“You there,” Rion said, pointing to one of the low fae. She was small, coming only to his waist, with soft pink skin, blue hair, and those ridiculously elongated ears. He thought this one might be a sprite. “Come here.”

The sprite trembled under his gaze, her entire body shaking. Rion gave her a moment to gather herself. She was right to be afraid, but in a few moments it wouldn’t matter, if things went the way he hoped.

He stared at her until she found her courage and then tiptoed over, her hands clasped in front of her heart. With her big dark eyes, she looked up at him and said, “Your Majesty?” It came out as a breathless squeak.

“What is your name?” Rion asked. He didn’t really care what her name was, but for some reason, asking seemed to ease their apprehension. Perhaps they believed he wouldn’t hurt them if he knew it. Perhaps in a better man that might be true, but Rion had never had such compunctions.

“I am Lily,” she said, sounding a bit more confident now.

“Lily, you’re going to help me with something very important today,” Rion said. “Would you be willing?”

He didn’t actually intend to give her a choice, but this also seemed to make them feel better. Lily’s eyes darted around the cavern, meeting those of her brethren. Most of them looked away, and then she turned back to Rion and nodded.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Very good,” Rion said. “I will need you to hold still no matter what happens. Try not to move.”

Lily was already shaking too hard to answer.

Rion channeled magic into the piece of virulence clutched in his hand. Black smoke wrapped around Lily, enveloping her in darkness, and she slowly began to transform.

Her limbs stretched out, thinning into bony appendages, and her body elongated, her ribcage expanding, followed by her neck and her head. Everything ballooned up to unnatural proportions, her bright pink skin melting away, leaving behind mottled grey flesh. Her entire body convulsed, collapsing to the ground into a heap of dark limbs.

The sound was unbearable. Screams, discordant sounds, bones snapping, flesh stretching, tearing, and being put back together again. Lily screamed and screamed, and the sound was music to Rion’s ears. It was working. If the virulence could do this, then there would be no stopping him. He would be nearly a god.

He barely registered the others’ presence in the cavern. They watched on in horror, and he couldn’t imagine what they were thinking.

After several minutes, Lily had transformed into a demon of his own making. Nothing was left of her innocent gaze, just a dead emptiness and a vicious cruelty ending in sharp teeth dripping with saliva. Rion made a slow circle around the creature as it watched him, its breathing rattling in and out of its chest.