You told me size didn’t matter :(

  It was the 13th day of the 1100th year of the Myunk Dynasty. When faith began to die.

  A man had touched a seal, he had done the same trick may times in his career and each time he had walked away happy and content with the riches he had discovered.

  His last time was different.

  The vault cracked open, and Cruelty smiled.

  Something ancient and malevolent stirred.

  Bound no longer by locks forged in times long forgotten.

  A thing without name or mercy emerged from its depths.

  In the days that followed, the followers of the benevolent Cryumb begged and screamed for help. Children, never given the chance to grow, cried for a man they’d never seen.

  But no help came.

  By the 31st day, Cryumb’s silence was considered answer enough. The god once called Benevolent was christened once again as Mad. His name once reverent and spoken with praise was now a curse.

  The faithful dwindled. Men who had given their life to the cause turned away, desperate to protect their families in the absence of the god they had sworn to serve.

  The land succumbed to chaos. Cities were engulfed in flames and rivers ran red in the blood of the faithful.

  Dark cults rose from the ashes. Inevitably mass sacrifices followed, done to appease the demon or perhaps to awaken something worse. It was not known. Their names and motives like the kingdom they lived in were lost to time.

  It was on the 48th day when the Hawthorne king stood atop his citadel staring down at the land he had built. Half of his subjects were dead, and the other half maddened by hunger and fear.

  But he stood firm. When all others fell, he would not.

  It was on the 56th day the Hawthorne king saw the demon.

  On the 57th day a tear traced an unyielding face.

  And it was on the 58th day that the last believer stopped believing.

  Forty-five days. That was all it took. One mistake and an empire built over a thousand years toppled, remembered as little more than a footnote in history.

  If Kato had known any of this, he might have acted differently but he didn’t and so he acted as he would with anyone he was meeting properly for the first time.

  “Hi.”

  The blurring mass of darkness stopped, startled. “Hello? It rasped, as though tasting the word for the first time.

  Kato extended his hand towards the spiky blob of blackness ahead of him, “I am Kato, and you are?”

  The demon unfurled from its hunched position, rising to a towering height until its horned head scraped against the ceiling. Slowly it crouched, lowering one knee to the ground as malevolent red eyes flickering with amusement locked onto Kato.

  Puffs of red smoke exhaled from a curled mouth in time with the rise and fall of its chest, each rise and fall accompanied by the scent of sulphur filling the air.

  Large, spiked wings sprang from its back with a sharp snap, stretching wide and casting dark, jagged shadows across the entirety of the room, they were tipped with razor edges and light itself seemed to bend into them.

  Kato stepped back slightly waving a hand in front of his face to clear the foul air.

  It bent lower. Examining him, A deep, glowing red seam split its chest, pulsating faintly with each contraction.

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  “Little beast.” The demon’s voice grated.

  “Hello little beast,” Kato smiled wanly, he had not expected it to be this big.

  The demon recoiled slightly; the spikes of varying lengths adorning its entire body retracted back in a mechanised fashion as if an unseen force had struck it.

  “How dare you! Little beast” It hissed the words at him.

  Kato awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. ‘This is not off to a great start.’

  “I apologise, let me try again.” He paused briefly focusing on the creature’s enunciation, “little beast,” he hissed at the towering behemoth.

  The demon’s face twisted upwards, but before it could denounce the name the human had given it. Kato stepped forward; a light pale hand reached outwards gently touching the molten red scar in the giant’s chest.

  “Does it hurt?” Kato whispered; faint emerald eyes peeked up at the demon from beneath cascading black locks.

  The demon sniffed lightly, “No. Trivialities like this mean little to me.”

  Kato poked at the hole slightly, “wow,” he whispered breathlessly, “you must be very strong.”

  The demon winced internally, but its demeanour showed no signs of cracking, “I get by,” it replied casually.

  Kato smiled slightly as the demon spoke to him. ‘Good, it’s listening,’ he thought. He didn’t know what being a host was exactly; but knowing the church it was probably another way to feed into some masochist’s wet dreams.

  With that in mind he had resolved to butter up whatever this creature was before slipping away like a thief in the night. Not that he would know anything about how thieves slip away of course.

  The demon blinked slowly, remembering who it was talking to, “you broke my puzzle.”

  “Um,” Kato stammered.

  “Explain yourself.” The demon boomed again, its voice shaking the walls as it glowered down at him.

  Kato hesitated, there was a lot of things he could try here. But sometimes honesty was best. His eyes slowly crept back up to meet the demon’s gaze. “Yeah that. Um. My bad?”

  Two monstrous blood red eyes narrowed, “your… bad?”

  Kato felt the tension leave his shoulders, he had half expected it to decide his head was a bad match for his shoulders and just kill him on the spot. “Yeah, I didn’t mean to break it. You see these things they just sort of happen. You know? Not to say that you designed it poorly or anything. I mean… uh. I love puzzles. Yours was great!” Kato abruptly stopped rambling and gave the titan an awkward thumb up. Letting his hand dangle limply in the air.

  “Is your kind, usually this impertinent?” The demon bent lower. Red smoke billowed over Kato his hair wildly flapping in its wake.

  “I’m not sure, I haven’t got out much recently.” Kato paused; he didn’t want to create the wrong impression here. “Not because I’m awkward or anything, it’s just life’s been dragging me all over the place. You know?”

  “I see.” The demon replied bluntly. “Perhaps I was wrong, you would make a terrible host.” It examined him further. “Yes,” a large head slowly nodded. “Your constitution is just terrible and you’re quite small.”

  Kato looked down, admonished. He was above average at the very least!

  The demon continued, “you smell foul and the hair, don’t even get me started. Its repugnant.”

  Kato’s hand absently felt a strand of his dark, black hair. ‘I like my hair.’

  “I would be better suited with one of those mangy felines. Heavens, I doubt you could even beat one of their offspring in a fight.” The gigantic head nodded again assuring itself.

  Kato recoiled, stunned. It could not be serious. Was it saying he couldn’t even beat a kitten? Why did he keep hearing this? Wilfully ignoring the past few days. He spoke out.

  “I so too could beat a kitten, and I would make a great host.” He glowered up at the demon. Before quickly covering his mouth. ‘Think before you speak, damn it! They were giving you what you wanted.’

  The demon fortunately was not swayed, it shook its head slowly. “Poor mental temperament,” it mumbled to itself.

  Kato’s eye twitched, the beast seemed lost in thought and he really felt no need to stay here as it disparaged him.

  He crept slowly towards the exit, his feet gently padding across the floor as he walked back.

  The demon snapped out of its musing its eyes locking onto him once again. “And what is it you think you are doing?”

  Kato startled, stopped in his tracks, “oh you know us humans, always doing wacky stuff.”

  “I suppose,” the demon muttered.

  Kato stepped back again. He was so close to escape and freedom. He could almost taste it.

  “Of course I can’t let you go,” the demon spoke again, “even if you would be an unbelievably pathetic host, you still broke my puzzle.”

  Kato bristled slightly but continued stepping backwards.

  “No,” the demon stated. “You simply must die.”

  Without warning, it sprung forwards, flying through the air, its massive form careening straight towards him. Jagged spikes formed out of the flesh of its hands, and palpable blood lust hung thick in the air.

  Crash! The demon slammed into the roof, unused to its new habitat. Its own largesse trapping it. Spikes more decorative than practical lodging it into the overhanging granite surface.

  Without wasting a moment Kato turned sharply on his heels and darted towards the exit.

  He flung himself through it in mere instants.

  But the demon was not far behind, ripping itself off the wall and giving chase in an instant. Its body transforming till the once cramped ceiling stretched far above it.

  Kato kept running, but it was gaining and rapidly.

  The floor sharply dipped without warning and Kato missed his step, his feet tripping and sending him sprawling to the ground.

  The demon caught up seconds later and sneered down at him. Coldy, it stepped forward and placing a gnarled spike made of its own flesh against his throat, pressing till Kato’s skin just started to break.

  “This was always how it had to end puzzle breaker,” the demon rasped. With a crack of the air the demon’s arm twisted back and in a sickening hiss the spike shot forward and the air hummed with the promise of death.

  Chapter 1

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