#mc01

Then some people even walked straight through her like she didn’t exist in the first place. It was also no use trying to catch anyone's attention. Everyone ignored her pleading. Where did she end up now? Seems like she didn’t make it back home safely at all.

She let her head sink down in sadness for a bit before she spotted someone who stood out from the crowd. Two people on the other side of the road. They weren’t blurry, but fully, vibrantly visible in the fading sunlight, just how they were supposed to be.

A second look and a closer inspection revealed that one of those two was no other than a well-known acquaintance of hers. Her long dark brown hair was flowing with each step she took. But who was this mysterious man who was with her?

She was spotted by them as they suddenly stopped on the crosswalk. The man had white feathered wings on his back and tapped on her shoulder as both came to a halt, him floating a little above the ground behind the woman. Then, exchanging a few words with one another, which she couldn’t hear, before the two of them crossed to the road, approaching her quickly.

In fear, she already cowered away, fleeing back into the shady small alley which she came from. Whatever they wanted from her, her friend was not allowed to see her like this, at all costs.

But the escape was not well planned and ended in failure as she had to stop in a dead end, a tall intimidating wall towering over her. It was too late; right as she turned around, the two of them already stood in her way, blocking any path to freedom.

Now that they were so close, she could make out more features of the man walking with the rather small women. Red curly hair, wearing silly looking glasses, and a facial structure which looked awfully recognizable to her.

The figure landed on their feet as he came closer all by himself, telling her friend to stay back. The little demon, on the other hand, wanted to avoid confrontation at any costs and turned away, pulling on her cloak nervously. Her hands started to sweat as she fiddled with the fabric, shielding her from their gazes.

“Who are you and what are you doing among the humans?” His voice came clearly as he asked her directly. Humans, he said. So this must still be earth. But why did it change so much during her absence? She had only been gone for a few days, or had she?

“What do you mean, what am I doing here? I live here. I am going back home.” Keeping her voice down, in a way, she spoke the truth. This was her original home after all. “Nice story, demon.” He spat out. So, he knew of her species and what she truly was. That would surely complicate things even more.

His voice sounded really cocky, where had she heard this tune of voice before. Just taking a quick sideways glimpse, golden eyes sparkled behind the glasses and a shiny halo hovered over his red locks.

Surely catching her attention and interest. All indicators were there, she must be speaking to an angel.

Never had she thought they existed, but here he was. She, a demon and the opposite species of her, opposing her, a heavenly blessed creature, an angel.

“I-I am no demon. You must confuse me.” Now the girl in the back became interested in the situation. Her attention peaked as she eavesdropped on the conversation the two magical beings had. Quickly walking up to the man, she put a hand on his shoulder.

“Wait a second. This voice. Is she…?” The stranger looked into her eyes thoughtfully before giving her a nod. Then all of sudden he uncovered her, pulling off her cape with just a flick of his hands.

All of this happened too fast for her. Stumbling back, almost falling as her shining hair swayed in the wind and her face was exposed in its full glory to them. The cape fluttered away in the breeze, no chance of getting it back, no chance of hiding herself again. Seeing the small girl falling back, the other females’ eyes widened in shock, her mouth opening a tiny gap in surprise, taking in every small detail of her.

Immediately after the horned girl landed on her bottom, the human rushed towards her and grabbed her shoulders furiously, no doubt. “You! I have been looking for you for two months now! What has happened to you?” she exclaimed in total irritation.

“Hana, I...” the little one stuttered as their eyes met, not being able to explain herself properly. Shame all over her. Her best friend since childhood saw her in this miserable state. “I can explain.” But she couldn’t. “It’s not like it seems, I promise!”

The redhead didn’t give them any more time together as he shoved the women away from her gently. “Stay back. She is dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt.” This angel was protecting her friend, from her. “No, wait! Please!” Her voice broke as she sounded like she was about to cry. How would she ever be able to fix this?

She reached out her hand to be able to connect with her companion, only to have it slapped away by the guy again. Such rude behavior, and on top, his touch burned heavily on her skin. That taught her to at least not make a move anymore.

This entire situation was a hot mess and she didn’t know how to deal with it in the slightest. “I see you are the one we have been looking for indeed. And things are worse than expected.” Speaking more to himself than directly towards her, and getting lost in his thoughts for the time being.

All three of them stayed silent for a little while. She rubbed her arm, which still hurt from his impact on her, but no one was really making a move to advance. His yellowish eyes then darted forwards as he noticed the silver on her hands. Undeniably the symbol of the demons. If she didn’t want to be a demon, he could just slip this thing right off her, or at least he concluded so for himself.

He inched closer to her, straight away reaching out for the ring. She, on the other hand, made the mistake of stretching her arm out towards him, as an attempt to protect herself, closing her eyes as well. Not really a thoughtful decision she made there.

Just as he was about to grab the ring, to pull it off her finger, she let out a loud scream of pain. His presence alone hurt her even more and activated the defense mechanism of her magic. The ring itself didn’t like to be separated from the body of its host, it seemed.

A shockwave of purple smoke emitted from it, freezing everyone in time the second after. Their colors vanished even more, and they had the appearance of lifeless stone statues now. Only she was able to take a breath in, opening her eyes and observing the situation for herself.

What had she done? Was this what her teacher had meant about her dangerous powers? Swallowing heavily, she pulled back her hand and formed a fist against her chest. Her heart beat up to her throat. What a tense situation. But this incident allowed her to take a deep breath, to calm down and sort herself out.

Sadly, this was only short lived. Looking around as time started to flow normally again, the first thing she had to hear, right in the moment the magical spell broke was:

“Get your filthy hands off of her!”

No doubt, that was his voice. Her eyes widened in shock at the realization he had come after her. Now she was in real trouble. Turning her head, she saw him leaping out of a portal above her, grabbing her by her clothes and dragging her away from the angel.

“You!” The holy being turned his head, but he was too slow to hold onto the little one and could only follow them with his gaze. “Luciel...” the adult demon hissed at the sight of the redhead. They were so quick to spot and identify one another – stunning.

As he landed with her in his arms, he had to kneel down to support and secure her frame, making sure she wouldn’t run off immediately after. And that was exactly what she intended to do, running away. But not a chance, since he held her down on her wrists, strangulating her blood flow as well.

“What a coincidence, to meet you of all people,” the voice behind her continued. He didn’t sound angry, but presumptuous. “You know, I could say the same thing about your presence,” Luciel replied to him with a half-cracked smile. Concluding from all of this that they must know each other, but their true connection was still unknown to her.

Anyways, she didn’t dare to make any further moves, kind of knowing that any shift of hers might cause this scene to escalate. Everything had happened so fast. Her sight shifted off to the girl standing in the background. Her best friend. This view made her feel sad deep inside of her. How did any of this happen? A sting in her heart. Why was everyone now so deeply involved in this complex act. All the odds were coming out on the worse side of things.

Looking back at the man towering in front of Hana, she noticed how his stance had changed in order to protect her now from both of the demons facing them. Meanwhile, the two stronger beings had a staring contest with glaring eyes. They felt like canines opposing each other, ready to strike a move any second.

“What’s your deal with her, anyway?” the one on the other side asked.

“Why do you want to know? She’s my Astéri and I can decide her fate however I want.” That didn’t sound good at all. She probably had been right about being nothing but a prisoner to a demon, being completely at his mercy at any given time. She sighed softly so that none of them could hear it.

“None of your business,” he added in total spite. His focus shifted then to look over her. His expression softened a little but not noticeably much. The look of disappointment was prominent in his eyes, that much was certain.

“It’s time to go back home,” telling her so, almost like an order. “We shouldn’t discuss this matter here in front of them.” These conditions were indeed unfavorable for the two of them to be able to talk out the problems they were facing right now.

Changing his position as he got up to carry her in his arms. “Let’s go. Enough time has been wasted already.” Not holding her as tightly anymore, he started to walk towards the white feathered being.

“No!” Immediately beginning to struggle she tried to get away from him. Not holding still for even a second, she pushed him away and tears began to run down her face once more. Anything but that. She never wanted to go back to this dark place. Not with nor without him. Never.

Blaring out in deep agony, choking on her own spit and coughing dreadfully. “Enough with that nonsense!” he shouted at her, as he adjusted her posture again. This time throwing her over his shoulder rather unkindly.

More coughing as his sharp shoulder bones poked at her soft guts. She bit her lower lip in fear and hit his back multiple times with her fists. What did she even expect to come out of this situation? The result would always be the same, that being; she was ruthlessly inferior.

Before it was too late, she looked up, her eyes meeting the ones of the man with the glasses. “Save me! Please!” she begged the angel to rescue her from the fangs of such a beast. Obviously, this fueled his rage even more and he was displeased with her behavior once more. He felt the bitter taste of betrayal lingering on his tongue and the sharp stabbing pain of rejection piercing through his heart, so prominently.

How could she even dare to ask an angel to free her? She really had no dignity inside of her. This would only worsen her punishment for all of this, he thought to himself. Throwing out every strategy to take it slow or more lighthearted with her out of the window.

His tongue clicked in disgust for her words and entire act she was pulling off. If matters would go his way, he would have loved to yell at her right away. The young man facing the small demon child, on the other hand, had a soft spot for her labor.

But even if he wanted to, he couldn’t do anything. Clenching his own hand over his heart, he looked at her pitifully. His hands were tied by the laws he had to obey. The grown-up demon wasn’t wrong earlier. They had made a deal and therefore he was powerless to change anything about it.

His lips moved as he wanted to apologize to her. But it was right at this moment his words echoed within her mind. The ring. At least she was able to move her hands. Not wasting any more time, she used them and slipped the ring off herself.

He hadn’t noticed until she gathered all her strength and threw it away from her as far as she could. That moment agitated everyone around.

With a sharp chinking noise, the ring met the ground and rolled a few meters before it fell over and stopped. The white-haired man turning his head almost in slow motion as he had to witness what just had happened in front of his eyes.

The moment the silver was too far away from her, she lost her consciousness entirely. This operation ended in another disaster for all parties involved.

Now the last chain of patience broke within him. His thoughts already finding the worst punishment for her imaginable. Screaming out loud in a voice which shook the bones of the human and the other person, he dashed forwards to collect the ring.

“I dare you, if you interfere with her one more time, I will make personally sure you never see the light of day ever again.” Threatening the angel guy with a deathly glare as he passed him. In a way, he didn’t want it to be true that his bonded star did all of this on her own. So, he unconsciously tried to blame the angels for everything.

Without any further exchange, he opened a portal and brought her back into his castle, the place she belonged, according to him. There he gave her back the gem for her hand, returning her to the world of the living, or maybe it was the world of the dead since this was the demon realm after all.

He had brought her back into her room, letting her fall on the ground without taking much more care. At last, she was awake again and she sat up on the floor, looking up to him with such a frightened expression.

All of her body screamed in fear, gasping for air. It would be best if she could crawl away from him like a bug and hide under the bed. But that wasn’t granted to her. He was still so very furious, and if glances could kill her, she would be dead right where she was.

Such an icy cold from his aura. He had already figured the perfect retribution for her. A bitter grin flashed over his face, as he crafted a metallic device out of nowhere. As it took shape it reminded her of a handcuff, a very thick and heavy handcuff.

Grabbing her arm, he pulled her up abusively, which made her whine out loud. The moment later the bracelet was slammed onto her right wrist, which caused her even more misery. Letting her fall down and curl up in pain he observed her very closely.

First, her feathers fell off one by one, until only the bones were left, which turned into ash shortly afterwards. Her teeth started peeking out beneath her lips more than ever before as they cut through her sensitive skin.

It was more than clear he had pushed her into another extremely painful bodily transformation. As the pain spread over her body, her smooth skin turned into abrasive red fur. The all so perfect punishment for her.

If she wanted to shed the skin of a demon, so be it – turning her into a real monster instead. This change was far from done, as the muscles around her tail strengthen and giving her an animal-like appearance. Her claws becoming exaggerated and even her pointy ears changed into a rather beast like shape.

Almost done. Only her horns stayed visibly the same, now only standing out even more in contrast to everything else. Coughing again, she opened her eyes, cowering on the floor like a newborn fetus. Her eyes had changed to a blurry yellow color and her hair faded out into weaker colors too.

A third eye, vibrantly yellow, even opened on her forehead. A present he would give her, to take a sharper look at herself, if she dared to do so. Also, to emphasize that he would have a keen eye on her from now on.

This had drained her energy once again. Lastly, two black rings formed around her neck, like a collar one would give their pet, made out of thorny rose vines. Now he had truly turned her into a real monster. She had nothing more to whine about. And that for a good reason. His eyes still glued onto her; she was seeing the sadistic joy in them.

Not bringing up any more words she turned away from him, tears building up again, crying silently on the bleak floor she was crawling on. Not even the thick fur could save her from this bitter cold she felt. It was inside her and all around her. Soon huge drops of salty watery body fluids splashed on the ground.

Stepping out of the room, he gave her a final warning: “I hope this teaches you a lesson of not running away again.” And betraying him, he told himself in his mind. With that he slammed the door shut and sealed it off with magic, making sure she would not go anywhere at all anymore.

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