A couple of hours passed. Maybe a day. But that did not matter.
Eventually the man left his home. I did not know the reason and I did not care. I entered his mind as carefully as I could so that he would not notice anything while he would slowly grow accustomed to my pressure.
Of course, I could just take over his body as soon as I had completely infiltrated his mind. however, this would not give me the sense of fulfilment I would get if I did it with other means.
Like this I followed him for another few hours until he walked past a dark alleyway. There in the darkness I manifested an illusion of myself. My old self, or rather what I used to look like back when I was a human.
I made the illusion walk up to him with a desperate expression on its face.
("Sir could you please help me?")
As I was flying high above the streets it would be impossible for the man to hear me if I were to talk normally. The best I could make of it was making the illusion lip sync with my words.
"What is it brat?"
("You are one of those people who go to the ruins right? I need your help please, my sister got stuck there.")
"Fine, I needed to go there anyways. But you will have to pay me for the extra trouble."
I made the face of my illusion clear up.
("Really! Thank you so much. How much do I owe you?")
The man stap on the ground. "Depends on the amount of trouble."
("Could we go now? I don't know how long my sister will holdout.")
Clearly annoyed by the continues questions of my illusion the man rolled his eyes. "Fine."
After the interaction, the man and my illusion walked towards the ruins. I had to be alert the entire time. Tough the illusion barely gave off a presence it could still activate detection crystals if it got close. And because it had no physical form it could space trough obstacles if I were not careful enough. So, I also had to watch out for random things blocking its path.
"So, what's your sisters name?"
("Her name is Alice.")
"And how is she stuck. Did she fell into a hole or something?"
("Yes.")
the man smirked. Like he thought the situation was all one big joke. Which one could compare it to, since I was going to have a lot of fun once he was far enough into the ruins.
"So, you could say Alice fell down in wonderland? What were you idiots even doing there?"
("We… heard stories about a demon that dwelled in this place. so, we decided to see for our self's and warn the people if there really was one.")
We entered the ruins, and I led the man down a road where I was certain the dwarf nor my father would come. Eventually I led him inside a large room where I would be able to move freely.
I descended and followed behind the man and my illusion as quietly as I could.
The man stopped and looked around the room.
"Is she really here? you would think that she would shout out as soon as she heard us coming here."
I walked towards my illusion and stood behind it while making sure that I still was not visible for the naked eye.
"No, she is not here." I no longer had to speak in his mind as I was now truly close to him. Yet I did not completely leave. I could interfere at any moment.
"look kid, I don't want to fight you. But if you keep pulling me along you can expect a missing tooth."
I made my illusion stare him dead in the eyes. "I wouldn't want to fight me either."
Slowly I made both of the illusions fade. As soon as my true form was revealed I stretched my wings out behind me. this cloaked the rom in shadows and made my glowing yellow eyes only stand out more.
"And I am not a kid."
The man tried to reach out for the spear that he carried on his back. I could see that this one was still fully loaded. But I would not allow him to use it.
I forced him to kneel down before me as I still had some control over him. I walked up to him and lifted his head up.
"you know, it was quite funny how easy I managed to lure you here. it is almost pitiful."
I slightly loosened my control, thus allowing him to speak. He glared at me from under his dark eyebrows. "you demon!"
I tilted my head. "That is what I am, yes."
"I hope you enjoyed ripping your helpers to shreds."
Using air magic, I slammed his face into the ground, only to laugh at him a moment later.
"Oh, don't get me wrong, they both are alive. however, neither of them are my helpers or toys. One is a friend and the other is family. But I don't expect you to understand."
The man started to struggle in order to escape my grasp. but it was no use as I restrained both his mind and his body.
"That both of them are alive does not mean that I am not furious. One of them got badly hurt and I am sick and tired of not being able to heal those I care about. So, I will try to find out how to use healing magic with the help of you. Just in case another stupid human tries a similar trick again!"
I stopped pressing him down with my magic and lifted the man up on his shoulders. Blood was dripping down his face after having it slammed into the ground.
"Now the question remains. Should I corrupt you first, so you have no choice but to do as I say, or shall I keep you as conscious as possible while I practice with you?"
Like roots I made the ground climb up against his legs, and then his waste and then his chest, barely allowing him to breathe.
"Hmm. You know, I can always corrupt you later. I will keep you conscious for now. doesn't that sound fun? Well then let's start with that wound on your face, shall we?"