"How is he doing that?" Someone voiced Rey's thoughts.

  "We tried everything," Jerry said. "Even when I turned fully metal, that poison ate through my metal. That thing was more like acid."

  "And burning that thing created such noxious fumes, I thought my lungs were on fire," Ajay added.

  "What he's doing should be impossible," Filomena said.

  It wasn't impossible, but it was highly likely that Phil had taken on a Poison Element. The problem with knowing the future he knew and this present was that they were vastly different. In the past, Phil had chosen a shadow Element after his conversion to a demon since the poor guy didn't last all of two seconds in Hell. If he had done the same this time around, then there was no way he was having a feast on the poison kitty.

  That's what you get, Rey, for playing around with the future.

  After all, he had changed some things around fundamentally. Sure, fate liked to course-correct, but people were still free to make their own choices. How else would Tia and Latoria be here in place of Layla and Tobias?

  He and Kassandra had picked different Elements this time, so why couldn't Phil? But Kassandra had picked her Moonlight Element because of encouragement from Rey; then, could it mean that Phil had picked the poison Element because of someone else? He had to find out.

  "I'm going to find out," Rey announced.

  "What?" A few of them said in unison.

  "You heard me," Rey replied. "Besides, it's just Phil. We're friends."

  "You are the last person he would consider a friend," Kassandra replied from the back of the group, and by the twelve Sovereigns of Hell, she sounded so weak. Her voice had a frail, almost shaky quality.

  "You saw what he did to Gloria," Filomena added. "Do you want to end up like her?"

  "Don't worry, I won't let him give me a love bite. We're not that close." Rey held out his Scythe to Ajay. "If you break it, you're building me a new one."

  "You're not taking your weapon?" He asked, wide-eyed.

  "Why would I need it? It's just a conversation between friends."

  With that, he stepped up to the stone railing and jumped off to the sounds of people's gasps, and some called him a suicidal idiot. But he wasn't suicidal. He was just showing off. As he reached the ground, he shot a small Repulsion wave, which slowed his descent, and he landed full Iron Man style.

  Oh man, I can't wait to figure out how to fly with this skill one day.

  There was a way he could defy gravity, either through a skill or through Repulsion alone, but for that, he needed time and a shit ton of Magic Affinity points. He walked past the bone barricade, and Phil didn't stir from his spot. He kept eating without even so much as bothering to look at Rey.

  It was rather savage how he ate the Luthrol. He ripped at it with his bare hands. He had sharpened his nails and somehow extended them into small claws. Rey couldn't do this when he had turned into a demon. He never bothered doing it since it was inefficient; he just favored his sword.

  [Demon (Exiled) – E+2]

  "Hey Phil, how do you like my meat?" he said.

  "Your meat is delicious," Phil replied.

  Rey couldn't help but snicker at that, and the meaning was lost entirely on Demon Daddy. He only frowned slightly as he ripped off another chunk of the Luthrol's flesh. Dark poison released from the flesh as Phil took a bite. It ran down his chin and did absolutely nothing. It might as well have been barbecue sauce.

  "So, I saw Gloria kicked the bucket," Phil said.

  Rey squinted his eyes a little. "That was your doing. The love bite you gave her was a little too intense. Turns out she wasn't into rough play."

  "It's okay, though, because now she's like me, and you didn't waste a second in kicking her out, did you?"

  "Nope," he replied. "It wasn't me. She made the decision to leave all by herself. She saw what she would become and didn't want to hurt her friends."

  Phil laughed loudly. Blood and poison spewed out from his throat. "Oh, how I've become the example of the big bad wolf."

  "You're not the big bad wolf," Rey replied. "You're not even close to being its pup. You're more like the flea on the pup that'll be scratched pretty soon."

  Phil's eyes flashed anger momentarily before it passed. He smiled once again. "Still think I can be saved, can you?"

  "You? No, Gloria? Maybe could've held her urges in check, but you were always going to go bad, but that's not what I'm here to talk about."

  "Then what are you here to talk about, or are you just going here to disturb me during my meal?"

  "I didn't realize you had picked a Poison Element," Rey said. Then he decided to risk something. It might give away that he couldn't see the future all that well, but he had to seem in control here. "I saw that you had picked the shadow Element, or so that was what the future showed."

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Phil raised an eyebrow. "So, you can't see everything, huh?" His shadow stretched to take on a demonic shape. "I did take on the shadow Element, but who said that we can only take on one Element? I acquired the poison Element after conversing with a friend who showed me its true power."

  Rey was chilled to the bone. He put his hands in his pants pockets so he wouldn't see that they were shaking.

  "Oh, you've made new friends. What is this friend's name?"

  "Are you jealous?" Phil smiled, a bloody smile, and his incisors had grown longer and sharper.

  "A little bit. I thought we had something special."

  "You can joke all you want, but you won't be joking when you meet my friend. I've told him about this place. When he tires of his escapades elsewhere, he'll come to pay you a visit, and we'll see if you'll still be joking then."

  The temperature must've dropped because a chill went up Rey's spine. "Ominous, but I'll probably still be joking then. Your friend is my friend. After all, we're still friends, right?"

  Phill sneered. "You say that now because you must've seen your doom. You shirked me away. Made plans to dispose of me. Oh, Gloria told me everything before she let me loose."

  "And you repaid her very generously, oh big daddy of bad decisions."

  "I had it under control," Phil snapped. "I was keeping my urges under control until you forced my hand."

  "For how long, I wonder, if I broke your control so easily," Rey replied.

  "Shut up. You think you're so high and mighty because you can see the future. Because you're Zalathar's favorite. My friend hates that Sovereign, if you must know. He's looking forward to a private conversation with you."

  So, you've already told him about me.

  Panic was bubbling inside Rey, but he didn't let it show. This was bad. He had figured they still had more time till Unokir found his way here, but instead of opening the doors for him, Phil was bringing him to their doorstep—more of the future auto-correcting itself.

  "And I would welcome it." Rey beamed, portraying none of the storm brewing inside him. "But one word of advice—Zalathar sees and hears all, so I wouldn't go around announcing that unless you want him to visit your friend. And no matter how bad your friend is, trust me, he's worse."

  Phil snorted. "I'm sure the Sovereign is busy with other matters, and he won't care when the likes of you are decimated."

  "And you get to feast on our souls," Rey finished for him. "Isn't that the deal you made with your friend?"

  Phil was quiet and said nothing.

  "I wonder what your girls would think of you if they could see you like this," Rey said.

  Phil's eyes blazed. "How do you know about my daughters? I never told you about them."

  "No, but you did," Rey replied. He had, just not in this life. "Hailey and Alex, those are their names, aren't they? What would Hailey and Alex think if they could see you now? Didn't you almost give your life to hold back the demon that had invaded your home so they would be safe?"

  "Shut up." Phil turned from him and began walking towards the woods.

  "What would they think if they could see you now, Phil?" Rey called after him. "Let me tell you what they would think. They would be disgusted with you. They would think that their lovable, goofy father was gone and, in his place, stood a devil who preyed upon his friends."

  Phil had begun running by the time Rey finished as if his words were arrows. He didn't even look back as he reached the woods and kept going until he was gone from sight. Rey didn't know if this would stall him or make him angrier, but someone had to remind him who he once was.

  If Rey had a little more Mana, he would have tried taking him on or dragged him back to the castle for questioning, but then he might have escaped once Unokir arrived and fulfilled his destiny of unlocking the castle doors for him. No, it was better to let him leave and figure out how to deal with the menace that he was bringing to their doorstep.

  Rey stalked back to the castle, and the door slammed open well in advance of his reaching the door. Everyone was there, waiting for him to get back.

  He looked at Sergei. "What did I say about not opening it without a password?"

  His muscle-bound friend looked down. "I sorry."

  Rey patted his arm, and his hand felt so small compared to his beefy bicep. "Don't worry, I don't blame you…all by yourself. Ajay…”

  He, too, found something important to look at on the ground as he squeaked his apology. "Sorry."

  "Don't make this mistake next time. I'm serious. There are many shapeshifting demons in Hell."

  "Yes, Hell is so scary. Now, get in here and explain what happened." Tia snapped.

  "Your tongue is so sweet," Rey replied. "Maybe we should make a cake out of it."

  She scowled, but he didn't care about her feelings right now, for their destruction had just been fast-tracked. They moved into the main hall, and everyone looked at him, looking mighty impatient.

  "We're fucked," Rey began. "You know, the demon I told you about that Phil lets into the castle—"

  "Unokir?" Kassandra said.

  Rey snapped his fingers. "Yes, him. Well, our good friend somehow found him and told him exactly where we are. So, instead of just opening the door for him, now dear Philly Cheese Steak is bringing our doom here."

  "What?" Jerry exclaimed.

  "And there's more. Unokir hates Zalathar, which is news to me." It was. There wasn't much conversation that took place in Rey's last run. It was mainly just death and destruction, along with running for their lives. "And wants to have a personal chat with me, which I'm sure involves lots of dismembering."

  "Did he say when they are coming?" Kassandra asked.

  "No, he was rather ambiguous about that."

  "That's not good," Filomena said. "We should reinforce the castle."

  "I can add metal barricades to the door and windows," Jerry provided.

  "We should also double the watch," Ajay said.

  "Does anyone care that he's singled me out?" Rey asked.

  They did not. They went on to discuss how to reinforce the castle and strengthen it, as well as start practicing their skills to increase their stats. That last one, Rey agreed with, but everything else, not so much; he had a different plan for dealing with the scary demon.

  "Um, excuse me," Rey said.

  But they kept going.

  "I think we should double our food storage," Jerry said. "Less hunting and for Unokir to catch us unawares."

  "Bad idea," Kassandra said. Her voice was still weak, but she spoke with fervor. "How will we keep it from going bad? It's not like any of us have an ice Element. Now that I think about it. That could be a useful one to have."

  They kept talking and talking while Rey couldn't help but feel that they were digging themselves into a hole. He wanted to execute his plan, but they just weren't strong enough for the Kingdom of Night. He could see that the others were still hopeful that if they tried hard enough, they could overcome the oncoming threat. He, having seen the power of the future to correct itself and drag its nutsack across Rey's face, didn't share their enthusiasm. But he had to do something. Say something. Especially since they were all staring at their supreme leader to guide them to the promised land, where everything was golden, and they rode cocaine-fueled unicorns into the sunset.

  If things had gone as planned, he would have led them somewhere.

  "Rey?" Kassi shook him.

  "Huh?"

  "Say something," she said. "What do you think? What should we do?"

  "Yes, yes, do everything." Rey waved his hand absentmindedly as he walked up the stairs, lost in thought.

  I need to do something...to prevent the death that's coming for us all.

  He gave everyone a look, and all he saw were their dead faces.