There are three doors on each side of the corridor and one on the far end. From back there screaming and wood ripping sounds like the imp finding his way inside. As I turn to the first door on my left side my claws flex a little. It's not that hard, I've seen Ine and Harijia do this all the time, I can do this too. Stretching as far as I can I carefully place the hooks on the end of my claws on top of the handle and press down. Unfortunately, this way I can't put enough force on it.

Sliding my hand up so my knuckles wrap around the hands feels unnatural. Yes, they can bend that way. If they ever do while I'm walking or running they'll make a mess of my ... palms? What are those called on me anyway? It allows me to grasp the handle and pull down. Push or pull? There must be some way to know, but pushing is easier. Fortunately it's the right direction and the door swings open slowly. If I'm going to mix with species like this more often, which seems likely, I need to practice this. When it's far enough I slip through the gap.

Beyond is a room with two beds, two desks and a closet. The desks and the beds are smaller than Ara's and the human smell in the room is less pungent. Could this be where humans keep their younglings? It's not hard to figure out where the human is hiding, but curiosity gets the best of me. A quick running search of the room reveals nothing new, though the presence of cloth animals puzzles me. Is it some way to teach them to hunt? After tearing them apart I find nothing interesting inside.

It's time to deal with the human. It is hiding in the closet, a good choice. Instead of a handle, the door has a knob. I'm not even going to try opening that. Standing in front of it I evaluate my options. Leaving it in there is not an option, the devil who summoned me would get angry. Am I afraid of him? Yes, yes I am very afraid of him. Since the knob is not an option, tearing into it remains an option. The thing as only one door, unlike Ara's which has two. There is a crack along one side. It's worth trying to insert a claw in there and pry it open.

With a small effort one claw goes in. The door is heavier than I expected and I manage to open it a bit multiple times before it falls back again every time. With the glances I get inside I can see two figures, big eyes fixed on me, staring silently. Finally I manage to open the door far enough to wedge my head in before it closes. It barely stings when the door hits me as it tries to close. For a moment the humans and I just stare at one another. Hissing in satisfaction I start to wiggle in further. One of the small humans tries to kick me and I lash out, scoring some deep gashes on its legs.

The two break their silence and start to scream. One is trying to push itself farther away from me, into the far corner of the closet. The other jumps against the door, pushing it open and tripping in the process. I'm not about to let it get away And I jump at it before it gets up. It is lying on the ground and trying to crawl away when I start to claw myself up its leg. It starts to flail and when I reach the lower body, it tries to hit me, kick me or roll me off. However, it is far too weak for that as my claws are firmly hooked in its flesh. I've suffered worse beatings than this already.

At the crotch area I start biting. My senses tell me there is a big blood vessel there, if I can rupture that it will bleed out by itself. Unfortunately I need my claws to hold on or it would have been over sooner. Once again I realize these teeth are not made for killing, or at least not for killing fast. The same is true for the claws, usually. Swarmlings hunt by exhausting and bleeding the prey, not by making a swift kill. A gush of warm blood on my face lets me know I've reached my target and I abandon this body in order to focus on the fully alive one in the closet. 

As I turn around I see it is still there, frozen in fear. It is a situation I can understand, but not the best reaction right now. Finding the best reaction in bad situations is something I'm still learning about, but this one will not have the same chance. As I approach the scent of piss fills my nose. The eyes of the small human follow me as I walk up close. It barely flinches as I draw a claw along its neck, cutting the arteries. We look at one another until the life fades from its eyes.

As quiet as it has become in this room, the rest of the building is loud with shouting. From the far room I can hear an adult male and shrieks from the imp. Below are the voices of two shouting males and a female, the laughter of the devil and the shrieks of the normal spawn and the scamp. Work here done, I go back through the still open door. In the corridor with the closed doors there are now two more doors open, the one across one door down and the one two doors down. I quickly go to the open door of both both rooms and inhale, one smells female and the other male, but neither is in the room. I go back to the first door on the right which is still closed and manage to open it first try. It's also empty. The smell is somewhat familiar, reminding me of the man and woman in the stable.

The sounds downstairs have mostly stopped, the only real sound to be heard is the devil talking with someone. It sounds like he is playing, in a way. From the end of the corridor the sounds have also stopped. Since I have not heard the imp trying to leave the room, I'll have to assume whatever human is in there won. It isn't coming out so far. As for me, I'm fumbling with the last door which doesn't want to open. It has a handle, and I'm using it correctly, but it will not open. Eventually I notice some kind of bar near the handle, just a bit higher.

I know this! It's something to keep the door closed and it's very similar to one of the puzzles in the cavern, as well as one that Ara made me fail in the tests there. It's just out of reach and there is no easy way to reach it. Out of options I stick my claws in the wood of the door and climb up. With my left claws I manage to slide the bar far enough so the door can open, then I repeat the same I've done with the other doors and get it open. The room beyond stinks of two people. One of them is the same as the man from door across the corridor, the other is new, but since it's mixed with the one I already know it's hard to get a clear sense of it. The source of the scent is sitting next to the bed, facing the door. 

It is a female, unarmed and not threatening. On my approach she shifts slightly in apprehension. What I'd first taken as part of the bed is actually a rope going to near her neck. I cautiously make my way to her. Something is strange in her scent, so I need to get closer for a better sniff. When I'm just a meter away I carefully test the air. The female flinches back at the unexpected action and her fear tastes sweet in the air, along with something else. She isn't human! Extending a claw at her makes her throw herself to the side, but my purpose is achieved. Showing through her hair is a pointy ear! She is like the mage in the dungeon, an elf. I'd almost made a mistake by killing an elf instead of a human.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Footsteps on the stairs draw my attention away and I turn around to head for the open door. My tail lightly lashes the elf, drawing blood, but she doesn't scream. Scuttling back to the corridor I'm in time to see the devil and the human who was here when I was summoned emerge at the top of the stairs, followed by the scamp. They walk straight for the door at the far end. For a moment the devil looks at me and I can feel the question being asked.

"Not human." I hiss at him and he looks away with a small smile. Upon reaching the door, the devil pulls back one hand and punches the door.

I'm not sure if he used all his strength, it didn't look like it. The door breaks lengthwise in two, one part hanging uselessly on the hinges and the other falling on the ground, a small bar similar to the one this door had visible on the inside part of it. I follow them into the room. It's bigger than the other rooms and there is a dead female and a severely injured older male sitting on the floor. The body of the imp has long since evaporated back to the magic it came from, lucky bastard. The older man stares at the devil, but is visible shaken when he sees the human with us.

"Durian! You? Why!" Water is pouring from his eyes, tears, and snot is pouring from his nose. The room smells of blood and fear and most of the fear is his.

The man named Durian steps forward and bows over the older man. "Revenge, Theo. You probably don't even remember her, my Tia, but your family used her for their entertainment."

I can't see his face, but he sounds upset.

The two stare at one another for a few seconds before the man named Theo breaks their eye-contact and looks for the devil.

"Your kind are like mercenaries, right? Whatever he offered you, I'll double it! Or just name your price! Anything, just stop this!" He is begging, raising his hands in supplication.

The devil for his part looks bored, but answers with a toothy, predatory smile. "If you know that much, you also know we don't easily break a contract. I also doubt you can match his offer... considering your current position."

At this time Durian has taken a long knife from somewhere on his person and moves closer to Theo. As they lock eyes again he rams it to the hilt in Theo's chest. Meanwhile, the devil has drawn our attention, pointing to the human named Durian. He's a human and he entered the house, but since he had been with the devil I thought him exempt. It appears I was wrong.

"About our contract," Durian begins.

"Your life energy and all the debts and favors owed to your soul, that was the deal," the devil cuts in.

"Yes, about that."

Before he can continue the scamp and me jump at his exposed back. As he whirls around he grabs me out of the air with one hand and rams the knife into my chest with the other. With my front limbs I rake his arms and he is forced to drop me and the knife both. The scamp meanwhile has taken a hold on a leg and with a well placed bite takes the tendons at his knee out. Durian folds to the ground and we both start to shred the parts of his body we can reach. He has stopped struggling now and is just repeating the word 'Tia' over and over again.

The human stops breathing we stop and I cough up some blood, the knife may have pierced a lung. Steps behind me warn me of the devil approaching and I turn to face him. He bends forwards to grab the scamp and studies the back of its head. I hear him mumble 'unmarked' when he drops the scamp and turns to me. As much as I want to flee, this is a moment where I should stay still. He picks me up and studies me too.

"Redcliff? Be glad, minion, you have proven useful to me. If I remember, maybe I'll ask for you to serve me in a few years. Your name?" Something warm flows through me and my breathing becomes easier.

I can't see his face, nor do I want to. When he drops me to the ground I turn around slowly, crouching low in submission all the time. The devil is blurring at the edges. Is that what I look like at the end of the summon? "Name, gal."

"You'll have a few minutes before you will return. Go and do what you want." With that he turns around and heads for a small cabinet which is standing against a wall with several bottles on it. Opening a bottle he smells it and walks to a bloodstained chair, sits down and takes a drink. The blurring is getting more pronounced, but so slow. Maybe it is because the summoner is dead?

For now it's time to do what I want, which is to get out. Through the corridor, down the stairs and to the stables. In the stables I hesitate. The woman I gutted crawled over to the man. She is now dead, but the man is not. He is breathing weakly, but it's more surprising he is still breathing at all. The woman's hands are near his neck, maybe she knew some healing magic? If so, she should have used it on herself, everyone knows females are more important to preserve than males. Females are the future queens of a colony and while there should be males plenty to serve them, they need only a few to start a new colony. Humans are strange.

My claws hover near the man's neck when I notice a slight blurring of my own. No time to waste. The devil is gone so I don't have to kill and can do what I want. Up the wall, retracing my steps through the narrow window at the top and I'm outside. I can hear the scamp following me. We're both happier outside than inside and this is the path we know. Outside I first take a better look around. The building is on the top of a low hill with little to no trees. Small clusters of trees spread around, but most of the area is rolling fields.

All I do is run, snap at a rabbit which doesn't get out of the way in time and run some more. It is delicious to be outside. The scamp following me has dropped behind and is devouring the rabbit I injured, but I keep going. Upon reaching some trees I climb up. My vision is starting to get blurry now, if only a little. Just a little longer! I reach the top and gaze at the sky. There is a moon, and stars, myriad scents in the air. Slowly everything turns white and the scenery becomes the door of the cell.

Almost immediately the headache starts. For a while I ignore it and just stare ahead. Killing felt good, though an actual hunt would have been better. In a way, it was more enjoyable to swipe at the rabbit than it was to jump on the back of the man. I shake my head and get up, moving to the back wall and pressing my head against the device. The pain recedes and I feel the well-being spread again, as before. Harijia, who had been watching me, opens the door to the cell.

I hesitate to tell her about the devil, but if anyone knows what he meant it's her. She notices I want to say something and pauses before moving on.

"Devil summoned, said I good." Talking is easier every time, but I think I learned something from Ara. Make them think I can't do something and they won't bother me about it. "Said Redcliff. Said find, few years."

By the end, Harijia is nodding along.

"This place, this whole area is Redcliff because of the red cliffs. It's good you have met an agent already, but don't get your hopes up. They rarely remember someone like you for long." She is nodding enthusiastically by now. "In a few years you should be moving on to the next stage and the best demons get the best agents."

Seeing my look of confusion she continues. "An agent helps you get good summons, ones that will make you strong. My master is my agent."

This only raises additional questions, but her posture indicates no further questions will be answered.

It's time to head back to the normal life again. The most important thing is to get the limbs on my back in working shape. They're very bare-bones still, with barely any strength in them. I wonder how muscles would work on them but decide not to dwell on it. My body probably knows more about it than I do. What I can do is training and more training. I also need to find a door to open and close.

As I exit the corridor to the cells I'm slightly surprised the small impling isn't waiting for me. It's not a problem as I need someone stronger to train with now. I don't know if that will speed up the way my body grows after a summon, but there is only one way to know for sure. The difficult part will be to find someone willing and figuring out how not to hurt the other. My steps take me to an area where I know swarmlings hang out, to see what I may find there.