Not a Tool

Zidon's mind was a chaotic mess. The pain from the bruises, and sore muscles, from the sparring helped to focus his mind a little, but not completely. He kept mumbling to himself and walked with his hands in his pocket, shoulders hunched over. They walked in silence most of the way. It was Cian that broke the silence.

"You seem… troubled."

Startled, Zidon looked over at Cian. He had forgotten that the demon was there. All his life he had been told that demons were tools that were meant to be used. Zidon would only have Cian for the duration of his time at Gailuri. Once he graduated he would be given the name of a stronger demon to summon.

Rowen's words alone would not have changed his views, but the way she had spoken to Cian. How she had gotten it to open up and talk of its past, things that Zidon had never bothered to do. Seeing how she had interacted with her demon, and not just the one day. Zidon had been keeping an eye on her since she had summoned Nasi.

"I just, I don't know, I guess I'm confused. You're not supposed to like it when you're beaten. Like, she's so much stronger than me and-and I'm ok with that. My father would kill me if he knew that I was ok with losing. It was... freeing in a way.

"She's scary as hell. Father has been helping with the case and I just happened to find the case files."

Zidon shuddered as he remembered the bloody scenes in the pictures. There had been body parts everywhere, and blood, lots of blood.

"It said that there were thirteen cultists and she ripped everyone of them apart. She's not even bloodline, just a human that's been possessed. I shouldn't have anything to do with her, but…"

"But maybe it's ok to like someone like that. I would like to clarify, on their behalf, that your Ms. Nieves is not possessed."

Zidon stopped and turned to Cian, "What is she, then? The file talked about her being used as a sacrifice in a summoning ritual. All signs point to her being possessed."

"I am not familiar enough with the term to say more than that. Your father should know."

Zidon nodded and started to walk again.

"Are demons able to grow stronger like Summoners and Mages?"

"We are. Where humans sometimes have a cap on how high they can go, we demons do not."

"Do you...want to stay at level two?"

Zidon stared down at the sidewalk, unable to look at Cian.

There was a long pause before Cian answered, "Do you wish to stay at the level you are? I don't know many who are satisfied to stay as they are. The way my contract stands I am unable to grow."

It hit Zidon then, that the way his family did things was suppressing Cian's ability to grow. Cian, because he was only level two, was only given to the children who attended Gailuri. That meant that the demon was always stuck with Summoners that were either weaker, or at similar strength.

"Rowen's demon, Nasi, is he still able to grow stronger?"

"If their wish is for Nasi to become stronger, then it will. But, I do believe that is what they wish. Sparring helps, staying summoned helps improve teamwork. For Nasi, though, just being near them increases its strength."

"How is that? Why do you keep referring to Rowen as 'they?'"

The pair had finally made it back to the academy, but Zidon was in no hurry to return to his dorm. Lysander, his roommate, would be bombarding him with questions about his day that he was not ready to answer. So, Zidon went to the side of the academy and sat on the pavement.

"Because Rowen is more than one. I'm not sure how to describe it to you as it does work similar to possession. Rowen is Rowen, she seems to maintain primary control of the body, but the demon within her is strong and retains itself.

"What you see is one, but what I, and other demons see are two. Whoever it is, it's powerful. During the duel they commanded and I was unable to disobey. Today when we talked it knew of things only the old ones knew of."

"How old are you?"

Cian smiled, "I was a child when Rhis and Abadon made the deal that created Summoners."

"You're still only a level two after all this time?"

"I am. You must understand, it takes demon children a long time to grow up. You are not considered an adult until you are two hundred years old. Even then, some still consider you a child. I entered into a contract with your ancestor the first time I was summoned."

Zidon leaned back and looked up at the sky. It would be a while yet before the sun set and the sky had not yet begun to darken. After a moment he turned to look at Cian, actually looking the demon in the eyes.

"I'm sorry. It shouldn't have taken me this long to realize that you were more than just a tool."

Cian smiled faintly and mimicked Zidon's posture, staring up at the sky.

"We have all experienced a moment when we realized our perception of something was wrong. It is usually a catalyst of some kind that causes us to stop and reevaluate things. Yours just happened to be very powerful with violent tendencies. If the two of you were demons I would say that your behavior today before the sparring was a declaration of interest.

"Because of Rowen's current state it's hard to say what they were doing."

Zidon felt his cheeks grow hot and he turned away to look up at the sky again.

"Courting sounds violent."

Cian chuckled, "It can be."

Zidon eventually made his way inside the academy and found a quiet place to call his father. He still had not sent Cian away and had it stay out of sight during the call.

A phone call every evening had been a requirement when Zidon went to Gailuri. It was a way for his father to know about his day. But, it only worked if he was truly transparent about everything he did and if he initiated the call. His father did not care enough to call himself.

"You were later than normal. Is everything ok?"

Zidon smiled at the video of his father.

"Yes, father. We had our first math class and I was going over the homework."

Zidon had long ago gotten used to lying. Too often the truth had gotten him into trouble in the past. If his father knew that he had lost two duels and had spent time with someone unimportant it would cause him trouble.

They spent five minutes verbally walking through his day. Zidon recounted all the highlights.

"When we had our Summoner class Mr. Edwards was talking about possession as well as being a Summoner. I know that they don't cover everything here and wanted to ask you if there were other ways to interact with demons."

His father frowned, "There is one other way, but you're right about it not being taught. Some things are safer the fewer people that know about them, so you can't go around talking about it.

"There have been a few cases of humans and demons merging. They're called Sync's and are rare enough that we don't know much about the state. What we do know is that they tend to be dangerous individuals.

"The last one nearly destroyed Vemdor."

Zidon struggled to not laugh. He had seen the aftermath of the ritual and had personally experienced how violent Rowen could become. He did not have trouble imagining her destroying a city if the people had annoyed her.