Moenen remained unmoving as I continued to circle around him like a vulture above a dying animal.
"Well then Moenen. as you might have already guessed. I am still a really young demon, and on top of that, I have spent most of my time in these human worlds instead of the inferno. Therefore, my judgment can be a little off. So, by your opinion, when should you address something as a lord or a higher being?"
Moenen looked up and his eyes started to follow my movement. But he looked down again when he seemed to have come up with an answer.
"when something is stronger than you or stands above you in another way that matters."
This complicated things a little. I had hoped that Moenen might had known about the higher being that the silvery demon that placed my mark talked about. But the way Moenen gave his answer hinted at the possibility that it might not be a demon at all, thus greatly expanding the range of candidates.
At this point I had stopped looking for a way to turn back long ago. I had now mainly accepted that I was like this now and that some parts of the original me still remained. But what I was looking for now where just answers from that thing. I wanted to know why.
I sighed when I realised that Moenen could not tell me anything about that specific higher being except if I enlightened him about the situation. And that was definitely a line that I did not want to cross.
"How did you get in and are there others?"
"I took on a human form and blended in with them. I did not even know for sure if this was going to work, but my presence is a lot less than yours. I remained as far away from those glowing crystals in the wall as possible, I stayed behind in the group and never stayed in one place for long. And until you found me, I had no idea that there were other demons in this area."
Though Moenen did not include this in his explanation, I suspected that taking on a human form in the way he did would also help to hide his presence a little. Or the guards must have had something wrong with tier eyes to not see the faint red glow that would otherwise be inevitable.
"I see. Then how did you pass as a human? And is it possible for me to learn it?"
I stopped circling around Moenen and looked down on him as he stared to come up with an answer that he hoped would satisfy me.
"it is a dark form of magic that takes a lot of time to learn. It is the only art that I won't learn humans even if they offer more than just tier own souls. And I am afraid that I also can't teach it to other demons as we have to find that magic on our own. But, with your strength I am sure that you will live a long life and would learn it eventually. However, having a missing limb or a wound that can't heal in our human forms is a consequence of the inability of our minds and souls to assume a perfectly intact human form. That is why I only have one eye in my human form."
I knew he was not lying. He couldn't win in a fight against me, and it was impossible for two demons to sneak past the security at the same time. And even if there were others, I doubt that they would care about a low-level demon like this. He had no one to come for him or to protect him. All he could do to survive was do everything I asked and prove to be as useful as possible.
I knelt down in front of the demon. I had one of my claws positioned right under his chin. If he made even one wrong movement, I would cut him in his throat. I could hear how his heartbeat slightly increased while he tried to breathe as carefully as possible.
With a wide grin on my face, I stepped away from the demon. "Good, very good. I think that I will keep you alive for now. oh, and I have one last question before I leave you alone. I have been getting headaches lately, but it is in a consistent pattern. Do you have any idea what that might means?"
Moenen could immediately answer this time.
"It is a message that keeps repeating itself until all of us have heard it. I assume that because there is a lot of space between this world and the inferno, the message is dull and barely receivable. But you will stop noticing it as soon as you know what it says."
"Then wat is the message?"
"It notifies us that the seven trumpets will soon call."
I nodded and walked towards the exit of the building. "Thank you for your cooperation. I assume that you will remain within two hundred meters of this exact spot. Otherwise, I may have to use… more painful means than just my words to keep you here."
I stretched my wings and flew away. I wanted to get back to the dwarf as soon as possible so that he would not suspect anything.
On my way back I noticed that Moenen was indeed right. I no longer received the message. But this still left me to wonder, what could possibly be so strong that it could send a message over multiple realms and even distinguish between those that had understood it or not.
As soon as I came near the area where the dwarf usually worked, I saw someone that was walking through the ruins. I immediately hid myself behind illusions so that I would not get spotted. When I came a little closer, I noticed that it was the other man that was in the search party together with my father.
He was walking towards the exit of the ruins in quite a hurry. I had not expected anyone else of that search party to come. And I also did not trust the fact that he was trying to get away in such a hurry. After I curiously followed him for a few dozen meters I heard him mutter under his breath.
"Demon, if you are out here, I hope you enjoy hunting down these traitors."
This made me worry that he had encountered the dwarf and that he now believed that the dwarf was indeed cooperating with me. which was actually the case.
Also, because he said traitors, instead of traitor meant that there was someone else with him. I immediately turned around to see if they were okay after encountering this man.