The one who spoke was Demon Manananggal. A High Demon female, a scary, vampire-like creature with huge bat wings. Her astonishing beauty disguised her dangerous powers, and she was always the only one who could appease Pazuzu’s anger.
Pazuzu went silent and leaned back in his chair, never taking his eyes off the now-nervous Lamashtu.
Demon Azazel said with a calm voice that sounded like a storm was about to happen, “Next time you punch the table or raise your voice, it will be your last, Pazuzu. We are doing what we always did, ever since the first Demon arrived in this part of the world and an army of Oomans and Demis tried to reach the Magic Crystal veins in our mountain range. We kill them, capture a few, integrate them into our society, they breed with our people or among themselves, and our society grows. You know as well as I do that with the difficulty Demons have offspring, if it wasn’t for the Oomans and Demis we capture, our race would already be extinct.”
Demon Lamashtu slowly recovered her composure, now that Pazazu’s attention was not on her anymore, and she said, “If we can call a race to the Half-Demons that appeared because of interbreeding between Demons, Demis, and Oomans, that is!”
Azazel faced the defiant and stubborn Lamashtu and answered, “Despite your stupid and uninformed prejudice, Half-Demons are a race that we must cherish at all costs. They are our evolution and the only way our race has to live and prosper. Perhaps you should remember that unless you want to explain to our ancestors, why we should get rid of all the Half-Demons out there.”
As he pointed to the wall in front of him, where there were engravings of huge, massive heads with horns and wings, the engravings started to glow, and a ghostly chilly spoke, “Yes, my child Lamashtu, we are very curious to hear your explanation.”
The scared female Demon immediately prostrated herself on the floor, and while the others were lowering their heads in respect for their ancient ancestors, Lamashtu spoke in a trembling voice, “Forgive my foolishness, powerful ancestors! This one is not worthy of your anger or curiosity! I was only venting my frustration because of the pile of work I have done over the last few months!”
The chilly voice spoke, as if her pleading was not phasing them at all: “If you are so frustrated, perhaps you should present yourself to one of Mambabarang’s swarms and rid us of your prejudice. Our child Azazel and the others seem to truly understand why the Half-Demons had to appear and why they must prosper at all costs, but since you don’t think that way, you may need to think about another way to spend your time instead of ruining these interesting meetings. We suppose you weren’t aware, but we are always listening very attentively to these meetings. Your father knew this, and so did your grandfather and his father as well. Why you didn’t believe in what your father told you baffle us. Maybe you are not a hard worker like they were, or you are just plain dumb.”
The voice went silent, and the engravings on the wall stopped shining. The light that was all around Lamashtu disappeared, and she slowly raised her body and dragged her feet to her seat.
Demon Azazel rubbed his face with both hands and asked, “Stupid bastard, annoying the ancestors like this… What is the most recent news in the Oomans’ and Demis’ countries, Lamashtu? Did your Sub-Monsters send you any new images of what is happening out there? Or Sub-Demons, like the Oomans and Demis, call them.”
Lamashtu gulped and said, “They… sent me images all day and all night… I have to focus occasionally or tell them to repeat the images so that I can analyse them properly. There was a meeting moments ago in the Kamawaran Kingdom, and King Valdur Aavik told his generals to kidnap Demis to join the Ooman alliance to become soldiers or Mages. Nothing unusual, considering that once in a while, over the centuries, there was always an Ooman King who thought about that plan. It won’t be different this time. New soldiers and Mages will come, and they will either be killed and eaten or captured to join our society.”
Seeing the way Lamashtu was nervously fiddling with her fingers, Azazel asked, “Is there anything else? You seem to be struggling with something.”
“Yes… Some images two Sub-Monsters sent me were somewhat disturbing. A young Demi-Cat who was just starting to learn Earth Magic evolved her powers. She is now an extremely powerful Monster Tamer, and from what they have shown me, she is certainly the most powerful one in the entire world, but fortunately, she is not aware of that fact. She is also a very powerful Earth Mage.”
The other members of the coven gasped, and Demon Pazuzu asked, sounding astonished, “There is no way… even more powerful than our Mambabarang fighters, who control all our Monsters? And she can also use Earth Magic? How is that even possible?”
Timidly, Lamashtu said, “I believe so… I have no idea how that is even possible, but she tamed a Salamander, a Slime, a huge group of Bone Boars, a herd of Fur Cows, two Gigantic Spiders and one Emptiness. That is what my two Sub-Monsters saw or heard in the talks between her and her father. All these Monsters were tamed two days apart or so.”
For the first time in his hundreds of years, Azazel felt drops of cold sweat running down his forehead. He cleaned them and said, “We… have to do something — either kill her or capture her… If the Oomans get their hands on her and send her against us, she will control all our Monsters and the Oomans will finally mine every Crystal in the mountains. If they do that, we are doomed because we can’t live without the Magic those mountains pour into our country. Our bodies need Magic, or we die in just a few hours.”
“Or you can all calm down and continue the meeting without worrying about a mere Demi-Cat young girl!”
They all faced the cheerful voice that interrupted them, and Azazel sighed, “Fae… Since when are you there, listening in the shadows?”
Leisurely, the smiling green being walked to the rocky table and after climbing upon a chair, she answered, “You know we are always around, Azazel! We love these meetings! And if we weren’t here today, we wouldn’t hear the Demon ancestors scolding the dumb Lamashtu.”
“So, you were listening… Do you know that young Demi-Cat?”
“Azazel, Azazel, you know very well that we Fae don’t talk about other species! But what we can do is this…” While leaning forward, the green Fae spoke in a serious tone, “It would be in your best interest to leave that young Demi-Cat alone. You have much more to worry about, like what is happening on the front lines or how the new Oomans you guys captured are doing.”
The Demon Azazel clenched his teeth and asked, “Are you threatening us, Fae? Is that it? What if we don’t listen to your threat and go after that Demi-Cat? Because your words are very suspicious to me! Are you on the Demis’ side now?”
“Azazel, you know Fae don’t take sides. Have we ever done that for all these millennia? But the fact still remains. You shouldn’t go after that interesting Demi-Cat.”
Noticing the angry glow in the Fae’s eyes, Azazel asked, “You seem too worried about her, Fae. Why is that?”
“We are not worried about her, but we are worried you will be stupid enough not to listen to our advice. Your ancestors once didn’t listen to us, and now they are just a memory, glowing in a wall from time to time.”
The green being stared at the engravings on the wall, which started to glow again, and the chilly voice said, “Listen to the Fae, child Azazel, unless you want to join us before your time has come. We once doubted the Fae’s words, and that was almost our doom.”
Azazel gulped and faced the serious green being again. “I hear your words, ancestors, and I obey. But I still don’t trust the Fae!”
“As you should, child Azazel, but the Fae were never our enemy. And they will never be yours.”
The engravings on the wall stopped shining, and the now smiling Fae asked, “So, what is the next point on the agenda for today’s meeting?”
Without averting his gaze from the smiling Fae, Azazel asked, “Manananggal, can any of your Emptiness Monsters confirm the existence of that Demi-Cat girl? Since she tamed one of them, I believe you have some intel?”
“I did, but I thought it was a mistake because the mental feeding from that particular Emptiness was interrupted the moment he was tamed. She is just a kid, and she went to a forest in the Kingdom of Malgudria together with a few other kids. The last image I got from that Monster was of a group of kids with two Gigantic Spiders and two Bone Boars next to them. And a Fae.”
The four High Demons faced the still-smiling green being, and it said, “What? We find that Demi-Cat girl is quite peculiar, so we follow her around. She is very friendly and gentle.”
Azazel squeezed the side of the table, trying to control his anger, and said, “That means you are her friend, and that is why you said we shouldn’t mess with her. What if the Oomans find her and draft her by force into their alliance? They will force her to go to the front lines, and she will eventually fight our Monsters. If she is that powerful, we may face extinction, but I suppose that eventuality doesn’t mean anything to you, does it?”
“Of course, it worries us! What are you talking about? We Fae love Demons and Demis alike! Oomans are a different story. They are actually a bit of a nuisance, but they will disappear sooner or later. Eventually. Most Oomans are very interesting, but the ones who hold the power among them are the ones who are a nuisance. You guys just need to keep doing what you have been doing, and everything will be alright.”
Azazel made a slight frown and said, “I thought you never talked about other species.”
“Oops! We made a mistake! Pretend you heard nothing! But the fact still remains that Fae likes Demis and Demons. Oomans, not so much.”
With that, the green being dissolved itself with an awkward smile plastered on its lips, making Azazel say, “It is just me, or did the Fae just admit they don’t like Oomans, and they preferred it if they went extinct?”
Demon Manananggal answered, and she sounded irritated. “I believe so, and that opened up a few questions and answered none! We may need to create a new type of Monster to keep an eye on the Fae. I created the Emptiness Monster, and I am using them to spy all over the world from the deepest swamps or the sky when one of those dark fogs mingles among dark clouds. One of you should create a new Monster and keep the Fae under close watch.”
Noticing the engravings on the wall glowing, Azazel shook his head and said, “That sounds like a bad idea. Fae are too mysterious, but I think we shouldn’t mess with them like that. They have been watching or following Demons around for all these millennia, and they never caused any problems for us. We shouldn’t be the ones causing problems for ourselves.”
The engravings stopped glowing, and Azazel was sure it was best to keep the Fae undisturbed and their secrets unrevealed.
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