The next morning Edmund and the holy knights started their journey back to Opulential.

“What are you two going to do now?” asked Edmund.

Marcus replied, “Give us a day. I need to verify something today. We shall come tomorrow.”

“Don’t take long. I believe you are still to help Harraam figure out why there is a join the dots picture of Cthulhim on his map.”

Marcus laughed at that. After they had left, Marcus explained to Kyrie what he had planned to do.

Kyrie said, “And do you know the location where Lumine found this demon?”

Marcus said, “It is Lumina. And yes, Lumina describes the landmarks in the book. We just have to find them.”

“No direct spot on the map?”

“This is not even a quest or a part of a quest. There are no markers on the map.”

They decided to talk with Charity regarding the landmarks. Lumina had described that she had found the demon in a small cave which was about twenty kilometers from where she lived. The cave was to the North of her house, where the land sloped downwards. There, amongst some outcroppings of rocks, was an opening which led to a cave. According to Lumina, the demon lived there.

Charity marked the location on Marcus and Kyrie’s map when she heard the description of the rock. She knew the location.

As Marcus and Kyrie flew towards the location on their wyrms Kyrie asked, “Do you think the demon is still there?”

Marcus replied, “I don’t know. But it is worth finding out. Maybe we would get lucky and make sense of this mystery regarding Cthulhim.”

They flew in silence after that. Marcus stroked the scales on Lara’s back and they seemed to like it. Soon Marcus and Kyrie reached the spot on the map. The land did seem to slope and was filled with rocks and pebbles. There were some rock outcroppings as Lumina had described in her book.

Marcus and Kyrie walked up to the outcroppings leaving Lara and Nalana to fly free. They did not want to dismiss their wyrms just yet.

They could not see any openings. They searched for quite some time. Then Marcus had an idea.

He said out loud, “Harmless”, in demonic language.

A part of the rocky outcropping vanished, and, in its place, Marcus saw an entrance to a cave. It was a small entrance, barely able to fit two at a time but it was an entrance, nevertheless.

Marcus and Kyrie entered the cavern. There was no light. They pulled out torches from their inventory. These were not traditional torches which burned. These were magic torches. An orb was fitted on a thick wooden stick and this orb glowed with light when brought out of the inventory.

The cave split into three passages a short distance after the entrance.

Kyrie looked at Marcus and said, “Did the book say anything about this?”

Marcus was frowning at the passages in front of him. He said, “The book only said that Lumina found the demon who talked with her in the cave. There was nothing regarding Lumina wandering around in the cave or passages for that matter.”

“Could these passages be recently dug?” Kyrie looked thoughtful.

“Depends on your definition of recent. They look old.”

“And you are an expert on digging passages?”

“No but I do fucking know that they do not look recent.”

Kyrie raised her hands palm facing outwards and said, “No need to get angry. What should we do? Split up?”

Marcus shook his head. He was not angry but mildly irritated. He said, “No. That is always a bad idea. Let us check each of these passages one by one. Together. See if we can find anything.”

Kyrie pointed to the left passage with her torch, “We start from left to right.”

“You read my mind.”

They took the leftmost passage. They walked slowly checking for traps. The passage was not long but the pace at which they were walking made them reach the end of the passage in about an hour. It was a dead end. They encountered no traps along the passage. They went back and took the middle passage. They did not let their guard down.

The middle passage was shorter than the left one. There was a cave-in just a short distance into the passage with no way forward.

The right passage was also a dead end. They walked for more than two hours in the right passage before reaching the dead end. They came back to the area where the entrance to all three passages were present.

“What now?” asked Kyrie.

Marcus said, “I don’t know. And I don’t think Lumina’s book can help us.”

“What about saying ‘harmless’ again in demonic language”, suggested Kyrie.

Marcus did so. As he did, he felt a shift in the air. He could see Kyrie felt it too. They turned to their right. A passage had opened there.

“Well”, said Marcus, “One word. Many passages.”

They went through the newly opened passage. It twisted and turned many times making it difficult for Marcus and Kyrie to see the way ahead. They slowly made their way through the passage making sure they did not run into traps even though the pass code for opening the passageway was ‘harmless’.

They walked for about ten minutes before the passage opened into a huge cavern. The cavern was huge but choked with stalactites and stalagmites. Light seemed to come from some holes in the ceiling. There was also a faint light that seemed to be burning in the center of the cavern but Marcus could not see it due to the large stalagmites.

Marcus and Kyrie carefully made their way across the cavern to reach the center. As they approached the center, they slowly peered around a stalagmite to see what was there. There was a platform on which a dome shaped bubble seemed to have formed. In this buble was a chest, a shelf of books, a working table, a bed and a chair. In the chair, sitting with their backs to Marcus and Kyrie was a demon.

Marbas the Knowledgeable

Demon Lord, Level 275

Health 10,00,000 / 10,00,000

Marcus gulped and shrank behind the stalagmite. Kyrie had a look of fear on his face. A demon lord. And at max level. And what was that insane health bar?

Marcus pointed towards the exit and Kyrie nodded. They took a few steps towards the exit when a voice called, “I can hear you, you know. Come into the light. No need to be afraid. I won’t bite.”

Marcus took out his twinblade while Kyrie took out her bow. They both looked at each other and nodded. With weapons raised they made their way towards Marbas.

Marbas was not what Marcus was expecting. The demon lord was humanoid and looked like a feliur except that Marbas was completely red. Marbas’ face resembled a lion who had curved horns protruding out of his forehead.

Marbas was wearing a robe which was black in colour with golden patterns and runes weaved across it. It shimmered in a red light which was coming from torches around the dome that burned with red fire.

Marbas was sitting, his chair now facing Marcus and Kyrie under the glass like dome and he turned a page with his paws. A red humanoid lion. That was Marcus’ impression of Marbas.

Marbas said, “Two little adventurers. Come to play?”

Marcus said, “I do not know what you mean.”

Marcus felt very nervous addressing Marbas somehow. He realized he had gripped his twinblade very tightly and loosened his grip. Kyrie had her bow drawn too. She was ready to shoot at any moment.

Marbas purred, “Put those weapons away. You will not need them adventurers”, he stood up and walked up to the dome edge and knocked on it. It sounded like knocking on glass to Marcus.

Marbas continued, “I am harmless underneath this dome. And I cannot escape it either. So, there is nothing I can do to you from inside the dome.”

Kyrie said, “Why does it sound like you know of other ways to harm us?”

Marbas gave a loud laugh and said, “Perceptive little adventurer.” He went back and sat on his chair, putting the book he was reading on the table beside the chair which Marcus felt had somehow shifted.

Marbas said, “If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead considering our level difference. I, however, am not a violent demon by nature. I enjoy conversations more than fighting unlike a majority of my brethren. Please, put those weapons away. Let us talk. I have not had any adventurers come visit me in my lovely cave since ages.”

Marcus and Kyrie lowered their weapons but did not put them away. They still did not trust Marbas completely to put them back in the inventory.

Marbas seemed to be satisfied with their response as he said, “Well then adventurers, what brings you here? Normally, adventurers come to me when they require particular assistance as a part of their quest. However, your levels are too low to get any quests which would require my assistance. So, I ask you again, what brings you here?”

Marcus said, “Well, we heard that there might be a demon here. A demon who was friendly to the adventurers. But we were not sure. So, we came to check it out.”

Kyrie whispered to Marcus, “Are you going to tell this demon lord everything?”

Marcus whispered back, “I am just going to give him basic information.”

Marbas said, “Do you know adventurers, that demons can’t lie. They can also detect lies.”

Marcus said, “I read about it.”

Marbas tilted his head, “I wonder where you read about it. Nevertheless, I say this because I can tell if you are lying to me.”

Marcus nodded, “Not all demons can detect lies though. You are a demon lord and that too at quite a high level. It would make sense if you would be able to detect lies. Can you do so though? Can you tell if someone is lying?”

Marbas laughed again. He said, “Oh, I like you. You have read much about demons. And your knowledge is well detailed as if it had come right from a demon.”

Marcus did not say anything. He did not want to reveal too much till he could establish a base level of trust with Marbas.

Marbas said, “So Lumina has been busy, has she not?”

Marcus and Kyrie started at that name. Marbas said, “Did she send you here? Judging by your reactions you know about Lumina. That means you went to her for some help and she would have sent you here, wouldn’t she?”

Marcus and Kyrie looked at each other. Kyrie shrugged and gestured to Marcus to go ahead. Tell Marbas about Lumina.

Marcus sighed and said, “Lumina Lightweaver has been dead for a few centuries now.”

Marbas was deathly silent for some time. He did not move or speak. He had a far away look in his eyes. Marcus wondered whether he had broken the demon.

Marbas finally said, his voice laced with emotion that Marcus could not place, “If Lumina is dead, how did you know about me?”

Marcus explained regarding Lumina’s book.

Marbas said, “Can I have a look at the book?”

Marcus said, “I apologize. I need to submit it to the Head Librarian of Opulential city. I cannot hand it to you. It is the last copy after all and I don’t trust you as much as to simply hand you over a precious object.”

Marbas nodded and said, “Makes sense. Alright then Marcus Blank. Kyrie Shiningstar. Tell me what do you want then?”

Marcus said, “As I said, we wanted to actually confirm whether there is a friendly demon as to what Lumina had described. I actually did not think of what to do when we found you. I mean I had some general questions. Will you be willing to answer them?”

Kyrie also added, “I had some questions too about demons. I am not sure whether you shall answer them or not.”

Marbas said, “I told you right, that adventurers seek me when they need help in their quests. I mean there are certain quests devised in such a way that the adventurers need to come and talk with me. However, it has been quite some time since any adventurer has come. Makes me wonder whether those quests have been scrapped. Moving on. I help adventurers. That is my role. And till the time I am imprisoned in this dome, I will be helping adventurers. My help comes at a cost though. Based on the information required, I declare my cost. So, tell me exactly what you want to know. Then I shall tell you my cost.”

Marcus said, “I want to know about the history of demons. How they came to be on Una. Where were they before Una and what did they do? The culture of the demons. Their daily lives. Were they inherently so violent or did shifting to Una change them.”

Kyrie said, “I want to know more about fighting demons. Good strategies. Their strengths and weaknesses. How can we effectively detect where a demon lord is being summoned? The number of demon lords. Their levels and what can be done to stop demon wars.”

Marbas thought for a moment and then frowned. He said, “Both of you are asking for interesting information. Though that information is not much to ask for. Do you not have this on your Globalnet?”

Kyrie said, “It is good to have information from the primary source.”

Marcus said, “I read a bit about your culture from Lumina’s book but it was very basic. I had some further questions.”

Marbas nodded. He said, “Very well. I shall answer your questions. However, my price for that would be similarly interesting. I would have a private conversation with each of you. And I will answer your questions individually. You must answer mine honestly. Is the price okay for you?”

Marcus looked at Kyrie who nodded. Then Marcus said, “We agree.”

Marbas clapped his paws together. They did not make much sound. He said, “Excellent. We have entered into a verbal agreement. It would do you no good to break this agreement. Now, who would like to go first?”

Marcus said, “Ladies first, I guess.”

Kyrie frowned, “Why?”

Marcus said, “Oh, just go first. It is alright.”

Marbas said, “If Kyrie is going first, then Marcus, please wait at the entrance to this cavern. The sound shall not carry there unless one of us shouts.”

Marcus complied. He sat down on a stalagmite which felt like a stool. He had to wait for about an hour before he saw Kyrie walk towards him. She appeared to be deep in thought.

When Kyrie came near him Marcus said, “So, learned anything new?”

Kyrie came out of her reverie. She said, “I don’t know. Much of the information I already knew. But the way he said it. I can’t really place it. He did not give me certain information as he was not updated about it like the number of demon lords, but he did give me a lot to think about. Your turn.”

Marcus said, “What did he ask you?”

Kyrie said, “Just some details about my world and what all has been happening on Una.”

Kyrie stood near Marcus and Marcus then started to make his way towards Marbas. Marbas was still sitting on his chair.

Marbas said as Marcus reached the dome, “Ah, Marcus Blank. Shall we proceed then. The history of the demons first. Demons are not of this planet. If you have read Lumina’s planet, you would know this. We came from a planet called Daemondi. Charming little planet. Full of warring demons.

Demons are not violent by nature but we do like a good tumble. And by tumble I mean fighting. I know what humans mean by when they say tumble. It is not that.

We are a warring species. Although we do war mostly amongst ourselves. Demons also breed like crazy. So, warring helps keep our population in check. It is literally survival of the strongest on Daemondi. The weak demons die and the strong survive.

We lived on Daemondi like this for thousands of years. Then just about slightly more than five hundred years ago, we were visited by an Order. They called themselves the Game Masters. They had a meeting with the leaders of our planet. They invited the demons to be a part of something bigger. They wanted to help us and in return a Game Master would rule the planet.

Now, we demons are a proud lot. We may fight each other for dominion but none of us likes to be under the thumb of anyone. The Game Masters’ proposition did not fit well with any of the leaders of Daemondi. So, we did the best thing we knew of. We attacked the Game Masters.

Now, let me tell you something. When you have the option of fighting a Game Master, don’t. Just run away and hope that they decide to spare you. They are literal power houses. They obliterated the demon leaders as if they were nothing. These were the strongest demons of the world and they died,” Marbas snapped his fingers, “Just like that.”

Marbas paused and Marcus realized he was somehow holding his breath. He let it out and said, “What happened then?”

“Then”, said Marbas, “The Game Masters enslaved us. Initially, they wanted to set up a game world like Una on Daemondi. But they decided to punish us. The demons of our world were divided and we were set up as villains of different worlds.”

Marcus interrupted, “Hold on a second. Different worlds?”

Marbas said, “Now that is a different set of query. I would give you basic information. Una is not the only game world. There are many. We were spread across many of the game worlds.”

Marcus took some time to process that information. It somehow felt significant to him and at the same time he had a feeling that he should already know it. He wondered why he felt that.

Marcus asked, “So what happened to Daemondi?”

“The Game Masters sucked it dry for its resources”, replied Marbas, “After relocating every demon, which they did in an extremely short time, the Game Masters extracted all the resources that they could find from our planet and took them to their home planet.”

“And their home planet is?” asked Marcus.

“A separate set of query”, replied Marbas.

Marcus said, “Now I have questions regarding Game Masters.”

Marbas laughed and said, “I am sure you do. I am not the best person to answer them. The Game Masters of this world would be good. You can ask them. They would give you answers if they wanted to. I can simply give you information based on my teensy knowledge and experience. However, the cost for that would be different.”

Marcus thought about it and said, “Very well. I shall not ask about the Game Masters yet. Continue with your um, story. Tell me about your culture.”

Marbas complied. He talked for an hour more and told Marcus many things about how the demons used to live on Daemondi. Marcus did find the information interesting.

When he was finished Marbas said, “Now it is my turn. You need to answer a few of my questions.”

Marcus nodded. Marbas asked him about the state of Una and what was going on. Marcus told him to the best of his ability about what was going on in the world and about the demon wars.

Marbas nodded as if he had already heard the information and was simply confirming it.

Marbas then said, “And what about you. Where are you from?”

Marcus shrugged and said, “And that is a separate set of query.”

Marbas started to laugh so much that Marcus wondered whether he had made that good a joke.

After he was finished laughing Marbas said, “Oh, dear. This is too good. You don’t even know who you are, don’t you? Don’t even know what you are?” He emphasized on the word ‘what’.

Marcus felt a tingle run up his spine. Marbas knew about Marcus before he lost his memory. Had they met or Marbas had some information which Marcus did not have.

Marcus said slowly, “What do you mean?”

Marbas said, “I know about you Marcus Blank. The anomaly. I know what you truly are. You are a human, no doubt. But you are also something else. Do you want to know what?”

Marcus nodded and said, “I assume there would be a price for this information.”

Marbas said, “Yes there is. And it is a simple price. I want the book. Lumina’s book. The one you were going to return to the library.”

Marcus thought for a moment and then said, “What about a copy of the book?”

Marbas said, “No. You can give the copy to the library. I want the book.”

Marcus said, “Let me see what I can do. I will get back to you on that.”

Marbas said, “Then your business here is finished. Goodbye Marcus Blank. Meet me if you are ready to give the book to me or if you have any other query. We shall have an interesting discussion. For a price, of course.”

Marcus nodded and started to walk away from Marbas. Then he thought of something and stopped.

He went back up to Marbas and said, “I have one more question.”

Marbas gestured Marcus to go ahead. Marcus opened his map and shared it with Marbas. The map showed the shape of Cthulhim formed by joining the pins.

Marcus said, “Kyrie and I already killed Cthulhim. However, demonic activity or magical activity is being carried out at the marked pin locations. What is happening? We want some answers.”

Marbas said, “Oh, this one is easy. I shall tell you for free.”

And Marbas told Marcus what was happening. Marcus froze as he heard the answer.

“When?” was the only thing he could ask.

A wicked grin spread across Marbas’ face. He said, “Tomorrow. Your time has run out. Best of luck Marcus Blank. I hope you survive tomorrow.”

And Marcus began to run. He shouted for Kyrie. They had to hurry. If what Marbas told Marcus was true, then they did not have much time. If they would not hurry, then Salinar would fall. And after that, Opulential.