A Demon's Core

Seventh’s mood immediately darkens. Not that she was particularly cheery before, but the sudden shift is quite obvious. I am not surprised, I did not expect this to be an easy topic to discuss.

You do not need to talk about it if you do not want to. But if you are willing, I would like to know. She does not say anything and after a while I think she is not going to answer until she looks to Second determinedly.

“Want see Master first. Not like talk at air.” That is not unreasonable. I am sure it is difficult to have a conversation with someone you can not see. Once again, I lament the fact that this body that allows me to move around is merely some kind of mental projection that no one else can see or interact with.

Are you able to walk? Seeing the deep purple bruising on her left leg, just above the ankle, I am worried something might actually be broken.

“Can walk.” She insists, moving to the edge of the bed. Second helps her stand but she cries out in pain as soon as she puts weight on her left foot.

Wait, just sit down. I have a better idea. Please wait here. Once she is seated again I reach out only to Second. Please bring my orb in here. She nods and heads out to where my chair is. She reaches out to pick up the orb but then hesitates.

“Are you sure it’s okay to move it?” she asks nervously.

I do not see why not. It has been moved before. It should be fine.

Reassured, she carefully picks up the orb. As soon as it leaves the chair, all of my senses become a bit fuzzy. Even my body has become translucent and hazy. It is a strange feeling. I do not think it felt like this the first time I was moved, but I suppose at that time my senses were less developed and I was less aware of my surroundings. Once she brings the orb back to her room, I ask her to place it on her desk. After a few seconds all of my senses come back into focus. Though I am shocked to see that the rift has also moved. It appears to have followed the orb and is now in the room with us. How curious. The rift did not move the first time. Maybe because the orb did not move very far or was still in the same room. Those are mysteries for later, there are more important things to worry about now.

“This is our master.” Second says, gesturing to the orb. Seventh just looks at it confused.

“But...is ball. How ball be master?” Now that I think about it, that actually seems to be a rather reasonable reaction. I am a little surprised none of my other imps reacted this way when they first arrived. They all just accepted that a sentient pink orb brought them here without question.

I may seem strange to you, but I can assure you, this orb is actually me. Seventh is still eyeing to orb suspiciously.

“Master is the source of all the good mana in this place. We are all connected to her and it makes us better and stronger. You can feel it too, right?” Second explains.

Wait, what? What does that mean? Are they actually changing in some way? I knew I was connected to each of my imps, but it did not occur to me that it could be having some kind of altering effect on them. Is that why they have been getting smarter? I am going to need to ask Second for more details about that later. Seventh does not speak for a while. She seems contemplative, perhaps trying to process what Second has said, or maybe just trying to come to terms with the idea that all the imps here serve a magical talking sphere. Though maybe “serve” is a bit of an overstatement. It is not like I really ask them to do much for me, in fact I am the one who is trying to help them, by bringing them here. Second gives more orders than I do. She seems to have become leader of this little group.

“Not know stronger. But think mana good here. Okay, I trust.” With that, she finally begins to tell us her story.

When she was a child, she lived with her pack. There was around twenty of them, living in an old, abandoned building on the outskirts of a small city. The building was run down and falling apart, not good enough for anyone else to want to live there. But her pack were just happy to have a place to call home. They preferred not to steal food if they did not have to, not wanting to earn the ire of the local populace of larger demons. They knew that would only lead to problems. Instead they would often catch pests and vermin within the city or hunt and gather what edible plants they could find outside the city limits. Sometimes they would even resort to digging through trash for anything still edible that might have been thrown away. Restaurants were the best for that, but it always seemed to make people angry when they were caught doing that. They could not understand why though, if it was just being thrown out anyway then why could the imps not have it? It was not always easy, but they survived.

Most merchants would not deal with them, even if they had something of value to trade, preferring to either just shoo them away or try to steal whatever it was they had that was worth trading. But there was one merchant who dealt with them. He would trade food or other useful things for interesting things the imps brought him, though not all the things that imps found interesting were of interest to him.

But over time things began to change. Food was becoming harder to find. The merchant had less food to offer. Even the vermin they once caught were becoming scarce. As their desperation grew, they saw little other choice but to resort to theft. They did not steal indiscriminately, only stealing from those who looked like they had the most to spare. The imps were fast enough and stealthy enough that they usually got away with it. But those who were caught were often beaten and sometimes even killed.

Eventually things got bad enough that a particularly nasty group of vukra came to their home to get rid of them. Imps are faster than vukra, usually when imps flee, vukra can not catch them. But this was a large group and they were expecting the imps to flee. There were vukra ready and waiting to catch them as they tried to escape.

Only Seventh and two others managed to get away that day. For those who were caught, the lucky ones were killed straight away. But some of the crueler vukra took joy in slowly torturing and beating their victims to death.

Life was much more difficult for them after that. The food shortage only increased as more time went by. Even some of the vukra started to go hungry and were soon resorting to the same strategies that the imps used to find whatever food they could. Those who had food were much more on guard against anyone trying to steal. Even the merchant who was once friendly stopped dealing with them.

One day they were desperate enough to try stealing from a shipment of food that was being delivered to one of the larger estates in the city. But the shipment was well guarded and they were caught in the attempt. One of them was killed right there. Seventh and the other survivor tried to flee, but they were starving and exhausted and greatly outnumbered. When they were captured, they were not given the mercy of a quick death. As she was being beaten, in more pain than she had ever experienced and terrified that she was going to die, she felt a strange mana tugging at her. Desperate, scared and panicking, she reached out to it without thinking. Then suddenly she was here, in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar imps. In terrible pain, grieving the friend she saw die and feeling guilty and ashamed about leaving the other behind.

It took a long time to get through it all. She had to stop many times to keep from breaking down again. I could see Second’s anger rising as the story went on even as she did her best to comfort the traumatized imp before her. The mana radiating from her growing in intensity and being close to her I was definitely absorbing some it. It carried with it her emotions and I could feel her rage, her disdain and her hatred. I am actually becoming concerned for her as well now. It can not be easy to harbor such feelings.

When she finished her tale, Seventh finally allowed herself to break down fully and Second just held her as she wept, offering what comforting words she could.

When the others returned, the door to Second’s room slowly opened and First slipped inside. Though the others did not follow, I could feel them standing by the door. Seeing Seventh quietly weeping again she was immediately concerned. I filled her in on what had happened to Seventh, though a heavily summarized version. Hearing that, First looked like she wanted to cry as well. I asked First to look after her for a while. There are some things I need to discuss with Second, preferably in private. Seeing the others hovering by the door, Second told them to leave her be for the time being. They dispersed, but their worry was quite plain.

With her room currently occupied, the easiest place to find some privacy was out in the hallway. She is clearly still on edge while I am trying to decide how best to start.

Is what she experienced...normal where you are from? Second leaned against the wall and slowly sank to the floor. I could see tears welling in her eyes and it took her a while to respond. I felt it best not to rush her.

“Her situation was rather extreme. But cruelty and persecution towards imps is not uncommon.” She finally answers.

But why?

“Because they see us as inferior. In some ways they are right. But because we are inferior, most do not even see us as people. And because we are not people to them, they feel like they can do whatever they want to us. It’s not like there are any consequences. If an imp was being attacked in the street, most would simply ignore it, those who don't would be more likely to join in than try to stop it.” She put her head in her hands. I can not see her expression but I can feel her mana starting to flare again.

In what way are you inferior?

“We are smaller and weaker than they are. And you may have noticed that most imps are not particularly bright either.”

So that justifies them treating you like animals? I can feel my own anger rising now. I think this is the first time I have been angry before.

“Ha! You can’t compare our treatment to that of animals. They actually treat animals with a reasonable amount of respect. At least the ones that are useful to them.” She slams her fist into to wall behind her and I can see that she is weeping now. “I don’t know why they hate us so much! It’s not fair. I know some imps can be a nuisance when they start stealing, but we don’t deserve this kind of treatment.” She wails and I can see cracks starting to appear in the wall behind her.

Did you go through something like that as well? I am seriously concerned for her now. But not just about what she may have been through. She is definitely developing some kind of magic and I do not know if she is even aware of it. That kind of power could be very dangerous if she can not control it.

“I don’t want to talk about that. I’m sorry.” She has gotten quite again and the mana flowing from her has subsided back to its faint, subtle radiance.

That is alright. I will not force you to. She mentioned that a lot of problems were caused by a food shortage. Do you know anything about that?

“Maybe. I did sometimes overhear my previous master talking about droughts and famine in quite a few regions in recent years. But I don’t know anything more than that.”

So similar things are probably happening in other places as well. This is an unpleasant revelation.

“Quite likely. I know it’s not my place to ask for favors after what you have already done for me. But please help them. I know you can’t save all of them, but any you can bring here will be far better off than where they are now I’m sure.” She pleads.

Do not worry. That was already my plan. She sighs in relief at that. You should probably go check on the others. And maybe explain to them some of what is going on. She nods then stands up and heads back inside. When she enters the others are looking at her with nervous expressions. She takes the time to explain Seventh’s situation to them, at least the important parts. Most of them look sad. Fifth looks angry. None of them look surprised. Fourth puts a hand on her shoulder.

“You okay?” She asks. They probably heard her outburst even through the walls. Second does not answer. Instead she just walks back towards her room.

“You should probably come and introduce yourselves properly. Preferably one at a time.” She says before opening the door. They follow her advice and come in one by one, even bringing gifts. Third brings a small animal skull, it is about the size of his fist. Fourth brings a shard of red glass. Fifth brings his second biggest knife. Sixth, having not been here long, does not have much to give, but he brings in a nice looking round stone that he found at the river. Seventh is grateful for the gifts. She has calmed down now. I hope she can eventually be happy here, despite all that she has been through.

I really need to hurry up and bring more imps here. For that I need more space. But my ability to expand is limited by my mana regeneration. Which is frustratingly slow. But my regeneration does seem to increase slightly as I expand. I think my best strategy for now might be to focus solely on expansion for a while. Not summon any more imps until I have plenty of additional space for them. At least the entirety of the next hotel room and maybe even the next one beyond that as well. That will give me not just more room but better mana regeneration so I can summon them faster. I wish it did not have to take so long. I want to help them now. But there is only so much I can do with so little mana.