Two Headed Dog

“Master, Master! Warlock of Mystical Energies, Demon Priest of the Dead, my beloved King of Soluna.”

Emi stood in awe as the dog prostrated itself, laying its head on the ground before Orion. It trembled, yet not from fear. But reverence – like gravity itself had pushed it down to kiss the pavement. The poor creature looked sewn together from mismatched parts, only thing was there was no sign of any stitches. A Frankenstein mutt brought to life through sorcery, strange love, and long-forgotten rites.

The second head coughed, still holding tightly onto the blade.

“Getting here…” it wheezed through the other mouth, its book vibrating from its voice, “It… was not easy. This realm… it is far. Too far. The stars here speak in tongues, the air is alien, wrong, hostile.”

Its white eyes twitched between them. It continued:

“Master, Master! What happened to your powers? How can this place strip you of your strength?”

Orion crouched down beside the two-headed beast, placing one hand on its bowed neck.

“This is Animal,” he said to Emi, almost solemnly.

She blinked, almost bursting out into a snicker.

“You… named your dog… Animal?”

“I did not name it,” Orion replied. “It is Animal. There is only one. He’s one of my demons. But… more than that. Much more.”

Frozen, speechless, Emi stood there clutching her bag, slowly starting to understand the actual scope of what it was she was dealing with. Stars sparkled inside her mind, opening them up to new possibilities and new questions. Those she was too afraid to ask, but now felt the overwhelming urge that could not be contained much longer.

Turning back to the dog, Orion asked him:

“How did you get here?”

Nodding its head, it replied:

“There are beasts here too. They hunger. Slobber. Portals are hard to conjure up here. I transfer through minds, travel by mine mind minds.”

“Hmm,” stroking his chin, Orion then asked, “so a portal can still be conjured up here then?”

“YES! Yes milord. Yes, yes, yes.”

“Okay… good.”

“I did good, milord?”

“Tell me, servant. How fares our Kingdom Soluna?”

The one biting onto the blade tightened its teeth, barking forth while still holding on tight. Its voice echoed on:

“Some demons are rebelling, milord. Please, forgive me. Many await your return. They impatient, selfish – oh, so selfish. Corrupted, greedy, angry. Not born with loyalty.”

“Hmm… very well,” Orion nodded. “Nothing I can’t fix once I get back.”

Rising back to his feet, he brushed the dust off of his knees. Orion then looked down at the strange creature with narrowed eyes, voice steady and low:

“Slave creature, are you ready to serve?”

The second head perked up at once, blade still clutched in its mouth like a sacred offering. The book, now humming softly, quivered under the weight of the thing’s attention.

“Anything, milord. Command me.”

“Scout this world. Learn its shape, its skies, its rhythms. How it moves. My eyes are slowly returning. Once I can see down to the subatomic strings again, opening a portal back to Soluna should be no problem. In the meantime, you will go out there and consume as much generative particles as you can. Power up your magicks, and stay close.”

The creature’s tails twitched excitedly, and both heads nodded at once.

“Yes! Yes, I will! I will sniff its veins, bite the edges of sky, I will ask gravity how it keeps its bones together!”

Emi blinked. That sentence made her stomach squirm.

But before bounding away, the book-head stilled, and the white-eyed gaze settled back on Orion, more serious now.

“One thing… Master.”

Orion waited.

“There is… a lieutenant. One of ours. Clever one. Don’t know who. He out there. He strong. Much stronger than before. He awaits you, but is eager. Too eager. When you return, and discipline him, he will follow. But without your power, he shows disloyal.”

Folding his arms, Orion listened on.

“Should I destroy him, Master?” Animal asked, tails wagging despite the threat it described.

“No,” Orion replied, turning toward the horizon. “I will deal with him. Go now.”

Animal nodded, bowing again as low as the concrete would let him.

Then, with a lurch of impossible muscles and a warping shimmer of air, the thing leapt down the street – both heads barking laughter and primal energies – vanishing into the waking world.

As Emi watched on, still processing what she had seen, Orion turned to her with heavy words:

“I am many things, maiden. This world may have stripped me of my powers. But I will not be stopped.”

An unexpected sound rang inside Emi’s ears for a split second. Turning around, she could not find the source of the sound anywhere. But it sounded like some kind of percussive instrument, like a tiny golden bell of some kind. Still turning her head frantically, the sound was long gone, but lingered in her thoughts like a ghost.