Pain Sees the Past

Before Pain and the Demon Lord finished filling out the forms in the castle, another event occurred. The Demon Lord went back to her work after agreeing with Pain to let Euler the goblin manage the finances. Pain, however, had already finished working on his part of the paperwork. He began to look around the library while the Demon Lord was busy with her work.

He stared at each of the books that lined the shelves for a moment; then, he looked at the Demon Lord, who was hard at work. He considered saying something to her but didn't know what he ought to say. 'Should I help with anything else?' 'Well, I'll head out now.' 'Isn't your hand cramping holding your quill that way?' Pain weighed these sentences among many others but ended up saying nothing to disturb the Demon Lord, who was hyper-focused on her task.

He began to look around the room, and then he looked across the table. His eyes settled on a plain piece of paper, laying separate from the rest of the stacks. It was thick with an ornate border but blank on the side he saw. The Dark Commander slid it closer to him and flipped it over. It was blank on both sides. He reached for his quill and began to draw on it.

After a few more hours, the Demon Lord pushed the last of her work to the side. She stretched her arms into the air and then rubbed her shoulders.

"Finally done," she said aloud.

"Ah, good work," Pain said. The Demon Lord looked his way and stared at him for a moment before jumping in surprise.

"I forgot you were in here," she exclaimed. Pain chuckled. "You could have left if you were done," the Demon Lord added.

"Not a problem, I found this paper, so I was able to entertain myself with some doodling."

"Oh, what did you... Pain, what is that paper?"

"Oh, this. It was just some scrap that was lying on the table."

"That is not scrap paper; it is contract paper that has been infused with magic! It should not be used for something like doodling!"

Pain looked between the paper he had been doodling on and the Demon Lord. Then he started to ink some more on it.

"Hold on a moment; I think I almost have it."

"You need to stop! Whatever you do, don't draw anymore." The Demon Lord tried to pull the paper away as quickly as she could.

"What's the harm?" Pain asked after she had suddenly pulled the sheet away.

"This paper is ordinarily used to bind contracts between two parties with clear, concise words, but using it with something that can be as abstract as art could have all sorts of effects!"

"Why would such a dangerous piece of paper just be left sitting out?" Pain casually said.

"No one in their right mind would consider drawing on it!" The Demon Lord exclaimed.

"Hmm." Pain muttered.

"What did you even draw anyway?" The Demon Lord asked while slowly turning the page to see what he had drawn. She worried about the potential effects of triggering any magic by looking at it.

"Oh, well... I'm not a very good artist without a reference, so I was drawing you while you worked..." Pain said nervously. He was only now thinking that she might find it strange after having had drawn her.

"You what?" The Demon Lord forwent her earlier caution and looked right at the image Pain had drawn. Sure enough, it was a picture of her sitting at the table; he had drawn her at a moment where she was pushing her hair out of the way of her face. "Wha- What is this?"

"I admit, I'm not the best artist, but I think it turned out alright," Pain said. The Demon Lord did not get a chance to reply. The paper she held began to glow. Before she could even drop it, the paper made a flash of light that engulfed the room.

Pain was blinded for a moment and hastily covered his eyes. When his vision finally returned, he was no longer standing in the library with the Demon Lord. Instead, he was in the castle's large entrance hall. He looked hastily around. A goblin he didn't recognize went walking past.

"Hey, do you know how I got here?" he asked but got no response. He reached out, but his hand passed through the passing goblin. Pain looked around some more. The entrance didn't look any different from how it normally did. He tried to lean back against a wall but instead phased through it. Pain stumbled out to the other side of the wall and caught his footing.

Some kind of vision or memory, he thought to himself. He tapped his feet against the floor.

"But why don't my feet phase through? Shouldn't it be all or nothing?" he questioned how the spell worked out loud. He contemplated how the magic worked as he walked through several more walls. The castle layout was identical to how it was in his current time, so it was easy to traverse.

Then, he got a thought. He should be able to visit places that were off-limits to him normally. The throne room was sealed off with magic, the underground chambers of the castle, and many more. There was one room in particular he was interested in, Charlotte's private quarters. He was sure that there was nothing too interesting in them, but she had told him he would be impaled and lobotomized if he ever entered when he first was summoned.

Pain gleefully walked in the direction of her quarters. He was curious what kind of secrets the Demon Lord would hide to make such a threat. Would she have some dark room befitting an evil tyrant? Would she have chains and torture devices? He could hardly wait to see what a Demon Lord's room was like. After a brisk walk to the castle, he phased through her door without a second thought.

The room was a simple bedroom. It had a large bed with frilly curtains on all sides in the middle of the room. The windows were similarly covered with frilly curtains. In the corner of the room, there was an ornate vanity and bench. In another corner, there was a pile of plush animals such as dragons, dire wolves, krakens, etc. The whole room looked like it could belong to a stereotypical princess, except the décor had darker tones instead of pastel ones.

"..." Pain was at a loss for words.

"Hurry up!" a shout came from beyond the door. Pain turned around in a panic but was not able to react before the door flew open. The Demon Lord suddenly ran through him, except something was off. He turned around to take a second look. The girl that phased through his astral form was indeed the Demon Lord, but she was younger, by at least ten years from what he could tell.

"Charlotte, don't go running through the castle like that," A voice said from behind him. Pain turned around. There was a woman that looked very similar to Charlotte. Her mother, he figured. She looked very similar, except with longer hair and longer horns on her head. "You have to get ready for your sword fighting class."

"Mother, do I have to attend?" the young Demon Lord pleaded.

“Of course, you are the future Demon Lord; you must be stronger than everything that can stand up against you. After practicing, you will attend magic studies, then go straight to calligraphy. They are all important lessons so you can take on the Kingdom of Bright someday.”

“Why does the Kingdom of Bright want to fight us so much? Can’t we get along?” the young Demon Lord asked.

“Of course not, Charlotte. Now get going, you will be far too busy to do anything else today at this rate,” Charlotte’s mother said while lightly pushing the young Demon Lord to the door.

“But what about lunch?” the young Demon Lord asked suddenly. She resisted her mother’s push and stood firm.

"What about it?"

"When will we eat?"

"We will be skipping today. You have too much to learn. Besides, you will need to be able to go several days without eating if the castle ever gets sieged by the Kingdom of Bright."

"Isn't it a little harsh to make her skip meals? She's like eight or something," Pain said. It was pointless since they could neither see nor hear him.

"Mother, please, can I at least have a snack?" Charlotte asked. Her mother sighed.

"As long as you don't tell your father, I will see if Brutus can make you something."

"Yeah!" The Demon Lord said excitedly.

"I don't know, with the way he would have been cooking at this point, you might just be better going without the meal," Pain once again said to no one.

The mother and daughter walked out of the room, and Pain rushed after them. He kept pace with them across the castle, but they said nothing on the walkover.