“It took this long for them to recover?” Danny asked surprised. He could only imagine how intense and damaging a war had to be to last this long without reaching a conclusion.

True, those powers were not involved in one single massive war. They were engaged multiple ones instead, but even so, Danny could not even begin to estimate how many casualties a war extending through the span of hundreds of years would have. Millions? Billions?

“To be fair, no, that was not exactly the case. You see, when they agreed to the armistice, in order to make this plane fair game again, both sides had to agree to its reopening. That was a very difficult thing to achieve, believe me.” The monkey simply shrugged and took another sip of blood.

“During the years that came since that agreement was established, there were many times that both powers could have lifted the truce and engaged in bloody war here, but there was always one side or another that felt it was being tricked into a trap or that it was not holding as many cards as the other side, in a way that restarting the conflict would be disadvantageous to them.”

“So, that means that both powers agreed to fight it out now?” Danny asked.

“Yes. I have no idea what is giving confidence to each side, but both of them are now confident in winning at least”. The monkey picked one of its ears nonchalantly, as if the coming war between its kind and another party had nothing to do with it.

“Great, just great.” Danny though inwardly.

Humans were already quite capable of wanton destruction and inflicting harm upon one another and onto the planet, then what kind of mayhem would a more advanced civilization be able to unleash? Danny dreaded the thought.

It did not matter what deciding factor had made both sides elect now as the opportune moment to reignite their conflict. It also didn’t matter the trump cards they were placing their trust into. The ones to suffer the most over their dispute would still be the humans caught in the crossfire.

Hopefully, the fact that these powers had existed for way longer than humankind, meant that they had developed ways to avoid completely obliterating the places they were contending during the course of their conflicts. At least one could dream, right?

“Okay then… both powers have already agreed to lift their truce and restart their war over the destiny of Earth. What now? What dangers should I expect to face? What was that earthquake then? What caused it? What purpose did it serve? And what about the invaders? When will they start showing up and from where?” Danny scratched his chin and considered his future problems and tried to make sense of the past events.

He had to be careful about what he asked the demon, considering that he still had to get an answer about the crystal and his bargaining power was limited.

He would not be able to make sense of everything this time around, so he had to choose his next words carefully. Otherwise, Tutu would simply run circles around him, taking every little thing he had to offer for little to no return.

“If both sides have agreed to restart their war already, then why you are the only non-human I am seeing around?” Danny asked in a roundabout way, hoping that the demon would provide more answers than he could get if he straight-up asked a direct question. “Besides the zombies, of course.” Danny added in the end.

“Come on Danny-boy! You are smarter than that!” The four-armed monkey exclaimed as if disappointed with his question.

“Just because there is a war in the making, it does not mean it will reach its climax instantly! In order to do something right, you have to follow through with the proper steps in their own correct order!” The monkey moved its head from side to side while gazing reproachfully at Danny.

“Just because there had been preparations in place for a very long time, did you expect millions of demons to simply show up with the snap of a finger?” The monkey snaped the fingers on one of his hands repeatedly as if to reinforce his point.

After criticizing Danny for his question, the demon stared at him for a few uncomfortable instants as if weighing something, before speaking up again.

“Ugh, fine!” The monkey stood up abruptly and threw its arms up in a mock display of reluctance. “Don’t think for even a second that I didn’t see what you are trying to do with this stupid broad question. You are a thousand years early from having even the remote chance to trick me…” The demon receded into the shadows and came back as a floating eel.

“I already told you many times, Danny-boy. If you want something, you have to pay the appropriate price…” The eel smiled greedily at him. “But I suppose I can throw you a bone every now and then…” The eel then turned around and started swimming through the air as if it was pure water.

“Listen carefully, because I will not repeat myself!” Tutu cautioned.

“Waging wars, conquering different planes, invading worlds… call it what you want, there are numerous ways to go about it. Both powers have their own methods, peculiarities and interests which I am not privy to.” The eel circled around the room.

“Even if we look only at the demonkind, which I am obviously more familiar with, there are still countless factions, clans and other subdivisions of the whole, each with its own secrets, means and methods, that I couldn’t possibly be aware off, or even bother start explaining…” The eel’s voice trailed on as it reached the end of the confined space and made a U-turn.

“Having said that, every single conflict over a realm, be it old or newly discovered, has deep down the very same nature … a dispute over resources.”

“No matter how they choose to kill one another, or where they decide to establish themselves, one truth remains for both sides. One single question reign supreme: how much do I have to spend and how much can I take?” The eel concluded smugly and coiled in front of Danny after finishing its lap around the room.

“The resources from Earth are not the only ones that matter in this equation. Moving supplies, troops, establishing a foothold, all this and more takes time and resources.” Tutu said.

“Also, just because you didn’t see something happening, it doesn’t mean that it has not occurred elsewhere. It would be foolish to think so.” The eel paused while it scratched its chin with the tip of its tail, before resuming. “In fact, you are quite lucky that you haven’t seen anything more than a few shambling corpses yet. We would not be having this conversation otherwise.”

Danny shivered at the demon’s statement. Even with all its power, if Danny had been unlucky enough to find himself next to other invaders, Tutu would have given way and retreated, leaving Danny behind to face his own fate. Probably a very unfortunate one.

“Things will progressively build up from now on, but it will still be quite a while until it really heats up. I can’t say for sure, but for now both sides are probably busy taking preliminary actions and setting their own respective footholds in this plane.” The eel licked clean the last remains of blood from the dark chalice.

“Like I said before, everything follows a certain order. A specific patter if you will. Even if I don’t know the specifics of all the steps that are being taken, it is easy to understand the general picture and guess the following events. After all, it is not the first nor will it be the last time a plane gets conquered.” Tutu chuckled.

“Some things are bound to happen differently given the peculiarities of this war, like the long-lived truce and whatnot, but I expect most things to remain the same.” The eel said in a bored manner, as if it hoped to be surprised.

“First, comes the lifting of the seals that had been put in place by both sides to prevent any of them or others to take control over this plane while the truce was in effect. And no, I won’t be explaining that. Suffices to say that it has already been done.” The demon stated, shooting down any attempt of further inquiry Danny could have made.

“Secondly, and more in line with other more ordinary conquests, comes the preventive measures to ensure the integrity of the plane and that something can actually be gained from their efforts.”

“What do you mea-”

“Don’t interrupt me kid. You can ask your last question after I am finished.” The eel glared coldly at Danny, making him swallow back his questions.

“After that, comes the vanguard forces and that is when the fun really starts. Following that, comes the establishment of outposts and arrival of the main forces in waves and progressive subjugation of the realm. However, given that there isn’t a single power lusting for this place, then the lines start to get blurry here, since this won’t be as simple as merely taking it over anymore.” The eel concluded.

“Now you can ask your last question.” The eel returned the now empty recipient to Danny with its tail, indicating that there would be no more clarifications this night beyond this last one.