20 Humanity (1/2)

”Sorry about that.” Li sat in the dirt of the barren wheat field, watching the midnight skies above. So many stars. Light pollution had made sure the stars never show off their luster in Li's world, and he never tired of just looking up at nights here and seeing a web of magnificent golden dots spread across the dark canvas of the sky.

”There is no need to apologize, my master,” said Zagan. His voice, when spoken without injury, had an ethereal strength to it. The inflections were powerful but not commanding. The voice was masculine but not overly so. A raspy undertone marked each word, as if some level of permanent static was present. He sat on his haunches beside Li, also looking up, as if at a moment's notice, he would howl. ”The human handled me without knowledge that I was your prized retainer, and it is right that you immediately commanded her to release my great personage. I would have struck them all down for the insult alone, but I am no fool: I sense you require them alive.”

Li sighed. ”I need them for the farm. And they're good people, all of them. They didn't mean any harm.”

Zagan scoffed. ”Humans are but livestock. They may have a shell of goodness, but within, they are ugly and miserable little piles of secrets and sins.”

”Tell me,” said Li. ”Do all demons have a strong misanthropic streak like you?”

”Misanthropic? No. We value them highly as food. The ugliness they hide within themselves is a sublime treat. Consumed flesh cannot match it.” Zagan looked at Li, his crimson eyes shining under the moonlight. ”And you, master? What of you? What are humans to you? You defend them with your words, and yet I sense they are not true kin to you.”

Li thought about this for a long time. The night breeze filled in the silence, singing a solemn whistle as the grasses rustled. The solitude had put him in a reflective mood and, when coupled with Zagan's questioning, got him thinking. It was refreshing to be able to talk about himself to a being that knew what he was even if Li himself didn't truly understand himself.

It felt liberating. It had been more than a month since he had arrived in this world, and though he knew his body was changing, he hadn't been able to talk about himself with anyone. When he thought about it alone, he never got any answers, but now, there was a chance to know.

”To be honest with you, I don't know. I enjoy my time with them. I can laugh and smile with them, but…it doesn't feel quite real,” said Li as he scooped up a handful of dirt. It smelled of rain. ”I can be happy for them when they are healthy and well but at the same time, I feel nothing for them when I kill them.”

He let the dirt fall through his fingers. ”I understand what they feel, their happiness, their sadness, their love, but I also know how fleeting their emotions are. I know that they are destined to return to the earth whereas I will stand through time immemorial. Nothing they feel or even I feel will last.

A part of me feels so awfully lonely knowing that, but another part of me knows that this is how it is supposed to be. The natural order of things.”

”Ah, I understand now.” Zagan grew solemn upon hearing Li's unload all his pent-up thoughts and worries. The demon's eyes closed as his pointed ears flattened.

”There is conflict broiling within you,” he said. ”I believed you always a higher being. But you were once human.”

Li arched a brow. ”You can sense that?”

”Indeed. Demons are extremely sensitive to the natures of higher beings. That is how I knew to make you my master in the first place. I recognized your greatness.”

”And you don't think any less of me? Because I used to be human?”

”No. It matters not who you were. The you of now is the master I have chosen to devote my entire being and soul to. Not even the Burning One could command that level of bond from me. Even should you continue to masquerate among the humans, I will listen to your every whim and wish without question.”

”Thanks. It must have been hard for you to give up everything to come to me.”

”There is no need for thanks, master. Gratitude is but a mortal appreciation of loyalty. Among higher beings, bonds of service are not appreciated, they are understood. Let me show you-”

Zagan pressed his snout to Li's arm and closed his eyes. Li could see the color of the demon's soul. It flashed into his vision strongly as a raging wall of darkness. A beautiful, pure darkness unblemished by any light. It was an almost gentle darkness, the kind that lulls you into sleep.

”You see now, my master,” said Zagan as he pulled back. ”As a demon, my soul is pure. Mortal souls are chaotic mixtures of dark and light. They can profess to be good one day and commit evil the very other. That is why their word means little – they are confused. A promise made by a mortal one day may wash away under temptation the very other.

I may be a being of destruction, but I do not try to justify it as mortals do under delusions of greater good. I destroy for it is part of my nature, and I accept it. I am true to myself and know that when I say something, I mean it.

That is why you know that my word is pure. That my word is true.

When I appeal to the greed inherent in men and allow them to host my being and bestow upon them my power, I do not ever make false promises. They know their souls are forfeit, but their greed overtakes them, nonetheless.”

”I'm sorry you have to explain all this to me.” Li sighed. ”You'll find that I'm not entirely used to the customs of gods and demons.”

”Do not debase yourself by comparing yourself to gods and demons, master. You are an Old One, a being beyond the forces of life that gods are birthed from and the forces of death that spawn us demonkind.”

Li nodded his head in a semblance of understanding.

Elden World lore about his race was interesting, to say the least. In game, players could choose an inhuman race such as elves, orcs, or even half-gods and half-demons. At level 70, these inhuman races could ascend to stronger variants, with elves becoming high elves and half-gods ascending to full divinities.

For Li, the base template for his race as the Treant, a forest spirit that looked like an animated tree.

At level 70, the race could branch out into two ways. One was the path of the Dryad focused entirely on spellcasting, mysticism, and healing.

Then there was the path of the Leshen that Li walked. Unlike Dryads that symbolized the nourishing life of the forest, Leshen were known as sinister spirits that represented the forces of death. As a result, they did not specialize as mere druids, but Eldritch druids focused on bringing pestilence, misery, and death to all.

They could restore others, of course, but it always came at a cost, whether it be a health cost or re-distributing the life force of one to another. Their summons, too, became ghastlier in nature, focusing on insects, carnivorous plants, and dire beasts.