[IC] Really? You're the Demon King?

[YamiCuoreLaroux]

Soreth sat on the same stool as he had the day before and watched attentively as Wrenna stood by the mirror, trying not to fidget in anticipation.

As the view in the mirror changed from just a reflection of the room to an image of the town, he leaned forward a bit to get a good look. People seemed to be going about doing...whatever it was that they were doing. Most of it seemed like normal stuff he would expect in a town so far. Maybe not quite the same ways he would expect of one in his kingdom, but pretty close. "It's weird. Seeing them all together like this is odd to me. It's really not that different from how our towns are...but it still looks so strange, somehow." He smiled at the sight of a few children playing together in a patch of sand. They seemed so carefree even though some parts of their surroundings seemed to have seen better days. "Humans are actually pretty hardy, aren't they? Making communities even in rough-looking places like this...are they selling something over there? And what are the people over there wearing...?" He continued watching the people mingle, suddenly curious about so many little things.

[onenote]

"Yeah, it seems like there's only a few differences in our towns and cities and those are cultural differences. It was a little weird for me too." Wrenna looked away from the mirror for a moment to look at Soreth when he mentioned humans being hardy. "Most of us are hardy yes" She told him as she looked back at the mirror. "Not all of us, but most of us." Then she focused on Soreth's questions, explaining the local bazar, why some people were dressed a little differently, getting slightly confused about a few things since it had been nearly a decade since she had been there. Then she stumbled upon someone.

"Desmond!" Wrenna said excitedly when the old man came across the mirrors screen. He was sitting in front a group of children probably telling them a story or maybe teaching them the basics of fortune telling as well. "That's the man I was telling you about before Soreth! The one that taught me fortunes among other things!"

[YamiCuoreLaroux]

"Huh? Where? That one? That's him?" The young demon nearly fell off the stool while trying to lean in even further. Catching himself before he could end up on the floor, though, he peered into the mirror and observed the elder human in front of his younger audience. "So he does the palm readings there...do they ever come true?" Despite what the hero had told him about it being fake earlier, he still couldn't help thinking about it a bit. Maybe there could still be some truth to it, who knew? "What else did he teach you, anyway? He looks pretty wise...I bet he was a good mentor." The man did remind him of some of the tutors he had in the past, though perhaps not quite as strict-looking. Perhaps it was because of the more laid-back setting or even something as simple as the look on his face. Maybe his tutors weren't as good a comparison as some of the kindly citizens of the sea town near where he used to stay.

[onenote]

"Yes, him." Wrenna chuckled as she held out one of her arms in case he did fall. "Well, sometimes they come true" She answered, deciding not to press on with the fact that they are made up. "As for what else Desmond taught me was my basic reading, writing, math, some basic real life lessons. He had traveled around the world, or at least that's what he told me. It was hard to tell what was truth and what was fiction. He never lied though, not about important things. He was always worried about what kind of future my father would force onto me...he always said "Wrenna, we can not see the future, we can not see the final destination. We can only see the road map to it. We can't see the obstacles that may spring up. But we can keep working something. Something good or bad. You may never know whether what you're working for is good or is bad. You need to look after your loved ones but there are times when you'll have to look after yourself. Sometimes it will be more important to look after yourself..."

Wrenna sighed. She wasn't good at following his advice. "Anyways, other than that, there wasn't much else he could teach me. He wasn't a scholar nor was he talented in any good standing trade. But I feel like he taught me a lot of important things. It's good to see he's still faring well. It's been almost ten years since I've been back there you know."

[YamiCuoreLaroux]

Soreth listened quietly, nodding in acknowledgement. "I see... He really was pretty important, then. It's not just scholars who give good lessons, after all. Or at least, that's what my caretaker told me once." He scratched the back of his head and grinned a bit. "It's probably not the same, seeing him through magic rather than being there, but Who knows? Maybe you'll go back there someday. Then you can tell him about all the things that you've done, too. I bet he'd be proud."

"That's a long time to be away from home, though. Have you really been traveling that whole time?" The young demon was surprised at the thought. It seemed like it would be very difficult to manage being on the road for so long. Becoming a hero was supposed to be tough, of course, but still. He hadn't expected it to have started so early, either. "You also said that you left when you were ten, so is that when your training began as well?"

[onenote]

"It's really not the same, no. I would like to go back there once we sort all of this out...I wanted to settle down some place nice once all of this was over. That town isn't exactly the easiest place to live, but it was my home so I'd like to go back to it. And yes...Desmond would be about the only one who would support me for the decisions I made." Wrenna smiled a little.

Wrenna smiled dropped a bit when Soreth mentioned traveling. "Yes, I've been mostly traveling. We'd stop for a little while every now and then so that I could be trained. The training didn't happen right away. There wasn't a lot of people that wanted to teach me for free in the beginning and Father didn't think we should have to pay for my training. I had to prove myself to quite a few people before they would teach me things. But once I started getting famous, more and more people wanted to teach me, up to the point even people affiliated with royalty were teaching me things. They said I was something of a prodigy since I learned so fast, but really there wasn't anything else for me to do but learn...That sounds like I'm saying I don't like learning, which isn't the case. I would like to learn other things, maybe once this is all over...Anyways, that basically how my training went...if that all made sense. I never thought I would have to explain my life to someone..."

[YamiCuoreLaroux]

"It's kind of funny how life ends up putting people into situations they wouldn't normally think of, I suppose. I think I understood most of it, though." The demon nodded at the end of the explanation, thinking how he hadn't really expected something like this to come up before that morning, either. "Still, that sounds really difficult. I doubt I'd want much more than to stay in one place for a long time after traveling that much, especially that young. I can't even imagine doing something like that." The thought made him frown a bit as well, and for the first time, he started to wonder if maybe she resented being the humans' hero sometimes. He probably would have. "My younger life's been mostly the opposite, I guess. It wasn't advised to have me moving too much, so I didn't really travel much more than necessary. Mostly to the same few areas when I was able to, as well."

Wanting to shift the mood a bit, he looked back to her with a small, joking smile. "Hey, maybe when we get this mess sorted out, we can try sneaking back to there! It'd be great to see more humans up close, I bet."

[onenote]

"It's never really been about what I want...but if I get through this fine, I'm going to make the rest of my life more about what I want to be sure." Wrenna told him as she took her hands away from the mirror and her home faded into her own reflection. She looked back at him when he made the suggestion of going to her home when everything was sorted all out. "Oh? That would be interesting to be sure." She smiled. "I'd have to teach you how to cast an illusion on yourself, or maybe I could do it for you. At least you won't have to worry about being cold as I'm pretty sure the area might be too hot even for a demon at times." She chuckled. "Desmond would most likely be interested in meeting you. I don't think he would really care if you were a demon though I don't know if we'd want to startle him with a big reveal." Wrenna was pretty sure that all this talk was just fantasy...but it was nice to dream.

Those thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door though. "I thought you said they weren't going to be coming until later!" Wrenna said as she looked for a place in the art room to hide just in case.

[YamiCuoreLaroux]

Soreth looked toward the art room door with an eyebrow raised. "They're weren't. I specifically asked them not to unless it was urgent." Standing up from the stool he perched on, he started walking out of the room. "Stay here and keep the door closed. I'll be right back."

As he neared the door to the bedchamber, he suddenly remembered he last few times he had neglected to lock the art room door and waved a hand in its direction to make sure it shut properly this time. The portraits would be really awful to have discovered again, but if the muse were found as well...there was no way for that to end on a pleasant note. The knocking on the door grew louder until he turned back and unlocked it with another wave of his hand. "Enter!"

As soon as he gave the command, the door opened quickly and two tall demons in uniforms knelt before him. "Your Majesty, the captain has requested your presence immediately. It would appear that the Red Dawn Brigade did leave a message for you, and it's left quite a mess."

The demon king did his best to keep the look of concern on his face minimal as he nodded. "Understood. Wait for me in the hall. I will be going with you to see for myself."

As soon as they had left, he unlocked the door to the art room and went to get his cloak and adjust his appearance. "It's not good. Wrenna, I might not be back for a while." Finally satisfied with the correct ornaments in place, he started back toward the door. "Stay out of the hall for now."

[onenote]

Wrenna nodded and quickly closed the door behind Soreth, but noticing the lock clicking close as a precaution on Soreth's part. Well, at least no one would be able to get in here now...well almost no one. Wrenna pressed her ear to the door, hopping to catch what was so important that they came directly for Soreth. She couldn't hear much. In fact, all she could hear from the guards(?) was something about a mess, and then Soreth saying he was going with them. Then he directly talked to her and gave a vauge description of what was going on...With a sigh, Wrenna knocked gently to let him know that he heard her before going to the mirror. It was time to play her least favorite game of Scrying on Soreth and having no idea what was going on really as he and others talked to one another...Lovely. But it was all Wrenna could do so she put her hands on the mirror and started the scrying, watching as Soreth came on the mirror's surface again as he quickly followed the guards to where ever it was that he was going.

[YamiCuoreLaroux]

With a guard on either side and a much quicker pace than the day before, Soreth wasn't sure whether the walk was long or short. The urgency with which the incident had been reported made him try to move quickly, but the anticipation of what he was to find made every step seem like it couldn't go quickly enough.

"It was reported that one of the maids found it while going about their duties. We received the word less than ten minutes ago, but it's likely that it was discovered at least several minutes sooner."

The guard at his right continued to offer as much information as he had while they walked, though it was apparent that even he had not yet seen what they were looking for. They had probably split the available guards at the time of the report to make sure that everything was dealt with as quickly as possible. Thankfully, they managed to reach their destination without stopping this time, and eventually stood at the entrance to the ballroom.

With the new Dawn comes New Awakening.

It would have taken a lot longer to notice, had there not been a crowd of other demons swarming around it. Some stood on the ground, while a few guards and officials flew much closer to examine the crime. Certainly, any who stood without wings would have a hard time getting near it, and the demon king wondered for how long it had been meant to stay hidden.

The message had been painted up on the ceiling. Not in any blood he would suspect of most demons, though, so any worries about the safety of those in the castle were put to rest for the time being. As Soreth approached, he could see drops of the substance on the floor beneath as well as an 'X' burned into the floor under several scattered red petals. It must not have been meant to stay hidden that long, after all.

"Captain," He addressed the uniformed demon as he dropped from his place in the air and gave his salute, "I want the list of patrols from last night. Are Sir Eizomiur and Sir Elzamir up there? I see them. Get them down here as well when they've finished their assessment. And clear the servants out for now..."

[onenote]

"With the new Dawn comes New Awakening." a voice behind Soreth said as a demon with green wings stepped up to him from behind, smiling a friendly smile. "Either that's a not so thinly veiled threat, or someone is trying to tell us when to wake up, no?" Lorne chuckled. "They're getting quite creative aren't they? I mean, the rose petals are a nice subtle touch. Completely ruined by the giant X burned into the floor. Their artist direction is everywhere. At least they didn't use actual blood. That stuff is hard to clean up. Anywho, what's your take on all of this your highness?"

You sigh...more and more talking that you couldn't here...You couldn't even see what was on the ceiling thanks to not knowing how to control the scrying completely...but there was something red dripping onto a giant X and rose petals...so there was that.

[YamiCuoreLaroux]

At the sound of the familiar voice behind him, the demon king let out a sigh. Truthfully, though, he was actually pretty glad to see this particular individual. "I think they're desperate. They're like a group of problem children looking for attention for every little thing they do in the most unappealing way." Turning to face the green-eyed demon, he offered a slight smile, though he tried to switch back to a more serious expression considering the situation. "I can't say that I really understand them that much. Even their sacrifice staying with us below only speaks gibberish as far as I can tell. You didn't see the servant who discovered this by any chance, did you? We should make sure to get their account as well at some point..."

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Left turn, straight down, not the next, but the right after that...
"...Where is this?"

One would think, that after months of getting stuck in the same hallway loops, that it would be easy to find the servants' quarters again from most of the main part of the castle. And yet, it never seemed to stick quite right! There was always that one door, or that window design, or that odd ornament that just happened to look just similar enough to the one in another hallway to completely confuse her. It was enough to drive any young demon crazy. "Why? I don't need this! I'm already done with this morning! I just want that break I was promised!" Clenching both fists in irritation, Amaryllis turned toward the next door she came across in the hope of finding some way out of the hall she had gotten lost in.

Instead, what she got was handed a bunch of sheets by another servant who was apparently running late in performing some duty and some hasty instructions to get them to a certain room down the hall before they ran off. After a second of stunned silence, the girl let out an exasperated huff before turning back to the hall she had just been trying to escape. "So much for that break...Why am I suddenly doing someone else's job?" Barely paying attention to the door as she reached it, she gave a quick knock before she entered, still muttering to herself.

[onenote]

"Oh trust me Soreth, there's always a more "Unappealing way" than this. No this was attention grabbing, but I don't think they're desperate yet. Desperate isn't rose petals that's for sure." Lorne gave the smaller demon a smile in return to try to show he wasn't be condescending. "And yes...it's going to take a bit to understand them, we're all trying to work on it. As for the servant, one of my men are interviewing her right now. But there's something I'm interested in first." Lorne leaned down closer to Soreth. "Who was your visitor the other day? the one that messed up your throne room."

---

Wrenna looked up from the mirror, confused. Soreth was still talking to some green clad demon, so that couldn't be him...she took the scry off of Soreth and into his room to see...a servant. Oh thank the gods it wasn't people looking for her...but it could become that if she didn't do something...she quickly rushed over to the door and locked it with the manual lock, hoping the servant would go away sometime soon...what would she do if the servant got into here? Despite not killing Soreth, it wasn't like Wrenna was against killing and hadn't done it before. She had and she could...but a servant wasn't an enemy. That would sound weird to most humans, seeing how demons were THE enemy...but Wrenna couldn't really bring herself to hate an entire race when her own wasn't pure and innocent. And a servant was just a person trying to get by in the world..."Oh please get back soon Soreth..." Wrenna whispered.

[YamiCuoreLaroux]

"Hn? Oh, that's right, I still have to report to the council regarding that..." Soreth looked away for a moment and mumbled a bit to himself about needing to write a note with all that was going on before he looked back with a reply. "I don't think you were there either when I found out, were you? It's a separate incident, but it seems that I have another challenger to test my right to the new position. Nothing too worrisome, but it was a little sudden. Not nearly as much preparation time as I would have liked, but what can we do? Even the calmest jobs have their hiccups once in a while."

Hoping that he wouldn't ask too much more about it, the shorter male turned back to the ceiling. "They're taking a bit, aren't they? Have you been up there yet?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Entering the room, Amaryllis was a bit surprised to find out which one it was. It wasn't as if she hadn't ever been there before, but it had only been a few times and usually only as a helper to another servant. It was easy to forget a route she didn't travel often, though the fact that she hadn't guessed by the door was a little embarrassing. "Not my fault, right? I was rushed over here when I was already frustrated...anyone could make that mistake, surely..." Trying to make herself feel a bit better about her previous lack of perception, she started over to the bed to put the sheets down when she heard something behind her.

Dropping the sheets, she whirled around and looked about the room a bit nervously. Was the someone still here? She was sure that the king was dealing with the dilemma in another part of the castle by now. At least, according to what she had heard when she was told to go on break. That sound was from one of the doors, though, wasn't it? Not the one she had come from, either.

Moving quietly toward the door she thought it had been, she hesitated only a few steps away. If it was the demon king himself or one of the other nobles in here for whatever reason she couldn't immediately think of, then she had no reason to bother them. If it was another servant, they would have made their presence clear without any trouble or maybe offered assistance. "...Should I knock, then? I guess it would be rude not to ask if it's a bad time, but still..." Moving a little closer, she raised one hand to knock, though she was unable to bring it to the door just yet in her indecision.

[onenote]

Lorne looked at Soreth with a kind of poker face that didn't give away whether or not he believed Soreth. "Ah, I see. Bad timing then is it. Quite strange that they would go on with their task when there was obviously so much amiss yesterday. But obviously that's not my call. And yes, I was one of the first to go up there, namely because I was one of the first with wings that managed to get here. They're still trying to figure out what it's made of I gather. They're speculating that it might be human blood but that wouldn't really make much sense now would it?"

---

Wrenna was keeping as silently as she could, sweating nervously as she watched the servant come over to the door, inspect, and start to raise her hand to knock on the door. It was true that the servant couldn't get in...but if she got suspicious enough about the noise, she could certainly go tell someone that could do something about both the physical lock and the magical one. Wrenna could only hope that the servant would simply think that it was her imagination and move on....

[YamiCuoreLaroux]

Soreth wasn't sure how much his companion believed him, though he couldn't help feeling a little overly anxious about his possible suspicion. "It's been enough of a mess around here since the disappearance of the previous ruler. I'm sure that many of us are having trouble keeping up. I don't know how I would without people like you around, honestly." He kept his gaze on the ceiling and his voice low as he answered, hoping to keep the others present from overhearing and to avoid giving anything away with his own expression.

He smiled slightly at the answer he received to his previous question. "I should have known that you'd have been up there before the rest. If anyone takes their job seriously around here, I bet you'll have already beaten them at their own game. Still, I agree that human blood doesn't make much sense. It's not a particularly abundant resource, especially not this far into our territory. Of course, it's always a possibility, especially now that we know that they do have humans in their group." He frowned a bit as he thought back on the previous day's discovery. "I'm guessing animal blood of some kind, but perhaps I should go up myself to for a look." Removing his gaze from the ceiling, he signaled one of the guards on the ground to approach and handed off his cloak before launching up into the air.

---

The girl stood there for several seconds, silently debating the best course of action.

"..."

After a moment, she lowered her hand and turned from the door, returning to the task of changing the sheets. "It's probably not important, right? After all, if there was someone here, they would have responded when I knocked earlier, right?" Satisfied for the moment, she went about her job as planned, hoping to still finish before she was needed for anything else so she could still take her break.

Unfortunately, as time went on, an odd feeling began to bother her. Something like a tiny voice in the back of her head that said something was off. As much as she tried to ignore it and continue with her task, she eventually found herself looking back at the door in slight discomfort. Why am I feeling so uneasy still? Eventually, she went back to the door and knocked, listening for any sort of answer. "Hello? Begging your pardon, I'm just here to change the sheets if it's alright. Is...is there someone still here?"

[onenote]

"Thank you for your insight your majesty."Lorne replied with a slightly bigger smile when Soreth gave him that compliment, trying to be somewhat discreet since Soreth was trying to be as well. "Well even if it was human blood, you would have to assume they were trying to leave a certain more "read between the lines" message, but since the Red Dawn Brigade isn't a fully human group, it's hard to tell what it would be. Animal blood would be less complicated but still, what else are they trying to tell us with it?" You tell him before he flies up and you follow him. "I will admit, they're pretty brave. To stay here long enough to set all of this up, the person or people that did this was not afraid about getting caught. If I may say, I think that's what makes this group particularly dangerous. They don't seem to have any fear for themselves."

---

Wrenna was so glad when she saw the servant walk away and go about her duties, and she almost went back to watching Soreth when she noticed the servant come back over to the door and heard her call in again...'oh for the love of the gods why won't she go away...' Wrenna thought quietly as she continued to try and not make a sound.

[YamiCuoreLaroux]

Soreth nodded. "I have to agree there; anyone who can act that reckless without worry is a force to be reckoned with."
As he got closer to the ceiling, he could see the two blue and red winged demons still discussing the substance. They exchanged salutes as he reached their level and began relaying information about their investigative procedure as the demon king closely examined the words. After a minute, he scraped a claw along one of the red marks and brought it to his lips.

"...This isn't human blood. It might be tainted with it, though. I haven't tasted anything like it befo--!" The demon gagged slightly and covered his mouth as he pushed away from it. "...Awful..." Recovering quickly, he shook his head and turned back to face the others. "If you can get a sample, take it to someone who knows how to better identify it and get the rest of this cleaned up as soon as possible. Continue the interrogations of the brigade member we have in custody as well."

After discussing a few other small details, including a follow-up meeting for much later in the day, the demon lowered himself to the ground and reclaimed his cloak. "I thank you. I regret that will be taking my leave for the time being; I have another appointment to prepare for." As soon as the cloak rested on his shoulders again, he started for the door.

Just outside the door, as soon as he thought that he was mostly out of sight, he paused for a moment and covered his mouth again with a grimace and a shudder.

---

"Hello?" Amaryllis listened carefully for a moment, but heard nothing. Sighing, she turned away from the door. Perhaps she was wrong after all, but at least she wouldn't have to deal with whatever would have happened had someone been in there. It would have been terribly awkward...

Returning to the bed, she began pulling the pillows and blankets off only to notice something heavy caught in the covers. Curious about the extra weight, she stood back and yanked hard on the fabric, hearing something fall hard to the floor as it slipped off the bed.

"...What is that? Is that...supposed to be there?"

[onenote]

Lorne was not one to panic, his job wouldn't allow for it. But when Lorne saw Soreth take some of the red substance and stick it into his mouth as if it was nothing, Lorne about had a heart attack. He thought his heart did skip more than a few beats when Soreth started gagging. Lorne could only stare blankly at Soreth finished discussing matters with the other demons before flying down to head to his room. Once Soreth was out of his sight, Lorne took a deep breathe to help get him back on track. He turned to the other demons, who were giving him a kind of "good luck with him" look, and also gave them orders regarding security and the investigation. Then he flew down and headed towards Soreth's room, to both make sure he was alright...and yell at him for doing that.

---

Wrenna continued to watch the servant, hoping she would finish quickly, when she saw something that turned her blood cold. The servant found her sword. "Dammit Qrena!" Wrenna muttered quietly. She could only hope the servant knew nothing about swords and thought it belong to Soreth so she wouldn't do anything with it or tell anyone about it...