I was breathing heavily and felt like I might have actually broken a rib. As I lay there on the ground, Terror standing above me, I began seeing things that weren't there. In the corner of my eye, I saw Acil standing there, leaning against a tree with a cigarette in his mouth, blowing smoke into the air. At his side was Hannah, neither of them was paying attention to me. Martin and a few others were standing around me in a circle, pointing at me, laughing. I recognized them all, their names ingrained in my brain from the times they were called on to torture me.

There was David, a fucking sadist who liked to play with candles and other hot things. When I remembered him I also remembered the many times he burned me with various tools. There was Marcus, Martins brother. They were similar, both of them just wanted to suck up to Acil, but only Martin succeeded. So Marcus would always blow off some steam while torturing me. He loved blunt tools like baseball bats and the likes. Then there was that one lady everyone called Lady Pain, apparently, she was Acil's aunt or something. She had some kind of kink, for her torture was more sexual than anything else... although not for the one she tortured. If David was a simple sadist then she was the one and only devil, Satan. There was also something moving around between them. At one moment it looked like a hooded figure, in the next, it looked more like a few leaves falling from the trees.

Must be going crazy huh?

You already have, now do something! Ira urged, yet again.

My best bet is to just run away, should have just done that in the first place... that's what you get for being stupid Altair.

I deactivated my wood elven magic mark and activated my warp magic mark. It somehow hurt a little, switching between two different magic marks so quickly, or well... faster than most would take to activate one... which normally took up to a minute. It took me maybe half a minute to switch. Half a minute that Terror used to get close enough to my face so that I could smell blood, if it was that of Terror or of some other poor animal I didn't know, could be either, could be both or maybe it's another thing I'm just imagining.

Suddenly Terror stood up onto his hind legs, revealing the muscular-looking belly, which seemed wrong for such an animal, almost a little humanoid. Terror let out an eardrum-shattering roar. It was so loud that I was sure blood was leaking from my ears. It made my head dizzy and gave me a headache.

I... I need to concentrate... somewhere safe, there has to be some safe place around here somewhere.

This might not be the right moment to notice it but... the trees in this place were fucking huge, I mean Terror was a good elven metre long including the tail, which meant he was at least six or seven metres tall when standing on his hind legs... most of the trees still towered above the beast.

I chuckled.

At least the trees are safe...

I focused on a particularly thick and big branch on a tree not too far away but far enough to give me at least a few seconds to look for a new location. It hurt when I channelled mana into my magic mark but I had to ignore it, I needed to do this in order to survive so a bit of pain was a price I was willing to take.

For a second my neck and my left cheek tensed up as the next few thoughts ran through my mind.

After all, before I die I need to slaughter all those involved in the destruction of my village.

At that moment multiple other things happened. Terror was beginning to come back down, apparently planning on crushing me with one of his massive paws. I heard multiple voices telling me to die. I heard a single other word, besides: "Go die!", "Die already!" and "Die!". That word was: "Interesting," but I had no time to focus on any of that.

The second I arrived at the branch I was already looking for the next spot to warp to.

The village might be my best bet... but I would be a sitting duck there...Terror has yet to actually leave me alone, he's been hunting me for over a month... who's to say that he can't swim.

Still better than playing by his rules, right?

You got a point. The village it is.

And thus I returned to the place where I had slaughtered the population of an entire village.

POV: Veraniala Adventus

I stepped over the broken pieces of the stone wall on the ground. Moss had already begun to claim this place and other plants were starting to do the same. A single dandelion had managed to grow through a crack in the ground, the only light it got came through the small hole in the ceiling above it.

This place was strange. In one place the wall was broken and light flooded in and just a few metres further it was as dark as any cave.

Eventually, I reached the large metal gate and pushed it open. And as always it was surprisingly heavy, just like it was made to be. I left the gate open and stepped into the room behind it.

It was a bit different from the rest of the ruin. It was completely intact, had a pristine and even freshly polished wooden floor, dust free furniture, sturdy walls, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling and all that. It simply looked out of place.

I walked to the middle of the room and stepped into the centre of a circular red carpet with a golden edge. I also faced the wall, or rather the dragon head that was mounted on it. It was something I liked and disliked at the same time. The head of the dragon was a sign of power but... whenever I looked up at the scaly, dark green head I knew that it was that of a cub... probably no older than a few months.

I heard the door close behind me.

"You wanted to talk?" A familiar, feminine voice asked.

"Yes... A-... no, Riftwalker," I said.

I heard a chuckle.

"And what is it you wanted to talk about, Vera?" the Riftwalker asked.

I didn't turn around. The passive mana output from the Riftwalker was enough to keep me, a demon lord older than the council itself, in place.

Scary...

"It's about the seven demon rulers of sin, or rather their new hosts," I explained.

"What about them?" the Riftwalker asked.

I knew she had stepped closer to me, in fact, she was right behind me. I felt her breath on my neck.

"We know you interfered with some of them," I stated.

"Obviously," the Riftwalker stated matter-of-factly. "But it seems Isvel is informed quite well... or did Grimlock inform him?"

"As you just said, it was obvious from the beginning. We were just interested with which of them you decided to have a little fun," I said.

"Did you now?"

There was a tension in the air, and it wasn't the kind I liked. I felt crushed under the pressure, even though there was none.

"Yes... so I wanted to know if you knew anything about wrath."

There was a short pause and I heard footsteps for the first time since the Riftwalker had entered the room. From the sound of it, she had taken one of the chairs that were placed around the walls and sat down.

"Wrath eh? Looking for your daughter's new host?" the Riftwalker asked.

I nodded.

There was another pause.

"Sadly I can't help you with that... Even I don't know where wrath is or who the new host is," the Riftwalker said.

I was immediately overcome with disappointment.

"You know everything," I argued.

"Oh sweetie, if you actually believe that then you're sorely mistaken. I know barely anything. If there is a being that knows everything then it's P.O.K or any of his... relatives. But maybe I can help... I can look around, maybe give you a location or something," the Riftwalker said.

"I would appreciate it," I said.

"Well, I do still owe you for that one time, so I'll help. But don't expect too much. I'm not all-powerful," the Riftwalker said.

"No one is," I responded.

I just heard a chuckle followed by something like... distortion.

"If you have no more questions for me then I'll go now. I'm always busy," the Riftwalker said.

"Of course you are, you're always busy."

I heard another chuckle.

"Right you are Vera, right you are."

And with those words she took her to leave, her voice had become deeper.

Always the same with that one... Well, I better go now as well, still got that stupid innkeeper and the fucking cat lady to ask.