Belrye and the Summoner

As the knocker slams against the large door with a loud thump , you think about the events that led you here. Bit by bit, it seemed as if the rest of your life had fallen apart over the past year. It had started with losing your job. When the company you had worked for closed its doors, you were sure you would quickly find a new job and be back on your feet. But days turned to weeks, then to months, until the unemployment checks ran out. Every place you tried, the response was either rejection or silence. With just a few days left before losing your home (squalid apartment or not, it was still your home), you were walking around the town, desperately looking for a place you hadn't tried a few times already.

Suddenly, a piece of paper caught by the wind had blown against your leg. You had grabbed it, but just before crumpling it up to throw it away, a single word had caught your eye: "hope". Without thinking, you had started to read.

At the bottom was an address that you recognized from just out of town. Now that you thought of it, you remembered driving past a building out there. It had the look of a religious building, but no symbols on it that you could recall. It had been a church when you first moved here, but the last you had heard it had been sold.

A few hour later, you had found yourself walking there as the Sun set. You lived in a peaceful, sleepy old town. The biggest crime you could remember hearing about were some teenagers going out cow-tipping, so you felt perfectly safe walking at night. Still, the walk home would be quite dark.

You are startled back to the present by the door creaking open and a figure peeking out. It looks like an old man, but much of his features are obscured by a hooded robe. "Welcome, friend. How can we be of assistance to you?"

You stumble with your words for a moment, though this isn't all that far from what you had expected. "Um…I saw your job posting and am here to apply?"

"Ah, yes. Come in, come in!" He pulls the door open the rest of the way and motions for you to enter. "It is a chilly evening tonight. Could I interest you in some tea?" You take him up on his offer, and a few minutes later you are sitting at an ornate desk.

"Now, you were looking for a job, yes?

You had told yourself that you wouldn't let your desperation show. You knew that an interview was the time to appear confident and capable. The year had taken its toll, though, leaving you at your wit's end. You feel your shoulders slump as you start to reply. I just don't know where to go. I need a job, but I have been looking for almost a year now, and—

The old man holds up a hand for you to pause. "Wait, don't I know you?" He lowers the hood of his robe.

"Wait, Tom?!" Tom had been one of your coworkers at your last job, but the two of you had fallen out of contact after the company closed.

"Well," he says with a chuckle, "I suppose this concludes the interview. You're a hard worker, and I know you'll do just fine. Of course, there is something you must see before I can make the official job offer. If you weren't already sitting down, I would suggest doing so. Normally we take things much more slowly, but from what you and Stephanie used to talk about back in the breakroom, I think you'll probably take it better than most." You aren't sure how to reply, so you sit there as he turns his head and says, "You may enter."

A door behind him opens, and a creature walks into the room. As they walk over to you, it is a very impressive costume. The goatlike features, the lifelike fur, and even the gait as they walk on their hooves looks incredibly realistic. They appear to be male, though of course who knows under the costume. Over the costume, they are wearing a simple workman's outfit with a red sash.

The longer you look, though, the more you start to notice strange things. The twitch of an ear, the eyes actually blinking and appearing to focus just a little too perfectly on you, the lack of any visible seams around the black fur of his face. "Wait…" you glance over at Tom, seeing a bemused expression, "This isn't a—"

"Allow me to introduce Kletano, a completely real demon. I know, I know, 'demons don't really exist,' right? Well, the proof otherwise is standing right in front of you."

The creature (Kletano, apparently?) bows in front of you. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am sure you must have many questions, and it would be our pleasure to answer them. Brother Tom, here, clearly feels you are a trustworthy individual, and would make a noble addition to our cause."

You aren't entirely sure whether you sat for several seconds, minutes, or hours before you can finally manage to get a word out. "What?"

Kletano's gruff voice continues, "I know it is much to take in. I understand humans are no longer taught about us in your world, or about other planes of existence in general. And of course, what little is still remembered of us here is not the most flattering. But you will find that we work quite well with humans, and vice-versa. Perhaps you need time to think ab—"

"When can I start?"

Kletano blinks in surprise, but Tom just chuckles. Regaining composure, the demon asks, "Pardon me, it is just that most do not process the sudden revelation so quickly. Are you sure?"

"Yes," you reply firmly, "Look, the last year has been a hard one for me. And maybe I don't fully know what I am getting myself into here. But whatever you are offering, it is far better than the world out there where nobody can find a use for me."

"Excellent," Tom says, clapping his hands. "Well then, since that is decided, let us induct our new member."

Kletano excuses himself to go get the registry, returning with a thick, leather-bound book. He sets it down on the desk, and Tom politely dismisses him before opening it.

He appears ready to write your name, then pauses. "It has been a while since we have spoken, so I would like to make sure this hasn't changed in the meantime. Should I write you down as a brother, or as a sister?"