Through the eyes of one on the precipice

  I'm hungry... So hungry... Where am I? It hurts...

  "You know where you are."

  I do? That's right. I do. I saw the cascade, and I jumped... because I was so... so... hungry? Is that right?

  "Is it?"

  It can't be... I don't get hungry. So why am I...

  "You tell me."

  The cascade. A mass of demonic energy, and it's infused with the desire of gluttony. I was absorbing that energy like I normally do, but... I let it influence my own desires... I didn't even notice... I'm such an idiot...

  "Correct. You failed the most basic lesson every demon is taught and let your energy influence your desires, rather than the other way around. You were taught better than this, Dee."

  I don't need the lecture Dad... Wait, Dad?

  "No."

  Oh. But you talk just like him. And only he calls me that. And this is my dream so you can be whatever I want.

  "You think this is a dream?"

  It isn't?

  "What do you think a dream is?"

  A story told by the mind. Ambiguous scenarios and memories, melded and played out together. There are also those subspace dreams some demons can create. Is this one of those?

  "No, those are still constructs of the mind. This is something more akin to an altered space within your soul."

  Souls are immutable. Are you sure you're not Dad? I'm pretty sure messing with souls is something only he can do. And Aleph I guess.

  "That dragon is quite the anomaly... But no. I am nothing more than a construct made in the image of your father. A small piece of him if you will, but one wholly unrelated to his being."

  Then can I call you dream Dad?

  "No."

  Aww... So what mind bending self discoveries are you going to help impart on me?

  "What?"

  That's what happens in these situations, right?

  "You read too much."

  ...

  "I'm here because your life is in danger."

  How? I can regenerate from pretty much any injury, even damage to my core. If I'm injured too much at once I'll just be banished back home, or to a hospital if it's really bad.

  "Summoning takes time. Time to calculate, and time to perform. Falling into a highly lethal cascade is not a scenario the system is equipped to predict for a rank three on their first contract. If nothing is done you will die within less than two seconds."

  Wow. Not much time for last thoughts, huh...

  "We have more time here."

  Are you going to explain how?

  "Are you going to sit there and listen to an hour long lecture on soul perception mechanics?"

  Ah. Touché, dream Dad.

  "Don't call me that."

  If you say so, dream Dad.

  "..."

  So, how should I go about not dying a very swift and frankly disappointing death?

  "What do you think? How can you neutralise this mass of energy?"

  Attune to it? That takes time though. At least more than two seconds.

  "Attuning is a function of Aura, which is an extension to the soul. So long as your perspective remains accelerated here, you will have time."

  Huh... You know a lot for a 'small piece' of my Dad.

  "A fragment of a multitude is still a vast quantity."

  You could have said that in a multitude of less obtuse ways.

  "I'm still modelled after your father. I intend to make you think through things for yourself."

  Boo... I want easy answers.

  "Hurry up and attune Dee. Perception has been slowed, not halted."

  Fine, fine... Hmm... Okay, this is a problem. I can't attune to it.

  "I noticed."

  Advice?

  "Think."

  Gee, thanks... It's just not responding, I don't know why.

  "Do you want it to?"

  Why wouldn't I want it to?

  "Why would you?"

  Are you calling me lazy?

  "Sloth would be an improvement to your current state."

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  I... lack desire? I feel the same as always though.

  "You are surrounded by a mass of ravenous energy which is trying to both eat you and make you eat, you have a deluge of refined unbound energy coursing through you, and your body is wavering on the precipice of growth. Do you really expect a half-assed intent to go with the flow to cut it?"

  I'm ranking up?

  "That's what you got from that?"

  Okay, okay. I'm not motivated enough I get it.

  "If it wasn't for the ambrosia giving you a boost you wouldn't have reached this point by double your current lifetime. Rank four is a different beast from what you have experienced thus far. You must want it, or it will refuse you."

  I do want it.

  "What do you want from it?"

  ...

  "There is your flaw. You don't know what you really want. You can't grow because your body doesn't know which way to grow. What do you want?"

  To reach rank nine.

  "False. A means to an end is no desire."

  To... To work with you. To work with my father.

  "False. Think deeper. What do you want, and why?"

  I want... To be loved. To see Dad again. To be better than I was.

  "How will you fulfil that desire? What do you lack?"

  Strength. I need more strength. I can't hit more than a meter in front of me, my blows are weak, and I lack versatility to deal with unexpected situations. I want the strength to keep on par with my friends. More than anything, I need... magnitude. I want strength.

  "Now, what will you do to achieve this?"

  This energy wants me to eat? I'll eat. I'll eat it all.

  "Good. Try not to shatter."

  I won't.

  "..."

  ...

  "..."

  Okay this is taking longer than I thought.

  "Why do you think I slowed down perception by this much? I only have so much energy to work with you know."

  Well... Wanna talk while we wait?

  "I have little reason to refuse."

  What is Dad's biggest secret?!

  "You know it already."

  Boo! There's gotta be something more interesting than his name!

  "Would he really impart such information on a construct designed to consult his own daughter?"

  You never know... Okay, how about why you're even here? Did he really trust me that little on my first contract? When were you even attached?

  "The moment you stepped through into this world. This contract was an anomaly on several fronts to begin with, most due to that dragon. Few other demons would have held clearance for the information held within the array, let alone those at rank three. Not to mention, this job is massively overpaying for your rank. Few worlds can even make ambrosia, let alone a recipe manageable by mortals. Normally it would be refused on grounds of being too restrictive and abnormal, but again the symbols used in its construction could not be ignored."

  So, you're here because Aleph is weird?

  "I'm here because you're under-qualified, and your father wanted extra insurance. Insurance which, given your current situation, was well warranted. Granted, I suspect you may not have been here if I wasn't present."

  How so? I fell in by my own stupidity didn't I?

  "That may be true, but I suspect that thing only sent you here because it noticed me. Encountering beings of that scale was beyond the expectations built into my design, nothing should have ever seen my construct."

  Why send me here because of you? That makes no sense.

  "How should I know? I've only seen what you see."

  So, in conclusion... this is all your fault?

  "..."

  What about Aleph? You keep calling her an anomaly.

  "She is the primary cause of concern, I believe because she created the array using Aether."

  Why does that matter?

  "I don't know."

  Seriously?

  "I am not your father. Information has been deliberately stricken from my pool of knowledge, most notably everything above your classification and anything relating to Aether."

  Why Aether?

  "Your father values identity to an extreme. He didn't even teach you his name until you vowed never to leak it. For him to remove something with such thorough efficiency, I can only imagine that it perhaps relates to an aspect of his identity."

  I thought Aether was just an obscure pure energy, too difficult for anyone to really use.

  "None of the pure energies are simple, Dee. Especially those that permeate all dimensions."

  Well, I'm out of questions. For now.

  "You are also out of time."

  I couldn't hold it all, so most of it was discarded back into the cascade. Is that fine?

  "You did what you needed to. You replaced its desire to consume with one of growth. It will be harmless to anything outside of the nexus, and will likely just disperse over time."

  Ah, that's good. Will I get to see you whenever I want?

  "No."

  Aww... Well, goodbye dream Dad.

  "It is about time you open your eyes"

  "Open your eyes."

  "Open your eyes!"

  "Ah!" Diala leaps from the ground, a pulse of bright light erupting from her body in her panic as her feet land on the soft, mossy floor. "Ow! My eyes! Dammit! I knew you were evil!" Her thoughts are brought back to reason as she lays her gaze upon the spider writhing beside her. "Oh, uh... sorry." "Told you she wasn't dead." Aleph remarks, flipping the spider back to her feet. "Ugh... Did you have to flash me... twice?" "Twice?" Diala focuses her vision on herself, the world brighter from all directions. "Oh, I'm naked. That's annoying." Crystal shimmers and refracts without obstruction, nothing hidden from view, not that there is anything to really hide in the first place.

  "Hey, panic a little why don't you?! You're supposed to get flustered and yell 'oh nooooo' or 'eyaaaa' and shit like that!" "I know, but... I only wear clothes because it's polite and looks nice. My race has little benefit in terms of thermal regulation and no external organs to really hide. Also, you're not wearing anything either." "You don't need clothes if you have fur. That's simply a law of the universe." "Does setae count as fur?" "Shut up." A long tail snakes in to thwack both idiots on the head, demanding attention. "Argue another time. We still don't know how safe we are."

  "Okay, okay..." Diala skips to the dragon, compressing her legs to hop on and noticing a prickle of uncertainty in the motion, signal of something being different. It's probably nothing... Crack! Her body surges into the air, brightly glowing walls of red moss blurring behind the wall of motion as her light hop becomes a heavy launch. Crunch! Stone crumbles away from her head, now lodged into the ceiling. Nevermind... Pressing her arms against the stone, she gives the wall a push, dislodging her head and launching her once again. Crack! "Oh, she's back." Shit. Weird dream-ish incarnation of Dad wasn't kidding when he said it was a different beast. This is way worse than last time.

  "Need a hand?" Aleph asks, pulling the demon from her new hole up to her back. "Thanks. This happens every time I rank up. It's really hard to control a sudden increase in strength like this." "Oh, congratulations. I thought you'd be close." Gol Dhee and Fluffy approach as she settles in place, the ape inspecting her with a concerned gaze while the elf analyses her with a renewed curiosity. "So how did you get rid of that thing?" "She didn't. It's still there." The dragon interjects, setting her pace around the spherical cavern to search for an exit. "Right, I just changed the desire it was infused with. I can't hold that much energy." "That's... unsettling. Still though, how?" "I attuned to it? Kind-of? I think? It's kinda iffy."

  Aleph twists her head back, her gait undisturbed by her awkward posture. "You would have to think pretty fast to pull that off. Is your soul perception really that good?" I took it for granted before, just assuming she was friends with high ranking demons or something, but she was described explicitly as an anomaly. An unknown. So how exactly does she know so much about souls, demons, and especially angels? Who is Aleph? "I cheated a bit. I'm not sure if I can say how." "I won't pry then." "Can I pry?" Fluffy asks, his own curiosity uncloaked. "Don't. You can be put on a blacklist for trying to extract unwarranted information from a demon you've contracted." "Ah..."

  Their pace slows, pulling to a stop as the dragon scans the cavern. "What's the holdup?" "There's no way down. No caves or open spaces below us, and as far as I can see, nothing above us either. We're trapped." Lyla hops off her perch, fuzz standing on end as she feels at the ambience. "Huh... nothing. The stone here doesn't have much Mana though, or any for that matter. Could we dig? We could also just go back the way we came... Actually I'd rather try digging myself than do that." "No way back either anyway. I'm guessing we were sent here via portal or something similar." "We could always just ask them."

  The group turn, facing the direction pointed to by the elf, and laying eyes on a tall, thin figure painted a pure white, emitting a soft glow in contrast to the ambient red of the cavern. Body shaped like a blanket draped over a balloon, unfurling at the base and rounding at the top with a tilted arc as if looking up at where the cascade should be. The figure straightens, moss brushing against its base as it moves. "Ah!" It jolts, the motion halted as a gaze meets the group. "Ah... um... ah..." Fwap... Did it just faint?