"Death Dealers and Diabolists

"The process took hours; Albuon cautioned it would be a long ritual with no opportunity for water or relief until completed. The maiden’s blood flowed down from the platform and under the iron and silver tiles.

For the longest time nothing happened, then Q’a noticed something stirring in the pool of blood between them and the sealed gate. At first no larger than a mouse, Q’a actually wondered if somehow a rodent entered the chamber. But the “mouse” grew, and soon Q’asaw its multi-segmented centipede-like body, each “leg” a miniature duplicate of its main body, down to miniature legs which in turn had miniatures growing from them.

But the worst part was the silly little face under the head segment, a silly little face with plump, puckered lips like a child begging for sweets.

“Well, you have my attention,” the entity said. “What is it you want?”

Albuon nodded to Shandasku. Often clients would be so overcome with fear they scarce could speak, and it would be up to a seasoned priest-librarian to attempt the bargain, but Shandasku showed no fear. “I have three sons,” she said. “Perzoroti—”

“Yes, yes, I know,” said the entity. “Perzoroti, Nugailisi, and Tanimbasi. What do you desire?”

“I wish—I want them to be kings.”

- From "Q'A the Librarian" by Buzz Dixon


 I was a bit daunted by the aspect of making something with a baby-face seem a dangerous adversary, and I'm not really sure how successful I was. At the time, I suggested alternatives to the baby face, but in retrospect that would have been somewhat disrespectful to the writer's own vision; at that point I had already taken some liberty with the centipede body, since the prose describes its legs as ending in miniature versions of its own legs, so the legs themselves were bodies to more legs, and so on, fractally, layer by layer - I had chosen to simplify that idea, thinking it might not read very well on a final, small printed paperback. Instead, I borrowed the idea of altering the eyes from H.R. Giger, to make them look more alien and demonic and hoped for the best.

The story was very well written and very dark. A sort of no-holds barred type of read. While the flow of the story might be anticipated, all the little details about the ritual and the larger framework of the wizards who do it all are fascinating and in-depth. Lots of nice little ideas tying it all together.

Acryla-gouache, 10"x16" on cold press illustration board with digital touchups.