"You know... Those aren't the worst ingredients I've heard for ambrosia. Pretty generous actually." Aleph lays atop the bound beast, steadily prying away the Aether clinging ambiently as it remains spent and defeated, albeit visibly seething with anger and frustration. "You think it's doable?" Fluffy asks, attentively watching her method of Aether extraction. "The hardest part may actually be the pot. Do you know if it has to be metal?" "My master never specified. Is it really important?" "Probably. Mana is weird like that. If you don't think it'll work it probably won't, especially with ambrosia."

"Hey, what do we need this stuff for anyway? Is it another oothong thing?" "I think you've said that one already." "Ah, shit. You're right..." "And I want to summon a demon with it." """...""" "...?" "No." Lyly declares, staring at the dragon completely deadpan. "What? Why?" "Because demons are crazy psychopaths who devastate empires and sacrifice innocent maidens to the abyss or whatever!" "What kind of demons have you been summoning?" "None! Because it's a bad idea!"

"Demons do have a bad reputation..." Fluffy chimes in, prompting a huff from Aleph. "Well I'm definitely not leaving the summoning to you guys." Goldy steps up, scratching his chin as he pipes up. "What is a demon?" Fluffy turns to respond. "Other-worldly monsters I believe." Lyly skitters forth. "Crazy world dominating evildoers!" Aleph scoffs. "Interdimensional contractors." """...""" "So many new words..." Aleph shakes her head, standing up as she finishes absorbing Aether. "You summon them to do a thing and they do it. As long as you do everything properly it should be perfectly safe. Most demons are perfectly reasonable people I'll have you know."

Aleph hops off the giant lizard, swiping her tail to cut the creature's leg free. Taking the newfound mobility it proceeds to swiftly drag itself away from the group of weirdly strong freaks, making sure to give them a rude hiss along the way. As you do. "Is ambrosia needed to summon them? I thought it was more of a stimulant." "Depends on who's using it but it can be a stimulant. More likely to just kill you though. In our case we'll be using it as payment." "Hey! Don't talk like we're doing this! We are not summoning a demon! Elf guy, back me up here." "I don't know Lil' Blue. It's sort-of starting to sound like a good idea. I don't know much about demons to begin with, and Teacher seems to know a lot. Maybe we can try a little summoning?" "No! Monkey, tell them they're idiots!" "Demons are assistants, yes?" "We're doomed..."

Nudging the pessimistic spider onto her rightful perch, Aleph turns to face Fluffy. "Any idea where to go from here?" "None." "This way it is then." Picking an intelligently chosen direction by not caring which direction is chosen the group set off into the fog. An eerie silence fills the cavern, only broken by the light footwork of the travelling group. Time swims by without any change to their environment as branches continue to stream past them with an unfettered homogeneity. The occasional crevice crops up, digging into the ground yet never reaching nearly deep enough to breach into the next layer.

Through the eyes of a tired spider

"Hey, so what do we do about water? I'm starting to get thirsty." Lyla asks, scritching her dry fangs. "With this much fog I can use Aether to pull some from the air if you want." The dragon replies. "Uh... I won't get eethui poisoning will I?" "No... I wouldn't want to waste Aether like that anyway." "Ah, that's good. Wouldn't want your eldritchness to rub off on me." Lyla chuckles, teasingly poking the dragon. "I don't know... You might enjoy it." The dragon shoots back. "Oho? She doth admit her abyssal nature? Oh do save me from this terrible creature sir hero!" "How'd you know people used to call me that?" "..." "..." "I was talking to the monkey. You were called hero?"

The elf scratches his ear, a light blush coating his cheeks at the question. "Well um... You see..." Ah yes. The cute elf being embarrassed about something trope. I feel like something is different though... "I kind-of just went around doing my own thing you know? Helped people where I could, explored a bunch of interesting places... I even wrote a few books on my adventures! Eventually people just started calling me a hero, which was... well... Anyway, it was around the time I helped stop that invasion from Osalaleus, so maybe-" "You mean Utopia? Holy shit, you're the Lost Hero aren't you..." "The what?" "Really popular guy nobody knows the name of who never returned from a reverence festival dive. Everyone thinks you're dead." "Oh..."

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"Whenever we get to the surface, I have a few friends who would die for your autograph." They are going to be so jealous when I tell them! "Do you think this moss would be any good for the ambrosia?" The dragon interjects, scratching at the fluffy material coating the floor.. Fuck's sake, not this again... "We are not summoning a demon." "No, that's lichen. I think using that would cause a cascade. The moss hanging from the roots should suffice though." The elf responds, pulling off some of the hanging moss. "We are not summoning a demon!" "We also need some bone powder right? Do you think everything here counts as subterranean?" The dragon posits. "We. Are. Not. Summoning. A. Demon." "I wouldn't risk it. I hear the recipe can be finicky about these things so we're probably better off looking for a burrowing creature akin to a mole or worm." The elf clarifies. "Listen to me dammit!"

"Oh come on, it'll be fine. Demons are very skilled at what they do, so having one on the team would help." "It would be a fascinating case study!" "Demons are... strong and friendly? A fine sparring partner?" I'm being ganged up on... Lyla collapses in defeat, laying limp atop her perch under the barrage of disagreement with her opinion. "There there. It seems you've been outvoted. Don't worry though, whoever I summon I'm sure you'll get along with them just fine." The dragon consoles, bringing her tail around to gently pat the sulking spider on the head... back? Same thing really. "We are so doomed..."

Through the eyes of a truly fascinated elf

I had never considered the possibility of summoning a demon! Do they have their own society? What does their race even look like? How does the summoning process work? Where are they even being summoned from? So many questions to ask! Maybe I should start with... "Teacher, you seem to know a lot about demons. Do you have history with them?" "Hmm, good question..." "..." "..." "Well?" "I forgot." "You... forgot?" "I have amnesia okay! You try remember things with a shattered soul!" "A shattered... soul... I thought souls were indestructible." "Eh, well shattered is a bit of a misnomer, but it gets the idea across at least. My soul, and my memories along with it, is kind-of scattered, or suppressed? I believe it's intentional, since there are memories I absolutely must not recall. So the less I remember the better." That sounds... concerning...

"We should rest. It's been a long day and it's getting late." Lil' Blue chitters lethargically, her voice clearly filled with more than physical fatigue. Seriously, how can she tell? The group settle down by a nice looking root, unpacking their gear and starting a small fire. The elf lays down his sword and sits facing Teacher. "So how does one go about actually summoning a demon?" "Uuuuugh!" Lil' blue groans, skittering away to brood from within a nook in the root.

"Anyway... So what do we need?" Teacher tilts her head, laying her cheek against the floor as she thinks. "We don't need anything really. Just something that conducts pure energy well to draw an array with. The stone here should actually be fine to use if we powderise it." "So simple? Then I suppose the ambrosia is still the main roadblock." "Is it? We have all the difficult parts already though. Basically just need some moss and a mole." "We don't have anything from a divine beast. That's going to be hard to find, especially here."

Teacher lifts up, looking over to Lil' Blue. "Lyly and I are divine beasts, aren't we?" "..." Lil' Blue stares blankly before averting her gaze. "...?" "What happens if you get that ingredient wrong?" She hesitantly chitters. "Instead of ambrosia you get an incredibly potent gaseous toxin said to have once killed a god." "Ah, well... I maaaay have exaggerated our status as divine beasts a little..." "You did? A little? Why? How?" "Well... Okay, don't get me wrong. We are divine beasts. Just not realised ones yet... You don't get that status until after you meet the Progenitor. I think." "I see... Well that complicates things."

Through the eyes of not quite a divine beast

So I'm a divine beast but also not? Makes sense-ish. "Imma go to sleep now. Goodnight." "Rest well." "May your sleep be pleasant." Skitter, skitter. Plop! "Night."

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I open my eyes. I... Something is wrong. I'm not quite... myself. Am I attuned? That should be a conscious effort though... Unless... I suppose there are exceptions to that. Yes, that's right. A few energies can attune to the body first, then the soul upon birth. That must be what happened. So... What am I?

I look down. I have wings. So many wings. I don't have the words to describe anything else. The words... Am I not thinking in Aoan? No, this language... What is it? I've never even heard... Oh! I've finished unattuning. Good. That was... icky.

The one holding me is... concerned? Right... I just unattuned. This body is failing. Not built to survive without... There is plenty of Aether, but... I won't attune in time. I'm dying... Again... How many times has this-

Who is that? Who is looking at me? So familiar... I know them! They're my... Brother? Sister? Again with this language... I can't find the words I'm trying to say... This isn't... how this memory...

Is someone interfering?