Aqua Regalia [Monster Progression LitRPG]

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Notes

Personal

Diary

Emotions

Worry

I let the demon live, at Sara's behest.

Well… not behest. Sara never told me to let her live, but she never said she would mind if I did.

I guess I took that lack of admonition for support.

Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to shift the blame, if this all goes wrong.

Why did I even do that?

I hope this doesn't go terribly wrong.

]

"Why."

That singular question hung like a meat hook in the back of Cas's mind.

Why had she let the demon live?

Damnit, Cas had even healed her, setting her up with a pressure bandage, a cover story, and letting the potential child murderer get away. It was stupid.

But, the fact that Sara was willing to consider it in the first place made Cas hesitate. And, demon or not, in the moment, letting someone live was the easier decision compared to murdering them.

That was stupid, too. Cas decided upon reflection.

Quietly, she moved her journal entry from 'Worry' to 'Cowardice'.

Whether done out of cowardice or benevolence, however, Cas was a subscriber to the cynical view: "No good deed goes unpunished."

And Cas considered herself well punished as she leaned away from Boore-Saa, who had taken a seat uncomfortably close to Cas's own.

Cas moved away, and the demon merely scooched over to close the distance, continuing her spirited banter with the Psylen on the other side of the campfire.

Yes, banter.

Cas noted with some amazement just how… well, not friendly, but civil the conversation between Sara and Boore-Saa had so far been.

Certainly, Sara had a good command of her outward expressions, but the fact that she was expressing anything other than a dagger held at arm's length seemed worthy of praise. It was honestly disturbing to witness.

Sara seemed to take the demon's offer of 'complete loyalty' seriously and, if Hollywood had taught Cas anything, it was that magical demon contracts tended to be supernaturally binding. You agree to the contract and bam the demon becomes your loyal friend forever… or something like that, Cas honestly never watched beyond the midpoint of those sorts of movies.

The fact that Cas didn't have to agree to anything, or sign with her blood was also a plus. Not to mention, the demoness had - so far - kept true to her word. As promised, she met up with them after they left the army. This, despite the fact that -- with no one supervising her -- she could have escaped quite easily.

That was was one mark of her loyalty, at least.

So, while Cas didn't trust Boore-Saa, she at least trusted in whatever magical compulsion was keeping her from slitting their throats at night. Sara certainly seemed to.

Still, knowledge was one thing. Belief was another. A person being pushed out of a plane might know about the parachute strapped to their back. That knowledge wouldn't be enough to stop them from screaming on the way down.

And Cas, over the past few days, had tried to psych herself up with the knowledge of the contract.

Now that the demon was here in front of her, however ... well, Cas wasn't screaming, but she still couldn't get comfortable. Seriously, how was Sara sitting so easily in the presence of this thing? Oh, right, Sara could show any emotion she wanted on command, Cas remembered.

Cas, on the other hand, was not so gifted. She had the look of someone sitting on a bed of needles. Sara's lecture, she ignored completely in favor of keeping an eye on Boore-Saa's hands.

This was a difficult task, considering Cas had to do it while avoiding looking at the demon.

In fact, Cas hadn't looked directly at the demoness since she'd arrived. This sudden shyness was on account of the fact that, well, the demoness was naked, you see. Granted, this wasn't a surprise. She'd always been naked, but that fact seemed unimportant back at the camp, when fighting to the death. Here, sitting comfortably around a fire, it looked positively scandalous.

Boore-Saa had the vague proportions of a lanky human. She had a female figure, but with a flat chest and long limbs, she looked like an anatomy drawing of a fashion model's fashion model, and – like all anatomy drawings – she was unabashedly naked. Worse still, she apparently noticed Cas's embarrassment, and had started flaunting the fact of her nudity whenever she caught Cas looking in her direction, which only made keeping an eye out for her nefarious doings all the harder.

The demoness particularly enjoyed moving suddenly at important moments of Sara's lecture, causing Cas to flinch and become distracted. She had just stabbed her tail at nothing and caused Cas to nearly jump her when, finally, the human had enough.

"Are we seriously ok with this!" Cas said, gesturing to Boore-Saa but not looking at her.

Sara paused the even flow of her lecture. Looking up, she spoke like an experienced teacher with a rowdy class: "Boore-Saa, stop bothering Cas and sit appropriately."

Boore-Saa made a half-assed attempt.

"Legs together, now," Sara guided. "There," she said at last with a nod of acceptance. "Now, you look like a proper lady. And, Cas, I understand this is disturbing for you, but we don't have any spare clothes at the moment. I'm afraid you'll have to put up with her until we get to a city."

"I'm not talking about her being naked!" Cas said, voice inflected with self pity. "I'm talking about the fact that she's here!"

Sara grew confused. "I'm not sure why you should be. You did ask her to rendezvous with us."

An inviolable argument.

"Well, yeah…" Cas admitted. "I just said that because I didn't want her around for the army investigation."

Boore-Saa – never content to remain quiet – interjected with four of her thoughts.

"You should stop being a prude, Cas."

Turning to Sara immediately after: "I'll wear clothes if you pay for them.

"Also: I'm hungry.

"Also: Sara is right, Cas. I only showed up because you told me to. If you'd like... just release our contract and I'll happily disappear out of your sight. I have many important things I'd like to get back to."

Boore-Saa suggested that course of action with her best approximation of an innocent smile. The pointed tips of her teeth turned it into a plotting grin, at best.

"Ugh!" Cas threw her face into her hands. "She's going to stay here, isn't she?" She looked at Sara for help.

Sara shrugged. "We can't allow her to run free, now. We've already spared her life."

Boore-Saa helpfully added: "Interjection: I'm definitely going to run away if you try to kill me because Cas is being overly paranoid.

"Also: technicality: you can let me run free.

"Also: opinion: Cas, I think you're too skeptical" she said, finishing her sequence with a character analysis.

"Skeptical?" Cas recoiled. "Paranoid? I'm sorry; can you explain how it's paranoid to feel uncomfortable sitting next to a murderous psychopath!"

"Incorrect: I'm not a psychopath." Boore-Saa corrected. "Also: I can sit further away from you if it helps." She scooched away a few bare inches, still far too close for Cas's comfort.

Cas turned to Sara, gesturing to the demoness and asking for backup. "Really? Are we really just going to believe this?"

"Demons are very trustworthy, Cas," said the Demon.

"Really, Cas?" Sara spoke gently. "I'm surprised you spared her life if you were this untrusting of demons. Did you have bad experiences with them on your world?"

"We don't have demons on my world!" Cas admitted plaintively. "I'm just having doubts on if this was the right course of action. What if she betrays us somehow? Or the contract was faulty? Or she finds a way to break the magic?"

Sara quirked her eyebrows at that last statement, but focused for the present on more practical things. "Well, you should know that sending her away isn't an option, now. She could present a danger to the empire if she's allowed to act on her own initiative. And, as she's so helpfully told us, killing her will involve a fight. Is that what you're suggesting?"

Cas sighed. She knew it would be like this.

Sara continued. "If it helps ease your mind, however. You should know that contracted Demons are a commonality throughout Aleria's history. They've served with humans, and even the high King has worked with contracted demons. I can assure you, betrayal will not be a problem worth considering."

"Really?" Cas said with some bare hints of skepticism still holding on.

"Yes, really. In fact, I was just reading a history of demons in the imperial court." Sara opened her satchel, and a scroll appeared, floating gently into Cas's waiting hand. It was a dense pack of tightly rolled parchment, about as long as a ruler and capped on either end by reflective, metal caps.

Perhaps it was a psychological trick, or maybe that was just Sara's convincing nature, but the weight of the parchment seemed to bolster the weight of Sara's claims, and Cas slipped it into her bag with an off hand. Sighing, "Sorry, guys. I guess I just have a lot more to learn about this world."

"Yeah, no need to be so prejudiced against demons, Cas," Bore-Saa chastised.

Cas replied with stinging patience. "I'm not prejudiced against demons; I'm prejudiced against demons that tried to kill us five days ago!" She directed the pointed statement into Boore-Saa's face.

"Correction: Still a prejudice," Boore-Saa shot back.

"How is that still a prejudice?" Cas seethed. It seemed this demoness had a talent for transmuting fear into annoyance.

"Because," Boore-Saa explained simply, weighing an empty hand on either side of her face, "you said you're prejudiced against 'demons that tried to kill you five days ago', implying you wouldn't be prejudiced against humans that tried to kill you five days ago, thereby admitting to a double standard.

"Anyway, is that an original printing?" Boore-Saa continued, addressing Sara and pointing to the scroll in Cas's satchel.

"Also: what were you guys saying about magic?" she asked immediately after, addressing both of them.

Boore-Saa, as Cas discovered, had a habit of attending to three different topics at once.

Sara seemed unperturbed by it and answered them in order.

"No, it isn't an original. Yes, we were talking about magic. And, if we could get back to our original topic of conversation, I'd like to finish this lecture sometime before sunrise."

Cas gave up and gestured for Sara to continue, though she always kept one half of her conflagrated mind on the demon sitting next to her.

"Ok," Sara continued, "can you tell me what you've learned so far about magic?" Her voice was wearied after nearly an hour of continual lecturing.

"Uhm," Cas was ashamed to admit, "actually, I was kind of distracted by Boore-Saa for a moment. Could you repeat… everything you said?"

To her credit, Sara maintained a gentle face. Her voice was even gentle:

"You know what? Forget the magic lecture. How about... you just ask me questions, and I'll answer. That ought to be faster, and hopefully more educational."

"Ok…" Cas was game. "What can magic do?"

Sara smiled. "Magic can do anything that's possible."

That was unhelpful to the extreme, and Cas suspected the answer was Sara's revenge for being ignored.

"Ok… how many spells are there?"

An even happier grin. "Why, there's no limit to them."

"Really?"

"It follows, doesn't it?" Sara offered. "Magic can do anything that's possible, and there are an infinite number of possible things. Ergo, the number of spells is… not finite, put simply."

"Yeah," Boore-Saa commented from the sidelines, "that was pretty obvious, Cas."

"Thank you, Bore-sa," Sara complimented gently. "At least someone's paying attention."

"My name is Boore-Saa."

"That's what I said."

"Ugh."

'Ugh indeed,' Cas thought, realizing that she was now in the peculiar position of being ganged up on by her best friend and potential murderer.

Still, she suspected that Sara wasn't just making things up, and – having spent thousands of hours manipulating abstract data on spreadsheets – Cas had a mind trained in exactly this sort of nonsense.

"Ok…so, magic can do anything that's possible..." she patterned out slowly, speaking in lock-step with the ratcheting conclusions of her understanding mind. "In that case, what exactly is defined as 'impossible?'"

Sara perked, apparently willing to take this more seriously, now that the questions had gotten intelligent.

"There are only two things which are impossible:" Sara answered, holding up a 'v' on her right hand.

"One -- " she folded her middle finger " -- bypassing the absolute protections of Aura,"

"Two: one can not contravene the will of God."

"You know," Boore-Saa jumped in, "you could have just combined those into one rule, considering that Aura was created by 'God's' will." She was chewing on a smoked fish pulled from the satchel at her side.

"Seriously, you believe in God, too?" Cas turned to the literal demon next to her.

"Ha!" Boore-Saa laughed, spitting out a half-chewed chunk of her filet. "I simply understand how to communicate with animals in terms they can understand."

"Anyway," Sara continued, sending a glance of displeasure at the interruption, "those are the two rules. Though I suppose they can mean the same thing under certain circumstances."

Cas, feeling uncomfortable with accepting the 'will of god' as a quantity, focused on the first rule.

"So… magic lets you do anything as long as you don't break Aura's protections?"

Sara nodded.

"And, that means, you can do anything as long as it doesn't try to touch someone's mind or soul?"

"That, or to subject them to an esoteric effect without their consent," Sara added.

"… I don't believe you," Cas huffed. "Like, magic that lets you do anything anything? You people should be living in a galactic empire and levitating everywhere, not hiking around in the medieval era getting jumped by monsters."

"Really?" Sara challenged. "That's quite incurious of you."

And Sara was right. It was. For Cas was not one to hold in her questions, and the past several hours worth of impossible things she'd been told to 'just accept' had worn on her, until eventually the dam burst and Cas threw her hands up. "I mean, come on!" she announced. "Of course I don't believe you! If magic really can do anything. Why do you guys even have farms? You could just conjure food from nothing. You could have anything you wanted. Everyone could have their own mansion, ten jacuzzis and a Mercedes. This place should be heaven!"

Sara was calm, and she had the amused look of a veteran experiencing the unrealistic hopes of youth. This, despite the fact that Cas was certain she was the same age as the woman, if not a little older, her current body's age notwithstanding.

She spoke with a little wistfulness: "You know, everyone believes that when they first learn magic. But, the first lesson we're all told as children, and the one I've grown to understand over the years, is also the most basic: Magic can't solve any of your problems…"

"Yeah, yeah," Cas interrupted, remembering the lecture, "you have to stab the demon in the face yourself."

"Wait, what?" Boore-Saa suddenly looked up from her fish.

"You know, I really don't believe that, either," Cas added. "It sounds exactly like the sort of hokey thing people say to justify not using magic to solve all their problems, which it should be able to if it can do 'anything', or is there not a spell for that?" she finished testily.

"Really?" Sara challenged. "In that case, why don't you tell me the spells you would use to make this place into 'heaven.' Go on." She waved her hand in an encouraging manner.

Cas stumbled back from her bravado at that, seeing the confidence in her opponent. "Ok." She accepted. "How long do spells last?"

"They last until an Aura dispels them, or until their natural course brings them to an end." Sara answered. "Spells can persist indefinitely, if you let them."

"Even after the person who cast it dies?" Cas asked, already taking notes.

"Even then." Sara sat forward, noticing Cas's enthusiasm. Even Boore-Saa slowed in her ravenous eating to pay some attention to the ongoing debate.

Cas… wasn't seeing how Sara was still so confident after all that. There had to be some catch.

"How much magic can the average mage cast before they're tired?"

"Again, it's not 'casting magic' it's shaping aura. And, like you already acknowledged: Aura is unbounded. However, there can be a backlash for inexperienced users. Physical spells have a physical backlash. Mental spells have a mental strain. And 'esoteric' spells can undermine your very existence. So, if a novice tried to cast a fireball large enough to cover the world, for example, they might only cover a few miles before their body disintegrated."

Cas, feeling especially petty, caught the discrepancy.

"But, didn't you just say Aura protects your mind and soul 'completely'? If that's the case, you should be able to cast mental and esoteric spells that require unlimited power."

"You're exactly right," Sara cheered.

Cas despaired at that knowledge. "So… you could cast a spell with infinite power if you wanted?"

"That and more," Sara beamed. "How much energy do you suppose it takes to speed up time like I did?"

"A lot?" Cas guessed.

"More than exists in this universe," Sara answered dramatically. "But, go on. I believe you were about to educate us on how to create a perfect world."

Sara said it with not a little sardonicism -- and it stung -- so Cas quickly retorted:

"Well, what about time travel?" Cas suggested. "You could use that to solve all your problems before they even become problems. Not to mention you could use it to get infinite energy, stock trading, never miss an appointment, things like that."

"That is interesting," Sara said, pretending to consider the idea, "but unfortunately impossible."

Cas smiled. "Oh, I thought Magic -- excuse me -- 'Aura shaping' could do anything? That was the word you used, wasn't it?"

"And I wasn't lying," Sara said. "I could design a time travel spell, if I wanted, and it would work."

"Yeah, until you kill your grandfather and the whole universe explodes," Cas scoffed.

Sara only smiled. "There are an infinite number of potential time-travel spells Cas. We could do one that creates a time-loop, the alternate reality sort, or even just cast another spell to compensate for paradoxes."

Cas squinted suspiciously. "Ok? Then why don't you?"

Sara's smile, if possible, only grew more giddy. "Well, you're apparently already familiar with the Grandfather paradox. Do you know what the butterfly effect is?"

"Yes," Cas said, surprised to hear such familiar terms. "It's when a small change in one thing affects everything, like how a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world months later."

"That's right," Sara answered. "More generally, anything you do would affect everything else. And, suppose you did travel back in time, say, a month. How many people do you think you would end up affecting by that action?"

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Uh… all of them?" Cas said, slowly beginning to realize. "So, when you tried to cast the spell, their auras would-"

"Destroy whatever esoteric effect was trying to send you back in time," Sara finished for her. "I have to give you props, that's an interesting first proposal, and creative, too. Bravo. Normally, Auras only cancel the direct effects of esoteric spells, but due to the fact that you're going back in time… the order of operations gets twisted around. In any case," she clapped her hands together conclusively, "time travel is impossible in this universe."

Cas wasn't giving up. "What if you teleported to another universe, and then traveled back in-"

"Leaving this universe is impossible, at the moment, due to a decree by Regalia Ember," Sara announced in a business-like manner. "Even if you could, you wouldn't be able to travel back into this universe by esoteric means."

"Then how did I get here?"

"Reincarnating is a natural means."

"So what if you-"

Sara preempted her. "Aura has made all natural entryways into this universe a 'fixed point in time'.

"Damnit!" Cas said, getting competitive now. "What if you went to another universe, got a time-machine-"

"Time travel is an esoteric effect, machine produced or no."

"Ok, fine! Forget the time travel." Cas, was, by nature, not that competitive… according to herself. Polls taken on party clowns told a different story, and that fire was apparent, now, as Cas vied for any means to prove herself right.

"What about food?" she suggested. "Why do you still have farms? You could just make a spell for that, right?"

"There are an infinite number of potential spells for that," Sara answered confidently, "how would you design this particular spell?"

Cas scowled, hurt. "You know I can't do magic."

"You have an imagination, though," Sara teased. "Just tell me the design."

"Well… how about 'poof', and a potato appears in your hand?" Cas mimed the spell with waggling fingers over the fireplace. She could take things lacksidasically, too. That would show her!

Despite the unserious response, Sara considered it genuinely. "Ok… so you want to manipulate the concept of 'potato' and excite it until it makes a potato, is that correct?"

"Sure?"

"Ok… well, conceptual spells are very simple, but… what do you think will happen to that potato when it comes in contact with a hostile aura?"

"...Poof away because it's esoteric?" Cas guessed.

"Correct. And what happens to a person whose body is made of esoteric matter because all they eat are conceptual potatoes?"

"They could be killed by anyone with a hostile aura?" Cas answered.

"They could be killed by anyone," Sara elucidated, "or, for that matter, any dog, or flea, or even just lose an arm randomly one day because of magic erosion."

Magic erosion recalled to Cas the memory of the broken down carriage, and she shuddered to think of the possibilities.

"Ok," she conceded. "What if you just cast a spell and turned a rock into a potato?"

"My, you really like potatoes, don't you?" Sara noticed.

"Potatoes are good!" Cas objected, unashamed.

"In any case, it's the same problem. Just now you'd be turning to stone instead of disappearing."

Cas paused and took a deep breath. She just knew there was something to this, and she refused to be waylaid because of it. So, in the sudden calm of her mind, she started thinking, accounting for every contingency until, finally, her magnum opus was ready for presentation.

Over the course of a few minutes of intense thought, Cas considered everything possible, not forgetting a single one of Aura's limitations. She'd even resorted to Conflagrating, so taken was she with her idea.

At last, she said, "Ok. I think I understand how much of a problem Aura presents, but I have a simple solution."

"Oh?" Sara raised an eyebrow, preparing herself to hear something actually interesting. "I'm listening."

"You design a spell," Cas said, speaking slowly, "that makes a machine, which itself makes another machine, which takes in air, water and soil, and recombines them into a potato using purely physical forces."

"Ha!" Boore-Saa laughed suddenly for reasons Cas couldn't understand. "You were Conflagrating when you came up with that idea, weren't you? Admit it? You know ideas can become crazy if you do it too much?"

Sara was more kind with her face-palm. "Cas… that's called a plant. A machine that turns water and soil into food is called a plant. You just described a farm!"

"No," Cas denied. "My machine would be made of metal, and it would work way faster."

"First of all," Sara explained, "if it uses 'purely physical forces' it's going to be subject to physical laws. That means it's going to have to take time to make the food -- accounting for things like heat dissipation, and how long it takes atoms to undergo chemical reactions."

Cas was surprised to discover that Sara knew about atoms.

"-and even if you could get your idea to work," Sara continued. "Consider how complicated a spell you're talking about. Manipulating concepts and turning time are simple spells because they're dealing with unitary basic forces. You're talking about designing a machine that moves atoms in particular ways so that they create a potato." Sara was stuttering with indignation. "It would take the lifetime of a genius to even learn that spell, much less design it, and all that for a machine that's going to be destroyed by Magic Erosion within the month if you're lucky."

"You're saying a potato plant is more complicated than turning time?" Cas said.

"Yes?" Sara answered obviously. "Have you any idea just how complicated life is? Creating a time spell is easy. All you have to do is understand that things go one direction and twist them. Consider how many intricate details have to be accounted for in just the muscles of the little finger." Sara said, flexing her tea finger as an example. "And consider how every person's finger is different, and how drastically it changes as they age. Do you know that healing spells have to be modified for every individual person, and even then they can only do the most general things? Spells that deal with the firmament of reality, concepts, even fire are easy. Life is hard."

Of course, Cas already knew that. She just wanted to hear Sara say it out loud.

Take that, physicists!

Of course, biology chauvinist though she might have been, Cas understood what Sara really meant. Biology wasn't really harder as a subject than physics, but it was more complicated.

Physics had, like, four equations that explained everything. And physicists were trying to cut that number down to one!

Biology, on the other hand, was the field of exceptions. Biology had millions of different species, each with a million different biological pathways and technical details, all of which had many exceptions and could even vary over time and between individuals.

The mechanisms inside even a single plant cell alone could fill every library in the world and not be fully described. "Cycles upon cycles of cycles," as Cas had once repeated to herself in a daze while studying for her exam on Mitosis.

Given this, Cas was beginning to understand why they still had farms, and why they seemed to rely so heavily on physics spells.

It was becoming apparent that the people of this world, for all their advancements, knew very little about biology.

It was a wonderful collision of circumstances. After her brief stint with the army, Cas had been wondering what she would do with her life here.

It appeared that her ability to create food and manipulate biology was rather rare in this world, if not unique. Not to mention Cas was a biologist, and a rather good one at that. Who better to shepherd this world into a golden age of the biological sciences than her? She'd make it into the history books. She'd be a hero.

She was going to rock this magical world, and be the Biologist of legend.

Yeah! This was way better than tenure.

Cas was so happy that it almost made up for losing her argument with Sara. But, Cas's competitive spirit caught something in the midst of her jubilation.

Cas conflagrated to clarify that something, and she immediately realized the flaw in Sara's argument.

It was worrying how instinctively Cas turned to Conflagrating, but came in handy this one time, because Cas had her! Sara had contradicted herself and Cas could prove it!

"Hold it!" Cas leapt up in a frenzy of giddy excitement, pointing a hard arm over the fire like it was a courtroom table. "You almost had me there, but did you think I'd forget?"

"What?" Sara asked.

Cas was almost giggling evilly, if such a thing were possible. Sara, poor poor Sara, so confident of her victory -- not expecting the complete and utter doom awaiting her.

"Sara," Cas began, speaking slowly to savor each premise towards her inevitable victory. "Didn't you say earlier, and I quote, 'spells last indefinitely until an Aura destroys them?'"

"Yeah?"

"If spells truly last forever, then you could just create one machine that makes potatoes, and you would only need that one since it would last long after its creator's death, no?"

"We've already been over this. It would erode."

"That's exactly my point, though! If spells supposedly last forever, where does magical erosion come from?"

Cas smiled victoriously at this decisive blow.

Sara merely shrugged. "I don't know."

"...what?"

"I don't know," Sara repeated, even more clearly. "It's not something that anyone's figured out, as far as I know. Maybe the answer is in some ancient monument somewhere."

"But… doesn't that contradict your whole, 'magic can do anything' spiel. That's why we're having this argument in the first place."

"But it can?" Sara replied.

"You just said it erodes!"

"No it doesn't!" Sara said, offended. "Magic doesn't erode. It has to either be purposefully unmade, or cancelled by a hostile aura."

"But… then... why does it erode?" Cas said, feeling the logic tripping her tongue.

Again, Sara shrugged. "Like I said, I don't know."

"Then how can you know magic lasts forever?"

"Same way you know Aura is infinite."

Cas wanted to argue, but then she realized that Sara was right.

Magic would last indefinitely unless cancelled or undone by a hostile Aura. Stranger still, Cas knew this for a fact.

There were certain things she had to take Sara's word for: Aura's absolute protections, the fact that Aura was apparently undetectable, but very basic things like Magic lasting forever were something even she had an intuitive understanding of. It came with the Aura proficiency, she supposed.

But, then, what about the problem of erosion?

Sara apparently didn't know.

And Cas, realizing that fact, became giddy again.

After all, wasn't that why she'd become a scientist in the first place? To solve difficult questions? With such a tantalizing mystery on her hands...

This world was full of monsters and questions, and Cas – arrogant thought it may have been for her to presume – felt confident that she could do a lot of good in the latter. After all, she could create food, medicine, and had knowledge of biology -- which was these people's blind spot in the sciences. More importantly, she was also trained in the scientific method. And, though magic may have been more limited than she thought, it was becoming increasingly apparent to her that a small application of science could bring it to the next level.

She might even be able to fix magic erosion.

This was a world verging on 'heaven' as she'd put earlier. Just one or two small fixes was what stood in the way.

Ok, now she had two goals:

One: become biologist.

Two: figure out magic erosion.

Sara interrupted her musings. "If you're still skeptical about magic lasting forever, I should mention that experiments in deep space have shown magic erosion is only a factor in the immediate space around this world system."

"You guys have space travel!?" Cas said, nearly leaping to a stand.

"Ha! These animals? No?" Boore-Saa laughed mockingly.

Sara shot back. "Demons don't have it either."

"We did in our ancient and glorious past!" Boore-Saa shot back.

"No they didn't," Sara said again. "Cas, order her to stop lying."

"Stop lying," Cas said.

"Fine," Boore-Saa blew disappointment through her lips. "You guys are no fun."

"But, you were saying deep space," Cas said. "How do you test there without traveling?"

"We can cast spells far away into the void," she said, pointing up at the starlight. "Spells there last indefinitely, in accordance with theory."

"Huh," Cas paused, bringing a hand to her chin. "So, it's something about this planet, then."

"Maybe," Sara shrugged. "I've never really concerned myself with it."

"But, wait," Cas said, again rebounding back to her more hopeful thoughts. "If space solves your magic erosion issue, couldn't you just cast indefinite spells up there? Make potatoes out of space rocks and teleport them here or whatever?"

"And leave our food production undefended?" Sara scowled at Cas like she was crazy. "Our Auras are the only things protecting our lands from enemy spells!"

Cas almost laughed at the stupidity of it.

"Seriously?" Cas said aloud, forgoing her usual polite, non-committal stance on politics. "You could make a perfect world if you'd just cooperate, but you're all wallowing in the dirt digging potatoes because of, what? Medieval power games?"

Sara's eyes filled with a cold fire and she sat up to her full height. She was still shorter than Cas, but her spirit seemed to tower into the sky as she stared up at the girl, speaking very sternly. "Our battles here are serious, Cas. There is no, as you say, 'powergaming' on this world, merely a fight against the evil which threatens everything we hold dear."

"Can't you make peace?" Cas asked.

"Absolutely not," Sara said.

The look in Sara's eyes convinced Cas not to push the matter.

Still… it had been an educational session. Thankfully, the discussion wasn't hampered by translation issues. Sara apparently spoke fairly modern English, idioms and all – she'd have to figure out why English was a thing here, someday. Cas took a note, highlighting the mystery in bold.

Moreover, Sara also seemed to know a lot of fairly advanced topics. Atoms, transfinite numbers, space… in everything but biology, the world here seemed advanced, yet they were more primitive technologically despite having magic, or maybe because of it. Cas wondered.

"So… you said Biology isn't really studied here?" Cas picked up the conversation anew, trying to steer away to safer topics.

"You keep using that word," Sara said. "What does it mean?"

"Uhm." That was a good question, actually. As was often the case, the more one knew about a subject, the harder it became to explain it. Eventually, Cas grasped for the textbook answer: "It's the study of life."

"Oh, my, that is a mystery."

"Yeah, but your people seem to know so much more about everything else," Cas ventured. "Do you not study life because it's difficult to create spells that interact with it?"

Sara leant back, reclining her cheek on a palm and closing her eyes. Evidently, she was growing tired. "Partially," she said. "Life spells necessarily interact with Aura. That... complicates things, considering you can't simply tug at concepts to achieve the desired result. It can be hard convincing a mage to dedicate their life to the craft, especially when there are physical spells like time bubbles, which are just so much easier and… generally useful." Sara yawned. "But, I suppose the real reason is because no one has found the God of Life."

"God of life?" Cas asked.

Sara yawned again, raising a hand to cover her mouth. "I'm tired, Cas. Let's finish this another time."

The satchel at her side opened.

A dense roll of cotton floated out, unfurling several dozen feet away and arranging itself into a white, bell-stout tent.

Cas watched with some fascination as the loose fabric grew into position, pegs driving themselves and guy lines tensioning of their own volition until the roof peaked and stiff cloth rose into the shape of a tent roof. A translucent cloth flap fell, covering the doorway.

Sara stood up, raising her firsts to the sky in a cracking stretch. "Good night, Cas," she said, pulling out a sleeping liner, flapping it out to full length.

"Good night," Cas replied. She was sad to stop the conversation just as it reached such an interesting note, but had resolved to be more empathetic when it came to matters of sleep. She remembered exhaustion could be quite demanding at times, though it was only a dim memory nowadays. "I'll take watch," she offered politely.

"Really? Great! Then I'll sleep in the tent, too!"

As if she owned the place, Boore-Saa stood up to her full step-ladder supermodel height, cat walking around the fire to stand expectantly beside Sara.

Cas waited for the shoe to drop, for Sara to reject her out of hand.

And she kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting…

Eventually, she waited long enough that they had both traveled to the entrance of Sara's tent. It was a funny sight, watching Boore-Saa's lithe figure towering over such a stout tent, obviously designed for one person. At least, it would have been funny if Cas wasn't fuming.

"Seriously?" Cas exclaimed.

"What?" Sara looked at her with a confused expression.

"We're letting her sleep with us now?"

"Hey, I did ask," Boore-Saa retorted.

"Well, she did ask, Cas." Sara repeated like it was a reasonable proposition.

"Yeah, Cas," Boore-Saa parroted, "I did ask. Also: I'm sensing some hostility from you." She moved to stand behind Sara, using her as a shield against Cas's declarations.

The shield had limited effect when you consider that the top of Sara's head barely reached the demoness's shoulder, and Cas's glare sailed right over the mop top directly into Boore-Saa's soul. "She's a demon!" Cas said. "Have you forgotten the whole-" Cas mimed a motion like a stabbing dagger.

"I'm not going to kill you," Boore-Saa's eyes rolled.

"We've been over this, Cas," Sara said, already inside the tent, crawling on all fours and arranging her sleeping mat. Her voice was still tired, and apparently not in the mood for extended argumentation. "She's not going to kill you."

"Yes!" Boote-Saa said, happy to have the backup.

Cas looked to Sara for support.

The woman crawled back out of the tent, standing with hands on hips in an impatient gesture.

She had to finish this argument quick, Cas realized. "Well, if you're not up to anything nefarious, why do you even want to sleep in the same tent?" She directed the question at Boore-Saa.

"Oh, isn't it obvious why I'd want to sleep in the same tent?" the demoness asked, eyes lit with bright ideas and mocking humor.

"No, it's not," Cas crossed her arms. "What could you possibly need the same tent for?"

Boore-Saa suddenly wrapped her arms around Sara's chest, hugging the woman tightly as she brought her head down to rest on the woman's left shoulder. "Fucking, obvously!" she beamed through grinning teeth.

Cas felt herself flush, nearly toppling as she stumbled back, her body moving to dodge the shock. "What!?"

Sara had to hop a bit, and stretch her arm to its full extent, but she managed to reach high enough to give Boore-Saa's face a powerful smack. "You!" – she said, flushing crimson down to her neckline – "Behave!" She jabbed a hard finger against Boore-Saa's chest. "If you ever say something so crass again you can forget about sleeping in the tent. In fact, you're lucky Cas was the only witness to this. If you ever even think of saying something so damaging to a lady's reputation in public, I will be throwing a glove at your feet, and believe me, that is not a battle you can expect to win."

Cas's shock redoubled itself. This was the first time she'd seen Sara so outwardly angry, though she couldn't say the reaction was unwarranted.

Boore-Saa rubbed her cheek sadly, looking down and mumbling something about "stupid humans" and a "lack of humor."

"Answer her more seriously," Sara hissed, scowling at the demon.

"Fine!" Boore-Saa scrounged, shoulders slumping so extremely that she was nearly level with Sara. "I want to sleep in the tent because it would block my Aura signature from that boy. I'm guessing you want to keep me a secret from him, considering…"

She gestured back at Kesel's tent.

"Also:" Boore-Saa added, not pausing to breathe, "It keeps me close to you guys in case anything happens. Also: I've been sleeping in dirt for days, and I want to sleep in civilized fashion. Also:" she added in stern conclusion, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I did ask."

Cas was unimpressed by that firehose of reasons. After all, the Demon could have stayed a few miles away and kept contact over psychic link, or shrunk herself to sleep in Cas's satchel.

But Sara interrupted Cas's retort, saying: "Yeah, Cas, she did ask. Now, if you'll excuse me-" her voice was already disappearing into the recesses of the tent. Cas could see the woman snugging into her liner and reaching for her steel-plated eye-mask.

The conversation was over, it appeared.

Cas gave it up.

Eventually, Sara layed down and Boore-Saa followed after, though not before making a rude gesture in Cas's direction with her fingers and tongue.

Once inside, they closed the tent flap, and Cas noticed that she could see their aura signatures right through the fabric walls.

That was a comforting consolation.

At least, it had been comforting until Sara reached up and touched the tent walls. Her Aura flashed through the fabric -- lighting up the tent, and obscuring their figures completely.

Great…

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

Cas didn't sleep. So, on nights like this – with nothing else to do – she entertained herself with puzzles and riddles.

Occasionally, she would Conflagrate whenever the boredom started getting to her.

Yes, yes, she knew Conflagrating was dangerous, and it was irresponsible to Conflagrate for no good reason, but it was also just so much fun.

Cas never knew what she would start thinking under the influence of conflagration. It was the most complete surprise, but always an interesting one.

Often, her mind inclined to puzzles, or to observation, or to debates with herself. Sometimes, however, it just… itched. A sign that Cas was overlooking something very obvious and very important.

And this night, halfway through her watch, when Cas Conflagrated, her mind burned all over with hives.

Cas leapt as if shocked by static.

Her mind began barking at her like a rabid dog.

"Important! Think! It's right under your nose!" Her mind seemed to say in not quite human words.

Cas felt a wave of anxiety. The sky felt heavy all of a sudden. But, Conflagration did as much to increase her confidence as her capacity for worry. So, calmly, Cas forced herself to sit still and consider.

This was just another puzzle, she told herself and started scooping all the pieces into a great big pile in her mind.

The most obvious suspect was Boore-Saa, the local demon. But what about her, exactly?

Could it be her murderous past?

No, that was a known factor.

Her being a spy?

She'd promised to stop.

But… no it wasn't about her directly.

It was something about mind control.

Cas tried to throw the idea out of hand. Mind control was impossible, after all. Aura protected the mind completely from any 'undue influence' as Sara had called it.

Aura's protections were complete. That meant no mind reading, no mind control, no mind suggestion, no mind compulsion, no mind restraint and no magical compulsion of any kind.

Cas paused, a sinking feeling developing in her stomach.

It also meant no real, binding demonic contracts.

Demonic contracts exactly like the kind Boore-Saa claimed assured her loyalty…

If Aura really protected the mind so completely...

Cas delved into her notes, hoping she'd mis-remembered.

[

Protections

…

Mind can't be influenced. [No mind Control/Reading]

…

]

"Contradiction!" the marker went up in her mind like an over eager auctioneer's paddle.

If Aura protected from compulsion, then the demon's 'contract' was impossible.

On the other hand, if the demon's contract was possible, then Aura couldn't protect against mind control.

Now that the cornerstones of the answer had been set, Cas's mind worked with meticulous efficiency to fill in the missing pieces.

The final image coalesced. It was horrifying, and had more the makings of a bear trap.

Because, either Sara – the expert mage – was completely mistaken about the basics of Aura or… she had been lying.

But why would Sara, her friend, lie to Cas?

She'd have no reason to… unless a demon was mind controlling her, and had made her lie, so that Cas wouldn't suspect anything when Sara, uncharacteristically, allowed the demon to share a tent with her.

Sara was alone with a demon, out of sight, while Cas remained out here… unable to keep watch.

A jeering, spiteful voice mocked Cas for her stupidity.

'Hadn't Sara seemed a bit too agreeable,' it asked, 'when Boore-Saa suggested they sleep in the same tent?'

Cas's memory came back in high definition, and she remembered how suddenly tired the woman had seemed, and how – until Boore-Saa's shocking joke – she had merely been repeating word for word everything the demoness said:

—

"Hey, I did ask," Boore-Saa retorted.

"Well, she did ask, Cas." Sara repeated.

—

"I'm not going to kill you," Boore-Saa's eyes rolled.

"We've been over this, Cas," Sara said … "She's not going to kill you."

—

"Also:" Boore-Saa added … "I did ask."

… Sara interrupted … "Yeah, Cas, she did ask …

—

Sara did all that "because she asked". It was a nonsensical reason.

Cas's hands started sweating, and her stomach turned in her gut. She retched but nothing came out.

She'd left her mind controlled friend alone with a murderous demon!

No!

Cas didn't want to believe it. She tried desperately to think of some reason that she could be wrong.

There had to be some other explanation for this!

Wait…

Hope suddenly filled her heart. There had been evidence!

Scrambling, she tore open her satchel.

Her hands were shaking and had lost coordination. She dug with great difficulty through the clutter inside.

Eventually, she gave up and dumped the bag.

A sound like fluttering wings, as the contents spilled. But, there! The metallic ends of the scroll gleamed in the scarce moonlight.

The Scroll! Her mind nearly yelled, and never had Cas been so happy to see anything. She took the scroll in hand, adrenaline-dulled fingers scrambling clumsily at the latch which held it closed.

Here it was! This was the scroll Sara had given her – it was the one which contained a history of demons in the imperial court. It would explain how this was all possible. It would prove that Boore-Saa was under control. It would prove that Sara hadn't been forced to lie. It would prove that Sara was alive.

After several seconds of unsuccessful fumbling with the latch, Cas conflagrated her body and tore it off. A sharp, tacky sound of tearing leather as the roll loosened. Hurriedly, she unfurled the scroll, and then unrolled it some more, piling paper into her off hand before simply throwing it so that it unrolled completely. She flipped it over immediately after to look at the other side.

... Nothing.

Twenty five feet of blank parchment lay unfurled before her.

Cas looked down at the treacherous artifact with a feeling like a knife in her gut.

There was nothing written on the thing.

Sara had lied to her about that, too.

She'd lied convincingly. Cas hadn't even bothered to check until now. Perhaps that was the insidiousness of demons… that they could turn your own talents against you.

Cas's mind was sharp as the Conflagration picked up. It pricked at her with memories and images.

Cas remembered, too, suddenly, how strangely the demon had spoken – when she begged for mercy:

Boore-Saa had known. The demon had immediately known from the start that Cas was an otherworlder. It probably also knew that she'd be ignorant of the basic facts. That she might be willing to believe, to let her…

Cas looked over at the tent again. Far away on the other side of the clearing, it was a beacon of glowing aura.

And, despite the living light in its walls, it was dead quiet.