Though touched by unknown and stimulating emotions, Alice's heart remained fundamentally kind and pure. When she learned that the ritual had failed, she could not help but feel guilt; from her perspective, she was entirely responsible for the situation.
She, an ordinary mortal, had torn an angel from the heavens. Binding Azmodiel, especially without asking his opinion, seemed almost a sin. Worse still, it was now evident that she would be unable to release him.
Alice was either too obvious or Azmodiel was beginning to understand her. Perhaps a bit of both, really. How could Azmodiel not notice that Alice seemed sad and guilty, and how could he dare not take advantage of such feelings? The situation screamed for his comfort and wisdom, which he was willing to share for an interesting price.
Pretending that a wonderful idea had crossed his mind, he took one of Alice's hands between his. "I'm afraid, my dear, that there must be something strange with your grimoire or with the spell with which you brought me here." Choosing his words very carefully, slowly feeding the girl's guilt while maintaining her trust.
It took Alice a moment to snap out of her thoughts and focus her attention. Trying to appease her guilt, the angel's words gave her hope to rectify what seemed like a mistake. She didn't know it, but with that reaction she let Azmodiel know that he had the girl right where he wanted her.
Azmodiel hid his satisfied smile and continued. "Since I can't take the grimoire and the spell to see them, do you think you could show them to me?"
A few seconds of silence passed, but Alice continued visibly avoiding her counterpart's gaze. Azmodiel chose to sigh and lift Alice's face by her chin, preventing her from looking away. "Dear, if there's anything you need or want to say, you need to trust me. I can't help us any other way."
No sweeter words had crossed her path before, and almost like a hypnotic touch, they unlocked Alice's voice, who turned to look at her companion with a fairly defenseless expression. "Actually, I don't know how to summon my grimoire." The words came out as if recited, torn from her lips, and Alice tilted her head slightly in doubt about what had just happened.
Amid Alice's confusion over the foreign words that had just come out of her mouth and the rage and exasperation that ran through him upon hearing the girl's denial, Azmodiel had to use his willpower to stay on topic. A raging voice seemed to be shouting from the back of his mind, a dark and corrupted voice not very different from the one he had heard when he was trying to steal the girl's soul.
On this occasion, he was strong enough to ignore that voice. That his master was so kind was beneficial to him, and those words had given him the desired result. He could worry about those voices later. He already had enough of having to pretend to be kind and careful with the girl; the rest could wait until he had time alone.
With much willpower, he forced a kind expression before speaking to Alice. "There is nothing to be ashamed of, little one; in fact, it is not surprising that you have trouble summoning your grimoire. You've just awakened your magical potential, and it will take you some time to get used to it."
Unfortunately, and despite Azmodiel's best efforts, the girl still noticed how rigid his expression was. Moreover, the two black lines that fell like tears on her angel's face made him look gloomy at the moment.
"Isn't there anything I can do?" Alice asked with an expression that denoted the guilt she felt, but she seemed determined to help.
Her angel felt his anger recede slightly. He knew that as much as he wanted to hate and destroy his new prison, Azmodiel had to surrender to the idea that it was his circumstances, not the girl and that she was doing her best to help him get out. He could only accept that for the moment he needed her on his side. "Really," he thought to himself, "there are worse prisons and masters."
Both the angel and the girl had reached a difficult circumstance whose process was ambiguous for both. Alice didn't know much about magic or how it worked, and she hadn't had contact with any other magic users until now.
For his part, though ancient and very experienced, Azmodiel knew very little about mortal magic. Partly because he wasn't interested, beyond his mother's comments, to which he pretended interest. He had been very busy at that time to pay attention, although from the beginning he had little interest in a power that was beneath him then. Not that any of that was of any consequence, as the gift of magic was granted to mortals shortly before his confinement.
The being concentrated heavily on his mother's words, trying to remember even the most insignificant detail. A couple of millennia ago in his mind, nothing too complicated. Spinning that with his understanding of magic and the world, it seemed feasible to find a way to help. For the first time, Azmodiel began to consider how his magic worked, how he invoked it, how he felt it, how he called and controlled it. It had always been natural, the Akash, eager to fulfill his will, obeyed the divine spark within him without any resistance; the hardest part would be explaining it.
With a half-baked plan and the hope that it would work, Azmodiel looked back at Alice, only to find that she was no longer looking at him. He had before him a sad and uncomfortable girl. The being made a sound with his throat to get her attention. "Don't worry, dear, none of this is your fault." But Alice did not return his gaze.
Azmodiel remembered the young girl's reactions to physical contact and decided to use it to support his point. In a sudden movement, he lifted Alice off the table, putting his right arm around her waist and passing his left arm under her legs. Alice panicked a bit and, in her unbalanced state, could only cling to her angel.
Once off the ground, her cheeks more flushed than they had ever been, Alice fixed her gaze on him. "Now you can't ignore me," Azmodiel whispered with a huge, satisfied smile. Making the young girl uncomfortable seemed like an easy task, and her reactions gave Azmodiel a sense of dominance. Even though she was his mistress, he knew he had her under his power. It was a pleasant feeling, one that made at least one of the dark voices in his head calm down.
Without missing a beat, heading for the back entrance of the house, Azmodiel said with some confidence, "I think I have a way to help you summon your grimoire, but you need to trust me, alright?" Though somewhat doubtful, Alice was a bit cheered by the angel's words. "I'll do what I can," she replied, with a mixture of excitement and shame.
Once outside the house, they searched for a flat spot where the village and its remains were not visible. The field behind the house seemed like the ideal place. He placed Alice in the middle of it and positioned himself in front of her so that she faced away from the house, with nothing but earth and grass behind him.
Taking the girl's words into account, Azmodiel proceeded. "The magic of mortals is a bit different, and from your explanation, I understand that you don't know much about it." These last words moved Alice to a warm embarrassment.
In that reaction, Azmodiel began to understand where and how to measure his words. "So you just need to understand the subject to be able to use it, and I can help you with that." Although a bit crude, explaining the little he knew about the Nexus seemed the most favorable action for both.
The discourse started with the general idea of magic, then this internal source of magic that existed within her, as well as her connection with the Akash, the magical essence that permeates the world. It extended quite a bit beyond what Alice could assimilate at the moment, and her confusion was more than evident.
To be honest, these were very basic knowledge that any descendant of a family of magicians would know from a young age, but it was all new to Alice. By this point, Azmodiel didn't even feel disappointment or despair. The girl's knowledge of magic was extremely superficial, so it was no wonder that the finer details escaped her. She had interest and willingness, and for the moment, he had to be content with that.
Azmodiel decided to start over and with the simplest thing. Talking about how this magical energy, the Akash, exists in all things and all forms. How this is the force that magicians turn to to exert their will in the form of spells. Azmodiel kept it as a concise and simple explanation, ensuring he didn't lose Alice's attention at any time.
Only having ensured that his mistress had assimilated the above and that he hadn't lost her attention, did Azmodiel then talk about grimoires. Again, the being hadn't paid much attention to the subject and his understanding of it was minimal. But he understood and knew enough for Alice to connect the missing dots and perhaps, for once, destiny would be on their side.
While terms like Nexus and Arcana are titles given by mortals in the era of his confinement, of which he had no knowledge, the idea, essence, and function of magic had not changed. Though without a name, teaching her to flow with the Akash was something he could do.
"Little one, the Akash is energy, which for common people is invisible, but now it's connected to you as it is to me." These words only confused the young girl, not because she didn't understand the concept, she just didn't know what to do with that information.
"Let's start with something simple," Azmodiel smiled, not taking his eyes off her. "What you have to do is feel the Akash around you. For everyone, it's different; a caress, a shiver, a whisper." Alice looked around but only saw the same field around her.
"The Akash in this place is too thin," murmured Azmodiel, whose purple eyes seemed to be scanning his surroundings after seeing the girl's lost expression. He couldn't help but let out his frustration with a sigh. "Tell me," he asked with a serious tone as he approached her, "where do you feel closest to nature, to the world?" Few questions would be answered so quickly. "In the field," the young girl responded, these words almost bursting out of her chest.
Azmodiel took Alice's hand, intertwining his fingers with hers, and crouched down slowly, bringing her down with him until they squatted over the crop. Next, the interlaced hands, guided by his, entered a pile of soft earth, becoming completely covered. In any other situation, Alice would have succumbed to embarrassment, but the process of fascination with understanding the Akash had her entranced.
"Now, close your eyes," a blushing Alice obediently complied. "Feel the earth, feel how it embraces and envelops you." It was difficult to distinguish the energy between the cold of the earth and the warmth of the angel's hand that held hers, but not impossible. It felt like a tingling in her palm, which should have been impossible with it being held by another hand, but there it was. A tingling that started in the hand slowly traveled over her skin, like a surge of excitement filling her with energy.
Noticing that she was relaxing, Azmodiel spoke calmly and softly, "You have it now, just follow it to the point where it connects with you, that's where what we're looking for is."