A Demon's Core

Mana is not the only thing I gained from all the death that occurred here. With each death I experienced flashes of images, sounds and even smells. Running across a rooftop with other imps. Being in a city full of humans. Stalking vermin in dark alleyways. A party with friends with a cake and many candles. A loving embrace with family. Being viciously beaten by larger demons. Exploring a city in ruins that is being slowly reclaimed by nature. Playing with a dog.

Are these memories of the deceased? Or at least fragments of memories. Does it even really matter now? I am sure this is something I would normally be curious about, but I just can not bring myself to care. Seeing the bodies of all the imps that I cared for is harrowing to say the least. I am sure I would be crying if I was capable of such a thing.

My concern now is for Second. I am glad she was not here for this or she would probably be dead along with the others. But what is she going to think when she returns? Apart from the shock of coming back to a room full of corpses. These are her friends. Her pack. Now they are gone.

She asked me, nearly begged, to bring other imps here so they could be safe. I said that I would, but clearly I cannot keep them safe. Maybe she will believe that she put her faith in the wrong person. I do not think I could disagree if she did feel that way. Maybe she will want to leave. I would not blame her for that.

I continue to wallow in my misery until Second returns. She bursts through the door with panicked look. She probably saw the corpse still in the hallway. As she inspects the scene I expect her to grieve. Instead her expression becomes one of rage.

Her mana flares and I can feel it pulsing from her in waves. The intensity is more than I have ever felt from her before and it is growing. The floor is cracking beneath her feet and broken fragments and splinters are starting to levitate around her. The mother imp and her child, who followed in behind her, start backing away looking scared. Under normal circumstances I would likely have been impressed. But right now I am just feeling concerned for her.

Suddenly her mana returns to normal levels and the floating splinters drop. Her enraged expression fades and there are tears streaming down her face. The mother approaches her slowly and tries to comfort her. The other two imps are also distressed by the scene, but they are new here. They barely had time to even meet the rest of the imps, let alone actually get to know them. But Second has been here since the beginning. They looked up to her. She was their leader. They are dead now because I could not save them.

She looks around the room until she finds First’s body. Kneeling down, she gently cradles it in her arms sobbing.

I am sorry I could not protect them. She does not respond.

For a little while now I have been feeling something strange. It was faint at first but it has been getting stronger. It feels like First is here. But that does not make sense. I see First’s corpse still being held by Second. Yet I can still feel her presence all the same. Just like I can always feel my imp’s presence when they are within my domain. It is centered around the rift, which followed my core into Room 7.

Does this mean I can bring her back? Is that even possible? Bringing the dead back to life does not seem realistically plausible. But if there is even the slightest chance...I have to try.

I touch the rift and start pouring my mana into it while focusing on First. Mana flows into the rift faster. More and more, it takes my mana, but I do not care. If this can actually work then I am willing to give everything I have got.

It has already taken more mana than was needed to originally summon her and it is still taking more. Eventually I run out of mana...and yet more mana continues to flow into the rift. I do not understand what is happening. Where is this extra mana coming from and why am I still conscious?

Where the extra mana came from does not matter. Because it worked. First appears before me. She looks different. Her skin has changed colour. It has become a pleasing shade of violet. Her hair has turned white. Even her eyes have changed to match the colour of her skin. But despite all these differences, I know it is her.

She looks around, appearing disorientated. That is not surprising. I expect coming back from the dead would be a jarring experience. She quickly regains her bearings though. Her face takes on an expression of savage fury and she dives for the hole into Room 5.

Emerging out the other side she suddenly stops. She is looking around seeming quite perplexed. Was she expecting to just jump right back into the fight? Does she not realize it has been over for quite a while now? Does she even know that she died?

The others in the room are stunned. Second is especially shocked looking between First and the body she still holds in her arms.

First seems to have come to understand at least some of the situation as she starts bawling and slowly sinks to the floor. Second lays the body down and tentatively approaches First.

“Is it really you?” She asks, lightly touching First’s shoulder. First launches herself at Second, clinging to her tightly while mumbling unintelligibly. “How is this possible?”

I was able to bring her back somehow, but I do not know how. I cannot make much sense of it.

The mother imp looks frightened. A reasonable reaction. I am quite sure it is not normal for anyone to be able to come back from the dead like that. Even I find it unnerving seeing First alive in the same room as her dead body. Her daughter just looks confused. I do not think she understands the situation at all. That is probably for the best though.

“Can you bring the others back?” Second asks hopefully.

I do not know. But I intend to try.

Despite my determination, I fear it will not be possible for the others. Before I brought her back, I could still feel First’s presence hovering near the rift. That is what inspired me to try. I can not feel any of the others. They are completely gone from my perception. Which I suspect means they are truly gone for good. But I do not want to give up hope. Not yet.

First and Second spend some time just sitting on the floor clinging to each other while crying. I told the mother imp that she can take her child into Room 3 if they would like to get away from all the corpses as no fighting took place in there. They can even choose one of the bedrooms to claim as theirs and get settled in if they want.

I was a little surprised to see that they actually managed to find clothes for the child. They are still a little big, but they are close enough. If, as I suspect, these are human clothes, then what my imps where must have been designed for human children. But to have clothes small enough to fit this imp child? It is astonishing to me that human children could start off so small.

When First and Second calm down enough to pick themselves up off the floor I notice something else about First that has changed. She has gotten even taller. Previously the other imps were barely as tall as her shoulders, now they do not even reach that high.

Second notices as well and looks up at First in awe. She is still tiny compared to the humans, but she towers over the other imps now. Her tail also appears to have gotten longer. It’s length looks to be roughly equal to her height now. I wonder if there is some significance to tail length that I am not aware of or if it is just a random change. Her other body proportions do not seem to have been noticeably altered any further.

First needs to put on some clothes. Because of course she came back without any. I just hope her old clothes will fit her new size. Surely at least some of them will still fit. She can always get more later if necessary.

Before I try to bring the others back I need to wait for my mana to regenerate. First’s resurrection took far more mana than summoning her. More mana than my full capacity even, though I am still not sure how that worked. I am not going to try again with anything less than full mana.

I think I also need to claim more of Room 7 if that is where the rift is going to be from now on. I have barely claimed anything in there beyond the cabinets my core is hiding in. There is only just enough room for First to sleep. The rift is currently directly over her little nest. Or perhaps I will just have them bring my core back into Room 5, at least temporarily. If I can bring the others back, I would like to prioritize that first.

When I ask them to retrieve my core from it’s hiding place they seem eager to comply. I guess they really miss having it in a visible location. Though when the cabinet door is opened we are met with an unexpected sight. Crystals have grown around my core. Quite a lot of them in fact. Some even growing over the bones. Most of the crystals are glowing faintly pink. About a third of them are black.

I can sense mana from the pink crystals but nothing from the black ones. I try touching one of the crystals. It is solid and as soon as I touch it I can feel mana flowing into my core. The crystal darkens and eventually turns black and the mana flow stops. The one I touched was one of the smaller ones so it did not have much mana. But this explains where the extra mana came from when I resurrected First. This of course leads to the question of where the crystals came from. Are these the 'dungeon crystals' that the first group of humans mentioned?

During the fight I gained a lot of mana. Far more than I could hold. After that I thought the rest was just dissipating. Maybe it crystallized instead. This is something else I need to investigate, but it is not a priority right now.

My previous chair was taken into the hallway so Second brings the chair from her room. Instead of waiting for my mana, I could use what is stored in those crystals. But what if it is not enough? I think I need to experiment a little in how the mana is stored and accessed.

I took the mana out of a crystal before, but can I put it back? I touch the crystal again and try pushing mana into it. It seems to work. The crystal changes from black back to pink. So they are like rechargeable mana storage? That could be useful in the future. But how much does it take to fill my own mana capacity. Taking mana from crystals one at a time until I can not take anymore, it appears I have drained about one quarter of all the crystals. That should still leave me with more than was required for First’s revival.

While I was doing that First and Second gathered all the imp bodies and lined them up by the couch and covered them with a blanket. They have not moved any of the humans yet. Though I wonder if they would be strong enough to do so. If I can bring the others back I am sure they can manage by working together.

I let my imps know that I am ready to attempt another revival and they gather around the rift. It is not in the same place that it used to be yet they had no trouble locating it. I guess they must be able to perceive it somehow to find it so easily. Maybe they can sense it the same way I do.

First and Second look both hopeful and desperate. The mother imp seems curious, but also nervous. The child is just curious. I reach out to the rift and start feeding mana into it, focusing all my thoughts and will on Third and trying to bring him back. If this follows the same pattern as with summoning then this should require less man than First did.

I start to grow concerned as the mana keeps pouring in, approaching the same amount of mana that it took for First. Then it went beyond that and still the rift continued to take more. When I have given it so much mana that finally I do feel like I am on the verge of losing consciousness, my vision starting to darken, a light appears and starts to take form. Only, it is not the form of an imp. It is much larger and quadrupedal.

When the light fades, what stands before us is an enormous beast. The imps run in terror. Second directs them to the bathroom. They close the door behind them and then climb through the hole into Room 3. The beast watches them flee but makes no attempt to chase them.

It just casually looks around the room then moves towards to nearest human corpse and sniffs at it. Then the starts biting and tearing at it’s flesh. That is one way to dispose of the human bodies I suppose, though I doubt this one creature could eat all of them alone.

The creature’s head looks like that of a wolf, though with a wider muzzle. But it’s body structure and musculature is more reminiscent of a large feline. It’s fur is almost as black as the void and it has a row of large, sharp spines running down the length of it’s back ending just before it’s tail.

It's most striking feature though, is it’s eyes. Or lack thereof. For in it’s eye sockets, instead of eyes, I see nothing but flickering orange flames. Can this creature even see like that? Does the fire not hurt it at all? It does not seem to be in pain and it was definitely watching the imps as they fled. So either it can still see or it has some other form of sensory perception.

The bathroom door opens slightly and I can see First peaking through the crack at the beast. It notices her too and stares at her for a moment, then goes back to chewing on the human.

The door opens wider and First steps out and slowly approaches it. It does not even react to her approach at first. But when she gets close enough, it turns to her and she freezes. It then approaches her the rest of the way and starts sniffing at her. Only now that First is standing right next to it can I truly appreciate it’s size. This thing is around one and a half times First’s height and more than twice that in length from head to tail. This creature is both remarkable and intimidating. But that does not stop First from giving it a hug. I admire her bravery. It growls quietly, but it’s tail is also wagging slightly. Is that a good sign or not? I really can not tell.

First heads back to Room 3 and soon returns with the others in tow. They are nervous despite First’s reassurances that it is safe. The child especially looks almost terrified. A reasonable response from one so small. This creature is absurdly large compared to her. It probably looks quite monstrous from her perspective. It sniffs each one of them in turn and even licks the child. After a few moments of stunned silence she giggles and reached up to gently pat it’s nose.

As wholesome as the scene may be, it does not detract from the fact that I could not bring Third back. I need to discuss with the others how to proceed from here. But I should wait for my mana to regenerate a little bit. It does still cost mana to communicate, even if it not much. I came very close to running out completely while summoning that thing.

I do not think I can bring the others back. I got this thing when I tried. I could try again, but I expect it will likely lead to a similar result. I say to First and Second.

“But you brought her back. Why not the others?” Second demanded, gesturing at First.

I do not know. I think the first time was a special case that I still do not fully understand. I do not think I will be able to repeat it. I am sorry. They both look dejected and Second has tears welling up again.

“So what do we do now?” She asks somberly.

I am not sure. I was hoping to ask your opinion. We could keep bringing more imps here, but is it really worth if I can not keep them safe? Is here really any better than where they are now If we can be attacked like this. Second looks conflicted. But then First interjects.

“Yes, it is worth it.” She insist with absolute certainty. “Things like this can happen to imps no matter where they are. This is still a better place than anywhere else I’ve been. We can be happy here. I believe all imps can be happy here. But we need to improve our defenses. Get better at fighting. It’s up to us to defend our home. It’s not all your responsibility. This is a place worth fighting for. I want to fight for it.” That was a much more articulate speech than I would have expected from First. Was her mind also altered from the resurrection? Second is looking at her in amazement. It seems she was also astounded. But it snapped her out of her uncertainty and now she has a look of determination.

“Having more of those would greatly improve our fighting ability.” She states, pointing at the large furred quadruped.

Do you know what that thing is?

“I’m not entirely certain. But it looks very similar to a vahxa. A domesticated animal the vukra often use for hunting or just for companionship. They are...very good at hunting.” She stops for moment, lost in her own thoughts. She shakes her head slightly then continues. “They are extremely loyal as long as you treat them well and they can also be trained. But they’re not usually so big. The three that my previous master had were only slightly taller than me. The fire in it’s eyes is also quite unusual I think. I’ve never heard of anything like this before.” She explains.

“I’ve seen those before. Never knew what they were called so we just called them ‘biters’. They’re fast like imps, but they’re not good at climbing buildings so that is how we escaped them when they were after us. But I’ve never seen one like this one either.” First says.

It could be that this one was altered by the summoning similarly to how First was changed. I will have to summon more to know for sure though.

I can summon more, but it will take a while. They take a lot more mana than summoning imps. In the meantime. What should we do with all these bodies? The 'vahxa' seems content to eat the humans, but there might a few too many for it so we will need to get rid of at least a few. But how do you want to handle the imps?

“We'll deal with them.” Second says solemnly. Their method of 'dealing with them' was to call over the others and start eating the bodies.

What are you doing? I ask. Totally aghast.

“We eat our fallen friends when we can. When we do, we gain some of their strength. That way they continue to help the pack even after death.” First explains morosely. It is going to take me some time to get used to her sudden new level of eloquence

“Okay for us? Not know them.” The mother imp asks.

“Yes. It’s okay. Even if you never had the opportunity to get to know them, you're a part of our pack now. Just as they were. This will benefit us all. It's not something you should miss out on.” Second assures her.

Are you going to be able to eat all of them? That is quite a lot for just the four of you.

“It’s a lot, yes. It will take time. But we’ll manage.” Second says.

I find the idea rather gruesome, but if this is their normal method of dealing with their dead I do not think I have a reason to stop them if it helps them deal with their grief. Especially if what they said about 'gaining some of their strength' is more than just a superstition. I do not know how that would work. But there is still a lot I do not know about imps and their biology so I can not discount the possibility. But I certainly do not have to watch.

At one point the 'vahxa' wandered over to investigate what they were eating only for First to gently push it away.

“No. You go eat the humans. This is only for us.” She says.

I am certainly not over my imps' death. I do not know if I ever will be. I do not know how to deal with this grief. But having a direction and plan will help distract me.

We have to keep moving forwards. If we just give up then the same tragedy will simply repeat itself. I will not let that happen...Not again.