Mira was finished. She could not bring Devamin the crystals, nor could she even find them. With all her seductive charms and twisted witchcraft, she was unable to squeeze information from any of the high fathers. She dragged her feet, as if she had just been out for a lifetime, when in reality, she had only set out for a couple years. Most apprentice mages went missing for over ten years before their sad story was written in some dry tome of distant names, having died or simply given up and not had the courage to return with failure as their burden. Thus was the way of the Fifth Oath.
"I need something to help me think.", Mira whispered, lingering behind Devamin. The bald battlemage looked up, a pair of odd goggles built against his face.
"Mira. Home again. What was it I asked you to bring me?", Devamin questioned.
"Tychite Crystals. The high fathers didn't tell me a fucking thing." Mira sighed.
"That is a shame. Luckily for you, I don't need them yet. You have time."
She circled around to Devamin and took a vial of purple fluid from him as he extended it to her. She tossed the liquid down her throat and sighed again, apparently satisfied. Her armor did not conceal what it should have, such as her neck, collar bone, hips, thighs, or wrists. It was there as a wry distraction, a way to gain favor quickly while giving all the wrong impressions. Her upper bust exposed and full, her hips wide and thighs smooth – she was a seditionist, kindly put. She bore no scars, cuts, dust marks, bruises, or freckles. Her skin was a creamy tan from head to toe.
"Mm, thank you.", Mira said.
"Of course, of course."
Mira smiled at her guild master and friend. "Why don't you give me a task worthy of my rank for a change?"
Devamin paused, turned away, and began to drill a small hole into a piece of blue metal with one of many tools sitting on his desk. "Make a suggestion."
Mira gnawed her lower lip before replying. "I'll bring you the head of a Demonicon."
Devamin scoffed loudly enough for her to hear him over the whirl of the device. "Get cleaned up you goof, I'll talk to you tomorrow."
Mira groaned. "No, Devamin, I'm serious. The one fabled living in the Old Twyier... I know my runes. I know the blade. I could defeat him."
Devamin halted, righted his posture and turned fully to her. "You haven't a clue what a Demonicon is capable of. Besides, our pact is in blood with the Gates of Dread. If you managed to kill the Demonicon, that covenant would be broken."
"Fuck that covenant! It is ten thousand years old, and they've broken it far enough times for us to intervene anyway."
"No, Mira", Devamin snapped, "Leave the counseling and judging to the rightful wing of the guild. No one of the Fifth Oath has
ever
slain a Demonicon. No one in the entire Teal Haven has!"
"Common, I can do it. You've seen me bend the Gargoyles of Meuth to my liking, and they're made of stone!"
Devamin turned away again. "That isn't the same, Mira. We're talking about a Demonicon, not some flying mutant rat!"
Mira folded her arms over her chest, concealing any visible bit of her cleavage. "So?"
Devamin bared his teeth for a moment. "They are not passionate or forgiving or pleased with any aspect of the body of man – not the tongue, scent, eyes, or laws. The only thing they obey is time, and even time has difficulty restricting them. Your knowledge of runes means nothing in their universe, and if you give yourself to the fight, they will make you regret ever becoming what you are now. Some how or another, they will torture your very soul."
Mira didn't appear to be swayed. She stood still, staring Devamin in the eye, pursing her lips in thought. Her weight shifted. Devamin was right – he was always right about everything. She'd often wanted to go off and do absurd or even suicidal things, but when the subject turned to Demonicons, one could not relate pain and agony to life and death anymore. A Demonicon could shave your spirit away one layer at a time. Devamin often just dismissed her when she brought up the topic, but today was different. She had become a stubborn person, and a grown woman; a woman of a very high rank even, nearly his personal assistant, despite only being twenty-two. He cared for her, as a teacher should. Devamin's face relaxed slowly, and his chin descended.
"The... only way you'll even be able to find out if he's there is if you ... freeze his dwelling place. You need to plant runes all around the entrance to the cavern, in the mouth of it if at all possible." Devamin explained with great reluctance and some kind of heart felt obligation. He couldn't stop her from perusing anything, and maybe she was right. Maybe it was time for the beast to see that man is not a bunch of cowards.
***---***
Mira felt warmth running through her body, yet her skin was cold. She felt both a sting and a comforting sensation both inside her and out. As her eyes opened, she saw an endlessly white demesne beyond what looked like bars of a cage. The light was not blinding, but plain. She was on her back, and as she sat up, again, whiteness. Whiteness in every direction she could see, and her cube cage was large enough to give her several feet of walking space but small enough for her to recognize dimensions.
"By the moons, this cannot be.", Mira meekly remarked to herself, "I cannot, how? Dead to the Demonicon but still in Nirupia?"
A voice creaked from behind her, and she spun to see the very same beast that raped her to death in a similar cage nearby. She backed against the bars, as the cage wasn't there before. It was either invisible, or simply not there.
"W-What...?", Mira asked.
"I said that you did it.", the Demonicon replied.
"W-What do you mean 'I did it'?"
"I am fucking dead! Do you see me here? I died!"
Mira's shoulder blades pressed into the bars even more vigorously. She was naturally frightened by the sight and sound of the purple-skinned humanoid behemoth. She stared blankly at him for the longest time. It certainly seemed like a long time, though a question had to be risen sooner or later: was there time? Did it matter? Obviously not. She would never be hungry or parched here. Nirupia – she didn't expect to go there, and the Demonicon didn't
want