Days had passed since Heidie had fed and sent home a wayward spider. Lome’Matar had proved to be an effective translator. The little spider was almost cute. Almost. Heidie still shuddered a bit at the way the creature had fed upon the small prey animal her tiger had provided. That had been disgusting.

Still, Lome’Matar said it was grateful for the food and directions home. It had bounced and skittered merrily away back towards the spider forest. Whatever might come of Heidie’s mercy was yet to be seen.

When Heidie’s party had found the ruins they now squatted in, she had wondered what could have caused such widespread destruction.

A village, obviously built by humans or humanoids, had once stood here. Now only the sturdiest buildings remained. Craters abounded throughout the area, now filled with grass. Lome’Matar’s mana sense revealed a large number of bones shallowly buried in the center of the village.

It was a good location. Several days walk from the spider forest. River adjacent. Plentiful prey animals in the plains and mesas nearby. Ruined and burnt, the village had seen better days though.

They had taken refuge in one of the only buildings with four walls still standing. The lack of a roof and some holes here and there were no determent: it was still better shelter than sleeping on the plains.

Once upon a time it must have been a very nice stone cottage. Opulent by comparison to the rest of the small ruined buildings, this cottage had several rooms. Her minions had been run ragged cleaning the place up, but Heidie finally had modest shelter and safe haven.

Spending another night on the tiger’s belly, Heidie got a fair amount of sleep. There were some nightmares, but nothing that woke her before morning.

Heidie woke slowly. The reality of her situation was getting to her. She sluggishly got up and prepared for another day.

Heidie completed her routine and prepared to face the day. She didn’t want to rest. Heidie wanted projects to keep her mind off of things. She decided to dig up the bones Lome’Matar had found.

Lome’Matar noticed that his student’s behavior was showing signs of extreme stress. He decided to put off starting her training regime for a day or two. She was only a human, after all. You had to be careful with humans or their psyche tended to break down. He would discuss matters with her this evening.

Digging up the bones in the center of town brought Heidie to an unsettling sight. Human in appearance to Heidie’s eye, uneducated though it might have been, the discovery of the remains of children’s bones mixed with the adults horrified her. Another reminder she was in a dangerous place, even if death no longer loomed over the moment.

Blackened and sooty in spots, the bones were not in good condition. Evidently something very bad had happened here in the past.There were easily enough fire blackened bones buried to account for a few dozen individuals.

Heidie didn’t want to think about it. She was rapidly getting to a point where she didn’t want to think about anything. Anxiety over her situation and actions was starting to bubble over but the numb college student shoved it all to the side for now.

These remains, human or otherwise, were crafting materials. Heidie needed crafting materials. Her minions gathered them and stacked them high in the furthest room of their mistresses cottage.

Heidie was having difficulty keeping her emotions in check, but she bottled them up and persevered anyway. There was still work that needed to be done.

Covered in dried sweat and muck, as well as a moderate amount of gore, Heidie had Lome’Matar verify it was safe before taking a dip in the river. She had nothing but her hands, but she scrubbed and scratched off the accumulated filth as best she could. Heidie washed her clothes in the river as well. She sat on a rock and waited for them to dry in the sun.

Lunch was a few more energy bars and some nuts. No amenities of the decrepit cottage were intact so Heidie sat on the floor. She really wanted some furniture now. A table, chair, bed, and bathtub immediately came to mind. A big pot to boil water and cook in, some utensils to eat with, and quite a few other small things also sounded useful.

There was a pile of materials in the other room, but Heidie hesitated to return to molding useful things. She’d looked, really, looked at her soldiers during lunch. They weren’t pretty. Gray skinned and covered in puckered scars, bone exposed in places. Glowing blue eyes stared into empty space emotionlessly. She didn’t like them.

Then there was the tiger. Heidie liked the tiger, though.

Heidie could still see in her soldiers the faces of the students that she had met at orientation, ever so briefly. Heidie never bothered to remember their names when they’d introduced themselves. Even so, she had a sick feeling.

Lome’Matar watched Heidie’s silent introspection.

“They’re just bodies.” the demon spoke, breaking the silence in the cottage.

“Necromancy that deals with the soul is another branch entirely.”

“Will you be teaching me that branch?” Heidie asked quietly.

“Yes, but that’s much later. The mysteries of the soul are not something for a first Circle acolyte to delve into.” Lome’Matar replied.

Heidie said nothing. She wasn’t sure how she felt about things now that the threat of imminent danger was removed. The path forward had seemed crystal clear in the forest. Now…not so much. She didn’t have a problem with necromancy, per se, but now she was considering the ramifications of her future actions.

“You said that necromancy is considered sorcery and is not viewed well. It’s considered evil, or at least monstrous, isn’t it?” Heidie voiced her concerns.

“Yes…” Lome’Matar grudgingly admitted. “That much is true.”

“Is it evil?” Heidie asked.

Lome’Matar chose his words carefully “No.” He replied seriously. “Good and evil are rather subjective concepts, but ultimately necromancy is a tool, like any other. Evil is in the wielder, not the tool. Good tools do make evil much easier to excel in, however.”

The demon watched his student sit quietly and say nothing. Heidie seemed deep in thought. Lome’Matar took a moment to consider things before speaking further. He suspected his vacation was at stake.

“Subjectively, by most standards of intelligent life, I am most definitely evil.” Lome’Matar admitted.

“I have done things that would give you nightmares, dear student. It is what I am. I have picked apart the denizens of creation for my own curiosity and performed terrible experiments that served no purpose other than my own amusement”

The afternoon sun was warm, shining down through into the roofless cottage. Heidie felt a little cold still.

“It is important to realize then, since you are having qualms, that you are not the same as I. I am a demon, little girl. It is in my nature to be cruel and monstrous, where it suits me. You are not that. You simply need to survive. All I want from this world is a few years distraction and entertainment before I return to my home. I want nothing from you except to provide a means to that end.”

“Is that all you came here for? Were you caught up in a portal like I was?” Heidie asked, suspicious.

“Well, initially I was coming here with the most recent Demon King to enslave this world, but he’s dead now and I can’t be bothered to fulfil that imbecile’s purpose.”

Heidie felt anger rising up inside of her. The demon hadn’t been randomly picked up by a portal, he’d been intentionally traveling inside of them.

“Did you have anything to do with the portal or any events related to what brought me here?” Heidie asked, anger leaking into her voice.

“No.” Lome’Matar replied. “Neither I nor any of my people are responsible for that catastrophe.”

Heidie calmed down a bit. She took a breath and listened.

“You seem to be from a peaceful sort of place. That is rare.” the demon stared at his student with almost-sympathy. “This is not a peaceful place. I studied what we knew from our contact in this world. Humans have conquered most of it but war and conflict still abound. Society is biased, unfair, and cruel. Still, they are the victors and so they are the righteous.”

Lome’Matar’s voice got harsher “These are civilizations built upon war and conquest. Strength is the only constant. If you would be free, if you would have peace, you must have strength!”

it was the voice a demon, but it sounded so reasonable. She knew a little about the history of her own world. She didn’t want to consider how society might have turned out if magic had been a factor.

Heidie knew she would be an outsider to any culture she came into contact with. She asked herself: would she trust herself to a society of unknown culture and technology and expect to thrive? No, she didn’t think that was likely.

Heidie took a breath. Lome’Matar spoke true: without power to guarantee her freedom and safety she would rather not throw herself on the mercy of fellow humans.

There must be a bright side to the picture as well. Lome’Matar was focusing on the negative but it couldn’t be all war and bleakness, could it? Humans weren’t all bad.

Heidie thought about that for a moment. Even in her most optimistic guess of what a society in this world would look like, the capacity for self defense sounded good.

The prospective young necromancer started to find her resolve again.

“Is there a chance I could get home?” Heidie asked, fearful of the answer. Lome’Matar smiled.

“Possibly. I had the opportunity to study the portal during my transport in it. In time I may be able to reverse engineer the necessary ritual. Success is not certain; It was a completely new method. Recreating it may be impossible but once I have a body I will try.”

Heidie swallowed her anger and fear down. A chance was better than nothing.

“There are other challenges as well.” Lome’Matar stated. “For instance: finding your world specifically in the first place and then gaining a method to connect the ritual to it. These challenges are not insurmountable but will require power and resources that are beyond you at the moment.”

Green eyes glowed in the afternoon sun. Lome’Matar’s gaze and words took on a particularly serious aspect. “You must grow, Heidie.” The demon told his student. “You have extraordinary potential. Use it. Become a saint or a devil or simply stay yourself; to me it matters not. Just don’t become boring.”

Lome’Matar paused before continuing, “Soon your training must begin in earnest. We can delay it only another day or two. It will be miserable but it will make you strong. Do not give up hope, human. There may be a time to despair, but this is not it.”

Heidie remembered the terms of the Contract she had accepted. Advancement to a higher Circle was a prerequisite of creating a suitable body for the demon, but there was one other stipulation.

“And in return you want books?” Heidie asked. Her mind was trying to rationalize some of the idiosyncrasies of the Contract.

“Yes!” Lome’Matar had lapsed back into what Heidie was definitely going to start calling ‘his Darth Vader voice’. “Books, scrolls, ANY manner of literature. You must bring them to me when they are found.”

Lome’Matar seemed like he was going to start panting. Heidie simply watched in fascination as the head calmed itself down and addressed her again.

“Please also allow me to borrow one of your minions to turn the pages.”

Heidie started at the demon. She tried hard not to laugh, but her sides started to hurt too much from holding it in.

“Ahahaaaha!” Heidie broke down. She laughed until she cried. Minutes passed and a tired Heidie picked herself off the floor. She went to one of the backpacks recovered from the clearing and recovered a small device.

“Have you ever heard of a Kindle?” she asked her teacher.

Heidie slept well that night. Bone furniture and cutlery could wait until tomorrow. She cried a bit for her almost-classmates, as she lay on her soft tiger’s belly, but soon strengthened her resolve. They were dead and she was alive. Heidie intended to remain that way.

In a separate room, Lome’Matar was in a zombie’s lap, burning green eyes staring through the pitch black at the words that appeared on a marvelous device. If he understood it correctly, there were hundreds of books inside of this thing. Lome’Matar poked the zombie’s belly with his horns. The zombie touched a button, turning the page. The demon giggled in the darkness.