Read Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan) for Free Online Page A

tries to force it out of you.  Which, if you're discreet, won't happen very often."
    Gazing down at his form, Tom came up with a brilliant idea, "Hey, you said we're not in a physical body, right?"
    "Yes," Boggy answered, as if he knew what was coming next.
    "Well then, why can't we alter our forms, at least back to the original?"
    “Bright lad.”  Tizzy hummed.
    "Good question.  Actually, some can do it, the most powerful demons, generally speaking, the Lords of the Abyss and such can do so anywhere they please; however, in practice, it is extremely difficult, takes an awful lot of willpower, and is not comfortable, and most importantly, would only last until you're called back to Astlan.  There, the person calling you has the same idea of what you should look like, so back you go to demon form, and that means the same painful quick reformation and materialization in Astlan that you went through before."
    "So, I have to go through all that pain every time?"
    "Only if you've changed your pattern to something different from what they're expecting, and when you change on your own, it's slower, so less painful, and also it's by your own will, so it's more natural; assuming, of course, that you can do it.  Besides all of which, your present body is much better adapted to living in this environment than your old human body.”  Boggy told him.
    "You may not have noticed, but the ambient temperature here is very nearly the boiling point of water.  The air in many of the lower, hotter regions is rather acidic and can burn humans, and because of the terrain, it really pays to have wings.”  Tizzy chipped in.
    "So, to sum up my point: many demons are capable of doing it, but don't go to all the trouble of changing forms," Boggy concluded.
    "Uh, huh."  Well, that answers that, thought Tom.  He looked about, and concentrated, yes, he guessed it was probably relatively hot here, but it was hard to tell, since the temperature felt comfortable.
    "Kinda squashes that idea, don't it?" Tizzy asked leeringly.  Tizzy, Tom decided, was not quite right in the head.  Enough however, why worry about an octopodal demon, when he had enough problems of his own.
    "Don't worry, you'll get used to it, we all do," Boggy said sympathetically.  "Look on the bright side; at least you're big and impressive enough so that not many trouble makers will bother you."
    That sparked another question in Tom's weary mind, "Why, am I so much bigger than you?  I mean, what was it that made the people decide I looked like this?"
    "What makes any man think the way he does?" Boggy asked philosophically.  "However, in your case it's fairly obvious.  As I said when I flew up here, you must have given your capturer a good fight, or fright.  Basically you resisted him or her quite strongly, or impressed him enough, so that he thought of you as a fairly powerful demon.  Now that in itself isn't enough of course, otherwise any half assed new demon could scare the shit out of a wimpy conjuror. 
    “ No, you must have done something to absolutely convince several people that you were quite powerful.  The Astlanians do, by the way, have a scale for rating demons, I won't bother with it now, but there is at least a scale to judge demon power.  It's that scale, in the mind of trained wizards that they weigh all new demons on, and that kind of fixes their mental images of how big and powerful you are.  You resisted them pretty well, so they figured you had to be some big powerful demon, so that's what appeared before them, a big powerful demon.  Add to that, the fact your own will power and thoughts had something to do with it too, they can't just make you something you aren't, just reshape you."
    “And, most importantly, the bigger they think you are, the more powerful spells they bind you with; it’s these bindings that infuse the Mana into your form, giving you the power you have.  The binding s infuse you with a shit load of magical energy.”  Tizzy