Page 105 of The Misfit Mage and His Darling Demon

“Lever?” Kell’s expression twisted, probably unable to recall her own chaos of throwing the villa from gods-only-know-where to this secluded wilderness. “It wasn’t. And we didn’t.”

“My bad. Guess I got excited.”

“This was my big moment. A once in a lifetime opportunity and you pushed the button. My button to push. Without me.”

“You should’ve joined in then, instead of rambling about all the rules and steps and precautions.”

“When, Walter? You pushed the button and didn’t even give me a chance to—”

The villa exploded, bright and beautiful. Black flames engulfed the snowy tundra, replacing it with blades of grass, gravel, and fresh soil all around for miles. The night sky above lit up, replaced by comets burning in every color of the rainbow. The icy wind was replaced by a perfect autumn breeze. The crunch of snow beneath our feet vanished because we no longer stood in the Alaskan wilderness. We were now in a private dimension, cloaked from all prying eyes, a single step away from the mortal world but a thousand hidden dimensional layers from it.

Black tendrils of essence stretched high overhead, alongside us, and deep in the earth below, weaving all over like tangling spiderwebs pulled tight. Colors of every kind illuminated from the essence, not reflective from the flurry of comets, but representative of the lingering traces of demons that dwelled,fractured and broken, still existing despite total loss of awareness.

Kell knelt in the grass, holding Agatha’s Heart and muttering a spell. The sorcery spilled from her lips in waves, calling out to the tendrils. Essence latched to the heart. It beat, slow and steady like a drum announcing a great change.

And change it did. Every trace of Diabolic essence withered and faded, vanishing entirely, yet leaving behind a power tethered to the artifact and held in check by the vast amount of Mythic residue in the air.

Every breath held the taste of magic in it.

Wally held wonder in his expression, eyes curiously studying the trees sprouting all around, fields of flowers blossoming, hills and valleys stretching tall and wide, and riverbeds burrowing into pathways almost as intricate as the Diabolic webs. Finally, Wally rested his gaze on the essence, watching the spark of life fizzle away as every thread vanished. His smile lit up his entire face when the demons died, truly fading away to oblivion. Wally had explained how lost and trapped they’d all been thanks to Baron Novus’ experiments. Even if we could’ve released them all, killed them all, I doubted Wally would want to keep the tainted villa. Admittedly, I enjoyed the serene sight of the home burning to rubble ash among the flourishing forest around it.

“This is the city you wanted to create?” I asked.

“First steps,” Mora said. “That’s why I’ve assembled a quality team to knock down this default Fae setting and make room for the growing kingdom we’ll have.”

“Deforestation on day one?” Wally shook his head. “Seriously?”

“Don’t worry. As the kingdom expands, so will the life.” Mora grabbed Kell’s hand, leading her witch toward a gaggle of Mythics. “Come along, love.”

“She seems really at home here.” Wally leaned on my shoulder, watching Mora usher orders.

“You know what they say, you can take the demon out of the monarchy but not the monarch out of the demon.”

“They also say you can take the researcher out of the repository but not the…” Wally furrowed his brow, pensive and confused. “Okay, sort of lost myself in the pun on that. Whatever. Let’s go check things out.”

Wally dragged me deep into the forest exploring, pausing to examine every single thing we crossed, while I spent the time studying him and the eagerness he had.

“The plant life here is amazing,” Wally said, leading us further down a trail. “It must be a Fae preservation tactic. You know they keep every form of life preserved in their realms, even extinct life. I should probably make a list of off-limit areas for Mora’s construction.”

“Why?”

“This place is huge; I’d hate for her to bulldoze everything, even if the dimension expands, we can’t be certain that means the same unique vegetation will return.”

“Well, that can wait.” I grabbed his arm, pulling him close. “Why don’t we explore for the time being, find the perfect place with the perfect view to plant our flags?”

Mora might’ve laid out where and what this city would look like, but if I planned on making it a home for Wally and myself, then I wanted to ensure we had the best spot to lay our heads each night.

“I can think of one flag you can plant and where you can plant it.”

“That’s a terrible pun.”

“You’re a terrible pun.” Wally turned, leaning in close.

“That doesn’t even make—”

Wally kissed me, rough and with teeth and tongue, trailing his fingertips between the waist of my slacks. I savored the bite on my lower lip, the graze of his knuckles against my abdomen.

I went to grab him by the hips, but he zipped away.

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