"Ariel, you are needed. Wake up." A feminine voice said, softly but firmly. There was no response from the aforementioned Ariel. She kept sleeping, soundly and restfully unconscious.

Silence fell over the room for a few seconds. The speaker was normally the patient sort, not the type to rush things. But today she was unusually excitable, and as a consequence of that there was an urgency to her she was not normally known for. When the room was silent for nearly a minute the speaker sighed and tried again.

"Ariel, it's time. You are just... a few hours away from achieving your goals!" The same voice, louder this time, spoke. The speaker was obviously annoyed now, at having to repeat herself. But she was trying to maintain her composure.

Another period of silence passed by. And this time it went on for a minute. The speaker began to panic a little bit.

"Ariel, come on, wake up!" She said, and this time both panic and annoyance entered her voice in uneven amounts. The voice of the harpy was a shrill one, and it grew more shrill with each attempt at rousing the woman that Tristan, the high priestess of the harpy's religion, had informed the harpy was to be a sort of "chosen one", who saved the village from the terrible enemy that just attacked it.

The speaker was a harpy. She was tall for her kind, standing close to 1.7 meters tall. Her feathers were a scarlet red, and she was one of the few harpies in the run-down town to possess clothes that fit the measurements of her body. She wore a thin cloak as an awkward shirt, and linen trousers around her thick, hawklike legs.

This time the silence that fell over the room lasted two minutes. It was a frustrating silence and one that felt loud.

The speaker had entered this place excitedly, but her excitement was morphing into anxiety in real-time. How will he feel if she keeps him waiting? She thought, somewhat frantically. The "he" she was thinking about was Althos, the god reverentially worshiped by a small number of humanoids throughout the desert who believed in the importance of order and stability, which included the speaker.

The speaker's anxiety-riddled train of thought about her god being impatient was more due to her projecting her own short-attention-span, and her lack of patience onto the god she worshiped than any actual theological basis. And the fact that she'd soon be meeting Althos further spurred this on, adding fuel to the fire of her mind, so-to-speak.

The harpy was joined by another agent and worshiper of Althos, a smaller and quieter harpy named Saffron. Saffron was patient all the time, even now. Rather than focus on Ariel, the sleeping harpy, Saffron was merely watching the speaker, a harpy named Jasmine, stare judgementally at Ariel.

Saffron had dark skin and white feathers and was the size of the average harpy. Saffron was naked, and part of the reason why Jasmine was so focused on Ariel was so that she didn't have to look at Saffron's nude body.

After Jasmine began to mutter something under her breath, the quiet harpy glared in annoyance at her compatriot and moved to awaken Ariel. The harpy was quite effective and quite quiet when she was moved to action. She walked over to the bed where the sleeping harpy was restfully unconscious and began to run her wings over the sleeping harpy's body, using her feathers to gently tickle the sleeping woman.

It took about half a minute of this activity to wake up the one who was sleeping. When close to thirty seconds had passed, Ariel began to rouse herself from sleep. The first thing she did, with her eyes still closed, was bat away the wing that was tickling her. And then the young woman yawned and opened her pitch-black eyes. And she was shocked to see the two figures in her bedroom. Especially since one of them was naked.

"What are you doing?" She asked, annoyed and shocked to see Saffron's nude body standing over her. And the harpy merely smiled at her, evilly. The next person who spoke wasn't Ariel, and it wasn't Saffron either. It was Jasmine, relief audible in her voice.

"Oh finally! Ariel, it's happening. Althos' plan!" The tall harpy told her companion, excitement and relief alike washing over her face.

This piece of news shocked Ariel, who reacted to it by speedily getting up and out of bed. The harpy's shock and excitement was audible in her voice when she as rushed around her room and asked her advisors about what came next.

"So, wait what happens next?" She asked, excitedly as she prepared to get dressed. She was a harpy of unremarkable height but her feathers were a fascinating color: the transparent and nearly colorless color of the finest diamonds. She went over to the ruined and long rotted wardrobe that she kept what few outfits she possessed in, and grabbed a shirt made of breathable fabric that would allow her to stay cool in the desert air.

Saffron spoke this time, answering Ariel's question. "Now we pray. We pray to Althos. To the prince of power. I will teach you how it is done." She said, her voice quiet.

Saffron had just invoked one of the few entirely powerless titles, ironic given the title itself, that some Althonians used when referencing their god. It was a title first invoked by Tristan during one of her sermons, in a moment of improvisation, which happened to resonate with those in attendance. And then she began preparations for a ritual taught to her by her teacher, the beautiful high-priestess Tristan.

Saffron turned away from the bed and approached the door that led out of the house Ariel lived in. The door had been open, but Saffron's first action of consequence after awakening Ariel was to go ahead and close it. The quiet woman spoke once again shortly after shutting the door.

"What I am about to teach you is a special prayer, a ritual of sorts," Saffron told her allies. "The ritual we are about to do is a ritual and prayer that the High Diabolist herself taught me. A ritual that if done correctly brings you to the attention of the prince himself." Saffron uttered, a surprising fanaticism and zeal audible in her quiet and usually dispassionate voice.

"The first rule of this particular ritual to our prince is to invite him into your heart. And first, that means we must close ourselves off from distractions. Including literally shutting out the outside." She told her two companions, sternly. At this point she fell to her knees and clasped her hands together. She was quiet, and she allowed her mind to turn to distractions for one last second.

For a moment Saffron thought of the "High Diabolist", the formal title given to Tristan by the Tyrant's Temple, and smiled. And then she focused not on her lover, but on the master they shared: Althos. Saffron fell silent and fully cleared her mind of distractions. She gave her mind over fully to her master, dispelling away even the tiniest hints of thoughts about other, lesser things.

Prince please, come to me. Come save my people, so that together we may serve you and see your will made manifest. I invite you to come into me. To come into my heart. To use me as you wish so that we lowly harpies may join your divine sphere. The naked harpy thought once she felt that she was in the right headspace to begin to call upon her master. Her master was the same figure who once saved and transformed the life of his High Diabolist and who Saffron hoped and believe would rescue her people from the terror before them, now that Ariel was awake and ready to serve.

At this point, without turning around she said one final thing to her companions. "Once the prince has been invited into your heart, pray." She told them.

"Admit your weakness, admit your insignificance, and pray for the power to make your wishes a reality, so long as your wishes align with his machinations. If they don't, and they might not then pray for the wisdom to see his designs and his schemes and for the humility to willingly align your actions to further his goals." Saffron told her companions. After telling her companions that, the harpy began her own prayers in full, no longer obligated to speak to her companions.

At that moment her companions heard a voice in their minds. It was a powerful, domineering voice that commanded them to do as Saffron had instructed. The two of them felt a fear grip their hearts when they heard it, when the voice left their minds they immediately obeyed it. In seconds they fell to their knees on either side of Saffron, and began to mentally mutter their own prayers.

I had watched everything the three harpies had done with fascination. I hadn't even done it remotely, I was actually right there from when they awoke Ariel, to when the other harpies fell their knees in fearful prayer. I was, of course, incorporeal, invisible, and just out of reach of them.

All three of them were lovely, and all three of them intrigued me in different ways but there was one truly special figure among the three of them. Saffron, the naked harpy, had led them, taught them a non-magical ritual I had designed to know when my followers were desperate and she herself was the picture of devotion.

She is truly something. I thought, a smile on my face. I want to reward her. I thought as I heard her words flow from her brain and into me. She was the picture of a perfect, idealized vision of a future devil: a demure, wicked, and mild-mannered person capable of extreme violence. Even the words of her prayer were perfect for an adherent of the Tyrant's Temple.

Prince, I am insignificant. My needs, my wants, my heart, are all insignificant.

You, oh Lord, are mighty. You, oh Lord, are wise. You, oh Lord, are the perfect architect. You, oh Lord, are the ideal tyrant.

I accept my place at the lowest rung of your mighty hierarchy, of your perfect order. I eagerly await the day wherein I begin that eternal climb to be closer to you, to be higher in the hierarchy and to be where you know that I belong.

Oh Lord, please hear my plea. Please make your will known to me so that I may move in the way you intend for me to move. Please, if it fits your grand design, come to me and whisper in my ear so that I may move those you have placed me alongside in ways that allow us to be well-maintained cogs in the machine of your divine dominion.

Please, oh Master, whisper to me so that I may speak to others. Allow me to be your voice among us, allow me to be the hand that guides actions in accordance with your schemes. I invite you into myself so that your will may make itself clear to me.

I know not what you know, but I know that my heart and my body are yours if you wish for either or both of them. Merely guide me towards the path that enriches you.

Oh Master, tell me what pleases you so that I may shape and mold myself more in that than in myself. I seek to be closer to your ideal in every way, and to obey your tenants above all else. Use me to shape the world in your image and use my body as you see fit.

That is a lovely prayer. Truly, a wonderful admission of weakness, acknowledgment of the superiority of others, and an understanding of order. I thought, listening to it. The perfection of it, from a devilish point of view, was astounding. It sent chills down my spine. It was a prayer that was similar in quality to Tristan's own prayers, especially after her father was resurrected. And at that moment, before my next thought even occurred to me, I almost instinctually entered their minds and grabbed copies of their memories.

I... suppose I can reward such devotion. Just to encourage it, and ensure that it continues. I thought, a sly grin on her face. And with a personality this humble, quiet, and fanatical, I think she'd make a good inquisitor. I realized, my smile widening as I mulled over the possibility of empowering this slavish harpy.

And I simply must reward Tristan later. Because more than anything else this is all her. I acknowledged, keenly aware of how much effort the high priestess put into all of the humanoids who had converted to the cult as of late. With a grin on my face, I mentally spoke to Saffron.

Silently, I once again made my form physical and visible. And then I sent Saffron a message. [The prince has answered your call, my child. But be still, be silent, and be humble as you acknowledge my presence.] I said to the nude harpy on the floor before me.

I heard her heartbeat quicken, as her eyes opened. She gazed upon my form, not my minotaur one, but my devilish one. It was the same form as when I was first brought to Infernius, with the same bizarre, heterochromatic eyes. I smiled at her, and placed one of my thick hands on her cheek. Her face was soft, small, and warm, and I felt her blood rush to where I was touching her, as if attempting to draw closer to me. I spoke to her mentally, keeping the others in the dark for a few more moments.

[You are truly a special servant. You possess a soul that has nobly taken the teachings of the High Diabolist to heart to the extent that I am going to reward you and the High Diabolist herself. For you I have a special treat: You are going to become an inquisitor of the Tyrant's Temple, a powerful investigator and an enforcer of the temple's ways.] I told her.

She was so thoroughly wrapped by Tristian, so wrapped around her finger, that my announcement of this caused tears to fall down her cheeks. The tears were joyful things, filled with happiness and resplendent excitement. She's cute. I thought, surprisingly grateful to have someone so enthralled to Tristan and to myself present among the harpies.

[Your gifts will come when I give everyone here their rewards for their service. In a moment your allies will be made devilish offers. You will not. That is fine, your powers are a gift I am freely giving you, which I know you will use in my name. Do not fret.] I told her, knowing that in a second the two other women with her, ones with hearts driven in my direction but not as fanatical as hers was. She accepted my statement without comment, and a quick look in her eyes assured me she accepted my remarks. I began to speak again.

[So for now, watch, listen, and when I am done dispatching the three of you to fulfill my will go out and be my blade; the weapon that destroys disorder.] I instructed her. She nodded zealously at me. I took a hand off of her cheek, and she placed one of hers where mine had just been.

I took a step back, moving in the direction of the open door and increasing the space between myself and them. And I studied the other two.

My gaze first fell upon Jasmine. Jasmine was the tallest of the harpies here. She was a lively sort, as well. I could tell that from watching how she worked to awaken Ariel. It had amused me greatly.

She was also devout. And her devotion was both internal, as in she practiced it internally with her thoughts, and external, as in she shared with others and let it affect and transform her behavior.

Her mind was filled with real devotion to me. Her thoughts were of how she could serve the tyrant of tyrants. It was fascinating to watch her mind with fear about how I'd react if I were kept waiting. And funny. I thought, chuckling.

I examined her prayer with a curious eye, fascinated by someone whose devotion to me wasn't as thorough and pure as Saffron's, and was a mixture of admiration and fear.

Oh Prince of Power, please harken to us your lowly servants. We are weak and in need of your mighty, frightening power to guide us towards the next destination you have marked for us.

Prince of Power, we lowly beings submit ourselves to your awful magnificence and to your bloody schemes. We offer ourselves freely to your dreadful radiance, and we ask for your aid in this moment of all too common weakness. We freely and eagerly invite you into ourselves to exact your divine will.

Oh, potent Provider and Prince of Power, please use our eyes to guide you to your enemies. We offer ourselves, our souls, and our futures to you in the hopes that you shall judge that our enemies are your enemies and show them your wrath.

Prince of the Universe, Prince of Power, and Prince of Mine, please look upon us, your devoted minions and see fit to free our less aware, less gifted sisters, cousins, friends, and neighbors, from the hands of those who'd blaspheme against you by resisting your dread-designs for Infernius and for our mortal bodies.

Prince of Power, if this enslavement is part of your dread design please offer some sort of comfort to the enslaved. Please provide them with dark pleasures and with excesses that may corrode and eventually do away with their resistances to your tyrannical impositions on them and whatever cruel uses for their bodies you have in mind.

Her prayer was also a potent one. It was one that was designed to appeal to a tyrant, one meant to inflate the ego of the archetypical tyrant. In it she supplicated for the freedom of her peers and she acknowledged the reality that I am a lord of darkness who may well have planed this out. Clever woman. I thought, appreciative of her realism about what Tristan taught her.

Ariel was the last of the servants I studied. My gaze fell upon her colorless feathers and I read over the contents of her prayer. She wasn't afraid, she was ambitious. She was bold. She was proud. It was intriguing in its own way.

Prince of Power, I must thank you. I must thank you for the gifts you have provided me. Be it the High Diabolist and her servants, including Jasmine and Saffron, or the gift you are even now giving me by allowing me to cement my name among my sisters, you are a divine being possessing a vast graciousness.

Prince, before your servants came and awoke within me this drive for power that always slept in my soul I was lost. I was lazy. I was weak even! But your servants, and no doubt you yourself, saw within me what others couldn't see, what I couldn't see. The potential for greatness. And they worked to awaken said greatness within me.

But what they couldn't have known, what they might not even know now is that I hunger for it. I am gluttonous for it. I lust for it. I thirst for power, for recognition, and I know the answer.

I am proud. I am bold. I am unapologetic. What I am not, is dumb. Oh, Prince, I know you are the tyrant's tyrant. I know you are the provider of power. The deal-maker and the smasher of the past. I humble myself before you, and I invite you into me, in the hopes that you bestow upon me even greater power.

Prince of Power, Prince of my Heart and Soul, please use me and change me. Enter me as I am now, a powerless fool flitting about slightly higher than other, even more, powerless fools and change me. Change me so that I may ascend and become a powerful tool you use to remake this place in ways that fit your whims. Provide me with the power I need to escape from the old me and never again be that wretched, content child.

Like her, the prayer was proud, hungry, and distinct. I thought, with a smile on my face.

In her prayerful pose, she seemed meek and small. Her hands were clasped together piously, and she seemed content where she was. Her prayer told another story though.

Her prayer told me she was the sort who possessed an inextinguishable ambition, a potent drive for more that permeated her every action. In moments like this, to those with less keen vision, she may have looked content, but I knew she wasn't. I could feel it in her. And that delighted me. I needed that. It was what would make all of this work worth it in the end.

And speaking of the end... I thought as I readied myself to begin to push this dramatic production to an end.

At last, I opened my mouth to speak.

"My servants, adherents of the Tyrant's Temple, open your eyes and greet your devilish-master." I instructed them, my voice spreading out from my lungs powerfully.

The two other harpies opened their eyes and looked down at my feet. The things were uncouth cloven hooves, unsurprisingly. And then their eyes trailed upwards, exploring my muscular form with both shock and abject interest in what I looked like.

When their eyes met mine, they froze. I looked at them, expectantly. Unsurprisingly only Saffron did as she told immediately after receiving my instructions. For a brief moment I looked at her and gently smiled, but then I turned back to them, still on their knees on the floor. "Rise." I commanded, once more. This time they obeyed me.

Both of the other harpies, normally much more prideful creatures, were brought low by my presence. Their thoughts, clear to me by the expressions on their faces, revealed that they found it difficult to speak in my presence. I grinned at them, but unlike when I grinned at Saffron my smile this time was predatory, cruel and probing.

"Children, you have called me forth. Shall you not speak to me?" I asked, my voice filled with godly power and arrogance. This was one of the first times I was appearing in front of worshipers, and someone who was being converted to one of the faiths devoted to me and had been "called" by them. I wanted it to leave an impression.

After half a minute of silence, Ariel was the first harpy to speak after Saffron had greeted me.

"Hello... Prince. We have called you here in accordance with what we know of your plot. Earlier today we were attacked by minotaurs and unable to defend ourselves. They... kidnapped several of us." She explained, reminding me of the fun I had just had when I executed a raid on this very village, the same raid she was referencing. Should I tell them...? I wondered, for a moment. And then Ariel continued speaking.

"We know not if that was the exact form of your plot and we dare not ask, all we wish for is to submit ourselves before you and give whatever you ask of us so that we may advance your schemes." The harpy explained. I chuckled.

"I shall do you a rare and undeserved service my little ones. I shall tell you of some of the details of the schemes you are involved in. Forces beyond your control and beyond your ken have seen fit to make your home a battlefield wherein you are able to advance the dark powers of your master. I shall aid you in liberating your neighbors, for a price." I cryptically told them, content to keep them in the dark at the moment. They looked at me, curiosity, excitement, and fear mixing together in their gazes.

I activated my Devilish Deal power, targeting both of them individually, and waited for the familiar notifications to arrive informing them and myself that I was about to make devilish deals with them.

"You know that I cannot lie to you. You have read the notifications. All three of you have important, and different, roles to play in my quest to establish order in the desert. And the time has come for you to learn of and accept your roles, and gain the powers that will aid you in my, and indeed in our quest, to see order restored to the desert. And of course... the payment to be made in exchange for those powers." I explained, not lying to them.

They nodded at me, feeling the potency of my words through the state of the deal we were slowly making. I grinned.

"I will begin by discussing what you will gain. Jasmine, you will gain the role of leading people in worship of me. I know you are scared now, I know you feel... overwhelmed right now, and that's okay. I will have the High Diabolist herself meet with you and help you after this. But that is your role. The powers you will gain are those of a cleric in my service, which is the very same path the High Diabolist herself walked down to arrive where she is now." I told Jasmine, whose eyes went wide at my words, even though I was merely reminding her of that truth, not teaching her it.

"The price you shall pay is that of your soul. What that means on a functional level is that when you die your soul becomes mine to use as I see fit. But since you worshiped me already that just means you have a more direct pathway to me upon death than many others will." I explained, simply. Jasmine gasped excitedly when she realized that, and I grinned internally at her. She's mine. I was worried, at first, but she's mine. I realized.

I turned to look at Saffron and then began to speak, opting to leave the key player for the end.

"Saffron, my sweet child... I can feel the quiet devotion that permeates your soul. I can feel the ways that the High Diabolist touched you." I told her, playfully. My last sentence had a double meaning since Saffron and Tristan had spent many hours together in a variety of contexts. They had communed together under bedsheets, in the sandy wastes, and even in the sky. And their communion involved a lot more than just uttered prayer, though shouted calls to their god weren't uncommon.

"Saffron, your role shall be that of an inquisitor. You shall become an investigator, protector, and executioner in service to the prince of power. Your powers shall be used to advance my goals in this community and others throughout the desert, and you shall become a trusted agent of mine here and elsewhere." I told her. She smiled at me, her gaze filled with awe.

"You too shall pay a price. The price I am demanding is your soul. But I know of your devotion to me. I know you would happily give it to me, even if I didn't ask for it." I told her, truthfully. She nodded vigorously at me, and I chuckled. And at last, my gaze fell to the newest member of the flock: Ariel. The moment of truth. I thought, a soft grin on my face as I thought that.

"Ariel... Ariel, you are a unique fit for my church and for my service." I said to her, my mind contemplating how to secure her aid and also give her a reward that would make her a useful tool among my forces.

What can I give her? What tool would fill her with the mighty power to realistically defeat the massive threat posed by the minotaurs? I thought, my mind running a kilometer a minute while I considered what sort of award would be good for a harpy.

Power... how can I empower a harpy? Beyond just blessing her of course. I wondered. The other two received classes as part of their "Devilish Deals". What class at my disposal works well for harpies? Should I... make her a monk? Should I limit myself to giving her just one class? She is the one who wishes to lead, after all. Maybe I could even make her a witch? I thought, before finally realizing that that was the answer. My lips twitched upward in a smile and I began to speak again.

"Ariel, you are an ambitious, driven servant of mine. Your friends think quite highly of you and so do the people of this village. Not only are you already quite powerful, but you also yearn for more power. You yearn to be a leader. And you shall be one. That is your destiny, as I have decided. And to aid you in proving your worthiness to lead this village, I shall bestow upon you two potent gifts: you shall become both a monk and a witch." I told the ambitious harpy.

Her eyes went wide, and I chuckled as I watched her eyes change and display the green-text lined text-boxes which alerted her to the power and potency of both of the classes she was about to become.

"I am a thoughtful Prince and I know you crave not just power itself but also recognition. This is why the first of your duties after you free your friends, shall be to lead this place and to work to transform it into a place fitting my dark, dreadful designs." I told her. I felt her heartbeat quicken as she looked through the same sort of notification Qu'Ren received not long ago.

"I am not offering to free your friends myself. I am offering the three of you the means with which to go about and rescue them yourself. The power you couldn't obtain unaided that will let you carve a new path forward for them and for this community." I explained, talking to all three of them now.

"And in exchange, you shall give me your souls. You shall educate your people in my ways, you shall lead them because they will recognize you as leaders and freely elect you to be their stewards, and you shall serve me by guiding them how I tell you. Are these terms acceptable to the three of you?" I asked, knowing the answer.

When the three of them nodded at me, a smile broke out on my face. It's coming. The moment I get another "Quest Progress Alert" notification is almost here. I thought as I felt a notification window appear in front of two of them. And a second later I received the exciting notification I had been waiting for.

[Quest Progress Alert:

Ambitious souls acquired: 2/3]

Yes! I thought, overjoyed as I targeted all three of the harpies and awarded them the assorted things I had promised them.

A few minutes after they accepted the deals offered to them and I had finished the process of awarding both Saffron and Jasmine with their new classes, I sent them outside with a simple order: to inform their allies that the two of them and Ariel would go and save their kidnapped comrades. And Ariel and I were left alone.

The young harpy gazed at me uncertainly. I looked back at her, confidence radiating out of my mismatched eyes. "Are you ready to pay a small price for a lot of power?" I asked her, softly and curiously.

Her eyes were locked on mine. Her lips were trembling. I could tell she was nervous. I smiled softly at her. She began to speak.

"Yes... I know this may hurt, but it is the price for power. You yourself teach that power rarely comes freely and that power that is freely given is very often not all it's cracked up to be. I know this will hurt, but please Prince, provide me with the power I seek. Invest pain in me at this moment, so that I may provide pain to others in the future." She told me, trying to put on a brave face and quoting some of Tristan's teachings to me.

I grinned and began to approach her, as my brand power took hold within my hand. I felt the heat flow into it, and I felt her fear increase as I drew closer but the brave harpy didn't stop me or try to slow me down. She did her best to accept the pain she was about to feel.