"Some time during the first age," Acelina said, shrugging. "Hundreds of thousands of years ago."

"Oh." Well, shit. This was beyond normal for demons, then. It wasn't some band-aid solution for their shitty circumstances, but an aspect of their civilization older than anything any human civilization considered integral to their culture. No wonder demons were all either really fucking nasty, had strange senses of humor, or were carved out of wood. Anyone who survived a childhood like this had to be strong, and twisted.

It was in a spire's best interest to only let strong demon children survive, if the demon children were to grow up and defend the spire...