Lily, no, Lilith, extended her pointer finger and brought it to rest against the top of my tunic. Her long, pointed nail dug into my chest, firmly enough to be uncomfortable but not rough enough to draw blood. She smirked as she gently ran her finger down the length of my shirt. As her digit passed over the fabric, the material parted, sliced by her razor-like claw.

“You’re going to want to see this,” Lilith said, the smile never leaving her painted lips. Not seeing a real option for resistance at this point, I complied and looked down at my exposed chest and abdomen. The first thing I noticed was that I finally had a six-pack, score! The second, and frankly more alarming, thing I noticed was that something was moving under my skin; snaking up from my belly and going as high as my neck before traveling back down. I looked like I was a minute or so away from bringing a little baby Xenomorph into the world.

Now I’m not one to abandon all reason in a fit of panic and fly off the handle, but I believe my next words were perfectly justified. “What the fuck is that!?” See, cool as a cucumber.

Lilith chuckled into her hand, I remembered how she would always do that when she was about to deliver a punchline… I guess old habits die hard. “Well, Ross,” Lilith’s delivery of my name was filled with bitter mockery, “that right there is something you tried to throw away. Something you tried to lock in the abyss, away from light and prying eyes. Something you thought you could simply ignore and be rid of forever. But that same something never left. It’s still right where you abandoned it six years ago and, and in case you can’t tell, she’s pissed.” Lilith placed her palm gently on my chest and the writhing mass dissipated.

Lilith stood up over me and snapped her fingers. I felt my body lighten considerably as the irons which had held me in place moments ago vanished. Lilith gestured her head upwards and I took it as my cue to get off of the floor. “If I wished, I could unleash everything you’ve kept bottled inside for too long. I could have my Rose back in an instant.” Doubt flashed across Lilith’s face for the first time since our reunion. “However, it has been six long years. Perhaps you really have changed, been cured as you so ineloquently put it. If that is the case, forcing this on you wouldn’t be good for either of us. You wouldn’t be who you truly are, and I would have earned your eternal resentment.”

I know I was shockingly quiet during this whole exchange, but you have to understand how surreal situations have a habit of stealing a person’s ability to speak. Forget the cat, ex-best-friend-trying-to-get-you-to-reawaken-the-feminine-persona-you-used-to-identify-as got your tongue? Yes, in fact, she did.

“So, since we are in game right now, I propose a sidequest of sorts.” Lilith paused, obviously waiting for a response from the tongue-tied oaf in front of her.

“What kind of quest did you have in mind?”

“Well, this campaign was always supposed to be broken up into two parts. Someone was always meant to fail the first trial and wind up down here with me. So, I may have rigged it to ensure your participation in the side mission, sue me. If a Game Master can’t have her fun too, then what’s the point? I mean really, it’s a lot of work putting all of this together. Crafting plot points, mapping dungeons, populating said dungeons with level appropriate monsters, it’s a huge pain in the--”

Despite the situation, I couldn’t help but laugh. Lilith stopped her rambling and stared at me, confused. “I’m sorry. It’s just… even with all of the posturing and pomp you put on to sell your image of Lily, you’re still the same Lilith I used to know. You haven’t changed a bit.” Lilith’s face flushed.

“Yes, well, thank you… I guess.” Lilith looked at the floor, momentarily recomposing herself as she got back into character. “Silence your insolent mouth, cur; when the master of this world speaks you will listen!” Ladies and gentlemen, she was back. “It’s your lucky day, mortal, for you may actually be of some use to me. Every millennium or so a high witch such as myself is tested by the council of elder magic to ensure that we are still worthy of our title. It just so happens that my time is nigh. So you will assist me in completing my trials, and for your efforts, I will grant you your greatest desire.”

“And if my desire is to never hear the name Rose again?” I asked, expecting the worst.

Lilith flashed me a challenging smile. “If that’s the case, I shall grant you your peace of mind.” I extended my hand to Lilith, I knew this was as good a deal as I was likely to get. She took my hand in hers and shook it firmly. “Willingly partnering with a witch, you truly are a fool.”

I didn’t really know how ‘willing’ I was; I’d say the words ‘under duress’ fit the situation more accurately. Before I could voice my diction grievance, the short-lived freedom of my arms was promptly ripped away. Leather cuffs appeared, binding my wrists together. The cuffs were chained to the ceiling and that chain quickly grew shorter, forcing my arms above my head.

“Um, Lilith? Didn’t we just agree to work together? This doesn’t exactly seem like a proper example of teamwork.” I knew what this seemed like, a proper example of-- Oh, don’t give me that look. I was once a curious teen with a decent Internet connection, bite me.

“Of course we’re working together; we can just call this… a team-building exercise.” I called that bullshit. “I thought that in honor of getting the old band back together we could play a round of our favorite pastime: Mercy.”

Okay, so we were both curious teens with a decent Internet connection, often seated at the same computer. Let’s just say that if you have a guess for where this game is going, you’re probably right. “I’m not going to play along with this, Lilith,” I refused dryly, no longer intimidated by the ‘high witch’ before me.

“Then shall I claim my prize?”

“What prize?” I asked, slowly realizing that whether or not I was bound, I was completely powerless.

“Well, I’m guessing that you’re happy staying as you are now for the duration of our mission. I, however, prefer to keep more... feminine company. The winner of our game gets to choose who accompanies Lily on her journey; Ross or Rose.”

Remember when I called bullshit a little while ago? Well, now I called turbo-hyper-mega bullshit. Mercy is a game with a foregone conclusion. Have you ever played pinball at an arcade? The entire time you play you know full well that eventually gravity will win. Well, Lilith was gravity in this scenario, and I was being helplessly drawn back into my past with her.

“There has to be a time limit,” I said, futilely trying to reclaim some control over my life.

“Well, of course, it wouldn’t be sporting of me otherwise.” An hourglass appeared on Lilith’s throne, the sand was frozen in the top half. “One hour; if you can last that long, I suppose I can make do with Ross.” This was good; an hour was nothing, back in High School our games could last three or even four. I had a shot. I just had to go one hour without saying the word ‘mercy’. “Oh, but one more thing--”