Days passed into weeks as Cailyn indulged in all the delightful pleasures that her unburdened mind craved. Sex, drugs, violence - everything was on the table. Aiden and Ashe tried numerous times to get in touch, magically and through more mundane technological means, but she saw no need to reply.

All that mattered were the things that made her feel good - things that stimulated the only emotions she felt anymore. 

The impact it was having on her tattered soul was undeniable; every day she swore the reflection was a little less human and a little more monstrous. She knew she should be troubled by that - but couldn’t bring herself to be bothered. She rather enjoyed it. 

It was almost a month after leaving the Underground that they finally found her again.

“Cailyn, please stop,” Aiden urged as he stepped out to block her path. 

“We just want to help you,” Ashe added.

The pair had boxed her in, trapping her in an alleyway.

“Nice to see you two again. How’s things?” Cailyn quipped nonchalantly. 

“Cay, please, let us bring you home… you need help! Look at yourself!” Aiden pleaded with his sister.

She smiled. Her body had several new tattoos, a series of scars from injections lined her wrists and the insides of her elbows, and superficial cuts and scratches from the fights she’d gotten into. 

There was also the fact that her pupils had started to turn to slits, and the small but noticeable horns piercing her forehead made it hard to deny exactly what was happening to her.

She’d chosen to stain her magical soul in as many ways as possible, and it was twisting her into something less than human.

“I think I’m good, thanks,” Cailyn smiled wickedly.

“Bullshit!” Ashe shouted. “I can see your soul and it’s a mess, Cay! You know what’s happening to you, right? What you’re becoming?”

“I do,” Cailyn giggled. “I have no need for humanity if I simply become a demon. The world needs demons to lurk in the dark, after all.”

“I– no, we won’t let you do that, Cay. You’re still my sister,” Aiden said, clenching his fists. 

“What’re you going to do, make me come home? Good luck.” She sneered at him, calling a ball of fire to her fingertips as her nails lengthened into wicked black talons.

“That’s exactly what we’re going to do.” Ashe reached out with her abilities, latching on to the tattered fragment of a soul still writhing within Cailyn.

The fireball died in her hand as she was pulled from her flesh, watching her body crumple to the ground as her spirit was pulled further and further away. She wanted to scream, to lash out at Ashe for this, but soon all she was aware of was darkness, and a pervasive chill seeping into her very being.

“Did you get her?” Aiden asked, approaching the body.

“Yeah, she’s in the soulcatcher. Didn’t think we’d ever need to use one of these on her… but she’s done too much. You know we can’t just put her into another Knot Thing like this, Aiden.”

“I know,” he replied, scooping up his sister’s body in a princess carry.

“Let’s get her back to Nate and see what he can do… but you know how this could end, right?”

“Yeah, Ashe… I know. I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that. I don’t want the demon that was my sister locked up in a vault for eternity.” 

“Me neither, Aiden… me neither.” Ashe placed a hand on his shoulder and activated the chronoshift watch to bring them back to the Underground. 

 

Reconstruction was still well under way, with little more than bare framework standing where the old quaint antique shop had been.

The back hallways that composed the magical Underground had been long since repaired, of course - and even improved a bit. It seemed that Nathaniel’s newest incarnation had a bit more flare for color, the walls now accented with various paintings of beautiful landscapes from numerous realities. 

Ashe pushed open the office door and held it for Aiden as he carried Cailyn’s body inside.

“Ashelynn, Aiden, good to see you made it back unharmed,” Nathaniel said with a smile playing on his youthful features. 

Ashe still wasn’t quite used to seeing this child sitting in Nate’s seat behind his desk, but it was unmistakably him. Apparently a child could still look like a composed businessman in a properly tailored suit. 

“She’s in bad shape,” Aiden said, laying her body down on the small leather sofa against the right hand wall.

“Her soul is in here,” Ashe added, holding up the soulcatcher. “There’s not much of it left that you’d recognize as Cailyn.”

Nathaniel’s expression grew grim. “I will do what I can for her… but I suspect this will not be as successful as it was with young Caylie.” 

Ashe nodded. The girl had taken remarkably well to the fusion of her soul with that of an unborn child. The two had melded together, and Caylie was getting smarter every day, studying everything from kindergarten all the way up to where she would likely be - somewhere in middle school - with Nate’s help. 

“Where is Caylie anyway?” Aiden asked. 

“In her room. She had several tests today and she was quite tired afterwards.”

The testing had been to monitor the stability of her new soul, and the progression of her mind as a result. So far, everything looked good - but it took a serious toll on the kid. 

“Now then, for Cailyn…” Nathaniel moved around his desk and held a hand out for the soulcatcher.

Ashe deposited it into his palm. “Here’s hoping…” she sighed.

Nathaniel closed his eyes and channeled his magic into the soulcatcher, projecting himself inwards.

 

The cold and lonely dark was suddenly illuminated. It took shape - an astral space warped by a strong presence - and resolved itself into a familiar office.

“Oh, hi Nate,” Cailyn quipped. “You look well. How’s potty-training going?”

“Very funny, Cailyn. I’ve come here to determine the quality of your soul, and judge if you may yet be redeemed or if you have passed too far beyond what it is to be human.”

“Oh please, do you know how ridiculous you sound? Nobody talks like that anymore, Nate. Besides, how bad was what I did, really? Humans kill each other and do drugs and have crazy sex all the time! I’m no different than them!”

“Normal humans don’t purposefully blacken their souls with these acts like you have. You’re willfully making a demon of yourself for some reason, and I would know what that reason is, Cailyn.”

She cackled at him. “Oh that’s easy - I have no desire to be human anymore. All I need to do is sate my own pleasure, and I can do that so much more easily as a demon. All I have to do is embrace my depravity and hunger for the things I desire! You know what that’s like, don’t you?”

“I can say I do not, Ms. Rowe,” Nathaniel said firmly.

“Oh come on, you can’t lie to me! Everyone that’s lived as long as you have has a dark past, right? What’s yours, Nate?” Cailyn teased.

“I’m not here to trade horror stories with you, Cailyn. I am here to offer you a choice: Redemption or Captivity. You may choose to have your soul cleansed and reunited with another willing soul to complete yourself and hopefully bring you some measure of sanity again, or you may choose this path you walk, and remain in this prison forever.”

Cailyn stared at him in disbelief. “What exactly is the bait here? What do I get if I say yes? Happily ever after with my brother and his girlfriend? A few more months or years before they move in together, get married, bang out a couple kids? No thanks. They didn’t care about me when I started down this path, they certainly don’t care now.”

“If they didn’t care they wouldn’t have suggested this final chance for you, Cailyn,” Nathaniel replied evenly.

“Oh yeah? Well good for them, they can mark it down in their good-deed books that they tried to save me after I was already gone. It’s fine. They can have that little bratty version, Caylie. See if I care.”

Nathaniel frowned. “If that is truly how you feel, then… I suppose this is goodbye, Ms. Rowe.”

Something foreign surged in her chest - or approximation of her chest in this liminal soulspace. “Wait!” she said as he turned to leave.

“Yes?” He asked calmly.

“I… I don’t wanna be alone forever.” It was the truth, a moment of raw vulnerability. 

“Then let us help you, Cailyn. Please. You were a good young woman once not so long ago. You can be again.” 

Cailyn bit her lip. The dark hunger in her wanted to be let loose to keep feeding… but a small part of her wanted to go back to how things used to be. That part powered through the darkness for a moment in a feat of unparalleled strength.

“I’ll… try. Please, help me.”

“I will try,” Nathaniel said with a smile, holding a hand out towards her. “This may hurt.”

He focused the spell and began purifying the tattered remains of her soul.