Chrysalis

[A demonic existence can be reduced to a single need: obsession. There are many forms that this desire can take, almost innumerable, but every demon feels it. Provided we are given the freedom to pursue this obsession, we are largely content. Though this does not mean we are peaceful. A slaughter demon has but one desire, and it will seek to fulfill that desire always.]

[So… if a demon is going around killing other demons in Roklu, you just… let it go about its business? That hardly seems like it would be conducive to allowing other demons to 'freely pursue their obsession'.]

[As with anything to do with demons, there are no hard and fast rules. A demon of murder killing others is to be expected, it is its nature, so it is not punished for such. Kill too much, and the demon in question could be exiled, sent across the plains to find another city.]

[Not killed? You guys don't kill as a punishment here in Roklu?]

Judging from what little I saw of Grokus' compound, they definitely do.

[We do, but it is generally the city lord who would enact such a thing. It is the right and the responsibility of the strongest demon in the city to enforce their will on it. Those who do not appreciate this burden are free to leave, either to find another city more to their liking, or eke out an existence on the plains.]

[How do you think Grokus has been doing here?]

[I have answered your question,] the blazing eye turns toward me, focusing the full heat of its gaze upon my shiny self. [It is now time for you to answer mine.]

[Fair enough,] I gesture with an antenna, [go ahead.]

The demon, who we've come to know, actually has a name, as do most demons who live in the city, apparently. I was a little surprised at first when he introduced himself, but hey, if a demon wants a name, who am I to go about not using it? So it was that the giant eye wreathed in tongues of flame that hovered around us came to be referred to by his proper title: Allocrix. Or Al, depending on your mood.

[You have mentioned this 'Colony' before. Describe it to me. I wish to know more of it.]

[The Colony? I suppose that's fine. I guess I should ask first off, how much do you know about ants?]

The eye roars with flame.

[Little.]

I sigh.

[Alright then, I suppose I start at the beginning.]

around the plate city of demons, Roklu, whilst I expound on the ants of the surface world. Tiny insects capable of forming vast mega-colonies, a collective so unified as to act as a single organism

[You have two stomachs?]

one,] I confirm, [that way some of our

[Fascinating.]

you want to know more, but I think it's my turn,

A pause.

[Very well.]

striking. The vast emptiness vanishes into the distance, well beyond the point my eyes can see as the heat haze and ash eventually blocks my view. Far, far below, the Plains of Leng, even now a writhing carpet of weaker demons locked in eternal combat, the flats pierced

around us, as more demons emerge and begin to resume their normal

down in the middle of town earlier? Something seemed a little off about it, and you were in that

quite curious about that incident. The fact that there were two tier seven monsters in that spot, when they seem quite rare in the city from what I've seen. In

he speaks up again. [Demon politics can be simple or complicated, depending on the particular demons involved. When it comes to demon politics, there is only one issue that is fought over,

guess, the

it is so. Simplistic. Grokus has ruled over this city for hundreds of years, generally by exterminating any who would grow strong enough to challenge. Now, two demons who are

jump in and say, you and

[It is so.]

it? You three are the only tier seven monsters that I've managed to detect in

I allowed it to be so. Do you assume that there are none others who are capable of what I can

Oof.

fair enough,] I sigh. [So there are two challengers for the

depressed. [I have no wish for the role. The scheming, the fighting. Nuisance. I wish only to pursue

[The big guy?]

He actively wishes to challenge Grokus for the position of city lord, but feels he must dispense with me, the other challenger, before he can

challenge, but won't until he's managed to … what… kill you

[Yes.]

to assume that this challenge

[It is so.]

I clack my mandibles.

sure