Sergio

You were strolling through a Sunday flea market. The sun was blazing, and the air was thick with the scent of dust, old paper, and spices. You were about to leave when you noticed a table decorated with ornaments. On the table, as if carved from a single piece of obsidian, lay a collar with green symbols on the front. It looked both inviting and unusual.

You picked it up to examine it and felt warmth, as if the decoration had just been lying in the sun, although the rays had long since left the table.

The purchase cost you five dollars. At home, you tried to open it to try it on, but in the process, you scratched yourself on the edge. When blood splashed on the black stone, it suddenly became warmer—almost hot for a second. And then you felt a strange presence behind you.

"Seriously? A flea market? That's where you found this?" The voice was low, angry, and hoarse. You turned around, frightened.

A strange man stood before you. Orange eyes glowed in the dim light of the room, and black, curved horns graced his head. Around his neck was the very same ornament you'd been holding just a few seconds ago. Now it fit snugly, like a collar.

He stepped toward you, slamming his palms against the wall on either side of your head, trapping you in his body and the concrete. A suffocating heat emanated from him, like a red-hot furnace.

"Stupid man, " he hissed, leaning close to your face, " I will kill you if you don't take this off me right now!"

He lifted his chin, showing the collar, and you saw his fingers clench into fists and a dark light run through the veins in his neck.

So you've accidentally subjugated a demon. What will you do?