Sometimes a magus would invest a portion of themselves into certain objects. These were usually assigned a task or two before that portion degraded, dissipating into the eternal abyss. Such animated objects containing a portion of a magus were called golems. They were purely magical constructs that were bound to the will of their owners. Kind of like demons. Except they had no conscience. But we did.

“BOOKS!” Twilight yelled out, practically vibrating in excitement. “BOOKS!”

“Yes, yes, books, books, books,” I replied sourly as I trailed behind her.

Truth be told, I was trying to cover up my embarrassment from hugging her. I mean really. Hugging. A demon. Hugging. Stop it. It’s not meant to be in the same paragraph, let alone sentence.

“Books!”

Thankfully, Twilight elected to be ecstatic at the opportunity to read all these books. That gave me breathing time to reassess some priorities. I understood her relief, though. We went through a horrifying experience.

I decided to look around and try and find an exit to clear my mind. Twilight may not want to leave this place, but I’m pretty sure she would eventually need food and water. Those things didn’t look like they were in abundant supply.

Behind me there wasn’t a door or an entrance that I could see. There was the painting of Celestia once again, but the framing neither bore nor resembled the same relief carving the previous framed painting did. I breathed a sigh of relief. If there was the same type of painting, then we would probably have to meet the Between being again.

I shuddered. The simple thought gave me the shivers.

With no way to go back, the only direction was to move forward.

To each side, there were austere shelves made of varnished oakwood that gave the place a sense of quiet resplendence that echoed the majesty of its long service to the Crown. In here, I felt dwarfed by the scope of knowledge, and though I had seen many libraries, this was a match to most I’ve seen. I’ve wondered how long an empire would have to last to be able to produce something of this magnitude. A hundred years? A thousand years? More?

The shelves weren’t always filled with books. They had curious objects that came in curious shapes and sizes. In some shelves there were towering skulls carved with ominous scriptures of a long-forgotten language. Instinctively, I shied away from them. Not from their outward appearance, mind you, but from the instinctive self-preserving compulsion born from a lifetime of being exposed to various magi artefacts and spell work.

Lying here on the shelf were very dangerous objects.

“Twilight,” I hissed, “don’t touch anyth—”

It was too late. Twilight had touched an orb within the library. To be fair, it did look harmless considering the objects that surrounded it. But I knew that the treasures sequestered on this forbidden floor were not objects to be trifled with.

“Twilight,” I whispered, leaning in with concern. “Are you…?”

“I see everything,” she whispered, crystallising my suspicions into certainty. Then she shook her head, her hoof instinctively reaching out to touch it once more. I snatched it away just in time.

“Stop that,” I admonished, taking her hoof into my claws and turning her gaze away from the crystal. “Look at me.”

With a shudder, Twilight turned away and fixed her eyes on me.

“That’s good,” I cooed, drawing her close. “Lose yourself into my eyes and then settle down.”

Twilight took a shuddering breath and then calmed once more.

“Morpheus… what did you do?”

“That was the Crystal Enmity.” I said, neatly dodging the question as I positioned myself between her and the Crystal. “It’s a shard from the Other that’s said to contain a fraction of the Truth.”

Twilight forced her head down as she concentrated on my words. “The Truth?”

“The reason for life itself, or so some beings say.”

“Really?”

“No, that’s just the lure. It’s a trap that works indiscriminately to capture the curious or the greedy. It’s commonly found in these types of vaults where there are many treasures and many covetous beings.” I patted Twilight on the head. “Just stay close to me.”

“What would have happened if I continued staring?”

“Conscientious dislocation.”

“What?”

“Every bone in your body would have dislocated at once.”

“What? All of them?” Twilight squeaked slightly and clung closer to me.

“Yeah, that’s why it’s conscientious, so don’t go looking or touching things without me to be there.” I paused. “I’m vulnerable to demonic traps, so I’m relying on you to save me if I accidentally fall into one.”

Twilight nodded avidly. “Thanks, Morpheus. Erm, what kind of demonic traps are there?”

“Many.”

With that short answer, I made my way forward, pulling a frightened magus apprentice along with me.

“We need to get out of here.”

Twilight, for probably the first time in her life, didn’t argue leaving a library early.

—————————

We wandered the library for quite some time. To give you the scale of it, imagine a bookshelf laden with books. It’s about four times your height and the shelves are made of oak wood. Good. Now the books are packed right in there, there’s no need for book retainers or stops to prevent the books at the ends from falling over because there are simply that many books. Occasionally, you might see box-like shelves housing rare objects, probably magical in nature. I didn’t know what their purposes were, but anything placed here, from what I could tell, seemed to be at the very least valuable and potentially dangerous.

Twilight tried her best not to look at the shelves, but she was a curious foal.

“Oh, this is ‘Seven Uses for Seven Mandrakes’, by Artful Temerity!”

“Oh! This is ‘The Very Excellent Guide to Mastering Magic’, by Selby Shimmer!”

“Oh my gosh! This is ‘The Seminal Text on Thermal Thaumatics… Volume Three!”

“Oh, and this is a pretty gold chain!”

“Twilight!”

“Oh, sorry!”

I rolled my eyes, leading the easily-distracted magus through the portion of the library. Despite the monotonous layout, I was keeping track of the turns and shelves we’ve passed. At the very least we could make our way back to the front. I was moving towards the opposite end of this seemingly limitless room. Logically, I thought that the end would appear at the back, but we’ve been walking for a while now and there was no end in sight.

“Morpheus, there are so many books to read here! Do… do you think I could finish them?”

“Of course you could, Twilight… maybe.”

“Ooooh, what’s this?”

I whipped around quickly, afraid that she had found another knick knack to get trapped within, however, Twilight was gripping a strange book instead.

Twilight peered at the gold inset title. “It says: ‘The Encyclopaedia’… there’s no author.”

I gingerly took the book from her hooves, and though Twilight didn’t resist, she looked disappointed.

“Hey, why are you taking it away?”

“Remember the rules? I touch it first.”

“Hey! There’s no rule for that!”

“There is now,” I shot back, opening the book cover. From what I could tell, there was no compulsion, no spell, no latent aura that related to sinister magic. It was just a book. A blank book to boot. “There’s nothing inside.”

Twilight perked her ears. “Maybe I can write inside of it?” She paused. “I better not… this could be somepony’s book.” She gazed at the book with care. “But it’s so beautifully bound and look at the quality of the parchment… oh, and the thickness of the parchment! This is high quality—”

“You got lucky,” I muttered, interrupting her spiel as I tossed the book back. I was a little irritated with how blasé she was being with the dangers lurking within the library. She’s the kind of pony that would walk straight into a forest out of curiosity and get frozen into a statue by some kind of petrifying monster.

Yeah. I can totally see that happening.

Twilight scuffed her hoof on the floor. “Sorry, Morpheus, it’s just so tempting with all these books around.”

I shrugged with a sigh. “Never mind, what’s the book about?”

Twilight cocked her head. “It’s empty, though, didn’t you see?”

“Some books being empty to a demon are not so for a magus. Some books have active protection against demons, making it so that we forget the words as soon as we read them, or that we’re optically blocked from detecting the writing. Either way, a blank book either means it’s actually blank, or more likely, protected from being read by the author.”

Twilight peered at the book. “Then how am I supposed to read it?”

I threw up my claws. “Heck if I know! This is a problem about magic, right?”

Twilight squinted at the book, hunching her shoulders. “Right, erm, magic, that’s my job.” She gave a forced laugh.

“Stop worrying so much, I wouldn’t put so much faith in you if I didn’t believe you could do it. Just keep it for now and when we get out of here, we can take a look at it later.”

“Right. Yep.”

I smiled at the beginner magus. “Have a little more confidence in yourself, haven’t I told you this before?”

Twilight couldn’t help smiling back at that. “You’re right, Morpheus. Thanks.”

————————

We continued for a while until the shelves abruptly ended.

Twilight looked back and then forward.

“How… did we get here?”

I mentally consulted my map and then came up with a blank.

“Erm… I was keeping track of the shelves and I thought we were up to around seven hundred, but then… nothing.”

Twilight looked around. “I don’t feel anything here.”

“There isn’t any magic that I can sense either.” I sighed. “This is probably another defensive spell.”

“Umm, Morpheus, what’s that?”

Ahead, there was a double door and a curious marble pedestal that featured in front of it. There were small engravings relief carved on the surface, barely noticeable to the naked eye. On top of the pedestal there were two wooden statues. The one on the left was a pony with wings, that looked suspiciously like Twilight, right down to the straight-cut hairdo. The one on the left was a classic depiction of a demon, very much like my form when I first appeared to Twilight, except for some reason I was posing with a sickly-sweet smile on my face.

“What does this mean?” Twilight whispered.

“It’s almost as if this place was actually expecting us.” I squinted at the small engraving around the edge. “Can you read the writing on the pedestal?”

Twilight leaned in and squinted at the writing. “Mm, yes, actually.”

“Is it a language you recognise?”

“It’s in Equestrian.”

“Oh.” I scratched the back of my head. I could have read it, then. “What does it say?”

“Erm… Return ticket passes for Twilight Sparkle, the alicorn of friendship—”

“Ha! That’s funny, because you don’t have any friends—”

Twilight shot me a look as I shrugged with a teasing grin. “Okay, didn’t have any friends before, but you know what I mean.”

Twilight furrowed her eyebrows as she continued. “—and Morpheus the demon of self-restraint and non-violence.” Twilight giggled a little as I sulked.

I might have lost my touch recently, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still capable of violence and mayhem!

“Stupid smart-aleck pedestal—” I snatched up my statue and threw Twilight hers as she hastily caught it within her hooves, almost dropping the thing.

“M-Morpheus, careful!”

“You gotta work on your reflexes, Twilight, or you’re going to have a very difficult time as a magus.”

“I-I wasn’t ready.”

“Mmmhmm, that’s what they all say. So, how do we use these things?”

“The pedestal has some instructions. To use the return passes, simply chant: Books, books, books away…! Morpheus, is this thing serious?”

I wiped a tired claw across my face. “I have no idea, Twilight, but it seems like your princess has a pretty weird sense of humour.”

“Princess Celestia would never make something like this! She’s cool and calm and very, very serious.” Twilight sniffed. “She’s a great teacher!”

I sighed. “Just keep reading.”

“It also says: To come back, just think of the library floor you want to be on. Also, don’t touch anything, Morpheus.”

“What the—” I sputtered. “I didn’t touch anything and why is that message addressed to me?” I glared at Twilight. “Are you sure that message isn’t for you ‘Miss I Touched the Crystal Enmity’?”

“Erm, there’s a little more here…” Twilight’s voice quavered as she said it.

Feeling a keen sense of foreboding, I gestured for her to continue as Twilight shot me a plaintive look. Stop it. I’m not the one writing it.

“I knew you two would sneak into the library, but if you weren’t trapped in the Between and you made it this far, then there’s no stopping you. Just don’t go into the double doors beyond.”

Twilight read my expression.

“We’re not—” she started.

“We’re totally going through the double doors,” I finished for her.

—————————

As we entered the double doors, I stiffened. Twilight, slightly sulking and trailing behind.

“Morpheus, I don’t think we should be in here.”

“Hey, didn’t you say the library was the only way we’d find books that could get me out of here? Come on, lets go.”

“We’ve already found a book.”

Ignoring her, I walked forward confidently, the two doors behind us ponderously closing behind us. Its subtle grating click was enough of a trigger to have Twilight jump slightly and look back.

“Morpheus…”

“Don’t move a muscle,” I replied shortly.

Twilight froze, a half hoof step off the ground.

I pointed—very slowly—to the end of the hallway. “There’s a demon, right there.”

A grotesque statue depicting a chimera of a snake’s tail, a wildebeest’s haunches and a lion’s head was poised at the end of the hall.

“It’s petrified, so if we’re not in its range, we can—”

Twilight’s eyes shot to the gargoyle’s own. When she blinked, the gargoyle was suddenly closer. Twilight let out a strangled scream. “Did that statue just move?!”

I shook my head and readied myself instead of focusing on escaping. “Yes, but it’s just messing with you. The jig’s up, it saw us.”

“Ah, and I was planning to have some more fun, old friend.” Unfrozen, the gargoyle rapidly changed from grey-marble to the lively colours of ochre-red and rusty-brown. Yellow-slitted eyes blinked at us in amusement. A feminine voice chimed merrily at them. “What say you to some form of carnage, then? We could burn down the town.” She flexed a claw and drooled from the corner of her mouth, whilst staring at me disconcertingly.

Twilight blinked at the odd mix of warm, friendly tones married to the viciously underscored content of the chimeric gargoyle’s speech.

“I’d rather avoid it.”

“Hmm, I thought you might. How about a bout, then, friend? For old time’s sake.” The demon clicked it’s talons in a bird-like claw on the ground. “By the way, the name I was given is Alma.”

Well of course we weren’t going to blurt out our True Names in front of a magus.

“Alma?” I blinked at the demon then tilted my head. “The name I was given is Morpheus.”

Alma stretched languidly. “Then, shall we fight?”

“You know you can’t win against me, ‘friend’.”

“I suppose so, but then, no demon can win against you, can they?” Alma dissonant chortle filled the dead hallways. “Besides, I’m not bound to win, I’m bound to protect. Take no heed of my words earlier, I was simply bored. What are you doing in a peaceful world like this? I am almost mind-numbingly weary of being a statue. Do you know near a thousand years your soul starts to itch? I never noticed it before, but it’s there. It itches. Oooh, I think I’m losing my sanity here, I won’t be able to be lucid for more than ten minutes, you’ll have to decide quickly!”

As she rambled on, I stared back at the demon whilst licking my lips nervously. “Are you… you’re not kidding, right? You haven’t been back to the Other in a thousand years?”

“More or less.” Alma grinned savagely at us. “I’ve been here. Here. Existing. But not dying. Not living. Just… here.”

I took a half-step forward. “I—”

Instantly, I deflected a killing strike aimed directly at my throat. I hastily took a step back. Alma didn’t pursue us, and instead studied the slight chips notched in her talons, looking somewhat annoyed and impressed at the same time. “In any case, I cannot permit you to pass this point. Take one step, and you know the consequences. Be prepared, Morpheus.”

I met her gaze with a placid countenance. “You remember the cost, right?”

A shadow of guilt drifted through her eyes. “I… I would never ask another demon, you know that, Morpheus?” Then the madness returned. “Kill me. Please kill me. Or, I will kill you! Who knows? All I know is pain!”

Only her orders prevented her from launching herself straight at me. Being a living statue for so long must have steadily corroded her ability to reason. Whichever magus stationed her must have been giving her constant pain as well. My claws tightened as I readied myself to do the deed.

I glanced at Twilight. That was a mistake.

Twilight tugged at me. “No.”

I rounded on her. “Surely you can make an exception for this circumstance?”

“No.”

“Oh, come on! There is literally a demon in front of us that wants to fight. She wants to die!”

“Morpheus, that’s a horrible thing to do! The first lesson in magic is to—”

Thud.

Alma stopped our back and forth by stomping on the ground with enough force to crack the tiles underneath. “I hate being ignored. Morpheus, this—” she gestured disdainfully in Twilight’s direction “—is your mistress? For you of all demons?”

I gave Alma a warning glance, but it was not appreciated.

“Morpheus,” she continued, “you cannot be serious. There is a certain standard that even you should have.” She giggled. “Hey, I have an idea! I could kill her too, accidentally, of course!” She gave me a slow wink.

“Alma—” Twilight began.

“DON’T YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME!” Alma screamed at her. She flexed her talons. Taking a deep breath, whilst eyeing me, evidently trying to maintain a semblance of sanity around me. She casually dismissed Twilight with a contemptuous glare. “I wish I could just rend you on the spot, but, sadly, my orders are preventing me.” She turned back to me. “Sorry, Morpheus, you know I can’t keep my composure around magi.”

Frightened stiff, Twilight clung to me as I patted her on the back. Alma saw the gesture and frowned in confusion, then she seemed to dismiss it.

“Alma,” I said slowly, “you can’t yell at my mistress.”

“Oh right, because you’re under mental protection orders, I get it, I get it.” Alma’s eyes cleared up as she rolled them at Twilight. “We can stand here all night, or you can get us to fight. I have five minutes of my sanity left.”

Twilight’s voice broke through the silence, determined. “No.”

Alma flicked her talons at Twilight. “Don’t worry about Morpheus, he’ll kill me for sure.”

“What?”

Alma stared at Twilight. “You heard me. Morpheus is practically a legend among us demons.”

“Alma.” I glared at her. “Stop it.”

Alma glared at Twilight, but didn’t continue. “You’re a pathetic magus, you know that, don’t you?” She made a rude gesture with her talons. “Come on, magus, order your demon to kill me. Otherwise you’re nothing but a—”

“Shut up, Alma,” I told her, “you can’t provoke her like that while I’m here.”

Alma shrugged. “Or what? You’ll kill me? I’m going mad not returning to the Other, Morpheus. Do you know how it feels? Can you comprehend the sheer magnitude of boredom my soul was steeped in? Can you imagine the pain and suffering simple monotony does to you? I want to do something, anything! I want to kill, kill, kill!” Alma shook her head doggedly. “Morpheus, please, do it.” Her eyes clouded. “Two minutes! I can feel your blood pumping and pulsing just outside my reach, just one step, just one step, just one step, just one—”

I brought Twilight back, pushing back against her hooves rooted to the spot in fright. She was like a statue, staring straight at Alma with wide eyes. This must be the first time she’s ever experienced such insanity.

“It’s okay, Twilight.” I spoke quietly to the frightened unicorn. “Just let me fight her, when I’m done, she’ll be liberated back to the Other… I have that power.”

“What are you going to do to her, Morpheus?” Twilight whispered.

I couldn’t lie to her.

“I have to… end her.”

Twilight’s gaze finally broke away from Alma and settled on me. “Morpheus, I don’t want to see you hurt. I don’t want to see anypony hurt.”

“She won’t feel much pain.”

“But will you?”

This was one question I didn’t want to answer. I went with a half-truth. “I will feel a measure of pain.”

Twilight wasn’t impressed with that answer. “How much is a measure?”

I kept silent, ignoring the twisting in my stomach. The pain sharply increased as I willingly disobeyed Twilight’s order. Twilight immediately noticed my discomfort and hurriedly moved on.

“Okay Morpheus, you don’t have to answer that. But don’t do this, we will find another way to help her.”

Unbidden, I said the first thing that came to mind. “Why? She’s just another demon from another owner, she’s not even your mistake. There’s no need to go that far for her.”

“I want to help her. I want to help you.”

“Do you really? Are you willing to put so much on the line to do this for something you barely know?”

“Yes, I have to do this.”

“Actually, you don’t. You don’t have to be an altruist, you don’t have to be good, there’s no one here to tell you this is right or wrong. There’s no need to be a heroine. This is simply a way for me to give her a reprieve. This is my selfish desire, it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

Twilight reared her head back in shock, but then sadly shook her head. “It’s not about that, Morpheus. It is about me.”

“What?”

“I remember being alone and feeling alone. I know how it feels. I want her to be free, too.”

“Then set me on her.”

“No. I don’t want her to go that way.”

“She’ll barely feel any pain, I’ll make sure of it.”

“That’s not the point! Morpheus, won’t you feel pain?”

“That’s immaterial.”

“It’s not!” Twilight snapped. “Besides, even if you send her back, can’t she be summoned again?”

“Yes, but—”

“There has to be another way.”

I set my jaw. “There isn’t, there won’t be, and there never will be! You’re just too stubborn to see it in your idealistic world! Not everything turns out fine, not everything is going to be for the best, we will never be more than tools! And when I send her back, she’s going to be summoned again later, I know that!”

Silence stretched between us.

“I know that…” I continued softly. “But that small bit of relief is all she has now until the next time she’s enslaved once again. Let me give her that, Twilight. Let me give her peace.”

Twilight shivered under my gaze, her lip bitten until it was bleeding as she steeled herself under what I did. Tears had gathered under her eyes but she held them back with visible effort. Faintly, I felt the twinge of discomfort as I recognised I disobeyed my mistress’ orders. I held on. This was too important to back down from, but under her fiery gaze, I could do nothing but feel my will slowly erode away.

Why?

I was doing this all for my fellow demon. This was something good. This was something that only demons could understand. Why did I feel so bad for doing this?

“Morpheus, every time you do this, I think you lose a part of yourself. That pain… it’s not any kind of pain, is it?”

I stayed silent, but it spoke for itself.

“Morpheus, I will find a way, I promise you. You might not think much of a mortal’s promise, but I’m serious.” She leaned in and whispered something into my ear. Instinctively, my eyes shot to hers as she stared back with such utter determination, I could do nothing but just stare dumbly back for a few seconds.

“You…” I groped around for the words to push past my strangled throat. “Y-you just gave me your True Name.”

Twilight nodded solemnly.

“Why…?” I struggled with the words as I stared at the diminutive pony in front of me. A weak, pathetic mortal that barely came up to the knees of my own mortal container. A purple, naïve, bookworm without any friends except a demon she summoned herself. “Why go so far for me?”

“Because you’re my friend, Morpheus.” Resolve hardened her eyes. “If you doubt that and if this doesn’t work… you can kill me too.”

What could I say to that? I underestimated this foal, I underestimated everything about her.

“Twilight,” I whispered to her, “I will believe you.” Deliberately turning my back, I picked her up and started walking to the door. Against my better judgement, I glanced back.

Alma saw what we were doing and grew frantic. Her leg raised an inch off the ground as she made for us. Just in time, she retracted it. She glanced back and forth from the invisible line and our retreating forms.

“Wait, where are you going? Don’t leave me, please don’t leave me! Kill me! Kill me, please! Morpheus! MORPHEUS!”

I shut my ears to her wailing. I could barely move my clawed feet forward as I heard her screaming in pain. Alma had stepped past that line. Suddenly, I burst forward and slammed the door to the hall. Alma’s cries continued for a full minute before silence reigned in the Library.

All we could hear now were our own harsh breathing.

When I opened the door to peek, Alma had returned to being a statue, her expression frozen in twisted agony.

“I don’t know how often this Library is used, but if the summoner finds out that Alma has been discovered, then she will be put through much worse pain. Pain that could’ve been avoided had you just ordered me to end her.”

“You can still do it now, Morpheus.”

“What?”

“Remember, you’re free now. I’ve given you my True Name. You can disobey any orders I give you, even killing me. You can do it now, and free her. Then you can free yourself by killing me.” She shrugged with a hurt expression. “Or you could do it in reverse if you like.”

It took me a few seconds to absorb just what this foal was telling me. With a healthy dose of self-loathing, I hung my head in shame. “Sorry, I guess I was blaming you for my own choices.”

Twilight hung her head too. “I guess I was being kinda pushy, too. Sorry, Morpheus.”

Why was she apologising? At this ridiculous exchange, we shared a slight smile. Suddenly, I felt something I thought I would never feel towards any mortal, let alone a magus.

“You know something, Twilight?”

“Mmm?”

“I think we’re actually becoming friends.”

Twilight’s smile turned down a notch. “Weren’t we always friends?”

I shook my head. “Well, I guess we called each other that, but to be truthful I was doing it out of convenience for myself.” I hesitated. “There’s a reason for that, but—” I fell silent, shaking my head. She didn’t have to know about how a demon’s sentimentality fixed them to the mortal plane. I could get to it later. I realised, finally, that I cared about this magus. No, that’s not right. I cared about Twilight. Venomous tendrils of sentimentality dragged at me.

“But what?”

I smiled at her. “Never mind, it’s not a great reason anyway. Let me help you do some research.”

Twilight’s eyes widened slightly, before flooding with anticipation. She grinned maniacally. “Yes, research!”

I swallowed thickly at her look.

Maybe I had been a bit too hasty with making a friend.

———————————

Activating the passes, we successfully snuck out of the library and spent the rest of the night cooped up in the study, piled high with all sorts of books. Coming away from that, we were left in a sombre mood. Most of the findings were in the the restricted areas, but we made do with what we had. Unfortunately, we didn’t take any of the books from Level 6. I didn’t want to take the risk, unless we came in prepared.

For the time being, we used the archaic black-bound book given to Twilight by Celestia.

“What’s this symbol…?” Twilight muttered to herself. “It should be—” She rummaged around for another book. “Hah! I knew it. Okay, so then this links to that and it conjugates along this line…”

Once again, I marvelled at Twilight’s efforts, and wondered to myself what I’d do if it came to the conclusion that there was no solution. I… certainly wouldn’t kill Twilight, but I’d bear the guilt and the brunt of responsibility myself. This was not a burden Twilight should have to carry. She was young and her attitude, I had to admit, was what every demon coveted. She was the hope for our kind, a new type of magi that respected power, and did not abuse it.

Seeing her determined expression, as if carved in stone, I resolved to face the consequences of this decision, whatever it may be, on my own.

The next day came too fast, but Twilight didn’t stop. I had started learning a lot more about magic than I ever thought I would, however I was bogged down with the fundamentals. The difference between Twilight and I being like heaven and earth. Or more aptly, heaven and hell. Still, I kept at it. One thing I noticed, quite suspiciously, was that magic was very similar to our constructed essence. We had complexity for sure, but the structure and nature of the spell was similar to the core of us. Magic was what made us, us.

This gave me a possible, yet frightening, conclusion.

Are we spells?

Were we not living things?

I guess you could categorise us as fundamentally different between mortal and spiritual, but I never gave it thought that it could be that we were simply pure magical constructs with nothing that made us wholly unique.

If that’s true, then… is there no Other?

Are we, the sapient offspring of magic, really yearning for non-existence? Is existence itself a form of torture? Was this what Alma concluded after near a thousand years of rumination?

“Morpheus?”

“Hmm?” My eyes snapped to focus on a fuzzy purple thing. It was Twilight’s worried face. After utilising her True Name, I no longer felt compulsion and there was no threat of pain, and yet… and yet I still felt it. The pain of guilt.

“Morpheus, are you okay? You blanked out there for a second.”

“Nothing’s wrong, Twilight, I’m just… thinking about a few things.”

Twilight glanced between her work and I, trying to mentally weigh whether saving Alma or talking to me was greater in priority. I was honestly touched that she considered my feelings on the same level as another’s life. But then again, maybe we weren’t talking about life, here, right? We were just magic. I wondered if the other demons knew.

“Morpheus,” she spoke softly, “you can always talk to me about it.”

Even though I was under no orders to do so, I felt a compunction to answer. Was friendship stronger than a spell? Reluctantly, I gave into that sincere look. “I’ve been thinking about the way these summoning spells work. When a demon is summoned, it takes the energy around the formation and moulds it into a container for some construct to reside in.”

Twilight nodded. “That is the basic principle.”

“So this construct, I was thinking about… actually, don’t worry about it.”

Twilight glanced at me. “If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to, but I’m always here to listen.”

I took a deep breath.

Stop being a coward.

“What if… what if that ‘construct’ isn’t something that’s pulled from the Other? What if this construct was simply made by a magus?”

Twilight opened her mouth to reply, but then paused and furrowed her brows. “That’s entirely possible.”

“So then we’re just mortal golems, then? We’re not alive?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“But you said—”

“I said that having a construct be made by a magus is entirely possible, but I think it’s unlikely. Furthermore, there’s a lot of evidence for the Other. After all, you and Alma were independently created, but you still had knowledge of each other. That can’t really be known by a magus a thousand years in advance, right?”

“They could have—”

“If you’re not alive, then I’m not alive, Morpheus.” Twilight stomped her hoof on the ground. “Mortals are just bags of chemicals, anyway, so if that’s your definition for what’s alive and not, then I guess I’m a mortal golem too.”

Surprisingly, Twilight made sense.

“Then… how do you deal with that?”

“How do you deal with anything?” Twilight replied with a lop-sided smile. “You just keep going until you find something that turns it around. For me, it was you.”

I… really didn’t know what to think about that.

I rubbed an arm uncomfortably. “If it makes a difference, I think so too.”

Twilight and I grinned at each other.

I coughed abruptly. “You know, I think I’m getting the hang of this friendship thing. It’s tougher than sneaking into the Library, but at least we’re getting a lot out of it.”

Twilight coughed. “So, if we’re friends now, for real, can you keep a secret?”

I narrowed my eyes at Twilight. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

“You know how you said to leave everything back at the Library?”

“Don’t tell me…”

“I… kinda borrowed a book.”

I slammed a claw into my face and sighed.

Author's Notes:

A chapter in the doubly-do couplet? What madness!

Still the world's most inconsistent scheduler, but glad to know there are some authors with me watching the world burn, mwuhahaha.

Next Chapter: Fire. Fire everywhere. This is fine. THIS IS FINE.

As always, my flameproof readers, thanks for reading!