Tia sighed. What a waste. Herold had lost quite a huge amount of points. But at least he reacted not like a fake hero. So he wasn’t that far from seeing the way and earning them back. Tia wasn’t worried that he would now ignore her or anything like that. Their argument wasn’t that big of a deal and as far as she got to know him he would excuse himself tomorrow morning in kindergarten. She hummed the theme song of the dark knight while watching the clouds. She fantasizing how the hideout could look like until a call brought her attention back.

“Hey, I am back.” In front of Tia stood the girl but something was different. She had changed clothes. But not into some more befitting the weather. She still wore long clothes. Only different ones. Tia raised a brow. “Did you fall and got your clothes dirty?” She could imagine that by how heavy the bags looked and the hart time the girl had carrying those. It would also explain why she took so much time. The girl seemed flustered for a moment but become angry immediately. “What do you care? Don’t put your nose in other peoples business, you dumb idiot!” Yep she fell, concluded Tia. “Well, I don’t really care anyway. Sorry for asking. But don’t insult me!” She glared at the girl and barred her fangs. She could understand not wanting others to know their mishaps but no one was allowed to insult her not even if they gave her a favor. The girl raised her arms in front of her face in defense and let out a small shriek. Tia tilted her head slightly. Even though she had intended to put a little pressure onto her she hadn’t expected such a strong reaction. “Well, it's okay as long as you understand. Then let's go to your hideout.”, said Tia and got up. The girl peeked through her arms observing her for a moment. Slowly she lowered her arms and a somewhat haughty expression formed on her face. “It is not a hideout, it is a secret base. And my secret base. You got that!” Tia smiled.

She didn’t dislike that kind of behavior. In fact, it was more pleasant than Herold's way of appealing to everyone. As long as she did not insult her. “Yeah fine by me. Lead the way.” She could usurp the place anytime she wanted so there was no need to concern herself about ownership right now. And if Tia's impression of that girl wasn’t too far off she could make a good general in the future.

“So, what is your name?”, asked the girl in a snotty way after they walked for a while in silence. Tia grinned widely. “I am Tiacia the great demon lord who is destined to rule over this world!” “What's that? That sounds stupid.”, shot the girl without hesitation. Tia turned around to face her, her ears twitching wildly. She opened her mouth to retaliate but the girl continued. “What does that even mean? The lord of fable monsters?” All the fury vanished from Tia's mind. With a blank expression, she looked into the girls face. “No, I mean demons right. Demons!” The girl pulled her brows up. “I heard that. I am not dumb. But demons are just that. Fables. Pretty dumb to name yourself after something like that.” “No demons are real you know. They are the beings who are suppressed by the detestable light races.”, answered Tia frantically.

But the girl just shook her head. “Don’t know what story you coming from and I don’t watch Television so often, so I don’t get what you mean.” Her eyes looked down towards Tia and her mouth had formed into a smirk. “Anyway, you are allowed to call me Asoera. And if you want to play as a lord then I am a queen. The ruler of my secret base.” Still, with a hollow expression, Tia mumbled. “There is no greater being as the demon lord. It is an existence who rules over everything. A queen is merely a subordinate to the great one. A demon lord has hundreds of followers and rules through them and controls the people.” Tia couldn’t believe it. Why did everyone not know about the demon lord? And why did they think that demons are nothing more than another word for monster?

True they called themselves humans for what reason whatsoever but they all had traits from them. Even if there were some traits of the light races in them the demon traits were more predominant. Shouldn’t at least demon be the same as human? A chill ran through Tia's body as she made the comparison. Demons are greater than humans in every aspect. Those disgusting beings are part of the light races. It was an insult to carry the name human. Every being that accepted being called as such should be exterminated instantly. Those creatures that didn’t deserve to exist have to be exterminated. All of this world that was…

“That sounds to me like an evil organization in movies.”, broke Asoera her thoughts. “What?”, said Tia dumbfounded. She had problems getting her thoughts together. What did she think about? “Keeping control of society and having followers. Sounds like an evil organization to me.”, repeated Asoera. “Wha? Oh. No, all kings rule like this.” Tia put on a complicated smile. “Well, but you could argue that they are evil organizations. I am different.” Asoera starred at Tia with a grimace. “You are weird.” Tia sighed. She could not dispute that. Great beings were different than the normal folk, so in their eyes, they looked abnormal. Nothing she could do against that. “Well anyway, we are almost there.” “Huh? Here?” Tia looked bewildered around. They were at the entrance to the park where she and Herold had met each day for the last week. If there was anything even remotely like a hideout they would have found it. “Deeper in the park.”, said Asoera. They passed the entrance and instead of following the path to the playground Asoera went straight towards a wall of trees on the other side. Was her hide out in the open, just using the few trees as a cover? That wasn’t much of a hideout.

“Behold and be astonished.”, announced Asoera as they passed the second line of trees. Behind them stood a wooden shack. It wasn’t big. She could walk along the front of it in just a few steps. And the side seemed to be the same size. But it would be enough for around five to six children to be inside it without stepping on each other. They got closer and Tia saw that it was quite rundown. A lot of the paint was peeled from the wooden boards. Moss and other foliage crew all over it and the single window beside the door was just an open hole. “We have to enter through the window.”, pointed Asoera and jumped to reach the ledge. She managed to easily heave her leg over the sill, pulled the rest of her body upwards and vanished into the gap of the wall. Tia followed her example and jumped to reach the ledge. Except her hands didn’t reach it. Even after a few jumps the only thing she managed to get, was paint into her fingernails.

“Do you come in or not?”, asked a voice from inside the shack. A head pooped out from the window and starred at Tia. Tia's tail curled together and her ears lowered themselves as a terrifying truth hit her. She was too small. Looking to the side Tia mumbled. “I am the great demon lord. Why should I enter through a window?” “If you can’t reach it just make a running jump.”, declared Asoera grinning. Ashamed Tia took a few steps back. There was nothing she could say. How frustrating. Now that she thought about it even Birim was bigger than her. Her shoulders dropped and she let out a sad sigh. She removed the thought from her head and got into a runners position. She flung herself forward and approached the shack fast. She kicked the ground raising into the air. And collided hard against the wall. With a pained grunt, she fell with her back into the dirt. A burst of loud laughter erupted from Asoera. “What's that? You look so ridiculous. You have to jump up. Not forward. Are you really not dumb?” “Shut up!”, barked Tia with a purple shoot head. She pulled back again and ran anew towards the shack.

This time she jumped high enough to reach the ledge. Finally. She tried to raise her leg up into the window but couldn’t manage it. Her arms started to hurt and her grip weakened. It did not take long until she lost hold and plumed painfully onto her butt. “Seriously?”, asked Asoera in astonishment. With tears in her eyes, Tia starred up at her. “I don’t need to be strong. I have magic you know.” “Then why don’t you fly?” The grin on her face was as wide as it could get. The grim glare Tia gave her while her eyes became unable to hold back her tears were enough to answer that she couldn’t. “Wait a moment”, said the head finally and vanished from the window. “Go to the side okay!” Tia rolled away from the window and a wooden box flew out from it. Asoera's appeared once again in the window. “This should be big enough for you to stand on, right? Use it as a step.” “Couldn’t you have brought that out earlier?”, shouted Tia. “I did not know you were so weak.”, laughed the other girl. Reluctantly Tia grabbed the box and tried to lift it. But it wouldn’t even raise one centimeter. She looked at Asoera who had just thrown this thing out of the very high window.

She giggled loudly without even trying to hold back. Tia glared back at the box and pushed it towards the window. It did not fall far from the window but still far enough that Tia could not use it as a step. The few centimeters she needed to push it were agonizing. As it gave a sound of hitting the shack, Tia was completely out of stamina and wheezed on the ground. After she had recovered a little she climbed the box and looked at Asoeras face with the same eye height. She just hung on the ledge smiling as if that was no effort whatsoever. Tia acknowledged that the girl was indeed strong. Tia wanted her now more than before as a general. Her attitude towards Tia had to change naturally but it was perfect to show subordinates where they stand. Under great effort and a helping hand from Asoera Tia managed to climb through the window and jumped into the interior.

A smell of rotten wood, mold, and rust assaulted her nose. Her ears and tail stiffened and she rushed her hand to close her nose. This gave her a displeased look from Asoera but she ignored it. She took a moment to inspect the inside of the shack. It was more cramped than she imagined. A huge empty cabinet on the opposite wall filled most of the room. On her left was a large table that took even more space. The ground was filled with dust and dead bugs and the walls were littered with spider webs. Everything was run down and being eaten by natures cleaners. They would need to put some work into making this place into a proper hideout but it was better than nothing. They could practice magic here without being seen.

Bells rang in the distance and a voice announced that it was time for children to return home. Tia turned around to the window that was so far up. A terrifying thought crossed her mind.

How should she leave without the box?