Parallel Echo - Imp Possible

Trusting Jeane you left the Deamhaine woman to negotiate with the imps that were tracking you. As she put it, there was no solid guarantee that they still would not find you and if they found you with the Deamhaine, their enemy, it could be worse than just talking to them directly. Jeane had some knowledge of imps and she seemed to think that she could use her Deam contract to negotiate.

“Imps are Pseudo-Deam, like Deamhaine. That means they’re from that world and travelled up closer to the surface of our world for better opportunities.”

“I don’t understand what motivates these things to get closer to our world. Turais is naturally resilient to them and they’re only seen as invaders.”

“The truth is, even through your resilience you still have bodies and Souls. Deamonkine is a nasty place. Just as development here favoured humans, elves, beastfolk; development in Demonkine mainly favoured parasitism. They feed on other species.”

“Doesn’t sound promising.” Heilan commented.

“Yes, well, they’re intelligent. They can be communicated with. My people don’t have terrible relations with most kine.

“What’s the basic rundown on Imps.” You asked as you led your party out of the ridge.

“Roughly half the size of a human or elf. Flying. Aura based with strong Essence.”

“This is confusing me. Aura is weak to Soul. First the Deamhaine was Aura-Soma, now Aura-Soul? Why are so many Deam contradictions?”

“Contradictions exist here, such as Aura-Swordsmanship.” Jeane corrected.

“That’s a technique…”

“Is that how you see it? Perhaps. Think of it like this. Soma shaped our world. The wildlife and the world itself is a powerful ****. Most everything has some degree of it, which means that the properties of Soma influenced our development. Now imagine how Aura being the base power of their world shapes them? Just like how we my people carry innate Aura in spite of being creatures of this world, there are outliers in their world. The majority of them are like the majority here, no secondary power running through their veins.”

“I get it, I just don’t get how it’s possible.” You rephrased what you were saying to try and make it clear that you are not dumb.

“Strictly speaking, opposing powers don’t cancel each-other. One simply subordinates the other if it’s stronger. Soma accumulates trace amounts of Aura when strengthened and made abundant and you call it Energy. Were you wondering how Deam have Souls?”

“Huh?”

Jeane smirked. “Aura strips away Souls. It’s actually true, but it’s also not entirely true. Like I said, The stronger **** subordinates the weaker and uses it. Aura that consumes Souls or Essence turns that into Mana, and then the Mana takes the place of a Soul for Deamkine.”

“Huh… kinda changes how I view things.” You admit.

“Good.” Jeane smiled smugly.

“Back to imps, though. Two things to know about them. They are very religious and very perverse.”

“Odd combination…”

“Depends on the religion.” Heilan shrugged.

“Exactly. For imps, corruption is to them what piety is for you lot. They have tight-knit families but… odd ways of forming them. There is a ceremony-” Jeane cleared her throat and blushed.

“One way imps reproduce is through being cuckolded.”

“I’m sorry?” You squinted.

“This is why they value males more than females for diplomacy because the highest form of reproduction for them features a foreign man having sex with an imp male’s close mate. When the man… does the deed the strong emotions of the Imp male supposedly corrupt the seed into an imp while assimilating positive traits or features of the ‘father.’” There was a few seconds of silence before Heilan raised her hand.

“What do they do to women?”

“W-well, it ideally wont come up.” Jeane said evasively.

“I’d rather know than not know.”

“You’ll know~” A small voice chimed in from above. You looked up to see a small creature floating above, flapping small wings, then another and another. The average imp, by your perception, was odd-looking. They had bodies that were half the size of a humans with features that looked exaggerated for what they were. Women could be picked out by plump breasts and wide hips and men were about the same, except they did not have the breasts. All imps seemed to have a long, thin tail ending in a spade, small curved horns the colour of their skin and pointed ears. They came in various colours for both hair and skin tone, ranging from red to purple or blue and even green. They grinned maliciously, showing small, sharp white teeth as they bobbed up and down in the air. It was like they were struggling to remain in flight.

“Hello! I am Jeane Moreau of Ciarn. My Father is-”

“My Father, my Father~” One of the imps mocked playfully, floating upside-down with his arms crossed. He was armed, of course. Appropriately they seemed to wield short bows and some held crude round items with fuses or sloshing liquid in clear globes. You immediately judged by their light armour that they exclusively attack from the high ground and rarely engage in close combat. Easy to beat, if you could actually catch them.

“Get a load of this snooty sharp-ear.” All around him the imps snickered.

“L-Listen!”

“Listeeeen~” Another female imp mocked from the sideline to another round of laughs.

Jeane took a slow, calming breath, though you could tell she was enraged. “I am contracted with a High Ranking Deam!”

That actually managed to silence them and the one that seemed to be in the lead with fine clothing cautiously asked.

“Which one?”

“The Painter!” Jeane announced.

There was a collective sigh of relief. “Oh thank god!”

You get to find out first hand how imps transport captives. You all have your hands tied behind your back, then you are secured even more firmly around your arms and feet and legs. You are then suspended by two to four imps off the ground.

“Care to tell us what went wrong, Jeane?” You asked, secured very effectively, your weapon stolen.

Jeane looked extremely embarrassed and bashful as she explained. “W-well… as it turns out, this sect of imps follows The Musician, another powerful Deam.”

“Ah. So it’s possible you got them mixed up. How many imps are in this sect that follows The Musician?”

“Oh, only about ninety-nine percent of us. Easy mistake to make.” The leader of the patrol said sarcastically.

“I… miscalculated.” Jeane admitted.

“Duh…” Heilan sighed, hanging limply behind her.

The lead imp was circling you with a wide smile. “You’re a strapping young lad, arn’t ya?”

“Sure.” You nodded.

“You want me, right? If I promise to do whatever you want, could you let my friends go?”

“No? We already got all of you.” The imps reasoned.

“But I’m not necessarily gonna do what you want.” It was a bluff, but your last chance to negotiate for at least your party before the imps found out that you are also a girl.

“I dunno, my wife’s pretty persuasive. She’s got ways of making you fuck.”

“You want me to have sex with your wife?”

“Of course! Fuck… I got chills just thinking about it.”

“What about my friends?”

“They’re gonna get ‘converted.’”

You began to sweat. “To your religion right?”

He stared at you gleefully.