Devil's tale

Devil's tale, chapter 40

"You're really willing to do this? You could get yourself killed... again." Avarice asked.

"If I couldn't get my way in life, then helping you see your ambition through is the next best thing. I know you'll bring equality for us back to Northland... Plus, if my father really is such a powerful demon, then he has no excuse for letting me and my mom suffer the way we did. I feel I owe my old man a beating." Mormir replied.

"You'll lose."

"Maybe, but if I die, I'll just reconstitute a new body around my soul, and I'll try again, as many times as it takes."

"I forgot to ask, how does death work here anyway?"

"The first time we die, what happens is that our souls become trapped in either the celestial plane, or in hell. From there, we can reconstitute new bodies for ourselves, and we can live and die again. The only difference is that my soul is now trapped here and can't return to the mortal world, not that I could make a new body for myself there anyway. So I've got nothing to lose, but you on the other hand... well I can imagine you don't want to be trapped in hell forever just yet."

It was strange, how casually the two former enemies talked, as they walked towards Mordukein's castle. Avarice smiled to himself, it was amusing to him that he got along better with Mormir than he did with his own brother. At least Mormir's death had saddened him, he was certain he'd feel no remorse for whatever pain he brought upon Farris.

"So, I imagine you have a plan for getting us through there, right?" Mormir asked.

"I do. The very air around us is poison, and because it's such a vast, singular concept, my artistic magic can't manipulate it." Avarice said.

"Your point being?"

"If the poisonous air had a more distinct characteristic, like say... coming from a devil whom I know the name of, then I could change it's properties... turn it from a poison to something that could help us."

"Turning poison into steroids then? I like it." Mormir grinned. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Can you create airborne poison?"

"Yeah, but it's not easy."

"I can help." Avarice said, beginning to recite a song, one meant to grant Mormir stamina and vigour. Mormir smirked and took a deep breath, then, his skeletal wings sprouted from his back and a distinct, green mist began emanating from his body.

"How long can you keep this up?" Avarice asked.

"About an hour, I think."

"Enough time for us to get to the portal?"

"Only if we sprint at twice or normal speed the whole way through."

"I can manage that." Avarice changed his song and, through his knowledge of Mormir, his connection to him, and the fact that his ally allowed him to alter the nature of his gas, turned Mormir's magic-laced poison into a substance that enhanced his and Mormir's physicality. It increased their resistance to pain, increased the strength of their muscles, sustained their reserves of magic and expanded their respective wells of stamina. Avarice felt like he could run a marathon twice over in under a day, or at least, what he thought would be a day with his warped perception of time. Speaking of time, Avarice took a gamble, he infused temporal magic into his enchantment on Mormir's poison, he couldn't do something as drastic as alter the physical flow of time for himself or his ally, but he was able to craft a spell which allowed them to think twice as fast as they normally would.

"This feels weird." Mormir said, looking at his hands. "And that's coming from the guy with wings sprouting from his back."

"I still don't know how you achieved that power."