Chapter One: Dinner Date with a Demon
I didn’t think my day could get any worse until the demon appeared in my soup.
Today was supposed to be a normal, crappy day. My so-called “friends” had dragged me on another adventure. Retrieve the magic scroll from the evil dark wizard living in the scary mountain which, for some reason, was about a mile away from school. And wow, look at that! The mountain’s secretly a volcano? Which is going to destroy the town? And the only way to stop it is by plugging that small hole? Of course. Jolt Galestorm (What the heck do parents think when naming their kids?) jumped into the hole while holding Duke Darkington or whatever the heck his name was “because the dark magic would make them indestructible.” You realise there was like, a good sized rock like ten feet away, right? And obviously, he threw me the magic scroll, and told me to protect it with my life. Stupid heroes and their stupid heroic deaths. Dude’s not even dead, probably. Just stuck forever. Which makes it so much more tragic of an ending to his story, apparently. No, the guy was just an idiot. And everyone else left because “it’s not the same without our leader.” Really? Since when was he the leader? And hi, I’m here, I can’t lead us on cool adventures of my own choosing? Wow.
And now, I’m heading back home in the dark without any gold, because apparently ransacking that evil guy after killing him is “unethical”. How do you expect me to replace the armour the guy melted? Renting this stuff is expensive, let alone repairing it. It’s certainly annoying, but at least I probably have enough saved for this. Being everyone’s sidekick certainly has its perks. Because occasionally the hero dies. Actually, they die a lot. Not really my problem, I get their loot.
But as I’m worried about my slight money issue, I remember the scroll. “Protect it with your life” is kind of a tall order. And a supposedly super-powerful dark magic scroll will certainly cash out well. But then again, I’m kind of curious. After all, stuff heroes leave me usually help out the next time. Like the talking sword. Or the flying boots. The flying boots were cool.
I trudge into home, letting my armour clatter to the ground as I change into a black t-shirt and jeans. I walk into my small kitchen, and hungry, peer into my cabinets to see what I have. Some crystal carrots, basilisk meat, ShopFight-brand peppers, the infinite oil jug, and some plain old potatoes. I put all of it in a pot, (except the jug), pop it on the stove with some water in it, and start cooking the stew. I pop open the scroll and start reading it as I stir.
INSTRUCTIONS:
-The sun must have already set, and not yet risen.
-You must have a pot of boiling liquid in front of you. Holy water is recommended, so that the entity can not attack you until the contract is complete.
-Read the following text out loud:
After the last instruction was an incantation which I feel like I definitely should not write here. Because according to the spell, anyone reading it from anything that wasn’t the original scroll would spontaneously combust. Not fun.
So I read the incantation to myself, really just muttering it so that I knew how to say it later, and as soon as I finished, my pot caught fire. Well then. As I look around to find something to put it out, I notice someone is standing in my pot.
At first, she looked kind of scary. With long, red hair like a harsh sunset, and snowy white skin, she towered over me on my stove. She was dressed in a crisp red suit, with jet black buttons. As I looked at her, I realised what was so unnerving. She seemed to have no depth, with no shadows under her crossed arms, or under her hair, even though a light was above her. She looked at me with sharp, red-rimmed black eyes like I wasn’t worthy of calling her. And then she looked down at what she was standing in. Her nose wrinkled.
She looked up and glared at me. “Who are you, and what kind of insulting vessel did you summon me into?”
Shocked, the only thing that came out of my mouth was “Who the hell are you, and why are you in my soup?”
At that, she narrowed her eyes and simply stared. Then she threw her hands up in the air in frustration. “Of course, in millennia, the first to call me up to the overrealm would be some stupid mortal who had no clue what she was doing, and landed me in a pot of soup.”
I was still pretty freaked out over the whole ordeal. First, I didn’t even realise I was capable of summoning a demon. Second, I didn’t realise I was capable of summoning a demon in a pot of soup. I tried to think of something else to say, but instead just stood speechless.
She sighed. “Well, it appears that I am your problem now. I am an eighth tier demon, and using that scroll of yours somehow called me up here. It usually takes a practiced mage to summon me, but you seem more like a teenage year old girl with no clue as to what she’s doing. At the most basic, now that you’ve summoned me, you will give me a name, and we will be bound together in an eternal contract. Call me, and I shall come and do what you need.” She looked down again. “Please hurry up, so I can get out of this infernal pot of soup.”
I just stared blankly, trying to comprehend. Okay, yeah, super powerful demon. Weird and scary, sure, but I help deal with those all the time. But a contract? For eternity? That’s a long time. I don’t think I’m ready for for that kind of commitment. So I stuck with the easiest stuff to process first.
“A name?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, child, a name. Something you use to summon me in any situation where you need my assistance.”
“Um, okay, how about Lucy?”
She gave me a withering look. “Really? Lucy? Like Lucifer? Very original. Pick another.”
At this point the demon lady was really getting on my nerves. I glared at her. “Okay then, how does Miss Stewfoot sound?”
Not really my best insult, but I was trying.
She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. “Very well, Lucy it is. Call me when you need me.”
And with a column of fire that erupted from the pot, she disappeared, leaving me in a lonely kitchen with a scorched ceiling and burnt soup, wondering what I was supposed to do for dinner now.
