Demon Queen Wants to Paint

Once the dinner with Lady Lily and Deziara was over, Rosa secluded herself to her room, convincing her nanny that she was tired and would go to sleep right away. Gunna wanted to help her dress, but Rosa gently rejected her offer instead urging her to enjoy the free evening. 

Azrael wants Lady Lily to become the next Demon Queen? Why would he want that? What does he stand to gain from it? Previously, when speaking to Lady Asdeus, he claimed that he was going to profit if I were to become the Queen. What the hell is he plotting?

Rosa paced around the room, as she tried to understand Azrael's reasoning, but no matter how much she thought and pondered, she couldn't understand what was his true goal.

I don't know enough about demons to draw any conclusions. Their actions seem so contradictory at times.

With a sigh, she decided to end the inner debate for the day, and instead return to things that really mattered. She pulled her art supplies out of Alphegor's closet, and set everything up. 

"Today, I am going to finish this," Rosa told herself, and began mixing paints on her palette and then laying them down on the canvas. This time she worked with the smallest brush, refining the details or fixing any mistakes that might have crept in.

For two hours her focus was only on her painting. Her little hand began to tremble by the end of it, making detailed work even more difficult, but she persisted.

"There…" she said and took a few steps back. "It is finished."

Gentle orange and yellow tones dominated the painting. It was a cityscape, or to be exact it was the view from her apartment window. As she lived on the seventh floor in a large apartment building, she had a good view of the whole city. Most buildings around weren't as tall, in fact, the surrounding area had quite a lot of private homes. Due to that, from her window she had a clear view all the way to the sea. 

Lush trees were planted along the streets, littering the small city with life and greenery while the sparkling sea in the distance with its setting sun gave a sense of tranquility and peace. Rosa purposely avoided overly bright colors in the painting, instead keeping to gentle pastels.

A tear ran down Rosa's cheek as she looked at the painting. She never thought that her small apartment was anything special. In fact, she had hoped to move out of it as soon as she got more comfortable at her new job. But now, when she had lived in the Underworld for four years, she wished nothing more but to be back at her tiny apartment, sipping peppermint tea and looking over the city as the sun set.

No, don't be like that! I will find a way back home. I will see my apartment again and I will work at Studio Goblin.

Rosa wiped away her tears and clapped her hands over her cheeks to bring some vigor back into her body. 

My only good quality is my resilience. I won't be stopped just because I got dragged into another world. No way.

With this newfound determination, Rosa hid her painting and all the supplies in the wardrobe. After cleaning herself up and dressing into her nightie, she crawled into her bed and fell asleep.

***

Next day started like any other. She dressed, she ate in Gunna's bubbly company (although the nanny herself wasn't allowed to eat together with her) and went to Azrael's lesson, escorted by her silent guards.

Azrael, on the other hand, greeted her with a mischievously sweet smile right from the get-go.

"Good morning, Princess! Had a good night's rest?" 

Rosa squinted her eyes at him suspiciously.

He's plotting something again.

"Yes," Rosa dragged out the word slowly while carefully observing his features.

"Have lots of energy?" he smiled, a picture of innocence. If it weren't for his black horns. And the tail that kept flicking from side to side just like cat's who were about to pounce on his prey.

"Yes?" she said with uncertainty.

"Wonderful! Then I believe it is time that you learned something new. Your shadow form is very good, you don't get queasy anymore and you're way ahead of your sisters when it comes to speed."

"Something new?" she cocked her head. 

Is he talking about what else I could do in shadow form? But what else could there be? Shadow spears? Restraining people with shadows? Snuffing out lights?

"Yes. I was seven when I learned my second ability, but since you have a slightly superior magical potential, I believe you're ready for yours right now," Azrael explained and then pulled a familiar box from his pocket. It was the gift she had received from Lucius – the alexandrite gem.

Oh, well, that's not so bad. I thought I'd have to stay in my shadow form until the point of complete exhaustion and keep pushing myself past my limits to unlock some new ability.

"Alright. How… How do I learn it?" She took the gem from its box and turned it around in her hands. It shone red and purple, and an occasional glint of emerald appeared as she lifted it closer to the light.

"You absorb it," Azrael said nonchalantly, a wide grin on his face.

"A-Absorb it?" Rosa stared down at the alexandrite, dumbfounded. She poked it with her finger and it felt exactly like she expected – rock solid. "How?"

"Just accept it into your body."

"Huh?" Rosa stared at Azrael as if he were a lunatic.

You cannot 'accept' gems into your body. What is this nonsense? Is he just messing with me?

Azrael smirked in a victorious sort of fashion. "You don't understand it? With your talents I expected you to do it naturally. I succeeded with my first try."

So you're just gloating. Pompous prick.

Rosa had the urge to just throw the gem in Azrael's face, but he'd probably stop it with some magic.

"Your explanation sucks," she announced, and this seemed to strike a nerve.

"There is no explanation, Princess. You just absorb the gem."

"How do I absorb it? I am not a slime, I cannot absorb things."

"No, you are a demon and you can absorb magic," Azrael retorted as Rosa glared at him. They stared at each other for a minute, then the demon clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Alright, alright. I'll try to explain it as your mother explained it to me," He finally relented and crouched down next to her. "You see this gem right? What does it feel like?"

"Like a rock," Rosa said in annoyance.

"Yeah, that might be the problem. Do not think of it as a rock. Think of it as a very hard, dense piece of magic."

How am I supposed to think of something as magic? Isn't magic just energy? Like electricity.

Rosa tried to imagine the gem being a little battery charged to the brim. 

"Did you imagine it?" he asked, his voice quiet and calm.

"I think so?"

"Well, now imagine that you're taking all that energy into your body. Imagine it flowing from your hands to your limbs and then spreading out through the whole body," Azrael instructed. Rosa nodded, and then imagined how the electricity within her gem battery began entering her body. She felt a sort of a pulse in her hand and recoiled, throwing away the gem.

"Hey, why'd you do that?"

"My fingers got zapped," Rosa exclaimed, cradling her hands close to her body.

Maybe imagining it as electricity wasn't a good idea. A normal person wouldn't want electricity in their body.

"Zapped? Is that some made up word of yours?" Azrael went up to pick up the gem, then placed it back into her hands. "Try again and don't be afraid when you feel the magic flow into you. Close your eyes – that might help you imagine it."

Rosa nodded and closed her eyes. This time she imagined the gem being a piece of ice. She imagined it melting and the water from it flowing into her body. This time the feeling was much more gentle and she could feel how it flowed smoothly, settling down in her every cell. Once she reopened her eyes, the gem in her hands was gone.

"I… I absorbed it?" she asked, unsure.

"You did, Princess. Good job," He rustled her hair, an uncharacteristically warm smile on his face. But before she could admire his handsome features, they were distorted by a nasty grin. "I, however, was better."

"If you were better at explaining I would have gotten it right on the first try," she objected.

"Nobody likes a sore loser, Princess."

Rosa puffed out her cheeks, and wondered if there was something around she could throw in his stupid face.

"Alright, alright. Let's get to our first shape changing lesson then. Hopefully, it'll go better than the gem absorption. But it will require you to use your imagination," Azrael teased, and then suddenly his shape warped. Few seconds later, Alphegor was standing in his place.

"Wha–?" Rosa exclaimed in surprise. For a second, she believed that it was actually Alphegor standing there in front of her, but then Azrael's signature grin marred his face, and Rosa winced. "Turn back. You're ruining Father's image."

"Aww, here I thought you'd be happy to see your daddy again."

"Not when I know that it's actually you," Rosa grumbled, and Azrael laughed, still looking like Alphegor. The sight was rather distressing, as the Demon King never laughed in such an undignified manner.

Alphegor's features shifted, slowly morphing and moving. A few moments later a large, white deer stood in his place. Its horns seemed to emit an ethereal glow while its pristine white fur looked to be made out of pure snow.

"You can shapeshift into animals too?" Rosa asked, as she admired the majestic deer. Suddenly Azrael's grin appeared on the deer as well, and Rosa jumped back in surprise. "Do you have to ruin everything?"

"Just wanted to demonstrate that you can turn into pretty much anything you can imagine," the white deer Azrael said solemnly.

"Can you turn into inanimate objects?"

The deer shifted its stance, deep in thought. Then he shook his head and turned back into his familiar Azrael shape.

"You can, of course. But it's not very pleasant and I don't recommend it.

"Why not?"

"Because as living creatures it is natural for us to be moving. Even if our bodies aren't moving, our heart, our blood and other organs are constantly in motion," Azrael opened his mouth to say some more, but noticing Rosa's intent gaze, he snickered. "It's too difficult for a kid like you to understand. Just be content with turning into other beings. If you can, that is."

Rosa shifted uncomfortably and looked down on her hands. Changing shape sounded a bit scary. 

I wonder how it actually works? Am I changing my actual body along with all of the molecular structure? Or is it just that I appear different to others and my actual body is the same? But such a question is clearly too advanced for a four year old to ask.

"So I just… imagine being somebody else?"

"Yes, just like you imagined absorbing the stone into yourself. Don't think too much about it the first time – just turn into whatever first thing comes to your mind," Azrael said and crossed his arms over his chest, observing Rosa with interest.

"Okay… First thing that comes to my mind…" she muttered and closed her eyes. For some reason the painting she finished yesterday popped into her mind, and she thought of her tiny apartment. Rosa remembered how she looked in her full-body mirror – how she looked as a human.

Before she could shake the visage away and imagine something else, she heard a whistle from Azrael and opened her eyes. He wasn't as tall anymore, even if still a bit taller than her, and looked less intimidating than before. As she looked down on her hands, she saw her familiar slender fingers. Pale but most definitely with more color than her demon skin.

"I certainly wasn't expecting that…" Azrael drawled, looking surprised.

"What? What do I look like?" she asked, despite knowing perfectly well how she looked.

Dammit, this is not what I wanted, but my old body was the first thing that came into my mind.

"How is this even possible?" Azrael squinted his eyes at her and scratched his chin thoughtfully.

I am in trouble now! Morrigan hasn't seen any humans before and yet now I have shape-shifted into one. This is really bad.