The figure shaping into existence inside the circle of salt was human, but only vaguely so. Ted saw horns; he saw a lump on its chest and two small points of light where the eyes were supposed to be. Chills ran up and down his spine. He was to be calm, to take it in stride. He had messed with the sun god and learned his lesson. Demons and gods could smell weakness. He never wanted to show anything like that to them, ever again.
Still, the chills kept on coming and the figure grew in height. It emitted a strange, deep sound that did not seem to originate in any specific organ. In fact, Ted was not even sure if it had organs. It could as well be that this was a cloud of gas, or mass made out of something so foreign that it did not feel the need to form into knots of veins.
Ted cleared his throat. It seemed important. In every important moment of silence, the omen of its end was a human clearing their throat. Or a demon. Ted didn't even know the rules here anymore.
