John, Alex, Jordan and Thal sat in the room, the atmosphere was tense.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The occasional glance John made outside the window was a much-needed respite from the awkward feeling in the room.

"What the hell is that demon thinking!?" Alex demanded trying his best to keep his composure, his fingers were digging into the couch he sat on.

Both John and Alex looked to Jordan.

Jordan sat with his arms crossed.

He was sweating heavily, his expression confused and upset.

"There just isn't a good ending for this, is there?" he thought.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Alex.

Jordan didn't say anything.

"Maybe I should go talk to the demon king?" Jordan asked.

JohnWillStab let out a sigh.

"I doubt that'd help... the demon is extremely stubborn..." John replied.

Thal let out a sigh.

"Well, I'm not going down without a fight, so don't you even think about killing me," Thal hissed.

"I've got no right to drag you into this, Thal..." Jordan replied,

"So... don't worry about it..." he added.

Jordan clasped his hands and stood up.

"I'll go out and get some fresh air..." he said reluctantly.

"I think we need to decide a course of action now..." John said.

"Avoiding the issue won't help," he added.

"No, I think some fresh air will do us some good," Alex agreed with Jordan as he grabbed Thal and headed outside.

They didn't go back to talking that day.

That night...

JohnWillStab was practising cool one-liners in the basement, his only audience the half-awake Thief and Arachnophobia.

Alex was sitting in his room restlessly, looking down at the sword beside him.

"I wish he'd have at least put more effort into the fake sword..." Alex thought looking at the crappy Thal-lookalike.

Outside the house, Jordan stood, cigarette in his mouth.

He began making his way towards the jGurdian base through the desert.

Suddenly he felt himself get limp as he fell to the ground, he got smacked from behind by the humanoid form of Thal.

Seemingly paralyzed, Jordan looked around and spotted Thal, dressed in his usual black suit and fedora.

He picked the limp Jordan off the ground and placed him on his shoulder.

"What... the hell?!" Jordan asked, his voice was hoarse.

"Just be quiet already..." Thal complained, grabbing the cigarette from Jordan's mouth and tossing it aside.

Thal teleported inside of the jGurdian base, that would have surely set off some alarms, but the business they wanted to conduct with the demon king wouldn't take long.

He looked around the stone walls of the room, without any trouble he teleported into the cage itself, Felix lay motionless as always.

Without needing to touch it, Thal was able to enter the black abyss where John and Nekraxx spoke earlier.

"Thal..." the voice was cold and inhuman, just like before.

Jordan looked around and saw the demon.

"Nekraxx..." Thal sighed.

"Finally, you've come to accept death..." Nekraxx said with a grin.

"Sure, whatever, let's just get it over with..." Thal said crossing his arms.

"No, no, hold on!" Jordan exclaimed.

Thal and Nekraxx looked to him.

"So this is the mortal..." Nekraxx said leaning closer towards Jordan.

Thal stepped in to block his way.

"Just hurry up and complete the deal before I change my mind..." Thal exclaimed.

Nekraxx groaned.

"Who do you think you are?" he asked.

"WAIT!" Jordan exclaimed.

"What is it? I'll get to my end of the deal after I slaughter Thal..." Nekraxx replied.

Jordan took a step before Thal.

"I refuse!" he exclaimed.

"..."

"..."

"You... what?" Nekraxx asked.

"You heard me, demon! I refuse!"

Nekraxx crouched down, his expressionless face getting close to Jordan's.

"I've read your memories... The soul you wish to bring in here is your brother..." Nekraxx said.

Jordan nodded.

"Yes, you're right,"

"You've gone through so much... and you'd let the opportunity escape you?" Nekraxx asked.

Jordan clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

"It's not that... your demand is just impossible!" he erupted.

Both Nekraxx and Thal took a step back.

"Hey, relax, human, this is your only chance, right?!" Thal asked.

Jordan looked at Nekraxx,

"How about my soul?" Jordan asked.

The room fell silent.

"Your soul?" Nekraxx asked.

Jordan nodded.

The room remained silent.

Thal watched Jordan silently.

"There's no way Nekraxx will give up his one shot at revenge to kill a random human!" Thal thought.

Nekraxx looked to Thal.

"Have you altered this human's mind?" Nekraxx demanded looking at Thal.

"Of course not!" Thal exclaimed seemingly insulted at the proposal.

The faceless demon looked through Jordan's memories once more.

"Ever since my brother was born he was sickly,"

"While I was enjoying my life, going out with friends my Brother would have to lay in the hospital, drugged out of his mind,"

"My life was consumed by guilt,"

"What right did I have to continue being so lucky?"

Jordan was getting choked up as he spoke.

"And when I came here, and grew to know so many friends, and lived out adventures people couldn't even dream of..."

"There is nothing I want to do more, than see my brother in this world, introduce him to John and Alex, go on quests, level, pick a profession, climb a mountain or go camping, all the things he couldn't and I wouldn't do..."

Jordan wiped the eye-sweat from his face with his sleeve and looked to Nekraxx.

"I cannot give you Thal's soul, and I cannot accept him giving it of his own will either," Jordan continued.

"So please take mine, I won't ever live to see the one thing I wanted to see happen... but if I can at least bring him here that's enough..." he continued, forcing a bittersweet smile.

Thal was about to step in when Nekraxx grinned.

"Very well!"

"Wait, Nekraxx!" Thal exclaimed but he was already thrown out of the illusion.

Jordan continued to smile as Nekraxx's hands clawed away his soul, bit by bit, literally tearing him apart and sending it into the ether.

"Your name is Jordan, correct?" Nekraxx asked holding the last shred of his soul.

"Yes..." he replied.

"You were a grain of sand worth my time..." he said, Jordan smiled as the last bit of Jordan's soul flew away.

"My hatred for Thal is great..." Nekraxx thought.

"But for a mortal to sacrifice his dream for another..." he thought.

"It would be a waste to ignore..."

Seeing the other soul, he placed it into Jordan's now vacant body.

As the pieces of Jordan flew out into the endless void of nothingness

Thal looked down and saw the packet of cigarettes at Jordan's hip turning to dust, the new user wasn't a smoker, and so he didn't receive infinite cigarettes.

Jordan soul floaded off into the greater abyss, never to meet this world ever again.