Demon Queen Wants to Paint

"Dungeon?" Rosa exclaimed, her voice echoing into the long chamber in front of her. Sinister chandeliers, that shone unnatural purple light, hung from the ceiling, casting an eerie glow on the floors below. The walls were covered in slashes, scratches and weird dents, and she could see it split into multiple directions.

Meanwhile the floor showed clear signs of combat – scorch marks, giant footprints, cracks and oddly embedded stones, that Rosa was convinced would activate a deadly trap the moment she stepped on them. Not to mention the occasional dark smear which no doubt was dried blood.

"You didn't think it would be easy getting to treasure? One must always overcome some obstacle to get there," Azrael grinned victoriously, still disguised as a demon guard.

I knew he agreed too easily. He's trying to scare me off, isn't he? A normal four year old would no doubt turn their tail and go back to bed. But I must get that purple diamond. It's my ticket home. 

So she thought, but thinking and doing were two different things. Rosa would have liked nothing more than to return to her bed and forget about this ominous place and its various marks of past victims.

"Let's go then," she said with as much bravery as she could muster and took a step forward. Azrael instantly pulled her back and a flurry of arrows rushed straight past her nose.

"Be careful. These dungeons are filled with traps," the demon tried to appear scared, but she could see how the corners of his mouth were twitching upwards and how his eyes gleamed with joy.

Damned demon! Fine, if you want to play dirty – let's play dirty.

"But I'm sure you know how to get through here, right? You're so strong and agile and amazing, Azrael. I've never seen anyone do magic as well as you do, Azrael," she tried to appeal to his ego. In reality, she hasn't really seen anyone besides Azrael and Phantom do magic aside from some simple levitation maids did to reach far away corners. But there was no need to tell him that.

"Of course, I can! This is a piece of cake for me," he lifted his head high, a proud smile creeping across his lips.

"I bet you could even do it while dragging someone as weak as me around. You're so amazing, Azrael!" She continued her barrage of compliments, and Azrael scratched his cheek. 

Is he getting embarrassed? That's kind of cute.

"I-I mean, I could, but it's quite dangerous, Princess. Perhaps we should–"

"Really? Show me! I want to see you do it. You always look so powerful when you do magic, Azrael!"

The demon couldn't take it anymore. Shifting back into his true form, Azrael grinned widely from ear to ear and waved his hand in the air with a flourish.

"Don't you worry, Princess! You just leave the difficult part to me and enjoy the show. I'll show you exactly how amazing I am."

Rosa turned back into her child self, doing her best to suppress a grin.

I can't believe he actually fell for that. Vanity will be your downfall, Azrael.

"Yay!" Rosa cheered in a child-like manner and allowed Azrael to pick her up. He settled her on his left arm, while making sure that he can use his right hand freely.

"Now, hold on tightly, Princess. While I am all-powerful, I do still need my hand to fight in case we encounter something unruly," he warned, and Rosa grabbed onto his shoulders, gripping them tightly.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Rosa asked, glancing further into the dungeon. Surely it must be the most difficult dungeon in the whole Underworld if the Royal Treasury lies at the end of it.

"Yes. Besides, we're going to take a shortcut."

"Shortcut?"

"Yeah. It's still dangerous, but it's made in a way that people who need to access the treasury can do so."

Good to know. So we're not going to face the worst of it. He should have started with that.

"Show me. I'll need to be able to do this one day too," Rosa urged, and Azrael nodded.

"Alright, alright. Let's go then," he replied and then sped straight into the dungeon. Rosa watched in horror as arrows, spikes, fire, lightning, glass and every other possible projectile shot behind them, missing them by less than a few centimeters. It's like he activated every possible trap on purpose.

Before Rosa could find her voice to complain about it, the ground underneath them disappeared and they fell inside a deep chasm. She screamed while Azrael laughed as if he were on some rollercoaster ride.

"This is my favorite part," Azrael exclaimed while she held onto him for dear life. After what seemed like an eternity, they fell into a giant empty chamber. Rosa feared they might just fall to their death, but Azrael waved his hand and slowed their descent, making them land as softly as a feather.

Grumbling resounded in the chamber, and Rosa saw how a giant serpent-like creature slumbered out of one of the openings in the wall. It was easily the size of a house, with six snake-like heads and short, webbed legs. There was spit trickling down from its six mouths and it hissed furiously at them. If Rosa would have to give it a name, then only one would come to mind – Hydra.

"Hey there, Levi. How you doing?" Azrael waved at the monster whose demeanor instantly changed. It produced a sort of a whining noise and lowered its six heads to Azrael's level.

"W-What is that?" Rosa squealed and tried to scramble as far away from it as possible. Unfortunately, Azrael held her tight and she had no choice but to watch the horrible creature come closer and closer with its giant heads.

"How rude. This is Levi. He guards the secret passage to the Royal Treasury in case somebody wanders in here," Azrael explained and patted one of the giant heads. Rosa stared how the six heads fought over attention, each pushing the other out of the way to get some pats. "Would you like to pat him?"

"HUH?" Rosa screeched and much to her dismay, Azrael lowered her to the ground, right next to one of the hydra's heads. It moved left and right, looking at her from all sides.

Don't eat me, don't eat me, don't eat me!

"This is the Crown Princess Morrigan, Levi. She is your Master's daughter, so be nice," Azrael grinned as he watched all of the heads turn their attention towards her. The creature got excited at the word 'master', and began flicking their forked tongues at her one head after the other.

Rosa stood as stiff as rock, trying her best not to scream each time she felt the monster's cold scales touch her skin and clothes. Her limbs were as tense as a bowstring, as she refused to relax in fear of accidentally touching the monster. After each head seemed to have sniffed her to their satisfaction, they began nudging her hand the same way Haku would when he wanted pats.

"He likes you, Princess. Give each head a pat. Just be sure to pat them an equal number of times. They get jealous easily," Azrael snickered, observing the scene from aside.

I swear you will pay for this!

Mechanically, Rosa reached her head up and somehow forced herself to pat one of the heads. It leaned into her touch, cold and moist scales sending a shiver through her whole body. Looking at the head so close, she wondered whether it would even notice if it accidentally swallowed her. She was so small in comparison.

One after another, she patted the horrid creatures heads until Azrael finally deemed it necessary to end her torture and shooed the heads away.

"That's enough for first greetings. Here, have a snack," Azrael pulled a pouch that hung by his belt and then fished something from inside it. The hydra perked up and rushed towards him at once. The demon threw some round object at each head that caught it and then laid down on the floor, chewing in satisfaction.

How can something so small satisfy such a large monster? Can it even feel it among those giant teeth?

"What did you give him?" she inquired as Azrael strode to pick her up again.

"I'll tell you once you're older."

I don't think I want to know anymore…

With Rosa secure in his grip again, Azrael left the hydra and the chamber behind, going towards the door she completely failed to notice before. It was the same texture and color as the cragged walls, the only thing that betrayed its true purpose being the door handle.

He opened the door, and the scene changed completely. Gloomy dungeon was replaced by a pleasant room with neatly polished marble floors, clean walls and quant couches for sitting. It was like one of those waiting rooms in the bank. Only with less people.

At the end of it stood a giant, round door that protruded outwards at least half a meter. It appeared to be made out of steel and had intricate carvings that went in a circular fashion inwards. But despite it being a door, Rosa saw no handle, no keyhole or turning mechanism of any sort.

"Is that the Royal Treasury?" Rosa asked, then raised her eyebrows. "Why is nobody guarding it?"

"There's no need to guard it. There's no way of opening it," Azrael shrugged and strode towards it.

"No way to open it? But how do we get inside?" Rosa asked quizzically.

"Only those who are supposed to get inside, can get inside," Azrael kept talking in riddles, and Rosa glared at him.

"Then why did we come this far if we can't even get inside?"

"We can get inside."

"But you just said–"

"Just trust me on this, Princess. We're going to get inside, no problem," Azrael smiled, and she noticed a dark shadow pass through his eyes. She wondered what that was, but decided not to dwell on it. The demon always had a scheme or two in his mind. 

"How exactly?" 

"Using these tiny, pretty hands of yours. Granted I'm not 100% sure it will work, but knowing the King, he no doubt has already given you access to all his treasures," he said and approached the giant round not-door. "All you have to do is just touch it."

Does it have a biometric reader or something? 

Rosa was a bit angry at how nonchalant Azrael was about the whole situation, but then again this was supposed to be just a fun excursion to kill some time. She'll have to accept whatever happens and search for a different way to enter, if it doesn't work out.

Let's hope it does work.

Rosa reached out her hand and touched the round metallic slab. It felt cold and smooth to her touch, and she felt a small tingle coming from it – as if it was slightly vibrating.

"Did it work?" she asked and glanced from side to side, looking for any change. Azrael was looking too, moving from one side of the door to the next.

"I don't know. It doesn't look like it did," he clicked his tongue, but then the door began to rotate slowly. He took a few steps back, and they watched as it began spinning faster and faster. After a moment, it was spinning so fast that the patterns on it blurred completely. And then the door began shrinking, each of the outer rings disappearing until finally it all seemed to roll into a tiny ball. The ball fell to the floor with a heavy 'thud', rolled to the top of the opening and began glowing with a bright light.

"Wow," they both exclaimed, and Azrael lowered Rosa to the floor. They walked towards the entrance and saw gold glitter in response to the light at the door. When they entered, Rosa felt like her jaw would drop off.

The Treasury was filled to the brim with gold coins, gold bars, jewelry, gems, weapons, armor and everything else that could be considered valuable. And the place itself was huge, about the size of a football field.

But how am I supposed to find anything here?

Rosa looked over the treasures again, trying to find whether there was some sort of a system here. However, everything appeared to be thrown in without any rhyme or reason. There was armor standing on top of a pile of gold coins, swords stocked among gold bars and gems laying everywhere. As if this was all some inconvenient trash pile that was getting in everybody's way.

"What a mess," Azrael whistled and stepped deeper into the Treasury, carefully avoiding a pile of jewelry.

"How does anyone find anything here?" she exclaimed, barely managing to hide her frustration.

"Locator spells probably. I don't see any other way," Azrael explained, then lowered Rosa to the floor. "Since we're already here, want to look around? But remember, we cannot take anything!"

"Yes," Rosa said and kept holding his hand, leaning on him to not accidentally fall into the pile of gold coins.

I have to find that gem somehow. And take it without Azrael noticing.