Ophion, Silverfang, and the rest left the catacombs. The bloody creature's corpse was left behind. It was indeed dead. No other living creature in Minbenthac saw its body. No living creature...
Stepping out of a swirling black portal, a two-and-a-half meter tall creature emerged. No one was there to see it, but had a pair of living eyes beheld it, the horror that it was would have been apparent. This being had black skin, seven horns, clawed limbs like a dracon, bat-like wings extending from its back, and fangs as sharp as a dragon. Taller than most dracons, the being was not living. It was another of the undead. Unlike the skeletons who infested these catacombs, this being was not a mindless beast, nor was it from this plane of existence. Stepping near to the corpse of the mage-monster's remains, a black tentacle extended from the body of the strange visitor, its sharpened top piercing the skull of the mage.
Within a few moments, a strange mass of energy emerged from the dark creature, injecting the severed head with an unnatural power. Looking down at the head, the otherworldly being made eye contact with the head, and the head returned the glance! It was not alive, but the mage-monster's head was reanimated!
"Who... who are you? What is? What happened?!"
The dark figure looked down at the undead head. Through its eyes, more details about the dark figure emerged. The strange being looked very much like the one lying dead on the ground, but if anything, it was far more dangerous. Like the demon the mage had turned into, this creature had a long tail with a stinger, and a physiology that was clearly a Dracon, yet it was a Dracon with so much more attached to it. It was a creature which had one foot in this world, and the other foot in places unknown.
"Be at peace, mortal. I have brought you back from beyond to serve me. What you could not accomplish in life, I shall see you gain in death. The magics you called on were not of this world; they were of mine. When you called out to me, I noticed. When you tapped into the magic that was my own, I felt it. You were wise to have recovered and studied my old texts, yet you were foolish enough to be killed anyway. I witnessed the whole thing, mage. I saw how you stumbled upon my old texts. I watched you from the moment you opened my tomes, and set your claws upon my life's work. It gave me great joy to see someone able to use my magic, for only one who was of my mindset would even be able to read the pages of my books."
"Master?! You- you have returned! Are you here to take your place as emperor?"
"I? Not I. What you see is but an avatar of the true master. I am him, but he is far more than I. He sent me here to find you. Although you are gone, your life's work has not been in vain. Look at you, look at the body you have left behind. Even in death, it is magnificent. You had reached a level of power that our race dreams of; the next stage in Dracon evolution. All those years spent researching, five decades of work... and you didn't keep your intellect intact. The results were predictable. Even the perfect body can be let down by a dull mind. Still, you have done well."
"Does this mean you will give me a second chance?! I wish nothing more than to serve the master! Oh, let me serve him, please!"
"You shall get your chance. Thanks to you, we shall know everything there is to know about the perfect form. First, we shall reattach your head to your body-"
"Yes! YESS!!!"
"- and cut you apart, piece by piece."
"... WHAT?!"
"The master wishes to learn how his work turned out. All the spells you cast served his goals; you unwittingly made yourself into a test subject for him. A guinea pig. An experiment. It is only natural that the one who made the spells should want to learn the results. I promise you this: your sacrifice will not be in vain, and the master will learn much by examining your every organ. Don't worry about your soul; where that is going, countless followers of the master are there already. As for why we are putting your head back on, well, we need to see how you react to each of your limbs being severed, and you cannot feel what you are not connected to. It really is work of anatomical art."
"NO! This isn't what I wanted! It isn't fair! The power is mine! All mine, you hear! I earned it!" The dark figure cast a spell over the limp body of the mage-monster, surrounding it in an aura of darkness, and pulling it into the portal. The still-screaming head was pulled in as well, to go off to its final fate as a living lesson in biology, or at least, a re-animated one.
"This isn't what the master promised! You can't do this! You ca-!" The monster and the dark being were gone, and no sooner had they left did the portal shrink and snap shut. No sign of the monster was left, save for some dried bloodstains and a few loose scales. The mage had received the reward for dealing with a demon.
