"Rey, open the door, please," Phil pleaded. "It's me, Phil."

  Rey put his forehead on the cold metal door and closed his eyes. The man sounded like Phil and looked like Phil, but on the inside, he was anything but Phil. This was precisely how it had happened last time.

  Phil was one of the first to die and the first to turn.

  The man outside was not a man but a demon. When the male Vorclaw attacked them in the clearing last time, Phil was among the first to fall and the only one to rise again. Somehow, he had found them back here at the castle, and at first, everything was fine, but then everything went to shit when Unokir came.

  That was when Phil truly fell.

  "What is it?" Filomena asked. "Why aren't you opening the door? It's Phil."

  Rey shook his head lightly as he spoke slowly. "It's not. It is, but it's not him."

  "What do you mean?" she asked. "Speak plainly."

  "Open the door, Rey," Phil called again. "C'mon, man, those demons could return at any moment."

  Rey ignored him and turned to the people. "What I'm about to tell you will sound like madness, but you must believe me. Every word I speak is the utter truth."

  Kassandra had made it down the stairs, and his eyes met hers through the crowd. He hoped the lie he had told her about being a Seer would be enough to convince all these people. If not, the future would repeat itself, and Unokir would turn this castle to rubble.

  Most of all, he hoped Zalathar couldn't check which Element he had chosen. If he or Tibras could see that he was lying about being a Seer, then the Unokir would be the least of his troubles.

  "Phil is no longer a human," Rey said.

  The reactions he got were quite muted compared to what he was expecting—muted, meaning no one reacted at all. It was quite strange. He had expected some laughter, but they were all quiet, so he continued.

  "I know, you might be thinking I'm a fucktard with two functioning brain cells, and I'll admit most times I am, but those two brain cells of mine are working at full blast right now. And that person behind this door is a demon. Look, we all saw him die, but what you didn't see was his and Latoria's ghosts rise from their bodies. Kassandra can confirm this to be true."

  All eyes turned to Kassandra, who gave a slow nod. "It's true. Their souls rose from their bodies, but how does that make him a demon?"

  "How do you even know this?" Gloria chimed in, clearly having some affection for Demon Daddy.

  Rey couldn't help but be jealous, but Phil was a demon, so what did he care? He was sure she wouldn't go for a demon dude. Besides, I need someone to keep my mind off Kassi.

  His eyes met Kassi's before he answered. "Because I've seen it happen. You see, I am a Seer, or well, I selected the Seer Element, and this lets me see things."

  "So, you saw Phil turning into a demon?" Filomena asked.

  He nodded. "And more. I've seen the destruction of this castle by a more powerful demon than anything we've seen, aside from the two assholes that dropped us in here."

  Tia scoffed. "And we're just supposed to trust you on this?"

  "Have I lied to you before?" Rey countered. "Pick the Seer Element and see for yourself. Maybe you'll see the same things as I did."

  Please don't call my bluff.

  Call my bluff, and I'll dump your body in the well. Gave Demon Rey his unneeded input.

  Demon Rey, go back to sleep.

  "And how is what you've seen connected to Phil?" Gloria asked.

  "Because El Snack Supremo, he lets that strong demon inside," Rey said. "I think this place is special. A safe haven created just for us by Zalathar or his Minion, most likely. Built to keep the demons out and give us the supplies we need. How else do you explain that well? I don't think demons need water. They probably drink sewage water and call it the finest wine." He snapped his fingers. "Let's ask Phil."

  "You want to give him sewage water?" Gloria asked incredulously.

  "Why not? He's not human anymore."

  Phil may have stopped being human, but he hadn't totally lost his humanity. That would happen over weeks and months, stretching to years. After all, that was what had happened to Rey. Even after a whole year, there were still some remnants of morality inside him that compelled him to do the right thing from time to time.

  Perhaps that wasn't the case for everyone, since Phil had betrayed them to the Unokir and reveled in his demon side. This was why Rey did not want to bring him in. Once the protection of this castle was gone, things became really interesting.

  "You know," said Sergei, the quiet Russian, who had hardly spoken in group debates because he knew very little English. "How do Seer see all this?"

  "I see the future, my well-built friend."

  Sergei was built like a bodybuilder. One would think Jerry would be, but no, Jerry was a pot-bellied bully, whereas Sergei was the gentle giant who held off Unokir alone and gave his life to make sure the rest of them got away. For that alone, he would always have Rey's undying respect.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Rey continued. "And it's shown me some awful things."

  "Has it shown you our deaths?" Kassandra asked.

  He looked away. "Not yet. But we must turn Phil away because I'm sure if we don't, then the day my premonition comes to fuck us in the ass won't be far away."

  Then someone laughed. It was Tia, of course. "This guy is so full of shit. He's hiding something. I can smell it. No one thinks it's weird that after the last battle, he just happened to know to toss the bodies away. Why? And how? Oh, that's right, the future told him. Bullshit. Now that Phil has returned, this fountain of information is bursting forth. Where was all this information before?" She paused and cocked her head to the side, waiting for a response. "See, now his tongue stops wagging. I think it's all bullshit. He's making it all up because he's scared. I say, we open the door and let Phil come in and decide for ourselves if Phil is worth keeping."

  Oh, you will be a thorn in my rump, after all.

  Heads nodded at that slowly at first, but then people got confidence from the idiot next to them and decided they saw sense in Tia's nonsense.

  "How do we even know he's a demon?" The Sizzling Jalapeno said. "We should open the door and see for ourselves,"

  Others agreed with Gloria. They turned towards Rey, ready to meet their doom. They looked so confident and unconcerned with all that Rey had said. It was like he hadn't just talked about them dying at all.

  He snorted. "Well, I tried. She is right. I am hiding something. I've seen your deaths. Only five people survive that demon and Phil, and since I'm apparently a bullshitter, I won't tell you if you live or die. As you lie dying, please be sure to curse who is really responsible, yourselves and Tia."

  With that, Rey opened the door and welcomed Phil with open arms.

  "Phil, my brother," Rey called as he embraced him. "I had to convince them so hard to open the door, but they wouldn't let me, saying something about how you've turned into a demon or some such nonsense."

  The others were still too stunned by his warning about their deaths to say anything to counter his blatant lie.

  "D-Demon? Me?" Phil looked at him, confused. "Can't be. I was turning into something, but my thoughts cleared once I got to my soul."

  "What happened to your wound?" Rey asked.

  After all, his clothes were still somewhat wet with his blood. Rey moved up Phil's shirt to reveal his abdomen to everyone, where he knew it would be—his demon mark. In his case, it was a shadowy mark of sharp fangs gnawing away at an invisible meat.

  Rey gasped dramatically with a hand over his mouth and looked at everyone in an I-told-you-so look.

  "I wonder what that is?" Rey said, channeling his inner Oscar-winning actor. "Could it be…Let me Identify you," he said, more for the idiots who didn't believe him to get a hint.

  [Demon (Exiled) – E+1]

  Rey had dropped a couple of ranks when he had turned into a demon, but since Phil was already at rock bottom, there was nowhere to fall.

  Rey dropped his shirt and jumped away. "Oh no, you're a demon now?"

  "I can explain," Phil said.

  "Oh yes, please do." Rey rested his chin on his hand. "We're all dying to know."

  "When that demon wolf took a bite out of my…" He motioned to his stomach. "Once I died, I woke up somewhere in that creepy forest. I felt something was missing. I couldn't tell what it was, but I felt a certain pull towards something, as if someone was calling to me. It was faint, very faint. Confused and dazed, with this ravenous hunger growing inside me, I stumbled through the forest, only to find all these demons rushing towards the same place. At first, I was scared and hid, but they didn't attack. They avoided me as if I wasn't even there. Finally, I plucked up the courage and made my way towards this sound, only to find a horde of demons hovering around this light, which turned out to be my soul, which was anchored to my body...my original body, I guess."

  For some reason, most eyes turned towards Rey. It took him a moment to realize why.

  "Oh, you want to know why I moved his body?" Rey asked cautiously.

  "No, we want to know why the sky is red and veiny here," Tia snapped.

  "Wow, you're so nice. Your parents must be so proud of you for raising such a well-mannered princess."

  "Stop dodging the question, jackass."

  "Two reasons, actually. One, I saw it in one of my visions, and the second was what Zalathar said before he fucked off. He said not to worry too much if we die. He was sure that we'll be able to find our way back as long as the others don't destroy your body." He flourished a hand towards Phil. "Hence, voila."

  "So, you failed to regain your soul?" Maria, the faithful asked. "That's why you've become a demon."

  Phil looked down. "No, not exactly."

  Rey poked him in the side. "Oh, come on, out with it, demon boy."

  "I pushed my way through the demon horde, who were salivating to eat my soul, but some barrier held them back. They couldn't step towards my soul, but I broke through the horde and was able to…able to…merge with my soul."

  Eat! Rey shouted on the inside. He ate his fucking soul!

  Rey had done the same when he died in his last playthrough. He was respawned in a random location, just like Phil, and he had to find his soul. Unlike Phil, who had it easy, the demons surrounding Rey's soul weren't just mindless demons. So he had to fight through a veritable army of strong, intelligent demons—like what Phill was—to get to his soul. Then he, too, 'merged' with his soul to be reborn as a demon. If he had failed, then he would've become a mindless demon like the ones they'd been killing so far.

  This was one of the perks of Hell. You lived, you died, you lived again as a demon—whether you retained your mind or not rested on whether you could consume your soul. Since demons didn't have souls, hence the consuming part. In a way, you ate yourself to become yourself again.

  Rey wanted to scream this at them, but kept his lips tightly shut, and they would remain shut until he could confirm that demon Gru and his Minion couldn't hear him.

  "Congratulations, I guess," Rey said, breaking the silence.

  "What would've happened if you didn't merge with your soul?" Maria asked.

  "It's hard to tell, but I felt my mind getting frayed along the edges," Phil said. The longer I was without my soul, the harder it was to keep a conscious thought alive in my head. It's hard to explain."

  You're still without your soul, buddy. Demons don't have souls. Half the time, Rey felt like he was talking to himself. Maybe Kassi was right. I need to stop getting lost in my head and wasting my talents in making other people lose their minds.

  "Anyways, I'm back," Phil smiled. "But poor Latoria couldn't make it. I saw her trying to get through the demons, but she failed. I tried to help her. I tried to take her old body with the soul to her new one, but the same barrier that prevented other demons from getting to her soul also prevented me from getting to her. In the end, I lost her in the horde, and by the time they dispersed, she was gone too."

  "Poor Latoria," Filomena grimaced. "Say, Phil, do you feel any urge to eat us or something of the sort?"

  The lovable Chihuahua of an ex-human and now demon chuckled. "What? I would never do that."

  "Never say never," Rey said. "You've just stepped into demonhood. Who knows, you might give us up to a more powerful demon tomorrow for a greater reward."

  "What?" Phil cocked his head. "He's joking, right?"

  Rey didn't say anything and walked through the crowd, which didn't reply to their new demon friend. They stared at Rey as he left to solve his other problem—the lack of a weapon.

  Good thing I know just where to get a shiny new weapon.