A most malicious beings in the universe

The queen took Rufus inside the palace. They walked through the locust-infested hallways with the witches letting them be without supervision. It was not like Rufus was powerful enough to oppose the queen.

Rufus felt anxious, being alone with the queen like that, but felt no animosity from her.

"You do not need to be so reserved around me. I talked with Bouzid a lot about you. How you defended the village she was sent to, despite ordering you not to. I know you are not a bad person," the queen said.

The queen took Rufus into a large library, but every book shelf had bars to not let people get to them, or the books away from people. On the ground was a divine scripter written with salt, to prevent people from getting even close to the bookshelves. Five witches were guarding the library, but as the queen got closer, they swept the divine scripter to let the queen open the bars.

"Just like you fight against the emperor and the empire for your people, I also fight against an enemy, even probably more menacing than any human in the Aesis world," the queen said and took one book.

Malicious divinity was coming from the book, like it was alive. It was feint, but Rufus was able to feel it. It was the winds of Pandora what he felt.

"What are these books?" Rufus asked in a horrid voice.

"These books only look like books, but in truth, they are maybe one of the foulest beings in the universe. They are demons."

"What are demons?"

"Demons are creatures that can be created by children of Pandora. Basically, when winds of pandora are formed through bloodshed and the negative emotions of the victims, it either is channeled into a person, but without a vessel, it will give itself sentience and form into a demon. These creatures are created out of pure negative energy and can not do anything else than cause bloodshed and pure havoc.

One can also be created by a powerful enough child of pandora, which is then an extension of the being that created them. These here are not though created by a child of pandora, as one would have easily just by thinking had them disposed of.

Not many people know of them, and I rather have it that way. Their divine powers are immeasurable and they often try to lure in people to do their bidding. In the case of these books, they talk to the reader through the texts in them and spill out knowledge. If one reads enough from one of these, it will enable the demon to grow its power and later, it will devour the reader's divinity and possess their body.

A demon can grow strong enough to rival a god if one is allowed to live long enough. As a demon ages and causes destruction and chaos, its power grows. That is why it is smart to destroy or seal them," The queen explained while opening the book.

"How did these demons end up here?" Rufus wondered.

"Worshippers of winds of pandora try to create them in an attempt to control them, hoping they would help them reach their selfish goals, but demons are not that easy to control. Often they are like wild beasts, so what they do is somehow try and seal them into objects. These were sealed into books. They are unable to escape, but unfortunately also," The queen explained and took a torch and tried to light the book on fire.

The book didn't light up and was completely resistant to the flames. Evil laughter could be heard coming from the book like it was amused by the futile attempt to destroy it.

"Unfortunately, when a demon is sealed into an object, it can't be destroyed or killed. That is why we have sealed them here, to make sure the people do not get their hands on them," The queen said.

Rufus was very confused though. One thing didn't feel right.

"How did you get your hands on these? Not many people know of the existence of demons as you said," Rufus asked.

The queen's subtle smile vanished.

"Long time ago, a flying fortress filled with winds of pandora worshippers and possibly even some children of pandora, shipwrecked onto the desert. These foul beings luckily died under the blistering heat of the desert, but they carried thousands of books that had demons sealed into them. They were scattered across the desert, hoping an unsuspecting traveler would pick them up and do as the book says, so they could be freed one day. That is one reason I created the witches, to find the books, bring them here and in the worst-case scenario, kill the demon if one had already been released. To the question of how I know of these demons, that is not for you to know."

Rufus looked at the shelf and wondered how much destruction they would cause if just one of them could be released. He felt immense power and animosity exuding from the books.

"I think you now understand why my assignment is to stay here and make sure that the books do not end up in the wrong hands. To guard my people and lead the locust witches in finding them and bringing them here."