“So did you guys corrupt that little girl or what?” I queried the infernal creatures.

“Dude can you make it sound any more creepy.” The second order, Astragoth was his name, said.

“I think he was asking about demonic corruption. Humans harp on about that all the time. But have they even defined what constitutes as corruption?” Etragos chimed in.

I thought about the question the demon posed. He was kind of right, when people talk about demons corrupting people they don’t go into specifics. Such as what counts as corruption, what are the signs and what is the exact details.

“Becoming evil I assume, doing evil things under the guidance or compulsion of a demon.” I suggested, finding the idea a bit ridiculous.

“That depends on your definition of evil. Good and evil are moral constructs defined by whatever society you belong to. Humans tend to inflate these notions beyond their scope. For example a human can commit evil and not be considered wholly evil. But when us demons do something we must be inherently evil.” The previously silent second order interjected.

“Woah Kal, that’s deep bro.” Astragoth said.

I absorbed the words of the demon, they did make sense from a logical point of view. We prescribed evil as the natural state of demons and humans are not evil but are capable of it. But to be honest it all sounded like bullshit. People whether they were human or demon, we are all assholes. That I was certain of, I mean no need to put on all these labels.

“Alright I don’t want to start a discussion on morality. Just answer the question please.” I requested, wearily.

The major demon looked up from his work, finally acknowledging the conversation.

“I can assure you we didn’t corupt the girl. We merely demonstrated the process of creating arcane devices.” He answered my question.

“Thanks for a straightforward answer.” I smirked at the second order. He poked a tongue out at me like a child.

I ignored the demon and withdrew my medicine as I liked to call it. Taking a small sample and up my nose it went. After years on the stuff, I barely noticed the sudden rush.

“Someone’s got some nose candy.” The second order, Astragoth said, amused.

“Nose candy?” I wondered aloud.

“You know the white stuff, the snow, the coke, the cocain.” The demon rattled off several terms unfamiliar to me.

“I have no idea what your talking about.” I said, puzzled.

I tried to parse what the demon was talking about. But that seemed like a rabbit hole that I would not dig myself out of. I would rather snort this entire pouch and spend the entire night carving out runes into a wall.

“I am not following you either.” Asmordis interjected.

The second order shrugged, adopting a pondering look about himself. “How should I explain this.” The demon tilted its head from left to right, probably trying to gather its thoughts. “It’s a recreational drug that rich guys in suits put up their noses. It makes them like super focused to.” He trailed off before continuing. “I don’t know finance stuff or just banging secretaries.” He added.

“That didn’t clear anything up,” I said and he shrugged, not caring.

“What is that exactly?” Asmordis pointed to the pouch in my hand. His taloned finger was a deadly weapon and I winced at the appendage.

“It’s a bunch of stuff, focusing drugs mostly. Got hooked on them back in Towmond. Needed an edge over the high-born wizards, pompous bastards loved to flaunt their superior talent, equating it to their superior blood.” I made air quotes, recalling vividly those assholes.

“I don’t think your bloodline effects your skill in wizardry.” Asmordis said.

“Exactly, but you try explaining this to a bunch of third-son nobles that like to flaunt their noble lineage despite being throwaway children that should of stayed in knight school.” I complained, looking at the demon with an odd expression.

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Did this demon just agree with me? Am I agreeing with an infernal creature, an evil entity scorned by the gods and bound to the abyss? Well, I have met worse people. I chuckled at the idea of finding demons more sociable than nobles. Excluding Lady Ephemia, she was an alright person back at Towmond.

I recalled my time in the school, while the demons chatted like schoolboys. They reminded me of some of my old friends. They were an odd lot, a mix of thaumaturges and sorcerers. Effy as we came to call her when she befriended us, didn’t act like a typical noble.

She was a woman on a mission, she didn’t care if you were highborn or low. If you had knowledge she wanted, she would pry that stuff out of you. I felt sorry for George, the only conjuror in our group. He was a tailor's son, but damn was he skilled at summoning demons.

Too bad he got himself killed, tried summoning a major demon and got his guts ripped out. Ever since then, Effy had dedicated herself to creating stronger wards and firmer control over demons. I think she felt responsible for George’s death.

“We should get some of that stuff for these idiots.” Asmordis gestured to the second orders and to the pouch of study aids.

“Hey I’m trying, this stuff is hard to get our heads around.” Astragoth whined.

“This is still the basics, if you cant get this stuff, just don’t bother.” The demon raised his hands in surrender and went back to his work.

“Why is it so hard to just throw a simple fireball?” The second order pleaded, oddly to me.

“Because if it were easy, everyone would be flinging fireballs. Battles would just be how many fireballs you could throw at each other. Half the world will be on fire if that was the case.” I explained and the demon wailed at the unfairness of the world. “You are a demon, can’t you just throw fire anyway?” I asked, remembering somewhere that demons could do that.

The second order looked at me, puzzled at the question. “Your thinking about third orders and above. We peasant demons cant do that, at least not without wizardry.”

I shrugged, it wasn’t a topic I concerned myself with. I mean I am chill around demons, probably because of the aforementioned nose candy as this demon called it. Thus why Effy sent me down here to watch them. Probably not a good idea since I am the only healer in this godforsaken castle.

Suddenly the doors burst open and in came a frantic footman, drenched in sweat and soot. His eyes didn’t even register the demons, they just locked onto me.

“We need a healer, the mistress has been badly wounded!” He shouted in between heavy breaths.

“Shit.” I cursed, leaping from my chair and making my way to the door.

The demons stood silent, watching me as I exited the chamber and left their sight. The footman dragged me up some stairs and directly to triage. I heard it was the former castle lord's mistress chambers.

Entering through the ornate double doors, we found a hospice in place of a lavish room of sordid affairs. Several beds lined the wall, most of them empty. I quickly attended the mistress of the castle, admiring the symmetry.

“What happened?” I questioned the grim-faced Sir Felmun.

The knight looked at me, fury in his eyes. “The demon tricked us!” He spat.

That gave me nothing to work with and so I pressed the knight for details while I began her treatment. In between grunts and gritted teeth, he explained what happened.

Once he finished I examined my patient, noting the head wound, burn marks on her hand and wrists, along with the typical scrapes and bruises.

“How many times did she fire off that wand?” I asked, causing the knight to pale.

“Many times sir wizard, she rained fire upon the advancing army.” The footman interjected, breaking the silence.

“Sounds like she overtaxed the wand and it exploded. The demon warned of this.” I added, oddly defending a denizen of the Abyss.

The knight grumbled, probably accepting the logic and denying it in his heart. I ignored him and went to work.

“Mistress is hurt?” The voice of a young girl asked.

I turned to the doorway and found Emily peaking in, stopped by the other footmen. Recalling her being a student of Thaumaturgy, I beckoned her to enter. She nervously crossed the distance to stand beside me.

“What is a child doing here?” The knight barked.

“She is an apprentice thaumaturge, she needs to learn and now is the best time.” I snapped.

“Girl go get me some clean bandages from over there.” I demanded.

She nodded and quickly vacated my sight to complete my order. I inspected the head, applying a minor healing spell to jump-start regeneration. When she returned with the bandages, I wrapped the burn on her hand in loose bandages, she moaned in pain.

Casting a calming spell, she settled into slumber. With an assistant, the work proceeded far quicker than the typical battlefield healings. Only after a short time, the healing was done and the mistress was left to rest.

“Will the mistress wake up?” Emily timidly asked.

“Not for a while, she needs to rest and recuperate.” I answered.

The child became thoughtful, pondering something. “If the mistress is asleep, who will command her demons?” The question cut through the tension like a knife.

A visible ripple of fear washed against the assembled denizens. Each had just parsed her words and terror soon set in. Thinking quickly I bid everyone to look at me, displaying a silver ring on my right index finger.

“You needn’t worry, the mistress planned for this. I have a control ring for the demons. I will keep them in check while she recovers.” The room visibly relaxed at my words and the terror subsided.

Sir Felmun approached me, whispering in my ear. “I didn’t know she made such a device.”

“She didn’t.” I whispered back and he paled at my words. “Keep that to yourself will you, or things will turn to shit.” I suggested, wanting to keep the chaos at a minimum.