“So, what do you wish to ask me this time around Danny-boy?” The demon shifted forms again and fluttered around the room in the shape of a one-meter moth.

“So far you managed to do the bare minimum and cling to life against the odds. Congratulations!” The insect said mockingly.

“Will you be able to actually answer me directly this time around?” Danny asked cynically, ignoring Tutu’s jab.

“Oh Danny-boy, there is no reason to be so salty! Wasn’t I helpful before? Did you not benefit from my words of caution and unending wisdom?” The demon responded with false outrage.

Although Danny was untrusting about many things regarding Tutu, he had to hand it to the demon that his information was indeed helpful.

Without its intervention, Danny would have been caught unaware when disaster struck, and – being unprepared – he would have a very hard time defending himself from the hordes of zombies that would be no doubt more numerous close to his original house, and have to struggle to find supplies and defend himself. Injuries, starvation and dehydration were real possibilities and likely outcomes.

That if he was not taken out by the initial tremors and following building collapses as well.

“Despite your unjust doubts, I can indeed tell you much much more now that some things have passed. So let us not waste any more time, shall we?” The demon urged Danny, as if excited to find out which questions Danny would choose to ask and how he would react to the answers.

Danny had many doubts in his hearts and many things he wished to make clearer now that he had an opportunity. However, he also knew that his questions would be limited by whatever standard the demon made up. He had no clue on how much he could push for, so he had to be careful about what he inquired and prioritize the most important ones first.

Having pointed that out though, Danny did not spend any time pondering how to proceed. The previous days had already allowed him to spend a lot of time thinking about it and he had a rough order of questions planned in mind already.

Of course, that course of action was not set in stone. What he actually asked was prone to change given that - depending on what Tutu revealed to him - Danny would have to consider even more questions and pressing concerns as the situation becomes clearer, in a way that what he had decided beforehand could only work as a guideline to his thoughts really.

Even so, it was still important to have those directions already established. In order of importance, Danny figured out that the most important things to know were firstly what is going on; secondly, why is it happening now; thirdly, what Danny could do about it; and lastly why Tutu was helping him and going against the interests of what Danny supposed was the demon’s kind.

Those were not the only things Danny wished to know, but those were the most relevant questions for now. Danny was not optimistic about getting answers for any other questions. He was already doubtful about the feasibility of addressing those four topics, much less further ones.

Therefore, when Tutu urged Danny to go on, Danny promptly asked the first question of the night.

“What is going on Tutu?”

Obviously, the main thing to worry about was what he was dealing with. Hopefully this time the demon would be able to give him a clearer answer, allowing Danny to make more specific preparations against whatever danger he had to deal with, instead of simply arranging general countermeasures.

“Well, if you have not figured that out already, this plane is being colonized.” Tutu stated simply.

“What do you mean by colonized?” Danny was also curious about the demon’s choice of words. ‘Plane’ was not a usual way to refer to the world, at least not by human standards. However, he could not give in to his curiosity now. He had limited influence over the demon and had to spend it carefully.

“I suppose it would make more sense to call it an invasion in your point of view.” The demon said dismissingly. “But it does not matter what you choose to call it, the fact remains that this backwater place you call Earth is now being taken over. The pathetic dominance of humanity over this tiny corner of the multiverse is over.” Tutu elaborated lazily as he kept indulging in Danny’s blood.

Danny was not surprised by the demon’s clarification. He had already pictured something of the sort at the very beginning of the apocalypse given what he had gathered from his first round of questions with the demon.

Actually, it was the emergence of zombies that had thrown him off the track. He went into that coffee shop to rescue his former companions thinking he would have to rescue them from demons and other related creatures that his mind could conjure. However, the rise of the undead broke his expectations completely given that he could not imagine how Tutu – a demon – would be connected to unliving corpses.

It was true that the demon had already warned him during their very first meeting that he was a demon, but not what one would conventionally expect of a demon in human culture. Even then, Danny still could not connect the dots after having those two pieces of information: demons were related to their plight and corpses were rising again.

There had to be some key piece of information that he was missing.

Thus, instead of keep blindingly guessing, Danny opted to simply ask directly.

On a side note, it still amazed Danny how the demon managed to do so many things at once, speaking, drinking, shifting forms. Theoretically, it should be impossible to do all those things together if Tutu had a normal body. It would be like a human trying to drink and breathe at the same time. The way the body was built simply did not allow for those actions to be performed simultaneously. Regardless, the demon still managed to defy that logic. That was something Danny also had to shelve for later, since he almost assuredly would not be able to satisfy his curiosity this night.

“So why are people suddenly coming back to life? Why did you or those invaders done it?”

“Ohohohohoho. I think you have made some wrong assumptions there my tasty friend. Allow me to correct you. Although it is true that the ingress of other powers in this world is related to the rise of those shambling figures outside -” The demon gestured with a tendril that grew from its winged back, pointing outside the window. “it was not something that was strictly DONE, but more of a byproduct. A symptom of something much much bigger”. The demon explained.

Danny suddenly had a bad feeling about the demon’s words. He could not pinpoint what was making him so uneasy, but there was something there in what the demon had said that made Danny think things would about to get a lot worse for humanity.

Obviously, it was already disastrous that something way more advanced than human civilization – given the fact it managed to remain undetected until the last moment, at least for the general population, and the destructive capabilities that had been shown so far - had turned its unkind gaze towards Earth. Added to that, an event as catastrophic as the zombie outbreak was viewed merely as a sidenote. Even then, it was something else that was making his instincts blare at him, giving him warning signs of danger.

Danny trusted his instincts deeply. They had been tempered for a lifetime of suffering and had served him well in numerous occasions when dealing with Tutu in the past and other hairy situations. Nevertheless, Danny could not pinpoint where the uneasiness was coming from, so he could only keep that in mind while he kept talking with the demon.

“If the rising of the dead is not something done on purpose, then why is it happening? And why now?” Danny asked.

“Well, that is THE question is it not?” The demon giggled as it reshaped itself into the form of a goat with four horns instead of the usual two.

The goat then left the half-filled chalice on the floor and trotted to the window before opening it masterfully with its thumbless hooves, which showed how much control Tutu had over its own form, even if in a suboptimal shape to perform any given task.

“Come here Danny-boy and take a look. I promise I won’t bite!” The goat leaned into the windowsill and turned it head backwards in a way that should not be physically possible and grinned wickedly at Danny as it invited him to come closer.

Although it was inevitable to nurture some fears while looking at the demon, and to also get shivers all over his body, to Danny’s credit he barely hesitated before heading towards the window and joining the shadowy figure overlooking the dimly lit town.

As time passed, Danny was getting more and more used to Tutu’s mischievous nature, and though he doubted he would ever feel at ease this close to the creature, at the very least he would be able to keep his fears in check and limit emotional and instinctual responses to a minimum. After all was said and done, he had to collaborate with the demon regardless of his personal feelings, so it was best to prevent those irrational responses from interfering.

Outside the house, Danny could not make too much of the town, given that the street lights have all been taken out at this point in time. On the other hand, the absence of city light pollution allowed for a clear view of the sky and the stars. That would be an incredibly beautiful sight if only Danny bothered to look, but he had other priorities at the moment, so his gaze remained grounded and the gorgeous night sky unappreciated.

“That is what those powers came here for.” The goat pointed outside pleased that Danny joined him without the need for too much goading.

Danny followed Tutu’s line of sight to a pile of corpses that remained not very far from the property. Those were the bodies of the zombies they had taken out close by, and were simply left piled up there, since they did not feel it was worth the effort and resources to burn or bury them at the time.

“The zombies?” Danny asked out loud, unsure if he was looking at the same thing that Tutu was pointing towards.

“No Danny-boy. Life.” The demon responded cryptically.

“What do you mean? They are clearly dead.” Danny asked again as he observed the unmoving bodies attentively once more, wondering if he had missed something. However, no matter how he looked at it, there was nothing else worth of notice. It was just a pile of dead bodies.

“The person they used to be is dead, yes. Yet the body was able to keep moving, why do you think that is so?” The goat responded with a question, as if taking pleasure at withholding the answers and making Danny work for them.

The demon then faded from sight in a subtle burst of shadowy particles after he finished saying his piece and reformed itself as a chameleon next to the chalice and resumed sipping blood from it.

“I do not know. Why don’t you tell me?” Danny retorted dryly, failing to hide the growing annoyance at the demon’s act of mystery.

“Do not be such a spoilsport Danny-boy. Amuse me. Take a guess.” The demon nudged him again, unfazed by Danny’s unwillingness to play along. It appeared that Danny’s reluctance only served to make the experience all the more enjoyable to the demon.