Curson's Desire

     I stood frozen, gazing up at that singular eye that stared down at us. Its presence was different from that of Caedes. While Caedes made me feel suppressed, fearful, and hopeless, Curson made me feel small and empty. Forget an ant trying to bite an elephant, I was an amoeba that was completely irrelevant to a vast galaxy. Why was it here? What did it want? Was it going to use me for the same reasons the other Demon Gods wanted me?

“Fear not human. Your existence is of no value to me, and your death would be equally meaningless.”

“Th-then what do you want with me?”

“To halt the speech of that goddess. The events before the Tear are not to be uttered in the presence of lesser Depravities. I am aware of the ones residing within your suit. They are awake, they are listening.”

“Why hide the truth from lesser demons? All gods in the Divine Realm have access to this knowledge if they only seek it out.”

“You have a higher being to oversee law and order in your realm. That is not the case here. You are familiar with Libero and his capacity for disaster, but he is not the only one with such potential.”

“That can’t be the only reason. A Demon God such as you could have incinerated us to keep the goddess silent.”

“Indeed. You are also familiar with Sitiens Meretrix, the Green Plague. There is a relic I seek that resides within the Great Realm from which she originates. I could invade her realm, but that would draw the attention of the Realm Guardian as well as other Demon Gods, and my efforts would be for naught. So I seek her cooperation and you as a mediator.”

“A mediator? Much as I hate to admit it, I don’t believe she could refuse you if you demanded something of her.”

“She is as clever as she is frivolous. She has many countermeasures against the use of force and would only become indignant upon such attempts. Her willful cooperation is necessary.”

“I see. You want me to convince her to help you. But there’s one thing I don’t understand. Caedes and his Demon God supposedly want me in order to invade the Hidden Realm, how do I know you don’t care about that as well?”

“Such an endeavor is destined to fail.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Flow scatters and equalizes as temperature and pressure do. In incurring Demon God would already find themselves weakened from having to manifest a physical form, but their power would be torn apart, scattered by the absolute lack of Flow in the Hidden Realm. Even if they could succeed at traversal, they would promptly die.”

“But they’re still trying anyway! They were able to pull me out of the Hidden Realm even under those conditions, maybe they have some method!”

“To abduct you would require immense power, but only for a brief moment. To continuously sustain themselves within the Hidden Realm would require a stable environment of Flow. Something that…”

Curson’s pupil widened, then narrowed as it fell momentarily silent.

“Is something the matter?”

“To stabilize the Flow within the Hidden Realm, they would either need to destroy the first Great Realm and allow the Flow to pass through into the Hidden Realm, or they would need enough power to flood the Hidden Realm and stabilize it from the portal. One Demon God would not be enough for that, but two could be enough.”

“You think...more than one Demon God are working together?”

“It is a possibility. The other Demon Gods are too powerful to avoid my surveillance, except one: The Demon God of Betrayal, Bael. They can conceal their territory at will and traverse hidden from my sight. If they are conspiring with the Demon God of Faith, then the plot becomes possible.”

I swallowed nervously. Curson had not bothered because it’d thought the idea was impossible, but now that they know it could be possible, and that I was here, I worried that it might become another enemy.

“What will you do? Are you going to help them?”

“No. My desire for the relic is unchanged. The possibility of this plot means that steps must be taken to thwart their efforts.”

“Thwart? Are you enemies?”

“All demons seek power, but what they seek that power for differs greatly. The other Demon Gods each seek to be the sole ruler of the Depraved Realm. Perhaps their ambitions go further, to conquer the Divine and Great Realms or to challenge the Creator himself. I seek to maintain the balance that currently exists. Disrupting this balance could bring about the end of the Depraved Realm.”

“What?! What could threaten the entire Demo- Depraved Realm?!”

“The four Laws. Beings older and more powerful than the Divine Realm or Depraved Realm in their entirety. The Creator is one such being. The continued existence of the Depraved and the Divine are solely at their mercy. Should any Depravity or Divinity become too powerful and threaten the Creator’s beloved Great Realms, that mercy may wear thin.”

“Then you want to stop them from invading the Hidden Realm, right? What will you do?”

“A direct conflict against two Demon Gods will surely result in my defeat, but I believe that with your cooperation, we may thwart their efforts.”

“Mine? What could I-”

There came a rumbling and a shaking of the tower.

“What was that?!”

“An attack. Demons likely sent by Caedes or the one above him to retrieve you. You must go out and face them. My interference may raise suspicions and compromise our further actions. Go, defeat them, and return to me.”

     If they were sent by Caedes, none are likely to be as strong as Caedes himself. There may be lords, but that only means they’ll be about even with me. I can do this. I clenched my fists. It didn’t matter how many of them there were, I had to do this.

“Alright, I’ll do my best! Andre, will you help me?”

     Andre, who was crossing his arms and leaning against one of the shelves, had long since fallen asleep due to the long conversation. At the mention of his name, he jerked awake and shook his head.

“Hm!? Huh!? Ahhhh, yeah! You, uh, you got it buddy! Just lead the way! And also remind me of what we’re doing!”