Mestopholees, the Demon Queen formerly known as Miss M, and formerly one of my close friends, now controls the New Slayers.

Or, rather, I control the New Slayers, and the people in the throne room currently stand there shouting about the mighty Amaranth and his spectral greatness. But seeing as I am clearly incapacitated and completely unable to fulfill my leadership duties, that leaves Mestopholees in charge.

But she doesn’t look so pleased about it. She wears the the Amaranth helmet and gauntlets, but the rest of it still sits in a pile by the altar. Zombie Eryk’s ashes stil rest on the marble floor.

When the procession clears out, only the two of us remain, and her demeanor falls even further.

“Yay,” she says without a single bit of passion. “Now I’m in control of the world’s second-largest military.”

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“This isn’t how it was supposed to go,” she says. “I’ve really ruined everything, haven’t I?”

“I don’t know. You never truly told me the details, so I am even at this very moment still in the dark. Some would call that unforgivable.”

“Yeah, my bad.” She leans her head up, much like Zombie Eryk in his moment of deepest anguish. “All I wanted was some stupid revenge. That Eryk clone wanted you, but Rare had me bound to you in some magical oath. They captured me, sealed my powers, forced me into that imp body and onto your little Team Fanghook group. I hated it so much, even when Malia was around to help me, that all I could think about was revenge. Rare wanted you back, I’m sure, so I took you to them. Led them on a wild beaver chase and let them believe their ridiculous and idiotic theory about your death was true. And I planned to betray them at North Spire, kill everyone, and then go off cackling to my own devices.”

“You did most of that, indeed.”

“Most, but not enough. I didn’t kill any of my allies. I didn’t leave you to rot. All because I felt so guilty about abandoning you. Like my whole revenge plot was this petty mistake, all because your sibling screwed me over. Rare got riled up into their Anti-Mage nonsense all because of me. And you’re here in South Spire because of me.”

“Indeed, yes.”

“I thought I could, I don’t know, atone for my mistakes, fix your dead ghost self, then continue on my path to domination with you by my side. You as the leader of the Slayers, and me as your lackey but secretly your equal. You know? Now I have all this power, but I’m... alone. Always so alone.”

I’m quite confused by this speech. “Isn’t that that is occurring right this instant?”

“Well, do you have your body back? Are you convinced to help me rule the Destiny Deck System, so together we can be the eternal leaders of Mystix?”

I shake my ghostly head. “No, and no.”

“Then I failed miserably.”

“Mestopholees, I believe you need to redeem yourself in healthier ways. I know you are a Demon Queen, but I feel as if you have taken your attempt at atonement in exactly the wrong ways to make yourself feel better about anything.”

“Yeah, I kinda get that now...”

“What will you do now?” I ask.

“I guess keep conquering the world,” she says. “I control the New Slayers, so I might as well use them. The Anti-Mages are amassing a large army around Mystix, and I’m sure they’ll try to take South Spire soon enough. But our army is already almost as big. We can conquer the system, defeat your sibling, and bring an end to this century-long war that has plagued the world.”

“I neither am able nor wish to fight.”

“Well, I’ll have a use for you,” she says. “Don’t worry about that. I can train you to be the most powerful ghost in the universe. I sort of wish I could have done it earlier, except for all the stupid traveling.”

“What do you speak of?”

“You’ll see.” She winks. “We’ve got a long future together, Eryk, and we’re going to have a fun time together.”

Suddenly, her spirit brightens a little bit. And she gives out an evil cackle, soft and quiet but piercing to my heart.

Is her heart really in this villainous plot? Does it really matter?

I suspect it does not.

What I suspect is that my captivity on both Mystix and Earth has only just begun.