Ruger maintained three spells as he strolled through the garden in his curved-horn demon form, feeling the beat of his heart as he walked. It seemed faint now, as though it could barely be bothered to beat, yet every beat was powerful.
A breeze brushed past. The flowers and plants in the garden seemed quite fond of him, demon or not, and showed no aversion to him.
With a pair of curved horns atop his head, he gave off strange fluctuations as he walked. But his malice only harmed those who bore him ill will. The lovely, delicate flowers and plants were naturally unaffected; they were not even on the same plane.
Ruger returned to his earlier petal bed. In his demon form, he could no longer fit on the little Kobold's tiny bed at all. He drank some mildly sweet flower nectar and kept walking, wandering through the garden he was still far from having fully explored.
He wandered about with great interest for a while, though it was more like an outlet for the spark of energy rekindled after he had fixed his spells in place.
He found a spot he liked, beneath three bell-like flowers hanging low in a cluster, and lay down there to sleep.
His plan had been to keep his newly fixed third-ring spell active at all times, but now he was maintaining all three spells. At least for today, he would keep doing so, even through this sleep. His current demon form was like a child's growing body. Even if that growth was nearly finished, he naturally needed to maintain the conditions for it as best he could.
The exhaustion and fatigue from his work in the laboratory washed over him again.
Ruger blinked, an unconscious smile touching his lips. Lying on the