Ivan drew out the circle of chalk on the floor and lit the candles at the six points around it made by the strange star at its center. In the middle he placed a larger candle after lighting and extinguishing it at each of the other candles of the star and circle. At the inner corners of the star he put three silver coins each, a dear price for such a ritual, but was easy to come by compared to other rituals he had done. That done he sat back and let the ritual circle take in the moonlight, the center candle still unlit.

He waited.

“I've taken care with this summoning.” Penelope told him, her voice plain and oddly gentle in tone as she spoke standing far back in the shadows.

“How so?” Ivan asked.

“Many minor demons, such as Quixla, and the demon we are attempting to summon right now are very, very distrustful. They can be hostile, and have little means of restoring themselves in a safe and proper manner if they are harshly sent back into the spirit realms of hell.” She explained.

“Right...” Ivan muttered, accessing and confirming her statement with simple knowledge from Demonology 1 that cost him very little mana to gain. As much as it might seem to second guess Penelope's word she actually supported the habit and encouraged him to spend mana on whatever thoughts tickled his Demonology 1 Skill. That was in essence the only way to progress to Demonology 2, and so on.

“Pathfinders are unique in some ways that they appear most often as their progenitor spirit. Things like fiends that spawn from hate almost never do that, and appear as all sorts of monstrous things because the shape of the hate is always different. I don't know why Pathfinders stick to their progenitors shape so easily, I was saved from the usual spiritual expurgation by my father's acts as little of me as there was, but I'm sure I don't look anything like I might have. Maybe my most minor form is closest, but other than that its strange.” She explained, sort of rambling as they waited.

Ivan nodded and stared at the candle in the center, and its smoking wick.

“Are you sure I don't light that one?” He asked.

“I'm sure. This is the summoning she and her Elder designed. It would be better outside, but we can't sleep the whole town safely. The magic I've used here will be enough to detect days later already if someone sharp comes by.” Penelope added.

Ivan frowned back at her.

“So what are Pathfinders manifested from?” Ivan asked, setting his concerns aside.

“Duty. Regret sometimes.” Penelope answered softly.

Ivan looked back at her again, and then turned back to the ritual circle and his thoughts.

“You were saying something about having this demon trust me.” Ivan said softly. “Who did this demon used to be?” He asked.

“It's not 'used to be'. They are a new manifestation, made from the sense of duty and desire to guide others one's soul carried into Hell. A new soul really, like all demons, immortal and strange.” She paused, and then stepped forward into the moonlight a little, a warm and happy smile on her face. “I can tell you that for a Pathfinder to come about from a soul they must first make it to Eternity and its gates. Only there is a soul's strongest felt duties and loyalties purged from the soul as one of the last aspects to be stripped away and the soul made clean to walk through the gates.”

Ivan sat quietly for a little while. Nothing happened with the ritual.

“This demon will trust me then?” He asked again.

“Yes.” Penelope answered happily. “She's probably very nervous to meet you though. So be welcoming when she appears. She will be very weak at first, an immortal soul with sparks and only a level 1 Basic Job and nobody to support them. She will very much be like a baby in its first stages of life, too weak to support her own life. So you will need to Bind her, and take her into the Shroud quickly. It will pain her, but she would not take a typical sacrifice to empower her summoning and give her a first breath of strength. She's willing however to risk herself and trust that you will shelter her form, and bind her soul to your own.”

“Should I have Binding of Shadow ready then?” Ivan asked.

“That will be a good first step, but she will require at least the Binding of Blood as well to remain stable outside of your Shroud.” She answered.

Ivan nodded, but then glanced over his shoulder again.

“You want me to bite my tongue and hers like you did to me, or should I get out my knife and just do the handshake like it says in the book?” Ivan asked.

Penelope blushed, but an odd soberness quickly came over her features.

“You may find it difficult or painful to kiss her. I would suggest being professional, and not startling her. She is a very new demon after all, and just came into her new world. You will be her first summoner, and likely her only if things go our way. I feel I should reiterate, as your guide and teacher in this manner, that she's entrusting her existence to you with this risky low power summoning.” Penelope instructed. “She's so weak now that you will be summoning the whole of her being at once quite easily.”

Ivan looked back at her for a little while. Penelope wouldn't meet his eye.

A gentle 'fwoosh' interrupted their little moment however.

Ivan turned and saw that the center candle had come alight with a ghostly blue-gray flame. One by one the silver pieces disappeared from where he stacked them. Then with small puffs of smoke each of the outer candles went out one by one starting from the top and going down clockwise all the way around. When the final outer candle went out the center candle roared in flame, and the circle came alight.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

A hooded figure rose from the moonlight, as if standing through a parting veil Ivan could not see. The shape was feminine and though her hands looked thin she carried a lantern on a thick iron quarterstaff in a solid grip. The being came through as if taking a first struggling breath.

Ivan quickly summoned his scroll and made out the Binding of Shadow between the two of them. The demon reached out, breathing heavily, appearing ghostly translucent, and in pain. Ivan granted the Ritual of Shadow upon his scroll his mana and felt the connection to the new being solidify.

She took another breath, and became more solid. She coughed, but did not raise her hands. She fell to her knees, but kept both hands on her staff and lantern. The lantern itself was a spiked four-posted thing, like a deadly hollow flail staff meant for battle, but inside a flame the size of a large apple blazed in that strange blue-gray fire.

Ivan felt the Binding of Shadow anchor on his chest above his heart, and saw its purple light appear within the robes of the heavy cloaked being on the center of her chest. She looked to be covered in rags, all of a similar blue-gray color to her flame. Her face and features were totally obscured, but her size, her form, and the shape of her hands were familiar. Terribly, and awfully familiar.

Ivan reached out, and touched her pale hands where they held tight to the thick rod of iron that was her lantern pole. The new demon continued to cough and struggle for a little while more, but eventually removed her fingers from the pole and took his hand.

Ivan cut his own carefully, and then made a small cut on the demon's own. Her coughs were getting worse, and Ivan found he knew the sound. Tears began to obscure his vision. He sealed the pact of blood with the demon, cutting his hand deeply in his haste, and gently pricking the ghostly being palm.

She took another heavy pair of breaths and sat straighter. Ivan waited a moment for her to recover before he helped her stand.

Her feet were bare under the ragged cloak and hood enveloping all of her, and she held her pricked hand tight in against the cloth of her ragged sleeve as he helped her take her feet. Ivan couldn't hold back any more and stepped forward taking her into his arms.

The being gasped, but then after a short moment her arms joined together on her staff as soon as she could get it around his back.

“I'm sorry I bring you pain.” She said in a ghostly echo of soul Ivan once knew better than any other. The fire of her lantern was ghostly chill against his back, but he hardly noticed.

The new demon's body was thin. Thin as a body spent weeks in painful fever. Long brown hair that was not quite so luminous as it might have been spilled from her deep and ragged blue-gray cowl. Her grip on him was probably using all the strength she could manage. She could stand, but she was very weak. Her arms trembled with her feeble strength.

“I'm sorry...” The demon whispered again.

To Ivan's senses she was a rolling ball of emotions, pain, and regret. But she also felt pride and joy being where she was.

Ivan shushed her and continued to hold the demon tight against his chest. He gently kissed the rags of her cowl and took a deep breath through his nose. She smelled of the candles and fire and of a light and ghostly musk of old cloth Ivan attributed to her ragged blue gray robes.

“Don't be.” Ivan replied as he fought back his tears. “You're here to help me aren't you?”

“Y-yes.” The demon answered in a firm and shaken voice.

“You know she would be happy to do anything she could. So thank you.”

The demon put her head softly against Ivan's chest, and held tight to him.

“One last thing.” Ivan said. “Do you have a name?” He asked, his voice muffled as he pressed his face into her cowl, and the soft feel of her hair beneath.

“No Master.”

“Don't—just call me Ivan. Please.”

“..No Ivan...I don't have a name...I am...I am only weeks old..”

“Would you like me to give you a name?”

“Yes. Very much so.”

“Would you accept the name Azalea? Their flowers were always her favorite.”

In response the demon seemed to gasp. Ivan did some quick thinking as he felt a good deal of mana leave him, and used what he was sensing to guide his search. Demonology 1 had to stretch into the bounds of the Infinite Library for it, increasing the mana cost as it required using Basic Information on top of the other skill, but Ivan found understanding even as Penelope stepped forward with a pleased light in her eyes.

“The Binding of Names. Ancient Magic, and some of the most potent stuff around.” She said with a chuckle. “You're a natural at this Ivan.” She purred as she circled the pair.

Ivan glanced at her, but didn't turn away from Azalea. She held tight to him, her heavy breathing becoming that of someone recovering instead of struggling to breathe. Ivan held her close a little while longer, summoning the Shroud protectively around her. The demon sighed in relief against his chest and he ran one hand over her cowl.

“Do you want to rest inside the Shroud Azalea?” Ivan asked.

“Yes.” She said more firmly than she had spoken before. “That would be for the best. The Lady Penelope has corrupted you quite a bit, and having me rest inside will slowly cleanse you without having first to pierce your magic resistance.”

Ivan nodded. So that was the cold feeling on his back then. He kissed the top of her head, and hugged her tightly. Though they were speaking little he felt the demon's emotions reflecting his own pretty clearly being this close. He was immediately as possessive of her as she was of him, and the interplay beyond that was so much more.

“Get some rest then, and feel free to speak to me whenever you wish. I can hear and see everything you do while your inside so don't be afraid to get my attention.” Ivan told her, his voice shaking slightly with the power of his emotions rolling in his head.

Azalea nodded and vanished into the shadows of the Shroud. It was slightly more difficult than the process Penelope had described to Ivan once or twice, but the demon's spirit form slipped into his shadowy realm all the same. Inside her vicious spiked iron lamps appeared in the place of the dull and plain iron things that had once hung in the garden of the temple.

The demon hesitated seeing the ways around the garden come to light, and after a moment found the grave of her progenitor. She bowed deeply before it and then gracefully sat, arranging her ragged cloak about her so that it covered her feet and hands completely before she let out a deep breath. In moments Ivan could tell the demon was as at rest as a sleeping babe; not truly asleep, but too exhausted to be fully awake either.

Penelope came close, and Ivan found her hand.

The demon was already smiling at him, watching him, and obviously being watchful of him taking actions like he had moments before. Ivan turned Penelope to him regardless of that.

She came, smiling, and saying nothing. Ivan touched her face, her jaw, and her cheeks, and kissed her softly before pulling her into another tight hug. Penelope chuckled softly, but clung close to him.

“You feel the extra bindings taking effect?” She asked.

“Yes, but they're weak.” Ivan said, not meaning to disparage his new summon.

“She's Level 1 –Literally. Level 1. One job. One level. Her attributes are high for that, but she's a completely new demon. She'll need training in Jobs and you will need to practice the magic she gives you while in the Shroud. You will have to work with her inside the Shroud and out to get her to advance.” Penelope told him.

Ivan nodded, and slid his hands down Penelope's back and to her hips. He kissed her neck and ran his hands back up her spine. Penelope shivered at his touch and more when he kissed her.

“Ivan...” She chided in a warning whisper.

“Thank you.” He whispered in reply. “I'm tired...” He went on before she could speak.

“Get in the Shroud or get into bed with me. I can't take it any more.” He warned, leaning his forehead down into her neck, his hands tightening on her wrists where he had pulled his hands away from her body.

“Please Penelope.” He whispered, not sure himself of which path he was asking for her to take.

He felt her sudden fear and arousal. She was tempted, and Ivan couldn't help but breathe in that sensation from her. It made Penelope gasp, and she shuddered as she scented his own emotions. Ivan called forth the Shroud, but didn't take her into it. He waited for her to move.

She did, just a breath later, but the potency of her emotions made the moment seem to last forever. Ivan's hands fell to his sides as she vanished into the shadows of the Shroud where he felt less of her effects. He realized he could still chase her inside, but he had already used plenty of mana, and was tired in truth. He wanted to lay down, and after taking a long drink of water he did.