Building a magic system on threat of destruction

"The Queen of all Demons? Are you sure?" Riniox gripped Jack's arms tightly. She had to kneel down to be level with his head, and her eyes burned with a fierce intensity. She had issued orders to search for the stranger as soon as Jack informed her, only questioning him on her identity once the hunt was underway.

"That was what her name was. I don't know how that's really possible, but...she was dangerous." Jack thought back to their interaction. The woman had even mentioned the Queen. Had that been a hint? Some kind of manipulation? Jack wasn't sure of anything anymore, that woman had been scary in a different way to others. At no point had she threatened his life, but she had snuck in here with very pointed questions about the system. She was dangerously clever, and could apparently infiltrate anywhere she desired.

Riniox studied him carefully, then released his arms with a sigh. " I've had dealings with her before. She's a fanatic, trying and succeeding to take over the world." Riniox seemed to hesitate for a moment, then spoke again quietly. "There are rumors that the High Deity visited her...that she gave up her own name in order to receive a blessing from him. If that rumor is really true...then that might explain her status sheet."

Gave up her name? What did that even mean? "Is that...common?"

Riniox shook her head sadly. "No, most people will never receive a visit from the High Deity. He watches us all, at all times, but he only appears to people when he has instruction for them. I've heard that he sometimes appears at coronations, or after them in order to provide guidance for the country."

That was interesting. Could Deis play favorites? Or was it closer to micromanaging people? "Did he appear at Plexion's coronation?"

Riniox nodded, "It was a mess. Plexion Basically gave the High Deity the middle finger, telling him that demons ruled the demonlands, not the God of gods." She smiled fondly as if she had been there, cheering him on.

"Did you know him well? Plexion, I mean."

She shook her head. "No. However, I was one of the figures who openly supported his policies. It's the reason I got kicked out of the country, his advisors and other high-ups finding ways to get me deported. I Joined a mercenary group, and took it over in less that a year. The rest is history I suppose."

"Were you military?"

Riniox laughed slightly. "No. I was an instructor." Seeing the lack of belief on my face, Riniox continued. "In the demonlands, things work a bit differently. Most demons find something that drives them to obsession, and then pursue that obsession for their whole lives. This means that you get a lot of dedicated people, but it doesn't mean they are especially good at what they do. So you get instructors, people who are highly skilled and can direct others in their chosen path."

"And you were one of those instructors?"

She nodded. "Combat and battlefield-related activities. I was one of the premier instructors in the country before they kicked me out."

"That's awful!" Jack was angry, why were people so willing to support someone like the High Deity?

"It was a long time ago." Riniox fell into silence for a long moment, her eyes staring off into the distance.

Jack couldn't read her expressions and suddenly felt a bit awkward for prying as much as he had. But before he could apologize, she spoke again. "Well, it doesn't really matter. We should see if anyone's found anything." Riniox stood very suddenly, her body tense. She helped him up and began to march towards her mercs.

Jack watched her carefully. Something he had said or done set her off, or perhaps it was the Queen of all Demons making her nervous. Despite the camp going into high alert, there was no sign of the Queen of all Demons. Every status screen was checked, and Jack used appraisal on everyone in the compound. After hours of searching, there was no sign of the woman. She had simply vanished into thin air.

By the time everyone was ready to call off the search and take the camp out of lockdown, Riniox looked like she was ready to strangle someone. Every report that had come in negative seemed to push her closer and closer to breaking something. Jack worked nervously to appraise the people, hoping to find the Queen of all Demons, but he didn't hold out much hope. The way others spoke of her, she seemed like she would be five steps ahead of them no matter what.

The only advantage Jack had was the system. If they couldn't find her manually, then Jack could probably return to the void and look for her that way. He would have Plexion do it, but his partner was still missing. He presented the offer to Riniox, claiming he might be able to send them updates through their status screens on her location.

Riniox stared at the entrance to the compound, her expression hard as she considered. "No. As much as I want to personally, I can't justify it. It's nothing more than a grudge, she didn't harm us or do anything criminal as far as we know. We'll have to let her get away." She looked pained as the words came out, angry at the idea of just letting the situation slip away from her control.

"I'll try to keep tabs on her. She spooked me on purpose, and I'm sick of being a pushover." Jack did his best to reassure Riniox, and she smirked at his words.

"Well if you end up knocking her down a peg, count me in."

Once the coast was determined to be clear, the camp resumed activity as normal. Most were unaware of who it truly was that had infiltrated them, as Riniox didn't want to cause a national crisis by revealing that a country's leader had snuck into this place. As far as most people were concerned, all they knew was that someone had snuck into the compound, threatened Jack, and been chased off.

Jack was assigned a few additional guards for the time being. The Draconid and twin humans he had done experiments with were assigned to him. Zrez, Skol, and Skirl if Jack remembered right. The twins seemed annoyed at guarding him, barely acknowledging him. Zrez on the other hand shook hands with Jack and smiled politely.

The draconid spoke to him, "It has been some time since we last spoke, Jack. I trust you have been well?"

Despite the politeness, Jack felt uneasy at the handshake for some reason. It was as if something was crawling under his skin...metal...inside of him. He broke the handshake and Zrez's smile seemed to falter for a moment. "I've been...busy. Things keep happening, and it's hard keeping up with them all."

Zrez cast a glance at Jeler, seeming to search for more information. Jeler only shook his head, "Above your pay grade, sorry."

Zrez seems to accept this comment, but Skol openly scoffs at the remark. "Lots of things are above our pay grade these days. And all of them seem to be about him." She jerks a thumb at me while speaking to Jeler. "I for one, would love some answers, Jeler."

Jeler paused for a moment, clearly a bit caught off guard by the words. He straightened up and looked down at the girl. "Too bad. Do your work, and do it well. Once you prove yourself worthy, Riniox will promote you." The answer came out in an automatic fashion, as if it was something he had said many times.

Skol rolls her eyes. "Yeah yeah, we've all heard it before." She steps forward and pokes Jeler in the chest. "You guys need to rely on us more. Plenty of people are nervous and don't have enough answers. Riniox is trustworthy but...that only goes so far." Her expression seems to soften a bit as she speaks, genuine concern crossing her face. Her pointed finger against his chest turned into an open hand touching him softly as she looked up at him with

Jack was surprised at the sudden energy between the two of them. Skol had only ever seemed...kind of intense to Jack. But this contact with Jeler was tender, almost intimate. Jeler smiled down at Skol, but gently pulled her hand away from his chest. "Sorry, Skol. I'm under orders."

Skol's expression darkened and she looked away from him angrily. She stormed back over to where her twin was watching nervously and sat down to keep watch as Jack worked.

The air became awkward and tense going forward, and Jeler looked uncomfortable with the situation. Jack looked back and forth between the two of them as he worked, wondering what that had all been about. He was so distracted that he didn't notice Zrez leaning down and whispering to him. "They dated for a time. But as you might expect, there are some hard feelings still."

Jack nearly jumped at the sudden closeness, but his shock turned to surprise at the words. Jeler had dated her? That was...honestly not that big a deal. Jack was still focusing on learning things about this world but was struck once again by the fact that he didn't really know these people all that well. The simple things that made people go about their days, and the things that made them happy or sad. Jack made a decision to spend some time just getting to know the people around him. Maybe he could ask to spend some time with the twins or Zrez.