Derick's eyes widened in anger. "You mean to tell me that you never distributed it on Earth?!"
"No, of course not, nobody wanted it, remember?" Devon said coolly.
Derick wanted to scream.
When Derick was finished yelling, mostly curses to himself for getting himself into this nightmare, Devon continued. "Now, this is the truth. In the book, you mention that only one of these underworlds is correct, or maybe the concept doesn't exist at all. In reality, they all exist. The underworld is a very large place, and you're in it." A flame shot up behind Devon.
"A little dramatic, don't you think?"
Devon laughed, beginning to become peeved.
Derick snickered. "This is bullshit. I'm getting out of here. You're a crackpot."
As Derick turned to walk away, a flame shot up in his path.
"What the hell is this?! Come on!" Derick said calmly.
"You owe me a service!" Devon boomed. His voice shook the walls of the cavern.
"As you to me!" Derick argued.
Devon bushed off his tweed jacket, trying obviously to calm down. "Very well." Devon waved his hand. "There, your book has been distributed on Earth. Happy?"
"I can't be sure you even did anything!"
"You'll see."
At that point, Derick collapsed, blacking out.
* * *
Derick was vaguely aware of being carried somewhere, or was it just his imagination? He heard Maria's voice.
"Derick, wake up. Are you okay? Derick?"
Derick opened his eyes slowly to a room lit by a lamp on a table, he was lying on his couch, Maria was sitting beside him with a cold compress. "Welcome back." She said, smiling at him.
"Wha…what are you doing here?" His mouth was incredibly dry.
Maria handed him a cup of water. "You called me, said you needed me. But when I got here, you didn't answer the door, I knew something was wrong."
Derick didn't remember calling her.
"What did you dream about? Was I there? Was it a good dream?" Maria asked eagerly after a moment of silence.
"Don't go all Wizard of Oz on my ass." Derick replied weakly.
After a moment, Maria's laughter died. "Listen," She began. She took a deep breath. She began to speak again, quickly as if she wasn't quite sure if she would be able to get it all out. "I love you. And I don't care if you work in a factory. All that matters to me is that you're home every night, and you love me." Maria looked down at her hands when she was finished.