With her life on the line, because she could tell that the child meant it, Syndra had no choice but to agree.
"We can peek outside through the window and-"
’Not good enough.’ The child interrupted. ’Take me as far from the castle as you can.’
"You mean... You want me to use my magic?"
’Do it, now.’ The baby ordered. ’Don’t try to buy any more time.’
Just as the order was given, Syndra could feel some strength coming back to her arms, though the rest of her body was still weak as a leaf.
"Fine," The Succubus focused on her left hand, which rested on the ground. A pulse of mana ran through and across the castle floors. "We’ll leave this place, alright."
Syndra had one more trick up her sleeve.
By marking different areas of the Demon Realm, she could teleport herself, others, as well as objects to those areas.
’Nyl is on the ground floor.’
Every floor of the castle was already marked.
All she needed to do was choose the one Nyl was on, and teleport herself and the child to Nyl!
Her hands came together, a necessary condition for her magic to activate, and...
’Don’t even think about it.’
As her mana swelled up and converged into the activation of her magic, Syndra’s eyes widened.
Everything had been set up for her to blink and find Nyl standing in front of her.
But at the last second, something went wrong.
’My magic...’ Syndra felt her every hair stand on end. ’Is going haywire?! No! It’s the first time that...’
The thought trailed off as the castle they were standing in disappeared and, in its place, appeared an infinitely stretching wasteland of dark scarlet earth and rock.
"You’re..." Syndra gulped. "You’re kidding me...!"
She lowered her gaze, only to find on the ground the imprint left behind by the castle months earlier.
"We left this place months ago," She whispered under her breath. "Why... Why are we here?"
Her knees felt weaker than ever.
The child ignored her completely, choosing instead to use her hair like ropes to climb down from her shoulders to the ground.
In the distance, a powerful, zig-zagging river overflowing with its tarry, viscous, and highly poisonous water raged on.
The constant echoing of the black river was like a melody playing in the background while the child moved his tiny feet around in the dirt.
He stepped and dug with his feet before reaching with his hand. The baby placed a palm on the warm earth, and he found it extraordinary.
’Does this earth truly stretch throughout the entire world?’ He asked himself.
With physical contact with Syndra having been broken, telepathy wasn’t possible anymore.
His gaze devoured every available square foot of the seemingly infinite scenery.
The river and what flowed through it awakened further curiosity.
He turned towards Syndra, who was still on her knees, visibly scared. He had left her with enough energy to move around a bit, but not with nearly enough to use her magic and teleport them out of here.
The child pointed, and the Succubus was obligated to answer if she wanted to leave this place.
’Babies are curious. Fine. We’ll do this quickly and go back before we run into more trouble.’ Syndra took a deep breath. "It’s a Styx river, a river of highly potent poison filled with mana. Rumors say that a Styx river appears when the ground absorbs too much blood in a concentrated area."
Blood, of course, referred to Demon Blood.
The child gave a nod and turned back towards the river of Styx.
There was certainly something magical about it. He could feel the power and mana flowing within the tarry liquid. More importantly, it felt like it was calling to him.
The child enjoyed the scenery and debated approaching the black river.
Syndra’s stomach dropped before the baby could make up his mind.
"Fuck..." The Succubus cursed under her breath. "We need to leave. Now."
Already appearing in the distance, they quickly approached. Over two dozen of them.
The baby pointed at those approaching figures and turned towards Syndra.
"They’re Incubi," She said. "They will kill us if we stay here," The Succubus added matter-of-factly.
The child turned back towards the incoming shadows and scratched his chin.
’Why do they look so different from one another?’
Indeed, some of the Incubi looked relatively similar to Nyl and Syndra, but others were completely different. Most notably, their sizes and the number of limbs they had varied wildly from Incubus to Incubus.
Syndra immediately noticed that there was no fear on the child’s face.
She gritted her teeth.
"Listen, I do not have the strength to beat them, okay? I can’t protect you or even myself." She admitted. "I’m weaker than Saphyra and the others, and even on my best day, I would struggle to defeat so many Incubi. Do you hear me? This is not my best day, as you can imagine."
The child nodded but gave no answer.
Syndra massaged her forehead. Once again, she was forced to follow his whims.
Rising to her feet, she stepped closer to the child and offered a hand.
The child took that hand right away.
’Why are they so different?’
Children are curious. If his curiosity is quenched fast enough, we might just leave in time, Syndra thought.
"Incubi breed much faster than Succubi. They can impregnate many females a day, while it takes months for a Succubus to properly reproduce. That’s why there is a wild variability in Incubus strength and bodies. They care much less about the quality of their prey than Succubi do."
’They are much weaker.’ He noted.
"Yes, while Incubi are much more numerous than Succubi, the average Succubus is generally much stronger than the average Incubus." Syndra tried not to let her nervousness show. "We can talk about this more inside the castle. Naima would probably have more to say about-"
’No,’ The child interrupted. ’I want to see more.’
"We can tell you all about them if you’re curious."
’I want to see them myself.’ The child stepped forward, letting go of Syndra’s hand. ’I want to experience these Incubi myself.’