It didn’t take too long for the old wizard to bustle back into what I guessed was his office and research room. He had a massive leather-bound volume, with thick iron bars keeping the book closed. It had a lock on the front, and Eric slammed it down on a table. He left it there as he grabbed a ring of keys from his desk and an unlit candle. He sat the candle next to the book and lit it. The light from the white candle lit up the room, somehow erasing every possible shadow, even from under the table the candle sat on. I shuddered at the unnerving sight.

  Eric grinned and said, “Can’t be too careful when reading books on demons. Those sneaky fuckers can use the shadows, you know. Wouldn’t want them knowing what we are doing!” He flipped through the keys until he came to the right one and inserted it into the lock. When he turned the key in the lock, all the bars sucked into the lock itself, which he set next to the candle. The book seemed to shudder in the light. Eric put on some odd gloves, covered in glass or diamonds, and opened the shuddering volume.

  He muttered to himself as he checked page after page, making sure not to touch them with anything other than the gloves. The shadow banishing light was making me queasy, and I could see that I was not the only one. Finally, he straightened up, pressing his gloved knuckles into the small of his back. “Ah! I knew I’d seen those symbols somewhere… Why didn’t I ever think to check this?”

  Juan peered at the book. “What the hell is that book anyway, Eric? It is not something that I’d like to read before bed.”

  There was a clear lack of humor in Eric’s chuckle, which made me even more uneasy. “You wouldn’t survive very long, my friend. They want this book back. This is the only surviving copy of the iniquitous compendium of all the demon lords and their minions. The Daemonium, if you will. None of them wants this information out in this world. This copy was sealed by a priestess of Eleras, the god of light and smithing. The seal was made with the blessing of Eleras, and hides the book as long as it remains sealed. This candle is also the work of Eleras through her priestesses and is the only way I can open this book without demons popping into my workshop.”

  My stomach churning, I spoke up to get this over with. “What did you find, Eric? What symbols did you find?”

  The old wizard turned to me, his face the most serious I’ve ever seen. “I found out that not only is the corruption the work of demons, but which demon is doing it,” he pointed to the page. “The symbols we saw in the readings of the corrupted mages are a part of their magic, specific to each demon. Vexarith is a minor demon, not really part of the usual hierarchy. Sort of a fixer for the demon lords, yet independent of all of them other than the King of Hell. They are, not surprisingly, one of the most commonly seen here in this world, and have much that was the work of other demon lords attributed to them.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s great. A celebrity demon is going to come after our New Guy.” Harper said. She was looking at the book with interest, and was unaware that she was reaching for it. “I guess we should feel lucky. Whelp, sorry New Guy, looks like you’re going to be screwed by the Hollywood of demons…. Ow!” she cried out as Eric slapped her hand away. “Why did you do that?”

  Eric glared at Harper. “You’re a half-demon. Didn’t you notice yourself reaching for the book?”

  Harper pulled back from the table, horrified. “I…no!”

  “If you had touched it, you and the book would have teleported to hell. You would have been celebrated and elevated. The next time we saw you… Let’s just say you wouldn’t be our friend anymore,” Eric replied.

  He closed the book and placed the lock upon it, re-sealing it with a twist of the key. With that, he took off the gloves and extinguished the candle. The return to the normal light was a relief. Harper looked like she was going to empty her stomach, the horror still haunting her eyes. I put my hand on her arm and she flinched before she saw it was me.

  “Are you okay?” I whispered.

  She shook her head. “I didn’t know. I just thought… Being a Cambion sounded cool, you know? How was I to know being a half-demon would change me that much? Or make me want to… I’m sorry,” she almost whispered the last. Like she had done, or had been on the verge of doing something monstrous.

  I gave her arm a squeeze, and what I hoped was a sympathetic look. “But you didn’t. If you really wanted to, would that old wizard have been able to stop you? Besides, you’ll never be in such a position again. Hopefully.” She looked thoughtful and somewhat relieved. “Besides, now we are possible monsters together! Monster buddies!” She pushed me away, laughing.

  “Gods, that’s dumb!” she replied. “Thank you…Finn. I needed that.”

  *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************

  Eric shooed us out of his office slash workshop soon after and told us to come back the next day. The guard captain, still eyeing me with suspicion, had our horses saddled and brought to us. Juan led us to an inn nearby, promising to cover me, as it was expensive. It was a nice place, actual tables and chairs, instead of those long tables with benches. Everything was polished and clean. I almost felt guilty when I sat down on a padded chair, making it and everything else I touched dirtier. Not that the owner said anything, apparently recognizing Juan.

  And there was a menu! An actual printed menu. Nothing was familiar, term-wise, but Harper helped me pick out a meal. I, of course, got a side of steamed Glot Root. I wondered if the tuber would make good fries. A waitress brought our meal out, with a fresh salad of greens I didn’t recognize, followed by a small bowl of a creamy soup.

  “This is all so much like a nice restaurant at home,” I said.

  “Yes. The owner’s grandfather was one of us. It’s just another example of what happens when people settle down. We bring something of home to life, changing the way things are. We either die here, or retire. Making this our home. Eric and Elana fell in love, married and mostly settled down. Very few of my friends over the years have survived. But Eric and Elana integrated, and their descendants will probably never know what it is like to drive a car or go to the movies. To fly in an airplane, to play computer games, or watch a football game taking place in another country almost at the same time it is being played.”

  There was a melancholy look on his face, a sadness of substantial loss. I thought he would continue to talk, but then our main courses were brought out. I had what was obviously a steak, though not beef. There were no cows here, but they had goats, sheep, and something akin to bison, only smaller. It was delicious. The wine Juan had chosen for the table was dark and subtle. I wasn’t that experienced with wine tasting, more of an IPA guy, but it went with the steak.

  Harper teased the old man about getting wine in his bushy mustache, threatening to cut it off. At that point, I realized that though the two weren’t related, their relationship was that of father and daughter. Her teasing was good natured and his outrage feigned. This was just what they did. It was something that I would never forget. And it made me smile and miss my dad at the same time. A relationship I would never have again.

  We did not discuss what happened with Harper during dinner by unspoken agreement. I was worried about her. Heck, I was worried about myself. There was a demon out there, a demon that was going to corrupt me. Make me a power hungry tyrant, using my power to enslave and oppress. I shuddered at the thought of the future awaiting me. Unless that old wizard could figure it out. I kept quiet during the rest of the meal.

  They put us in a suite of rooms, with four bedrooms connected by a common area. Three of the bedrooms were open to us, and there were tubs of hot water waiting in each. I had hoped that maybe this place would have showers, but the plumbing required for modern showers just did not exist here. Yet who was I to say no to a bath when I had the dust of the road and the sweat of the day in my hair and clothes?

  I was still soaking when there was a knock on my door. “Hey Finn, are you decent? Can we talk?” Harper asked, opening my door without waiting for an answer.

  “Wait! I’m still in the tub!” I cried out. I awkwardly tried to cover up as the door continued to open. Harper stopped opening the door before it swung the rest of the way.

  “Well, hurry up. I have a bottle of wine that I need help with.” She said. The opened bottle and a couple of cups appeared around the door, tilting them back and forth. “Juan’s already asleep, probably these beds. They’re super soft.”

  “Alright, I’ll meet you out there in a few minutes.” I replied. She laughed and closed the door. I stood up in the tub, dripping dry while I grabbed the provided towel. I quickly dried off and got dressed.

  Harper was sitting in one of the comfy chairs when I entered the common area, tilting her cup this way and that. She was already drunk, likely exhausted from the day’s events. I sat down in one across from her and she handed me a cup, half full.

  “What’s up, Harper?” I asked, as I sipped my wine.

  “This has been a really fucked up day.” She replied.

  “Yeah it has. That whole thing is still messing with my head.”

  “Thanks for not bringing it up during dinner. It was nice not to have to think about that. But now…” She tossed back her cup, “Now there’s nothing to distract from it. I need to talk about it. Or fuck it out.” She looked at me with half-lidded eyes.

  “Harper. I need to talk about it, too.” I replied. She was drunk and not thinking straight. And I was a little drunk, too, but thoughts of Arilyn filled my mind, and I wanted her. Plus, Harper and I were becoming friends and I didn’t have many of those here. I needed to nip this in the bud here and now. “And even if we had sex, the problems would still be there.” Did I imagine the disappointment I saw in her eyes then? Did it matter?

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Okay Finn, you’re right. You know, I just passed my 34th birthday a few months ago. Not that I look it, with being half elf, half demonic horror. Isn’t that weird? I still look mostly like I did when I was 18.”

  I hadn’t known that. It explained some of the slang she had used. Like she hung out more with adults than kids her own age, only she really was an adult well before me. “it’s cool, I guess. You won’t be needing any of that stuff injected into your forehead. Botox, I think?”

  “Heh, yeah. All those fake bitches from high school probably need all kinds of lipo and boob lifts.” She poured herself more wine and took a mouthful. “It’s not all rainbows and puppies. People didn’t treat me well for a while. Got stuff thrown at me, chased out of towns, and it hurt. A lot. Just because of the way I look. Just like at home. It didn’t matter that my family lived in the nicer neighborhood or that my parents drove nice cars. Just because I wasn’t white, I wasn’t good enough.”

  She noticed my raised eyebrows. She chuckled, “You didn’t know, did you? Because I sound white, right?” her smile was sad then, like she was being disappointed by yet another person.

  “I didn’t know because you never told me. It doesn’t change the fact that I feel like we’re friends, and we went through some shit today that was really messed up. Whether you were white doesn’t change how I think about you. It just means there’s a lot about you I don’t know. Just like you don’t know a lot about me.” Her smile changed, and I smiled back.

  She took a deep breath and let it out. “Sorry. Guess I’m drunk! But it… it is related. I’m not human anymore. Didn’t know how far from human I was. I’m part demon! And it never hit me until today.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “It’s kind of funny. I’ve never run into demons before, or something connected to them. And today… that light… and that book. It was fascinating, even before Eric opened it. As soon as the seal went poof, I needed to see it, pick it up. I needed to feel it in my hands. Didn’t realize how dangerous it was for me to even touch it.” She shuddered and drained her cup again before refilling it.

  “You were unprepared for it,” I said. “there was no way for you to know. Like a toddler pulling a cat’s tail, not prepared for kitty to scratch them.”

  “Something like that. Yeah. But with demons. They’re going to fuck us both up, Finn!” she threw her head back dramatically. She looked at me sadly and drank down her cup again. She picked up the bottle, and found it empty. Before I could react, Harper reached over and grabbed my cup, drinking it down. “Take me to bed, Finn,” she said. She shook her head, “No. I mean, my bed. Help me to my bed. Please?”

  I took her to her room, and she laid down and immediately fell asleep. Carefully, I covered her up and left her room. When I lay down in my bed, thoughts of Arilyn kept me awake for a long time.

  ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

  The next morning, Juan made Harper a cup of hangover tea. She sipped it, wincing at every noise until it did its work. We grabbed breakfast downstairs. We were in no hurry, as we waited to hear from Eric. Juan excused himself as Harper and I sipped our coffees.

  “Sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to fall apart like that,” Harper said.

  “Yesterday was difficult,” I said with a shrug. “I didn’t know how hard it was for you. And as long as I’m able to be here, I want you to know I’m here for you if you need a friend.”

  Harper cocked her head to the side. “I thought we were already friends, Finn.”

  “Right! I meant… I’m here,” I replied. “but about the other thing…”

  “I was drunk, and it won’t happen again. The drunk part, yes. But hitting you up like that isn’t going to.” She made a face. “No offense, but you’re kind of young for me. And it looked like you were thinking of someone else. Was it that circus girl? She was fine.”

  I blushed a little. “Pretty sure that wasn’t a circus, but yeah. I was thinking of Arilyn.”

  Harper laughed. “Is that her name? Damn, she was definitely fine. Too bad you’re likely to never see her again, her being in the company of a god and all.”

  I frowned, not wanting to think about that. “Seriously, Harper, I don’t know how to deal with demons. I understand how policy and international relations work, mostly I think, but actual demons? I’m out of my league here.”

  “You’re not the only one. I’ve only dealt with how I was treated when I changed my race. Never had anything to do with them. I’ve met a few Cambions here and there, but it’s not like they’re common on this continent. And I’m the only one of us that made this choice that I’m aware of. I never wanted to meet any actual demons. Or even gods. It’s unsettling. Even doing jobs for temples is weird.”

  A young man, I think he was one of the stable hands, came rushing in. “Is General Venegas here? Wizard Eric wishes to see him immediately!” the young man said.

  “We’ll let him know,” replied Harper. She tossed him a coin, and he smiled after catching it. We left the young man behind as we went for Juan. It wasn’t really necessary, as he was heading down the hall toward us and the stairs.

  “What is it?” he asked. He must have seen something in our faces.

  “Eric sent a boy to get you,” Harper replied.

  Juan smiled. “Eric must have worked through the night. Let’s not keep him waiting.”

  The stable hand had left as soon as Juan told him we were on our way, running to let the wizard know. It seemed inefficient to me. I mean, why waste the energy to run back when we were only a ten-minute walk away? It didn’t help that I was ready to run, too. Harper, on the other hand, seemed tense about going back to the wizard’s workshop.

  The Royal Library was just as astonishing the second time, and Harper practically dragged me through it to Eric’s office at the back. What can I say? The place was absolutely amazing! But the office was a juxtaposition, rolls of paper everywhere, with mathematical formulas, numbers, and symbols all over them. They were overflowing on the tables and even tacked to the shelves. Eric himself, his hair frazzled, stood looking at one tacked up sheet, shaking his head.

  “Eric,” Juan said, “My friend. Did you sleep at all?”

  “Of course I slept,” Eric snapped, “If only for an hour. Look at this! It’s a mess! I’ve worked out almost everything except this portion. A portion that is missing from George’s reading and my sister’s. And I have no idea what it means. Sure, there is a correlation of location between the three, but on the others, it’s replaced with those wretched demonic symbols! Infuriating!”

  “So it’s what’s normally supposed to be there for mages?” I asked.

  “Well, I think so. I have no point of reference other than your reading. Every class has a unique string of formulas, which I can mostly decode. It’s what makes the classes different from each other. This one is strange, as it has symbols I’ve never seen before. I wish I had more pre-corrupted mage readings, but I might as well wish for a way home!”

  Juan stepped up to look at the formulas on the long sheet, rubbing his goatee. “You know, Eric, when I used to be a programmer, we had certain parts of the coding that were always the same because they worked and fit the logic. So much of what I did was using those bits and figuring out how to use the logic to make the computer do what I wanted. I was talking to a newer programmer several years ago, and she mentioned they did something similar, only they had a library or something they could access that had solutions for programming that someone else had figured out. That most of programming involved going to this place by an engine or some nonsense. I wonder if this has something to do with the Surge ability mages have? Like the berserker’s ability? Just copied over?”

  Eric shook his head, “no, the Surge ability is on this sheet to the left. It doesn’t change with the corruption. But maybe you’re on to something. I’ll need to crosscheck the formulae of other classes and see if I can decode it.” He stood there for a moment, pondering. “I also wanted to ask young Finn a few questions. And pass on the good news!”

  “What is it, Eric?” Juan asked.

  Eric looked at us, grinning. “I figured out how the corruption happens! It is surprisingly simple because it doesn’t happen without a choice. The demonic symbology in the corrupted mage’s readings translates partially as a contract, meaning the demon couldn’t do anything without the consent of the mages! I have a treatise on the written language of demons, which is remarkably complex. Each symbol comprises several concepts that can change based on the following symbols. Needless to say, part of the bargain includes power for some personal goal, but it’s not clear what.”

  He looked at us, waiting for us to understand. When we didn’t, he continued. “If Finn here doesn’t agree to the deal, the demon cannot corrupt him. And it’s likely not going to happen before he hits at least level ten. Everything I’ve read agrees that it happens somewhere between levels ten and thirty. So he should be good for now. And avoid any deals for things beyond the norm going forward.”

  I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “So I have to choose to be corrupted. That’s a relief. There’s only one thing they could offer me, and that’s a way home. And I do not want to become a monster and put my family at risk. So we’re good. What questions did you want to ask me?”

  “I had a few questions. One of them you just answered. But I was also wondering if you still heard the tutorial spirit?”

  I hadn’t even thought about the Voice for a long time. Since it had stopped answering my questions, I had apparently written it off and just stopped thinking about it. “No, I haven’t. Not since Juan found me. Why is that important?”

  Eric’s face hardened, yet was sad. “My sister, who also had been a mage, griped about it up until she started changing. We all heard it. It would narrate or mention things we did, right or wrong. Especially with quests. It’s been years since I last heard it, and my conclusion after speaking with other people from our world is that it leaves us alone when we leave the path it sets for us. My wife and I stopped adventuring a long time ago, and the last time it remarked on something I did was when I earned the position of Wizard of the Royal Court. And it sounded disappointed. Make of that what you will.”

  Juan put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. I was struck with the understanding that what happened to his sister drove Eric to everything he did now. The research, the excitement at meeting me, and the almost manic approach he had taken. But the Voice. What the hell did that have to do with any of this? I was a college student, but my brain was not wrapping itself around this. I needed to have it explained to me.

  “Eric? What does not hearing the voice have to do with the corruption of mages?” I asked.

  The old wizard sighed and straightened out his robe. “You know, robes are quite comfy. I didn’t think so at first when I got here, but they’re great for not worrying about things bunching up down there like with pants. For the longest time, I thought it was strange that I woke up in robes in this world. Like the Voice, as you call it, knew what I was going to pick. After I learned more, I found out that all but one of the classes offered to me regularly wore robes. Just like it had a plan for me based on what I might choose. Each of the classes were ones I thought about choosing, but I thought being a wizard would be neat. I had grown up loving the Arthurian stories. Camelot. Merlin. But it knew. It knew what I would choose.”

  “But what does that mean for me?” I asked again. I knew I was going to feel the idiot once he explained, but I needed clarity.

  “The Voice had a path for us to follow, and as long as we are on that path, certain events were likely to happen. We would run into quests, find certain types of loot that sometimes would lead us in a certain direction based on what they were. Something fancy and maybe magical? We had to find someone to pay for them to use their magic and identify what it was. None of us get spells to identify magical artifacts, rings, weapons, or armor.”

  His face got that hard, sad look to it again. “So my sister and I, plus the others, including Elana, stayed on the path for a long time. My sister, Sarah, kept insisting she say a blinking spot on the map. She wanted to go check it out. It took a lot of convincing, as none of us could see it, but we headed in that direction. When we were within a few miles, it was late, so we made camp. Sarah couldn’t sleep, as she was excited. She took first watch. The next morning, Sarah… changed. She no longer cared about the spot and told us we were right, there was nothing there. She stopped muttering about the Tutorial Spirit. I think it was no longer talking to her.”

  At that moment, I knew. I knew because I heard it in my head, and it scared me shitless. My face must have drained of color, because Harper looked at me with concern.

  Finn the Mage, having a powerful epiphany, has accepted a new quest. One of peril and discovery. Will he succumb to the seduction of Power? Will he die a horrible death at the hands of his companions? Or will Finn the Mage move forward with the Quest to track the beast?

  “Finn, what’s wrong?” Harper asked.

  “It’s the Voice. The Voice is talking to me again.”

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