Chapter 5

“I have lied to you, Cove. The women I previously possessed are all dead now.”

Cove felt like the world was falling away from him, and he grabbed the balcony’s railing. “Wh--what?”

“I ... I am sorry, my champ--Cove. When the orb is used after it drains an enemy of their magic, it allows a copy of my consciousness to enter another mind, but it overwhelms, replacing them entirely. I have to use the knife to end their existence, returning that copy of myself, memories and all, back to my lava pool.”

Cove’s mind was whirling. “So that maiden, the mermaid, and Mistralle...”

“Who?”

“I met her on my last visit to your world ... oh, but you were here, so a different ‘copy’ of you took her over. My head hurts...”

“I cannot live like this, Cove.”

He looked up. Ignis was climbing over the railing! “NO!” He grabbed her arm, pulling her back before she plunged to the ground.

“Unhand me!”

“No! We have to talk about this,” Cove responded. “We’ll figure this out, without killing Julie.”

“Hey! What’s going on over there?!”

Both of them turned to see a man two balconies over, phone in hand, ready to video them or call 911.

“Sorry! We’ll be quieter!” Cove called back. “Please, Ignis, just come back inside...”

Ignis lowered her eyes and nodded, allowing herself to be pulled back into the apartment. They sat back down on the couch.

Cove took a breath. “You said Julie was sleeping ... that was a lie?”

Ignis nodded. “Her mind was destroyed and replaced with mine the moment she touched the orb.”

He put his head in his hands. “Fuck.”

“Cove?”

He looked up. Julie -- no, Ignis -- was still shivering.

“I feel so strange. Will you please hold me?” she asked him plaintively.

He looked at Julie’s beautiful face, at the blonde’s sexy body, and opened his arms. At least she won’t be hurling herself off the balcony if I’m holding her, he told himself.

After a bit, they both fell asleep.

Cove opened his eyes to the sultry interior of Ignis’ chamber once more.

After a moment, her torso once again rose from the lava. “You return so quickly ... excellent.” She gestured to the knife and marble at the edge of the lava bowl.

Cove made no move toward the obsidian objects. “I need you to tell me more about these people you’ve asked me to kill, Ignis.”

“They manipulate the energies of this world to further their own sick fantasies ... their desire fuels their murderous intent. Is that not enough?” She tilted her head to regard him. “What has happened?”

He paused, startled. “What do you mean?”

“You seem different.”

He thought quickly. “I’ve ended lives for you ... that would change anyone.”

She nodded, seemingly thoughtful. “I have been unsympathetic to your situation. Just know that the services you perform on my behalf save lives, Cove. The rewards for your actions have been pleasurable, have they not? I had not expected to enjoy them as much as I have, but it has been a delightful surprise.” Her fingers caressed her hips and moved up to her rocky breasts.

Cove knew that to confront Ignis about destroying the minds she had possessed would probably not end well. “I’ll do it without reward. I’m ... not feeling good about having you take over innocent women’s bodies, even if we both enjoy it.”

“If that is what you wish, Cove. The orb will continue to function as it has, so you simply need to keep someone else from touching it once it has absorbed an enemy’s power. You can touch the knife to the orb afterward to discharge the energy from it.”

He took the knife and marble, slipping them into his belt and pocket, respectively. “Okay ... where am I off to?”

“What ... the ... fuck?” Cove murmured. He had followed a trail leading from Ignis’ mountain to a large gray stone building that was decidedly not medieval. In fact, the big red tapestries draped down on each side of the large entrance were modern, comparatively speaking, given that the 1930’s were almost 100 years ago. The black swastika in the white circle on the tapestries made absolutely no sense. How could these be here, on another world?

He heard someone’s raised voice echoing out from the building and headed inside, though he couldn’t make out any specific words yet. The large interior was like a courtyard, filled with people, and, somehow, electric lights lined the walls. No, Cove realized as he looked closer, they were more of those glowing crystals, made up to look like modern fixtures. He looked around at the gathered throng, all attention focused on the speaker at the far end, standing at a dais erected on a stage.

“What the fuck?!” he muttered again. He had only seen him in black and white, and of course portrayed in color in all those World War II movies, but that was Adolf fucking Hitler!

The man was in his brown uniform, his greasy dark hair slicked to his head and that stupid tootbrush mustach on his upper lip. He was gesticulating wildly, no doubt pontificating about the evils of all people that were not his own.

“Well, it couldn’t be more obvious who the asshole is this time,” Cove told himself, and he headed along the wall to get closer. There were several other Nazis up there on the stage with Hitler, as well as a brown-haired woman who he guessed was Eva Braun, Adolf’s younger girlfriend. Cove paused, listening ... it didn’t sound like Hitler was yelling in German; it was some other language that Cove couldn’t place. “So weird...”

With those Nazis up there, Cove knew that he’d probably be shot before he got within throwing distance for the marble. He wondered if those sidearms would actually work in this world of magic, but perhaps like the fake electric lights, they’d be magically effective anyway. Typically, the marble would get rid of the threat, so Cove’s top priority was getting it to touch the evil leader.

He glanced over at a young man in the crowd about his age, and hanging out of his back pocket was exactly what Cove needed.

Hitler looked out over his people, pausing as his eyes caught a strange sight: a young man wearing a large red undershirt with some sort of colorful design on it. That seemed very out of place, and so he called out to his followers to grab the interloper and bring him forward.