There was nothing remarkable around Lusya and the others, nor anything of note occurring, as they walked through the countryside to their next destination. They were passing through a snow-laden forest, surrounded by a mix of skeletal trees bereft of leaves and still-verdant pine trees. Snowflakes drifted to the ground in a slow, gentle dance, and the forest was quiet. Animals were dormant or hiding, there was no one else around, and even the wind was too still to make a sound.
The only sounds other than snow crunching under their boots were Ariya excitedly speaking and Beldo’s quiet, placative agreements and praise. She was recounting a summary of the book she was writing to him. Having already heard it, Lusya was not involved much in the conversation, though a differing detail or two did draw her attention occasionally. Ariya seemed to change her mind about parts of the story several times per week. Since Lusya had last heard about it, the names of the mysterious vegetables the protagonists derived their unnatural abilities from had changed from Demon Spuds—always an odd name, as they were described as resembling celery more than anything—to Leggie Veggies. “Leggie,” was not pronounced like leggy, but rhyming with veggie. It was short for legendary, apparently.
Beldo did not seem disinterested, but nor did it seem he had much to say. Occasionally he offered a real comment, but it was mostly simple responses of one or two words, all brimming with encouragement and agreeing with whatever Ariya said, even things that really could have used correction, such as how she should perhaps not name a key story component in a way that required a pronunciation guide, or the nonsensical motivation of one antagonist, who harbored a murderous grudge against the protagonists for disrupting his sister’s wedding in the process of trying to save her life. In fairness, that was much the same way Lusya responded to Ariya’s writing. There was no reason to upset her with criticism. She should enjoy her writing, as unburdened as possible, while she could.
Still, there was a distinct difference. While Lusya shied away from negativity, even when it would be useful, she did attempt to give real feedback. It was difficult to do that while being entirely positive, but the points she highlighted were those she genuinely thought were good, and she put effort into articulating that opinion and why she held it. She could not give in-depth feedback, but she wanted what feedback she did give to be honest and useful.
Beldo made no such effort. Though he looked to be giving Ariya his full attention and his expression suggested more varied reactions, his answers were brief and devoid of any real meaning. Most everything he said was a generic response that could have fit just about anything Ariya might have said. Most of the rest were little more than rephrasing what Ariya had just said, followed by some expression of excitement like, “wow,” or “cool.” Real questions or input were few and far between.
It was the way mortals spoke when they were not interested in what their partner was saying, or when they were interested, but preferred keeping who they were speaking with happy by affirming them, rather than risk the potential discord of a real discussion. That seemed to be a common way of speaking to children. Though Lusya’s reference pool was rather limited, and no one had ever spoken to her like that when she was a child.
Granted, Lusya had not been an ordinary child. But Ariya seemed to be reaching her limit as well.
“Wow,” Beldo said. “That’s so exciting.”
Ariya groaned. “That’s, like, the two hundredth time you’ve said that.”
“It is closer to the twentieth,” Lusya said.
“That’s still a lot.”
“Indeed.”
Ariya huffed. “You’re not even listening. You’re just saying stuff to make me happy.”
Beldo held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Hey, I’m listening. And what’s wrong with wanting to make you happy?”
“Nothing,” Ariya said. “But you can be honest too. It’s no fun talking to you if all you say is ‘yeah,’ and ‘wow.’ I might as well talk to that tree.”
“Sorry, Ariya,” Beldo said. “I guess you’re more used to being spoken to like an adult, more or less, right?”
He gave Lusya a meaningful look.
She nodded. “I do not make a habit of adjusting the way I speak for her.”
At the beginning, she had had to rephrase from time to time, but those days were long gone. Ariya’s vocabulary had long since expanded enough for her to understand Lusya, in multiple languages at that. So, Lusya saw no reason to alter the mannerisms nor content of her speech most of the time.
She was aware that was unusual. Though no one had ever spoken to her in quite the generic platitudes Beldo had been using, they had not spoken to her as if she were an adult either. Mother, the servants at the manor, Father, even most of the other demons Lusya had regularly interacted with. There had always been a distinct gap between the way they spoke to her as a child and to each other. It had not been until her age had reached into double digits that they had spoken to her as something resembling an equal. But she did not know how to implement such mannerisms herself, nor did she understand why they seemed to be the default now that she had observed that at least some children could learn to understand normal speech well enough in short order, so she simply behaved as normal.
“Yeah, Lusya’s way more fun to talk to than you,” Ariya said. “I mean, that’s not surprising, because Lusya’s super cool and stuff, but still.”
Beldo chuckled. “All right, I get the picture. I’m sorry, Ariya. It’s just that I was talking to you like a normal kid. I didn’t realize quite how bright and grown-up you are. It won’t happen again.”
Ariya beamed, her head held high and chest puffed out. “Well, I guess it’s fine. As long as you don’t do it again. Did you hear, Lusya? I’m bright and grown-up.”
“One of those things is true,” Lusya said.
Ariya giggled and returned to her explanation to Beldo. This time, he did make an effort to give more proper responses to her. That had been quite clever of him, using a compliment to both deflect Ariya’s anger and excuse his own behavior. Lusya supposed two thousand years of life experience, at least some of which had been spent raising his own son, had left him with some knowledge of how to deal with children. It was only Lusya’s influence that threw him off with Ariya.
With that minor spat resolved, the walk continued, just as uneventful as it had been a moment before. There was nothing interesting around, no sign that there had ever been anything interesting here, and no reason to expect that there would be.
That was why it was quite a surprise when Lusya detected a distinctive mass of Malice ahead. It was not a mortal, nor was it quite a demon, but that was not to say it was a half-demon. Having never encountered another half-demon, Lusya wasn’t sure she would have recognized one if she sensed them, but she knew what this was, and it was something different.
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“Seems like you feel it,” Beldo said.
She nodded. “Yes. It is quite obvious.”
“I promise, I didn’t know this was here.”
Ariya blinked and looked between them. “What? What is it? Is it a demon?”
“Not exactly,” Beldo said. “Not yet, anyway.” He looked to Lusya. “What do you say? Should we go check it out? It could be trouble if we just leave it.”
It could also not affect them at all if they left it. But, there was no easy way to predict which it would be, so it made more sense to confront the issue and seize some control over the outcome. It was better to risk some time wasted by confronting it rather than actual harm by ignoring it. Bodily harm was unlikely, but a destroyed village could be inconvenient. Even a murder or two could make the townspeople less receptive to outsiders, which could be troublesome, even if the people knew Beldo.
"Yes,” Lusya said. “We will go confront it.”
“What is it?” Ariya asked. “What are we confronting? Hey, Lusya, what are we doing?”
“I am not sure what we will ultimately do yet. But we are going to see a demon’s birth.”
Ariya’s expression lit up, her eyes shining with excitement. “That sounds awesome! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”
They moved toward the mass of Malice. Though vaguely ahead of where they had been, it was also quite a ways off the road to the right, deep in the forest.
“You’re right to be excited, Ariya,” Beldo said as they neared. “This is something not many mortals get to see in their lifetimes. Even demons don’t see it often. I’ve only seen it a handful of times.”
Ariya hopped up and down in excitement even as she continued to follow along with Lusya. “Oh, I feel so special!”
Another minute or so of walking, and they had arrived. There was nothing significant about the location in the slightest. It was not even a clearing, or near a landmark like a large tree. It was just in the middle of the forest, amid a grouping of ordinary trees like one could find everywhere in the forest. That was why witnessing this event was so rare. Although formed by mortals, Malice tended not to actually coalesce in population centers, but some ways away. Ultimately, however, a demon’s birth could happen just about anywhere, and there was little way to predict when or where it would happen beforehand.
The demon had not been born yet. All that was present was the mass of Malice that would soon become the demon. The Malice was visible, a rare phenomenon outside of this event. It took the form of a pulsing mass of fluid, somewhere between a liquid and mist. Oblong in shape, not quite spherical, it was slightly longer vertically than horizontally. The color was a deep violet—not unlike Miudofay’s flames—in some places and pitch black in others. The black parts resembled the strands of darkness that gathered to form Miudofay. Indeed, similar strands materialized around the mass to merge with it, though they were not quite the same. These were wispier than Miudofay’s, less focused, and the way they moved was different too. Rather than rush together like when Miudofay formed, they drifted into the mass like clouds. Lusya was not the only one to make the connection.
“Wow, it’s kind of pretty,” Ariya said. “It looks like Miudofay.”
Beldo nodded. “Yeah, it sure does. That sword is formed from the Malice in people’s heart, so it only makes sense that—Wait, how do you know what Miudofay looks like?”
Ariya’s brow furrowed in confusion, then she rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen Lusya summon it, duh.”
Beldo turned, wide-eyed, on Lusya. “You can summon Miudofay? That’s incredible! Why didn’t you tell me that.”
“I saw no reason you needed to know,” Lusya said. “I can only summon the First Release.”
“That’s still amazing,” Beldo said. “Seriously, I can tell you’re strong, but that’s an accomplishment. Give yourself a pat on the back.”
“I am the Demon King’s daughter, and Miudofay is not formed from one’s own Malice,” Lusya replied. “It is not strange that I could learn to summon it.”
“When you put it like that, sure, it makes sense on paper, but I’ve never heard of anyone summoning someone else’s Blade in any way. Be proud of it.”
“I am,” Lusya said. “I do not need you to tell me it is impressive.”
“Well, good.”
Ariya hummed in thought. “Huh. I kind of forgot Miudofay is technically your papa’s Demon Blade.”
“That is not surprising,” Lusya said, “since you have only ever seen me wield it.”
“Sorry for rolling my eyes at you, Beldo. That actually wasn’t a stupid question.”
Beldo chuckled. “It’s okay. Now, I think we should turn our attention front. It’s just about done.”
Indeed, the process was reaching its final stages. The clouds of darkness had finished gathering, leaving only the main mass. Before, it had pulsed in a strange, irregular manner, random parts bulging or compressing at random intervals. Now, the whole thing expanded and contracted in a steady rhythm, not unlike a human heart.
“Based on the amount of Malice, this is going to be a high-rank,” Beldo said. “I’d like you to let me try to talk to them first, if that’s okay. Just be on standby for now.”
“Your odds of success are essentially random,” Lusya replied. “But I do not object to that plan. It is preferable if you do succeed.”
If they could be reasoned with, fighting the demon would be a waste of time and energy. And besides, Lusya had no desire to decrease the number of demons in the world.
Beldo nodded. “Then I’ll do what I can.”
He strode toward the mass of Malice. Its pulsing began to speed up, but it kept its rhythm and shape. As Beldo neared, the rate of the contractions and expansions continued to climb. From once every couple seconds, it sped up until it was pulsing hundreds of times a second.
Then, it came to an abrupt halt. For a split second, all was still, but that didn’t last. The mass began to shift and contort, shrinking, growing, and molding into a roughly humanoid shape. First, the vaguest caricature of a person took shape, little more than an oval with arms and legs. Then the finer details filled in, as if sculpted by invisible hands. A chest, a proper torso. A bicep, hands. Little by little, the picture came together.
When the shape was done, it hovered in the air for a second, a pitch-black statue that might have been carved from obsidian. Then, all at once, it gained color. Black marble turned to pallid skin and powerful muscles, and the demon dropped to the ground. His hair was a dark blue, long for a man’s hair, his eyes a matching color. He fell to his knees the instant he hit the ground, panting and looking at his own hands as if confused by his existence. Perhaps he was. This was one aspect of being a demon Lusya could only imagine. Coming into the world as a fully formed adult, brimming with knowledge no one had taught you, had to be a perplexing situation.
Beldo walked closer to the new demon, who didn’t even seem to realize anyone else was present as he continued inspecting his own body. He was a he. Demons did not come into this world any more clothed than mortals did, making that quite obvious.
As he stopped just before the demon, Beldo paused, cocked an eyebrow, and glanced back at Lusya with a smirk. “I’m jealous.”
“Take this seriously,” she replied.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice.”
“That is beside the point.”
Yes, quite obvious.
Beldo stooped and offered the new demon a hand. At last, the demon noticed him with a start, glaring at Beldo’s hand as if it were a weapon.
“Easy there, friend,” Beldo said. “I know it’s a lot. Let’s just take it nice and slow. Come on, can you stand? What’s your name? I’m Beldo.”
Broadly speaking most demon births could be broken down into two categories. At least, when others were present for them. It was quite possible other things occurred when no one was around.
Some demons were lucid and civil the moment someone called out to them. Whether or not they were friendly was another matter, but they could carry a conversation and probably wouldn’t immediately attack.
Others were quick to lash out at anyone in their surroundings. Regardless of what they ended up being like when they calmed down, they flew into a blind rage and attacked as little more than a roaring beast. Strangely, this type only directed this fury at other people. If one got far enough away, the demon would give up and show little interest in attacking anything else until they calmed.
There was no way anyone knew of to predict which was which. It was the luck of the draw. Lusya had a very mixed relationship with luck. Today was no different.
The demon let out a deafening, bestial roar and swiped at Beldo with a powerful punch, that he danced out of the way of. In response, the demon grabbed a rock off the ground and threw it at Beldo, who caught it on his forearm to no harm as the rock shattered on impact.
“Well, that didn’t work,” Beldo said, grimacing. “We’ll need to subdue him. Please don’t use lethal force if you can help it.”
“Very well, I will assist you,” Lusya replied. “This will be a good opportunity to show me your abilities.”
“Ah, sorry, but could you handle it?” Beldo said. “I’m a pacifist.”
Lusya cocked her head slightly. She didn’t have much choice at this point. If she refused, Ariya would be in danger.
“You should mention such details sooner,” Lusya said. “But very well.”