Nalidiel paced up and down the corridor, waiting for the doors on the classroom to be unlocked. He had arrived half an hour early this morning. Unable to sleep or perhaps unwilling. His first few days of school hadn’t exactly gone well, thus far. Nalidiel had trouble with most of the classes, save just the one which seemed to click like he already knew the answers instinctively. This, plus the fact that he was by far the smallest student made for a rather rough academic beginning. Not entirely helped by the fact that it usually took a few seconds for someone to figure out if he was an attractive woman or an attractive man.
Ten minutes before the lesson was to begin other students began to arrive, waiting outside just as he had. At five minutes, there was an ominous click and the door swung open. Nalidiel virtually charged right inside, feeling a little bit anxious that he not be trampled by the others that were towering above him. Only when he took his seat did Nalidiel take in his surroundings.
It was a dark room, lit only by candles on the walls. The trouble was, the room was so large and the candles so few. Nobody could see much of anything in this. Just shadows, shades of grey, and everything else was simply what lay so close to your face that any amount of light would be enough to show it up.
Five minutes later the students were all in settling in and settling down. As their murmurs and idle chitchat slowed and silenced, a loud snap was heard from the central point of the room. All heads turned to face it, and before them all sat a figure with steeped hands and flames licking seemingly every surface of his body. The fire rose out of his dark eyebrows, away from his maniacally grinning mouth, off his shoulders, even off the horns adorning either side of his head. He waited just a moment, and then spoke in a loud and booming voice.
“Now that I have your attention, class may begin.”
The lecturer rose into the air, unaided by the batlike wings protruding from his spine. He looked over the class, now illuminated by the flames rising from his body, and spoke again. “What you see now is a rather blatant use of our powers. The effect is rather intimidating, yes? Tell me class, in what manner does this assist any given demon?”
Nalidiel knew the answer. It was an obvious question with an obvious answer. He could easily have raised his hand into the air and said it, but instead he stared at the firey lecturer, hovering in the air. Not in awe, not in respect, not even in fear. It was a fascinating sight to behold, but even so that was not why he did not speak up. The simple fact of the matter was, even a demon like him could be an introvert.
Instead, the lecturer’s gaze passed over each of them in turn, almost seeming to lock eyes with every student individually as he looked around. Soon enough a hand raised, just behind Nalidiel. He knew that voice all too well by now. High pitched, squeaky, the very bane of his time here thus far. “It doesn’t. A human can be intimidated into performing corrupt acts, but will cease them as soon as the intimidation ceases. You lose more than you gain taking this approach.”
“Correct! What is more, this kind of blatancy will surely attract further attention from beings capable of standing against us.” The lecturer descended to the floor, landing delicately on two feet. The wings in his back folded, collapsed and outright vanished. The horns receded, and the flames extinquished and a light, a regular electronic light switched on in the ceiling. “The humans have a saying,” he said in a much less intimidating, booming voice. “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. That is why you are here today. To learn how to catch humans with honey rather than vinegar. To learn how to corrupt them with discretion rather than brute force. I look around this room and I see demons of all stripes. I see all seven kinds of demons, for each of the sins. Each of you will take different lessons from this. Each of you will learn the different myriad manners in which you can corrupt a human and make them revel in your sin without them even knowing you were there. It is my experience, and the school’s, that the most successful of our kind are the ones that never show their heads, never let the mortals become aware of their presence.
“We shall begin with a relatively simple test. The devices behind me are known as ‘reality modelers’,” the lecturer gestured at various headsets, lying in boxes behind him. “You put one on your head, and it will simulate a given reality. Each of you will be permitted to select one fictional setting, and your reality modeler will simulate that fictional reality for you. This minor test is simple. Corrupt each of the main characters in your chosen setting in any way you wish. However, should they perform a successful exorcism you shall be kicked out of that reality. All actions taken by yourself while within this reality will be recorded for my later viewing. Keep in mind that time passes differently while you are wearing the modeler, such that a year or even a hundred years within that fictional setting can pass like a second out here. From this test, I intend to give you advice on your technique.”
The headsets lifted from their boxes and levitated, one to each student, each landing perfectly and snugly atop their head. This was the last thing that Nalidiel had wanted. He was an introverted lust demon and had rather sincerely hoped that he could get over this problem before any sort of intricate test came up. Still, he at least knew precisely which series he wanted to select for this introductory test. Like most demons of his age, he was a rather large fan of human made media... In particular there was one setting which seized his attention completely and utterly.
There was just one problem. There was only one skill that he felt confident enough in to actually make use of. He could turn himself utterly invisible, intangible, whisper suggestions in people’s ears... but was that extremely limited ability really enough for him to succeed in this test?
Thu Oct 27 01:15:54 2011