CHAPTER 144: Scar.

She was swiftly writing things down in her notebook.

"you said that when the roof collapsed it was the first time you died? How? Can you die more than once?"

I tilted my head. "I thought you would know about things like that. When a demon dies by normal means we get send back to hell where our body gets restored. After that we can get summoned again. Of course, the proses of dying is not fun, nor is the healing back in hell, which is what I believe our most vulnerable time. If we die here, there is nowhere else to go, and we die for real."

"Why did you expect me to already know that? You are revealing things about the nature of this place and your species as if it is nothing."

I just shrugged. "I actually know people who knew about that before they met me."

"you know what. Never mind. you said your body gets restored after you die. Yet you still have that scar. Shouldn't it have disappeared then?"

I did not reply.

"Is something wrong? Was it something I said?"

"No. it is just… complicated."

"You know if you want to talk about it. I am here."

"No. I will probably live at least then times as long as you. I am sure that in that time I will figure things out on my own."

She moved closer to the fire so she could look better at her notes. "I f that is the case then you surely wouldn't mind if I tell you what I think happened."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Just know that I will take away your ability to talk if you annoy me too much."

"Alright then. You said that under normal circumstances you just die, and everything will be fine after a period of enhanced vulnerability. And naturally scars also fade during that time if they even formed at all. So there probably was something that could hurt you more than normal means. So, there was something holy and since it gave such a clear scar, it most likely came directly from at least a high-level angel."

I sighed. "no there was no angel, nor was there something holy. As I told you there was just another demon. I don't know what it did, but it gave me this scar. Now can you please shut up about it!"

"In that case it must have been insanely strong. Then why do you hide that scar instead of showing off that you survived such a powerful being?"

"Because it is not just a scar. It is a magic formation. And if other demons were to find out how to copy it, all of you humans would be in deep shit!"

I spread out my wings and bared my teeth. She sprung up and took a few steps back until she was pressed against the wall of the cave. Some bright sparks escaped my mouth as my glowing eyes peered through the darkness directly into her soul.

"I- I am sorry Rubedo, I did not mean to hurt you in any way. I am sorry if I brought up some memories you would rather not recall."

I knew that she never meant her questions to harm me in any way, I knew that she was just curious. Her curiosity was probably what was he final push for her to come with me. but she just kept asking. Right now, I was fine. I was trying to leave behind what happened, and I tolerated the state I was in now. but how she kept asking how it happened just hurt.

"No, you were just curious. I am sorry for snapping at you."

She took a deep breath and just seemed to be glad that I had left her alive for now. still, she managed to crack a smile. "I never thought that I would hear, and actual demon apologise."

"That I am a monster does not mean that I can't acknowledge my mistakes. Why don't you try to catch some rest now? I know time moves differently in here, but you have been awake for quite some time."

"I will try."

Still, she reached out for her notebook. But I placed my claws on it and dragged it away before she could reach it.

"If you want to take notes you should do that some other time. I can just tell you what you need to know later. The only thing that you can accomplish by continuing to write is that you end up writing unreadable nonsense due to exhaustion."

She did not protest in any way and just laid down. It did not take long before she fell asleep after that.

In the following days. Or at least what could be assumed to be days. I flew out of the forest each time she slept so that I could kill as much as possible before she woke up again.

And she was sleeping a lot! I believed that it might be due to the fact that she was still recovering from being exposed to my blood.

During some of my quick travels I observed a fight between another fire demon and some other demon that I did not immediately recognise.

What I thought was amazing, was how the demon did not only breath fire as I had been doing. He also was able to cloak some parts of his body in it. Making that part practically behave like fire itself and making it thus unable to hit.

I was not sure how that demon was doing that. But I decided that figuring that out would be the next thing on my to do list.