The demons of the unnad village were a surprisingly peaceful lot.
By the end of his first day with them, he’d seen none of the stereotypical death, cannibalism, or feats of evil that had briefly fascinated his childhood. Before becoming a master of magic and sword beca his drive.
These demons were no different from the rural peasantry who worked his family’s estate near Montmorency. Or the people in the lower districts of Norneau.
The closest they ca to stereotypical demons was that so of the nfolk and wonfolk would resolve things with a fight. But these were little more than punchups. Fought to the pain or first blood. Sotis just fought for little reason than boredom and a desire to prove how tough one was.
No one challenged Rain.
He spent his day with them using his magic to help out. Cutting firewood and shaping stones for grinding - using one of his Manifest Arms blades. Helping to dig a small well for water. Hunting a ratatoskr the size of a cow that decided to climb down the tree and screech challenges.
The villagers let him fight it alone, because he was by then the demonstrably strongest mage around.
No one of the village was more of a mage than Princess. And she had only the rudints of druidcraft for helping the hell-plants find purchase in Ayther’s soil. Perhaps that’s why she led the village. And was the least mana-corrupted of them all.
She had a proper outlet for her mana. One she’d already tried to teach others.
While the ratatoskr was butchered and cooked, he taught her the fundantals of tempering, explaining how to align one’s mana with one’s breathing. How to focus on excluding the intrusive mana of the environnt. How to produce a thin, tough skin of one’s own mana that would help resist and filter external sources.
Afterward, he’d shared in the al and reiterated again what the dangers of staying were.
But more than being rural and tough, these demons were stubborn.
Stubborn enough that he went to bed rather than stay and be the subject of their reproachful stares.
And the next morning, he decided to say a few parting words to Princess.
"If you’re here to try to convince to pull up, you won’t find an ear today," Princess warned the mont Rain approached her. Today she was sitting on a makeshift stool, processing so of the root vegetables from her garden with a knife.
"I was just about to thank for your hospitality. But I need to start flying back."
"Not going to try again?" she stood, letting the dirt, barbs, stalks and knots drop from her apron.
"I think I know better than that by now. And if I stay, then you might be found. And we’ll both be in trouble."
She sized him up for a mont. "You’ve done good by us, Gale. Helped out a bit. Knowing what the angels did to ya..." She paused. "If we left, would you co with us? Instead of going back?"
Rain froze. He could, couldn’t he? Just walk away... no one had co for him in almost two days. But Cassiel would be alone. That they’d fought ant... gods, he’d been so negligent of her. She obviously still cared enough to have the fight instead of simply shut him down. But if he went back to her... if she decided to start treating him like a servant...
Would he be able to escape again?
He still wanted to help her. But this was the closest he’d co to freedom in years...
"I... can’t," he finally said.
"I’m sorry to hear that." She sighed, patting her apron free of dust as she let out a puff of breath. "It’ll please you to know we’ve decided to pull up and head for the coast. After you leave. Much good as you’ve done, there are so who won’t trust you no matter what. So we’ll make our own path."
Rainier chuckled. "Why invite at all if that’s the case?"
Princess shrugged. "Demons respect power. You have it, and you aren’t technically an angel. Makes wonder what would happen if you got ritualed."
"Ritualed?"
"Ah... if soone tried to make you a half demon. What with you being half-angel already and with what they’ve done to you."
"Oh. Yeah..." Rain didn’t think much about the fact that demons had their own version of Elevated. He’d learned a few of the villagers were half-demons, but he saw no difference in how they were treated by the normal demons. Except that they were relied on a bit more because they were less mana-corrupted than everyone who wasn’t Princess. "I’d probably explode. Might not be a bad way to go."
He laughed. Princess laughed too.
"Better than dying slow," she agreed. During the pause between them, she chewed her lower lip.
""Say -"" they said simultaneously. ""You go first,"" they continued.
"You first," Rain deferred, sneaking the words in edgewise.
Princess let out a breath. "Was going to ask if you’d like to stay for lunch. We’ve still got so of that big squirrel -"
"Ratatoskr," Rain corrected.
"Ratawhatever. And a feast before travel will lift everyone’s spirits."
"I guess I could stay that long... I thought demons didn’t eat that much to begin with."
"Maybe city demons. But so of us are demonkin, and so of us just don’t like to feed on each other. Soone always loses out at the end or has to eat."
"I... never knew that." Maybe that was why a lot of angels ate mana-rich foods. So as not to leech each other of their emotion-tinted mana. To his knowledge, aside from compulsion, no angel had ever tapped into his emotions... but that didn’t an they couldn’t...
"I never knew half the things you said about angels. Least of all that they could do this ’Elevation’ thing."
"It’s... not quite the sa, I don’t think. But I wasn’t put through it, because I was already a half angel. So after I lost my arm they just... replaced it with this. And it grew on ."
"Maybe they were just afraid you’d be more angelic than them."
"Maybe..." Rain held back a frown.
"So. What was it?"
"Hm?"
"What were you going to ask ?" Princess said.
"Oh!" Rain blushed a bit and scratched at the back of his head. "I was going to ask what your na is... before I go."
Princess gave him a crooked frown. "That’s it? Not the secrets of Hell?"
"Not so much..." he scratched the back of his head. "My, uh... my actual na is Rainier."
She didn’t look surprised at all. "Figured you were smarter than you look. I’m Garnet. Boring, I know."
"I don’t think it’s boring," Rain shrugged.
"That makes two then," she scoffed a bit and looked away.
Before he could ask what she ant, Rain felt a tug on his shirt.
He looked down to find Bait, staring up at him with searching eyes.
"Bait! How long have you been there?" Garnet crouched a bit and patted her thighs with both hands as she sat.
The imp hopped to a seat, looked at Rain, then pointed off to one side of the village.
"What’s that an?" Rain asked.
"Think she ans soone wants you that way."
"Oh. Uh..."
"See you at the feast, Gale," Garnet smiled.
"Right. I’ll see you there... Princess."
He turned and started walking in the direction Bait had indicated. Which turned out to be where the hunters were roasting the frontward remains of the ratatoskr on a spit made from a sapling.
"Gale! There you are. Princess ask you to leave?" Sciore sounded drunk, but it was hard to tell from sight alone if that was the case.
"Asked if I would stay as long as the feast, before you get on your way," he replied.
"Aha, that’s our Princess. Got Angel Boy dangling on her finger already," Sciore and the gathered demons found this hilarious. He accepted a deep bowl of so liquid from the demon next to him. "Co, Angel Boy, sit. Drink."
The demon next to the roasting ratatoskr stood, and Rain took his seat.
"Keep her spinning," Sciore warned.
Rain put one hand on the branch that was being used as a lever and started turning slowly.
He was passed the bowl, and everyone watched until he took a long pull.
As the fiery concoction burned its way down his throat, he sputtered and coughed at the heavily alkaloid taste. "Gods... What is that?"
"Just a little sothing we’ve been working on. Forest berries. Bit of pine nut. Water. Little bit of mash culture from Malebolge... Curare. How do you like it?"
"I think it needs more berries," Rain tried to hand it back, but Sciore pressed his back by the bowl.
"Naw, don’t worry none about it. We had our fill. We want to see if an angel can handle his liquor. Or, ah, Elevated, as you call yourself."
There were chuckles and laughter from the gathered demons. Rain lifted the bowl to his lips and pulled until he’d drunk half of it. It still didn’t taste any -
One mont he was drinking. The next he was on his side, unable to move.
"He down? Demon Lord, Scior, that was enough curare to paralyze a fucking wrath demon."
Rain couldn’t move, but he could still hear and see.
"Lemina, you ready?" He paused to receive a nod. "Scior, distract Princess. Make sure she doesn’t see us. The rest of ya, keep on the roast and rember what our story is."
The rest of the demons nodded and gave affirmations, as Scior peeked down at Rainier’s face.
"Sorry Gale. You gotta die."
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