It was night, but I couldn't sleep. Not that I had insomnia, but instead I had things to do. I'd taken a nap after Karen had left, but even after four hours I felt tired.

Regardless, It was time to put my plan into action.

Grex stood beside me, and promptly at twelve-oh-one we stepped through the door of my apartment closet, coming out the other side atop the same windswept crag my bed had been transported to, so long ago. I felt the burn of opening the doorway, and I was already dreading the long walk down. It was almost a complete reversal of the first time I was here; I could probably fly down, but this time Grex would be the one having trouble.

So we took the stairs – all of the stairs.

We made somewhat good time at least, and I took a few earrings off along the way, letting my wings out. Because we were still winding our way along the outside of a spoke of rock, and I wanted to be able to at least try to catch us if either one of us fell.

It was annoying to be careful, to waste the time, but we could afford to waste it. My last sojourn here had proved that time in this place was mutable. I had recently learned that I commanded the flow somewhat, and right now our trek down was only going to take us about an hour of Earth time. Perhaps even less.

And I was working on my cardio the entire time; win/win, or so I told myself.

Our destination was the castle I hadn't been to, the one at the center of the realm or layer. The one that was Grex's home. The one that was also the home of all his loyal subjects. All his loyal subjects that may or may not be pissed at me for usurping. Which, come to think of it, was another good reason for keeping my earrings off.

Grex seemed pretty cavalier about the whole thing, walking along as if there wasn't a care in the world. Or walking along as if there wasn't a care in the world while in significant pain, but close enough.

It was dark here, in this realm or plane of existence or whatever it was (I felt that maybe I needed a doctorate I didn't have to get the terminology correct) was in perpetual dusk, not truly dark, but not light either. Once we hit the tree line of the truly enormous forest, occasional birdsong interrupted the silence, and things rustled in the distance.

Now, however, the ground was level, and we could move faster. Grex ran while I flew, trying to work the kinks out and get used to the wings.

An eternity which may or may not have been measured in minutes later, we came upon the outskirts proper of the realm. I knew Limbo was big, in much the same way I knew a million was a large number. But seeing it now, it was as if trillions had been turned into acres; just flying up showed that my new improved eyes couldn't see the border, in any direction, even the one I'd come from. I mean, the spire was right there, and yet, I couldn't see the river I knew to be beyond it, just more forest broken by the occasional plain.

And for me to see those, they had to be huge too.

Aside from the clear scale of the place, it wasn't all that different than what one would see on Earth. Except darker. The sun never seemed to truly set here; it had been hours, and it was still dusk, with light still barely streaming from the West.

The village was large, by village standards, and built according to the standards of ancient architecture, all rushes, wood, and mud. There were gardens behind every house, and a stone well sunk in the center of the village square. There were fields of some kind of grain I didn't recognize on the other side from us.

The biggest part of the place was the palisade, which wound its way around the entirety of all the buildings. There were two large gates of wood that looked to be all of one piece rather than lashed or nailed logs, one on the road in (which we were on) and one on the road out, winding through the fields.

I landed in front of the nearest one as Grex stopped. It wasn't open, and I didn't want to be rude.

As it turned out, I didn't need to worry about that. The gate opened immediately on silent hinges. I could feel them coming my way; they weren't demons, but if I felt them here, then they couldn't be human? Or maybe they could; there was still much I didn't know. Being the first summoner to make this journey with a willing guide changes a lot of rules.

If I could trust my bosses with the intel, I'd already be making history – but I held off on what exactly my contract allowed me to do, how far it allowed me to go. I didn't want them to know until I knew more.

On the other hand, the people now coming out of the gate? According to Grex, either of us could simply command them to silence.

They were dressed in togas or robes, with grass rope sandals on their feet. The first, an older man with hair just beginning to gray, had beaten bronze and copper jewelry. The necklace looked familiar – a silhouette of a winged woman. The other two of the three had bronze spears and those odd open faced helmets with crests.

When they got within ten feet they threw themselves prostrate on the ground – in front of me.

“My Lady, what is your will?”

That was a bit surprising but probably shouldn't have been. “Nothing. Just making a tour. Get up, please.”

I strode past them through the gate, and they fell in behind me... and behind Grex, of course.

“If I may ask, My Lady, to what do we owe this honor?”

There was a sense of something here; the souls that lived in this village, this place. I could see them, and they were dark, shot through with a kind of murk.

But they weren't Grex dark.

There didn't seem to be any other demons around either, enforcing their will on the populace. No pit lords striding about with lashes in hand, no pits of fire (not that I really expected any) and no people suffering under the yoke of tyranny. The fact that no one was outside their house right now but my escort was immaterial, I knew where they all were; there was a sense of mine which I'd only attributed to demons before. But these were clearly not demons.

I shared a look with Grex to confirm it. He knew; he'd known all along this was part of things. Either a situation to tell me about this just hadn't come up... or he'd engineered it so that it wouldn't. He dropped his eyes and lowered his head for a second, and I got the feeling he'd be bowing if not for our audience.

So, the latter then.

I raised an eyebrow to let him know this wasn't over and signaled him to straighten up. Our audience had noticed this of course, but other than falling silent had taken no action.

“To be honest, um...”

“Oh, how rude of me. I am Sark, at your service. I believe you would call me a mayor of this, the village of Filat.”

“...Right. I'm Maeve. And to be honest, we are just passing through on our way to the keep.”

The keep, according to Grex, was the heart of this realm and the very seat of my power. Or as much a physical seat of my power as existed anywhere and any-when; explanations could be murky sometimes. This he'd bothered to tell me about, but it wasn't like I was looking for random excuses to go to Hell. Even setting foot there once was too many – but I had to do this, and I needed a secure spot to do it in; one that I was sure had no spies or bugs. Places just didn't come more secure than your own castle in Hell; especially if I swore all the demons who saw me there to secrecy.

“Ah.” Sark looked at me, or rather, my wings, and then looked to at Grex's wings. “We so rarely get... visitors, from the keep.”

He was being awfully delicate. “And you were worried that you had offended, somehow?”

He nodded. His two friends remained stoic, which was pretty incredible. This close to a demon you suspected had it in for you, armed only with a spear? These guys had big brass ones.

“Well, nothing like that. We were just following the road from the observation point and decided to stop in, rather than go around. To see if there was anything... odd, going on.”

There, that should be suitably menacing and demonic without being really twisted, sort of a 'we're always watching' sort of thing. I didn't really want to do that, I knew it was a form of torment for these poor souls, but I really didn't want them getting the wrong idea and sticking a spear in either of us.

He clutched his pendant so hard he probably cut himself. “I see.”

“Now, of course, we'll be going, just as soon as you open the other gate for us. Unless you have any other concerns?”

His face tightened. “No, we've no concerns. Our treatment thus far under Nargash has been most equitable.”

“Glad to hear it.” Who was Nargash? Knowing feudal systems, he was likely the count that ruled this area.

The people didn't seem to be starving, slaves, or dead, so he must be doing at least a decent job. Maybe I'd get to meet him.

The two flunkies, who hadn't introduced themselves, cranked open the other gate. No one spoke.

As soon as it was open enough to walk through without my wings touching it, I did so. Grex was right on my heels. “Have a nice day, village of Filat. Expect us back within a few hours. Thank you for your hospitality.”

Okay, maybe a bit snarky, but they hadn't even offered me anything to drink; that was hardly neighborly behavior.

“A pleasant journey, My Lady.”

The gate shut so fast the breeze ruffled my wings.

Grex met my raised eyebrow with a shrug. Whatever; I started walking.

Once we got far enough away that there was no chance at being overheard, Grex turned to me. “It might be best if we avoid other settlements, at least for now.”

Okay, now I was curious again. “Why?”

“Our yoke is light here, compared to those of other circles; therefore the populace is only used to seeing a demon when something is wrong, or there is an invasion.”

He looked into my expression and drew the wrong conclusion. “What is it? Invasions are rare, but have been known to happen.”

“Not that, Grex. I just find it amazing that you don't interact with the people here at all.”

Great, now he was defensive. “We are not to be their punishment; the knowledge that they could be in Heaven – that their existence could be perfect – is. Even as rebels we endeavor not to overstep our mandate.

I had to ask. I mean, I knew what the punishment for being one of the unbaptized was, but I didn't really get it. So far my circle was downright pleasant, and with the demons being hands-off...

“Why?”

“Angering Lucifer is not something anyone wants to do.”

Good point. But then again, why would he care? What was going on here, exactly? Weren't punishments dictated by the big G? And if they were, why would the universe's most notorious traitor care about them?

I was missing something, but I don't think Grex knew what it was either. And wasn't that odd, to think that someone as old as he could be fooled. I was beginning to think that the big G and Lucifer talked more than they let on to the rest of us... the only way any of this made sense was if Lucifer was still taking orders, reluctantly or no.

I really hoped I was missing something, there.

“Alright, we can walk around, I guess.”

“Or I can do this.” Grex replied, stopping.

He quickly drew a circle and chanted a string of words I vaguely recognized... and lifted up. Another word obliterated the circle and he flew up to join me, wings carefully clenched at his side.

There was only one thing to say to that. “Showoff.”

He grinned wide, showing me all his sharp teeth. “It's not as if I didn't teach you how.”

“Yeah, but it takes so much power for me to do it on Earth.” Flying without wings sucked for other reasons, too. Not the least of which you couldn't fly as fast, though your maneuverability was better; using the spell, you could literally stop or turn on a dime.

Most people threw up if they did that, however. I still remembered that fateful day in basic where some of the old hands started showing off; it hadn't been pretty.

The next hint of civilization was a town, and if it wasn't a roman town it was close. Multi-story stone and stucco buildings, elaborate fountains, more togas and robed people. The only thing that made me question it was there was no visible sign of water; no ocean harbor, no lake, no river, not even a pond. Weren't most old towns and cities built near water? This city also had a wall too, a large stone one with towers on the corners and massive gates. Every inch of the wall was patrolled by people in armor holding bows. The armor was made of scales and gleamed in the low light like bronze, and the helmets were different versions of the open face thing the villagers were sporting.

I wanted to go down there and talk to them, because there was no way that many people could run and hide from me in time, but Grex was right for all that he hadn't actually said it; we really were running tight on time.

This town also had one other thing the village hadn't; the road branched, with a fork leading right and left. It had to be to other cities.

On the one hand, I was torn. I really wanted to take the time to explore, ask questions, and learn. But something told me I'd be here for a long time soon enough – unless I ended up somewhere worse. So did I really want to rush things?

We passed overhead, our shadows causing many to look up. I could hear faint cries of surprise and possibly alarm that faded as we passed them by.

The next one up the chain was a full city, and it did look a lot like images of Rome. It had large palaces and temples and aqueducts and bridges, all in permanent white stone. It even had a coliseum, complete with cheering crowd, where two men were facing off against each other.

Well, suitably barbaric.

The next town was all wood, dirt streets, dirty animals, and dirty smoke. It was also half the population of the village of Filat, judging by the number of buildings. I was beginning to sense a trend here.

“Grex, are the population centers here arranged by civilization or development? I mean, the time frame when each civilization appeared?”

Grex took a breath and entered what passed for lecture mode from him. “Yes, simply. It's more complex than that of course; certain other cultures have their populations on the other side of the center.

He pointed off to the right a bit. “The Asiatic countries, for example, are that way, and the more modern civilizations like your own are that way.” Off to the left. “I dare say I could find a town in which you would be hard pressed to believe yourself anywhere other than the United States.”

Comforting, in a way. Yet horrifying, in another way.

“Maybe later.”

We worked our way up past the dark ages and into the glory of the medieval era, flying fast now. I could see the mountain we were headed towards, in front of me, small in the distance but growing larger with every wingbeat. My original timetable was shot to... well, here, since this place was just so big. I didn't look at the towns anymore, there was no time – and wasn't that an ironic statement.

There was no way anyone would ever mistake it for anything other than the seat of power.

It was a keep, sure, just as Grex had called it. It was a keep in the same way that a child's lego creation matched the word “house.”

Built on a mountain that up close that had to be bigger than Everest, built into the mountain in a way I'd never seen before, the keep was a large castle of gleaming black stone, easily as large as a city itself. Here and there were winged forms, flitting to and fro, balcony to gargoyle-bedecked balcony. The outside décor seemed Gothic.

The gates were huge, you could probably fit something the size of the titanic through them... and the top of the mountain was smoking; a volcano?

This was Grex's home. This was the twin's home. This was the seat of my power. Grex flew forward and I let him, slowing down. I could probably fly faster than any pursuit if I put my mind to it... as long as I had a headstart.

As we flew closer, the demons began to take notice; many of them rushed to meet us. As they got close enough to notice details (like leather armor and weapons made of black metal, or intricate outfits lined with gold and gems) the small crowd stopped in a spray of feathers, and somehow managed to prostrate themselves, in the air.

“My lady.” hit my ears as one voice from many throats.

Well, that answered that question.