Mylos watched the busy road, his eyes blank as various cars drove past. Unlike in the night, this area of the city was bustling with human life — honking horns, blaring music, clamouring people. It wasn't pleasant to Mylos.

He just sat there, on a public bench. In a midst of all the noise and disturbances, his brows furrowed as he trained himself to focus on keeping his mind blank. After some seconds, his vision dimmed and he fell asleep.

He'd ensured that no threat existed around him, taking a scan of the area in a 300 metre radius in search of any ‘incoming surprises’. After he'd ensured everything was okay, he tried forcing himself to sleep.

Of course, with enough training and determination, he finally entered a sleep like state. His eyes shut, his mind blank, and his body relaxed. Although, this would break if he felt a strong enough disturbance.

"Um, Hello."

Mylos' eyes cracked open, and his pupils shifted to face the direction of the voice. As soon as his gaze shifted in that direction, he opened his mouth to speak, "Wasn't there any other seats around? Why sit here?"

Beside Mylos was a younger girl, she had a book in her hands, and was dressed in casual grey clothes. Her short dark hair fluttered in the morning wind as she turned to talk to Mylos who looked very disinterested.

"Nope. This was the only one around, I didn't think you would actually be sleeping so relaxed here." She looked very confused, her brows furrowed as she blinked both of her large blue eyes, "Mother said this chair is cursed."

Cursed? Mylos shut his eyes, thinking the child was fed too many stories by her guardians. Although he did not need rest, he also did not have any interest in speaking with some human child at a time like this.

"There are no such things like curses in this world, you shouldn't believe everything your parents tell you." He spoke with his eyes closed, trying to return back to that state of “pseudo-sleep” as he'd done before.

"Like demons? Mother and Father say that demons are as real as curses! Looking at you, I can tell that you have been cursed for doing something bad before." The girl was relentless, drawing out her book to show Mylos.

"Demons are not real either. Both are just silly fantasies your parents told to entertain you " Mylos didn't stress himself, but he did open his eyes to stare at what she'd shoved in his face, "What's this supposed to mean?"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"In here, it's written that cursed people try their best to find sleep but are not able to. It's because they've lost a special sense of safety they had before that helped them sleep peacefully." She explained vigorously to Mylos.

Mylos blinked.

The young girl blinked after him.

"So, you mean to say I'm a cursed person because you think I'm having difficulties sleeping?" Mylos was a bit impressed by how perceptive the young girl was, but it was all concealed under an unsurprised expression.

"Yeah! I wonder what you did that got you cursed. Now you can't sleep like normal people do." The young girl laughed, she looked as if she'd came to some massive discovery, "So uncle, what did you do?"

"Uncle? Young lady, I'm not that old! Besides, I'm not cursed or anything. You can say that I'm well rested, so it's now difficult for me to sleep." Mylos blinked just as soon as he'd finished speaking, "It's just a simple issue."

"Ah, I see." The young girl nodded, then after seconds of pause, she shrugged then opened her book to read, "So, what's your name uncle? Do you live around here or you're just passing by?"

"Mylos, and you?" Mylos ignored her question, staring at her as she read her book. He was a bit interested in meeting her parents, but shut down the thoughts after thinking over it for some seconds.

"Karen! And, why are you ignoring my question mister uncle? Did you fall down from heaven, and don't have any where you live in?" Karen spoke without lifting her head from her book, "Are you an alien?"

"Brat! I'm just passing by. I stopped by here since I was bored, so I sat down here to sleep. Did not know that a little girl would come visit…" Mylos rolled his eyes, his expression returning to being completely blank.

"Eh." The young girl shrugged, delving deeper into her reading as she also lost interest into conversing. Neither Mylos or the blaring clamouring of the city seemed to disturb her from reading, her focus impeccable.

Seeing she'd left him alone, Mylos returned to getting himself to sleep. His brows knitting as he tried sleeping again. This time, he shut his eyes beforehand but didn't relax his body for a few new reasons.

"..."

After a few hours, the young girl closed her book and stood up to leave. Noticing that, Mylos opened his eyes and sat up after her, opening his mouth to speak, "Do you know any good clothing retail stores around?"

"Huh, Yeah! I can show you a few if you like, there's one not too far from here!" Karen smiled as she turned away from Mylos and began walking away without hesitation, "Don't dawdle, we can reach it in some minutes if we're quick enough!"

Mylos shrugged, then followed Karen. He concealed his aura completely, making it very difficult for her or any of the humans in the vicinity to sense him. This allowed the young demon to blend into the environment perfectly.

"Uncle, if I show you the store— would you get sweets for me? Showing someone the way eats a lot of energy for little children like me." Karen spoke happily as she led Mylos away with a smile on her face.

"Get you sweets? I have no problems with that." Mylos shrugged as he followed her vigilantly. If he managed to get himself close to a hunter by accident, then both of them would be in a lot of danger, "Just hurry up."

"Yes, sir!"