A Demon's Core

A tiny imp, even by imp standards, proudly sat astride her mighty steed, looking out over what was soon to become a fierce battlefield. Calm and analytical, as a good leader should be, she surveyed the horde of enemies arrayed before them, looking for any weaknesses to exploit. What she saw were creatures that looked lazy and entirely unprepared for the coming conflict. She grinned and raised one hand to point towards their prey.

“Attack,” she commanded.

While her steed made no move from where it stood, its three smaller kin charged forwards. Their cowardly enemies turned to flee from the approaching threat, bouncing away on two legs, not even trying to fight. But such a response was understandable, for what could they hope to accomplish against the might of hellhounds. The battle was soon over and the hellhounds quickly returned with their spoils.

The smallest of the hellhounds presented her prize to the other two imps who were waiting nearby, the commander’s most trusted advisors.

“Thank you Fuzzy,” one of the advisors said and they both reached up to give the hellhound light scratches around the sides of her neck and under her chin, which Fuzzy enjoyed immensely, judging by the way he tail swayed from side to side and the soft crooning noises she made.

“Calla, come,” her other advisor instructed. Calla looked down at Noctis, who had been serving as her steed for most of the day now.

“Down?” She asked and Noctis lowered herself to the ground so Calla could more easily dismount. Calla hugged the hellhound’s large head and gave her a gentle kiss before joining her parents.

Fire had sought to bring down the biggest of the creatures he could find to present to his mate and Noctis nuzzled him affectionately for his efforts, while Scar shared his catch with Fuzzy.

“Can’t have hellhounds do everything. Tomorrow, we find own food.” Calla’s mother, Lily, declared.

The three imps sat on the grass under the shade of a tree as they tore into their meal with teeth and claws, ripping it apart with little concern for the mess they made or the blood soaking into their clothes. It just meant they’d need to stop by the river to get cleaned up before going home.

They had travelled quite far from the dungeon, as they often did when looking for food. It had become scarce in the area around their home. Not that it was ever plentiful in that part of the city, a place built of concrete, metal and glass. Even though the concrete was breaking and the grass was growing through the cracks, it was not enough to support a large population of animals. But further away from the city centre where the houses were made of wood and bricks, the plants and trees were far more plentiful and so were the animals that fed on them. Sometimes even the plants themselves offered a bounty for the imps to feast upon. Not for the hellhounds though; they didn’t like to eat plants, not even the ones the imps thought were tasty.

Once the hellhounds had eaten their fill, Fuzzy took a nap next to where the imps were seated while Fire and Scar began a fire-breathing contest. Noctis watched as they took turns sending pillars of fire up into the air, each one wider, hotter and travelling further than the one before.

Eventually, she decided to join in. She stepped up to the other two hellhounds, inhaled deeply and felt the heat building inside her. Looking up to the sky, she unleashed a blazing inferno more intense than both of the males' efforts combined. Scar looked down submissively at the demonstration of her power, but Fire was bouncing in excitement at the display.

Calla and her parents watched in awe at the flames that seemed to reach all the way to the sky above, spreading out like an enormous flickering, fiery flower. When the blaze finally ended, Calla turned to her parents, her eyes sparkling.

“When I make fire?” She asked.

“Make fire? Like hellhounds?” Her father, Calyx, inquired.

“Yes.” Calla sucked in a deep breath of air, then opened her mouth as wide and exhaled as hard as she could, but was disappointed when no fire emerged.

“Imps don’t make fire like that. Only hellhounds,” Lily insisted. Calla frowned and looked down at the ground, then peered at Fuzzy and thought for a moment.

“I become hellhound?” She asked hopefully, eliciting a chuckle from Calyx.

“Imp not become hellhound. Imp become imp,” he answered.

“No. I do it,” Calla vowed, gazing towards Noctis with a look of determination.

After waking, Coal stretched out as much as he was capable within the confines of his box. He sat up slowly and peeked over its edges, peering around the room. He couldn’t see any other imps present and even the rock-thing that often sat in the corner was absent. The only thing in the room besides him was the glowing pink orb. Violet and Rose had told him that the orb is the one in charge of this place and the source of the voice that spoke to him sometimes.

He didn’t understand how an orb can speak or how it could be in charge of anything. In the past he would have questioned why he should listen to a talking orb, but they said it also brought the Flamebringers here and keeps them under control; anything capable of taming those monsters is deserving of respect.

He climbed out of his box and reached his arms up to stretch properly. He liked his box, it was the best place to sleep he had ever found and it had room for all of his things, not that he actually had much besides this box; just some clothes and the magic rock he was given. The best was that he didn’t even have to fight for it. Not that he didn’t enjoy fighting, but it was nice to not have to fight all the time. When he was with his old pack, anytime he wanted anything, he wouldn’t get it without a fight. That was the way things were decided amongst them; the only ones who got what they wanted were those who had the strength to take it. Food was the only exception, letting anyone go hungry would weaken the overall strength of the pack, but they would only get as much as they needed to survive. Anyone who wanted more than the bare minimum would have to fight for it.

While he didn’t like to admit it, he had often been one of those who only got the bare minimum. He wondered if that would still be the case if he went back now, after Rose and Violet had helped him get better at fighting. None of that mattered here though, they didn’t fight over everything in this pack. Resources were shared evenly and most conflicts were resolved without resorting to violence, or at least before too much blood was shed. It was confusing for him when he first arrived and there were still things he didn’t understand. That is what led him to the current conundrum that he’d been trying to figure out for a while now; how to appeal to a potential mate.

In his old pack, attracting a mate would have simply been a matter of impressing her with his strength, but it was clear that wasn’t going to work with Violet. He had already proven himself stronger than all the other imps here, besides Violet herself, but given how much stronger she was than him, he didn’t expect to be able to impress her that way. Even if he could compare to her strength, that might not be enough. The imps here did not prioritise strength the same way they did where he came from.

After pondering the situation, yet again, and still not reaching an answer, he decided it was time to ask for advice. He assumed Rose would be the best one to ask because she was the smartest, or so Violet had explained to him at least. Her bedroom was the most likely place to find her when she wasn’t out, so he approached her door and knocked, hoping she would actually be there. Knocking was something else he had to learn after he came here. Rose was very insistent on it, though he mostly found it to be a hassle that he didn’t see the point of. He never had to worry about doors before coming here.

There was no response to his continued knocking and when he finally ran out of patience, he opened the door and walked in, only to find the room empty. Grunting in frustration, he backed out of the room and closed the door behind him. If she had gone outside, it would probably be easier to wait for her to return rather than go looking for her, but if she is around here somewhere, the orb would know; he walked up to the chair, surrounded by bones, upon which it was situated. Ignoring the false orb, he tapped the iridescent pink sphere a few times.

Coal, do you need something? The orb’s voice asked.

“Rose. Where?” He asked.

It is her turn on watch right now, so she is up on the roof at the moment.

He didn’t understand most of the words but he knew what the ‘roof’ was so he made his way to the stairs. On the roof, he found Rose and several other imps. Most were running around and playing, with Violet among them. Only Rose was walking around the perimeter and keeping watch over the surroundings. She stopped her patrol when she noticed Coal had arrived and approached him.

“Magentam said you were looking for me. What do you need?” She asked.

“How…make Violet…like?” Coal inquired, speaking slowly as he tried to remember the correct words.

“Like what?” Rose replied, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

“I,” he stated, pointing to himself.

“I think she already likes you, doesn’t she?” She raised an eyebrow and looked over to where Violet was running around with the others.

Coal took some time to process what she said, doing his best to decipher the meaning from the words he understood.

“Mate?” He asked hopefully.

“Oh,” she said as realisation dawned on her, “I’m not sure about that. What have you tried so far?”

“Fight,” he said, holding up his fists. Rose lets out an exasperated sigh.

“Maybe try a gift,” she suggested.

“Gift?”

“Yes, try giving her something she likes, something that doesn’t involve fighting.”

“What she like?”

“You know she likes brooms.”

Without waiting for another word, Coal dashed back to the stairwell. He teleported his way down the stairs to reach his goal faster. Once back on the fifth floor, he fetched one of Violet's brooms and returned to the roof as quickly as he could to present it to her.

On the roof again, he immediately sought out Violet and held the broom out for her. She stared at him confused for a moment, then grinned and took it from his hands.

“Thanks, this is just what I need,” she cheered. She placed the head of the broom on the floor before her and took off running.

Coal didn’t understand the purpose of brooms. Pushing dirt from one place to another seemed like a completely pointless thing to do. He couldn’t understand why she found them so appealing, but she liked them and that is what mattered. He watched her pushing the broom around, chasing after the other imps as they ran away from her, laughing, until Rose came up behind him.

“That’s one of hers isn’t it? You got it from downstairs, right?” When he nodded, she sighed and shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. It’s not a gift if you are just giving her something she already owns.”

He stares blankly at her in response, not really understanding what she was trying to tell him.

“You need to go out, find a new broom, one that is not already hers, bring it back and give it to her,” Rose explained slowly.

“Out. New broom. Give.” Coal said back to her.

“Yes, exactly. Find a new broom to give to Violet,” Rose confirmed.

“I go,” he declared.

“WAIT!” Rose commanded as he was turning to leave. “You can’t go by yourself. It’s not safe to go out alone. You’ll need to find someone to go with you.”

“I go,” he repeated, his fist clenched and his expression turning into a frown.

“No. Not alone.” Rose insisted.

“You come,” Coal growled.

“I can’t right now. It’s my turn on watch, but look,” she gestured to the other imps around, “you can ask anyone else.”

His frown deepened further into a scowl and he disappeared from where he was standing only to reappear directly in the path of the closest imp who ran right into him. Coal was prepared for the impact and so was mostly unaffected by it, but the other imp bounced off him and fell to the ground. The smaller imp was terrified when he looked up and saw Coal scowling down at him.

“You, come,” Coal demanded.

Rose walked over to him again, also frowning now.

“Coal, that wasn’t nice. And you can’t just order others to do whatever you want,” she reprimanded. She turned to the imp who was still on the ground and held out a hand to help him up.

“Sorry about that, he’s not going to hurt you. He just needs someone to go outside with him because of the rule that we’re not allowed to go out by ourselves, but you don’t have to go with him if you don’t want to.” She said to the imp, it was one of the recently summoned males who did not yet have a name.

“Go where?” He asked.

“He’s looking for a gift for Violet. He wants her to be his mate.” She whispered the last part while Coal glared at him. The male imp smiled, then giggled and nodded.

“Okay, I go,” the male imp agreed.

With that, Coal stopped scowling and made his way down the stairs once more, this time with another imp trailing behind him.

Igneous was gliding through the air, circling the hotel on a wide arc. Once the watch rotation Rose organised had been explained to him, he offered to participate as well, considering it only fair that he also be a part of it. Having a higher vantage point also gave him a better view of the surrounding area. That the lack of aerial predators made it much safer to spread his wings was quite pleasing to him as well, though Magentam had warned him that the humans could still pose a danger to him if provoked.

That didn’t mean he was the only creature in the air, but nothing he had seen flying in these skies so far was a threat to him. But he still remained alert whenever he heard the sound of wings, so when he suddenly heard wings that he wasn’t familiar with, it put him on edge. Being able to identify a creature based solely on the sound of its wingbeats was once a matter of life and death for him so he was certain that whatever it was was something he’d never encountered before and needed to investigate, though not without caution.

Whatever it was, it beat its wings quickly, at least compared to him, suggesting that it was small. He could only hear one set of wings, meaning the creature was alone so he flew in the direction of the sound. Following it to its source, he found what appeared to be a winged reptile flying low over the city. He might not have thought much of it, just another new creature in this new land he had found himself in, he might have even eaten it, under normal circumstances.

Swooping down towards it, it must have noticed his approach because its movements suddenly became erratic, but it was unable to evade the claws grasping for it. Holding the creature tightly in his hands, he glided over to the roof of the nearest building to inspect what he had caught.

All the flying creatures he had seen so far in these lands had either feathers or fur; this was the first one he had seen with scales. It had a long sinuous body, though half its length was in its tail. Igneous estimated it would be about as long as his arm from the tip of its tail to its nose. It had two short legs and two wings that it flapped desperately as it struggled to escape his grasp.

But the creature itself wasn't important right now. What had drawn his attention was the small black plastic box strapped to its chest. He didn’t know what it was, but it was well secured. He also didn’t think this creature had the physical or mental capability to have put it on itself. He decided it would be best to take it back to show Rose. Snapping the creature’s neck to put an end to its struggling, he took off back towards the hotel. Once there, he landed right beside Rose and she looked at him with a concerned frown.

“Did you see something?” She asked.

He held out the creature for her to inspect and her eyes went wide when she saw the box.

“Magentam needs to see this.”