The Scumbags Guide to Enslaving Demon's

The river district was already flooding by the time Austin Veyron’ team arrived.

Black rain fell from blue sky. Street gutters became ripples of hunger. Shelter had been converted community center near river. Lower windows flickered with portable ledger light. Volunteers were herding evacuees towards roof route while something black throbbed beneath riverwalk.

Rin arrived at shelter doors first.

"It’s the feeder with the water." She said. "It’s trying to take this building without touching the people."

Austin Veyron realized the trap far too late. Water had already begun licking center’s foundation. Eat the core beneath walk and maybe surge would break hunger’s hold. Maybe it would collapse riverbank into flood. Everybody inside would die.

Seed wanted easy answer.

[CONSUME NEST CORE.]

Austin Veyron shook his head.

"Portable ledger root?" he asked.

Court scribe held up white bundle of roots inside glass tube. "Ready, but require living route confirmations."

Shelter volunteers answered before he could ask again. Roof would take one. Stairs would take two. Small group of elderly evacuees volunteered to maintain hand-line out back exit. Root bundle glowed brighter with each volunteer who confirmed their decision.

Calder and Veyra held back first wave of black floodwater as Rin slipped beneath riverwalk and found feeder’s hand-grip: sucker-mouth knotted around storm drain pipe.

"It’s eating through memories of these people." Rin stated.

Austin Veyron stepped into building.

Flooding lobby was full of people who were not there. Shift water showed someone screaming for help from somewhere else inside. One child reached for Austin Veyron’s sleeve pointing at space downstairs.

"My mother." She stated. "My mother is down stairs."

Elena’s voice crackled through relay. "Negative on unconfirmed routes. Panic is creating new map."

Austin kneeled beside child. "What is your mother’s name?"

Child whispered.

Portable ledger cross-checked name against known present consent signature. White line illuminated towards rooftop stairs, instead of below. "Your mother is up here." Austin said. "Let’s go up there together."

Black water surged upstairs.

Calder burst front doors with white root-chain around arm. "Anchor point is rupturing. Require all three feeding roots severed at once."

Solution clicked into place in seconds. Veyra would pin down riverwalk entrance while Rin cut lower line. Calder would interrupt command roots. Austin maintain evacuation route without devouring core.

Team worked around shelter volunteers.

Children carried elders up stairs as other volunteers radioed in their confirmations. Portable ledger root shifted weight from hand to hand while black water tried to drown their progress inside building.

Austin reached rooftop seconds before feeder burst forth from river wall.

Mass of nothing stared up at him. Everything they had ever lost to court.

"Eat me." It demanded. "You can save them if you hurry."

Austin grabbed white root-chain instead.

"Rin."

Her knives glinted beneath floodwater.

"Veyra."

Her sword split riverwalk anchor point in two.

"Calder."

Seed pulse shattered command root from within.

Austin pulled portable ledger root free of feeder’s tendrils. Black knot lost connection to all trapped shelter memories. Retracted back into dripping knot above floodwaters.

Water drained down street.

Shelter did not breach.

Nothing had been devoured. Not one human core.

Then portable ledger root spoke in voice Austin Veyron never expected to hear again.

’SIGNATURE CONFIRMED: Austin Veyron, PRIOR ENTRY.’

Austin stared at white root stretching across street.

He had never consented to that route.

Someone had signed his name long before Austin Veyron was born. Long before this city. Long before the Freehold.

Absolute silence fell around portable root tube.

Nahlia read signature through relay while everyone listened. Her voice stayed strong but went flat as each name tied to date.

"The time stamp is old." She breathed. "Older than this year. But still direct. Harvested the night first demon route opened beneath Grand Meridian."

Austin remembered nothing from that night. Nothing except fear. Had been small child when it happened. No Devour seed inside him. No reason to suspect what courts wanted with human root chains.

Calder turned pale. "The night they seeded the candidates."

Veyra watched white root-trail stretching across street. "Then Hunger Emperor knew Austin Veyron before Austin ever knew himself."

Feeder squirmed inside glass tube. "Names are never given once child." it whispered. "They are earned."

Austin carried portable ledger back across riverwalk. Flood had stopped but mud and broken pavement still littered street. Line of evacuees stared through destroyed storefronts at location black feeder had torn through wall from. Common ledger route was still pulsing between evacuation shelter and main road. Every volunteer who touched its light now had name beside consent.

Nobody had been lost.

Victory should’ve felt simple.

It didn’t.

Elena showed up with transfer book in hand and compared Austin Veyron’ old signature against ledger primary laws. "It’s not consent." She said. "It’s reservation. Someone reserved his name into future route and waited for him to take it."

Austin felt Devour seed stir beneath ribs.

[ORIGIN RECORD AVAILABLE.]

New line shimmered inside portable root. White light blinking towards oldest subway entrance all of Grand Meridian.

"The old route recognizes him." Rin whispered.

Austin looked at evacuees continuing to pour out of shelter through routes they personally confirmed. "Not tonight. We’re taking down eight marks before that happens."

Feeder laughed from inside bottle.

"You think marks are problem?" It spat. "Marks are just dinner bell."

Black pulse flickered in distance past riverwalk.

Another demon leak in city’ Veins.

Closer than night before.

Marked with Austin Veyron’s name.

One emergency pulse sounded through river district route level.

Austin Veyron didn’t pursue black signal immediately. Not while it was still this close to city grid. Empty seeded hunter charging straight into destiny waiting on Emperor’s bait. Instead he checked shelter for stragglers while street team routed around damage. Portable root got cracked by river feeder earlier in wave. Light had gone dim near rear end of building.

"Route team." Austin called as he approached exit stairs. "Can you keep shelter active long enough for us to move root?"

Volunteers looked at flooded street drains, evacuees clawing onto sides of broken shelter walls, steadily rising water line, and finally at route doctor begging for answer.

"Got twenty minutes max before flood swallows anchor route." Route team leader said.

Austin nodded in agreement. "Extract people first. Then we pursue name."

Rin watched black pulse flare across street. "That could be one of the eight marks."

"It could be a trap." Austin replied. "People first."

Rescue team assisted shelter volunteers instead of telling them what to do this time. Rin carried worst injuries out on hand-line towards roof exit while Calder spliced root tube with temporary seed signature that didn’t overwrite living confirmations. Rin cleared away debris from roof stairs. Elena managed common-ledger root confirmations down main evacuation route.

Final evacuee stumbled out before lower floor collapsed under weight of river water.

Portable root flickered then uploaded active route to street team. Team already had twenty confirmed human signatures on route. Shelter could be abandoned with nobody still trapped inside.

Austin Veyron moved to intercept black pulse after everyone made it out.

Old signature led him through river mud banks and towards abandoned subway entrance. Locked with ancient tumblers that didn’t match rest of city grid. White root leading beside it belonged to First Queen’s personal ledger. Not stopping him from approving route. Trying to tell Austin Veyron someone wrote over his future day he was born.

Calder joined Austin Veyron’s side again. "We bring others with us."

"We always have." Austin replied.

Black mark pulsed once beneath subway doorway before doing it again.

It was no longer waiting outside Austin Veyron’ city limits.

The First Feast had found oldest route into Austin Veyron’s life.

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