Episode 2.1 - Training With a Demon Girl

Episode 2 - Daily Life With a Demon Girl

2.1 - Training With a Demon Girl
It's been a couple of days, and I’ve had a chance to calm down a little. We're still enslaved to the demon who kidnapped us. Our systems are locked out by the collars, so we can only use what she decides to enable for us; no lodging complaints or queries for help with the system’s developers, no teleporting away, no control whatsoever. We have effectively become NPCs, utterly powerless against the might of a player, or rather, a demented demon character using our player menus.

We did try to argue some more, but the slave collar gives her complete control. Somehow, we've gone from living our dream lives to being subservient to an evil Imp.
It stings to admit it, but we are truly powerless, maybe more so than we were in the old world.

You could always do something back there, however pathetic. Refuse to leave your room, refuse to get a job, refuse – lots of refusing, protesting, and hiding. But in escape, our minds are code in a sense; they’ve been put into a machine and are thrall to it. We've no way to resist; we have to follow its rules and systems. We’ve been left without even a shut-in's limited agency…

The lady demon's first move as our new master was to demolish our little house. Seemingly, she had it all planned out, using our system menus, our character’s resources and wealth stats, she replaced our humble bungalow with a massive soaring tower of course stone. A genuine medieval fort upon the little green hill where our home used to be. After that began the rigours of 'training'.

"Move your leg a little more like this," the so-called ‘Grand Demon of Clan Rowan’ says in a rather kind voice, floating down to Ko's leg and slightly repositioning it. Ko squeaks a bit.

"Oh, sorry? You don't like your legs being touched?"
Ko nods shyly, shrinking in on herself a bit, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to react like that."

Lila waves her small hand in front of her face, "Nah, nah, it's fine. Just watch the Estolpfo, err, skeleton guy. Stop the drill and just watch for a bit if you need to, you'll get it soon."

"R-right!"

The skeleton in question is a creature that looks like it sounds: Shorter than Eshu, who is already pretty on the petite side, they have reptile-looking skulls of white bone and seem to be Lila's minions or servants of some kind.

 More seem to pop up by the day. This one, in particular, is sort of unique, wearing a tiny top hat on its ‘head’ for some reason. It repeats the same basic stance and punch technique over and over without pause, doing so slowly as to let me and Ko get a good look of the movement.

Thunk, thunk, THUNK

All heads turn to watch Eshu nail the bullseye three times with her throwing knives. We give her a little round of applause, "Ehehehe."
I never knew Eshu had such great aim, but she's taken to it extremely fast. At first, Lila had us all doing the same training, but she picked up on Eshu’s hand-eye coordination and declared she'd give us individual regimes that better suit us. Honestly, for a kidnapper, her manner of ‘training’ us is pretty patient and considerate.

 Escape's main world has levels and stats, but no one really uses them. When you do a quest, you get teleported into the scenario with all you need. Want to roleplay slaying a demon-lord? You'll spawn with the necessary stats and a holy sword. The main world, however, is consistent; you maintain a set level here, but since it's mostly a world for living in, no player I've ever met really levels up much. That is to say, we're pretty much starting from scratch…

"Alright," Ko nods to herself. She slides one foot forward, pivots her hips and lets her fist shoot out with a slight spin.

"Hey hey, perfect that time!" Lila exclaims and seems - much to my ongoing puzzlement - genuinely pleased by our progress.
And then she turns to me. "Honestly, Dog--"

"Don't call me that."

"--I don't put much stock in out-dated gender roles or nothin, but you're seriously a let down. You're slowest, most timid and generally clumsy. These girls are way outpacing you."

"Boo-freaking-hoo. If you're so disappointed, how about taking this collar off? I’ll just leave, shall I?" Lila shakes her head, and I can feel my damn blood boil! It's that look, judging me, disappointed in me, looking down on me - I hate it! The fact that the girl’s honestly seem to be settling into our new day-to-day, enjoying learning combat skills even! It makes me feel like the only sane one, the only one who hasn’t forgotten we got enslaved!

"Ow!" Of frigging course, now I'm so distracted I've knicked myself with the sword. Who uses a real blade for training, god damn it!

""Sek!"" my two companions call, rushing over.

"It's fine, fine, just a small nick. It does sting though..."

"Shoo, shoo, let me see," Lila says, brushing past the others as she floats over to me, lifting up my arm. Crimson sparkles as it drips down the shallow wound. She holds her off hand over it, and it starts to glow a faint green colour.

"Hey," I try to pull back, but her grip is surprisingly strong.

"Don't be such a baby. Demonic healing magic is stupidly hard to use on you humans, a wound like this wouldn't take a second on a demon," she grumbles.

"How am I even feeling pain? The setting shouldn't be enabled. It was the same back in that cave."

"I've told you, haven't I? This world is slowly merging with those around it, and the place I come from sure does have a whole lotta' pain."

"So it's your fault?"
Lila ignores me and glares at my arm. The wound has, well, 'magically' sealed over already. Her bright amber eyes stare intently down at my arm; it's kind of enchanting staring into them, for an NPC, she really is very lifelike. Breaking the spell, she leans in close and licks the remaining blood with a satisfied little sound.

"H-hey, you creep!" I say, annoyingly stuttering, and I hate to say, blushing.

"Heh heh," she says with a crooked grin, licking her lips and finally letting me free. "I told you all before, I look after my positions, no cuts and bruises to spoil their finish, and definitely no wasted blood.

The girls smile awkwardly as they watch on. Lila soon gets bored of teasing me and orders us to get back to practising our drills. Like this our days play out, living in the newly built fortress of a demon girl, training for a purpose she hasn’t properly explained against our will. Man, how did this happen? I want my old days back, please!