บท 74: CHAPTER 74: PRESENCE
The big issues related to getting back to the demons' clan were the lack of transport for Night and the formidable size of the two dead beasts. After batting around a few ideas, the three men eventually decided that it would be best to use the two scorpions to carry the beast corpses and eggs while following along on foot.
After loading up the beasts, the burden on the scorpions would be at its peak....but according to the demons, the load should be bearable to the animals for the length of this trip. The foot travel would slow their trip to the demon clan to save those that had been poisoned, but shouldn't delay them more than a few hours. A few hours was acceptable....they would arrive at the village around midnight....the deadline was late morning according to the medicine woman in the village....they had more than enough time.
As the three men chatted during the trip, Night got the details on their clan's problems. Apparently, the demon clan had run across a group of human bandits while they were moving camp locations. The clan's lone Demigod and the entire clan had fought them off. Surprisingly, neither side had lost any men during the fighting. The humans had played it safe for the most part and attacked using ranged weapons that were poisoned.
As soon as he heard the story, Night understood what the bandits were trying to do. Since the humans had fewer numbers, they would perform these safer type attacks that would easily whittle down the enemy numbers. Once the numbers were down, they would move to kill the enemy. Most likely they were waiting nearby the clan for the poison to kill the wounded.....then they would stage another attack.
Night relayed his concern over this battle tactic to the two demons. The realization that this may be an issue caused them to feel an increased urgency. They were both very grateful for Night's advice concerning the bandits.
From Night's perspective, the demon clan could handle the situation one of two ways. One, they could heal up then secretly hunt the bandits down. The group had probably remained nearby waiting for the chance to attack, so they would be easy to track. Option two was that the demons could heal up, fake some deaths and plan an ambush for the returning bandits.
While the demons were excited about the prospect of attacking the bandits, they both told Night that they needed to get back to the village immediately to consult with the clan elders.
During the travel with the two demons, Night had learned all about their clan, the Ammon clan. Their ancestor, Ammon, had been a very powerful Level 5 Demigod of Fire. His clan was easily distinguished by the three horns on top of their heads and their propensity for Fire talent. During Ammon's reign as clan chief, the clan had actually fought to become the owners of a small oasis town for some time. However, the ancestor had brutally died in a conflict with another clan over some mining rights. After loosing the protection of the Demigod, the Ammon Clan was forced to flee into the desert and roam from place to place.
From listening to the details of back story of the Ammon Clan, Night learned a lot about the politics between demon clans. While most demon clans were generally peaceful, big battles and wars would occur when there are shifts in power or conflicts over resources.
The number of each of the three levels of demon clans was capped based on the amount of resources in this part of the desert. If one of the numerous small nomadic demon clans were to try to take over an oasis permanently, they would need to destroy one of the other thirty oasis towns to prove their strength and free up space. The whole system was enforced by the Countess or Count of the region.
If a small demon town wanted to advance to the capital city, they would need to remove one of the ten capital families from power. If one of the ten capital families wanted to remove the countess from power, they would have to defeat her clan in battle. Other clans were not allowed to interfere. The power structure caused several large clan wars over the years....but as a whole, this system caused the demon clans to became progressively stronger.
The desert was a big place, but the resources were limited. Similar to the human's Manco Oasis, most of the demons' western desert resources were agriculture in the oasis areas and mining of resources under the entire desert. Because the desert was somewhat limited in plants and wildlife, very few really powerful beasts and devils existed.....so the demons of the desert were the majority species....the only real concern they had was the humans.
From his talking with the men, Night found out that he had to head to the capital city of the western desert, the City of Setting Sun, in order to meet with Countess Asta. From what he had learned from the men, the desert had four chief demon clans that each ruled a quarter of the large desert. The leader of these clans was titled either a count or countess. So, the desert had four main capital cities.....The City of Setting Sun located in the western desert, the City of Rising Sun in the eastern desert, the City of Northern Wind in the north, and the City of Southern Wind in the south.
Night needed some assurances before he risked going into a full fledged demon city.....he needed to know if they could recognize him as a human. Since he had first met the two demon men, Night had been hiding his life signs with his Death concept. This minor exertion of his concept was due to his need to fit in with the demons. He was really unsure if demons could recognize humans from some sort of characteristic that he wasn't aware of.....and he didn't want some conflict to break out.
Remembering his time in Manco Oasis, Lili seemed to think that Night wasn't a human when she met him.....and the humans didn't seem to be able to recognize Lili.
Maybe there were actually no differences between humans and demons except some slight physical differences and talents. But the tinge he felt in his soul when he thought about Lili told him that thought might be wrong. Regardless....Night didn't know, but he had a feeling that the stronger the beings observing him....the more they would know about his background.
During the trip, Night had a bit of time to think about how he would deal with this issue.
When Night had met with his godmother, she had said that one of the abilities of the Great Truth of Reality was the Presence Concept. From the information that Night had, the Presence Concept would allow him to influence the way that other people view him. Her description of the skill sucked....so he really didn't know exactly what that meant...but Night guessed that this was some sort of disguise or illusion technique that could be used on himself. It would be really helpful if he could change his appearance...his presence.
To figure things out, Night tried to abstract the skill based on the skills that he knew already. His death concept basically allowed him to assume the form of something that was dead. Essentially, he copied the presence of a dead person.....and made his own body exhibit those traits. Night guessed that when he mastered the Presence skill.....he would be able to do that same thing but with other things.....he should be able to modify his presence of being any part of nature....or to feel like nothingness.....or even truely feel like a beast or demon.
After thinking for a while, Night realized that he had essentially mastered the presence of death by actually wasting away. How could he provide this same stimulation to the development of the Presence Concept? From his assumptions, he figured that the best way to master the Presence Concept was to observe other things and try to change himself to match those things. He couldn't observe with just his eye.....he also needed to observe things with his soul. He continued this process of observation during the trip in hopes that he would have some sort of break though and master the Concept of Presence.
He was constantly observing the two demons with all of his senses. He needed to understand the basis of the presence of an something before he could copy it. With his perception, he was constantly observing the sand dunes, the scorpion mounts, the demons, and even random objects like the saddles that were holding the parts of the dead sand lizard and sand snake. For most of the trip, Night tried what he could with regards to the concept without any luck.
Since he was hiding his life signs, he knew that these men wouldn't be able to detect anything different about him. If he was asked why he seemed like a corpse, he could just play it off like he was hiding himself.
In addition to his amateur concept practice, Night was constantly striking up conversation with the two men. He had to be very careful with his questioning. He had to try not to give any information that would make it obvious that he was a human. Every now and then, he would hit a snag in the conversation.
"So what clan are you from?," Garik asked.
It was one question that Night knew was coming but was dreading responding to....pushing is practice in understanding the Concept of Presence to the back of his mind. He decided he needed to focus on the situation at hand for the meantime.
"Ummmmm...My clan...My situation is somewhat of.....a different sort of situation...," Night stuttered while trying to reason through his response.
As soon as the words came out, Night could see that both men were looking at him oddly. He decided that they needed more information...
"I don't know where I am from....," Night said with a downtrodden look on his face, "I was captive by humans for a long time. I met a young female succubus that served under the Countess Asta. She invited me to come over after my business was done."
"Fuck, you were captive by humans and don't know where you are from?," Talik asked, "How the hell did you escape from them?"
"Well, I am technically a Level 3 Demigod. I managed to have some good comprehensions while working in the mines. Once my strength was good enough, I started a slave rebellion and destroyed the Manco Oasis Town," Night said. He figured that keeping the story as close to the truth was best.
"Damn, Manco Oasis....I don't know that one," Garik said.
"Ya....I stole an alloc, as the humans call it, and rode for around 6 days before it died here. I guess if I wouldn't have ran into you two....I probably would have been wondering for some time. I really don't know what I am doing out in the desert.....most of my memories from childhood involved mountains and my time as a slave was spent in the dark mines underground," Night said trying to put an end to his story.
"Yep....you would have been wondering for some time. This is one of the longest underpopulated sections of the Western Desert," Talik said.
"So how did you run into a succubus, they look just like humans and could blend in just fine.....you shouldn't have noticed them," Garik asked.
"Oh....I can roam the dream world....I stumbled upon the succubus when I was hunting my own prey," Night said.
The men reacted to Night's comment like someone had slapped them.
"You a high demon incubus?," the two men echoed each other almost simultaneously.
"I don't know man....I don't know," Night said seeming despondent, "What's a high demon?"
"Damn, them bastard humans really did keep you from knowing anything," Garik said, "the only male demons that can enter dreams are incubus....at least the only ones that I know about."
He seemed to have a look of sorrow on his face and honestly seemed to feel bad for Night's circumstances.
Eventually, the group arrived at a little small tent town in an really small oasis....so small it basically had one tree and a small shallow pond.
"This is our Clan....The Ammon clan," Garik said as they walked into the sight of the guards that surrounded the desert camp.
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