Luckner nearly threw himself backward when the reptilian crashed down from the sky. Its bat-like wings knocked aside tables and chairs. Its taloned feet peddled around, searching for something to latch onto. It left long gouges in the furniture until it attached itself to the shoulders of the inconsiderate man.

A throat-ripping squeal escaped the man while blood soaked through his clothing. The man’s party erupted into an animalistic frenzy in the meanwhile. Men trampled over women in sparkly gowns and high heels. Women crawled under the furniture, breaking their nails. The servers were nowhere to be seen. And the monster with a long metallic beak pecked at the man underneath it.

“Someone needs to help him,” Luckner said.

“Is that someone going to be you?” Lylyth recrossed her legs and folded her hands on her knee. “Do you know how to achieve such a feat at your level?”

Luckner knew the reasonable thing to do was to run. It was also reasonable to question Lylyth for acting so calm⁠—then run. It felt like his heart was going to sprint out of his chest and leave him behind if he stayed here.

But the man he was angry at earlier was being pecked and clawed up to bloody ribbons. And it was an actual monster doing it! The people on the news weren’t crazy after all!

Luckner suspected he himself was crazy because he was giving attention to strangeness in his head⁠—HUNT⁠—and asked, “How do I hunt… er.. help him?”

“Think to yourself, Hunter Script, with the full intention of seeing words.”

He did just that.

⁠—

[Hunter’s Name: Luckner Loussaint]

[Origin: Earthling]

[Sub-Species: Awakened Human]

[Rank: 1st Circle - Low Adept]

[Singularity: Enchanter]

[Skills: Empathy, Endurance, Heroism]

[Spells: Compulsion, Party Bond]

⁠—

“What spells do you have?” Lylyth said.

“I, uh,” Luckner stammered, surprised by the text that actually popped up in his vision. The monster victim’s screams made him refocus. “[Compulsion] and [Party Bond].”

Lylyth clucked. “That explains why my [Seductress] is a little dampened against you. You have the [Enchanter] singularity, don’t you?”

“Lylyth, I don’t understand what any of this means, but I need to know what I’m supposed to do.” Luckner pointed at the vividly gory scene. “Do I just point and yell [Compulsion]!”

The moment he did, Luckner felt a strange pulse from the center of his being. Something new had been unsealed inside of him. It rushed forth from his core like water bursting out of a dam. The power flooded his body, filled his limbs until they felt like they would explode, and made him seize-up on the spot.

Only when the power gathered into the hand aimed at the winged monster did it start to channel itself out. There was a bright violet light that flashed from his palm. It was nearly blinding, and it scalded the tip of his fingers a little while making his hand vibrate all crazy. As the light from his palm faded, the same light flashed in the monster’s dark eyes.

The creature lifted its bloody beak and looked at Luckner. It hopped off the flayed man and skipped closer to the teen.

“Oh shit, oh shit, uh, don’t come closer!” Luckner waved his arms.

The monster stopped.

“Um, uh, go back.”

The monster went back to standing on its former prey, eliciting a groan out of the tortured guy.

“Wait, no, I mean stand to the side.”

It did just that and stared at Luckner. It stayed put like a properly trained dog that wouldn’t mind waiting on its master.

Luckner blinked at the monster. Then he turned toward a slurping sound. He watched Lylyth finish the rest of her Irish Coffee.

She licked the foam off her upper lip. “Would you like for me to get the check?”

“Uh.”

She dabbed at her mouth with a napkin and swiftly reapplied her lipstick.

“Uh…” Luckner droned again.

“I need to go before your kin arrives, child. They tend to attack every Mythic around when one gets out of hand. Besides, it would be terrible to show you my savage side so early.”

“That’s what you call ‘get out of hand?’” Luckner yelled. “And what do you mean, my kin? And savage side? What?”

Ignoring his many questions, Lylyth glanced at the mess. “I’m impressed you decided to help the man who drew your ire. You are a good-hearted human, Luckner. You have the [Heroism] skill, I imagine, which reminds me of someone dearly.”

Luckner blinked. What the fuck?

There were so many things Luckner wanted to say or ask.  He couldn’t even comprehend how he managed to convince a freaking monster to do what he wanted (and seriously, the monsters were real!).

He knew Lylyth was at the center of all of this, too. If not, she probably knew way more than he did. But at that moment where Luckner was pulling out of his stupor, his adrenaline tapering off, he did not recognize his coming doom.

He felt a weak buzz through the hand that had channeled [Compulsion]. The feeling was like a machine powering down.

Luckner studied the hand that had cast literal magic like he was in a fairy-tale. The next time he looked up, the monster was racing straight at him. It moved like an arrow, its body blurring behind its pointy beak. He didn’t have the speed to get out of the way.

Shit.

There was great pain. There was darkness. He knew the darkness would only offer him misery, and without the ice cream and Jack. He could hear the echoes of his adoration for those he had once held close. He still held them close. How fitting for the dark to torment him with lost love he couldn’t let go.

Like a bad song on repeat.

Then he saw a lovely light. It ranged from magenta to salmon and many hues in between. It was warm and inviting. It smelled of lilac. It was way better than this darkness, and it responded to him kindly. He found himself encased in it like being covered in velvet.

“I can’t seem to let you go,” said a powerful, feminine, goddess-like voice. Lylyth’s voice.

“Why?” he asked.

“That’s for me to ask myself and for you to discover.” Pause. “Depending on if you wish to live. Do you wish to?”

Luckner thought over the question. “What will it cost me?”

“Your heart, of course. But only half.”

“Really?” Luckner considered the bargain despite the madness of trading half a heart to a bodiless voice called Lylyth. He supposed he was in for more than a pound at this point.

“I will only take half if you… assist me in the future,” she replied. “I will fill your void with my passionate flames. It can serve as the foundation to your resurrection⁠—a second chance at life. Does the offer fancy you, child?”

If he could grimace, he would. There was a lot to think about, and most of it felt negative regarding such a whimsical decision.

Luckner knew something terrible would probably come out of this. It was pretty evident that he was making a deal with the devil. That was a big no-no in the western world if the media he had read was worth anything to believe.

But he tried doing good, and bad stuff happened anyway. The cruel darkness waited, and Lylyth was a comforting force that held it back. If this was his only way to live beyond the destruction done onto him by others, then he supposed he should take it. He figured he should finally learn to live inconsiderately.

Or with his self-respect held tightly in his fist.

“Lylyth, I have some requests.”

“Let me hear them.”

“One, don’t make me a slave. Seriously, don’t. Two, I’m not a child. I pay for my own toilet paper. If that’s all good with you, I’m in.”

Lilith chuckled, her voice like crackling flames.

“I will not make you a slave. I’ll prefer you to have free will. It will make things more exciting. But if you desire to stop being called a child, you must make me stop. And you are yet the man you need to be to make me stop… child.”

Anger consumed Luckner suddenly. It irked him that he had to compromise further when he was already compromised. If the opportunity arrived, he would pick Lylyth up and spin her around until she cried.

“Fine… take your half, Lylyth. Then light me up.”

“Deal,” she purred.

A new pain hooked into his chest. A tortuous heat filled the cavity.

Luckner endured, embracing his fiery rebirth.