dark magic

*Narrator pov*

Morpheus sat cross-legged inside the heart of the cave, his eyes closed, his face a study in serene concentration. The cave was nestled deep within the lush, volcanic landscape of Hawai'i, not far from the demon compound.

The air inside was cool and damp, a stark contrast to the humid, tropical environment outside.

The walls of the cave shimmered faintly, reflecting the dim light from the small, flickering fire he had conjured. The flames danced in a rhythmic pattern, casting elongated shapes that seemed to move in time with the steady rise and fall of his breath. The scent of damp earth mixed with the saltiness of the ocean breeze that occasionally drifted in from the cave's entrance.

Morpheus's skin, usually pale, glowed faintly with an otherworldly light, as if his magic was seeping through the surface. His hair, dark and flowing, cascaded over his shoulders, blending into the shadows around him. His posture was effortless, his body perfectly aligned with the natural energies of the island. He was attuned to every sound, every vibration, feeling the pulse of the earth beneath him, the flow of magic in the air, and the subtle shifts in the presence of the demons nearby.

In this meditative state, if you looked closely you would be able to see his lips moving just barely. Morpheus's physical body might have been in that cave but his attention was on the compound controlling a lesser demon like a puppet.

***

The lesser demons in the warehouse located in the far back of the compound didn't notice a thing as the flesh puppet Morpheus was controlling sprang to life limbs contorting into place, bones snapping together like a perfect puzzle piece and no one was the wiser the sounds outside of the demons conducting repairs to the compound walls drowning out the sound of the horrific event.

The puppet turned and began to walk toward the exit. At first, its steps were wobbly shaken, and awkward-looking but as Morpheus controlled the body longer the steps started to become more fluent, and the earlier stumbling was nowhere to be seen.

It was seamless. In fact so seamless that when one of the workers turned and saw him instead of crying out in alarm he barked, "What are ya doing? Hiding from your job are ya? Go out there and begin piling bodies!"

Morpheus controlled the puppet to nod before it left the warehouse. Stepping outside Morpheus was greeted with the sight of numerous lesser demons, not all of them were in human shells the weaker as the weaker ones were able to slip through with enough effort. It was just hardly done, the weaker demons dubbed lesser demons were only good for fodder and manual labor, and a grown wizard would be able to fend them off much like they would a vampire.

Morpheus bided his time while helping with the cleanup. He didn't think it was wise at this moment to try a full frontal assault, especially with the demonic nobility present the battle would take a while and with the pest around he would have to split his attention between many individuals.

Overall it wasn't a good idea to raid the base as it was, Morpheus might be able to pull it off, especially after using a pill but that would be pointless.

His goal wasn't to kill them all today.

Morpheus hauled some bodies over to the warehouse before seeing a lull in security, the demons that were guarding the permitter came inside, and the demons that were inside went outside. He quickly walked past the warehouse and across the compound closer to the center, eyes scanning for the pesky Noble Xilveth.

Once Morpheus was within range of the portal scheme he stopped controlling the puppet for a brief moment. Its eyes dimmed and Morpheus stood from his crossed position his mouth still moving his focus unwavering. He was able to slip back into the puppet in a few moment's notice.

Walking out of the cave he faced the compound and raised his wand his fingers stretched out spreading before slowly closing in a grasping motion. At the same time, the remements of the golem began to shake lines began to glow brightly.

a nearby lesser demon was startled before hesitantly approaching the pieces, "What th-"

*BOOM* the pieces exploded one by one like a chain reaction the blasts weren't as damaging as one would expect but, they drew enough attention for Morpheus to slip back into his puppet.

Morpheus immediately controlled the puppet to crouch at the edge of the portal scheme and got to work ignoring the shouts of alarm. He didn't have access to any sharp objects like a dagger but, luckily in this instance, demons had extremely sharp claws.

Using his fingers Morpheus began to etch lines into the scheme whilst disrupting others he tried to work as fast as possible but the thought to action of the puppet wasn't as smooth as he would have liked.

Sweat beaded across Morpheus's brow as he focused on puppeteering the lesser demon.

"HEY!" a shout behind him alerted Morpheus but he ignored it knowing he didn't have long it appeared a demon noticed his interference with the portal scheme

"Lord Kor someone is messing with the portal!"

He felt something pierce the puppet's stomach but he didn't pay it any mind Morpheus began quickly connecting several runes.

Suddenly his vision blurred and Morpheus found himself eye to puppet with Xilveth, "Who are you?" the greater demon asked dangerously increasing the pressure of his grip

Morpheus couldn't reply but forced the puppet to smile.

Xilveth widened his eyes before snarling, "Morpheus," he growled, "Your clear eyes are unmistakable how are you doing this!" he roared at the puppet

Morpheus kept the smile in place but at the same time used the thumb nail to cut into his middle finger creating a small stream of demonic blood to drip below him onto the runes he carved.

The real body of Morpheus increased his chanting louder than ever focusing on the puppet's vocal cords.

"SPREAD ACROSS THE ISLAND HE IS HERE!" Xilveth bellowed, "SOMEONE CALL THE OTHERS!"

The puppet's smile widened ever so slightly, "Too late failure of the Kor family," the puppet's eyes dimmed turning black, and the tunes being fed with blood began to glow

Xilveth widened his eyes tossing the puppet to the side, "Ƥȯtėctǫrᾱḏǟr!" he bellowed before the portal scheme exploded

The compound was instantly drowned in all-consuming flames, lesser demons were turned to ash in an instant screams and shouts were heard but no one came to save them.

As the flames died down a lone figure was present leaning heavily against a piece of burnt building his skin marred with burn marks as if his skin was melting.

His eyes burned with such rage.

And his magic answered.