Demons sometimes like to put an extra letter in their race, hence becoming Daemons. The change is quite minor, but if one summons a Daemon or Demon and calls it by the incorrect title, regardless of the fact that the two are identically pronounced, the Daemon or Demon will be allowed to exploit a clause of personal offence. This allows the Daemon or Demon a degree of freedom when interpreting their commands.

- Excerpt from the original notes on Demonscript by Voxis Verygood

“Ogen.” Torment uttered as we entered his ‘camp’. True to the form of Veliki, his camp was far from mundane. It looked mundane, but the small one person tent that had to be crawled into was much bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. I went from underbrush to a cozy cabin. The fireplace ignited as Torment spoke and immediately the place filled with the smell of cooking meat.

My stomach grumbled despite myself. I had made a point of not eating at Avien’s party and now I was paying for it. Torment checked on the meat and started getting busy putting more food on to cook. Casien followed behind me and waited until I found somewhere to settle before sitting across the room from me.

Good. I didn’t want anyone talking to me right now.

“What are your stories?” Torment asked as soon as the thought crossed my mind. My wrist flicked in annoyance and I realised I was still holding the knife. I didn’t put it away.

“Me first, I guess.” Casien said when I crossed my arms less carefully than I should have.

“I want both of you to talk. Tha’ way I can keep track of how you’re doing while keeping an eye on the food.”

“Why?” I demanded.

“Because I don’t want this to burn. And facing down a Beithir is an event which normally happens well after an Adventurer has hit their stride in their career. I didn’t face my first until well after slaying my first dragon.”

“You destroyed that thing faster than most devils I know would.” Casien said, awed.

“Monstrosities are my specialty.” Torment grunted. “But I asked about you. You can ask me all you like once the food’s done.”

“So how much do you want?” Casien asked. “Because I received a whole bunch of different blessings. I’m Chosen five times over.”

“However much you feel like telling.”

“Well, my mom pulled the trick of trading away her firstborn and then never having kids, but I’m here so it didn’t work out. She became pregnant to an eclipse, or that’s the word around town.”

“Angelica, right?” Torment asked.

“Uh, yeah.” Casien glanced at me, obviously uncomfortable.

“She reminds me of someone I knew.” He explained. “What are the other four?”

“Well, my dad is a devil and has joint custody of me, so I spend every other week in the Hells. But that’s still the first one. Uh, there’s another Devil that has partial ownership of my dad’s contracts, which is kind of my second thing and part of my dad’s time is spent with my second dad. It can get confusing. Uhh… My cousin is part angel somehow and swore to destroy me before realising that I wasn’t hatespawn and that we were related, which makes things complicated when her angel half prohibits in family violence without just cause and that doesn’t qualify.”

Casien sighed. “Then there’s the whole thing about being conceived during an eclipse and born to a virgin mother, though you wouldn’t guess it from talking to her nowadays.” A bitter undertone made its way into his voice, then he shook his head. “Oh, and I sucked out the soul of an incubus by accident.” I blinked as Torment chuckled. “I tried to give it back, but the guy’s body was a loaner, and the original owner came back before I could put the soul back in. He lives in a lamp now. I think it’s in Kreg’uune at the moment, giving mood lighting for dates and stuff like that. Now an incubus owes me a favour, and I technically own that lamp. Um…”

I had no idea Casien had been through all that. He didn’t exactly boast like other Chosen Ones did, and the way he was talking about it made it sound like he was playing it down. That automatically put him leagues above Avien in my mental rankings of everyone.

“So uh… I haven’t talked to a Bard for titles or anything. So I’m just Casien.” He finished, going a little purple with embarrassment.

“Oh yeah, tha’ is a thing they do.” Torment seemed to remember.

“What are- do you mind if I ask what your titles are?”

Torment prodded a slab of meat on the fire and it suddenly started sizzling. “Sir Torment, Knight of the Silver Steps, the Twin Peaks, and half of My Ass.” He chuckled fondly. “Talk to a bard you aren’t travelling with when you need a title to introduce yourself to a fey court.”

Casien laughed nervously.

“I’m serious. The bard in question is a nizkaling, not unlike yourself. He hasn’t felt the call of retirement yet, which is why you haven’t heard of him. A place like Veliki, where heroes go to stop, wouldn’t appeal to him.”

“Thank you?” Casien frowned at me. Why the hells was he looking at me? “Uh, Amber?”

I tried to say, “What?” In my normal snappy tone, but all that came out was a squeak.

Torment turned and was at my side before I could start to panic. His gauntlets were off, and he placed his chilly palm against my forehead. It was wet. How were his palms that sweaty? Unless, it was me who was sweaty.

“It’s shock.” Torment said. “Comes with brushes with death. A lot of adventurers get taken off guard by their first close encounter and don’t have a good support structure to deal with it. It ruins adventuring careers because shock isn’t something the bards sing songs of, so no one knows what to do. Amber, I’m going to cast a healing spell on you that will help you start breathing again.”

I’m not breathing!?

Torment’s white spots briefly pulsed with light as he completed an incantation and a warm feeling spread throughout me starting from where his hand was touching me. When it reached my chest something cleared and I took in a breath of air. One hand reflexively came up to push the hand touching me away now that I was fine. The next thing I knew blood was dripping from Torment’s arm.

It was one thing after the other today.

The ranger didn’t even hiss in pain. He just pushed my arm down with his other arm as his spell finished. Then he pressed that hand over his wound and his white spots pulsed again. When his hand came away there wasn’t even a scar. I relaxed at the sight, and he pulled the knife from my hand, but I held on tight. It was my only weapon and I didn’t want to let it go.

“You need rest.” Torment told me. “I’m only going to put the knife in its sheath. You won’t need to defend yourself in here. I promise you tha’.”

Making my fingers unfurl themselves was hard, but I managed it. The knife went in its sheath just as Torment promised.

“Amber.” Torment said. “Talk. It helps.”

Even if he said that, when I tried to say something I felt my throat closing up again.

“Casien, check on the meat.” Torment said while he kept his eyes on me. “Is it burning yet?”

“Uh, no.”

“Turn it over the moment you notice it start to burn.”

“Sure.” Casien glanced at me, then looked at the meat on the fire and jumped before rushing to turn them over. He just reached into the fire and did it with his hands. I wondered if that was sanitary.

“Amber.” Torment repeated.

“What do you want me to say?” I snapped.

“Anything.” Torment finally took his hand away from my forehead. “What your family’s story is, what your hobbies are, how you might be chosen.” He shrugged. “Anything.”

I stared at him, then glared at Casien when I realised he was watching me again. The boy went right back to watching the meat. “This is the worst birthday ever.” I moaned.

“Then complain about it.” Torment told me as he stood and returned to the fire. Casien was nudged aside, but he wasn’t sent anywhere.

“It’s all fucking Avien’s fault!” I shouted. “He’s always having those stupid events for all those stupid anniversaries. I don’t want to have to go but because fucking Garner said five fucking words I have the forces of Above conspiring against me when all I want to do is go hunt a godsdamned deer so I can finally have a kill under my belt!”

“Why were you going hunting with nothing but a knife?” Torment prompted without missing a beat.

“Bec-fcki-bbles!” I shouted incoherently.

“Didn’t catch tha’.”

I took a breath to calm myself and eventually simply said, “Bubbles.”

Casien winced as Torment nodded. It was a very reasonable explanation.

“He broke my bow.” I finished dejectedly.

Quiet hung in the cabin. I started fidgeting again. Holding the knife had satisfied that urge somehow, and now that I was just sitting in a chair I was getting antsy.

Torment soon had the food done and gave us each a meal on a small wooden plate. He had used herbs that I hadn’t encountered before, which gave the meat and salad an aroma that was completely new to me.

“What is this?” I asked after having a bite. The meat had a texture that I was failing to put words to.

“Chimera.” Torment said without missing a beat.

I frowned. First the beithir, and now a chimera. There weren’t supposed to be any monsters around Veliki.

Torment probably noticed my confusion, but he didn’t comment. Casien was finally opening the floodgates with his questions since Torment had promised to give his story.

“What’s the biggest thing you’ve slain?”

“Primordial.” Torment answered easily.

“What’s a primordial?”

“Older kind of elemental. Tend to be quite big.”

“What’s the deadliest thing you’ve survived.”

“Wild hunt.”

“A what?”

“It’s a thing fey do.” I said. “It unites the courts against a common enemy. Meaning you had all four courts trying to kill you.”

“Tha’s right.” Torment grunted. “‘Cept there’re actually four and one courts, but the notion doesn’t change.”

“How did you survive?” Casien asked.

“I didn’t. Ah, guess I didn’t technically survive.” He shrugged a shoulder. “I’m still here.”

Casien blinked. “Is that why you have…” He waved a hand in front of his face.

“Tha’s right.”

“Wow.” Casien sat back and forgot his food for a few moments.

“I don’t get it.” I said.

“It’s called Soul Razpoka.” Torment explained, using a finger to move the skin under his eye where the white spots were quite prevalent. “Means soul cracking. It's a side effect of undergoing resurrection rituals. To put it bluntly, some methods of resurrection are better than others, and I was put through several subpar ones. My body didn’t come back quite complete so my soul made itself solid to fill the cracks, hence the name.”

“Did you say several?” Casien asked.

Torment gave a half hearted shrug. “Most Chosen make deals or are given quests. I’m a ranger tha’ died.”

“How many times?”

“I lost count.”

“Cool.” I said flatly. It was just an edgy backstory, nothing to get excited about.

“Cool!” Casien said much more enthusiastically.

“It’s a rough road to being Chosen, but I’m still here and I quite enjoy my days now. Amber, would you like to share?”

“What, how I’m Chosen?” I snapped.

“Tha’s right.”

I tore into the chimera meat and took out some of my frustrations on a part that took a lot of energy to chew, then eventually spat it out. “It’s all Avien’s fault. He’s tall and intelligent and dreamy.” I clasped my hands in mock worship. “But he’s not smart, only kind of strong, and his backstory happened to him instead of the other way around.” I pointed at Casien. “That thing with the soul sucking automatically makes you better than Avien because that’s something you did.”

“Uh…” Casien suddenly remembered how to take a compliment. “Thanks?” Or not.

Torment swallowed his mouthful of chimera. “This is the second time you mentioned Avein. How is he important?”

“Oh, I don’t know. How about that fucking eclipse that got Casien’s mother pregnant! He had three godsdamned meteors fly across the sky and that on the day he was born. There was this whole thing with a sword a few years ago. He’s prophesied to wage a decade long war against an actual demon prince, and the Heavens promised me as his godsdamned wife years before I was born!”

I aggressively bit into the chimera meat again to stop myself from bitching more. It seemed to be all I was doing these days. Complaining wasn’t all I could do, I knew that. The problem was, everything I tried to do was interrupted by people wishing me happy birthday.

“They were even born on the same day.” Casien offered up, and I glared at him. He shut his mouth and burned purple.

“Glad I didn’t go to the party.” Torment murmured.

I chewed meat that had inconsistent consistency and turned my glare on him instead.

Torment coughed. “Casien, can I trust you not to start any fights on your way back to town?”

Casien started. “I mean, yes. But why?”

“I’m going to make sure Amber recovers properly. Given that today is today, I don’t think Veliki is the best place for her to do tha’.”

“Uh, sure.” Casien scratched his head while I tried to figure out if I should be grateful or mad that he was keeping me here.

The other two made more idle small talk until the meat was all eaten along with the rest of the meal too. Torment saw Casien out of the camp and when he came back, he was different. There was less of the passive observer that there was during the meal. Instead his eyes were focused directly on me.

He came to a stop a fair distance away with his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. “Casien is away. Only the two of us are here. Nothing outside this room can hear what goes on, no matter how loud one of us is.”

“Uh.” I wasn’t sure how to react to the sudden change in character. His eyes didn’t look any different, but I knew something had changed. It felt like he was about to attack me.

“You are either in deep cover, or you have no idea what it is you’re doing. Explain the badge.”

I blinked and glanced down at the badge of the Vitorian Envoy on my breast. “What does it matter to you?”

“The right hand runs silver.”

“What?”

“Where did you get the badge?” Torment pushed his sword a few centimetres out of its sheath.

I don’t know if that was supposed to be threatening. Now that I was close, I could clearly see that the sword was made of wood. In fact, now that I was looking at him I realised how skinny he was. Sure, Torment had armour, but I could easily tell that my dad had twice as much muscle as him.

“I’m not going to tell you.” I crossed my arms.

“I’m not asking you as Torment, I’m asking you as a peacekeeper of Veliki. Where did you get the badge?”

Suddenly I remembered why I’d tried to deny this gift from Bubbles. “Shit.”

Torment raised his eyebrows. “I doubt you found something like tha’ in a pile of shit.” He frowned. “Though it wouldn’t be the first time.”

What the hell was he ta- It didn’t matter. “Look, uh…” I took the badge off and shoved it in my pocket. “I didn’t actually mean to commit treason or whatever. Umm… Does the phrase ‘the badge destroys the way’ mean anything to you?”

“It doesn’t.” Torment said after some consideration.

“Well shit.”

“Where did you get the badge?” He repeated.

“Bubbles.” I shrugged. “I don’t know how better to put it.”

Torment stared at me appraisingly. He gestured with his free hand and his white spots pulsed as magic filled the air around us. “Please repeat tha’.”

I frowned. “Bubbles gave it to me.”

Nothing happened.

The tension in the room relaxed as Torment took his hand off of his sword and extended it palm up towards me. “May I see the badge?”

“Why? It’s mine now.” This was the one birthday present that someone had put actual thought into for me. There was no way I was just going to give it away.

“I only want to confirm it being genuine.” Torment sounded somewhat strained. Good. He’d been seemingly impervious to my belligerent nature before, now it would be easier to get what I wanted from him.

“Fine.” I dropped the badge into his palm and it fell to the floor. I blinked. I’d definitely put it on his hand. “Sorry?”

Torment grunted and bent down to pick the badge up. Suddenly, the room was filled with blowing air that pushed him three metres back, then stopped. He frowned, then gestured again, making a green vine grow out of the floor next to him. The vine grew magically and attempted to snatch the badge, but it instead grabbed a huge metal orb that hadn’t been there before, and pulled that next to Torment instead. Then the piece of metal started struggling, because it wasn’t just a piece of metal.

Torment pulled out his wooden sword and bisected the construct in an instant. I didn’t get a good look at it, but it was a sphere that came up to Torment’s chest, looked like it had tiny, useless wings, and was just getting its bearings before it dissolved into dust. Just like that, there was a pile of destroyed metal at the ranger’s feet. There was a beat where neither of us said anything and just waited for something else to happen.

“That wasn’t me.” It felt necessary to say.

Torment glanced at me. “I know, you can’t cast spells.”

“Is that supposed to mean something?”

“No, but I’m beginning to think you have a curse that makes you offended at everything I say.” He said smoothly as he flicked his blade, cancelling the magical sheen on it. “Most spells require a focus, and you’re not carrying one. I can’t say if the badge is genuine, but that was definitely Bubbles’ handiwork. I apologise for the misunderstanding.”

“Apology considered.” I told him. Then I looked at the badge. “Do I pick it up? It’s not going to do something like that to me, is it?”

“Can’t say, I’d need to touch it to determine its properties. Even then I’d need a scroll of appraisal. Tha’s not going to happen considering whatever enchantment the sorcerer put on that thing makes it act up in response to my trying to touch it.”

“So do I just leave it there?” Leaving something like that on the floor of someone’s house was more than I was willing to do to anyone. Well, anyone that wasn’t a Shepard.

Torment shrugged. “If you like. Eventually I’ll get tired of it and get Vycar or Voxis to help me remove it. However much magic Bubbles put in that, we’ll touch it eventually. It’d just be a pain.”

I nudged the badge with a foot against my better judgement and nothing happened.

“There you go. You can touch it. Just don’t go handing that thing around, simply waving it in front of someone’s face is enough for what you’ll use that for. Oh, and don’t use it in Veliki. That wouldn’t end well.”

I glared at Torment as I snatched up the badge and considered throwing it at him. Then I realised I had no idea what could happen and considering what I knew of Bubbles, that wasn’t exactly a good thing.

“You’re welcome to stay the night.” Torment offered. “You can even have the bed. Though, I expect your parents will be getting worried about you, and it is your birthday.”

“Screw that.” I declared. “They had every chance to talk to me at the party, but they didn’t. Instead they just let fucking Mary drag me around and only had the state of mind to look sorry.”

“Hrm.” Torment considered that. “I’ll abstain from giving you familial advice considering the absolute shit show that mine turned out to be. But I will say this.” He pointed at me. “Keep tha’ badge hidden. Anyone worth anything that sees it will think you’re part of a notorious secret agency loyal to the throne. Walking around with that on your chest is asking for enemies.”

“I figured that.” I shot back.

“It will also grant you cooperation from the most belligerent of guards, soldiers, and anyone with the fear of death in them. I’d tell you to use it wisely, but tha’d be wasted on you.” He paused as I clenched my fist. “And may the gods forgive me, you need to be able to defend yourself.”

“What I need is my fucking bow unsnapped.”

“Tha’s not what I said.” Torment went over to a corner of his cabin and pulled out a wooden sword. He offered it to me.

I looked at the hilt in front of me. The wood had been carved to be shaped almost exactly like the longsword my father hid behind the headrest of his bed. “Are you serious?”

“I’m not good at joking.”