Cold. Like ice had taken up residence in her very veins. Iona shivered as her eyes groggily tried to open, finding them blinded by a light above. She shifted, wincing as she did and finding herself suddenly feeling hot as opposed to cold. Then as she shifted again the cold returned. The woman's eyes opened fully as they adjusted to the light above, her head lolling to one side to avoid the brightness. Distantly she could make out blurry shapes as her body shifted between hot and cold over and over again.

She tried to sit up and cried out as pain flared through her body, destroying both the cold and the heat as she writhed on the ground. That had been one hell of a nightmare however she didn't know how it could cause her this much agony. Perhaps she'd simply slept in a rather awkward position? Even so the amount of pain she felt as she sat up and rubbed her eyes was unreasonable for just having slept poorly. The heat and cold returned to prickle across her skin, almost like the air temperature was in constant flux.

Her eyes fluttered open and were then widened to an almost comical degree when they beheld the world around her.

A white and black sprawl of mind warping marble architecture spiraled out before her, with stairs on the walls and ceiling and hallways that seemed to lead to nowhere. She was laying on a platform that was the intersecting point for three sets of stairs and one hallway, her sense of perception and grasp on her location relative to everything gradually slipping. This wasn't her home. This wasn't like anything Iona had ever seen. Her breathing picked up and only further increased when she noted with red faced shame that she was also completely naked.

"Hello!? Is anyone out there!? Where am I!?" She cried out, her eyes darting about for anything or anyone that looked remotely normal.

A dream. Yes, this must just be another dream. She was asleep in her bed and would wake up any second now. Iona closed her eyes and willed herself to just wake up. When she opened her eyes the scenery hadn't changed so she slapped herself and felt the sharp sting from that override the dull pain fading from her body. She had felt that, it hadn't been some illusion but it had been actual pain from a source she knew. No. No this couldn't be possible! Places like this didn't exist, she was asleep. She had to be asleep!

A low chuckle echoed through the room and she turned to the source, finding a man sitting upside down from a set of stairs nearby with his legs casually crossed. He was somewhat unremarkable really, dark skin, slim form, and a plain face. His hair was pulled back into cornrows tied into a ponytail. A rather drab grey robe hung from his form. His clothing and hair acted as if gravity was normal from where he sat, neither dangling down towards her. The man was regarding her with an amused smirk.

Iona backed up with a surprised yelp, nearly tumbling over the edge of the platform. She stared up at the man with wariness clear in her eyes. He placed his chin on his palm and raised his eyebrows at her reaction, his green eyes never once shifting from her form. Remembering her nudity she had enough of a mind to cover her breasts and cross her legs, earning another chuckle from him. He smirked once more to reveal a set of pearly white teeth, rolling his eyes at her decency. When he spoke his voice felt like fine velvet sliding into her ears.

"No need for that I think m'dear, I've already seen everything." He commented.

The red haired woman flushed scarlet at that, finding herself at a loss for words for the longest time. The first words out his mouth were lecherous remarks which begged the question... had he done more than look? Her question must have been written across her face for he laughed aloud at that.

"After looking around at where you are you are worried about me messing around while you were unconscious? Ha! You humans are funny." He remarked.

His voice might have been smooth but his laughter was grating and high pitched. She also figured that considering the circumstances he was kind of right. Iona swallowed hard as she struggled to find her voice, clearing her throat a couple of times before managing to speak. She stumbled awkwardly over her own words like a newborn, almost like her tongue was unused to the act of speaking.

"W-where am I?" She asked.

"Pretty boring question, I liked the other one better. Much less predictable. Ah well, I suppose you can only be so entertaining. Anyway, you are in... well I guess a sort of limbo might be a comparison you might grasp. Not where you were supposed to be going but not where you were before. Death is a bit... hazy for mortals to grasp I notice." He answered, almost like he was only half talking to her and half talking to himself.

Iona's heart froze at that one word. Death. The thing she had dismissed as a nightmare came flooding back to her. That horrible monster, the screaming of her victims, being squeezed until she couldn't feel anything. It had all actually happened? The realization hit her like a kick to the gut and she felt like she might very well vomit. Everyone... all of those people she had known and loved. Her mother, her father, her brother and sister were all dead? Just gone? It was unreal and it sent a wave of nausea as tears stung at her eyes.

"Y-you mean that... monster killed me?" She dared to ask.

"Yep! Pretty gruesome as well, smeared you all over her fingers. Nice try with the whole saving your brother thing but she pretty much ground him to paste as well. Ah well, you win some you lose some right?" The man answered, his tone rather cheerful.

Iona broke at that, the floodgates crashing down as she curled up and wept bitterly. Sobs of raw and pure loss were ripped from her lungs and she was certain she wailed long after her tears dried. Her mind was blank of anything but sorrow as she cried and cried, pausing only for deep gasps of air. She was drowning, drowning in sorrow and honestly that didn't seem too bad at the moment. The man made a displeased sound and stood, moving towards her and forcing her to get to her feet.

"Hey, hey! Stop crying! Please? I really don't like it when you mortals cry, it makes me all itchy. Uh, here, why don't we take a step into my office? ...Pretty sure it was... this way?" The man said, gently pushing the crying woman towards the nearest staircase.

Iona found a handkerchief being held out for her to take as they walked and she miserably used it to dab at her eyes as she was led along. Her legs felt fit to collapse under her as she cried, her heart feeling like it was being stabbed over and over. The man plastered on a fake smile as he opened one of the many doors along the path and gestured inside. Iona stared into it and screamed as a swarm of some massive insects buzzed about inside. Her host blinked at the reaction and looked inside before promptly slamming the door shut.

"Ah! Right, wrong door, heh heh. Sorry about that, I'm pretty sure it is uh, that one! Yes that sounds right." He said, pointing to the door directly across from the one with the large bugs.

He opened the door and inside was a bottomless blackness. Iona stared at the darkness within and stopped crying as she felt herself inexorably drawn towards it. Something in the back of her mind started whispering for her to step towards it and she could swear that there was something inside. It flickered about in the endless void beyond the door, formless and shapeless as it called to Iona. In her mind it sounded so familiar, like the call of her mother or her sister. She was about to cross the threshold when she felt her host jerk her back and slam the door shut.

"Also wrong, I should really put labels near these things. Let's see... let's try this one." He said helping Iona to her feet and heading towards the door at the end of the hall.

Iona jerked her hand back. "Wait! Where are you taking me? Who are you?" She demanded, sniffling slightly.

The man looked at her and cocked his head ever so. "My office of course, need to make these things official after all. At least, I think so. As for who I am, well, who do you think?"

"A madman?" She replied without thinking, immediately fearful she might offend him.

He pointed towards her and let out a hissing breath from behind a beaming smile. "Madman! No... Ah. Okay, okay that's fine. What is something you associate with madmen? What are they?" He questioned, rolling his hand to try and gesture for a quick response.

Iona went with an obvious answer. "Insane? Crazy?"

He held up a hand. "Okay, still focusing on the mad aspect. That's fine, that's fine! The word I'm looking for rhymes with neurotic. Come on, what rhymes with neurotic."

After waking up in a mad house, learning everyone she had ever loved was dead, and nearly being pulled into a dark abyss Iona had certainly not expected to have a quiz with the stranger she had woken up to. He was rolling his hands and smiling encouragingly, obviously trying to get a good answer out of her. Iona thought for a few moments obligingly, sticking her tongue in her cheek. Growing up in her simple village had limited her vocabulary so she didn't even really know what neurotic meant.

"Umm... ahhh..." She said, trying hard to come up with something though clearly it wasn't fast enough.

"OK, the word I was looking for was Chaotic! Chaos! You know, like God of Chaos, Yorik? So you aren't the cleverest but that's fine! I can work with not clever! We can make that work." He said, leading her along again while muttering under his breath.

Iona limply followed him as her eyes must have widened to a comical degree. Yorik was the God of Tricksters, Mischief and Chaos. Widely regarded as a pretty powerful and unpredictable god and was worshipped quite frequently, or invoked as a curse. So she had called a god a madman. Iona half expected him to realize that insult and strike her dead at any moment. The fact that said god was leading her along gently still hadn't really hit home just yet. He... he was a god. Like a real god. And he was talking to her. Some dead girl from a village in the middle of nowhere.

Yorik let out a victorious cry as he opened the next door and revealed a tiny office with a nice desk and two chairs. A mess of parchments were all over the floor and the desk and really the entire place was a mess. He carefully led her inside and sat her down in the chair in front of the desk before sitting down behind it primly. She remembered her nudity as he stared at her and covered herself again. He smacked a hand against his forehead and let out a slight sigh at the sight.

"Ah, right, forgot. You mortals are really uptight about the nudity thing." He said.

He waved a hand and the next thing Iona knew her body was concealed in clothing. She gasped and ran her hands over the smooth fabric of a rather rich crimson robe, her fingers tingling from the foreign fabric. Her toes curled around a strap and her feet were resting in sandals crafted from supple and cured leather. Gemstones studded the straps of her sandals and gold trimmed at her red robes. Iona looked at the clothing; in utter disbelief the rich attire was adorning her body. Her eyes shifted back towards Yorik, who was balancing his quill upon his nose.

"Y-you really are a god?" She stuttered out.

He stopped his playing and smirked at her. "The genuine article I assure you! Not sure one can fake godhood exactly."

Iona swallowed hard, pushing aside the raw wound of her sorrow to focus on the situation at hand. "What do you want from me?"

Yorik put his feet up on the desk and pointed at her. "Ah, the real question is, what do you want from me?" He said, sounding rather like a sleazy merchant.

"I- what?" She asked in confusion.

"You don't want to die do you? Well... technically you are already dead but I can make it so you aren't dead!" He stated.

Iona blinked at the rather blunt offer, almost not believing it at first. It wasn't everyday one was killed by a demi only for a god to swoop in and offer to return you to life. Just thinking about that demi, how she had so easily slaughtered everyone in the village like it had been some kind of game... it brought waves of sadness but also rage. Her fists curled into the fabric of her new clothing, realizing something and turning her gaze back to Yorik, her eyes possessing a slight glimmer of hope.

"What about my family? Could you bring them back as well? The people that monster killed in the village?" She asked.

Yorik's expression turned to a frown. "Ah... no. I already technically bent a few divine rules plucking you from the aether. I also did that while you were in transit. Most of the souls of those that demi killed are already where they are supposed to be. So getting them back would be something outside of my power."

Iona's shoulders slumped and the hope in her eyes flickered and died. They were gone forever then. Every single person she had known was dead and gone, all at the whims of a cruel demi. Tears stung at her eyes once more as she pondered the worth of even being resurrected. There was nothing left for her in that world. No loved ones, no friends, it almost seemed pointless to just return. There was also another point.

"Why would I want to go back? We humans are just toys for the demi to abuse, enslave, or kill. I'd just wind up dead again probably." She said, a sob tearing itself from her.

Yorik snapped a finger a couple of times. "Hey! Hey! No more crying. Anyway, what if I told you I could make you a demi?"

Iona's gaze jerked back to Yorik, who was regarding her with a smirk. Her, a demi? The demi were considered at the top of the food chain in the world order. A step below the gods as far as the average human was concerned. Most civilized human lands owed vassalage to certain demi; her village had paid tribute to a lord who in turn paid tribute to a demi by the name of Ophelia Stormcaller. The idea of becoming one of these near godlike creatures was almost laughable but Yorik seemed to be completely genuine with his offer.

Of course that begged an important question. "Why me?" Iona asked.

Yorik shrugged casually. "I like helping out the little guy, or gal in this case. Honestly I didn't expect you to try and save your brother by leaping into harm's way. It was stupid, but also crazy. I like a little crazy. Besides, I find the current order of the world utterly dull. It's just so... predictable. Demi are big and powerful and thus can cow the tiny and weak humans. Boring! I think making a human into a demi would shake things up!"

The chaotic deity searched around his desk for a moment, grumbling about parchments until he found what he was looking for and slid it across the table with an inkwell and quill. Iona blinked, not exactly understanding how to read but finding the words projecting into her head as she read them. Considering what she had seen so far she supposed that a parchment that read the words off into her mind was not exactly the strangest.

"The undersigned does hereby offer their soul as property to Yorik, God of Chaos, Father of Tricksters, and Lord of Mischief. In so doing the undersigned waives any rights to their soul to the aforementioned, recognizing it as divine legal right that he possess it upon the death of the undersigned. The undersigned also agrees to the following conditions.

-The undersigned will not destroy the interests of Yorik upon the mortal plane, via means direct or indirect either through action or inaction.

-The undersigned will be obligated to obey a single request made of her by Yorik at any time or form of his choosing. These requests must invoke this contract before being made. In the event of conflict between the request and conditions of the contract, the request takes precedence. Once the request is made this condition will be nulled.

-The undersigned will not seek harm to Yorik himself via means direct or indirect, either through actions or inactions.

The act of signing will confer the identity of 'demi' upon the signer for the remainder of her life. Yorik hereby will grant a fraction of divine essence to the undersigned to facilitate this change to the undersigned's mortal soul. This fraction cannot be revoked by any means by Yorik until the undersigned's demise. This contract will be enforced by the laws of the gods and the universe to ensure both Yorik and the undersigned keep to the terms of the contract. Upon the death of either Yorik or the undersigned the contract will be rendered null.

X___________________________"

Iona frowned as she pondered the contract carefully. The request one was the bit she focused on the most as it seemed a bit of a blank check for Yorik. Then again she supposed making her a demi without making any requirements for her would be rather too altruistic. It was hard to get a read on what kind of person Yorik was though. He didn't seem evil at least though being a god of chaos she supposed good and evil were just words to him really. Unpredictable perhaps which made giving him a blank check rather... dangerous.

She was also officially signing her soul away to him. It was a life changing contract that she was signing. Of course being a demi meant she would be on equal grounds with that monster that had destroyed her village. Her fingers balled into fists, hatred flaring through her as she remembered the face of that demi. She burned it into her mind and turned her gaze up towards Yorik as she picked up the quill.

"I'll sign, but I'm not going to be a monster like the other demi. I won't treat humans like insects and I will hunt down that demi that killed everyone in my village and make her pay." She said, her tone firm for the first time since meeting Yorik.

The god smirked enigmatically. "Of course. You are free to pursue your own agenda until I need to make my request of you. Honestly I'd rather see how you work before making it of you anyway."

Iona nodded and dipped the quill in ink. She didn't know how to write but she suspected just dripping the ink on the place where she was to sign would convey the message. Sure enough the inkblots shifted and formed the symbols that made up her name and the contract dissolved before her very eyes. She placed the quill back down and took a deep breath. She didn't feel any different at the moment as she looked at herself. Her eyes turned to Yorik who offered her a wide beaming smile.

"There we have it then! Congratulations, demi, I look forward to watching how you choose to use your newfound power. I wonder if you will keep to your oath, or simply revel in your power. I suppose only time will tell. In any event I bid you good luck in your travels, m'dear. Perhaps when you find the demi that destroyed your home we will speak again." He stated.

A sharp pain was felt upon the hand that had held the quill and Iona's eyes widened as she noted ink was crawling up her skin. It formed into a symbol upon her hand, one of an eight pointed star, and she screamed as it branded itself into her flesh. The world started spinning and it felt like her very soul was being flayed. She was not ashamed to admit that she screamed. The scream echoed through her mind as her last sight before the world went dark was the smiling god, though this time his smile seemed far more sinister. A loud and cackling laughter followed her into the darkness until finally, all was quiet.