The injured demon was blessedly silent for a moment, but it didn’t last. “No. No, definitely maybe? What is a demon like me? Not many have my focus, my dedication, my obsession!”

Obsession? The word sounded all too plausible right now. Serenity glanced at the demon. “Are you an obsession demon who studies other demons?”

The winged demon jumped in what looked like joy but was clearly in pain when it landed. “Yes! No one cares about demon types the way I do! I want to find out what we are, where we come from, how to reach the other types! I want to open it up so we can all know what we are!”

Which meant it wanted to study him because he was different. That was probably also why it was so interested in the minotaur; that was a type Serenity hadn’t yet seen, even though he’d passed through a city full of more humanoid demons. Come to think of it, he had seen several that looked rather like this one. “Fine. You can follow if you shut up. No questions, no talking.”

The obsession demon looked absolutely thrilled. “Right! Yes oh thank you I will-”

“SHUT UP.” Serenity didn’t bother to restrict his volume that time.

He spent the next part of the fortunately quiet walk debating what the right way to appropriately punish someone who wouldn’t stop talking was. Simply destroying their voice box would probably work, but it was far too likely to outright kill them and that wasn’t appropriate.

The next city was actually kind of funny to Serenity. It was another city with a wall, but this time instead of having to deal with checkpoint guards, the entrance was abandoned by the time Serenity arrived. He’d seen people there as he headed towards it, but the moment they saw him, they fled.

It was bad practice on the part of the guards. Even if they were terrified of him, they should at least have closed the gate and called for reinforcements.

The inside of the city was again familiar, with “more human” demons working the fields and “more demonic” demons fighting and generally acting like they owned the place.

Up until they saw Serenity.

The moment anyone saw Serenity, they ran. Some of them dropped everything; others carried whatever they were holding as they went. Serenity was fairly confident he saw a few thefts as he went by, as well.

It was more than an hour before he saw any sign of the city guard, and when he did it wasn’t sight that alerted him but hearing. “Clear the way! A Greater Demon is coming!”

He couldn’t be unique if someone had recognized him enough to classify him.

Perhaps it wasn’t a guard that was calling out the warning. Serenity didn’t actually care.

His trip through the city was quick in terms of distance covered, but when night fell he was still inside the city bounds. Serenity was somewhat impressed with his unwanted companion; he’d needed to be reminded to be quiet about every half hour or so, but he’d still managed to keep up. That couldn’t have been easy.

It wasn’t enough for Serenity to willingly share shelter with the obsession demon. He built the shelter against a ruined wall and made it large enough to be comfortable even for his demon form, then stepped inside. When the obsession demon stepped inside, Serenity shook his head. “Out. Mine. My nest.”

“But I’ll never have a better chance to watch a Greater Wrathborn sleep!”

Serenity glared. “No talking. Out!”

Once the demon was out of the nest, Serenity closed up the last part of the domed wall. He then turned and created a nest that would comfortably fit his demon form but also be comfortable for his dragonling self before settling down for the night.

The stop for the night must have given the residents of the city enough time to clear the roads, because Serenity never saw more than a hint of someone disappearing into a building or around a corner for the rest of the time in that city. The way forward was suspiciously clear; Serenity saw several side passages that had clearly been quickly blocked. It looked like it was something they’d done before.

Serenity was amused by it all but didn’t see any reason to investigate.

This was the last of the cities that surrounded Mornmot. He was almost there!

There was no gate out of whatever unnamed city this was now, but there was a gate into Mornmot. Like the other walls Serenity had seen, the one surrounding Mornmot looked new compared to the city itself. Unlike the other walls, however, this one looked actively maintained. It was actually manned, though the guards on the wall itself didn’t seem all that serious about it.

There was a mix of demons in line to enter the gate. Most were sort of humanoid, including one of the mantis-demons, but Serenity also saw several that weren’t. The strangest was something that looked like a jellyfish without the smooth cap on top floating in the air; the other demons seemed to be giving that demon plenty of room.

The procedure at the gate was also different from the two Serenity had been through before. The gate guards didn’t vanish and they also didn’t treat him like a peasant that was barely allowed to pass into the city. Instead, when Serenity walked up to the back of the line, a bright pink demon walked down the line and stopped agount ten feet from Serenity.

Serenity could have mistaken him for an odd orc despite his exceedingly unusual color if he weren’t surrounded by demons; the rest of his features took a moment to register. The most blatant one was the pig-demon’s hands; he didn’t actually have hands. Even though he stood upright, he had cloven hooves on the ends of his arms.

“Great one, please follow me. We have another entrance for those of your greatness, where you will not have to wait on others.” The pink pig-demon seemed to be shaking a little, but his voice wasn’t badly affected. Serenity had the feeling that was more from practice than from a lack of fear; it was far easier to act despite fear than to lose it.

He was very obviously talking to Serenity; no one else was close enough, not even the obsessive demon-researcher. Serenity checked. “Fine. Lead me there.”

The pig-demon led Serenity to a far larger entrance; instead of a tunnel leading through the wall, the entire wall opened. It was open by the time they got there, even though that was far more than was needed; he’d have fit through the tunnel, if not with much room to spare.

Serenity grinned when one of the other demons guarding the gate (it seemed to be based on some sort of vine) slipped past him and intercepted the obsession demon. It seemed that other demons weren’t permitted to use the Greater Demons’ Door.

This was a convenient way to shed the annoyance, so Serenity didn’t intervene. He was sure he could have, but why should he? He needed to leave the obsession demon behind anyway. He wasn’t going to take it to Lyka with him, and he’d prefer that it didn’t know where he was headed.

“Has the Greater Demon visited before?” The pig-demon bowed as it spoke. “If the Great One would care to share his destination, I can give directions?”

Serenity wanted to wince at the butchering of the language. It was clear that the pig-demon was trying to be formal and failing miserably. Or perhaps he was simply trying to avoid getting in trouble with someone who could kill him?

That was probably it.

Whatever the reason, directions would be useful. “A City Node.”

It was too much to ask for the demon to know which were set up as Portal Nodes. Serenity would simply have to hope that enough of the node structure was intact to allow him to use it to find out. If it was locked down or locked out, he’d have to come up with another plan. He had several ideas that might work, but none of them were as fleshed out as he’d have preferred; they needed more information than he had available.

“A what?” The pig-demon’s response wasn’t encouraging. “I’m sorry, this one does not know that term.”

Serenity sighed. “A crystal, anchored either to the ground or to a stone pillar, between six inches and eight feet tall.” The demon seemed confused, so Serenity demonstrated the different heights as best he could; he needed Aide’s help to be relatively accurate since everything felt smaller in his new shape. “It can be any color, but it will always let light through.” Most were pale, but Serenity had seen them in bright shades as well. He didn’t know of any meaning to the color.

The pig demon seemed lost in thought for a moment, but when its face cleared, it seemed almost enthusiastic. “You are here for the Calling Crystal? It has not Called in my lifetime. To meet one of the Called…” The pink demon trailed off, but there was a new bounce in its step as it moved. “A Wrath demon! No wonder it has not Called!”

Serenity stopped just inside the gate. The demon still hadn’t said which way to go. “Directions?”

The demon seemed startled. “You don’t know? It’s down that way, turn left, seven paces, turn right, head for the tanning pits but you won’t reach them, turn right at…”

Serenity tried to track the directions, but he was soon lost. It took the pig-demon at least five minutes before he finished. The directions were essentially useless even though Aide had recorded them. “You will lead,” Serenity informed him.

“I? But…” The demon waved at the gate momentarily, seeming shocked, before it shook itself, a terrified expression crossing its face. “I mean, I am not worthy! I will do what you command!”

Serenity felt a wave of anger wash over him, but it was only partly at the obsequious little bootlicker in front of him. Instead, most of his rage was directed at whatever demons had taught it that it needed to act like that. It might be a demon, but no one should feel like they had to do something or like they weren’t worthy to give directions by leading someone to a place they knew and the other person didn’t.

Serenity knew that was a feeling created by his past and his upbringing, but that didn’t change the fact that he felt that way.

Serenity laughed at himself, his anger flipping as he re realized just how ridiculous this was. Here he was, getting angry on behalf of a demon because of demons that weren’t even here based on a way of life that didn’t apply!

His emotions were far too volatile. Control was key; he had to remember that. Serenity took a deep breath, then another. He didn’t stop concentrating on his breathing until the emotional fit had passed and he felt mostly normal again, even if there was still a mountain of undirected anger in the back of his mind.

The pig-demon was standing stock-still, shivering more than before. A flash of anger washed over Serenity at the demon’s uselessness and he struggled to master himself and look at the situation objectively. The demon’s reaction almost had to be fear instead of incompetence, but there was that moment where nothing mattered but the anger. Perhaps the demon was right to be afraid.

Serenity thought he had it under control. He’d better have it under control. A moment like that at the wrong time could be terrible.

Serenity shook his head at the demon. “Well? Get going.” He couldn’t help the irritation that showed in his voice; suppressing the anger with knowledge that this wasn’t the pig-demon’s fault was already hard enough.