Demon Summoning
[Author's Note: This was written as a part of a /r/Fantasy's NaNoWriMo short story competition. The theme was that demons could summon humans. While it didn't win, I think it's still worth reading.]
I clicked the presentation over to the next slide. “As you can see, if we adopt these simple cost-cutting measures, we’ll save over…” However, the room began to shift in front of my. The room and my coworkers began to dissolve, being replaced by jagged, red rocks and magma. The smell of coffee and doughnut turned to sulphur and brimstone.
Three terrifying creatures kneeled around me, where I stood amid a chalk circle.
“...million dollars over the next five years,” I finished.
One of the creatures looked at me. “Wow, scary. You sure that circle will hold, Jeferoth?”
The one I presumed was Jeferoth, a three-legged thing with eight eyes, but not all of them on his head, answered. “Pretty sure.”
“What can it do?” asked the third.
“Lots of stuff,” said Jeferoth. “But we can only ask it to do one thing before it goes back to the far-reaches of Earth, where it will probably sit back and plan our demise if it’s ever summoned again.”
“Cool,” said the first.
“Can you summon a sword of flesh and flame?” asked the third.
“What?” I asked.
“You know, like a burning sword that’s made of incarnadine stuff?”
“Uh, I don’t think so,” I said. I clicked the button on my slide controller to see if that would do anything. It didn’t.
“Can you grant us great strength so that we can vanquish our foes?” asked Jeferoth.
“No. Not really,” I said.
“What can you do?” asked the first.
“I, uh,” I said. I looked around at the vicious hellscape surrounding me. “I can…” I looked down at my hand and saw the slide control. “I can perform a cost-benefit analysis of your business process.”
The three creatures looked at me with glazed over eyes.
“Does that mean you can do our econ homework?” Jeferoth finally asked.
“Uh, yeah,” I said. “Sure.”
The three creatures handed me a textbook and some sheets of parchment. “Read chapter four and answer the even questions at the end. Just don’t make it look like the same person did all three. Okay?”
“Sure,” I said. “Then I can go?”
“Yeah,” said Jeferoth.
“Okay,” I said. With that, they scampered off like excited young boys just released from school. Meanwhile, I sat in the circle and began to read the textbook.
I clicked the presentation over to the next slide. “As you can see, if we adopt these simple cost-cutting measures, we’ll save over…” However, the room began to shift in front of my. The room and my coworkers began to dissolve, being replaced by jagged, red rocks and magma. The smell of coffee and doughnut turned to sulphur and brimstone.
Three terrifying creatures kneeled around me, where I stood amid a chalk circle.
“...million dollars over the next five years,” I finished.
One of the creatures looked at me. “Wow, scary. You sure that circle will hold, Jeferoth?”
The one I presumed was Jeferoth, a three-legged thing with eight eyes, but not all of them on his head, answered. “Pretty sure.”
“What can it do?” asked the third.
“Lots of stuff,” said Jeferoth. “But we can only ask it to do one thing before it goes back to the far-reaches of Earth, where it will probably sit back and plan our demise if it’s ever summoned again.”
“Cool,” said the first.
“Can you summon a sword of flesh and flame?” asked the third.
“What?” I asked.
“You know, like a burning sword that’s made of incarnadine stuff?”
“Uh, I don’t think so,” I said. I clicked the button on my slide controller to see if that would do anything. It didn’t.
“Can you grant us great strength so that we can vanquish our foes?” asked Jeferoth.
“No. Not really,” I said.
“What can you do?” asked the first.
“I, uh,” I said. I looked around at the vicious hellscape surrounding me. “I can…” I looked down at my hand and saw the slide control. “I can perform a cost-benefit analysis of your business process.”
The three creatures looked at me with glazed over eyes.
“Does that mean you can do our econ homework?” Jeferoth finally asked.
“Uh, yeah,” I said. “Sure.”
The three creatures handed me a textbook and some sheets of parchment. “Read chapter four and answer the even questions at the end. Just don’t make it look like the same person did all three. Okay?”
“Sure,” I said. “Then I can go?”
“Yeah,” said Jeferoth.
“Okay,” I said. With that, they scampered off like excited young boys just released from school. Meanwhile, I sat in the circle and began to read the textbook.
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