Doctor Demon

The demon was suspicious of the priestess who had swayed into their midst. Unlike the other priests and priestesses who wandered to the mountains, she was different. Her aura was bright, too bright. He also sensed a strong mass of energy from which could only mean that she possessed powers he could not fathom.

Ailee was also glaring back at the demon. It was undoubtedly powerful but not dangerous. If it was, the children would not be so friendly with him.

"Magrod, the pretty sister gave us food!" Hwayoung told the demon. "She is really nice!"

"Magrod, where have you been?" Ola asked. "We were worried!"

"Did you bring us more food?" Injing asked, pointing at the bag Magrod stole from a small shop at the village. He had snuck into the humans' territory by concealing his powers and stole a bag of bread for the children. The demon could not purify them but he could not leave them starving for so long.

Ailee also noticed the bag and sighed. "Here, let me purify it," she offered.

"How do I know you are not going to betray them?" Magrod demanded with a snarl. "I do not trust humans!"

"I just fed them," she pointed out. "I can purify the food properly. Trust me."

Magrod was skeptical but handed her the bag. Ailee took it and drew the circle on the ground again. She clasped her hands together in a prayer and began to chant. Magrod backed off as much as possible. The spell was a simple one but demons like him could not tolerate purification nor exorcisms. The rituals were painful for them and even a Vozakel level demon like him was not an exception.

A sharp pain stabbed his heart but he held his ground, trying not to squeal in agony. Moona was worried about him and patted his paw.

"Magrod, are you okay?" she asked in her innocent voice.

"I am fine, brat!" he hissed. Even though he scolded her a lot, she was still very much attached to him. Out of all the children, only she could ride on his back and even curl up to him while he was asleep. She regarded him as almost like a parent, not wanting to go anywhere without him. Which is why she was comfortable with him around.

Magrod did not admit it but the children were very important to him. No matter how much he said that humans were a pain, he could not help protecting these kids who had helped him out when he was injured. These five spirits were trapped in these cursed mountains and were susceptible to the dark magic which took place there. He had to stay by their side until he could find the other Prince.

Ailee was done with the ritual and looked up.

"The food is pure now," she declared and handed the bag to the children. They immediately jumped at the bread, beaming in joy. Moona took one piece of bread and offered it to Magrod.

"Mag must be hungry too!" she exclaimed happily. Magrod scowled.

"I can not eat that! It's purified now. It'll burn my tongue!"

"That is okay," Ailee said. She took out another box of dumplings from her bag and handed it to him.

"You can have this. It is not purified."

Magrod stared at her suspiciously. He sniffed the box and realized that she was right. It was not purified. 

Ailee opened the box and put it in front of him. "Have it," she said. "I always keep food for wandering spirits. And I can tell that you are not a danger to the children."

Magrod hesitated but he shrunk his size. Ailee watched as he decreased to the size of a small puppy with three heads. The other two heads fell asleep while the middle one was awake. The demon bent over and took a bite of the dumpling. To his delight, the food was delicious. The dumplings were soft and flavorful with chicken and bits of vegetables in it.

Soon, he finished off the entire box and burped. Ailee could not help smiling at the cute little puppy demon. Even Moona was patting it while the demon only scowled but secretly enjoyed being petted.

"Are you really terrorizing the people who come here?" Ailee asked. She was now curious about this strange situation. How did these children end up here? And why was the demon protecting them?

"I am keeping the people away from these children," the demon revealed. "There are some dark forces at play in these mountains."

He glanced at the pitch black mountains which surrounded them, hiding many gruesome secrets within its midst. 

"This place...this place is a gateway to Hell itself," the demon went on. "Some people have been conducting activities which should not take place."

"Are you referring to the recent missing children's cases?"

The demon turned to her. Ailee was now grim and serious. There was another reason why she came to these mountains. Sources told her that the demon in the mountains was also abducting children and she was sure that these children were also kidnapped before being killed. But after meeting Magrod, she could tell that he was not the perpetrator but someone else was.

"We were taken at different times," Ola said meekly.

"Yes!" Injing added. "I am not even from this village. My mother and father were traveling with me and we stopped at a temple to rest. I was sleeping in my bed but the next thing I could recall was waking up in these mountains as a ghost!"

"I was taken from my own home," Hwayoung said sadly. "I was also sleeping and woke up as a ghost here."

The other children also had a similar story. All of them were sleeping and woke up as ghosts. There was no doubt that they were abducted and killed in their sleep. The only thing they could not recollect was the injury around their necks.

"These children were killed for a reason," Magrod said. "I can tell. Their deaths are not ordinary. The air in these mountains is heavy and overwhelming. Moreover, I can smell a strong presence of sulphur."

"Sulphur?" Ailee asked in confusion. "What is that?"

"It  is an element which can be found in the air and some places like the sea," Magrod explained. "But in small quantities or in a mixed form. However, the sulphur I can smell here is a little different. It is the purest form which smells like rotten eggs."

Ailee sniffed the air and realized that he was right. The smell of rotten eggs was traditionally associated with demons. She had been smelling it ever since she began to climb the mountains but merely thought that it was the single demon who lived there. 

Now that I think about it, the smell is quite stronger than I thought, she realized.

"People are summoning demons," Magrod went on. "And not just any lowlife demons. They are summoning Kistris levels and above."

Ailee gasped. Kistris demons? This was not good at all. If Kistris demons were summoned, then soon the noble levels would arrive and that meant more people were going to be sacrificed.

"What level are you?" she demanded. "I know that you are not an ordinary demon! You can control your presence and also size."

Magrod sighed. "Vozakel," he revealed. "I am a Vozakel lord."

A long silence ensued. Vozakel lord?

"Who summoned you?" she whispered. And how many people were sacrificed to bring this demon into our world? She wondered in fear.

Magrod looked sad and even guilty as if he did not want this. "The person who summoned me here is now in Hell," he revealed. "As soon as his wish was fulfilled, I sent him to hell."

"Why did you stay back?" Ailee questioned him. "If your work is complete, why did you not go back?"

"I...I have my reasons," Magrod said. Oddly, he was looking at the children who were now very curious. They were looking from him to the Priestess, wondering what was going on. 

"Anyways," Magrod went on. "A group of humans are summoning Kristis level demons or higher to fulfill their desires. And you know very well that this requires a lot of human sacrifice. One Kristis needs the sacrifice of at least ten human beings. That is not a small number. And the number only doubles with each higher level of demon."

Ailee did not want to think about how many people were sacrificed to summon a Vozakel like Magrod in this world. To think more than a hundred people must have died simply for him to arrive was unfathomable.

"Why are these demons being summoned?" she asked quietly.

"To awaken the true Prince of Hell," Magrod revealed. "The lords of Hell can do the ritual to wake him up."

"True Prince of Hell?" 

Magrod nodded. "The only purebred offspring of our King," he revealed. "The demons will not let a half human rule Hell. They want to awaken the true Prince, the one who is a pure demon. They will not tolerate anyone else. But I cannot allow that to happen."

"Why not?" Ailee asked. "Hell needs a ruler to keep the demons in check. After the King left, Hell was left unguarded and unruly demons broke out! You have seen what they are doing. Killing off humans, tricking them to sign contracts and even possessing many innocent people!"

"That is not the worst thing," Magrod said. "The real Prince is even worse. He was put to a deep sleep by the King himself."

Now Ailee was even more confused. "Why?"

"Because…" Magrod turned to her, his red eyes filled with deep sadness.. "The Prince tried to kill all humans."