The moment they started falling Eli triggered his transformation. Wind whipped by as he spread his arms, the bones elongating and covering themselves in feathers as he did. His legs shrank and his feet curved into wicked talons while his face elongated into a beak. As he fell his ears were filled with the sound of Vespera’s shrieks of mixed terror and exhilaration, reminding him of the sounds of a roller coaster ride.

  With only seconds to spare, Eli flared his new wings just in time to kill his almost 500-mile-per-hour momentum, skimming atop the mushroom trees of the forest. On his back Vespera whooped and cheered, leaning back and basking in the adrenaline of the death-defying drop. Chuckling internally, he began to flap his wings and gain altitude again as he circled back towards the cliff face.

  “What are those?” He heard Vespera shout over the sound of the wind.

  Rising from the treetops were a swarm of enormous moth-looking creatures. Their wings were dark grey and easily stretched 3 feet to either side from their bulbous insect-like bodies. As he focused on the creatures he saw to his horror that they had stalk-mounted eyes and gaping mouths that were filled with sharp fangs and dripping with some sort of green saliva.

  Those are probably the deadly creatures Duskrend mentioned. He thought to himself as they flapped their gossamer wings and moved towards him.

  “Eli, they’re getting closer and I’m getting a bad feeling about this!” Vespera said.

  When he started to flap his wings harder he realized he’d been caught in a trap – while he was generally faster in his phoenix form than the moths were, when it came to a straight-up climb he was slower due to his increased weight. The swarm quickly caught up to him, and when the nearest one bit into his leg he felt the venom from its mouth seep into the wound, causing his wings to go slightly numb.

  Cawing in pain, Eli sent a wordless blast of instinctive ice magic towards the creature. It took the form of a 3-foot long javelin that pierced the creature’s entire body and dropped out the other side. His eyes darted downwards as he watched it fall away in eerie silence.

  Seeing him let loose like that was all the invitation Vespera needed. She glowed red as she barked out a spell in her native demonic language before throwing what looked like handfuls of burning pitch at a pair of nearby moths. It stuck to their wings and bodies, causing them to instantly catch fire and begin their own fall to the ground below.

  As more moths closed in though, Eli realized his slightly numb wingbeats weren’t enough to keep them away from the swarm and decided to change tactics. He flipped end-over-end, angling himself downwards before tucking his wings into a steep dive. The moths quickly gave chase, though the nearest ones were easily dispatched by a trio of ice javelins followed by yet more burning pitch.

  “There!” Vespera shouted, pointing to a mud-filled clearing. “Land there and we’ll take them out!”

  Cawing in response, Eli banked towards the clearing with the swarm of moths hot on their tail. He waited until the last possible second to flare his wings above the ground, his talons digging into the soft mud in what could charitably be described as a ‘rough landing’. Somewhere in the process he triggered his transformation and felt Vespera hop off his back, presumably to hold off the strange creatures while he returned to his human form.

  Too bad the transformation only restores my clothes. It’d be helpful if it got this mud off me too. He thought wistfully.

  The moment he had human feet again he turned as he summoned his shield. "Aegis!"

  A thick wooden oval shield appeared on his arm surrounded by a soft golden glow. The moment it was large enough he reached out and grabbed Vespera by the arm, hauling her through the knee-deep mud until she was beside him. He immediately covered them both, bracing himself for the inevitable impact of one of the enormous moths against its flat surface. When it didn’t come he chanced a look over the top, mentally preparing himself to cast another spell.

  “What the shit?” He said quietly.

  The group flew in circles around the clearing, suddenly indecisive about whether they wanted to continue their hunt. He watched as several of them darted forward for a moment only to immediately turn around and fall back to the safety of the swarm. When one of the moths decided to commit and dive towards them, he quickly found out why the rest were hesitant.

  Out of the mud they were standing in emerged an enormous toadlike animal. It was easily twice as large as the moth with grey-green molted skin all over. Its 4 all-black rounded eyes were on the top of its head, each of them moving independently of the others.

  That is one of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen. Eli thought as its hind legs bunched before leaping far into the air.

  Unfortunately for the oncoming moth, it was so focused on Eli and Vespera that it didn’t see the emerging frog until it reached the apex of its 30-foot-high jump. It tried to dart to the side but the frog’s tongue lashed out and wrapped around its thorax like a lasso, dragging it with the reptile as it fell back to the ground.

  Eli and Vespera watched in mixed horror and fascination as the frog tugged the thrashing moth under the muck. The pair shook violently back and forth for a few seconds before the toad reemerged on top with one of the moth wings in its mouth. The sight was apparently enough to make the rest of the moth swarm decide that the two of them weren’t worth the risk and they dispersed, flying back towards the trees they’d emerged from.

  “Eli.” Vespera said quietly as she pointed.

  Following her gaze for a moment, Eli spotted another set of black eyeballs slowly emerging from the mud. That set was followed by a third, then a fourth, then many more. Even though Eli had never met the creatures before, he was somehow sure that the look in their eyes was one of hunger.

  “You have got to be kidding me.” Eli said softly, turning his shield so that it was between him and the nearest one.

  The creature crouched slightly before leaping directly at him, hurdling through the air. Eli tilted his shield as he triggered a transformation into his orcish form, thinking that the several feet of height and hundred plus pounds of muscle may be useful. Splotches of green spread across his skin and a pair of thick white tusks erupted from his face. When the frog collided with him he was only partially transformed, but he was still more than strong enough to absorb the impact and push back. He ended up tossing the creature almost as far as it had leapt, sending it sprawling awkwardly through the muck.

  There was no time to celebrate though. Even as the first toad monster landed in the mud, a second one was already leaping towards them with its mouth open. Its tongue shot out at them mid-jump, smacking Eli across the face and causing him to turn his head. Like the first creature it impacted his shield with a thud before being pushed away, but the acidic saliva of the creature began to burn away at his cheek and orcish tusk painfully.

  Grunting and shaking his head, Eli’s natural orcish healing kicked in as Vespera stepped in behind him and began lobbing more burning pitch at the creatures. His eyes widened as one of her shots connected, only to see the fire quickly dissipate against the wet mud covering the toad’s skin. While it croaked in pain for a moment from being set on fire, the fact that it kept moving at all meant that they’d need to change tactics to avoid being overwhelmed by the ever-increasing number of toad-monsters emerging from the swamp.

  Now fully healed, he moved his hands in a complex pattern while shouting. “Ledyanaya ravnina!”

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  Around him, the top layer of mud froze into a layer of ice. As he pushed more mana into the spell the ice field grew rapidly, reaching ever-further outwards. The moment it touched one of the toads the creature turned and frantically leapt in the other direction, seemingly desperate to get away from the cold. Eli couldn’t help but grin in satisfaction as he watched the monsters retreat across the clearing, huddling together almost 50 feet away.

  With a sharp exhale, Eli cut the power to his spell. He swayed slightly under the effects of mana drain, even after having downed a mana potion not long ago. Grunting, he pulled his enormous orcish feet out of the layer of ice around them before doing the same for Vespera. Even as he did though, she was shaking her head and pointing towards the sky.

  “Looks like our friends in the sky are back. I guess they saw that the toads are contained.” Eli said, triggering his transformation back into his human form so he wouldn’t sink through the ice and into the mud again.

  Glancing upwards, he saw that she was right. “Come on. They’re still a ways away, let’s see if we can lose them in the woods.”

  Without any better options, Vespera nodded. Together they carefully made their way across the ice field in the opposite direction of the toads, doing their best not to slip and fall. They reached the beginning of the treeline just before the moths reached the clearing, counting on the thick brush to dissuade their bug-like pursuers from giving chase any further.

  When the swarm finally decided to return to their nests for a second time, Eli breathed a sigh of relief. “I know Captain Duskrend said there were dangerous creatures here, but…why did we end up in the magical equivalent of Australia?”

  “Australia?” Vespera questioned.

  “Yeah, it’s a human country.” Eli explained.

  “I know that.” She responded quickly. “I’ve been studying Earth since I met you. I’m trying to understand how it applies to this…particularly gross patch of mud.”

  “There are a lot of dangerous animals who live in Australia.” Eli replied before triggering another transformation - this time into a dactyl. “The joke is that everything there is trying to kill you.”

  Vespera chuckled. “In that case, yes. This would be the magical equivalent of Australia.”

  Grinning, Eli finished his transformation. His skin turned green again – this time without the added benefit of height or muscles. Instead, his clothes disappeared and were replaced by strategically placed vines and leaves that formed themselves into a loincloth. His hair turned dark brown and if he focused he could feel the heartbeat of the forest through his bare feet – everything from the gentle swaying of the trees to the creatures under the ground beneath him.

  Eli opened his eyes just in time to catch Vespera staring at his shirtless form and biting her lip. He grinned at her before leaning closer and kissing her on the cheek, his fingers interlacing with hers as he did. She practically purred as his lips made contact, her hands naturally going to his waist to prevent him from moving too far away.

  “How about one on the lips?” She asked huskily.

  “Not yet.” Eli said. “Once I start kissing you I don’t think I’m going to want to stop, and we need to stay focused.”

  “Then what was that for? A tease?”

  “That was for watching my back and keeping me safe out there.” He replied, leading her deeper into the forest. “Come on – let’s backtrack and look at the bottom of the cliff. We might find something that leads us to our thief.”

  “Right.” Vespera nodded, before adding. “Should we be worried about more deadly creatures though?”

  “Not while I’m in this form.” Eli shook his head. “I can feel everything living around us. I don’t know what all of them are, but I’ll have a bit of warning before anything jumps at us.”

  “Good.” Vespera said.

  Settling into their walk, Eli let his mind wander for a few moments. He thought about how close he’d grown to the succubus woman behind him over the last few months – from defeating an archangel together, to fighting side-by-side in the demonic pocket dimension, to her help in managing Purgatory. His fears about bonding with her strictly because she was literally created to be sexy were falling away, replaced by the knowledge that she was so much more than that to him.

  A memory of the two of them standing back to back against a group of elves surfaced in his mind, and he decided it was a good time to answer a question which had been nagging at him for some time. “Vespera.” He said softly. “Tell me more about succubus magic?”

  “Oh?” She questioned. “Where is this coming from?”

  “The last time I asked we got interrupted. And earlier you mentioned a spell that powerful succubae can use to become ethereal – that seems pretty useful. What about other spells?”

  “Well, you’ve seen my hellfire.” She started.

  “What’s the difference between that and a dragon’s fire? Or just a fire magic spell?” He asked.

  “They’re all subtly different. Fire magic is just that –fire. It’s powerful, but I’ve seen human devices that replicate it almost exactly using non-magical means. By contrast, hellfire isn’t just hot – it seeks out the target of your anger and sticks to them like glue. I can put it on my tail-blade too, making it a pretty good option in close quarters.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “You’d have to ask Isla about dragon’s fire though. I’m sure it’s different, but I don’t know how.”

  “That’s fair.” He nodded, stepping around a particularly thorny bush. “What about things other than your hellfire?”

  “Well, I can influence people.” She said. “You’ve seen and felt that firsthand before.”

  He recalled her using it to counteract another demon’s influence before nodding. “Yeah, that’s a pretty powerful ability.”

  “If I’m physically touching someone that’s sleeping, I can enter their dreams and speak to them.”

  “That’s interesting.” Eli commented. “What have you seen in people’s dreams before?”

  “Oh, the usual. Dreams about being chained and made to listen to angelic lectures about self-improvement. Dreams about a bottomless buffet, where no matter how much you eat you’re still hungry. Dreams about being turned into a duck.” She giggled. “And there’s the classic demonic nightmare about losing one’s horns, of course.”

  “Yeah, humans…don’t have those sorts of dreams.” Eli replied. “Though I guess humans sometimes dream about their teeth falling out, so maybe it’s sort of the same thing as horns?”

  “Really? That’s so strange to me.” She responded, genuine interest in her voice. “Would you let me enter your dreams sometime? I promise I wouldn’t do anything bad, I’ve just never seen a human dream before.”

  “Sure?” Eli said hesitantly. “I don’t see why not.”

  “I could even link your dreams to someone else’s, as long as they’re in the same bed.” She offered. “Maybe you and Aria could share a dream!”

  “That… actually sounds nice.” He responded before furrowing his brow. “What do you do if you find someone who is having a nightmare?”

  “I try to help them through it.”

  “That’s very kind of you Vespera. I admire that.”

  “Usually I do it by changing it into a sex dream with whoever they idolize.”

  Eli barked out a laugh before smiling at her. “And there’s the Vespera I know.”

  A coquettish smile crossed her face. “What? It’s no substitute for real sex, but it helps with the cravings. Besides, it's not like they mind – their nightmare is being replaced by something much more fun.”

  “You know what? I can’t find any flaws in that logic.” He chuckled before pulling back another bush.

  Just in time to see the corpse of another of the toad-creatures – one with its head expertly severed from its body.