Uninvited

Chapter Twelve|Exchange

"You messed with the wrong demon." Dream growled, stepping in between the demon and George, exuding his aura more to wash out the stain the lesser demon had left there. He could feel the fear seeping from George's skin like liquid gold, but he ignored it in favor of glaring down the slime demon.

"Hey, we're in a public place here, do you think we could duke it out later?" The demon tried to reason, and Dream could tell that he was scared, deathly afraid.

Dream answered his question by going from standing next to George to holding the man up by his collar so he was eye level.

"You better pray that I don't come hunting you down after that stunt you just pulled right in front of my face." Dream growled in his ear, his teeth showing, and his saliva dripping menacingly.

"Now, you either run far, far away from this place and abandon your territory, or you try your damned hardest to apologize. The third option is, let me just say," He leaned even closer, right next to his loosely formed ear, to whisper.

"It's far less favorable." Dream said before dropping him suddenly back into his feet. He wobbled a bit on his feet, and Dream could tell that his legs were jello because of his fear.

"Yeah, I- I get it. I'm sorry. What do you want? Money? Territory?" The slime monster said, looking down at his feet, his brows furrowed. Dream took a deep breath. He was angry at himself, for what Dream couldn't tell, but he was also very, very afraid. As he should be, after pulling that stunt.

"No. I just want you to be glad that I was here, and that I didn't smell you on him later. If that had happened, I would've hunted you down without a second thought, and you would be a puddle by now." Dream answered, crossing his arms.

"That, and your marker." The slime demon looked up, startled. A higher demon wanted his marker. A mark on his soul. A permanent branding of his own soul into the other's.

A marker means a lot of things. You can wander on their territory freely, which meant that basically, this slime demon would share territory with him. A one-sided marker has its ups and downs.

If you have each other's markers, that means you're part of a clan. However, if only one of you has the marker, that means that it's mostly one-sided. Dream can wander on the territory freely. Dream can feed on the territory. Dream's aura will mix with the slime demons, and it will be both of their territories. If another demon steps into the territory, it will smell at Dream's power level, which will most likely ward them off way more than the slime demon's has been.

However, if any demon wants to challenge the slime demon for the territory and start a battle, Dream is not at all obligated to help him. And the demon wanted his marker when he barely knew him... But the slime demon didn't have a choice here.

He sighed, getting his aura focused into his palm, forming his marker. His own marker was a very ridged and edged flame, with marks resembling smoke curling off of them. With that, Dream pulled his own soul into vision.

His soul was smokey and green, similar to his demon form. However, in the center, right where the center of his chest would be, there was black energy seeping out. It was a smooth gradient of darkness from his chest to neon in his hands, feet, tail, and horns. A very menacing yet interesting soul. Above all that, however, was the markers he had received over the years.

The slime monster's eyes were blown wide. There were so many. At least fifty palm-sized markers littering his body in a variety of colors, each one unique. He even found one that reminded him of his own, but the flame was the entire thing, and it seemed to be from a higher level demon.