After pestering Harijia for a while and getting my relief, in more ways than one, I head towards the area where the 'teachers' are. I'm in the mood for some lounging around listening to useless information. It's very soothing. The information is also only useless to me for now. I've learned a lot about different animals in the outside world; where they live, what they eat, what they look like, and how they fight. Not that I'm likely to meet any for a while. The information about the plants, trees, and bushes is equally useful for now. I can only hope I'll still remember the difference between the short-tail spotted tree-climber and the wide-mouth spotted tree-biter. To be honest, I forgot the names already and only remember my own nicknames for them.

Other 'teachers' talk about cities I'll never see, people I'll never meet and so on and so on. Most of them I'll never meet because they don't exist anymore. History, they call it. The only reason I listen to those lectures is because the man telling the stories is amusing. From other lectures there are people I won't meet because, as they are very careful not to say, those people are important and I am not. Politics, religion, economy, I know what the words mean and some information sticks, but most of it leaves my mind the moment the talking is over. The main reason those lectures are interesting are for what is not being said.

Perhaps I should mention to Ara that accompanying her to a lot of boring classes was finally useful to me, though maybe not as useful as the impressions I got from listening in to her mind. There were no specific thoughts, but there were obvious times she considered the information given nonsense or when she was amused at something. I asked her once and she simply told me that she had 'a different perspective' and 'more information'.

Of course, I don't have more information than what I'm given. Nor do I have a better perspective. What I do have is careless teachers who don't think a young demon can draw complicated conclusions. The conclusion I have reached is this: The devils, as a people, are in trouble.

In my mind I tick off the clues. What started it all was a lecture from a formidable devil-demon about the combat duties we could expect if we were graduated into a detail like his. From hunting down rogue wild demons to patrolling roads and hunting for food for settlements. There were the occasional stampedes and relocating creatures that needed to be beaten back too. Then came a normal devil. I think he was the boss of whatshisname, the one who taught us to punch stones, as he actually seemed to recognize me even though I had never smelled him before. He told us about the manual labor. Mining, quarrying, lumberwork, any work that required strength and not too much thought. Finally, there was an annoying fellow. The way he spoke clearly showed he considered none of us good enough to fulfill the roles he suggested. Bodyguard, personal attendant, court attendant, Keeper, or apprentice to some kind of craft.

Each taken separately meant little, but when I put it all together I considered it quite a wide array. I remember what I thought at the time; 'why don't they do it themselves'. I was a bit annoyed at the time, so the pieces only came together later. They would do it if they could. Take the colony I was taken from. The big trees in the area are a valuable resource and there is always one getting dismantled. The nearest colony is ordered to prevent the hole so created from growing closed, so that a new tree from the ground below will rise up. In those holes, rare creatures, plants and such will appear to take advantage of the opportunities presented there. Small, mobile villages go from place to place to take down the tree and gather anything they can use. Then they move off to the next tree that will be taken down, or up rather, as they lift parts of the tree up to the canopy to transport further. The rest is left to the swarmlings. They'd take it all if they could, but they can't. They don't have enough people for it, or they can't do so safely.

Then comes the why. Why don't they have enough manpower? That was a simple one to figure out. There was a war. People are awfully quiet about it, but in a war people die. After the war, the treatment of demons changed. Of course, I could be wrong. There are many blanks to be filled in, but it feels like a good explanation. Now I just need to find out what this will mean for me.

And so I think about the things I've been told and the things I have not been told while letting the words of the current speaker flow through the air. I'm barely paying attention, but I am training my senses. Here is a good place to get used to my new energy sense and sensitivity. That's how I sense him coming. My favorite teacher! Not just mine either. I may be the first one to perk up and become more alert, but others soon follow. The devil-man speaking now comes to a stop with a wry smile, the activity not escaping his limited senses.

"That time again, right?" he says as he starts to pack the few items he brought. He doesn't appear upset, but I'm not paying him too much attention. The man now approaching is by far the weakest devil I have sensed so far. I'm starting to realize this means he has only the smallest bit of being a demon in him. That's not what makes him special.

His demeanor is calm and friendly. He appears as if he wants nothing more but explain to us why the bit of history he is about to tell us is important to remember. He'll reply to questions, elaborate without being asked when he senses confusion in someone and more. To all appearances, he's ideal. He can't hide his scent though.

The man loathes everything 'demon'. He loathes the Keepers, he loathes the other teachers that have clear demon-sign on them and above all he hates us. And he's afraid. He is absolutely terrified. His amazing perceptiveness is not born out of interest, he's simply extremely aware of all the demons around him out of fear. I can understand that. I would be terrified in his position too. Yet to all appearances he is calm and attentive. It's amazing!

He sits down on a large rock as the demons settle around him. I try to find a spot a bit off to the side, outside his line of sight, but I'm sure he'll be keenly aware of me anyway. Many others take similar positions, yet no-one positions behind him. That is left to those yet unaware of his condition. It's just not as interesting if he can't see me at all.

"It's good to see so many of you again," he begins with a lie. "We'll continue the broad history where we left off last time. To recap, last time I spoke about the old tribes and their territories, how they were ruled by elder councils. I've told how the strongest hunters hunted down powerful beasts as a show of their prowess. Consuming their flesh made these hunters stronger and stronger over time, shifting rulership from the elders to these exceptional individuals. Now, I will tell you about the creation of the first kingdoms and what is called The Demon War. There have been other wars called 'demon war', based on the fact that demons played a pivotal role in their conclusion. But if anyone talks about The demon war, they mean this one."

"The strong hunters kept getting stronger. Soon everyone realized that 'strength through consuming strong beasts' wasn't just a superstition, though it was long believed to be one." With a fake smile he looks around. "This way of getting stronger is believed to have originated from the proto-demons themselves, with those that consumed them gaining the same ability. The transfer wasn't perfect, far from it, and limited to a few species, which is why it was long held as a superstition. Yes, this means they were hunting ancestors of yours, in a way. They weren't proper demons yet, so let's call them proto-demons."

The next many minutes are filled with stories about the factions, how their leaders rose to power and the early conflicts. It's hard to stay focused on what he's saying when the interplay between him and the demons around him is so fascinating to watch. A slight movement from a demon causes him to react in a minuscule way. A tiny adjustment of his position, a switch in his attention or just a barely noticeable momentary stiffening of some muscles.There are no rules or agreements, demons just move at random to see how he will react. As for me, I am starting to understand his pattern. The reaction he shows and the severity are dependent on what triggered him previously and on how dangerous he estimates the new 'threat' to be. His estimation of how dangerous a demon is seems to be based almost solely on how big and threatening they look. He barely reacts to me.

The game comes to a pause when he reaches the interesting part. Devils are at war and desperately looking for an edge over their opponents. Weapons made from rare materials, new tactics and employing trained beasts, each side came up with their own solution to the problems at hand.

"In the end, one faction did something. We don't know who, we don't know what. Records of that time are spotty due to the chaos that followed. They changed the proto-demons. Eating them gave a much higher chance to become empowered. One simple change and it changed the dynamics of this world." The devil shows none of his insincere smiles. He just stares in the distance and, strangely enough, his fear is gone.

"The side effects, unknown at that time, were that the demons would gain in strength faster and that species previously unaffected by this strange power could gain it too. All it would have taken was one dead demon, forgotten on a battlefield and eaten by scavengers, to spread the mutation throughout the food chain. Soon, previously harmless insects became an actual danger. Mounts turned on their riders and hordes of wild demons started wiping whole villages off the map. Not out of malice, I'm sure, but due to territorial conflicts, being driven out of their original homes and other reasons." Here his insincere smile is back.

With a soft snap he closes the book he was referring to on occasion. "Next time I will tell you about the empire that rose from the ashes of chaos and how they made use of demons in their society." Rising smoothly, he turns around and walks back the way he came. Regardless of him as a person, I respect his courage to turn his back on so many creatures he considers his enemy.

Belatedly I realize I forgot to see if my new senses gave me new insights. I'd only been studying the reactions and the other demons, not him personally. There will be a next time, though.