It was two long, galling days in its prison before Styak saw the human again.

More accurately, it was two days forced observation of Parry's world through Parry's senses, nearly setting the demon off on another rage.

How do they stand such limitations? the demon growled to himself. No taste of magic, no smelling souls, they grope around their world like infants, now I'm forced to crawl with them.

The demon watched as Parry took rudimentary sword lessons with the servant and acquired a few pitiful spells from the adept.

Years waiting for the old one to attempt a ritual, and for what? Nothing! The only real source of any power here and all he did was repair wagons and blend pigments. Now I'm bound to his offspring?

Even thinking to itself, the demon's tone dripped with frustration and bitterness.

I should have made my move before the spouse died. She had a bit of magic, I could have been free, but the adept was so much greater the prize.

Styak didn't dwell the decades before that when there was no hope at all--nothing in this valley for miles around but farmers and peasants, retired soldiers, miners and trappers, dull humanity. Before that, the forests held only mundane animals, the river plain fish, mindless fowl quacked overhead. There was nothing here.

When the shaper arrived and began building his home, it seemed such a gift: the man had power with few protections around it. The demon had a way out of exile and it would not miss its chance. The offspring was the best bet, though Styak had no opportunity during the Ritual of the First Step. A human soul was protected by unassailable law during that initiation. But surely the older one would rush his only child into the Second?

Years went by, Styak surviving on what pixies and bogarts it could take from the forest edge, even killing small plants and animals rather than starving.

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No elven village, not a single dryad, not even a water nymph to chase.

"Hello there," Parry waved down into the prison well, genial, infuriating. "How are we today?"

Styak hissed, baring claws and fangs, which embarrassed him. "Him"! The human had forced him into a shape. Would these indignities never end?

"Release me at once!"

Parry made a little kissy face down at the kitten.

Styak realized, at the very least, he wasn't going to intimidate anyone in this shape.

The boy has a powerful imagination, he's imprinted on me the shape of this creature down to the last detail, and kept it intact while going about his day, even while asleep.

That gave the demon a flare of fierce hope: there's tremendous potential in the child, perhaps a change of tack was in order?

"How do you come to know the Binding of the open eye? Or the names of the Demon Lords?" Styak tried not to let too much hunger slip into his questions, it had to keep whatever advantages it could. "Where is this prison in your soul, and how is it so deep?"

The human considered the questions, tapping on his chin with false deliberation.

"I put you at the bottom of my knowledge."

The demon laughed, which unfortunately came out closer to a mewl.

"Absurd, what do you know after twelve summers? Your mind is as deep as a puddle!"

With a gesture, the bottom of the shaft began to rise, carrying the demon with it. Even in subjective time, it took whole minutes to reach the surface, where the human waited and caught Styak up by the scruff.

"You're too adorable. Naive, but adorable."

The demon tried to struggle for a moment, but blinked at the desolation all around. No, not desolation, a vast plane, featureless and seeming to extend almost forever. There were walls at the periphery, hard to see they were so far away. It went on for miles, brick and glassy metal, an island, a continent.

Parry moved in a slow circle, showing the cat every direction.

"Your...your mind? That's impossible."

Parry carefully opened another well, holding the demon over it as it sank deep, deeper than before, looking nearly bottomless.

"It's all knowledge. It's everything I've accumulated in my life. In my lives." The demon heard a bitterness and frustration that made his own seem pallid. "It's everything I've experienced in ten thousand incarnations. More. I can't access it all, not yet. And it has almost no power. For now. But it's mine, and all I need is to wake it up."

Styak felt something it hadn't experienced in decades. Something overwhelming. It was fear.

"What are you?"

Parry turned the little animal to face him, eye to eye.

"I'm a weak pawn in a very, very long game." The voice rang steady, confident, menacing, like the Demon Lords sound. "I'm playing a fresh round against the most dangerous possible opponent. I'll have half of what I need once I unlock this knowledge. The other thing I need is power."

Face to face now, the human stared down the demon. "That's where you come in."