“Sorry!” whispered Eial to the unconscious guard. His face beamed the moment he took in the sight of the demon, but that smile vanished in an instant. Turning his face, he glanced at the guard and then met his eyes back with the demon. Not another bad impression! In panic, he explained, “I- I promise she’s okay! She’s not hurt at all, just-”

“Are you a guard, too?” The demon stared at the elf, trying to understand his unexpected presence.

“Huh? No!”

“Prisoner?”

“No, no, no!” Eial shook his head vigorously.

“Then what are you doing here?” asked the demon, his eyes full of confusion, suspicion, and a glimmer of… amusement. Somehow this elf had found his way into a heavily guarded elven cell ground and was now kneeling in front of him.

“Oh, well,” breathed the elf, looking down. With a quick jolt, he looked back up at the demon, puffed his chest forward, and filled his voice with confidence, “well, I wanted to introduce myself!”

“You… what?” Amusement was probably not the word to describe how the demon felt anymore.

“Introduce. Myself,” Eial repeated slower, as if the demon didn’t hear clearly.

“So you came all the way here to a cell ground and even knocked down an elven guard to… introduce yourself?”

“I mean, I wish I didn’t have to do that to the guard, but...”

Speechless couldn’t begin to describe how the demon was feeling. Taking a deep inhale, he closed his eyes for a moment before he decided to be a bit more straightforward to the nonsensical elf. “So, you didn’t come here to get me out?”

“Oh!” the elf exclaimed, looking around as if he had just realized where he was. “That, too! If you would like...”

If I would like, the demon grumbled in his thoughts. The elf’s ignorance was astounding to say the least. “Yes. Get me out of here before anyone else shows up.” 

He wanted to curse the elf for his stupidity, but knew he needed to speak in his favor for now. How the elf had come this far in the cell without being followed was something he couldn't comprehend. But if he could get in, he probably knows how to get out.

But what’s his agenda? Is he planning to blackmail me later? The demon paused and then laughed at the thought of someone blackmailing him and put his suspicion to rest. I’ll play along with him for now. Perhaps I can even use him as a distraction, he thought, imagining the elf getting caught by a guard. Simultaneously, he pushed away any thoughts of wanting that exact thing to not happen.

“You find any way to get me out?” asked the demon, leaning forward from where he was sitting.

“Oh, uhm, looks like there’s a lock!” the elf cheered, looking at a strong, metal padlock to the side of the cell railings.

“Great. Find a key.”

Eial checked every inch of the fallen guard, apologizing all the while. But the search ended up fruitless. The rest of the room was similarly a blank canvas with nothing else to show.

“I could… break it?” suggested the elf, unsure of the option.

“How daring of you,” snickered the demon, “give it a try.”

Eial felt as if his daringness appealed to the demon and walked back with a bashful grin. Slowly, a hurricane of wind started to form a sphere on his palm.

“Air user, huh?” the demon analyzed in a smug tone, remembering the guard from earlier.

“Oh, uh… yes,” Eial replied awkwardly, and without another moment to think, swung his arm and threw out a sharp blade of air with perfect precision. The lock immediately cracked into pieces and scattered on the floor, making heavy thuds as they fell.

In that instant, alarms sang in a monotone harmony around the room. Eial frantically ran up to the railings and opened them, as a calm demon stood just behind. One step out of the anti-magic cell, and the demon blasted the shackles behind him with dark magic.

“Better,” he grinned and faced a palm towards the elf, an orb of dark magic in hand.

“Huh?” the elf barely managed to voice before the demon shot his magic forward.