Mun-Hee talked with the table for a while. I gazed at the scene in awe, even though I couldn’t understand a word of their demonic tongue.

Finally, she turned towards me: “Time to go. Health test. Need to see you’re health.”

“I’m perfectly fine. There’s no need to worry about me.”

“Need to see if some thing can hurt or poison you. You must go. Every body have to. I be with you whole time. Not thing to scare about. Get clothes and let us go.”

“What about the breakfast?” I asked while putting the dress on.

“Later. First test, after break fast. Can give false result. Come. Let us go. Will not take much.”

---

She led me into a different building, much smaller and far less lavish than the castle we slept in. Once out, I finally realized just how different this place is from anything I’ve seen before.

Arriving late and being under duress, I didn’t care much about my surroundings. But I made sure to take a good look at it this time. The buildings were so strange and had huge mirrors instead of walls. The path we walked on wasn’t cobbled like in our castles and estates. It was grey, hard as a rock, and perfectly smooth. And it was separated into similarly-sized segments. It didn’t look like those segments were of any use, so I guess the path was decorated like that for some aesthetic reason.

What took most of my attention was some … I don’t know how to call it, really. I’d call it a structure, but it much more resembled a skeleton of one than an actual thing. It was very tall, even taller than the castle itself! And yet, it was so … empty, for lack of a better word. Imagine if buildings would have bones and nothing but bones. No walls, no windows, nothing. That’s what this thing looked like. There was nothing but empty space in it. And while it was completely useless, it did give out a very disturbing, eerie vibe. Maybe that was the whole purpose of it.

Luckily, the holy mountain was in sight, rising high up into the clouds. Its magnificence dominated the landscape, even in this demonic dwelling. Yes, I knew it was very, very far away, but just seeing it made me relax a little bit and has helped me put my mind at ease. Its visage helped me remember I’m here with a purpose, possibly for the benefit of all of Greadinall.

There was an attempt at a small flower garden, but it was evident that nobody was actually taking care of it. It felt as if the flowers were merely planted and left to their own devices. There were some benches nearby, and a few demons gathered there. All of them were males.

They nodded at us as we passed them by in what I assume was some kind of their greeting gesture, but I didn’t recognize any of them. I did my best to replicate their nods.

Truth be told, all these demons looked very similar to each other, with Mun-Hee and Booker being the only exceptions. Mun-Hee was much shorter than the other demons, and her eyes were smaller, while the black skin made Booker stand out from everyone right away.

“You said that you’re of a different race than Jens, right?” I asked her.

“True.”

“Where are the females from Jens’ race? Why aren’t any of them here?”

“Is. But little. I say you little female here. More people is here. You not see them.”

“Oh, I understand! That makes sense. What about their females? Are they as big as their males?”

“Not big. But more big than I. In middle of I and Jens. You see one soon. Healer is female. White.”

“White?”

“Jens’ race white. That is they name.”

“Oh. White demons?”

Mun-Hee’s silence lasted longer than it should.

“Yes. You can say.”

“What is your race called?”

“Asian.”

“I’ve never heard of it. What does it mean?”

“It is place in us world.”

“Are there any other descriptors? Like white demons, wood elves, and such?”

“To white us all is same.”

“So … does that mean that your people aren’t demons?”

“No. Us not demons.”

“Oh, I see. I’m glad I’m not the only non-demon here. By the way, isn’t it strange that the demons can be white? I always thought they were black, red, or some other dark color.”

“Easy to trick like that.”

“I guess that’s true. And I understand why you’re so insistent on staying away from their males now. I thought you were a demon just like them, so I found it strange. But now it all makes sense.”

Mun-Hee turned her head to look at me: “Good. Yes strange, but is need.”

“By the way, I’m curious. If you’re not a demon, then how come you can act as their equal? How come they’re ok with you talking back?”

Standing in front of a door, she gave me a big smile: “I will say it, but later. When health test is done.”

The interior of the other building looked exactly like the smaller version of their castle. White walls, empty halls, soullessness dominated the place. But the strange, glowing light was missing from the ceiling. Instead, the light entered through the huge windows, similar to those in the dining room. They were so huge, I wondered how the building didn’t collapse from those massive gaps in the walls.

Luckily, we didn’t have to wander the halls for long as we did in the castle. Our destination was right around the corner.

“Ahoy!” A very old female with wrinkled skin greeted us. If not for the eyes that beamed liveliness and the weird but neat clothing, she would look like a hag.

“So, a witch. Although, I don’t see a hat and a pot. There’s this rectangular thing sitting right in front of her eyes, so maybe that makes up for it.”

She was wearing a white dress that went to her knees. It was plain, so plain it wouldn’t make any difference if she had just wrapped some table cloth around her. But it was neat, and its whiteness left no doubt about it being perfectly clean.

Next to her stood a noticeably younger male dressed the same way.

“Ahh cute,” the old witch started patting me without warning. Mun-Hee reacted quickly, pushing the hand away.

“We is here for test, not that.”

“Yes yes test. Umm … like us agree?”

“Yes,” Mun-Hee faced me, “First I do test, to show. Not thing hurt, but want you to see. So you know all do it.”

“Umm … is … now you’re getting me worried. You wouldn’t have to reassure me if it’s nothing special.”

Mun-Hee smiled: “Little pain, but very little. Show you so you know.”

The witch nodded and motioned for Mun-Hee to take a seat. Taking a good look around, I saw that the place looked much more like an alchemy lab than a healer’s place. There were no cooking cauldrons in the room, but there were all kinds of glass vials wherever I looked. I’ve never seen so much glass in my life before! There were so many of them they had to be arranged into nice stacks with neat rows and columns, just so they wouldn’t be all over the place. Gods only know how much all of that glass costs!

“Clearly, they’re for holding something. But all of them are empty. What use would a healer have from an empty vial? If they’re used, then shouldn’t they take them somewhere else to clean them? Why would they arrange empty vials in such a neat, orderly way?”

Sitting in a simple chair, Mun-Hee rolled her sleeve up. The male wrapped some kind of a leash around her arm, squeezing it tight. Then, he rubbed some cotton on her elbow pit.

The witch took one of the vials, putting something on top of it. It was very thin and long, unbelievably so. It looked much more like a straight strand of hair than a healer’s instrument.

As the witch put it on Mun-Hee’s arm, Mun-Hee spoke to me with her usual smile.

“Not scare. Pain very little. Short.”

The witch turned to also give me a smile and then pushed the thin thing a little bit.

“Why are they making such a show out of it? Wouldn’t it be much better for them to explain what exactly they’re doing? But, ah yes, their vocabulary is limited. Oh well, how complicated a health check can be anyway?”

“Wait …”

“Is that …”

“… what I think it is?”

I bet I went completely pale once the realization had finally managed to hit me. Blood poured into the vial at a steady place, as if Mun-Hee’s vein was severed. I’ve never seen so much blood before. The most I ever saw was a scratch. And even so, I instinctively knew that seeing so much of it was really, really bad.

“See, not thing to scare of,” Mun-Hee gave me another smile as witch replaced the now full vial with an empty one.

The blood kept flowing and flowing, until it filled the second vial. It was much darker than I expected it to be. As far as I know, blood is supposed to be red, not dark crimson.

I felt my mouth opening involuntarily as I finally realized what was going on:

“Blood magic … they’re going to do blood magic on me …”

And that’s when I lost my consciousness …

-----

The first thing I remember when coming back to my senses were some voices speaking something strange that I couldn’t understand. I opened my eyes and saw that I was lying on a bed, in a strange room, surrounded by vials on all sides. There was an old lady in front of me.

Dressed in strange … white …

The white witch was in front of me, sitting in a chair and smiling at me as our eyes met.

I tried jumping out of bed instinctively, but the witch caught me with both hands, making it impossible for me to escape.

“Easy easy. No scare,” she spoke in a soothing voice, sounding like a caring grandmother. Maybe it would work if I didn’t see her do blood magic right in front of my eyes.

“We not take blood from you.”

Turning my head, I saw Mun-Hee next to me.

“Seat. Not scare,” she continued, “We not take blood from you. Wish to show you first, see you’re react. So we not take blood from you.”

Taking a better look at the witch, I realized she wasn’t holding any vials anymore. That made me calm down a bit.

Mun-Hee said something to the witch in their tongue. Instead of responding, the witch released her grip on me and moved away.

“Not body can force you to do any thing here,” Mun-Hee said, “If you not want to do some thing, you not have to.”

Still wary, I eyed the chair in the middle of the room as if it was my biggest enemy.

“Good I do it first. Right?”

“Yes … it’s good you did it first …”

“See? All is good. No mark,” Mun-Hee said while rolling her sleeve, exposing the elbow pit that was leaking blood not so long ago. The only thing out of the ordinary was a tiny red dot right next to her vein.

“But,” she continued, “if you not wish it, you not have to. We skip that. Other is simple. Easy. Not blood is need. Just basic. Wish show you baddest first.”

“But first eat,” the witch said, “You may be fall if no eat.”

“Yes. Let us eat. Then go next.”