After an apprentice brought the milk, Nick slowly, with small mouthfuls drank it. It was the first time in days when he could enjoy food that didn't make him want to die.
"Don't forget to bring more during the next nineteen days." Nick reminded, "The key is in the eyes. Demons in human bodies have red eyes."
"Lord Baal, why don't you have red eyes?" Elder Agnes immediately asked.
"I gave you an answer. Extra explanations were not required according to our agreement." Nick smiled as he looked at the grand elder ready to hear his secret.
"Lord Baal, excuse me for eavesdropping." Grand elder turned towards him and gave a short bow, "But I don't think you are right this time."
"What makes you think so?" Nick got really upset, but he still smiled like a senior looking at a promising student.
'Where did I make mistake? Will this be another time for some random fairy tale? The more I lie, the deeper I sink in this swamp. No wonder mother tough me to live a lie free life!'
"You see, you did tell us the correct answer, but it is not complete. You are also demon in human body, but after the birth you had dark blue eyes and now they are almost turquoise blue, not red." The grand elder turned out to not be that stupid when he could maintain his calm.
"Hahaha, you are capable student after all!" Nick laughed. Then continued to watch both elders with the smile on his face as minute after minute flew by. It looked like an artistic effect, but he really tried to think of something passable.
"Fine, my loss! I will tell you." He finally got an idea, "You might not know, but the eyes are windows to the soul of a person. And the soul defines the eye color. Have you ever asked why different people have different eye colors? The answer lies in the soul! When someone gets drunk, greedy, angry – they eyes become red. You might think: but those are just the blood vessels in the eyes! But I would answer: but there are blood vessels in testicles too, why don't they turn red when someone gets angry? Ones emotional state directly influences consciousness and that accordingly influences the soul. But since the soul gets impacted by demonic emotions, it reflects in the person's eyes."
Nick took the empty glass of milk in his hands, looked at it with sad eyes, then asked elder Agnes, "Be a dear, get me another one of these. My throat gets dry when I speak too much." The grand elder waved in confirmation and, after Agnes brought another glass, Nick continued with explanation while smiling happily and sip by sip slowly enjoying the cool milk.
"What is the greatest difference between demons and humans? It lies in the soul! Demonic soul causes to have demonic emotions, obviously, and those emotions reflect in the eyes – they turn red. Do you know why children at birth have eyes in one color and then the color changes?" Nick looked at the elders with a long serious gaze, obviously it allowed him to have time to think of more nonsense and to structure his monologue accordingly,
"It is emotions the child starts to have! After the birth the soul makes child to have emotions and their eyes change accordingly. You asked about me. Think! As an ancient Primeval demon I am able to control my emotions. But you probably could tell that already. This body is too weak and can not contain my true self – it would simply explode. Therefore, by controlling them, I allow the part of my soul that is trapped here to resonate with the body. And as the result it changes my eye color. Don't tell me you have not realized yet – the turquoise is the color of fun, laughter and playfulness! I think now even you should understand."
Nick lied down on his cushion, hands behind his head.
'Thank God there is no Google here. If I was in some freak sect in the modern world, I would have been screwed long ago.' He thought.
During the summer in children hospital Nick learned many things, including how melanin affects the change in the eye color during the first few months after birth. Fortunately for him the world he was currently in did not possess such knowledge.
"Lord Baal, thank you for your teachings. But we have always thought that the child's eye color always had something to do with the eye color of his parents. For example the barbarian princess we used as the vessel for you also had blue eyes."
It seemed the current subject clearly fell in the department of the mass murderer and child torturer elder Agnes.
'My second mother was a princess? They tortured and killed a princess to bring me in this world? And I haven't even really seen her or hugged her…'
It looked like Nick was lying leisurely on his cushion, but his heart was bleeding. He wanted to say something, but it felt like there was something in his throat. He was a peaceful person, he did not like fighting. Up until now his line of thinking always was to bring authorities to arrest everyone and put them into jail – a very much like any other civilized person of the 21st century.
But for the first time he experienced insurmountable feeling of wanting to kill all these freaks with his bare hands. He had lost his parents once and now his closest person was murdered again. One was a terrorist attack, another was a sect full of psychos. He wanted to cry, but he kept his eyes shut and tried to execute the first Qi technique. Somehow within couple of minutes he managed to calm down.
With a straight face he sat up again, drank a bit of milk and said, "You just had few minutes. Did you manage to think of an answer or I have to spoon-feed everything to you?" Nick looked at one of his mother's murderers and smiled.
'There will come a day, when you will beg me to put you into one of those jars, you old witch!' He thought to himself.
"I'm sorry, Lord Baal!" Elder Agnes lowered her head, apparently ashamed.
"Sigh, I just probably expected too much of you." Nick shook his head, "Obviously parents give birth to children similar to them. That is why kings are born in royal families and peasants give birth to other small peasants. Or you know many stories of fishermen becoming kings and ministers? There are very few exceptions to this rule, obviously, but the amount is minuscule, basically negligible. The souls of children resonate with those of their parents, hence the eye color. This body already had the predestined eye color, so I had no choice but to forcefully have the appropriate emotions for a better resonance."
'Damn it! This is the body of a princess's son! That makes him my brother! He basically was killed alongside our mother! How I wish I could burn this place down right now!' Nick was heartbroken.
For the first time he wanted to go and have that hellish bath just to forget the emotional pain. Physical was nothing compared to it.
While he was lost deep in the world of pain, the grand elder came and sat next to him, "Lord Baal, this wristband is said to be made from the skin of a nether dragon – an extinct ancient creature that used to live in the Dragon isles, west of the Midland continent. There are only two such wristbands in the world. I owe one and one is in the hands of the emperor of the Nestri empire."
Nick took the wristband from grand elder with a gloomy face. In the eyes of grand elder and elder Agnes he just looked indifferent.
The wristband was a piece of incredible craftsmanship. It was black and soft and, while covered in small scales, it was not shiny, it looked more like a worn out peace of fabric. It seemed to be made in a way that would never catch an eye – not expensive and pretty at all.
"This piece of leather seems to be very durable as well." Nick stated in a way that required an answer.
The grand elder nodded, "Lord Baal, you have a good eye. Weapons would more likely to break the arm that is wearing this wristband instead of cutting it.
"Does it work same the way as the rings?"
"Yes, but the storage space is much bigger. This item is worth a kingdom, maybe even a continent. You will understand when you try out. Of course, according to your philosophy, it is worthless, but let's think of those as the cultural differences." The grand elder smiled an ugly smile.
Nick concentrated and tried to 'see' inside the wristband. What he saw was a storage room. It was a storage room bigger than his bedroom! There were many things piled up, but Nick was still too upset to perform a detailed inspection. Also – it did not matter if he knew what the wristband contained, for now it will stay on the grand elder's hand anyway.
"Nice toy." He smiled as he gave the wristband back.
'I will take this present later together with your arm, you mass murderer!'
Nick drank the last milk that was left in the glass, then slowly, balancing to not fall down, stood up and intended to proceed towards the balcony. His emotions were still boiling and it was really tiring to be an actor all the time.
"Lord Baal!" The grand elder stopped him, "May I still have a minute of your time? I heard you might like to learn a bit about alchemy?"
"Tomorrow." Was the answer.
Nick's little stature was already at the balcony door. His mood didn't improve even after the workout. He was spent, but still upset. The meal and the evening bath tortures did help a little and it turned out to be true that physical pain can alleviate the emotional one. He passed out again while practicing Qi – it was already becoming his habit.
He saw his parents and the mother princess he never really met, then the grandparents appeared complaining how he simply disappeared and never came to visit. Nick tried to explain, but something kept pulling him away from any person he tried to talk to. He fought against it, but the nightmare was like quagmire and he continuously sunk deeper in.
That night he didn't rest at all.
The next morning the grand elder came into Nick's room by himself. Nick already forgot about what he promised, but judging by the grand elder's body language, it seemed important and urgent.
"Lord Baal, I hope you slept well." The grand elder began.
"Are you trying to get into my pants?" Nick squinted his eyes and forcefully laughed, "I don't have such fetishes."
"I would like to continue our conversation about the alchemy."
"No!" The little demon interrupted, "You want to talk about something else and want to trade your alchemy knowledge for that."
It was way too obvious and Nick already some time ago predicted this will happen.
"May we continue the conversation in the library?" The grand elder was not upset at all. If Primeval demon Belial could not tell this much, there would be no reason to talk to him at all.
"I will come after my morning procedures." Nick tossed him out.
When entering the library, Nick for the first time saw the grand elder's bedroom door being opened while three lifeless young girls were brought in by a couple apprentices. He pretended to not see anything and just lied down on his usual cushion with hands behind his head and closed his eyes. Today he thought of a position that would let him show as little clues to the old freaks as possible – if he did not make any sudden moves, the only change would be in his voice. At the same time he would look arrogant and indifferent, just like the Primeval demon should. As an extra, through barely opened eyes, he could more attentively observe everything that happened in his surroundings.