The balcony of the Tropical Sunrise Resort was peacefully quiet.
Elara, now wearing her completely indestructible, pale yellow mythril-silk sundress (which breathed beautifully in the summer heat), was sitting on the floor. She was gently poking a small, glowing beetle that had landed on the obsidian tiles.
Maya lowered her magazine, watching her newly adopted daughter. "Leo. She looks bored."
Leo was lying on a conjured hammock, tossing a grape into the air and catching it. "She's not bored, babe. She's just having some quiet time. She's had a busy couple of days falling from the heavens and getting fitted for dwarven armor."
"No, she needs a companion," Maya decided, setting her magazine down. "Every kid needs a pet. Something soft. Something cute. Something that won't accidentally smite the living room."
Maya snapped her fingers. The sound echoed like a gunshot.
Instantly, Demon Lords Malakor and Kaelen materialized from the shadows, smoothing their butler suits. From the sky, Vermithrax and Ignis landed heavily on the courtyard below, peering their massive heads over the balcony. Generals Pavan, Karthik, and Aman scrambled out from the hallway, tripping over each other to stand at attention.
"The Lady calls!" Malakor boomed, bowing low.
"Listen up," Maya ordered, crossing her arms. "Elara wants a pet. I want the seven of you to go into the woods and find her one. But hear me clearly: it must be cute. If it looks like it belongs in a nightmare, I'm going to make you sleep outside."
Smash cut to the Whispering Woods.
The Whispering Woods were a Class-S danger zone where the trees literally tried to eat you, and the shadows hid predators that could swallow a castle.
Right now, it was a chaotic warzone.
General Pavan was sprinting for his life, screaming at the top of his lungs, while a massive, eight-legged Shadow Spider the size of a carriage chased him.
"THROW THE NET, AMAN!" Karthik shrieked from the branches above, frantically trying to tie a magical rope into a lasso.
"I DROPPED THE NET!" Aman roared back, tackling the spider by one of its massive, hairy legs, only to get dragged through the mud. "Just hit it with a rock! The kid is going to love a spider!"
A few miles away, Vermithrax the Dragon King was wrestling a four-headed Venom-Manticore in mid-air, while Malakor was down in a crater, putting a headlock on a snarling, magma-drooling Cerberus Hound.
"STAY STILL, YOU MUTT!" Malakor yelled, aggressively trying to tie a bright pink ribbon around the middle head of the giant hellhound. "THE LADY WANTS YOU TO LOOK PRESENTABLE!"
Cut back to the Resort Balcony. Two hours later.
The "Pet Show" was a complete disaster.
Malakor stood proudly next to the three-headed Cerberus Hound. The beast was currently growling, dripping literal lava onto the freshly swept floor. It had a crooked pink bow tied around its neck.
Maya stared at it. "It's melting the tiles, Malakor. No."
Malakor's face fell. He dragged the whimpering hellhound away.
Next was Vermithrax. The Dragon King dropped a massive, unconscious Venom-Manticore onto the courtyard. "Behold, Lady Maya! The Apex Predator of the Woods! It has a scorpion tail that can dissolve a knight in seconds! A perfect guardian for the Young Miss!"
"It has an exoskeleton and it smells like sulfur," Maya said, her eye twitching. "I said cute, Vermithrax. Do you know what cute means? Next."
Finally, Pavan, Karthik, and Aman shoved their catch forward. It was the massive, twitching Shadow Spider, tied up in a massive ball of vines.
Maya slowly pulled her Tom Ford sunglasses down. The temperature on the balcony instantly dropped to freezing.
Pavan started sweating. Karthik took a step back. Aman tried to hide behind Karthik.
"You brought a giant, hairy spider," Maya whispered, her aura flaring dangerously, "to a seven-year-old girl."
"I-It's very low maintenance!" Pavan panicked, throwing his hands up to protect his face. "It spins its own hammocks!"
"Get it out of my sight before I turn the three of you into a rug," Maya ordered coldly.
The three generals grabbed the spider and practically threw themselves off the balcony in sheer terror.
Maya sighed, rubbing her temples. "This is hopeless. Leo, I might have to go catch something myself."
"Wait," Kaelen's smooth voice echoed from the doorway.
The younger Demon Lord stepped onto the balcony. He wasn't bruised. He wasn't covered in mud. He looked perfectly clean, holding his hands gently behind his back.
"I believe I have found exactly what the Lady requested," Kaelen smiled softly. He pulled his hands forward.
Sitting in his palms was a tiny, impossibly fluffy, pure white wolf pup. It had oversized paws, big, sparkling sapphire eyes, and a little tail that was wagging so fast it was a blur.
It looked like a Pomeranian mixed with a cloud.
Elara gasped, dropping her toy. She ran over, her eyes shining like stars. "Puppy!"
Maya's terrifying aura vanished instantly. She gasped softly, kneeling down. "Oh, my god. It's adorable."
Leo leaned forward, squinting at the tiny furball. "Uh, Kaelen? What exactly is that?"
"Oh, it is a Fenrir-Class World-Eater, Lord Leo," Kaelen said casually, as the tiny puppy licked Elara's nose, causing her to giggle wildly. "When it reaches adulthood in about two thousand years, it will be capable of swallowing the moon. But in its infant stage, it is incredibly soft and enjoys belly rubs."
"Perfect," Maya declared, completely ignoring the 'World-Eater' part. "We're naming him Marshmallow. Kaelen, you're officially Employee of the Month. Malakor, take notes."
Malakor groaned from the courtyard, crossing his massive arms in pure jealousy as the little World-Eater barked a tiny, high-pitched yip! ***