It had taken only one bite of the stew for her to realize something was wrong. Marcus had warned her, and the looks from the others had hinted at what was about to happen. She had ignored them anyway, the enticing smell teasing her as she poured herself a bowl of the still steamy stew. She refused to hesitate as she brought the spoon up to her mouth and even managed to chew for a few seconds before reality came crashing down on her.

It had smelled like real food, it was warm like real food, but it tasted like dirt and she barely managed a single swallow without throwing up. Tanyan had hurried over and given her a waterskin of some type of sweetened drink to wash the taste out of her mouth.

At least the drink hadn’t made her sick, apparently sweet drinks were fine. Alcohol, she had been informed, was fine. Any type of vegetables or cooked meat? Bad. She was now an obligate sweet-tooth and drinker. Oh, and essence muncher. When raw meat was mentioned she had wanted to plug her ears.

Taniel had brought up that her ‘Power’ was only a quarter full, and she would be a danger to the group. That led to Marcus suggesting she make a nice contract with him to keep her fed, but she’d declined immediately. She told them she would go hunt some Darkwalkers instead. In reality, she found a quiet place to think outside the village and spent some quality time with her Mana Shard. She still hadn’t disclosed it to them and was pretty sure it was going to remain her secret.

Looking out at the cave, she watched the Ralfot and Elnats go about their business while a few Mushroomhum’s stood watch. They knew she was there, and she wondered what they thought about having a scary demon perched on a rock nearby.

Elania thought if she ran for it, they would not bother to hunt her down as long as she stayed away from the Mushroohums and avoided contact with anyone. She’d be able to survive just hunting things in the caves. Where would that leave her though? Maybe eventually she’d be able to find civilization on her own, but from what she understood there were things in the Underdark that were much more dangerous than Darkwalkers.

Then there was the fact that surviving on her own would be lonely. Even if she didn’t trust the monks or Marcus, at least she could learn about the world from them. Even if the Mushroohums had invited her to stay with them, they couldn’t talk to her.

The stories about ‘Civilization’ and how demons were treated did give her pause. Becoming a slave was not something she wanted to experience. She also needed to be careful not to get tricked into becoming a slave or worse. That meant getting stronger so others couldn’t take advantage of her, too. Maybe get a set of magical armor or a magic sword? That seemed like the proper RPG thing to do. ‘Need to be careful not to mistake this world for a game. It’s way darker.’

At some point, she had made the decision to accompany them to the city. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe it was not. Most of all, she did not want to be left in the caverns alone again.

 

---

 

Elania kept pace behind Marcus, with Taniel and Tanyan leading the monks behind her. She wasn't sure what the purpose of putting her second in line was, but she suspected it was because the monks wanted to keep an eye on her.

That suited her purposes just fine, Marcus or Tanyan were the most likely to answer her questions, and the novice monks had avoided talking to her altogether.

“If reading isn’t a common skill, how do people use their system? You implied everyone has one?”

She directed the question toward Marcus, but it was Tanyan that answered. “Everyone has their own way of interpreting the [System]. One person might hear a voice in their head while another reads the information on a scroll that only they can see. Scholars debate about the effectiveness of different methods, but generally, it’s accepted that everyone’s [System] adapts to what is most efficient for that person and can even change as they get older.”

‘So, I get blue RPG screens, how traditional. Wait. When I showed everyone my ‘Status’ screen, did they get to see my screen or their own? Because I saw them looking at mine.’

“When I showed you my screen---”

“We each saw or heard our own version of it, yes.”

“It looked like you were all reading it, though? I thought that was a rare skill?”

“It is. I can read, but the others cannot. If you send a screen to Taniel, he gets a talking head that conveys the information to him.”

Elania glanced at the other monk and had to stifle a laugh. No wonder he was so grouchy and angry. ‘If I had to worry about floating talking heads suddenly appearing, I’d glare at everything, too.’

Tanyan cleared his throat. “I have a question for you myself.”

Elania smiled and almost tripped on a rock which caused Marcus to turn and frown at her. She offered a sorry wave before looking back to Tanyan.

“Sure, you’ve all answered a lot of mine, what do you want to know?”

“What’s the demon world like?”

“Eh?”

“Your world. What’s it like?”

“My world… there aren’t any monsters other than the human-type. There is not any [System] that people use. We have technology instead.”

“No [System]? How do you do anything? You would not even be able to cook! You’d all starve to death!”

“You just cook. There isn’t any numerical skill or anything that affects your ability to do or not do anything, it just takes your own talent and well… skill into account.”

“So, there are skills in your world?”

That was not what she meant, ugh, it was hard to explain without using the ‘skill’ word, which obviously had a different implication in Eladu.

“Skill in my world is just what you practice. It doesn’t help you do anything better or worse, and there is no numerical value or way to see it.”

“So, you have hidden stats in your world?”

“I guess.”

“Most demons don’t remember anything of their old world by the time they become sapients. So, it isn’t common to be able to ask.”

“Do you deal a lot with demons, Marcus said your ‘Conclave’ deals with them or something?”

“The Conclave is a holy order that protects the city. We only really get involved with criminals the Watch or Guard cannot handle. Sometimes that’s a rogue demon.”

“Rogue Demon?”

“If a demon somehow gets out of its Contract, they usually have a lot of resentment and go on a rampage until dealt with…”

Elania did not answer immediately. ‘Maybe those Demons have a reason for having so much resentment if they are enslaved and then controlled by their masters?’

Taniel decided to interject into the conversation.

“Don’t forget that, Demon. You will be watched. There isn’t anyone who doesn’t associate those red eyes of yours with carnage.”

Taniel’s words were a reminder and painted a poor picture of what she could expect when--- if they reached the city. She was not willing to stay in what amounted to the wilderness forever, and she didn’t want to live as a cavewoman running around hunting things with spears either.

That meant she was going to have to deal with navigating around people who didn’t like her, or were looking to abuse her, and if she couldn’t do that with a small group like this… Elania didn’t think it would be any easier with more people around.

The flow of the conversation died, and she focused on her feet and following Marcus. That didn’t stop her from getting lost in her thoughts again.

Neftasu. The city had a whole series of waystations and travelers’ camps spread through the region for parties like theirs. She had learned that the flora and fauna of the caves frequently changed, and this influenced the caverns' layout. That meant there could be danger on any of the well-traveled routes in the Underdark. The way they had to go to get back to the city wasn’t even on one of those ‘well-traveled’ routes.

Most travelers or caravans relied on guides who moved about frequently enough to keep up with any changes to a growing and stupidly complex web of waystations. When she had commented that Darkwalkers weren’t much trouble for her it was hinted that they weren't the worst creature they could end up meeting. Traveling through the Underdark caverns was a perilous undertaking.

That underlined just how important this [Glow-Moss] was to the group. That had piqued her curiosity and apparently, it was an important alchemical ingredient. Healing potions, ‘Mana’ potions, energy potions. Apparently, they were so expensive that only the very wealthy could afford them, but Elania could see why such items would have a lot of value.

The [Glow-Moss] didn't grow anywhere there was a sizable population nearby, and only in the deeper caverns.

'Probably because it vaporizes if someone spills ‘Mana’ on it.'

After all the ordeals earlier, the hike was not that arduous. Even with her power level only at three-fourths her max, she found it easy to keep the pace. She had been checking her [Status] periodically and keeping an eye on her ‘Power’ level. It had been slowly creeping up thanks to the Mana Shard, but she had managed to acquire a bedroll before leaving the village and had stuffed the Mana Shard inside of it. The insulation seemed to help prevent her from absorbing the 'Power' too fast.

Elania did not want to drain the Mana Shard, not until she knew if it could be recharged or how she could get another one. Overcharging her 'Power' slightly and increasing her maximum capacity might have been a good idea if she was not worried about draining it completely, but she was apprehensive about the long-term prospects of relying solely on hunting for essence. There were still the ramifications of transforming into a Darkwalker to consider...

She didn’t want Taniel’s input again so she sped up her step a bit until she was closer to Marcus so she could ask him her question.

"So, acquiring a lot of a single essence will turn me into what it came from?"

"Generally, yes. Although it would take a lot of concerted effort, the majority of your 'Power' would have to be compatible. I'm told it’s like a compulsion, you become whatever you absorb. That is why I'm surprised you didn't totally become a Darkwalker Demon; you must have a strong sense of self or familiarity with your current form."

Well, she was born human, so she hoped she had a lot of familiarity with being herself. The suggestion that it was possible that she might devolve into a monster or animal was alarming, even if she had suspected it from all the effects she’d experienced from absorbing the Darkwalker essence.

Marcus raised a hand and cut her off with a quick hush. The whole party came to a standstill, everyone becoming fully alert. Elania heard the noise just as Marcus urged them against a cave wall. It was faint, but Elania swore she recognized the sound.

"Flatten yourselves!"

Hooves. It sounded like a stampede of thousands of hooves, and the roar was getting louder with every passing second. The group found a usable indent along the wall.

A herd of wild Ralfots, the largest she had yet seen, were hurling themselves down the tunnel like their lives depended on it. Despite their speed, Elania had no trouble tracking their movements and her eyes fell on a few specific ones she realized were slower or weaker than the others.

The strongest of the beasts passed them first, then the mid-sized ones. One slammed into one of the novice monks, pushing him back and smashing his nose on the rock.

Elania could smell the blood immediately despite them being a good distance away. The way the smell hit her was not normal. 'What the fuck?'

The massive herd continued to pass them by, slowly thinning out. No one else got hurt, and Elania did her best to ignore the injured man and focus on the Ralfots. The few smaller ones had a hard time keeping up with the herd.

Elania found herself leaning forward singling one Ralfot near the back out. She already knew the distance and trajectory she needed to pounce on it. She felt her muscles tense up. She was ready, it was time...

A hand fell on her shoulder, and she froze, looking to her side. Marcus shook his head.

'The Darkwalker essence is affecting me. Was it triggered by the herd?'

She swallowed and stilled herself. Marcus had already looked past her, dismissing her momentary predatory lapse, and was signaling the monks.

"Come on, we need to get out of here before what was chasing them catches up. There is not— Dammit. You fool!"

Marcus glared at the novice monk with the bloody nose. Elania didn't think there was much to do about that, Tanyan was wiping the blood away with a bandage. She had been wondering if he had healing magic of some sort because of his class of [Holy Monk], but either he did not or this was too trivial an injury to warrant it.

They did not have time to respond before a deafening roar had Elania pulling free a javelin, and the others also whipped around to look at the source.

Elania found herself more immune to gawking at all the strange things she'd been seeing, but as she took in the tan-colored fur of the three heads, and what seemed to be giant bat wings on the torso of a giant lion, she couldn't help herself. ‘That’s a fucking monster.’

 

[Manzitore]

 

It flew past the group on its wings, intent on chasing the Ralfots when it banked and came to a halt midair... The monster landed smoothly somehow, then whipped around on its four paws and roared once at the bloodied novice.

"Taniel! Get the others to the next waystation. Now!"

The monks scattered, and the beast went after them, but Marcus already had his bow out and an arrow readied. Elania's eyes widened when the arrow burst into a blue flame when it launched itself at the Manzitore and adjusted its flight in midair to slam into an eye on its middle head.

She raised her weapon, ready to hurl it towards the monster, but a hand touched her shoulder.

"Mundane weapons aren't going to hurt that, get going with the others, or you're going to die!

 

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