The two demons talked about the day’s lunch.

They dragged Vivi along as if she was prey they’d caught. They didn’t care about her eavesdropping. She felt totally forgotten, irrelevant to the demons’ lives. She was merely a piece of amusement they had decided to bring with them.

Vivi couldn’t guess what they planned to do with her. Ythar’s priests claimed demons ate humans for breakfast, though the tales were most likely entirely made up. Most humans had never seen even a realistic drawing of a demon.

Still, Vivi doubted she was about to receive kindness.

The bumpy ride offered slight warmth, mostly thanks to the tight ropes tied around Vivi’s body, but the ride was far from comfortable. Vivi had to keep her head up to avoid contact with the stone. Her neck hurt, and the rest of her body wasn’t much better. Her boots scraped against the ground and nearly fell off her feet.

The forest was mostly unpathed, as the flat stone was simple to trot, but the direction was clearly familiar to the demons. Dirt patches had footprints on them, and the blinking mushrooms had been cleared out of the way.

Above, the daylight gems were starting to dim again. There was no sun to dictate a day and night cycle in the underground. The daylight gems were what brought order to the desolate forests of the underground. Vivi guessed evening was well underway.

She listened to the demons talk about their lives, mentioning names Vivi didn’t understand. The runesword wielder was apparently called Jeli, and he was a guardsman. Of what? Vivi hadn’t yet deduced that. The older man was called Hoss. He was Jeli’s superior, but Vivi wasn’t sure in what way.

Occasionally, ether-auras approached from the forest. The sign of stray monsters wandering around. The demons didn’t change route to avoid monsters. They calmly assessed the situation. Most monsters were dealt with using a simple strategy. Hoss ambushed the monsters with his bow. Afterward, Jeli cleaned up the rest with his runesword.

Hunting. The demons hunted for monsters.

Interestingly, the demons didn’t seem to wield spirits. Did their powers come directly from their own ether reserves? Both demons must have carried at least over a thousand ether.

The fungus forest continued for half an hour. Vivi’s muscles ached by the bumps below. The treatment felt awful in every way. Vivi could have walked on a leash, but the demons had decided to pull her instead. Was it to humiliate her?

Lucius had said they’d escape after he recovered his strength. His reserves were still at over ninety, though all of that ether was exhausted. A wisp of ether recovered similarly to muscles. When a wisp was used to power up Vivi’s strength, the wisp was exhausted, and it required time to recover.

We’ll live, Vivi thought. It’s not over yet. We’ll live, and we’ll grow.

Ahead, the sky itself slanted upward, rising by several hundred feet. The landscape became darker with the daylight gems higher up. What little light there was came mostly from the glow of the blinking green mushrooms. Vivi watched curiously.

“Still awake out there?” Hoss, the older man, asked. He spoke over his shoulders toward Vivi. “I’ll be honest, your chances of survival are none. You are not someone I would bet my money on. However, I like to root for the smaller animals. If you wish to succeed, I will offer you a piece of advice.”

The uphill turned into a downhill. Up on the hill, Vivi had a good view of what lay below. The end destination of the demons’ trot. It wasn’t a cute little encampment hidden within a forest, nor a quiet city away from monsters.

The demons were taking Vivi to a colossal glowing wall that reached nearly to the ascended sky.

Mother of all ether… Vivi thought. She’d never seen something so large and tall. The wall was built of large stone bricks. The glow came from mushrooms growing between bricks like an infestation. Banners were hung from the wall’s battlement, depicting the same symbol as on the guards’ uniforms.

Stolen novel; please report.

The wall had no moat. Instead, glowing spikes protruded from ground level all around the wall. There were thousands upon thousands of spikes, jutting out like overgrown thorns of a rose bush.

“Power is everything,” Hoss said, dragging Vivi toward the wall’s entrance, where a portcullis grinded open. “This is the only piece of advice you will need, and the only advice that will help you. Power is earned with strength. Strength is gained with ether. Ether is power. You claimed you wished to grow. In Zand, you will grow strong, or you will die.”

Vivi was too shocked to speak. The demons had mentioned the name twice now. Zand. That was the name of the prison Grandpa had mentioned in the news. The same prison that enslaved the Greenwitch hunting company.

“First time in an ether facility?” Jeli asked, looking amused.

Vivi’s panic must have shown on her face. She stayed quiet, trying to think. Could she escape? How? What about lies? Could she convince the guards to let her free?

Lucius! she yelled in her thoughts. Wake up! We need to escape now!

The spirit’s presence flickered on. Lucius watched the world through Vivi’s eyes. The wall loomed overhead, creeping ever closer. Its glow seemed to spark curiosity within Lucius.

“I sense ether,” Lucius said. “A lot of it. This castle is rich. There are strong fighters inside.”

None of it is for us! Vivi thought. We’re imprisoned! We need to get out!

Lucius continued examining the walls. “No, Vivi. This is not a prison. It’s an ether facility.”

Why do you sound so excited? Vivi asked. We’re captured!

Lucius said nothing, but Vivi could sense his tail wagging within her. Something about this made him excited. “This is good, Vivi. Maybe even better than hunting on the fourth level. The facility has so much ether.”

You’re making no sense, Vivi thought.

“Just don’t tell them anything, and we should be fine,” Lucius said. “Don’t tell them you’re a spirit wielder. Don’t reveal your strengths. We’ll conquer this place easily.”

What are you talking about? Vivi asked. Lucius!

The spirit fell asleep again, his presence dimming out. Vivi was once again left alone.

The demons led Vivi to the front gates. More uniformed demons were posted by the portcullis. Two men, one on each side of the entrance. They carried sheathed runeswords just like Jeli. Both of them wielded large amounts of ether. Enough to qualify them as experienced ether hunters on the higher levels.

“A new catch?” one of them asked as Hoss and Jeli passed.

“Yeah, a human,” Hoss said. “We saved her from a pack of surge hounds. It’s her lucky day.”

The guardsman looked amused. “Interesting. You’ve brought her just in time. A new batch arrived from Amtraz. She still has time to join their run.”

“Amtraz,” Hoss said. “That was the violent bunch, right?”

The guardsman nodded. The other guard on the right gave Vivi a worried look.

Hoss let out a laugh, then continued pulling Vivi deeper. “Look at that. You’ll get an introduction and all.”

Vivi was utterly baffled. She didn’t know what to do or say, so she merely watched her surroundings without fighting back. The demons carried her inside the portcullis.

The inside of the wall was an undecorated, inhuman hallway. The walls were entirely black, constructed of black hardstone. The material was recognizable from its rough texture. Black hardstone was one of the sturdiest building materials ever discovered. The stone withstood attacks from anything short of a runesword with a crush and strength rune combination.

Once securely inside, Jeli untied the ropes holding Vivi’s legs. “Up,” he said.

The order was emphasized with a pull from the upper ropes. Vivi's footing was unstable, feet aching from the ride, but she managed to stand. The demons finally let her walk.

That didn’t mean she was treated any nicer. Jeli pushed her forward. They passed multiple steel bars and locked black hardstone doors. Hoss opened the locks for most doors, but the larger doors were guarded by doorkeepers. The security of the place was on another level. With each step further, Vivi’s dreams of escape lessened. She wasn’t nearly powerful enough to blast through black hardsteel.

After the umpteenth door, the black hardstone hallway ended. Vivi was led into a large courtyard. She paused, taking a moment to register everything she was faced with.

A bustling town square was not what Vivi had expected to arrive at.