"Okay? Ready guys?" Helena whispered.
"Oh god, I'm so nervous." Momo whimpered.
"Why?" Roland frowned, "And why are we being so sneaky?"
"Roland, shut up!" Helena hissed, "Alright...I'm going to do it."
And slowly, nervously, Helena reached up...and knocked on the door, "Corissa? Honey? Can you come out right now? It's kind of an emergency."
A few seconds of shuffling sounds later, Corissa emerged from behind the door, looking like a crying mess with her blanket draped over her head and shoulders.
"Hey...listen..." Helena said as gently as she could, "We get you're kinda...doing something right now, we just feel like we need to inform you...uhh...that...uhh..."
Corissa sniffed, as she quietly waited for the news.
"...Roko has gone evil." Helena said unceremoniously, "He uh...he got attacked by a demon and got a mind control crown put on him so...he's now...evil..."
Corissa's face didn't seem to change for a few seconds, as if she was waiting for some sort of punchline to upturn the obviously fake news. But the longer everyone remained silent, the more it began to dawn on her that this might be true and her face began to turn grim.
"Gone evil?" Corissa frowned, "What do you mean he's gone evil?"
"He...killed a guy." Momo replied.
This news, the doubling down on the story and everyone's deeply apologetic looks (aside from Roland) finally let the severity of the situation sink into Corissa's mind. She straightened up and tossed off the blanket, immediately turning from a petulant mess into an impossibly tall and seething figure of authority.
"...On your knees."
Corissa's cold command was immediately fulfilled by everyone standing in front of her. Except for Roland who watched everyone kneel down in confusion and was about to say something until he locked eyes with the cold and quietly furious Corissa and quickly joined everyone on his knees. Corissa sighed, placing a hand over her eyes as she struggled to find out where to begin. Then she grabbed her head and let the madness fully take over as she screamed,
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN HE WENT EVIL?!"
"It wasn't out fault!" Momo quickly protested, "The demon just put a mind control crown on him!"
"Oh. Oh so you were there when they put the crown on him?"
"N-No..."
"Uh-huh, uh-huh. And...why's that? Why weren't you there to stop that?"
"We uh..." Helena cleared her throat nervously, "We let him cook."
"Let him cook?" Corissa repeated coldly, "What do you mean 'let him cook'?"
"We thought he'd be fine so we left him to do his usual research stuff." Momo whimpered.
"You LEFT him ALONE?" Corissa growled.
"Y-Y-Yes?"
"For HOW long?"
"Like...a full day...maybe two."
"NONE OF YOU CHECKED ON HIM?!"
"Well you know, he's like a...a full adult and he...he's got experience on adventures already so-"
"SO DO WE! We've been on adventures with him and we all learned that the one thing we shouldn't do is leave Roko alone, right?"
"Well...I dunno about-"
"RIGHT?!"
"Y-Yes ma'am!"
"THEN WHY DID YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE?!"
"Kaguya, some back-up here?" Helena hissed to the princess who had been silently kneeling with them.
"I don't think we have any excuses here." Kaguya replied, "I think it's best we weather the storm."
"C-Come on we didn't do that bad did we? I mean we did start to go look for him right?"
"After we found out he went missing, yeah."
"No, Kaguya don-"
"YOU KNEW HE WENT MISSING?!" Corissa screeched.
"Okay so like all we knew is that Roko didn't return to his room last night!" Helena yelped, "That's all we swear!"
"And you didn't tell me because..."
Helena looked down, "We're sorry."
"You WERE looking for him right?"
"...Eventually."
"Eventu-" Corissa seemed to reel back from the audacity of the statement, "Momo. Are we friends with Roko?"
"Huh?" Momo looked baffled by the question.
"Are. We. FRIENDS. With Roko?"
"I...I think we are?"
"THEN WHY AREN'T WE TREATING HIM LIKE HE'S A FRIEND?!" Corissa screamed, "If I went missing, would you guys not bother to search for me for a day?!"
"I mean, it was less than a day and technically, missing person reports can only be reported after 24 ho-"
"You a cop?"
"Huh?"
"You a fucking cop, Helena?" Corissa scowled.
"N-No..."
"Then why you trying to break out the legalese on me?"
"Also, you do NOT need to wait 24 hours to file a missing person report." Kaguya stated.
"Huh?" Helena turned around in confusion, "But like...that's what the black market said-"
"Helena, perhaps you should doubt your sources sometimes." Kaguya sighed, "I'm not sure what it's like in the black market but for the majority of the surface world, there is no waiting period that must be observed before filing a missing person report at least in modern day."
"...Oh..." Helena fell silent as she turned back around. Then she slowly lowered her head as she said, "Sorry."
"Sorry." Everyone else said solemnly as they bowed their heads as well.
Corissa sighed as she released the last her anger and replied, "Look it's...it's fine. What matters is what we do now. So...okay...so Roko is evil now you say?"
"Yep."
"And it's because of a...mind control crown?"
"Yep."
"And that is magic correct?"
"We assume."
"Okay." Corissa sighed, "Okay so all we have to do is get me to cast holy or sanctuary on it and Roko will be back to normal. No big deal."
"Uh...about that. Roko said to not use sanctuary."
"What? Why?" Corissa frowned.
"I dunno."
"...But this is EVIL Roko right?"
"Yeah?"
"...So...maybe I SHOULD use sanctuary."
"I mean...if you wanna, but I dunno, Roko seemed pretty serious about that."
"So are you saying like...he's fighting the mind control from within?"
"Maybe?"
"...Alright." Corissa sighed, "Well let's set that aside for now. For now, I'm still not actually sure you're not pranking me right now since there's been no proof aside from Roko's absence. Do you have any proof that this is the situation?"
"I mean...he blew up a church." Momo said.
"He blew up a church?" Corissa frowned, "How?"
"Uhhh...magic I think?"
"Roko can use magic?"
"I mean he has the power of that demon now."
"So the demon blew up the church?"
"Maybe?"
"...Alright." Corissa cradled her head, "Alright, one thing at a time. For now, let me see the ruins of this church as proof."
"Yes mom."
"It's ma'am."
"So...this is the church?"
"Yes?"
Corissa turned around, "Are you pulling my leg?"
"NO!" Helena cried, "Absolutely not! I have no idea why this thing's just back!"
"Uh huh..." Corissa's eyes narrowed as she turned back to the very intact and spotless church that had just reappeared overnight.
"I swear this is the same church that blew up yesterday." Momo frowned, "What's going on?"
"Hm...well, for the time being, let's go inside." Corissa nodded.
"A-Are you sure?" Helena asked.
"Yeah. I mean, how else are we going to figure out what's happening?"
Following Corissa, the group walked into the church which was filled with the same multi-colored lights from their stained windows, filled with the same musky pews and filled with the same main stage with familiar idols. A familiar robed figure stood up as they approached and a familiar face turned to greet them.
"Welcome." The priest from yesterday turned to greet them with a familiar warm smile, "How may I help-"
His face immediately fell as he recognized Helena's group and quickly turned away, covering his head with his hood.
"Hey! Hey!" Helena cried as she ran up, pointing at the priest, "You're supposed to be dead!"
"N-No-no...you must be mistaken."
"Who are you?!"
"M-My name is Priest Haddock. I've been the head priest for-I mean, I'm the new head priest for this new church that-"
"This church blew up yesterday!"
"N-No it didn't."
"Hey, stop hiding!"
Having marched right up to the priest, Helena grabbed the priest by the shoulder and pulled him around to face her. Only to see that his face had become warped and distorted with eyes hanging off from where its sockets should be, mouth askew on his face and nose turned upside down.
"How may I help you, my lost lamb?"
"G-Gross!" Helena cried as she stepped back, "What ARE you?!"
"I am...I am...a human..." The priest stumbled forward, arms reaching out for Helena as his face and even voice became more distorted.
Helena cried out as the priest lunged forward to grab her only for Corissa to grab him by the arm instead.
"Holy."
The priest cried out in pain as he began to disappear. In a few agonizing seconds he was erased from existence, leaving only a chilling silence behind.
"T-Thanks." Helena gulped.
"No problem." Corissa sighed.
"Okay so WHAT was THAT?" Momo cried, "The priest came back from the dead?! And he's clearly not a human so...is he coming back?! What about this church?!"
"One way to find out." Corissa said as she held up her hand before slamming it down on the ground, "Holy!"
The church itself began disappearing but as it was disappearing, the walls and windows began to distort, turning into walls of flesh that struggled with the non-existence eating away at them before the entire church just disappeared, leaving the group alone in a now empty lot in the middle of the city.
"...Imma need to sit down." Momo sighed as she plopped herself onto the solid ground of reality, "What's going on?"
"Well..." Kaguya gulped, "I guess...the eldritch are involved..."
"I thought this was about demons." Corissa frowned.
"No, it definitely is but..." Helena said her mind working in overtime, "Oh for god's sake, WHERE ARE YOU, ROKO?!"
Roko watched as the demons filed into the subspace, shedding their human disguises as they were finally free to unleash their horns and claws and tails and wings. Not all of them had all three of these traits but contained at least two of them as far as Roko could see. Some even had more unique traits though he wasn't there to study demonic biology. That said, societially, they seemed…
"Good work out there."
"Good work out there." Two demons high fived each other as they finally sat down on a table with the drinks they had carried into the space, "Man, pretending to be human is rough."
"Oof. Tell me about it. How do humans get anything done with bodies this fragile?"
"Yall still aren't used to it already?" One more cheerful demon cut in with a wide grin on his face, "We've been here for months already. Come on, it ain't that bad."
"Says you man." One of the more dour demons scoffed, "You get to hang out with your pretend wife all day."
"Aw come on, that's not it. Humans lives are just simpler you know. Less fighting and stuff."
"Yeah? Then why don't you become a human then?"
"Aw come on, it's not like that."
Is that your husband? Roko asked, directing his thought to the demon in his head.
He's not my husband. Olivia protested, But yeah, he's who my human disguise is married to...technically.
If you're so against it, why'd you make it your backstory?
It wasn't part of our backstory he just added it in later!
You didn't protest?
I couldn't, he just started calling me his wife in front of all the humans and I didn't want to blow our cover so I went along with it!
Did you confront him about it in private?
I tried but he just laughed and said it was for the "mission".
Damn. Sucks.
I can FEEL you snickering behind my back.
I mean it do be funny.
"Alright guys, let's get this meeting started." One demon called as he stepped into the subspace, "Everyone here?"
"Ah, Olivia's not here yet!" Olivia's fake husband called out.
"Where is she?"
"Dunno. Probably off sweeping the grounds or something."
"...Call her over then?"
"Nah, it's fine, she's seemed pretty stressed the past few days. Give her some alone time."
Good husband.
Not you too, Roko.
"Well...I guess if this week's meeting isn't too eventful we can just proceed without her. Anybody got any new information to present?"
A chorus of nos echoed across the room before falling silent.
"Hm. That's like the 9th meeting with no progress." The leader demon said as he marked down a sheet, "We're gonna have to find something to report to the boss before next quarter or we might be in trouble."
"What's the boss gonna do, come down and help us serve drinks?" One smoking demon scoffed, "Cause I'll tell ya, I've got enough on my plate working my job!"
"You're the one who volunteered to be a cook." One demon next to him frowned.
"Yeah and it fucking blows."
"Alright, calm down folks." The leader cut in quickly, "Before we end early, I need to check if any of you procured any contracts."
Another muttering of nos began until one voice spoke up, "Ah! I got one actually!"
"Really now, Jimothy? Good on you."
"Can you use my demon name instead?"
"No. Now come on then, let me see the details."
The demon disguised as Jimothy reached out with a rolled up parchment to give to his boss. Only for Roko to snatch it out of his hand before he could complete the trade.
"So this is a demon contract." Roko said, holding the scroll up to the light.
"Wha-Who is that?!" The leader cried, "Is that a human?! Who let him in?!"
A chorus of "I dunno"s began before the leader cut in, "Well, grab him!"
The demons closest to him nodded and moved to grab Roko but he was already gone, baffling everyone in the room.
"Did...did someone alter their human disguise?!" The leader shouted, "Who did that without authorization?! Bertrold, is that you?!"
"MY NAME IS AGROVIA!"
"Hey uh...guys? Who left this throne here?"
At one demon's notice, the group turned to look at the very conscious and gaudy wooden throne that had just...appeared behind all of them.
"Who put a throne in here?" The leader frowned, "Guys, we're not kings."
"Funny you say that." Roko said from seemingly nowhere until he finally showed himself in front of the throne and sat down on it, the contract now open in his hand as he read it, "Cause you certainly tax like one."
"Who are you?!" The leader demanded again, "And that is a VERY reasonable and standard contract!"
"Really now? Then let me get a second opinion. Olivia?"
"Olivia?!" her fake husband cried out in shock as Olivia appeared from behind the throne and picked up the contract, "What are you doing?!"
"Yep." Olivia replied, "This is by definition, a predatory contract."
"O-Olivia!" The leader shouted, "What are you doing with that human?"
"Olivia is my contracted demon now." Roko explained, "Oh, and I'm Roko by the way."
"You made a contract with someone?!" her fake husband gasped in the most offended and astonished way that Roko had ever seen.
"Well...yeah..." Olivia replied, her body squirming in the most slightest and subtle way in the midst of all this awkwardness.
"How could you do this to me!" her husband cried, distraught, "I thought we had something!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Olivia growled.
"Should I give you two some space?" Roko scoffed.
"Don't you dare." Olivia scowled.
"Olivia!" Their leader shouted, "Why did you make a contract with this man?! Why'd you bring him here?! Who is he?!"
"I told you, I'm Roko." Roko replied, "As for why or what I'm doing here the answer is simple. I'm here to help."