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An Earth week passed before the class was assemble. Marduke was hearing from the observers that his popularity was dropping. The bored army people had been wandering about, and as a result they were starting to terrorize the people they were supposed to protect. After playing games a bit, Marduke came up with a brilliant idea, he would steal from a neighbor something crazy and useless, but visually appealing. In doing so, he would give his dragon riders something to do. He also started the development of executioners. The title was just a fancy word for vigilante. Those with the strongest wanderlust tendencies would be free to roam the kingdom, looking to end slavery for good, and to trample any injustice they saw along the way. The only law of the land that Marduke was interested in forcing others to implement was an end to all types of slaveries.

Veragerung may have invented slavery, but the Kingdom never relied on it. Originally, Berthame had decided on it in order to punish the elves for their genocides. Over the course of 200 years, shackles were added to other species, till even the humans began to wear them as well. This was one of the errors that Berthame had asked Marduke to fix, before passing the torch. Marduke having descended from slave people took this task very seriously. It was a hard task, but not an impossible one. Where there is a will there is always a way.

The item Marduke felt like stealing belong to the Unheils. They had built an elaborate dragon tower for his brother Ahi, who never used it. It was made using slave labor, and it was a garish, and a bit of an eyesore. It would have been demolished years ago, but the current Unheil was a bit frugal with his expenses. One day, the dragon riders arrived, and they took the Tower, making a big roar. The gates were thrown open, and the Tower was segmented and brought back to Veragerung without a drop of blood being spilled. It was frankly falling apart and in the way. The new Duke Unheil had no interest in following his father’s footsteps, he was lazy, and a bore, and so he contented himself with the simple pleasures of life. Truly, the only person into ruling was his daughter, who swore revenge on Veragerung for stealing the Tower. She had intended on mounting a retaliation, but the guards were suffering from battle fatigue, and none were willing to get into a stupid war over a decrepit Tower that was just in the way. The Tower was placed in the New Town of Veragerung, which was still under reconstruction from the Wars.

During the day when classes resumed, there were ladies going about doing a survey as to what to do with new Tower. The soldiers were happy after getting some much-needed exercises. They were marching and parading their new victory. This had given the people much reason to celebrate. Though, the students in the school of peace used to giggle as soon as the soldiers turned their backs. They guessed that the entire mission was just a waste of time, and something to raise their self-esteem, and indeed it was, though Marduke would never admit to it. Marduke was famous among his peers, and his family members for tricking people into mindless tasks. In the end, they could not even get mad, because through his trickery he had managed to make them feel like they had a purpose in life. The people from Marduke’s world tended to suffer often from a Superhero conflict, and they could not live happily, unless if they felt that they were doing something important. This trend overall came and went, and with the last true war, Marduke and his family were engaging in the delectable arts of peace.

Throughout that week, Karina had been brainstorming her next class. She wanted to keep it nice and fresh. In the end, she got herself some chalk boards from her home world. They were useful learning tool, and their occult nature allowed for them to exist in the world of Saturnastra. The Auria Master, the one who controlled the stability of the world, was keen in getting rid of anything that could be detrimental to the magical flavor of the world. Anything too technological was either exiled or buried, if it still served a vital purpose of some sort. From time to time, some of the normal humans ran into those buried structures, and they were in for quite a surprise. Still, from time to time, ancient things that nobody knew about, from the time that Saturn was young, would be discovered, and then it was the Auria Master who was in for the Surprise.

The chalkboards Karina took were tools used to teach the little children to create Aurias. It illustrated before the person, the thing they were imagining. It was useful for finetuning one’s imagination and focusing it. One cannot be a good Auria Master if one lacks the power of Imagination.

Karina was in a particular good mood that day. She hand decided to change up her usual flavor of attires for something a little bit more infantile. She wore a golden hat, with a see-through veil, that flowed past her head. The dress was white, and knee long, it was tight on top, with a bulbous skirt, as was the fashion of the day. The front had two golden lines, and in the center a white line decorated with buttons. The overcoat of the dress was longer, and it trailed behind her almost dragging on the floor. The top of it was red, and the interior lining was white. It too had golden embroidery patterns for decoration, and a large blue ribbon, over the top of the left lung. The ribbon was held in place by a kitty cat brooch. The brooch was ancient, and a relic from a bygone era. It was precious to her mother, and she had gifted it to Karina. It was the only personal item Karina had taken with her to Saturnastra. The shoes were white, and made of leather, closed by two golden buttons. Around her neck, Karina had a cameo surrounded by pearls, tied by a black ribbon. The cameo featured Venus and her chubby child Cupid. The earrings were two white pearls. Her hair was her usual wild and curly mane. Under the shadow of her hat, it looked even darker. Her lips looked a tad more crimson, her skin a shade darker. As she walked, she turned heads, but not because of the shortness of her skirt. Rather, it was the first time she wore anything that looked remotely European, which was the flavor of this Continent.

When Karina entered the school, she saw a distraught sailor. He was with his child complaining to Begonia. Her dog Malarkey from time to time would growl at the sailor. The conversation was interrupted by Karina who asked, “What is the matter?”

“Woe it is I,” moaned Begonia, “There is a thief in this school.”

“Really, like a pickpocket?” asked Karina.

“No,” said the sailor, “The sneak picks the locks during class time and escapes with all the valuables.”

“I have an idea on how to catch the fellow, but I can’t say it, for he might be listening,” said Karina looking about suspiciously. There were children passing by, and some were trying to hide their thoughts from Karina. They guessed that like her brother, she was a mind reader, and so they shifted their train of thought to something more benign whenever they saw her.

Karina returned home quickly, and she brought Vindkald with her. The plan was simple, and all the second party involved simply had to play the waiting game. To bait the thief, Karina employed Lucian. As a rich merchant’s son, he was bound to have goodies. He placed inside the decoy locker known as Vindkald a fancy gold watch. With the trap set, Lucian went with Karina to class. This little thief incident caused Karina and Lucian to arrive late to class. Carmenta had not gone there, and neither had Babysel who had taken his ward to the doctor because the kid was having a crying fit.

Mico was just starting to get up, while Janus was sitting there patiently waiting for Karina to arrive. Beside him was a familiar face. After scanning her memory, a bit, Karina remembered that the girl was called Suntaria. She had just returned from one of her missions and had decided to go to class with Janus to see what all the fuzz was about. At least, this was the official excuse.

When she saw Karina enter in her pretty dress, with the short knee length skirt, Suntaria could not help but to frown. Indecency in Veragerung was a complicated business, and it only applied to civilians. Suntaria was dressed like a nobleman, with the short, knee length pants, the ornamental red shirt, and white stripes shirt, with golden buttons, and with a black cape, and a hat with a feather. All soldiers were considered men in Veragerung. Even with the rights of men and women evened out by Marduke, there was still the mores of society to get through. As with most things, it takes time for people to get used to their newfound freedoms, and expectations.

More than anything, Suntaria, as it is common with most normal humans, felt a bit of envy of Karina’s legs.

Janus smiled when he saw Karina enter, but his eyes saddened a bit when he turned his gaze to Lucian. He opened this mouth to speak, but Suntaria stole the worlds right out his mouth. She said, “Why are you late?”

“There is a thief in this school, and I was laying a trap for him with Lucian,” explained Karina.

“A thief you say. I am quite surprised indeed. One never hears of such things in the army,” said Suntaria.

“That is because Kanon had always kept a tight leash around the cadets,” said Karina.

“So, what is today’s class? Another stupid story and some reading? You could try an exam or something, maybe an essay or some group projects?” asked Suntaria sneering.

“No, I brought some chalkboards and I want my students to stare at it for the entire duration of the class, when they are done with it. I will show the classroom what each of you came up with,” said Karina handing Suntaria the blank chalkboard.

Suntaria raised an eyebrow as she stared into the blank chalkboard. The board started making a chalky writing sound, which made Suntaria jump back and thrown the board, as if it was a snake or some type of animal. The board smacked Karina in the back of the head, as she was handing Mico his board who was sitting on the other side of the classroom.

Blushing, Suntaria said, “Oopsie!”

“You are lucky it was an accident otherwise I would have smacked you in the head with the board thirteen times,” said Karina.

“Why thirteen?” asked Lucian sitting down.

“Why do you want to know?” asked Karina.

“Just curious as all,” said Lucian.

“If you must know, it just a family thing. When mother was small, she used to fight with her brother all the time. To put an end to the pointless fighting, it was decided that if one struck another, the victim had the right to punch the offender 13 times, without the offender fighting back. The offender then was allowed to do the same and so forth. After three hours of this, the fighting ended for good. This tradition was passed onto us, and so, I was discouraged from doing violence to any of my family members,” said Karina.  

“Why would you want to do violence onto your brother?” asked Mico.

“To relieve stress, who cares really? Sometimes a simple retaliation becomes a compulsory behavior that is sought over and over. Eventually, the reason to do violence onto your brother no longer matters. It is the act itself which is its own recompense. Only if both parties are willing can it end for good,” explained Karina.

What Karina said gave Suntaria plenty to think about. For years, she had a rivalry with her brother. She could not remember how or why it had started. It had gotten to such a point that they could not be in the same room together. It had not always been that way, but she had allowed it to degrade this far. Whenever her brother had tried to make peace, her pride had gotten in the way, and now, her brother no longer tried anymore. It almost seemed to her that he considered her, an enemy.

Karina noticed that Suntaria was thinking sad thoughts. To break that chain of thought, Karina said, “Well, about these chalkboards. They were pretty common back in my old school. When you hold the board, you visually see your thoughts. It is a good visual tool for focusing your thoughts and seeing if you are a scatter brain. Do you guys want to play with it?”

“Sure,” said Lucian reaching for the board Karina had handed him.

Janus received his board. It was soon making the chalking sound. Suntaria received her board, and the board showed random scenes of her childhood. A good number were fabricated memories, since the brain’s filing system sometimes makes a jumble of mistakes. Karina too had her board.

Lucian noted that his board mainly showed numbers, but no pictures. From time to time, it would draw a man in black robes. Since the board was green, and the chalk white, it displayed the person using a sketchy type of style. Mico was being more deliberate with the tool. He was treating it like a writing board, that did not require hands to work with. It was impressive the level of focus and control he had over his own thoughts.  Janus was a little bit frustrated with his board. The thoughts came and went, like the ebbing and flowing of the waves. Karina was using her board to daydream a little.

The true usage of the board was to train people to vocalize their auras, to form an auria. With their enhanced psychic powers, the vocalization part was easy. The hard part was controlling one’s aura. Shifting emotions, and thoughts created quite the unstable world that could be a harm to oneself and another. The trains of thoughts were interrupted when Casimir entered the room. Karina explained to him the exercise, and he nodded with understanding.

At the end of the class, Karina used her telepathy to take the boards from the students. She held them up for all to see what each person was thinking. Janus’s final thought had been quite murderous indeed, which did not inspire much confidence. Such thoughts came to Janus from time to time, but he was a pacifist at heart, and he never acted upon them. Mico had been thinking about germs, and so his board consisted of microbes only seen through his microscope. Suntaria had been thinking about a maiden playing a violin, while a younger boy was sitting on her head, doing the same thing. Lucian’s board showed a mouth, hands, and feet.

The one that was the most surprising was Casimir’s board. It was a blank, which gave everyone in the classroom plenty to think about. Still, the one that gave everyone much to talk about was Karina’s board. It showed lots of squid tentacles, coming out of a coffer.

“Is that the shapeshifter?” asked Casimir.

“It seems pretty obvious, if you ask me,” commented Babysel.

“It certainly is not boring,” said Lucian, “By and by, I want to speak to you at the end of class.”

“Sure, it isn’t as if I have anything better to do with my time on this earth,” said Karina.

“Earth? Oh! You mean your home world,” said Casimir.

“Yeah, I heard about it, from the older soldiers who worked with Marduke,” said Suntaria.

“Are the tentacle, shape shifting monsters common in your home world?” asked Lucian.

“Yes, but they were not monsters, and we used to call them Cuttlefishes. Vindkald is the sole survivor. He is immortal till he finds himself a mate. After their union, he will die,” lied Karina.

The board belonging to Karina showed a representation of the Cuttlefish, and how it could shapeshift.

Suntaria then said, “This is all well and fun, but what does this have to do with anything, or the board for that matter. How is learning about other people’s thoughts going to make us better people?”

“It’s a little something called empathy or wearing other people’s shoes. People lately spend too much time trying to make others think as they do, that they do not bother to understand them. And the real importance of the board is that thoughts are fun and all, but most people do rarely think things through or act on their thoughts, because they are ephemeral, and random,” said Karina.

“Yes, yes, mother. The concept of empathy is all well and good, but a person who walks can never wear the shoes of someone without legs,” retorted Suntaria.

“Well said, my little owl. I had enough of this nonsense for today. Classes will take place again, eventually. I will post a letter, and I will send a summary of the events discussed to the others,” said Karina.

“Why bother? If they cannot seem to show up for class, why make the information easily available to them. It is unfair to those who came,” said Suntaria.

“Give it a rest, already, Sunny!” said Janus grabbing her elbow. He did not put any force into his touch, rather is was a pat.

Suntaria elbowed her his arm away. Janus only called Suntaria Sunny when she was being difficult. When they were wee small, the pair used to play with a goat belonging to the daughter of Suntaria’s maid. The goat went by the name of Sunny, and she was quite stubborn indeed.

Karina walked past Suntaria. The maiden tried to address Karina again, but Karina looked past her, completely tuning out her voice and presence. Lucian followed behind her. The other two students also departed making as little noise as possible, and they avoided eye contact. Before Janus and Suntaria realized it, they had been left alone by their classmates.

Mico had seen fights like those play out hundreds of times in his life. He had grown wearing of lover’s quarrels, not only of his own, but of those around him. Whenever he saw a couple getting into an argument, he always left the room. He also did the same back when he was younger. This non-confrontational attitude was the reason why none of his relationships lasted, but he was at least alive and well, and at peace. Just as Mico had expected, Janus and Suntaria spent an hour arguing. It was eventually stopped by a librarian who had grown wearing of the noise they were creating, when Suntaria started raising her voice, and Janus was forced to follow in suit.

As for Karina and Lucian, they were engaged in a pleasant conversation about the language of flowers, and why people should eat more meat.  

“As I was saying, it doesn’t make much sense to me to love nature, yet value one species over another. Plants feel pain too. Eating them over animals doesn’t make you a better person,” said Karina.

“Even so, I can’t stand the sound of animals being killed,” said Lucian shuddering.

One of his father’s early business ventures had been a Butcher’s Shop. More than once, Lucian had to help in the preparation of the meat. The scent of meat alone was enough to make him sick to his stomach.

“Don’t feel too bad about it. As long as it was a clean kill, nothing else matters. There is nothing worse than slow death,” said Karina, “And besides, the animals in this world were put for you to live with, and occasionally eat.”

“I have been wondering about that,” said Lucian.

The train of thought was interrupted when they saw a kid being escorted by the guards. The child was covered in slime, feathers, and confetti. Karina laughed as they took the kid away. Vindkald apparently did a number on the brat.

Lucian saw the guards drawing near, and so he asked, “Do you have my watch?”

“Here you go, Lucian. Thank you for your service,” said the guard.

“Nothing to it,” said Lucian.

“Who was that kid?” asked Karina. She had no information on the fellow since Veragerung was pretty big, and it was impossible to know everyone, but Marduke was trying.

“The kid is Regin, son of Otrutoyelnason,” said Lucian.

“Otr, Otr… Oh! That Ort!” said Karina remembering.

“Yes, that Ort!” nodded Lucian.

Otr was a minor dwarven lord in the court of the Veragerung. He was quite wealthy, and during the change in leadership, he did not pick a side, rather he left the city and then returned when things settled down. From time to time, as of lately, he went to pester Marduke about his living arrangements, and not being taken seriously. He was hoping to make himself indispensable, as he did back in the old court. So, far, he was not being too successful, but he kept trying at everything to see what stuck.

Regin was his youngest son, of a brood of 28 children. They were 17 boys, 10 daughters and 1 intersex kid. Intersex is more common in dwarves than in humans. Regin suffered from Androgen insensitive syndrome, and thus had the body of a female, despite being a male. None of it matters, and it did not affect the life of little Regin, who acted in accordance with his true nature, despite the visual signs of being a little lady. Since he had one female ova, he did not have fertility problems. He was a lady in every sense of the world, despite being XY.

When Regin saw Karina and Lucian, she whined and said, “It was them! They set me up! Why would I have to steal? I am filthy rich! I actually live in a castle, unlike Mr. King Poverty!”   

“Enough! You are only sinking deeper, little Regina,” said the guard chucking.

“That is Sir Regin to you, and if I had my dagger, you! You!” kept complaining Regin. Regin had been a star pupil in the army but had been discharged for her little klepto habits. Apparently, she had not outgrown them.

She no longer stole the items, but she still picked the locks and handled the items for a bit before putting them back in their place. The first lock she had picked was to enter her ailing mother’s room. Her mother eventually died, and Regin almost joined her due to the infectious nature of the virus. Marduke arrived in time to save her, but he had not arrived soon enough to help Regin’s mother. Ever since then, Regin picked locks and stole items to cope with stress. Since it was close to finals, there was little Regin opening locks.

Lucian and Karina saw Regin being taken away. Lucian gave her a pitiful look because she was an orphan. Meanwhile, Karina regarded the little girl with amusement. Regin felt annoyed by Karina’s look, but she felt insulted by Lucian.

The last thing she was able to say to the pair was, “I don’t need your pity!”

Lucian and Karina walked for a bit. Eventually, they reached a coffee shop that faced the school. Coffeeshops were a new type of deal, and they were giving bars plenty of competition. This Coffeeshop was called Grandma’s Racemosa. It was named after the genus of the Coffee plant being used. The shop was actually a person’s home. The main door opened on top, and then people could place their orders. An elderly lady made the coffee and poured it on porcelain cups. After the coffee was drunk, the cups were returned. There was about four tables, with two chairs each. The Lady of the house shared the last name of Begonia Pureheart. She was not related to her. Rather, she had stolen the identity of a distant cousin of Begonia. Since verification of identities could only occur by hear says, nobody questioned the identity of Pupa. She was always careful about the way she spoke, and for the most part she got others to talk, while she asked questions to continue the conversation. She always gave the impression of being amicable, but she never revealed anything about herself. This habit only grew stronger with age. As a result, many of her loved ones thought her cold, and distant, and so now, she lived with only two servant whelps. The coffee idea was proposed by one of the girls who specialized in the gardens.

In her previous job, she had worked in a coffee plantation. When she got freed by Pupa, she recognized a similar coffee plants in the gardens belonging to Pupa. To make some extra cash, they started to make coffee using proven methods. Due to the size of her garden, Pupa could only stay in business for only half a year. To extend the usage of her coffee, she served it with milk and honey. This added flavor, while it helped decrease the amount of coffee used per order.

Karina and Lucian took a table under a Eucalyptus tree. The chairs had a dozen or so leaves. The tree was in the process of removing all its leaves. It tended to do so at odd times of the year. Lucian said to her, “I am going to get the coffee, you wait here.”

Karina nodded in response. When Lucian’s back was turned, Karina let out a yawn. Some of the men there drinking coffee chuckled. One even smiled at Karina. Karina lowered her eyes and she started to look at a little ant walking on the table. Her reverie of the little ant was interrupted when Lucian placed the coffee cup, right on top of the ant.

Karina raising her eyes, said in an annoyed tone, “So, what is the all-important conversation you wanted to have with me.”

“I am sorry,” said Lucian sitting down, “Did I do something wrong?”

“Oh! Nothing, nothing at all. One cannot go throughout life worrying about every little thing, but at times I can’t just help it, especially if it was a very charismatic ant,” said Karina.

“A very charismatic what?” asked Lucian confused.

Karina raised her cup, and she saw the little creature was fine, just a little over heated and disoriented. Sighing, she said holding the cup, “Pay me no mind. I get like that at least for a couple of days per month, it wears off eventually.”

“Ah,” said Lucian flatly not understanding.

The bored nearby gentlemen did think they understood, and they chuckled as a result of their misunderstanding. From time to time, Karina wanted to acquire random things. She was a bit of a hoarder, like most tube children her age. Despite having more than enough means to get the item, she would hold off, until the situations seemed more favorable, or at least till her date of birth occurred. Like her mother, she had inherited her worries about the future, and did not quite ever feel safe.

Seeing as though Karina was not talking, Lucian said in a lower voice drawing closer, “Well, I have been hearing from some of the customers, and nobles some worrisome complaints and ideas.” 

Karina leaned back on her chair to regain her personal space a bit. Lucian drew his chair closer and he whispered, “The merchants have been complaining about how crowded the city has gotten, and that the soldiers have no money, because they rarely buy anything, and that the city might fall into poverty if we do not regain the tributes of the rogue territories.”

“Those territories are not rogue. They are free, which is not the same as being rouge,” said Karina, “We will play nice with them, and do a little commerce. It might do the merchants some good to get out of the city every once in a while.”

“Not every merchant has it in them to travel,” said Lucian.

“In my world, we have an ancient saying: Nothing ventured nothing gained. And it is not as if the soldiers are dirt poor. In fact, most of them got a pay raise, because brother believes in paying a person what they are owned. The soldiers are just going through an austerity period. Things will normalize once brother starts going out into public and starts buying random things,” said Karina.

“I see,” said Lucian, “But, why are they so spooked. Were they ordered to save up.”

“Well, when you see someone in power doing something, you imagine that they know something that you don’t. You don’t know the real reason behind, it, but you do it nonetheless,” explained Karina after taking a sip of hot coffee.

“Huh,” said Lucian raising an eyebrow. He passed his index finger over the rim of the cup, lost in though. He then said, “So, they are acting rather foolish indeed.”

“To put it in laymen’s term. Yes,” said Karina, “Aside from dishing out orders here and there, Marduke has never asked his people to imitate him.”

“I suppose,” said Lucian staring at the cup. He looked up suddenly, as soon has he remember the main thing he wanted to talk about. Smiling he said, “Ah! Yes. My cousin, and some of the boys are probably going to be pestering you in the near future. You should keep an eye out for that.”

“Let me guess,” said Karina resting her head on her left hand, “Their parents guessed that I might be rich because of the jewelry I wear. They thought it might be profitable to marry into the new royal bloodline.”

“Yep. Something like that. It is as if they have only one way of thinking,” said Lucian with disgust, as his eyes narrowed.

“Some things cannot be helped little Lucian. If you lived with fishes, and you look and act as a fish, how can you expect to think in any other type of fishy way?” asked Karina.

Lucian laughed, not getting it. He only bothered to come to Karina’s class to be amused, because there were very few sources of entertaining. Marduke was aware of this, and he was slowly introducing new sports to transform soldiers, into athletes. All he needed was a little arena, and soon the people could be watching a quality basketball game. It was a work in progress, getting the auria master to agree to it. On the meantime, Marduke was forced to settle for a simple game of polo. They were playing recreationally in the public bath pools created by Marduke’s sister Melina during the reign of Berthame.

From time to time, they were little tourneys sponsored by the Rubber plantations merchants, who benefited from the increase sale of their rubber balls among children. There was also horse racing, jousting and tennis. These games were mainly done in private by the aristocracy at odd times. There was not much of a public event type of sporting venue. Marduke was always thinking of appropriately themed modes of entertainment for his people.  He knew that bored, idle people were the first to cause problems.

Karina was not amused by Lucian laughing at her. In response to this, she said, “Well. Since you find me so amusing, how about I tell you another one of my silly stories?”

“I certainly missed your tales today. The board was amusing, but somewhat lack luster, considering my lack of imagination,” said Lucian.

“Blame your lack of imagination on your parents. Anyhow…this is my story. There once was a bridge demon,” started Karina. She paused a moment to make certain Lucian would not interrupt her, as he did in class sometimes. Lucian gestured with his hand to illustrate that his mouth was sewn shut. Karina then continued, “Anyhow, this demon liked to kill people who passed by from time to time. The demon did so to amuse herself because she liked scaring people. Time passed, and the people stopped being scared of her because they discovered new technology, and they stopped believing in the Gods. Whatever the demon did, it was explained away as unfortunate accidents. One day, the bridge demon decided to go see the world beyond her bridge, to learn how to scare humans again. She entered the body of a lady that passed by, and she went to explore museums, and theaters. What the Lady demon did not know was that the human body she inhabited had a baby inside of her.”

“Can’t they sense other souls or whatever?” asked Lucian.

“It takes a lot of focus and power to control a body. And while inside of it, their senses become like the humans, severely limiting their powers. This is why most demons are only active in the spiritual or mental world. Anyhow, as the pregnancy progressed, the problems of the body started affecting the spirit. The demon in spite of herself became maternal,” explained Karina, “One day, while visiting the prison with her child.”

“Why did she visit the prison?” asked Lucian.

“Well, the father of the brat was in jail,” explained Karina, “Anyhow, while in the entrance she saw a large mass of a demon. The Lady Demon found it odd because demons avoided using their physicality. The reason for it is because with a physical type of body, they can feel pain, and that gets old, really quickly after an eternity or two of being poked. The bizarre physical demon was actually a demoniac human known among the demon ranks as Cascara or shell. He was usually avoided because he tended to take the physical parts of the demons he liked best. He had originally started with humans, but then he upgraded to other creatures. It was due to the strong willpower of his soul that he was able to do so. He was in prison looking for a child that was said to have the heart of a demon. The lady demon did best to protect her child, and much to her relief, Cascara saw that her kid was just a normal human. After a skirmish between the guards, and Cascara was able to enter deeper into the prison. The power he felt was so overwhelming, that they had to look about, searching, for that amassing demon heart. After leaving the lady demon’s child alone, he felt the power growing stronger near a different child in the prison. The child had the demon heart Cascara was looking for. He tried to take it, but even with his demonic powers he was not able to. He tried to take the demon heart from the child by force and by spirit, but he was not able to.”

“And then,” asked Lucian.

“That’s it,” said Karina flatly.

“So, what is the lesson here?” asked Lucian.

“Well, it is simple if you think about, but since I see you are not in a thinking type of mood, I will do my best to elaborate. In life, people think you have two choices, you are either a leader or a follower,” said Karina. She added smiling, “But in fact, there is a third choice. You can be your own person, but not force your fellow man to live as you do. My people are of the latter.”

“Then, how does your government system work?” asked Lucian.

“Meh… we have a little bit of a Leviathan thing going on, with an all-powerful type of uncorruptible leader, getting the ball rolling. Don’t worry about it. The other lesson focuses on taking care of your body because it can have a negative effect on your spirit. People think that it is only the inside that counts, but the outside can really mess up your innards as well,” concluded Karina.