‘There’s another one 8 chi over to the north-east.’ Xin Fu, the forest gather absentmindedly heeded the seemingly all powerful demon’s advice, and managed to extract a Sap-Stealer Mint that was hidden among the roots of a red pine.
Not a great find, but more than Fu would have been able to do on his own in his state. All he would have been able to do on his own is stumble back to his lodge on the outskirts of Mistvale while thinking on the demon’s claims.
‘Twenty chi directly in front of you, tallest in a patch of wild onions’ Once Fu had picked it, he was able to tell that it was a spirit-plant, which was a plant that had gathered enough ambient qi to begin a pseudo form of cultivation. Worth several hundred times more Qiquàn than a normal onion, but a normal wild onion wasn’t worth that much anyways.
‘An old coin in an abandoned hunter’s blind hidden 100 chi due north of you.’ Fu looked through what had to be a poachers blind, no hunting this close to the town, after all, before he found an old bronze Qiquàn.
As it was now, it was all the exhausted Fu could do to pick up the literal money on the ground while stumbling home and thinking about the demon’s claims.
Every question had been answered swiftly and directly, and every claim had been thought provoking, if somewhat simple.
The highlight of which was...
“What do you want to do?!” Fu had asked partway through Dan explaining himself.
‘Start a cult.’ Dan had answered frankly.
“What? Why?!” Fu asked with far more incredulity than he would have been able to had Dan not spent much of the previous conversation subtly coaxing Fu into being more calm and trusting of him.
‘Demons get more powerful with human worship.’ Dan answered simply, without a smidgen of falseness or hesitance in his tone.
“...Huah?!” Fu was the picture of confusion.
‘There’s a lot of theology and speculation I can quote, but the gist of it is that belief itself is a primordial power, and that beings that use primordial power as a base, such as’ Dan gestured to himself. ‘demons’ Dan gestured to the heavens.‘ and deities can use it to expand their power much more safely and easily than by using the power they are based upon.’
Just as Fu was beginning to comprehend what Dan said, Dan continued on trucking.
‘Of course, the same can be said for beings using primeval power as a base, such as void horrors and the Old Ones, or whatever being that happens to be related to them in some way, which is why cults that feature such beings are so prominent, their leaders have incentive to value their cultists. Though it’s not like belief isn’t something that can’t be used by itself, so you see cults dedicated to this, that, or whatever pop up now and then.’
Fu was starting to feel like he did when watching the fight, he’d heard of all these entities before, be it in myths or whispers, but hearing them described in such concrete terms, with such confidence, it inspired awe. The concept that demons and deities played with the very building blocks of reality, while the horrors and old ones substituted them with their own was mind boggling, but it just fit, it all made sense.
Eventually, Fu felt that it was more important to continue the conversation with Dan.
“..I-is that why you want to start a cult?” Fu managed to get out.
Dan just smiled kindly at Fu. ‘One in two,’ he said before looking at the clearing the battle had happened.
‘I have things I want to do, Fu. And many hands make light work.’
Fu, the gatherer aged 40 years, living under the thumb of those more powerful than him, started to believe, and Dan, the demon who didn’t look a day over 20, just sighed.
…
Fu walked though his door and sagged as if he had endured and extra twenty years of hardship in the time it took him to shut it.
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Xin Yun jumped up instantly from the chair next to the bed as her son made his entrance, at least, she tried to. The affliction that had robbed her of the usage of her left arm flared up again at the sudden movement.
Fu was instantly at his mother’s side as she stumbled, “Mama, you’ve got to be careful, you need your strength…”
“Fool child…” Yun muttered, “you need to worry about yourself, what happened?”
Fu’s mother was lacking in the stern facade she normally put up, and it broke Fu’s heart.
He knew he looked bad, he had been seen by a forester attracted by the commotion before he had thought to ask Dan to fix his appearance, so it was too late to change from his torn, mud-soaked, clothes.
At least Dan had removed the blood from the wounds he had healed. The shock had made him not even notice…
“It was a bad day, mama.” Fu said with care. “I was on the outskirts of a battle in the valley.’
Fu hugged his mother when he was her reaction. “But it’s okay mama, I’m fine, and I’ve got your medicine.”
Yun wanted to say more to her son, spend more time with him, at the very least, but they both knew how important it was that she took it as soon as possible.
“I worry for you, son.” She said as she drunk the small bottle her son risked his life for yet again today.
As he watched, the red patch of skin that ailed his mother so retreated from her collar bone and moved once again back to around her shoulder.
“Things will get better.” He promised to her sleeping form.
‘That they will.’ His new apparent master said from his place sitting atop the rafters of his house.
The leg hanging from where he sat half cross-legged swung back and forth as he watched in apparent concern.
“You don’t have a family, do you, Dan?” Fu asked in his heartache.
‘No, not anymore.’ Dan sighed. This wasn’t the response Fu had expected in the slightest, but Dan wasn’t saying it to be dramatic, it was fact.
‘Which reminds me, I can’t go by their name anymore, at the very least, for their sake.’ Dan wiped away for tear in he eye, before grinning again in a somewhat more muted tone.
‘Call me Yāo Dan,’ Dan laughed to himself. ‘Some traditions are important, after all.’
Fu frowned a little, “Are you sure? That won’t be a good look for you, sir.” Most all demons called themselves Yāo,
‘Of course, of course.’ Dan laughed harder. ‘Marketing is important, after all.’
Fu was about to ask about the meaning of his master’s statement, but the powers of Yāo Dan informed him without him even having to ask. Relying on the public’s opinion of demons would do well to reinforce the belief his followers had in him.
Fear was a negative emotion, but it was better than indifference, fear could lead to all kinds of things, guided by experience alone, his master held the advantage over anyone he recruits into his ranks. If the interactions were positive, the fear would allow feelings of respect, loyalty, and affection to grow, in place of the quiet indifference of servitude and opportunism.
Dan tossed him a small cloth sack as Fu was contemplating the implications of it all. “What is..?”
‘A Spirit stone,’ Fu opened the bag to see a genuine article, worth at least five times as much as his haul today.
‘you found it in those woods today, but didn’t want to sell it at the market. That should hold you over for a few days, don’t leave this town until I find you, within reason, of course.’
“What will you be doing, Master?” Fu asked, out of curiosity.
Instead Dan waved his hand.
When Fu came to he was on the ground.
‘That was a breathing technique, practice it. I can tell you don’t have one. After a week you’ll feel like a new man. Probably even add a decade or so on your lifespan.’
Dan watched Fu, perhaps out of empathy, or perhaps to simply see if Fu was okay. Fu did not know.
‘As for what I am doing,’ Dan stared down at Fu with his inhuman eyes using an intensity Fu had only seen once before on the demon. ‘I will be scouting, recording, and manipulating. I will connect a large percentage of this community in many ways more than one. I will create an in group so strong amongst the people here that it will subvert their everything.’
Dan continued without even taking a breath.
‘The people will give up their creed, nationality, faith, and culture to join us. And once they have, I will graciously allow them to keep it, strengthening their loyalty to me, while avoiding alienating my followers from outsiders.’
Dan was staring Fu directly in the eyes. Fu halfway thought he would be swallowed by the shifting void.
‘I will then preach unity in ways never before seen in this land, and I will use the resources available to me and mine to improve mine in a continuous loop that pushes the abilities of my flock ever higher.’
Dan’s ‘voice’ reached a crescendo.
‘And once I feel that the body of my followers is rugged enough to survive exposure, I will begin a campaign of aggressive manipulation, blackmailing, press-ganging, and propagandizing to expand at all cost bar violence and malice! Because once I seem to pose any kind of threat those at top they will not hesitate to crush all those beneath them in their attempts to root me out! But once my position is solidified and my morality remains intact, it will be done, and the world will be better for it.’
Dan took a couple more seconds staring at Fu before bursting out into a fit of giggles.
Fu let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.
‘How do you think I’ll do?’ He said before bursting out into laughter again.
‘Hahh…’ Dan let out as calmed himself. ‘But there are wrongs to right in this world, and that is the plan.’ Dan intoned simply before dematerializing himself, leaving Fu to calm himself a second time that day.