Authors: A. Griffin
The Demon Rolmar (2 page)
.
R
olmar flew above Lamdria, a particularly windy and arid region of Pentar. From his aerial view, the great and verdant dunes of this land appeared small and they passed by quickly. Up ahead, Rolmar could see Bremsa, an immense, hexagonal structure made entirely of bright-red stone. The building was situated on top of a high plateau. Rolmar reached the plateau in no time and alighted thunderously. He wrapped his wings across the front of his body (this gave the appearance of a cloak) and entered two enormous doors emblazoned with demonic faces.
Rolmar walked down a long passageway until he reached another set of large doors. He pushed them open and entered the Great Hall. The demon had been in the hall many times, so the gilded ceilings and magnificent murals that depicted the various landscapes of Pentar were no longer striking to him. One of the main focal points of the room was a long, white-marble table. Rolmar walked to the far end of the table and ran the talons of one hand along its smooth surface.
Two demons entered the hall after several minutes had passed. Orakis, a teal demon who was very gaunt, entered first. Right behind Orakis came Glemnir, a corpulent demon with coral skin. After the demons had greeted one another and bowed, the meeting commenced.
During the first part of the council meeting, Glemnir would typically read a passage from the works of one of Pentar’s great scholars. The reading usually lasted for several hours because the writing of the Pentarians tended to be circuitous in nature. Rolmar knew this and had not been looking forward to listening to the endless droning of Glemnir.
I can barely stand the first part of the council meeting
, he thought to himself. He hid this thought from the others, even as he directed the following thought to them:
Fellow overseers of Pentar, I would greatly appreciate it if we could forgo the initial part of the meeting. It would help to expedite the proceedings.
Very well
, Orakis thought
.
Agreed
, Glemnir thought, though it was clear from his facial expression that he was visibly annoyed.
Almost immediately, a tall stack of thin, metal cards appeared on the table. On each of the cards was an image of a planet and basic information about that particular world. Orakis used his mind to make a card from the top of the stack float over to him. Glemnir chose a card from the bottom. Finally, Rolmar made a card from the middle of the stack levitate directly into his hands. After the selections had been made, the demons used their minds to make three huge volumes from Bremsa’s library—located in another section of the building—appear on the table. The arrival of the enormous books was phantasmagoric; there were sparks and twisting streams of brilliant blues and yellows. Once the sparks had faded, each demon placed his hands on the book in front of him. The Pentarians could absorb knowledge from books simply by touching them, and within a matter of seconds the overlords had downloaded the entire contents of the volumes into their sophisticated brains.
These books contained the accumulated logs of spies who had been sent to Vestar, Sanontol, and Winsarian 3. The Pentarians sent spies to numerous planets in different galaxies. Their spies could easily blend in with alien races through the use of shape shifting.
After the demons had read—or rather, absorbed—the books, they began to discuss the three planets. Orakis thought:
The logs in the volume that I read were rather interesting. Winsarian 3 is not as primitive as I expected. The people live in vast cities enclosed in domes and they are beginning to study telekinesis. What about your planet, Glemnir?
The inhabitants of Sanontol are quite advanced,
Glemnir thought.
They have achieved intergalactic travel and have eliminated problems such as famine and sickness. What did you learn from your volume, Rolmar? Rolmar?
My apologies,
Rolmar replied.
I was having the loveliest daydream about the carnage that’s to come. For you see, my planet is the most primitive of the three. The people of Vestar still grapple with issues like racism, war, and poverty. It’s very unlikely that I’ll spare them.
The demons spoke about the planets for a while longer. Toward the end of the meeting Glemnir thought:
So, each of us will visit our respective planets and conduct further investigations, since the logs were written almost ten years ago. If we deem the inhabitants unworthy of continued existence, we have full discretionary power to annihilate them.
Orakis added,
If the world you encounter has been polluted and utterly drained of its resources, then you might as well obliterate the sphere and its people in one fell swoop.
Agreed
, was the unanimous reply from Rolmar and Glemnir.
Orakis rose from his seat and thought:
This meeting has reached its conclusion. Let us go and attend to our duties.
When Rolmar left Bremsa it was dark outside, and the five moons of Pentar were clearly visible in the night sky. He admired the view for a few minutes before stretching out his wings and taking to the air. As Rolmar flew toward home, the light from the five crescents illuminated his body, making him shine like new silver.
Rolmar’s home was hidden within a mountainous area in the Etomidrain region of Pentar. As he flew over troves of blue mountains, Rolmar spotted a familiar grouping of three formations. He made his way to the base of the central mountain, whose entrance was invisible. The opening would only appear when the proper mental command was used. It was impossible for a person to stumble upon it by accident, for the base of the mountain was completely solid until the door came into being, as it were. Rolmar thought the word
Nostrum,
and this made the enormous doorway manifest itself. He stepped inside and touched a square, stony protrusion on a wall just beyond the entryway. Light immediately bathed the dwelling, which was an enormous cavern made entirely of unrefined, green marble. Just beyond the entryway lay the main area of the cave, whose only movables were a table and chair, appropriate for the demon’s large size. Several passageways, which were radial offshoots from this open area, led to other rooms. Rolmar walked over to the table and set his metal card on its dark-green surface. After regarding the item for a few moments and stretching his tired limbs, he made his way to the leftmost passageway, which led to his sleeping chambers.
The room was Spartan to say the least; its only furniture was a small, three-legged table carved from malachite. On one of the walls was a hexagonal recess, which glowed an eerie yellow when Rolmar walked over to it. Almost immediately his body was replaced by a white cloud of smoke that funneled its way into the recess. Though this wasn’t sleeping in the conventional sense, it provided Rolmar with the rest that he needed; Pentarian souls are noncommittal, and staying in one form for too long produces wear on them.
The metal card sat lonely on the table in the front room. An image of the beautiful, blue planet—known as Vestar to the Pentarians—was rendered on its surface. There was a section on the card that contained alternate names for the planet. In this section were the following words inscribed in pewter ink: Tramnir, Immocus, and Earth.
.
T
he journey draws near.
The demon made his way through the cavernous abode until he reached a seemingly unremarkable, large room. When Rolmar passed over the threshold, the room sprang into being; an eerie glow bathed the expansive area and a large, floor-to-ceiling bookshelf appeared. The books weren’t actually resting on the shelf; each book floated two centimeters above its respective resting spot. The bookshelf itself was puzzling. From afar it seemed to end at the ceiling, but when one approached the shelf it became more pyramidal in nature. By the time the demon was only a few inches from it, the top of the shelf seemed to reach toward infinity.
Rolmar muttered a few demonic words that caused a golden sphere to materialize in the room. The appearance of the object created a rip through time and space, leaving a loud resonance in its wake. Seven books flew off the shelf and dematerialized into the sphere, the interior of which could be likened to a vortex. The books were about Earthlings and had been written by demons that had traveled to the planet. The volume Rolmar had taken from Bremsa’s library was also committed into the abysmal sphere. Once this was done, Rolmar backed away from the shelf, and it took on a normal appearance again—a dizzying sight for any normal onlooker. The high demon of Pentar left the room, and the area became dormant once more.
Rolmar walked down a dimly lit hall that led to another peculiar room. On either side of the hall were stone, demonic faces that began to speak to him as he made his way down the long corridor.
“Leaving again, are we?” uttered the faces, which always spoke in unison. The words resonated through the hall.
“Yes.”
“What planet has been indicted this time?”
“The planet Vestar, whose inhabitants are as worthless as the resource-drained planet they reside on,” Rolmar said.
“You intend to destroy it then?” the faces asked.
“By whatever means necessary.”
“I feel this mission may prove to be more difficult than you expect.”
“Why is that?”
But Rolmar had reached the end of the hall, and the faces had suddenly become quiet. The two large, bronze doors that awaited him began to open. This room contained the power source of his domicile—a marble-sized, black orb that floated in the middle of the room. To be precise, it wasn’t a room because there were no solid surfaces, just an expanse of space. It was contained in the house and yet it looked as if Rolmar had stepped into a different dimension. The orb was called a Suvir, and Rolmar was the only inhabitant on Pentar who possessed one. The marble controlled all the spells that caused different things to happen in the domicile. It was a computer in the sense that it contained a special set of commands that were executed at specific times. The magic commands controlled certain things like the lighting of the domicile and the opening and closing of doors.
When Rolmar walked over to the object, it sensed his presence and floated closer to him. He stretched out his palms on either side of the orb, and after a few moments it began to change. Its black color faded until it was entirely clear and it shrank to one-tenth of its natural size. This turned off the Suvir and stopped the subsequent actions that it controlled. After seeing to this task, the demon left the room and walked back down the hall. Before exiting back into the main rotunda of his abode, the demon heard a final snicker from the faces, which eventually faded into an ominous silence.
The air was crisp outside, and the golden sky welcomed the demon as he exited his home. After taking one final look back at the mountain and sealing off the entrance, Rolmar made a fist; the sky grew black, and tumultuous winds swept over the land. A portal emerged high above the clouds of the world. Blue electricity circled its perimeter, cracking and sparking as it made its slow, purposeful way around the gate. The sight caused the demon’s heart to stir with malicious content. With luminous eyes cast upward, Rolmar clasped his hands together tightly and said, “This is going to be great fun.”
.
I
t was a frigid night in Glencoe, Missouri. The only visible light on Old State Road came from a tavern, whose usual patrons sought warmth on this cold night, and as always, were intent on escaping their woes in tall glasses of ale. A tall man wearing glasses and a worn, brown-leather jacket exited the bar, letting the heavy, wooden door fall shut behind him. He headed south toward his home, which was about a mile away.
Adam Livingston walked the streets hurriedly and ignored the shadows that toyed with his mind, borrowing images directly from his nightmares. The wind was no help to him, for it seemed to animate the shadows, making them dance. He passed by the familiar oak tree that marked the halfway point between the bar and his home.
Almost home
, he thought. But as he walked by the enormous tree, something registered in his peripheral vision.
What was that? It looked like a green flash. It must have been my mind, up to its usual tricks again.
The thought was convincing for several more yards, until he heard the sound of rustling leaves behind him.
Don’t turn around. Don’t turn around.
But like poor Orpheus, something compelled him to look back and when he did, his eyes met the luminous stare of Rolmar, who had emerged from the darkness. The youth couldn’t look at the haunting, green eyes that pierced through his soul.
The demon started to walk toward him. Time began to slow and then it sped up, and Adam crumpled to the ground, barely aware of his own body. He covered his head with his arms and trembled in the night air, praying for the demon to vanish. The sound of the approaching creature tortured his ears, and Adam thought those heavy foot-falls might be the last sound he ever heard.
When Rolmar stopped moving, the silence that engulfed Adam was unbearable, triggering his mind to conjure up a hundred ways for the demon to end his life. The demon moved closer and was now only a few inches away from the cringing youth. Adam began sweating profusely, while his eyes moved frantically behind tightly shut lids. The fact that his eyes were closed did not help matters because his mind was able to picture the demon’s face in excruciating detail. After thirty seconds—the longest thirty seconds of Adam’s life—Rolmar said, “Death will be upon your people.” The acidic words resonated for a few moments. Rolmar began walking away, but a frantic, shaky voice made him pause.
“What do you mean by that?!” Adam said. He was able to sit up, and avoiding the eyes that horrified him, managed to say, “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll tell someone?”
Rolmar laughed heartily, and the volume of the sound made the earth quake. The demon shook his head and gave the man a small smile. “I have never known fear. Anyone who stands against me will be crushed.”
“Is this a dream?” Adam asked. “You must be part of a nightmare. I’m going to wake up any minute now,” he reassured himself in an unconvincing tone. This was a futile attempt to conceal the trepidation that deluged over his body. As he spoke, his hands shook—the last vestige of the intense tremors that racked his body a few moments earlier. The fact that the demon had not dispatched his life gave the man a modicum of courage: just enough to continue the conversation with the creature who utterly dwarfed him. “What do you intend to do?”
“I’m here to destroy this planet.”
Adam’s brown eyes grew wide, and he decided to make a run for it. He couldn’t move fast enough, though; the situation was all very surreal. It seemed like it took hours to cover a few meters, but after he had traveled a good fifty feet, he chanced a backward glance.
“Great. Nothing but empty street. Maybe I did imagine the whole thing.”
Now feeling out of danger, Adam continued home at a slower pace. As he continued on his way he would periodically look over his left shoulder. Adam reached the manicured lawns of his apartment complex in less than ten minutes. The small, identical lodgings were all connected, and all marked with black, iron numbers securely fastened to the right of the door. He made his way to unit 102. Once inside, he flipped on a light switch, threw his jacket on a nearby chair, and walked into the living room. He hoped to see his roommate in his usual spot on the couch, ensconced in some television program. “John? Are you here?”
He must have decided to work late tonight. After all that’s happened, I think that I just want to go to bed.
“Hey, I’m home,” came a familiar voice, followed by the sound of the front door shutting.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re here. You won’t believe the story that I’m going to tell you.”
Adam walked to the front door and jumped back a foot. A smaller, seven-foot version of the demon was now inside the apartment. Panic spread over Adam’s body as he took in the sight. “How? What?” he gasped as he struggled to keep his balance. His body was beginning to feel unsteady.
“Articulate tonight, aren’t we?” Rolmar said.
“How did you get in here? Get out! Where’s John?! I just heard him.”
“Are all humans so inhospitable? I’ve barely had a chance to make myself comfortable.”
“For the last time, where is he?”
Rolmar stifled a laugh that was itching at the back of his throat. “And of course you have the upper hand here. Even though you are simple, you must know that you stand no chance against me.”
Adam remembered he had small knife in the pocket of his jacket.
If I could just get to the chair and get the knife from that pocket.
The chair was only a few feet away from him, but it seemed more like miles. And he would have to fumble with the jacket before successfully retrieving the weapon. Any sudden movement on his part would likely tip off the demon.
“That won’t work. My body can’t be hurt by any metal,” the demon said.
The human was shocked by the invasion; the demon had read his mind. Shock battled despair within the youth, and the latter eventually claimed victory—evidenced by the extinction of hope from Adam’s eyes.
“Don’t despair. I won’t be ending your life. Have a seat,” Rolmar said. Adam went flying back into the living room where his body made a harsh landing on the floor. Rolmar levitated into the room and landed right in front of the human, who was more like an insect than anything else to him. “Your friend is unharmed, I imitated his voice.”
“How could you possibly know what his voice sounds like?”
“When we had our encounter earlier, I scanned some parts of your brain. I know many of your memories, insecurities, and fears.”
Adam gasped. “Why are you doing this?”
“You have something that is of use to me.”
“And that is?”
“Before I came to Earth, I had some knowledge of the customs here, thanks to other Pentarians who had been here ten years ago. But by reading your mind more thoroughly now, I will be able to gain a primary source for proper behavior, customs, and contemporary language and slang. This is very important for my stay here.”
“I thought you were going to destroy the Earth—plain and simple.”
“Most likely. But I think I’ll take a look around first—as it were— and then make my decision. Above all else, I enjoy games, and this may be the best one I ever play.”
“Toying with peoples’ lives is not a game.”
“It is for my kind.”
The demon’s eyes glowed, and the youth couldn’t escape their entrancing power. He scanned Adam’s brain thoroughly. Rolmar’s body then began to fade until he disappeared entirely. “Perfect, I have what I need,” Rolmar said, and left the apartment quickly, maintaining his invisible state. Exhausted from the encounter, Adam passed out.
For a while, Rolmar roamed the streets aimlessly. He had no particular destination—he simply wanted to familiarize himself with the town. As he walked, Rolmar took in the surroundings.
Lamppost, fire hydrant, sidewalk…there are so many things to see here, although they are terribly primitive in design.
The demon was able to reference the thoughts he had just plucked from Adam’s mind and was using images of objects and their respective names as a veritable encyclopedia.
This guide will prove to be very useful for my stay here, but this knowledge I’ve absorbed is so limited. I’ll need to find more.
Then a sudden realization skipped across his facial features: a bright, almost cheery expression that morphed into fiendish content and faded finally into a stoic countenance. Rolmar called mentally for the sphere, and it was in front of him in an instant. A few more mental commands and a scroll emerged from the floating globe and then unfolded. The scroll was transparent, marked only with white gridlines and the gold landmasses of Earth. The map was powerful in that it could transport a person to any destination on the planet. He told it to zoom in on his current location. Then he asked it to display all libraries within a thirty-mile radius, and these appeared as white dots. Rolmar chose an arbitrary dot and touched it lightly. Moments later he was standing in front of a large, brick-face building. Still invisible and smaller than normal, the demon walked right through the glass doors.
It was dark inside the two-story building. Rolmar referenced Adam’s thoughts again and looked around for a light switch. The lights came on, and Rolmar was surrounded by décor typically found in an office: plain, lifeless prints and dull-colored carpeting. Despite the apparent lack of decorative imagination, there was still an appeal to the neat and sparse environment that was a perfect haven for any booklover.
Rolmar strolled about looking at various books.
This is nothing like Bremsa’s library, but it will serve my purposes. Where to start, where to start
…
ah, the reference section. Perfect
. Rolmar stood between two tall bookcases, thoroughly satisfied with the situation. He walked between them with arms outstretched, and ran each hand along the spines of the books on the opposing shelves. He repeated this action until all the books in the section had been absorbed. Then he proceeded up to the second floor, where he found numerous bookcases on either side of a central aisle. Rolmar started with the left side, inspecting some of the books. He absorbed several science-fiction novels and was not entirely disappointed by what he read.
Hmm, at least they can dream of other worlds, even if they don’t have the technology for intergalactic travel.
After absorbing some fantasy novels, he thought about his visits to the dragon worlds.
The dragons that I have encountered are far too powerful to ever be slain by a human.
He proceeded to another section and picked up a romance novel entitled,
Echoes of the Past
. He was about to absorb the novel, but the sound of laughter made him halt.
What was that?
Rolmar looked out into the aisle and saw two luminous, red eyes by the stairs that led to the first floor. They began to move, bouncing up and down as they approached. The guise of invisibility wore off of the small, skipping demon just before he halted in front of Rolmar.
Why are you here, Itakir?
“Don’t be angry, oh highest of high demons,” said Itakir in a cheery voice. “I followed you here from Pentar. I witnessed the portal emerge in the sky from my dwelling and after I saw you enter, I flew inside before it closed.”
“What’s done is done. I suppose that you’ll want to wreak havoc here on Vestar?”
The small, light-green demon nodded feverishly and went into a laughing fit. After a few minutes he said, “I’m so glad you’re not mad! I guess that means that you’re growing fond of my visits.”
“I tolerate you. That is all.”
“Oh, you don’t really mean that,” he said in a cooing voice. “You could have banished me from Pentar ages ago, but you
didn’t
. Some microscopic part of you likes having me around.”
“Subatomic,” came the cool reply from Rolmar.
“Oh well, what are you doing here?”
“Gathering information about the creatures that live on this planet.”
“Well, you
could
have asked me. I’ve been here several times with other demons and know the customs very well,” he said in a confident voice.
“I’d rather continue doing it my way.”
“Suit yourself.”
Rolmar turned his attention back to the novel that was still in his hand. He touched its spine with his left index finger and almost immediately one of his eyes twitched. “What mawkish bunk,” he said.
“Hmm,” Itakir said before taking the novel from Rolmar’s hand. It took the lesser demon several minutes to absorb the book because his powers were not as great as those of the high demon. “Awwww, what a sweet story,” he said in a sarcastic tone. Then he burst into laughter again, which made his prominent ribs shake. The demon doubled over and eventually fell to the floor. After a few minutes he sobered and sat up abruptly, as if something had compelled him to do so. His bright-red eyes looked intently at the carpet below him as he ran the long, webbed fingers of one hand over its surface. “What cheap carpeting,” he remarked. Then another laughing fit took over, and he began rolling around on the floor. Rolmar regarded Itakir for a few seconds, shook his head, and then moved on to another section.
Rolmar was scanning a shelf of detective novels when a very small, two-inch version of Itakir appeared. He was sitting so that his legs dangled over the edge of the shelf. Itakir began swinging his legs and said, “Hi, again.” Within a few seconds Itakir lost his composure and started to laugh. Then he made a small handkerchief appear and dabbed at his eyes. After a few minutes, the mirth died away from his eyes and was replaced with a true earnestness. “You really should be careful in this place.”
“Why is that?”
“After traveling to Earth several times, the ways of the humans have rubbed off on me. Being around creatures that experience great emotion has taken a toll on me.”
“How so?” Rolmar asked.
“I never had these laughing fits until I came to Earth. Human emotions are amplified in me. Just be careful.”
“I’ll take that into consideration.”
“Wow, you listened to me for once. Quite frankly that touches my heart.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
“Can I start causing chaos here?
Rolmar sighed slightly and said, “Don’t cause too much trouble.”