“Allow me to stay here for as long as the time limit allows,” the demon begged, “and I will do whatever you ask.”
Zeth stared at her, still lying back at the edge of the ritual circle, his heart pounding so hard he felt it may snap his ribs in two. “What are you talking about?”
She looked up, meeting his eyes. To Zeth’s fear-addled mind, the intense stare almost looked as if it contained the souls of thousands of tortured men, screaming for him to run. But within that look was also a clear sense of desperation. “I-I am speaking to my summoner, correct? Or does this process work differently from what I have heard?”
“I…Yeah, that’s me,” he said, frowning. Had any other demon ever asked him that question before? How did she not know he was her summoner?
“Good,” she said, bowing her head once more. She almost looked like she was treating Zeth as some sort of royalty. “Then please, if you would grant me my wish. Do not unsummon me, and I will follow your every order until the time limit is up and I am forced to return.”
He stared at her. “You’ll do whatever I ask? You don’t want any payment?”
“No,” she said. “My kind typically accept summons in order to secure human lives in exchange for favors, yes? I want no such thing. Please, allow me to make up for my inexperience with enthusiasm. I will not fail you.”
This was strange. Suspiciously strange. What kind of demon spoke like this? So far, she hadn’t insulted his intelligence, called him a slug, or even made the slightest implication that humans were an inferior species to demons. Zeth’s mind, forced into paranoia by this demon’s immensely powerful aura of fear, saw such a strange occurrence and instantly ran in every direction it could with her behavior. She was buttering him up before backstabbing him. She was just an illusion while the real demon was already in town, slaughtering people by the thousands. She was buying time while a demonic army was on their way to arrive on his doorstep. Most of the theories made no sense, but they all slammed into his brain at full force, keeping him from considering anything else.
Her face morphed into a worried expression. “Am I displeasing you? Please, tell me what I am doing wrong, and I will remedy my action immediately.”
“W-why don’t you want payment?” Zeth asked. “And why are you acting this way? You aren’t like other demons.”
“What do you mean? How should I be acting?”
“Just answer the question.”
She nodded slowly. “Your summoning beacon, it landed in a place on the surface of the Thirteenth Realm near the River of Fire. That river is extremely important to us demons, as it—”
“I know about it,” Zeth said. “It’s the only source of drinkable liquid in your realm, right?”
She blinked. “Oh. I did not know humans would be so knowledgeable about our home. Well, yes, then I will skip past the context. The River Powers empire is fighting against my homeland, the Thylmoor Kingdom, and I am a…a soldier, who was on the frontlines of a particular battle occurring over control of a particularly important patch of land. It seems that, by happenstance, your beacon was dropped right on the site of this battle, after it occurred. Right after our forces were driven to retreat, and after I was taken prisoner. I have been held captive for some hours now, and suspect that they will decide to torture me for information and execute me soon. So, when the beacon landed and I got the notification…”
“You took it so you could escape,” Zeth said, nodding. It was clever thinking on her part, really. Unfortunately, that was bad news for him. Clever demons weren’t the type he wanted under his command.
“Not exactly,” she said. “When demons are summoned, our bodies are taken to the First Realm. However, our souls are left behind, back in the Thirteenth. They are invulnerable to harm while our bodies are separated from them, but magic users can still manipulate the souls to an extent—and that means moving them around, or keeping them in place. I have no doubt that my soul is still being kept in the same jail cell I was held in before, and when I am returned from your realm, I will be executed instantly.”
“...Oh,” Zeth said. “So that’s why you want to wait out the whole time limit? To extend your time to be as long as it can be before death?”
She nodded. “Perhaps…Perhaps it is a cowardly decision. But when presented with the opportunity to at least live another twenty-four hours, I suppose my instincts carried my decision-making.
For a moment, poking through the bog of fear that currently swamped Zeth’s mind, he felt a twinge of empathy for this poor woman. He was looking at someone in desperation, reaching out for the last lifeline she could take before being unceremoniously killed. He was witnessing her final moments. It was strangely intimate, in a way. Though, how she remained so calm if her story was true and she really was waiting out her final moments before death, he couldn’t quite understand.
“And, as for why I am acting differently,” she continued, “I have never accepted a summon before. So, I apologize if I do not know the proper etiquette. Please, tell me if I should change my behavior in any regard.”
“...No, no, you’re good,” Zeth said. He certainly preferred this over the constant threats on his life.
Of course, Zeth wasn’t sure that he bought her story. Just some simple demon woman living her life in peace, never accepting any summons, never taking any lives? Fat chance. Especially not when she had easily the strongest aura of fear he’d ever experienced. She was insanely powerful—he could feel it. No way she had never been summoned before.
However, if she wanted to lie, that was fine. He didn’t particularly care about her personal history. If she was willing to take orders and didn’t care about payment, that was fine by him. He’d be cautious and ensure she couldn’t backstab him either way.
Now wasn’t the time for conversation, regardless; he was running on a tight timetable. The town should have already been asleep by now, so he was burning away minutes that could’ve been used killing Garon.
Zeth got to his feet, taking a shaky breath. Even now that the strange situation had been mostly sorted, the fear persisted in his mind. This was really not comfortable. “Alright. Come with me, then. I’ll give you some orders and explain what’s going on while we walk.”
“Shall we exchange names?” she asked.
He stopped, looking back at her. “What?”
“Oh. Was I wrong to ask that? I apologize, we do not have to. I simply—”
“No,” he said, “you weren’t wrong. It’s just, I’ve never heard a demon ask that before. I’m Zeth.”
She nodded slowly. Once again, even through the aura of fear clouding his thoughts, Zeth could clearly tell this woman was terrified of angering him. She probably felt just as afraid as he did, ironically. Though, strangely, despite being the one to ask, she almost looked reluctant to tell him her own name. “...I am Astrys.”
“Astrys, huh?”
She stared at him, as though waiting for him to say more.
But Zeth didn’t have more to say. He nodded. “It’s nice to meet you then, I guess. Let’s go. Here are your orders: you will walk in a straight line behind me, never straying more than ten feet from my person at any time. Don’t make any unnecessary noise, or draw attention to yourself in any way unless I order you…”
As he continued speaking, they made their way through his base, with Astrys looking at the dirt around them and the ritual lines painted along the walls with curious eyes. She’d been wearing a controlled expression of indifference this entire time, but now, it seemed like that control was just barely beginning to slip, and a look of wonder was able to encroach onto her face. Zeth began questioning his suspicions—maybe this really was her first time in the First Realm, considering how interested she seemed in such mundane things.
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He pushed the thought from his mind. Once again, it didn’t matter what it was she was lying about. She was a demon; demons lied. He obviously couldn’t take her word on anything she said.
Zeth was reminded, as they walked, of the three Skills he’d unlocked in the process of the summoning. Now wasn’t a good time to sit down and read through their full descriptions, so instead, he simply glanced over the beginning of each one, checking their Skill Point costs. He found that he wasn’t able to afford any of them with his meager six Skill Points, so for now, that was all he had to check. He would read through the detailed descriptions later, when he wasn’t on such a strict schedule.
As they walked through the maze of rooms, Astrys eventually asked, “So, what is it you summoned me for?”
“We’re gonna go to my town and kill someone,” he said. “I’ll be doing the killing, but he might have a demon of his own. There might even be more than one. So, ideally, you’ll be able to hold them off long enough for me to finish the job.”
She nodded. “Any demons that stand against me will fall.”
His eyebrows raised at that, remembering the first demon he’d summoned. That one, too, he’d told about potentially facing off against another demon, and the demon had flat-out said he didn’t think it’d be realistic for Zeth to expect him to fight a demon and live. It was inherently a fifty-fifty shot when asking whose demon was stronger, after all. But this Astrys woman seemed pretty confident.
“This town of yours,” she continued, “will we be making the journey there on the surface? Or underground?”
He looked at her curiously. “On the surface. Why do you ask?”
“How far will the trek be? I do not know how long I will be able to endure your sun.” She nodded to her dark skin. “In my own realm, I have built up a tolerance. But I am unsure about yours.”
“Uh…” Zeth suddenly realized how strange it was to be on the other side of this arrangement. He’d spent so long asking demons about their alien environment, but he hadn’t ever thought he’d have to explain how the First Realm worked to one of them. “You won’t need to worry about it. You can stay out in the open all you want under our sun and you won’t get hurt.”
She stared at him. “Your sun does not burn you? Does it provide any light?”
“Uh, yeah, plenty. Though, it’s nighttime right now, so you won’t be able to see it. Just our moon.”
“Nighttime? Moon?”
“Oh. You guys don’t have that, either, huh? Uh, yeah, so our sun only stays out for about two thirds of the day. The other third, it goes away, and the moon appears. It’s like a weaker version of the sun—not bright enough to provide more than a tiny bit of light. Not even bright enough to illuminate the sky, so the stars come out at night, too.”
“And what is a star?”
Zeth couldn’t help but smile at her naivety. It was almost cute, the way she was asking so many questions. He couldn’t explain why, but he felt slightly excited to show this woman her first starry night. “Just walk with me; we’re almost out of my base. I’ll show you.”
He strode over to the wooden spiral staircase that led up to the surface, stepping up onto it and beginning the ascent. Astrys froze when she saw it, though, stepping back as if on guard.
“What is it?” Zeth asked.
“Are humans immune to void trees?” she asked, looking at him in amazement.
“What?”
“Void trees. They are beasts that root into the ground and stay perfectly still, waiting for their prey to stumble too close to them so they may consume the person’s flesh right from the bone. They are some of the most dangerous predators in our realm. The surface you are standing on, it looks almost identical to the material they are made of. Though, I suppose they must be exclusive to my realm, if you do not recognize the name.”
Zeth remembered hearing about those things from another of the demons; he’d written down the info and kept it in his map room. “Oh, uh, I’ve heard about them, but we don’t have them here. This is just…a tree. A normal one. They’re plants, and they’re totally harmless; we cut them up and use them for building materials.”
She didn’t budge, continuing to eye the mundane planks of wood. “And you are sure of this? You have seen other demons make contact with these ‘normal trees’ and survive?”
“...Yeah.”
With a deep breath, she nodded and took cautious steps forward, until she was standing in front of the staircase. Slowly, she lifted a foot and crept her toe closer and closer to the wooden step, until it tapped against the material. Nothing happened.
She let out the breath, lifting the foot up and placing it fully down on the surface, though she continued to watch it cautiously. “It feels so strange, touching the flesh of a void tree. Or, I suppose, a ‘normal tree.’ Still, I wonder if this is what void trees feel like. Nobody has ever made contact with one without being devoured first.”
Zeth just shrugged. Now that she was on the steps, he continued climbing upward. “So, you’ve really never heard anything about the First Realm from any of your demon friends? Nothing about what it’s like here, or how everyone here is a weakling slug?”
“Perhaps occasionally,” she said. “Do you prefer to be called slugs? I always took it to be an insult.”
“...No. I don’t prefer that.”
“I see. Well, yes, I have heard some. But I suppose I was never too social, so I haven’t heard much.” She said that last part with a slight bit of bitterness creeping into her tone.
He nodded. “Well, we’re just about to the surface. We’re on a tight schedule, so I’ll show you the way, and explain the plan while we walk. Alright?”
With that, he climbed up the last few steps, placed his hand on the trapdoor covering the entrance, and pushed it open.
“So,” he said, climbing up out of the hole and standing on solid ground, “this is just the forest outside town. Don’t worry, none of this stuff’s dangerous. Follow me and I’ll lead the way.”
But as he walked in the direction of town, he glanced back to see Astrys still standing on the last step of the staircase, looking up into the sky with wide eyes and a jaw hanging open, the stars reflecting off of her pupils. At this point, the faux indifferent expression had been completely dropped. She looked absolutely spellbound.
“What…” she muttered, unable to finish her thought. Eventually, her gaze still fixated on the sky, she asked, “...You live with this scene painted above you at all times?”
“Every night, yeah,” Zeth said with a nod. He glanced upward. The moon was full, reflecting a great deal of pale light across the forest, with a swath of little white dots scattered out around it. “I guess it does look pretty beautiful, huh?”
“It’s amazing.”
After a moment of silence between them, Zeth cleared his throat. “Anyway…”
“R-right,” she said, looking back down and hurrying up out of the stairwell, herself. “I apologize for the delay.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “Just don’t take any action against me, and you’re good.”
As she placed her feet down in the dirt, she blinked, looking down. “Your ground is soft here. And these little green things poking up out of the dirt feel so strange.”
“Uh, yeah. That’s called grass. You really don’t have much in the Thirteenth Realm, huh?”
“I suppose not,” she said, lifting her leg up and hovering her foot over the ground as she moved it back and forth, feeling the blades brush against her. After a moment of this, she shook her head, blinking once again and squaring her shoulders. “Um, I apologize once again for the delay. Let us depart.”
So they did, finally beginning the trek through the forest. Astrys occasionally spoke up, asking about whatever they came across, and Zeth explained whatever he could as they walked.
But as they were getting close to arriving, she suddenly stopped in her tracks, going on alert.
Zeth stopped too, looking at her. “What is it?”
“I hear something approaching. Four legs, heavy stature,” she said, speaking in a completely different, militaristic tone of voice.
Soon, he heard the approaching steps, too, slowly moving to stand behind his demonic escort. And sure enough, within a couple seconds, the nasty face of a monster came peeking out from between a pair of trees in the darkened forest. He’d seen one of them before—a mass of sinewy muscle that was taut from head to toe, like the beast was constantly ready to pounce on anything that dared move within its vision. Drool leaked from between sharpened teeth, dripping onto the forest floor as it slowly approached, two beady eyes fixed on them.
But, of course, the moment it got close enough to Zeth—or, more specifically, to Astrys—it froze in place, its pupils dilating wide and eyes darting around, looking for danger. It’d obviously just gotten hit by her fear aura.
“I do not know how powerful this monster is,” she said, having shifted into a combat-ready stance. “Shall we flee?”
“You should be able to take it,” Zeth said. “Go ahead and kill the thing—quietly. At least, as long as you’re as strong as the other demons I’ve—”
Before he could even finish, she lunged ahead, closing the distance between herself and the monster in two steps, and thrust her fist forward, where it struck the head of the monster, split its skull open, drove through its brain, and protruded all the way through the other side.
Its body fell limp, never having been given the time to react, as she held her fist straight out, the thing’s body hanging off it like a piece of meat that’d been skewered.
She looked down at her own arm, seemingly in surprise at how quickly she’d destroyed her foe. “...It seems the monsters in this realm are quite weak.”
Zeth nodded, a smile creeping onto his face. “You are going to be absolutely perfect.”