Amelia stood next to Patricia and Tanya, watching the demon eat.

“Yes, definitely Gluttony,” said Patricia.

Lily dug herself into the wrath giant’s body and was eating him from the inside out. It should have been horrifying to watch, but Amelia was getting used to seeing this sort of thing. It barely bothered her anymore.

The carnage around the giant was horrible. Buildings were levelled and more than a few crushed human bodies littered the streets. There was even a strangely shaped crater in the street. It was a large circular hoofprint, obviously made by the giant. Inside the hoofprint was the outline of a human body, pressed into the earth. Amelia saw a single black horn lying in the dirt and she recognized it instantly.

“Oh, it’s Lily’s missing horn,” said Amelia, digging it out of the compacted dirt.

Patricia seemed to appear out of nowhere, looking over Amelia’s shoulder with interest. “An archfiend’s horn, or pseudo-archfiend, whatever Lily qualifies as… I’d hold onto that if I were you. If it’s anything like Daddy Z’Kraugh’s body, it’ll have some potent magical properties. I knew of a few famous dark elven artifacts that were crafted from carved archfiend bone or horn.”

“Can you make something with it?” Amelia asked.

“Nope, crafting artifacts isn’t my area of expertise. I can do basic maintenance for existing magical items, and that’s about it.”

“Woah freaky,” said Tanya, looking through a pile of rubble.

Amelia looked up. Tanya was holding a huge sword hilt. The metal was tarnished black, like the sword she was borrowing, but the tarnish looked different. Thanks to some strange dark iridescence, it created the illusion of smoke shifting around the surface as Tanya changed the angle of the blade. Patricia, sensing another cool thing, scurried over next to Tanya to check it out.

“Demonsteel,” she said. “It’s a common material used by most weapon wielding demons. It’s basically normal steel, but alchemically treated with demon blood during the forging process. Dark elven smiths were once able to work with the stuff, but unfortunately, the method to reproduce it has been lost to us. The smiths in question all died, and nobody thought to bring heavy textbooks on smithing techniques with them while they fled the demon horde. Carrying food and water was more important.”

“So this could be worth something,” Tanya perked up.

Patricia shrugged, “Maybe to a collector of demonic artifacts. It can’t be repaired. If you heat it to forging temperature, it turns back into normal steel. To restore it, you’d need to re-imbue the blade after reforging, and nobody knows how to do that anymore.”

“Well I guess I’ll take it anyway, sell it as a spooky art piece… ooh! here’s the other half.” Tanya dug a long blade out of the rubble and mated it to the guard she was holding. “Wow, this thing’s huge.”

Amelia felt a tingle in the air, a crackle of arcane power. Patricia felt it too, and immediately straightened up and grabbed her staff.

A rift appeared in midair. The rift crackled and widened, opening up to a ten foot wide portal. Amelia glanced around and saw there was another one behind her. Each portal stood in the street, on either side of the group, as if to block their escape. Amelia caught a glimpse of the place on the other side of the portal. It was an overgrown courtyard, inside a castle. The grass outside was yellow, and the sky was grey and stormy. There wasn’t much time to look at the details, men in black full-plate armour were charging through the grass towards the portal.

The armored men charged out of both portals, six through one portal, five through the other. Once through the portal, they fanned out to intercept any escape attempts.

The armored men, (and two armored women as well, Amelia realized), had matte black armour and brightly shining two handed longswords made of a meticulously polished silvery metal. There was an illusions in place, making it impossible for normal eyes to see any trace of who was inside each of the armored helms. But Amelia’s eyes could see through the magical illusion. The people inside the armour were withered corpses, leathery skin stretched tight over skeletal faces, no eyes in their dark eye sockets.

Tanya dropped the Demonsteel weapon and drew her sword. Lily scrambled to climb out of the hole she’d dug in the demonic wrath giant and charged towards the nearest knight without hesitation. The knights reacted to her instantly. All five knights on that side of the road moved as one to intercept her. Blue fire sprouted from Patricia’s fingertips, and Amelia stood in place, unsure how to respond to this sudden attack.

Immediately following the undead knights’ entrance, another undead stepped through the portal. This one was a simple fleshless skeleton, tall and slender, wearing a black robe and holding a plain wooden staff in his hand. A small pinpoint of blue flame sat in each of the skeleton’s eye sockets. It felt different from Patricia’s fires. It was a cold light, like a distant star.

As soon as the skeleton crossed the threshold of the portal and set foot on the cobblestone road, the space around him distorted and he disappeared.

Amelia heard choking behind her. She spun around and saw the skeleton standing in front of Patricia, holding her by the throat. Her feet dangled in the air, and she kicked at the skeleton uselessly. Amelia could see wisps of shimmering energy flowing out of Patricia, and into the skeleton. The blue fireball Patricia still held in her hand dwindled and disappeared. Patricia’s struggles started to weaken.

Tanya saw this too, and she charged at the skeleton. Still holding Patricia, the skeleton twisted around to face the others, and tapped the cobblestone with his staff. An inky black darkness spread out from where he touched, swallowing the entire battlefield in shadow. Black tentacles, covered in octopus-like suckers, emerged from the shadowy surface and wrapped around Amelia’s legs. She struggled to disentangle herself, but they were too strong, she couldn’t loosen their grip at all. Tanya was grabbed too, the tentacles wrapped around her legs and dragged her to the ground. More tentacles wrapped around her upper body and she was completely enveloped and pinned against the ground.

“Raagh!” There was a roar of rage and pain from the other side of the battlefield.

Amelia glanced over her shoulder and saw one of the knights cleanly slice through Lily’s midsection, separating her hips from her ribs. A silver sword… They came prepared to fight her. The five knights had Lily completely surrounded and were attacking from all angles. Lily growled and started to crawl to the knights. Two more knights casually cut off her arms. Lily was out of the fight.

There was no other choice. Amelia had to use it again.

She opened her connection to Lord Occulith and felt the dark demonic energy flow. Working as fast as possible, she wove the power into the shape of Occulith’s Dust. Tentacles wrapped around her waist and slid along her spine. Amelia shifted the completed spell to her hand, and it started to glow with red light.

The skeleton’s cold eyes focused on her for an instant. A wave of the skeleton’s mana washed over her and seeped inside her. Amelia suddenly felt the spell in her arm unravel. She struggled to regain control, to rebuild the shape, but it was too late.

“Aaagh!”

Amelia’s arm exploded. Half of it turned to dust, and the other half turned into a bloody pulp that splattered against her white robes. The shock and terror of what just happened was worse than the pain. Her arm was gone. A gnarled, bleeding stump extended from her shoulder.

Amelia felt lightheaded, on the verge of fainting. She struggled to remain conscious. She could feel the warmth leaving her body, and she could hear the splatter of blood leaking from her arm stump. There was too much blood, she was going to die.

Unbidden, something wormed its way out of her memories and into her consciousness. Her foggy mind recalled the letter she’d received from Lott’s chosen.

When Death returns to greet you, make sure to introduce yourself politely.

This was Death right? Here stood a mythological being, a skeletal reaper of souls who could not be stopped. In a metaphorical sense, at least, the reaper was standing over her now. Some part of her knew this was what Lott meant. What was left of Amelia’s rational mind told her that introducing herself was a stupid idea that wouldn’t make a difference, the skeleton wouldn’t care who she was, but in her daze, her rational mind didn’t hold much sway anymore.

“I am Saintess Amelia Voss, Chosen of Truth!” Amelia shouted. She couldn’t tell who she was talking to anymore, so she spoke to world in general as her vision started to blur.

A few seconds later, Amelia heard a voice. It was a deep voice, carrying the coldness and finality of a long forgotten mausoleum, “Stop dying.”

The words entered Amelia’s ears, and the warmth stopped leaving her. Her vision was still blurry, and she felt herself shiver from the chill, but she was stable, for now. In front of Amelia stood the skeleton, gazing down at her thoughtfully. Patricia was nowhere to be seen.

“Now repeat what you said…” the skeleton told her.

“What did I say?” Amelia was barely coherent.

“You said your name and title. Say it again.”

“I am Amelia Voss, Chosen of Truth.”

The skeleton paused for a moment, and then replied with a hint of amusement in his voice, “An honor to meet you, Your Eminence. I am Zal’Gotherak, King of Undeath. I will return in a moment to kill you slowly if you are lying.”

The skeleton walked away with no further comment.

“Wake up,” the skeleton’s voice came from a different direction. “Your blonde companion, is she the Chosen of Truth?”

“What? Why?” Patricia’s exhausted voice mumbled.

“Yes or no.”

“Yes?” Patricia replied, still sounding disoriented.

Another brief silence passed, and then Amelia heard the skeleton’s voice. “Your blonde companion, is she the-”

“Fuck you!” Tanya interrupted.

“…is she the-”

“Your mother sucks dog cocks!” Tanya interrupted again.

There was another brief pause, and a shimmer of magic. The hissing sound of hundreds of skittering and clicking insects immediately followed.

“Wha- what the fuck is this?”

“It’s a minor conjuration spell that produces two hundred carrion beetles, a minor flesh eating pest from my homeland.” the voice replied calmly. “They burrow into dead bodies and eat them from the inside out. They rarely attack the living, but they can be compelled to do so. They will persist for one hour. Ten seconds from now I will instruct them to slowly eat you until you decide to answer my question.”

“Yes she’s the fucking Chosen of Truth.” Tanya replied quickly.

“Hmm…” Amelia saw the shadow-cloaked skeleton approach her again. “The odds of all three of you defeating my Truthseeker spell is very low. I will assume you are telling the truth for now.”

“Wha?” Amelia asked. Truthseeker spell? Was that a spell?

The skeleton sighed.

Amelia felt a burning pain in her shoulder that knocked her out of her daze. Horrible agony tore through her body, and she felt her consciousness fade.

Amelia opened her eyes again, and her world returned to focus. She felt weak, but no longer incoherent. She realized her arms were free, no longer held by the tentacles. Instead, the tentacles curled under her armpits, holding her up.

Oh, and she had an arm again. Amelia’s sleeve was missing up to her shoulder, but a brand new, and slightly sensitive arm was attached. The only difference was the lack of callous and the fact that the old scar she had from playing with knives as a child was gone.

That was impressive. Only the most powerful of healing spells were capable of restoring a missing limb.

“How?” Amelia asked.

The skeleton returned to her line of sight. “Necromancy is a magical understanding of death. One cannot truly know death without an equivalent knowledge of life.”

“Thank you?” Amelia said, somewhat uncertain about whether she should be thinking the skeleton considering he just attacked her.

“You will give me the gemstone now or I will fish it from your pocket.” The skeleton held out his hand.

Amelia could easily guess which gemstone he wanted. She reached into her pocket and handed the red ruby over to him. There wasn’t much of a choice, he could take it either way.

“What is it?” Amelia asked.

“Irreplaceable and precious to me,” the skeleton replied. He didn’t volunteer any other information. Amelia decided not to press him for an answer and risk pissing him off.

“Is everyone else okay?” Amelia asked.

“Your companions are alive for now, and I will not hear any more useless questions from you.” the skeleton’s tone deepened, and the cold blue pinpricks of light in his eye sockets conveyed an unspoken threat.

“In exchange for the lives of you and your companions, you will perform an act of service for me.”

“What do you want me to do?” Amelia was wary. What sort of evil thing would he demand of her?

“In a few days, perhaps a week from now, I will collect you and bring you to my castle. There will be a prisoner, and I will ask them questions. You will use your ability to tell me if they’re lying or not. Then, you will be returned safely to your companions.”

That was it? It sounded too easy. Didn’t he have a truth spell he just used? “You can’t use your Truthseeker?”

“The spell detected no deceit, but it is merely difficult to defeat, not impossible. I suspect the individual in question is capable of defeating that spell and it is possible I have been deceived. The Chosen of Truth’s Gift is absolute, enforced by Verita herself. Even I couldn’t lie to you.”

“I see.”

“Do you agree? Will you perform that act of service in exchange for you lives? Or will I kill you?”

“Yes, I agree. I’ll do it if you promise not to harm us anymore,” Amelia said. That was hardly a choice.

“My servants and I will not seek revenge for the death of Vivian, our score will be settled, and we will seek no further conflict. But if you attack us in the future or knowingly disrupt our plans, we will, of course, kill you.”

“That sounds fair. I agree,” Amelia replied.

“Good.” The skeleton turned away and started to walk back to the portal.

“Did you do it?” Patricia said, groaning and trying to squirm free of the tentacles binding her. “Did you kill everyone in the mansion? Was that fireball yours?”

“Which mansion?” the skeleton asked. “I’ve destroyed several.”

“The one in this town, the Montagne family… my family!” Patricia’s voice started to crack.

“Yes, I destroyed that one.”

“You bastard… why did you do it? Why did they have to die? What did they ever do to you?”

“I was offered payment,” he replied coldly.

“By who?”

“That’s enough questions. I have what I came for and I have little interest in wasting more time on you. You’re lucky that I chose to spare you.”

The skeleton gestured with a dismissive wave. The eleven knights fell into formation and marched through the portals. Zal’Gotherak followed them. The portals closed, and a few seconds later the tentacles and carrion beetles dissolved into smoky darkness and dissipated.

Amelia’s knees couldn’t support her anymore. She collapsed and passed out.

Lily lay on her back staring at the sky. This was humiliating defeat.

Those knights weren’t normal humans. They smelled wrong, they didn’t breathe or speak, and they were stronger and faster moving than the hell knight. They weren’t demons either, the aura they gave off was different.

Eleven of them had appeared out of nowhere. Lily could have defeated one… probably, but two? Nope. And why did they have silver weapons? Did everyone have silver weapons?

“Lily? Are you okay?” Tanya came into view, looking down at Lily.

“No. I’m a torso,” Lily replied.

She dodged most of the blows, but a single sword strike had landed, and that was enough to cut her in half through the midsection. The two, almost casual, slices that followed severed her arms. The knights didn’t even bother to finish her off, deciding she wasn’t a threat anymore. It was pathetic. Lily didn’t even manage to touch them before she was cut apart.

She replayed the battle in her mind. Her conclusion: She’d been stupid and overconfident again. She’d forgotten the lesson she learned from her spar with Tanya. Like back then, she should have stayed calm observed, anticipated movements, and planned her approach instead of relying on the element of surprise. Normal humans could be surprised, but these creatures weren’t surprised. They weren’t caught off guard by her charge, and they didn’t hesitate to punish her for her attempt.

“Can you… regenerate this much?” Tanya asked.

“Ugh… eventually…” Regenerating this much of her body was going to take a long time and a lot of energy. The silver seemed to be suppressing her regeneration too, slowing it down temporarily. It was lucky the wrath giant was still lying around; she’d have to eat even more to make up for the lost energy and mass.

“These are clean cuts. What if we like… reattach your parts?” suggested Tanya.

“Dunno, maybe. Try it.”

Tanya bent down, grabbed Lily’s severed hips and grunted. The hips did not move.

“Holy fuckballs, I can’t even budge it. How much do you weigh?”

“Eleven Roses?” Lily replied, uncertainly. Tanya probably wouldn’t know what a Rose was.

“What’s a Rose?” she asked, predictably.

“It’s pretty close to an Amelia.”

“Okay, and what’s an Am…” Tanya thought for a second. “You weigh as much as eleven Amelias?”

“Close to that, yes.”

“So if we call your legs five Amelias… Shit I’d need a lever or something to shift that much weight. I can lift two… two and a half Amelias at most.”

“Try an arm,” Lily suggested.

Tanya did so. She found an arm, bent down, and managed to lift it. She leaned it against her knee, adjusted her grip, and lifted with her legs. She staggered over to Lily’s torso, leaning the weight against her hips. When she reached Lily, she lowered herself a bit, and then dropped the arm nearby. Making sure she got the correct side of Lily’s body, she dragged the arm into position, pressing it against the severed stump.

Lily felt a strange tingle as a small forest of fleshy tendrils crept out of her shoulder stump and connected to the severed arm. The tendrils pulled back and shifted the arm slightly, perfecting the alignment. She felt more tingles, as her bones started knitting back together.

“It’s working, can you do the other arm? I can drag my own legs over after.”

Tanya repeated the process for her other arm. Around ten minutes later, Lily could move her arms again, so she dragged her torso over to her severed legs and started the reattaching process once more.

Lily didn’t bother to wait for the delicate nerves to repair themselves. Once enough of the ligaments and core muscles were reattached, she dragged herself over to the wrath giant, and started eating again. She would eat the whole thing. She had to get stronger.