightning danced across it.

“Really?” Daedronus demanded as Creed stood before him. “Again?”

“Sire, I…” Creed started before being cut off.

“I’m still not laughing Creed, but this is still a joke. A young woman and a small child? Seriously? I mean, seriously? Tell me you’re joking. It’s an awful joke, but I swear I’ll laugh.”

“My men are searching the canyon for them right now. I just thought you should know.”

“Creed,” Daedronus huffed as he shook his head again. “Oh, Creed. My Divinity Stone is in this realm. I can feel it. One of them has it. Likely the child. Find them and bring them to me before one of the spiders eats them.”

“I intend to, Sire.”

“By doing what? Searching the canyon? Really? They’re obviously not in the canyon anymore.”

“My men are searching the catacombs, Sire.”

“Try again, dear friend. They’re out of the catacombs and they are, in fact, almost upon the first village. What do those mortals call it? Hellspath? Get them. Now. I mean, really, they’re practically right outside the gates. All you have to do is walk outside, go down to the village, say ‘Hey, I’m Creed, come with me if you want to live,’ and bring them back,” Daedronus stated as he held is hand out, swiveling his wrist as his fingers swirled.

“And you believe that will work?” Creed demanded.

“It certainly worked for a ravenous spider about three and a half hours ago. Dear me. Look what you’re making me do, Creed. I’m an immortal being beyond comprehension who has been alive for thousands of millennia and you’re making me break time down into hours. How dare you?” Daedronus demanded as he crossed his arms over his chest in offense.

“Sire, if you know exactly where they are, why are you making us hunt them down?” Creed demanded.

“I was wondering how long it would take you to ask. Of course I know where they are. I’ve been watching everything that’s been going on this entire time. I’m omniscient remember? Actually, I’m rather beginning to like that girl. Make sure you don’t harm her or the child when you bring them in,” Daedronus stated.

“But Sire, why am I bringing them in? Why did you let the thief escape? Why any of this?” Creed demanded.

“Well what else am I supposed to do for entertainment? It gets boring being the lord of everything.”

“Do what normal people do and take a mistress. Females provide endless amounts of entertainment and drama, if that’s what you’re seeking,” Creed snapped.

“They bore me. I understand that I am all-knowing and all-powerful and all that, but even if I put a stop to my all-knowing of all-everything and my all-powerfulness to do all-everything, even then few mortals are capable of comparing. Besides, they stay a few centuries and then they grow a yearning for their mortality back. I understand. It is rather boring spending eternity here. I really did like the last one. She spent too much time yearning for her mortal life back though, and so, I gave it to her. She’s been reincarnated several times now and each time she comes back to the Ninth Realm she doesn’t seek me. Humans do not love as gods do,” Daedronus said with a sullen sigh before placing his chin upon his palm. “I’m so bored of casual relationships, Creed. I’d rather to take one I could keep than to keep taking ones, you know?”

“I actually thought you were upset about losing your Divinity Stone! The entire balance of all the realms could have been shattered! Are you suicidal?!” Creed shouted.

“Oh, some days more or less than others,” the demon god replied drolly. “Just go bring me the humans.”

“Get them yourself, you oversized child!” the Daedran general spat angrily.

“Creed,” Daedronus said, drawing the other’s name out in a dangerous manner.

“Fine,” he hissed. “Fine! But in another thousand years when you do some other manner of self-destructive nonsense just to provide yourself with empty entertainment, get someone else to do your bidding!”

The Daedran turned and stormed from the hall.

“There is no one else, Creed!” the demon god called after his friend, a smile curling his lips.

Kristasia, Lonia, and Scawp finally reached the broken, dusty town. Hovels of stones and cracked boards constituted most walls of most buildings and a few rugged people were out roaming the dirt streets. Scawp scampered on without a care as several people began to view them with strange looks.

“Scawp, I believe this was a very bad idea,” Kristasia whispered just as someone cried out.

“It’s them! Call the Daedran!” a man shouted as he pointed to them with a single chubby finger.

The town exploded into a sudden frenzy of life. Humans along with gray-skinned demons came pouring out of every hovel, hole, and hiding place. Scawp gave his utmost vicious snarl and scratched and clawed at any humans who dared come near. The Daedran began pulling the humans back, away from the girls and Scawp, almost as if to protect them. Kristasia held Lonia tightly against her chest as Scawp circled them protectively and Daedran surrounded them in mass. Then one, the very one who had saved them from the dogs in the mortal realm, came striding out of the mass of infantry.

“Get back, beast,” he growled formidably to Scawp.

“Scawp protect Master,” the little beast growled.

“Get out of my way or I’ll kill you,” the demon warned sternly.

Scawp, entirely unfazed, snarled and lunged towards the demon man threateningly before falling back to Kristasia’s side. The demon placed his hand upon the hilt of his sword and began to draw it.

“Scawp, stand down,” Kristasia cried desperately. “Stop it, now! Please don’t hurt him. He doesn’t mean anything.”

The demon paused to look at Scawp, who was hesitantly obeying her command, and Kristasia, who knelt hugging the terrified child to her chest. He let his sword fall back to its sheath.

“Come on then,” the demon stated as he motioned for them to follow.

“Where are you taking us?” Kristasia demanded immediately.

“Does it matter? You’ll go there whether I tell you or not.”

“You underestimate how resourceful I am,” she bantered.

“Apparently so. I’m taking you to Lord Daedronus. He will decide what is to become of you. Now let’s go,” the demon demanded as he motioned for them to follow.

One of the Daedran soldiers gave Kristasia a hard shove. Scawp turned viciously on the man, biting through the armor of his gauntlets until dark blood came gushing out. The demon man cried out and shook the little creature violently from his hand. Scawp hit the ground, rolled, and was quickly on his feet again, tail balanced appropriately and ready to fight.

“Don’t touch them!” the demon general snarled as he turned back over his shoulder.

Kristasia slowly rose, taking Lonia’s hand, and the two of them followed the demon general as the crowds parted before him. Scawp, snarling all the while, brought up the rear. The demons escorted them from the village up a path leading to tall black gates and to the first of the three large towers beyond it. Though from a distance the towers had looks so close, Kristana now realized there were miles between them. This tower, the largest of them all, must have been the main one and the one in which they would soon meet the god of their realm, the demon lord to whom all devout men prayed, Lord Daedronus.

Once they were in the black tower, a huge lobby with tawny marble floor greeted them. The lobby encircled a large inner tower that strived upwards beyond the high ceiling. Several staircases spiraled upwards, some along the walls of the outer tower and some along the walls of the inner, meeting only to adjoin at levels of railed walkways that wrapped along the walls of the tower every fifty or so feet. Bridges crisscrossed the empty air above, joining the levels of railed walkways attached to the inner and outer tower walls as far up as the eye could see. Levels and levels spanned up the tower to be lost in the domed, black ceiling far above.

“Where are we going?” Kristasia asked curiously as she stared ever upward.

“Nearly to the very top,” the demon general replied.

“That’s a long way.”

“Yes. It’s nearly a mile to the very top. Fear not. There is a much faster route,” he responded as he led them around the curved lobby to the other side of the inner tower where a raised, railed platform awaited them.

He opened the railing at a small gate and led them onto the platform. The following Daedran stopped there, watching as only their general, the two girls, and Scawp entered onto the strange device. From there the demon pulled a lever and heavy black chains began to jerk the platform up at an alarmingly uncomfortable rate of speed. Scawp jumped up and down, laughing gleefully while Lonia clung to Kristasia tightly with closed eyes. Kristasia grabbed the top bar of the railing to steady herself, the ground seeming to almost give way beneath them. The demon general looked rather bored.

Finally the awful device brought them to a jerking halt at the final level of railed walkway at the top of the tower. From there the demon general opened the gate and they began to disembark on woozy legs. He marched onward towards a black door set into the tower wall and pressed a square of stone that jutted out an inch from the rest. The door, instead of opening inward or outward, split down the middle and was sucked into the stone frame on either side. The Daedran general motioned towards the entryway and, summoning all her bravery, Kristasia stepped through with Lonia in tow. Scawp and the demon general followed behind.

Before Kristasia was a curving hall that followed the path of the tower wall at a slight elevation. She followed the curving hallway up until its curve straightened into a long hall leading to a rather bored looking man draped across a throne chair. One leg rested down on the floor while the other had been flung high over the arm of his gleaming black throne. One elbow was propped on the other arm of the throne, supporting his head, while the other hung limply across his chest. Black hair cascaded in long locks down his arm, past his elbow, and down one side of his throne. Behind him the back of the throne chair stretched upwards in a series of gleaming black spikes with pointed razor tips. Bored and unthreatening as he looked, Kristasia couldn’t help but wonder if this was, in fact, the volcano.

The floor was of black stone, as were the walls, though a red carpet stretched from the beginning of the hall to the foot of his thrown. Sashes, ribbons, and tapestries of scarlet, crimson, violet, and purple hung decoratively along the walls. Torches hung every few feet down the walls and a single large window was set into the outside wall of the tower beside his throne to let in the red, yellow, and orange lights of the bruised sky.

“Sire,” the demon general called as the small group approached the throne.

“Oh? I’m sorry, I must have drifted off. Been so bored waiting, Creed. How long did it take you? Five days? A week? Seems like it’s been at least a year. Took you long enough anyway,” the man stated as he swung his leg over the arm of the chair and sat up in a much more proper manner.

“It’s been perhaps an hour since you last saw me,” the demon general, Creed, responded.

“Oh. Well time really has no meaning here unless I give it meaning, so the matter is meaningless. Who have you brought? Visitors. I like visitors! Come, come! We have a scawp, a crying child, and an apparently rather evasive mortal woman. This really should be interesting! So, what brings you all here?” asked the man who certainly must have been the great, powerful, mighty, and feared god, Lord Daedronus.

Kristasia had no idea how to answer him as his dark eyes watched her all too intensely.

“Well, speak up. I can’t quite hear you over all this silence,” he ordered, prompting her with a slight nod of his head.

“I suppose we’re here because you want us here. Are you not a god?” she finally asked. “Do you not rule this realm and everything in it?”

“Oh. No, certainly not. Well, I mean, I am a god. I do rule the Sixth Realm. But this, dear girl, is the Ninth Realm, and I have seven brothers who rule it also. Though, come to think of it, I’m not so sure you’d really like to meet any of them. They’re all rather… boring. They’re all also a bit… well… I hate to be rude, but… they’re all a bit crazy, honestly,” the demon god stated.

“And you’re not?” Kristasia asked, for she could hardly believe this man was an all-powerful god.

“Crazy? Crazy? Me? Creed! Do you think I’m crazy?” Daedronus demanded as he turned to the Daedran general behind them.

“Oh, if but this realm had mental institutions, my Lord,” Creed replied dryly.

“Scawp,” Daedronus said ever so sweetly to the snarling little creature beside Kristasia.

“Scawp is me,” the creature replied as he looked up.

“Yes, poor beast, I know that. You are Scawp and I am speaking to you. Did you bring me these girls all the way from the spider’s nest?” Daedronus asked softly, as though he were speaking to a child.

“Yes! Scawp brought New Master and Child all the way from spider’s nest!” Scawp exclaimed, rather excited that his accomplishments were being noted.

“Would you like to have Creed’s job?” Daedronus then asked, his black-lipped grin cutting up both cheeks.

“Scawp get his job?” Scawp asked as he turned to look up at the demon general.

“Oh, you never stop, do you?” Creed demanded, shaking his head miserably.

“Why shouldn’t he have your job? He’s obviously capable of doing it better than you are!” Daedronus roared with laughter.

“Haven’t you put your show on for long enough yet?” Creed then demanded.

“Why do you rush me? You’re always rushing me. Sire, come quickly, your brother’s brats are invading the eastern islands! Sire, you must hurry, there’s a tear in the universe! Sire, your brother’s brats have invaded the Sixth Realm and are wreaking havoc, we must hurry! Sire, come quickly, the Daedran are revolting! It’s always a rush with you!” Daedronus complained dramatically as he threw his head back and flung out his arms.

“This may be all a game to you, but our lives actually mean something to us,” Kristasia announced angrily.

“Oh, I’m certain they do. Sorry. Let me try for a bit more seriousness since you all seem to want to rush me. Bring me the child,” Lord Daedronus ordered as he sat back on his throne.

“Don’t you touch her!” Kristasia snarled, placing herself immediately between Lonia and Creed. Even Scawp hissed.

“Oh, don’t bother,” Daedronus sighed, rolling his eyes.

In an instant, without a muscle moved, Lonia was perched in his lap, her wide blue eyes staring up at the demon god with wonder. He was, despite the crimson rims of his eyes, a perfectly normal-looking and ridiculously attractive man. His skin was smooth and fit the perfect bone structure of his face admirably. Though only a child, the little girl stared up at him in wonder, lost in the perfection of his handsome features.

“There. We’ve stopped crying now, haven’t we?” he asked her rather sweetly as he brought up one thumb to dry the tears from her cheeks. “You’ve had such a sad life, little one, haven’t you? So much cruelty and you’re only six years old. How did you survive it all?”

“Krissy takes care of me,” the little girl answered softly.

“So she does. I see so much of her in your memories, but she is not your mother. What would you like, child?” Daedronus asked her softly as he brushed his fingers through her golden curls.

“To stay with Krissy forever,” she whispered.

“Ah, but forever is a long time. You do not know how long it is. Too long, I think, for a child to decide such a fate.”

“I want to stay with Krissy forever and the mountains and trees and field of flowers,” Lonia replied firmly.

“Mountains and trees and field of flowers? Let me see,” he said, his eyelids closing for but a moment. “Ah. The stories she tells you. Is that how you think they look? Silly child, they look much different, though I’m not so sure your vision isn’t better. You want to go there someday.”

“Only with Krissy.”

“Then that is her dream, not yours. Perhaps you will have your own in time. Tell me, sweet, do you have something that belongs to me?” he asked gently as he looked down at the child.

“A white stone,” she whispered. “It’s what you’re looking for, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Very good. But you don’t have it anymore? You gave it to… her,” Daedronus said as he turned to eye Kristasia with a strangely dark look.

Daedronus lifted the child up into his arms as he descended his throne and carried her back to Kristasia’s waiting arms. As tall as Creed, and built no less significantly, he towered over Kristasia as he lowered the child back down to her.

“It’s your turn,” he told her as he reached towards her.

Kristasia pulled away, but his hand found a lock of her hair anyway and his eyelids slid shut, if only briefly.

“Don’t be afraid. So much fear in you, yet you act so bravely. Your life has been much crueler than hers. I’m surprised you have anything left to fear. There are few things here and there,” he said, his eyes opening again.

“Does it matter to you?” she demanded.

“Of course it matters. I didn’t start this world. It was here long before I was. There was just nothing in it. I created everything around you. Your realm, the world you grew up in, was empty of life. Then I made you. Your race. You lived. You breathed. You feared. You hated. You enjoyed. You loved. You cried. You gave the realm harmony and you gave me more power. It is from you mortals that all my power comes. I draw from the energy of countless souls and you are one of them. It matters to me what you think, how you think, what you feel, how you feel, and why. Even a god cannot make all mortals happy. It is against your nature. But you are here and I can grant you both a wish. Tell me what will make you happy,” he said.

“Her wellbeing,” Kristasia replied simply.

“No. There are other things to make you happy. Once you dreamed of a little family, a husband, children, and a farm in the mountains of your home. Wouldn’t that make you happy?”

“Only if it would last forever.”

“You mortals and your use of that word really offends me. You know nothing of forever. Creed, how long have we been here?” Daedronus demanded as he looked past Kristasia to the demon general behind her.

“Oh, about sixteen billion, five hundred seventy-two million, six hundred eighty-three thousand, one hundred twenty-two years, eighteen days,” Creed responded drolly.

“About?” Daedronus asked. “You’re not keeping count anymore?”

“Well you told me to stop bringing up hours, Sire, but if you must know, add seventeen hours and forty-seven minutes.”

“You mean to tell me our sixteen billion, five hundred seventy-two million, six hundred eighty-three thousand, one hundred twenty-second anniversary of existence was less than a month ago and you didn’t even remind me? I would have had a party or something,” Daedronus stated. “Now we’ll have to wait until next year! I should start doing that, come to think of it.”

“Sire, would you please…” Creed began.

“I’m getting there! Anyway, if you think about your meager twenty years of existence, can you please at least try to comprehend a tiny little bit of forever?” Daedronus asked nicely as he turned back to Kristasia.

“My love for this child,” she replied softly.

The demon god gave her a rather strange look for the longest moment before he finally closed his eyes.

“And if you had your own children? If she died?” he demanded.

“She would still have my love, even if it only was for a tiny little bit of forever.”

A cold sweat suddenly broke out across the demon god’s brow. His face tightened in what appeared to be an expression of pain. His palms jumped to his temples and he held his head with an expression of raw agony for the longest time. Finally his eyes opened, completely blood red and tears of blood spilled down his cheeks.

“Are you okay?” Lonia asked him softly as she stared up at the strange man.

Through a haze of blood he looked down at the child, his breathing rapid as his jaw clenched tightly.

“I am fine. This body is a physical manifestation and it does not like to experience parts of the unphysical world,” he replied as he wiped the blood from his eyes. “I shall heal it quickly.”

Within seconds, he had and his eyes returned to their normal charcoal tone.

“What happened to you?” Kristasia demanded.

“I went off to glimpse the future. You’re both so set and determined on forever and I wished to see if I could give it to you. I think… I think that… if you are willing… I think that I can. I know all that is now and I know all that was, but the things that will be are often beyond my grasp. If you wish to spend forever together, then spend it here. Spend it with me,” he offered, his voice dipping into a tone which she had yet to hear from him. One that sounded of genuine expression. He was, she realized, rather asking a question.

“If you will stay here, with me, I’ll give you forever, and anything else you have or will ever want,” he stated.

“I… I don’t believe I know what you’re saying,” Kristasia said, shaking her head.

Less than six hours ago, she had been slave. Now a demon god was asking her to be with him? Had she fallen and hit her head?

“I understand. I don’t, really, but I do. You need time to think, to understand. If you’ll come with me, I’ll show you something that may make your mind clearer,” he then offered, extending his hand to her.

Kristasia paused for a long moment. So much had happened in the last several hours. She was so unsure. Something about his eyes made her reach down for Lonia’s hand as she extended hers to him.

“No. You must leave her here. Creed will take good care of her,” Daedronus stated.

“Sire, I’ve never seen a child in my life besides this one,” Creed interrupted quickly.

“See? They’re already fast friends. He has only eyes for her,” the demon god responded.

“Daedronus, I beg you, do not leave me alone with a child!” Creed cried.

“Don’t fear for her. Fear for him,” Daedronus added with a rather charming grin.

“Scawp take good care Child!” the little creature declared.

“See? She’ll be fine. Come on,” the demon god offered.

“How can I trust you?” Kristasia demanded.

“I do have infinite amounts of power, so if I wanted to harm the child, I probably would have done it by now. If I wanted to harm you, I probably would have done it by now. But I suppose I see your point. I might very well take you away with me somewhere and you’ll never see her again. I suppose you’ll just have to have faith. If you deny my offer, I’ll send the two of you back to the mortal realm, right through that portal, and into the waiting arms of your rather incensed previous master,” the demon god stated. “So, with that said, now you don’t have a choice, which makes choosing easier. Come.”

“Promise you’ll bring me back to her,” Kristasia ordered.

“I promise.”

“Swear it.”

“I swear.”

“Swear it on your own existence and everything in this realm and everything you hold dear,” she demanded fiercely.

The demon god paused for the longest of moment.

“I swear.”

“Sire!” Creed exclaimed, his eyes widening as if his lord had done a most blasphemous thing.

“I’ll be right back. I promise,” Kristasia said softly to the child.

“I’ll be okay,” Lonia whispered back. “Scawp will take care of me.”

“If you weren’t my lord, I’d murder you,” Creed hissed to the demon lord as he took Kristasia’s hand.

“I’m certain of it. Make sure the child is well cared for.”

“What am I supposed to do with her?” Creed demanded.

“I don’t know. Play with her,” the demon god said with a shrug before both he and Kristasia disappeared.

“Play with her?” Creed demanded of the empty air, his jaw slack.

“I like to play with dolls,” Lonia offered.

The demon general looked down at her in a look of total and utter disbelief. Finally he shook his head and the expression was replaced by one of grim determination.

“Alright. Dolls. Scawp, make yourself useful and find some toys,” Creed ordered the creature.

“Scawp not like to get things. Scawp not get things anymore. Scawp not get for anyone but Master. Master not ask Scawp. Scawp not get,” the creature said, crossing little clawed hands over its chest as it shook its head and waved its tail.

“For pity’s sake,” the Daedran cried.

“I also like to jump rope,” Lonia suggested.

“This is my Divinity Room,” Daedronus introduced as they appeared in a small circular room with walls of glass.

The ceiling was of black stone exempting a small hole of open air above a stone well in the center of the room. Perched over the well was an empty metal cradle.

“Put the stone back where it belongs,” he ordered, motioning to the cradle above the well.

Kristasia reached into the pocket of her dress and removed the glowing white stone. Carefully she placed it back in its cradle. The stone began to glow and the water in the well was bathed with its sparkling light.

“Now look out to the west where the storm clouds end. Do you see the clear sky?” he asked softly.

“Yes,” Kristasia answered as the sky to the west began to clear to a beautiful blue.

“Not all the sky shall clear, but only the half that must clear. My tower, though in the hellish half of my land, is near its center. This tower is in the far west. It spreads my power out across the pleasant parts of my land. Without this stone, those meant to find peace will suffer also. My land is in halves. Half of peace and prosperity. Half of chaos and misery. But in those halves there is balance. Souls go into the mortal realm and are scarred, damaged, bruised, blackened. They must come here to be cleansed. Some are cleansed through peace. Some are cleansed through suffering. My job is to care for all the souls of the Sixth Realm. You can’t have just peace or just suffering. You must have both in equal amounts. I provide that. Though my realm itself is a lower realm and is more chaotic than the higher realms, darker, and is full of more suffering, it is much more balanced than what my brothers have,” Daedronus explained as he stared out at the clearing sky.

“What do you mean by all this?” Kristasia asked.

“I mean to say that there is a purpose in everything, even if it seems cruel. The purpose is hard for a mortal to comprehend. Even I don’t comprehend some things,” he admitted softly. “I know what your purpose is, what my purpose is. Every creature has a purpose. Sometimes I do wonder why. Why we do this. All of it. I’m so bored. I’m so tired. I’m alone. Surrounded by millions of souls, I’m alone. I ask for you to stay here with me, not as a mistress or a lover. As a wife. Forever. The child too, of course. I have looked far into the future, so far that my eyes bleed from it, and if you decide to accept my offer, I see us together to the far reaches of eternity. I see that with no one else. I know the world you entered into frightened you. It’s full of strange and scary things, frightening beasts. It’s dark and horrific. But it is a much easier task to sit in paradise and watch mortals be cleansed than it is to sit in hell and watch them suffer. That’s why I rule here. So that I may be reminded how you suffer and so that I may keep mercy in my heart and be fair in both my reward and punishment. But we can go elsewhere. We can live beneath the blue sky if it suits you. I just want you to stay.”

“We’ve only just met,” she whispered, taken quite aback by his words.

“But I have seen your whole life in an instant and our life together in another. I don’t expect you to understand. But can you accept it? For if you only accept it, in time, you will come to understand,” he explained.

“You don’t make much sense, you know,” she stated.

“Certainly not. Not to mortals. My thoughts are everywhere at once. But they make sense to me. In time, perhaps, they should make more sense to you as well. Simply I offer you the chance to stay here, with the child, in safety, peace, and harmony, forever. You won’t get sick, grow old, suffer, want, hunger, thirst, or die. Neither shall she. I ask that you marry me and end my loneliness. The other option is that you return to the mortal realm and take your chances with the rest of your meager existence before inevitably returning here before being reincarnated again, over and over again, for the rest of eternity. Your memories will be erased with each reincarnation. You will remember neither me nor the child, neither your lovers nor the ones you most despised. How should you choose?” he asked.

“Marry you? I’ve never been married.”

“Neither have I.”

“In sixteen billion years you’ve never cared enough to marry anyone, but now you offer it to me? Am I really so special?” she demanded.

“Apparently. But you know, it was not really that simple. I spent so much of that time building this kingdom here, creating my Daedran, and building the universe. It’s only been about twenty-thousand years since I created your kind. So, with that said, it’s only been twenty-thousand years,” Daedronus answered seriously. “That’s really not that long.”

“And there have been no women before me?” she asked sharply.

“Certainly there have been. I am a god, but I do get lonely. None of them wished to stay with me though. They yearn for their human lives, no matter what I do. It seems that mortals, to some degree or another, would prefer to live in at least occasional suffering than in constant bliss. Of course, most souls have been reincarnated several times. It’s very seldom that a new soul is born, and yours, and that of the child, are both new. You’ve never died, you know?” he asked rather casually.

“Where do new souls come from?” Kristasia asked.

“Such a simple question and such a complicated answer. Your world is physical. All of the lower eight realms are. All the matter and energy in them that ever was, always will be. That is a law of physics, a law of the physical. It takes a very precise amount of both matter and energy to create a world. An exact amount of both. Less energy would not support more matter and less matter would not power more energy, but too much energy would overcome the matter and too much matter would overcome the energy. Too little of either would not sustain the boundaries of the realm, and too much of either would break the boundaries, effectively destroying the realm itself in either scenario. Each realm can only exist and can only function with a certain amount of both. You must understand that,” Daedronus began.

“But that doesn’t answer my question,” Kristasia prompted.

Though the Sixth Realm was perhaps not as scientifically advanced as the higher realms, she grasped at least a basic idea of the concept.

“However, when a metaphysical thing such as a soul exists in a physical body, it can create something from nothing. It can create energy that does not and cannot exist in the physical realms. Your emotions. Your feelings. Your thoughts. Have you ever felt exhausted from an emotional upwelling? Have you ever been terribly angry and afterwards felt fatigued? Or terribly sad or overly joyful? All the emotions that every mortal feels produce metaphysical energy and because I own your souls, it comes to me. They metaphysical energy that a soul produces is the energy that feeds me and what I use to create things with. The souls of the dead that live here in the Ninth Realm still have feelings and emotions and they provide me with energy here as well, although it is far less than that of the mortals in the Sixth Realm.”

“Then why do the souls come here? I know you said they must be purified, but why?” she then inquired.

“I receive all the emotional energy of all the mortal souls I own, both here and in the realm below. It sustains my existence, but it also influences it. A light soul, a clean soul, a pure soul, will have more positive emotions. A dark soul, one that is dirty and scarred and impure, will have more negative emotions. If I allowed the souls of the world to grow dark, as the pain of living a mortal life does, even with no memories, when they reincarnated in the mortal realm, they would be predisposed to negativity and darkness. Eventually my realm would be a very cruel and harsh, evil place of evil people. Then I would be as well. My mortals would likely kill each other off and destroy their realm, which would, in turn, destroy me and, by proxy, unbalance the entire Ninth Realm, which would, inherently, unbalance all the other realms and, as a result, destroy everything in existence,” he explained. “It’s all a balancing act. There must be as many mortals residing here in the Ninth Realm as there are in the mortal plane. However, in the mortal plane, physical bodies are born and souls must inhabit them. So, on occasion, when a physical body is born and there is no soul waiting to fill its vessel, a bit of my essence is pulled into the realm and a soul is created, but only if I have an excess of power absorbed from the emotional energies of the mortal plane.”

“So… so you’re saying that I was… I was once a part of you?” Kristasia asked uncertainly.

“All mortal souls once were. That is why I am your god. Your physical mortal body was once a part of many animals and plants and other humans. You do not feel as much reverence for them, though, do you? Do you worship a rabbit you cooked in your stew, for the cells your body regenerated were made from the energy given by the flesh that was once a part of him,” the demon god pointed out.

“I suppose it is because the rabbit is not so much infinitely greater than me,” Kristasia replied.

“All great things are only great because of the small things that made them so,” he told her softly as his fingertips gently brushed her black hair back from her pale skin. “Perhaps it is the greatest failing of all great things to underestimate the small things which make them so great. If you would allow it, little one, I would show great reverence to you.”

Kristasia’s round blue eyes dropped to her feet at the charming sweetness of his words. The tone of his voice melted her and for a moment she wondered why she had not turned to a puddle at his feet. Despite her strong will and keen intellect, despite all of her guarded nature, the demon god was really beginning to get to her. To stay with him and be his wife, the wife of a god, and to want for nothing for the rest of eternity. What sane, or for that matter, insane person would deny that request? Especially when it came in such a beautiful form as his?

“I would greater prefer, my infinitely divine creator, if you would give me a chance to bathe. I am covered in dirt and spider webs and blood,” she stated as she motioned down at herself.

“That can be arranged.”

When Kristasia looked back up they were in a bathroom of sorts. A large tub of tawny stone which stretched the length of the room was built into one of the black stone walls of the tower and sat upon a gray marble floor. A mirror set above a long sink opposed the tub and a toilet was set back in a far corner. Torches lit the room from every wall, bathing it in a yellow glow.

“Everything you need sits upon the sink. Soaps for you to choose from, bath salts, lotions, brushes, cloths, and towels. Whatever you could possibly want is there,” Daedronus stated.

Kristasia looked back at the empty sink counter to find that it was now covered in the things he had said.

“And fresh clothes?” she asked.

“When you are finished with your bath, step through this door and you will find yourself already appropriately attired,” the god replied.

“And what is through that door?” Kristasia mused.

“My bedroom.”

Her eyes widened as she stared up at him. Her lips fell slightly apart.

“Oh, silly girl, I did not mean that!” he laughed. “We’ll save that for much later. I assumed that after you bathed you’d want to collect the child from Creed’s very tender and loving arms and join me for dinner. I meant only that when you step from the bathroom, I will have already conjured you a fine dress for the occasion and will take you down to the dining hall. Unless you are feeling a bit spontaneous… but if that’s the case, I can just join you in the bath.”

“I’d really prefer that you didn’t,” she responded quickly.

“I assure you that if I did stay, when I was through, you’d have a much different thing to say about it,” he laughed as his dark eyes sparkled and his black lips rose at their corners. “But I can wait. After all, you still haven’t accepted my proposal. No decent or respectable man and woman would dare engage in such a matter if they were not married.”

“I believe you’d engaged in such a thing numerous times,” she accused.

“I never said I was decent or respectable. Also, I don’t want to make you feel entirely uncomfortable or anything, but simply because I am the lord of this land, you do know that I can see everything that happens in any and every place I choose to gaze upon, don’t you?” he asked with a smirk and a wolfish wink before rather suddenly disappearing.

Kristasia crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at the door before her, certain he’d disappeared into the next room. She shook her head and let out a sigh, fully understanding his implications. Let him watch if he must. She needed a bath.

As she bathed, the last few hours of her life washed over her as surely as the hot water did. The sweet scents of the fine soaps and bath salts he provided did much to soothe her tired and aching body. Though Kristasia hadn’t realized it until then, she was exhausted. They had run from their master at the start of the evening, just after darkness had fallen. Before that she’d had a long day of slave’s work in the house. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been in this realm, or what time it was, but she did know that she had spent what would have been the entire night in her world running from demons, fighting spiders, and hiking miles with a strange little beast who called himself Scawp. That was her last thought before the soothing warm water put her to sleep.

A while later, the cold bath water finally woke Kristasia. She quickly finished washing and stepped out, shivering, onto the cold marble floors. She had no idea how long her little nap had lasted, but the urge to check on Lonia was beginning to overcome her. She cursed herself for her own selfishness. She’d left the child in the care of strange demons, had herself a bath and a nap, and there was no telling what was happening to her little niece. She dried quickly and stepped through the door, hoping the demon god hadn’t been lying about her dress.

“If you’re so tired, you can always join me in the bed,” he called softly to her from where he lay, propped up on red satin pillows.

“I’d rather see about Lonia. It’s selfish of me to have left her,” Kristasia replied, briefly checking to make sure she would be dressed as he had promised.

A silken gown of black crested with pearls that a queen would have been proud to wear hung loosely from her shoulders. Sheer sleeves stretched down both arms and draped from her wrists. She ran her hands over the fabric, its very touch upon her skin nearly giving her chills. Never in her life had she ever thought she would wear something so beautiful.

“She’s doing fine. Creed took her on a tour of the entire tower. She complained of being tired. He carried her. She fell asleep in his arms. He took her to one of the couches in the Lounge Hall and put her to sleep with a pillow and blanket. Scawp jumped up there with her and they took a nice little nap. Creed stood there guarding them the entire time, sneering at any Daedran who came by, and grumbling to himself about what an ass I am. Then she woke up, woke Scawp up, and Creed ordered his Daedran to find her some toys to play with. They returned with many things, but…” Daedronus paused as a strange smile snuck across his lips, “I don’t really think any of my Daedran know exactly what toys are. I believe they are making do. If you’d like to rest longer, perhaps in a bed and not a tub, I believe they’ll go on without you.”

Kristasia eyed the demon god upon his large, red satin bed which took up the better half of the room and, other than a red rug upon the floor, torches on the black walls, and a window staring out at a darkening purple sky, was the only thing in the bedroom.

“I’d like to go see her,” Kristasia replied firmly.

“Very well,” he responded as he rolled over and made his way up from the bed.

The demon lord approached her, a strange smile on his lips, and held out his hand.

“Come, my lady. I must admit, this is a rather comedic sight and perhaps you shouldn’t miss seeing it,” he said.

Kristasia took his hand and the world changed around her.

“One, two, three, four, five, six,” the mass voice of a small crowd chanted.

Kristasia looked over to see a lounge hall filled with Daedran forming a small crowd around something. The demons parted as their lord and Kristasia moved amongst them to get a view of the strange sight drawing their attention.

Two Daedran stood swinging a thick rope between them as Creed looked on, shaking his head, likely at the shame he and his fellow soldiers were being forced by his lord to endure. Of course, most of the Daedran looked rather more amused than ashamed, and almost all of them were counting. Lonia was in the middle of the two Daedran, holding Scawp’s clawed fingers, and jumping over the rope each time it passed their feet.

“Seven, eight, nine, ten,” the Daedran around them were chanting as they watched.

Scawp was perhaps even more gleeful than Lonia and was wearing a horrible toothy grin while he fidgeted with excitement, even while jumping with the little girl. At thirteen, one of them tripped the rope and the two Daedran swinging it stopped. A loud sound of disappointment went out through the crowd.

“You made it higher than last time,” one called encouragingly.

“Scawp good at jump rope! Scawp like jump rope! Scawp play again!” Scawp was shouting as he continued to jump, despite the lack of rope.

“We have to take turns, Scawp,” Lonia scolded him, shaking her little finger. “It’s someone else’s turn now. Creed, do you want to jump rope with me?”

“Dear child, I really think that there must be another person out there who is far more eager to do such a thing than I,” the demon general replied darkly.

“Oh, come on, Creed! Give it a go!” Daedronus cheered delightedly.

“Sire, please, I beg of you, if there is any mercy left in your heart at all, if my many years of service and friendship and loyalty mean anything to you, if you care even a little bit about me in any form, shape or fashion, please, Sire, I beg of you, do not make me do it,” the demon general pleaded sincerely.

“The most powerful and most feared of all my Daedran and you’re afraid of a little girl and a rope?” Daedronus asked. “Oh well, I suppose it’s time enough for dinner anyway. Creed, Lonia, Scawp, my Daedran, would you all care to join us in the Dining Hall?”

“Krissy!” Lonia called as she ran to Kristasia’s side, wrapping her arms around her waist.

“Lonia! I missed you. Are you alright?” Kristasia asked the child softly.

“I’m just fine! Creed and Scawp and the Daedran are fun! They’re all so nice to me! They play with me and do whatever I want and tell me I’m cute and funny and I want to stay here forever, Krissy!” Lonia cried happily. “And you have such a pretty dress! Can I have one just like it?”

“Perhaps not just like it, but what do you think of this?” Daedronus asked and suddenly Lonia wore an adorable little green dress that any princess would admire. “Now come along with us to the Dining Hall and you can tell her all about your adventures and then you can have whatever your heart desires for dinner.”

The child did as the demon god said and proceeded into a long rant about her adventures with Creed and Scawp and the other Daedran, some of which worried Kristasia only a bit. Apparently the Daedran had come up with all sorts of strange and potentially dangerous things when Creed had sent them to go find toys.

When they made their way into the Dining Hall, which was really only a very long table in a very long hall set with many chairs, Daedronus sat at the head of the long table. He requested that Kristasia sit on his right with Lonia beside her, and that Creed sit at his left. Creed glowered at his lord for only a moment before taking his seat on the left beside him. When all of the Daedran had seated themselves at the table as well, a feast appeared before them all. Though to the Daedran it appeared to be a casual meal, Kristasia and Lonia felt spoiled with all the sorts of meats and fruits that they had never even tasted in their lives.

“Krissy, can we stay here forever?” Lonia asked her softly when the child had finally filled herself enough.

Kristasia looked down at the little girl and paused as her pretty blue eyes stared back. Though Kristasia could have turned down the pleas of any man, even one so handsome and powerful, so charming and intriguing as the demon god beside her, she could not turn down the pleas of those little blue eyes, no matter what it meant for her.

“Yes,” she finally told the child.

Though Lonia smiled and then turned back to her food, happy, but thinking no more of it, Kristasia could feel the demon god’s eyes burning upon her. She turned to face him and his charcoal gaze fell heavily on her. He was not smiling, though his face was not entirely neutral. Something in his eyes burned and his expression was something close to thoughtfulness.

“You know what you’ve agreed to?” Daedronus asked her softly.

“Yes.”

“Then you’ll marry me as well?”

“I thought that I had to, if I wished to stay.”

“Then we are married,” he proclaimed.

“What? Now? Here?” she asked, surprised and rather taken aback.

“Well, you see, mortals marry and have a ceremony to invoke the blessing of their god, which, in your case, would be me. Your priest is ordained by your god, which, in this case, is also me. So, I ordain myself to bless myself in marrying myself to you. So I say it, so shall it be. We are married now. Just like that. There is actually a bit more that is entailed when marrying a god, but we’ll speak of that later tonight. As far as the public is concerned, we’re married now,” he replied.

“Fantastic. You married him. Welcome to hell,” Creed muttered darkly from across the table.

“And just what do you mean by that? We’re not married, Creed,” Daedronus snapped.

“Might as well be sometimes. You mistreat me, boss me around, take me for granted, expect me to do everything for you, you rarely appreciate me like you should, I can’t leave you, you won’t leave me, and we have an appalling lack of sex,” Creed replied. “Oh, and you make me take care of your child while you’re off with strange women. Sounds like a pretty standard marriage to me.”

“I don’t know whether you’re joking or not. I don’t know whether to laugh or feel insulted. Honestly, I just don’t understand you sometimes, Creed,” Daedronus replied, shaking his head.

“See what I mean?” the demon growled.

“Krissy, I’m tired,” Lonia suddenly said as she looked at Kristasia, obviously not paying their present conversation one bit of attention.

“Scawp tired too,” the little beast seated beside Lonia added.

“Alright. Creed, Kristasia and I shall take the child and the scawp to an appropriate room on the upper level. I believe the one down the hall from my bedroom should be best. Find a few of your most trusted Daedran and make sure one is always at her door in case she needs something in the night. If there’s a problem, come get us,” Daedronus ordered. “Oh, and thank you ever so much for taking care of the child all day. I really do appreciate everything you do for me.”

Creed glared at the demon god as he watched the two mortals and the scawp disappear from the table with him.

“And this will be your room,” Daedronus said as he pushed open the door to what would be Lonia’s new bedroom.

The child cried in awe as she rushed into the small room befitting any princess. Unlike the rest of the tower’s black, red, and tawny color scheme, the demon god had tapped into Lonia’s mind a bit to discover her favorite colors, which now decorated the room. Neutral blue walls were accompanied by a sky-blue marble floor covered in bright green rugs. A small bed with green sheets had sheer green fabric draping down from a canopy of black iron frame in the center.

“Oh, I love it!” Lonia cried as she ran and dove into the bed.

“That door leads to your bathroom. I’ve left you an entire wardrobe in the closet over there. I’m starting the fireplace,” Lord Daedronus said as he glanced over at the dead fireplace to see it sparkling to life. “I believe you’d like the scawp to stay here with you. So, Scawp, that is your bed.”

Before Scawp’s eyes a simple little bed with green sheets appeared beside the child’s bed at Daedronus’s words. Scawp’s eyes grew wide and he jumped up and down in excitement.

“Oh, so nice! So nice! So nice to Scawp! No one ever been so nice to Scawp!” he cried as little tears formed in his yellow eyes. “Bed! Scawp never had bed! Oh, Scawp love you!”

Instead of approaching Daedronus, though, Scawp ran to Kristasia and hugged her tightly around the waist.

“Master Kristaza so good to Scawp! Scawp be good servant, Master Kristaza! Scawp be so good! Scawp take good care Child. Scawp take good care! Scawp promise!” the beast declared before turning suddenly and leaping across the room in one bound and landing in the bed. “Oh! Bed!”

“Lonia, if you need anything there will be a Daedran outside your door. Goodnight, child. Goodnight, Scawp,” Daedronus called from the doorway.

“Goodnight, Daedronus,” the child called from the green sheets she was currently wrapped up in. “Goodnight, Krissy!”

“Nights, Master! Nights, Sire!” the scawp cried as he jumped up and down on the bed, testing it and deciding exactly what he would do now that he had his own bed.

“Goodnight, Lonia. Goodnight, Scawp,” Kristasia replied before Daedronus pulled shut the door.

“You gave him the bed, but the strange little creature thanked me instead,” Kristasia said curiously as Daedronus lead her down the hallway to his room.

“Scawps are servant beasts. They were designed to serve my Daedran and occasionally the mortals here. It is their mentality to serve and once they find a master, they are loyal. That particular scawp has chosen you as his master and so all that he is and all that he has in life comes because you allow it to him, in his mind, anyway. He thanks you for allowing him to sleep in the bed that I made him,” Daedronus explained. “Had you told him that he could not, rest assured the poor creature would have lain on the floor all night, staring at the bed.”

“That’s cruel. Why do you force him to such a life?” Kristasia demanded.

“It is not cruel to him. He enjoys his life. He is a simple creature and knows no other. If you were to set him free today, he would look at you with sad eyes and ask what he’d done to offend you. He would continue to follow you around, begging to be in your service once more. If you abandoned him, he would go find himself a different master. His life, too, has a purpose. Just because you don’t understand it does not make it any less significant, nor does it make it cruel,” the demon god explained as he opened his bedroom door and held it for her. “Now, for the fun part.”

Kristasia stepped inside, a cold dread sweeping over her as the demon god shut the door behind them.

THE END OF CHAPTER TWO