“I’m done,” After about an hour, Amber returned. She found Merlin walking around with her hair untangled.

“You managed to get it undone?” She stared at her, surprised. “With that tie, I can’t imagine doing it without magic.”

Merlin giggled, “Arad did it. He’s surprisingly good with his hands.” She replied, “Now give me the bucket, I need to wash Arad’s shirt,”

Amber handed her the bucked, remembering that the shirt still had Arad’s blood on it.

“Arad’s hands are large. Are you sure he didn’t use magic?” She smiled.

“He’s quite skilled,”

“Not me,” Arad said, sitting at the door, “It’s the girls. I did watch Rey and Ray do Isdis, Aella and Eris’s hair a lot. Only Mira seemed to prefer doing it on her own,”

“You learned just from watching?” Amber stared at him.

“I tried once, but I almost pulled Aella’s hair out of her head. It’s been a while since I touched hair to comb it,” Arad replied.

Merlin took the bucket and picked up Arad’s shirt to wash it while Amber kept talking with him.

“Did any of them show you how to untangle hair?”

“No,” Arad looked at her, “I watched enough to be able to do it on my own.”

“Do you know it’s scary?” She looked at him, smiling, “How fast you learn,”

“Amber!” Merlin called, “Can you dry it with your flames?”

“I can, but…” She looked at Arad. “Is that okay? It might get damaged,”

“I don’t care. It’s just a shirt,” Arad replied.

“If you say so…and you have money, so that shouldn’t be a problem.” Amber smiled.

“Really?” Merlin looked at the wet shirt in her hands, “I thought you would object a bit,”

^Dragons are known to be possessive about their stuff…And this shirt isn’t cheap…^ Merlin thought. 𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Amber started drying it, “Where did you buy it? It looks nice,”

“The elvish capital, I picked it up with Aella,” Arad replied, and Amber immediately extinguished her flames. “You! How much was it,”

“It’s made of demon spider silk, so it cost about four gold coins,” Arad replied, and Amber stared at the shirt with a pale face. “You don’t dry those with fire!”

“Oh my,” Merlin looked at the shirt with a smile. “I knew it looked a bit too good to be cheap,”

Amber fliped the shirt over and over but didn’t find a single marking.

“Why is such a thing looking like a rug bought from the used market? It doesn’t have a single marking for its maker.”

“The shop I bought it from seems to have been owned by a noble, and that man was at the court when I talked with the queen. It seems they didn’t want troubles so they left it stamp-free like what they make for the queen.” Arad explained.

“No!” Amber gave the shirt back to Merlin, “I’m not drying it. You won’t find another shirt like this, don’t waste it.”

“I have five similar ones,” Arad said, staring at her with a passive face.

“Shut up,” Amber growled.

“They all look the same, so don’t worry about damaging that. The important thing is Merlin not getting sick,” Arad approached them. “Dry it so we can search for the stairs to the third layer.”

Amber stared at him, “Fine, it’s your money,” She took the shirt back from Merlin’s hands to dry it.

As Amber dried the shirt, Merlin approached Arad, “Do you wear those all the time?”

“I don’t know,” Arad replied, “The girls pick my clothes most of the time,” When takes a batch or wants to change, he usually asks them to bring his clothes, and he wears whatever they brought him.

****

After drying the shirt, packing some octopus meat, and making sure they were hydrated well, they headed out in search of the stairs. Amber and Arad walked at the front as she dried a path for them with her flame.

“There are still some of those monsters around,” Amber said, seeing some tentacles in the distance.

“Now that their queen got killed they are too afraid to attack us,” Merlin replied, “Don’t worry about them.”

“They are monsters. Can we trust that to remain the case?”

“No,”

“So we should hurry,” Arad looked at them, “I’m keeping watch, so don’t worry about an attack,”

“Arad, look there,” Merlin pointed behind the trees’ branches, “I can see something,”

“A stone building? I can’t see it well. Amber let’s go there and check it out.” Arad said.

“Of course,” She started changing direction, drying a path toward the stone structure Arad and Merlin saw.

After the trees there existed a large platform, this time with no tower but one small stage in the middle, a large red ball floating with an ominous aura oozing out.

“That thing,” Arad said, “It doesn’t look safe,”

Merlin squinted her eyes, trying to recognize the thing, “I don’t know what that is. But I don’t see a tower, so we should probably ignore it,” She said.

“You’re right,” Amber said as she was about to start building a path in another direction.

“HOW SAD!” A deep voice boomed from the red ball, “To think mistress forgotten me, no, she won’t recognize me like this,” it turned sad.

The red ball started spinning rapidly, shaking the air as it turned into an oval shape.

“This voice,” Merlin gasped, “Let’s run!”

Amber didn’t need to hear more and started drying mud as fast as she could.

Arad looked back at the spinning ball. It stopped, looking like two red wings covering something, “It’s alive, he said,”

“What are you doing?” Merlin stared at him, “Ignore him! Let’s run!” She growled at him.

“Running won’t help, Mistress.” The wings slowly opened up, and one red-glowing eye glared at them. “The stairs won’t appear until I’m defeated,”

As the wings opened, a tall slender man with red skin, two long horns, massive red bat-like wings, a long leathery black tail, and long claws stared at them.

“This thing,” Arad growled, “A devil,”

“Yes,” The devil opened his arms, “Mistress tricked me in a deal several years ago, and with it, I became her lab rat.” He waved his hands, taking a gentle bow.

“Aloris Baton Ver Deonte Gaton, at your service.” He smiled.

“Arad, you know devils. He’s lying about the stairs. Let’s go.” Merlin growled.

“Devils do not lie,” Aloris flicked his fingers, and the stairs appeared behind then quickly disappeared.

“For using me as a power source for your spells for years,” He looked at Merlin, “It’s high time I got paid. Your soul would be mine,” He pointed his finger at her, and a long chain appeared between his hand and Merlin’s neck.

CLACK! Merlin gasped as she saw the collar around her neck. “Now come, I can leave this accursed place with your power,”

CLANG! Aloris blinked as Arad grabbed the chain with his hand.

“Who are you?” The devil asked.

CLANG! Arad suddenly pulled the chain, dropping Aloris on his face and taking it from him.

“You bastard,” The devil growled as Arad approached him.

Arad bent down and grabbed Aloris by the horns, lifting him up, “Who are you taking?”

Tap! Aloris touched Arad’s chest, Curse of Chains: Soul Slave

The devil’s magic seeped into Arad’s body, seeing his soul. The moment he got closer, everything turned back before his eyes, followed by a single pink flash.

“What’s going outside? Why can’t I sense Arad?” Doma asked, sitting on a chair in the middle of the sky and staring down at Aloris.

“Where…” Aloris gasped but the skin on his left arm started peeling and his bones cracked, the hairs from his head pierced his skull and came out of his left eye.

“Who gave you permission to ask questions?” Doma glared down at him, “Answer, devil,”

“I…”

CRACKLE! His legs gut crushed, turning into a mush.

“An answer to my question never starts by I unless you’re intending to say I don’t know, and I don’t count that as an answer,” She lifted her hand, extending her palm toward him.

“It’s my fault for asking maggots that crawl in the world’s biggest dumpster,” She said and the Aloris’s body started twitching.

“I see, I see,” Doma grunted, “Arad is stuck in a labyrinth created by a failed spell from Merlin. What a pain, I seem to be stuck on the tenth floor with the rest of his power.” She glared at the devil.

“But, since you tried to touch Arad’s soul, you also touched mine,” She waved her hand, “You won’t get back to the hells,”

The devil’s body smacked left and right everywhere, turning into minced meat as Doma watched.

Outside, Aloris stood still as Arad lifted him by the horns. His eyes went white as he stared forward with a lifeless stare.

CRACK! Arad kicked him in the guts, sending him flying back and breaking his horns.

“What?” Merlin gasped as her chain shattered, “This can’t be…” She looked as Aloris’s corpse started disintegrating.

“He’s…” She approached.

“Dead?” Amber gasped, “What did you do to him?” She rushed toward Arad.

“I don’t know. I just kicked him,” Arad replied. 𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝘮

“He isn’t going back to the hells. His body seems to be falling apart.” Merlin looked at Arad, “His soul got destroyed. He isn’t coming back even with magic,”

The stairs appeared.

Updated from .𝒎