I woke up a bit groggy again, it had been occurring more frequently over the last week. I’d be slow, and according to Mommy, slug like. I didn’t like it, I asked Mommy what I could do when she mentioned it, and she had mentioned something about just some light exercises after waking to help get my body's blood flowing.

I wasn’t very sure what Mommy had meant by that, because she had needed to leave before explaining it further. I had asked Leo, and he recommended I jump around like a bunny because they always seemed warm.

I had tried this, but I felt really silly doing it, almost like I just needed ears, and Jessica and Franny would call me Bunny Girl. I had stopped after that.

Instead I started stretching like Daddy did with me once when I was smaller. It made me smile at the memory, because after that I had started getting sick, and he had begun working almost 24/7 to help provide me with my doctors, and pay for the medicine.

I missed Daddy very much. I finished my stretches, and went to the restroom, once I left it, Leo was ready for me.

Sidnie, it appears Red has taken control of the Imps within the village, again. They have begun displaying a very servile like attitude toward her. To a larger degree than before her evolution, at least. She has also shown a very remarkable adaptability toward her increased control of fire, and seems to be trying to make a connection with the other magic she is supposed to have access to, according to her thought process when I peek in, but cannot make the connection yet.

That made sense, it’s new, and she is not a full Succubus, the book had said that the Succubii were like training Succubus that were mastering their respective abilities, though Leo and Mommy refused to tell me what ‘seduction’ was. I’d ask Daddy when he got home next time.

I sighed, and went to the Dungeon World table, looking down at the Imp, and Hell Hound areas respectively. I saw several bird species flying around, a few of the Sparrows had shown size increment increases over the last few days as well. That worried me, I was afraid some avian predators would begin making an appearance soon and hurting my Imps, and Puppies.

With luck they would not become an issue anytime soon, but it would only really be relevant once the numbers, and threat my Demons posed on the Dungeon World increased. It was almost time for the first hunt as well, and I had promised myself I would take a more active role in helping gain the points we needed.

“Is it ok if I take over the Hunt from Red today, Leo?” I asked, because he had recently been blocking me more than normal. I could almost feel Leo hesitate before he answered.

Yes, I believe so, Sidnie. We can use this as an opportunity to understand the implications of having a Succubii, our first Tier 2 level Demon. It will also show us more accurately how the Imps will react while hunting if you lead her.

“Yay~!” I almost jumped for joy, I could hardly wait to see through Red’s eyes now, and she was so pretty! I hopped onto my bed, and scooted back toward the glasses and grinned as I slid them on.

The connection occurred, and I felt the heat all around me. I blinked a moment, and realized that I was in Red’s body and very near a Lava pool. It felt really good! I wanted to snuggle into a ball and take a nap by it. But it was the first hunt of the day, and I needed to get moving.

I looked around, and walked. I had tried to fly, out of habit with Red, and it resulted in me doing a hopping glide and landing on my butt. O rubbed it when I got up, it had hurt!

I made my way through the walkways of the Settlement and found the exit, a gate had been made, that was odd. I frowned, we didn’t really need them. A result of a Succubii being Evolved? I’d ask Leo later. The Imps, Common and Hell Fire were actually standing, or hovering, around and near the wall I was walking toward. All of them, the entire adult Swarm population. I gulped a moment, their eyes were filled with awe, and worship.

Well, that would explain the Servile attitude, the Imps worshiped the strongest, and served them with their lives. All that attention was a little scary for me though. It didn’t help that I was not really use to such focused attention from anyone, even before this when I controlled Fluffy, or Red, it was mostly small bursts of attention in a hunt.

I fought the urge to back away slowly and run screaming away after a few steps. What were they waiting for?

Try starting a fire in your hand, perhaps they will react to it. You can even look fierce with the fire glowing against Red’s red skin.

I frowned at the prompt, and then tried doing that. I raised my hand, it felt kind of heavy, and thought about a ball of fire in the palm of it, and the air surrounding my hand rotated, and became a burning little ball of fire. I blinked, and grinned a little.

The Imps nearest me took to the air once they saw the grin, and flew back somewhat. I frowned a bit, I kept forgetting Red was a little bit of a trickster and had temper tantrums that ended a lot of Common Imps lives. I walked toward the gate, fire in hand, and when I arrived the gate soaked up the ball of fire. I blinked rapidly at that, as well as the now opening gates.

It appears that the Gate formed with the large output of natural Demon energy the Succubii exudes, and to get in or out may require you to give it some of the Hell Fire within the body. I look forward to seeing what else has changed later.

I nodded, and felt excited to see as well. This was a new territory, and it would be with the Husks later as well. I grinned, and started going out of the gates, the Imps, all of them, followed behind me, while maintaining a close distance. A few flew above me, blocking my view of the sky, and then we hit the forest.

The Imps fanned out naturally as we moved at a slow pace deeper into the hunting territory. I frowned, normally by now we would see deer, or rabbits, even the odd Wild Dog, but nothing.

That was very odd, maybe the natural energy Red exuded now made them flee? Or was it something else?

I looked around, and still saw nothing out of the ordinary. I got the feeling that something was off as well, it kind of scared me, as well as the Imps around me, those not searching seemed on edge as well, they were flying back and forth with their new speed, and screeching randomly to each other.

“Anything?”

“Food!”

“Meat Where is meat!”

That was about the level of their conversation, the Hell Fire Imps showed a greater restraint, they actually stayed the closest to me, though they zipped around a little as well.

I walked further into the forest, ignoring the Imps and their calls for ‘meat’, they followed me closely, some searching, a few flying ahead and resting on limbs to scour the ground with their eyes. That’s around the time they appeared, several felines, I gasped when I saw one jump down to the lower limb one of the Common Imps had been sitting on while searching.

His screech echoed out, and then went silent. The Swarm reacted on the screech, and flew toward me, not the fallen imp or feline. They were moving to shield me with their tiny bodies from any threat. They were so sweet...I could not let them die like that though.

They were flying around me in a kind of dome, and I waved my hand rapidly to the side. ‘Stop!’ I said, Red’s voice came out mature sounding, and kind of made me feel funny, but I ignored it, and the Imps slowly stopped the Swarming action.

Once I could see again, their were a lot more Felines now, several had two tails. What on earth? Felines were not naturally occurring monsters within the Imp territory, at least they shouldn’t be after one day.

Oh no, it was the combination of the Succubii, and the Imp population increase, it had to be. The Dungeon World had rapidly changed to cope with it, and because Leo focuses on the Demons at all times, he did not sense, or notice it occurring.

These were each common versions of the Feline monsters, the Two tailed were all Tier 1 though, and aside from Red, all of my Imps were Tier 0. I frowned, worried now. The Felines had chased the game away, and set a trap. They had been hunting us.

Their numbers increased steadily, some jumping from the higher branches in the trees, others showing themselves by leaving the brush. We were surrounded, and there were at least 100 of them, the majority were the Two Tailed Cats.

I had nearly 1400 Imps, common, and Hell Fire. The Hell Fire would end up being the main ones to protect, they could help lower their numbers. I really didn’t want to see my cute little Imps getting hurt though!

The Two Tailed cat that had killed the first Imp, yowled suddenly, and about five normal cats charged forward, they were burned to a crisp by the Hell Fire Imps beside me, I had around 40 of them. But even with the training they could only use fire so much. Two shots for each, maximum. I had expected a normal hunt! I don’t know anything about the Succubii other than she is stronger in fire now.

The leading Two Tail growled, hissing at us. It wasn’t going to play games anymore. I swallowed, and lifted my arm a little, forming a ball of fire in my ball, feeding it the oxygen around me to grow it larger, and larger until it was the size of a basketball.

I threw it as hard as I could at the Two Tailed leader, and it jumped in the air, flipping over the ball to land on it’s feet, though the ten or so cats behind him yowled in pain as they died. I felt sick, at least I couldn’t smell it anymore though.

My Imps took that as the start, I guess, because suddenly all of them let out their little piercing shrieks and began swarming in groups of thirty and more toward the Feline circle. I heard the Two Tailed cat yowl out, and the other kitties charged to meet my Imps.

I saw several of my Imps fall, their tiny bodies broken, and I felt something snap a little. I was so mad. I yelled ‘Bad KITTIES’ and launched a fireball in between the Imps that were flying and swarming the kitties. I hit three that time, and my Hell Fire Imps began targeting the Kitties where they were not covered in the bodies of the Common Imps, each Hell Fire Imp had a few of the short spears to throw as well, the Common Imps tended to forget they could do that and treated them as clubs.

One of my Hell Fire Imps used it’s second shot, and was taken from the air from above, somewhere above us! I turned around, and yanked it off of her, I heard her yell in pain when the claws were forcibly taken out of her body, but she was alive. I threw the bad kitty outward, it had died when I grabbed it though I think, my hands were on fire.

The fallen Hell Fire Imp couldn’t fly now, so she hopped around my feet, and threw one of her three little spears at a few of the kitties charging on the ground.

Screeches, and the yowling of the bad kitties filled the air. A few more of them hit my Hell Fire Imps, and I didn’t make it to three of them in time to stop the mauling. I felt like I was going to cry, the Kitties were stronger than the Common Imps, each swarm had taken maybe two or three down, and the numbers were thinning. Hundreds of my little Imps had to have died by now, and I did not have the Hell Fire Numbers yet to keep them from perishing like this.

I heard a little thought in my head then, a tiny whisper. It made me frown as I threw another fireball into a knot of the kitties. It sounded, it sounded like my voice when i talked. ‘Mistress, make the connection! Help me learn the darkness!’ Wait, Red? That shouldn’t be possible, Tier Two Species within races, if someone controlled them long enough began to learn something was off, but they didn’t do this, to my knowledge. But even then, the only recorded times a creature under your control did this was from the people at the Master Rank, I was not that Rank but Red, as a Demon was. What had Daddy given me?!

But I tried to heed the advice. I did what I had with Fluffy those weeks ago. It was really hard though! I kept having to throw fire at, or smack aside, the kitties that reached me. The Hell Fire Imps could only do so much.

But I kept trying, I felt the fire, it was stronger, but deeper in, I saw the little flicker of a shadow in the fire’s light. I frowned, I tried to pull it up, and felt it give. The voice reached my ear again ‘Yes! Yes Mistress, make the connection I cannot yet, or we won’t survive!’ That was really starting to scare me, I didn’t like words in my head. But I managed to pull out the shadowy image, when I did knowledge that was not my own entered my...Red’s mind, how to use it. I heard a laugh inside my head, it made me feel really weird again, I frowned and tried to ignore it. I coated the entire area in the shadowy power I felt inside me.

The kitties suddenly started yowling in panic. My Imps, the ones alive, started to screech in joy. The Demons could see perfectly within the darkness, and I felt it extended only about ten feet, which was the entirety of this fight. Limitations, I couldn’t move either. It was like a sustained spell, I had read about it in the higher tiers for other Races, like the Goblins, but I didn’t understand it. I couldn’t move! I started to panic a bit when I saw one of the Two Tails launch itself at me, but it was stopped by the little Hell Fire I had saved first, she had thrust her spear into the bad Kitty, stopping it before it reached me. I heard the yowling of the Two Tailed Leader kitty, and then it hissing while the thirty or so alive fled into the forest, away from us.

The connection cut then, and I rushed to throw the glasses off, and hid underneath my blanket, that was scary, I didn’t like the voice, it wasn’t supposed to be like that, from what Daddy had said the few times it came up in his research. It made me feel funny, and it scared me! I jumped from under my covers, ignoring Leo’s prompts and ran right into Mommy and Daddy’s room. Mommy wasn’t home now, but their blankets and pillows smelled like them, warm and comforting. I dove onto the bed, breathing hard and hid in the pillows and blankets trying to calm down and be comforted.

I had to have spent at least an hour buried in the pillows, every part of me covered with my eyes peaking out when I heard the door open. I didn’t want to move though, I was warm, and felt save.

After a while, Mommy came up looking for me, and saw her door was open. “Sidnie? Sweetheart, are you in here?”

She saw the mounds and my eyes peaking out and jumped a little, putting her hand on her chest. “Sidnie! You scared me half to death hiding there! What’s wrong baby?”

I sniffled a little, and moved out of the covers and opened my arms, I needed a hug from Mommy. She rushed to me, and got on the bed, holding me. Mommy was the best!

After a few minutes, I told her what had happened, and I saw her pause, thinking and frowning. I sniffled again, Mommy hugged me again, a little tighter and crooned to me.

“Shh, it’s ok Sweetheart. It happens sometimes, you know that is why Daddy works for the development and research. We still don’t fully understand the A.I that came as an accident, or the symbiotic relationship it has with the Races it controls, those that it directly affects. Daddy has spoken to several of the Master Players the company employs and pays for information on what they experience.”

I nodded, I knew that, but she continued on.

“ I will tell Daddy, but what you experienced is a lot like what a few of the Master Races have been shown to do, something that a few of the Races creatures, the ones most used developed. It is not unlike how you react with Leo, in the end. Only Red cannot do it unless you control her.”

I frowned, it was confusing for me. “B- But Mommy! She talked in my head! It made me feel weird and it was scary.” I sniffled and Mommy just patted me gently, and held me tighter.

“I know Sweetheart, I’ll have a talk with Daddy about it later. I’m sure if you don’t want it we can find a way to cut it out. If you decide that. For how it made you feel, well, you can talk to Daddy about that.”

After that Mommy smiled, and it didn’t look nice, it was scary looking. I told Mommy how Red kind of looked like the pictures of when she was in High School. She had just went ‘Hmmm’ and got scarier. I kind of felt bad for Daddy right now, for some reason.

We cuddled for a bit longer, then she kissed my forehead, and asked if I wanted to help her make Lunch.

I didn't know how to yet, but she wanted to teach me. I jumped up and smiled before running to the kitchen, Mommy yelling after me to be careful on the stairs. My fear of Red talking in my head gone for the time being.

We made a pasta Mommy called Linguini with the Paste stuff the doctor gave us. It tasted icky, but I ate it with Mommy anyway, smiling at her with each bite. I’d helped make something new! I couldn’t wait to show Daddy.

Once I thought of Daddy, I remembered how Mommy had looked, and swallowed, I really did feel a little bad for Daddy now. But at the same time, seeing Daddy sweat while Mommy questioned him was always really fun to watch. I stuck my tongue out a little, and finished dinner with that thought.

After we ate, Mommy told me to tell Leo what happened, it would help him grow as an A.I and he may have some insights as well.

I got to my room, and did just that. Leo showed me a lot of exclamation marks in a big Prompt like he was shocked.

Did she tell you anything? Say anything? She didn’t show you anything did she!?!

I frowned at that.

“What would she show me or tell me? She’s my Red, and she is sweet.” I said while pouting some.

….. Then no, she didn’t. Good, and she is still a Demon, Sidnie. They are known for being mean.

I stuck my tongue out at him and moved to my bed.

“Not as mean as you, not telling me what you keep hiding when I wanna see the Imps, or Red. You’re the real meanie!”

Leo went silent, and I saw several Prompt show up that made no sense, it was like he was confused, and ‘flabbergasted’ that’s a word Mommy used for Daddy a lot when i said or did something shocking.

I huffed, and covered up, ignoring him. I had missed the second hunt because of all the time spent in Mommy and Daddy’s room, and Dinner. I also didn’t want to control Red just yet. I was unsure how I felt about her talking to me, it was still scary for me.

I slowly drifted off to sleep, hearing her voice in my head as I did, exactly what she said while I had controlled her, and shivered. It made me feel weird, and scared me all at the same time. But eventually, I did finally fall asleep.

Here you are folks, and yesterday had no release because I was busy writing out the next four chapters to give me time to properly go over them, and correct more of the minor mistakes that add up while I write and ignore them to finish before I lose my train of thought.

Anyway, as always, much love and Cookies. I hope you enjoy this Chapter. The next one is the final Chapter before I skip a year. Let's see what Sid at 11 is like, hmmm?