<P>Lucifer was having a very successful day, or at least that was what he thought as he rode his galloping horse across the verdant green plain, surrounded by his fellows. The expedition had gone very well, he added to himself, gone so well in fact that he might very well become 'Sir Lucifer' when he got back to </P>
<P>"Alabaster Castle in sight, sir!" one of his men called out. </P>
<P>"Ride on!" he called back. </P>
<P>Lucifer the Invincible. Lucifer smiled underneath his helmet. I like that, he thought. Half an hour later, Alabaster Castle was very much in sight. In fact, it was right in front of Lucifer's face. It was quite a pretty castle really, (not that Lucifer could appreciate pretty, unless pretty meant girls) with its long, ice cream cone spires and its amiable position on a grassy hill overlooking lakes and faraway, snow-drenched mountains. Then there was Alabaster. Some called it the most bustling city that side of the Realm, and Lucifer had to agree. Thousands upon thousands of little marble terraces clustered around the castle. As Lucifer rode through the town, people threw flowers in their path. Lucifer looked down. Snowdrops. White, innocent, crushed under his horse's hooves. He looked at the people, their faces lit up with gratitude for the death of another dragon and relief that everyone's favourite killers had returned to town. Lucifer felt a brief pang of something. It stabbed through his heart like the sharpest knife, and he realised what it was. Remorse. For the dragon, which may or may not have been a danger to the south, for the snowdrops, crushed under the hooves of the horse, and for himself. He shook his head quickly, not wanting to follow that thought. Lucifer the Invincible, he reminded himself. I am Lucifer the Invincible. </P>
<P>"Open the doors!" Lucifer cried to the silent castle walls, "for it is I, Lucifer the Invincible!" Sure, some of his men looked at him oddly when he said that, but what the hell. For surely he was invincible now? He, Lucifer, who had fought so many wars and had slain so many men, dragons, women and children. Yes, children. So on some levels he was Lucifer the Brave. And on other levels he was a boy of eighteen summers who had done too much. But did he regret it? His conscience would not answer that question. It was for the good of the Alabasterian Realm. The enormous wooden doors swung open. Lucifer dismounted his horse (he'd leave his squire to put it in the stables) and strode into the sumptuously decorated hallway. He was about to be rewarded.</P>
<P>"Bring the dragon!" he called over his shoulder. With much grunting and violent scuffling, a few of his men carried the unearthly massive dragon's head in, atop a bloodstained carpet. Lucifer had wanted to bring the whole dragon back with him but it had crushed 3 of the horses he'd tried to make carry it. Besides, the thing's head had really started to reek after the first few days. Lucifer grinned. That had been the squire's job, to sleep with the head inside his tent to protect it from the rain that had followed them so many nights. Grunting with effort, his men hauled the dragon's head to the end of the hall, where sat King Oberon and Queen Ivory. Lucifer took off his helmet, dropping it to the ground. Shaking out his lustrous blonde locks, he knelt before the monarchs. </P>
<P>"Your majesties, I give you the Great Acid Dragon from the South," he said. </P>
<P>King Oberon stood. He and Queen Ivory were so unlike each other it almost made Lucifer laugh out loud. Queen Ivory, a woman barely older than himself with long, white-gold hair and limbs that seemed as fragile as tissues, and King Oberon, an old soldier whose muscles damn near burst out of his ceremonial robe, and whose hair was flecked with grey at the short beard. King Oberon circled the dragon's head. It had been a handsome dragon and though its eyes now were dull, its azure scales still shined despite the dark blood splattered over them, the blood both human and dragon. King Oberon looked at Lucifer, his eyes like the villagers' full of gratitude. But they were full of something else, too...bloodlust. King Oberon was getting high on seeing a dead dragon. Lucifer did not know how to react to that. He didn't even really want to know that. It seemed private, somehow. Something Lucifer was not supposed to see.</P>
<P>"Lucifer," King Oberon began in his deep voice, "you, a boy of only eighteen summers, have slain a fully grown dragon that has terrorised the South for many years. I..." he looked questioningly at Queen Ivory, who rolled her eyes and nodded her head in a resigned way. King Oberon unsheathed his ever-present sword and stood in front of the still-kneeling Lucifer. He gently tapped Lucifer on each shoulder, then-</P>
<P>"Arise, Sir Lucifer, knight of the Alabasterian Realm."</P>
<P>And when Lucifer arose, he made a decision. Never again would he feel the remorse he had felt earlier. He would kill as many times as he had to, if it made him numb and unfeeling. And tonight, all he would worry about was how much alcohol he was going to consume to let go of the remorse forever. </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Princess Amazon landed hard on a furry thing. She rose on her elbows and saw that the furry thing was a rug. A hot spark of panic jolted her as she saw that she was in an unfamiliar room. </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>"Calm down," she whispered to herself, "this isn't that bad. It's probably just a rip."</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Rips were not hugely uncommon in the Nightlands. Generally a person would just fall into one and end up in a slightly different location. But she couldn't get the box made of stars out of her head...She checked the view from the window and saw the night sky. Yes, Princess Amazon thought, definitely, probably the Nightlands. Maybe. </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>The room she was in had a few large paintings, a bearskin (which she was currently lying on) and had a huge bed in the centre. Suddenly Princess Amazon felt weak and exhausted. She flopped on to the bed, thinking, I'll just get some rest, then I'm out of here. A creaking noise made her sit bolt upright.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>"Hey, who are you?" a slurring voice inquired from the now-open doorway.</P>
