Chapter 4

When I opened my eyes again, I was staring into a void that resembled static on an old television screen. As my consciousness cleared, the crackling darkness withdrew around me like evaporating steam, slowly revealing an entirely new world before my eyes.

I was upright somehow, and I immediately stumbled as the ground materialized beneath me in the form of soft mud.

My periphery located a tree at my side, and I caught myself on reflex. A fortunate reaction, considering I was apparently standing on a soft, unstable cliff side. The plunging edge overlooked a massive, round, stone maze that was segmented like a rainbow with seven distinct colors. The outer rim was violet, fading through indigo, then drawing a hard line at the next ring of royal blue. From there, the rings proceeded predictably in green, then yellow, then orange, then red. The red center coiled around a towering castle, climbing up its base like a serpent would climb a tree.

I could only assume that was where Jericho, the so-called king, made his home.

It was exactly as he'd described in his not-so-playful messages. A forest, a maze, the vague ambient growls of unknown creatures, and a fortress of darkness and danger, far beyond anything I'd imagined.

This… this was all real.

Did that mean actual monsters lurked in every shadow? What did "monster" even mean in this alternate reality? Was it similar to what I'd seen in video games or fantasy novels? Or was the title simply a misnomer for men like Jericho.

I could practically feel the dull hum of magic crackling from the land. Why I innately knew that was what the warm vibration was, I couldn't explain, but it was as impossible to ignore as the sense of dread radiating through my chest.

I took my time processing everything I was looking at, trying to pick apart routes, distances, and obvious obstacles. It would be easier to come up with a plan of attack while I had this high vantage point. As much as I wanted to freak out and lose my shit, there was no point denying what I was seeing. I couldn't reasonably complain about any tragedy that befell me because I ventured forward in willful ignorance. I would have loved to bargain with reality and dismiss this as a drug induced dreamland, but the tree bark splintering in my hand and the sound of mud squishing under my feet were both as real as the humid warmth enveloping my cheeks, the scent of moist earth, and the trickle of sweat snaking down my neck to my cleavage.

Around the maze was a lush pine forest, creating a threatening barrier. Braving the unknowns that hid beneath the dark canopies of heavy vegetation would serve as a preamble to the main event, surely.

In the far distance, beyond the maze and the ring of trees, the land stretched on forever with vast prairies, far away mountains, and specklings of buildings that resembled towns or cities, dispersed some untold number of miles away.

Above me, the sky was a wash of colors, more vividly pink and purple and orange than a California sunset, and hovering face down over the maze was a massive analog clock with seventy-two hours crammed into a single rotation of the wheel. A large hand pointed to the hours, a medium hand dragged it along with each passing minute, and a small hand ticked away every single second, crafting a melody of anxiety, constantly threatening me with the impending deadline.

But I wouldn't fail. I'd survived and thrived in countless high pressure situations, and I'd never been one to turn down a challenge. While the parameters were extraordinary, so was my love for Pumpkin. Betrayed as I felt, my cat had been with me through thick and thin, comforting me and giving me strength at my lowest and hardest moments. He was the best fluff-nut and he still deserved the world. I would do everything in my power to assure I brought him home.

My only respite was knowing that, apparently, the two of them seemed to get along. Pumpkin had never been a good judge of character, but as long as he wasn't scared, being starved, abused, traumatized, or mistreated, I could keep going and keep fighting .

My survey continued, and I attempted to memorize the corners and corridors of the stone wall maze with my eyes. Though time and again, every path seemed to hit a dead end at some point. Half of my view of the circular maze was hidden by the towering structure of the castle, and I had to consider that there could easily be traps or doors or tunnels I couldn't see from this vantage point.

I refused to believe that there might not be a way through at all. Jericho seemed too playful for that. Too cocky. What fun would this be for him if he wasn't actively besting me, after all. Men like that wanted to win because they were better than their opponents, not because they cheated.

How I'd gotten an almost noble impression of him, I really couldn't explain.

With a sigh, I started looking for a way down the cliff. None of my analysis mattered if I couldn't handle the first obstacle.

I crouched down and located the least steep portion of the jagged edge, where a good tug told me the tree at my side was secure and strong. I leveraged that stability to help myself down. A few more well-placed trees, jutting out of the side of the rock face, seemed like a good start for my descent.

I lowered myself down slowly, waiting until I had secure footing on the lateral arrangement of tree branches, before fully committing to the first step. I let go of the bark I'd been using as my lifeline, and I immediately hugged the branch of the new tree with everything I had. I listened for any sign the tree limb might be giving out under my weight, and I focused on any possible shifts in its stability that would tell me I needed to hurry.

When the branch proved secure, I exhaled and started planning out my next move. To my right was a steep but useable slope in the wall that could get me to another well placed tree. I could reach it with my toes and leverage myself from here to there, then another tree trunk, jutting out of the rock face, would be in easy scooting distance.

Fuck, this was going to take forever.

"It's a little unfair to start the clock before I even get to your stupid maze, don't you think?" I yelled into the air, hoping he would hear my bitterness loudly and clearly. The bark, the sticks, and the sparse leaves scratched at my skin as I hooked my elbow around the tree limb and stretched out my foot to the sloped rock about three feet below and beside me.

"You think so?"

The voice so suddenly in my ear made me jump, and I was quick to abort mission and koala myself back onto that safe and secure branch.

I glared up at Jericho, who was now sitting on the side of the cliff just overhead, kicking his feet like a girl reading a particularly sweet romance novel.

"What the fuck!" I heaved breaths in and out, trying to slow my spiked heart rate back to something further from a heart attack. "Jump scares while I'm literally climbing down a fucking cliff are a bull shit tactic to win this game." I sneered up at him, and he shrugged.

"Oh? Are you easily startled, Fraulein?" That smirk filled me with pure hatred. "I thought you were ‘the boss.' Sela Ariti: Vice President of Lazuli Studio, and mastermind behind the Den of Death franchise. A woman who has carved out a place in the world with nothing but force of will, who's famously tough and cool under pressure. Is that not you?"

This motherfucker. His amusement as he recited a list of easily researchable fun facts only fueled my rage.

"This isn't really a fair test of my ability to navigate stressful situations." I growled back. "It also wasn't fair to drug me, though I understand that you obviously didn't think you could handle me conscious."

Jericho's laugh would have been charming if he wasn't himself. "Even I know it takes time to tame a feral beast. Pumpkin is sitting happy and comfortable in a beautiful castle, because he's already domesticated and house trained. You're dangling off a cliff because you still need a lot of work."

I gaped at him. Stunned. Fucking stunned. The audacity of this bastard. "Kidnapping an innocent cat to black mail me is also completely unfair, for the record."

He tilted his head slightly to the side. The gesture seemed uncharacteristically cute and harmless. "You have so many opinions on what's fair and what's not. Maybe you should consider that the real problem is how you react to stimuli and not the existence of the stimuli itself." Another nonchalant shrug made me want to punch him in his annoyingly pretty face.

"Right, because it's my fault that you're obsessed with me and transported me to hell. That's totally on me."

"You didn't have to respond to my messages. If you'd ignored me, I wouldn't have found you so very interesting." His smile reflected in his emerald eyes, and the genuine happiness was nauseating. "Ignorance to the potential fallout does not excuse careless choices. Just because you hadn't considered this scenario might be the immediate consequence, that doesn't change the fact that your actions and desires are what got you here, Fraulein."

My whole expression flattened, while I remained tense against the tree bark. "Come down here and say that when your face is in punching distance, asshole."

Jericho lifted a finger and wagged it between us. "The difference between you and I is that I think things through. If I went down there and let you throw your cute little fist into my hardened, well-defined face, you would likely lose your balance, fall from the cliff, and die in a spectacular splatter of your bodily fluids. Your last act as a human would be watering my plants and feeding the forest scavengers with your flesh." He sighed with exaggerated boredom. "While that would get the job done from a technical perspective, no part of that would serve or amuse me. I want you alive and struggling for as long as possible, because that amuses me." He was practically sing song while talking about my violent death. "If you still get slaughtered in the end, that's all well and good, but I only get to play this game once a year, so please make it count."

"You keep calling this a game, but what does that even mean?" I tried next, hoping for some clarity on what exactly was happening here. While I'd come to accept the undeniable physical reality, specifically in the sense that this wasn't the world I knew, and he was not a normal man, I was at a total loss as to what I'd actually been forced into.

"You have games on Earth, no?" Jericho asked coyly. I sighed, and he chuckled, then he continued without making me argue semantics. "Let me break it down for you then. I, Fraulein, am the King of the Realm." He snapped his fingers, and the air seemed to distort around his head. Two large, circular horns appeared on each side of his skull, protruding from just above his temples and curling like a ram. The rounded pupils in his sparkling eyes narrowed into slits, and the canines in his mischievous grin extended into sharp fangs. His auburn hair grew a few extra inches, until it was an even more attractively shaggy mess, and his once business casual clothing was newly adorned with a corset vest, gemstones, and intricate patterns. He was both completely different and markedly the same. "Apologies. I should be speaking to you in my true form."

"Wow. So you're a psychopath, a stalker, an asshole, and a catfish?"

Though I'd have to admit, at least internally, that his so-called "true form" was… not worse. Not worse at all.

I've been working in fantasy games for far too long.

"I already know you're not disappointed. The rhythm of your heart beat certainly isn't the drum of fear , Sela." He snorted, and I hid my face so he wouldn't see me blush. Stupid magic senses . "Back on track now." He twirled a finger in the air. "In your world, my subjects are typically referred to as ‘devils.' A judgmental designation, in my opinion, but words only have the power that you give them. I quite like the power I get from such a title, truth be told."

I rolled my eyes, "So this is literally Hell?"

Jericho scrunched up his nose at the question. "We call it Tartarus, but I suppose you can call it whatever you want. The concept is the same."

"Does that make you Satan?" I raised a brow.

He raised one back. "There's more than one realm in Hell, Fraulein. He's several circles down. Jericho is, in fact, my real name."

"Cool." I shook my head and attempted to push the conversation along. Holding onto this branch was getting exhausting. "And I'm here as a tribute? A tribute to what?"

"To me, obviously." The grin on his face could only be described as catlike. "Since you seem interested in the lore of it all, many millennia ago, the gods of Olympus thought it would be cute and funny to break down my gates and invade my kingdom. Which was especially amusing considering how pampered and civil they are up there. They had no clue what they were in for. I'll just say, our trauma runs deep, and hurt people definitely hurt people. Some more violently than others."

"I noticed." I couldn't not pluck that low hanging fruit.

"Thank you, I always try to be honest about my intentions." The friendly smile didn't suit him. "Anyway, when we crushed and murdered half their fluffy little army, in exchange for not invading their realm and brutalizing their families in vengeance, we agreed that they owed me a debt of blood. I would get to take a mortal of my choosing from any territory under their protection every year for the rest of time, so long as they wanted to retain peace. If you'd seen the beating they'd taken, you would understand why they were so quick to agree with such a small ask."

Christ, he really liked to listen to himself talk.

"And then?" I motioned with my fingers as much as was possible while squeezing onto that tree for dear life.

"That's all, really. We're really not complicated people. I choose a tribute each year, and I choose what I want to do with them. Typically, I just enjoy the spectacle of their violent murders at the hands of my various toys, beasts, and traps, but that's gotten boring. Plus, I've already decided that I like you, so I thought I'd mix it up a bit this year. I've had the same slave for ages now, and you've done a great job on building that cute ass of yours, so why not give you a chance to impress me."

Lucky me. Note to self: No more glute days.

"Do those kind of sweet nothings work on all the girls?" No longer wanting to look at his stupid face and waste stupid time, I resumed navigating the rocks and trees to get myself down. This guy was an idiot.

"No." He remained at the top, yet his voice was always loud and clear. "Just the emotionally damaged ones."

"You're hilarious." I glared at him, while I inched my foot towards another tree branch.

"I always aim to please, Fraulein."

"Well you're doing a terrible job then." I made sure my next sigh was adequately loud and exasperated, much to his amusement.

"Your cat seemed fine with my technique."

Low blow.

"Speaking of which, if you're here, who's taking care of Pumpkin? If you put my cat in a cage, I swear to fucking—Ah!" My foot slipped and my whole life flashed before my eyes. I flailed for a saving branch, but there was nothing in reach.

Every mistake I'd made paraded through my vision, nearly blurring the view of the ever nearing ground as I plummeted to my death. I'd let him distract me, and now I'd already lost this whole event on obstacle number one. I resented myself for playing directly into his hands. It was a surreal moment, realizing I was truly about to meet my end, yet somehow not believing it at the same time.

Delusional.

That was what my last boyfriend had called me. I'd thought he was a gaslighting son of a bitch at the time, but in these moments before I landed head first into the hard ground, yet remained in unexpectedly calm denial about reality, I suppose I was a bit delusional. The fact that I had the gumption, audacity, and arrogance to think I was going to take on a magical king in his murder kingdom and win was just a testament to that fact.

My terror was masked by my complete and utter disbelief. Knowing he was on top of the cliff watching me fall made it worse somehow. At the very least, the fact that I was about to disappoint him by dying so soon, stealing his chance to be entertained at my expense, was marginally satisfying. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see my imminent end as it came to pass.

"Careful, careful, my beautiful princess."

I heard the words as my body landed on hardened muscles, and my nose was filled with the comforting scent of vanilla and nutmeg. At some point, Jericho had jumped down to the lowest branch, scooped me up in his arms, and cradled me against his chest. He'd moved so quickly, I was still trying to process that I was no longer falling. The ridiculous thought that I felt safe in his arms entered my head, and I shoved it back out in pure anger.

"I don't need your help. I would have caught myself somehow." The fuck I would have, but I'll be damned if I'm telling him that.

"Of course you would have." His laugh was low and mocking, and I resented the gentle way it vibrated through me. "Consider this your one and only free pass. I promise I won't get in your way again in the future."

"What charity." I snapped. "Let the records show that King Jericho is a kind and reasonable man."

"Now, now. I wouldn't want any record to show such a thing." The Devil King whispered darkly. "Enough of the sarcasm," he continued before he unceremoniously plunked me onto the forest floor, I scrambled to my feet and started brushing away the clumps of mud and grass from my too-short skirt. "My options were quite clear and quite reasonable. If you don't want to be a little mouse running through my death trap, you can give up or wait out the clock and enjoy the wonderful perks of being my personal pet forever after. If you insist on your little tantrum and refuse to play along, you can die on the floor of the Labyrinth and let your blood feed the land."

"Or option three is that I get through your rainbow maze, take back my cat, and you can jerk off in your hand."

Jericho looked down at me from his superior height with such relentless amusement. "I guess that is an option. In theory anyway. But will it work out in execution?"

With that, he vanished, leaving me to stew in my daunting situation.

He better be on his way to get Pumpkin his wet food.