text: The incantation was read, reverberating off the world, echoing, surrounding him. The underworld trembled as he was summoned. Through fire and brimstone, he rose through the Chasm of the Damned, tore across the Abyss of Lost Ones, burst through the line between his and theirs. A vortex of fleshy colors swirled around him, formed over his body, tightened, stretched, elongating, reached like pleading branches and down into him through every orifice. From one world to another, from one shape to another, to be summoned was a task he held highly, but one he would punish dearly if discovered to be made by a fool. He closed his eyes, his eyelids hissing on his flesh, and when he opened them he stood in a room that was far pinker than anything he had ever seen. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the blinding, vibrant color. Posters with various female humans in different poses, dressed in gowns, wearing tiaras and crowns, dancing, singing, were plastered to the walls, and sprinkled around them were colorful, shiny stickers of horses with horns, tiny cherubs with glittery wings, and rainbow colored stars and other symbols. The were white curtains with rose patterns hanging to the sides of the windows, and the bed in the far corner had more blankets and pillows than he ever thought imaginable. His sigil was crudely drawn on the small table he stood upon. A tiny, plastic knife blanched with red, and a paint set laid next to it; a wrinkled sheet of paper was on the floor, the incantation scribbled in red, a crayon nearby. A toppled over plastic chair was on the floor, painted with splotches of bright blue and indigo. *What is this?* he thought. “Yay! Yay, yay, yay! It worked! It worked!” A little female human cheered across the room, jumping up from a plastic chair placed in a ring of stuffed animals. A doll house nearly as big as her stood in the center of them, partially open, revealing dolls, plastic furniture, and other child toys. “You summoned me?” he asked, his voice grating, as if with every word his throat ground gravel to a fine dust. She threw her hands above her, one had a small, red mark across the palm, then pointed towards Him. “I did! I did!” “For what purpose do you summon me? Only those who require removal of a human’s life summon me, and only fools would summon me for anything else.” “To play, to play! Daddy’s not home, and mommy is sleeping!” “You summon me... to play?” A fine red mist escaped his lip-less mouth and slits for nostrils, rising and settling onto the ceiling above him. The plaster began to melt, and drips of white fell on his horned shoulders, the table, and the floor. The stench of burning paint, caulk, wood filled the room, mixing with the pungent, spicy scent of the mist. A hole revealing the attic formed, and insulation began to sing. “Yes! I need someone to be Ken! I can be Barbie and their daughter, but not Ken! Girls can’t play as boys, sil--” His amber eyes glowed and, as if a storm cloud passed over the sun, the room darkened. The lines that were etched up his body like snaking veins ebbed with a fiery light, illuminating the room. The small girl sat back down, putting her hands onto her lap. More mist escaped him, through his pores, through his eyes, became a smog engulfing him and the part of the room behind him. Hidden behind the cloud, the flaps of this world's frame started to peel, slowly being pulled back to reveal his true form; endless tendrils twisted, conjoined, endless innards like veering corridors, swirling staircases, that reach to the catacombs of ancient beings; places, things, words, names unimaginable to the little's girl world. “You summoned me!” he roared, stepping off the table that collapsed into kindle and embers. “To play? To play with toys? Do you know who I am child? Do you know who, what you summoned! Only the foolish have summoned me for greater things, and even those were childish!” The carpet singed around his hoofed feet, the smell of burnt plastic intertwining with the room's stench. A veil of tears covered her eyes, streamed down her chubby cheeks. She balled her shirt collar in her hand, biting her lower lip. The little girl spoke in between sobs. “Yes... I wanted someone to play with... Daddy’s-- daddy’s always gone, and-- and mommy’s always sleeping... she takes special medicine... We-- we-- we moved here for daddy’s work. I have... I have no one to play with here.” He loomed over the girl, peering down through the red mist, his eyes glowing, amber ovals. He balled his pincer-like claws into fists, black blood seeped in between them, dripping onto the floor. The demon glanced back at the table, saw the paper with his incantation among the rubble, saw the plastic knife that must have been used to cut her palm, and saw his symbol, now destroyed. “You summoned me little human,” he said, the color of his eyes and body gradually dulled and disappeared, returning to ember and ruby. The flaps of flesh mended, hiding the depths within his body. No mortal should look upon them, let alone a girl, though, perhaps, his mother may be an exception. “Thus, I will do your bidding this once.” The clouds lifted and sunlight fell into the room through the window once more, reflecting off the pink walls, filling the room with radiance. The fine, red mist quickly dissipated, as did the smell, though he didn't intend to repair the burnt ceiling, floor, walls, just yet. *For another time*, he thought. The demon crouched, glanced among the dolls and what he believed to be Ken into his claws, and asked, “How do we begin then, little human?” If you like what you read, you can view more of my work in my subreddit at .