EPISODE FORTY-TWO

“This Fey Lord was the father of the Elves in the Fey Wilds. He protected his children as best as he could. Upon this time, so long ago, there came a demon lord who killed several of his children, and he chose to act..."

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Sunlight streamed down on three elves eating bread and butter, sitting on a blanket in a clearing. The wind gently blew through the bright green and blue leaves in the trees. One female elf laughed at something the male elf whispered in her ear, the other, younger, woman rolled her eyes and finished her bread.

"I'm going for a walk," she said, shaking her head at the pair.

Harsh laughter spilled across the clearing, and all three of them froze. "Look at the tasty lunch before me. Luck is on my side." Darkness crept out from underneath a tree, forming into a creature that stood taller than even the elves. Bright red eyes shone from deep brows, and scales covered the being. It had two large horns jutting out of his forehead, and was not a creature of this place. He had a sword strapped to his side and armor over his chest and legs.

The male stood up in front of the two ladies. "You are not welcome in these lands."

The Demon Lord laughed again. "Who will stop me?" He drew his sword, and suddenly the male elf crumpled to the ground. The woman who had been laughing earlier stood up and summoned a sword. "Awean - go!" she yelled to the younger one.

The younger Elven woman vanished into the trees.

The older Elf glowed as she pointed her sword at demon. Bright white light streamed off of the sword toward the great horned beast. "Your kind is not welcome here. My Lord comes!"

"Then he will also feed me!" The demon swung at the woman and icy blue light sliced through the air. She blocked, but he rushed forward, swinging his sword from the other side. Again she blocked, but the blue light ate at her sword, and the bright white light of her own magic had vanished. "You will be a tasty meal!" He licked his lips, and she swung at him.

This time, he caught the blade with his hand and swung with his sword. She crumpled to the ground.

Bright light flashed across the clearing, and a figure appeared. Its features were not clear, but it was humanoid, with pointed ears and long hair flowing out behind it. The figure pointed at the Demon Lord, who chucked.

"Is this the best the Lord can send me?" asked the Demon. He rushed at the figure, but streams of white light wrapped around the demon as it approached, and he vanished into the light, along with the two bodies of the elves.

A book appeared on a table in front of the glowing figure. "Now, you will serve me, and repay my people for the harm you have done," the figure said, and vanished, leaving the clearing to repair itself from the violence it had witnessed.

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The voice of the cat trailed off.

"So the Fey Lord bound the Demon Lord into a book?" I asked, trying to make sure I understood everything. "Why didn't he kill him?"

"It isn't clear, but I guess it was to repay his people. He should have killed the Demon Lord," mumbled the cat. "What he didn't know was that plenty of people wanted control of a book that had the power of a Demon Lord. It gave him nothing but grief until the Bookseller tried to steal it. The Fey Lord let this happen, in a way. But, while the Bookseller had the book, he was cursed by the Fey Lord’s magic to keep it safe and keep it secret, and to never use it. The burden was heavy for many years, until you took it from him and placed it here in the shop."

I swallowed, trying not to think about how I had touched a Demon Lord, whether or not he was encased in a magical book. "What does this have to do with the book now? It’s locked up."

The cat let out a sigh and glanced toward the fire. "It is locked up, and over time the shop will consume the energy from the book until it is no more."

I blinked a few times. "The shop is eating it?" My fingers tightened around my mug, a slightly nauseous feeling creeping into my stomach. The shop ate demons. Yet, that magic had been horrible; could I really say that was a bad thing? I didn't know enough to judge the shop.

"Yes," said the cat. "The shop can eat magic. It gets its magic from a variety of sources." He turned back to look at me, his green eyes glowing in the flickering firelight. "The problem is, it is too slow. The not-John was a demon who somehow traced the magic of the book to the shop."

"You think more demons are going to show up to get the book back. Would that work? Could they free the Demon Lord?" My heart pounded in my chest and my hands shook.

"No, he can't be freed, no matter what they think. The demon situation in the universe is in a bit weird right now, but they have hope, so they will keep trying. I need you to help me encourage the shop to consume the book faster." He paused, and then his words came out in a rush. "Right now, the shop’s passively eating it, just using it as another source of magic when it needs to. If we work together, we can convince the shop to actively eat it first, destroying the Demon Lord’s evil once and for all."

Indigo chirped, saying something to the cat.

"Yes, the book only contains the power of the Demon Lord, not its soul," answered the cat.

"Did the fake-John get eaten?" I asked, setting my mug on the coffee table.

"Yes. He hurt the Shopkeeper and is already dealt with."

What had I gotten myself into? The shop could eat people to use as energy. Not people, demons who tried to hurt me. Who hurt me. I knew nothing about demons, but the thing in the book had killed those elves who had been eating lunch in a forest. It had wanted to eat them. That seemed reasonably evil.

The fake-John had wanted that book, and would have hurt me to get what he wanted.

"You want me to kill someone..."

"No, the Demon Lord has been dead for almost a millennium. All that's left is the power in the book, which could, and would, if given a chance, corrupt someone. The Fey Lord killed the demon. He should have destroyed the power as well, but he was a fool."

"So, it’s the Fey Lord's fault that the book is even here," I said. "Dumbass."

The cat froze, but then nodded. "Yes, he was."

"Can't we have him deal with this?" I asked, an idea coming to mind. "Or would he just want the power in the book?" Maybe I wouldn't need to deal with this situation and could offload it to the Fey Lord. Plus, maybe I could actually meet a Fey Lord.

"He is no more," said the cat. His voice came out very soft. "This act, creating the book, was the beginning of his downfall, the first mistake that led to many others."

I leaned back on the couch, and Indigo nuzzled my neck. I pulled my knees up and wrapped my arms around them. "What would I need to do to encourage the shop to eat it first?"

"Just ask it to, tell it you would feel more comfortable if it did so. But you need to mean it." He took a step closer to me. "I wish I did not need to ask this of you."

"Can it break free?"

"Enough of its power can be detected that fake-John discovered it was here, but no, it can't escape its prison." The cat moved closer and jumped to the back of the couch. He walked along the back until he also climbed over my shoulder and onto my knees. Warmth radiated off of him. "I will not force you to do this. Only ask."