Chapter 44: Bookworm
I found myself enjoying another calm morning in the household of the Sovereign of Lust. I had to keep reminding myself who lived here. Lilly was certainly not entirely as she seemed. Her husband Isidore had all but admitted to cruel human experimentation.
These facts clearly weren’t lost on Seyari. She’d woken up early this morning and slipped out of bed. I found her carefully organizing all our gear when I woke up at sunrise. I’d been waking up early ever since I became a demon, but I hadn’t thought much of it until these past few days. Did I need less sleep? I definitely needed some amount of sleep, but even with a comfy bed I couldn’t sleep in. And it wasn’t worry either, since Seyari hadn’t woken me when she got up in the pre-dawn hours.
Lilly had talked about how demons didn’t necessarily function like mortals. According to Isidore, I was an oddity anyway since I’d never been to the demonic plane. I probably was closer to mortal than most greater demons.
I hated the idea of calling people ‘mortals’.
I definitely didn’t want to start calling people that. Varrans, maybe? From Isidore’s talk of planes, that felt more sensible. Still pretentious, though. And it begged the question if I should refer to myself as being from the void, or what my remembered life as a ‘Varran’ meant to my own identity. I decided to stick with ‘non-demons’ for now. Even if that didn’t account for angels.
Once again, Seyari and I found ourselves eating breakfast with probably one of the most powerful demons on Varra and her equally eccentric husband.
“Hey Lilly?” I asked into the quiet morning mood.
She swallowed a bite of fruit. “Yes?”
“What’s with the Atagor books?”
Lilly laughed. Still staring at his aged tome, Isidore smirked, then sighed with resignation.
What followed was a very one-sided conversation where Lilly gushed about her love of the Atagor series and its mysterious unknown author. We’d long finished eating by the time Lilly was done explaining how the plot from the second book returned in the twentieth, crossed over with the side series, and brought all the timelines back together (including the one from the controversial seventh book that wasn’t even confirmed canon until then). My head hurt and I didn’t even know that was possible without serious weaponry hitting my skull.
“If you love those books so much, why are they tucked away in the guest room?” Seyari asked in a tone that wanted desperately to be cordial.
“Because the author hasn’t written a new one in almost a century! And they didn’t even finish the series! I want to know what happened to—”
Isidore coughed loudly.
Lilly gave her husband a look, then sighed. “I got mad because I couldn’t find the author and learn the ending, even with all my resources. And that was before I retired! I kept the books because I love them so much, but I’m worried that the author is dead and I’ll never know what happened!”
I felt bad for being surprised Lilly was interested in the series for its story. Either that, or she didn’t want to describe the raunchier scenes at the table. Regardless, I’d had more than enough of suave dragons for the… year probably.
“When were you last active?” I asked, trying to steer the conversation and maybe fish for some more information.
“Oh, about eighty or so years ago. Though, I came out here more recently than that.” She paused for effect. “You’re not going to ask how old I am, are you? I’ve been around a long time, but I’m not the oldest.” Lilly’s smile had a slight predatory edge to it.
“You can’t possibly be the same Lillith from the old Church of Dhias legends, can you?” Seyari asked icily.
“Can’t say I’m familiar with all the legends, dear. I’m not the first Lillith, nor the second. I took that name when I took my title.”
Seyari lowered her eyes to the table in thought.
“Who’s the oldest, then?” I asked.
Lilly’s attention was successfully diverted to me.
To my surprise, she answered the question. Her voice lost all of the bright, lilting quality she’d carefully kept until now. “Ov. The Sovereign of Apathy. I don’t think anyone knows how long they’ve been around, but trust me when I say you do not want to get their attention.”
I nodded, unsure how to respond. Isidore, having finished eating far before the rest of us, quietly excused himself.
Lilly spared him a glance, then continued. “I’m only warning you because I think our alliance could be mutually beneficial. Do not trust any Sovereign Demon to be anything other than their aspect personified.”
“What about you?” Seyari asked coolly.
“I’m the Sovereign of Lust, dear. I want what I want and I seek what I want. Right now? I want a peaceful life away from everything. But a new Sovereign—“ Lilly looked at me with a neutral face. “—always causes a stir.”
I stared right back. “So why ally with me? Wouldn’t it be better to wait things out and let me get myself killed?”
Lilly laughed; a dark laugh. “Dear, it’d be better to kill you myself if I wanted that. No, I had a hunch and I was right. You’ll be much more interesting to work with than against.”
“Why’s that?” I fought to keep fear and anger out of my voice.
Lilly wagged a finger at me. “I’m afraid I don’t want to tell you. But I can assure you the reason isn’t malicious. You and I have some things in common the other Sovereigns don’t.”
It only took me a second to put together what she meant. “You’re also a terrestrial demon.”
I hadn’t phrased it like a question.
Lilly smiled for real this time, her eyes softening. “You got it!”
She quickly darted her hand out and poked me lightly on my nose with a knuckle. I hadn’t been expecting her to move and she moved fast enough to where I hadn’t reacted in time.
From my side, holy magic flared quickly and dissipated just as fast. “Is that it? Why all the drama?” Seyari asked, incensed.
Lilly turned to her and shrugged. “It was fun?”
Seyari’s eyebrow twitched and I heard her grind her teeth to bite back a retort. I felt her anger clearly, but I left the emotion alone.
“That can’t be the only reason!” I exclaimed.
Lilly beamed. “You’re right again! Shouldn’t be too hard to guess why!”
Seyari answered through gritted teeth. “You want to show us what we’re getting into.”
Lilly put a finger to her chin and hummed. “Mmmm, close enough!”
I thought back to when she poked me. Even if she was moving as fast as she could, I’d have a hard time keeping up. If I caught the wrong demon’s attention, I could be in big trouble if they found me.
I stared intensely at the other Sovereign Demon. “What can I do to get stronger?”
Lilly smiled kindly, but it still sent chills down my spine. “Now, you’re thinking like you need to!”
I suddenly doubted whether we’d be leaving in the morning.
Seyari and I shared a look.
Lilly clapped gleefully. “Izzy! Could you get my armor ready? Renna and I are going to spar.”
From the sitting room floated a grumble of agreement followed by deliberately slow footsteps. I wanted to oppose having this decision made for me, but I also wanted to see Lilly actually fight. I was weighing the options in my mind and my window of opportunity closed.
“So,” Lilly continued, “As demons, we get stronger in two ways: our soul gets better at magic, or our soul gets bigger.”
I had so many questions. “Uh, what do you mean by a soul getting better at magic? And I’ve never heard of a soul getting bigger.”
Instead of heading down the hall, Isidore walked into the kitchen. “Lilly, would you mind letting me explain this?”
Lilly pouted. “Fine, dear! I’ll go get my own armor!”
She dragged herself out of her chair in an exaggerated manner. With practiced ease, she swept up our long-abandoned plates before darting away down the hall.
Isidore coughed lightly and sat down. “What my lovely wife was trying to say, is that demonic souls can absorb ambient mana to increase their amalgam soul’s integration and capacity. They can also, depending on the type of demon, add to their souls from fragments of others.”
The second part made sense. I had that deal for a fraction of his soul when Malich bound me. I silently wished for someone who could explain things at a level between Lilly and Isidore.
“I assume Reavers are the only ones who can take fragments of a soul whose body they kill without some form of contract?” Seyari asked.
“Functionally, yes,” Isidore replied. “Sovereign Demons are bit odd in this case, as other demons of their aspect may pledge part of their soul to their Sovereign.”
That clicked. Verrux must have done so when I killed him. Why though?
“Why would a demon do that?” I thought aloud.
“Respect, mostly. It’s not exactly common for the giving demon to be the one making the decision, though. Usually, the Sovereign forms a contract with their underling.”
“Wait, what?” I said, shocked.
Seyari said something similar at the same time, and I reached up to feel my symbol that was exposed by my dress.
Isidore gave a cold smile. “It makes sense, doesn’t it?”
He offered no further explanation for that line of thought, instead choosing to continue his impromptu lesson. “With regard to mana absorption, demonic mana is absorbed faster than unaspected mana, though terrestrial demons hardly absorb demonic mana at all. You will find, however, that you accumulate power to a much higher, hmm… density is, I suppose, an apt word. A simple way to think of it is that your soul has a more stable and uniform structure and that you will have more power for your size at the cost of growth rate. Although given that you are not in the demonic plane, your own strength gain may actually be slightly faster than average.”
“Does this have to do with the fact that my soul is largely my own from before I became a demon?” I furrowed my brow.
“You can think of it that way, I suppose.” Isidore shrugged.
“What of the souls of Reavers?” Seyari sounded eager.
“Reavers do not properly integrate their soul fragments. This instability is what causes their parasitic abilities in the first place as their soul is constantly trying to balance itself. Of course, it cannot do so and continually attempts to grow.”
Now, I was interested. “Do Reavers have a limit to their soul size?”
Isidore nodded. “Yes. Eventually, the size of their own soul will weaken their ability to break off new fragments to add to it. After some period of time, their unstable amalgam soul should fall apart and the core should fracture. At least in theory. I don’t know of any instance of that ever happening. Every Reaver I have learned about who was not slain ended themselves before they reached that point.”
“What would happen when the core fractures?” Seyari asked worriedly.
“This is my own theory, but I believe it would be a catastrophic release of their soul’s energy.” Isidore declared.
“Like a massive explosion?” I asked with wide eyes.
Isidore smiled. “Yes, Zarenna, like a massive explosion.”
Apparently, Reavers kept going until they fell apart and exploded. Maybe. Still, that was a terrifying thought.
“I don’t want to seek out other wrath demons, and I want to do more than wait around. What can I do to get stronger?” I asked.
“You can learn how to fight demon to demon!” Lilly replied cheerfully from the doorway.
She had to have timed that. The pink demon was decked out in some kind of strange, low-profile armor that covered everything except her spaded tail. She was carrying a helmet that had holes for her horns and a sword with strange v-shaped lines crossing its width. She’d left her glasses behind. The armor and sword both were an odd sky-blue metal.
“What kind of armor is that?” I asked.
“The ancient and secret kind!” Lilly replied smugly.
“Mythril,” Seyari replied.
I detected a hint of jealousy in her voice.
“Aww, you knew! Well, I enchanted it as well and I bet you won’t guess what I did!”
Seyari’s eyes glowed with aura sight. A pulse of anger and she sighed. “Yeah, I don’t know what you did with it. But you’d better not do anything to Zarenna besides teaching her.”
Lilly’s crimson eyes narrowed dangerously. “Or what?”
“Please don’t fight in the house, dear. I rather like our home,” Isidore said calmly.
Seyari and Lilly glared at each other while I went back to the guest room to change. Our clothes had been laundered, but I still wore the worst shirt and pants I had. I didn’t take shoes. I only had the one pair, and I rather preferred to feel my claws on the ground when I fought.
Once I was decent, I made my way back to the others. I was nervous about sparring against Lilly, even if part of me was thrilled at the thought of being able to go all out for a bit.