HEING MEH
Chapter 25
"Remember one thing: if one of us gets separated or lost no one will go to find them or try a stupid rescue. Each takes of him or herself and we can afford losing someone."
Hsi Wu's words weren't true and everyone knew it. They also knew that if something like that happened they would have to do exactly what the demon had forbidden. No one said anything though, they were too concentrated on being careful.
The tunnel was built of huge and rough boulders that reminded them of old castles. Necrosis was the only one of them who knew that the boulders were in fact from a long forgotten castle.
The air was cold and smelled of dust. It got fresher at the same time they got more light. There started to be torches on the wall after a while and they had to continue more carefully. Anyone could have seen them.
Necrosis glanced at a flaming torch when he passed it. It seemed that his family hadn't got any more modern during the time he had been gone. He hoped they hadn't changed the library either because of their fear towards change.
He walked beside Hsi Wu and tried to gesture the demon to go in the right direction. They didn't dare to speak, any noise could have revealed them.
No one had guessed what would happen if they were caught. Maybe they all had some ideas of it, but only Necrosis could say he was sure.
He knew better than well that if the new master was anything like his father had been, they wouldn't get out very easily.
Then why am I doing this? he had to ask himself. One of the motives was of course that the demons wouldn't have made him feel very good if he had refused, but he thought that perhaps there had been another reason as well.
For decades he had avoided the thought of his family and knew nothing of what had happened to them. He had to admit that he was curious. Morel like careful, but curious as well.
Hsi Wu glanced at him when they arrived at a crossroad. The floor wasn't very rough anymore, it had slowly become smoother. The walls were the same. They were just what many would have imagined, a cliché in their own way, and yet interesting.
Necrosis pointed at left and they turned there. He remembered the particular crossroad quite well because he had fallen near it and hurt his knee when he had been younger. When they had passed the place he realised that maybe he should have looked if there was any left of the blood on the floor.
It was very surprising that they saw no one. Everything was so peaceful that Necrosis had to start to suspect something. As far as he could remember the tunnels had never been as empty and dead as they were now.
He felt he should have told about it to Hsi Wu, but then they arrived at the door to the library.
One would have thought it to be decorated and full of dark feel, but it was just a regular wooden door. It had door frames and a knob made of metal. It was also old and must have been there for long.
"I hope you can find the books we need," Hsi Wu said with a low voice and eyed the door. The demon was silent for a while and Necrosis suspected he was looking for a possible trap.
"They have never set traps on doors in my family. As ridiculous as it may sound, they trust each other," he whispered.
Hsi Wu said nothing, merely glanced at the old man frowning. Necrosis guessed that trust wasn't that obvious in the demon family.
There was a change in the all of them when Hsi Wu opened the door. All became tense and ready for anything, and they didn't dare to relax even when it became apparent that nothing was going to happen. Yet at least.
Hsi Wu was the first one to step in and look around. Necrosis and the rest followed and then they all stopped in the middle of the floor.
The library hadn't changed much since Necrosis had last seen it. The room was lit well compared to the corridor, but the light didn't come from torches. It would have been risky and stupid to have living fire in the middle of countless books. Strange glowing stones were attached to the wall and they gave the library a faint red glow.
"It will take forever before we find anything here," Hoyle stated. It was the first time he said anything during the night adventure and everyone turned to look at him.
"So we better start." Hsi Wu walked to the first shelf and took a thick black book in his hand.
"Careful. There might be traps in some books," Necrosis warned.
"Didn't you say the members of your family trusted each other?" the sky demon asked.
"Yes, but all in my family know what books are dangerous. Traps are for thieves."
Hsi Wu put the book away.
"Are the traps magical?" he asked. Necrosis shook his head.
"No, they could disturb the magic of the books. They have been protected with complicated technical mechanisms," he said and went through the row of books. Each felt different under his fingers and it felt that they were welcoming him back.
It wasn't a nice thought and he didn't look forward to opening any of them. He almost thought each book could read his thoughts.
He took one book from the shelf and browsed through it. From the black and curvy handwriting he guessed that it was written by his father.
"This could help us," he said. Hsi Wu came to see and tried to read the first page. It was clear from his face that he didn't understand much.
"Good. We will take it," he decided and turned to the others. "You should try finding something as well. We are in a hurry."
He got annoyed glares as a response.
Origami lifted a red book from the shelf and measured its weight on his palm. When he considered the material of the cover and pages it seemed to be light enough. It was unlikely that any mechanism was hidden in it.
He opened the book a little and kept it away from his face.
There was an almost silent snap and he immediately threw the book away. A small metal needle hit the floor next to his foot and he bent down to pick it up. It didn't look dangerous, but he suspected it was poisoned.
Viper stopped her own investigation to glance at the man in amusement.
"You should be more careful," she remarked.
"I am the thief here," Origami replied and leafed the book in thought.
"Don't think I quit because I was bad," Viper said. She took a new book from the shelf and opened it. Nothing happened.
"Then why did you quit?"
Viper said nothing, but the short sad look that appeared in her eyes told Origami enough.
"Chan is an idiot," he stated. He was just about to put the red book back when something unexpected happened.
One of the shelves moved and an old woman appeared behind it. Her skin was covered in wrinkles and her hair was more grey than black, but she walked straight and there was a powerful expression in her blue eyes.
She took a step towards them.
"I was already waiting for you, brother," she said to Necrosis.
Everyone froze when the woman arrived. Hsi Wu had been taking a book and stared at her in that position.
"Amanda?" Necrosis asked in surprise. In his memories Amanda was a young girl who had threatened to revive all frogs that were crushed under charts and animals.
The woman smiled and surprisingly had all her teeth left. She walked to Necrosis and no one was still able to do anything to her. Hsi Wu had put the book back though and was starting to get a hold of the situation.
"What do you want?" Necrosis asked on guard. He didn't even think that Amanda had come to help them. His sister had lived with the family her whole life and would never be able to leave it.
"I knew you were coming," Amanda said. Her old and dry voice sounded very wrong in Necrosis's ears.
She snapped her yellowish fingers and suddenly a huge shadow appeared from nothing and swallowed both her and Necrosis.
"Where did they go?" Hsi Wu asked in worry. He couldn't lose Necrosis! Without him Jade would never come back.
"I would be more worried about those," Viper said and pointed at the shadowy creatures that had appeared about the same time with the previous one. It was obvious they were trying to swallow them too.
The shadows climbed on the walls and the glowing stones became dim as they crawled past, and slowly the whole library was wrapped in darkness.
"We can't stay here!" Hsi Wu exclaimed and the last thing he saw before the last of light disappeared was how Viper and Origami fled in the same passage where Amanda had come from.
His mouth was covered in blood and he licked his claws with his tongue. This was first time during his existence that he was able to taste mortal blood. Or blood at all.
The Nameless looked at the mortal woman in his feet. She was young, barely twenty and her black hair was tangled and dirty. She wasn't very beautiful, but it meant nothing to him. Mortal blood tasted good no matter what the victim looked like.
"Please... don't..." the woman pleaded in Chinese and tried to crawl away from the demon. He bent closer and let the tips of feathery wings touch her face. She froze and could do nothing as the dragon brought his face closer.
"So delicious," the Nameless muttered and hit. The woman screamed as his teeth tore her skin and flesh, but it only excited the demon more.
He had never thought it would be that fantastic!
"This makes us stronger, master," Shin stated some steps away.
"Indeed," the Nameless replied, "But I am not yet strong enough to take on my family. Mortal blood gives me strength, but I need more of it."
The demon spread his wings.
"Let's move on to the next village."
The woman's slaughtered body was left behind. Someone would eventually find it.
"Ow..." Finn muttered and sat up. Dude, his head hurt! He tried to blink a couple of times.
It was completely dark. He had to be nuts.
The Irishman shook his head and blinked again. There was no change.
The stone under him was smooth and wet. He dared to think that it was merely because of water. It was also quite large and he sighed. He ached all over and he wanted to do nothing but lie there and wait for something to happen.
Though he thought that nothing would happen. Ever. Bai Tsa had been crushed under the stone and it was very unlikely that Dai Gui would let Ratso and Hak Foo come to look for him.
Wait a minute...
If he had fallen through the floor, shouldn't he be able to see light above him?
Finn gazed up and tried to see something through the darkness.
Either the hole in the floor had mysteriously closed or he wasn't where he had fallen anymore. The lower floors of the palace had to be full of water and he had probably drifted off somewhere.
Well, it didn't matter. He was going to die alone there anyway.
He cursed it all. Damn demons and damn Chan... He was always in trouble because of them.
There was a splash ahead and he startled. So he wasn't alone after all. The thought wasn't very nice and Finn backed away from the water as much as he dared. With luck it was only a lonely fish, but knowing him it had to be something else. Something more dangerous.
"This would be so much easier if I saw something..." he muttered to himself.
"Boo!" a very familiar voice said and two glowing eyes appeared in front of him.
"Aah!" Finn exclaimed and fell from the boulder. He sunk for a while without reaching the bottom and only then recovered enough to swim back to the surface. It turned out to be quite difficult since it was completely dark, but after a while he could draw a breath again.
"Where is the Eye of Atlantis?"
"Bai Tsa? You're alive? I thought that - " Finn started, but was interrupted when he felt the water demon's slender body brush against him. Bai Tsa wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pushed him under the surface again.
"Answer my question, mortal." The demon's voice was sharp and Finn could sense her desperation. The Eye of Atlantis had to mean a lot to her.
"I had it when I fell. It has to be somewhere here," he said and tried to swim away when he felt Bai Tsa all around him. She was like a huge snake slowly choking him.
Bai Tsa sighed and swam away. Her tail brushed against Finn' hips underwater.
"We have to find it. Only then we can return to the others," the water demon said. Finn swam back in the direction of the boulder. When he found it he climbed on it glad for having something solid under him again.
"And how are we going to do that? It's all dark here and I can't do a thing unless I see something," he said.
"We can do something about that once I find one of the crystals that used to bring light to this place. There should be many of them here and with luck at least one is not broken," Bai Tsa said. There was a splash as she dove underwater.
Finn had to wait for a while alone, but then he noticed how something was lit under the surface, and it started to get closer. It was light and he concentrated on staring at it. Humans weren't made for living in darkness and he was more than happy to be able to see again.
The light hit the surface with Bai Tsa and the demon threw a blue crystal at him.
"This was the only one I could find. It's not working properly and I don't know how long my spell will make the light last. It should be enough," she said.
Finn turned the crystal in his hands. It was cold and the light it created lit a surprisingly large area. They seemed to be in a round room that was completely covered in water. He was sitting on the only solid object that he could find. Finn guessed that it was the top of a broken pillar.
He looked at Bai Tsa. The demon was in water and only her head and shoulders could be seen. He was more than surprised to find out that there wasn't even a scratch in her despite that a huge rock had crushed her.
He pointed the crystal elsewhere to avoid seeing her face. It wasn't a very beautiful sight.
The place looked totally deserted and the crumpled walls only made it look more abandoned. Finn couldn't help but think that he and Bai Tsa were the only living creatures nearby.
"How will we ever get out of here?" he asked. Bai Tsa pointed to their left and Finn directed some light there.
"There is a corridor in that direction. If we take it we will eventually end up in the place where we fell in here, and if we continue from that point we should find stairs that were built for slaves. We can get back up by taking them," the demon said, "But first we will find the Eye of Atlantis."
"No need to look for it here. I must have dropped it when I lost consciousness. And that happened when I fell in here," Finn guessed. Bai Tsa nodded.
"Makes sense," she said. "Mortals have never been able to keep their hold of anything if they are not aware of what is going on."
"One question," Finn said.
"What?"
"How am I supposed to get out of here? I can hardly walk on water."
"What a silly question, you'll swim of course."
"But - "
"No buts, come on." Bai Tsa splashed the water with her tail and started to swim towards the direction she had pointed at a moment ago. Finn thought about what he would do. He didn't want to be left alone, but it would be very difficult to swim with the crystal. It wasn't very big, but occupied his left hand.
"Damn it..." he muttered and tore his medallion from his neck. He took the chain and slipped the medallion in his pocket. Then he wrapped the chain around the crystal making it into a glowing pendant that he was able to tie to his wrist.
Once he was sure it wouldn't fall apart he dove back in the water and started after Bai Tsa. He wasn't as good in swimming as he would have preferred in that situation, but he was not about to let it bother him.
The water was warmer than he remembered and he even felt quite good. Swimming was hard when his body ached all over and his crystal wasn't very helpful either since it was underwater with his hand half of the time.
Bai Tsa was much faster and he didn't even see her anymore. Either she had dived underwater to look for the Eye of Atlantis or had not bothered to wait for him.
Dai Gui's head ached and he was on a bad mood. It was because of many reasons and the greatest of them was that he was alone with annoying mortals while Bai Tsa played in the lower floors.
"Aww, come on! Let us go and find Finn!" Ratso asked him for the fourth time.
"No, Dai Gui has no time to think about a redhead mortal," the earth demon replied.
"But Finn is there all alone!"
"No, Bai Tsa is with him," Dai Gui said.
Ratso and Hak Foo blinked.
"Didn't she, well... die?" Ratso asked as carefully as he could.
"No. Bai Tsa can not be killed that easily. Shut up now, Dai Gui's head aches."
"Well if they are on their own there, does it mean that they can survive?" Ratso asked.
"No," was Dai Gui's reply. Again.
"What? Why not?"
"Because your mortal friend is pathetic. Bai Tsa will make it, but he has no chance." Dai Gui leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He would have some time to sleep before his sister came back.
"This doesn't sound good," he heard Ratso say quietly. The mortal probably thought that he didn't hear them. Dai Gui tried not to grin. As an earth demon he had an excellent hearing and the mortals wouldn't be able to keep anything from him.
"What do you mean?" Hak Foo asked.
"I think there is that... something between Finn and Bai Tsa. They are alone there now, and it can get pretty hot. You know what I mean, right?" Ratso replied.
"Ah, male salmon fawns on female fish?"
Dai Gui opened his eyes.
"What?"
Finn couldn't tell for how long or how far they had swam. For an hour perhaps. But he was certain of that his arms ached more than before.
Swimming had never been one of his favourite past time activities and he was not very good at it. He had been forced to swim every now and then, but never for as long as now. He really hoped he'd find a place to rest for a while.
"Bai Tsa?" he called, but got no reply. He guessed the water demon was long gone. Who knew if she had already returned to the others and was planning a trip back to the surface? She didn't need him at all, so why wouldn't she leave him?
Staying afloat was getting more and more difficult and Finn was starting to feel desperate. There was water all around him and he no longer had the strength to lift his hand high enough to see if there were any rocks or pillars somewhere.
He drew water in his lungs by accident and started coughing. That caused him to sink underwater for a while, and his coughing made him swallow more water. Finn tried to swim back to the surface, but his tired arms refused to co-operate with his brain.
The crystal on his hand lit the water around him and Finn could barely see the bottom below him. That wasn't the most urgent thing in his mind though, the only thing he could think about was that he was drowning. And he could do nothing about it.
During his life he had survived situations that most people would never face. He had been in prison, caught up in fights, a car accident and on top of it all adventured with demons all over the world. And now this.
When he sank deeper he knew he wouldn't get back up again.
Bai Tsa grinned when she saw the Eye of Atlantis below her. She hit the water with her tail and was next to the pearl in an instant. The demon wrapped her arms around it and felt great relief for being able to hold it again. It meant so much to her and their quest.
She glanced around expecting to see light that would tell where Finn was. Only darkness greeted her.
The demon frowned.
That slow fool, she thought to herself and headed in the surface to see if the Irishman had climbed somewhere to rest.
He wasn't there either.
Bai Tsa frowned again. She knew that mortals were lousy swimmers, but she had expected Finn to survive one moment on his own. It seemed she had overestimated him and it got her frustrated. She had never liked being wrong.
Especially since she had hoped the man to be slightly better than an average mortal.
The water demon dove underwater again and headed back in the direction where she had come from. She kept near the bottom though she suspected she would spot him wherever he was.
She increased her speed and started to glance around more carefully. The Eye of Atlantis made it slightly difficult to swim.
Then she saw light ahead and was there with a few swings of her tail. She swam to the bottom and the sight didn't surprise her at all.
Finn lay there eyes closed and the crystal created a strange glow on his face.
Bai Tsa hesitated for a moment, and then let go of the pearl she was holding. It hit the bottom with a faint noise, but the demon paid no attention to it. She slipped her arms under Finn's arm pits and swam on the surface.
There was a large boulder near and she threw the man on it. She didn't bother to see if he was alive or not, but dove back to get the Eye of Atlantis. It was more important than anything else.
Only after making sure that the precious pearl was safe Bai Tsa concentrated on the Irishman. He wasn't moving despite the rough treatment.
Bai Tsa knew more than enough about mortals and drowning, but she was not very good in saving them. She had done it a couple of times when it had looked like it would be more interesting than watching a slave or a sailor die, but that was it.
"What kind of idiot tries to drown himself?" she asked from the man and gave him a sharp push in shoulders. Then she slapped his face because that had got him awake the previous time.
Nothing happened.
Bai Tsa blinked in surprise.
"Wake up!" she snapped and hit the man again. Nothing still happened and now the water demon was furious. How did that man dare to rebel against her orders? "Grr..."
The next thing she tried to do was throwing him in water again. That was no use either and Bai Tsa started to think that her slave had really drowned.
"Blast," she muttered to herself. Tso Lan would scold her again, she was certain of it. "We didn't even get to paint the dolphins..."
Finn had been her first slave since she had returned to the human world and it felt almost bad to lose him in such an early point. Her slaves usually lasted longer if she didn't require their services first.
Bai Tsa pursed her lips angrily. How ridiculous.
"Do as I say! Up!" she exclaimed and bent over the man's body. She slit her eyes and ripped a tuft of red hair from his head.
Finn moaned.
And threw up a large amount of water. Bai Tsa grimaced and drew back. She watched as the Irishman spit, coughed and tried to drew a breath at the same time. It was a pitiful sight, but it made her feel somewhat relieved as well.
So I can take care of my slaves, she thought.
"Get a hold of yourself and prepare to go on. We must find Dai Gui and others," she said.
Finn collapsed on the boulder.
"I was just about to die. Give me a moment..." he complained. He sounded and looked tired and Bai Tsa didn't question it. A few mortals felt comfortable in her element.
Bai Tsa let him catch his breath for a moment, but it looked like he wouldn't be fine in a while. He could barely talk, swimming wouldn't do.
"I can't swim... to the others..." Finn muttered. Bai Tsa had realised that on her own and glared at the man.
"I can see that! Why is it me who gets the slaves that are no good?" she asked and started to think. Then she shrugged.
"I'll carry you," she decided.
Finn blinked.
"What?"
"Don't look so shocked. I like to give mortal men a ride every now and then," the water demon replied with a smirk.
Finn said nothing to that. He seemed to be too tired to care. He barely had the strength to do what Bai Tsa ordered and wrap his arms around her shoulders. The demon felt how the man moved sharply and drew his hand back when it accidentally brushed against her scaly breast.
Mortals are so amusing, she thought and grabbed the Eye of Atlantis. It would be difficult to swim with the pearl and the human, but she was going to make it.
"My ancient slaves were able to swim on their own," she remarked dryly.
"Everyone doesn't have it as easy as you. You may not die under falling rocks, but I am not immortal," was Finn's tired reply.
"I am not immortal either. I can survive that, but not everything."
"Like?"
"Do you think I am stupid enough to reveal that to a mortal slave? Idiot!" Bai Tsa snapped, but closed her mouth then. Swimming with heavy weight was harder than she had suspected and she wanted to save her strength.
After all, it would be terribly embarrassing to ask for a break in front of a mortal.
"Is he gone?"
Hak Foo peered behind a pillar.
"Think so. No earth demon in sight," the warrior said. He and Ratso had made Dai Gui furious by talking about Bai Tsa and Finn, and he had rushed after them threatening to kill them both very slowly.
Fortunately the demon's headache had increased when he had stood up suddenly and the two humans had been able to slip away. They had run in the lower floors and were as low as possible without touching the water. There was a tunnel some distance away and it was almost totally covered in water.
"That's good. I don't know why he got mad like that," Ratso said.
"No one likes it when someone talks about their sister like that."
"Well yeah, but isn't Bai Tsa pretty obvious? The way she moves her body - " Ratso started, but Hak Foo gestured him to shut up.
"Do you want Dai Gui to attack us again?"
Ratso didn't reply, but looked around.
"If he was here he wouldn't question our opinions anymore," he said. Hak Foo turned to look at the same direction with Ratso.
The sight was quite surprising.
Bai Tsa and Finn had appeared from the tunnel. That alone would have been enough to surprise the duo because they hadn't been that sure of Finn's return.
What shocked them the most was that Finn was on Bai Tsa's back, the demon was panting rather heavily and they both looked tired.
"So they were playing 'male salmon fawns on female fish'..." Ratso muttered. Hak Foo could only nod. He was glad to notice that at least Finn had his pants on. The redhead thought himself to be a strong warrior, but he doubted he would have been able to stand everything.
Tohru brushed a black lock of hair from Jade's face and sighed. He felt so utterly useless. He hadn't been able to do anything to prevent the girl's death and he was no use now that she was dead.
The others were doing everything while he just sat there.
The wound on Jade's forehead had been bandaged so that it would stay clean.
"I was expecting you to be here," Po Kong's voice said and Tohru lifted his eyes when the mountain demon stepped in. He wasn't even surprised anymore to see her appear from time to time.
"I am not needed elsewhere," the Japanese replied.
"Not yet, but Hsi Wu will be back with the books. After that we can revive Jade." Po Kong glanced at the girl as she spoke, but Tohru didn't see any emotion on her face.
"I don't think I can. I have never been interested in necromancy," he said. And that was true, the whole art just disgusted him. Now that Jade was dead he understood why many wanted to control death, but he still thought it was wrong to force someone back to life like that.
"Me neither, it is not very useful for demons."
Tohru was silent for a while. He believed each of Po Kong's words. Killing a demon was quite difficult and they didn't have to revive slaves as long as new ones were available.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked.
"What?"
"This? You are so different than when Shendu opened your portal for the first time. You acted like a maniac and could think about nothing but food. We all thought you to be very cruel and stupid," Tohru said.
Po Kong blushed and from her frown Tohru could tell that she was both annoyed and confused.
"You can't begin to understand what it feels like to be imprisoned in the Netherworld for so many years with my siblings. You don't know what kind of place it is, you have seen mere glimpses of it at times. Anyone would act odd after getting out of there," the mountain demon said. "Don't you mortals do that after you've achieved something?"
Tohru remembered how excited Jackie had been after getting an important project and how Jade always jumped and screamed when something nice happened.
"Maybe," he said, "But I still don't understand how you can be this co-operative."
"I am not Shendu."
"I know, but - "
"No you don't. Every mortal is different from others and so is every demon. In Europe many say that all Americans are lazy and selfish, but they couldn't be more wrong. No people, race, species or group can be described by claiming that they are all the same."
Tohru sighed.
"Maybe so, but it doesn't change everything you did. You may not be like Shendu, but why did you do all that?" he asked.
"Why do you humans kill and eat animals? Don't you feel bad for taking their lives and destroying their families? Have you ever thought about how they feel? Does killing animals make you evil?" Po Kong asked.
"These things can not be compared. Animals aren't like us, they are not aware of themselves and we are above the - " Tohru started, but realised what he had been about to say. He frowned.
"That is the way demons see you. My opinion will never change and the taste of humans will always appeal to me, but I still don't have to kill every human that I see. You don't kill all animals either. You take some of them as pets and make friends with them."
"And that is the way you could accept us? As pets?" Tohru asked in disgust. If Po Kong wanted something like that...
The mountain demon looked amused.
"Some people think animals are their best friends. In the ancient times there were demons who lived in peace with humans. And I am here treating you like an equal. That is quite an improvement already."
"You will never give up your demonic ways," Tohru stated. Po Kong shook her head.
"You are right about one thin: I am a demon. There is no use trying to pretend something else. But that doesn't mean that I couldn't get along with some mortals." The demon stood up.
"I need to go, I am hungry," she said with a smile.
The Nameless had curled up to sleep under his wings so Shin finally had time for himself. He was tired and hurt and wasn't interested in serving a demon with no name at all.
He had come to the demon first, he had to admit that. As a creature of another plane of existence he had sensed the Nameless's soul and sought him out to find out more about him.
The Nameless had told Shin his story and he had been interested. He had offered the demon his services for that he'd have a place in the demon's empire. He had been supposed to help the Nameless enter this world and make him stronger. After that his job should have been done.
Shin thought he had already done it. He had prepared a place for the Nameless and it was all thanks to him that the demon was alive again. He had done it all so well that the Nameless had been revived in an adult form instead of the body of an infant that he had had when he had died.
But now the Nameless wasn't about to let him go back to his own world.
Shin didn't like humans, he considered them to be horrible lower level creatures and he didn't want to spend too much time alone in their world. He wanted to be accompanied by his wife, five children and if possible, brothers, sisters and cousins. In his world they were a low class family, but here they could be among the rulers.
He needed to go back, but he wouldn't be able to do it without a demon helping him.
To be continued...