“A—are you the one that spoke to me? In the dream?” Willem stammered out, not daring to meet that lizard-thing’s gaze. Those slitted eyes were disconcerting and alien, and he felt skittish under its stare. Its sharp tongue darted out from its mouth, flickering briefly before pulling back in as i let out a slow, creeping hiss.

“Indeed...although doubtless your mind made my voice...more palatable to your ears...” Kha replied, eyes darting all around the moss-covered walls. Willem could not read that thing’s expression, nor could he even tell what it was looking at. He could only squirm awkwardly, questions sprouting in his thoughts.

“What do you mean? How did you talk to me?” he asked, only to flinch as Kha walked towards him.Thin claws traced his face, running along the black Maes gently. He could not tell precisely where the demon was looking, swallowing nervously as those slender claws threatened to break skin.

“You are Oa’kul...master of the mind...much as me…” it murmured softly, voice rasping as if such speech was unnatural to its throat. “What is a dream...but a musing of the mind...a simple matter...to twist the senses...until my words reach your ears…” Kha pulled back, kneeling once more in the center of that small room. There were no furnishings here, no comforts save for the soft padding of the glowing moss. The demon motioned for Willem to join it on the ground, and it seemed as though he would have no choice in the matter.

Swallowing hard and clenching his jaw to press down the nervousness that crept taut in his stomach, he awkwardly sat down on the damp moss. While he did not know what was happening, just the sheer closeness of the demon and its claws made his heart rate beat out a hasty rhythm.

“No...that will not do…” Kha admonished, letting out a popping whistle that Willem almost took to be choking until he finally realized that it was laughter. “Do you know...how to use magic...Oa’kul…” Opening the palm with claws tipped upwards, Kha slowly unraveled small ribbons of purple. They crackled and hissed, sparks flying as they grew in intensity. Heat filled the small room, making his hairs stand on end and his body tense with the sensation of anticipation. Kha pointed a single finger to the stone in the tunnel leading to the entranceway, and a brilliant flash blinded Willem’s eyes, scorching the breath from his lungs and and sending his heart pounding in his tight chest. His vision failed him, blurring with spots of black until he could not even make out his fingers outstretched before him. It was not until after a few breaths that the sense returned to him and he could once more see that which was in front of him.

That stone on the side of the tunnel was blackened, charred and smoking with a searing heat. “W—what was that?” he gasped out, his heart still racing from what seemed to have been just a single blast. Even fire, even the utter inferno that he had conjured at the Gates had not driven such awe and terror into him, had not elicited such frantic panic from his very body. It was as if the air itself had melted under that heat, as if it had been raw power and unhinged strength that had flown out of Kha’s claw tips.

“Have you never seen...a true storm...it was lightning…” Kha replied, curling his claws back into a fist and flexing the fingers. Smoke curled from the tips, stinging Willem’s eyes with their acrid burn. “It was magic... do you know how…” the demon asked, those horizontal pupils apparently focusing on Willem once more. He could only nod carefully, trying to hide his discomfort as he saw those translucent eyes slid sideways in a slow blink.

“I’ve u—used fire before.” he replied, although that magic seemed to fly out of him now. Even as he reached inside of himself, it kept slipping through his fingers like he was trying to grasp water. The strands of magic merely slid over and out of his reach, and there was a frustration as he realized he would be looking like a fool.

Kha shook its head, once more making that popping laughter. “Not like that...calm yourself Oa’kul…” the demon spoke, leaning back into a seated posture. “Feel your heartbeat slow...until you can feel the earth...around you…” As if slipping into a trance, its eyes flickered closed and its body went stiff, utterly unmoving even for a breath. Under the pulsing light of the moss, it seemed like some strange statue carved immaculately from stone. After a few moments, however, there was a single movement—its mouth began to twitch ever slightly, and Willem soon realized that it was mouthing words.

Willem could only close his eyes and fight to let his heartbeat slow. He tried to find the same feeling as before, that floating state where he could feel inside of himself. His fingers dug into the soft bed of moss around him, feeling for a heartbeat, feeling for a pulse. “It helps at times...to chant…” Kha murmured softly beside him, and he felt his lips begin to move unbidden. It was a natural sensation, one that came without thought. It felt familiar, and he could not know that he had been chanting unheeded in the past. Yet as the cadence of his words slowed, so too did his pulse, until it reached an impossible beat matching that of the trees. It was the heartbeat of stone and earth, of churning fire beneath the ground. It was slow and pulsing, when eons could pass in between beats, when the land itself crept along shifting stone. As he chanted, he could feel that slow pulse.

“And what do you feel...Oa’kul…” Kha whispered as Willem reached out around him. He could the presence of those around him, could feel the other demons in the ground above. He could feel their sensations, like so many threads that wound around their heart. Their sight, their smell, they were all myriad colored threads that wrapped around the core of their being. He could feel it all, like so many strings dangling within his reach. “Their—their senses.” he murmured, not daring to move too much lest he break that trancelike state. Nearby, he could feel Kha grunt appreciatively. He could feel the demon’s senses and thoughts, like so many bundled strings. Perhaps it was curiosity, perhaps it was a vindictive need to find some leverage in this situation, but he cautiously tugged on one of the threads of thought.

—useful indeed, if he learns this quickly. It is a shame he holds those weak companions in such—

There was a sudden repulsive feeling, the threads tearing themselves out of his grasp. He clutched at them desperately, but they danced farther and farther out of reach no matter how he tried. Next to him, Kha laughed once more. “You learn quickly...perhaps too quickly…” the demon cackled, and Willem felt a sudden tugging sensation at his thoughts. It was like they were being pulled apart, each individual fleeting thought peeled away from the others. “Your mind...your thoughts...I can see them...much as you can see those of others…” Kha hissed before retreating from Willem’s mind, or so he thought. Fear and panic pulled him out of his trance, and he once more opened his eyes.

He was sitting on a bed of flames, the tongues greedily devouring his arms and legs. He could only scream, but even that sound was denied to his ears. Fire crackled his flesh apart, burning his lungs as he tried to drag in a ragged breath. Yet just as quickly as it had come, the flame departed.

His limbs were stone, petrified flesh that was weathered and cracked. It was as if he was some aged statue that had been left bare to the world, his fingers and limbs worn away to bare nubs. His skin was grey and flaking, shards and pieces falling off. When he tried to move, his body was utterly unresponsive. Even when he tried to breathe, there was no muscle to command. Listening harder, he found that he could not even feel his own heartbeat. And then the world around him warped once more.

Darkness. Total darkness surrounded him, so pitch black that he could see nothing. He waved his hand in front, but there was no sensation. Even when he tried to press it against his stomach, there was nothing. It was an utter void, cut off from all other senses. All he had were his thoughts, not even a body to call his own.

Such is the mind, something whispered in his thoughts, and he realized that it was Kha. This voice was his will, unaltered by his body and his flesh. Such is what I can do to you. There was a flash of tearing pain, and then his senses returned to him. He was panting on the ground, sweat dripping from his face as he dragged in a desperate breath. His vision blurred, his hearing distorted as he struggled to orient himself. That feeling had been utterly foreign, as if all that he had was torn away from him in an instant. All his senses, his very body had been taken away. He shuddered at the thought, even at the feverish memory.

“The mind is the senses and thoughts...a bridge...between the body and the soul…” Kha hissed next to him, purple tongue flickering. “As Oa’kul...you can bend that bridge...shape it...or even tear it out…” Willem could not help but tremble at that, his body weak. It was as if he had been forced back into a space that did not quite fit him anymore, as if everything around him was just the smallest bit off. His own body felt different, almost imperceptibly so. The mind, he wondered, musing over what the demon had said.

“Your king.” he began. “He is not Oa’kul, is he?” Kha shook that snakelike head, tail whipping across the floor like a cord.

“My king is...Shai’mon...shaper of souls…” the demon explained. “As you can bend the mind...he can bend the spirit…”

Willem was stunned.” S—so when he was speaking of giving me a new body…”

Kha nodded. “To take the spirit out of this vessel...and place it in another…a simple task for my king...” The possibility practically made him start in surprise, a dim hope starting to well up inside of him. A new body, one that was whole and healthy. It seemed almost too good to be true, and so a seed of doubt became planted firmly in his heart.

“What will it cost me?” he asked, knowing that these demons would not do anything for the sake of charity. The king had demanded service, but what did that mean? Just what did they want with him—or was the question rather from him?

“What will it cost...your past life...your friends...your family...your enemies…” Kha hissed, standing up slowly in the dimly lit room. “Cast them aside...in service to my king…”

My friends? The soldiers then—they were the closest things to friends that he had. Family? He had none. Enemies? He would only be too willing to leave the skal’va behind him. This price of theirs was no price at all, and so his doubt only grew. “No matter what, I will not have you harm my friends. But just what, demon, would you have me do?”

“There are few in this world...proficient at magic...you would aid our people…” Kha replied, flexing a clawed hand with that reptilian gaze. “We would grow...we would spread across this land...we would claim it all for our people…”

Willem felt a mocking little smile creep across his face despite everything else he was feeling. “You would build an empire?” he asked, and the demon gave a deep nod in response.