Elliot watched as the hundreds of other similar forms, of all sizes and colours, slowly unfurled their bodies and came forward to greet their leader. As each one passed him, he felt a surge of different emotions, from fear to jealousy to hunger to tiredness.

‘Mendacium, Daemon of Lies – I trust you’re pleased to see me,’ Thanatos said to a brown Daemon.

‘Er . . . yeah,’ Mendacium replied cautiously. ‘I’ve been counting down the days. Honest.’

‘About time,’ huffed a blue Daemon. ‘It’s been awful down here.’

‘I know, Penthos, Daemon of Misery,’ soothed Thanatos. ‘But better days are coming. I swear it.’

‘Course they are,’ said a purple Daemon sarcastically. ‘And I’m Miss World.’

‘You are Corus, Daemon of Disdain,’ shouted Thanatos. ‘And you are all FREE!’

A deafening cheer went up from the Daemons as they rose into the sky and flew about in a swirl of colour, like paint being washed down a drain. Elliot struggled to control the feelings of anger, jealousy, fear and hunger that raged within him as they passed overhead. If these were the feelings they inspired when they weren’t even trying, he tried not to imagine what they could do if they attacked mortalkind on Earth.

The screeching rose to a deafening pitch, the Daemons whooping and hollering with joy at their emancipation.

‘Calm down, Hygeia!’ Thanatos shouted at a brown Daemon. ‘You won’t remain Daemon of Health for long if you—’

His warning was too late: with a gloopy pop, Hygeia exploded in mid-air, showering the ground with a splattering of brown goo.

‘Physician, heal thyself . . .’ Thanatos muttered, shaking his head at the mess on the ground.

‘Eurgh!’ cried Elliot, wiping some Daemon slime off his shoulder. ‘What was that?’

‘Oh, dear. Mortal emotions and experiences are fragile things,’ sighed Thanatos. ‘And every Daemon here is comprised of them. Alas, they are not invulnerable and can all too easily be destroyed. That was a case in point. At a certain frequency, they simply explode.’

‘Gross,’ muttered Elliot, stepping in some Hygeia on the floor. ‘You’ve got your Daemon army. Now where’s my mum?’

‘All in good time,’ Thanatos drawled. ‘Now, if you’ll just excuse me for a moment, I need to rally the troops.’

The Daemon of Death stepped into the centre of the swirling throng.

‘My comrades! Our time is coming!’ he announced. ‘For too long we have suffered at the hands of the Gods. For too long we have been bound unjustly for the crime of simply wanting what they have – the world. Well, now . . . the Gods will pay! It is our time to fight! It is our time to triumph! Friends – it is OUR TIME! TO WAR!’

And, like a screeching hurricane, the Daemons all took flight, filling the sky with their distorted rainbow. Several more exploded mid-air, to the jubilant delight of their colleagues.

Thanatos leant down to Elliot.

‘You see what you’ve done?’ he said. ‘Thank you.’