Tejran slumps against a wall, breathing heavily. The ritual has taken everything out of him—his energy, his strength, his power. He is exhausted.

  "Xyl'tharoth," Tejran says, his voice weak. "Guard. Guard while I rest. Indeed, guard well."

  The demon turns its attention to the mage, and Tara can sense its acknowledgment. The demon will guard. It will protect the mage while he rests.

  Tejran closes his eyes, and within moments, he is asleep—or unconscious, Tara can't tell which. But he is out, resting, recovering from the ritual.

  Tara is alone with the demon. And the demon is drawing energy from him, constantly, continuously, through the channels Mad Twitch has carved.

  Tara focuses on the connection, on the link between him and the demon. He can feel it—the channels, the pathways, the stream of energy flowing from him to the demon. It is like the connection he's had with the dragon, but stronger, deeper.

  He tries to stop it again. Tries to close the channels, tries to pull the energy back, tries to sever the connection. But as before, it doesn't work completely. The dark liquid Mad Twitch has poured on him has done something—it has made the channels permanent, unclosable. They are like doors that can't fully shut, held open by the dark magic.

  But... something is different. When he tries to pull, to close the channels, he can feel them... narrowing. Not closing completely, but narrowing. The flow reduces, slows, becomes thinner.

  "Wait," Tara thinks. "I can reduce it. I can't stop it, but I can reduce it. The channels are too wide, too deep, but I can make them smaller. Narrower."

  He focuses harder, pulling at the channels, trying to close them. The flow reduces further, becoming a trickle instead of a stream. The demon, feeding on the energy, seems to not notice.

  Tara keeps pulling, keeps narrowing the channels. The flow slows, and the demon seems to notice that something is happening, but doesn't react. He is probably brainless.

  "Interesting," Tara thinks. "I can control it. I can't stop it completely, but I can reduce the flow."

  And then, something else occurs to him. If pulling narrows the channels, what will pushing do?

  He tries it. Instead of pulling, he pushes. He focuses on the channels, on opening them wider, on increasing the flow.

  And it works.

  The channels widen. The flow increases. Energy pours out of him faster, stronger, feeding the demon more power. The demon's form solidifies, strengthens, its hunger satisfied.

  "Whoa," Tara thinks. "I can increase it too. I can make the flow stronger. Faster. More powerful. But that would make the demon also stronger. Faster. More powerful."

  He pulls again, narrowing the channels, reducing the flow. Then pushes, widening them, increasing it. He can control it. He can control how much energy flows to the demon.

  **NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: ENERGY RELEASE**

  **Description:** Can release energy through channels and control the rate.

  Tara stares at those words—or perceives them, or whatever pyramids do. Energy release. He can release energy now. He can control it. He can't stop it completely, not with the dark liquid holding the channels open, but he can control it. He can reduce it, increase it, manipulate it.

  The storage counter: 115,000 units. 120,000 units. Still climbing, but slowly, because the demon is consuming energy constantly.

  Tara experiments, pulling and pushing, narrowing and widening the channels. He can feel the demon's reactions—when he reduces the flow, the demon seems hungrier. When he increases it, the demon grows more satisfied.

  But he can't stop it completely. The dark liquid has made sure of that. The channels are permanent, unclosable, held open by dark magic.

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  Tara pulls the channels narrow, reducing the flow to a minimum. It takes some time to get the flow down to the absolute minimum.

  He focuses on the flow, trying to estimate how much is going out. With the channels narrowed to minimum, he can sense the rate—slow, steady, constant. About 0.2 units per second, he estimates. Much slower than his generation rate, which means he is now storing more than the demon is taking.

  The night passes slowly. Tara watches the demon, observes the energy flow, experiments with the channels. The storage counter keeps climbing steadily.

  By the time the mage begins to stir, Tara checks his storage: 120,000 units. He's started the night with 100,000, so he's gained 20,000. And the demon... should have taken about 20,000 units, he estimates.

  Because with the flow reduced to minimum, he is generating faster than the demon can absorb, so he is storing more while the demon stores less. However, since it took some time to reduce the flow, a lot of energy has already flowed out.

  Tejran opens his eyes, groaning as he sits up. He looks exhausted still, but functional. He stands, stretching, and then turns his attention to the demon and Tara.

  "Xyl'tharoth," Tejran says. "How much energy have you stored?"

  The demon doesn't respond—it probably can't speak—but Tejran seems to sense something, examining the demon with his magic.

  "Only twenty-one thousand?" Tejran says, his voice surprised. "That's... that's less than expected. Indeed, much less."

  Tejran turns to Tara, and Tara can feel Tejran's magical energy probing him, examining his stored energy.

  "One hundred and twenty thousand?" Tejran says, his voice baffled. "How? The artifact started with one hundred thousand stored. It should have sent all of that to the demon, plus whatever it generated. But it's still storing energy? How is that possible?"

  Tejran examines Tara more closely, his hands probing the channels, testing the flow, fingers twitching slightly.

  "The flow is reduced," Tejran mutters. "The channels are narrower than they should be. Curse this broken artifact!"

  Tejran curses, his voice filled with frustration. "I need more Void Binding Elixir. Another vial would force the channels wider, make the flow unstoppable. But I don't have another vial. The cost... the cost of that elixir is enormous. Indeed, it is."

  Tejran paces, muttering to himself. "An additional cost, indeed. Using this artifact requires more resources than expected."

  He stops, turning to the demon. "Xyl'tharoth, we need more sacrifices. More energy. The village... the village will provide what we need. But first, you must store more energy. At least five million, perhaps more. Enough to be useful in battle."

  Tejran looks at Tara again, his expression calculating. "The artifact is still generating energy. Still storing it. In a few weeks, the demon should have enough stored. Then we can attack the village. The combined might of myself and Xyl'tharoth... the village will not stand a chance. Indeed, it will not."

  Tejran gathers some things, preparing to leave. "I must go to the city. Get more Void Binding Elixir. Force this artifact to work properly. The additional cost is annoying, but necessary. Necessary Indeed!"

  He looks at the demon. "Guard the artifact and the lab. Guard it well. I will return soon."

  Tejran leaves, and Tara is alone with the demon again. The demon stands guard.

  "Void Binding Elixir," Tara thinks. "That's what the dark liquid was. And Mad Twitch needs more of it to force me to work 'properly.' But I'm working fine—I'm just not working the way he wants me to."

  "And this demon is also storing energy. But given the fact that it didn't say anything to Tejran and didn't react even when I reduced the flow so much, this demon is dumb. After all that build-up, this is what Mad Twitch summoned. A dumb, eternally malnourished demon."

  "Time to get to work," says Tara as he readies himself.