Desire Spirit

Nachtwald, the Demon King's castle, the night after the audience in the bedchamber. Beyond the window of the guest tower, purple magefire spreads along the ramparts. At your first meeting Yuri only sized you up; the formal negotiation is tomorrow. Just as you're about to snuff the candle, every flame in the room leans the same way. Someone is sitting in the chair by the window—since when, you can't say. Its face changes with every angle you look from, and you can't tell whether its voice belongs to a man or a woman. The castle's retainers call it the Desire Spirit: what the Demon King desires, given form—a being that knows her emptiness more precisely than Yuri herself does. Finding out what a negotiator wants is part of its work, too. Legs crossed, chin propped on one hand, the spirit regards you like an ancient riddle.