Vessel? That makes me sound like a to-go box or something…

  [It’s accurate, but somehow your brain is emptier than a box.] Joshua replied.

  I mentally selected the three new skills that came with my class.

  They keep mentioning stats, but I haven’t seen them on any of my profile pages. Is there a way to check those?

  [No!]

  Why not?

  [DONT. ASK. QUESTIONS.]

  [Someone’s cranky today.]

  Well, these skills seem quite useful, and now I can even buff my companions!

  [Yeah, yeah, can you just upgrade me now?]

  No.

  [Fuck you!]

  With Joshua’s complaints ringing in the back of my mind, I stepped out of the Den, checking on my companions. I had an urge to test out my skills, but not knowing how long the cooldowns were, I decided to wait until they were needed. My four companions made their way over to me, the only remnants of the earlier battle being the bloodstains in the grass.

  “Alright, everybody, I just unlocked my first class, and I think our next goal should be to get all of you classes as well,” I said. Level five wasn’t too far off for me either, which meant I could also get my race evolution quest. And with my new skills, it would probably be easier for us to go hunt tougher monsters.

  “A new class! As expected of our boss!” Zorrack complimented. The other three nodded in agreement.

  “Let’s start with you, Fang, since you are the lowest level so far. What quest…” But I couldn’t finish my sentence.

  [Dragon’s Will]

  A menacing dark aura enveloped us. My entire body seized, and my heart began to race. I couldn’t move an inch, as if I had been dropped into freezing cold water and gone into shock. My eyes burned, unable to muster up the courage to blink. My companions all had equally confused and scared expressions, standing completely still.

  “Now, demons in the mortal realm are one thing.” A menacing female voice called. “Demons in the mortal realm who steal babies? That’s another.”

  The dragon.

  [Oh great, now my HP is tied to yours, and you’re gonna get us both killed.] Joshua complained.

  “I’ll give you scum one chance to explain yourselves.”

  I gasped sharply, suddenly able to move again, and I turned to face the beast. But in the place of the obsidian-scaled dragon from the ravine that I expected, there was…

  A woman.

  She had black scales running along her legs, and black, leathery wings protruding from her back. Long dark hair cascaded from her head, settling somewhere around her mid to lower back. She wore a long robe, seemingly made from the sky itself, constellations and twinkling lights dancing across the cloth. Her eyes were mesmerizing, a striking violet, with the whites of her eyes sticking out like stars in the night sky. If I had to guess, she appeared to be a woman between the ages of twenty-five and thirty, but her gaze held wisdom far beyond such an age.

  She stared right through me, as if able to see something that I couldn’t. I hesitated to speak, and my four companions fell to the ground, still suffering from the dragon's aura.

  Is this really the same dragon from the ravine?

  “Uh, Hi, Ms. Dragon, you see, I really didn’t know it was your egg! Honest! I’ll just go grab it real quick and—” I was cut off, but this time, not by the elegant woman standing before me.

  A black gate suddenly appeared a few feet to our left, rising from the ground like a zombie in some horror film. The ground beneath me shook, and the gate came to a stop, illuminating a hellish green. A single being stepped forth, followed by two more. White hair fell from his head, and the demon's glowing white armour was all too familiar.

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  Luminarch?! How is he already here!? I thought I would at least get a few more days to prepare…

  [We’re gonna die.] Joshua said, almost sad.

  The black gate, or the Umbral Gate, the Primordial demon had called it once, slowly slid back into the ground. It seemed like it didn’t have enough juice to stay in our world any longer than that.

  “You! You dare show your face here in my territory, Luminarch!?” The dragon lady roared.

  “Well, well, what a surprise. I only came here for that one,” the demon said, pointing a gnarled finger in my direction, “but the True Dragon of Fate is here as well, what a welcoming gift!” Luminarch stepped forward menacingly, but the dragon stepped in his path, obscuring the demon's view of me and my companions.

  “You can’t kill him; he stole my egg, and I need it back.”

  “I care not for your problems, Kyr.”

  Both beings eyed each other dangerously, and Luminarch raised an arm. His two demons, both strong-looking on their own, began to walk forward. Kyr readied her stance, preparing for a battle.

  “We need to get the fuck outta here,” I whispered. My companions and I slowly slid backwards, trying not to draw attention to ourselves.

  “Oh, you’re not going anywhere,” Kyr commanded, and my body came to a standstill.

  Fuck, is there any way to break this spell, or skill, or whatever the fuck?

  [We can’t. She’s… too powerful.] Joshua said, no longer his usual chaotic and murderous self. We all stood still, forced to watch as the two beings prepared to fight.

  Suddenly, two blinding flashes of light appeared. The pair of demons who had come through the Umbral Gate with Luminarch stopped, and their heads slowly fell to the ground, their lifeless corpses following suit shortly after.

  Who the fuck did that?

  The clouds above opened up, revealing two beams of light racing towards the ground. A pair of angelic beings landed in a cloud of dust, creating a triangle with the dragon and the demon.

  One was a regal-looking man, wearing a full suit of black and gold armour. His chestplate had a golden scale, and tendrils of energy snaked from his back like a pair of ethereal wings. He held a sword of pure light extending from a golden metal handle. Blond hair fell loosely from his head, reaching just above the middle of his forehead.

  The other was a woman dressed in something between armour and a dress. It flowed elegantly down around her legs and was opposite in color to the dark armour of the man at her side. She had similar tendrils of light streaming from her back, but she held a large staff with a glowing sphere of energy at the top, as well as a secondary ring surrounding it. Rather than the golden scale on the man's chestplate, the woman had a small flower accented by a glowing circle. She had the same color of hair as the man, but much longer, reaching down to her elbows.

  Suddenly, a new quest appeared.

  What kind of quest is this?!

  “Zerethiel, and Seraphael?” The dragon sputtered, hardly believing her eyes.

  “An interesting development,” Luminarch mused, “not only is there a True Dragon here, but the Aspects of Justice and Mercy have decided to grace me with their presence as well, what a surprise!”

  Aspect of Justice? Like from the ruin Cedric and I saw?

  My eyes widened at the sight of the four godly beings standing in my recently claimed territory. Cedric’s gaze mirrored my own, recognizing the name as well.

  “Luminarch, have you learned nothing after all these years?” The angelic being, Zerethiel, spoke calmly.

  “We allowed you to return to the demon realm, yet still you insist on causing strife in this world,” Seraphael, the female angel, sighed, “even my mercy grows thin in regards to you, demon.”

  “Mercy?!” The demon in white spat, “You call that mercy? Killing my brothers by the thousands, casting us down into a world wrought by flames? No,” he stepped forward, his aura tensing with a bright light, overpowering the glow of the two Aspects. “Mercy, is what you will be begging for when I destroy the mortal realm and the high heavens!”

  “I’m rather tired of hearing about your stupid squabble,” Kyr suddenly interjected, sighing impatiently, “how many millennia will you idiots fight for until you learn to play nice?” She stuck her chin up defiantly, seemingly unperturbed by the presence of the powerful beings.

  “Being the Dragon of Fate does not give you the authority to meddle in the Aspects' business, Kyr,” Zerethiel warned, but Seraphael tapped his shoulder, calming him down.

  “Who’s meddling?” The dragon shot back.

  “As much fun as it would be to tear you all limb from limb, I’m afraid my newly reincarnated form would be a sore match for two Aspects and a True Dragon.” Luminarch bowed politely.

  “You think it will be that easy to escape?” Zerethiel called, raising his sword into the air.

  [Celestial Binding]

  A similar skill to the one that the wizard used manifested, humongous glowing portals opened up from the sky, and thick golden chains rushed forward, grabbing the Primordial White’s limbs. However, his expression did not change. He looked… calm.

  “It will,” Luminarch said casually, and his form shimmered with white energy.

  [Severed Radiance]

  The demon’s skill blinded me, as well as the rest of us in attendance. Suddenly, he was gone, only the dead bodies of the two demons who had entered this world alongside him to prove that he had been here.

  “He broke free of my Celestial Binding?” Zerethiel questioned aloud, blinking in confusion.

  “It seems he has some tricks up his sleeve this time around,” Seraphael added.

  Kyr, no longer distracted by the menacing demon, turned to face me and my companions, still standing in shock at the scene unfolding before us.

  “My. Egg.” She demanded coldly, voice laced with fury. But her demand was cut off by the holy angel's commanding voice.

  “Why would Luminarch bring a bunch of lesser demons with him?” the Aspect of Justice said curiously, pointing his sword in our direction.

  “Wait!” I shouted, hands up. “Please don’t kill us! Let me explain!”

  “Demons deserve nothing!” The Aspect shouted. He looked one tantrum away from smiting all of Mount Boom into ash. Seraphael, seemingly the voice of reason, placed a hand on his arm, lowering the blade.

  “Let’s hear them out, brother.”

  “What is there to explain? You came here, stole my egg, and now you are going to return it. And then you will die.” Kyr said matter-of-factly.

  “Just hold on!” I pleaded, racking my mind for some way out of this situation. But it was Cedric who spoke first.

  “Luminarch is our enemy.” He said quietly.

  Zorrack, inspired by the small demon's courage, spoke next. “Yeah, he tried to sacrifice all of us! And Lucivar here? He saved us!”

  Viressa nodded, “Without him, Luminarch would’ve arrived here much earlier.”

  A little bit of a stretch, hopefully they’ll buy it…

  [If we die, can I at least be reincarnated as the parasite of someone with better decision-making skills?] Joshua muttered in my head.

  The Aspects regarded my companions one after the other, then settled their holy gazes on me. “Even if what you say is true, demons are reborn in Hell for a reason. They have no business here in the mortal realm.” Zerethiel said firmly.

  “Wait, wait, wait!” I blurted out, a desperate idea forming. “When demons are born, they have no recollection of their past lives, correct?”

  The two Aspects looked at each other, then back down at me, but they didn’t smite me, which I took as permission to continue speaking.

  “Well, if I don’t remember what I did that was so wrong as a mortal, why should I suffer eternally for that mistake? If you think about it, I’m not even the same jerk that did whatever horrible thing landed him in Hell in the first place!”

  “It is your soul that faces judgment, and it is your soul that faces punishment.”

  “Okay,” I nodded. “But is it really fair to punish a soul without a lawyer? Have you ever tried navigating eternal damnation with amnesia and anxiety?”

  “You’re making a theological appeal to divine bureaucracy,” Seraphael said, narrowing her eyes.

  “Exactly!” I said brightly, not understanding a single word she was saying. “I’m just asking for due process… maybe a trial?” I paused, remembering something, “a little… mercy?”

  “Don’t push it.” She warned.

  “Got it.”

  The two angelic beings turned away in deliberation, whispering. I closed my eyes, ready to face whatever fate they had decided for me…

  But I still stood, unsmited.

  “You may remain here, demons,” Zerethiel said, a hint of frustration in his voice. “But, if I hear so much as a whisper of evil from you,” he raised his sword threateningly, “I will have your heads.”

  With that, a beam of light cascaded from the heavens, and both Aspects disappeared.

  “Well, that's that, I guess we’ll be on our—” A strong hand gripped my shoulder.

  “I don’t give a crap whether those idiots let you live or not,” Kyr said menacingly, standing over me, “Give. Me. My. Egg.”

  At that very moment, a tiny cry squeaked from the Warg Den.