A twelve-foot-tall Demon Lord just appeared and walked out onto the battle field. He casually strode up to the middle where we had just killed the Demon Sergeant. With a casual wave of his hand, all seven demons resurrected from the ashes. Another wave of his hand and they disappeared. I had thought nothing could resurrect monsters that had been turned to ash, but I was wrong. The Demon Lord looked at the Earl and spoke. Everyone heard. His voice carried as if he were next to us.

  “I am not interested in obliterating Forest Glen. Just send Trevor of House Tierra to me. It is his death I seek. Send him to me. I will kill him then leave. If you don’t, every person in Forest Glen dies.” An earth tremor accompanied the Demon Lords statement. A ten-foot section of the wall collapsed, as if to emphasize our helplessness against him.

  Well damn, doesn’t that just suck. Really, get the newbie to fight the big bad. That is just messed up in a whole lot of ways. I can think of a thousand reason not to do it, but only one reason to. My new family lives in this city. That one reason outweighs the other thousand and is enough for me. I look closely at the Demon Lord. Damn, I know that demon. Twelve-foot-tall, black horns that curl from his forehead to the back of his head. Reddish brown skin, hooves, and fiery eyes. It looks very familiar. Zemoculus?

  The Earl looked at Ruberm and asked “What other options do we have?”

  Justinian interrupted Ruberm’s answer.

  “Unfortunately, that Demon Lord is beyond us. I cannot defeat it. I can sense its power from here. It will destroy us if we fight. I am sorry Trevor, but I cannot protect you. I can delay it for an hour or two, while the rest of the city flees, but that is all.”

  “If Justinian cannot defeat the Demon Lord, then we are lost.” Ruberm spoke with a faraway look in his eyes, then added “Even with you, Justinian, the House Templar, and Trevor fighting together, I can only foresee defeat, death and destruction. I see no path to victory.”

  “There has to be something else than sending Trevor alone against a Demon Lord. He wouldn’t stand a chance. I cannot ask him to do it.”, the Earl said.

  “There is nothing else, my Lord.” Ruberm said sadness in his voice.

  “You don’t have to ask, Earl Donnert. I’ll do it” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “If this is what I need to do to save my family and Forest Glen, then this is what I will do. I’ll find a way to defeat the Boss, simply because I have to. All I ask, if the worst happens, that my House be taken care of. All the members of my staff, including Fabia, are part of my House. There are enough funds in the bank to do that. I would ask Ruberm to oversee its distribution.”

  I turned and started walking back to the battle field. I stopped a quarter of the way. I took out a sandwich from my storage ring. Chef had made it this morning in case I got hungry. Not the last meal I expected, but damn, Chef made a good sandwich. I also took out a mana potion and drank it. I continued walking towards the Demon Lord.

  The twelve-foot-tall Demon Lord just looked at me as I came toward him. Then as it came closer it started to change. Leathery wings appeared on its back. Its body was muscular like a professional body builder. Its face looked like a demon’s, fangs and all. As it got even closer, it started to look even more familiar. Not from my nightmares or movies, but as if I had actually seen this particular demon before. Then I noticed that its leg was bleeding. Bleeding in the spot I cut. Now I was certain. It was Zemoculus.

  “Hello Zemoculus” I said as I reach him. It was the same demon I saw on Heaven’s Path, but somehow diminished. I could tell he wasn’t as powerful here as he was there. “Why are you here? These people have done nothing to you.”

  “I am not here for them, Trevor of House Tierra. I am here for you. I had my agents try to kill you, but they all proved incompetent. So, I am here in this avatar to mete out punishment. You have destroyed the balance throughout the universe, and personally injured me. You must pay for these transgressions.”

  “And how did I injure you? As I recall you almost killed me without any effort. The scratch I gave you can’t really be called an injury.”

  “That scratch, as you put it, will not heal. Even here, my avatar bleeds and my real body does the same. None of my healers or mages can stop it. What did you do to me?” he practically screamed the last.

  I cast Diagnose on Zemoculus. It showed there was something. Not a curse, but definitely magic. I instinctively knew I could fix it with my Heaven’s Heal spell.

  “So, you sent the Healer’s Guild after me. You are the cause of all my problems here on Tellus. All because of a scratch.”

  “Yes, I set the Healers Guild after you because the ‘scratch’ has upset the balance. As long as I bleed, I cannot face Arigulius in battle and if I do not battle Arigulius, the balance is broken. There will be war on a scale that will span the cosmos. All because of you and this little scratch.” He emphasized the last two words.

  Not that I trusted a single word Zemoculus said, but universal war did not sound good. It made Armageddon sound like a middle school slap fight. Maybe I could figure out a way to prevent it. If Zemoculus would listen.

  “Well, universal war sounds bad. I would like to stop it, and I think I can heal your scratch. But I don’t want to betray Arigulius either. He did a lot for me. Any chance you can call him down here? I want to get his side of the story.” Hell, maybe I could get out of this without a fight.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “You think you can do what mages with thousands of years of experience can’t? Why should I believe you?”

  “Because only I can. I caused it, and I have the Heaven’s Heal spell. And really, do you have any other option?” I realized Zemoculus was desperate. He really needed the scratch healed.

  Zemoculus looked at me trying to decide if I was right, then he pulled out what looked suspiciously like a cell phone.

  “Arigulius. I have Trevor of House Tierra in front of me on Tellus Nova. He wants to talk with you about the balance. Can you appear here?”

  I heard some mumbling on the phone. Then Zemoculus terminated the connection and put his phone away.

  “Hey, can I get one of those?” I figured, what the hell, why not ask.

  “No.” Short and to the point, but kind of petulant too.

  “Why not? I could really use it.” Was I really that comfortable now to be able to talk to Zemoculus like this? Actually yes, I was. I realized I had something he needed, and I mean really needed.

  “Too bad. I don’t like you, so you don’t get a phone.” Okay, now he was just being an ass.

  “I will give you a sandwich” and held out another sandwich that Chef made. “It’s really delicious.”

  Zemoculus snatched the sandwich from my hands. Before I could react, he shoved it all into his mouth at once. Speaking with his mouth full of my sandwich, he said “Wot sammich”. Then swallowed.

  “You know it taste better when you eat slowly” I said as I pulled out another sandwich. Chef had loaded me up with many sandwiches, just in case. “Well, is he coming or what?”

  “Yes, he is coming. He has to prepare an avatar, so it may take a minute, OK?” That petulance was really coming through now.

  “About that phone? Want to trade? It’s a really good sandwich.”

  “Fine.” He handed me a phone, and I handed him the sandwich. This time he took his time and enjoyed it. “Quite good. Got any more?”

  Arigulius was there. One second, he wasn’t there, the next he was standing next to me. It wasn’t like he teleported. Teleportation creates a slight pressure wave in the air. This was more like he was created out of thin air, but was also had always been there. Magic is weird. Divine magic is even weirder.

  “Trevor of House Tierra. I hope you fare well.”

  “I do Arigulius. I hope you do the same. If I may I have a question about the balance. Zemoculus says I broke it by scratching him. Something about him being unable to fight you anymore. I believe I can fix the scratch, but don’t know if it is the right thing to do. You have helped me and I value your opinion. Should I fix Zemoculus?”

  “The balance is broken. That is true. It’s because I am a free agent now that Zemoculus is absent from the battlefield. We were evenly matched. The scratch gives me an advantage and while it might take a thousand years, I would defeat him now. Without the scratch, we would be evenly matched again. I will say my elders are worried. The balance has prevented a war between the demons and angels since the beginning of time. There has been much discussion about how to restore it, but if you heal Zemoculus, then the balance would be restored. Though I personally like not having to fight every minute for the past few months, the balance must be restored. I would request you heal Zemoculus.”

  “Zemoculus. What are you willing to give me for healing you?”

  “I just gave you a phone. How about your life.”

  “I already have my life. I need something more. As I want a comfortable life. I don’t want to worry about assassination or Death Merchants, or anything of that nature. I also want to be able to spread magical healing throughout Tellus Nova without interference.” I stopped and thought for a few seconds before continuing, “I want you to have the Healer’s Guild stop trying to kill me. Get them to stop suppressing magical healing and to stay out of my way, and you don’t come to harm me again. Give Forest Glen a five-year break on monster waves.”

  “I will have the Healer’s Guild stop suppressing magical healing and stop interfering with you. No more murder attempts. However, monster waves are natural, well not this one but in general, they are. The annual monster wave is beyond my control. But I can give you the location of the source of the monster wave. If you can clear the dungeon, Forest Glen will get a ten-year break from the monster wave. That is the best I can do.”

  “It is.” Arigulius chimed in.

  “In that case, I want a magic globe that will assist me with magical research. Kind of like an AI assistant that has unlimited knowledge and can answer my questions. I would also like a guarantee of non-interference from you in Tellus for 1,000 years. Also, you need to swear not to harm me or mine.”

  “I agree to your terms.” Zemoculus said and handed me a crystal globe and a scroll. Where he got it from, I have no idea. Divine Magic. “You will need to cast the spell from the scroll to make the connection. I swear that if you heal my scratch, I will bear no malice toward you and yours and will harm neither in this or any of your lives. I and my minions will leave Tellus not interfere with Tellus for 1,000 years. I reserved the right to visit for the food, but no interference. The Healer’s Guild will no longer interfere with you or try to have you killed.”

  “Arigulius. Can you give me a text book explaining the different aspects of magic and an understanding of complex spell structure?”

  “Of course. It will be written in the language of Angels, so no one else on Tellus can use it. This knowledge should not be taught to others. Do you agree to the terms?”

  “Yes, I agree to not teach others the knowledge I get from the magic book. Also, do you have a primer on the System? It gets confusing sometimes.”

  “Agreed.” Arigulius pulled two books out of thin air and handed them to me.

  “Let’s get this over with.” I reached out to Zemoculus. I placed my hand over his scratch and cast Heaven’s Heal. Concentrating on the fact that I was the one that dealt the wound and that I could heal it. I pushed a lot of mana into the spell. I mean a lot of mana. It’s like the scratch didn’t want to heal, but then I felt the spell take hold. The scratch stopped bleeding, then faded away.

  “You are healed. At least as far as I can tell. Your avatar is healed and it took a lot more mana that it should have. Can you check your real body?”

  Zemoculus closed his eyes. “Yes. YES. The wound is gone. Our bargain is done. I am done with this world. First, I will complete our bargain and deal with the Healer’s Guild, then I will leave this world to itself for one thousand years. Arigulius let us meet in the City of Eternal Twilight, then we can decide how to continue.” Zemoculus looked directly at me, smiled and said “You should have asked for the unlock code.” then Zemoculus disappeared. Again, not teleporting, just gone like he was never there.

  “Arigulius, I hope you find some peace every now and then. Fighting for eternity does not seem like a good thing to me.”

  “I think I will take your approach and try to bargain with Zemoculus so that we will take a break every thousand years or so. It will make eternity more enjoyable. Take care Trevor of House Tierra. I will be checking in on you, so continue to be a force for good. By the way, it seems that Heaven’s Heal has helped repair your soul. Combined with your good works, your soul has healed. You are no longer in danger of soul corruption. Congratulation.” And then he too disappeared, as if never here. Not teleporting. Just not here. Divine magic is weird.