The swarm of sounds and motion faded into the background as Karon allowed the cloth to fall back into place behind him. He stepped into the tent, where exotic wares were spread out inside without sign of rhyme or reason to their placement, many of them covered in dust that looked to have remained untouched for decades.

The trickster came in alone, stepping across the smattering of rugs serving as the shop's floor, “Bitz, are you in here?”

From behind a bookshelf, a horned head poked out, and a smile spread to reveal sharp teeth. “Ah, the trickster returns to noble Bitz's shop; here to hunt for wares, perhaps? Or hunt for work more likely, yes?”

Karon raised an eyebrow at the creature. “Depends on what work you have for me.”

Bitz stepped out from behind the bookcase. His body was draped in silken cloth of all the colors of the rainbow, his reverse-jointed legs carrying him forward in a kind of bobbing walk. “This is meager place to hunt for work, Bitz is sorry to tell, and what this humble predator of good prices can offer is but the work trickster has already been provided with, but chased in vain.”

Karon looked at him irritably. “If you're talking about the answer-seeking, than I've done no worse than any other has for generations. Questions like 'what is the greatest victory' are too open-ended to come by easily.”

The trader nodded hastily. “Bitz understands, that he does. Honorable trickster Karon has done fine work with Bitz, together hunting favorable prices and just rewards. But, Bitz is glad to say, this time work is hunting for trickster.”

Karon frowned. “What do you mean?”

Bitz looked away uncomfortably, then spoke up. “A human male came here. He smelled of righteousness and oil. He hunted for you by name. He claimed to have need of the trickster's services, but wanted no part in the usual arrangement of speaking through humble Bitz, so naturally, Bitz told the hunter that the Walker's Rest is the territory in which the trickster can be found.”

Karon fixed a glare upon the trader. “And what makes you think this stranger isn't out to hurt me? Or are you telling me you would willingly tell a potential enemy where I live?”

The creature's eyes widened and he held up his hands defensively. “Noble Bitz would never betray fellow hunter Karon! No, the man that hunted for trickster carried the scent of desperation beneath the surface, as do most of those who come here hunting for the trickster's assistance. Bitz is sure he did not hunt for trickster's life, but for help.”

Karon's glare softened, but there was a hardness present in his eyes still. “Looks like I should get back home, then, and see what this man wants with me.”

Bitz nodded emphatically to Karon's words. “Wise maneuver—hunt the hunter. Within the lair of the great white one, the advantage will belong to the trickster, and not the foul-smelling stranger.”

The trickster in question gave the trader a loop-sided grin in response, then with a nod of his head in farewell, turned his back and ventured out into the bazaar again. After he had gone, Bitz grabbed a piece of the cloth wrapped around him, and dabbed his forehead.

“Bitz very happy to hunt with trickster, good bounty... Bitz just hopes he will never be hunted by trickster, oh no, Bitz most certainly hopes not.”

                            *************************************************

Trixie took the final step down the stairs and walked out into the tavern below. There was a bustling that she had only seen a few times before, as beings from across the universe came to seek sanctuary and succor. Of course, the greatest prize to find in The Walker's Rest was neither sanctuary nor succor. No, the greatest prize was advice. However, it was sparsely given, if at all.

The woman's eyes moved over to the bar, where a creature vaguely resembling a preying mantis with yellow chitin stood, making clicking noises towards the bartender, who responded with short clicks of his own.

Trixie put an arm up and leaned on the bar disk with an amused expression, observing the alien conversation with idle curiosity. The insectoid turned its head towards her once, and its mandibles twitched in a way Trixie interpreted as annoyance. She responded by tilting her head and grinning.

The conversation ended shortly thereafter, though Trixie doubted it was because of her presence as much as the taciturn answers of the bartender.  

When the creature finally moved away, Trixie slid up to face the bearded old man behind the bar, but before she could open her mouth, he produced a plate of food and a mug filled with ale and placed it before her. Trixie smiled at him, then reached for the food and drink.

The bartender looked her in the eyes as she did, and the woman froze. There was no external pressure she could feel that glued her eyes to his, but nonetheless, she found herself unable to look away. With a slow nod, the old man motioned towards one of the round wooden tables standing like lonesome islands in the middle of the tavern floor, where a single creature sat.

Trixie found herself released from the bartender's gaze, and looked over towards the table he had indicated. “You want me to go over to him?” she asked, frowning.

The old man hummed in response, and Trixie grabbed her plate and mug and stalked over to the table. The man in question was wearing some kind of armor made of fused plates of bluish steel, with a matted gray cloak covering most of it and himself, and a badge made out of gold fastened upon it. His hood wasn't drawn up, which revealed a bald head a deep brown in color, bordering on black. When she placed her breakfast on the table and sat down in the chair opposite him, bright verdant eyes locked on her with a suspicious glimmer.

“Relax,” she said, then grabbed one of the loaves of bread and dipped it in the thick sauce covering her plate.

“What do you want?” the man asked in a raspy voice.

“The host of this place thought I should come over here and talk to you,” she told him with a shrug.

The man turned his head towards the bar with a nervous look, then swerved his eyes back at Trixie. “This place is unnatural. Its presence is like crawling maggots digging underneath my skin.”

Trixie raised both her eyebrows and took a bite of her food. “Maybe you feel uncomfortable because you've got something to hide. Don't try, you can't hide anything from Him anyway.”

The man opposite her growled deep down in his throat, and made a move as if he was about to stand up and leave. Trixie swallowed her food and kicked out one of his legs, causing him to fall back into his chair. When his right hand darted inside his cloak in response, she held up a hand.

“I told you, relax... if our host wanted me to come over here, then it's because I am supposed to talk to you, and you're supposed to talk to me. So maybe you should just tell me what you're doing here so we can get this over with.”

“Maybe our 'host' is wrong,” the man said acidly.

Trixie snorted, and her eyes turned wearisome. “I've had personal experience with His suggestions, so I recommend you don't argue with them.”

The man stared at her silently, then leaned forward and placed both arms on the table, resting his chin upon clasped hands. “I'm looking for someone. We... the place I'm from has a problem, and after I was sent to find a solution, I heard there was an individual here who could help me?”

“This individual wouldn't happen to be a red-dressed trickster with a terrible sense of humor named Karon, would it?” Trixie asked dryly.

The man blinked. “Yes, it is; I mean, the name, not the humor.”

Trixie snorted. “You can't get one without the other, in his case. But he's not here right now; he's off at the bazaar looking for something to do.”

With a tilt of his head, the man straightened his back and punched his chest once with a closed fist. “My name is Ella Sov. I come on the behalf of the Department of Otherworldly Investigation. I greet you, stranger, with the warmest and best of intentions on behalf of the world of—”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Trixie interrupted him, then took a long pull from her mug of bitter ale.

Ella looked dumbstruck by her interruption, then faintly offended. “We're supposed to greet any outer-worldly beings with the full official greeting,” he told her in a slightly hurt voice.

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “Your 'department' thing wouldn't happen to be the incompetent kind? Because if you go around greeting everyone not of your world like that, you're going to be laughed at a lot,” she told him.

“The scriptures concerning outer-worldly operations are firm concerning the proper protocol—”

“Not that I like interrupting people, but if you want anyone to take you seriously here, then you need to forget all about that. The kind of people that end up here are the ones that have seen a lot, and don't find much point in sticking to empty rituals. I'm no exception,” Trixie said firmly.

Ella looked thoughtful for a moment, then focus returned to his eyes. “I'll keep that in mind, but we were discussing the one known as Karon the trickster.”

With a swift motion, Trixie scooped up the remainder of the sauce with the last piece of bread and shoved it into her mouth. Ella waited patiently for her to swallow, and she observed him in turn with a calculating look.

“Okay, what do you want with Karon?” she asked.

The man looked away angrily. “There's trouble back in my world, and the incidents fall under my section's jurisdiction. Thanks to a witness, we've established that it is outer-worldly in origin, and I was sent to discover the reason for his actions and a way to track him.”

“Him?” Trixie asked.

“Yes, him. Our witness was very descriptive in this outer-worldly creature—a man by the name of Nagrosh the Dark.”

Trixie stared silently at Ella for nearly a full minute, the she sank back into her chair with a tired groan, dragging the palm of her hand across her face.

The man frowned, then his eyes widened. “You know of him?!”

Trixie blew through her lips in frustration. “Yes, more than I ever wanted to. What's the idiot done this time? Sabotaged some mining operations? Stolen some 'priceless artifact' that's actually junk? Tried to take over a world with a hopelessly-flawed scheme?”

“So far, he's taken and sacrificed seventy-eight young women, all virgins, in some mad attempt at summoning a demon,” Ella told her in an icy voice.

Trixie's mouth fell open, then closed with a loud snap. “That... doesn't sound like Leti,” she murmured.

“Who's Leti?”

“It's 'Nagrosh's' real name,” she told him off-handedly while staring down at the table, chewing on a nail absently.

It didn't sound like anything the bumbling sorcerer would do, to Trixie's ears. The man had ambitions, for sure, but his ability had never stretched far enough for him to be able to even work out a plan to achieve them. And there had always been a sense of some restriction, like there was some lines the man wasn't prepared to cross. But maybe Trixie had underestimated him. Maybe he had finally grown as tired of their games as she was.

“Karon needs to hear of this,” she finally decided.

“Good. Will you help me in tracking him down, then?” Ella asked with a spark of excitement.

Trixie shook her head. “There's no need, he'll come back here after he's seen Bitz.”

“Bitz? As in the merchant of the tent, the one that speaks in words of hunts and hunters?”

Trixie looked at him curiously. “Yes, that's him.”

Ella nodded. “It was through him that I was lead to this place, where he revealed I could find the one called Karon.”

“Then Karon should be back any second, now,” Trixie told him.

While they waited for the arrival of the trickster, Ella revealed more of what he had learned of Leti's activities. He told of the disappearances of young women, steadily rising in number while the normal peacekeepers were frantically scrambling for clues, of how they eventually found the place where he had performed the murders, soaked in the blood of innocents. It was there they discovered, through the workings of their machines and the involvement of their department of outer-worldly investigations, that the culprit was not a native to their planet.

They had chased the man, and he had narrowly made an escape twice, leaving them a blood-stained altar. Eventually, one of the women had made an escape, and told them of the man who called himself Nagrosh the Dark, and how he had apologized to her, before revealing that she would be the conduit to a demon that would grant him powers.

The department believed that there would be no reason for such a depraved man to reveal his plan to the woman, and figured he had told her because he allowed her to escape on purpose, in order to taunt the department and their efforts.

This belief had led to Ella being sent off-world, with orders of finding out more about this Nagrosh, and a way to track him down and stop him.

Trixie listened to the tale, her expression growing darker by the minute. After he was done, she had gone to gather drinks, which they both consumed in silent contemplation.

Then a hand slapped down on her shoulder from behind. “Making friends?” a familiar voice said.

Trixie turned, regarding Karon with a dark expression. His eyebrow arched upward, and he looked over to Ella questioningly. "What's going on?"

"You need to hear what he has to say," Trixie said quietly.

Karon frowned, then took a seat to Trixie's right, and listened as Ella introduced himself, then recounted the tale once more. When he was finished, Karon stared down at the table in a way that mirrored Trixie just a few minutes earlier.

“I told you we should have killed him,” she eventually said.

Karon closed his eyes, but didn't argue against her.

“You've encountered this monster before?” Ella asked sharply.

“He's not a monster,” Karon objected, ”He's...” Words failed as he stared into the man's green eyes, where outrage and shame burned in equal measure.

“He's a monster,” Ella said in a tone that didn't broker any compromise.

Trixie laid her hand on top of Karon's, and looked at him sympathetically. “It was inevitable. We've put a stop to his schemes many times; he was bound to realize that if he really wants to become a sorcerer, he needed to get serious about it.”

Karon grimaced. “He's just confused, and doesn't know how to—”

“And he's scared, and alone, and hungry, and in need of a blanket and cooing words of comfort,” Trixie continued in a mocking tone, then glared at him. “If you insist on looking at him like a stray pet, then feel free to do so. He's a pet, a dog that's gone rabid and is now busy killing people, a lot of people. So we put him down,” she finished harshly.

The trickster drummed his fingers on the table, and licked his lips nervously. “It's not too late for him.”

Trixie stared at him reproachfully. “It is. It's far too late. If we'd done as I asked—and kept asking over and over—then the women back at his world would be alive right now,” she said, indicating Ella with a pointed finger.

Karon tried to smile. “Statistically speaking, I'd say at least a few of them would have found another way to get themselves killed.”

Ella growled, and Karon rose from his chair and went over to the bar, his steps heavy and shoulders slumped.

The green-eyed man looked at Trixie with disgust written all over his face, and when he spoke, his voice dripped with contempt. “To try and make light of this tragedy... I can't imagine what kind of careless creature this trickster is.”

“I told you,” Trixie said and waved him off. “If you want Karon, then you also get the sense of humor.”

“He needs to take this seriously. The scriptures of our department are clear—the cold focus of harnessed rage is a valuable resource in cases like this, and if this Karon is going to help us catch this... sorcerer, then that's what we'll expect of him. We need someone seeking vengeance, not making jokes about dark dealings.”

Trixie looked at the man with an unreadable expression, then turned her eyes to Karon's back. “He is who he is, and he's more than capable of handling Leti. As for the humor... you should pray that you never get to see him in a cold rage, seeking vengeance.”

“Why?” Ella demanded.

With a crooked smile Trixie got up from her chair, and grabbed her empty plate and glass. “Because, that's a thought that scares even me.”

With those words she left Ella at the table, an uncertain expression on his face, and went over to the bar. She placed her plate and glass at the disk, then moved in and put an arm around Karon's waist. He responded by absently sliding an arm over her shoulders, though he did not turn around.

“You okay?” Trixie asked.

Karon shook his head. “No, not really.”

“Want me to go find Lyra and Promise so we can go after Leti?”

Karon shook his head, firmer this time. “No, I... where are they, by they way?”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Lyra told me they were off so she could teach the insipid little winged thing how to better control herself.”

“After four months, you'd think they'd have made some progress,” Karon muttered.

“Considering it's Promise we're talking about, I'm surprised Lyra hasn't returned with missing limbs.”

“Let it go, Trix. But that's good—it should keep them occupied for a couple of days, at least.”

“So you want just me going with you?” she asked.

Karon sat quietly for several moments, fingers drumming idly on the bar. Finally, he gave a sigh of resignation, and spoke.

"I'm going alone."

Trixie frowned, then shook off his arm and released her own hold of him. “You're joking, right? You can't be serious about going alone to this world and chasing Leti with some department that might decide you're as much a threat as he is!”

Karon turned to face her and crossed his arms, staring down at her without budging. “I'm not stupid, Trix. I'll stick with Ella as long as I need to, but no further than that. Once I've found Leti, I'll deal with him on my own.”

Trixie glared right back at Karon, but there had been something about the way he pronounced those last words that made her hesitate. “Fine,” she relented, and blew air out of her nose angrily.

Karon leaned down and kissed her on the lips. She resisted him for a second, then started to return it. When they parted, she licked her lips and looked up at him worriedly. “Don't do anything stupid.”

He grinned. “You know that's a hopeless thing to ask of me.”

Trixie smiled sadly. “I know, but I do it anyway.”

The trickster looked down at his lover without losing the grin, and she looked back up at him, the sympathy in her eyes telling him she wasn't fooled. She grabbed his hands and squeezed hard, “I'll take a look around the bazaar, see if there's anything worth picking up. If you haven't returned in five days, I'm coming after you,” she said.

Karon nodded, and she stepped up on her toes and gave him a quick kiss, then turned and walked out of the tavern. It took a few minutes before Karon returned to Ella's table, and when he did, he slumped down into it with a casual smile that revealed nothing but a vague sense of amusement.

“So? Tell me more about this demon summoning stuff.”

                                 ****************************************

Karon and Ella were making their way through the winding pathways of the great bazaar. The trickster was walking with his head lowered, deep in thought, while Ella on the other hand had trouble not gawking at everything he saw.

They had gone back to Bitz's shop, at first. After Ella had told more of the attempts at demonic summoning Leti had been performing, Karon had suggested they seek more information about the subject, since both admitted they had little to no experience with it.

Varsif had taught Erik a lot, and Karon even more, but the knowledge pertaining demons and the magic concerning them was something he had firmly kept out of reach—most likely because he didn't trust his impatient apprentice with it.

Unfortunately, Bitz could offer no enlightenment, as he himself knew little about the beings. However, he knew about one who did, which was why Karon and Ella were now on their way towards a tea house by the name of 'The King's Joint'.

“So, uhm... you know nothing about this place we're going to?” Ella asked while staring up at the shifting sky, marveling at the four suns present in it.

“Yeah,” Karon turned his head to face the man. “Never heard of it.”

“What if it's dangerous?”

Karon rolled his eyes. “Calm down, super-cop. This is the day and night harbor, the great bazaar, the divine market. There's a protection over this place, and if you make trouble, you disappear.”

“Disappear?”

“Yeah, disappear. Now heads up, I think that's the place,” Karon said, and pointed towards a building made of yellow stone with a flat roof. There was door that looked to be made out of a red metal, and the sign hanging over it proclaimed that it was The King's Joint.

Karon opened the door and headed inside, while Ella trailed behind, his movements tense and eyes scanning for danger. Inside, the place was shrouded in what felt like a perpetual gloom; candles flickered with green and blue flames, casting long shadows over the walls as the patrons were seated on cushions around low standing tables, sipping on amber-colored drinks in ceramic cups.

There was a desk standing in front of the entrance, behind which rows upon rows of jars filled with herbs and powders rose up. There was a man standing behind the desk, with shaggy dark hair and a truly epic black beard stretching all the way past his waist. Dark charcoal eyes flickered to the new arrivals, and he wiped his hands on the sand-colored robe he wore.

Karon approached the desk, while Ella remained just inside the door, looking around the establishment nervously. The man's eyes turned upwards as he noticed a giant furry shape standing to the side of the entrance, its arms crossed in a threatening stance. Black, beady eyes looked down on him from nearly twice the height, and the deepest squeak ever heard by man rumbled out from its chest.

“Can I help you with anything?” the bearded man asked in a friendly tone.

“I heard this is the place to ask about demons, is that correct?” Karon asked, and rested his arms on the desk, leaning forward on his elbows.

The bearded man looked him up and down, and his eyes unfocused as he did, as if he was looking with more than just his vision.

“A trickster. Alright, we can talk. Just a question, first—why are you interested in demons?” he asked, just as friendly as before.

Karon spread his hands, “There's this guy who's killing virgin girls trying to summon a demon to—if my friend's guess is correct—possess him and grant him power.”

The bearded man snorted. “Well, that's— hey! Stop standing there looking lost and come over here!” he shouted at Ella.

The man winced, clearly unable to take his eyes off the furry creature staring back down at him. Karon looked back and snorted when he saw the object of Ella's fascination, then walked over and grabbed the man's arm.

“Come on,” the trickster said and yanked him away.

“What is that?” Ella whispered, his voice edging on hysteria.

“Space hamster. Big bastards. You're safe in the bazaar, but don't piss it off anyway, or it'll follow us until we're outside, and then we'd be in trouble.”

“S-space hamster?”

“Yeah, I said that didn't I? You don't want to make trouble with them, they fight dirty—goes straight for the eyes. Only an imbecile would hang around with them.”

The black-bearded owner listened to the whispered conversation with amusement shining from his eyes, and when they finished, he tapped his chest and spoke.

“Good, my name is Solomon, now you tell me yours.”

“Mendax Karon Bellum, and this is Ella... uhh...”

“Sov,” the man supplied.

Solomon ignored Ella, and kept his eyes on Karon. “That's an interesting name you've got there.”

Karon grimaced. “Glad you like it. I'm not quite sure what to make of it myself.”

Solomon hummed, then tilted his head. “I think I can feel the presence a certain someone on your spirit. Why didn't you ask Him about it?”

Karon rubbed his neck. “I, uhh, wasn't sure I'd be able to get much out of Him.”

Solomon threw back his head and laughed, slamming his fist down on the table hard enough to make the whole thing shake.

“I know exactly what you mean,” he said when the laughter died down, and he wiped away the tears that had gathered in his eyes. “But say hello from me the next time you see Him.”

Karon nodded, and Solomon cleared his throat. “As I was saying, the whole sacrificing virgins thing is a complete sack of camel dung. Now, before I continue I need to point out that what one means when they use the term 'demon' is different depending on the language and area you're in. The language thing is taken care of since we're in the bazaar, and I understand what you're trying to say without fault. The area thing, though... well, for example: that guy sitting down over there, Candrian Illborne is his name, and he travels around a lot—so much, in fact, he's not even from this universe. In the place he's from, the term 'demon' is referring to something completely different from what we use around here. So, can I assume when you want to talk about demons, you're talking about the local variety?”

Karon nodded, “Yeah, Leti definitely doesn't have the knowledge to move beyond the confines of this universe.”

Solomon bobbed his head with a pleased look. “Good, makes things simpler. I won't go into some detailed description about demons, you don't need that if you just want to stop a guy from making trouble. Suffice to say, demons don't care about us. No matter what you've heard about their evil wicked intentions and bottomless penchant for spreading sin and destruction, they don't care about us, at all. So when you try and summon a demon, you've gotta understand that you're trying to force a being that has no interest in coming here to do so anyway.”

“So why all this widespread belief about sacrifice to please them, then?” Ella demanded.

Solomon looked annoyed. “Because people like me who actually know the reality of it usually don't go around blabbing about summoning demons. It always had a bad rep; in fact, nearly every tome and the like on the subject is deliberately flawed, with pieces either cut out, distorted, or mixed in with a lot of mumbo-jumbo. The point is to make sure that the only one who can read and understand what's real is either the writer, or someone who already knows enough to pick out the truth and discard the rest.”

Ella gritted his teeth, clearly uncomfortable with the careless tone he used. Karon merely nodded, and spoke. “Makes sense. So there's no chance of Leti actually summoning this demon?”

Solomon stroked his beard. “I didn't say that. Tell me more about this summoning; what do you know about it?”

Ella once again recounted everything he knew about the case, as well as everything he had witnessed himself while investigating the scenes. When he was finished, Solomon looked worried.

“No, some of that is the real deal, alright. The symbols were correct, though placed completely wrong—which tells me you're dealing with an amateur. You never told me the name of the demon he's trying to call.”

“Right,” Ella said, “It's 'Nareeth'.”

Solomon turned completely white as fear flashed across his weathered face. “That's not good, not good at all," he muttered darkly. "I've gotta say, either this amateur has a manhood to rival a god, or is a complete and utter idiot.”

“The second,” Karon sighed.

“That's the worse alternative,” Solomon grunted. “That's a very tricky one. Mostly because he's not supposed to exist, and the circumstances of his existence and arrival is murky, at best. There's no chance this fool would be able to bind him, or convince him to agree to a possession.”

“So, if Leti would succeed, the problem should take care of itself?” Karon said.

Solomon looked conflicted. “Certainly, but the question is if it would settle at that, or if it decided it wanted a whole city or two to take out its irritation on. Demons are, at their core, amoral beings with no interest in tiny, tiny beings like you and I. They are of the greater variety, no doubt about that. You have to try and understand; a demon looks at you like you look at an ant that were trying to convince you to drop everything else and focus on its ant-like business, and obey its commands. The trick is, then, that if you can't help but appear like an insect, you've gotta appear like the right kind.”

“You'll have to elaborate on that one,” Karon said with a crooked smile.

“Like this: when calling a demon, it is going to be irritated, at the least. So you've gotta approach it the right way, present yourself in a manner that makes it like you. No matter what, you're still an insect. However, you can make it look at you like you and I would look at a butterfly; something beautiful and worth leaving alone, or even appreciated and helped out if it gets you in the right mood. If you don't, and start making demands and treating the demon like a slave, though... well, then you're just an ordinary fly, trying to steal its blood and leave a poison in exchange. Prepare to be swatted.”

“So the trick is to be a butterfly,” Karon grinned.

“Yes. And wipe that smirk off your face, I know what I'm talking about.”

Karon's grin grew wider, then it faltered as he considered what he'd just been told. “So, in your opinion, would Leti be able to summon this demon going by what you've heard of his workings?”

Solomon scoffed. “Never in a thousand years. Which just makes the death of all those girls all the more horrible.”

Ella's hands cracked as he balled them into fists. “You're right about that. He needs to pay for every one of the innocent people he has murdered.”

Karon looked down on the floor, then took a deep breath and looked back up at Solomon. “Thanks for the help, we appreciate it.”

“Happy to help. Anything else you need?” he asked and looked at them with a kind smile.

Karon hesitated. “You wouldn't happen to know the answer to 'what is the greatest victory'?”

Solomon chuckled. “Afraid not, people have been looking for that one for a long time.”

Karon shrugged. “Worth a try.”

Together he and Ella left the tea house, and once outside the man turned to Karon with rage in his eyes. “We know enough. This Leti's despicable mission is all in vain, and he shall be judged for his crimes in our tribunal without mercy.”

Karon nodded, then looked into Ella's eyes. “I should join you in the search. I have experience with Leti, and I know how he thinks. He will be caught much faster with me on your side.”

Ella looked uncertain, so Karon reached into his mind carefully, and gave the man a small nudge.

“Well, you've been helpful so far,” the man admitted, then gave a sharp nod. “Yes, you will be allowed to help. I can convince my superiors that you will be a credit to the department.”

Karon suppressed his desire to smirk, and followed behind while Ella led the way back towards his homeworld.

                                     ******************************************

Misk. That was the name of Ella's homeworld; and in Karon's opinion, it was a terribly depressing one. Tall spires of gleaming dark metal stretched tall into the sky, a dark blue and gray ocean of floating clouds which crackled with energy. From the rooftops of the spires there rose rods, somehow controlling the sky, and harnessing the power within it.

Bright red and yellow lights spread from big bulbs hanging over the walkways stretching between the spires, upon which people crowded in teeming swirls of life. Karon and Ella arrived upon a platform linked to one of the walkways, a gateway having been opened through a machine of some kind.

At their arrival, a group of ten armored people raised a disc-like object Karon guessed was a weapon, and pointed it at the two of them. Ella said something in his language, and with an inward groan Karon remembered he didn't know it, and would probably have to absorb the knowledge from someone.

The guardians lowered their weapons. The helmets they wore covered their heads completely, insulating them in a shell that left a smooth plate in place of their faces.

Ella turned to Karon and said something in his language. When Karon didn't respond, he looked at him strangely. The trickster rolled his eyes, then stretched out into the man's mind.

“I can't understand you here. Places like the bazaar and The Walker's Rest have a kind of built-in translator.”

Ella flinched when he heard the trickster's voice within his skull.

“Then... how can I understand you now?”

“Your mind is just translating the data. I'm not really speaking, and you're not really using your ears for this.”

“This might prove... problematic.”

“How so?”

“Magic is frowned upon here, and your reckless use of it won't pass by unnoticed.”

“That time, that sorrow. Just lead the way to your boss or whatever so we can begin the hunt.”

Ella's right eye twitched angrily, but he barked an order to the guards blocking their path, and they hastily moved aside to allow them passage. Karon was guided through an endless mass of bodies that seemed to infest every square inch of the city, and eventually arrived at an elevator made purely out of a crystalline material, which took them up to the top of one of the spires.

The elevator opened up onto a floor covered in small blue glowing pads inserted into the floor, around which holographic displays shone in pulsating green and red lights. All the people wore the same dark blue metal armor of fused plates, giving them an appearance of futuristic knights, with U-shaped devices hanging at their belts.

They all turned as one when Karon and Ella stepped onto the floor, and a deathly silence fell over the crowd. Karon raised both his eyebrows, then grinned and took a sweeping bow.

Ella grabbed the back of his robe and yanked him up with a growl, and the trickster turned his head and flashed him a smile, and kept on smiling as Ella led them froward towards the other end of the room, winking at some of the women staring on the way.

They two of them stopped when they reach a group of three people, two of them women with black skin and yellow eyes, curly hair falling down to their shoulders in grayish brown. The third was a man, bald like Ella, his skin completely black and possessing a pair of steely blue eyes that settled on Karon.

He was the one exception to the dress code, it seemed, for he wore nothing else but a simply dark red shirt and pants the same color, with a golden badge the same color and symbol as Ella's marked on the former.

Ella slammed a fist on his chest, and said something to the man. He didn't take his eyes off Karon, and barely seemed to be aware of Ella's presence for a moment, until his eyes changed their target and turned to him.

There was a quick exchange of rapidly-fired words, and although Karon couldn't understand it, he understood much simply by observing their auras. The suspicion, the anger and accusation—and, underneath it all, rising fear.

Ella looked more and more distraught by the second, and Karon didn't try and hide his amusement at the ongoing condemnation. Though, eventually he tired of hearing Ella being chewed out by his boss, and stretched his ethereal fingers into the chief's mind.

“Not that I'm not enjoying the show, but maybe we should get down to business so Leti doesn't slaughter more innocent people.”

The elderly man flinched like he had been struck, then very carefully, Karon felt how he tried to sense the alien presence inside his own mind, clumsy attention focused in weak spurts, something the trickster easily avoided.

“Are you done yet? Because we should get on with the chase.”

Once again, the man flinched, and stared at Karon, not quite able to hide his fear. He barked something at Ella, and Karon could practically hear how he swallowed in response.

The conversation then took a turn into another dimension of uncomfortable entirely, and the two women flanking the leader squirmed visibly as the tension in the room rose with every uttered word.

Karon sighed while making a bored face. He then turned and walked over to one of the holographic displays, flashing a wide smile at the lone red-haired girl standing there.

She shrunk back when he approached, and somehow managed to blend into the background and still remain on the small platform at the same time. Karon rolled his eyes, then turned them to the display.

The red and green lights were shaped into moving geometrical patterns, somehow flowing into one another, creating symbols that appeared to be almost spontaneously growing without any discernible pattern.

Karon started hitting them randomly.

A choir of protests rose from around the room, carrying with it a hint of panic as the boss stalked over and grabbed Karon's shoulder before yanking him away from the console.

He growled something threateningly at Karon, and the trickster blinked rapidly with a look of innocence on his face.

“I was just trying to help, you know, since you seemed to be too busy arguing to do anything useful.”

The man's expression turned sour, and with anger rising in the man's aura like scarlet bile, he responded.

“The search is continuing at full capacity. The machines are tracking the whereabouts of any females under the age of thirty who fit the... profile of the victims.”

The amused glint in Karon's eyes fell away.

“So, let me get this straight... you're tracking young females who are virgins—and it is terribly creepy you can do that, by the way—and are now waiting for... what? That they drop off the radar and die?”

“In essence, yes.”

Karon stared dumbfounded at the man.

“Are you fucking insane, or just plain psychopathic? It's okay if you say yes, I've got history with both kinds.”

Apparently that was taking it too far, because the man shouted something, and the five closest people, barring Ella, pulled up the U-shaped devices that hung from the belts at their hips, and pointed them at Karon. With a melodramatic sigh, he held up his hands and reached out for Ella's mind.

“Can you do something about this?”

“What did you do!?”

“Called your boss insane for waiting on some other girl to get killed.”

Ella's mental groan was impressive. “He will never forgive that. I was already in trouble for bringing you back here, and your display of magic isn't helping me convince him you could be an asset.”

“Uhh, isn't it my ability to use magic that makes me an asset?”

“Yes, but we need to control you; otherwise you don't count as an asset, according to the scriptures. If you're uncontrolled, then you're... a threat.”

Karon groaned with an annoyed look on his face, then shook his head firmly.

“Looks like we'll have to do this one solo.”

“We were gonna ditch these clowns eventually, anyway,” a dry voice rose from inside his mind.

“So, should we do this Rambo style, or try something more subtle?”

“You could just reveal that we're a soul eater. That boss dude would probably shit himself in fear.”

“And then they'd make me a priority target over Leti.”

“They're going to do that, anyway; well, not a priority over, but we will definitely make the wanted list.”

“Okay then, Rambo style.”

“You are an inspiration for tricksters everywhere.”

A nasty, crooked grin split Karon's face, and his eyes turned to the elderly man that would act as commander for the lot of them, the one who considered it perfectly acceptable to sacrifice young women if it meant staying within his comfort zone.

“And here I thought I was supposed to be the morally ambiguous one.”

“We're having a bad day, that's all.”

A growl rose slowly in the back of Karon's throat.

“And now these people are about to have one, too.”

The blue eyes of the leader flickered uncertainly when he heard the growl issue from Karon, despite that the trickster was still holding his hands up in surrender. With a last smile Karon reached into Ella's mind, and sent an apologetic feeling to him. Then he vanished.

A shocked cry issued forth from the people in the room, and at a bark from the commander, the brandished weapons fired blue charges that screeched with electrical power. The projectiles sailed through the air, and eventually impacted on the walls where they stuck in sticky blobs of glowing blue, not one finding purchase with their unseen target.

Karon chuckled as he made his way towards the elevator. When he pressed the glowing display, the doors opened with a soft whirr, and instantly blue projectiles came flying into it, filling the small crystalline chamber with the sticky goo.

Waiting patiently for the barrage to end to the left of the elevator, Karon observed the people inside the room—the fury of the commander, the uncertain looks present on the goons, and Ella's conflicted expression.

When they finally stopped firing into the elevator, Karon quickly stepped inside, careful not to touch the goo, and pressed the bottom symbol on the display inside. The doors quickly slid shut, and the elevator went downwards with a silent hum, giving Karon one last look at the shocked faces of the people he'd just evaded.

“That wasn't exactly Rambo.”

“No, because that part comes now that they've probably sounded some kind of alarm and we need to deal with anyone that gets in our way.”

“Good, you had me worried you'd solve this without violence for a second.”

“Since when has that ever worked?”

The elevator descended smoothly until it stopped, and the doors opened up to the walkway Karon had arrived from. The air outside smelled faintly of oil and metal, and the charged air made the hair on his arms stand up.

Almost the second the elevator opened up, five of the metal-clad guardians standing outside raised their weapons and fired into it, forcing an invisible Karon to fling himself out onto the ground. He crawled forward until he reached the crescent line of trigger-happy cops, and pulled up into a crouch right underneath the man standing in the middle.

With a swift motion, Karon sprang up and grabbed hold of both the man's hands, turning them and the weapon up into the air, before completing the movement by striking the mans chin with an elbow from below. The uppercut caught him off-guard, and he fell back unconscious.

The other four, two flanking Karon on each side, reacted with admirable speed, bringing their weapons to bear at the invisible presence. In response, Karon crouched down once again, a smile finding its way to his lips as the projectiles whizzed past him, narrowly passing by the guards opposite one another. He stretched out both arms towards his opponents, and the field cloaking him dropped as the electrical charge surged out from his hands, striking all four of the assailants—

And harmlessly dispersing across their blue-black armor.

“Uh-oh.”

Four of the U-shaped devices pointed down at the now-visible Karon, and although the featureless helmets hid their faces, he could practically feel their smug smiles.

A split second to gather energy, then the projectiles struck him, searing his flesh with a sizzling sound. The bolts stuck to him, and the wave of pain caused white dots of light to appear and dance in Karon's field of vision.

He sank down to the ground hissing, and the four guards ceased firing, spreading out in a circle with their weapons still aimed at him unwavering.

“Not very Rambo-like, but maybe they'll give you a gold star for effort.”

“I'm not done yet!”

The men surrounding him had their attention fixed on his prone shape, waiting for any sign of further resistance, waiting for him to do something physically.

Instead, Karon reached into their auras, sinking into their minds and bridging them to himself. Once upon a time, it would have been far beyond his ability to share his mind with four others all at once.

Once upon a time.

He flowed into them like black oil, filling their minds with his presence, opening up cracks in their mental defenses. The men started swaying drunkenly, a haze coming over their senses as their brains tried to handle the sudden surge of new input by shutting out more and more of it.

Karon bypassed it easily, then allowed the men to feel only what he felt, the pain still surging through him as the currents of the bolts kept on racking his body.

The men screamed in unison and dropped their weapons, falling to their knees while cradling their heads, no doubt pounding as pain they didn't actually feel were forced upon them. The sensation alone would have been hard to deal with, but together with the trauma caused by trying to understand how they could be feeling it, when their body didn't even register it in the first place, was too much.

And besides, Karon knew pain intimately. The men, not so much.

One by one, they fell silent and dropped to the ground as unconsciousness finally took them into its blissful embrace. With a groan Karon stood up, and cleared off the sticky bolts still sticking to his clothes.

“Maybe we should invest in some armor like them.”

“What, and sound like Trixie walking around, squealing and unable to sneak worth a damn? No thanks.”

“Just a suggestion.”

“Leave the armor thing to the tin man patrol, here. Our mind is our armor.”

He walked over to one of the unconscious men, and gently kicked him a few times. The impact made a soft chiming sound as his boot struck the metal. Then, Karon held out his arms in open invitation.

“You got trickster'd, bitch! What now?”

In answer, a blue bolt whizzed past Karon's left ear, and the trickster turned to see eight more of the guards running towards him. The walkway had cleared almost entirely of people, and what few remained were firmly pressing themselves towards the buildings, trying to make themselves appear as small as possible.

The walkway they all stood on was suspended high into the air, and Karon had been unable to see the ground when he had first passed by with Ella, as a mist rose to cover the area a few floors below.

“Hey, I wanna try something.”

“Fuck, that can't be good.”

“The atmosphere here is charged to the max with those rod things.”

“And?”

“Seems a shame not to use it.”

Something flowed up from the depths of Karon's mind- no, not mind, but deeper. An instinct borne in the cauldron that Karon's soul had turned into, the chaotic puzzle pieces that were the energy of the beings he had devoured shaped itself into a flash of inspiration, as memories and powers joined into a new understanding.

In the depths of what had been destroyed and devoured, something formed, and was created in response to Karon's need.

The trickster cackled madly as he rushed to the edge of the walkway and threw himself off of it. He sailed through the air, his laughter spreading outwards as he fell down, and the mist devoured him.

As he fell, he reached out into the world around him, up into the air above the tall spires, where energy blossomed and discharged in thunder and light. There were layers of heat pulsating throughout the sky above the clouds, and the complexity of the intermingling forces was vast.

Karon drew upon it all.

Electricity surged into him with a thunderclap, and it felt like several lightning strikes were unleashed into him all at the same time, but nothing but a faint nimbus of light appearing around him could be seen.

The power built, and kept on building as he fell. A buzzing rose to fill his ears, and colors Karon had never seen before seemed to bleed out into the world. Falling through the air, the adrenaline and rushing wind blended with the energy to create a cocktail screaming inside Karon's head in ecstasy.

His body felt like it was dissolving, becoming more and more like the air and energy surrounding him. Gradually, Karon's descent slowed, until he wasn't falling anymore, but floating through the mist. His red robe fluttered in the wind, spreading out to cover his arms like billowing wings, and his cackling laughter grew to sound more like the shrieking of a bird.

He wasn't shapeshifting; that was an arduous process that took hours, and involved systematic shutting-down of the sensations of the body as it was broken down and reshaped itself. No, this was something else entirely. Karon's body didn't change; it dissolved, until he appeared almost translucent, a half-spirit covered in a blood-colored robe, amber eyes glowing as his head snapped from side to side, seeing something blind to ordinary eyes.

Out of the mist, the ground suddenly rose to greet him, and as soon as Karon's feet touched the dark soil, the energy discharged into the earth with a wrenching that left Karon feeling hollow.

He staggered, momentarily dazed as his ordinary senses returned to him, and the world steadied itself.

“What the fuck was that?”

“I don't know... it just... felt right.”

“Yeah, I kinda noticed. Still, don't do shit like that again.”

“What? Afraid, or something?”

“Did those bolts do something to our head? Brain damage, maybe.”

“No, I just feel great. That felt great.”

“Yeah, so what now?”

Karon looked around. There was nothing in sight, as the mist thickened into an impenetrable soup after a few meters in every direction. The ground he stood on was hard soil, black dirt with small glimmers of loose rocks.

He furrowed his brow and brought a hand up to massage his head. There was still a faint buzzing in his ears, and the tips of his fingers tingled. He wasn't sure what he had just done, as it had been a thing of instinct. He hadn't forced something, it was more like...

“I let go, and allowed it to happen.”

“Maybe you shouldn't do it again. This was unexpected, and could be disruptive.”

“Disruptive to what? It's not like we got anything big planned. We need to deal with Leti, but we're not exactly engaged in anything else at the moment.”

“I'm just saying, the way things have gone for us the last few years, maybe some caution would be wise unless we want to find ourselves in even deeper shit than now. Or have you forgotten just how much has happened in the last decade?”

“I see your point.”

“Good, so what now?”

Karon turned his eyes upwards, but the mist was just as thick in every direction but down. With a sigh Karon kicked at some of the dirt, then tilted his head and looked down at it curiously.

“I might have an idea.”

“More impromptu sky-diving?”

“No, this dirt is pretty loose.”

“And?”

“And it's pretty perfect for drawing symbols, and I happen to remember the ones Ella described Leti using, the ones Solomon said were the real deal.”

“Fuck, no! We are not summoning a demon!”

“What else are we going to do? We've got nothing to try and divine Leti's location with, and even if we had the freaky atmosphere might interact with the attempt in a weird way. If Leti has sacrificed almost a hundred virgins to this demon, it seems unlikely it wouldn't at least have sensed it, even if it chose to ignore it.”

“Maybe, but what makes you think this demon won't squish us if we do actually manage to summon it?”

“Because,” Karon grinned. “I'm a pretty butterfly.”

The description for the symbols was still fresh in Karon's mind, and he draw them on the ground with his feet, dragging them through the dirt firmly. It took time, and as he worked, he felt himself beginning to understand them, how the lines moved into one another, transmitting forces, instructions and information. Finally, he completed the sigil, and took a few steps back to look at his handiwork.

It would work, he was certain of it. Whether the demon would appear or not was another matter, but the symbolism itself was ironclad. All it needed now was a spark to get it going.

“Here we go.”

“Wanna guess who I'm blaming if this thing obliterates us?”

Karon reached out with his hands towards the sigil, and a purple light shone from them, striking the symbols with an almost tender force.

The sigil lit up instantly, and it was like a crack appeared as the energy spread, not outwards, but inwards—as if it was reaching through the very fabric of reality, into another place.

The light kept on shining for half a minute, then faltered, and finally went out. Nothing had appeared within the sigil.

“Well, it was worth a shot.”

“What is this? A trickster in need of aid? And so in keeping with the foolish ways of your kin, you call upon me. How amusing.”

Karon spun around to see a shape emerge from the mist. It appeared like a human, dressed in a dark coat, buttoned up in a strict fashion, with black suit pants and shirt, and a blood-red tie the same color as Karon's own robe. The demon appeared bald with skin the color of tea, and green eyes with no whites looked at him curiously, red reptilian slits dividing them into half orbs.

It kept watching, unblinking, until Karon bowed his head and spoke, a faint trembling present in his voice.

“I called on you because I am in need of your help,” he said.

The demon blinked then, slowly, but remained silent.

Karon felt sweat starting to gather on his forehead, and quickly continued. “There is a man, killing innocents, sacrificing virgin girls to try and gain your favor; to summon you, and convince you to give him power by joining with him in possession.

The lips of the demon turned upwards into a faint smile. “And why should it bother me what one human does to another? He may know my name, but that grants him no power over me. There are many who call out to me, who perform deeds in my name, thinking it pleases me. What would they feel, if they were to find out that their deeds and hopes mean nothing, and does nothing, I do wonder.”

Karon cleared his throat. “Perhaps there's no reason for you to care right now, but the people of this world have taken this seriously, and they know your name. When they find Leti, they will most likely decide they should summon you, to trap or even destroy you, to keep this from happening again.”

The demon's smile turned into a grin as its eyes flared with a fiery light, and Karon looked queasy. There was a shivering energy slowly spreading out from the demon; energy that spoke of an alien nature that could never be truly defined.

“Why should that bother me? Another flock of apes busy chattering, expelling air in sounds that hold little meaning. Lone candles flickering in the gale of the world they inhabit, clinging to the skin of a planet all the while thinking themselves more than simple parasites.”

“This planet has power, and they have tamed it; you can sense it, surely. They will use that power against you,” Karon insisted.

“That would be amusing. But they might as well try and assail the heavens, for all the good it will do them. Is this all you have to say? You would risk calling me, armed only with pleads that even you find unconvincing?”

“I'm a pretty butterfly, I'm a pretty butterfly, I'm a pretty—”

“Butterflies do not entice me. Try again,” the demon said.

“Oh fuck, oh, fuck, oh fuck.”

“I'm afraid that does not entice me either, and I am in the wrong form for that with your preferences,” the demon smiled.

“I... I need your help. Surely it wouldn't take much for you to—”

“Mortals. So small and ignorant, hands eagerly grasping for everything you take as precious. It is an artful irony, and I am a big fan of irony. You see something greater than you, and shudder, insisting that the only way your answers and deeds can have value is if the rest of creation bows to your importance. There is an immeasurable hunger within the mortal shell for immortality, for eternity, and that is the greatest irony of all; but you can't see that, and so the spiral ever carries mortal struggles, along with the muted laughter of gods and demons alike.”

Karon's mouth had turned dry, and he opened his mouth to speak, but found himself unable to utter a word. His voice stolen by a mere glance from the demon, and it grinned at him before continuing.

“I did not come here to answer the call of the one who calls himself 'Nagrosh the Dark'. He does not interest me. But you, trickster... you interest me.”

Karon felt a cold spread throughout his body at the fierce attention he felt focused upon him. A mind that seeped into his very being and picked it apart, undressing his soul with careless ease.

“You struggle as all mortals do, but your struggle is almost... unique, for there is a possibility, a road growing from within yourself. Destiny.”

It took Karon a moment to realize the demon had not spoken the last word out loud.

“Your mind is as open to me as any others, and you can not hide from me what you would from them. With every choice you make, a foundation is laid. Twin paths you carry within yourself, and there are others, who invest their greedy hopes in you, while at the same time fearing what you could become.”

Karon started trembling. The demon's voice sunk into him like barbed wires, wrapping itself around his mind.

“Questions burn within your shell, and you can respond only with half-formed answers. Voices whisper, and rise with each choice made, power growing, growing, growing... what can be born from such things, I wonder. But perhaps you would rather dispense with the trappings of destiny, roam free without burdens and murky waters waiting for you? What does it mean to be a trickster? Do you know the answer to that question, or do you carry it still? Can you see the truth, or is the lack thereof the answer itself?”

“What do you want?!”

“To observe, nothing more... but you called me here, so now I must also act. Mendax Karon Bellum; there are two paths within that name, as the meaning of the name is not yet clear? Or did you think all those who heard it actually knew what it meant? They didn't, no one does, for you haven't made that choice yet... it is the irony of destiny. To leave such events, such crossroads of change into the hands of mortals. Is it mercy? Or is it just another experiment? It is amusing, either way. The power of a god, free will, wielded by a mortal who does not even know himself... I could not ask for better entertainment.”

“I just wanted help—”

“Of course you do. You struggle ever forward- but what do you struggle for? The questions burn, and the answers beckon as destiny is built, and the possibility of choice is born. But make yourself all lies, and truth will break you. There are laws, trickster, and your kind is like a parasite feeding on them, exploiting the works that moves the universe, and which allow it to survive another day. Has it ever occurred to you that, like you mortals, there is no certainty in this existence, that the universe itself is struggling to survive? But it does not matter to you, little trickster, does it?”

“I...”

“No. You are a rebel, and no rules will constrain you, isn't that right? Destiny will carry you forward, and you will do your best to spit in its eye, so much like your patron. But your choice is not yet made, two paths you have before and within you, and I look forward to seeing which one you'll take.”

“Always bet on black, once you go black you'll never go back.”

A surge of amusement flowed into Karon, and something like a reptilian hiss cackled in a version of laughter.

“Oh, you have no idea the truth hidden within those words, trickster. Perhaps you will one day see it. And if you finally do, then you will know that no joke can shield you. I know the name of your true enemy, and it is one all beings, from god to man, fear facing.”

“You speak of my destiny. Will—”

“No, I don't want to tell you. The truth means nothing to a trickster after all, isn't that right? It is your nature to deceive, or so I've heard. But whom do you deceive, and for what? So many questions, and so many answers. I don't want to spoil the... surprise.”

“Then will you at least help me with Leti?” Karon felt some of his strength returning as the demon's grip on his mind eased.

“That depends. What will you do?”

“I'll...”

Karon stared down at the dark ground, a sickened expression on his face.

“I'll kill him... I'll... devour him.”

The demon's amusement spread like a blooming warmth through his mind.

“So you surrender to necessity? You choose to give in to the path you feel must be taken, the demands of justice, of vengeance?”

“I must."

The demon hissed in laughter out loud, and its presence within Karon's mind faded.

“Very well then, trickster. A choice has been made, and the path is built with every one you make.”

“How will you help me?” Karon frowned, ignoring the chill at the demon's words.

“I will send you to him. I can feel his presence even now, reaching out for me with a hopeless yearning. You will face him, and his soul, you will take it for your own. Is that right?”

Karon nodded, his shoulders sagging as if a great burden was placed on them.

The transition was effortless, and the world began to blur. Before he completely disappeared, Karon heard the demon speak inside his mind a final time.

“I wonder, what kind of victory is that?”

The world settled into a dark haze, then abruptly, Karon found himself staring at a metal door, inserted into a metal wall that looked the same as the tall spires of the walkways. But this one stood on the ground, and going by the mist surrounding him, Karon guessed he was at the foundation of one of the tall buildings.

He moved his hand over the door, and briefly a symbol flared up on it with a harsh red light. Karon snorted and shook his head.

“Always the amateur, Leti, even unto the end.”

With a burst of energy from Karon's hand, the symbol shattered into sprinkles of light that fell to the ground, and died out. Stepping forward, Karon grabbed the bar situated across the middle of the door, and pulled outwards.

The door opened with a shriek of metal, flakes of rust drifting down from the hinges inside, and Karon plunged into the dark corridor it opened into. Inside, there was just a faint line of light running along the corners, giving just enough to make out simple shapes.

At the end of the corridor another doorway opened up on his left, and when Karon stepped across the threshold, he felt the emission of energy in the room. It was big, with metallic boxes stacked upon one another, marking it as some kind of storage facility. In the middle of the room an area had been cleared, and there now stood an altar with two candles lit upon it, their light framing Leti as he stood before it, waiting for Karon.

The trickster walked forward slowly, as if measuring each step he took. His hands flicked out to the side now and again, as if grasping for something. He stopped when he was almost within reach of Leti, and the two of them stood observing one another, waiting for the silence to be broken.

“So you've come to stop me once again,” Leti snarled.

Karon nodded, a pained expression flashing across his face. “I need to, Leti. This time you've—”

“My name is NAGROSH!” he roared at the trickster.

The words echoed across the vast room, and left a deafening silence in its wake, broken only by Karon's tired sigh. “Yes, I think you've finally become Nagrosh the Dark. Congratulations.”

Leti appeared taken aback, then his mouth twisted into a crooked smile.

“Yes, and now I get to stare into your eyes and watch you die.”

The sorcerer made a yanking motion with his hand, as if pulling a lever or rope. Nothing happened.

Karon shook his head once more. “Nagrosh, you might have earned that name now, but you're still as dumb as Leti was. Within two steps I had already sensed your traps, within four I had already identified what kind they were. When I had taken eight steps I had started working on them, and within twelve steps I had unraveled them. I now stand two steps away from you, Leti. Two steps, that is all I need to end you, so before you do something stupid, ask yourself... can you say the same?”

Nagrosh stared at the trickster as he dismissed his plans as if they were nothing. Rage burned within the sorcerer's eyes as the trickster foiled his plans once more—spoke to him like he was nothing but a child.

With a furious cry Nagrosh reached inside his robe and withdrew a dagger, then lunged forward. The dagger sank into Karon's chest—

Then passed through the illusion harmlessly, as the sorcerer staggered forward.

Hands reached out from behind and grabbed the sorcerer's head, then slammed him down to the ground. The dagger clattered away, and Nagrosh stared up in a daze. Karon went down and placed a knee on his chest. The sorcerer weakly reached up with his arms and tried to push him away, but Karon only pressed down on him harder, forcing a squeal of protest from Nagrosh.

“No more chances. I've tried so many times, to give you another chance. I have showed mercy, and all you've done is cause more damage—and now, death. You've gone too far this time, and I can't... I'm sorry Le- Nagrosh, but I can't let you go this time. No more mercy.”

“You've shown me nothing, trickster! Every time we have met, you have mocked me, and I've not seen any mercy in your eyes, but only how much you despise me!”

“No more chances, Leti,” Karon said, tears gathering in his eyes. “I can't save you—some people are broken and can't be saved.”

The sorcerer screamed in rage, then in terror as Karon reached into him. Wounds opened up inside the trickster's soul, awakened by the pain, the rage and regret that howled inside Karon and Nagrosh alike. The sorcerer had nothing to resist with; he had long ago lost his will.

The sorcerer's howl echoed throughout the room, then, it died out.

Karon didn't move as tears fell down on the dried husk that was all that remained of Leti, the man who had sought for years to become Nagrosh, and finally succeeded.

Memories flowed inside Karon, and this once, he did nothing to suppress them. Leti's life flashed before his mind's eye, and he witnessed how he had grown from child to man, and then how the man's hopes had turned to despair, his pride to self-loathing, as everything he did was met by failure. And finally, how he had met a trickster, who looked at him exactly like he had come to look at himself.

Karon felt the final resolve of the man, the yearning to make those eyes look at him any other way. With pain or fear, rage or pride, it didn't matter. Just as long as they didn't pity him.

And then, a final memory, as he looked up at the trickster, and saw sadness in his eyes. Sadness, and hunger- then nothing more.

The memories sank down into his soul, and the essence of Leti Hakonaris, grandson of the witch Amygda, joined itself to the river flowing within Karon's wounded soul. Then the trickster rose, and left the corpse behind.

It was just a shell. What he had killed, he would carry with him.

                                             ****************************************

Karon sat at the bar. Two empty bottles stood in front of him, and he was well on his way emptying a third. On the other side stood the bartender, cleaning a glass as usual. Trixie had been waiting for him to return, but once he had, it only took one look at him for her understand that he didn't want her company.

There was no truer sign of how deeply she loved him, than when she turned around and went out of the tavern without uttering a single word.

Not needing to ask for it, the bartender had provided Karon bottle after bottle—of what, the trickster had no idea, and didn't care. They seemed to be doing their job, and it hadn't taken long before a dulling numbness had spread throughout his body, leaving only a sickened feeling that went far beyond the physical.

Karon hiccuped, then his eyes grew wide as a realization struck him, and he chuckled darkly.

“I finally... I finally figured it out,” he slurred.

The bartender stopped his polishing, and turned his eyes to Karon.

Too drunk to react to the attention, and what it meant, he continued.

“'What is the greatest victory'? Well, I know now: it's to reach into someone, and make them destroy themselves. Leti was always a fool, but it was meeting me that tipped him over the edge, because,” Karon snorted, “because of the way I looked at him. I sent Leti on a mad quest with a glance, and when he finally broke completely, I arrived to take whatever was left of him, and tear it to pieces. I understand now—the greatest victory is to make someone destroy themselves.”

“You're wrong."

Karon blinked, and red-shot eyes focused on the bartender.

“The greatest victory,” the bartender said in a soft voice, “is not to destroy someone at all. It is to understand them, to reach into them. The greatest victory is to take an enemy, and show them a better way.”

“I can't fix a broken person. I can't save someone that's lost,” Karon insisted, his voice cracking.

The bartender looked into his eyes compassionately.

“No, you can't.”

Karon's mouth opened as he struggled to understand, his drunken mind grasping for even a semblance of logical reasoning, but failing miserably. So instead, the trickster snorted, and shook his head.

“The demon was right,” he said, then took another swig of the bottle. “I don't know anything. I don't even know what it means to be a trickster- I thought I did, but I was wrong. It's like all I can do is destroy people, completely. Shredding their souls and eating the scraps... a vulture feasting on a carcass. No mercy, from Discord to Leti, I can't do anything else, and I don't even know why. And I don't know where I'm supposed to find answers.”

The bartender met Karon's eyes, then looked over his shoulder, and nodded towards something behind him.

The trickster turned around, and saw a human-shaped form, made entirely out of smoke, with fire flickering throughout the haze. Two yellow eyes with red, reptilian slits focused on Karon, and the presence sent a shiver of recognition through him.

“Eldros?” he croaked.

Within the trickster's mind, a voice responded.

“Greetings to thee, I come on behest of one in need. Equestria is calling for its champion. Wilt thou heed the call?”

Karon stared at the shape for what seemed like an eternity. Then, he turned around and grabbed the bottle, putting it to his mouth and turning it upside down. The liquid ran down his throat, setting his insides ablaze. When the bottle ran empty, he put it down gingerly on the bar, and looked at Eldros, smiled a crooked smile, and hiccuped.

“Well, why the hell not?”