Paradrian turned around as he entered the cryptic plane. The gleeful grin that had been stretched across his face turned to an adoring look of awe.
From this side of the gated portal, the Chaos Wastelands looked like a lush paradise. Tall green grass flowed aimlessly in a soothing sunlight while the
bristling palm trees surrounded the surreal landscape. He slowly paced forward, the temptation of returning to the now flawless land exceeding his previous intentions.

“Entrancing, isn’t it?” came a voice from behind the knight. He jerked around to see the slender form of a psychedelic girl whose view was obscured by the heavy haze
of the realm itself. From afar, all he could note was that she stood awkwardly, one leg perched against the other while she leant forward.

“Quite.”

“I often catch myself staring out at it for hours, dreaming of the day when I can enter such a place. It’s never the same though.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. You see it reacts to the every want and whim of its visitor. You unknowingly wished for a personal paradise, and so you were shown it.” Paradrian
turned to look at the portal, but now the lush landscape was seething in a miasma. The trees were strewn with the corpses of flayed men
and women and it seemed as if their souls were what made up the purple haze. “Because we are both present, it has merged our desires into a single one.”

His shocked and disgusted face turned to radiance, now blistering with discovery. “It’s absolutely splendid!”

“We could create such a thing together.” The cloaked figure pranced into view, her skin as pale as the snow that failed to show through the gate and her apparel a
display of differently shaded hues of purple checkers and stripes. His grin widened further at the sight, the smile reaching an impossibly long length. She sprang
towards Paradrian, nearly forcing him back in surprise. From this close, it was apparent that her face was masked in white makeup. Violet eyes peered back at his,
a smile equally as wide as his accompanying it. Her hand caressed the burnished breastplate as he watched, the warmth of its touch both surprising and delighting
her. “There will be time for such things later. For I am sure you come to see the Prince, yes?” A simple nod acted as a reply, his mentality still obscured by the feminine jester.

In front of them a blue and white transparent road formed, going on farther than he could imagine. The pair walked along the crystalline passage, Paradrian still too
distracted to realize the girl was holding on to his arm as if they were lovers. The deep fog that had originally shrouded the area now lightened. An entire world of bleak
lands and morbid scenes surrounded them. Every side encountered a different environment, but each one housed a host of beautiful figures, both male and female. He
watched as they moved in an almost stealth like fashion, dancing in excess and glee.

Come to usss… Paradrian.

He jerked around, removing the jester’s grip to search for the source of the whispering voice.

Join usss… gleaming knight

Paradrian reeled back, his face cringing and shifting as if something was taking hold. His once blue eyes swirled and trickled purple until it was nothing but a vortex.

Dance with usss… magnificent warrior.

“Of… of course,” he replied this time. Slowly he moved to the edge of the crystal road, his movements not entirely his own.

Play with usss… beautiful champion.

“I… I will…” footstep fell in front of footstep.

Beee with usss… radiant prince.

The footsteps stopped. His head turned towards the pass as though resisting the urge and his eyes reverted back to their normal sapphire appearance.
He extended his view again, searching for the ones who whispered the temptations.

“Prince? Yes, I do believe I have come for an audience with such a person,” he spoke out at the edge of the road, his tone cocky as the words drifted on the wind.

Come to usss…

It came more demanding this time, unwilling to except that he had resisted.

“No.”

Shrieking crys of agony came out of the mist in reply. Paradrian grinned a wicked smile at the sounds of such pain.

Then youuu will dieee…

Serpentine forms appeared in the distance. The obscuring mist kept them at seemingly farther range but no less detaining the speed of their advance. The lower
part of their bodies slithered with unreal speed and the slim scales and plush skin tone mocked the lurking snakes of the real world. The upper half of their bodies
continued to echo their shrieks at Paradrian, their mouths opening like the endless maw of a banshee. The demons lent forward, the serrated claws that had
replaced their arms twitching in anticipation for the first strike.

Paradrian drew an elegant sword from the sheathe resting at his waist. He held it high, letting its silver metal gleam in the low lighting, seemingly illuminating the
entirety of the realm. His eyes darted back at the serpents. A trail of silver light flashed in front him, streams of black ichor following in its path. He turned to look upon
the fallen form. The dying body shrieked its last breath as it lay separated from the twitching tail.

The charging cry of another demon reverted his attention back to the assault. He leapt out, impaling the attacker through its chest as he hit the ground. His face
grimaced at the serpent as it slid from his blade, staining it with blood.

He rose to his full height again, extending the sword out in the direction of the remaining demons. He turned in place, allowing the sword to aim at every serpent
that encircled him. Screams of disapproval returned the gesture.

“Allow me to relinquish you of this place,” he offered sarcastically, still aiming his sword out as he continued to turn.

Youuu cannot kill ussss.

The demons charged, six of them ready to dismember the unwilling warrior with their serrated claws. Paradrian sidestepped away from the first blow, quickly
retaliating with a blow from the pommel of his weapon. A second serpent struck out. The warrior spun around, quickly driving the blade into its bare neck. The rest
of the serpents screeched as they watched the two others fell, still encircling Paradrian with a relentless charge.

Once more he swiftly dodged an oncoming attack, this time lunging forward instead to decapitate the next demon.

Cries of pain erupted from Paradrian. Agony coursed through him as his silver armor sundered at his back, exposing his flesh to the fiends. The clash of metal and
screeching delight filled the realm as he lost grip of the sword and fell to his hands and knees.

Paradrian refused to look up upon the chastising demons that had bested him. He had never been beaten before today. How could he have come this far only to let
himself be consumed by his own ego? Five of the attackers lay dead around him, and now he would become a simple play toy to these demons of Slaanesh until he
too lay dead, and probably even after that.

He laughed.

The screeching ceased and the serpents stared at him in confusion as the laughter continued to grow until tears fell from his eyes. The pain in his back slowly seeped
away as the cackling continued to fill him. Then the pain turned into comfort. The warmth of the place had finally managed to reach his skin, and the large gash in his
backside seemed to soothe the cold chill that surrounded the rest of his body. With ease he pushed himself back, resting soley on the strength in his knees.

His eyes widened as the laughter finally left him. He stared up at the serpents, once more aware that there was still a fight to be won.
“Amusing isn’t it?” he asked, picking up the fallen sword and raising himself to his feet. “I find it quite funny how one moment you feel as though you’re a god!” the silver
light flashed in front of him, slicing the nearest demon in half. No screeches of displeasure accompanied the kill, the serpents still too confused to even move. “But the
next moment, you lie face down in a pool of your own blood! Your life resting on the whim of some foolish rabble!” the sword struck out again, taking one of them straight
through the gut. “But that’s when you realize it,” he continued to talk in between kills.

The last of the fiends’ eyes filled with fear at the renewed figure. He had taken the pain of his loss, and the pain of his wounds, and used them to fuel an unnatural desire
to succeed. It slithered back as Paradrian slowly walked towards it.

Youuu musssstt notttt.

“That’s when you realize that it’s all about the thrill! The experience!” he ignored the plea. Lunging forward, the sword splayed out in a multitude of gestures as its foe let out
a final desperate screech. The serpent’s head rolled from the dismembered body, its eyes and mouth wide with shock. He stared down at the corpse, finally indulging in the
beauty and temptation of its form. The delicate coloration of scales and intricate details of its form seemed almost alluring to him.

Gentle applaud caught his attention. Behind him, the jester crouched at the end of the crystal passage. She jumped up from the low position, a large smile still stretching
across her face as Paradrian approached. “Simply marvelous!” she titillated.

“Oh yes, quite a spectacle indeed,” he agreed. The pain from the wound at his back coursed through him, no longer overwhelmed by the laughter and experience of such an
action. “I’ve never received quite a wound. It’s an enthralling feeling to say the least.”

The girl’s smile faded into a sympathetic frown. “Such experiences bring us delight. But what good would it serve if you held on to that wound. It would become as much a part
of you as your body, and there would be little excitement left to dwell in!” Her hand caressed his breastplate again, feeling its texture as she spoke until at last, she held her hand
upon the spot of his wound.

As if the metal was bound to her will, it began to mend. Tendril like portions of it slithered out from the ended of its ruptured surface, grasping onto the other end until it was
completed healed in a patchwork manner. And even as if it was not enough that the armor had been restored, it continued to shift under her hand, the stitch like repair turning
until it reformed into its original intricate shape.

“Astounding…” he whispered.

The smile returned to her face as she interlocked arms with him once more.

The two continued their journey, following the crystalline path as it veered into an unforeseeable end. What could have been
hours or even days passed in minutes for them, the abstract realm altering all normality for Paradrian.

Before long they stood amidst an ambrosial garden, lush and unearthly. In front of them stood a massive palace. Paradrian’s
eyes widened in wonder at its sight. Its surface illuminated their surroundings, and every detail was struck with burnished gold.

Lorelei stared at him, captured by the features of his face, and the beauty of his unnerving astonishment.

Without warning, the doors of the great palace shifted. The intricate etched details and metal linings turned and altered impossibly
until it was an open passage. Paradrian’s wonder turned to glee at the spectacle and the now open palace. Without hesitation he
pursued its interior, pulling the still captivated Lorelei with him.

Inside, an endless maze of mirrors flanked every wall. He approached the closest mirror, still interlocking arms with his feminine guide.
However, the glass surface only reflected his imagine, and even in that notion it was not entirely his own. The mirror image moved and
swayed as he did, following him as it should, but the picture showed a warrior more elegant than himself. Though normally a graceful
fighter, Paradrian’s movements seemed crude in comparison to this version of himself.

Lorelei now stood behind him, enjoying the revelations that were unfolding before the champion.

He backed away, the smile on his face replaced with confusion and excitement. He turned around, moving to face the next mirror. Again it
followed his movement, but this mirror instead showed him clad in a suit of luxurious armor. It gleamed and glistened, fitting and
complementing his vigorous build for more than his current armor. His smile returned and he moved again, ready to face the next version
of himself.

He now stood face to face with a normal depiction of himself. He stared at it for a great time, trying to find any differences in its appearance.
His movement was the same, his armor, weapons, features. They were all the same.

“What is this place? What are these reflections?” he asked, still too obsessed with the image to turn around.

“Possibilities.”

He turned away from it, finally noticing that the only difference was a simple scar upon his left cheek, no larger than the fine tip of his blade. He looked
as far down the long hallway as his sight would allow. Hundreds of mirrors, maybe thousands, offered him a glimpse into what could and might be
his future. To know what might become of yourself was a truly splendid thing, but to endeavor upon learning them all would take more than a lifetime.
One could sit amidst the hall learning his future, or one could resist the temptation and seek what it is he truly desires. Paradrian decided on the latter.

He waltzed forward, keeping his sight directly forward as to not be distracted by the many awesome images of himself. Lorelei skipped behind him,
twirling and spinning, watching the various depictions of her own fate flash by her.

After a few minutes of walking, or possibly hours, they came to the end of the hallway. Two staircases flanked either side of the final reflection.
Paradrian stood completely still, fully entranced by this last mirror that rested upon the wall. Magnificent in every way, the awe inspiring image of a
Keeper of Secrets displayed itself before him. It moved with him, but in an unreal fashion. It stood five times as tall as himself, maybe taller. One of
his arms carried in it a sword of tranquil beauty. His other hand weaved alluring images in the sky. Below those were two more arms, each one ending
in a single large serrated pincer. Its skin was smooth and unblemished, angelic beyond all recognition.

Lorelei crept behind him, resting her hands and chin on one of his shoulders. She was anxious to see the outcome of Paradrian’s journey. He turned
his head to meet her close gaze, their eyes meeting only inches apart. He smiled at her aspiringly and then looked back to view the version of himself
that would reach Demonhood one last time. He turned and ascended the staircase, eager to meet whatever test next awaited him.