Demonic Magician

I stood in infinite darkness. Cold and solitary. The deepest crimson shimmered across the horizon, barely visible against the void. Vertical waves that drew me in closer. From within them, something started to form.

A loose figure of red mist, becoming more detailed and defined by the second. Tall - impossibly so. Masculine and muscled, they dwarfed me by such a large magnitude despite being so far away. Twisted horns grew from their head as orbs of bright white burst from their bearded face.

I became lost within their gaze. As if tethered, I started to walk closer to them. An awkward gait and an insurmountable distance - yet I was making progress. Suddenly, a burst of warmth illuminated my back, and I broke my wide-eye attention to look behind.

A swirling vortex of radiant energy. The figure wanted me to come closer. Stand by his side - I was sure of it. But now, I could not. Every fiber of my being relaxed, and I allowed myself to fall into the golden light. Elation filled my core as the comfort enveloped me.

“Max?”

My eyes flickered open, and I was briefly disorientated. Stone walls, and I was on the floor. I turned my eyes to see the elf crouched down beside me.

“You were writhing about a lot. Bad dream?”

I deflated in my bedroll and tried to put the shattered parts of my brain back together. A few more hours of sleep would have been preferable… but now we were in the Dungeon. Not the most comfortable place to rest. We had laid in a rough star shape, five points against the walls, aside from Wolf, who blocked the door to further in. Would have been nice to share some warmth with the elf, but…

“Nothing to worry about,” I finally said, smiling as I placed my top hat over my face.

“Bullshitter,” she replied, before sighing. “Sorry to wake you, but the others are getting up and we have another long day of hardship to get through.”

I did nothing but groan in response. Even I had a little downtime before shows.

Hair tickled at my ear as I felt her lean in closer. “Come on, trickster. Survive the day and we’ll find an inn… and I’ll do that thing you like.”

Who needed time off, anyway? A true showman was always on the clock, and more hardship just meant more opportunities to work on my tricks and come up with new ideas. As soon as she moved away, I practically sprung up to my feet, almost knocking myself out on a stone shelf my head briefly grazed.

Ren picked my hat back up and handed it over, a tired look in her eyes. It was her own fault for promising we’d go over more real magic tricks together. At least, that’s what I assumed she meant.

“Morning, Max,” Tanya said from the other side of the room. She gave me a brief nod before sorting through some items.

“Morning,” I smiled toward the gathering. It was nice that she nor Quinn had murdered us in our sleep. “Ready for another day fighting against the odds?”

Tanya grunted. “Make me a stiff coffee and I’ll follow you into the depths of hell.”

I pulled a face. “It’s not a pleasant place.” I raised an eyebrow toward the elf. As the bearer of the all-important coffee, I sought her approval for it to be distributed.

She nodded. “I think we could all use some. Some breakfast too?”

“Please,” I gave her a low bow. “Anything you feel like doing, I’ll eat.”

Her eyes lingered on me for a few moments, before she turned to bring out her grill. I was starting to consider that I might be slightly off today. Either the extended murder-day yesterday had my sensibilities left as scraps, or the uncomfortable dream was still lingering on my conscious thoughts like a wet blanket.

Chair out, and I sat, so that my brain didn’t have to worry about keeping me upright.

Quinn came up to sit nearby, his singular eye looking rather tired as well. Wolf appeared to be asleep by the door, but I could see his nose twitching as soon as the grill sparked up.

“Feeling sharp enough to cut through the dungeon?” I asked the fixer.

His head tilted from side to side, his usual pomp and spark for life completely muted. “I’ll admit I will be slower than intended, due to a couple of factors.” He turned to raise an eyebrow at me - his missing eye clearly being one of said reasons. “But I trust you will do the heavy lifting when it comes to combat.”

“Naturally.” I narrowed my eyes at the chamber we were in.

Having arrived under the cover of night, I hadn’t bothered to take much of it in - much preferring to hit my bedroll and never return to the waking day. A rough hexagon shape, sun-bleached gray stone brickwork despite it being fully covered from the daylight. Loose sand filled the edges and some of the splits between the stone. Relatively near the coast, it would probably be easy enough to guess at the theme.

“For Dungeon completion,” he continued, “you just need to kill one of the main three bosses. But there’s a secret reward for defeating all three - and that will be enough to level you up.”

After giving me a literal cannon, I wondered how far the System would go to ensure I remained completely overpowered. Maybe it was running out of ideas for what a Demonic Magician should have… yet I was also apprehensive about it leaning into more of the evil side of things, rather than the showman part. Evil being a bit of a tasteless word to use when I murdered nearly twenty people yesterday.

“Any messages from the Crimson?” I asked Tanya, as she finished sorting something and came to sit with us. As we didn’t to wear backpacks traditionally, with the intangible Inventory we all had, it intrigued me that she had one.

“No. I’m sure it’s not long before they start to suspect something is up, however.”

Ren turned her head as she poured the first coffee. “Say, you don’t have the contact details of the Lady, right?”

“Afraid not.” Tanya gave us a glum smile. “Not something she gives out easily. Aside from those you’ve already killed… I can contact two of the roaming groups, and one of her personal guards.”

Part of me wanted to send out an open invitation. Come find us, be audience to the greatest and most fatal show the System had to offer. I knew these things shouldn’t be rushed, though. Unless they were heading toward some deadline, we’d take the time to grow more powerful and disassemble their different parts until none remained.

Clinical, which drew my gaze toward our newest member.

She lifted her mug up to blow away the steam, enamored by the hot liquid, and seemingly relaxed and content enough to be around us.

“Did you have a party before joining the Crimson?” I asked her.

Her eyes went up to me, before back to her drink. “I did, yeah. We all declined the Red.”

There was a weight to the simple sentence that gave away what happened to them after the fact. Dead. I had enough sense to not prod further. If the rest of her Party had been killed in front of her, then I couldn’t really blame her for joining the Crimson Shadow. It made some sense why her loyalty was easily replaced once she had found something strong and stable enough to take her away from those she probably reviled.

“In saying that,” she continued after the heavy silence, “a good tank is worth their weight in gold, and Wolf is the best I’ve ever seen.”

The bear perked up from his food at hearing the compliment.

“Truly, he has been the glue that held us together,” Ren agreed.

I smiled. Couldn’t really argue against that. While a human warrior or paladin geared for front row fighting would have to overcome the fear of being so close to death, Wolf had a more dissociated view. Added with his natural hardiness and whatever the System had filled him with, he was nigh unstoppable in a fair fight.

“Biggest weakness is spellcasting,” I said. “Sleep and the like.” Not that I wanted to throw a wet blanket over the praise, but there was a reason she switched to this conversation other than talking more about her prior Party.

“I thought as much,” she smiled at the bear before looking back at me. “I am able to make a singular idol for each of us, and one with magical resistance and some status immunity would be perfect for Wolf.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Interesting how the System interpreted your Class.”

“Half of it is these protective idols. The other half is… less savory. I hate to use it against other Players.” She worked her jaw and thumbed at one of her inert idols.

Good to know she held some trauma locked away there, and I imagined it was something disease or biological warfare adjacent given her history. Sure, I killed people daily, but for the most part, we didn’t let them suffer. Other than the fact that they had to endure the gaudy magician theme… if only briefly.

“For Ren, attack speed and lower threat. Threat seems like something rather abstract to protect against, but I’m not well versed in arguing with the System.” Tanya shrugged and handed over the idol to the elf, who stuck it in her belt.

“Quinn, you’ll have the health and mana regeneration aura idol as you’ll be switching between front and mid line in combat.”

He nodded and gave her a low bow as he received his gray idol. Discussing tactics without me present made me feel a little left out… but then again, the point of having more bodies in the Party was to share some of the load. The less I had to think about, the more I could spend brain power concentrating on my performance. My eyes went over to the elf as she packed away the grill. The performance and Ren, I corrected myself.

Tanya gave me a brief smile before addressing the group at large. “I’ve done this dungeon myself, so between Quinn and I we should have no problem navigating the traps and rooms before the bosses. Most enemies will be easily distracted by Wolf and put down between the damage of Max and Ren.” She stood and put away her chair. “Anything important to note we will bring up prior to moving between rooms.”

I nodded, but inside I was probably pouting. Not exactly a worthy expression for such a prodigious showman as myself, but I wondered why she hadn’t given me an idol. Perhaps I didn’t need one? Sure, I was pushing the limits of what the System should allow and carving up higher leveled players without breaking a sweat… but that didn’t mean I didn’t want one. I stood and waved away my chair. Decided I shouldn’t be so childish and get on with the Dungeon.

“Let’s get through this, nice and simple.” I ignored the narrowed eyes from Ren. “After we get our level, we will stake out the blood couriers, and then see what the rest of the day brings us.”

Nods and acknowledgements, even if Wolf’s input was more of a grunt. I’d bribe him with more food at some point. Maybe see if he wanted anything else in life than being the wall between us and the sharp points of our foes. Couldn’t only be food and sleep.

Quinn gestured for the bear to follow him. “I’ll take the venerable Wolf with me down the first corridor to prepare for the first fight. And Ren, if you could kindly lend me your eyesight - I wouldn’t want to miss the trap due to my condition.”

“Of course.”

It was nice to see them getting along better now. Life was already too stressful without everyone getting on each other's nerves. My eyes scanned around the room for anything we’d left behind before I clocked that Tanya had been waiting for me.

She stepped over, her arms crossed. “I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t stepping on any toes.”

I raised an eyebrow to consider this. “You’re very pragmatic and headstrong. While we’ve done well playing things by ear, we could do with more order in our lives.”

“Diplomatic response.” She smiled and sighed. “I can be a hardass and a bitch at times. I just want you to know that you’re still in charge here, and you can tell me to shut the fuck up if I’m getting too big for my boots.”

“You have my word.”

Her eyes narrowed like she didn’t quite believe me - maybe able to see the dying part of me who had been a people pleaser. “You’re an odd group, but a tall glass of water. I’m sure you still don’t trust me, especially with how I seem to want to join the winning side more than anything…”

“Correct.”

“But I wouldn’t trust you, if you trusted me that easily.” She smiled again. “We’ll need to take risks and use what bullshit we can to beat the Lady. Trust me at least on that. Her bodyguard groups won’t just keel over after some fireworks. But together, we can do it…”

She held out her hand, which had an idol in it. This one was different. Instead of the dull gray that resembled clay or stone, this was polished silver. A symbol was engraved into it, circular with rough points bisecting it. The indented area shimmered between red and purple light.

I took it in my hand as she gestured toward the door. “Let’s catch the others up now.”

My nod came out slower than my footsteps, as I brought up the details of what she had given me.

[Magic Idol+]

[+30% Damage, Damage Taken is doubled]

Risk taker. That's what she had deemed me as, and she wasn't wrong.

I paused as we reached the doorway, and she stopped just in the corridor to see why.

"Who did it?" I asked, wanting to knew who we'd have to kill to avenge her old Party.

Her expression cooled as she rejoined the conversation we had avoided earlier. "The Lady herself."

With a nod and a chill in my core, I stepped in to see what the dungeon had to offer.