It has only been two weeks since Yovan left Kamenar. It was a heartless goodbye, a desolate man and a ravaged city. Life seemed to continue while Yovan was away. There were no signs of the demon attack, the streets were live bustling with life like hives during flowering. Yovan would stare at many faces charging through. It brought him comfort seeing people smiling or worried by ordinary, but to them critical, problems. It was funny to him how much space he had in all this crowd. Well, how much space he and his companion had, since she was the main reason everyone gave them a wide berth. Yovan approached some merchant stalls, searching with something to treat himself. There were different clothes from silk to linen and from magic mink fur to basic wool. Another stall offered food. Beef, pork and mutton, with vegetables and fruits set around the meat. He was a decent cook, maybe later he could prepare a nice dinner for himself.

"What are you looking aaaat?" asked Halia.

"I'm just deciding how to treat myself for a job well done. Do you want something?"

"It's quite strange for me how humans think. Why do you celebrate ending things? You should only do things you enjoy. That way you don't need to celebrate it when it ends."

Yovan sighed longingly at the suggestion.

"It doesn't work that way unfortunately. Sometimes you have to do things you don't enjoy, someone stronger orders you something and so on. Wait, Warlock orders you all the time, you must've had something you didn't enjoy."

"Nooo, I enjoy getting orders from someone stronger than meee."

"And of course you do."

"Excuse me, Sir."

Yovan and Halia stopped at the sudden interruption. The merchant was subtly beckoning Yovan to the side. When he approached, the merchant coughed with subdued strength then put his hand on Yovan's upper arm.

"Please, Sir. ", merchant said with a muffled voice, "If you don't intend to buy anything, could you please move? Nobody dares to come to my stall with your companion around and I am desperate to sell my wares."

Yovan was taken aback slightly at the request. He paused for a second and looked towards Halia.

"Don't worry, we'll be on our way."

He approached the succubus and gently took her by the hand.

"Let's go. We've been here for too long."

"Are you going to take sooomething?"

"No, not now."

"Well, I'm hungryyyy."

With that, Halia took a raw pig leg and bit into it. Seemingly satisfied with her pick, she turned and walked away from the stall.

"You have to pay for that.", said Yovan.

"Why? I am stronger than him."

"That's not how it works. If you want something from others you have to pay."

"That's stupid. He has more meat than he needs and I have none. Sharing is caaaring."

No more wishing to explain, Halia went her way chewing on the meat. Yovan turned towards the merchant and smiled awkwardly.

"I guess I'll pay for her. How much was that?"

"That whole piece was twelve coppers."

"For the… Fine, here."

Yovan hurried to reach Halia, who was carelessly enjoying her lunch. They should definitely get back to the Warlock before his purse slims like a princess before a wedding. It will be nice to be alone again.

"I had to pay that for you."

"Want soooome?"

Halia shoved the bitten, raw meat in his face. There were still drops of blood on some parts. He shuddered at the sight and moved it away.

"No, thanks. I'm not hungry, just lighter for some money."

"Why did you pay then?"

"I felt bad for the poor merchant."

"Weeeell, I had no meat, now I have. Merchant had more meat than he needed, but he lacked money which he has now. And you had more money than you needed and now you don't need to feel bad for the merchant. Everybody won the way Iiii see it."

"Yeah, for sure…"

"Mister, mister would you like to buy some flowers for your girlfriend?"

Yovan almost walked over a tiny thing in front of him. It was a little girl, no more than six. She had brown hair and a small head, barely visible over the huge bouquet. Her tiny hands struggled to hold onto it.

"They are fresh from this morning.", continued the girl.

"Floweeeers? Are they magical?", asked Halia.

"No. They are plain."

"Why would I want plain flowers?"

"Well, they look pretty and they smell pretty."

"I have no use of flowers. On the other hand youuuu are very pretty, I could just eat-"

"She doesn't like flowers," Yovan interjected, "but I do. I'll take five."

He pulled out five flowers from the bouquet as the girl couldn't let go of the cumbersome load.

"Five coppers, please."

"Five coppers! You shark!", said Yovan with a light tone. The girl giggled at his protests. He pulled out five coppers and slid it carefully in her pouch.

"Now scram!"

The girl thanked him and hopped off into the crowd.

"Ok, let's go immediately to the Lord. If we remain here I'm afraid I'll go broke."

"Yeeees, you are a hooorible haggler."

---

Huge, ornamental door opened once more in front of Yovan. The moment of his triumphant return has arrived. He walked in with Halia, his head high and a smirk on his face. The Warlock and his entourage of demons stood in the center of the room. Yovan glanced at a wide variety of creatures gathered but noticed they didn't scare him anymore. Hopefully, Lord N00bpwn3r could fix his soul quickly, the tingling in his chest was starting again. The precursor to magic hunger.

"Welcome! Welcome!", the Warlock proclaimed, "I knew you would return safely. Halia, every minute without you was a torture."

"Thank you, my Loooord. It's great to be back!"

"We've been successful," said Yovan, "only thing is the demon Adramalech fell while fighting Sonblast and their souls got entwined together. So we had to use this merged soul, I hope this is alright."

The Warlock tensed, shifting in his throne.

"Did it work? Did you manage to use it? Halia, did you see the ritual?"

"We used it, it did work and Halia did manage to see the ritual, but it left me with a huge problem. My soul is highly unstable because of that and I need to consume magical essence to survive. If I don't, it starts consuming me inside, like my chest is collapsing from the inside. I would be eternally grateful if you could split my soul back as fast as possible."

Halia just nodded at the Warlocks question. Seeing that, the Warlock smiled and rose to his feet like a true king.

"Don't worry, I am impatient as well. Let's finish this. Guards, bind him!"

Four minotaurs leapt at Yovan and subdued him before he could react in any way. They proceeded to tie his arms and legs, throwing a punch in occasionally. Yovan squirmed, shocked at his changing predicament.

"Please, my Lord! There is no need for this. I will do it willingly! Please, release me!"

"I am not so sure about that."

The Warlock walked down from his throne and pulled a long, silver dagger from his robe. It had a curved blade and would change its color from silver to red when seen from different angles.

"No, no, no, no, no! Why do you do this? Please, don't!"

Lord N00bpwn3r took him by the hair and pulled his head back. He looked into Yovan's eyes with a cold stare.

"Listen. This is my story. I am the protagonist. Your whole meaning is to help me win."

"Heeeeelp!"

But two minotaurs shut Yovan's mouth and slammed him into the ground. Blood trickled down his forehead and onto the marbled floor.

"You idiots! Don't hurt the sacrifice, pull him up!"

Guards returned Yovan to his previous position. His mouth was still shut by one of the minotaurs, but his eyes were enough to show terror that he felt. The Warlock walked around toying with his dagger.

"Let him scream. I really enjoy roleplaying as a warlock as well. These ritual sacrifices are kind of my thing."

An explosion shook the whole building as the wall of the throne room collapsed. Dust and shockwave staggered everyone around and made it difficult to see. Ruckus erupted among the demons. Loud roars and threatening shouts echoed, while everyone started casting defensive spells. Through the hole in the fallen wall a human visage appeared. All the colors of the rainbow sparkled around him as he hovered above.

"Fuck you, Eric! You thought you could steal from me?!?! I'll kill you for this you cishet scum!"

A storm of meteors rained down from the sky, two of which hit the throne room. And where they hit, three meter tall lava golems rose. Almost twenty mages in white robes stormed forth, pushing the advantage of the surprise attack. Ice lances, lightning bolts and lava balls flew everywhere, suppressing the enraged demons. Most of the spells were aimed at the Warlock. He barely managed to avoid a lava bolt from the Mentalist, throwing himself to the side.

"Fools, in front of me! Shield me until I raise my defenses!"

Two firelords and dozens of imps jumped in front of him. Firelords protected him with their fire barriers, while imps threw their bodies at barrages of lightning, lava and ice. The Warlock made several incantations in quick succession, raising air and fire barriers, then conjured a death magic shield in front of him. His demons were no match for the Mentalist unfortunately. Supported by his trusted mages, the Mentalist ravaged through the enemy lines with ease. He streamed essences of earth, life, and fire into his hands and created a mental tsunami that culled through the demons ranks. All of the imps collapsed, a couple of succubi as well, and most of the demons were unable to cast from the mind pressure of the spell. Powering his spell with death and air essence, the Warlock released a gray mist that strengthened all of his demons, releasing them from the mind attack. Livid by these insults from lowly humans, the whole first line of minotaurs charged the mages, splitting and reflecting their spells with their axes. While succubi found enough room to retaliate with their own dark lances and fireballs, supporting the charge.

In the background a human imitated a worm. Yovan squirmed up and down trying to get away from the fight. His minotaur guards dropped him on his face when the mental attack came and then charged off with the rest. The mental attack had no effect on Yovan, seemingly the spell was calibrated for demons. Unfortunately, Yovan had no spells that could help him remove his bindings. He only had air spells, but his invisibility was too low to mask him from the demons and dash was useless with his legs tied. Still, he persevered, biting the floor and pulling himself forward. Something burned his hands. Fire danced all over his back. That was it. He couldn't defend himself, whatever spell would hit him, he had no chance against it. Not in this room of powerful creatures, mages and two demigods. But the fire calmed and focused the bindings, burning them and releasing the human offering. Yovan was still lying in disbelief, too scared to move. Was someone toying with him, like some sick cat and mouse game. Reasoning that he had no other choice, he bit his teeth and ran for the door. He turned for a second, only to see Halia blowing him a kiss, then with a carefree smile she pierced a lava golem with her dark lance. Yovan pulled as much air essence he could pull out of his humble reserves and cast dash on himself. He ran out of the throne room, evading packs of demons rushing towards it to defend their master. Everyone was so consumed by the battle that no one paid attention to a human running away from it.

Outside wasn't better. The "stone city" of Kamenar was melting everywhere by the heat of lava golems. Men, women and children screamed, with manic and desperate attempts to find some shelter. Houses crumbled, stone and brick, wood and straw, collapsed and burned. The smell of grilled flesh perfumed everywhere. Demons fought the golems and mages, each side trying to outdo the other in destruction and mayhem they could cause. Above them, an explosive sound reverberated through the whole city. The Warlock and the Mentalist stood. Too far for anyone else to hear them, but there was no need as their discussion turned to battle immediately. Warlock used a lightning storm, destroying two bell towers which fell down on a hysterical crowd. Mentalist conjured a firestorm, blasting it towards his nemesis. Warlock shielded himself with an air shield, dismissing every tongue of flame with ease. Same couldn't be said for the people and buildings underneath, the flames consuming their life force and fabric. Wails, cries and desperation was everywhere.

Yovan saw no escape. Buildings were a death trap, and where mages and demons weren't fighting, hurdles of people wouldn't allow him to move anywhere. In the crater near him, not buried completely by the rubble, there was a small hole, just big for a human, that led into the sewers. He rushed to the crater, jumped over the rubble, and crawled through the hole as a symphony of death and destruction sounded his exit. He fell into the water. It was probably dirty and stank, but Yovan didn't notice. He dived into it, swimming for the lower chambers. He swam through the underwater tunnel, and when his lungs started failing him, demanding air, he emerged on the other side. Pulling himself out of the water, he collapsed on the cold floor. There was no light, only darkness. And a thundering sound of battle raging above. Yovan bit his hand. His breathing still fast, his heart racing, his spirit shattered by the knowledge that his life and world was no more.