Just Another Day

What a wet realm, thought a bored demon. The rain pounded down and the wind howled as lightning split the dark sky. Noisy, too, he noted as great peals of thunder rolled over the hills. He blinked some water out of his eyes and looked around at the drenched landscape. Firelight was still softly glowing through the windows of the cottage he had just escaped from. The inexperienced summoners within were undoubtedly fuming and panicking over having lost control of him. Summoning beings from the other worlds was risky and expensive business. They had believed the "power" of the storm would increase their chances of a good result, in this case a strong and obedient minion, but instead the chaotic nature of the weather had backfired and given them the opposite of what they wanted; a passive, uninterested lesser demon. Live and learn.

The only real problem Imp faced was finding food. The physical manifestation of his body was supported by his spirit energy, and once depleted, he would be returned to the other world and could not return until he was strong enough to present in another corporeal form. Uncomfortable, somewhat embarrassing, but not fatal. The only way to keep his strength up was to deplete the life force of others, or find a gate back to his home and eat the fruit that grew there. Imp did not feel strongly about staying in the mortal world nor desired to tamper with their reincarnation cycles and decided he should find a way back. It would be less annoying than dealing with the teasing if he returned by "starving to death".

It really is a marvel they managed to call any of us considering how weak the ley lines still are, Imp mused as he walked slowly over the slippery ground. Did they really think I would agree to that silly contract? I did not ask to be summoned, so why would I do what they want? The least they could have done was offer to send me back instead of drawing weapons and throwing things. Imp's chilled and numbing feet stumbled into a rock which cut his leg, and it began to ooze black blood. It's been so long since I had a flesh body. I forgot how susceptible it is to the cold. I should find shelter until the storm passes. Imp carefully navigated the craggy field until he found a hollow under one of the larger rocks to crouch under.

2020.12.21

Imp had been wandering for weeks, following ley lines and other sources of magical energy in the hopes of finding a gate back to the other side. He still had chosen not to feed on the life force of anything he had passed, not even the plants, and a numb and tingling feeling was starting in his fingers, toes, and tail tip as his strength waned. The warm sun felt good on his back, a pale reminder of the delightful warmth of the hot biome he lived in. Imp stretched out on a rock. He could begin searching again when the sun set, and let his mind relax into oblivious meditation.

Shanku padded along in her wolven form, letting her tongue loll out of her mouth as she went hunting on that balmy summer day. She caught the smell of water and decided to detour for a quick drink. Shanku pulled her tongue into her mouth and cocked her head to the side when she saw a big red thing dangling over the water. The kurach eased to the water's edge to quench her thirst and observe the oddity for a moment. Stealthily, she crept up to it, ears fully erect and sniffing cautiously. Her instincts were telling her to flee, but her dangerous curiosity kept her in place. It was a deep red, with long, slender limbs, a paler underbelly, and dark, curved horns. The upstairs looks male and the downstaris looks fem—, nevermind, nobody put a basement in when they built this house. Could it be all internal like a lizard? But lizards have scales. No fins, so it's not a catfish. Not a worm 'cause it clearly has bones. Shanku continued to puzzle over the oddity as she smelled it over.

The tickle of whiskers along his back jolted him back to his surroundings and Imp sat up suddenly, causing the inquisitive kurach to jump back. Imp sighed when he saw her staring at him and tilting her head. "Just another wild animal. Go on now," he said and tried to shoo her away by lazily waving his hand. "I'm not something you would like to eat and I'm not here to steal your prey."

"I don't want to eat you," Shanku said. "I doubt you want my prey."

Ah, wonderful. One of the chatty variety. Imp cleared his throat. "Either way, I should like to be left alone."

"How do you poop?" Shanku asked bluntly and startled him. "You have no lower openings."

"I am a demon. I do not feed the same way you mortals do and don't have need of the same organs," Imp said uncomfortably. "I have a set of lungs and vocal cords to communicate with you creatures, but I have no stomach or digestive tract. Before you ask, I have no need nor desire to reproduce, and lack those organs as well."

"Are you hungry?" Shanku asked. "You've got ribs and they're showing."

"...Yes. Yes, I am very hungry," Imp admitted and was beginning to be tempted to have a quick bite of her life.

"Anything you eat that I might can catch for you?" Shanku offered.

"I don't think you would like to feed me," Imp said and turned away, trying to get his mind off the ache in his extremities.

"I'm not offering my life up," Shanku said with irritation. "I sure don't want to enthrall or be enthralled by you. Just being friendly. I always heard demons went on bloody rampages, but you don't smell of any kind of blood, so I figure you're a nice one, and I'm offering to find a meal depending on how you eat."

"Demons aren't nice," Imp frowned. "We tempt mortals and bolster their strength until we find them satisfactory, and then consume their life force."

"So where's your mortal you're supposed to be tempting?" Shanku asked with an ear laid back skeptically. As her curiosity increased, it became harder to maintain the simplistic wolven form, and she allowed herself to morph back to her two-footed feral form.

"I am content with demonic fruit in the land of the gods. I don't particularly like the taste of mortals," Imp explained, unphased and unconcerned by her transformation. "Particularly shifty mortals."

"How did you even get here?" Shanku asked and tilted her head into the other direction.

"Some cult summoned me," Imp said with marked irritation. "They did desire a thrall. I just wanted to go home. They got violent. I left. Now I'm trying to find a way back home."

"Could you just wait around until they opened another gate and then slip through?"

"Summoning spirits in a time when magic is so thin and weak is a slow and costly matter," Imp replied. "I will have 'starved' and returned naturally by the time they manage it again."

"So you can die?"

"By your definition, yes. The manifestation of my body is powered by my own spiritual energy. Eventually, my strength will give out, my body will disappear, and my soul will return to the land of the gods. I will be a tiny orb resting in the flowers and burrowing into the fruit until I have regained enough power to manifest a body in the other land again. But when I have a body again, I'm also at risk of being summoned once more."

"Can't you say 'no'?"

Imp turned back to face her with an irritated look. "You ask many questions."

"And you still haven't asked for a dish," Shanku said with a grin. "I assume if you eat something, it's soul is just reborn again, like you."

"Yes, but, it would take them a while to be reborn because they would have to have time to regenerate what I took from them."

"Pretty considerate, for a demon," Shanku said with a devious smile. "Eternity is a long time. They would return to our world again someday and be back with their soul group before they knew it."

Imp studied her for a moment. "I can see why your guardian angel looks like she would want to strangle you if given the opportunity. I have yet to understand why your guardian demon bears the same expression."

"My guardian demon?" Shanku asked and raised an eyebrow. "I've got one? You can see it?"

"Every mortal has an angel to guide them and a demon to tempt them, and, yes, as a spirit, I can see other spirits. Guardians are small spirits who whisper in your ears and pull at your heart," Imp said. "Those little spirits are like plants. They bask in the energy your radiate when you are 'good' or 'bad'. Both of yours are healthy, but look frustrated."

"I am a delightfully chaotic spirit. Even Kleu seems impressed," Shanku grinned proudly. "Being kind to strangers is a good thing. Willingly sacrificing others to a spirit is a bad thing."

"Kleu...?" Imp edged back away from her. "What is your dealing with Kleu?"

"I am kurach. He created our species, you know," Shanku said cheerily.

"That explains everything," Imp said with disgust. "Eons ago that terror became a Fallen. Some spirits left the land of the gods willingly because they enjoyed this world. Others were forced out for being disagreeable menaces."

"I didn't think the land of the gods was such a small world where everybody knew each other," Shanku remarked slyly. "You must be really, really old."

"Well, so are you. You are just a bit of conscious Æther, like me. We were all formed at the same time. Just because your body is unable to access those memories of so long ago doesn't mean you weren't there with me," Imp said softly.

"Are we old friends?" Shanku asked curiously.

"I don't know. My memories are hard to access on the mortal plane as well. You feel familiar, but that could just be the same mischievous impression as your creator."

"Well, we're friends now!" Shanku said and suddenly licked him from his shoulder to his ear, which made him grimace and recoil. "Let's get you fed. If all you eat is energy, maybe there is a way we can make you a 'salad'. Little peels from the living that sustains you but doesn't kill the creature. You seem a vegetarian sort since all you like is fruit anyway. That should not violate your philosophy."

"What a universe we live in where the mortals tempt the demons," Imp said with a smile.

"How do you even qualify as a demon when you're so passive?" Shanku asked as they walked among the trees. "Is it basically: got horns, demon; no horns, angel?"

"There are horned angels and hornless demons back home," Imp said. "We have no set bodies. We choose what feels comfortable or what we like. Like mortals, we have free will and choice. Sometimes we are good, sometimes we are evil, and sometimes neutral. Only the Supreme Good or Supreme Evil are pure. Angels tend to be selfless and look after the whole, while demons tend to be selfish and think of themselves. Hence, why I had no problem walking away from my most recent summoners. Another demon may have used them for gain or ate them. An angel would have attempted to guide them or, especially if a warrior, simply struck them down if they believed they would not repent in this cycle."

Shanku stopped to sniff the ground and feel fresh tracks. She stared at them pensively for a moment. "Does it hurt them when you feed?"

"It's similar to swooning from low blood pressure, and once they fall unconscious it's not long before it's over if I continue to take from them," Imp said. "It is unnecessary to use claws or fangs. I can withhold from causing physical pain."

"But you need it alive," Shanku began to follow the tracks. "I make no promises. Wait here." She stealthily disappeared and Imp patiently rested against a tree trunk. Some time later a dreadful squealing noise sounded and he turned his head to find Shanku returning with a small pig. "It's right tricky carrying one of these things! How will this do?"

"Sufficient for my current problems," Imp replied. Shanku awkwardly held out the angry pig and Imp placed a hand on its head. The creature stilled and went limp.

"That was it?" Shanku asked.

"Without a stomach, it is not necessary for me to ingest the same way you do," Imp said sadly. He watched an unseen thing float away on an unfelt breeze. "Souls are so beautiful..."

"Rest in peace, little one," Shanku said with unusual reverence. "So, um, is this thing safe for me to eat?"

"It should be. Unlike standard carrion, it did not die of unknown and potentially dangerous causes, like rabies or infection."

"Good. Because I have a hungry family back at our current nest," Shanku said cheerily. "Too bad we can't keep you. It was hard to catch, but, it was kinda nice getting food without having to hurt it."

"Again, both of your guardians are frustrated," Imp said with a grin.

"How long will it take the pig to come back?" Shanku asked as she tucked the expired porklet under her furry arm.

"Not long. It was a more simple being. It may not choose to return as a pig. It may be a rabbit, or a wolf, or even go to another world altogether," Imp said.

"What if we can't find you a gate? Will you just whither away or keep bopping animals on the head?" Shanku asked. "Could I call Kleu and he take you home?"

"Asking denizens of the Other World comes with unpleasant obligations," Imp said with a grimace. "I would sooner starve."

"If you can't skip through fae lands, what about the spirit world?"

"Only accessible if I was coming from the land of the gods. Only recently deceased mortals may go directly from here to the land of the dead."

"What if I made a deal with Kleu to get you home?" Shanku asked eagerly. "It's not set until both parties say 'I do', right? Couldn't hurt to ask."

"I think your angel just had an anneurysm," Imp muttered. "Do as you wish. It's your life."

Shanku grinned and called for the goblin hound. There was a shimmer in the air and a large black dog with leathery wings and flaming blue eyes stepped before them. He immediately stopped and wrinkled his nose.

"I was not expecting one of those things to be here," Kleu growled. "Are you in trouble?"

"I'm not, but he is. Some summoners pulled him over and didn't put him back. Can you?" Shanku asked innocently.

"No," Kleu said shortly. "I cannot enter the land of the gods, nor open a portal to it. He, however, can if he can get to the fae realm. I can take him there, however..."

"All dealings with the fae come with a price," Shanku finished with a nod. "I know, I know. So, what would be your price of me if you took him back?"

"I am not fae!" Kleu growled vehemently.

"Then do you have a price like fae?" Shanku asked with a naughty grin.

"I am nothing like those little glitterbugs," Kleu said with his ears laid flat back against his skull.

"So would you take my friend back to the fae realm?" Shanku asked sweetly. "He's not the one asking. He said he would rather starve than ask for help. He particularly doesn't seem to like you."

"He's not objecting either," Kleu grumbled.

"I am, by nature, self-serving," Imp said nonchalantly.

Kleu inhaled sharply and exhaled loudly. "You will immediately cross back into the land of the gods upon entering the fae realm. Do not interact with anyone or anything. Just, go."

"Acceptable," Imp nodded.

"Do I owe you anything?" Shanku asked.

Kleu flashed a wicked grin. "I get to pass a demon through a hoity-toity fae court and watch them scramble. I will receive my compensation shortly."

"Too bad I can't see it. That sounds funny!" Shanku said and wagged her tail.

"I will be describing in grand detail all the wonders you cannot see over there and mischief you cannot indulge, you little pest," Kleu said smugly. He turned away from the kurach and demon to flare his wings and then jerk his nose up sharply from the ground to above his head.

"My gratitude. When you reach enlightenment and break free of reincarnation, come visit me in the Astral Realm," Imp said warmly to Shanku and stepped through the gate, followed shortly by the Goblin Hound.