While Nick was taking his bath, Elder Agnes was reporting her ‘findings’.
“Demonization, huh?” Elder Silvio was burning with passion, “I think he’s using this term differently than us. It is highly likely that under specific circumstances it is possible for the Primeval demon to transform the possessed body of a human into a demonic one. Although we have yet to understand how do they do that, it finally gives an answer to a centuries old question – why haven’t we been able to catch any live demon specimens? They just possess a human body! Or maybe that of an animal. It explains how demons could survive for longer periods of time on the surface.”
Elder Silvio was pacing back and forth in the grand elder’s library, waving his hands as the unending stream of words flowed from his moth, “This experiment is already a success! The amount of information we were able to collect leaves the previous generations of the Holy Order in dust! Even if we don’t put a seal on him in the end, it is still a success!”
The grand elder slapped his hand on the table, “There is no way we won’t seal him now. This demon is even more valuable than we thought. Well, you wouldn’t expect anything less from the Primeval demon Baal.”
“I think it is too early to call him ‘Lord Baal’.” Elder Silvio disagreed, “Although I am 75% confident he is a Primeval demon, I tend to think he is not Baal!”
“Explain.” Elder Agnes and the grand elder said at the same time.
“You see, some years ago I studied a scroll in Lori kingdom. It contained information about the importance that demons pay to their names. There has never been a lover demon that allowed himself to take the same name as a higher one. And that’s because the demon’s name contains his coordinates similar to those we can create with Qi runes!” Elder Silvio’s face was red from excitement.
If Nick was a part of this conversation he would laugh at them condescendingly, ‘Do you freaks even know what mythology is? How can you suck out a random convenient information out of your finger and present it as facts just because another freak before you has ‘documented’ his delusions? Are you even real scientists?’
To be fair, even on Earth many scientists were religious people and most of them did work for the good of the humanity. Religion is not always an obstacle, on the contrary, religious beliefs could help to negate stress and provide inspiration. On earth many religious scientists have made great contributions to the progress of the mankind, but this bunch, despite their incredible achievements in mastering Qi, alchemy, rune forging etc., were just crazy fanatics.
Elder Silvio looked in the shining eyes of the grand elder and elder Agnes and continued, “Even if we knew his true name, at the moment it does not help us in any way. Later elder Dinnar could use that when creating the new seal, but we would need to be fully confident. In addition to all of that I have a theory!”
“Go on!” The grand elder waved to hurry him.
“I think the soul we have summoned is not that of Primeval demon Baal, but Belial!” Elder Silvio sat down as he continued, “Think about it – there are too many indications. First clue: when he was born, first thing he announced was his name – Baal. He knew his soul is weakened, but still announced it. It is obvious he wanted to deceive us. Second clue: he chose a fat woman as his servant, but does not even touch her. Even if Baal was in the body of a child, he would still instinctively touch or squeeze her inappropriately from time to time. But this one does not. Again, it shows he is trying to deceive us by fake ‘proving’ he is Baal. The next clue: Primeval demon Baal is, possibly, the strongest of Primevals. How could it happen that his soul is weakened? He has the most durable body as a vessel for his soul and could keep up the fight with the other two Primevals easily. It shows that the one claiming to be Baal is, in fact, a weaker, but not much weaker – otherwise he would have been destroyed. The finesse of this demon on how he is trying to deceive us is amazing. Too bad his soul is injured and he shows some flaws. I doubt it would be the case otherwise.”
“I understand, we have to continue our testing.” Elder Agnes was thinking aloud, “But how do we verify or prove he is Belial?”
“A good question.” Elder Silvio nodded, “But it shouldn’t be too hard to do. We will just use Belial’s weaknesses against him. He is the lord of deception and lies. He loves to manipulate others, creating slaves via contracts and making contracts in general. He is the most perverted one of all of them and he loves beautiful virgins.” Then he looked at the grand elder, “I don’t mean to offend you, grand elder, I know you only use girls for replenishment.”
Grand elder didn’t mind and waved him off, “Continue.”
“The next important point is – we know that the body represents a person’s soul. If he is Baal, he will grow big and chubby, but if he is who I think he is – his body will become slender very soon … upcoming months are going to be so exciting!”
The grand elder thought for a bit. Then said, “True, excitement is there. But also the danger. Especially if we are dealing with Belial. He might figure out some kind of our weakness and strike.”
“I don’t think that is the case.” Elder Agnes jumped in, “You see, as annoying as the little prick is, he still is in a toddler’s body and physically can’t really do anything. According to our estimations, he can grow into a size of a five or maybe a seven year old within a year and with our help can have pathways of a late stage Qi practitioner, but physically he would never present any danger. Even after three years when he will have a body of a youth, as accomplished Qi masters none of us should be worried.”
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She was knocking her fingers on the table as she continued, “What we have to be aware of is his mental powers. We don’t know much about them. Can he really enslave a person just with a thought and cause hallucinations as it is described in the ancient scrolls? Good thing his soul is damaged, but he can most likely heal it!”
The grand elder was deep in thought while listening to the theories of both elders.
“I think the main problem is – we don’t know if the part of the soul in this body and the main one are connected. I mean – does the main one ‘see’ and ‘know’ things that happen to the separated one? It is a crucial point because we can not bare to risk the wrath of either – nor Baal nor Belial.” The grand elder was a careful old fox after all, “I think we need to continue the research. But under no circumstances can we show our hand – no documents, no scrolls and no books about demons. Our position should be: we almost don’t know anything, but we are willing to learn. Also, for now he eats and sleeps, but soon he will want to discuss the reason for the summoning we did.”
The grand elder paused for a moment, “If he asks, tell him I will personally discuss it later. I’ll have to think of something believable that will not put the current research and the upcoming sealing in jeopardy. Continue showing him around, maybe bring him here for longer periods of time. Elder Silvio could pretend he is doing some research here with me, that way all of us will be able to monitor the demon and there will be lesser risk of any slip ups. Also, in under no circumstances allow him to get close to elder Dinnar or any of his apprentices – you obviously understand the reason.”
Discussion took a long time and elder Agnes continued to show Nick around only the next day.
First of all Nick requested to be brought outside, so she showed him the training grounds of the sect’s Qi masters. Coincidentally elder Sonor was supervising his disciples there, but the moment Nick saw him, he sensed almost an open hostility. Thus he pretended to be bored and ‘decided’ to see other sights. Elder Agnes did not want to carry Primeval demon around for the security reasons, so she just said that it will be similarly boring everywhere else and brought Nick back in.
While going up the stairs, on the left Nick saw a long corridor stretching deep in to the mountain. She told it was the way to the sect’s treasury, but there were many restrictive rune formations and only the grand elder and elder Ernest could open it together.
Then they visited what seemed to be an alchemy department. After entering the premises, a pleasant medicinal aroma assaulted Nicks senses. There were multiple small rooms connected together and many apprentices were working at the alchemy stations while elder Jan introduced Nick to his work.
Nick already experienced the power of alchemy or rather – he was experiencing it during every single meal and bath and he had already decided to learn more about this subject at a later date.
Then the surprise came. Elder Jan showed the section where runes and formations were practiced. On the walls and on the scrolls in the hands of apprentices Nick noticed some of the same symbols he saw in the little temple back in Beijing! Nick was happy to finally get some clues to what actually transpired, or at least there were possibilities to make reasonable guesses in the future. He would have to do a lot of reading to learn more about the meaning of these runes, but he had time and, most importantly, a library full with books right next to his bedroom!
Elder Agnes who was carrying him noticed how his hands trembled for an instant, ‘Does he think we have power to seal him? And did he calm down down because he does not see anything strong enough to seal him here? Hehe, would love to see the look on his face if I had brought him to elder Dinnar’s lab!’
“Would you like to see the results of our summoning experiments?” She tried to divert Nick’s attention.
After she saw him nodding, they walked for few minutes through another dimly lit tunnel until a strong smell of a pig stall assaulted Nick’s nose. When they finally entered a dimly lit hall with a low ceiling, he saw rows of cages filled with humans and animals.
‘Are these slaves?’ Nick thought observing the cages, ‘No, it does not look like it. These poor people are all ill, they are mentally and physically disabled!’
“Lord Baal, these are results of years of our research in soul summoning. Obviously we continue the work of our predecessors, but we have made quite a few breakthroughs ourselves.” Elder Agnes proudly stated.
‘What soul summoning? You freaks! You are obviously crippling other human beings with your Qi powers and then you think you have summoned something.’
Nick was upset. As a son of a pediatrician he had an inborn compassion for those in need. What he saw was way beyond cruel, but obviously he could not say any of that out loud. He was supporting his small chin with his right hand and pretended to be deep in thought. Although inside he was utterly furious, he had to play along.
“I see you have managed to summon few imps.” Nick pointed at two children in one cage who seemed to have the Down syndrome, “Oh? And a lesser succubi as well?” He looked at a sick woman who was crawling in her cage, with saliva dripping from her open mouth.
‘Seems that somehow they are really manipulating souls. She is definitely behaving like an animal.’ Nick thought, ‘Also, they did get my soul into this body, so maybe this ‘soul summoning’ somehow really works?’
“Lesser succubi?” Elder Agnes was confused and interrupted Nick’s thoughts.
“Of course. Or did you think you can summon high level succubi just like that? If she was a high level succubi all your male elders would’ve been humping her like dogs. Human males have not enough mental resistance.” Nick said random nonsense that came to mind.
“But, Lord Baal, why do they become like that? I am sure imps and succubi in Hell behave more … ehm … normally?” Elder Agnes was inquired.
Nick did his best to ‘enlighten’ her, “You should know the answer. Or, if you are stupid, at least your predecessors knew.” Nick looked at her trying to be as scornful as possible, “It is the resonance! If you summon a fish’s soul and seal it in a dog, what do you think will happen? Dog will flap its extremities and die by suffocating! There has to be a resonance between the soul and the body! Or at least soul has to be incredibly strong.”
‘Wow! I am getting good at this!’ Nick laughed to himself in satisfaction.
“Then what about you, Lord Baal?” Elder Agnes decided to carefully ask the important question all elders had in their minds.
Nick looked away, “I don’t like it here, it stinks. Bring me away!”
Elder Agnes did not say anything, just smiled and then they left. The Primeval demon obviously was avoiding her question.