"Let's see if my doll is a good girl."

Agatha's body shivered when she heard the voice that haunted her in her nightmares. The deep sound she used to crave turned into torture in a matter of months.

She had to move out of bed, Zagar hated it when she didn't meet him at the door with impeccable attire and a fake smile on his face. She had to play the role he had given her, only by pretending to enjoy her jail she was able to avoid the demon's wrath.

But Agatha didn't have the energy to pretend, she didn't even have the strength to get out of bed. If he had arrived a little later, if he had given her a chance to spend a couple of hours in the dark and in silence, perhaps she would have been ready to receive him.

The creak of the door went straight into Agatha's ears, causing her to shake her head and put her hands over her ears. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop the spread of the headache that delivered its final blow when the demon turned on the light.

"I see you haven't learned any manners yet." Zagar crossed the room, taking in all the out-of-place objects. "You've been forgetting your duties lately, maybe I should teach you once again. It's a shame I don't have time today."

Agatha pushed her torso with her arms, trying to get up, she managed to lean over a bit before the tremor in her arms made her fall back to her starting position. She couldn't quite comprehend Zagar's words, they all became blurry inside her mind and some of the meanings escaped her. Still, she nodded slowly so he wouldn't be offended.

"It seems you also forgot how to talk." The demon stood by the bed. He took a lock of Agatha's hair in his hand and yanked it away from her face. "At least listen to what I have to say. I have to go away for two days, Borbala insists that someone competent has to take care of the matter. It's the first time we'll be apart for so long and I hope that when I return you have fixed your bad attitude. I don't trust the other demons so I had to order them that no one enters the room and that you can't leave. I'm afraid that includes no food, but maybe we can take it as a small punishment for your disobedience."

Zagar took the girl's arm and pulled her into a sitting position. A wicked smile appeared on his face as he leaned over Agatha. He looked her straight in the eye as if he was searching for something.

"I don't like it," he said. "There is no adoration or fear, your eyes are dull when empty. What can I do to wake them up? Should I visit your family while I'm in the village? Or rather your friends?"

Agatha's eyes widened.

"Now you understand." Zagar caressed her cheek. "See you again in two days, don't miss me too much."

The demon left the room, however, its presence remained through its words that continued to repeat themselves in Agatha's mind.

Wasn't that what she wanted, to push Zagar towards his friends? At the time she suggested her idea to Lorcan, she hadn't considered the dangers it entailed for others. Her weakness prompted her to ignore all the details beyond her possible release and ended up sending her loved ones to a more than dangerous battle.

After a few hours, the lethargy that kept her glued to her bed began to fade. Her body regained its ability to react. Her mind, on the contrary, remained imprisoned between her fears.

What had she done? She sent a monster to hunt down the people she loved the most. Certainly, they had training and were stronger than her, but Zagar's name was enough to send the other demons into panic.

Agatha had overheard them as they shared the table, she heard them whispering about the atrocities Zagar had committed. None of them dared even look at her, not because they feared a human's reaction, but because neither wanted to suffer for the rest of eternity as punishment for defying one of their leaders.

Buried in her dark thoughts, Agatha lost track of reality. Despite feeling the mattress under her body, for her it felt as if a dark hole had swallowed her. Everything vanished and remained so until a voice ripped her from her world of pain.

"Can you hear me? Are you still alive?"

Still half conscious, Agatha jumped up and dragged her body desperately toward the head of the bed. No one was supposed to be allowed in his room.

"Don't worry, it's me, Varinia. Maybe you could tell if you raised your head a bit. Come on, I assure you that I'm much more interesting than an unmade bed."

"What are you doing here? Zagar said no one was allowed in." Agatha directed her gaze towards the demon, once she recognized her, her body relaxed.

"Yeah, I heard that, that's why I'm here. I figured it must be some kind of weird punishment, he likes to do that, leaving his victims physically and mentally weak. So I brought some food."

Varinia picked up a basket from the ground and offered it to the young woman.

"What if he finds out what you did?"

"Don't worry about it, Belphie is covering for me, there's no way that with the mess he's making, anyone will notice that I slipped away. My brother never says no to the possibility of upsetting Zagar."

Agatha accepted the basket, she peeked inside and was immediately drawn to the bag of chips.

"Can I have some?" Varinia asked, pointing to the bag in Agatha's hands. "I got so focused on stealing food from the kitchen that I forgot to eat."

"Sure, there's more than enough food. Thank you, by the way."

The demon gave her a thumbs up. "Don't even mention it." She took a chip and put it in her mouth.

The sound of chewing caused Agatha to wrinkle her nose and shake her head. Varinia approached the young woman and watched her curious reaction with a frown.

"It's the noise, isn't it?" The demon asked. "That reminds me, I brought you a present. Move over so I can sit down."

"You brought me a gift? Why?" Agatha made room on the bed for the other young woman.

"I noticed that you're always jumping, covering your ears, or shaking your head when there's a lot of noise, so I brought you some earplugs." Varinia took a small box from the pocket of her cloak. "I don't really know how they work, Belphie says they reduce sound, I hope so. I don't have much experience with human objects."

"They are perfect, but why?"

"Because I like you, I hardly ever get the chance to talk to humans. Not all demons are the same, actually I'm not even a part of them, I'm here because Belphie wanted to join and I can't leave him alone, he's more sensitive than he seems."

"What do you mean you're not one of them? Aren't all the demons in the same group?"

"Are all humans on the same side? Not all of us want to destroy humans, actually, most don't even care about the presence of humans. Some even enjoy communicating and helping your kind. Have you never heard of guardian demons? Perhaps you know someone who has a demon as their guide."

Agatha shook her head. "No, I never heard something like that."

"Well, you're missing a great opportunity." She ate another chip. "Anyways, my brother and I used to be part of Prince Lucien's followers, he's really wise and he finds humans interesting, but Belphar met Cadoc and he poisoned his mind with lies to convince him that all humans are our enemies. Belphar turned into a completely different demon, I couldn't leave him alone, I had to at least try to get my brother back. I had no choice but to follow him. I know it must be hard for you to trust a demon after all that happened to you but we're on the same side, I'm also putting myself in danger by telling you all this, I hope you can understand."

"Tell me something they don't want me to know and I'll believe you."

"You're more dangerous to them than you think. All the powers they gave the inhabitants of Umbra come from darkness, they feed on negative emotions and can be fatal to those who don't learn to control them. Your power is different, it has another origin, you have a light power. If your power comes into contact with an object of light, such as ancient light, you could destroy them."

"Then why are they training me?" Agatha asked.

"They are not training you, they are forcing you to connect your power to negative emotions, they want you to think about pain every time you use your ability. You should be focusing on positive emotions, like gratitude, love, happiness."

"It's hard to do that when you're in pain, plus I always get tired after using my power. I don't think I have enough energy."

"Of course you don't, you're human, so you have to draw energy from another source. The Sun is a good option, considering the origin of your ability."

"The more you talk, the less I understand," Agatha complained.

"Sounds like it's time for me to become your teacher." Varinia held out her hand. "What do you think?"

Agatha sealed the deal with a handshake. "I'm counting on you."

Varinia let out a happy scream. "I'm so excited about this. We can even team up to keep you with the ancient light."

"I don't think it's my priority, I can talk to Momotaro once I manage to escape."

"Didn't you hear? The ancient light is here. Those humans who serve Borbala got it for her."