Private Finished Demonic Summoning for Babies

It was just after the meeting, and Chloe was in a good mood. Her initial reaction to Rei's request was excitement. She loved talking about those dark secrets. She had already planned out how she would start teaching them to her daughter, too; teaching Rei could be great practice.

"Sure, Rei! I'd love to."

But then Chloe thought about this for more than two consecutive seconds.

"... Though, I should ask. Why do you want to know about this stuff?"

The other members of the DSU continued to filter out of the room, having some of their own side conversations here and there, sitting on desks, making plans, exchanging numbers. Chloe's smile faltered a little as Rei finished his explanation.

Ah. There it was. Wishes.

"I'd love to tutor you on demonology, but I can't teach how to safely get your wishes granted. The reason is, it's never safe. Not unless someone very powerful has a reason to do that for you as a favor. And you shouldn't rely on something like that."

She spent a moment quietly considering him. Chloe liked Rei well enough - she really didn't want the kid hurting himself. "I could give you the lecture, though. If you're going to keep looking for that sort of thing, you should know the dangers."

"That's exactly what I was afraid you were thinking." Chloe walked over to the chalk board. She picked up some chalk and started writing. "One of the most dangerous things about being an initiate of the dark arts is believing that you know what you are doing. Because once you learn a bit more, you might learn doing that thing you were thinking about could have gotten you killed. If you're lucky enough to just die. I can tell you about the less lucky ones some other time." Chloe was stealing that bit from a professor at the Academy. She didn't think that professor was correct, necessarily, but it did a good job of putting a healthy amount of fear in people's hearts.

When she was done writing, the list looked like this.

1. Faustian Bargain
2. As Gift
3. Through Blackmail
4. A Genuinely Equitable Trade

"As I see it, these are the four main ways you can get a wish granted. And I'm going to start with this second thing, because it's an easy one to figure out, and I sort of already mentioned it."

Chloe struck a line through the second option.

"If you get a wish as a gift, you're just extremely lucky. So you should assume that will never happen to you." She would pause, now, giving Rei a chance to ask questions or make objections.

"Eternal, inescapable torment. Worse than anything you've ever felt or imagined, forever. I've seen it myself, and it still gives me nightmares."

She was dead serious. Another lingering DSU member overheard what Chloe was saying and, after a moment of staring, turned his head away quickly.

"You might be a bit luckier though, being an immortal demon yourself. You would probably just get eternal slavery. And by the way, if they don't just take it from you for not being careful enough, it'd probably be the cost of your wish."

Chloe watched Rei closely. She hoped he was reconsidering his whole plan.

"Well, the slavery is like slavery, so it sucks." Chloe held back a chuckle. "But honestly? If they really have you down there, they have you. It's possible Asmodeus could get you back if he wanted it bad enough, with all due respect to him, but I'm not sure. Depends on who you ended up enslaved to, really."

She shrugged. "You're probably out of luck if that ever comes up. Plus - it's worth noting, this is the kind of price you're probably looking at if you ask for a really big wish. And transforming your entire species would mean rearranging your whole body down to the genes, maybe even doing stuff with a soul. That's a pretty big wish."