A Demon's Core

The journey to the orchard town had been going well so far, although they had experienced an unforeseen delay, originating from the most unexpected source. Onyx was having trouble keeping pace with the rest of the group. She was doing fine for most of the first day, though she had started to lag behind by late afternoon and was resorting to teleportation in order to compensate.

On the second day, she started off okay as well, but was already noticeably slowing down by midday. The third was even worse, they had barely even started moving for the day when Onyx began to struggle. It's not like they were just running non stop all day; there were times when they all had to slow down to navigate difficult terrain and they also took regular breaks to rest and find food when necessary, but they were having to take even more breaks than usual now just for Onyx.

Eventually Rose decided to ask if anything was wrong and if there was anything that could be done to help. With Igneous' help, she managed to convey the question and got back the reply that Onyx just wasn't used to this kind of continuous, long distance travel.

Rose wasn't sure what to think of that. As far as she knew, imps routinely lived nomadic lifestyles so traveling like this shouldn't be anything too out of the ordinary. While it was true that some imp packs would sometimes settle in places where food was abundant and easy to find, such as large vukra cities, it then wouldn't be uncommon for them to be visited by the roaming packs. During such meetings, it was a common occurrence for the packs to trade some members. Those who wanted to travel would leave with the visiting pack and those who wanted to try being stationary for a while would stay with the settled pack. In this way, almost all imps would get the experience of roaming the land, often for long periods of time, at some point in their lives.

After seeing first Coal, then Onyx and Jet as well, Rose had come to assume that these grey-skinned teleporting imps were simply physically superior to red imps like her in every conceivable way, so it had never occurred to her that this could even be a problem. Now it seemed like they'd finally found something in which the red imps were clearly superior.

But then she also considered her own past. She had spent most of her adult life as a prisoner and never had the opportunity to travel as most imps usually do. The long term confinement certainly had a negative impact on her as when she'd first arrived here, it's undeniable that her physical condition was below average compared to other imps. Would she have been able to make this journey so easily if not for the physical boost she received when she became a guardian?

Perhaps Onyx too had experienced some individual circumstances that prevented her from developing the same kind of endurance that other imps possessed. She would have to compare against the other two, if the opportunity presents itself, in order to be sure.

Eventually, during one of their breaks on the third day in the early afternoon, Igneous offered to carry Onyx going forwards so she would no longer slow the group down. Rose thought it was an excellent idea, Onyx on the other hand seemed nervous at the suggestion. Most imps enjoyed flying anytime one of the gargoyles could be convinced to carry them, usually Igneous as he was generally more willing to agree to it than Marble, so even though Onyx hadn't yet experienced it for herself, Rose was confident she would probably enjoy it.

When Igneous launched himself into the air with a powerful downward sweep of his wings, sending dust and other small ground debris spraying out in all directions, Onyx let out a surprised screech. She didn't appear to be struggling as they rose higher into the air and if she really didn't like it, she could simply teleport out of Igneous' grip back down to the ground, but that didn't happen, so Rose assumed she would be fine.

Even with the delay, Rose was quite enjoying what was her first real adventure. In just a few days she had been able to see a lot of new things that she had never seen before, some of which they hunted, such as an aggressive creature with coarse fur, tusks and a flat round nose. The thing was so belligerent that it didn't even hesitate to square up against Scar, despite the hellhound being significantly larger. It did squeal and retreat from him a little when Scar blew fire right in its face though.

But that wasn't enough to make it run away. Despite clearly being outmatched, it still tried to charge the imps and gore them with its tusks even while avoiding the hellhound. It put up quite a fight, but Scar finally managed to put an end to it when he pounced on the creature and clamped his jaws on the back of its neck. It still struggled and squealed for a little while before Scar wrenched his jaws and the beast fell silent.

They had also seen a herd of much larger creatures, even bigger than Scar, which the group elected to observe from a safe distance. They were large and bulky and reminded Rose of a type of animal that vukra often farmed for their meat and hide, although these creatures had fur instead of scales and less horns. If there were only one of them, Rose would have been tempted to try taking it down, partly for food, but also just to see if they could, but with a whole herd, it would be foolish to challenge them.

Aside from that, every time they stopped, the imps would spread out and explore the area a little. They would always run back to Rose to show her any interesting things they found, often bugs or other small animals that they managed to catch, which they would usually then promptly eat.

On the third night, when the group had ceased their traveling for the day and found a place to settle down to sleep, Rose was on the last watch for the night. She observed the surroundings, watching and listening for any sign of an approaching threat.

Igneous was curled up as a rock nearby while the other imps slept cuddled up against Scar, enjoying the hellhound's warmth, except for Onyx, who kept her distance from the hellhound. The first night they had done this, Scar growled and tried to move away from them, only for the imps to follow. He made several attempts to get away from them, but they followed him every time, giggling like it was some kind of game. Eventually he gave up and reluctantly tolerated the imps nestling up against him.

It had been getting noticeably colder recently, a clear indication that they were moving into winter and Rose wondered just how cold it would actually get, remembering the many frigid nights she had spent alone. While it wasn't yet cold to necessitate huddling for warmth against a big, furry, perpetually toasty, fire breathing monster, it was always more comfortable to be warm than not.

She had been noticing something strange with her traveling companions since their journey began, they all seemed to be sleeping longer than normal. Although that really depended on what Rose considered 'normal' in this case. She had long ago noticed that, since being summoned by Magentam, she and the other imps didn't need to sleep as much as they used to and it felt totally natural to be sleeping less.

But now that effect seemed to be fading the further away they moved from the dungeon. She wasn't sure if it was because of the distance they had traveled or the time that had been away, as no one had spent this long away from the dungeon since being summoned, but they all seemed to be returning to a pre-summoning sleep schedule; all except for Rose. She still seemed to be operating on the reduced sleep that she had grown accustomed to.

The obvious assumption was that it was related to her being a guardian, which somehow meant that she was still affected by the benefits the dungeon granted, even if they faded from the others. As the night wore on, Rose looked up at the sky and noticed that there weren't as many stars visible as usual and the moon's light was dimmed as it was partially covered by clouds.

The fourth day began with rain, not quite a deluge, but certainly a respectable downpour. The sun hadn't yet risen when it started, but almost everyone was already awake anyway, the only exception being Jasmine. She'd been the one on watch before Rose took over and even with everyone else being ready to continue their journey, they were content to wait for her to wake up on her own rather than interrupt her sleep.

The rain was not so courteous. It started off light, but she woke up with a start when it suddenly got heavier. When she realised it was raining, she looked up at the sky and opened her mouth wide to catch some of it.

Fortunately, it did not impact their journey significantly. Most imps actually enjoyed running about in the rain, while Igneous was mostly indifferent to it. Water did not appear to harm hellhounds at all, despite their fiery attributes, but being soaked by it did seem to make Scar grumpy, more than usual at least. Rose didn't spend as much time around the hellhounds as some others, like Violet or Calla, so she wasn't as keyed in to their moods as they were, but Scar had always seemed at least a little bit grumpy to her and now the rain made it worse.

Luckily for him, it didn't persist throughout the whole day. By mid-morning, the rain had decreased to a drizzle before stopping completely. The sky remained cloudy after that, but warm rays of sunlight still managed to peek through occasionally.

A short time after the rain had ceased, they found themselves moving down a slightly steep incline, at the bottom of which was a creek, and they all moved carefully to avoid tripping as they descended. Rose noticed that Igneous had already landed on the other side where the ground was much flatter and Onyx was standing at the water's edge waving at them.

Rose approached the water and dipped on foot in, finding it a little chilly, but not cold enough to be unpleasant. She saw a small shape in the water quickly darting away from near where she had put her foot in. Due to how fast it moved, she wasn't able to get a good look at it, but it didn't appear to be anything big enough to cause them harm and it was pretty quick to swim away so she didn't pay it much mind.

The water didn't look to be moving too fast so crossing wouldn't be an issue and she couldn't see any other obvious signs of danger, so without further hesitation, she began wading through the water with the others jumping in after her.

This creek wasn't as wide or as deep as the river that ran through the city, but the imps still had to swim a short distance across its deepest part. Scar was the first to make it across and even he had to swim a little. It was the first time Rose had ever seen a hellhound swimming. Even the few times she'd seen them follow Calla down to the river, they'd never actually entered the water, no matter how much the child urged them to join her.

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He kept his head firmly above the water the whole way and Rose wondered if it was to keep his eyes dry. The rain hadn't seemed to negatively impact him too much, but what would happen if his eyes became completely submerged? Would the fires go out? What would happen to him if they did? She pondered these questions as Scar shook himself dry for the second time that day.

Once they were all across, the other imps requested to take a break there for a while so they could play in the water and Rose saw no problem with indulging them for a while. As they splashed around in the water and Onyx was repeatedly teleporting into the air over the deeper area and falling down to create the biggest splashes, Rose conferred with Igneous about what to expect in their path ahead and he informed her that their destination was not much further, showing her images of the town as seen from the air above their current spot.

When Rose felt that she'd let the other play long enough, she called them out of the water so they could continue. While they were disappointed at their fun being cut short, they all obeyed with minimal complaints. After taking some time to fill up the various water containers they'd brought with them, Igneous took off into the air and they started to move again.

Onyx elected to stay with the group this time instead of flying with Igneous. She would have been able to see the town with her own eyes from the air earlier so she already knew how close they were.

The trees and bushes in the area were just sparse enough that they didn't impede the group's movement or block their sight of Igneous, so they were able to move with relative ease. It wasn't long before they caught sight of the first building on the outskirts of town. Igneous was perched on its roof waiting for them and Rose called up to him and asked that he lead them to the centre of town.

As they followed him, she was observing their surroundings. It looked a lot like some of the outer suburbs of the city. It was all one and two story buildings, most with yards and often some kind of fence, or at least the remains of one, to mark their boundaries. There were none of the towering structures she'd gotten used to seeing around their current home. She couldn't even see anything that looked to be more than two stories tall.

They followed Igneous down one long straight road until he swooped down to land beside a large grey stone obelisk. The road bent around it in a circle with the obelisk situated right in the center. As they got closer, she could see writing engraved upon it, but while she had learned all the letters that humans use, she wasn't yet familiar enough with their language to recognise most of the words.

"First thing we're going to do is investigate that house," Rose declared, pointing to the nearest house; a two story with chipped and faded green paint. "If it's suitable, we'll use it as our temporary base while we're here."

The handle on the front door was a little higher than most of the doors at the hotel, but it was still just barely within Rose's reach. If it had been any higher, she'd have to rely on Onyx or Igneous to open it. Thankfully it was unlocked and she pushed the door open and walked inside. Igneous and the other imps followed her in while Scar chose to inspect the yard around the house.

The interior was much as she expected based on Violet's descriptions of what she found when she visited this town; fully furnished and still containing many of the previous resident's personal items. Satisfied with the condition of the house, she led the others back outside.

"We're going to split up now. Spread out and keep an eye out for anything dangerous, but also anything that might be interesting or useful. And remember, don't go anywhere alone," Rose instructed the other imps.

Willow and Birch took off together without hesitation, taking off down the road like it was a race. Jasmine and Azal left at a much more relaxed pace in the opposite direction while Scar had apparently caught a scent that interested him and crossed the road with his nose to the ground. Onyx watched in bewilderment as the others left. Seeing her confusion, Rose approached her.

"Onyx, can you go with Scar please?" She requested, gesturing after the hellhound.

Onyx looked at the retreating hellhound and back to Rose, but didn't make any move to follow Scar.

"You go with Scar," Rose repeated slowly.

Looking back to the hellhound again, Onyx glared warily. With some reluctance, she teleported over to Scar, though she kept some distance between them. Scar looked up at her briefly when she appeared and she growled at him. He didn't pay her any more attention and went back to following the scent he was tracking.

It was clear from when Coal first arrived that teleporting imps and hellhounds have a history of interaction, likely the violent kind. Coal has long since moved past it, but Onyx has yet to warm up to them despite the last few days of traveling along with Scar.

After the others had moved off, Rose addressed Igneous.

"Magentam wants me to check out that crater you found, so I'd like to do that first if you don't mind," she requested and Igneous nodded in agreement.

They quickly flew towards the crater, landing near its edge and Rose could feel the increased mana even as she approached. She focused on sensing the mana as she walked down into the crater. Just like Violet had said, the mana density was noticeably greater than the surroundings, but a far cry from comparing to the mana of the dungeon. One thing Violet didn't mention though, perhaps because she didn't notice, was that the mana wasn't consistent.

As she walked through the crater, she could feel slight fluctuations in the mana density. It wasn't much and she might not have even noticed if she wasn't specifically focused on the mana, but it was definitely there. She knelt down in a place where the mana felt slightly higher and ran her hand through the grass.

Rose dug her hand into the ground and pulled up a handful of dirt. She carefully sifted through the soil, grass roots and occasional pebble, but she wasn't able to find anything. Letting the last of the dirt fall through her fingers, she dug up another handful to sift through. Repeating that process a few times, she eventually found what she was looking for; a tiny sliver of a mana crystal.

She almost missed it because it was so small and its glow didn't stand out much in the middle of the day. It was also brown, which wasn't the most vibrant of colours even at the best of times and didn't stand out much against the dirt. Just to be sure, she tried absorbing mana from it and the tiny sliver of crystal pinched between her thumb and index finger immediately turned black. The amount of mana she gained from it was about as much as she expected, given its size, but there was no questioning what she had found now.

She continued to dig around the area until she found a few more shards, though none of what she found were any bigger than the first. Rose didn't know a lot about mana crystals, but she knew they could be created in a dungeon. She also knew that Magentam's core fell from the sky and left a pretty big hole in the roof of the hotel. Even if it wasn't anywhere near as big as the crater she now stood in, it still seemed like a reasonable assumption that this may also have been a location where a dungeon core had fallen at some point.

Though if that were the case, it definitely wasn't there anymore. Where it had gone or when it was taken were mysteries that Rose didn't expect to find the answers to, but she was satisfied to have found a plausible explanation for the crater. Perhaps later she could bring the others back here so they could look for more mana crystals together and if they were lucky, they might be able to find something more than just these tiny slivers.

On their way back to their temporary base, Rose spotted two of the other imps also making their way back. The two were moving slowly and it looked like one of them was leaning on the other, which gave her the feeling that something was wrong so she asked Igneous to land near them.

It was Willow and Birch and it seemed that her feeling was right. Birch was holding Willow up with one arm and dragging something behind him with the other, while Willow was leaning on him heavily and looked like she was having trouble standing.

"What happened?" Rose demanded.

"Bit by this," Birch replied, holding up what he'd been dragging.

It was a long thin creature with scales and no limbs that had been partially decapitated. Rose had seen similar creatures before and when describing them to Magentam, was told that they were called snakes and to be careful around them because some could be venomous.

Rose hadn't paid much heed to that warning because imps were highly resistant, if not outright immune, to most venomous creatures, but seeing Willow now, she realised she might have been too hasty in dismissing it.

"Carry her back to the house, quickly," she instructed Igneous.

Igneous picked up the injured imp and took off without hesitation while Rose and Birch sprinted after him. While running, Rose reached out to Magentam for advice.

'We have a problem. Willow was bitten by a snake and she's not doing well,' she reported.

Can you describe the snake?

Rose glanced at the snake that Birch was still dragging behind him as he ran.

'It's dark brown on top with a lighter brown underbelly.'

That sounds like one of the venomous ones. Have you tried healing her yet?

'Not yet, but I don't know how to cure venom,' Rose lamented.

You might not have to know.

'What do you mean?'

You did not 'know' how to heal others when you were doing it in the beginning. You did not even know that you were doing it at first, but you were still able to do it. The same may apply in this case. Even if you cannot directly neutralise the venom, it might be enough to just make sure she does not die long enough for her body to deal with it on her own.

They were only a few blocks away from the house so they reached it again in short order. Once inside, Igneous laid Willow down on a couch. Rose and Birch arrived a moment later and approached her.

"How are you doing?" Rose asked.

"Don't feel good," Willow moaned in response.

"You're going to be fine. I'll make sure of it," Rose assured her.

She placed her hands lightly on Willow's chest and slowly fed mana into her while Birch watched from the side apprehensively. Since she didn't have a firm understanding of how to specifically target the venom, she just focused on general healing as best she could.

Even though the snake's venom had been far more impactful than Rose ever would have expected, she still trusted in imps' resistance to such things to help Willow pull through. That combined with her efforts to heal any damage the venom might cause made her feel confident that everything was going to be okay. Still, she didn't know how long it would take for Willow to recover so Rose did not expect to get anything else done that day.