Sorcery - 19

Nancey glanced back at her, "Something on your mind?" she asked before turning her gaze back to the path in front of them.

Whatever Nicole was going to say was quickly surpassed by the sudden realization that they were following a path that existed in untamed forest, instead she asked, "What made this path?"

"No one comes this far, so we don't have a good name for them. They're..." Nancey had to pause while she searched for a way to describe it, "a creature that eats the fruit produced by some species of Demon Wreath. They wont hurt you unless you try to hurt them, or I imagine that's how it works. They look a bit like an ape. Maybe they are an ape? I'm not really sure."

"How can you be so sure that they wont hurt us?" Nicole asked.

"Well, I've stumbled into them before," and with that explanation Nancey laughed a bit. "I mean, I literally stumbled into one," She was smiling at the memory as she continued, "it looked at me funny, but it didn't attack me. It even moved out of my way and watched me leave. But that was just the first time. I've seen others, they all behave pretty much the same way. If you get near them, they might stop what they're doing to watch you, but then they just go back to whatever they were doing. The others I've seen all behave pretty much the same way."

"It can't possibly be safe in here except for the plants." Nicole stated. "Can it?"

Nancey shrugged, "Don't underestimate those plants. They get inside your body's natural defenses, I mean your aura, and if you should be in the right place at the right time, you end up with a demon."

"The right place? I thought it was pretty certain?"

"Well, it is. I mean, the plants exist in more than just our perceived four-dimensional plane of existence and you have demons of various shapes and sizes that exist in various dimensions who cultivate them. Without that cultivation, I think they would just die off. The demons use them to establish a foothold in dimensions that they couldn't otherwise exist in."

Nicole was slowly catching on, "So the plants exist because they're cultivated, they're cultivated to facilitate demonic travel, so it stands to reason that if there weren't demons ready to travel, then the plants would not exist in the first place. Sounds pretty certain to me."

"There are even more varieties of demon than there are humans and their motives are just as varied." Nancey cautioned.

"Are you telling me there could be demons that disagree with the use of the plants to take new hosts?" Nicole could hardly believe it.

Nancey stopped, turned to meet her eyes and nodded. She watched her carefully. The implications of their matching aura started to surface again. "If I ask you a question, are you just as compelled to answer as I was earlier?"

"That's the trick," Nancey explained, "Both of us are just as susceptible, so if we both realize what's going on, then we have less of an advantage, or I think."

"Then I compel you to lie," Nicole said carefully.

Nancey started to smile. "That's not possible."

"Wait, what?" Nicole started to ask and for a moment she fell silent.

"I think that's what they call case in point," Nancey's smile broadened.

Nicole continued to think on it, but asked, "So, what are you?"

"I'm a human, I think." explained Nancey.

"What do you mean, you think?" Nicole eyed her suspiciously.

"I'm human." and after a brief pause and a small smile, "Mostly." Her expression went serious for a little while as she explained, "I was victim to the Demon Wreath. I had a demon for a while and that did change me a little, but I'm still a human."

Nicole put the pieces together. The reluctance to compel her, the reaction when describing being a prisoner while a demon has control of your body, and if she can't lie about it...

"Do you," Nicole paused, carefully considered her words, before finally blurting out, "Do you resent the situation that has come about and allows me to interrogate you so freely?"

"No. It's actually a bit of a relief." She smiled again before continuing, "But then, I don't have to be entirely truthful."

Now it was Nicole's brow that furrowed in thought. "I compelled you to lie, you told me it's not possible, which was in itself a lie, thus satisfying the compulsion and yet you proceed to tell the truth as you are compelled to by the very nature of compulsion..." Nicole trailed off into thought.

Now Nancey was laughing, "Were you so logical and methodical before you joined the academy?"