Time passed with Lillian falling deeper and deeper into the dark. Eventually she found herself a powerful crime lord, the terror of Flaremouse, hidden ruler of the streets she used to work for Saldric. She dealt in drugs, she dealt in exotic animals, she dealt in fighting rings, and she dealt in dark magic better than anyone, thanks to the help of the demon familiar she'd summoned, Farrow. She even had so much power that she was somewhat publicly known to be a half-succubus but the officials were either too afraid or too corrupt to act on it. The one thing she didn't deal in, or tolerate on her streets, was prostitution.
She'd evolved into an Enslaver now, and so had the ability to *permanently* enthrall men. She sat on a chair that was almost a throne in one of her establishments, watching a pair of orcs beat each other to death in her fighting ring. On her left was Farrow, who'd taken the form of a large black bloodpanther. She idly stroked his head. On her right was Luke. She'd made him her thrall long ago. He wasn't that powerful or useful, but he was a trophy, her first slave. At least he was fun to look at.
Someone approached her, unbidden. Normally she'd just have such a fool immediately beaten and thrown out on the streets, but he had an air of power and mystery about him that made her hesitate. "Who are you?" She demanded, and pulled up his information, but to her shock every category had a "(Blocked)" tag and no further information. That had never happened before. The stranger smiled wickedly and offered a deep bow. "Greetings, princess Lillian. I am called Lecrow, in my home."
Lillian scoffed. "I am no princess and flattery will not help you. What do you want?"
"I want many things, and I offer many things, but none of them would be wise to speak of publicly."
Again she might have just had him thrown out, but she had to admit she was curious. She invited him to her private office, and poured him a drink, which he took with a gracious bow. "Your hospitality is generous, princess." he said.
"Stop babbling and start telling me what I want to know. Why are you here?"
"Very well, I'll cut to the chase. First off, you are a princess, a princess of hell. You are the daughter of Queen Lilith and the hero Bayeon, scion of light and darkness, child of prophesy."
Lillian would have called him a loon and been done with it, but then she remembered that this was a video game and her character had no early memories. It sounded just cheesy enough to be true.
"Let's say I believe you." she said.
Lecrow bowed. "I am, of course, a demon, an attendant to your mother, Queen Lilith."
"and you've come to bring me to her? I won't go."
"Oh no, far from it. Your mother is quite happy with how your life is unfolding. You see, as the daughter of light and darkness, the path you choose has great influence on cosmic power dynamics. The deeper you fall into darkness, the more powerful your mother grows. So far your mother is nothing but proud of you, and appreciative."
"Then what do you want?"
"Simply to offer you an opportunity, my dear. You see I recently acquired a rather powerful demon artifact, and it has proved...enlightening. It has shown me that we live in a great multiverse. The problem and the opportunity in this is that I have discovered that there are other versions of you who did not turn out so wonderfully wicked. I would offer you the opportunity to destroy them."
"I can see how that might benefit you, Lecrow, but not how it would benefit me?"
"Oh that part is quite simple. You see, if you can destroy another version of yourself, then her power will flow to you. You could become the most powerful person in the universe, maybe even a god, and then, if you wanted, you could even go home, Alex.
Lillian's eyes flared. "That name no longer has any meaning to me, but I would know how you know it."
"To put it simply, it's the artifact. The Eye of Allmund is quite powerful at seeing what cannot normally be seen. Knowledge truly is power, my dear."
Lillian was pondering this when A game message appeared. It was a quest, a dark quest detailing exactly what Lecrow had described. The wording of the quest reward was a little vague, but it might be implying that she indeed COULD become a god if she killed her alternate selves.
"If it is true, and you can travel between dimensions, then why not obtain godhood for yourself?"
"Oh, I would, but I cannot. In short, I am not the child of prophecy. It will not work for me."
Lillian considered. She didn't know if she could trust this demon, but if nothing else she could trust the game, trust the quest. She smiled. "I'm in."
Lecrow smiled too, but for different reasons. He was a good liar. There was one lie in particular that had him smiling. The truth was that he wasn't actually incapable of killing alternate versions of himself to achieve godhood. The truth was, he already had.