A Demon's Core

Violet’s report on the humans' numbers are worrying, but not entirely surprising, considering the number of humans that were sent in the last attack. They would not send that many unless they were confident, desperate or had numbers to spare. If that was a force they had felt confident in, that would be laughable with how ineffectual they were. Nor did William and his group seem particularly desperate during the negotiation. So they must have numbers to spare.

I still do not trust William, even if he did seem sincere. If his desire for peace is genuine, that suggests that humans are not a monolithic group. I could believe that, but it is also possible that it is just a clever ruse to make us let down our guard. We will have to wait and see.

For now I am glad that Violet made it back safely. Even though I was confident she would succeed, I still could not help feeling worried the entire time she was gone. Evidently I was not the only one. As soon as she got back her sister flung herself towards her and wrapped her in a hug, which Violet happily returned. She still does not have a name, but she wants to choose one for herself so I will just have to wait.

Coal also gave her a hug after her sister. Violet was surprised by that, but I have never seen her refuse a hug before and this time was no exception. He then challenged her to a fight. He knows the word ‘fight’ now. I hope he was referring to a friendly sparring match and not a serious fight. Though even their ‘friendly’ sparring matches usually are not that friendly, leaving them both quite bloody.

But Violet just wanted to rest after her extended mission, after telling me about all the interesting things she saw that she did not feel were important enough to report immediately. The dog-like creature that dissipated into mist sounds interesting. I would like to learn more about that. I wonder if I could summon one. Violet's description feels a little vague, but it may still be enough. I might try it some time if I can get more information about them. I will tell my imps to keep an eye out for them, but not just charge after them if they see them like Violet did.

It is time to summon something new though. I was conserving my mana before as I prepared for the meeting with the humans so that interrupted my imp summoning schedule. Then I wanted to wait for Violet to return before I summoned a new imp, she always likes to greet them as soon as they arrive.

But I think I might need something a little different this time. I want a creature that can scout the human city. The easiest way I can think of to do that would be from the air. Unless I can get a creature that can turn invisible...I do have one that can teleport so it does not seem like much of a stretch to think that it could be possible. But seeing it from the sky might be better for getting a sense of the full scale of their territory.

I wonder if there are imps that can fly. I know there are different subspecies and at least some have interesting abilities. It seems like a long shot, but still might be worth trying.

Only about half the imps gather for this summoning, Rose and Violet among them as always, of course. Coal is here too, which I appreciate. I am going to have Noctis here this time as well. Even if it might scare a new imp, it is a necessary precaution. If a flying imp is not actually something that exists then I do not know what will happen. I might just end up with a regular imp or I might get something different altogether. Since flying is the primary focus here, I suspect it will be more likely to get something new.

The summoning takes noticeably longer than usual this time and I start to wonder if something is wrong, but before I can become too concerned, a white light appears and begins to take shape. What materializes from the rift is not an imp...Rather it looks like I have summoned a large grey rock. I am not sure how to react to this. Did I do something wrong? Is it even possible to summon a rock? The imps stare at the rock in confusion but Noctis approaches it and prods at it with her nose. After being prodded a few times the rock wiggles a little.

Violet approaches next and tries to lightly poke it. She touches one clawed finger to the rock and it moves ever so slightly, just enough so that her claw is no longer touching it. She puts her whole hand on the rock with her palm flat. This time it does not move and looks as solid as I would expect a rock to be. She tries scraping her claws against the rock and it wiggles again, attempting to move away from them.

Whatever this thing is, I do not think it is a rock. It seems to be a living creature of some kind. But I wanted something that could fly. A creature that looks like a rock seems like the opposite of that. But I can not be certain, maybe it possesses some kind of hidden abilities that I am not aware of. Perhaps I should try talking to it.

Hello, do not be afraid. We are not going to harm you. We want to be friends.

The rock wiggles more as it changes shape, becoming taller and narrower. To my surprise, and everyone else’s, the rock looks to be unfolding now. Violet and Noctis jump back as its shape shifts and changes until it opens up to reveal a creature with massive wings that it had wrapped around itself. Now I see how it could be a flying creature.

The creature is crouched down and hunched forwards, but it straightens up a little as it looks around the room. The creature has two arms and two legs. Its arms look disproportionately long compared to the size of its torso, ending in hands with only four fingers. Its feet also have four digits, three forward facing and one backwards with vicious looking curved talons on all of them. They make me think of a bird of prey with their design.

It has a wiry build and looks to be around as tall as the hellhounds, but that is when it is crouched down and still slightly hunched over. If it stood up straight to its full height, I estimate it might be almost as tall as a human.

Its nose is almost completely flat, barely more than two vertical slits in the middle of its face. It has yellow eyes and large ears that end in a point. Smooth grey skin covers its body with no hair that I can see.

Its wings are marvelous. It is hard to tell its wingspan with its wings half folded as they currently are, but I can see they are quite expansive. Where the leathery wing membrane attaches to its back, it runs down its full length and even along the short tail at the base of its spine. But they are also incredibly flexible, they would have to be to wrap around it the way they were when it appeared.

It approaches Noctis, folding its wings onto its back. They bend in more places than I would expect, but that allows them fold completely onto its back without dragging behind it. It walks forwards on all fours, but it never touches its palms to the floor, only its finger tips being in contact with the ground.

It holds a hand out to Noctis. She sniffs and then licks the proffered hand and it reaches up to pat her on the head, which she does not object to. It turns to Violet, but she does not wait for it to come to her. She moves forward and tries to wrap her arms around it. It pats her on the head too, causing her to giggle.

Rose has gone to Room 7, where we now store all the clothes, to find something for it to wear as the imp sized clothes she had prepared clearly were not going to fit. I had actually forgotten about clothes for a moments, too busy marveling at this new creature and how unusual it looks compared to everything else I had seen so far, which admittedly is not much. But now that I take the time to notice, I can see that he is male.

She returns with some grey adult sized shorts. Obviously a shirt is out of the question with those wings. She holds the shorts out to him but he just looks at her and tilts his head. She demonstrates putting the shorts on, but they are far too big for her so she has to hold them up at her waist. When she offers the pants to him again he seems to understand and puts them on without issue. He tries to pat her on the head as well, but she holds up a hand to block it.

“Please don’t.” She says and he retracts his arm. “Can you speak?” She asks. He shakes his head. “But you can understand me?” He nods. “Do you have a name? My name is Rose.” He does not seem to react for a few seconds, then Rose shakes her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” There is a few more seconds of silence before Rose speaks again. “Would it be alright if our lord gives you a new name? Not to replace your current name, of course, but just so that we have something to call you that we can actually pronounce.” He thinks for a moment, then nods.

Was he actually communicating with you somehow?

“Yes. I believe he uses some kind of telepathy, not unlike you, but he doesn’t communicate in words. It was like images, sounds and a lot of other things I did not understand all at once. It felt kind of...abstract. I’m not sure how else to describe it.”

Now I need to come up with a name for him. Perhaps something rock related since that is how he first appeared. I cannot simply call him ‘Rock’ though as one of the imps already claimed that name.

How would you feel about the name ‘Igneous’? I ask. That is rock related and it does sound impressive too, even if it is just a basic geology term.

I feel something latch on to the mana I used to speak to him and follow it back to my core. In my mind I experience a jumble of images, sounds, smells, flavours, feelings, shapes, colours, textures and some other things I simply can not comprehend all mixed together. Like a kaleidoscope for all five senses and then a few more on top of that. I understand what Rose meant now, but simply calling it ‘abstract’ feels like a serious understatement.

I am sorry. I also cannot understand that.

He reaches out again, this time with a much simpler concept. ‘Acceptance’. That felt a lot more like how Noctis communicates. As long he can separate his thoughts into more basic concepts like that, communication should not be a problem. Being able to send images could be useful too if he can show me exactly what he sees instead of having to describe it to me. I could finally get to see what the outside world looks like.

Most of the imps have gathered now to observe this new creature, gazing up at him in curiosity and wonder. Except for Coal, he is still wary and cautious. When Igneous turns to him he growls. Igneous bares his teeth but does not make any sound. He has two prominent fangs on each of his top and bottom jaws but the rest of his teeth are small and pointy. Violet steps between them and glares down at Coal.

“No fighting.” She chides. Coal stops growling but he continues to glower.

Violet turns back to Igneous and asks to see his wings again. He extends one wing out to its full length. Seeing it like this, it looks to be almost as long as Noctis, if not a bit more. His full wingspan must be enormous. It is a wonder he can fold them so neatly onto his back when they are so large.

She moves forward and gently caresses the tough but soft wing membrane and some of the other imps do the same.

Violet, how about you show him the way out so he can go stretch his wings if he wants to.

Violet readily agrees and beckons Igneous to follow as she heads for the door. Most of the imps follow along, even Coal.

Luckily Rose is one of the few imps who stayed behind so I can ask her about this strange new creature.

Have you ever seen anything like him before?

“No. I have absolutely no clue what that is. He’s fascinating though, especially his rock disguise. For a moment I wondered if you had summoned an actual rock, until it started moving.”

It is impressive. He even had me questioning it at first. It is a good thing Noctis was able to see through it. He seems quite intelligent as well, so he should be able to help us by scouting the surrounding area from the air.

About half an hour after Igneous and the imps went out, Violet contacts me.

‘Magentam, I’m flying!’ She says in a tone full of exuberance.

You are what? I ask, surprised at the sudden declaration.

‘I’m flying. He picked me up with his hands and feet, he can grab things with his feet, and now we’re flying. This is so amazing. I can see so far. I wish I had wings so I could fly like this all the time.'

I am worried by this but Igneous seems smart enough that I do not think he would do anything to put her in danger. At least, I hope not.

When they eventually return a few hours later, Violet looks elated. Most of the imps are bouncing along beside Igneous in excitement. A couple of them look significantly less enthusiastic though and one even looks nauseous. I guess flying is not for everyone.

Igneous paces over to one corner of the room and curls into a ball and slowly wraps his wings around himself. I and many of the imps watch in fascination at the way his wings bend and flex. With how flexible they are, it makes me wonder if his wings even have bones in them. But they must right? Would he be able to fly if they did not?

When he is done he once again looks like a big, grey rock just sitting in the corner. Even knowing the truth, the disguise is still incredibly convincing. I wonder if there is some magic involved or if he is just able to subtly alter the texture and colouration of his skin to make it look more like a natural rock formation. In the right environment, that would likely be perfect camouflage.

Even in this environment, I am sure it will still be useful. Most animals and monsters are probably not smart enough to question the presence of a big rock. Even the humans might be fooled. While I am sure they would be confused by its presence, I doubt even they would be able to see through the disguise unless they have encountered something like this before.

He is such an interesting creature. Perhaps I should summon another. I do not like the idea of my creatures having to be alone, unless that is their preference. I should ask him if that is something he wants later. But what to call them? Rose has no idea what they are and I am not sure who else I can ask. I will just come up with something that sounds fitting until someone can tell me otherwise, as usual. A winged creature that can disguise itself as a stone is not too dissimilar from the concept of a gargoyle. So I will call them that for now.

As much as I would like to send him to scout the human’s location straight away, as I doubt the humans are simply idling around waiting for us to do something, I feel like it is important to let him get settled in and learn about his new environment before I ask him to do any serious scouting missions. So I will let him rest for a few days. In the meantime I need to finish work on the meeting room on the fourth floor.