You had no idea what the hell a chain devil was but it looked like it came from hell. The humanoid monster’s yellow eyes were cold and fierce, and tusks from either side of its jaw protruded from its underbite.  The chains that hung around its gleaming russet skin dragged on the ground with a screeching sound that sent shivers up your spine.

It dropped the limb it was gnawing on with a sickening thud.

With a flick of its wrist, the chain devil sent a long chain hurtling towards you. You rolled out of the way, soiling your clothes with the blood that glistened on the floor. Gwangsuk and Euijin also managed to get out of the way. Hojung had not been so fast, however. The chain had collided with him and wrapped around his body, holding him captive with his arms pinned to his sides. The rust peppered chain squeezed into his body. Hojung grimaced but still managed to hold onto his weapon.

The chains were thick and you knew your saber would not be able to cut through them. To free Hojung, you would have to go for the devil. You rushed forward and jumped over another chain that soared your way. Gwangsuk joined you, and Euijin started working on freezing the chain around Hojung in attempt to make it more brittle.

The chain devil dodged your attack but got nicked by Gwangsuk's. You summoned your shadow behind him. Not expecting the added help, the shadow clawed at its back. He still wasn't letting up on Hojung, however, and the chain was starting to pinch his arms and draw blood.

Another chain swung at Gwangsuk. His shield took most of the blow but he was sent staggering back.

"Gwangsuk, the chain!" Euijin yelled, which had frosted over. Gwangsuk ran back to them and swung his sword at it, chipping the metal. As he continued to hack at it, you kept the chain devil busy with your blade and your shadow, this time with backup from Euijin's bolts of magic.

Euijin cast another spell and the air above the monster began to waver. You tumbled out of the way as small boulders of ice began to pelt down from the ceiling, sending the devil to a knee to protect himself from the barrage.

You heard a shatter as the chain around Hojung broke and clattered to the floor. He immediately joined in the fight and began assaulting the chain devil with his massive greatsword. With five attackers on it, the chain devil could see that he was going to be overwhelmed.

It sent another chain at Euijin. His slighter frame couldn't take the force of the blow. He flew across the room, slamming into the far wall. The chain devil muttered a word in a guttural language that you couldn't understand, but you recognized as Infernal. Four chains around the room quivered and rose up from the ground, unprompted from any muscle movement from the monster. Your eyes widened as they sprouted sharp metal barbs all along their length.

The now animated chains swayed in the air in front of you and whipped at your bodies. Euijin rolled back onto his feet just in time to dodge the one that engaged him. The rest of you parried the attacks. The strong chains pushed you back across the room, your feet unable to get much traction against the wet ground. You braced your free forearm against the flat of your blade to support the weight of the chain. You leapt back and swung your saber to send the chain veering off to your side.

Your shadow was engaged with the chain devil but wasn't going to last long against the powerful creature. Hojung was making decent progress against the chain attacking him but was fully occupied. Gwangsuk wasn't doing much more than blocking the chain's attacks with his shield while he tried to get to Euijin, who was mostly fleeing from his chain, as he was not suited for melee combat.

Your group was starting to falter into chaos. You backed up into a shadow cast by a torch behind you and leapt closer to the chain devil behind a pile of unidentified human remains. You conjured your illusion magic to create the shadow of a massive beast looming behind the entrance to the room.

The chain devil looked at it with curiosity and fear. With the distraction, you rushed forward and jabbed your blade clean through its shoulder. It's concentration broken, the chains clattered to the ground.

It turned around to face you, its features twisted in anger. Before you could move away, it grabbed ahold of your head with its large, clawed hand.

You felt the world slip away. You looked around you. You were no longer in the death filled room. Instead, you found yourself in your childhood home. You were in your sister's room facing the mirror over the toy box. You blinked at your own reflection. How did you get here? Movement caught your eye and you spun to face her bed.

There was your twin, Marella. She sat in the bed, holding her favorite stuffed bear. You couldn't remember its name.

You stepped closer to her. She was in a ratty set of faded yellow pajamas and her hair was tied in messy pigtails. She looked to be about nine years old. Your felt your heart swell to the size of the sun. She was here. She was right in front of you.

You dashed forward and embraced her. Your hands smoothed over her hair and small back. One tear slipped from your eye, then another, and then the floodgates broke and you sobbed into her shoulder. “Marella,” you whispered her name.

You unraveled yourself from around her to hold her at arms length to study her features. Your hands held her cheeks, brushed under her eyes, and moved the hair away from her face.

She looked just like you had when you were younger, only skinnier because she was always-

Before you could finish the thought, her image flickered and was replaced with her form lying in the bed. Her eyes held dark circles that stretched down her cheeks and her skin was pale and covered in a cold sweat. She was barely skin and bones.

You heard soft weeping from over your shoulder. You didn’t have to look back to know it was your parents. You were all too aware of this scene. It was burned into your brain. You studied your sister’s face in sorrow. This was when your twin sister had taken her last breath.

Her eyes suddenly snapped open. You stumbled back and fell to the floor, your painfully colliding with the wood planks.

“That’s right,” Marella said. Her voice was strong despite her sickly image. The contrast was almost disturbing. “This was when I died.”

She glared at you and sat up in bed. You scooted back away from her bed until you bumped into something behind you. You looked up to find your mother’s leg trapping you. Both of your parents were frozen in time.

Marella grabbed her stuffed bear and clutched it to her chest. She addressed you again. “Did you forget? Were you too busy running around with a bunch of boys having adventures to remember about me? Do you like one of them? You know I’ll never feel something like that. I’m dead, after all.”

You stuttered, trying to find the words to tell her. “Marella, I never forgo-“

She sneered at you and leaned forward. “Oh, I hope not. It is your fault, after all. We were in the same womb together. Why did you come out healthy and I like this? Did you take all of mother's nutrients for yourself? Selfish girl. I wonder how strong you’ve become now.”

Your eyes widened. The boulder that hit you felt like it shattered your soul. Did you kill your sister?

“You thought that the world was yours, but we are twins, (Y/N), two sides of the same coin. Now its spun and landed on me. I’m going to make you suffer like you made me suffer.” Her voice rose to peak in a shrill screech that grated at the inside of your brain like cheese on a shredder. “IT’S YOUR TURN TO FEEL PAIN.”

The walls began to bleed and pool on the floor around you, and the world stained red and brown. Marella rose above you and began to bulge and swell to a massive size. Her eyes shrunk and shifted to yellow.

And you were back, staring at the chain devil in the eyes.

You screamed; fear had overtaken your heart. You scrambled away from the devil and darted for the exit. You had to get out of there.

The devil’s cackle reverberated through the room, and he whipped a chain at your body that you were not focused on defending. It went right for your neck. You would be dead instantly.

At the last second something slammed into your body. You crashed to the ground and heard the crack of metal on metal. You looked at the figure over you. Gwangsuk held his shield over your body.

Euijin took the opportunity to send a bolt of crackling lightning at the chain devil. The electricity coursed through its body, sending its limbs wide and seizing. It was open. Hojung dashed forward and slashed from the monster’s left shoulder to its right hip.

It fell to the ground, defeated.

Gwangsuk held the holy symbol of Lathander hanging from his belt and concentrated. You felt the veil of fear slip away from you and you finally stopped trembling. You fell back onto your elbows and focused on breathing.

Everyone gathered around you. “Are you alright?” Euijin asked. Concern filled his eyes. Hojung took to cleaning the blood that had splashed on your face. Gwangsuk worked around all of you, healing your wounds.

A faint chuckle echoed from the center of the room. You all looked at the barely alive chain devil.

“You’re too late,” it said.

“What do you mean?” Hojung stood up and marched over to it, ready to finish it off.

“Didn’t you come here because of a cult? Where do you think they are?” It laughed again. "You are truly the fools she said you are." It tried to laugh again but it choked and sputtered up blood over its face. It wheezed one last time and the light faded from its eyes.

You all looked at each other in shock.

“The city,” you whispered.

Chapter Art by AaronMiller