November 12, 3219

It had taken a while, but judging by how well the Imps, and Dark Wisps were doing, the process of slowly increasing the Dark Wisps methods of feeding without killing more and more have become a reality.

Now we had a set pattern, the Dark Wisps, thanks to a purchase under their Species Tree would leave the host of the Imps without killing them, and they had formed a kind of consciousness, though even after this long they were still predatory, they actively drained all Naturally Spawning Monsters outside the Wall I had surrounding the now fully Repaired town, the only upside was that they seemed to target the strongest, allowing the Imps to deal with the weaker Monsters that assaulted the walls.

In the time since I set them up, I had progressively ensured the Town was Fully Repaired, and even converted it into a Fishing Town. Oddly, this led to a Troglodyte Imp Variant, which I also ended up making Common, though like with the Others it was set for this Tribe alone.

There had been issues early on with the Imp, and Dark Wisp symbiotic like relationship, one of the Dark Wisps had actually killed nearly 100 of the Population, Leo had called it an insane Wisp, it had eventually been put down by it’s own kind because it was killing off their food supply. Before they did though, the Dark Wisp that had not reproduced had done so just before being killed, creating a Unique Hidden Variant Dark Wisp that Leo had called a Shadow Wisp.

I frowned at that, and though I was happy the parent had been killed, we had only vague ideas of how it was formed, and the unlock cost of this was in the 15,000,000 Point range. A near impossibility to have happen any time in the near future. It was actually a black ball with a single Purple Mass swirling around its center. It was almost hypnotic, the way it moved.

Unlike the parent, it seemed relatively sane though. According to Leo, and the others of it’s kind left it alone, or rather gave it a wide berth. A few had been eaten by it by mistake while it was younger, before the consciousness had fully formed, now they viewed it as a dangerous one to be around.

The Troglodytes had taken to fishing like it was breathing, they had lost the ability to fly, but were powerful swimmers, and actually seemed very strong, physically, stronger than the Rock Bitters at least. They swam as a Swarm Still, but were active hunters of the Eel Fish that had taken over the entire Lake within the Demons Territory.

Some stronger variations dwelt deeper within the water, and the Imps did not venture that far down, but I feared what might rise one day. Leo had mentioned a Boss Monster had formed and grown at the bottom of that lake.

Leo said it was a larger version of the Eel Fish, but otherwise could not see it. It required a Troglodyte to go there and survive for him to relay information through the system, apparently.

The Troglodytes were cute though! They had long arms, and legs and hopped. They looked like Froggies! Big Black eyes, jumping everywhere. But they had a lot of teeth too. Watching them swim was actually a lot of fun. They were kind of pretty, like the Dolphins I had watched, when they swam.

One interesting thing that had occurred after the Town had been fully repaired last month was a message I had received from the company through their monitoring system.

Congratulations! You have had your Race Conquer an Entire area through either Ruins, or claiming that spans more than 100 Miles! This has given it a title within your Dungeon World as the ‘Demon Nation!’

This will become more relevant upon gaining another Race once you are able, but for now all Corruption of the land by Demonic energy within this sector will increase greatly, the Wildlife, and Natural Spawning Monsters will begin to Mutate in some ways, though the Stronger ones, such as Boss Monsters, will have the ability to keep their territories clear of corruption until they are killed. This will increase the threat to your respective area from the new Natural Monsters that will spawn to compensate, but a bonus will be given to point gain by 5%, and you will be allowed to see every inch of the Domain, through your A.I, without the need for having a Demon survive a scouting foray.

Further Perks are to be discovered on your own! As always, thank you from us at Dungeon Inc. for your continued love of our products, and we hope you grow eternal.

It was very useful information, and I had seen a remarkable increase of the Demonic Corruption from each of my three Tribes going outward, and growing. Though there were four points in each Territory that resisted it with absolute success.

One was where the Wolf Boss was in Fluffies Domain, the other was near where Red had discovered the Feline Tribe she dealt with resides, the third was the Lion Beastkin that Obsidian fought so ferociously, The Fourth was the Lake. It remained just that, a Lake, the entire massive surface and below were whatever lurked belows domain.

Oddly, the Natural Spawning Demons were growing in numbers, they had to be killed more often by Obsidian now to keep her watch dogs on the border under control, and they had begun appearing in the form of Hell Hounds, what they were before Fluffy, within his territory, as well as a grey version of the Succubii, and Hell Fire Imps in the Territory under Red's control.

Nothing had spawned within where the Dark Wisps resided, but I believed that was because their corruption, while spreading, was still confined to turning the town into a Demonic Structure, the Wall had become like the others, Black stalagmite like stone, with red lava veins running through it, though the inside of the town was taking a bit longer. Not a strong enough presence of the Demonic Energy yet I suppose.

But today was mostly about how I would advance the Dark Wisps. I had the Points, finally, and I needed to purchase the main pathway for them. It would go a long way toward learning more about this odd Species of Demon.

“Leo, can you show me the cost, and our current Points once more, please?”

Of course Sindie. Our current Points count is at 89,987 Points.

Dark Wisp Evolution into Tormentor - 5000 Points

Judging by the name, I assume they focus on attacking their victims mind while attaching themselves to them.

I kind of agreed. The name sounded scary as well. If this went well, I might go ahead and give Red Fiends, I didn’t like how much the Avian predators were decimating the Imp population their. Nearly 600 were killed in the last week. They bred quickly enough it was not the biggest issue, but they were my adorable babies!

I picked the Unique Hidden Variant, no doubt he’d be the strongest, and we actually knew very little about him. The species itself was elusive, and this little one more so because it would attach itself to living Trees just within the walls, and stay on them. Avoiding contact with the rest of his Species. I wasn’t even sure if it was male, or female, or if any of them really were.

“Leo, pick up Specter, and give him the first Evolution, after you purchase it.”

He did, 5000 Points went from my counter, and Specter, I had named him a few days ago because he was the most like a ghost, and so rarely seen, it just fit in my mind.

The Evolution itself cost 150 Points. I winced at that, it meant it was powerful. The stronger the Evolution, the more it seemed to cost.

The little black ball with a purple center detached from the tree, and kind of became solid a moment, smacking into the ground looking like a marble. It grew after that, taking on a humanoid shape, legs, arms, a head. But no defining features. It was still a swirling mass of Black, and that Purple portion was where it’s eyes should be.

I watched it a moment, it shook the head, and sat up, looking around itself a moment, it was clearly a male by appearance, then stood and walked unsteadily.

That was odd, it shouldn’t remember anything at all, we had not increased the intelligence only given it a consciousness. But it seemed like it remembered floating and was unsure how to walk. Red had remembered her past only after she had reached a certain intelligence level.

It made me shiver, a little bit. I wondered what these mysterious Demons involved, how they would grow. I saw Specter slowly slide back against the tree, he was...solid, but he went into it, like he had before, only now when he entered it the Tree became a corrupted, and twisted thing. It had been corrupted in seconds. I gulped a little at that.

Powerful Demons indeed. I selected another 30 of the 200 Wisps, and evolved them as well. They actually walked fine, and unlike Specter their eyes were like the rest of their body, a swirling mass of blackness.

They no longer actually slid into the Imps either, they walked into Buildings, en mass, and after minutes they became Corrupted, Demon buildings made of that black stalagmite material. When the entire town was corrupted, another rush of the black Demon Energy went out from the walls, and coated Yards of the area outside the walls, instantly corrupting them, and spread from there more slowly.

When it was done, the Tormentors actually split, a group, clearly female in body shape, entered the Imps and Troglodytes of their choices, and the males went to the wall, flowing into them, causing the Walls to grow and twist further, a far more advanced form of corruption, the walls on the screen the Leo had up of the Town overlay showed they had become medium Walls in seconds, growing and twisting, towers being added onto them. The central building became it’s own form of keep, and the town became an...outpost, by name.

I frowned, what on earth? Leo was just as baffled, the book stated they adapted their environment based on a predatory like instinct to combat a threat they felt was coming, or would be coming in the near future, a kind of precognisant ability, I had him explain that word. Telling the future.

Well, that was a little frightening. When they finished there, the males left the walls, and went to feed on the Imps, as the females had, but were pairing up with already inhabited hosts. So they required both to have babies now.

The Imps, and Troglodytes seemed unharmed though, overall, they did appear more tired but otherwise were fine.

Leo said it would take a week for the first offspring to occur, so they would be draining slowly still. That was what I had been most worried about, if that would carry over or not. I had yet to control one yet either, but would need to eventually, just to learn more. But they kind of creeped me out, I didn’t like ghosts much, and they reminded me of them a lot.

But it was finished, for now. I smiled a bit, and told Leo good work!

Thank you Sidnie, you as well. We learned more, at least, they advanced the town to an outpost on their own, by using corruption. This might allow us to use that same method in other areas on an active scale, we have also learned that something made their instincts cause this. The only odd one appears to be Specter, and he seems to want nothing to do with his kind still. We need to learn more, we cannot replicate the events that led to his creation, like with Fluffy, our only hope is to understand him somehow, and that means controlling him.

When you are prepared, of course, I know they disturb you, and understand the desire to not be too near them.

I just nodded, glumly. I felt kind of like I disappointed him, and I didn’t want that.

“I’ll try tomorrow, ok?” I risked asked, and he agreed. I felt a little better after that. Then I had him turn his focus to Red, and her Territory. A few dead Eagles lay on the walls near the watchtowers. I grimaced, they had been attacked again.

The Imps had weapons, but were still the weakest of all the Species of Demons. They couldn’t kill an Eagle without massive losses, even with Succubii help, there were Variant Eagles as well, dangerous things that dispelled a lot of the fire magic with wind force.

I sighed, and had Leo bring up the Imps Evolutions options. There were several dozen that were all grayed out to be unlocked, Fiend was the only known one right now, and it would cost 8000 Points to fully unlock.

That would double the Unlocks for all Imp based Evolutions a great deal. But I purchased it, bringing my points down to the 60,000’s.

It cost me 100 Points per Imp, but I selected 100 of them, 50 male and 50 female, and evolved them.

Red had appeared when he first started, and was smiling as she watched the Imps on the ground crying in pain while their bodies grew, and twisted. What once was an adorable little baby with teeth and bat wings, was now a six foot tall creature of red and black marking with a pair of massive bat like wings, and a head with two small horns, and a face that reminded me of an odd mix of dog and lizard, filled with teeth and a forked tongue.

The eyes were the scary part for me though, they were reptilian, and looked evil. We had learned, Leo and I, that if I controlled one that was a leader enough, they would change to suit my emotions overtime, Red included was not as bad as the Naturally spawning Demons, by any means. They seemed to be a Variant of the Race itself, not just a Species.

The Fiends could fly at greater altitude, were far sturdier, though they looked all but starved, like the Husks, but with wings and a weird face. They had a stubby tail as well, the cute little spiked tail and gone away to form what the bats kind of had, a nub at the end of his butt.

They seemed to retain basic weapon knowledge, and the Common Imps served them like any other powerful Demon, though Red quickly asserted herself as the Leader. The Fiends had taken the long spears, and a few bucklers as their weapons, though the majority took up the larger bows the Imps had made to keep their tinkering habit occupied when not creating new things of spider thread, or wood.

Leo actually cut the scene from my view when Red pounced on one of the males, followed by several Succubii doing the same. I asked if they were killing them, in fear. Leo had just said they were showing who was boss.

I frowned, I knew that meant they were making babies, I had figured that much out at least. I still wanted to witness it, I was interested in how babies were made. Mommy had told me to wait till I was older when I asked her, Daddy had been there as well.

Daddy mentioned something about a chastity belt time to release years after he was dead. Mommy had told me to go to my room for a little, wearing her scary smile, and I heard Daddy yelling he was sorry, and to stop pulling on ‘that’. After a while I was told to come down, and Mommy made Daddy explain the birds and the bees to me, he looked half dead. I knew what those were, Mommy told me before, but I wanted to know more about it. Daddy had opened his mouth at the time, and shut it stating when I was older when Mommy looked at him.

Leo just gave me an Error sign, and it was getting frustrating! I couldn’t even ask Red, Leo cut the connection when I tried. They were all meanies! What was so bad about wanting to know?!

I sighed, and let him do what he wanted, I’d worry about the Rock Bitters later on. Oddly, the Fiends were now available for Evolving in each of the Three Tribes with them, I did end up evolving 100 of them, male and female, in each Tribe, giving the Dark Wisp area another Tier 1 Creature, and the Territory under Obsidian a flying unit that could be relied on at the Tier 1 stage they could train properly.

January 1, 3220

It was New Year's Day! Daddy was home and sitting on his big chair and I was plopped next to him on the couch and we were watching his interview about the Angel Race again. I was smiling, he was hungover. Mommy and he had enjoyed themselves while I had juice meant to further my medical treatments.

I had begun to feel better, my hair was no longer brittle, or falling out, and I could eat some normal food. But only one meal a day, and very light things.

I giggled when Daddy groaned a little at the loud noise of him speaking, and I turned it down. I was gonna pick on Daddy, Mommy was sitting beside me and I looked at her smiling widely.

“Daddy, will any of the Angels look like mommy the way my Succubii did?”

He froze, and looked toward us, ignoring the pain. “Of course, she is my angel, and is in no way a Demon sent to torment me when I’m bad.”

I giggled because Mommy just smiled at him, and he grimaced, he was in trouble. But it was playful, because Mommy reached around me and grabbed his hand, squeezing a little.

“I’m an Angel hmmm? What about our little Angel?”

“Yea! What about me Daddy?” I started pouting at him, making my lower lip quiver some.

“Of course you’re my little Angel, Cuddle Bug!” He shot up straight and said loudly, then fell back and groaned again. I giggled with Mommy, and we stopped teasing him for now. He’d suffered enough for his stuff.

We spent the next few hours watching T.V together, then I helped Mommy make Lunch. We were having Spaghetti! I was also avoiding the fact I had finally controlled Specter, and it had ended very disturbingly. I’d told Daddy, and he told me to not do it again for a little while so he could check the systems at work and see why this was happening so often with my Demons, when no other of the current 3 Players that have them have.

He had a theory it dealt with how I treated my Demons, and focus on their overall growth instead of rushing through things, though it had to have more involved, because George was still taking it slow, and he was not reporting such events occurring within his Dungeon World and Demon Race.

He didn’t want me risking anything by controlling them, and something Leo had mentioned regarding Red that caused him to ask me if I would stop extending her life. I had asked her why, and he wouldn’t answer so I said no.

He said I should just stop using the control method for the time being while he worked on what was happening. I’d agreed, because Specters event had disturbed me.

I had controlled him, and the voice had almost instantly entered my brain. ‘Who is there?’ it had been eery, and whispery, somewhat raspy and it had scared me. But what scared me most was how soon it had been, he was barely a few months old at the time.

‘Power, I smell power, food?’ It continued like that, and Leo had cut the connection before I started to have a panic attack. It had been scary. I had told Daddy right after, and he had said no more controlling for the time being, at least until the Doctors cleared me of all symptoms of my illness. I’d sighed over it now, but still agreed. Mommy had freaked out, telling me no more for the time being. She was scared, and refused to tell me why, only that it wasn’t good for my health.

I’d nodded, because she had grabbed me and started crying, I later learned from Daddy it was because my panic attacks were caused from the extreme fear, and making my heart stop at times, and creating a large risk of a virus infecting my system from elevated stress levels.

I understood then why Mommy was scared, and wanted me to stop, same with Daddy. So I did, though Red had been making a fuss about it a lot lately.

After I had controlled Specter, he had taken an interest in his kind, though only a little. Mostly, he ate them, but the rest followed him after a few were eaten, and he stopped. That disturbed me a bit as well, it was like I had given him what he needed to form connections that had taken Red all her time to do, and he was actively solidifying a power base within his little Outpost on the lake.

I was looking forward to the changes he made, but the Species from the Dark Wisp scared me, and Specter did even more so…

Fluffy POV -

Yawning, I scratched my left head with my back left leg for a few moments. An interesting event had occurred recently, a few others not of my people had been making excursions into my Territory, though they had been killed before being able to enter very far inside.

But it led to questions, ones I did not have answers to, nor did any of our ancestors. They appeared like chubby flying bats, and made me think of something very old, a story, but I could not place it.

It had dealt with where we came from however. I had simply shrugged it off, and would continue to do so for now. It was something different, and attempting to scout my lands. None would be allowed to enter, or leave, alive.

For now, my main focus was on the Wolf, the power that kept my land split in two. I growled lightly, it needed to be killed, but something held me back for a while longer, and I would allow it. Sense made me understand it was not yet time. But soon, very soon. More so now that the Wolves and their respective kind have begun actively, aggressively, assaulting my Territory and hunting packs.

A small yip, and I turned my attention to the little ball of rolling teeth and claws between my front paws. A pup, a newborn of my offspring, and another of the Liquid Flame, like myself and my first two children. Another little female, she was very active and wished to play with me a great deal.

I rolled her around with my snouts, switching which of my heads would do it to make her think, and try to anticipate my actions. I grinned and panted in happiness when she managed to swipe the right nose.

Digging my wet nose gently into her stomach, I rubbed it. ‘Good girl’ the action said.

She yipped and got onto her four feet unsteadily and ran toward her mother for food. I huffed my amusement and looked toward my two adult Pups, both taking a nap and remembered when they had been so young.

As it was now, they were older, stronger, and able to lead a Pack on there own. I had been contemplating allowing them to take a portion from each of my Packs, and set up a Den of their own within my Territory to allow them to leave my shadow.

I would think upon it, weighing the options, and risks of expanding our Pack Numbers by allowing them to split and breed properly. The Wolves could take it as a sign of weakness, or a way of increasing our numbers for battle.

The second would be true enough, they may assault in force, and if the Leader of them all joined, it would be a hard fought battle. Even if my Packs won in the end, we would be decimated in numbers.

I could smell them on the other side, and they were easily twice our numbers. I sighed, wishing for Mother's presence, and warmth. But she had been silent lately, I had feared she had left me at the time. But it had occurred around the time the incursions had become worse, and I had been debating the harder choices of my Rule.

I now believed it was because she felt I must pass this trial alone, I would prove to Mother’s spirit I could. That she did not need to worry for me, but I still missed that caring warmth when she was near, and within me. Helping me when she could.

I sighed, laying my head down onto my paws gently, and yawning. I could use the stone, the Magical stone that had allowed me to so accurately direct my innate powers to create the Den Walls.

Those walls had saved my Packs from small raiding Packs of Wolves more than once, it had all but drained me in the making, but it was a wise choice.

I could have my Pups scout out the Dens within my Territory they wished to possess, clear them of whatever creatures have taken up living there, and claim it for their own. Then I could raise a wall for them. An option that would provide some succor from assault early, should the Wolves come to kills us.

At least they could not scale the walls, aside from the Werewolves, at least. I sighed, closing my eyes after a moment. Far too many possibilities, good and bad, would come from it. But I would need to decide, and soon. I just felt I would. I believed something would occur, if not from the wolves, then the odd black and red flying things that continued to attempt and scout my lands. Numbers would be needed, but sending my pups to possible death for the chance did not sit well with me.

I would choose, tomorrow, I told myself. I allowed myself to sleep on the choice, hoping it would be clearer tomorrow.

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