How had she gotten this far?
"This is it, the day of your reckoning!" Emilia, as I'd come to know her, was flush with red hot righteousness; a battered beacon of justice in the heart of darkness. Said 'heart of darkness' was my not so humble abode, a looming spire of charred ebony decorated with hellish frescos. Emilia'd all the makings of a paladin — burnished silver armor, trusty sword waved high — but was a mere child, despite the chips and chinks that speckled her equipment. Cerulean orbs flashed with radiant rage, boring into me, and her childish features slightly darkened with grit and grim. The markers of experience were upon this valiant little warrioress, though I could not bear to see Emilia as a threat.
"Are you lost, little fleshling?" I asked, rapping a sharp, serrated digit along the onyx armrest of my throne, "Is there anyway I can show you to the exit?"
Emilia ignored me, eyes flitting about the room. Had this been the climactic showdown she was dreaming of? Not quite. Her face contorted into a mask of rage with an undercurrent of confusion. She seemed to be looking for something, an experience perhaps. "I-I am a Champion of Light! And you are..."
"The Dark Lord of this realm, yes," I stated matter-o-factly. Countless paladins and their blundering companions had challenged my before, all of them either annihilated, or better yet, corrupted in their weakness. To be challenged by a child was as comical as it was concerning; were the forces of light so desperate as to conscript children? "I'm not in the mood to do battle with beings a mere fraction of my age. Scamper along now, mortal." The gap in power between Emilia and I was a yawning canyon, and on this oddest of days, I'd no intention to harm this armor-plated blossom.
"B-But I've slain your generals."
"Expendable," I added nonchalantly, "but isn't it a bit past your bedtime! Please allow me to teleport you home, youngling." How un-unholy of me, behaving so kindly to a child I'd never met before, or any child for that matter. Emilia was a thing to be protected, no matter how much she refused to accept this.
Bedtime? That bit deep. Emilia's lower lip trembled with anger and shame, to be disrespected so blatantly by the callous dismissal of a demon; the young paladin stifled a sniffle and recollected herself. "I will be respected!" She stamped, conjuring all the strength and power that she could muster; aurum waves of a divine energy twisted about her form and blade; an admirable display.
"When did you learn that trick? Quite a feat for a child your age!" My praises shook the hellstone walls, delighted by Emilia's little 'light show'. To a mortal, the child paladin was substantially stronger than most adventurers but was a mere candle to my raging inferno. To be so inadvertently mocked was the final straw for a once self assured Emilia. Her sword arm grew shaky, lower lip trembling, those deep azure eyes pooling over with hot tears.
"I AM A PALADIN! I AM! I AM!" The glimmering field of energy that once surrounded her vanished in a wispy cloud of embers. Emilia sunk to her knees, and for the first time in our brief encounter, sobbed like the sweet little girl she so deeply repressed; I manifested from the torchlit shadows Emilia cast and knelt low to console her.
"There, there, little one! Hush, no need for tears." With great care, I stroked her honey-wheat locks, using my other claws to rub small, tender circles along her back; what paternal instinct had taken me? Even in the bowels of the abyss, it seemed that compassion could be fostered. "Come, allow my servants to prepare you a meal. There are plenty of rooms for you to lie down in until you regain your heroic constitution, my brave little flower."