I sat atop a mountain of corpses, that was itself on top of a mountain. I took in the view of the world from here, from the sea of green, to the vivid blue of the sky. So peaceful, so beautiful, as if they hid no horrors at all.
I received a sudden alert. A tug. Not urgent, but I might want to check it right now.
I shrugged and decided to do so. I wasn’t really doing anything other than brooding. The wormraiders that had infested this mountain and rendered it half as fertile as others were already dead.
I took only a few samples with to bring back ho.
I initiated the teleport, and soon found myself hurtling through space to arrive back at Pandemonium.
“Hey, hey! What’s up?” I asked the house. My loot was just discarded on the ground, and then promptly ‘eaten’ by the floor.
The ceiling wobbled.
“So people, huh? And I asked to et with them? I don’t think I have any appointnts lined up.” I flew out at speed, navigating through the lush, fleshy corridors, and then those that weren’t so extre. “Oh well. I’m here anyway. Let’s go et them!”
I arrived outside, and landed in front of Pandemonium’s gates. My guests had at least been let through the well-manned fence, thanks to Granuel’s assistance, apparently.
“Hey. What’s up?” I looked at each of my three guests in turn. One a human, the other an ogre, and then a fountan woman to round out their group. They proudly wore attire that practically scread ‘ADVENTURER!’
They even look familiar, but where have I seen idiots like this before…
“D-Demon Queen Haell!” the human man announced.
“We’ve co as promised!” the ogre man added.
“Yeah, yeah!” the fountan woman agreed with her companions.
“Aha!” I slamd a fist on my open palm. “You’re those Demon Aspires that I t before!”
“Yes!”
“That’s us!”
“Ooohhh! She actually rembers us!”
“YAY!”
They were that party who had once approached because they too wanted to be a demon. They even captured a rapist as an offering, for so reason. And then they killed her in front of everyone, after I basically told them to do whatever they wanted. It was an incredibly weird interaction overall, but I couldn’t deny that they were fun.
“That was years ago, though. Why now? I don’t think Pandemonium was that far from where you were.”
“Ah, well… It’s like this…”
“They charged us with a cri for killing Anpa!”
“Who?”
“Anpa! You know, that rapist we caught.”
“Ah.” I didn’t really care about the na of a vile, dead person.
“Yeah, yeah, and hear this! They wanted to imprison us for it and force us to fight on the frontlines!”
“How do you even do that! We can’t fight if we’re locked up!”
“Thankfully, the guild did intercede on our behalf, and we just had to keep helping out for a set period of ti.”
“Oh… So that’s what happens when soone tries to do what I always do,” I mused. “But are you fine with that? You just went along with their ruling? Really?”
“Well… It would’ve been very dangerous if we just ran.”
“We didn’t want to bring the trouble here…”
“And it’s not like they don’t have a point… Due process is important, and we just executed her.”
“We were right though, and the investigation confird that! It’s just… apparently still very illegal to execute soone like that.”
“How can you do it just fine?”
“It’s fine though. We didn’t work for free! The guild paid us like normal. So we just basically did what we’ve already been doing anyway. Even if it did delay us in coming here far more than we liked…”
Do you even believe yourself? Are you a fucking slave? Do you try to claim the mantle of a demon with such weak resolve—
I took a deep breath, and wiped the sneer off my face. I wasn’t here to police what it ant to be a demon for anyone else. Certainly, if demons were to beco a whole species instead of just , then I could not and should not impose my own view of our race on everyone else.
“Well, co in, co in! I never even got your nas! I just call you the Demon Aspires in my head!”
“Ah! I’m Marcus!” The human man was first to introduce himself, only a little startled. “It’s nice to et you… again, Demon Queen Haell!”
“I’m Ragnar.” The ogre was even more polite. “It’s a pleasure.”
“And I’m Larah!” the fountan woman finished. “Thank you for inviting us in.”
They stepped inside the manor, stiffening in fear as Pandemonium’s constant aura of curse surely got even worse. But if they couldn’t even take this much, then they should give up on their dreams of becoming a demon right this instant.
“What is this place?” Larah asked once she could finally speak again.
“Pandemonium,” I simply stated, and they took a mont to truly take in its splendor.
Black grass that stretched on for several fields, trees gnarled and cursed that grew sparsely among them, and finally, bone-white tables and chairs that looked similarly connected to the dead earth.
“It’s beautiful,” comnted Marcus.
“Yeah. It’s… it really feels demonic,” Ragnar agreed.
“I think it’s creepy…” Larah admitted. “But in a cool way! Yes.”
I grinned and led them to their seat. The chairs adjusted themselves to suit our different sizes. I began once we were all well-seated around the round table.
“So, you want to be a demon?”
“Oh, fuck yes!”
“Do I ever!”
“PLEASE!”
“Right now!?”
“I’M READY!!!”
I raised a brow at their enthusiasm, but I did not back down. “Look. You don’t… really know what being a demon is, on a physical and practical level. There are so very unique and very very terrible challenges with it.”
“Like what?” Ragnar asked.
“We’ll do anything!” Marcus claid.
“To potentially beco a demon, you will have to risk your life,” I answered. “It is very likely to kill you. I estimate that your chances of succeeding is less than one in a million.”
This ti, they shut up. They struggled to process that.
Fuck. Maybe I shouldn’t have just pulled that number out of my ass.
I didn’t think it was wrong, though. An actual change to one’s species was that dangerous. Add to that, Marcus was the only human among these three. How the fuck was I supposed to know if an ogre or a fountan could also beco a demon!
“Really?” Marcus finally asked.
I nodded. “Even if you succeed, there is, to my knowledge, a good chance that you will be driven insane. Kind of like… those goblins are a good example. They’re supposed to be sapient, but no one treats them like such. Even I sotis forget.”
“It gets worse!?” Larah lanted. And it did. I wasn’t trying to be an. It was the truth.
“But… there must be a way, right?” Ragnar tried. “You succeeded after all.”
“Yeah…!” Marcus searched for the silver lining. “You called us all the way here.”
I winced. Fuck. Did I give them all false hope for years?
“I cannot tell you if your conjectures are correct. That information is classified. But… if you make the journey to Pandemonium, then I might, emphasis on ‘might’, tell you what little I know. Which doesn’t even an that you’ll be able to beco a demon,” I repeated my exact words from that ti. “That’s what I said. You chose to co here even with all my qualifiers. So don’t bla if you’re unsatisfied with the answers I provide.”
“I… That’s not what I ant. Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I waved him off. “And Ragnar. Yes, there’s a way to beco a demon. Obviously.” I gestured at myself. “I just told you that it’s sothing that likely has an infinitesimally low chance of working.”
“Likely?” he pounced on my word choice.
I snorted, annoyed. “Yes. I’m the only demon I know. And yes, I was human once.” Twice, actually. “That ans I transitioned from one species to another. I cannot actually know for certain how likely it is to work, or how anyone else might react at all to the process, because it’s never been tried before. But I do know how many sacrifices were needed to create the fountans and ishkawtans we see today. That is how difficult it is to go from one species to another in general.”
Larah grimaced, for she did know about how humans were put into camps and experinted on to create the fountans and ishkawtans of Varyala. This knowledge was not hidden in the lands outside of Angelore.
“Did you also have to kill that many people to beco a demon?” Ragnar asked warily.
“What? No! Of course not!” I glared, offended. “I just told you that it’s never been tried before, didn’t I? So listen. I know I can do so terrible things sotis, but even I won’t go that far.”
“...I’m sorry. I’m stupid. You’re the Demon Queen Haell Zharignan, and you’ve helped so many people. I shouldn’t have insinuated that you’d do anything those damn angels would do…”
“Alright. That’s quite enough.” I nodded. We all waited for soone to continue the conversation along.
“Then… how did you manage to beco a demon?” Larah was the first to ask. “You couldn’t have risked it for a one-in-a-million chance, right?”
I did not respond.
“Wait, you did!?” Marcus spat out, his eyes widening.
“I had help,” I defended myself.
“Okay, but the thod you used did work the first ti, right?”
“Well… yeah. But only after a lot of research!”
“But that research is already done! So shouldn’t it work for us too?”
I paused to think about that, then shook my head, “Magic is weird. You should know this. There are so many factors that might have led to the thod working exactly once.”
“But you don’t know that for sure! Please tell us the thod! We’ll study and refine it! And–and, we’ll give you anything and everything we discover about it! PLEASE!”
Larah and Ragnar nodded rapidly and resolutely behind him.
But you can’t replicate being a reincarnator. If only they knew. But I couldn’t just reveal to them my many secrets, and the things that made unique.
I sighed. “Look. I would love to help and tell you everything I know. But this is extrely dangerous information, and I don’t trust you.”
“WHAT!?” They gaped, open-mouthed. The three were surprised, completely and utterly.
“What do you an ‘WHAT!?’” I boggled. “We t twice! TWICE! Why the fuck would you assu I trusted you in any way!?”
“But, but…”
“We’re you’re biggest fans!”
“YEAH!”
“We won’t let you down!”
I massaged my forehead. I did feel bad, because I was pretty convinced that they ant it. “Well, I don’t know you. So that’s naive. NAIVE!!”
“Oh no…”
“But,” I began, and they instantly perked up. I just barreled through. “Here’s what you can do: Earn my trust.”
“Oh!”
“Okay!”
“Yeah, I can do that!”
“Quick, quick! Trust fall!”
They crouched with their arms outstretched, ready to catch .
I couldn’t help it. I laughed. It was pretty funny. But I knew these idiots were dead serious.
“NOT LIKE THAT!” I bellowed. “Sit down!” They obeyed. “Now. Here’s how you can actually earn my trust. If you really want to. Stay here,” I stomped on Pandemonium’s ground, “and help out.”
“Okay!”
“Got it!”
“Done!”
“Not just for a little while,” I clarified. “It’ll take years. I… do not trust easy. And as you can see, Pandemonium can be a difficult place to live in.” The table rumbled in protest. “What? You know it’s true.” The manor… could also tell if they were being genuine or not. Fuck. It felt incredibly bad to spy on people like this, but there were fools out there who wanted to learn how to make demons so they could make of these uncontrollable forces an army. It was stupid. But they didn’t know that, and I didn’t want to reveal anything either.
“Okay.”
“Years then!”
“We’ll do it!”
Their enthusiasm was not broken, so I moved on to my next point. “SECOND. You’ll have to open yourself up to certain training. I ntioned that the process might drive you mad. It is also incredibly painful.”
“Alright!”
“We’re willing to put in the work!”
“YEAH!”
“I don’t just an any training!” I had to clarify again. These idiots should really hear everything out first before agreeing! “I an torture. Literal torture. That’s how painful becoming a demon is.” And your whole existence after. I really wish I could just tell them that, but it was a weakness that might be exploited sohow if stated so plainly.
“Ummm…”
“It’s alright!”
“Nothing good ever cos easy!”
“Let’s do this!”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. I took off my armguards, until the whole arm was exposed. And then I chopped it off wholesale!
“WHAT!?”
“What the fuck!?”
“Holy shit Haell!”
“THIS IS NOTHING!” I shouted over them as my left arm rapidly regrew. Large amounts of blood spilled all over the place, and they watched in both horror and astonishnt. “The thod to beco a demon is a thousand tis worse! If you can’t handle this pain, then you will lose yourself in the process.”
I let out my aura. Cursed fog rose from the ground beneath their feet. I taunted them with my evil eyes.
The adventurers fell for it and clambered over the white table to grab , kill .
I punched each of them in turn. I beat them until they could no longer move. Gradually, the intensity of mine and Pandemonium’s curses lowered until my guests finally cald.
“If you can’t control yourself when your mind breaks, then it doesn’t matter if you succeed and beco a demon.” My voice drilled into their skulls while they were still confused and groggy. “I will kill you myself, rather than let loose a goblin wearing my sa skin.”
They gulped.
“Now,” I gestured to the gate leading outside. “Choose. Stay, and maybe beco a demon if you are able to pull off a miracle. Or leave, and forget this ever happened.” The ground split open, and a massive mouth disgorged literal bars of gold. “I’ll even throw in a bonus. A prize for going through all the effort. Rember your days of wanting to be a demon as nothing more than a flight of youthful fancy, and you may live out the rest of your lives in luxury.”
With fear in their eyes… and lips, and nose, and ears… their whole face really; and with their bodies quivering like an ice dragon had breathed in their direction; The Demon Aspires all individually chose to stay and die for the slim chance to beco a demon.
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