“Go get the shuttle ready for lift off, we'll be right behind you after I stabilize him.” Ironbelly barked.

  She complied and took off to the hangar. He's worried. He never sounds worried. She glanced back and saw the captain straining to infuse Ben's body with healing energy.

  The moment she disappeared, Captain Ironbelly's massive paw dipped into his pack, emerging with a ward-etched silver case and something resembling blacksmith tongs.

  Carefully, he pried open the box and used the tongs to pull out a tiny black crystal.

  “Is that what I think it is? Where did you get one? How much was the box?” Thorn asked from atop a pipe near Ben's head.

  “Yes. Not your business. Alot.”

  Tilting Ben's head back, Ironbelly dropped the black crystal between his parted lips. It clinked against Ben's teeth before disappearing down his throat. The pantheran clamped a paw over Ben's mouth, claws carefully retracted.

  Ben's eyes flew open, pupils dilating to pinpricks. His spine arched like a drawn bow as convulsions rippled through his limbs.

  The captain's other paw pressed against Ben's chest with surprising gentleness, the weight just enough to keep him from thrashing. His eyes slowly closing once more.

  “Thorn, how much are you willing to help?”

  “Why?” Thorn answered with trepidation.

  “His null gate is wide open. And it’s eating every drop of mana I give him. Can't wake him up right now and he can't close it like this.”

  Thorn gulped. “What are you saying?” he asked, even though he knew what the captain was going to say.

  “You already have a connection to him. Don't deny it, his mana signature is all over yours. The void crystal I fed him should keep the gate satisfied for a few minutes. There's enough time to save him. There's a way to channel the mana through you. If you're willing.” The captain leveled his eyes into Thorn's. “It's the only way.”

  Thorn's little claws started shaking, “But if I force the bond to be his familiar, it'll be completely one sided. Without him conscious, he can't agree to any stipulations. The only way his soul will take the bond, is if I completely pledge my soul to his. Until true death…”

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  Captain Ironbelly's eyes bore into Thorn's with such an intensity, that for a second, he thought the captain would eat him. Then, very softly, “You know you have to. You know his soul is meant for greatness. Don't bullshit me that you found him by accident. You can feel it. His gravitas. His power. His potential. You can't deny it because I felt it too. As soon as he walked out of the lift, I knew. My instincts warned me of the danger. Of his authority. I could feel his importance to my Path. You know the feeling, Thorn. Beasts like us, primal instincts are never wrong.”

  Silence so quiet it felt heavy. Ben's shallow breathing, the only soundtrack to the gruesome scene. With his head down, the two nubs on Thorn's head pointed straight forward. A minute passed and when he finally lifted his little head, tears were flowing freely from eyes so black they sucked in the light.

  Thorn gathered his resolve and stood up straight to his full height of six inches.

  “I do,” came his deep reply.

  Dropping down to Ben's chest, Thorn squatted, his leathery green skin wrinkling at the joints. He carefully placed one three-clawed hand over the spot where Ben's heart hammered beneath his ribs and pressed the other against his own. His eyes shut, lips moving in silent incantation. A deep crimson light, the color of arterial blood, seeped from between his fingers like liquid. It swelled outward in pulsing waves that matched Ben's heartbeat, casting grotesque elongated shadows across the walls until the entire closet looked bathed in viscous, glistening red.

  No words were said. None were needed.

  Captain Ironbelly's massive chest stilled mid-inhale, the glossy black fur along his neck bristling as he watched. The tiny green grimp—barely the size of a human child's fist—was actually performing the ancient ritual, its clawed fingers tracing glowing sigils in the stale labyrinth air. Ironbelly's eyes widened, pupils contracting to slits. What he hadn't revealed to Thorn was the futility of this endeavor: no demon, whether flame-wreathed archfiend or lowly scavenger, had ever successfully formed a familiar bond with human flesh and soul.

  The histories of a thousand worlds recorded the same result: corpses.

  What Thorn was doing, at this moment, was simply impossible. It had been proven impossible. And it would always be impossible. Yet, here it was. An impossible ritual. Working perfectly.

  “It's done,” Thorn gasped.

  “Shut the gate, hurry.”

  “I'm trying… to—” he grimaced. “This…isn't…as…easy…as it looks…”

  Inside Ben's mind, Thorn stood in front 9f a dark, twisted gate. And it was wide open. The energy from the void crystal was playing the part of temporary guardian. Satifying the Null Gate's thirst. As fast as he could, Thorn pushed the gate. It did not want to close, but he kept pushing anyway. With every ounce of power he could muster, Thorn slammed the gate shut in one fluid motion, then fell back into his little body on Ben'a chest.

  Without wasting another moment, the captain lunged forward and scooped Thorn up, the demon's tiny form nearly disappearing within his grip. A crackling hum filled the air as healing mana—electric blue, smelling of coconuts and happiness—radiated from Ironbelly's pads. The energy washed over them both like cool water, sealing wounds and knitting torn flesh with sparks that danced across their skin.

  “Oh, that's nice,” Thorn sighed, as he drifted off to sleep.

  Good job, little guy, Captain Ironbelly thought as he scratched behind his own ear.

  Keep hims alive, keep hims safe.