"You know what? There's a question that's been bothering me since I recognized you here. Why on earth did the demon send me to the cell next to yours, to make us talk?"
"I can try to guess, you're here to convince me to fulfill his desire," she turned her head towards Egan and stared at him.
"Not at all!" Egan protested immediately.
"I didn't say you're aware of it. Lisl, the bird from earlier, was spying on us, and is still spying on us, I can sense its eyes, even if we don't see it."
"Damned bird!" Egan looked around convulsively but saw nothing.
"Don't bother looking for it, it's well hidden but hears everything, every breath we take."
"Has it been listening to us from the beginning?"
"Yes, but nothing new has been said for the demon, and probably, whether you know my story or not, it's indifferent to him," the young woman didn't tell Egan that this wasn't a good sign, nor did she hint that he too might be destined never to leave that place again "So, tell me about yourself. How did you end up in his clutches?"
Egan took a breath and also returned to that cot. He sat on it, resting his hands on the edge and gripping it tightly. "I saved a life, and from that day my life stopped belonging to me."
☼
The demon sat on the armchair in the hall of his personal abode. Hearings had rarely been held in that place; instead, more often than not, the demon would convene in that hall to consult with his six generals, plotting and strategizing in the shadows away from the prying eyes of others. It was a dimly lit environment, in semi-darkness, and he preferred it that way. On the floor and the four walls, there were elegant black tiles.
His friend hadn't shown up. Noxfor hated waiting, he had no patience. Camelia could sense his presence, even when he made himself invisible. She was a human endowed with powerful spiritual powers, even though she used only an insignificant percentage compared to her true potential – which had never been unlocked. And he certainly wouldn't be the one to point it out to her. However, the fact remained that to spy on her, he had to rely on eyes and ears that weren't his. "Where have you gone, Lisl!" he pounded his fist on the armrest of the armchair.
As if she had sensed the demon's bad mood, the crow arrived in flight, materializing inside the hall. It perched on Noxfor's shoulder, and he immediately became aware of the information the bird carried with it. Furious, he shooed it away, and the bird vanished. "Nothing useful!" he growled with his voice corroded by anger. "You're clever, Camelia, but do you think you can fool me?" followed a neurotic laugh. "A pathetic human like you thinks you can trick me?! You haven't seen anything yet of what I'm capable of doing! You're a futile and temporary being, just like that other useless meddler, who couldn't get anything valuable out of you!"
A firm and powerful voice announced itself outside the door.
"Enter, Orf."
A gigantic character, with scarlet skin and three horns on his head, crossed the threshold of the hall. He moved aside his long black cloak and knelt before the demon. "We have fifty new detainees, master. I'm afraid new cells are needed, even those in the darkest wing where the two humans are located."
"Leave the cells adjacent to theirs vacant; the rest are available," the demon reported, annoyed.
The Underground territory housed out-of-control and dangerous subjects from numerous worlds. It was a colossal prison but at the same time a world made and finished with its beauties, although these were not what had made it famous. The pact that allowed the demon to lord over that place was the exclusive task entrusted to him by superior entities. Noxfor was the guardian demon, and the balance of the Underground territory depended on him, which, if unfortunately altered, risked dragging down the other worlds as well. Moreover, he also had to deal with the recovery of detainees who were not sentenced to a permanent punishment. His generals were the delegates for tasks of reorganization and relocation of recoverable detainees; generals of whom Orf was his favorite and the strongest.
"Will the two humans remain your guests for a long time, master?" spoke a small voice, compared to Orf's. Noxfor lowered his eyes to a small figure about a meter tall, hidden by a black robe and hooded. The demon hadn't noticed her before, behind Orf.
"It's none of your business, Mirla, focus on doing your job with the detainees."
A small hand, with fur on the back, rose to rub what appeared to be a snout protruding from under the hood. "Right, master, but they are also two humans. Don't you need my services for them?"
Noxfor emitted an even more irritated sound. "Your potion, your truth serum, turned out to be a flop with Camelia."
"Perhaps, because she told you exactly everything she knows, master."
"It can't be everything! She's lying! And your serums are fake!"
"Oh dear, master, yet they have always met your expectations," retorted the small figure. Orf slightly lowered his head to look at her. Mirla was one of the few to counter the master, and for this, he admired her a bit; on the other hand, he also considered her a fool. Orf didn't understand why she so often insisted so much with those sharp responses, to the point of irritating the master.
"Not with Camelia!" Noxfor extended an arm and indicated to the two to leave the hall.
Orf didn't wait even a second, bowed his head, and turned towards the exit. Mirla simply turned around, then followed that gigantic being; as she went, she muttered softly. The demon snorted angrily and then disappeared from the hall as well.
"Why do you always do that?" Orf asked her, slowing down, allowing Mirla to reach him. "You're the number one mage in this world, but if I were you, I wouldn't insist on trying to override the master's opinion, he's always right."
"He's always right?" the mage asked reluctantly.
"Yes."
Mirla shook the hood that covered her head and walked away on her own. A fillian in the form of an insect flew around them and then settled on the mage's shoulder. "What else is there?" the latter asked irritably.
"Don't be angry with me. I just have something to ask you, if you have time to spare," the insect spoke.
"Like what?"
"It concerns the last human the master brought in."
"I don't have much information about him, but go ahead and ask."
The insect remained silent for a few seconds, searching for the right words to put together what she urgently wanted to know. "The human said something to the master, I had never heard anyone speak like that before."
"What? Do I have to pull the words out of you with a sugar cube?" Mirla quickened her pace, distancing herself from that residence she could hardly stand. "Quickly, time is pressing on my shoulders."
"Forgive me, I don't want to bother you, I'm trying to remember his exact words..." after another handful of seconds of waiting, she resumed. "He said exactly – I will never do it with someone who only tries to obey someone else or is forced. Human or non-human – does it seem possible to you?"
Mirla shrugged. "What the hell was he talking about?"
"The master wanted him to possess me and Fian."
The usual voyeuristic maniac. "Now it's clear." Mirla pushed back the hood and revealed the head and snout of a cat, although she walked upright and her hands and feet had human features, excluding the fur. "Well, know that it's not unusual in the Upper World, on Earth, where humans come from. Many things you won't understand, because..." she couldn't even reveal them, the master wouldn't have liked it. He had blocked certain feelings in the creatures he had personally created. "But the fact that they struck you means you're on the right path."
"On the right path for what?"
"To awaken," whispered the mage and then turned her snout towards the insect. "And be careful not to talk to anyone about this, let it remain only between the two of us."
"Awaken..." the fillian-insect remained where she was, a little leg rested on her head, and then she spoke no more.
It was the mage who broke the silence, as they moved further and further away. "Respect. That's what it's called, what the human expressed or tried to grant you, with those words."
"Respect?"
"If you want to know what it means, well, to put it briefly... when someone considers your being on the same level as theirs."
The insect scratched her small head. "That's not what the master does."
"Exactly, that's not what the master does," repeated Mirla, and then the desolate land surrounding the demon's abode was left behind them. A patch of wide and profuse vegetation slowly began to appear in the distance.