Later

You made camp not long after leaving the apartment, taking little with you other than some base supplies and four suitcases belonging to Ligeia. They were big cases, but whatever their contents were were light. Not a word had been spoken since you left the apartment. Ligeia was the one to break the silence, perhaps driven mad by your silent enrapture with the flames of the campfire between you.

“Why did you come to this island, Ashley?”

It was a simple question, she deserved a simple answer. Especially considering you had some questions of your own that needed answering.

“I have a sister. A few days ago I received these,” you say, reaching into your pockets before retrieving a new crumpled envelope containing the pictures of your sister and the note. It was strange.

Ligeia opened the envelope alright, but she only took a single glance at the letter, not even reading it. Nor did she look at any of the pictures before she put them all back together and returned them.

“My turn. That woman in the woods, who is she?”

Ligeia almost laughed. Almost. “That,” she began to say, “is a loaded question. So listen up, I wont be repeating any of this.”

You were relived. Finally you would be getting some answers about what the hell was going on in this island of horrors.

“This island only has one ruler, a demon by the name of Belial,” she said, taking a long thin stick and stabbing it into the fire upright. It caught cinders quickly, the visual aid for the queen of the isle.

“But she has three lieutenants,” she said, fishing around for three smaller sticks and stabbing them into the fire around the largest stick.

“You encountered the first at the circus, Gin told me. A purple skinned succubus called azrael. The second we met outside, the commander of the imps: Lilium. The third I don’t think you’ve had the misfortune of encountering. He’s the most powerful of the three. The new second in command. He’s a beast through and through, a minotaur without name.”

It was a lot to process, but thanks to the sticks in the fire pit the situation became easier to grasp. You found it odd she specified that the minotaur was the new second in command, but you had more important questions than that to have answered.

“So what, you’re here to kill Belial?” You asked.

“Yes and no,” she cryptically replied.

“Belial cannot be harmed while she still retains her lieutenants. To cut the head off the snake we must first attack its three tails. The problem is: unless all the lieutenants are killed at once, they can regenerate. Gin had dispatched Azrael at the circus, but she’s probably completely regenerated by now. I think Gin had intended to recruit you, so that each of us take out one each, but we need a new plan now.”

It was a lot to process, but following Ligeia seemed to be the best chance you had at finding your sister.

“So what’s plan B?” You asked, then watched her rise to her feet and turn away from you. Whatever the plan was, it didn’t seem to be a good one.

“We’ll go to the stocks tomorrow, see what we find. If we’re lucky and we can get Gin out, then the plan remains… if not…”

“If not?”

“If not then it falls on us. We take one each, then try to get the minotaur together before the others can come back. If we can pull of that hail mary then Belial's forces will be staggered. We might be able to get Gin back if she isn’t lost,” Ligeia said over her shoulder. You could see her eyes wince.

“We have an early morning tomorrow, best leave it here and get some sleep,” she concluded, and laid back down on the ground.

You stayed awake longer, looking at those four sticks in the fire until they had completely crumbled.

It was perplexing. In a way what Ligeia said to you made perfect sense, almost as if you had heard it before, or had already known it; as if extracted straight from a recurring dream of yours. Your eyes grew heavy, and sleep took you soon after.

“Do you think we can do this without Gin?” you mumbled half asleep. Ligeia met you in a similar sleepy tone.

“No, but we have **** but to try.”