Gent vanished-

  He had simply disappeared. It was actually similar to what happens to souls when something dies. Whisked away-

  And it had just happened to an entire person.

  I stared on at the ground where Gent was with a newfound sense of dread. Every second in Abatu’s presence is a near death experience, and I’m just now fully realizing that. I glance over at the abomination as he turns back towards Eva and Toulif. His sleeping head flopping to the side and his awake head smiling deviously.

  “O- Okay! M- Mother and father will prepare dinner, a- and s- sister and I w- w-” He rapidly looks around the room until his eyes land on Geltor, “Will play with the d- dog!”

  Abatu grins as he licks his jagged teeth. “Essence Art: HOME!”

  The world fades into darkness. It was a familiar sensation when I underwent my class advancement, but that feeling disappeared as a wooden cabin started to construct itself around us. Wooden planks fly from the ether and nails fall from the pitch black sky.

  As soon as the cabin finished putting itself together, sunlight burst through the window. I look through the window to see grass, trees, and the sky. The chirping of birds can be heard. We’re outside? How?

  I’m picked up from behind. Two massive hands wrap around my stomach and I’m lifted into the air. I’m immediately put back down, but now I am on the other side of the cabin, next to Geltor.

  How?! When did I move?! My position didn’t change, but I’m somewhere else?

  Abatu leans over my shoulder and locks eyes with Geltor. He mumbles under his breath. “D- Dog.” He smiles blankly and turns to me. “See him?”

  My eye glanced back down at Geltor. “Uhh- Yeah.”

  The abomination pulls away and starts laughing to himself. His laughter becomes more maniacal and deranged as he falls over and grabs onto his stomach and chest with all of his arms. “G- G- G- Good one! Sister!”

  He stops giggling completely and appears next to Eva and Toulif. Eva falls backward and Toulif reaches for a sword that is no longer there. “Y- Mother and f- father can make f- food. F- Food stuffs a- are in the cabinet, and t- there is a gas s- stove.”

  Abatu continues to point out various things in the kitchen. At first I thought he was telling them what to do, but then he went on to point out the ceiling, windows, and the door. I was so distracted by the unpredictable actions of Abatu, that I didn't realize a tail was tying itself around my ankle.

  I look down to see the furry cord leading back to Abatu. What?! I’m picked up again to be put down somewhere else. I’m placed sitting in a chair and in front of a table. Geltor is pulled through the air by a tail wrapping around his neck. He is forcefully slammed into the table and I hear a snap coming from him. “Ahhk!”

  Abatu blinks at Geltor and chuckles. “S- Silly dog. You can’t b- be on top of t- the t- table!” He brushes Geltor’s body off the table and he limply falls to the floor.

  Abatu then sits next to me on the floor. His massive body still reached far above me despite me sitting in a chair. He leans over the table and his sleeping head flops to the side. His awake head stares at me at a horizontal angle. “W- While mother and father m- make dinner. What d- do you want to talk a- about?”

  I accelerate my rate of thought as far as it would go. I even contemplated using Instant Thought to think of the best possible discussion to give us as much time as possible. I first eliminate any topics that relate to the history of this world. Soteria in specific. Anything that might break his fragile mental state, such as not playing along with the game is also off the table.

  Geltor mentioned that Abatu is a historical figure from before Soteria. Since Soteria came around 2000 years ago, it’s safe to say that Abatu has been here for 2000 years. Likely trapped-

  Mentioning the outside world is also a no-go.

  I give Abatu an innocent smile.

  What makes a good actor? Acting as something else can be considered extremely difficult. Crying or laughing on the spot often becomes disingenuous. This is a problem with poor actors. Good actors don’t pretend to be something else, they become something else.

  In this moment, I’m Abatu’s sister. I speak with a real joy as someone talking with their sibling would. “I- I had f- fun playing with the dog!” And I meant it-

  Abatu grins wildly, “R- Really! I’m g- glad!”

  I nod with a child-like expression. “Um-hm! I- I want to p- play with h- him more! Is he o- okay though?”

  Abatu pauses and looks over at the small demon. I take this chance to check on him as well.

  His arm is broken- He rolls over and groans as he grabs onto his bloodied arm. The abomination stands to his feet and knocks the table over then walks over to Geltor. The small circular breeze that is Abatu’s soul becomes still.

  The room becomes noticeably darker as Abatu stares down at the Nav Imp. His dark soul becomes thicker and it starts becoming more difficult to move. “The dog is broken.”

  Shit-

  I squeak cutely “No he isn’t!” I run over and scoop Geltor off the ground. He grunts as I lift him to Abatu’s face. “S- See. He’s a good d- dog!”

  Geltor helplessly hangs his legs in the air. “Uh, yeah- I’m alright.”

  What the fuck?! Why did you just talk?! Don’t you know dogs can’t talk?!

  I bite my lip as I look up at Abatu to see his reaction. I blink as I see he is completely relieved. “O- oh good. I- I thought we m- might have t- to put you down.”

  I don’t let myself be relieved. Abatu definitely has the ability to sense the emotions of others to a far better degree than I do. So I make myself feel happy.

  “S- See! I- I told you A- Abatu!” I grin as I set Geltor back onto the floor. Abatu rubs his neck as he looks down at the demon.

  I hear Eva’s voice call from across the room. “Tiffany!” I go to look at her, but Abatu’s presence shifts causing everyone to look at him instead. “Uh- I mean… Tiffany dear! Mother needs help in the kitchen!”

  Everyone stares at Abatu to see how he is about to react. The abomination scratches his cheek and blinks at me. “Y- You heard m- mother.”

  I slowly back away then spin on my feet and start walking over to Eva and Toulif. We need to start constructing a plan to get out of this situation. Idea’s such as using Instant Position to escape from wherever the hell we are and trying to get Magical Aura Manipulation to evolve to stop the control over my own soul being ripped away from me go through my mind.

  My thoughts come to a screeching halt as I focus my gaze back on Eva when I reach her. Her mask is gone- Both of their masks are gone!

  Toulif’s and Eva’s clothes have completely changed. Eva is wearing a tan dress with patches and Toulif has pure white tunic and black wool pants. I look down to see my armour is gone and I’m wearing a dress similar to Eva. I blink at the sudden change but I shake the useless questions out of my head.

  “Y- Yes mother?”

  Eva purses her lips and a bead of sweat streams down the side of her face. Her golden eyes glint as water starts to form under her eyelids. “T- Tiffany, there’s no food.”

  I blink a few times as I try to register what she just said. I glance at Toulif who seems to be just staring at Abatu in silence. He thinks that we are all about to die.

  I grab onto Eva’s shoulders and I stare at her directly in the eyes. “There is no food.”

  Her face contorts and slowly starts to nod her head. I bite my lip and look back at Abatu, who is now poking at Geltor with Eva’s staff. I turn back to her and I speak with as much conviction as possible.

  “Eva, listen to me. We are playing house. You’re going to have to pretend to make food, pretend to set the table, and then pretend to serve the food. I doubt that my brother needs to eat anyway.”

  Eva’s lips start to tremble and I get the sudden urge to hug her. I smile instead. “Don’t worry, I’ll figure out a way out of this.” I pat her on the shoulder and start walking back towards my brother.

  He blinks at me as I reach the table and upright it. I picked up the several knocked over chairs and set them around the table. I look over at my brother as he stares at me with a neutral expression. I smirk. “D- Don’t worry b- brother! Mother w- will finish preparing d- dinner soon!”

  He immediately lights up at that. “O- Oh good!” He sets Eva's staff on the table, but I stop him. What I say next is a gamble-

  “What d- do you think y- your doing?!”

  The idea is simple. Tame the abomination-

  I get the impression that he is delusional, but there is a good chance that it’s all an act. If he is crazy then I can, just maybe, trick him and that would let us escape. But if he is simply toying with us, then we had no chance to escape to begin with.

  So, I’m gambling and I’m going all in that my brother is insane.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “You s- should leave m- mother’s staff at the door! It’s n- not a toy to begin with.”

  Abatu blinks at me and starts to frown deeply. Geltor looks at me as shock explodes from his soul. Toulif actually gasps at us and Eva stops pretending to cut, ‘something,’ to look at me.

  I try desperately to retain my composure. Not letting a hint of fear or worry into my soul.

  “B- But-”

  I cut him off to the further astonishment of everyone around us. “No buts! Y- You don’t w- want to upset mother. D- Do you?”

  I almost laugh at the sheer arrogance of my words. I have no idea what level Abatu is, but it’s a fact that he could instantly kill everyone here.

  Abatu’s expression slowly becomes more neutral as he continues to stare at me. The speed of the breeze in the room starts to go faster and his gaze darkens. In spite of that, I pout like a child and point at the door. “N- Now!”

  The wind picks up even further and the window covers start to slap open and close. A chair gets knocked over, but I don’t let it distract me. My brother leans over me and the whites of his eyes glint brightly.

  I stare back defiantly and the wind suddenly stops. The awake head pouts and he snatches the staff off the table. “F- F- Fine!”

  He starts to walk towards the door and I’m filled with an intense feeling of accomplishment. We really can get out of this alive! It’s a small victory, but it gives me hope.

  I grin as I glance back at Eva and give her a thumbs up. She stares at me with her mouth open. Toulif continues to stare at Abatu without saying a word. His soul is unreadable.

  Huh. My Magical Aura Perception is maxed, but I’m still having trouble reading souls sometimes. Toulif’s eye widens and his soul is filled with confusion. I furrow my brows and look back at Abatu.

  Eva staff rests leaning on the front door frame, and the door is wide open, letting sunlight stream in.

  I blink and in my surprise, I stutter for real. “D- Did he just leave?”

  You can do that?! I thought this place was at most an illusion! I step forward, but the door slams shut and the sunlight streaming through the windows vanishes. A massive hand grabs my shoulder and the abomination leans over me.

  “No sister. We can never leave.”

  I look up to see Abatu who is scowling. I note the awake head is now asleep and the sleeping head is now awake. This head has completely black eyes. He turns to Eva and spits at her, “Mama! Set the table already! It’s getting late!”

  Eva flinches, but she grabs some real plates she found and hurriedly shuffles to the table. She places the plates at each chair and goes back to the kitchen to grab a pot full of nothing.

  I find myself suddenly sitting at the table with Abatu sitting next to me. Any sense of a transition is non-existent. Toulif sits across from me and Geltor is under the table. Eva returns with a pot and a ladle. She shakily scoops from the pot and pours, whatever it’s supposed to be, onto each plate.

  I look towards her. “M- Mother, what’s this?”

  She blinks at me before covering her forehead with her hand. “Yes, this is- um.” Eva glances at Abatu who is now glaring at her. “T- This is a vegetable stew.”

  Abatu looks down at the plate with a raised eyebrow. “This is supposed to be stew?”

  He grabs onto a spoon that isn’t there and pulls the stew into his mouth. We all watch as the abomination chews nothing, practically hoping that he decides to like it. He swallows the air and nods his head. “Very well. That was a very good stew mama.”

  I feel my soul drop. I had no idea what it meant when his heads switched, but it seems that we can still escape… Maybe.

  I grab onto my own invisible spoon and start to eat the stew. I don’t know how we can eat stew off a plate, but that was a useless thought. I look over at her, who is still standing and looking at the abomination.

  “Sit mother. You must be hungry, right?” I try to give her a reassuring look.

  She breaks out her stupor and slowly nods at me. “Y- Yes!”

  She sits on a chair next to Toulif and across from Abatu. She begins to pretend to eat. I look over at Toulif who hasn’t touched his ‘food’ and is still staring at Abatu. What the hell is he thinking?

  I start to think of a possible way to escape. First, we need to get out of whatever this place is. The problem is that I have no idea what Essance art: HOME is. I attempted to sense the magic and see if I could possibly mess with it, but it completely escapes me. I’m not even sure if this is magic!

  How can I leverage Abatu’s insanity to my advantage? Can I convince him to let us out?... Wait, Essence art: HOME? This is speculation, but maybe that skill is a series. There could be other essence arts… maybe.

  If I suggest that we go to a different location. We can make a run for it in the transition.

  No, that won't work! He could simply restrain our souls. Even if I somehow regain control over my soul, Eva and the others can’t.

  Abatu grunts and everyone's attention is turned to him.

  “We need to speak of an issue, mama and papa.”

  Eva frowns and Toulif flinches at being called ‘papa.’ Abatu continues, uncaring about Toulif, but still addressing him. “The dog had been injured whilst sister and brother were playing with him. Someone needs to put him down.”

  Geltor starts to panic under the table and Eva pales. Toulif squints at the abomination and I decide to speak up. “But the dog is completely fine! Remember!”

  Abatu frowns at me. “I get that you had to lie to my brother about the state of our pet, but we should put him out of his misery before he returns. We can say that he ran away, or that he got a new home.”

  I grit my teeth as the previously child-like Abatu eloquently refutes me. I look under the table to see Geltor completely give in to panic as Abatu’s tail starts to wrap around him completely. His mouth had been blocked off by a cord of fur so he couldn’t scream.

  An idea crosses my mind-

  “I’ll do it.”

  Everyone freezes at that. Geltors eyes widen as he stops thrashing around. Abatu looks at me with a pleased expression. “Ah, sister. You are always a responsible one.”

  I nod at him, “Let me take him outside. I don’t want to make a mess in here.”

  I grab onto Geltor and pull him from under the table. The tails start to slowly undo themselves. I whisper in Geltors ear. “Trust me.”

  Abatu raises an eyebrow at me. “It would be for the best for you to do it outside. It would take too long to clean a mess here before brother would return.”

  Almost on cue the door flings open by itself. I frown at the door as I realize fully that it isn’t an escape route. He wouldn’t let me get outside if it was.

  I look over at Eva, “Mother, could you come with me. This is your dog after all.”

  Eva blinks at me before glancing between me and Abatu. The abomination glares at her, but doesn’t say anything. She speaks through gritted teeth. “Yes, dear!”

  She gets up and follows me out of the cabin. I blink as I look up at the night sky. There are hundreds and thousands of stars and the horizon is completely pitch black. That isn’t what gives me pause however. There are fine white cracks streaming through the sky.

  My aw is interrupted by the door slamming behind me. I turn to see Eva covering her face and slowly panting to herself. “That… That…”

  I frowned at her “Pull yourself together Eva.”

  She pulls her hands away from her face, but before she can get upset with me, I grab her by the hand. I pull her to the side of the cabin where there aren't any windows.

  I place Geltor on the ground and he lets out a grunt. Eva pulls her hand away from mine and snaps at me. “What are you even trying to do?!”

  I press my finger against her lips “Shush- I don’t know how thick this wall is, or if that even matters to begin with.” I grin at her, “I have a plan. First, you should release Gletor from his contact. You can do that right?”

  Eva looks down at the spot where Geltor is sitting. “You’re trying to save him?”

  “I’m testing if something works. Saving him would just be a bonus.” I give Geltor a smug look. He grimaces, but doesn’t say anything.

  “What are you trying to test?”

  “I want to see if you can send him back to hell. If that is even possible in this place.”

  Eva blinks at me, and after a moment sighs. She looks down at Geltor and flicks her wrist. “Annulment.”

  A red magic circle followed by a pentagram forms under him. Geltor breaths a heavy sigh of relief at the sight of it. Black hands come up to grab him and he starts to fade from existence. He gives us some parting words. “Good luck.”

  He vanishes and the magic circle dissipates. I grin at Eva as I point at the ground where Geltor just was. “I think we can use that as an escape route.”

  Eva becomes dumbfounded and her mouth hangs open. She slowly starts to groan as she covers her face with her hands. “No, it is not. That is a direct path to hell, and we would be instantly overrun by hostile demons.”

  She removes her hands from her face to find me deeply frowning at her. She pauses as she looks into my only eye. “Sorry Eva, this is the only thing I could think of. Anything else will only lead to all of us dying.”

  Her eyes widen as she slowly starts to get what I mean. “You want me too-”

  “No! I don’t, but… Do you think that spell you did against me would even work against him?”

  Eva starts to frown as well. “Tiffany… Do you know what that demon's level is?”

  “No, my Observe is only at level 4.”

  She scoffs, “That’s ridiculous considering your level.” She crosses her arms and covers her golden eyes with her hand. “I don’t know either.”

  My eye widens at that, but she continues. “I have Identify, an evolved form of Observe. And I have it at max level… If I can’t see his level, that means that he is at least over level 250.”

  Holy shit-

  “Forced Demonic Banishment takes more life the higher level the demon is in relation to me. I would die before Abatu got sent to hell.”

  I stop and close my eye for a moment. Then we really don’t have any way to get out of this alive then- I go over all the information I stored in my head. Anything that might work against Abatu. I pretty much constantly accelerate my own thoughts during this whole situation.

  No chance of resisting-

  I open my eye and tilt my head at Eva. “What did you say?”

  Eva frowns at me. “I didn’t say anything.”

  “No, I’m talking about way before. Way, way, way before- Forced Demonic Banishment sends demons to hell against their will. What if they wanted to go to hell?”

  Her brows furrowed together, “I might be able to save some lifespan, but that is risky-”

  The sound of wood exploding suddenly comes from inside the cabin.

  I instantly dash to the front door and Eva follows, but before I could reach it, the world fades to black again. My clothes fade away and are replaced with my armour once again.

  The world returns to the square rocky room before we got sent to that wood cabin. Abatu holds Toulif by the neck, lifting him off the ground. Both of Abatu’s heads are now awake and Toulif tries to kick him, only for his foot to helplessly bounce off him.

  Both of the abomination’s heads speak at once. “That was a solid attempt, father-”