Thiloquenn the devil sat patiently in his shadows. Shadows he was used to, but patience was a virtue he was still attempting to practice. Fortunately for the devil, Zobeck is full of shadows. So, Thiloquenn meditated in his wreathing shadows, waiting for his unsuspecting victim.

“Ah, here he is…” thought the small, red devil when Arvin the Panderer rounded the bend. Arvin stopped as soon as he espied the two little dirty waifs, begging in the corner of the alleyway. One was a girl with huge green eyes. The other was a boy with long, feminine golden tresses.

Thiloquenn was most proud of his creations. He had spent over an hour weaving them out of the shadows he was hiding in, shining and buffing and polishing the shadow-things so that they seemed like luminous yet tarnished playthings.

Thiloquenn had studied his prey long enough to know what lure to use. Without missing a beat, the leering lecher pulled out a piece of hard candy and offered it to the pathetic waifs. That is when Thiloquenn struck. In the Old Days, he might have just disemboweled the fetid child-fiend, but today was a different day. He quickly put the sack over Arvin’s head, tightened the cinch like a noose, and teleported out of the alleyway in a puff of sulfurous smoke.

An instant later, Thiloquenn and his terrified prey appeared in the cool, quiet antechamber of the Temple of the Eternal Light. With the devil’s appearance, the massive doors began to swing open, flooding the antechamber with golden sunlight. Thiloquenn was used to this light by now, but it stilled awed and thrilled him.

The small red devil began to drag his struggling bag toward the Eternal Light and the interior of the temple. The cinch choked Arvin, but it would not kill him. Thiloquenn figured a little choking would serve to castigate the villain before his real purification and re-education would begin. The part of Thiloquenn that still remembered the Old Days chuckled a little in demonic delight at this small act of disobedience as he stepped back into the Eternal Light. The rest of the devil’s mind reflected on the first time he had seen the Eternal Light: the time Vadim had taken his hand, lifted his head and said, as they rose toward the Light, “For after all, Thiloquenn, if an angel may fall, may not a devil rise?”

About the Author
Adam Roy is the alter ego of Mighty Mongo, half-orc barbarian blogger and founder of the Humanoid Anti-Defamation League (‘Tuskers Unite!’). He is a freelance writer and editor for Open Design (Kobold Minion #13), Game Master-at-large-without-portfolio, as well as a full-time father, husband, and wireless guru in his offline life.  He manages all this by avoiding sleep altogether.

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