Sensing the mana surging and fluctuating behind him he turned and saw, not five meters away, grey flames burst into being. The ball of grey fire swelled to twice the size of the nameless imp and then condensed, becoming almost solid. Gaping in awe at this occurrence the nameless imp simply wondered what was happening. The flames continued to condense into an oval, before the oval split in two from the bottom, the split reached almost halfway up the strange flames. In the span of thirty seconds the flames at the bottom started taking shape, the shape of a pair of grey feet and legs. As soon as the legs came into being the transformation sped up, the body of a grey imp came into being in only a few moments.

The first of these two imps stood there watching this happening, still with his jaw hanging open. But now his mind raced with even more questions, was that how he looked? Was this how he was born? How did this birth work? What were these grey flames? He knew and to some extent understood magic and fire due to his innate skills and affinities but this was something he had no knowledge of.

His racing mind ground to a halt as he learned, or perhaps remembered, a new word.

Friend. With learning this word, another one also entered his mind, loneliness.

So he collected himself just as the newly spawned imp opened its eyes. Speaking for the first time in his now twenty-seven minutes of existence he asked a simple question in a squeaky voice.

“Friend?”

The newly formed imp's eyes snapped into focus at the sound and stared at him.

After a few moments of silence and stillness, the newborn smiled, a vicious smile showing rows of needle-like teeth.

The eldest of the two nameless imps replied with a look of confusion on his face before his instincts screamed of danger. The younger imp sprinted awkwardly towards him and screeched out a warbling battlecry.

The elder panicked, turning and running away as fast as he could. He was quite a bit quicker than the newborn as he had actually spent a bit of time adjusting to his body. The newborn did, however, have a headstart and caught up, grabbing hold of the elders left wing and promptly fell face first from having unbalanced himself to reach out. Both imps fell into a confused tangle of arms, legs, wings and plenty of sharp claws.

The eldest, still panicking tried to get away, scrambled to his feet in the sand. The youngest, however, letting out another screech dove forward from his prone position and swung his clawed hands at the elder.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Receiving some scratches to his chest and arms after he brought them up to block the onslaught the elder yelped in pain as they once again fell to the ground. This time, however, the younger imp mounted the elder, sitting squarely with all his body weight on the elder's chest and trapping his left arm under its knee.

The elder, still panicking tried once again to scramble away but could not get away. He froze as the younger hissed and smiled hungrily at its now captured prey. New words flowed into the elders head: prey, hunt, food, power, anger, death; and he understood. His mind stilling he instantly brought up the one thing his mind could think of to save him. His left arm was trapped under the youngers knee, so he swung his right towards the younger imp, his instincts guiding him and a sphere of crimson flame bloomed in his hand. The swing caught the younger imp off guard and struck it on the side of its face causing it to fall over to the side and scream in pain. The elder stood up, took a couple steps back and looked at the younger imp that was now crying out and rolling on the ground in pain. His heart pounded and his hand hurt from being burnt as he stood and stared at the younger.

The youngers pain seemed to subside as it scrambled in the sand and charged the elder. The elder called upon his fire once more, this time twice as large, and threw it at the younger who tried to dodge but was neither quick enough nor steady enough on the sand to succeed. It and took the full fireball straight to its chest. Knocked back by the sheer power of the blast the imp flew a few feet and lay unmoving with the front half of its chest missing.

The elder was overcome by a wave of exhaustion and fell to his knees. His instincts telling him he had depleted nearly all of his mana.

Several notifications entered his fatigue blurred vision. Waving them away one after one he skimmed over them.

Due to your actions, your attributes and skills have increased.

Lesser fireball: Level 1/10 increased to 3/10.

Lesser mana control: Level 1/10 increased to 2/10.

Lesser fire affinity: Level 1/10 increased to 2/10

+1 Constitution (Taking damage and regenerating health)

+1 Endurance (Using up stamina and regenerating health)

+1 Magic power (Using magic)

+3 Magic pool (Using magic pool)

+1 Agility (running)

You have slain [Imp level 1].

+15 experience awarded.

Congratulations you have leveled up!

Level 1 [Imp] has increased to Level 2 [imp]

+1 Dexterity

+1 Agility

+1 Endurance

+1 Constitution

+2 Magic pool

+0.5 magic regeneration per minute

Congratulations! For completing hidden requirements you have unlocked the [Fire imp] evolution.

Requirement: [Kill with fire magic] [Be a demon] (2/2)

You have also unlocked part of the [Greater fire imp] evolution.

Requirements: [Kill with fire magic] [Demon] (2/3).

You have also unlocked part of the [Blaze demon] evolution.

Requirements: [Kill with fire magic] [Demon] [Fire affinity] (2/3).

You have also unlocked part of the [Lesser fire demon] evolution.

Requirements: [Kill with fire magic] [Demon] (2/4).

You have also unlocked part of the [Fire demon] evolution.

Requirements: [Kill with fire magic] [Demon] (2/6).

You have also unlocked part of the [Greater fire demon] evolution.

Requirements: [Kill with fire magic] [Demon] (2/10).

After reading through his notifications the imp had many questions but found that he could scarcely focus. New words once again bombarded his mind: sleep, rest, emotional and physical exhaustion. Curling into a ball and hugging himself tightly with his wings the little Imp slept on the sand under grey skies.