The Prince of Demons

I stretched a bit more before I attempted to run at hyper speed along the path. How difficult is this? The speed required to complete an entire lap before a stone reached the ground again was a bit daunting. I think to practice it I can just toss the stone up, run the lap, and then catch it myself. Did I have some middle ground speed between bleeding color out of the world and just running fast with <Mana Reinforcement>? No, none came to mind. Would that be useful? Probably not; I just have to learn to run the lap at hyper speed. I wish the way time was going to be measured was something a little more consistent, but I imagined there was little I could do to sway King Ilrymax to change his mind. After stretching a for a little bit more, I took a starting position at the start of one of the legs of the lap. Here we go. I made a tunnel of my <Mana> as I began running full speed along the path.

Reality was a cold, harsh bezka that slapped me across the face, or maybe it was the cliff I slammed into full speed that did it. I was reeling on the ground, clutching my face as my head, face, and neck were all sore from the impact. One thing that was not immediately apparent when I did the practice lap was just how narrow the landing points were; I easily overshot the first landing, tumbled over myself, and slammed high speed into the side of one of the mountains. I stretched my neck feeling something clicked back into place. I think I can safely say that was not the correct approach. Something awful dawned on me as a horrible realization hit me. I thought this would be one of the easier stretches. Which of the stretches was going to be the worst? Maybe this section was deceptively difficult? I ran back to my starting point, trying the first part again.

Now that I was more aware of how narrow the landing spots were, I got a bit farther. Holy shiza this is difficult. Just how bad were the other sections of this lap? My paws missed around halfway through, sending me down the cliff face towards the ground below. As I fell, I attempted to recover by kicking up the cliff which only sent me up a diagonal from the force, making my bones creak from the impact. I grabbed the side when I skipped along it like a stone, pulling myself up slowly before I sprawled out on the ground. Do I need to follow the path exactly? My body was not a fan of suddenly stopping by colliding with solid earth; this challenge was proving to be surprisingly difficult. After resting for a moment I returned to the starting position, seeing the section I needed to run through again. I let out a disappointed sigh as I realized the marked path was likely the easiest one to run along from the options I had for running down this stretch. That was optimistic.

I knew Miril likely could run this lap with no effort without seeing it first; she might have even tried running the lap and thought it was a good challenge. Why did Ilrymax have to take her suggestion? How effortlessly she ran while carrying me a much longer distance with no effort flashed back into my mind. I did not appreciate what a demonstration of skill that actually was. How long did I have to complete this? Was it possible to fail a <Journey>? That was not a comforting thought as it occurred to me, but I needed to persevere for now. Once again, I attempted to run through the stretch at hyper speed, making it about halfway again before I got off enough from the narrow landings to miss and tumble back down the cliff, yet again skipping like a stone from the speed. As I crawled back up the cliffside, there was some laughter as Ilrymax stood there cackling at me.

"Hello." I told him weakly, rolling across the ground onto my side so I could recover.

"Ready to attempt the challenge yet?" Ilrymax asked sarcastically.

"Not yet." I replied as I was impressively sore. The rock is currently winning.

"I am surprised." Ilrymax quipped, still laughing.

"So, what is the <Technique> called?" I probed, trying to think of how to deal with the narrow spots to run. I am dreading what are likely the more difficult parts because this is the straightest, easiest leg of the lap.

"I believe King Miril calls it <Hyper Bound>. That was a nice plume of rock and dust you kicked up." Ilrymax taunted me between his chuckles.

"Thank you. Um, slightly awkward question, is it possible to fail a <Journey>?" I checked with him. Ilrymax seemed caught off guard by my question.

"Technically yes, but that is extremely unlikely in your case. Why are you asking me that?" Ilrymax answered in a serious tone as he stopped laughing to reply.

"I have no idea how long it is going to take me to be able to run the lap, let alone fast enough to beat a stone landing." I confessed sheepishly.

"Oh no, the trial of a King is challenging. How dare you need time to figure out how to accomplish it." Ilrymax mocked me with immense sarcasm dripping off each word as he started chuckling again. His chuckling is likely a good sign as he originally stopped.

"Then how do you fail a <Journey>?" I asked as something clicked in Ilrymax's head.

"Ah, that's your concern. There is a difference between needing some time to figure out how to complete a trial and refusing to try to overcome the challenge. As long as you're trying and making progress, failing is impossible." Ilrymax assured me. I appreciate he confirmed it.

"That's a relief." I sighed as I began stretching again.

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"Do not worry about needing a bit of time to learn; everyone learns at their own pace. Also, do not try to match King Miril's level of control with the <Technique>, she has had decades of practice." Ilrymax lectured me. Wasn't trying to because I know I won't be able to match that anytime soon.

"It is difficult to gauge the challenge of something she wants because Miril never specifies." I whined, irritated as I struggled to grasp if I was ahead or behind where I was supposed to be.

"I am fully aware of how King Miril is; granted, calling her Miril instead of King Miril probably is not doing you any favors." Ilrymax informed me as he chuckled again.

"Why should I call her that? All she does is bully me and calls it 'lessons' after the fact." I snapped back in annoyance.

"You are used to not having to be polite, aren't you?" Ilrymax probed in a pointed tone.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not getting his point.

"I guess blunt is the way to go here. Your general way of speaking and referring to others is rarely as respectful or polite as it should be. I am not overly familiar with you or where you're from, but I get the distinct feeling that you very rarely need or have to be polite." Ilrymax clarified for me.

"Maybe." I deflected sheepishly. Am I that bad?

"I am not saying you are the rudest being in existence; that being said, you should be more respectful and polite to those with status and it would probably do you wonders. Even outside of that being a bit more humble and pleasant would assist you in future endeavors." Ilrymax lectured. That sounded like what Ipnerslei kept suggesting.

"I don't see why." I confessed. It's not like Miril ever is nice towards me. Krahinn is fairly rude across the board as well.

"Just wandering in the dark here, I imagine you thought of how King Miril treated you, rather than how she acted toward Sovereign Hoggdin based off your expression. Generally, being pleasant will get you further. I am not saying for you to be a pushover, I am saying that you try showing others more respect in general." Ilrymax continued. Why did beings keep harping on that?

"I do not see why everyone says that is so important." I grumbled. King Ilrymax bobbled his head a bit as he debated how to continue.

"Do you know anyone who is consistently unpleasant towards others? How do people tend to react to that person if you do?" Ilrymax probed. Krahinn immediately came to mind.

"Usually with a bit of dread, but that might be because he is quite irritable. He's been better recently though people still respected him regardless." I answered. King Ilrymax opened his eyes a bit in curiosity.

"Do you want to be like that being? To be seen like that being?" Ilrymax checked. No, I did not want to be like Krahinn at all.

"No." I stated immediately.

"Judging off how you said no, is this person respectful to the status and authority of others?" Ilrymax inquired. Even Krahinn calls Papa his proper title.

"Once in a while." I answered, not liking King Ilrymax's point.

"Just think how you want to be perceived by others because most often the least charitable interpretation will be how you are remembered." Ilrymax warned me. Why do all these Kings sound so wise? It was a bit grating.

"I guess it might not be the worst thing." I conceded. Maybe trying to be more respectful wouldn't hurt.

"Just try it a bit. See if it works out for you." Ilrymax advised as he clearly was fighting the urge to laugh.

"How do you deal with someone like Mi- I mean King Miril?" I asked, trying not to vomit when I added in her title.

"Good save there." Ilrymax taunted me with a chuckle.

"It feels wrong." I retorted. My fur crawled a bit when I did that.

"Change takes time; it is not something that is going to happen overnight. Getting better and being better is a process, not a single step." Ilrymax added on. Is there some wisdom juice the Kings of Phestia drink upon taking the title?

"What's that expression?" Ilrymax asked with quite a bit of amusement in his voice.

"Nothing." I lied because I did not want to say the actual answer.

"Do not so blatantly lie to me child. What did you think?" Ilrymax pressed in an unamused tone.

"All the Kings seem so wise, like you drank some wisdom juice or something." I confessed sheepishly. Ilrymax clearly fought the urge to laugh even harder.

"It is called having experience. It is the duty of Kings to share our wisdom and help those on their <Journeys> to be better. We all take our responsibility seriously, so make sure to try and use the opportunity as much as possible." Ilrymax informed me. That seemed in line with my experience so far.

"King Ilrymax, what is King Duck like?" I tried, seeing if he could give me the answer as to what made Hoggdin and Miril, or Sovereign Hoggdin and King Miril, laugh so much.

"Why are you curious about King Duck?" Ilrymax asked back with a knowing glint.

"I have heard he might be a bit challenging for me in particular with a bit of laughter following that statement. I have been trying to figure out why." I explained to him. King Ilrymax simply laughed some more.

"I can definitely see that." Ilrymax agreed. What? He hardly knew me and already thought that as well? Once I was confused, King Ilrymax began laughing even harder.

"Is it because I am not the most respectful?" I checked. Was that it? King Ilrymax's laughter only increased from there.

"No, that is not why. I am guessing Sovereign Hoggdin and King Miril did not inform you of as to why, so I will not answer it either." Ilrymax informed me after chuckling for a bit.

"Just a hint, please?" I begged. King Ilrymax only kept laughing at the question.

"No, you can try groveling, and it won't change the answer from me. That is for you to experience on your time; King Duck is a unique individual is all I will say." Ilrymax told me. I almost wanted to beeline it for King Duck just to figure out what the answer to that particular puzzle was.

"I see." I quipped, trying not to let my disappointment show.

"Relax Lux, you have plenty of time. Do not try to force events that will come in due time. Worrying about the future is natural, but worrying about events that you will naturally find the answer to is only going to cause you stress." Ilrymax explained. I felt he was right, but what was with King Duck I wanted to know the answer to because everyone seemed to reach that same conclusion.

"I guess I will just have to wait and see." I grumbled. King Ilrymax was smirking but didn't laugh.

"Good luck Lux. I would recommend practicing some more, but you might find your form is a bit off for using <Hyper Bound>. I need to go check on the others now, so this is goodbye for now." Ilrymax advised me before taking off.

"What do you mean my form is a bit off?!" I called after him, but King Ilrymax had already shot off into the distance. What did he mean that my form was off? It was just running? How did one run wrong? What was the right form then?