***The Mortal Planes***

***Amon***

I hummed appreciatively, enjoying the taste of the rich chocolate ice cream which I commandeered from Betsy’s fridge upon arrival. It was definitely a good idea to take a little timeout after almost getting caught by a Demon Lord. And no matter how much Isabella had helped me, I wasn’t ready to get too involved with the succubus. She turned out to be an important ally, but I learned that trust should never be given lightly in the Infernum.

Although, I really had to find a way to start paying her back, because she hadn’t looked pleased when I left her behind once we returned to the warband’s base. No matter that her displeasure didn’t sit well with me, it was important for our favours to balance each other out. With her recent helpfulness, I was afraid that I was the one who was ever so slowly slipping into the red.

It was quite a bit of work to convince her to stay behind when I retreated to my room in the warband’s headquarters, just to take a little summoning trip. And hopefully, from her point of view, this trip should be really short indeed.

One shouldn’t forget that the Infernum took note of such things as debts if there was a contract between two individuals.

Sighing deeply, I tried to banish the idea from my thoughts and spooned more chocolate ice cream into my mouth while I searched the dark house for my humans.

Then it happened! Someone blinded me with a strong flash-light and screamed with a pitch high enough that it hurt my ears.

Simultaneously, a wooden stick was battered against my skull. Once, twice, and then a third time. No matter that the impromptu weapon did nothing against me, or that it split with the third attempt at braining me. The mortal who wielded the stick didn’t realize that bashing me unconscious in such a barbaric manner was a futile effort – or that his weapon was taking more damage than my head.

I was forced to catch the broken remains of the stick on the fourth attempt, preventing it from hitting the ice cream in my hand. It would have been a real tragedy if this little box of happiness had suffered an unfortunate accident. I might have been forced to retaliate against the mortals, no matter their affiliation with me.

“Stop it, just stop it!” I called out, giving my best to protect the ice cream.

A light was switched on, and Betsy gasped from her spot at the kitchen’s light-switch when she recognized me. Her hair was dishevelled as if she had just awoken from a deep sleep. “Amon! What are you doing in my kitchen in the middle of the night!?”

Her wizardry boyfriend finally took a step back, wincing when he inspected the damage to his baseball bat, which was now essentially useless except as firewood. “Do you have any idea what it is like to wake up at two in the morning and hear someone rummage through your house? I could have hurt you.”

“Hi!” I smiled and returned to spooning ice cream. “And, not really.”

“What are you doing here!?” she repeated. “I don’t remember summoning you!” Betsy glared at me with enough wrath to slay a lesser being and pointed her flashlight at the box in my hands. “And that’s my ice cream! Are you the one who is stealing it night after night?” She looked towards her consort, making it clear who she suspected before this incident.

For some reason, her boyfriend looked guilty and a little chagrined.

“Not anymore. Now it’s mine,” I clarified and smacked my lips. “And as to what I am doing here, can’t a demon visit his summoner once in a while? We are practically family!”

Betsy’s boyfriend cursed. “I hoped that you would never return.”

“Sorry to disappoint, boyfriend, but my contract says that I can come and go as I please.” These mortals… so forgetful.

“My name is Jeremy!” the boyfriend reminded me. “And I am her husband now!”

“Ah, I forgot… you are such a nondescript side-character that I truly didn’t bother to remember your name,” I lied unapologetically to his face since we demons had the gift of perfect memory. I could have remembered his name if I had just bothered to do so.

Then I turned to face Betsy. “Congratulations! I honestly couldn’t say whether the two of you would actually stay together. He seemed like a real stickler for the rules when we last saw each other. I wasn’t sure whether you would put up with that on a long term basis.”

And then, seeing them in the light, I noticed that both Betsy and her lover had aged visibly. “Oh, and wow, you mortals sure don’t hold up to the test of time. There are quite a few more wrinkles in your face. And are those grey hairs?” I couldn’t help but take notice thanks to my demonic eyesight.

Betsy huffed. “Thanks for pointing that out, ass! It has been two years since you and your gang left! Thanks to you, Loretta’s and my families are feared throughout the whole paranormal community.”

But… had it really been that long since our training excursion? I tried to add up the time which I had spent in the Infernum, taking into account that I spent over a month on my crafting hobby once I returned.

Infernum! Betsy was right.

“You are welcome.” I took another spoon of ice cream in an attempt to play cool, when I wasn’t fine with the situation at all, and mumbled to myself, “I guess that having a mortal realm run on such a different timescale has downsides too.” If I returned to the Infernum and spent three or four years there Betsy would be an old grandma on my next return – or dead.

Unexpectedly, that made me just a little sad. I liked this dimension, and losing all my contractors would bar my access to it. As of now, I had only Betsy and Loretta as anchors. There was also an unknown number of copies of my summoning circle in circulation, but up until now, no other mortal had bothered to follow the instructions to summon me.

It was good that I had decided to get rid of Amon’s inheritance right now.

“Say, would you like a little gift?” I asked, trying my very best not to sound like I was up to something.

Jeremy narrowed his eyes, clearly not trusting this to be just a friendly visit. “Gifts from a demon? What can go wrong with that…” he replied mockingly.

I rolled my eyes, especially since I was serious about having only good intentions. “You are right that I have another purpose aside from giving you powerful magical items which have the potential to increase your lifespans, given that this dimension is as dry as a desert when it comes to magic.”

It was a well-known fact that powerful magic increased the lifespan of any biological body. It had something to do with vitalizing the organism and preventing cell damage – if my memories weren’t wrong. Increasing Betsy’s merely mundane magical abilities with some items that helped her to discover her potential might add a few decades to her lifespan. Or even centuries, I wasn’t sure. It was hard to tell with the low background level of magic in this dimension.

She might even be able to advance from a mere hedge-witch to a genuine user of magic.

Poor humans, they were already mortal, and then they had the misfortune of being born in a magical desert.

Betsy was reluctant to buy my story. She placed a hand on her hips and looked at me as if I was the devil incarnate. “And your so-called ‘purpose’ is?”

I hedged around the truth, wondering just how honest I had to be in order for her to lower her guard and take my offerings. “Let’s just say that I have reasons to get rid of the items which I am giving you. They won’t do you any harm, I have made sure of that.” It wasn’t easy to learn how artefacts worked without destroying them, but after some study, I realized that my predecessor ensured that there was a fail-safe that allowed others to use his items. All I had to do was to activate it.

Jeremy shouldered the remains of his baseball bat. “Then why do you want to give them away?”

“Reasons… like changing my own fate and foiling the plans which others made for me. I just can’t keep the items in question, but I don’t want them completely out of my reach either. Just in case I might need them after all,” I explained, hoping that it would be enough.

I revealed the two rings which granted Arcane Sight and Infernal Shield. “These rings, one gifts you with the ability to see magic and the other creates a magical shield to protect you from harm.” They incidentally also promised the most chance to unlock Betsy’s magical potential. A magic-user who could actually see magic could develop his powers much more rapidly than some blind fool who was trying to grasp for some rays of light in the dark. And some forced activations of the shield would ensure that her mana pool would be trained too.

It took some coaxing, but Betsy at least tried slipping on the ring, her eyes widening when the new magical sight overlayed her normal vision.

“And then there is this amulet for you, Jeremy…” I handed out the goodies, sure that the mortals wouldn’t be able to withstand the temptation once they got a taste of the power. “This summons an armour around you that should be capable of blocking any mortal weapon. And then we have this spear…”

I explained how to use the artefacts while Betsy gaped at her surroundings with new appreciation.

Like children who were offered candy, the two mortals were enamoured with their new toys. Once I was sure that there were no issues with using the artefacts, I also handed them Amon’s bracer and the dagger which had accompanied me throughout most of my life in the Infernum.

Unlike the other items, I had a special place in my heart for the dagger, which I instructed to gift to Loretta’s husband, who I remembered to be a halfway decent warlock – for a mortal. The last item of the set, the bracelet which granted increased magical resistances, went to Loretta herself.

I didn’t care whether the items actually reached their intended owners. The important thing was to know that the items were here in this dimension, and on this planet.

“How is it going with your lady-friend?” Betsy asked once there was a longer pause in my explanations.

“Lady-friend?” I wondered.

“The succubus who always tried to get into your pants? You can’t tell me that nothing happened between the two of you in seven years,” Betsy tattled. “If I have ever seen a girl who was serious about a lover then it’s her.”

“Oh, yeah. She is fine, I guess,” I admitted reluctantly. “Nothing much has changed. Don’t forget that time flows differently for us demons. We aren’t in such a hurry as you mortals are.” Though, Isabella surely seemed like she was in a hurry to get a permanent commitment from me.

“The poor girl.” Betsy covered her mouth with both hands. “You really haven’t replied to her affections? The two of you are so cute together!”

Two demons cute together? I felt my right eye starting to twitch. Something about the very idea went against everything that was demon in me. “Let’s just say that we demons take our time when it comes to ‘relationships’…”

“Oh, but you have to visit more often if that’s the case,” Betsy replied with what seemed like genuine worry for my well-being. “As your psychiatrist, I am always here to lend an open ear if there is anything that worries you.”

I hedged around the two humans and quickly excused myself, practically fleeing the scene. “I am sorry, but I think someone is summoning me. Work calls!”

Turning, I fled for the stairway that led to the basement, where I had put up a secret summoning circle that was unknown to Betsy. On my retreat, my demonic hearing ensured that I heard the two cheeky mortals bantering with each other.

“Wow, he sure ran for the hills once you brought up his love-life,” Jeremy commented to his wife.

“Yeah, that one has relationship problems, and a big emotional chip on his shoulders when it comes to opening up to others…” Betsy tattered on, but I closed the door to the basement, making it hard for even my ears to make out anything sensible.

“By my horns! Relationship problems…” These mortals just didn’t know what it was like to be ridden by a succubus. I was sure that if I reached out to that succubus with the tip of my tail, she would take the entire thing. And while tails regrew, I had it on good authority from my minions that such a thing was an itchy and bothersome affair.

Not to mention that Isabella clearly had some ulterior motives about making me her boyfriend. I had asked my other minions, and none of them knew of a succubus who was interested in love for love’s sake.

If Isabella had been honest in all her dealings with me, then she must hope to gain something from a union between the two of us. Though what that was, I had no idea, and there was no way to tell whether I would be the one who was screwed over in the end.

But I had other things on my agenda right now, so I shook my head to get rid of my worries. Once I reached the basement, I sat down on the cold concrete that hid the runic inscriptions on a metal plate beneath it. Then I concentrated, listening for a call, any call that might reach out to me while I petitioned the Infernum to provide me with an appropriate contract.

The Infernum must have had a good day, because it didn’t take long until I felt the pull of my nature and followed the call, allowing the will of the Infernum to whisk me away.

Once I opened my eyes, I found myself inside another summoning circle, warded thrice against anything that tried to leave it without the summoner’s permission. I turned my attention from the perfectly crafted runes on the floor towards the rest of the room.

Unlike my other summonings, this time I hadn’t gotten a magical dilettante.

The rest of the room was empty, but I could tell at a glance that the foundations were sturdily built and protected against magic of any sort. The architect also forsook the windows, making doubly certain that anything that was summoned to this room would stay in here. Someone had gone to great lengths in order to provide a place that would be resistant to the downsides of great magical workings going wrong.

A young and beautiful woman knelt at the edge of the circle, her eyes closed in concentration while two undead warriors stood protectively to either side of her. But her beauty couldn’t distract from her sharp and cold expression, giving her the feeling of a hard and competent leader.

The ghostly translucent cat that was perched on her shoulder gave off an eerie vibe. Was it a spirit guardian? A familiar? I couldn’t tell through the wards that separated us.

“I am Amon and you have summoned me,” I announced, playing my role in this game. This was a fairly standard summoning after all. “What is your wish?”

The woman who was dressed in black silk and gold opened her eyes and studied me, apparently finding me wanting in my plain leathers. “I am Janice, last Princess of the Mirai Empire, and I am searching for power! Our enemies have allied themselves against us, and my line is on the fringe of destruction.”

She slid into a more comfortable kneeling position, her legs apparently sore from a lengthy summoning ritual. “I admit that these summonings were my dead parent’s forte. Therefore, I don’t know what to expect, but anything you might be able to offer is welcome.”

“I don’t have the time to fight your war, but this was an open call for aid to anyone who might listen. The Infernum wouldn’t have reached out to me if I didn’t have something worthwhile to offer you.” I smiled at the mortal who commanded the dead. “What is your chosen profession, princess?”

“We Mirai are exceptional necromancers. All of our line call upon the dead and we play the role of necromantic priests to our citizens,” the mortal explained quickly. “I am also researching the nature of souls, but there is a lot to learn.”

I harrumphed, not sure what I could do to help against an enemy that managed to beat back a bloodline of necromancers. “How is it possible that your enemies forced back your people? Haven’t you armies of undead to call upon?”

The princess looked displeased. “We may be necromantic priests, but we do not condone the creation of mindless monsters. Each of our Empire’s necromancers can resurrect and command a few dozen soldiers at most. It is a great honour to be recruited into the imperial line’s personal guard.”

“Hmm…” I grunted, realizing what the problem was. Normally, a competent necromancer was a powerhouse on any battlefield which provided an endless supply of bodies. Janice’s line apparently lacked some vital knowledge in the necromantic field, which I was sure at least one of my souls could provide. Combined with some healing and medical knowledge from a priest, I was certain it was possible to provide a self-sustaining undead body for a soul to anchor to.

All it took was a little diving into my souls' memories and imparting that knowledge on the little princess.

“Then let me give you a lesson in necromancy, and maybe a tool to empower you in your quest to save your people…” I detached Amon’s rapier from my belt and laid the powerful weapon in front of me, hoping that with giving away this last relict of the past, I would escape my predecessor’s ambitions.