The Labyrinth Keys

"What about this one?"

Rin grunts, "You trade half your life span, genius."

I smirk, "Well, if you read here, it says you can swap bodies after—"

Rin sighs loudly, "No, Jack."

I point to another page. "Well, what about this one? You can control fire and blow flames out of your mouth."

Rin grunts again, "No, Jack."

I tap the page again. "But it's really cool. You could be a dra—"

Rin interrupts, "Don't even finish that sentence. Why don't you pick it if it's so cool?"

I frown, "Well, the drawback is you lose your sense of touch and taste."

Rin audibly sighs, "Then why would I want it, Jack?"

I shrug, "You're always eating that weird vegetarian stuff anyways, figured you wouldn't miss it that much."

Rin pushes me aside, "I will decide for myself, thank you, dumbass."

Rin and I have been going back and forth like this for over an hour. We have no time limit, and this is a big decision, so we've been taking our time.

Rin turns page after page. We've gone through about half of them, most of them having pretty bad drawbacks. Rin scoffs, "Don't just pick them based on what they offer anyway. You will be sharing your body with this thing, maybe for the rest of your life. Read the background information too."

I get closer to the book. She points at the little paragraphs at the bottom describing some of the demon's background information. Rin points to a page. "Like this one. Pitou or whatever. He can give you the power to create gold whenever you want. The drawback is you can't perceive the color gold. Seems fine, but if you read his background information, you'll see that he's a demon who often drives his hosts mad. He whispers into their minds, slowly driving them insane. Even among demons, he is extremely evil, often killing his own kind just for fun. We want a demon who isn't going to ruin our minds afterward."

I nod in agreement, "I guess we're looking for three things. A power that isn't horrible. A drawback that doesn't leave us crippled or take away half our life spans. A backstory that doesn't hint that the demon would give the lord of Hell himself nightmares."

Rin gives a tiny laugh, the first one I've seen since we reunited. "That about sums it up. Which, given we've read half the book, I'm finding less and less likely. I mean, I guess it isn't a huge surprise. Demons are traditionally evil. Finding one that won't screw over their host in some capacity is beginning to feel hopeless."

I offer, "I guess we settle then. Try to find demons for both of us that are the least shitty of the shit pile."

Rin smiles at that. "Dibs on the first not-so-shitty demon."

I smile back. "Fine, just as long as I get to punch Finn in the face first."

Rin shoots back, "Oh no way, I need to pay that dumbass back first."

Weird how a life-or-death situation can pull people together, but all joking aside, part of me really does hate Finn for his betrayal. I never saw it coming—we were like brothers. Hell, I knew the guy before his sister was even born. I guess that's why it stings more that he betrayed us so easily.

Each of these demons also has a title, name, and sigil. Their titles describe what demonic domain they cover. For example, the gold demon from earlier named Pitou, that demons title is "The Gilded Tyrant."

I notice Rin's fingers finally stop on a page. I glance over to see the demon she's landed on. The demon's name is Nyr. I scan over the page. The demon is all about illusions and darkness. I guess that's perfect for someone like Rin. I read the drawback, and my eyes widen. The price is that the host may never sleep. I'm surprised—at first glance, that sounds awful. But as I read on, it states that the host will never require sleep. Still, taking away your ability to sleep is, in some ways, pretty awful. You can never truly feel at peace or dream ever again. I glance down at the biography.