A Demon's Core

I gave everyone the rest of the day to do as they please without asking anyone to do anything. I even asked Rose and Violet to give them a break on magic and combat training, not that either of them wanted to do them anyway. I wish I could give them more time to recover after what may have been a harrowing experience, but I am sure our enemies are not being idle, so we can not afford to be either. They are not going to wait for us to be ready for them.

Surprisingly though, most of the imps do not seem to be too greatly impacted by the event, other than Violet and Calla. I ask Rose if that is normal.

“Generally yes. Death is always sad, but imps are resilient. We don’t break easily.” She says with a concerned look towards Violet.

Do you think she will be alright?

“It’s hard to say, I’ve never known anyone who’s gone through what she has. Death isn’t something most come back from. But I believe she will be, given time.” Though I do not say more about it, I am also worried about Rose. She clearly has some unresolved issues from her past that still weigh on her.

Calla took Spiky’s death pretty hard, but she has Noctis and her parents doing their best to cheer her up so I am sure she will be fine as well.

Right now I think it would be useful if I had a way to get in contact with William, but I currently have no means to do so. I think it would be best to inform him of our most recent attack as soon as possible. I do not know if or when more armored humans may come. If the information is useful then perhaps he could get ahead of it and put a stop to it before it happens.

But it is not like I can deliver anything to him directly. I do not know where he can be found within the human city and even if I did, it would not be safe to send any of my creatures to find him. He may have convinced others not to shoot down Igneous last time, but I can not be certain that we would be so lucky again.

I would need a way to deliver a message without getting too close to the humans. The only thing I can think of is approaching the outpost near the bridge, but even that is not without risk. I do not know if they are actually affiliated with the DMO, if they work for someone else or if they are just a random human/group of humans who like to live separately from the rest and offer accommodation to passing travelers.

I do not know anything about them except that William and his group stayed with them for a night. But they are the only lead I have got right now. The question becomes how to communicate. None of my creatures speak their language, but even if they could, I do not know how those people might react to being approached directly.

So why not follow William’s example. A letter and a gift left at the door. I still have the letter I received earlier. It was blank on the other side so I can use that and reuse the envelope as well. All I need now is something to write with. I know my imps have brought back pencils before. They have used them to draw on the walls a few times.

Violet, can you please find me a pencil? She is almost back to her normal bubbly self. Giving her a task to complete may help as she always likes to be helpful.

“I have lots of pencils!” She exclaims, rushing to her room to dig through her belongings.

Good, bring it to my chair when you find one.

The letter and envelope were stashed in Room 7, along with the blue mana crystal, after they were opened. As she comes out of her room she sees the paper floating through the air. She frowns as she watches them.

“Magentam, are you doing that?” She ask with growing concern.

Yes. Did I forget to tell you that I can actually touch things now?

“Oh, good. I thought we might’ve had a ghost.” She says, relieved.

Why would there be a ghost here? Are ghosts even real? She is left flabbergasted by my question.

“Of course they’re real. But you wouldn’t be able to see them if they were here because they’re invisible.” She insists.

Is that so? I want to believe her, but her claim sounds a bit dubious. I will ask Rose about it later. Did you manage to find a pencil?

“I did!” She replies cheerfully, placing a green pencil on my chair.

Excellent. Thank you.

I lay the paper down flat, though it is still creased from when Rose scrunched it up a little, it will do. Violet watches on with curiosity as I pick up the pencil.

“What are you doing? Are you going to draw a picture? Do you want more colours? I have a few others.” She asks, eyes sparkling as I bring the pencil to the page.

No, thank you. That will not be necessary. I am going to write a letter to William Blake from the DMO.

“Oh, That’s less fun.” She says, her excitement now deflated.

When I am done, would you be willing to help deliver it? I see her whole body tense up when I say that. I am not going to ask you to go the human city, just to that building near the bridge that they hid in for the night.

“But how will I talk to them?” She asks nervously.

You will not need to speak to them or interact with them directly in any way. Someone just needs to place it at the door and knock until you can be sure they know it is there. It does not even have to be you who delivers it. I just need you to be the guide. I try to reassure her but she does not look entirely convinced.

I know I am asking a lot, but you are the only one who has seen exactly where it is. I will not force you to do it if you really do not want to. I can think of something else. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she opens her eyes again I can see a look of determination.

“I’ll do it. I don’t want to keep being afraid.”

I can ask Igneous to fly you over, or you can go on foot if you would prefer, only if you find others to go with you though. I do not want you doing this alone.

“I’ll go on foot. It’ll be a good chance to show some of the others parts of the city they have not seen before.” Her decision is a little surprising, I expected her to jump at the chance to go flying again, but her choice is a good one.

I ponder how best to write this letter. William’s original letter was kind of formal. Should I try to emulate that or should I be more straight forward? I do not think I care for needless formality so I will keep it brief and to the point.

William,

We were attacked by well equipped, armored humans all bearing this insignia.

I hope this will be helpful for your investigation but would also like to request

any information you have on them.

Magentam

I will send one of the shoulder pads with the cartoon badger along with the letter. Altogether, that should get the point across well enough, I hope. Doing this, I discovered that writing like this is incredibly difficult. Holding and carrying items with mana is relatively easy, but the fine motor skills necessary for writing are quite challenging. Still, I think my handwriting is legible at least and that is what matters. Perhaps this is something else I should practice. I honestly never would have expected this to be a skill I would actually need.

I fold the letter, which I also find to be a bit tricky, and place it in the envelope, writing ‘William Blake’ on the front of it in big letters. By the time I am done, Violet has assembled the team that will be accompanying her. River, Rose, Coal and Fuzzy. I am a little hesitant about letting Violet, Rose and Coal all go out at the same time. If anything else happens here, Rose’s ability to heal is invaluable and Violet and Coal have the greatest combat capabilities among the imps. I can not help but feel that having all three gone at the same time leaves us quite vulnerable.

No. Stop that. I am being unreasonable. I am not going to limit their freedom due to some sense of imposed responsibility. Besides, if an emergency does come up while they are absent, I can simply recall them if needed.

More importantly, this group is undoubtedly the best to be able to help Violet if she panics again. Perhaps that is exactly why she chose them. Or maybe she just asked the people she likes the most without giving it any deeper thought. But that is exactly why they are the best to help her, so it does not really matter either way.

Violet has her shield, but has traded her dagger for one of the knives brought by the armored humans because it comes with a sheath that can be easily attached to a belt, which is far more comfortable than trying to tuck a blade into a belt without one. Rose and River have similarly traded their old knives for some of these new ones. Coal does not bother with weapons, still preferring to rely on his own claws. I see Violet and River also have backpacks.

Are you planning to go exploring after you make the delivery?

“Yes, new places to explore means there could be new things to find.” Violet exclaims, then pauses. “Is that okay?” She asks.

As long as you are careful. But delivering the letter comes first. You will find it on the chair. I would also like you to take one of the shoulder pads with the picture of the furred animal on it.

Violet moves forward to pick up the letter, while Rose goes through the hole in the wall to Room 7 to collect the shoulder pad. They place both items in Violet's backpack and head out. After they leave I look for something else to turn my attention to in an effort to keep myself from worrying to much.

The vehicle that the humans came in is something I need to think about. Igneous did not bring back any keys so they are probably still with the vehicle, possibly even in the ignition since it seemed like the driver tried to start it when Igneous attacked. That would make it easy for some one else to take it, whether it is other humans from the same group or just a random explorer who happens to stumble across it.

But I want that vehicle. It is our prize and we deserve it. I am sure it could be useful in some way, even if none of my creatures can drive it. The imps are far too small to operate such a vehicle safely. Perhaps Igneous could learn to drive, but that would probably require finding someone to teach him. If nothing else, at least it would still be valuable to trade. I am sure it is worth far more than anything else we have taken from the humans. But that would be a last resort, I would prefer to find a way to use it if we can.

I ask Igneous to go fetch the keys if he can find them. I try my best to explain where the ignition would be, without having actually seen it myself, but I assume most cars would have a similar internal layout. I am sure he is smart enough to figure it out. I would also like to know what is inside the trailer. My assumption is that it is to store their weapons and armor and anything else they might need so there might be more useful things inside. I will save that for later though, maybe when the others get back. Securing the keys comes first.

It does not take Igneous long to return with the keys, he also brings back the pistol that the human used. After depositing both in Room 7, I thank him and he curls up in his corner.

Later in the day Calla comes into Room 5 riding on Noctis. She is looking all around the room with a slight frown on her face.

Looking for something?

“Where Fuzzy?” She asks.

She went out with Violet.

“I go find.” She declares.

No, you can not do that right now. They are on an important mission. You should not interrupt them. She pouts and leans forwards until she is laying across Noctis’ head.

“But want to play.” She whines.

Noctis lets out a quiet bark and Calla sits up again with a grin.

“Yes. Play outside and wait. We bring Fire. We go!” She announces, pointing dramatically towards the door.

What was that? Does Noctis actually communicate with her somehow or is she just making inferences based on how she wants to interpret things? Curious.

Please do not forget to tell your parents where you are going.

I do not think Calla would be in any danger with Noctis and Fire around, but I am sure Lily and Calyx would be quite worried and upset if she had just left without letting them know. As her parents, they are still quite protective of her. When Calla leaves with the two hellhounds, her parents are following behind them.

They come back a few hours later, Fuzzy having still not returned. Calla is pouting again over Fuzzy’s continued absence, but there is not much to be done about it. She still wants to go out and look for her. But even if I were to allow it, which I absolutely will not, they would not know where to even start searching so it would be a fruitless endeavor.

It is almost nightfall when Violet and her party do return. Calla rushes towards Fuzzy and latches onto her the moment she comes through the door. It is more difficult for Fuzzy to move around when she has an imp attached to her leg, even if it is a small one.

Violet approaches my core to report the success of their mission. When she lead them to the human outpost, Rose was the one to actually deliver the items while the others hid and watched from a safe distance. Rose placed the items on the ground and knocked on the metal wall until it started to slide upwards, at which point she ran to where the others were hiding.

The human that came out did see Rose as she retreated but made no attempt to give chase. They watched as the human picked up both items and went back inside, confirming that the items had been received. He pulled metal wall back down behind him.

Now I just have to hope that they will be delivered to their intended recipient from there. If not, then I do not think there is much else I can do other than just waiting for the next time William decides to visit of his own accord.