The Newt and Demon

Perhaps it was the fact that Theo had spent such a long time in such a drab environment, but he was feeling spicy. Instead of heading directly for the universe's center to meet with the gods, he made a detour toward his own world. He sought to come into view as that familiar green and blue marble hung against the sheet of black. Mion made a surprised noise as they descended, landing in Boar Hollow to a confused-looking Belgar.

The landscape was unchanged and felt tightly browsed. He had expected that the time he spent in the paper dimension would have changed his world, but it was exactly as he remembered it. His mind reeled for a moment before he turned to Belgar to ask for answers.

"The reset didn't happen, did it?" he asked, feeling much of his confusion fall away.

“No, you haven't been gone that long, maybe a day?” Belgar said, scratching his head. “Why?”

"That's a long story. For now, I need to make a trip to the heavens to clear some things up. This means I'll need you to watch my guest."

“A guest?” Belgar asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Unfortunately," Theo said, weaving a few spells and infusing them with as much willpower as he could. A series of barriers appeared around Leon, trapping him where he stood. “He’s more of a temporary prisoner.”

"I'm a prisoner now," Leon stated, as though it was the best news he had heard in a long time. "Oh, why am I a prisoner?"

"I should keep you away from any interdiction events, and I'm sorry, Leon, but I don't actually quite trust you yet," Theo said. "Keep an eye on him, Belgar. I don't think he's violent, but I want to sort things out with the gods before I address him."

"I've been a prisoner for countless thousands of years," Leon said with a shrug. He pulled back the paper-like hood, revealing his etched visage. "What's a few more hundred years of waiting?"

“Glad you understand, Leon,” Theo said, feeling Tresk's impatience with him grow by the moment. “But if I don't leave now, I'm afraid I'll be stabbed to death by my life partner. I'll see you in a few hours.”

Before either Leon or Belgar could say anything, he fell into the void. When he slipped into it, he felt it was an act easier than ever. He barely had to reach out, and he slipped through the cracks, feeling the makeup of that layer more clearly than ever. His time in the paper dimension had not only expanded his willpower to an absurd degree, but it had also sent his knowledge of the makeup of the dimensions to heights he doubted others possessed.

Instead of flying through the void like a ship cast adrift on the ocean, he folded it in on itself, moving from the space around his own world to the heavens in the blink of an eye. As he descended toward the throne containing the gods and the system, a smile spread across his face. Tresk was floating nearby, her arms folded as she muttered something to him, as if he couldn't hear. Each god was assembled, standing in their respective spots with their arms folded or hands in the air, making rude gestures and shouting. The system looked annoyed.

"I see you finally deigned to grace us with your presence," the system said. It was the most annoyed Theo had ever heard her. The smile fell away from his face.

Theo shrugged, trying to determine the best way to approach the problem. At first, he thought of antagonizing the system, but that wouldn't do. It was a logical entity that operated on a set of rules. From what he understood, he hadn't violated any of the rules, which meant it was the other gods who were annoying her, not him. So he put on his best smile and gave her a slight bow.

"Apologies, but I was dragged into a part of the system I wasn't aware existed," he said. Looking between the gods, Death appeared to be the most perturbed. "I didn't violate any of the rules established by the system, did I?"

"You've caused quite the stir," the system said. "Particularly, Death, Fate, and Omen are quite upset. They think you've brought someone from their past back to reality."

It wasn't hard to put things back together. Death was Kuzan, who was from the old world. He was also certain both Fate and Omen were important in that time, although he didn’t know what role they played. So King Leon, an elf locked away in some strange dimension for about 60,000 years, was likely the King of Perisart. What that meant for Theo’s situation was beyond him, but he was glad he had imprisoned the man. If only for safekeeping.

"I fail to see how the reaction of the gods impacts me," Theo said, looking between the disenfranchised gods before him. "If there is a mortal soul in an adjacent dimension or the void, they fall under my care. Do they not?"

“Almost,” Khahar said, stepping into view. Theo wasn’t sure how he had missed him. “He falls under our authority.”

“What’s the big deal?” Theo asked. “Like I said, he’s just an errant soul.”

The System waved a crystalline hand, and Death cleared his throat.

“It isn’t as simple as that,” Death said. "There was a struggle for power back in the day, and I'm afraid to say I am the one who cast him into that dimension."

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"Which seriously sounds like your problem," Theo said with a shrug. "So you're afraid he'll try to get revenge on you?"

"The system currently rests in a delicate balance," the system said. "I'm reluctant to release somebody like that who might assail what we've worked hard to build."

“Someone needs to point to the part where that breaks the rules,” Theo said. “I really don’t think he’s that bad. We were down there for a year.”

“Thirty years,” the system corrected.

“Excuse me?” Theo asked.

“The time-dilation is rather intense in that dimension. While I couldn’t undo the power Death had placed on it before the reset, I sealed it with an unbreakable ward,” the system said.

“Didn’t feel very unbreakable. And it certainly didn’t feel like thirty years… Wait, did I age thirty years? Am I old again?” Theo asked.

“Your increased attributes were the reason you survived,” the system said.

“Can we talk about the ‘unbreakable’ seal Theo broke?” Khahar asked.

"That may become problematic," the system said. Her irritation seemed to come to the fore once again.

Theo took only a moment to consider what exactly had happened. Now that he was out of the strange dimension, he could reflect on his experiences there. It had all passed in a flash in his mind. Although he was certain that a year had passed, instead, thirty had. For that entire time, he had been pushing his willpower to its limits. The result was a new willpower that was indescribable. He couldn't sense the vast ocean of power inside him because he had grown used to it. However, if he compared what he could do now to what he could do before, the results were obvious. He could see why this system wasn't happy with him.

"So, what do you want to do? Execute Leon, or something?" Theo asked. "Put him back into the cycle of rebirth, or what?"

"That is the matter we are discussing,” the system said.

“If the Arbiter and the Dreamwalker take custody of him, we’re responsible for him,” Khahar said. “That means when the insane elf breaks his chains, we need to be there to take care of him.”

Theo felt a twitch of something in his mind. Something lingering in the back that he wasn't happy with. He turned, casting his eyes over the snowy landscape as a single eyebrow twitched. "Well, I'm afraid we may already have a problem," he said.

"He got out, didn't he?" Khahar asked, growling.

“Yeah, I was pretty sure that barrier was strong enough to hold an ascendant, if not a god,” Theo said. “I put every ounce of my willpower into it.”

"You've released King Leon," Death said, his voice sounding thin. "Out into the open world. What have you done?"

"I highly recommend that next time you're attempting to contain some eldritch entity, you put a stronger lock on the box," Theo said, jabbing his finger at the system. "It was pretty easy to break; it only took 30 years."

“I cannot track him,” the system said. “He left Tero’gal and fell into the void.”

“Did I mention he used to be Death?” Death asked. “Sad to say, but he followed in my footsteps, becoming the Mad King of Perisart.”

“Someone should’ve pinned a note to his chest,” Theo said. “Seriously, he was super normal down there. And he was becoming more normal the more mortal food I gave him.”

“The entities within that realm are proto-monsters,” Death explained. “They’re templates used for creating chimeras. If someone were to spend a long time within the realm, they would become proto-versions of themselves, which would strip them down to their base parts. If his old self was restored, that would be bad.”

“But we should have the authority to stop him if he causes trouble in the other worlds,” Khahar said. “If he tries something on the mortal world, he’ll be subject to Fenian and Tresk.”

Tresk flailed in the air after hearing her name. The system waved her hand, releasing her from whatever magic bound her. Falling to the ground, the marshling sucked in a large breath, releasing a string of curses that were both creative and profane. When she caught her breath, she ran over and pulled Theo into a massive hug.

“I’m thrilled to see you’re alive,” she said, bashing her head against him a few times. “No more vanishing into hell dimensions, okay? Promise?”

“I’ll do my best,” Theo said. “But this might reveal another problem. The way I fell into it was from decomposing a reagent from a dungeon.”

“My sealed realm leaked into a dungeon,” Death said with a nod. “That isn’t good.”

“We’re going to chalk that up as ‘very bad’ for now,” Khahar said. “But the top of our list should be Leon. Which means Fenian and Tresk have some work to do.”

“I can help,” Theo said.

“We need to scour the void,” Khahar said.

Theo wasn’t convinced Leon was bad. He had met quite a few people most would consider deplorable. But the point of the world was to give people a new start. If they didn’t die when they died, they’d just come back to haunt everyone. The group lingered for some time, making a plan. Of course, the System wouldn’t get involved directly. Instead, it was up to the throne holders to make it happen.

It wasn’t the System Theo didn’t trust, but the gods. Their agendas were unknowable, and the seal keeping people from this side of the fence was strong. The alchemist reached out, tentatively probing that seal. It took a lot to keep the smile from spreading across his face. Compared to the seal in that paper hell, it really wasn’t much.

“Let’s go,” Theo said, jerking his head to one side. He took both Tresk and Khahar by the arm, folding the void over them to appear in Khahak. He then spread his aura over the room, reinforcing it with everything he had. “The gods can’t hear us.”

Khahar blinked, looking around as his mind caught up to their sudden relocation. “Excuse me?”

“Thirty years is a long time, apparently,” Theo said, feeling the tickle of various gods against his aura. “I learned a few tricks.”

“Should’ve spent time leveling, ya dingus!” Tresk shouted, slapping Theo hard on the butt.

“What are we going to do about Leon?” Theo asked.

Khahar let out a laugh, looking around the dome of shadows. “You’re certain they can’t hear us?”

“Absolutely.”

“We’re going to do whatever the hell we want,” Khahar said. “Just like the old days.”