I crept stealthily through the fractured landscape of a warzone. A sniper on the roof missed my head by inches as I slipped on a piece of rubble. He died moments later as I returned fire.
Hearing the shot, a band of six soldiers ran out of a half-collapsed building and opened fire on us with automatic rifles. Two of them died instantly as I ducked behind another building and took them down, having taken only a flesh wound in my left shoulder.
Niall was not so lucky - he gave a small grunt and fell dead. "Clumsy," I said, rolling my eyes, and killed the other four.
A few years had passed since the Dark God affair, and I had started to teach Niall the basics of mental shielding and dreamwalking. Despite his youth, he had proven quite competent at the latter and we had engaged in vast a number of friendly DreamWar matches in my staff.
By means of some spells I had discovered in my library and customised myself, I was able to cause a Being to dream a particular dream according to my whims and we had designed an elaborate world to play in which I had recorded in an enchanted crystal.
I could have forced any member of my staff to act as a playground for our DreamWars, or kidnapped a vagrant from the city streets but it turned out to be quite unnecessary as I was able to make them dream lucidly and therefore become a third player in the game. Because of this I had more volunteers than I knew what to do with.
"You won again," said Niall. "I only got thirty-three this time. What's your total so far?"
"I got forty-one, so you're catching up. That brings my total to... twenty-three thousand, four hundred and seventy," I said, performing the arithmetic and adding the new numbers to my Dreamwar journal.
"I think that will have do for tonight," I said. "I have a state to run after all. You should probably relax. I'll be in the throne room if you need me."
Scant minutes after I had entered it, there was a knock on the door.
"Come," I replied, hastily seating myself upon the throne and dimming the lights.
"I have urgent news, Mi'lord," said Ashley.
In spite of my healers' best efforts, he had never fully recovered from the injuries he had been dealt by Ulric. As such he had been forced to resign as captain of the guards, so I had put him in charge of intelligence instead... a less physical role that nonetheless made good use of his talents.
I always ensured that staff who pleased me were treated well - it promoted a fierce loyalty. But there was a bit more to it that that. I liked Ashley... there was something about him that reminded me of Page.
"What is this news?" I asked, bringing the lights up a few notches. This was a measure of my trust - the closer someone was to my confidence, the better I allowed them to see me. Ashley, like Niall, was one of the few who had actually seen my true lupine form. Not that I would expose that with others present, of course - instead I usually took the form of a fox, husky, alsatian or occasionally a different species of wolf. Remaining canid took less effort.
"We have a report from our agents in Macura Province, Mi'lord." he said. "It has just arrived. Apparently two weasel demons have been sighted there, and they match the description of your ancient enemies!"
My heart leapt. "Are they still there?" I asked, looking at him intently.
"I believe so, Mi'lord. We think they may be spying out the land to see if you are still pursuing them."
"I want them, Ashley." I said, smiling my infamous smile. "I want them alive. They won't be alive afterwards of course, but I want them to be delivered to me in the best possible condition."
"How would you like us to approach it, Mi'lord?" he asked. "As I see it, we can either request Macura to extradite them to us, or we can use a covert approach and send in a stealth team to extract them."
"The stealth approach at first," I decided. "It would be best to take them by surprise. If we went through the proper diplomatic channels, it would take time and we might lose them. Even in the best case it is possible that someone could tip them off. Detail a squad to perform the extraction. I think the risk of a diplomatic incident with Macura Province is an acceptable one."
As he left, I got down from the throne and began drafting a letter to SAIA.
"I'm so proud of you," said Fa'Lina. "I knew you could go far! Your own private empire, filled with Beings to devour. I've heard so much about it... all the killings! You must have eaten thousands of souls by now!"
Niall gave me look that just screamed "what the hell is she talking about?" and I covered my eyes with my hands1.
"Er, no." I replied. "I haven't eaten anyone's soul."
"What?" she yelped, "You mean you just killed them all? You wasted all that precious energy?"
"I only banished them," I replied. "It keeps the rest frightened and allows me to harvest their fear. You know me.. fear and wonder.."
Fa'Lina's horrified expression gave way to a slightly crestfallen look but she brushed it aside and waited for me to resume speaking.
"Anyway. As I told you in my letter, this is my great-great-grandson. I have taught him what I can, but I feel the time has come for me to entrust his continued education in your capable hands. He shares my abhorrence of soul-stealing, having been brought up as a Being and I would prefer that he retains his present moral outlook, incubus or no. If he is returned to me as a monster I shall be extremely disappointed."
"There are a great many Beings and a number of 'cubi who consider you to be a monster," Fa'Lina pointed out.
"True," I sighed, "and while that's largely down to my reputation, there may yet be a grain of truth in it. Look, I realise I have done questionable things and that's part of the reason I'm not sure I trust myself to continue his education in person.
"Anyway, I must return to my little empire forthwith. With your permission I would like to visit him on occasion, and should my empire crumble I may yet return to aid you in the running of your Academy."
"Indeed," she replied. "And now I sense you would like a final word alone with your great-great grandson. I will wait outside."
"I'll be level with you, Niall," I said, my face lined with concern. "I'm about to engage in a risky bit of diplomacy with a neighbouring state. If it fails, things could get very nasty. I should be able to pull through it myself, but that's on account of nearly six centuries' experience which you do not yet possess. Even if it succeeds, things could happen which I don't think I want you to see. In either case, the best place for you to be is here in the Academy. I promise I'll come and see you from time to time."
We hugged each other, and then I left, with Niall safely in the care of my old headmistress.
Sending Niall to SAIA left me in a strange mood for a number of days, and so I was distinctly unimpressed when I returned to find that the guards had captured a young dog fox, yet another would-be assassin.
"You slew our holy Lord and Master, Page!" he screamed as they led him before me, his hands bound behind his back.
"You are mistaken," I snarled, furious that this piece of misinformation had not only been propagated, but somehow distorted into a religious cause.
"You came to assassinate me when I wasn't even here. You were caught by the security system the moment you entered the palace, and now you are spouting some insane drivel about one of my dearest friends. You are a fool. All your mistakes have been foolish, but it is the defamation of Azrael's memory that I will not stand for.
"That was your last mistake.. a mistake which will cost you most dearly," I said, pulling out a pistol and loading it ostentatiously before flicking the safety catch off. I focussed on his mind. It was shielded, although the shield was beginning to falter as I took aim.
The gun went off with a crack and his knees buckled, collapsing like a rag-doll. As I dragged the foxes' limp body feet-first into my private chambers, I could feel the horror of the onlookers, guessing that I was about to consume my foe's immortal soul.
I placed him upon my bed. The entry and exit wounds to his head were now gone, a cheap trick. Such grotesque uses of shapeshifting and projected illusion were a staple of the extravagent Hallows Eve parties which took place at SAIA... some of the best students had actually been mistaken for undead.
I entered my victim's unconscious mind and performed a few minor alterations to calm him when he awoke, lest the shock of his apparent execution prove fatal or break his mind.
There was a faint gasp and he awoke, eyes struck with horror, the first twinges of guilt starting as I wondered how I was going to explain it to him.
"Good," I said. "you're back in the land of the living."
"Dead?" he whispered.
"Blanks don't kill people," I said, "although they usually let me through your mind shield. I've generally found it's better when people think my enemies are dead. It helps keep up my impression as a ruthless psychopath."
"But you are a ruthless psychopath," said the fox, recovering his voice. He was still somewhat nervous about what I was going to do to him, but apparently he had decided to go out in a blaze of defiance.
"Yes, I suppose I am," I said. "Sometimes I have daydreams about the pair who killed Azrael, and I can almost feel my hands around their throats... squeezing the life from them, as helpless as Beings.. and then I realise that I can kill them twice, crushing the life from their bodies and then eating their terrified souls... savouring the power that it brings me and the knowledge that they have been wiped from existence..."
There was a hungry expression on my face, a look of savage pleasure at the prospect. Suddenly a noise distracted me, breaking my evil mood. It was a dull thump made as the fox backed into a wall, his face a mask of sheer terror.
"Well, I suppose I'd better do something about you," I said as if nothing had happened. "Officially you're dead, so I can't have you seen wandering around, it would spoil the illusion." There was no reply.
"Oh come on," I snapped. "You think I'd go through all the effort of faking your death only to kill you afterwards?" Rummaging around, I located an old sword in a scabbard. Checking it had a reasonable edge I grabbed a few dried provisions and a water bottle and shoved them into a bag along with the sword, thrusting the whole package into the frightened vulpine's hand.
Finally I grasped his trembling hand. Making a pass with my other hand, there was a flash of black light and we stood on the edge of a dry plain. "I understand that there's a settlement over there," I said, pointing at a rocky formation a few miles in the distance. Head towards it and be thankful that I can be merciful."
The fox finally found his voice again. "So this is what becomes of your foes...?"
"That's more like it," I smirked. And giving him a swift kick in the ass, I vanished in a flash of black light.
1 Jakob's long muzzle preventing him from burying his entire face as a feline or a human might.