Page 57 of The Misfit Mage and His Devilish Desires

Essence trapped beneath devastation. Essence shattered beyond repair. Essence purged from existence.

“Wally.” Bez jerked my arm, forcing me to look at him, to lock eyes with his steady gaze, his calm crimson irises, his stoic, concerned expression. “We need to leave this world.”

“How?” I asked, struggling not to tremble in Bez’s grasp.

“I suggest leaving with those nifty keys Mother bestowed.” Corson smirked, reminding me of his presence and seemingly unphased by the obliteration of his dimension.

“Keys?” The word spilled from my lips with a fog of confusion almost as dense as the mist that hid Lilith during her next barrage of strikes.

Corson nodded in my direction; his sapphire eyes analyzed me the same way I’d studied the dying land. His stare pierced through the deepest construct of my cells where the tiny embers of Lilith’s magic burned. That was right. The flaming key that brought us to Hell still burned deep within our cores, nearly extinguished but enough to see us home for certain.

“Even without the keys,” he said with a playful pause. “It seems we’re all in luck.”

“Luck?” I spat the word. “Bad luck.”

“No.” Bez looked up at the fractured sky, seeing something beyond the literal broken world. “Seems the door’s still ajar.”

“Yes, yes. Mommy went and overestimated herself,” Corson said, glee in his growing smirk. “Or she underestimated Beelzebub.”

“Both,” Bez said.

“I recommend you leave now before she revokes your pass.”

“If she gets the chance.” Bez scoffed. “Chances are the doors will simply seal entirely once Beelzebub slaughters Lilith.”

“Shouldn’t you leave too, then?” I asked Corson, to which Bez scoffed again. “What? He did save you.”

I’d sensed it when Lilith lashed out, casting her essence like a line meant to hook Bez, to hurt Bez. As fast as my essence was, it couldn’t reach him from such a distance in time, but Corson shoved him out of the line of fire. Well, the line of protruding spikes.

“He helped me avoid a minor fatality.” Bez folded his arms and looked away. “I’d hardly call that a rescue.”

Corson turned away from us, looking up to the sky where devils clashed. “I’m just gonna watch this unfold. I’ve always wanted to see Mother meet her end.”

“What if she wins?” I asked.

“She won’t,” Bez firmly said. Corson snorted in response.

“Mommy’s arrogance has granted her eons of success. It’s nice to know that bravado will finally be her undoing.”

The bitterness in his lighthearted words hit hard. I couldn’t say I didn’t understand the sour feelings toward his mother, Lilith was much worse, much more controlling and overbearing than mine, but I couldn’t understand the willingness to accept dying alongside her just to watch her fall.

“If you stay, you’ll be swept into this destruction.” I pointed to the rattling sigils ready to give way any moment.

“No worries.” Corson knelt, patting one nearby. “I’m only keeping them active until you lot leave. I’ve never been afraid of a bit of violence.”

“You’ll die,” Bez said. “When Lilith falls, her world will be sealed until the end of time, and Beelzebub will slaughter all on principal.”

Corson shrugged. “Fun times.”

“Are you sure he’ll kill her?” I asked, nervous about what two devils could do to our world.

“Yes,” Bez said.

“Wouldn’t it be wiser to keep her alive and use her to keep his own Hell portal open?”

“That would require Beelzebub to show humility and a long-standing collaborative partner,” Bez explained. “Things he’d never do. The moment Lilith offered him assistance, she signed her own death. Beelzebub would spend eternity rotting in his Hell before accepting assistance from a fellow devil. That’d make him weak. Beelzebub is a god-king to all things. He is anything but weak.”

The awe-struck terror mixed with the calm collectiveness that spilled from Bez made my heart lurch. I wanted to hug him,hold him, offer some type of comfort to a wound that’d never heal. But I couldn’t do any of that here. We had to escape first.

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