After entering the outpost, the blindness mirage gradually tapered off as they approached the center. Within the final barrier, the entire expanse could now be seen.
It was like living within a hollowed-out asteroid. Thin, translucent crystalline structures were emerging from the highest point, growing thinner as you looked further out; what made them especially beautiful was the vibrant blue-white light entangled within the structure, flooding the expanse with light. It was like somehow seeing a sunset in an endless sea; even a sun would lie across its surface, emanating a radial brilliance whilst fading into darkness.
Alark could see Karin smiling at noticing the imp's somewhat bewildered stare, and a small huff of air left his nose at the sight. It was somewhat endearing to him, but he found himself too distracted mulling over what he should say to the elders while Curator Valks was away; perhaps he was still close enough to send a message.
Alark hoped the old man actually took his communication amulet with him this time.
The three came to an enormous door emblazed with imagery of chaos, then of the Goddess Freiya, cupping ancient demonic symbology within the control of her magic. It was symbology through the ages, itself symbolising the evolution of demons through the many lost eras.
Neither Alark nor Karin gave it much more than a glance, having seen it numerous times before, but...
"Ah aha! Stop pulling my hair!"
Alark had to quickly step over and reach out to stop her from falling to the ground.
Just barely in time, they both looked up confusedly at the imp, who was intently staring at the door. This art was at every outpost in the fold, supposedly to immortalise their history, yet it meant nothing to anyone anymore.
To many, it seemed like nothing more than a facetious fixture held eternally out of reach of the suffering people.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, thanks, Alark."
She spoke with a faint blush of embarrassment adorning her face. At the same time, she looked up at the imp with a faintly fake expression of anger, who now looked at least somewhat apologetic in her scaly expression.
As they stood upright, they could see her crunching her shoulder and shared a laugh after perceiving it as embarrassment on the imp's part.
Moving forward, they instead entered a much more mundane side entrance that led to a pathway adjacent to the hall connected to the main entrance.
"Aright, I'll go up and see if I can send a message to Master Valks..."
Karin could see he looked a little pained just thinking about it.
"W... Well, I'm sure they won't punish you too harshly; it wasn't really within your control."
She spoke with a distinct lack of confidence in her voice, and Alark laughed, seeing the crooked hand gesture clearly indicating as much.
"Those old bastards will jump to anger first if I don't say it immediately, or immediately jump to anger and claim I'm making excuses for my mistake if I do..."
A forlorn look crossed his face.
"You really went and chose the hardest path for yourself, didn't you..."
She looked at him intently while he turned around.
"I'm sure I'm still underestimating just how much of a loss this is. But I doubt they'll leave our outpost with nothing for 10 lushions... Thankfully, Master Valks is heading to the capitol personally, wherever that is..."
At that, Karin saw him walk away. They didn't often exchange pleasantries, like goodbyes, seeing it as pointless to do so.
Letting out a sigh, she too turned and began walking in the opposite direction.
---
_This place is surprisingly pleasant._
I clung to the demon's back; she now used to the odd gait in which she walked because of me.
There were few doors, it seemed, and each room appeared open for easy viewing.
I could see different colours coming from different side entrances, and my nose tickled when we walked through the entangled smells.
Looking ahead, I could see two entrances off to the side. Interestingly, the hallway was concavely curved, and each entrance lay along the arc, facing them diagonally into the hallway. It broke the monotony of the walk, livening up the space, and it also gave me a clear view of the first room.
I peered through the haze of smells and could see what looked like a few demons carefully cutting, measuring, and sometimes crushing different distinctly coloured grasses and plants.
It seemed like a constant process with how dextrous their hands were, but I frowned a little at how tired some of them looked.
_There must be a need for this full-on attitude, and if I add on the scale of the defences, with the barriers, the blindness..._
_Just how ruthless is it out there, or are demons the enemy of all life or something?_
_I don't really want to stay here for long, but then again, I don't really want to let these people die by potentially destroying their defences._
_It's better to just keep gathering information right now._
_There's simply too much I don't know._
_Well, if I can evolve into a demon, then I should be able to get some knowledge from them._
Feeling a stare against my back, I quickly turned and looked into the second room now behind me.
_Oh, it seems one of them is interested in my lovely scales._
Now that I was more used to it, pinpointing where their eyes were focused was fairly easy, and this fairly young, blond demoness was tracing her vision across the unique glowing patterns across my body.
I flashed a scaly smile and launched one in her direction, disguising my motions by fidgeting on this demon's back.
The girl moved faintly and caught the scale between her fingers. I watched as she looked at it with crazed glee.
I felt my eye twitch.
_Oh, she's a bit of a weirdo, alright; I better not get cursed or anything..._
But then I caught her waving me off with a smile, and I let out a sigh of relief.
_Okay, not too crazy, then._
Shaking my head, I turned back around to see we were approaching the end of the hallway. A large open set of doors came clearly into view, and there were so many random plants, boxes, and items nearby, I wasn't sure that the doors would ever close again.
We entered what seemed to be a chaotic mix between a warehouse and a laboratory...
There were numerous, almost glowing? plants, held in a strange stasis bubble formed by these perhaps runic devices beneath them.
The demon below me spoke up, causing me to look toward the one other within the room. He didn't so much as flinch at the words, clearly entirely absorbed in mixing these few fluids together.
I still got a good look at him, however.
He wore a baggy coat, but I could still tell that he was somewhat skinny underneath, _though it's probably just because he forgets to eat, seeing how absorbed he is right now._
His short but unkempt dark-brown hair only reaffirmed this analysis of mine, along with the fact that the woman below me didn't seem surprised or offended in the slightest, seemingly waiting for a good opportunity to tear him from his reverence for his own work...
---
Karin was about to open her mouth again, but she flinched as the imp jumped from her head to the ground. She was about to stop her, but halted, seeing that she only seemed interested in looking around.
"Johan."
No response.
Karin looked to the sky for a moment, wondering what she had done to have to deal with at least a grade 6 self-possessed Johan... Enough had gone on today, of all days.
The little imp had been tactfully crawling across all of the work surfaces, and had now begun scampering across the shelves, looking at the many containers and vials, as well as the symbols that marked them. The occasional sniffing sound could be heard in the room, whose only other noise was that of the bubbling mixture in Johan's grasp.
These irate noises did little to abate her growing irritation.
"Johan!"
His head lifted lightly.
Oh? Maybe she was getting somewhere quite quickly here.
Instead, she watched as both the imp, upside down against a shelf, and Johan both turned to look at each other simultaneously. There was a brief silence, and they both immediately looked away, returning to their activities.
She felt her soul leaving her body.
Perhaps that alone would be enough to power the evolution stone. But the dying light in her eyes reawakened as she saw Johan run his finger along the metallic work item beneath him and stand, straightening his back with a loud click.
He turned to look at Karin with his cool gaze.
Despite his disposition, Johan was well liked as the manager of resources. He shows little emotion on his face, but as you get to know him, you realise the small expressions that come only from his eyes convey how he feels.
His face was always cold, but his eyes always held a warmth that his usual iration couldn't hide. Though some used even that against him...
He studied Karin's face for a moment and said nothing. He quickly glanced at the little imp again before walking to a shelf nearby.
"So, you want to perform the evolution ceremony early? I could accelerate the distillation process this time, but you'll have to utilise all of your reserves and torment the other imps a little..."
Johan spoke monotonously and quickly while pushing various items to the side and digging through a container he had just pulled from the shelf. Even the imp was looking down curiously from the side.
Karin held her mouth open for a moment. This never ceased to be startling, but she couldn't help but ask...
"Was it that obvious?"
"It was practically written all over your face... and you lot think I'm the strange one."
He said it so matter-of-factly that Karin couldn't find the room to argue, and so she just changed the subject.
"Well, could you also give her s..."
He cut her off.
"Some of the healing fruit, because she's likely hungry and still injured? What do you think I'm in this box for?"
He looked at her quizzically, as if it were completely ludicrous that she even asked.
"Although it seems she has superb regenerative qualities... she is almost certainly hungry."
As he spoke, he picked out a large reddish fruit with blue accents around its side. Without looking, he immediately reached to the side and planted the fruit into the imp's surprised mouth.
Karin watched the imp look angry before immediately ravishing the fruit while forking it with a single claw. She recognised it as a revolution fruit, though the name was more powerful than its effects. It accelerated the healing of wounds, though not by a great margin. The name only stuck because of the revolving blue accents swirling around the fruit's exterior...
She watched the imp rush back over to her, but in the corner of her vision, she noticed that Johan had stopped what he was doing.
"You'd better hope those eyes change... They're worse than mine."
He spoke softly and briefly met her gaze with his ginger-brown eyes.
"That colour would be considered holy even amongst angels..."
He trailed off and turned back to his task.