Empires SMP Halloween prompt oneshots

Day 13 - Sell Your Soul

           Xornoth was a demon. That was simple enough to know. He had been tormenting the twelve different empires for quite a while now so news of him was widespread and everyone knew about him. But that didn't necessarily mean that everyone believed he existed. 

           There was one person in particular who flatly refused to believe that Xornoth was a real person and not simply a prank that everyone else had come up with. King Joel of Mezalea. He was under the mistaken impression that Xornoth was not a real being and that everyone else who thought he was happened to be a foolish idiot. Xornoth wondered how that Joel was even still alive after being so stubborn and pigheaded about important things like a literal demon. 

           Even though Xornoth had gone to Mezalea countless times to spread his deadly red corruption tentacles, Joel would simply call it part of the prank and get rid of it with surprising efficiency. The foolish king didn't care about 'pranks' like that. He was just too busy trying to finish his giant megabase. And Xornoth had to admit that it had very intricate details and was very big and would definitely require a lot of time and attention and effort to pull off.

           Xornoth idly stood around Mezalea, watching the silly king as he bustled around getting terracotta and stones and other colorful materials that was necessary for his giant over the top megabase. Joel didn't even seem to care that there was a literal demon standing right there and watching his every move, if he had even noticed Xornoth's presence there at all. 

           At any rate, Xornoth got bored and decided to announce his presence and maybe have some fun with the Mezalean king. "Hello, king of Mezalea," He said in his hoarse, grating voice. Joel didn't look up from poring over his blueprints, the corner of one of them he was currently sticking into his mouth to chew on thoughtfully. 

           "Hey. I called you." Xornoth growled, feeling slightly annoyed now about how thick the foolish king was. "Yeah, I know you're there," Joel mumbled. "Now, was I supposed to put down orange terracotta or yellow...?" 

           Xornoth just blinked at him in surprise. This was the first time that Joel had actually acknowledged his presence. He had never done that before. Then again, it wasn't like he was panicking or screaming in terrified fear or anything so it wasn't any less boring. Just a little bit surprising. 

           "And you are not concerned about me at all?" Xornoth inquired as Joel continued to muse over the differences between terracotta. "You can all stop with the prank now. Can't you tell that I'm not fooled at all? Even if you've bought a furry suit now. And it's an ugly one too." Joel said without even looking up. 

           Furry suit? And had the foolish king just called him ugly?! Okay, Xornoth was now royally ticked off with the foolish king. "You would do well to mind your words." Xornoth growled. Joel didn't even bat an eyelash. "Wow, good acting. Do you want me to play along or something?" He suggested. 

           Xornoth rolled his eyes. "Go ahead and scream in terrified fear over seeing a demon." He commanded. Joel boredly opened his mouth and let out a low, monotone whine. "Ah, I am screaming in terrified fear over seeing a demon standing approximately 4 and a half feet away from me who is staring rather menacingly. There, is that okay?" He asked. 

           Xornoth came to the simple conclusion that Joel was a terrible actor. "That was a terrible performance." He said bluntly. Joel hummed. "Yes, that's what Lizzie says too. So, what's next on this new roleplaying story involving a demon?" Xornoth was quickly getting quite frustrated with Joel's behavior. 

           "You are supposed to sell me your soul in exchange for great power." Xornoth said, almost as a joke, but to his surprise Joel actually took him seriously for once. Or so it seemed. "Eh, I could sell my soul, but I'd prefer I get the ability to finally finish my megabase within a few days. I really need to win that bet with Lizzie." Joel said. 

           "Are you saying that if I finish the megabase for you then you'll give me your soul?" Xornoth asked, an idea brewing. "Yeah, sure." Joel said offhandedly, like he wasn't even thinking. Grinning manically, Xornoth quickly teleported over to him and shook his hand. He felt a rush of power come through him as Joel's soul vanished and came under his control. Joel looked completely fine though. 

           "There. I now have control over your soul." Xornoth grinned victoriously. "Yeah, sure, but now uphold your end of the deal. Here." Joel shoved a large pile of papers into Xornoth's hands. He thought for a second that it was a dictionary or some other large book because of how many papers there were but then he realized that they were all blueprints.

           "Blueprints for the megabase," Joel said, walking off. "Go have that finished soon." Xornoth glanced at the blueprints then at the miniscule fraction of the megabase that was already built. He started to have this funny feeling that maybe he had just been scammed and that Joel's soul wasn't worth all of the work ahead of him.