"I wanted to keep it as an ace in the hole," I muttered to myself as I leaned against the trunk of a withered tree, my breath coming slower than it should have. "But it seems like I will have to do it as soon as I can."
The encounter with Gavin's reanimated body had carved something into me that I could not ignore. Fear still existed, but it no longer ruled my decisions the way it once had. Instead, it sat beneath everything else, cold and calculating.
I could not afford to remain cautious forever.
If I wanted to reach my sister before the world swallowed her whole, I needed more than patience and restraint. I needed power that could force its way through territory ruled by monsters and worse.
It was time to embody another past life.
When I allowed my consciousness to sink inward, the familiar void opened once more. The memory spheres drifted around me in silent orbit, each one radiating its own presence. I recognized some of the colors now. Dull browns. Soft whites. Muted greens.
Safe choices.
Lives of soldiers, craftsmen, scholars, and explorers. Useful, certainly, but not enough. Not for what lay ahead.
My gaze drifted deeper.
The darker orbs waited further in, pulsing with weight and menace. Their light was dim not because they were weak, but because it felt swallowed by something far denser. Looking at them made my instincts scream in warning.
The system did not need to explain the risk.
I could feel it.
My body reacted immediately, heart racing, muscles tensing as if bracing for impact. A cold pressure wrapped around my thoughts, urging caution. Urging retreat.
I ignored it.
At this point, the darker the orb and the more powerful it felt, the more I wanted it.
One sphere stood out above the rest.
It was almost black, streaked with faint crimson veins that pulsed like a heartbeat. The presence behind it was overwhelming, ancient, and violent. Just being near it made my mana recoil, as if it knew it would be devoured.
My vision swam as I approached.
Every instinct told me to stop.
I did not.
Despite my body screaming for me to turn back, I resolved myself and reached out, placing my hand against the darkest orb I could get my hands on.
The moment I made contact, pain exploded through my mind.
Fire.
Wrath.
Blood soaked battlefields stretching across realities I could not name.
A voice like thunder cracked through the void.
"So another wears my soul."
The presence was immense, crushing, and impossibly heavy. I felt my consciousness strain as if it were being pressed flat beneath a mountain.
Then the vision stabilized.
I stood in a ruined throne hall, its floor littered with corpses both human and monstrous. Crimson banners burned with hellfire along the walls. At the far end of the hall stood a towering figure clad in blackened armor etched with infernal runes.
Horns curved from his head. One eye glowed with demonic flame, the other human and calculating. Power radiated from him in waves that made even the air tremble.
"Aramak," I whispered, the name tearing itself from my thoughts.
The figure smiled.
"Correct," he said. "Aramak, King of Fiends. Son of Wrath."
I dropped to one knee without realizing it. Not from submission, but from sheer pressure. His presence alone was enough to cripple lesser beings.
Aramak was half demon and half human. A king who once ruled legions of fiends and brought entire worlds to ruin. He was not a hero. He was not even an antihero.
He was destruction given form.
Most beings would have shattered trying to embody him.
I felt my teeth grit as I forced myself to remain conscious.
"You are bold," Aramak said, stepping closer. Each step cracked the stone beneath his feet. "Foolish, perhaps. But bold."
Pain surged through my body as his essence poured into me. My mana pathways burned as if molten metal were being forced through them. I screamed, though no sound escaped the void.
Seven minutes.
That was all my body could withstand.
Aramak seemed to sense it.
"You cannot hold me long," he said with a low chuckle. "Yet you still reached for me. Why?"
Images of Gavin. Of the lich. Of my sister alone in a broken world flashed through my mind.
"I need strength," I forced out. "Enough to survive. Enough to protect."
Aramak studied me in silence.
Then he laughed.
"Very well," he said. "For your audacity, I will grant you a fragment of my authority."
He raised one clawed hand and snapped his fingers.
The throne hall trembled.
Three figures emerged from the shadows.
The first was a towering demon wielding a massive axe, its body wrapped in thick armor forged from black iron. Its eyes burned with disciplined fury.
The second was a salamander headed demon, its serpentine body wreathed in living flame. Heat rolled off it in waves, but its posture was calm and deliberate.
The third was lean and deadly, a clawed demon with the head of a raven. Its wings folded neatly against its back, eyes sharp and calculating.
"You three," Aramak commanded, his voice absolute. "You will act as his guardians until he can handle more of my power."
The demons dropped to one knee instantly.
"Yes, my king."
I felt the connection form immediately. Not control, but recognition. A sense of authority settling into my bones.
Aramak turned back to me.
"This power will cost you," he said. "Your body will suffer. Your mana will be drained to the brink for days. But you will live."
The world began to fracture.
"And you will grow."
I woke up screaming.
Pain tore through every nerve in my body. My mana pool felt hollow, scraped nearly dry. Even breathing was agony. I collapsed forward, barely aware of the forest floor beneath me.
A notification appeared through the haze.
[Past Life Embodiment Successful]
[Permanent Skill Acquired]
[King to Demons]
Understanding followed.
Demons weaker than me would instinctively recognize my authority. Hostile intent would soften into hesitation. Some would even consider me royalty.
It was not dominance.
It was legacy.
The cost hit immediately.
My limbs trembled uncontrollably. Mana exhaustion dragged at my consciousness, threatening to pull me into darkness. Every movement sent waves of pain through my body.
Strong hands caught me before I collapsed completely.
The salamander headed demon knelt beside me, its heat carefully restrained.
"You should not move, my lord," it rumbled.
I tried to respond but could not.
The demon gently lifted me and settled me onto its broad back. Its scales were warm, but not burning. Secure.
The axe wielding demon took point, scanning the surroundings with brutal efficiency. The raven headed demon took to the air, circling overhead as a silent sentinel.
As the salamander demon began to move, carrying me southward through the ruined land, I let my eyes close.
Pain throbbed through me with every step, but beneath it was something else.
Resolve.
I had crossed a line.
And there was no going back.