“Look it’s a tiny human.” I announced, pointing at the very small human.

“It’s a kid you moron.” Astragoth corrected, he could be mean sometimes.

I shook off the comment and observed the tiny human, Astra called it a kid. It had just finished screaming, which was understandable since we were all much bigger than it.

“How did she get in here?” The master questioned, putting down his important tools.

“I saw it, the wall spun around and their she was!” Astra explained before continuing. “It was was some serious scooby doo shit, like are we in a haunted house?” He asked.

“I haven’t seen any ghosts, but I haven’t been looking.” Etragos commented.

“Actually they weren’t haunted with real ghosts. The scooby gang always unmasked some dude in a costume, with way to much money and time on their hands.”

“What are any of you talking about?” The master inquired, looking puzzled.

“It’s a cartoon I watched when I was a kid and I’ll admit sometimes me and the boys got wasted and watched it to. But to sum up they were a group of mystery solvers with a talking dog.” Astra said, not making a lick of sense.

“Was the talking dog magical?” The master asked.

“You know I’m not sure, they never went into that.” He said, tilting his head in thought.

“Never mind, we are getting off track and forgetting that a child has just wondered into a room full of demons.” The master said matter-of-factly, gesturing to the frightened child.

“Are you really demons?” A small voice said.

We all turned back to the child and neither of us said a thing. I wasn’t going to say anything, I had no clue how to talk to tiny humans.

“Yes we are, but you need not be afraid child. Noone will harm you.” The master reassured.

It was very odd to see the master like this. He approached the tiny human, and it flinched at his approach, as expected. Being a great demon lord, mortals, especially tiny ones would rightfully fear him.

But the master was being kind, perhaps this tiny human had a role to play in the master's scheme. In fact, I should ask what the master's plan was, but not now, the master is at work.

“Why are you here?” It asked, meekly.

“We are creating magic items to assist in the defence. What are you doing here little one?” The master made another step, moving closer.

Its eyes grew wide, I wondered what it was doing. It gasped, nodding several times before speaking. “Are you Lady Ephemia’s demons?” It asked.

“Yes I suppose we are.”

“Yes her ladyship is a conjuror, a great one at that. You all must be her summoned demons?” It was getting excited, this tiny human was very strange. Why did it think we were bound, perhaps it was confused.

Suddenly it started to skip over to the master, unafraid of our dark lord. It must be very brave to so brazenly approach the master.

“A conjuror?” Etragos muttered.

The master turned to him, shaking his head in the negative. Etty seemed to understand and quickly went silent.

“Are you not afraid us, little girl?” He queried.

“I was, but you are the mistress’s demons so you won’t hurt me.” She and the master said it was a girl, it was very strange.

“Still we are demons little girl, we are very dangerous.” The master explained I was not sure what he was getting at.

“I know, I’m not dumb and my name is Emily, not little girl. Besides, the mistress is the most powerful wizard in the duchy, she would be protect me.” She proclaimed with absolute certainty.

“Ah yes lady Emily, it is a pleasure. I am Lord Asmordis and this is my demon entarouge. You say she is the most powerful in the duchy. Quite the claim.”

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“It’s not a claim, it is a fact!” She pouted.

The master nodded as if to agree, this seemed to please the tiny human. Now the one known as Emily was satisfied, her gaze cast to the table of spell components.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

We all looked in the direction she indicated. The master made a chortle sound and turned back. “We are making magical staves and wands for the upcoming battle.” He explained.

Her eyes went wide again, why does she keep doing that? I wondered but didn’t want to speak aloud.

“You can do that, you are a wizard. I didn’t know demons could be wizards?” She said, taken aback.

“Oh they can, if they cared to. Most don’t but I am not most demons.”

“What are you then?” She asked, suspiciously.

“I’m a demon wizard of course.” He chortled. “Is that not obvious, but I digress, are you a wizard lady Emily.”

She seemed to brighten from that question, the tiny human was very easily excitable. “Yes I am, though not as great as Lady Ephemia, but I hope to one day be half as good as her.”

“A heroine of yours, it is good to have someone you admire. Does that mean you will become a conjuror like her?” He asked, the other guys winced at the idea. They feared new conjurors, which was understandable since they could summon and bind us.

I am not too fussed over them, sure they can be a bit brash, egotistical and perhaps even cruel. But at least they allow us to travel and see new places. Even if we are bound to their will and forced to obey. Everything comes with a price I expect.

“Oh by the gods no, I wouldn’t think of trying to bind demons.” Everybody visibly relaxed from that. “I am a thaumaturge, it’s where my talent lies.” She stated, proudly.

“A noble profession, I wish you well in your studies.” The master said, smiling again.

“Would you like to observe our work?” He offered and the rest of us gasped.

The master was inviting a tiny human to observe his dark work. Is this part of his scheme? Will she have a part to play in the grand design?

She beamed again, jumping up and down excitedly. I really couldn’t understand this tiny human, perhaps humans are just like that. The master invited her to the table and she ran up to it without a care in the world.

“Kalrun, do you mind checking that wall?” He requested instead of commanding.

Kal nodded and flew over to inspect the new entrance into our chamber of darkness. The master then turned to me and requested I get a message to the guards outside the door.

I flew over and gently knocked, getting their attention. I could hear the wooden bar being pulled away and the door opening slightly. A stone-faced guard peaked inside, glaring at me.

“What is it demon?” He rudely demanded.

“The master requests the wizard Gerald to come back. He has something important to discuss.” I politely stated.

Instead of a reply, he just shut the door and replaced the wooden bar. Very unfriendly people, but it was expected, not many liked my kind and you can’t expect everyone to be civil.

Flying back to the table, I hovered at the master's side, observing. The master was showcasing his staves and wands. He had not begun to show us his awesome powers, but perhaps he would soon.

“Are you familiar with arcane devices?” The master asked.

“I think so, they are magic items?” Emily said, hesitantly.

“Yes I suppose they are, in a general sense. Arcane devices are permanently magical in nature, generally they perform a specific function.”

“Is that what a wizard’s staff is? I heard they are special magic items that are bound to their wizard owner.” She added.

“Not exactly, but you are correct. Generally wizard staves are created to be used by the creator, there is a number of specific processes that we wont go into.” The master shrugged, smiling.

Picking up one of the staves, he showcased the simple wooden stick, absent any magic. It was basically a walking stick, nothing could be seen to identify as anything special.

“Given our short window of time, I plan to turn these staves and wands into arcane devices with the simple spell fireball. Unlike a wizard staff, they can be used by any mana wielder.”

“Does that mean we could use them?” Astragoth asked.

“Right you are, they could be used by anyone trained in its use.”

“Wicked.”

Astra got really excited, he liked this magic stuff. Oddly he didn’t like wizards, but he wanted to be one. He was a contradictive demon, but I suppose when you are new and young, you tend to be like that.

“How does it work? Do you need to do a long chant? Is it hard?” Emily rattled off a few questions.

The master nodded, gesturing the tiny human to calm and so began his explanation.

“Generally there is a lot that goes into making an arcane device. But in this case, I am going to use a new method I came up with.” He raised the staff and it glowed brightly.

“New method?” She asked, puzzled.

“Infernomancy my darling, it is a new dawn for all wizards.” He proclaimed as the staff glowed brighter.

Flames emerged from his fist and wrapped around the staff. Despite being wood, it did not burn and only took on a blackened chard appearance. The master began chanting and in our demon sight, we could see the fires of the abyss, pouring out of the master and into the staff.

It was glorious, I could see his power, guided by this new wizardry. The tiny human was awed, and understandable when faced with true demonic power. Eventually, the fire died down to a sizzle and the blackened staff calmed in the master's grip.

“Abyssal Blast!” The master bellowed, and the staff aimed at a nearby wall.

The weapon produced a dark flame, it propelled from its perch atop the stave and crashed into stone and mortar. It was not powerful enough to render the wall to ash, but it still left a blackened mark.

“Well, that was not as powerful as I thought.” The master lamented, his face puzzled before looking down at the bright-eyed little girl.

“Oh, I should not have done that with a kid in the room.” He declared, not sure what he was getting at.

“That was so cool!” Emily beamed, jumping up and down.

Suddenly the door swung open and the guards entered, trailed by Gerald. The moment the wizard entered, his eyes drew to Emily.

“What in the abyss is a kid doing in here?” Gerald accused.

“She came through the wall somehow. No idea how this thing works.” Kal interjected, scrapping his claws futilely against the stone.

“We need Velma, she could totally work this shit out.” Astragoth added, promptly confusing everybody.