A Small Pile of Short Lerix Stories

A collection of bite-sized (euphemism for "I can't write long stuff for shit") stories about the human and Summoner pair from my other stories. Contains no explicit content and mostly focuses on various worldbuilding. Might get updated in the future, if that happens, there will be a note in the index below.

Index (line numbers):
  9 Art Sanglant
 63 The First Eye
112 Edgeless Pit
131 Swirling Wings

Art Sanglant
------------
  The kitchen was quiet but not silent. Besides some low bubbling of water that had been boiling just a moment ago, soft rustling of something powdery could be heard from the counter in front of which a slim demon figure floated, its long, dark fingers shuffling a mysterious mixture.
  “And finally… some cinnamon could be nice,” Lerix muttered as he reached into a drawer and took out a small jar of rust-coloured spice. He opened it and carefully poured a small amount into the pile of leaves and other spices in front of him before mixing the blend again.
  “Damn, is that real cinnamon?” a human voice asked from the demon’s side. It belonged to Saul, the Lerix’s closest.
  “Of course. It’s, let’s say, ‘mystic employee’ benefits. The synthetic stuff doesn’t affect Summoners well, something about the main aromatic compound messing with enzymes that direct the flow of Argent transportation powers, I believe; so, we get the natural one for free,” Lerix explained and added, “and I swear the fake stuff tastes a bit sour while being overall bland too.”
  “Wait,” Saul blinked, “what was that about Argent enzymes?”
  “Oh, nothing overly serious, just some random accidental summoning and flying to random places. Luckily, it seems to be localised, so there’s been no cases of an interdimensional victim being brought in,” Lerix described in more detail while carefully putting most of the mix into an empty jar, “Anyway, would you care for a cup of chai? It’s good with vanilla,” he nodded his strange head towards a small translucent packaging with black crumbles in it before shrugging slightly, “That one is not real though, I’m afraid.”
  “How much does actual vanilla go for anyway?” Saul wondered.
  “A lot, it’s very low priority for the hydroponics here and it’s apparently really sensitive to changes. Not to mention that synthetic vanilla tastes mostly identical and actually has a stronger scent.”
  “Yeah, I remember synthetic vanilla flavour back from Earth, that thing was garbage. This one actually looks like the real thing too, sorta,” Saul reminisced before changing the topic, “Anyway, chai sounds good. You didn’t overdo the spiciness, right?”
  “I sure hope not,” Lerix grinned, “though it might be a bit hot. Just a little.”
  “A little is alright,” Saul chuckled.
  “Alrighty,” the demon lowered his grin into a warm smile and reached into a cupboard for a pair of mugs.

  Saul sipped on the warm, golden drink. It was aromatic and exotic from the spice mixture and creamy and sweet from the condensed milk. The cinnamon wasn’t overpowering and the ingredient blend was complex; he could taste a hint of orange zest and maybe even almonds towards the end. The smell tingled in his nose pleasantly.
  “This is really good,” he noted to Lerix. The demon took a slow, savouring sip of his own before shifting closer to the human who felt a shiver inside as the Summoner’s mild warmth embalmed him.
  “Thank you. Yes, this batch turned out quite nice,” he nodded slightly.
  “Do all Summoners make their own mixes?” Saul asked.
  “It depends. I just buy simpler tea blends; making my own seems a bit excessive. But chai, with all of the spices and additions, though? We usually make our own. I like to use both, really: Sometimes brew my own mix and sometimes use something different from a shop,” he paused to drink, “I have one with lots of chilli somewhere around here… It’s actually supposed to be brewed with heavy cream, so it’s both smooth and burning. And I knew a kinsman who would put salted liquorice in his mix.”
  “Uh, what?” Saul shook his head, “Salted liquorice? The hell?”
  “Yeah, he was a strange one. I’m not sure what I even thought of the taste, it was so bizarre,” he stopped, seemingly looking into distance even though he had no eyes to make a stare with, “I wonder what happened with him. The last I’ve heard, he was trying to deliver murals from Hinikar Yonsh, on the outskirts of Hell’s reality. He liked art and this find was particularly abstract.”
  There was a moment of warm silence, interrupted with an occasional, nearly mute flap of Lerix’s wings when he adjusted his altitude.

  “Hell art is pretty interesting,” Saul spoke up, “I’ve seen a pretty sizable collection that my boss has hung up in the office. It’s kinda simple-minded, but the scale and details are amazing.”
  “Ah yes. You won’t find much of a deep message in these sculptures besides the constant dogmatism of hellish conquest,” Lerix lowered his head slightly and shook it, “but I have to agree that just the brutality and composition make it strangely pretty. It almost makes one want to follow its authors,” he stopped and cleared his throat, “Uh, ignore the last part.”
  Saul looked at him for a second, “What,” he bumped into him slightly, “are you getting susceptible to Hell’s propaganda? ‘Our bloodworms taste much better than yours’? ‘Argent-savvy leadership for a stronger Hell’?”
  Lerix shyly chuckled before starting to laugh quietly, “Until they start advertising that Hell’s obsidian handcuffs are more fun, I don’t think we need to worry about a rise in defection.”
  “Are you suggesting something?” Saul looked at the demon slyly.
  “What?”
  “Fun with handcuffs, you know,” he slowed the sentence down and lowered his voice.
  “Oh,” Lerix stuttered, “Oh, I,” he looked away and back, “I guess you should ignore that one too?” He hid his face in his long free palm and convulsed from the laughing. Saul raised his eyebrows, “So, no suggestions about binding someone with items from mystical materials?”
  The demon calmed down and lowered his hand, “Well, if it would mean I could put some of my old skills to good use again, then by all means,” he snickered again, this time lowly and almost gutturally, “I can definitely turn them into fun for both of us.”
  This time it was Saul who almost uncomfortably giggled, even though it made him feel chirpy inside.

  “Well, the art varies wildly depending on where and what era it’s from, sometimes it can be quite nice in the depth of its meaning. What plane is your boss from?” Lerix asked after a while, breaking the somewhat awkward silence.
  “Oh, she’s a new plane Baron, the brawnier, not really philosophical ones. She is smart, don’t get me wrong, just a bit raw,” Saul said.
  “I see,” the Summoner muttered and held his chin, “Yes, so it’s more about the glory of power and authority?”
  “Hmm,” Saul paused to remember, “Yeah, actually. The reception used to have a pretty nice relief of a big demon overseeing a ton of small minions. She had it moved somewhere else because it kind of gave off the wrong message.” He snickered while a sly sneer appeared on Lerix’s face.
  “Was the big demon a Baron or some other species you’ve seen?”
  “No, I didn’t recognise them. Tall head, strange horns, four eyes, and sharp but crooked teeth.”
  “That doesn’t sound familiar, so it might have been something an eon old from across my part of Hell,” Lerix said and followed up, “Old plane Barons’ art isn’t that dissimilar from what you’ve described, but it is a bit more tasteful, describing the perks of being in power, explaining how the displayed demon leader got into their position—so it’s a good source of historical information too—and sometimes it gets very insightful.” He nodded approvingly.

  “Did you do any art back then?” Saul asked. Lerix sighed, “Yes, yes I did. Though not much, since my temple was already quite established by the time I had grown up. I’m not too rusty with a chisel, so you can imagine a younger me in black robes, adorned with useless blood gems, having an evil aura around me, sculpting a statue of an ancestor whose biggest achievement was a slaughter of another temple. I would be infusing it with low-level magic throughout the making too, so it would make demons walking past it feel tiny and insignificant in comparison.
  I remember lending my hand with a mural or two as well, mostly consisting of two colours, three if you count black coal; yellow sulphur and red blood, obviously,” he sounded a little bitter.
  “Doesn’t blood turn really dark and black though?” Saul stopped him.
  “It was constantly being renewed,” Lerix explained, “You can find many blood fountains in Hell, and some would be pouring it out right into a precisely set portal that lead to small pores in the mural wall. It then looked like the mural itself was bleeding.”
  “How decadent,” Saul commented. The dark grimace on Lerix’s face melted as he chuckled.
  “Yes, very. It did look strangely pretty, but I’d use thickened coloured water if I were to make something like that nowadays. No creature coming to harm just for some nice art and it wouldn’t smell horrible after a day or two.”

  “Would you,” Saul asked, pausing as he was unsure about his question, “would you return there to see all of it?”
  Lerix looked at him, taken aback a little. “I don’t know. Mars doesn’t see many escapees from my clan, so I’m not even sure how I would get there without getting killed. And I’m not sure how I would react to it anyway. I’ve gone through epiphany before and I fled here as a result of it. I’m not sure I’d be ready for this reminder of my past,” he sighed and stared seemingly blankly, “I don’t want to forget about it, that’s the worst thing I could do. Actually, I remember having to consult another Summoner when his flesh sculpture turned up here in a gallery. He took it pretty badly, since he had been trying to erase the memory of it before. Then again,” he paused and sipped on his chai, “I don’t know how I would react to something like that happening to me.”


The First Eye
-------------
  Saul perked up and tensed his neck from his work when he heard a harsh curse followed by a clang and annoyed muttering. He stood up and moved to the living room where Lerix had been doing some research. When he entered, he saw the Summoner holding his arm with another, floating towards one of the shared drawers, his wings twisting around. From beneath the long fingers he was pressing on his bright red forearm, a darker, crimson liquid was slowly oozing.
  “Lerix!” Saul called out at the sight. The demon motioned with his injured arm’s hand for him to stop and explained, his usually smooth voice tainted with underlying roughness, “It’s okay, it was just that stupid chisel,” he nodded his head towards the table that had a stone block on it with a half-uncovered artefact sticking out of it. Next to it was a flat, sharp-edged tool with a fresh bloodstain on it. A small hammer was lying on the opposite side.
  “Is it deep?” the human asked. Lerix shook his head, “No, not really. But then again, I wasn’t making a strong hit,” he said as he took out a white bandage and started tidily unrolling it on his wound.

  “This is the second time it happened this week,” the Summoner muttered as he sat on the sofa, his posture back to his usual noble friendliness. He ran his fingers across the mildly stained cloth before moving them across the rest of the arm that was healthy, “I’ll have to get the covering replenished.”
  Saul sat next to him, holding two steaming cups and offering one to Lerix. He smiled and took it.
  “Chocolate, a bit of chilli, and sweetened condensed milk,” Saul listed, explaining the deliciously sugary smell of the tea. Lerix looked at him with a warm, grateful smile and his posture melted into a relaxed one. If he had eyes, they’d form happy-looking arches.
  “You’re wonderful,” he purred as he gave Saul a soft kiss on the top of the head. The human smiled and cleared his throat, “Well, what about the arm?”
  “Ah, yes,” Lerix paused, “I suppose I’ll have to just be more careful in the future, at least until I get something done. These parts of mine are somewhat fragile, at least when it comes to sharp edges,” he placed his red hand on Saul’s, his four thin fingers longer than the human’s entire hand.
  “Fragile?” Saul asked, a little worried.
  “Well, while my armoured parts are quite strong against physical harm, my hands are more protected against Argent surges since it flows through them a lot,” the Summoner explained, “that protection isn’t much use for me nowadays, I don’t remember the last time I’ve used my powers offensively to maim someone inside and out. But it means that gnashes are much easier to come by.”
  He sipped on his tea while his hand that was resting on Saul’s moved gently across it, inspecting it blindly.
  “Don’t worry, you’d have to really try to hurt me with the fingernails, but I can feel your skin is a bit more pliable; a peck with a knife would get quickly healed on its own with one of those strange things that grow on minor human injuries.”
  “You mean a scab?”
  “Yes, they’re interesting things, but I’ve heard they can apparently get itchy and annoying?” he made a slightly embarrassed expression and continued after taking another drink, “Uh, anyway, after coming here, one procedure I underwent was getting a thin, translucent layer of protective coating on my unarmoured skin, like my arms and inner thighs.”
  Saul remembered that Lerix’s fleshier parts felt firmer and colder than what he expected. “So, I guess it doesn’t last forever?” he asked.
  “No, I was told so. But I can just get it recoated and I’m fine for another… few years, I believe? Compared to the body transformations they do, this procedure is simple. It does tingle a bit.”

  “Have you had anything else done?” Saul asked before adding, “Besides the nice lips.”
  Lerix smiled and looked away, giggling a little. He had a pair of thin lips of an almost identical tone as their surroundings. It was probably the most common addition incoming demons asked for, both for convenience and expressiveness.
  “Well, that one is obvious, isn’t it?” he said, made a wide, toothy grin and pretended to try and drink his tea, without much success. Even if he’d manage to somehow suck in some of the beverage, he’d have trouble keeping it from spilling. “Well, I suppose I also have had the teeth done a little to make them nice and shiny, and also my flames have a protective coating, but those are much more sensitive. But I think that’s about it,” he shrugged, “they did offer me quite a lot, like different legs so that I could walk on more human-like feet. Or eyes,” he twisted the skin on his eyeless forehead, mimicking a wink.
  “Eyes, huh?” Saul asked, adding, “What colour?”
  “I haven’t thought much about them as I don’t need them—I have different means of sight—but perhaps… the same colour as my flames would be nice in that case?” he pointed to his stomach where, hidden underneath his tunic, were glowing amber embers, “It’s kind of standard for demons, but I find it a nice combination. What do you think?” he looked at Saul expectantly.
  “I… don’t know where they would fit,” the human said, placing his fingers on Lerix’s faceplate, feeling the smooth forehead interrupted with the ray-like creases from below, “maybe around here?” he circled around two places where the possible eyes would fit neatly within the lines, “it would be strange, though.”
  Lerix giggled from the tingling sensation before chuckling at what Saul said, “Yes, strange indeed. I remember wondering about it since I had been told that people apparently prefer to have eyes to look into when talking to someone. It seems logical, but I don’t think I have this problem.”
  Saul quickly retracted his hand with a surprised ‘huh’. He stared at the demon for a second before pondering, “Yeah, that’s true,” he paused for a second, “How do you do it?”
  “How do I do what, precisely?” Lerix asked.
  “Well, I’ve never felt strange talking with you while looking at you and not having eyes to make contact with,” Saul explained. The demon made a small playful smirk, “I don’t know.”
  “I guess the smile and charming personality are enough,” the human said and rested his head on the Summoner’s shoulder.

  “So, Lerix, how do you see, then?” he asked after a quiet moment.
  “Hmm?” the demon murmured, putting away the empty tea cup on the coffee table.
  “You said you have other means of sight, what are they?”
  “Ah, yes. It’s really quite interesting. I’ll need something to drink for this,” the Summoner said, grabbed the two empty mugs, sat up and floated to the kitchen counter to boil water.
  “Do you remember our little storm adventure, when I said Argent is similar to this world’s electricity? The embers on my chest and back produce and maintain a weak field of static Argent around them—there are basically particles flying out of me and based on how they interact with the environment and light, my perception of the surroundings changes. I believe the artefact in my head produces those particles too, but of a negative polarity, so that it attracts whatever my body makes—doesn’t that sound familiar?—and it’s also where the affected particles come back to. So I actually see from the same position like you do.
  However, since I’m not limited by having two small spots obstructed by my skull to see, I have a wider view than humans or other demons. It’s not too much, the actual field of my view is roughly the same as a human’s, but it’s all equal. Corners of my vision have identical focus as whatever’s right in front of me,” He explained while waiting for the water to reach the proper temperature. He then poured it into the mugs he had prepared before and floated back to the sofa to Saul who was listening and very interested.
  “Wait, so how well can you actually see? What about colours?” he asked. Lerix pointed at the room’s door that was almost entirely to his side while looking in front of himself. At that angle, Saul would probably only see that there’s a vaguely rectangular portal from which light shines through.
  “I can make out the details of the doorframe and I can see what’s in the hallway—by the way, it needs vacuuming. However,” he paused, seemingly focusing on something else, “the edges are kind of noisy, like I’m not getting much information there. You asked about colours? These are just different wavelengths of light and it affects the particles I make, so I do see them. I can dip a bit below what humans see, with some infrared there, but violet tones disappear sooner for me. I’m certainly more sensitive to red and orange while humans are better at green, if I’m not mistaken. Also, certain shades of green often flicker or change brightness, but it’s rare.”
  Saul took in the information and asked after Lerix sat down next to him, “Are there any disadvantages to this?” Strangely, the demon laughed at his question.
  “Oh, believe me. Well, while eyes work by just getting already existing light to shine on them, I’m actually producing my own means of vision. Luckily, I haven’t ever met another Summoner whose particles would collide with mine. However,” he raised his finger, “any intense Argent field can distort my vision.”
  “What?” Saul uttered, “But what about… wasn’t there Argent everywhere, you know, back there?”
  “It was. Not only would it appear freely in the untamed exteriors, which was most of them, but other demons would radiate it as well. Demons with eyes would see the energy auras around others, sometimes even through walls. I can notice the presence of someone else by my vision getting bright and distorted in the very roughly defined place where the other demon is, often annoyingly so. However, I am safe from particularly strong releases of Argent. I wouldn’t see much, but I wouldn’t get hurt if I were to see an energy explosion or something similar.” Lerix stood up again and returned a second later with two cups of tea in hands; a typical blend with milk and no sugar, good for having a nice conversation over.
  “Of course, that was very useful. In combat, other demons had to shield their eyes whenever a Summoner released an attack wave. You need to make a wide gesture with your arms for that, so even if I had eyes, I couldn’t protect them. So, instead, I’d be blinded with a strange colour for a second along with a ting of headache before having things return to normal. Some minions would feel too proud to look away from a little lightning bolt—not a good idea,” he lowered his head, “Well, here, we could probably fix them up quickly, but on the battlefield, they were left to wander and die as mocking stock.” He took a sip and lightened up, “Anyway, due to how all demons release Argent, it’s why it’s so easy to do procedures like they had on me. The doctors can make a sort of a connection to it and mould it easily and more or less painlessly. Summoners’ vision gets a little trippy during the process too, so I suppose that’s a bonus.”
  “What about old planers?” Saul wondered, “The brown spiked Imps or Pain Elementals?”
  “Well, they’re still demons, having a young planer ‘embalm’ them in Argent does the trick. With humans, it’s much trickier. I think it involves a demon too, but there’s the danger of an adverse reaction to the energy field. Since the damage done by it is mental first—to physically injure someone with Argent, you need an immense amount of it—it’s difficult to keep track of it and there’s much more machinery involved; some real time brain scanning, constant questioning to see if the subject’s thinking normally, and a bunch of checks and observation afterwards.”


Edgeless Pit
------------
  Saul felt strange. There was warmth around him from the sun but he didn’t feel warm at all, but he wasn’t cold either. Then he realised he’s on top of a cliff, right at the edge. He lay parallel to it and felt like slipping off at any moment. Why was he here? Why doesn’t he just roll back to safety? Something was blocking him from doing so. However, nothing was keeping him from trying to stay at the edge. The sense of dread of losing his fight with gravity was the only thing he felt. Suddenly, the world shifted and he almost completely fell over the edge. He gasped and thought about the fall that would follow…

  …Then he woke up, sweaty and with his heart beating. He was floating a small bit above his bed in Lerix’s embrace. His eyes adjusted to the darkness, it was deep night. He realised that, in the usual act of getting hugged and accidentally lifted by the floating demon, Lerix rolled partially in the air, leaving Saul sliding off him into the terrible demise of several inches of fall into the soft pillows below. He was really slipping off and had to hold himself tightly to the Summoner’s shoulders and legs with his hands and feet respectively. What now? Should he wake him up? Pull him down slowly? Pull himself up on top of him? He then realised that the demon is not sleeping peacefully. He was murmuring something that occasionally became intelligible, “No… don’t… fall… can’t hold… you.”
  Oh, great. He was having a nightmare because he rolled around and now he was somewhat aware of Saul slipping off him. He tried to quietly whisper to Lerix, “It’s okay, roll around, it’s fine, I’m not falling.”
  That worked for about five seconds, calming the demon down, before Saul suddenly shifted down quite a bit, returning the Summoner back to his dreads. Saul felt Lerix’s wings wrap themselves around both of them; very tightly, but not exactly helpfully in the pressing matter.

  Alright, enough is enough, Saul thought with a sigh. He didn’t want to pull Lerix down, as that would definitely wake him up. Climbing on top had a chance of not doing that. Saul raised his leg, anchored it behind the Summoner’s thigh and pulled himself up, quickly resting on the demon’s bumpy, glowing chest. Before he could settle down properly though, the sudden and quick shift of weight surprised the sleeping Lerix. Saul felt light-headed as both of them made a sharp full roll before the demon finally fell under his burden. With a muted breathy yell, he woke up just as he hit the mattress. Uncomfortably, Saul hit the front of Lerix’s body with all of his weight and bounced up a little.
  “Saul?” Lerix gasped.
  “Lerix?” Saul groaned after a quiet ‘ouch’ and asked, “Having a nightmare?”
  The demon looked around slowly and rested his head on the pillow beneath while gripping the smaller human closely to him. “Yes,” he said, “I was trying to hold you above… above the sulphur pits but you were slipping off, I don’t know why I couldn’t just pull you up,” he recalled shakily, “and then we made a spin and both fell down, it felt like something hit me and made me do a roll, and then…,” he went quiet.
  “Yeah, you rolled a bit in the air and I was sliding off. I probably messed up your balance when I tried to climb up,” Saul explained before adding, “Sorry.”
  “Oh, no, no, it’s my fault that I pulled you up,” Lerix whispered an apology, “I really should do something about it but… I think it’s a thing of my species, and having you in an embrace doesn’t change it at all.”
  “But I like floating with you,” Saul murmured and planted a small kiss on the Summoner’s mandible, “well, when I’m not falling down off you, I mean.”
  “Sorry,” Lerix whispered and giggled while closely embracing Saul, including wrapping him in his wings and holding him with his legs, “I won’t do it again.”
  He felt sleepy again and with the way the demon’s body pressed against him and his warmth surrounded him, he quickly sank into comfortable slumber again. The last thing he remembered before waking up in the morning was mild lightness in the stomach as Lerix floated up again.


Swirling Wings
--------------
  Waiting in line for what were basically ice skates in warm summer weather was pretty otherworldly for Saul who was used to this only during the cold winter months back on Earth. Well, actually, he couldn’t remember how many times he had actually ice skated, definitely not enough to be able to at least slide in a smooth line without flailing his arms around and falling down a second later. And he had absolutely no experience with those new-fangled magskates that levitated above ground either. If anything, he at least couldn’t injure anyone during a stumbling fall with a pair of sharp blades glued to his feet.
  Lerix was waiting next to him, floating a small distance above the floor. He didn’t need any skates; he was able to make a double pirouette in the air without any special shoes and his footwear was purely aesthetic. Aside from his tunic, he was, unusually but for obvious reasons, also wearing loose legwear instead of an evolved form of a fustanella, a male skirt.
  “How quick are your reflexes?” Saul asked.
  “Why?” the demon replied with a question. Saul rolled his eyes.
  “Well, I reckon you’ll be catching me a lot. I can’t even keep balance and stay upright.”
  “Oh, deary me. It will be fine,” Lerix said with his usual reassuring smirk of being in control.

  “Size?” the Prowler cashier (explains the darkness in the room) asked with a gravelly but not unpleasant voice, her three eyes looking at Saul.
  “Uh… forty-two,” he replied.
  “Human four two, human four two,” the demon turned around and almost disappeared in her dark corner before returning with a pair of black shoes with oval pads on the bottom that were unsuitable for walking, “Yeah, here y’go, are ya’ first timer?”
  “Yes,” Saul nodded, hoping the instructions aren’t going to be too lengthy in consideration for the short line behind him.
  “Oh-rite, just take ‘em on, then turn ‘em on and try to not fall over when skating. The bottom gets hot, so don’t touch it after a while and don’t kick anyone with‘em, ‘ight? But they oh-tomatically turn off when turned upside down, security reasons. And thass ‘bout it, have fun.” The Prowler nodded at Saul and shifted her attention to Lerix, “Size—ah, yea, yea, you don’t need skates, d’ya?”
  “No, I’m just accompanying this delightful human here,” he responded with an entertained smile. The cashier raised her hand when hearing that and pointed her claw at Saul, then at Lerix, and back. “Wait, are ya a pair?” She seemed to be smiling.
  “Y- Yeah, we are,” Saul blurted out. Lerix chuckled warmly, “Yes, I suppose we have known each other very well for some time now.” How smooth.
  “Well, take care of each otha’,” the Prowler said and winked at both of them with all three eyes.

  “What was that all about?” Saul asked once they exited the room and left for the field. Instead of ice, its floor was made from a rubbery material with a concrete appearance.
  “I don’t know. Prowlers often have unusual ways of expressing their thoughts; it probably makes sense, considering their relative rarity. Though,” he started pondering, “they’re probably not as rare anymore, given that one is working a normal job instead of being constantly buggered by UAC about their stealth abilities.”
  “Oh, really? What about you? Did they annoy you after you came?”
  “Just a little. There was already a small chunk of Summoners here when I arrived, but I was one of the few high priest incomers, so I was a part of a tiny research group of demons of my rank. Or, should I say, interrogees.”
  “Wait, they interrogated you?”
  “I suppose it’s a bit strong of a word. They asked us questions and didn’t want us to leave in-between, but we were given some comfortable places to live and they were much more open to discussion than what you’d see in an actual interrogation. However, the tea was terrible,” he mocked a disgusted face and chuckled before continuing, “I know that some of the other priests just started drinking coffee here.”

  The two arrived at a small gate in the field wall. There were several people gliding around; a couple of humans and a slightly larger bunch of demons; a few Imps doing some very agile but not so aesthetic jumps and a pair of Archviles racing each other around the edges. Saul took off his shoes (Lerix commented on how strange it looks to him to have the heels at a right angle) and slipped into the futuristic-looking magskates. Due to their conical bottoms, it was really uncomfortable to walk around with them. He reached down and pressed a button on each shoe. They quietly whirred and he suddenly felt slightly lighter. The skates tried to levitate him, but since he wasn’t on the conductive surface of the field, they didn’t do anything other than some slight hiccups.
  “You know, I –did– tell you that I can’t skate for shit, right?” Saul said as he made a clumsy step through the gate. He felt the effect immediately as he suddenly found himself several centimetres above the ground. He had no idea where his centre of balance was, it really was like trying to stand on ice skates. He stumbled, arched his back, and with a yelp fell backwards. Before he could hit his head on the wall or the floor, a hand tightly grabbed his shoulder and kept him suspended in the air while he slowly moved his legs around, trying to instinctively get some grip in the magnetised air. He used his free hand to grab the wall and pull himself towards it.
  “Thanks,” he looked at Lerix. The demon made a few disapproving clicks with his mouth while shaking his head, but his smile was clear.
  “Yes, let’s get to it. The main issue is that it’s more difficult to stand still without falling, but being in constant motion makes it easier to keep your balance. So, for starters, hold on to something when taking a break.”
  “Alright…” Saul mumbled, positioned himself so that his feet were parallel to each other and pushed himself away from the wall.

  It was definitely different from actual ice skates. The constant but reassuring juddering of those had been replaced by… nothing. It really felt like gliding on liquid air or, more accurately, having a pair of magnets float above a giant magnet of a negative polarity. It was soft but impossible to actually touch the ground.
  “Crouch a little!” Lerix called out when he saw Saul trying to stand upright, making his balance more difficult to keep as a beginner. He had a bigger problem at hand though; he reached almost a quarter of the field just from that one push, but now he was slowing down.
  “How do I… How do I speed up?” Saul called back. He came to a halting stop. For a second he stayed on two legs but soon began to crumble. Flailing his arms around, he slipped on the air he was trying to stand on and fell back. He saw a flash of red light and collapsed right into Lerix’s open arms. He looked up to see the demon’s previous smile turned into a wide grin. The bunch of Imps could be heard cackling somewhere from behind.
  “Well, let’s try something else,” Lerix said and, grabbing Saul’s hands, floated in front of him, facing him. “I will be floating backwards, so that you’re always in motion. But you’ll need to speed up too, so…” Letting go of one hand, the floating demon showed off some basic movements so that Saul would be able to at least brake later.

  “Whoaaaa—,“ Saul howled as wind whizzed around his face, staring at Lerix pulling him. The demon had a playful grin on his face while the human’s expression was a combination of excitement and mild fright from the speed.
  “Don’t hold your legs, keep speeding up or you’re going to fall down,” the Summoner instructed him while watching his movements. They were a bit clumsy, but not too terrible. After a few comments, his posture improved too, so he was stable while not crouching like a duck.
  They made a couple of rounds around the arena. Lerix’s grip on Saul was becoming looser and he’d often let go off him completely to make multiple successive pirouettes, elegant jumps and all sorts of high and low spins, circling around the human while getting him to practice on his own. His movements were eloquent but they looked smooth and almost simple. He seemed to be able to change the property of the air around him, making it dense or light as he needed.
  “Do you want to settle down a bit? It would be a good chance to test your braking skills, at least,” Lerix pointed out and nodded towards the nearby stadium wall. He picked up the pace towards it and stopped in front of it. Saul made a braking manoeuvre, slowing down enough to just gently bump into the wall and grab it. It wasn’t until he was staying still that he realised he’s breathing in and out pretty heavily. Even Lerix looked a bit exhausted and his breaths were fast and deep, but it didn’t affect his usual elegant posture any.

  “This is fun,” he said and straightened the hems on his tunic.
  “Yeah, I could watch you all day,” Saul nodded and moved closer, “how the hell do you do it?”
  Lerix giggled and explained, looking absentmindedly at the field, “It’s nothing special, I suppose having floating as your primary means of movement does that. You should watch a figure magskating tournament, the things my kind does in these is insane. They have to do a lot more of air gymnastics to stay impressive. And the moves they do when in pairs…”
  “Wait, pairs?” Saul suddenly snapped out of listening serenely.
  “Of course, singles and pairs,” Lerix explained matter-of-factly and nodded.
  “We could do some pair skating, right? I guess it would have to be simple,” Saul said and shrugged, “but…” He looked at the field with the same absent stare as the Summoner.

  “Alright, we’ll need to stay synchronised, that’s the key, so on one and three, accelerate with your left foot and on two and four, use the other one. On every other four, we could do a pirouette, I’ll hold you and help you stay in your axis, then pull you back,” Lerix explained.
  “Pull me back into a hug you mean.”
  “Ye-, yes,” the demon stuttered and smiled before showing Saul how to do the spin.

  Once Saul got more comfortable with sliding on the layer of air, magskating turned into a much nicer experience. One arm spread to the side and being held by Lerix, the other on his chest with the Summoner’s hand resting on it, the two were calmly making large circles. From above, Lerix was counting their paces and on every eighth one, the hands on Saul’s chest rose up above his head to let him do a spin. Quite often he’d stumble a bit after finishing it, but the demon’s wings nudging him into the right place and the reassuring pressure of his hand pushing him back into the non-human chest prevented him from actually losing his footing.

  Since it was already afternoon by the time Saul and Lerix arrived, the sun was nearing the horizon by the time they left the field. The sudden gravity and feeling of solid ground underneath Saul’s feet almost made him stumble again.
  “Is that how you feel every time you sit down?” he asked.
  “No, I don’t need to keep balance or stand, not that my heels and feet are appropriate for that anyway, but I do feel heavier and not nearly in control as much,” Lerix explained before suddenly stopping with a quiet ‘sin’. He looked at the stadium’s showers to which almost everyone who had been outside were going to. They picked probably the worst time for it to not be crowded. “I really would prefer to take a shower, but this seems a little unpleasant,” he muttered.
  “Me too,” Saul agreed.
  “Well, we don’t live that far away from here, so with my normal flight we could be home soon. Hold on,” Lerix went quiet, mumbling and thinking, “Yes, a couple of minutes at worst. I can’t use my warping abilities when carrying you, but I can certainly speed up without crossing dimensions.”

  Wind was once again rushing around Saul’s face as he was sitting in Lerix’s embrace. They were going at a sprinting speed, but it was constant and the demon showed no signs of getting tired from it. A number of passing people and demons on the streets alike looked at them in surprise, especially when they swished by. A pack of young plane Imps could be heard saying some raunchy comments while an old plane Baron rumbled the sidewalk as he laughed gutturally. A flash of red light shone through the street from behind.
  “Giving someone a lift, kinsman stranger?” a Summoner gal asked from next to them, keeping the speed. She was recognisable by her added glowing eyes that changed colour from jade green to golden depending on their angle.
  “As you can see, that’s exactly what I’m doing; showers were full at the previous place,” Lerix laughed and said over the air gusts.
  “Oh, how I would like that, as either participant,” the demon woman purred almost dreamily with a certain friskiness targeted at the other Summoner, “Have a pleasant evening, gentlemen.” With that, she disappeared in a trail of red light. Did she wink at them before vanishing?
  “I’ve told you we’re a strange bunch of classy individuals,” Lerix grinned and made a turn into a way less busy street as they were nearing their apartment.

  Getting from the ground floor to one of the upper levels where their flat was located was a matter of seconds. Already making out in the hallway, the interaction got more heated by the time the human with the demon arrived in the bathroom and closed the door behind them.