King Me

O' Death

Faust, the calmest of the group despite his sociopathic tendencies, cascaded into a fit of rage unlike anything Yancey had ever seen. "YOU WILL DIE FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO PHANES!"

His scythe was in his hand before Yancey could see him move. Purple energy burst out of him with such potency that Yancey was nearly blown off her feet. He drew his scythe back, swinging it down at Mephistopheles. Xelmor shot towards Faust's back, the shade's transparent hand entering the back of Faust's head. Faust's energy died instantly, and Yancey wondered if the Necromancer had died with it, as he collapsed to the ground. Mephistopheles tossed the end of the chain he clutched in his hand back into the portal. The chain sucked in, yanking Faust's wife behind it, and closed with a pop.

Xelmor retook his knee as Mephistopheles stepped over Faust, standing before Yancey. With how close he was, Yancey could see that the Devil's eyes glowed with purple-hued specks, like a constellation shining against the night sky. The voices from her sickle grew louder, begging to be away from the Devil, hushing instantly as he sniffed the air around Yancey, "You smell like Faust. Ah!" He exclaimed, glancing down at her hand, the hand Faust had taken bone from.

"Has our good Doctor taken his first apprentice?" He asked rhetorically, and Yancey wouldn't have answered anyway. Every inch he grew closer seemed to dissolve another beautiful aspect of her existence. She knew exactly what his soul personified: death. "Do calm down, child. I mean you no harm," he assured, and yet Yancey felt cold sweat prickling her body. He reached a hand out to her, drawing with it darkness, consuming the beautiful world. His hand halted an inch from Yancey's but she didn't care. She simply wished to die.

His hand retracted, leaving her untouched, unsoiled, and pleasure returned to her existence. Mephistopheles cocked a smile, a sliver of teeth showing, like a dagger in the dark, "You are wise to stay silent in my presence. Talking leads to dealing, and that's exactly where Faust made error," The devil finished, turning on his heel and twirling a finger, opening a new black portal. He paused in front of it, glancing back at Yancey one last time, "Inform Faust that I will give him time to heal; to rest. Then, the piper comes to collect his tole," and with that, the devil vanished into the portal, which in turn vanished with a snap.

Yancey had never believed in god, devils, or religion in general. But here, having encountered that thing, she knew at least the devil was real. On that note, she called on the other for the first time in her life, "Holy mother of god, give me a win. Just one win, with nothing worse hiding behind it,"

Faust's scythe stood itself up, purple energy leaking out of it to form his white horse. The horse picked Faust up, carrying him towards a hut. Xelmor spoke, "Faust is resourceful. I'd be curious to know if he has a way of dealing with his next obstacle,"

"How could anything handle that monstrosity?" Yancey asked, doubting Faust's ability for the first time since she'd met him.

Xelmor gestured towards the huts, "You'll be staying there. Would you like me to take your king to her quarters?"

Yancey shook her head, already pulling Aurelia along beside herself, "She's staying with me." Yancey thought about following Faust's horse into the center hut, then quickly discredited the thought of keeping an eye on the Necromancer. Let him make his own fate from here. She moved towards the wooden door, and it swung open autonomously. The inside was simplistic like the exterior, with the same traces of the phenomenal. It was a single room, a massive circular bed of clouds adorned with pillows at the center.

A river, steaming with warmth, flowed around it, causing for the need of a narrow bridge to go across it to the bed. An outer rim of walkway lined the walls of the hut, walls consisting entirely of packed bookshelves. The opposite end of the hut was made up of glass doors, surprising, given the fact that everything else to this point had been constructed of wood. But the view they presented, of the sea that rested miles below their clouds, was like looking out of a plane. Yancey counted her lucky stars she wasn't afraid of heights.