"Seriously?" The Goddess was stunned. Could it be that the knight had come to break her chains, just like in a fairy tale? No, it couldn't be! Pandemonium held the Fallen Goddess too firmly. To free her, it would require shaking the very heavens, and even then, success wasn't guaranteed. The knight, though he looked formidable, was unlikely to challenge such a monumental task.
'I thought the same about the Demon Queen,' suddenly thought the Fallen Goddess. 'A succubus and a hero, big deal. I'll crush them like flies. And in the end – locked up for hundreds of years within illusory walls.'
For a time, the Goddess was torn between the desire to keep the man with her and to break free. On one side of the scales lay freedom, power, and revenge. On the other – a peaceful and pleasant eternity. Priestesses in Pandemonium lived with their husbands – what makes me any different? Besides, there was a significant risk that the knight would fail at the task. But a cage, even a golden one, even with a husband, was still a cage. The Goddess didn't know what to choose.
"Nothing more serious, 'Goddess'," confirmed Amon, without a hint of a smile. "One doesn't joke with such matters."
"Can you do it?" the Fallen Goddess asked doubtfully. "It's not an easy task. To free me, you'll have to disrupt the symphony of the Celestial Spheres. You might die. Isn't it better to stay here with me? I promise we won't be bored…"
The demoness's reaction confirmed the sorcerer's assumption.
'I'm right! She hesitates, meaning she's capable of sending me into reality,' Amon thought coldly. 'Now I just need to push the demon further.'
He straightened his shoulders and leaned slightly forward, like a beast about to make its final leap. A grin appeared on the sorcerer's face, more akin to a vicious snarl.
"I've ravaged entire worlds, Fallen Goddess. I've crossed continents from end to end without sheathing my sword. States crumbled, cities turned to dust. I will wipe off the face of the earth anyone who dares challenge me. And if the heavens stand against you – I swear, I will storm them. You won't even blink before you're free!"
The Goddess couldn't resist the man's pressure. He, in turn, was pleased with his speech. He didn't have to lie. He had rather understated his dark "feats." The sorcerer could clearly see that he had almost convinced the demoness. A little more, and the monster would release him.
"You won't deceive me, will you?" asked the Fallen Goddess. She puckered her lips and gave him a measured look. "I've been betrayed many times. You'll take off and run. And you'll do nothing. People are so unreliable! Although I have an excellent way," she smiled slyly. "Our demonesses use it, and they know a thing or two about these matters. Here!"
A scroll and an ink bottle with a white quill appeared next to the Goddess. They floated toward Amon and hovered in the air.
"This is an agreement between us, knight. Sign it," commanded the Goddess.
"And why am I not surprised?" said Amon, knowing demons' fondness for written oaths. He took the parchment and brought it to his face.
"You're going to read it?" asked the Fallen Goddess, surprised by the man's strange behavior. "I thought you'd kneel, humbly thanking me for the honor."
"Sorry. Old habit," the sorcerer explained, almost grinding his teeth in annoyance at the demoness's arrogance. He focused on the text, which could contain dangerous ambiguities and logical traps.
"Fallen Goddess, the goddess, hereafter referred to as the Employer, and the knight Amon, hereafter referred to as the Executor, enter into the following agreement," Amon began reading aloud thoughtfully. "Clause one: The Executor agrees to free the Employer no later than six months after the signing of this agreement. Freedom is understood as changing the Employer's location beyond Pandemonium… this place is called…"
The Fallen Goddess impatiently tapped her foot.
"Why are you stalling? Sign it, knight!"
"In such matters, haste makes no sense," Amon remarked, not tearing his eyes from the scroll. Now that the demon had moved to negotiations, the power was on his side. "Clause two: The Employer agrees to provide the Executor with full support from her servants."
Amon paused and raised his head.
"You have servants? Then why are you still here?"
"I do," the Goddess waved her elegant hand vaguely. "Believers. Though they're not much help. In the past, I had other followers, but they abandoned me."
"I understand," Amon nodded seriously, remembering his own slaves. "It's hard to turn cultists into a fighting force. They're only good for cannon fodder and sacrificial rituals. How about champions? Warriors, mages, rulers?"
"No one," the Fallen Goddess reluctantly admitted and turned her head away for a second. "Just corrupt nuns, fallen warriors, and some monsters."
"Corrupt nuns?" Amon asked, puzzled. It seemed like he'd misheard. "What do you mean? A special kind of cultists of Slaanesh?"
"No, you fool, what Slaanesh?!" the Goddess exclaimed in surprise at his misunderstanding. "Just regular succubus nuns. They infiltrate the Supreme Church to seduce priests and worshippers."
"And then? They devour souls, transferring part of their power to you?"
"They transfer the power," the Fallen Goddess confirmed. "But not like that. Before, I was fed by pure faith, self-sacrifice, and religious ecstasy. Now it's a bit different. When a man and woman make love, they create spiritual and demonic energy…"
The sorcerer could hardly believe his ears. He was so stunned that he missed part of the Fallen Goddess's words.
"… and the more often, the longer, and the more varied, the more energy. Not very efficient, but there's no other choice. I'm going through tough times now."
Amon fell silent, trying to comprehend the unbelievable information.
Meanwhile, the Fallen Goddess eagerly stood from her throne and began pacing around it, lost in memories.
"There used to be temples built in my honor! You should've seen them! I'm sure you wouldn't find anything like that in your country. They were built from the finest white marble. The domes and spires reached the sky, touching the clouds, and the gold shimmered so brightly it would blind your eyes. How naïve... they thought the richer the church, the better I could hear their prayers. And the warriors! Huge armies answered my call: paladins in heavy armor, heroes and heroines, and above them flew the Valkyries. Oh, those were the days! The monsters didn't lag behind, of course, in their own way…"
Amon wasn't listening to her. He was bewildered. The things the Unborn had said were so absurd, they just couldn't be true.
'She's gone mad,' the sorcerer found the only logical explanation. 'Long confinement has driven the demon insane. Without access to the warp and Chaos, she lost her mind and created an imaginary world. She made herself a goddess to pass the time. And then she began to believe her own nonsense.'
Amon had heard similar stories.
On one planet, a demon had possessed an ancient titan, created during the Dark Era of Technology. It had been stuck in the machine for a long time, gradually losing touch with reality.
When loyal mechanists arrived on the planet, the Unborn easily convinced them that the titan spoke on behalf of the God of Machines. Preaching from the grand machine, the demon was influenced by its own lies – it continued to claim it was the Omnissiah, until the Grey Knights arrived and banished it back into the warp.
Amon liked his situation less and less.
'The demon is completely insane,' the thought flashed through Amon's mind, 'Which means she could change her mind at any moment. We need to wrap up this contract. And hope that the Unborn wasn't lying about being able to send me into reality.'
He quickly skimmed the rest of the text.
Clause three: The Executor loses the ability to directly harm monsters; what monsters? mutants? Doesn't matter, next…
Clause four: The Employer agrees to send the Executor beyond Pandemonium to any place that does not pose a direct threat to the Executor's health or sanity. Excellent, I won't be teleported into a volcano's maw...
The Executor agrees to report on the progress of the agreement at least once a month. The Employer is responsible for organizing communication… next...
Responsibility of the parties. This is important. In case of improper performance of the agreement, or after the expiration of the above term, the Executor will be returned to Pandemonium and will spend eternity with the Employer, showing respect and fulfilling all of their whims.
Amon sighed heavily – the circumstances had literally gripped him by the throat, leaving him no choice in the matter. The sorcerer made up his mind. He took the quill from the hovering inkpot and boldly signed his name.
Fallen Goddess stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes sparkled with joy. She plopped herself down onto the throne and majestically said:
"I knew you wouldn't abandon a girl in need, brave knight. From now on, I am your mistress! Go and find a way to free me. By the way, if along the way you perform a couple of heroic deeds in my honor, I wouldn't mind."
The goddess extended her hand palm-down, made an indifferent face, and turned her head to the side, signaling with her whole demeanor that she was granting the human the greatest honor.
Amon didn't budge.
"Why are you hesitating?" the girl said, not turning around. "Come here."
The sorcerer stepped closer and cautiously shook Fallen Goddess's hand; he didn't want to provoke the demon by displaying his strength.
The goddess didn't remove her hand.
"Anything else?" Amon asked with a frown. "We've already signed the contract and sealed it with a handshake."
"You need to kneel and kiss my hand," Fallen Goddess suggested, waving her hand.
"Is that really necessary?" Amon grimaced. The demon's tastes, to put it mildly, were astounding.
"Of course! You're my knight. It's a great honor!"
The sorcerer grimaced. Never before had he been subjected to such humiliation. Reluctantly, he knelt, quickly pressed his lips to her palm, and recoiled with disgust, wiping his mouth with his forearm.
"Not bad for the first time," the goddess complimented him. "But in the future, I'll take your education seriously, my dear dark hero..."
Amon straightened up.
"Now that the formalities are over, I'd like to move on to action," the sorcerer declared in a businesslike tone. He tried in vain to hide his sour expression so as not to anger the demon at such a crucial moment. Amon hoped that Fallen Goddess wasn't bluffing and would truly release him.
"Now, let's see, how do we do this..." Fallen Goddess clapped her hands. "Spatial overlap, sun in the second house... Let's begin!"
Tendrils of swirling mist reached toward Amon. They enveloped the sorcerer, gently lifting him upward. A pentagon-shaped hole opened in the ground. Through it, a fresh breeze, the scent of the sea, and grains of golden sand poured into Pandemonium. The mist tightened, solidified, wrapping the space marine in a dense cocoon.
"Good luck, my knight," Amon heard. "Return victorious!"
The cocoon rose even higher and suddenly, sharply, as if losing support, it plunged through the hole. With a sticky smack, the opening closed above the sorcerer's head, and the gloomy silence returned to Pandemonium.
And yet, something had changed in this place that existed outside of space-time. Fallen Goddess felt that it had become more spacious, and the monotonous gray hues were now enriched with several shades of blue.
"Now I have my hero," the goddess whispered. "A Dark Hero."
She no longer needed a physical body. The throne vanished. The figure of the girl dissolved into the thick fog. Fallen Goddess sank into sweet dreams of freedom and vengeance against the arrogant upstart Seraphiel.