Alcor arrived at his latest summons to find himself in a darkened bedroom, a teenage girl with purple hair that covered one of her eyes grinning and looking him in the eye as he floated in the middle of the summoning circle.
"W̡̭̰̎̂̊́̌́H͉̖̟͈̤̻͋̀O̚ ̤̞̰̥̀D̦̋͜A̛̺̖̠̯̺ͪ̋̿͗͐̇ͅR͉̳̐͗ͯͪ̒̔ͥ͞Ë̼̳͙̥ͮ̃͛̔̿̄́S̺͓͔̠̏͌̕ ̹̱ͬ̾ͤ̃S̲͎̤̞͖͓͗̋ͥͥ͂̓U̶̩̣̺̙͈̾͋͋̈̎̾ͅḾ̧̦̭͔̮̤͕̿M̭̭̫̺̈́̂̽̐ͭ͌ON̛̠̬̉̔̋ͅ ̓A̙̝͎L͎̾̇̏ͅĈ͍͈̳̫͗͌̋ͬ͛̂́O̷̗̻̠R̯̹͎͉̲̫ͫ̏̿̓̅ ̨̱̠̈͌̂̀̋T͎̥̙̖͙͍͖̅͛͒͌̍ͧ͠H͒͒ͦ͋̓͜E͉̫̖̺̐͟ ̼̣͓͚̗̜ͩ̀͛D̻̩̦̤̣ͤͫ̋Ȓͬ̑̍̍̚͢E̸̪ͮͥ̃͑͆Ą͔̠͔ͫ͊Ḿ͚͕̮B͙ͬ̆ͮ̽ͣ̚Ḙ̜̮̭̰͕̪ͬ͋͗ͦ̂̔Ṅ̝̮̀̔ͨͬ̾͝D̫͔͉̭͇̅̿͛͝Ḙ̩͚͚͕͙̩R̡̰̮̹̥̫͌̐̿̑?͇̮̌ͭ͑͠"
Did… did his typical demonic greeting just make the girl's grin wider?
"I'm so glad you came, I was worried that I might have messed up the circle and gotten another demon, and I think you're really the only one who can help me out with this…"
"And what is ť̷͙̲̖́͗͑ͦh͔̻̲͂i̹̫s̜̫̱̮̃̿́?̣̜͆̃̈́" Why have you summoned me here today?"
The girl bounced up and down on the tips of her feet. "Oh, great and mighty Alcor the Dreambender… can you please turn me into a demon?"
Alcor blinked. The girl didn't break eye contact, her eyes wide and glimmering.
"N̤̥͙̠̰̽Ŏ̯̲̟͊̊̇̚!̤̙̮̝̲̊̽̇̆͊̊͡"
His booming voice didn't make her so much as blink.
"I'll give you anything- my life, my body, my soul, my memories, any sort of promise or restriction you want, I don't care… I just really really really want to be a demon! And I know you're like super-powerful, and with your connection to the physical plane… you could do that for me, right? Please? Pretty please?"
"Î͚͙̪̬͈̬̓̋̏̌ͮ ̟͓͊͌̍͆ͭ̌Š̢̼͉̙̻̆̋̂A̻̟̤͖̳̰ͣͮ́͆͑̆̂ͅI̜ͧ̍ͭͬͯ͛͗D̗͓ͪ͂̑ͨ̚ N̸͓̱̠̹̠̺̖ͩ̆͛̏̂ͣ́̚̕O̟̟̳̜̝̟̝̿̽͑ͅ!̨̝ͪ̆̀̃̏ͨ̀́"
"But…" Her smile began to fade away. "But why not?"
Alcor closed his eyes and counted to ten to compose himself.
"Why do you want to become a demon in the first place? It's not something to be taken lightly or done on a whim."
The girl's smile had now not only disappeared but turned into a deep frown, and she now stared not at the demon in front of her but at the ground, focusing on the flickering light of the candles at her feet.
"…I have my reasons." Her voice was softer now, and wavering, no longer filled with confidence. "I… really don't want to be a human any more… Trust me, there's no other way, I need this, I need your help…"
"Well, I'm afraid I can't do that for you."
Her gaze turned back to the demon. "Then can you tell me who could? For a price, of course…"
"N̻̯̲̙̩̹ͥ͂ͨͫͦ͞O̢͖̮͌͂͌!ͨͭ͋̄͂͒͛̓̃͏͠҉̭̣̞͉̯͓"
This time, the demonic echo in Alcor's voice made the teenager shiver.
"But-"
"Kid, no demon can turn you into another demon. And if you try to prove me wrong, not only will you still not be a demon, but you'll end up regretting ever wanting to be one."
The girl gave him a tense nod.
"Look. Demons are demons, humans are humans, and not even somebody a̡s͡ ̨ṕo͘we̢r̶f̕u͜l ͟as҉ ͠m͞e can change that." The demon couldn't help but think of the one exception to that rule… but no, the girl didn't need to know about that. That wasn't knowledge that needed to be spread, and if she knew that it had once occurred… there was the possibility that she would try to make it happen once again.
No, better to feed her a white lie and leave it at that. After all, demons weren't known for telling the whole truth, now, were they?
"Now is there anything else I can h͘e͢l̵p you with? Some other way of solving… whatever brought you to this point?"
She shook her head rapidly, her dyed hair flying across her face. "I don't think there's any other way of fixing things."
"Well then… I rather doubt that that's the case, but if you say so… I better be off. You're far from my only summoner, after all. Time is money, money is power…"
"…I understand." A lone tear trickled down the girl's cheek, eventually getting stuck to a loose strand of her hair and dripping from it onto the ground.
The demon held up one clawed finger. "One more thing. Even if you could become a demon… you would end up regretting it. T̡ŗ̕us͢͟͡t͡ ͘͟͝m̨҉e ̸o̸͞n͜ ̨t̢hi̧͜s."
After leaving the summoning circle in a puff of black smoke, Alcor directed all his other summons to the answering machine. He needed a moment to himself after that.
It took him nearly half an hour to notice that, sometime between the beginning of the girl's summoning and the present, he had assumed his twelve-year-old form once more.