Danny considered the feasibility of the demon’s proposal. Although the amount Tutu asked was a lot – enough for the period of two and a half months – it was not something impossible to do if he paid it in installments. In fact, that was the only way he would be able to do it, since losing that much blood at once would most likely be fatal.

Danny was inclined to accept those terms, however, there was a major issue with the demon’s demand. Tutu wanted to be paid first before handing over the information.

Although that was how they been doing things so far – Danny would first provide the blood than he would get to ask questions – that would be unacceptable in this particular instance. He needed the answers now.

What would he do during those two and a half months of wait if he did as the demon suggested? More gathering of supplies? Look for other survivors? What would that even amount to if humanity was experiencing an existential crisis? Would any of his efforts even make a difference?

No. That would not do.

So far, he had only been trying to survive the initial fallout and improve his circumstances, which was okay until now, even if thing did not turn out as he hoped in the end with Janice and the others.

However, Danny wanted to start dealing with the fundamental issues of his situation as soon as he possibly can. He did not want to spend any more days on delaying tactics and half-measures that would not be able to deal with the core problems surrounding him.

Therefore, Danny could not accept such a waste of time. Thus, he had to negotiate with the demon and find an alternative compromise that allowed him to get his answers now.

Even if he only managed to get partial answers, anything he could extract from the demon that would enable him to find a direction to head towards in this mess would be a huge improvement.

Given that he would have to bargain with Tutu to make some changes regarding this particular subject – and that doing it would probably be an arduous and time-consuming task – Danny decided to leave that aside for now and focus on another one of his most pressing questions: Why now?

If he understood correctly what the demon had revealed so far, humanity was up against a way more powerful and evolved civilization than itself.

If history taught him anything, it was that when two different society’s clashed, the one less advanced tended to either get subjugated or annihilated.

The romans managed to take control of most of Europe and a great chunk of Africa and Asia during their prime, simply by having learned the advantages of military formations and by the construction of roads.

On the other hand, the advantage of gunpowder and ocean-faring ships allowed the Europeans to decimate the native populations of the Americas and take the land for themselves.

If humanity did not want to be put in the place of the native Americans this time around, then it had to adapt and learn how to close the gap in knowledge and power as fast as possible.

Having said that, there was one thing that puzzled Danny. He knew that Tutu – a demon – had been around Earth for quite some time. Stories about him started circulating centuries ago at the very least, and who knows how many other creatures with similar origins have walked the land before him?

If the demons had known about Earth for so long, and could even make their way over here from wherever they came from, then why were they taking action only now? There had to be a specific reason for that. Maybe there was something he could take advantage of there in order to improve his chances even.

“Let’s leave the matter of the crystal aside for now.” Danny said before continuing. “Instead, let’s talk about why all those things are happening now. Why not before?”

“As you wish…” The cat responded in a bored manner. Afterwards it shapeshifted itself into a four-armed monkey and started to slowly swirl the chalice’s blood in one hand, while leaning its head into another. It laid sideways on the floor and started recounting its tale.

“In order to explain it to you, I have to start from a story that happened quite some time ago”. The demon said.

“The truth of the matter is as murky as one would expect from a counted and recounted tale, changing forms as it passed on from one mouth to another. However, no matter what one chooses to believe to be the real course of events, one thing remains the same in all versions of the story, meaning it is undoubtedly the truth.”

“At some point in time, when humanity was just in its infancy, two opposing factions discovered this realm at the same time as the unexpected result from some conflict. The specifics of that particular battle no one knows for a fact, but that is irrelevant to your question. All you need to know is that there were two warring parties that fell into this realm during their conflict, by some bizarre coincidence.” Tutu paused and took a sip of blood before resuming his recounting.

“The two opposing forces were even at the time, and being unable to take out their enemy quickly enough, both sides could not prevent the information about this plane from spreading to their respective factions, making it so that both powers were now armed with the information about this valuable and untapped world.”

“Normally those two sides were absolutely hostile to one another and a conflict would emerge whenever they met with a hundred percent certainty. Even so, there were some particular circumstances that made this dispute over the newly discovered realm more complicated than usual.” The demon stopped and stared at Danny. “Care to guess what?”

“Maybe they were unable to fight?” Danny ventured a guess.

“That is right, but is not fully accurate either.” Tutu nodded and presented his explanation. “Coincidentally at the time, both forces were stretched thin, given that they were engaged in a fair share of conflicts and there were many other fronts that demanded their attention. After all, even though those two powers were enemies, they were not their only enemies. There was a lot of shit going on. Plenty of carnage to be had. This place discovery was also a result of that chaotic period of time”. The demon looked up as if remembering a fond memory or longing for such violence. Danny could not say for sure.

“Anyway, both factions had the information, but not the resources or manpower to exploit it, while also knowing that their mortal enemy was temporally under the same circumstances. Thus, what would you do if you were in their shoes and was presented with this choice: should you make a deal with your enemy and share the spoils ensuring that each get half the value of that newly discovered source of wealth, or should you risk seeing which one of you can recover first in order to keep the full value of the plane for yourself entirely?”

It was then that Danny realized the problem. For a while now, Danny had this bad feeling he could not explain. There was something hidden in between the words of the demon that triggered alarm bells in his mind.

There was something screaming at him, shouting at the danger of the situation, without Danny being able to point out what exactly it was. For some reason, he had been feeling that humanity’s chances were about to get way worse, but he simply could not wrap his finger around it. Until now, that is.

It finally clicked. Danny had initially thought that humanity was facing an unknown power, something beyond their understanding and that it would take their all to fight back. That resistance would be an almost unsurmountable task and it would take their all to grasp a slight chance of survival when going against this more advanced and powerful enemy.

However, the demon had been saying it all along. They were not facing a mysterious power. They were facing mysterious powers. Powers as in plural.

A lot of things started making sense now. When the demon talked about two warring factions, he was not referring to two factions within a single entity, like two different political factions within the same country. He was talking about two factions completely unrelated to one another, like two different countries or even two different races.

Danny’s perspective had been limited by his own experiences, thus he was unable to see the bigger picture until now. It was not his fault that he could not understand it until now, after all, one cannot easily imagine the magnitude of the ocean by only seeing a lake.

So far, the only supernatural entity he had contact with was a demon, without counting the zombies. However, if there were demons around, then why not something like angels, gods or other entities previously considered fictious?

Despite the positive connotation words like ‘angels’ carried, Danny held no hope that the presence of those newcomers on Earth would be anything good for mankind. Now he understood. Humanity was not a contender in this dispute, they were the prize.

Demons and their counterpart never thought about humans as a threat. They were as threatening to them as cows were to humans. The role that was reserved for humanity was uncertain for now, but they were being viewed clearly as a resource to be exploited or animals to be exploited or disposed of. Danny was not sure which one would be best to be honest.

That was also probably why Tutu could make use of such an obvious loophole regarding the sharing of that initial information with Danny about the calamities that were to follow before they actually happened. Those security measures were likely not meant to prevent the locals – the humans – to find out about the coming struggles, but were aimed at the opposing forces that would fight the demons over the possession of Earth and its resources instead.

It made so much more sense now. If they truly cared about keeping the humans in the dark, then why would Tutu be allowed to come and go as he pleased, doing whatever he wanted while here on Earth?

True, Danny never managed to prove its existence in the end. Tutu made sure to foil any attempts in this sense. But even so, allowing him to walk around unchecked seemed like a stupid risk if they wanted to keep everything under wraps.

It all made so much more sense if Danny assumed that the demons did not care at all about him and other humans finding out about it, dismissing as irrelevant anything humankind could do to prevent it. Instead, they were only concerned about their opponents.

Of course, Danny could be missing another piece of the puzzle and there could be some sort of cultural reason as to why the demons did those things the way they did. However, Danny felt he had hit very close to the truth. It would all fit the events that happened so far a little bit too well if that was the case.

“What would you choose?” The demon asked again, unaware of the inner turmoil inside Danny’s head at the moment.

“I… I don’t know. Maybe compromise?” Danny responded unsure.

He was a little shaken at the deductions he had just made, but he tried to get his head back in the game. There would be enough time to figure things out later, but it was best to keep focused while he was dealing with the demon.

Danny did not want to give Tutu another opening to mess with him, and he needed to pay attention to every little detail when talking with the demon. Any tiny detail the demon revealed might make a difference later on, and could be the difference between figuring something out or remaining oblivious.

Between the two options the demon had given him, Danny felt that only the second one could be possible. If both the demons and the other unknown faction had decided to duke it out in the past without compromising, surely humans would not have remained unaware of their existence for so long. There would have to be conflicts going around periodically here on Earth to decide its ownership, right? There was no way that something of that magnitude would remain hidden for millennia.

“Hehehe. Wrong!” The monkey replied smugly. “They chose both!”

“Both?” Danny asked confused, not sure what the demon meant by his words.

“Yes. There was no way those two eternal enemies could compromise, but at the same time, they were both not confident in their ability to recover before their enemy did given the intensity of the conflicts they were engaged on.” The monkey smiled as it scratched its but with one of its free hands, pleased with the chaotic circumstances and the dilemma of both powers.

“They could not work together, but they were also stuck in their own wars. Both parties felt they were likely to lose if they decided to risk it at the time, not confident in their ability to be able to free enough force to control this new world first. However, to give up such a valuable resource just like that was also unacceptable. It would be such a pity to lose it without making an effort. Thus, an unprecedented middle ground was reached”. Tutu smacked its lips as it narrowed its eyes in delight.

“Both forces made a deal to temporaly compromise and take partial control over the realm. Whenever both factions decided that they had enough leeway to compete again, they would then fight for dominance over this plane.” The demon smiled toothily at Danny. “This tenuous truce has lasted until now. But it is finally time to pick a winner.”