animus_network

Three hours it is then. I will meet you there.

[Three hours later, Diarmuid stands, or perhaps more accurately, perches like some great emerald hawk atop the tower within the tower watching and waiting. He's leaving the monsters be for the moment, merely tracking them and waiting for Aleph's arrival.

It won't do to thin the herd too quickly, after all.]

[Aleph soon arrives and cranes his neck up to find Diarmuid at the top. It kind of hurts his neck to look so far, actually.]

...Maybe you can fly and never told me.

[Diarmuid's laughter floats down toward Aleph for a moment, before the servant flips himself off the roof to land near Aleph's feet after a few well placed jumps to break up the fall.]

No, I can't fly, but some people say I might as well be able to. It is one of the benefits of being called into the Lancer class. Good agility before becomes godly afterward.

Besides, it's a good place to watch things from. There are quite a few monsters lurking around the area. I have been tracking them, but leaving them be unless they threaten someone passing through. Shall we begin?

Let's go.

[He summons all his demons - yes, even including Mara, though he hesitates just a little on that one.] They've been a little jealous watching me fight today and not getting to participate.

[Diarmuid watches as they all appear. Even though he's seen it once before, it still amazes him how they come to Aleph's call so easily.]

Well, if they are jealous, perhaps we should let them do most of the work. There are several monsters in the tower as I mentioned before. Perhaps you should just let them all loose and see who can kill the most?

Probably. I've had enough fights myself that I can stand to let them have a competition.

[He has his bets on Beelzebub, but it's no good to just say that.]

[Diarmuid nods, pleased that the other man is so willing to go with his idea.]

Honestly, I don't know how much it will help with them being jealous, but I do want to see them fight again. Feel free to start whenever they are ready.

[Aleph just gives his demons a nod, and the inside of the tower is soon swarmed. Aleph's demons know how not to get in each other's way - when Mara sends a blast of fire at a monster, there's no chance that a demon will be hit as well. It's obvious they've been fighting together for a long time.

Leisurely, Aleph follows behind them and the trail of bodies they leave in their wake.]

[Diarmuid follows carefully behind Aleph. His expression is one of awe and maybe even a little fear. It seems his memories of just how destructive and efficient the demons are is very accurate.]

I still have no wish to get between them and their targets. How is it they fight so well together? Do they have some kind of link or do they merely know each other that well?

This has been my group for a long time - even for a long time before we came to the tower. When it comes to the most powerful opponents, the slightest error can be deadly.

Yes, that is something I know well from being a knight.

[He pauses to watch the demons for a moment, before continuing.]

Tell me, were you changed during the recent experiment? You seem much the same, but it can be hard to tell since I didn't know you before it happened. I ask because, as you can probably tell, was changed a great deal. I don't believe I said anything that might have upset you back then, but if I did, I apologize. I did not mean it.

[Aleph sighs, looking away briefly before turning back to Diarmuid.]

I've only spent about six months on my own world. Right now, that isn't so bad... I can still remember what the sun feels like. But after a few more years, will I still know what it is like to live outside of here?

If that feeling means so much to you, it may last longer than you think. During the experiment, I thought that I had spent over a thousand years in this place. Part of why that was so hard to bear was because I always remembered what the real world was like.

[Diarmuid pauses a moment, not sure if he should continue, but eventually decides to go ahead.]

I'm dead if I return to my own world so really, I don't mind staying here, but there are others who have reasons to go home. They are the ones who I want to return to their worlds, and they all remembered what those worlds were like even when so much time had passed for them. Now, maybe this is just because it was an experiment and not really time passing, but I like to think it is more because of just how much a human will fight to hold onto the memories of what is dear to them.

I didn't.

[Quietly.] I'd forgotten completely. I knew what I had done at home, but I had no memory of actually doing it. It's natural for someone to grow old and forget their childhood.

Oh...

[Diarmuid looks away suddenly ashamed of his previous assumptions.]

I'm so sorry. I can't even begin to imagine how you felt then. You must have had such an emptiness inside of you.

...I don't want to ever feel that way again. I'm going to hold onto my memories for as long as I can, and before I can forget what it means to be outside of the tower, we will escape.

[The determination is back in his voice. For Aleph, he can't let even this stop him from achieving what he needs.]

[Diarmuid nods and looks back at Aleph happy to hear the determination in his voice. He doesn't know the other man very well, but somehow it seems wrong for him to sound as defeated as he had a moment ago.]

Have you been to floor 100 yet? They say that when you go there you see an image of the place you love the most. It's false, of course, and your hands pass through anything you try to touch, but it is something. Perhaps while there you will be able to see the sun you so love, even if it is just an image.

Though, I find it interesting that they suddenly give us the ability to see what we love, when before they would only let us see our worlds as destroyed. I wonder what changed.

They could have been running out of ideas. It was a pretty big project they undertook.

[So maybe changes are done with for now?]

Yes, perhaps and that doesn't make me feel any better.

[A concerned look crosses Diarmuid's face.]

Why do such a big project now? And what was with that post? What horror are they preparing for us now?

There isn't really a way to know. All we can do is be prepared for something to change at any time - like we always have to be, here.

I suppose you are right, though I don't have to like it.

[Diarmuid sighs and looks out toward where Aleph's demons are fighting.]

I can't remember if I asked you this when we first met because some of my memories of that time are getting fuzzy. How did you meet them? I mean, how did you originally get them to agree to working with you? Did you have to fight them?

A demon summoner usually either contracts his demons or fuse them. When attacked by a demon, if you impress them enough, they may ask for something in return for their service. Money, items, energy, a reply to a question that suits their own philosophy, whatever they might want. If you refuse their first offer they might still negotiate or cut off negotiations entirely and continue to attack. Accept, and the agreement is binding.

Or, fusing demons is like it sounds. Two demons becoming a completely different demon.

[Diarmuid rubs his chin with his hand as he listens.]

So something like not unlike the contract between a lord and his knights, though it would be the knights coming to the lord and not the other way around. And fusing them allows them to get stronger. I'm guessing that's not something they can do on their owns?

[Aleph shakes his head.] The process is complicated and even most demon summoners don't know how to perform it on their own. Thankfully those that do know don't usually charge... I wonder what they get out of it.

[A look of confusion crosses Diarmuid's face.]

That's a good question, actually. It would be odd for anyone just to do it on their own free of charge. What are these people like? Do they tend to keep teams of their own?

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