A day later the dwarf finally came back. He looked pretty tired and worn out so instead of going back to work immediately he stayed around to chat.
"So where did you get that bird?"
Quetzalcoatl sat in my hand. I could tell that the poor creature was still scared, but I was no longer worried that it would die from a heart attack.
"I got it from Beatrice and Allenya."
"Of course, they did. It honestly surprises me that you let it live up until this point."
I growled at the dwarf. The deep threatening sound made the bird shiver in fear. I immediately stopped, to not scare the creature further.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"com on, you know why."
With a final snarl I turned around to place the bird back into one of the corners. It somehow seemed calmer when it believed that it was hidden. Even if the creature it tried to hide from placed it there.
"Actually, there is also something else. After you left a few people came by and tried to lure me out."
The dwarf shrugged. "just ignore them, they will stop eventually."
"yea, I figured that much. Only… I believe that one of them was my father."
The dwarf walked up to me and placed his hand on my knee. "and you probably realised that you can't make contact with him."
I nodded. "Yes. He thinks that both Alice and I are dead. And I can tell that it really is bothering him. I want to tell him that I am alive. That despite all what happened I am still doing fine. But I can't. And if I did. How can he believe me now that I am this?"
"He will get over it. And you probably too."
"I hope so."
I walked up to the stone chair and sat down. "can you tell me how that meeting went?"
"Yea. Its only a bunch of idiots. They were constantly fighting over how to improve the security. One even mentioned to create a barrier so no demon could get in or out. But up until this point they could only do that with lesser demons and those didn't pose much of a threat to begin with."
"And what should I do if they manage to bring up a good barrier?"
"well, I think that that is not going to happen any time soon. But if they succeed then it is up to you to decide if you want to stay here or leave."
I leaned back into the chair. My wings were loosely dangling next to me.
"By the way, what can you tell me about somethings true name?"
The dwarf nearly sprung up and glared in my direction.
"Where did you hear about that?!"
"From Elisa."
The dwarf sighed and rested his face in his hands. "I guess she didn't know. So, I will just tell you. don't you ever search for somethings true name! if you do, I will hunt you down myself and hang your horns above my door!"
I looked down at the dwarf. I could easily tell from the tone of his voice that he was not joking.
"Why?"
"Because you are a demon! I know that you were human once, but now you are a demon! And demons can do some fucked up stuff with true names, even regular names, but true names are so much worse!"
"You really think that I will do something terrible if I find out somethings true name? why would I do such a thing?"
"Why should I know?" the dwarf yelled at me. "You will eventually slip, and you know that! Some day you will probably really commit a massacre or bend someone to your will to do it for you. You said that people tried to lure you out a few days back, and I can guess that the only two reasons why you did not have a good meal that day was because your father was among them and it would not be beneficial for you if Atlantis got an even stronger suspicion that you are here!"
"Then what did you expect!" I stood up and stretched my wings behind me. this made the dwarf look even smaller in comparison to me. "If these lower life forms stand in my way, I will kill them! unless they are of value to me or of killing them hinders me in another way. Also, you were the one that came up to me saying, you are a demon now, act like one!"
Spall sparks of fire could be seen in the darkness of the ruins as I growled at the dwarf who walked out of the room without saying a word.
I made my way to the bird that was looking at me with terror in its eyes. I carefully picked it up and placed it next to me on the stone chair once again.
I felt terrible. I could not talk to my real father. And the only person who actually knew my story expected that I would eventually do the exact same things as any other demon.
I grinded my teeth. My headache just seemed to get worse.
In a despite attempt to distract myself from the pain I bit my hand. My fangs pierced trough my scales with some difficulty, but eventually I tasted my own dark blood.
I let go of my hand and watched as it rapidly begun to heal.
Suddenly I noticed something odd. The bird that had been terrified before seemed to calm down a bit. It was still scared, but not as much as it used to be.