***The Infernal Plane of Lust, Dimensional Fissure***

***Amon***

“I do not trust this place,” I complained while following Isabella along the narrow trail that led to Sozzudon’s abode.

We left Irkos via teleportation through the settlement’s public Anima Stone. Beforehand, I informed the others about our trip and my decision to do this with as few people as possible. If something went seriously wrong, I could always resurrect at the warband’s Anima Stone. I wouldn’t be happy about it, but the loss wouldn’t cripple me.

As far as travelling the Infernum went, it was my first time using one of the artifacts in an official manner, aside from my one encounter with an Anima Stone as a demonling, and then the one time I used a Lode Stone.

Despite my expectations, the entire affair turned out to be anticlimactic. Only a little problem revealed itself when we learned that the guild's Anima Stone lacked the necessary connection towards the desired dimensional fissure.

Isabella quickly explained the problem. Not all Anima Stones were equal and I had to learn that only the Lode Stones were universally powerful when it came to limitless travel. Thankfully, there was another option.

Using the settlement's public Anima Stone for travel was a matter of minutes. All we had to do was to walk up to it and pay the fee for travel within Lust.

My inner demon made me a little stingy about paying a hundred souls for simple travel, but Isabella convinced me that this was better than flying for over a year southwards. That was how far the correct dimensional fissure was from our base.

The Anima Stone transported us with a flash after setting our destination, and then we made our way towards the nearby fissure. There was no settlement around this location, likely for good reasons. Only the forested trail which we were following now.

The trail led us towards the strange convergence zone where Lust's verdant vegetation gave way to a strange mist, and before we knew it, we had entered the fissure, a place that was ever-changing and giving me the creeps. The transition between dimensions was fluid. All that hinted that something was wrong was the strange warping of light as if someone had put an oversized magnifying glass between us and our surroundings.

But once we passed the strange effect, I knew that we were no longer in a place that played according to the rules of common sense.

While following Isabella, I stepped around a growing patch of moss that was almost reaching for me. Keeping an eye on the creepy moss, I took a wary look at the path behind us. It felt like something was watching us, but there was only the trail that disappeared around a rock.

Was I the only one who thought it strange that Sozzudon had a home in the middle of nowhere and that there was a perfectly maintained path towards it right next to a lonely Anima Stone?

But my inner ruminations were interrupted when Isabella noticed my wariness.

“This area is dangerous,” Isabella affirmed my suspicions. “Demons have entered these fissures and never returned. The rules are different and strange. Try not to lose the path, or you might find yourself in a dimension far, far away from Lust. Try not to look behind you. Don't step sideways if you can avoid it. And try not to think of bad stuff. The Chaos seeps through these fissures and sometimes it decides to make your imagination real.”

I found a part of her warning strange, but I decided to just follow Isabella's lead because I simply didn't have any experience with this place.

“May not be so bad,” I joked, knowing that there were worse places in the Infernum than a chaotic realm of death. The barren landscape of Gluttony for example, or was that simply because I was too weak back then? Maybe a realm of primeval chaos was worse.

Then I paid closer attention to the milestones that were placed every few dozen feet. “Do you think there is another reason for these markers aside from preventing the unwary traveller from losing his way? Why would there be so many?”

“They are likely the reason why this fissure is stable. Can’t you feel the enchantments on them?” she commented without taking her eyes from the path. “Someone must have planted them to get to Sozzudon's home. Haven't I already mentioned how bad of an idea it is to settle down inside a dimensional fissure?”

“Stable!?” I watched as the lush forest to our right suddenly dried up and was replaced by a seemingly endless desert. The path turned to sand beneath my feet, and the moment I dared to blink, we were suddenly walking along a beach with a violet ocean throwing waves against the shore to our left. “This place is fucking nuts.”

Something huge with a spiny back broke the water's surface far out in the ocean, and I realized that I had stopped, so I quickly hurried after Isabella. I did not want to meet that thing, whatever it was.

“Then you haven't travelled a fissure without a pathway like this one. My mother once threw me into one on my twentieth birthday, for educational purposes and to see whether I had what it takes to remain one of her daughters,” Isabella explained. “Just remember not to allow the fissure to mess with your mind, or you will be lost forever.”

I didn't know what someone's mind had to do with it, but I saw no reason for Isabella to lie either. We made the rest of the way in silence while I did my best to keep my thoughts as blank as a white sheet of paper.

It was for that reason alone that I tried my best to ignore the strange locker that barred the path at one point, its open door showing that it was empty and just a simple locker made out of metal.

Isabella only granted it a short glance before she gave the thing a kick that sent it flying off the path. The locker immediately dissolved and was gone from one moment to the next.

“Why did you do that?” I asked, bewildered about this place.

“There was a note on it that said to do so. And it was in the way...” Isabella explained without slowing her stride. “Just don't question the things that happen inside a fissure or you will go nuts.”

I decided that she had a point when I made the mistake of taking another look at the insane, ever-changing landscape around us. Maybe paying no attention was indeed the best way to cope with this place.

Our venture became slightly less insane when we reached the end of the path, an area that appeared stable. The guiding milestones reached their end by winding their way up a gentle hill that was encased by a fence of man-sized, obsidian obelisks. On top of the hill was a large mansion that spoke to me as the perfect place for someone to have a little time to himself. But while the rest of this place was in constant flux, the mansion stayed the same just like a little island of sanity.

“So far things went really well,” I commented and clapped my hands while looking up to the mansion. “Do you think he is at home?”

“Don’t jinx it!” Isabella studied the house with a suspicious expression on her face. “Things went too well up until now. I don’t trust the peace, so don’t let your guard down.”

“Of course not, Ma’am,” I replied mockingly. Life had taught me better than to relax just because things went my way for once. And no matter how I looked at it, this place didn’t make me feel safe.

We ascended the path until we reached the mansion’s main gate where I found myself at a loss on what to do. Should I knock? Call for an attendant?

Just press the bell, you idiot!

I squinted my eyes, taking a moment while I was thrown for a loop. The other hadn’t bothered me for a long time. Long enough that I had almost dared to believe that at least one of my problems had somehow solved itself.

But it was right. There was a doorbell right there, so I reached out and pressed it, causing a loud ‘Gong!’ to echo through the mansion.

“What are you doing?” Isabella hissed. “We could have used the chance to sneak inside and steal the spear!”

I scoffed. “Do you really think that we approached the mansion without being noticed while keeping to the trail all the way? I bet there is some kind of surveillance system installed. Besides, I would like to have a word with Sozzudon before we get violent. He has to explain some things.”

The succubus’ expression turned worried and she pressed a hand to my forehead. “Do you feel alright? Are you sick? It’s not like you to pursue a peaceful solution.”

I pushed her hand away. “I feel fine!” It certainly wasn’t like violence was my default solution to a problem. It was just that violence was often the easier one.

That’s when several things happened at once.

A harried-looking Sozzudon dashed onto the balcony above us, took a single look at us, and whisper-screamed, “Go away!”

Then he ran back inside, but I couldn’t have cared less, because a ghostly form made out of greenish energy materialized in front of us. A form that had a large similarity to me and yet wasn’t me. He clearly had gone through the same evolution as me, but his facial features and stature were all different.

I was about to draw my dagger when the ghost spoke, “Ah, you have finally made it, took you long enough.”

“Who or what are you?” I asked, thrown for a loop by what was happening.

The ghost rolled its eyes and sighed. “Now you are probably asking what’s going on, but be assured that all will be fine as long as you listen to this recording. I never trusted Sozzudon in the first place, so your appearance without the spear means that some of my predictions came true. You could see this recording as a contingency plan of sorts.”

“I understand nothing…” Isabella commented and reached a hand through the ghostly apparition without having any effect on it. “Is this the original Amon? How?”

“I said not to ask stupid questions!” The apparition continued as if this was a real conversation. “I have seen into the Great Beyond with my mighty intellect! Others shrivelled up in fear while their minds shattered, but I returned, knowing more than was good for me! Chaos itself would bow to me if I had succeeded to gain the power of the Gods, you stupid-” The recording flickered. “Succubus!”

Isabella gasped as if this was the first time someone had dared to insult her. Or was it the fact that the words came from me… former me.

The ghost flickered again and deflated visibly. “Alas, the fact that you are here means that things didn’t come to pass quite as I predicted. If my plan had worked, I would be a god by now and I wouldn’t have to save the future me from repeating my stupid mistakes. Like, not chopping Sozzudon’s head off as soon as you see him.”

“Ah…” I didn’t know what to say, so I tried nodding along, hoping that I didn’t look like a stupid schoolboy. Was this truly a recording? Or some semi-intelligent magical construct? The flickering apparently indicated a switch to a different recording? If so, how much time did Amon spent on recording all the different possibilities for his future self showing up at this mansion?

And was this not Sozzudon’s home? Had the weasel just taken it over from his former master?

The ghost stepped aside and gestured for the door. “Just place your hand on the doorknob and it will unlock itself. This is my very own summer residence, after all, no matter that it is infested with one of my minions. I should have rigged the place to disperse into the Primal Chaos as soon as Sozzudon set a foot inside, but he had yet a role to play.”

I coughed and followed the instructions, going along with the flow.

When I touched the doorknob, I felt some form of highly advanced magic scanning me. I considered letting go, but the spell hadn’t the distinctive invasive feel of a curse. The ghost flickered while the door unlocked, apparently switching to another instruction set.

“I see that you regained your adult evolution!” the ghost monologued while he passed through me and the half-open door into the mansion. “That is good, especially because you will have to run once you achieve what you came here for.”

“Ah, yes.” I entered the mansion’s entrance hall and looked towards Isabella for help, but the pretty succubus just shrugged and shook her head while widening her eyes. It was clear that this one was on me and that her experience ended at the door.

“Let’s go directly to the treasure room,” the ghost gestured down a central corridor. “The sooner you get out of here with what you need, the better. I can’t wait to imagine Sozzudon’s face once he realizes that all of his treacheries were for naught!” My other self cackled madly enough to give me the creeps.

“I am not certain whether we should trust him,” Isabella whispered from behind me and tugged on the sleeve of my leather armour.

“That’s me who we are talking about,” I countered, but I had to admit that while the former Amon appeared to be an unparalleled genius, the fanatic gleam in the recording’s eyes was pretty off the rails.

That’s when we ran into Sozzudon the second time.

He came around the corner and gasped when he saw us. Of course, he immediately drew what looked like a futuristic gun. “How did you get in!? I thought-” Then he saw the magical construct. “M- m- m- master! I- I-”

The construct flickered once more. “Sozzudon, have you totally forgotten your loyalties? How dare you live under my roof like it is yours!”

“Y- y- you are dead!” Sozudon shot an energy bolt through the ghost but achieved nothing more than scarring the wall.

The ghost shook his head. “You poor minion. Did you really believe you could escape me after all these years? After trying to betray me? You should know that there is no getting away. Not even in death, mwahaha!” The ghost raised his hands and laughed at the ceiling before it flickered and was back in a relaxed position. “Jokes aside, I believe you deprived my future self of something he needs to understand his destiny.”

“I only took my rightful payment!” Sozzudon complained in a moment of confusion. But then he gathered himself in an attempt to understand the situation. “Are you one of his necrotic experiments? Did the fool somehow manage to split his soul?”

The ghost scoffed. “Nothing of the sort! This is just a set of recordings that I created as a contingency. Just shows that you couldn’t even outsmart me in death.”

Sozzudon’s eyes took on an angered gleam and he aimed the gun at me.

I was relatively confident that my defences were enough to just tank the shot, but all that happened was a pitiful ‘click’. Our unwilling host looked at his weapon in bewilderment and shook it before he tried again with the same result.

The ghost flickered and narrowed his eyes. “You really thought you could fire a gun at me in my own home?”

Sozzudon cursed in some language that I didn’t know and threw his weapon against the corridor’s wall. Then he turned to me. “I knew that things would go to hell as soon as I found your soul! But we have no time! You have to get out of here before they find you!”

“Who? What?” I asked. This situation started to get me annoyed. Any more of this crap and I would just take Sozzudon’s tongue and be done with it. “You have to make this easier on us because I understand zero of what’s going on. All I wanted was to get my spear!”

Sozzudon laughed. “Oh, if that’s all. You can have the stupid spear since it doesn’t work for me!”

The ghost flickered. “Of course not! Do you really think a soul mage wouldn’t employ contingencies against his weapons being used against him?”

I ignored the ghost because there was a sound of someone calling for Sozzudon from down the hall.

Our host balled his fists impotently and gestured for us to be silent. Then he begged us with one hand to follow him into a room to the side of the corridor. “Just, stay here for a while until they are gone, please? I don’t know what else Amon did to the mansion without my knowledge. This is freaking me out. Just don't trigger any more of his so-called contingencies!”

I looked at Isabella, but she shrugged again. Without more information, I decided to play along for now and followed him with Isabella on my heels. The ghostly apparition also followed without saying a word.

I pursed my lips. “Who are you talking about? You understand, I certainly imagined our reunion to go down differently.”

Sozzudon ran a shaking hand over his forehead. “Oh, believe me, so did I. We are in deep shit!”

Isabella had taken the chance to wander over to a window and her eyes grew wide when she took a look outside. “Why is there a little army camping in your backyard?”

The ghost flickered. “Because little Ostreios is searching for me. Who would have thought that the lad had it in him to become a Demon Lord! Did you know that I was there when his mother peeled him out of his egg?”

I suddenly wanted to puke at the implications of that, and generally for everyone to shut up for just a moment! So I raised my hands in the universal gesture for everyone to calm down. “Why don’t we all take a step back to get our grievances out of the way… so that we know who is what and why… and then I suggest we start killing each other.”