The Demon Lord's Summoning Has Gone Wrong

7 - Pain Sees the Past

Before Pain and the Demon Lord finished filling out the forms in the castle, another event occurred. The Demon Lord went back to her work after agreeing with Pain to let Euler the goblin manage finances. Pain, however, had already finished working on his part of the paperwork. He began to look around the library while the Demon Lord was busy with her work.

He stared at each of the books that lined the shelves for a moment; then, he looked at the Demon Lord, who was hard at work. He considered saying something to her but didn't know what he ought to say. 'Should I help with anything else?' 'Well, I'll head out now.' 'Isn't your hand cramping holding your quill that way?' Pain weighed these sentences among many others but ended up saying nothing to disturb the Demon Lord, who was hyper-focused on her task.

He began to look around the room, and then he looked across the table. His eyes settled on a plain piece of paper, laying separate from the rest of the stacks. It was thick with an ornate border but blank on the side he saw. The Dark Commander slid it closer to him and flipped it over. It was blank on both sides. He reached for his quill and began to draw on it.

After a few more hours, the Demon Lord pushed the last of her work to the side. She stretched her arms into the air and then rubbed her shoulders.

"Finally done," she said aloud.

"Ah, good work," Pain said. The Demon Lord looked his way and stared at him for a moment before jumping in surprise.

"I forgot you were in here," she exclaimed. Pain chuckled. "You could have left if you were done," the Demon Lord added.

"Not a problem, I found this paper, so I was able to entertain myself with some doodling."

"Oh, what did you... Pain, what is that paper?"

"Oh, this. It was just some scrap that was lying on the table."

"That is not scrap paper; it is contract paper that has been infused with magic! It should not be used for something like doodling!"

Pain looked between the paper he had been doodling on and the Demon Lord. Then he started to ink some more on it.

"Hold on a moment; I think I almost have it."

"You need to stop! Whatever you do, don't draw anymore." The Demon Lord tried to pull the paper away as quickly as she could.

"What's the harm?" Pain asked after she had suddenly pulled the sheet away.

"This paper is ordinarily used to bind contracts between two parties with clear, concise words, but using it with something that can be as abstract as art could have all sorts of effects!"

"Why would such a dangerous piece of paper just be left sitting out?" Pain casually said.

"No one in their right mind would consider drawing on it!" The Demon Lord exclaimed.

"Hmm." Pain muttered.

"What did you even draw anyway?" The Demon Lord asked while slowly turning the page to see what he had drawn. She worried about the potential effects of triggering any magic by looking at it.

"Oh, well... I'm not a very good artist without a reference, so I was drawing you while you worked..." Pain said nervously. He was only now thinking that she might find it strange after having had drawn her.

"You what?" The Demon Lord forwent her earlier caution and looked right at the image Pain had drawn. Sure enough, it was a picture of her sitting at the table; he had drawn her at a moment where she was pushing her hair out of the way of her face. "Wha- What is this?"