#mid rewrite

HEYY so QUICK WARNING: this episode contains the struggles of a trans character, as well as some descriptions of blood and gore. It’s not explicit but I thought I should warn about that in case anyone was uncomfortable about that type of stuff. If you are, in the next episode I’ll put a summary of this one in the beginning message. If you’re okay with this theming, I hope you enjoy!

Episode 7: The Things I Don’t Tell You

Ava slowly opened her eyes and was met with pure darkness.

She quickly sat up and scanned her surroundings. In the void were five doors each of varying shades of grey.

Did I take something? She thought while standing up to walk towards the middle door.

Up close, the middle door had scratches and places where it was burned. In the corners was writing that not even a kindergarten teacher could decipher. Ava could still tell it was written with some sort of distress.

It was also the darkest grey out of all the doors. She didn’t know what that meant, but she knew she didn’t wanna go through it.

She put her hand on the door and took it away with a hiss. It was scolding hot, but she could tell it wasn’t like that when she was farther away. It was like it didn’t want her to be near it.

She walked to the right of it and scanned the next door.

She didn’t have to touch it this time to know it was extremely cold. It was a pretty mid grey, but she couldn’t really know that because of the layers of paint on the door. There were so many layers you could barely even grab onto the handle.

Ava didn’t wanna get frustrated trying to open it, so she skipped to the next and last door on the right.

It was a fossil grey, and it looked newly repaired without any signs of damage on it. She felt comfortable enough to touch, but recoiled in surprise.

It was extremely wet, not with paint, but with water.

She smelt her hand to find that the water was salty. It wasn’t sea water or sweat. It was tears. It’s like the door was made of it and it was melting.

Ava wanted to check the other doors to choose which one to go through, but her choice was rushed by a piercing beep.

She panicked and went to quickly open the door and slam it behind her.

Ava studied the room. It was a long navy blue hallway. As much as she didn’t want to, there was no other choice but to see what was at the end of it.

She hesitantly walked through the corridor. The further she walked the more she could hear mumbling seemingly from the corner.

Suddenly, two stark tall shadows emerged. It scared the hell out of Ava and she covered her mouth and crouched into a darker part of the hall.

She couldn’t tell what they were talking about, but she could tell it was something important to them.

“Perhaps she’s confused.” Said the slightly taller shadow. “You’ve told her the countless stories of females succeeding in this kingdom haven’t you?”

“Of course I have!” Snapped the other shadow. “But this is something other than confusion, it’s insanity. She should know better than anyone she doesn’t have to be become something she isn’t and will never be to be stronger. It disgusts me, the women around her, and every other woman who’s sacrificed their life so she could have a roof over her head and clothes on her back!”

Ava had no idea who or what they were talking about, but it was clearly none of her business.

She turned to where the door was but it disappeared. It was replaced by some kid. It was lying in some fetal position with its body in an uneven rise and fall motion.

Ava guessed the kid was crying and while she felt bad, she didn’t want to try and comfort it. She was terrible with kids.

Unfortunately it wasn’t her choice, as the kid sat up and looked directly at Ava.

“How?” It said, its eyes widening.

“Uhhh” was all Ava could say before the floor under her feet crumbled and she fell through.

Ava woke up with a gasp startling the Daemons around her.

“Queen Ava, glad you’re awake. Thought you died or something.” Said Asch as he held out a hand to help her up.

Ava grabbed it and wobbled a bit while standing up. She almost fell back down before Asch caught her.

“My bad,” she stamped her feet on the ground to keep her balance, “I had the weirdest dream, there was-“

“What was it about? Tell me.” Said Pierce, laying down on the floor.

Ava jumped a bit to see not only Pierce but every other Daemon guy on the floor. She guessed they were sleeping and Asch woke up first.

“Uh I was gonna…” said Ava kinda unnerved by Pierce’s response.

“What? Tell me. Right now.” Demanded Pierce getting up and getting right in Ava’s face.

“Pierce! Back up from Ava.” Ordered Asch. “You’re freaking me out…”

Pierce stared at Asch before backing up and bowing to Ava as an apology.

Asch cleared his throat to rid of the silence that fell in the room, “Would you like show us around?” He said while presenting the place to Ava like he was a salesman.

“I mean this room is new to me too. So like it’s more exploring with you guys.” She said while absentmindedly walking up the stairs.

The five men were quick to follow her. They didn’t want to admit it, but they were about as excited as her to find out more about this place. They hadn’t known human royalty could have their own palaces.

Ava looked at the six doors at the top of the staircase. They gave her a weird feeling because of that dream, but it might’ve been nerves.

She walked to the left to see what else this place had in store.

The hallway leading to the next room was boringly empty. Its walls and floor were a light gold with lavender banners and carpet adorning each respectively.

At the end of it, Ava saw the most beautiful thing she’d ever had the pleasure of witnessing.

In the room was a huge swimming pool, with a small jacuzzi at the end of it. It had to be about as big as an Olympic one.

The water was a weird color, with it being a weird dark blue-ish purple color. It mesmerized Ava while she walked towards it.

She crouched near the edge and wanted to drown in the water to soak up all its beauty. She could tell the Daemons caught up with her hearing them whisper insults at each other.

Despite refusing to look back, she could tell Pierce was staring at her. Ava had no idea what stick got stuck in his ass, but she could tell it made him really irritated at her. She didn’t really wanna talk about whatever it was though.

“After you passed out, I explored the place a bit before I went to sleep.” Said Asch choosing to sit beside Ava, dipping his legs into the water.

“This isn’t as good as my place as far as palaces go, but…” He looked into the water seemingly becoming hypnotized by it, “Damn this place is nice.”

Ava couldn’t help but take off her socks and house shoes to get her legs in the water.

“How is this here?” She asked, it was more of a question for herself than for Asch.

“Honestly I have no idea. I knew E-urth had enough magic to do a lot of stuff, but not enough to hide a whole section of a palace in such a puny building.” Asch answered, still looking at the water.

“Did…did you just say E-urth?” Questioned Ava trying to hold back a laugh.

“Yeah, how else would you pronounce it?” Said Asch slightly raising his tone.

“It’s…haha! It’s pronounced earth!” Hollered Ava.

Ava shrieked with laughter, kicking the water and splashing Asch in the process.

“Sh-Shut the hell up! It’s weird to say it like that anyways it’s not like how it’s spelt!” Said Asch, his face getting increasingly more red.

“No! It’s not! But you pronouncing it like that is kinda cute!” Giggled Ava not thinking.

Asch’s face got warmer, “H-Huh?” he spluttered as Ava continued laughing.

“Who the hell are you c-calling cute!? I’ve demanded you respect me, and I haven’t seen a speck of it!” Fumed Asch.

“Aw…I’m Asch…and I’m so important ‘cause I’m a prince! Haha! Me and my pretty big muscles are threatened by gettin’ called cute!” Mocked Ava while flexing her arms to pretend to have muscles.

Asch could do nothing but hide his face and walk to the entrance of the pool, “Damn it! I’m going!” He yelled while already halfway to the other hallway.

“U-Uhm, my prince! Wait a second!” Said Rhys trying to catch up with the hothead.

“Asch, I need to laugh at ya! How d’you let a girl do that to you!” Laughed Leif while running after Asch.

“Wait a minute! Listen can we please not fight in this place?” Begged Noi trying to calm down tensions.

Ava was pretty proud of herself for getting most of those guys out. Of course with her luck, the only one that didn’t leave was Pierce.

He went to crouch beside Ava, but instead of looking at the water, he stared right at her.

“In your dream, what did you see?” He asked, with a tone softer than what he used before.

Ava was slightly surprised by the change, but she didn’t wanna keep not telling him.

“There were some doors…I went through one of them and heard two people arguing, and I saw a kid. That’s all.” She finally told him.

Pierce was silent for a moment, still looking straight at Ava. He slouched more while crouching, with a somber look in his eyes.

“I…had that same dream.” He finally said.

There was a silence between the two, but neither knew what to say. Ava could tell Pierce was hiding something.

“Do you know what that dream was about? I mean I sure as hell don’t.” She said with no response from Pierce

Until, “That dream, it’s more of a nightmare for me. Back when I was a daughter.” He said his voice threatening to crack.

“Daughter? What? What are you-“ Ava stopped herself, finally connecting the dots.

“That nightmare I…” Pierce paused turning to look into the water, “I didn’t want you to see it, or anyone for that matter.”

Pierce then grabbed Ava and got close to her face, “Promise me to not tell anyone of this. Especially Asch. I’m afraid.”

Ava was scared of the sudden touch, but she couldn’t just say no and then run away. That’d also just make her a big asshole.

“Don’t worry Pierce, I won’t tell a soul.” She said while pretending to zip her lips.

“Thank you Queen Ava. You truly are a saint.” He stood up and bowed before walking away to join the others.

Ava laid down with her legs still in the water. The slow motion of the water rising and falling massaging her legs made it hard for her to stay awake.

“I’m gonna…close my eyes…” she told herself, but eventually she fell fast asleep.

“Th-That asshole! Making fun of me…i-if we were still on Daemos do you wanna know what’d happened to her!?” Ranted Asch as he stomped through the empty hall.

“She’d be up to your mercy my prince.” Stated Rhys.

Asch stopped and turned to look at Rhys with an annoyed look, “That was rhetorical.”, he said as he turned back to continue ranting about Ava.

Rhys continued to follow Asch now wondering what in Asch’s tone could tell him that was a rhetorical question. He couldn’t tell if him not catching it was his fault or Asch’s. Asch also looked mad, what if he’ll never ask him rhetorical questions again? What if he won’t act sarcastic in general with him again?

Rhys’ mind spiraled into a never ending train of thought of all the possible ways Asch could have taken that interaction. He stopped walking to put all his energy on thinking, and the Daemon behind him, Leif, bumped right into him.

Both Daemons fell over, as Leif was running to catch up with Asch. Leif landed on top of Rhys who landed laying on his stomach, knocking all the air out of him.

“The fuck man?!” Yelled Leif, “Why’d you stop?!”

“Would you get off of me first you lunatic! Watch where you’re going too!” Heaved Rhys trying to catch his breath.

Leif obliged and moved beside Rhys, as the purple Daemon rolled over brushed any dust off his clothes.

“Psh, stop being dramatic. You’re brushin’ away nothin’.” Snarked Leif.

Rhys glanced at Leif with furrowed brows before standing up and speed walking to catch up with Asch.

Leif got up on his feet as Pierce and Noi finally caught up with him.

“Why can’t some of us get along…” lamented Noi while trying to catch his breath.

“What are ya? A Mir Soldier or some shit? Haha!” Insulted Leif while running to wherever the hallway took him.

“Leif is so mean! Don’t you think Pierce?” Said Noi while watching Leif run through the hallway.

“You are very tiny and weak. Just like a Mir soldier. So he’s not wrong.” Noted Pierce while walking past him.

Noi mumbled to himself as he walked with Pierce.

“I’m serious! Like…if our goal is for one of us to marry Ava so we can get control of Earth, then we can’t be A-holes to each other.” Noi crossed his arms to emphasize his point.

“First, just cuss. Second, naturally if we’re fighting for the same woman, that will pit us against each other.” Explained Pierce.

The two walked together in silence. Noi felt as if he should say something. As if there was a way he could refute that there wasn’t a way all of them could work together.

“I mean…” Noi started, “what’s the point even? She doesn’t seem interested in any of us anyways.”

“Noi it’s not complicated. That interaction she had with Asch, that can turn into something.” Said Pierce with a harsh tone.

He quickly stepped in front of Noi, startling the smaller man. He kneeled down to meet the ginger at face level.

“I don’t know how seriously the others are taking this, but I do know how I’m taking it. Being able to marry Queen Ava and take spot as king would allow me to do something important to me. Asch is ahead of all of us right now, he may not know that now, but he’ll surely know later. Now I’d rather not talk to you for the rest of the day if that’s good with you.”

Pierce looked the smaller in his eyes for a few long moments until he straightened up and continued to walk to the other room.

Noi was surprised by the sudden speech by Pierce. He hadn’t really heard him speak much the whole time they were there. Still, Noi’s eyes started to sparkle out of admiration for Pierce.

Noi was even more shocked when Pierce started limping and fell to the ground. The ginger ran to Pierce and knelt down to see what happened.

“P-Pierce! Are you okay?” He stammered slightly shaking the taller man.

“I feel so tired…Noi this isn’t normal…” Pierce said lethargically, falling in and out of consciousness for a few moments.

Noi quickly stood up, “This is probably a side effect from being on E-ur- uh, Earth!” He declared. “I’ll get Queen Ava! She’ll know what to do!”

“Don’t yell…” said Pierce groggily as Noi sprinted to the pool room.

“I’m back to the fucking doors again! Dammit!” Screamed Ava while kicking the middle door, “Ow! Shit!” She grabbed her toe to soothe it from the pain.

For what felt like hours, Ava has been wondering the dream void trying to find a way to get out.

She’s banged her head on each of the doors, she’s left her hand on the burning middle door, she’s just wondered through the black void. No matter what, she either didn’t wake up, or was right back at the five doors.

Ava couldn’t tell whether it’s been seconds, hours, or even days. Tired, she put her back to the first door in the line and slumped down.

When she first got here she took the chance to scan the other two doors

The door Ava was slumped on had a smokey grey color and looked to be made out of clay. It had an almost hand-made feel to it, and she could put her hand through it.

Whenever she did, it’d feel like she could feel a cool breeze on her hand. She didn’t dare put her whole body through it, but the door almost wanted her to. It felt as if it wanted her to learn its secrets. Like some sort of cry out for help.

Still, she resisted that urge when she went to look at the door next to it.

It was like a pewter grey, and it smelled of something. Whatever that something was, Ava wanted to drown in it. Instead of her going through the door, she almost got inside it. Like it was consuming her, so she panicked and quickly dashed away from it.

So now here she was. Sitting in this black void with absolutely no way out. She didn’t want to, but she felt like the only way out was to go through one of these doors.

She got up and walked to the door that led her to the dream she had earlier. It had to be about Pierce.

The last thing she wanted was to break Pierce’s privacy, especially since she didn’t want to be in it in the first place. She had to get out of here though, and this was the only way.

She reluctantly grabbed the handle to open the door. The slow creaking of it was about the most obnoxious thing she’s ever heard.

Ava pressed on despite it, and ventured into the hallway ahead.

The same thing had happened as before, or at least the two figures had the same conversation. This time though, instead of the kid being near the door way, it was Pierce.

He practically sprinted towards Ava without even breaking a sweat and knelt down at her level.

He silently scanned her face, but his eyes went on wildly. Ava felt her body getting warmer by the second.

Pierce’s face was interesting this close. His eyes were a striking teal, and it’s honestly amazing she didn’t notice them till now. His nose had such a defining shape, not like “eugh”, but more of a “ooo”. At least that was Ava’s thought process.

He also had scars. One crossing the bridge of his nose, and the other going from his eyebrow to his jawline on his left eye.

Without thinking, Ava reached out to touch Pierce’s face. In those few seconds, Ava wondered all the possibilities of what Pierce’s face would feel like.

Pierce quickly snapped her out of her fantasy, grabbing her hand and squeezing it a bit too hard.

“Why?” He simply said. “Why did you come back here? How? Queen Ava I don’t…”

Ava could tell Pierce was distressed. She hated seeing people like this, and as much as she didn’t want to care. She could feel herself needing to.

“Pierce I- man- I don’t know either. Right now I think I’m dreaming, and it doesn’t end until I do this or something.” Ava rambled.

She then remembered what happened earlier “Pierce?” She said “You got me out of here last time…how did you do that?”

Pierce seemed to ignore Ava’s question, looking past her and into the hallway.

“Mom…” he whispered to himself.

He walked past Ava to go deeper into the hallway. Even while a bit mad she was ignored, Ava still followed Pierce.

Turning the corner where the figures appeared they started to hear other things. They seemed to be about different things, not all bad, but they were definitely not all good.

“If only you’d listen to me! She’s obviously not mature enough to be a warrior. Make her a servant. It’s the job she deserves.”

“I’m doing the best for you! For us! Don’t you get that?”

“If you’d stop all this nonsense maybe I’ll treat you with respect! Until then your cleaning floors, washing dishes, tending to farms…”

“Where are you going? No…please! Don’t do this to me! Come back to me Penelope!”

Ava started to feel awful. She hated to see how tense Pierce was, how he’d flinch every time the voice came back, how the air would get thick around them every time the voice uttered “Penelope”.

“I’m sorry Queen Ava. I can’t do this.” Pierce said, his voice shaky. “I don’t know why you won’t wake up, but it’s affecting me I don’t want to relive this.” It sounded as if he was going to cry.

He slumped down on the floor, letting only a few tears shed. The tip of his horns started to fade in color becoming a pitiful light blue.

Ava tried to calm Pierce down, “H-Hey this seems like it’s just childhood stuff right? Doesn’t it get better as you grow up?”

Pierce answered with a slight nod. Ava then got an idea that could get themselves out of there.

“What if we just run through here? We don’t hear anything and we get to adult life easier!” She exclaimed in hopes it would make Pierce feel a bit better.

Pierce turned his head slightly to look at Ava. “I can’t. There’s something up ahead. I know there is.”

“We’ll fight it then, together.”

Pierce widened his eyes at Ava, surprised by her response. He then did a slight smile and stood up.

“You’re not lying, right?”

Ava took a few seconds to respond. “No.” She finally said “Not this time.”

Pierce’s horns gained back a bit of their color, but not fully. Ava couldn’t complain though.

Pierce grabbed Ava’s hand with the same force as he did before, but this time she knew it wasn’t with anger.

“On three, alright?” Both Ava and Pierce readied themselves.

“One…two…”

“Get back here!” A voice shrieked, startling the both of them.

A woman appeared around the corner sprinting towards them.

Her hair was a long tangled mess, and her eyes were tired but determined. She was glowing a bright teal, bright enough for someone in a plane to see her

“Sh-Shit! Three! C’mon Pierce, let’s get outta here!” Yelled Ava while dragging Pierce subtly begging him to move.

Pierce stayed still for only a moment before taking off with Ava. Around them were screams of the same voice that was chasing them.

There was rarely another voice, and that made Ava’s heart ache. Still they continued through the hall ignoring every word that plagued their senses. All up until…

There was a dead end.

“No…no!” Screamed Pierce. “I can’t! Damn it!” He banged against the navy blue wall.

“Pierce! Calm down! Okay? Look at me will ya?” Begged Ava while trying to grab his attention away from the wall.

Pierce turned to Ava while trying to calm himself down.

“Th-There! See? We’re still a good bit ahead of that thing so-“

Ava was cut off by being suddenly kicked in the side by the blue woman.

Pierce was stunned as he watched Ava slam against the wall, creating a huge hole in it. She collapsed to the ground looking unconscious frightening Pierce a bit.

He snapped himself out of his daze and formed his axe out of his hands.

“Penelope…c’mon my sweet baby…” The blue figure pleaded.

Pierce stood there in his battle stance waiting to strike at the woman.

“I want to…” Pierce shook his head, “I…I don’t want to hurt you mother, but I…”

The figure leaped to swing at Pierce, yet he used the belly of his axe to block the attack.

“So you want to be like this? Alright. Fight me then! Fight me and the army of Tohe!” Dared the figure.

Pierce took a step back, putting his back against the wall. This moment, he can’t remember it. He can’t remember what happened. He knows the aftermath, but it seems when anyone says what he did he just blocked it out.

The clanking of armored footsteps interrupted Pierce’s thinking.

“So you’re the general of Tohe’s army? Kaliska, am I right?” The voice said. “Such a pleasure!”

When Pierce looked beside him he saw a fully armored figure. Its helmet adorned with the crescent of Noimosýni. Its body was covered with a light green cloak, having the symbol of the royalty.

This could be no other person than the king of Noimosýni. Arie.

“The blockhead here’s your kid right? Stand down. I’ll take care of him.” Jeered the king.

“She’s coming back with us.” Kaliska took out her blade.

“A general with bad eyes and bad ears? Tch, clearly he deserves a better general.” Quipped Arie.

The king reached his hand out towards Pierce. His movement made a clanky metal sound. “Come now.” He said, “let me introduce you to your new kingdom.”

Before Pierce instinctively took his hand, an arrow was shot between them that Arie masterfully dodged.

“Over my dead body.” Said Kaliska looking dead at Arie.

“Oh, we could get that arranged!”

Arie reached his hand out toward the past woman and it miraculously turned into a machine gun. It was unlike Pierce had seen before, the more and more he relived this memory the more he forgot about everything around him.

“You’re not stupid.” Said Kaliska. “If you kill me, Wai would wage war.”

“She’d kill you too if she knew you brought out a whole section of the army right under her nose though, right?” Sneered the armored royalty.

Kaliska took a step back, hesitance plastered onto her face. A few of the soldiers behind her looked uncertain still ready to fight.

“Aw…the poor little coyote is scared…” babied Arie. “It’ll be even funnier if I got this kid’s actual new leader here.”

“You don’t mean him do you?” Asked Kaliska with her pride now dwindling into fear.

Pierce switched his gaze between Arie and his mother. Slowly, he started to remember.

He started to remember how conflicted he was in this moment. How scared he was of King Arie. How even the slightest mention of Yakedo would make the air around him go cold.

He never knew who Yakedo was at the time. He’s always heard stories, but other than that he was another ruler to him. Now more than ever, he wanted to meet him. Only if it’s just to get a glimpse of a better life.

“Who else would I mean?” Said Arie readying his gun just in case Kaliska decided to move.

“Y-You can’t…I’ll call it off just don’t-“

“Too late I’m afraid.”

Everyone stopped their movement. Their breathing, their fidgeting, and if they could, their heart beating.

The sound of Yakedo’s footsteps rang in everyone’s ears, only giving them a taste of his fury.

Pierce looked at him through the corner of his eye. Yakedo looked odd. His facial features and outing fit were the same, with it being shoulder armor with a red fur cape that was floor length. He also had a black sleeveless, tight, shirt with dark red pants.

It was something about the space around him. He was glowing almost, unnaturally glowing. Almost like a savior.

“This is the boy, correct?” Asked Yakedo with a slight growl under his voice.

Arie nodded excitedly, the clank and screeching of his armor making the Chikarian king cringe. “My gods Yakedo! Have you seen him fight?” He exclaimed. “Better than your general I bet!”

“Hmph, and not better than yours?” Yakedo bantered with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh gods, no. Smartest of the land, I’m afraid.” Chortled Arie sounding playfully appalled.

Yakedo elbowed Arie in the arm, somehow damaging him through the armor. He walked beside Pierce and put his arm around him.

“This young man here clearly doesn’t deserve you. Drop your weapons and we’ll walk away. Don’t and everyone that’s on your side will perish.” Stated Yakedo, his eyes piercing through Kaliska.

Kaliska scoffed, “That is my daughter and she will not be going with you! She is to stay here to be under my care so she can be a successful general in my place.”

“Very well then.” Said Yakedo. “Pierce is it? I’m going to teach you something alright?”

Pierce could do nothing but nod. He knows what’s coming and his heart started to beat faster. He didn’t want to go through with this. Not again.

“That feeling deep inside you…you’d describe it as anger right?” Said Yakedo. “Use it.”

Pierce got that same feeling he felt all those years ago. Empowerment. Someone that believed him. Saw him for who he was, but it came at a cost.

He could feel every bottled up feeling he’s ever had charging up his body like it had before.

“P-Penelope…baby, calm down! Th-there’s no need f-for violence at this moment!” Pleaded Kaliska signaling for the army to be ready to defend.

“Kaliska, you’ve missed your chance for any peace.” Scolded Yakedo. “I’m afraid you should prepare your people for a quick battle.”

Pierce could feel himself losing grip on reality. The anger built up over so many years was starting to take control, and he didn’t know how to handle it. He never knew how, and it’s too dangerous to ever learn.

“…Yo…Pierce.” Croaked a voice that sounded like Ava. Although, Pierce couldn’t tell.

“I’m feeling alright…hey, that things still there. Are you guys talkin’ or something?” Questioned the voice.

Pierce was starting to let go of the last threads of consciousness he had left. “I’m so sorry, but there’s no way I can control this anymore.”

Pierce fully let go, and that sprung his body into throwing up his axe and catching it with one hand on the knob and the other on the throat.

He whirled his body around catching insane amounts of momentum. He then let go, throwing it towards the army of Tohe men and women.

His mother had dodged it, but some of the soldiers behind weren’t so lucky. The axe went cleanly through those who didn’t dodge and came back to Pierce like a boomerang.

He caught it gripping one hand on the throat and the other on the belly of the axe. His anger looked at his mother’s soul, almost daring her to make another move.

“Fine! Penelope, I love you, but I’ve had enough! Men and women of Tohe! attack!”

It was all a blur. All Ava or Pierce could see was the deep purple blood that started to flood the area. It was disgusting, it was crude, but to Pierce’s fury, it was the best tool for his own violent creativity.

Ava and Pierce’s unconscious bodies lay in the middle of the four confused Daemons.

They had carried Ava’s limp body to the place Pierce passed out. Even with all of them pitching in, there was no way they could carry or even drag Pierce far.

“I just don’t get it…” said Asch looking puzzled. “First he’s acting weird towards her, and now this.”

“Perhaps we should ask Lady Grandma? She might know what to do.” Said Rhys fidgeting with his hands.

Asch groaned into his hands. “Do I gotta?”

“Stop bein’ a baby.” Said Leif juggling his daggers. “As soon as she remembers she’ll be back to her old proper self.”

Rhys’ eyes lit up, “Leif that’s…the smartest thing I’ve heard you say!”

“Oh shut up would ya!?” Leif snarled.

Three of the Daemons went to grab Lady Grandma. Noi was left with Pierce and Ava just in case they woke up.

They walked through the mess that was the living room and stood at the door.

“Asch, the hell’s the hold up?” Said Leif as he formed his daggers back into his hands.

Asch turned to look at the other two Daemons “I uh…I don’t really wanna do this.” He admitted.

“Let’s do it already! You’re acting like a kid! Rhys, tell him he’s acting like a kid!” Exasperated Leif.

“Rhys, don’t listen to him. You should listen to me and tell him he doesn’t know shit about what this means to me!” Huffed Asch.

The two continued to argue with each other, and kept telling Rhys to say things. Rhys this, Rhys that, “Rhys don’t say that say this!” It got on his nerves.

“Would the both of you shut up?!” He screamed, his voice cracking wildly as it’s not used to straining itself.

Rhys’ face grew warm because of it. He expected Leif or Asch to comment on it, but they were both silently waiting on him to say something else.

“Th-The both of you are acting like children.” He said his voice softer. “We aren’t even doing this to spend time with Lady Grandma or anything, we’re doing this to help Pierce and Ava.”

Asch and Leif both looked at each other and nodded.

“The scholars right…let’s get this over and done with…” groaned Leif while he opened the door.

“You are so unbelievable!” Fumed Mrs. Oats trying to grab Lady Grandma.

Ever since the old feline woke up it’s been nothing but chaos. Mrs. Oats was already thinking of dropping her off in a ditch somewhere.

Lady Grandma had started her day off with eating almost all of the canned tuna in Mrs. Oats’ fridge. She only left a few because the old woman caught her before she could stuff her mouth with them.

She then messed with the adult cat for a bit until it practically despised her, and it chased her all throughout the apartment.

Mrs. Oats temporarily defended the purple fuzzball from the cat, but Lady Grandma had taken that chance to grab the last few cans of tuna.

Now Mrs. Oats has been chasing her around the whole kitchen area for those cans.

“Felicity needs to eat you hag!” Yelled Mrs. Oats cornering the cat.

“Well I’m tryna eat! It’s not my fault you have nothin’ but trash cat food!” Lady Grandma yelled back.

Just then, they heard a knock at the door.

“Look at what ya did!” Complained Mrs. Oats. “Ya got me a noise complaint!”

Mrs. Oats angrily went to open the door and saw the three Daemons. She was surprised by the encounter, but immediately changed her mood to be happier.

“I didn’t expect you all to be here!” She said cheerfully. “Come in, come in!”

Before any of the men could attest to the offer she dragged them all in.

She moved like clockwork, swiftly picking up Lady Grandma and slamming her shut in the pantry. The feline didn’t even have any time to protest.

The older lady then grabbed a jug of sweet tea and poured three cups of it. She pushed all three of the men onto her couch and placed a cup in front of them. She sat opposite of them and looked as cheery as she could.

“How’ve you all been? Treating Ava well I hope!” Said Mrs. Oats.

“W-Well Lady Oats…we actually were here to talk to Lady Grandma.” Hesitated Asch.

The smile on Mrs. Oats face immediately disappeared. “Fine…” she said while getting up to walk to the pantry.

While they were waiting, Rhys took the time to study the liquid of the cup. He smelled it and recoiled a bit surprised by the sweet smell. Against his better judgement, he took a sip, and he immediately fell in love with it.

He chugged down his cup in one gulp.

“Leif if you don’t mind me asking, could I have your drink if you don’t want it?” Asked Rhys.

“Go crazy man.” Said Leif sounding disinterested.

Rhys swiped Leif’s cup and drank it all in one go. “My gods…this is delicious…” he whispered to himself.

Asch wanted to drink his cup to see what Rhys was talking about, but he didn’t think he could stomach it. Lady Grandma’s whole appearance, even her voice made his stomach suck in itself.

The mere thought that his grandma died and is now acting like this? He didn’t want to be anywhere near her, but he didn’t have a choice. She’s all knowing and throwing her assistance away would basically be certain death.

“I knew y’all would need my help!” Exclaimed the feline heading towards the table.

Lady Grandma did an extraordinary flip landing on her hind legs and did a pose. She waited for some type of applause, but was met with complete silence.

“Tough crowd…” she sat down and crossed her legs. “What do ya need me for?”

It took a few seconds for any of the Daemons to respond until Leif eventually piped up.

“Pierce and Ava are kinda…unconscious? They’re not wakin’ up and we have no idea what to do.” He explained.

Mrs. Oats started to grow a look of horror, but Lady Grandma’s face looked puzzled.

“Hm…sleeping beauty thing huh?” She stood up and scurried to the door. “Lemme analyze the situation and all will be fine.”

Mrs. Oats shook her head to get her mind clear enough to stop the men from getting up.

“Hold on! What do you mean unconscious?” She asked trying her best to stop them from getting to the door.

Rhys glared at Leif for a bit before turning his attention to Lady Grandma. “It could’ve been more clear, but basically they are asleep and won’t wake up.”

Mrs. Oats looked between the three Daemons confused. None of them knew how else they could explain the situation.

“I’m putting my foot down! Tell me all what happened. In detail. Beginning to end.” She said sternly.

The Daemons were surprised by the sudden outburst and stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds.

Mrs. Oats calmed down. “Listen…Ava is like a granddaughter to me. If she’s overexerting herself or…and I don’t mean to accuse…you’ve done something to her…I don’t think I could live with myself knowing that I could’ve made a difference.”

The three Daemons looked at each other for a bit. Without saying a word they all said to one another the same thing.

We don’t have time for this.

Asch walked ahead of the others and bowed before Mrs. Oats.

“Lady Oats, I’m aware you care about Queen Ava, but we need to get back to her and Pierce. The more we sit around here talking about the issue, the more serious it gets. Please get out of our way.”

Mrs. Oats furrowed her brows. “I’m not letting you do a damn thing!” She fumed.

Asch and the other two Daemons were getting a bit tired of this, but they couldn’t put their hands on her. Not only would that disrupt the peace they have with Ava, it’d also just be a hassle.

They all collectively groaned with annoyance trying other ways to get the old lady to move. None of them truly working just yet.

Dark purple blood splayed on the floors and walls of the navy blue hallway. Horror encompassing Ava’s very being.

She had just watched Pierce rip and tear through hundreds of people. Her eyes watched his as he took heavy breaths from the fight.

She opened her mouth to say something, but only gasps dared to come out. Pierce’s gaze stared down Ava almost threatening her to not make another sound.

He stepped closer toward her, making Ava let out a quiet squeal. He continued to walk and she could hear the squelching that came from the teared flesh beneath him.

Pierce got closer to Ava and crouched down to meet her eyes. They were face to face now, and Ava’s heart was beating as fast as it could. This time it wasn’t out of nervousness or unchecked feelings, but instead it was fear. Pure fear. Something that no other experience could make her feel.

“Ava.” Said Pierce, his voice dead.

There was nothing else. Simply just her name, but it made her heart sink.

“Ava…don’t…” he reached out to touch Ava’s face, but she backed away.

Pierce looked hurt by this, yet the blood on his face made him look sinister. He tried to touch her face again keeping the same look. Once he finally succeeded, Ava flinched, but let him cup her face with his hand.

“Are you scared?” He asked simply, but Ava still couldn’t bring herself to move.

Pierce brought his other hand to the small of his back and embraced her. He held on to her tightly, so tight she could barely breathe. It’s almost like he knew this with him loosening his grip for her to get a breath in, and then tightening it back up again. Almost as if he didn’t want her to be able to run away.

“You’re so small. You’re trembling. Tell me, do you see me in a different light now?” Pierce questioned still holding Ava like if he let go she’d float away.

Tears of fear burned her eyes, and nothing but gasps and sobs escaped her until a simple “I don’t know.” Finally let loose.

“Ah, we barely know each other. I wish I knew you as much as you know me now.”

A wave of guilt took over Ava as tears started to fall down her face. She had fully invaded Pierce’s privacy, made him relive terrible things, and made him like this.

She had to get out of this. There’s a way and she’s willing to find it.

While she started to think of a way out Pierce whispered a subtle “I love you Queen Ava.”

He held on to Ava even tighter now, almost cracking her spine.

“No you don’t…” she whimpered. “You’d…I don’t know…be less this…”

Pierce loosened his grip on Ava and stopped hugging to look at her.

His face was a mix of shock and guilt. Ava couldn’t tell though, her vision was spotty.

As she regained some energy she looked at Pierce the sternest look she could muster up. “Like you said, you barely know me. I’m not…” she thought a bit before saying “I’m not saying I can’t love you. I’m saying you have to know me better.”

Pierce’s longing gaze turned into a ferocious snarl. “You don’t know that…I need you Queen Ava!” He yelled.

Ava quickly kicked Pierce square in the jaw and got up to sprint down the hallway. She ran as fast as she could, hearing Pierce’s booming footsteps behind. Never did she dare to look behind her or slow down. She just kept running.

She turned the corner and saw that the door had returned. With the little stamina she had left, she sped up to get to the door for enough time to open it.

As she fiddled with the handle she realized something horrible.

It was locked.

Ava shook her head as if it would unlock the door and she proceeded to bang and claw at the door. She could hear Pierce behind becoming angrier every second she isn’t near him.

She turned and saw that Pierce had turned the corner bolting towards her. If she couldn’t escape it, there may be a way to talk Pierce out of this.

“Pierce! Hold on!” Ava yelled holding up her hands. Pierce had only stopped inches away from her, but didn’t try to suffocate her again.

“We b-both know you don’t feel this way.” She stammered. “So why are you so adamant about this?”

Pierce looked at her for a few minutes before finally croaking “To prove to her…”

Ava cocked her head to the side and asked “T-To prove what to who?”

“To prove to Kaliska that I’m a man.” He said as the tips of his horns grew pale again.

Ava didn’t want to ask any more questions, but Pierce had thankfully answered her without saying a word.

“If I can be king…earn a title of that stature and still have it respect me…” Pierce trailed off for a bit before saying “she’ll see there’s no denying what I am, and she’ll love me again.”

Ava slowly put her hands down. “Well, you don’t need that Pierce. You’ve got family, a newfound family. You’re fine without being king.”

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” Pierce snapped. “I still want her approval despite of what she’s said. I can’t bring myself to forget about her because…until that day…she really did love me.”

They both stayed silent for a minute before Ava took a deep breath.

“I wish I could relate to you, and help you through this on a personal level but…I can’t. What I can do is say that no matter what it gets worse if you do nothing but remind yourself of it. I know this is kinda cheesy and probably shitty advice, but you should look at what you have and focus on what you don’t once you feel like yourself! K’?” Comforted Ava.

Pierce stared off in to space with deep thought in his eyes. A river of tears streamed down his face. His breath was slightly uneven, until he looked at Ava.

“Mmm…I’m sorry for the tears Queen Ava. Do you have a handkerchief?” He asked while suppressing his voice cracks.

Ava just smiled, “Nah man. Let’s go ahead and try to wake up first.” She reached out her hand, and Pierce took it.

Noi was pacing back and forth in the hallway. He was getting a bit jittery with Asch, Rhys, and Leif taking forever, as well as Pierce and Ava looking they won’t get up in the next hour.

He suddenly heard a herd of footsteps stomping towards her and he started to panic until he controlled his breathing and realized it’s probably the other guys.

He could see them speeding towards him. “Hey! It took you guys forever! Where’s Lady Grandma-“ he was suddenly pushed to the side.

“Outta the way pretty boy! You should probably start runnin’ too!” Yelled Leif while escaping to the other room.

Noi was very confused until he started to see what they were running from.

Mrs. Oats was chasing Lady Grandma with a cane looking furious.

“Hey! Ginger! You’re with them too right? Treat Ava with a little more care!” She yelled looking past Lady Grandma’s tiny cat stature.

“Noi, get your ass to runnin’! Where’s your survival instincts, huh!” Shouted Lady Grandma while rapidly approaching Noi.

The small Daemon was very conflicted. He could run to save his own skin, but he couldn’t just leave Pierce and Ava. Noi especially couldn’t leave Pierce. If the old lady was mad at all of them she’d probably trample on him a bit more.

He put Ava’s body over his shoulder and tried his best to drag Pierce. He could only go a few inches, but it was still progress.

“Oh you dumbass!” Badgered Lady Grandma. “You care too much! I’ll fight her off with ya! I can’t let you get your ass kicked by a old woman without any help…”

“Th-That’s a little rude isn’t it?” Noi protested, but he still got ready to fight.

Asch and the others started running back down the hallway, “Cats…CATS!” He yelled, “So many of them! And they’re all angry!”

Noi and Lady Grandma both looked behind them, and saw the army of cats chasing the three Daemons. Both of them started to have horrified looks.

“The hell was even in that room!?” Shrieked Lady Grandma.

Asch reached Noi and Lady Grandma before anyone else. “It…shit I didn’t breathe enough…it was just a dark ass room when me, Leif, and Rhys got in there. We thought it’d be a good place to hide from Lady Oats til we couldn’t hear nothing but cat screeching.”

Lady Grandma jumped up and smacked Asch across the face. He could hear Leif laughing his ass off behind him as he and Rhys got on either side of him.

“Sorry Asch, that was outta nerves.” Lady Grandma explained. “Listen what I’m gonna say is gonna be a bit inappropriate alright?”

Asch nodded slowly not really understanding how a bunch of cats could be sexual in any way.

“You’ve bed about 23 women, right?”

Asch did a double take and started stuttering wildly. His face becoming a deep red. He started looking between Leif and Rhys.

Leif was laughing harder than before, kneeling down holding his stomach. Tears rolled down his cheeks as his face got red.

Rhys looked awkward and had a tinge of disapproval in his face, keeping his mouth in a tight straight line. He quickly looked away from Asch deciding the wall is a more interesting thing.

“Oh would you two grow up?!” Chastised Lady Grandma. “Alright your father if I remember correctly bed about…50 women I wanna say?”

Asch started to sputter even more. This was the last thing he wanted to hear before getting mauled by cats.

Lady Grandma started scratching her chin. “I think I’ve done about…15 men? Could be a bit less, y’know I found your grandfather quickly.”

“MA!” Asch yelled slightly startling the purple feline. “Where the hell are you going with this? I don’t wanna hear about it!”

“Fine, I’ll get straight to the point then.” She climbed on Asch and rested on his shoulder while pointing at the cats before declaring “Those are all the reincarnated souls of all the men and women this family has made love with!”

Just as Leif started calming down he erupted into laughter again, kicking his legs. Asch didn’t even wanna glance at Rhys.

“How do you…wha-“

“I counted them all okay?! And I’m positive that’s all 300-something of ‘em! They kinda die of a broken heart when you don’t choose them.” Lady Grandma jumped off of Asch’s shoulder and got on her knees and bowed. “Now you better start apologizing!”

Lady Grandma then started saying a Daemon’s name followed by a “I’m deeply sorry for leading you on!”

A light shown from the crowd of felines and it quickly shot up into the air. Asch stood there dumbfounded before bowing the same way as Lady Grandma, but not saying anything.

“Asch! The hell are you doing?” Growled Lady Grandma before saying another Daemon’s name and apologizing.

“Uhm…I can’t…remember their names.” Reluctantly admitted Asch.

Lady Grandma glared at Asch with a hint of disappointment, but chuckled to herself. Eventually it turned into a full blown laugh. “We’re so doomed!”

Asch looked all around him and he felt like his head was swimming. Everything around him was starting to fall apart, but he couldn’t just take it like a wimp.

It was time to act like a prince.

“Ma! I need you to take a look at Pierce and Ava, and Noi, help her with whatever she needs.” Asch stood up and formed his sword. “Leif, we need to ward off all the cats. Rhys, hold off Lady Oats, try to get her unconscious. At this point she’s getting annoying.”

Everyone nodded in response to Asch’s orders. “Alright! Daemons of Chikara! Let’s fight!” He resounded.

Everyone sped off into doing what they were ordered. Leif and Asch rushed to the herd of cats and immediately started slicing through them.

A few cats got brave and jumped to scratch at Leif’s face. The assassin was distracted, and didn’t have enough time to react. Asch leaped in front of Leif, and sliced through three of the cats. He kicked the other right out of the air.

When he looked back at Leif, he gave him a slight nod and continued to tear into the cats.

Rhys ran towards Mrs. Oats and formed his staff. He spun it around and hit the old woman in the side of her neck.

She got knocked back a bit before swinging at Rhys with her cane. The advisor swiftly dodged before striking her ankles with his staff. This swept Mrs. Oats off her feet, and before she could do anything, he hit her right in a pressure point on her neck, knocking her out cold.

Rhys stood up proud and turned to see what the others were doing.

“Rhys! C’mere! We need ya real quick.” Hollered Lady Grandma signaling him to get over there.

He quickly went to kneel beside Lady Grandma and Noi, listening attentively to their conversation.

“Ava definitely has something up with her. She’s got him in some type of spell bind. Only way to wake ‘em up is to pull ‘em outta there.” Lady Grandma explained looking over to Noi.

Noi began panicking slightly. “W-Wait! You just got Rhys over here why can’t he do it.”

Lady Grandma groaned out of annoyance. “Because he actually knows how to monitor over you. Also I care more if he dies or not.”

“I-I can die in there?!”

“Welp, off you go!”

The cat climbed Noi and pawed at both of his eyes. He got knocked down and protested a bit before passing out.

Lady Grandma dusted off herself looking at her handy work, but could see the question in Rhys’ eyes.

She raised her paws up revealing a lavender powdery substance. “Oldest Chikarian trick in the book. I’ll show ya how to make this stuff another time.”

“Ma! Rhys!” Called out Asch. “Get over here we need some backup!”

Pierce and Ava wondered throughout the dream void. They haven’t seen the doors in quite a while, so they thought they were making progress.

“Dang, maybe you were right. I guess wandering around in circles wasn’t getting me any closer or farther.” Said Ava making sure to stay close to Pierce.

“We’ll be out of here in no time Queen Ava.” He said, but Ava could tell there was something else on his mind.

Ava could always tell when someone was hiding something. Especially if it was from her specifically. It was like a sixth sense for her.

So she stopped Pierce right in his tracks by getting in front of him. “Something you wanna say?” She questioned.

Pierce stayed silent, but his eyes told his secrets. He started to look everywhere but Ava. Whether he was trying to find a way to tell her or if he was finding a way to not tell Ava couldn’t tell, but she preferred the former.

“Queen Ava…” he finally said “I’m sorry for the way I acted earlier. It wasn’t right, and if you said how you’d love me if I got to know you better…to get me to calm down…well I don’t blame you for lying.”

Ava looked at Pierce shocked for a bit. If she was being honest, she couldn’t really tell what she meant when she said that. All she wanted to do was get Pierce to calm down, yeah, but somewhere deep down she knew there was something more to it.

“Pierce I- ugh damn it. I get why you were acting like that, you were desperate. Listen, I like you right now and I’m saying the full truth when I say that I can love you. You’ve still got the same chance as the other guys to win me.”

Ava grabbed Pierce’s hands, only slightly flinching at how large they were. “You may even have a bigger chance now. You were always my favorite out of the five.”

Pierce’s horns had finally regained all their color after blushing at the tips of his ears. “Th-Thank you Queen Ava.” He said.

“PIERCE!” Screamed a Voice, ruining the mood in a matter of seconds.

Ava and Pierce quickly looked all over to see where it was coming from. Behind them, they could see Noi rapidly approaching them. His eyes dead set on Pierce.

Noi crashed into the large Daemon, knocking them both down while he hugged him tightly.

“Ohmygodsohmygodsohmygods! I thought something bad happened to you! It’s so dark and scary here, but I’m sure it was nothing for you! You’re so cool and stuff! Especially Queen Ava! Oh my gods!” Noi rambled hugging Pierce tighter every sentence.

“Gah! Noi would you get off of me?!” Demanded Pierce, but Noi didn’t let up.

Ava watched the two wrestle for a bit. She couldn’t lie, it was kinda entertaining. Noi was way stronger than she thought he was.

Noi latched onto Pierce’s back. The general repeatedly slammed him onto the void floor, but it didn’t seem to deter Noi’s cheery hold. The only thing that stopped the ginger was a headbutt from Pierce.

Noi temporarily let go as Pierce quickly pinned him down, grabbing him by the arms. Noi began to squirm around still smiling joyfully.

“Why are you even here? How are you even here?!” Pierce yelled.

Noi smiled even wider. “I got sent here! Gosh I’m so glad to see you!”

The two argued back and forth right until Ava got sick of it. “Noi! You said you got sent here? Was it to help us out?”

Noi looked at Ava still sprawled under Pierce. He began to squirm even more, now with the actual attempt to get away from the taller Daemon’s hold.

“Oh! Yeah it’s kinda crazy out there. If we can get you and Pierce’s help, we can take care of things a whole lot quicker.” He chirped.

After a while, Noi finally scurried under Pierce and scuttled over to in front of Ava.

“Don’t worry, you guys were going the right way! With me here though, the exit should be easier to see!” Said Noi while marching ahead of them. Both Ava and Pierce rushed to catch up with him.

They walked for a while in silence as Noi hummed to himself. He stopped after a bit, and he lost a lot of the pep in his step.

Ava got worried. “Hey Noi. Everything alright?” She asked.

Noi only hummed in response, but stopped walking. He turned, but he looked at Pierce. “It’s not about you Queen Ava…” he said.

“I’m really sorry General…I’m getting so emotional! I pretty sure I’m the first Daemon you spoke more than a few sentences to! A-At least on this trip. If I mean so much to you, then you mean so much to me!” Noi admitted

Pierce looked at Noi blankly for a bit before comprehending what he said. “Noi, you may have the-“

The Daemon was interrupted by another hug from Noi. “Thank you so much. Thank you for caring about me!”

Noi quickly grabbed Pierce’s hand and started running into the void with him. He started blabbering about something, but Pierce wasn’t paying attention as he was watching Ava try her best to keep up with them.

Leif stylishly spun his daggers before slicing two soul cats at the same time. Three of them ran up to attack him from behind, but he dodged them all and kicked one in the head. He threw his daggers at the other two.

He took out the daggers from existence from afar and reformed them back in his hands. Over his years of training he’s mastered the art of Daemon weapons.

He did the same trick again with two other cats. Doing what he’s doing now takes a lot of skill and training. Not physically, but mentally.

Focusing on your weapons and the enemy can be hard. Especially without letting the aura that’ll get them back into your body be too noticeable. As an assassin, Leif’s been pretty much knocked upside the head enough times to be able to do it.

It’s the smartest thing a Daemon can learn, and one of the only things that all Daemon can have a chance to learn.

“L-Leif! A helpful tip…they seem to have relationships with each other. We can take advantage of this.” Said Rhys hitting a few cats with his staff like he’s golfing.

Leif slightly cocked his head. “I’m listening…?” He said confused. He didn’t expect Rhys to even consider working with him.

“You’ve mastered the art of aura manipulation right? Which means you can make it look like your daggers have multiplied.” Rhys spluttered.

“The hell are you going with this?” Leif groaned.

“M-Multiple your daggers when throwing them and a cat will try to defend another out of instinct.” He fidgeted with his coils. “After they‘ve toppled on top of each other I’ll hit them out of view.”

Leif thought for a bit before kicking a cat away. He decided the plan was kinda worth it.

“You’re smart as hell man, y’know that?”

“Yes. I do.”

Six soul cats jumped towards them, and Leif threw his daggers at them. He focused in on the aura that surrounded his weapons. Carefully, he started to construct another version of his daggers. The exact same shape, color, and even scratches that he really needed to take care of.

Daemon aura alone isn’t enough to make a copy of your weapon physical, you need a bit of magic to accompany it. Obviously, no one can use any on this mission, but aura is completely useable.

It’s a manifestation of a Daemon’s soul, and not something that has to be learned. It’s natural, kinda like walking. It’s an extension of a Daemon that only they can harness and can’t be cheated.

Leif finally copied the dagger and separated it from the others.

Like clockwork a cat that was next to another went to take the dagger for it. Two of them made a noble sacrifice, but one was mistaken, which happened to be the one in the middle.

Rhys jumped up into the air to strike the two cats. While still in the air, he kicked one group of soul cats on the right of him. On his left, he right hooked the other group.

Just like that, all three groups of cats were swiftly taken down. Leif watched in awe as Rhys landed on his feet doing a showy bow.

“Impressed? You should’ve seen my face when you were copying your dagger. After we’re done with this, I beg of you to teach me all you know!” Rhys twirled his staff and readied himself for another group of cats.

Leif and Rhys’ movements were like two bodies of water. Their attacks flowed together perfectly, and bit by bit, their mini rivalry started to come to a close.

Tons of cats were ready to attack them, but Leif executed his end of the plan flawlessly. He crafted perfect replicas of his daggers and spread them out.

The soul cats clumped together and Rhys hit them all like baseballs.

“It’s going…going…gone! MVD Rhys does it again!” Joked Leif copying a saying he heard on Ava’s TV while tricking another set of cats.

Rhys looked at Leif with the widest smile ever, and continued his attack on the souls.

While ducking and weaving, a cat snuck up on Leif catching him off guard.

The cat scratched at him aiming for his eye. Luckily he had just enough time to react and put his arm up to block it, so the cat scratched that instead.

He thought it still hurt like hell and made a yelp sound. Rhys caught wind of this and looked over to him.

“Leif! Are you al-“ He was cut off by a group of cats overpowering him.

“What the hell happened?! Why are there so many of them now?!” Shouted Leif drowning in a sea of cats. “Dammit…why is the royal family so horny…?”

Leif’s head was submerged in the souls, and Rhys watched horrified as his hand began to sink too.

“Oh gods…I should’ve just kept fighting…I’m sorry Leif.” He whimpered as he sunk into the fluffy death trap.

Suddenly Rhys could feel a pair of large hands grabbing him by his waist. He panicked at this before realizing that…

It was Pierce.

Pierce held him up getting out of the furry sea. “Are you okay Rice?” He said.

“It’s not- whatever yes I’m okay. Is someone checking on Leif? Or the others?” Said Rhys still a bit unnerved by Pierce’s hands.

“Everyone should be okay. We need to fall back immediately. There’s way too many of these cats.” Yelled Pierce.

Rhys could hardly hear him over the symphony of meowing around them. Before he could ask Pierce to repeat what he said, the general forced him into a curled position and threw him across the hall.

The advisor tumbled for a bit before finally landing with a thud right next to Lady Grandma. She was dragging an unconscious Mrs. Oats.

“Rhys! Thank the gods…help me lug this hag to her room will ya?” She asked struggling to move the older woman by even an inch.

Rhys nodded and threw Mrs. Oats over his shoulder. Both Lady Grandma and him ran to the end of the hallway. Once they made it, they started to catch their breaths, as they were a good bit ahead of the wave.

“Holy moly…I’m so out of shape. The old bag was right, I shouldn’t have eaten all that tuna.” Lady Grandma lamented.

Rhys looked between the felines and the door. “We can make it to her room and come back to help, right?”

Lady Grandma looked at Rhys as if he said the dumbest thing ever. “Yeah, if we run like hell. I don’t wanna do that though, plus Pierce said to just sit and wait on Ava’s couch.”

“L-Lady Grandma! I can’t do that! Especially if Asch is still there! Or Leif!” Rhys protested

The purple cat sighed. “Listen, they’ll be fine. Only one in there who has the slightest chance of dying is Noi.” She said

She pawed at Rhys’ foot to signal him to follow her, but Rhys started running way ahead of her. Lady Grandma, still tired, ran to make sure he didn’t do anything she thought was stupid.

They got through the passage and ran to Ava’s living room to see that no one else was there.

“No…I have to go back there. I can’t sit here and wait.” Mumbled Rhys.

He laid Mrs. Oats’ body on the couch and rushed back to the palace entrance. Lady Grandma quickly stood in front of him, blocking his way.

“Rhys I know you wanna save Asch and the others, but they’ve got this handled. We’d only get in the way.” She reasoned, but Rhys wasn’t having any of it.

“You’d only get in the way. I have a personal duty to save Asch. Not caring about your own grandson is none of my concern.” He walked past a shocked Lady Grandma into the passage.

The purple feline stood there for a few moments trying to comprehend what Rhys said. She could just let him die in there, but honestly that just made her heart hurt.

Rhys was the only Daemon that was truly interested in being a mage. He paid close attention to anything she taught him, and losing someone like that would be devastating.

Against her own better judgement, she ran after Rhys. Even if she died again in there, it’d at least prove Rhys wrong. She did care about Asch, it wasn’t her fault she couldn’t remember much about him.

This chapter I’m gonna focus a little bit more on Daemos for a bit. Only cus in the next few eps the storyline for what’s going on in Daemos is gonna be a much more smaller element to focus on the relationship between Ava and the Daemons. A few notes before we start the chapter tho, there are a few characters I renamed. Which are Lady Bish and Rhal. I renamed them Lady Ki and Hitoma because with Lady Bish I CAN’T take her seriously especially with what goes on in this chapter. With Rhal though I did it because on KNEW I would mix his and Rhys’s name up lol. ANYWAYS please enjoy!!!!

Episode 5: Death and popcorn

Hitoma’s steps echoed through the castle halls. Yet, these steps were aimless, with only one goal. To find his father.

He’s been wanting to talk to him about his careless mistake of choosing Asch for this “big mission” instead of him. If it was so important, why in the gods’ names would he choose Asch? He thought.

While this may leave a part of his body bruised or broken, he needed to ask his father about his decision.

But for whatever reason, he couldn’t find him anywhere. Not in his throne room, in Lady Ki’s room, the dining room, he was nowhere.

Hitoma started to get irritated. What was all the praise for? What was all his work for? If he was just going to send Asch on a life or death mission and then fuck off?

While in his palace of thoughts, Hitoma accidentally bumped into someone. When he snapped out of his daze, he found an angry looking Lady Ki.

“Lady Ki! My apologies, I did not see you.” Said Hitoma while bowing.

Lady Ki lightened her expression, “Never mind that Hitoma” she grabbed his hand, “I was looking for you anyways. Let’s walk and talk.”

Lady Ki then dragged a confused Hitoma throughout the castle.

“L-Lady Ki! Where are we going!?” Asked Hitoma, while struggling to keep up with Lady Ki’s pace.

“Hitoma…it’s regarding some news you may not like.” Her voice took a more somber tone.

Hitoma’s mind was a storm of questions. Where was Lady Ki taking him? Was the news involving his father? What was with the change of tone?

Right after Hitoma started to get synced up with Lady Ki’s steps, they seemed to be at their destination. The throne room.

Lady Ki slammed the door open, startling most of the knights there. Of course they all immediately saluted right after, and Lady Ki let Hitoma walk in front of her.

Hitoma was lightly confused at this curtesy. He stood in front of the chair he almost always saw his father in. And for the first time. It was cold.

It had lost its status of warmness his father had left it in. The state Hitoma always found it in as a child before he was kicked out by a knight or his mother.

“Lady Ki…what is the meaning of this?” Hitoma turned around to face Lady Ki.

“Hitoma…your father…he sadly has passed during a mission.” Said Lady Ki, her eyes looked glossy.

“You mean…he’s dead?” Said Hitoma, with a mix of emotions he was unsure of.

Lady Ki nodded, “While Asch is your older brother, he’s unavailable. So you will have to fill the spot as King. Which means I am now your advisor.”

Hitoma couldn’t tell how he felt. He was overjoyed that he was finally getting something he felt like he deserved, but if Asch was still here, it would’ve gone to him. The main reason he even tried so hard was to feel worthy. Yet when his father was alive, the only reward he was given was not getting punished as much.

There was a tiny bit of himself that was glad his father was dead. He felt horrible for it, but that tiny piece of himself yelled at him not to be. It told him that his father time and time again made it so he’d have to try extra hard to be better. It told him his father was unfit for a role such as this.

That piece of himself told him that his father, Yakedo, is looking up at him. And that was where he was meant to be. He was meant to be burned at the stake.

This made him prouder to outlive him. To even manage it.

“If this is the role I have to fill then so be it.” He turned back to the throne.

“Ah, yes” she clapped her hands together and the knights around them left the room, “shall we get to my suggestions then?”

Later that night, Lady Grandma walked to the throne room in search of Lady Ki. Lucky for her, she happened to catch her right as she walked out of it.

“Ah, Lady Ki,” she picked up her pace to catch up with her, “there’s something I wanted to ask.

“hm? What is it?” She closed a notebook she was holding and faced Lady Grandma.

“It’s not usually like myself to pry or sneak and anything of the sort…but I happened to walk by the throne room when you…” Lady Grandma started to look increasingly nervous.

“When I what? Spit it out.” Said Lady Ki, hurrying Lady Grandma.

“Lady Ki…Yakedo isn’t dead…you know this” Lady Grandma straightened a bit, “I can’t let you manipulate Hitoma like this…it isn’t right.”

Lady Ki cocked an eyebrow, “and how do you know he isn’t? I can’t go by your word, and we both know Yakedo would never go on some wellness vacation with the enemy.”

Lady Grandma weighed her options. She could stand down and trust Lady Ki with making Hitoma king. Yet there’s something in her gut that’s telling her that something isn’t right.

“Lady Ki…follow me. I want to show you something.” Said Lady Grandma.

The blonde did as she was told, and they made their way to the castle’s library.

Lady Grandma uncovered a door that was hidden behind a multitude of books. Once she opened it, it revealed a box of scrolls. She sifted through it, opening some to kiss her teeth in disappointment and quickly put it back to look more.

After a while, Lady Grandma finally found what she was looking for, and quickly went to Lady Ki to show her.

“This is how I know.” She opened the scroll to show a set of vitals for Yakedo, Hitoma, and Asch.

“Around the time Hitoma was born, Yakedo asked me if I could set something up where I could tell if someone in the royal family has deceased.” She then mumbled a tiny command that Lady Ki couldn’t hear.

The scrolls golden vitals then switched to another set, containing herself, Yakedo’s late wife, and her late husband.

“Lady Ki, you saying that Yakedo’s dead…it’s a flat out lie.” She closed the scroll and looked at Lady Ki, her eyes unwavering.

The look Lady Ki gave her was like that of a predator. Like Lady Grandma had walked right into her trap.

“I knew there was something…you’ve proven to be a stick in my plans.” With the flick of her wrist she formed her weapon, which was a scythe.

She swung at Lady Grandma, but before it could hit her, she formed a shield in front of herself with her magic.

“I thought you took the magic crisis seriously.” Said Lady Ki sarcastically.

“Of course I do, but I see now this is life or death.” She readied herself for another attack from Lady Ki.

“You won’t last long. Much too old to.”

“You’re dealing with someone who’s memorized every spell in the book and more.” She formed her staff, “being a mage may be a dead art, but it certainly isn’t a weak one.”

Lady Ki lunged at Lady Grandma to swing at her again. The blanchette used her staff to open a small portal to the other half of the library that she quickly went through.

She cast another spell with her staff that would alter her vision to see body heat. It was smaller than an x-ray type spell, and took less energy.

Lady Grandma scanned all around the library for any sign of Lady Ki. She could see that what she thinks is the blonde was running all throughout the library to find her.

She ran all across the room avoiding all the paths Lady Ki was going. She was careful not to stomp when running, so the hunting advisor wouldn’t catch wind of her.

The blondes’ movements were quick, easily being able to trip up a median-skilled knight. Yet the ex-queen has seen her fair share of swift knights. After all, Lady Ki was far too predictable to her for the extra pizazz she was putting in her steps.

Suddenly, Lady Ki disappeared from Lady Grandma’s vision. The older woman wildly scanned all around the room to see for any sign of her.

She soon found out with the blunt side of Lady Ki’s scythe hitting her in the back of the head.

The world spun around Lady Grandma and she was completely disoriented. Taking advantage of this, Lady Ki put her scythe right underneath the older woman’s neck.

“I told you. Quite a pathetic fight. You were my teacher for the gods’ sake.” Said Lady Ki putting salt in the wound of Lady Grandma’s loss.

“What..!? How did you-“ Lady Ki brought her scythe closer to Lady Grandma’s neck.

“Simple, I made myself as cold as ice. Of course much less obvious than normal I’m not stupid.” She furrowed her brows, “You didn’t think I was making those movements to find you did you?”

Lady Grandma tried to think of anything else she could’ve possibly have done. She knew Lady Ki couldn’t have memorized a spell as obscure as that. There weren’t many situations you would use it in.

The only thing that Lady Ki was willing to remember was rituals. It’s then that it hit Lady Grandma. That fast pace, the repetitive movements. She was creating a ritual that would remove her body heat.

“Now, I’ve reconsidered a bit, and…well it’d be pretty stupid to kill you off.” Said Lady Ki as she eased the scythe away from Lady Grandma’s neck.

“How about we make a deal?” The blonde stomped her foot on Lady Grandma’s chest to keep her down.

She Raised her scythe and cut her hand deep enough so blood would slightly gush from it.

This was called an “Oath of Blood and Heart”. A sacred ritual that Daemons hold near to their hearts. It’s considered heinous to deny another Daemon this, as the original idea was for it to be used after careful thinking.

Sometimes it’s used for marriages, relationships, important promises, all of the sort. Other times it’s used for blackmail, or other horrid intentions.

This is when a Daemon is hit with the question of whether they deny their culture, or force themselves to abide by the rules set by the ancestors.

Lady Grandma considers Daemon culture important, despite how altered this part of it was the more time went on.

She sighed, “What is it…?” She said weakly

“You say nothing of this to anyone.” She grabbed Lady Grandma’s hand, and cut a wound in it similar to hers.

“And you help me with my…plans” She extended her hand to Lady Grandma. And the older woman reluctantly took it.

A tingly feeling spread throughout both of their bodies, and they could feel each other’s pulses, if only for a few seconds. The feeling was still foreign to Lady Grandma, as she’s only done this two times in her life.

Once with her father when she was declared queen and promised to keep Chikara power in tact, and twice when she married her husband.

Yet this felt different. Almost as if this altered something. Of course the other times it felt similar, but this felt negative.

“I’m glad we could come to an understanding Lady Grandma.” Said Lady Ki as a smile appeared on her face, “Would you like to hear about my plans?”

The new day was weirdly gloomy. The sun was out of course, and crops were thriving, yet there was a great sense of dread in the air.

Today the people of Chikara were expecting an announcement from Yakedo, or someone in the royal family. Announcements like these always came with a caveat though. No matter how good or life changing whatever it was they were doing was, there was always something to drag it down.

The families in Chikara dreaded these days, for fear of their sons and daughters getting recruited. Some even try to keep their children as hidden as they can, as to not have the overwhelming dread of potentially losing their children.

That worked up until Yakedo made it a law for a family to bear at least two children. If these families continued to hide their children, soldiers by the dozen would come and search their home for them, and take them to the gods’ know where.

It was a rough few years for the people of Chikara, but it was more mentally than anything. Physically they were all at their A-game. Everyone while some not wanting to admit, had a need to be on top. To want to be everyone else’s savior. This competitiveness made it so if you weren’t family to these people, you’ll risk being trampled by them.

This is exactly what happened to a few people when they were called to gather around the front of the palace by a gong.

Instead of seeing Yakedo, they saw Hitoma.

“My people, I bring…distressing news.” Started Hitoma. He tried his best to hide his undeniable excitement.

“Before I tell you this though, I tell you the story of a Daemon. A Daemon who fought his way to the top. A Daemon who ruled this place, and kept our status of power until the day he was struck down.” Hitoma made his voice as grim as possible.

“Of course, I’m talking about my dear father Yakedo. Who has sadly passed away during a mission.” A wave of gasps and noises of confusion filled the air. There wasn’t a sign that that had even happened. What mission?

They knew their questions would never be answered. Not in a million years. They knew they had to keep their hope in check. Risking another disappointing set of years.

“My brother, Asch, is on a mission, so he will not be able to take up his spot.” Hitoma tried to make himself look taller, and more proud than he already is.

“That leaves me to fill this beyond important role.” He pumped his voice full of pride and the wind flared his cape, making him look bigger.

Hesitant cheers flared up in the crowd. This sudden change, it barely made any sense. Despite this, a spark of hope rippled through the atmosphere.

The people knew little of the relationship between Yakedo and his sons, but they did know a pattern. For generations, there has been a certain day where the next person in line for the throne changed. It was like day and night, one day the future ruler would have the widest smile on their face. The next they’d be emotionless. Not a thought behind their eyes, other than ruling their kingdom and the thirst for power.

But this felt different. Hitoma was full of energy, and looked excited to fill his father’s shoes. The people of Chikara were praying nothing would ruin this spark of hope.

Yet as all things do in this kingdom, there was caveat. A sign god denied their prayers.

Heels clicked onto the platform, and hands not even dented with the slightest scars pushed Hitoma away. The woman clasped her hands together, silencing all who weren’t paying attention.

A crown rested upon her head, and the figure dawned royal blue robes. The woman absentmindedly singled a servant to hand Hitoma his crown. Hitoma was more than confused.

She looked at the crowd analyzing their faces. Shock, confusion, frustration, all of which she expected.

“I’m sure you’re all confused, yes?” The woman adjusted her crown, “For starters, all of you will call me queen Ki. Get used to it.”

Hitoma started to panic. He didn’t know why at the moment though. He had no idea he was going to marry Lady Ki. Yes they’re the same age, but he didn’t like her like that. Hitoma then started getting frustrated.

Why is Lady Ki making herself queen? There should be a ceremony, he should get to pick who’s queen, today was supposed to be about him.

“I promise you all under Hitoma and I’s ruling, the way we get things done will have us on top.” Lady Ki made her eyes stern, “But to get there, we’ll need sacrifices.”

fear slowly fell into the crowd. This would be like the last king, before Lady Grandma’s ruling.

“We wish you all a good day. We thank you for this honor of ruling this kingdom. Chikara shall rise.”

Chikara shall rise echoed within the crowd, as Lady Ki disappeared into the castle.

Hitoma felt as if he was going to explode. He didn’t know what Lady Ki meant by sacrifices, but he didn’t want to.

He quickly followed Lady Ki into the hallways.

“Lady Ki, what are you doing!? I…you can’t be serious!”

“This is for your own good Hitoma,” she cupped his cheek in her hand, “besides you’ll still have control as you know.”

Hitoma slapped her hand away, and the blonde backed away with slight anger.

“I need a straight answer. I’ll still have control, right?” Hitoma balled his fists.

Lady Ki knew how strong of a fighter Hitoma was. As much as she wanted to try, she’s had enough fights this week.

“Of course Hitoma! I’ll simply be an advisor without you having to choose one!” Said Lady Ki eerily cheerful.

Hitoma sipped the kool-aid taking her words with full seriousness. He unclenched his fists and crossed his arms.

“I…I believe you.” He looked at Lady Ki, with full trust in his eyes.

Hitoma walked past Lady Ki and submerged into the darkness of the castle.

“Of course my king…” she smirked and followed him into the darkness.

Ava was woken up by her alarm, but it seemed it was going on for awhile. It was bright outside so it was at least 10 but her alarm goes of at 6.

She tiredly turned it off and looked at the ceiling. Yesterday had to be the shittiest day she ever had.

She couldn’t tell herself it was her fault, she didn’t want to. In her heart, she thought it was those Daemos guys. She thought Lorelei was overreacting.

She quickly sat up, “Lorelei!”, she picked up her phone and looked at her text.

It read: “Hey Ava! By the way I was looking I’m sure you thought something bad happened but nah! But like this reminded me of something I’ve been wanting to tell you for ages. Can you like TELL ME THINGS!? For this I understand, but there’s things you don’t tell me that I feel are important for me to know. Even with this, you told me nothing about these guys! Unless they’re just good actors and you’re some part of some acting crew this is REAL. And you lied to these guys! Idkkkkk it’s just weird. If you like REALLY need me I’ll be there but me thinks space is the best option. Just for me to think things through”

Ava groaned and laid back down. She thought more about last night, and how she thought about the Daemons at the time.

She didn’t know what she thought of them anymore. The way she thought at the time, it had to be a moment of weakness.

Just then, Ava heard an army of knocks on her bedroom door, snapping her out of her daze.

“I’m coming! Wait a minute!” She yelled and opened the door.

Standing outside the room was Asch, with a peeved expression on his face.

“Princess Ava,” said Asch, not hiding his annoyance, “I remember you saying you were gonna make more of an effort to teach us about this planet yes?”

Ava slowly nodded. She was silently hoping it wasn’t that late.

“Excuse us if we’re wrong but it’s twelve right now…that’s considered late in human time right?”

Ava cursed to herself, she didn’t think it was that late. She didn’t want this prince guy intimidating her again, if she started having nightmares about it, she’d just end it.

“Listen…” said Ava, “I know it’s late but we can learn about…each other!”

Asch cocked his head, but did a satisfied hum. Ava silently congratulated herself for thinking of something on the spot.

Once again she stood in front of the table and clasped her hands together.

“K’! We’re gonna do stuff to get to know each other more!” Ava desperately searched her brain for any ideas.

Lorelei was way better at these things. Actually, she was better at anything that involved socializing.

Ava knew her way around a conversation, but she never felt the need for more than one or two friends. They’ll just eat up into her time, and gone would be the days of sitting and doing nothing but eating ice cream on the couch.

But here she was, standing in front of five guys that were from a whole different planet. If she was too corny, they might just execute her on the spot or something.

“U-Uhm…I’ll ask a question about your world, and you answer. After that you ask me question about earth, and I’ll answer that” said Ava while sweating bullets.

She didn’t want this to seem childish, these guys looked the type to be offended by that sort of stuff.

“Alright, go on.” Said Asch, choosing to sit on the arm of the couch.

Ava had a few questions, but not as much as she thought she would have. Most things she just kinda guessed about. Just by their clothes and the way they talked was a big enough give away of how their world is.

Then, she could feel it. The nerd gears in her brain started to churn. If this was anything she thought it was, they must’ve lived in some fantasy world.

There were so many questions she wanted to ask. If she wasn’t careful, she’d slur her words into a hodgepodge of questions.

“Okay okay! So do you guys have weapons of any kind?” Said Ava with a newfound sense of excitement.

“Oh, yeah” All the Daemon’s formed their weapons as if it came out of their hands.

Ava was surprised but also fascinated. She couldn’t help but geek out about this sorta stuff. She unintentionally ooo-ed and aaa-ed at their weapons and murmuring to herself about them. She didn’t dare touch them though.

Asch’s weapon was a samurai sword with a golden blade and matte black hilt. It looked as if it glowed, and it was the most majestic sword Ava had ever seen.

Leif’s weapons were two daggers with emerald green hilts and silver blades. They looped in a semi-oval way, seemingly for climbing.

Noi’s weapon was a simple bow and arrow. The bow was white with golden markings, and the arrows were white with golden tips.

Pierce’s weapon was a large axe almost as large as his body. The whole thing was a navy blue, but the handle had black bandage-like streaks on it.

Rhys’s weapon was a wooden staff. The actual wood was a dark purple and on top was a blue gemstone.

“W-Wow! Oh my god I’m always wanted to see stuff like this close!” Ava’s eyes squinted, “how comes I’ve never seen them before?”

Rhys raised his hand and pointed at his palm. On it was a dark blue rune with words around it that were definitely not English.

“They come out of our hands. We form them in a sense.” Said Rhys, “Our weapons are apart of us, so there’s no need to worry about magic.”

Ava’s eyes glittered with curiosity. She excitedly grabbed Noi’s and Pierce’s palms to compare the two.

Both men were a bit surprised by the sudden softness in their hands, but with Noi it was more obvious with his face becoming red.

“So they’re in different languages…” She grabbed Leif and Asch’s hands, “But they all have a rune in the middle…”

Leif snatched his hand away from Ava with a annoyed look on his face.

“Yeah, yeah. Very interesting, but don’t touch me.” Said Leif

Ava shrugged, “My bad.” She continued marveling at their hands.

“Can we have our question?” Asked Pierce while slightly raising his hand.

“Oh! Yeah! My fault, what do you guys wanna ask?”

A flurry of questions invaded the room. It felt like she was in a kindergarten, especially with how simple the questions were. She tried to pick out a question within the sea of them, but she quickly started to get annoyed.

“Yo!” She yelled, all the Daemons quieted down

“One at a time, K’?”

All five of the men discussed with each other. Ava guessed it was for who had the better question.

Noi later piped up while Asch groaned with annoyance.

“What’s a…Move-ii-e…and could we watch it?”

Ava snorted at the pronunciation, “You mean a movie? Sure I guess, I’ve asked all the questions I wanted to.”

Some of the Daemons protested given they had lots of questions, but Ava shut them down.

“I don’t wanna hear any complaining! We’re gonna watch a movie! I-I’ll just find one…” Said Ava picking up the remote and turning on the T.V.

At the press of a button on the remote, a bass boosted jingle played as green letters spelling “Hulo” appeared.

All of the Daemons were startled by this and readied their weapons.

“Woah! Woah! Hey! That’s just a streaming service! Calm down!” She stood in front of the T.V. to hopefully stop them from attacking it.

“Ugh! Stop saying sh- stuff that you think we’re gonna understand!” Yelled Leif seemingly at his limit.

“O-Okay! Just calm down! I’m gonna put on a movie!” Said Ava turning to browse the service.

While Hulo was the better of the cheaper streaming services, it still was kind of a mixed bag. Its anime section was the best, especially for a mostly American service. But all she felt like was maybe Evangelical, and she didn’t feel like having to explain it.

she then saw a movie she hadn’t seen in a bit, My Neigbor Jotoro

She always thought it did a good job of mixing its action and comfy scenes together, and the Daemon guys might like it since it’s well animated.

“We’re gonna watch this, k’?” All the Daemons nodded and started to study the T.V.

Ava sat in the middle of the couch between them all. The five men stared at her, paying no mind to the movie. Ava started to get slightly annoyed at this. Not because they were staring at her, but because this really was one of her favorite movies, and she wanted to enjoy it in peace.

“Hey! Movie?” Said Ava. The Daemons nervously looked away.

One of the guys seemingly left, but Ava didn’t pay no attention. At this point, she was pretty engrossed in the movie.

It was only a few minutes into the “Move-ee” till Asch noticed that Rhys left the “cow-ch”

He looked around the room in search for him. He saw him standing by the fridge with a content smile on his face.

He seemed to be enjoying whatever they were watching, or enjoyed it enough to not be annoyed by it.

Rhys was always like that. He made sure you knew if something pissed him off, but he described it in fancy words, like cross. Sometimes Asch felt like he needed some type of guide to talk to him.

Asch knew deep in his heart though, as much as it annoyed him, he felt something towards Rhys.

The way he was so passionate about everything he talked about, how his eyes sparkled in the moonlight, how intricate and detailed all his hairstyles were. All of these little things came together to make a tight feeling in his chest.

Even thinking how he would respond to things would make him feel warmer. The fact Rhys knew him so well too. Obviously he’s his advisor so he should, but he knew every little thing.

Sometimes it felt like even if Rhys was Hitoma’s advisor he’d still feel these same feelings.

But Asch couldn’t lie, this feeling pissed him off.

It’s like Rhys invaded his mind sometimes. He’d be doing something completely unrelated to him and think “I wonder what Rhys is doing?” And suddenly thoughts of him clouded his mind.

Or other times Asch would just stare at him with no thoughts at all, or lots of them.

Actually he was doing that right now without noticing.

He snapped himself out of his thoughts and started to blush as he noticed Rhys was staring right at him.

He figured he should follow through with the interaction. Rhys would get annoyed for “wasting his time” as he called it.

He stood up and walked towards Rhys and sat on the counter next to him.

“You don’t have to be here my prince…” whispered Rhys, “Go watch the movie with everyone else. I really don’t mind.”

“Nah, I can watch from here.” Asch thought for a bit, “why would you assume I wouldn’t wanna be here?”

Rhys stayed quiet, which really annoyed Asch. He always kept certain things from him. Stuff that would help him understand him better.

“Can’t you just tell me? It’s not that hard…” Said Asch. Rhys finally looked at him.

“It’s just something that you said is all…it’s a childish reason.” Said Rhys looking back at the T.V.

“Rhys if I say something you didn’t like tell me. You’re usually really good at that.” Asch quietly laughed at himself.

Rhys once again fell quiet, but he reached to grab Asch’s hand. He stopped halfway through, and turned to look at Asch.

“When I was a kid, a lot of times I was called soft for crying about certain things or my head being more sensitive when styling my hair.” Whispered Rhys in a way only Asch could hear. “I didn’t even talk till I was three.”

“I’ve never seen you cry though.”

“exactly.”

Asch could feel the air around them becoming awkward. He wanted this conversation to lead to some type of comfort between them. Despite how wimpy that sounded.

“I won’t call you soft anymore. I didn’t know it had that much baggage with it.” Said Asch looking into Rhys’s eyes.

“I know I tell you this a lot but…I like you for you and stuff. You don’t have to repress anything about yourself.” Said Asch. Rhys looked at him surprisingly.

Asch didn’t really know what he did to deserve this type of reaction.

“Ah sorry…I’ve never heard you use that word before.” Said Rhys with genuine respect.

Asch got a bit mad thinking it was something else.

“Also…you look…beautiful in this sunset…that’s what humans call this time of day I think.” Rhys cupped Asch’s face while moving hair out of the way.

Asch immediately turned into bright red. He wasn’t expecting something like this.

Rhys quickly took his hand away with his horns turning a dark purple.

“My apologies my prince…that was unprovoked.” He turned to the T.V. nervously.

“You’re fine Rhys…I’m glad you think I look good.” Said Asch bewildered to how he said that whole sentence without stuttering.

“Y-You wanna go sit with the rest of the group or do you wanna stay here.” Said Asch turning to the T.V.

“No…it’s a bit too crowded for my liking. I like being alone together as well.” Said Rhys not comprehending how that sounded.

“I know we’re not technically alone but in each others vicinity and only that.”

Asch somehow blushed even more. He didn’t even think he could turn so red.

Yet they stayed in the kitchen area watching the movie from afar. It was actually good and they like the action in it. At least Asch did.

They watched a few more movies with nobody on the couch noticing Rhys and Asch weren’t there anymore. Realistically Asch should be mad about that, but he didn’t have anything built up in him to fuel that anger.

It was dark outside by the time they finished the last movie, and Ava had to take a call.

“I actually kinda enjoyed tonight! We can do something else tomorrow.” She sniffed a bit, “eugh, maybe bathe.”

She walked into her room leaving the five men to themselves.

“No way we smell that bad.” Said Leif while sniffing himself.

Pierce joined him in that endeavor, “You smell like ass Leif.”

“Oh fuck you!” Yelled Leif.

“Those move-eez were great but I’m pretty tired…” said Noi while yawning

All the Daemons agreed with him and went to their respective spots.

“Oh…haha! Hey dads!” Said Ava nervously.

“Ava! Pumpkin! Lorelei told us you lost your job! Again! Don’t worry sweet baby! We’ll get you all fixed up!” Rambled her dad, Devon.

“No dad it’s fine! I’m occupied right now and y’know I’ve already have a few jobs in mind.” Said Ava.

“Occupied? Occupied with what?” Said Devon. Ava wanted to kick herself for even saying anything hinting she had anything else going on.

“J-Just..! Uhm…friends..?” Ava could almost hear the skepticism on the other end.

“If you say so honey…” Said Devon, “kisses!”

“Kisses…” said Ava as she hung up the phone.

she laid on her bed while cussing Lorelei out in her head. She didn’t know why she would tell them that, and her dads are crazy. They might come tomorrow or something.

She hid that worry deep into her head in order to rest, and let the sleep consume her.

IN CASE YOU WEREN’T COMFY READING LAST EPISODE (skip if you’ve already read): basically Ava woke up in a black void with doors of varying shades of greys. She goes through one of them and sees a dream version of one of Pierce’s childhood memories. After this, Ava and the guys continue to explore the palace until Pierce confronts Ava about it. He reveals to her that he’s trans and would rather Ava not talk about it to anyone. She agrees and then the gang dicks around for a bit before Ava and Pierce fall asleep. Now in a dream world, Ava and Pierce go through different childhood memories of Pierce’s (that sentence feels repetitive. I’ll probably fix it later) When doing this Asch and the gang go try to find Lady Grandma but get stuck running from Mrs. Oats’ rage. We then go over to Ava and Pierce and he’s, like, gone crazy. Ava comforts him and they try to find a way out of the void. Meanwhile in reality everything is goin to shit because the gang angered a bunch of soul cats that just so happened to be the reincarnated souls of Daemons the Chikarian royal family has made love with. They fight them off and eventually get their asses kicked being swept off like a wave. Pierce saves Rhys by throwing him across the hallway and him and Lady Grandma retreat temporarily before Rhys calls her a shit grandma (I’m paraphrasing the line is a bit better in the ep I swear) and goes off to save Asch and the rest and now we here!!!

My brain feels like writing this 24/7 so if you’re at all worried about the fact these are kinda being pumped out DONT. If I ever feel myself burning out I’ll chill for like a day or three and then get back to it, it’s like a stamina bar. Also I’m running out of faces to use for these. Ik there’s like an infinite amount of them but I can be slow at times so don’t judge. I think I’m just gonna experiment or swallow my pride and head to Google or ask a friend. Also also I am ASS at naming episodes bro I was struggling so much to come up with one for this I can imagine a person looking at the title for the episode and thinking “damn…this shit might be ass and filled with spelling mistakes a fetus couldn’t make. a toddler could come up with these.” And then ignore the rewrite like give me a chance 😭 btw there’s some Japanese dialogue in this and all translations should be in the bottom! The Japanese is from my own knowledge so if any of them are wrong that’s on me. Pls enjoy!

Episode 8: Meowing Fury Furry Frenzy

Rhys ran through the hall leading towards the sea of souls. He formed his staff and stuck it down through the floor, only barely cracking its surface.

“C’mon Rhys…remember…” he begged himself while biting his finger for blood to break.

Once a bead shown, he carefully put it on top of the crystal of his staff. He felt a small amount of dread throughout his body trying to remember the words of this incantation.

He was trying to pull off a ritual. It isn’t magic only because it doesn’t take away from the main source. Only your own body. The only thing a Daemon would have to do is remember what to do and what to say. The only problem being Rhys was having a tough time with the words.

He was never interested in rituals. He liked being prepared for the worst, but that was what learning how to fight with his staff was for. He never thought a wave of soul cats would threaten to suffocate his prince and a newly found friend.

“神さまはわたしのよびかけをきく” he heard a voice recite.

He quickly turned to see it was Lady Grandma. “Go on, you have to say it. It’s your blood.” She said getting as close to Rhys as she can. If she can get into the vicinity, she won’t get affected by the ritual.

He recited what Lady Grandma said still struggling to remember the rest. The cats were getting closer which caused his brain to churn. He never liked tense situations, but for some reason he always worked best in them.

“もう一度、あなたの助けが必要です。起きている間中、そうしているように。” He said, finally remembering more of the ritual. “キジャン、どうか私に時間の力を貸してください。”

As soon as Rhys uttered the last word, the wave of cats halted suddenly, right when it was about to hit him and Lady Grandma. The souls loomed over them, keeping their expressions of hate and despair.

“How much blood did you use?” Asked Lady Grandma while breaking through the middle of the wave.

“Only a drop, that’s about an hour, right?” Said Rhys following Lady Grandma.

The purple cat was focused on creating a path before saying “You’re part Umnotho, yeah? Their blood is considered more valuable to the gods, so you gave us a good two hours to find everybody and get the hell outta here.”

They picked up their pace and started tearing through to make a path a bit more carelessly. Trying to find five people in a sea of multi-colored cats was definitely going to prove difficult. Lazing around and talking like they didn’t only have two hours to find everyone would be certain death.

“At this rate we’re not going to find anyone. Would it be too risky to split up Lady Grandma?” Rhys questioned already splitting into his own path.

“Alright, but you’ll be doing some extra work if I find someone. I ain’t cutting through bigger holes than I have to.” Lady Grandma immediately started lessening her work and dug holes that were about her size.

Just like that Rhys was left on his own, but he didn’t mind. The faster he and Lady Grandma could find everyone, the more time they have to get out.

His sight and hearing were obviously not going to be of any help, so he thought that scent would be his best bet. As weird as it was, everyone had a specific smell to them. Rhys wasn’t one to want to notice this, but Asch had taught him to take advantage of anything he could.

Speaking of Asch, he wanted to look for him first. He always smelled of grilled meat, most likely because it was his favorite type of food. Although he hasn’t had the chance to eat it much, it’s like the smell had burned on to him.

Rhys dug up to see if he would have a better chance in the surface. He also was starting to hate the tight space digging had forced him into.

The higher he went, the more he started to smell a minty scent. This had to be Leif. He was a tad disappointed, but it was still someone he cared about. He started tearing through to where the scent was stronger, getting more and more hopeful.

There was a particularly thick layer of cats blocking his path. Even when he tried to dig around it, it just happened to be the exact same issue. Rhys cut through the layer and saw Leif with some serious injuries writhing on the ground.

The cats must’ve really messed him up. A lot of his wounds were deep, and the cat hair would most certainly infect them if not treated.

Rhys quickly went to kneel beside Leif. Just as he expected, the assassin was completely frozen in time. He had to be really careful with transporting him to Ava’s living room. Once Leif leaves the room, he’ll be back to normal, but will feel a bit of whiplash.

Rhys gently picked up Leif and put him over his shoulder. He didn’t have anytime to be casually walking, so he did have a bit of pep in his step. He was sure that Leif would be fine still.

Right as he made it to the makeshift fork in the tunnels him and Lady Grandma had made, Rhys heard her call out his name.

“Rhys! I found Pierce! He’s with Ava, help me drag ‘em both!” She shouted.

“Just a minute! I found Leif, I need to take him to safety!” Rhys shouted back speedwalking away.

“Just hurry up will ya!? These cats are freakin’ me out…”

As Rhys got closer to the area he had the ritual, he could hear subtle gasps and sobs coming from Leif. He wanted to run now more than ever, but that’d put Leif in more pain.

When Rhys walked past where his staff was still stuck in the ground, Leif started screaming clearly not in his right mind. Slobber started to run down his mouth and getting on to Rhys. The advisor slightly recoiled at this until Leif said a slightly coherent sentence through his yelling.

“Dumbass! IDIOT! Run! Run me to…OW!” Slurred Leif punching Rhys in the back to get him to move.

Rhys picked up his pace running as fast as he could to the passage that led them back to Ava’s living room. He practically crashed through it and laid Leif on the table.

“Shit man…fucking grass beds are softer than this.” Said the assassin groggily.

Rhys ignored Leif’s comment and scanned his injuries. There were two scratches that looked like they’d leave scars on his legs, but the rest looked fine. He had no idea how to treat any of it, as he always had relied on someone like Noi to take care of wounds.

With a clearer head, he thought it’d be a better idea to find Noi next, assuming he wasn’t badly hurt.

Rhys rushed back into the palace and into the sea of cats. He sprinted through the already dug hole he and Lady Grandma made, and started tearing through her path.

“Lady Grandma! I’m on the way!” He announced squinting his eyes at the blood that came from the tearing.

He was met with silence and strangely enough, purring. Confusion and the slightest bit of fear swam through his psyche.

“Lady Grandma? Did you-“ Rhys was cut off by a bewildering sight.

Lady Grandma wasn’t acting like herself. She was laying in the corner of the bit of space she made for Pierce and Ava, but she was acting like an actual cat. Her proportions were more normalized, and she seemed to be fast alseep.

Rhys surveyed what happened to Pierce and Ava before checking on Lady Grandma. They seemed to be alright with only a few cuts and scratches. Pierce seemed to have been in the process of bringing Ava to the surface. This made him feel a bit stupid for using the ritual, but if he didn’t, Leif most likely would’ve been dead.

He walked over to Lady Grandma and crouched beside her. “Uhm…Lady Grandma?” He said while poking the top of her head.

The cat slowly woke up and stretched with a loud meow. It looked up at Rhys with its round boba eyes.

It wearily crawled toward him and jumped on top of his head. Rhys cringed and wriggled around to try to get the cat off.

“L-Lady Grandma! Would you snap out of this?” He pleaded, but to no avail. Rhys was already losing his patience, and the fact that he was on a time limit didn’t make it any better.

Rhys sighed, swatted the cat away, and went to put Ava over his shoulder. He cursed to himself when he realized he had to drag Pierce all the way to the living room. There was no way he could do it by himself.

He started to dearly miss using magic, but he couldn’t betray the mission. He laid Ava back down on the ground and focused on his attention and strength on dragging Pierce.

He grabbed the larger Daemon by the feet and pulled with all his might. Sounds of frustration and struggle escaped him, but he paid no mind to how humiliating they may have been.

Right up until a pair of nimble hands grabbed his shoulders. The smell of blood invaded his nose, yet he could still catch an undertone of…mint.

“Leif! Why in the gods’ name are you here!? Do you know how dangerous it is to continue walking around like you don’t have the injuries you do?! How did you even-“

“Can you shut the hell up and let me help you?!” Yelled Leif, cutting off Rhys.

The taller reluctantly stopped chastising Leif and let him continue to pull. Eventually they started to make some progress, dragging Pierce very slowly throughout the cat tunnel.

When they were around the artificial entrance, Leif piped up. “Y’know, hearing you struggle like that was kinda funny.”

“You’re smaller than me! Don’t even act like you wouldn’t make more pathetic sounds.” Rhys grumbled.

They both continued to pull until Rhys thought of something. He interrupted them both by intentionally clearing his throat.

“How did you even get in here? The ritual shouldn’t allow anyone but Lady Grandma and I to use Kijan’s help.” Said Rhys, not pulling anymore to make Leif no to.

“Oh that was a ritual? My foot got stuck in it, so I panicked and kicked the staff over with my other.” Said Leif while smiling.

Rhys stayed silent for a long moment making the space between him and Leif awkward. The green Daemon opened his mouth to say something until Rhys smacked him upside the head.

“Ow! The hell was that for?!” He said sounded hurt.

“Were you dropped on the head when you were a child?! The time this ritual works gets cut in half when you cancel it!” Rhys smacked Leif again.

“Dammit! Would you stop hitting me?! How much time we got left!?” Yelled Leif trying to hit Rhys back.

“I’d say about 50 minutes. It’s not nearly enough time given how Lady Grandma looks virtually useless at the moment…if we sprint we might be able to make it.” Said Rhys while grabbing Pierce’s legs again.

Leif grabbed Rhys’ shoulder with a lot more force than earlier. One side of him told him it was to get a better grip, but the other side knew it was to get Rhys back for hitting him.

The pair made a lot more progress with the added stress of less time. When they made it to the stairs, they continued to drag Pierce down while they both said a quick sorry each time Pierce’s head banged against the steps.

When they went through the passage, Rhys and Leif both sighed heavily in relief.

“Gods that took forever…can we just leave him in here?” Wheezed Leif grabbing his lower back.

Rhys heaved before standing straight up. “Definitely. Let’s hurry, we need to find the others and get Ava out of there.”

Leif nodded and both him and Rhys ran back into the secret palace. Sprinting towards the wave of cats, the two Daemons noticed the slight movement of it.

“Oh shit. I fucked up so bad…” mumbled Leif while holding his head.

“There’s no point in sulking. We need to hurry, we should still have time.” Pointed out Rhys

They trudged on through the tunnel that was made eerie because of the cats slow descent towards them.

Leif got ahead of Rhys to get back to where they found Ava. Now that the souls were moving, it was harder to dig through and make a set path. Rhys eventually lost sight of Leif.

He wanted to call out to the assassin, but he didn’t know what would happen if he disturbed the wave with sound. At this point, he couldn’t even smell anything but cat hair. His sense of smell was never that good, but it feels even worse here.

Rhys could feel his throat closing up, but chalked it up to his panic settling in. Despite this, he felt okay. He wasn’t shaken up at all, so the sudden reaction was odd.

Unless he was allergic to cats. This would be bad, and morbidly funny, so he quickly threw away that thought for his own sanity.

As the cats started to close in, Rhys could feel his eyes starting to water. He wanted to call out to Leif, but the pain in his throat started to become unbearable.

The sensation of all the cats weighing him down, and the fur prickling at his skin, coupled with his supposed allergy made him want to turn himself off and try again later.

Obviously, he couldn’t just give up because his mind and body wanted him to. He had to power through it, as he’s done many times before.

Rhys pushed through the descending felines and dug up. If he could get to the surface, his newfound allergy could get less intense.

He couldn’t tell if it was his watering eyes or his lost sense of smell, but he started to lose his sense of direction. This was the worst situation he could be in, but he couldn’t just let the cats slowly devour him. He continued to dig the direction he was going and eventually made it to the top.

The way the soul cats moved was a lot like gentle waves in an ocean. Of course some of them tried to scratch at Rhys, but they were slow enough he could just push them away.

The dark purple Daemon was very disoriented. He started to blame Leif for this, but for whatever reason he couldn’t bring himself to.

The only good thing to his overstimulation was that he could sense every little thing around him. It made him even more distressed, but that was a sacrifice he was willing to make to be able to sense those around him more easily.

Rhys could feel the flow of the cats shift behind him.

“Leif? Is dat you…?” He said through sniffling “sorry I’m speaking improperly…I think I may be allergic to deez things.”

The flow change of the cats transferred to the front of him. Through Rhys’ blurred vision, he could see a pair of orange horns in front of him.

The horns rose up revealing it to be Noi. At least Rhys assumed it was him, he couldn’t really be sure.

“Rhys! Gosh, am I glad to see you! Have you seen Pierce anywhere?” Said Noi practically glowing.

“Guh…we d’already got him back to Ava’s ‘oom…” slurred Rhys.

“…You dal-eady god him bach to Ava’s ooze..?” Said Noi trying his best to understand Rhys.

Rhys shook his head and grabbed Noi’s face to put it closer to his. “I’m ‘orry Noi…” he sniffed “This algae is really bad. I’m seeing worst now…what’d you say?”

Noi started to tear up. “I have no idea what you’re saying!”

The two went back and forth trying to understand each other. Rhys’ ears felt as if they were getting more clogged, making it hard to hear Noi.

This would’ve went on until there was no time left if Rhys’ throat didn’t close up enough for the pain to be too much. He coughed and hacked, making his throat feel worse.

Even through his panicked tears, Noi could tell something was wrong. “H-Hey! Rhys? Are you okay?” He fretted.

The taller Daemon started sinking turning Noi into a frightened mess. He tried lifting him up, but was actively struggling.

“Ugh…Rhys, gimme a little help here.” Noi heaved. “I know your whole body is shutting down, but can you at least kick your legs”

Rhys didn’t respond, but he did start to take the brunt effort, carrying Noi on his back and kicking.

“Alright! You’re the mount and I’m the rider!” Announced Noi while grabbing Rhys’ hair.

The ginger pulled at the advisor’s hair to steer him in the right direction. It was literal hell for Rhys, yet every other sense he had was completely useless. The burning feeling on his scalp was the only proof that he wasn’t going through some type of sick dream.

Asch looked up at his impending doom. His head felt as if his brain was scratching away at his skull, begging to be let out and spread all over the floor.

Despite him accepting his death, it hadn’t come. He sat up and looked closer at the cats seeing that they were moving very slowly. He couldn’t figure out why this was, and his head still hurt like hell.

he laid back down in hopes the pain would lighten. Asch desperately wanted to close his eyes and sleep the pain away, but he had no idea if the cats would return to their regular speed and maul him.

Now that he was laying down though, he couldn’t bring himself to sit back up.

“C’mon Asch…this is embarrassing. Even a child could strike you down…” whispered a voice.

Asch shot straight back up feeling tension all over his body. He looked all around, but there was nothing near him the voice could’ve came from.

“What? Scared of a little sparing? Do you even want to be king?” Said another voice.

Asch’s body was in a cold sweat, and his head was reeling. Those voices were a lot like his father and Hitoma. He knew they weren’t here, or were they? His brain was beyond messed up.

“Asch! Strike me! Strike me now and prove yourself to me!” Shouted the booming voice.

The prince started to breathe heavily, and pushed away some of the cats in a panic. He looked around for the source of the voices, but there was none.

Asch figured it was his headache making him hallucinate. He didn’t remember taking such a devastating blow from the cats, but when he felt the top of his head, his hand was stained with blood.

He could hear scurrying coming from the right of him. His vision was blurry, but he could see a purple blob.

“Rhys? That you? My gods I’m glad to see you…” said Asch reaching out towards the shape.

The figure sighed, “I ain’t ya lil boy toy…we’re not even the same shade of purple! You colorblind?”

Asch was hit with a wave of shock before squinting his eyes to see who the figure really was. It was Lady Grandma, and a spate of embarrassment hit him

“B-Boy toy?!” He grabbed his head from the pain of yelling before saying, “what happened? Why is everything so slow?”

“Rhys did a ritual to slow time, but it seems someone might’ve interfered with it.” Lady Grandma went to paw at Asch’s arm. “We need to get outta here quick. He said how much time we had left, but uh…didn’t really comprehend.”

Asch rolled over on his stomach and followed Lady Grandma into the hole she dug. The old woman sliced bigger tunnels so Asch could have more space to crawl.

They both went at a steady pace to make sure they didn’t bump into each other. Lady Grandma constantly looked behind to make sure Asch was still behind her or dropped dead.

She felt a tinge of sadness at the fact she couldn’t remember much about him. He’s her grandson for crying out loud, she should at least remember the day he was born. She just couldn’t though.

She couldn’t remember his first day in the academy, his first spar, his first banquet, none of it. Bits and pieces, sure, but none of them was something that could tell her she was proud of Asch.

Lady Grandma also wanted to know why she just blanked out when tending to Ava and Pierce. The general looked a lot like someone she used to know, but couldn’t remember who.

She shook her head to rid of these thoughts and continued to dig. She could unpack this another time. Right now, she needed to get Asch out of here.

She picked up her speed and started mowing down the slow cats. Asch did his best to keep up. With his injuries, he was severely slowed down.

“Ma! Slow down a bit…” panted Asch, now going slower than when he started trying to catch up.

Lady Grandma seemed to have ignored Asch’s pleas, focusing on making a path.

Eventually Asch gave up because of the immense pain that took over his body. His breathing slowed, and his vision became hazy.

He blinked away tears as his body began to shut itself down. He couldn’t fight off these cats in his state.

“I should’ve known you weren’t ready. It’s not like you ever are.” Said a voice that sounded a lot like his father.

Asch could feel the cats slowly closing in on him. He tried to move, but his body didn’t seem to have the energy. Even though it’d make his head scream, he had to call out to someone.

“Hey! Ma! Wait for me, I can’t keep up!” He shouted while feeling a sharp pain in his head.

He waited while using up his little energy to move away cats that were a little too close to him. The prince was going to call out again until he felt a pair of hands grab both of his horns.

His body kickstarted itself in every place that he didn’t need at the moment. Whoever grabbed his horns was fiddling around, seemingly trying to get a better grip. This didn’t make the situation any better for Asch, as he squirmed around to remind his body this wasn’t the time.

The hands finally got a good grip and pulled. The tension and heat from his horns made Asch’s head want to tear itself apart.

After a while in the crowd of cats, the hands finally got Asch to the other side. The prince blinked and squinted his eyes to get a glimpse of who had the smart idea to pull him by such a sensitive place out of every other body part.

When his eyes settled, he noticed a distinct lack of horns on the figure. It was Ava, which in hindsight, should’ve been the first person he suspected.

“Queen Ava…what the hell?” He said lethargically not having the energy to be mad.

Ava looked scared out of her mind looking at Asch. “Oh damn! Was that from me pulling your horns? Oh my god, I fucked up I’m really sorry!” She panicked.

Asch flinched at Ava’s yelling. “If you’re talking about the head thing, that was from the cats. If you’re talking about everything else, Daemon horns are pretty sensitive…I’d be mad as hell if I wasn’t about to pass out.”

“…and that doesn’t mean I touched the equivalent to a penis, yeah?” She wished.

“What do you think?!” Shouted Asch, who immediately recoiled in pain from raising his voice.

Ava groaned in disgust while rubbing her hands on Asch’s chest. The prince couldn’t be more confused, but let it happen because he honestly didn’t care.

“Ugh…do you know what’s happening? I remember Pierce telling me, but I didn’t comprehend a thing.” Said Ava, scratching the back of her head.

“You people can’t remember…anything…” mumbled Asch, seemingly falling asleep.

Ava started shaking and hitting Asch. “Woah! Don’t go to sleep dude! I have no idea if you’ll wake up with a head scar like that.” She stammered.

Asch groaned in pain and looked away from Ava. He looked as if he was struggling to stay awake, but Ava thought that was better than him dying.

Ava grabbed Asch by his underarms and started slowly dragging him, making sure to keep his head elevated. She needed to find one of the guys to help her, or maybe that cat thing they keep calling Lady Grandma.

Moving away some cats in her way, Ava could hear a muffled voice. She hoped it wasn’t another one of the guys, if it was, she’d just have to pick her favorite and leave with them.

She moved towards the voice while making sure that none of the cats swiped at Asch. She came across a dense layer of cats. There wasn’t even a pocket of space or anything, just cats.

The voice was strongest in this area, so she kept digging in hopes she’d find the source of it. She started to hear a grunting noise followed by the cats shaking a ton. Whoever this is was trying to break down the wall of cats with a lot of force.

They were trying to break down the wall of cats.

With Ava behind it.

She scrambled to get on the other side of Asch and pull him by the legs, disregarding how his head might scratch the floor.

“What the hell are you doing?” Asch asked tiredly, still choosing to not look at Ava.

“Saving your head from getting crushed!” She growled while getting increasingly more anxious about the person knocking down the cats.

With a yell, Leif burst through the cats, inches away from squashing Asch’s head. He looked straight at Ava with surprise.

“Leif? Hey do-“ Ava started, but Leif cut her off by grabbing her and speeding through the cats. Ava quickly grabbed Asch by the legs and dragged him along.

Asch’s head dragged across the floor. “AH FUCK!” He yelled, “SLOW…down…” he trailed off as his body finally passed out.

Ava shouted at Leif to slow down so she could check on Asch, but he kept his grip on her.

She knew it wasn’t the time for this, but she couldn’t help but feel butterflies in her stomach with how careful Leif was when grabbing her. She needed to get her mind off this quick.

She tightened her grip on Asch’s legs so she wouldn’t let go. Gradually, she got her hands to grip on higher parts of the prince’s body while Leif was still running with her. She got to the point where Asch’s body was sideways as she held on to dear life to his head, keeping it elevated.

Ava was sure his head would pop right off if she kept this up, but this was the only way he wouldn’t get any more injuries there.

Leif made a quick stop and let go of Ava. He then started to slam into a wall of cats repeatedly with his body.

Ava took this opportunity to check up on Asch, and she had to admit, he looked very much dead. Her heart dropped down to her stomach until she put her head to his chest. She could hear his heart beating which immediately made her let go of a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Queen Ava? What’re you doing?” Questioned Leif. Ava swiftly sat back up and tried to do a nonchalant pose that in fact made her look more conniving than what she intended.

“I was…checking his heart beat! He looked kinda dead and I panicked and-“

“And so…to fix that you…smell him?”

Ava didn’t think she could be more panicked on the inside than what she already was. This was worse than accidentally convincing a bunch of alien(?) guys to marry her because she’s the queen of earth. Leif was gonna think she’s weird.

Without a doubt, the worst feeling in existence. Someone you think is attractive calls you a weirdo? You’re gone. Finished. There’s no coming back from it.

“Wh-What?! No! No. I was scared and I was holding my breath! I swear I’m not weird!” Stuttered Ava while flailing her arms.

“I wasn’t gonna say you’re weird, it’s just a crazy way to check a pulse. Literally just take your fingers and put them on his neck.” Leif explained, making Ava feel kinda dumb.

Leif sighed, “Could you just help me break this down?” He asked while continuing to slam into the wall.

Ava was more embarrassed than she had ever been in her life, and she had no idea how to help. She swatted away a few cats that were slowly, but surely, swiping at him. That was all she thought she could do though, as she didn’t really think she’d make a difference in busting through to cats.

Leif suddenly stopped trying to break the wall and looked at Ava like she provoked him. “What? I can’t do anything to break this down.” Said Ava.

“But you could…I don’t know…dig around? See if it’s just another pocket? Be helpful?” Huffed Leif.

Ava scoffed, but still did as she was told. “Asshole…” she muttered.

“Oh, that’s it!” Shouted Leif as he pounced on Ava.

The ravenette quickly kicked the Daemon in spots she knew would stun him. Specifically between his legs.

Leif yelled in pain, and got off of Ava. She quickly turned the tables by kicking him in his chest. Leif got knocked back, but as Ava was about to kick him again, he gave her a taste of her own medicine by kicking her in the crotch.

“Gah! Fuck! My lil’ boat man…oh no…” she keeled over flat on her back.

Leif took a few breaths. “Damn, you fight dirty. I haven’t had to stoop to that level in a while.” He said while getting closer to Ava.

“Y’know…a queen like you deserves someone who can match your en-“ Ava bit Leif’s hand before he could finish his sentence.

The assassin yelped, but went to throw Ava over his shoulder. She got all the wind knocked out of her, looking up at Leif as he attempted to pin her down. She wasn’t gonna go down so easily though.

She right hooked Leif and spun around to kick him in his neck. He got knocked back, but seemed to have tanked those hits. He held his neck while attempting to pounce Ava.

She haphazardly dodged, seemingly becoming a bit agitated. “Dude this is gettin’ annoying!” She exasperated, attempting to kick at Leif.

“Heh, you keep fighting though. Clearly you don’t wanna lose.” Jeered Leif while grabbing Ava’s leg and pulling her towards him.

Ava tried to punch Leif, but he grabbed both of her hands and pinned them down above her head. “Damn it! I could’ve won that…” she grumbled.

Looking up at Leif, Ava noticed something different in his eyes. She couldn’t quite pin it down though.

“Where’d you learn to fight like that?” He asked, his voice in a way softer tone Ava had ever heard him speak.

Ava stuttered a bit before answering Leif. “I- uhm…I used to be in a MMA team back in high school, but…I got kicked off after I did some stuff that was like out of the rule book n’ stuff…” she blushed hard out of embarrassment.

Leif cocked his head to the side. “I…uh…was never good at the grappling part…I always forget to.” Stammered Ava, refusing to look at the Daemon.

Leif laughed to himself. “I’ve got no idea what that is, but I’ve never had a play fight in a while.” He said. “…and I’ve never had a play fight with such a fine woman like you.”

Ava finally set her eyes on Leif, seeing eyes filled with admiration. The assassin made his face impossibly close to the ravenette’s. His minty scent overpowering all of her senses.

“Could I steal a kiss from you, Queen Ava?” He said simply, yet there was a low growl in his voice that made Ava’s heart leap.

“Y-Yeah..! My lips are chapped though so uhm…” Ava trailed off as Leif let go of his grip on her wrists and moved his hand to move her hair out of her face.

“I don’t really care about that.” He hummed as he got closer.

Ava could feel Leif’s breath over her lips. She shuddered as he got ever so closer.

“GERONIMO!” Yelled a voice that sounded a lot like a certain short Daemon, followed by a crash and the slow rise of sound coming from the cats.

Both Ava and Leif looked to see who it was, and it was none other than Noi and Rhys. The ginger was on top of the advisor looking a bit dazed. Rhys on the other hand looked completely knocked out, his face flat on the floor.

“That kinda hurt…” said Noi before shaking his head. “Queen Ava! Leif! I’m so glad to-…what are you guys doing..?”

Ava immediately pushed Leif off of her and sat up. “Nothin’! Just normal stuff.” She said, actually sounding believable for a change.

Noi clearly knew something was up, but he didn’t pry. “Sure…oh! We need to find Asch and Lady Grandma! Have you seen them?” He asked, trying to change the topic

Leif cleared his throat. “I’m pretty sure Rhys is on top of him.” He said.

Noi looked down in shock to see Asch’s arms flailing around under Rhys as if he was a squashed bug. He quickly got off of Rhys and pulled him from Asch.

Asch took a deep breath while continuing to flail like he’s still being crushed. “Holy shit! I’m up! What’d I miss?! Are we out?! Is Ma okay? Am I okay?…” he went on, but the rest of the group started to tune him out once they realized he was just rambling.

“Noi, how much time we got left.” Said Leif, his tone more serious.

“Rhys was gonna tell me, but he’s allergic to cats and I couldn’t hear him because he was mumbling! So before I comprehended he said something of substance I kinda already crashed in here…” Noi answered while wringing his hands.

Asch started groaning with his hands on his head when Leif was about to respond. He started babbling about something but no one could understand him.

“None of you’s listens! None of ya! Just like him! I hate you all…I hate him so much!” Asch started crying uncontrollably as the group awkwardly tried to calm him down.

Noi started to have tears well up in his eyes. “Three of our smartest people are either not here or dumb now! We’re gonna die!” He joined Asch in the crazy wailing.

The crying coupled with the piercing screeches the cats started to emit got unbearable. Ava was starting to have enough.

“Could you all SHUT UP!?” She screamed. Noi stopped his tears and covered Asch’s mouth to stop his.

“We don’t know where that Lady Catma or whatever person is, and we don’t know how much time we have left.” She started to dig through some cats above her. “I remember Asch yelling something about her when I found him, so she left him. I say we get the hell out of here and pray she makes it out.”

Everyone that was conscious and sane seemed to agree with her, they started to dig up with Ava. Leif grabbed Asch, and Noi grabbed Rhys.

“Where’s Ma? I don’t know where she is…she’s okay?” Jabbered Asch while he was being carried by Leif.

The blanchette ignored him, focusing on digging up and being able to carry the prince. He silently cussed himself out for choosing to get the talkative one. Then again, Rhys would’ve been a huge hassle to carry since he was only a few inches shorter than Pierce.

Asch said something else, but Leif chose to tune him out. He was doing a good job of this right up until Asch punched him in the mouth.

Leif was inches away from completely dropping the prince. “What the hell dude?!” He fumed while grabbing Asch’s hand.

“You’re ignorin’ me! I’m your prince! You should respect me you troglodyte!” He whined.

“The fuck is a troglodyte?!” Yelled Leif, trying to get in a good position to carry Asch and climb up.

Asch kept rambling as Leif continued to tunnel up. He could hear Ava and Noi shouting his name, so he needed to get to the surface quick.

He started to call out to them so they could pull him up. His prayers were answered as Noi grabbed his hand and pulled him out.

“The cats are getting kinda unstable.” Said Noi while struggling to keep his balance. “I don’t think we’ve got much time.”

Leif nodded in response and transferred Asch’s body to over his shoulder. “W-Wait!” Shrieked Noi, startling the assassin.

“Rhys is kinda heavy, and I’ve already been carrying him for a long time so…” Noi pointed at the unconscious advisor to signal to Leif he needed help.

The taller Daemon groaned in annoyance, but still went to help. He grabbed Rhys by the feet as Noi grabbed him by the under arms. Slowly carrying him to the end of the wave.

They were speed walking, but with how the cats started to move faster and faster, they were severely slowed down.

“Hey! You guys are almost there! Are any of you strong enough to throw Asch over here?” Shouted Ava only a bit farther away from them.

“Oh yeah! Lemme just summon the strength of our dear general Pierce!” Said Leif sarcastically.

“That’s a good idea Leif! How would we do that though?” Piped up Noi.

Leif glanced at Noi disappointedly before turning his attention back to Ava. “These cats are getting fast too! It’s hard enough to balance, let alone get a good enough stance to throw someone!” He shouted

Ava looked a bit conflicted. At this rate, there was no way they’d make it in time. The panic was starting to kick in, and she started breathing heavier.

“Can’t you like, wake Rhys up?!” She worried.

“Like I said, he’s allergic to cats! He’ll just wake up delirious!” Hurriedly noted Noi.

Ava started to panic even more. She could leave them, but she cared about them now. It was terrible, risking her own life just to make sure these guys were safe.

She started to feel something pawing at her feet. Instinctively, Ava started kicking at it, but the paw showed its claws and scratched at her.

The ravenette made a yelping noise as the paw emerged to reveal Lady Grandma. “Before I do what I’m gonna do, tell them it was earth magic okay?”

Ava nodded and watched as the cat turned towards the Daemons and held out her hands. She mimicked her and pretended like she was doing the spell.

The purple fuzz ball clenched her paws and a magical aura started to revolve around herself, Ava, and the four Daemons. She swiftly flung her arms to the end of the hallway, and everyone was thrown.

All of them tumbled on top of each other with grunts. Behind them, they could hear the souls regaining their speed.

“What in the gods’ names are y’all doing?!” Chastised Lady Grandma. “Run like your lives depend on it! ‘Cause they do!”

Lady Grandma sped away, and the rest of the group followed suit. Asch was still out of his mind, but Leif guided him through the commotion. Noi was grabbing Rhys by his foot, and was dragging him painfully across the floor.

The wave of cats finally regained its speed, trailing behind the six. They turned the corner, and the wave almost zoomed into the other hallway. Some of the cats turned quick enough to chase the group.

“What’re we gonna do when we get to the entrance?!” Yelled Leif. “They’re obviously just gonna crash through it!”

“They can’t get on earth! I’ll explain it later, for now just run!” Shouted Lady Grandma, speeding up just a bit to get to the passage.

When Lady Grandma finally went through, Ava and the Daemons practically crashed into the room. They heard a huge thump, and then muffled cries that eventually got farther away.

“MY ROOM! I’ve never been so glad to see it!” Sang Ava while kissing the floor.

Ava was actually very energetic, which signaled to the conscious Daemons she was going down in three, two, one.

“Yup! I’m passing out!” She declared as she fell flat on her face.

Leif picked her up bridal style and laid her on her bed before turning to Noi. “So…what’re we gonna do about Asch?” He asked.

The ginger looked over to the prince. Asch seemed to have been poking Rhys with Ava’s lamp.

“He’s reeeeaaaallll sleepy, Hehehe” he mumbled while messing with Rhys’ face with the lamp shade.

Noi went to kneel beside Asch. He studied his face and some of his scars looking specifically at the one in the back of his head.

“I think it’s a mix of head trauma, blood loss, not enough oxygen, and spending too much energy.” He deduced.

Noi smiled a bit, “Luckily, he didn’t lose enough to need a transfusion. Water and rest should do him good, and also wrapping up his scars.” He explained.

Leif looked at Noi a certain way, but the ginger couldn’t really discern what he was thinking. “Hm…well Pierce is in the other room most likely passed out, so if you-“ Leif couldn’t even finish his sentence before Noi dashed towards the living room.

A rather high pitched “oh no!” could be heard before some shuffling. The assassin got curious and looked into the room.

He saw Noi trying to shove Pierce onto the couch while holding an ice pack. The general was doing a good job of pushing off the medic, but he was persistent.

“C’mon Pierce, Lay down! A head bump like that could be something serious! The last thing you need to do is look at something bright!” Lectured Noi, temporarily succeeding at pinning the taller down.

Pierce pushed the ginger away. “I’m not a child Noi, I’m fine with just sitting around!” He said sternly.

Leif took a look at Pierce’s supposed head injury. He had to admit, it was the biggest head bump he’s ever seen. He felt kinda bad, but not enough to out right say it was his fault. If he asks he’ll say he fell down the stairs, there’s no way he’ll remember.

Pierce surrendered, not really having the energy to fight back anymore. Noi handed him the ice pack and told him to hold it to the knot. He then got some blankets from Ava’s closet and laid them on top of Pierce.

“Please make sure to not look at the human entertainment thing,” cautioned Noi. “I’d turn it off, but I don’t know how to.”

Leif didn’t know what it was with small, frail looking people being kinda strong. He started to feel a disgusting warm feeling in his chest. He chalked it up to his body finally starting to feel tired.

Noi looked over at Leif with slight stress in his eyes, making the assassin’s chest tighter. “You okay Leif? You look kinda dazed.” He worried.

“U-Uhm mhm, I’m good man. Just tired…I uh, should be good enough to help you with Asch.” Leif stammered.

Noi beamed while clasping his hands together. “That’s great! You had me panicking for a second there! Honestly wouldn’t know what to do if you needed to be taken care of too…” he scratched the back of his head.

Leif coughed away a potential voice crack. “Yeah man…let’s just get it over with.”

Asch opened his eyes to complete darkness. It was almost eerie, but he could hear the snores of multiple people.

He sat up and squinted his eyes to get them used to the darkness. His head felt like it had a heartbeat, and he realized that one of his eyes were covered.

He figured that Noi must’ve taken care of his wounds from the fight. Everything still ached though, it was honestly more annoying than anything.

He looked to his right to see Rhys and Lady Grandma next to him. The old cat-woman was relaxing on top of a knocked out advisor, with her hands behind her head and legs crossed.

She opened her eyes and waved at him. “Nice to see ya alive.” She said while chuckling to herself.

Asch felt a tinge of anger and grabbed her by the scruff. Lady Grandma struggled and cursed at him, as he quietly took them both to the bathroom.

The cat finally freed herself from Asch’s grasp and climbed onto the counter. “What was that for?! Picking cats up like that hurts them y’know!”

Asch shushed Lady Grandma, being silent for only a few moments. “…Why did you leave me back there?” He whispered, his voice cracked slightly.

The feline was silent for a bit before sitting criss-cross. She took a deep breath, and decided not to look at Asch at all.

“I was just trying to save ya kid. It’s not like you called out to me anyways. I-“

“I did call out to you.” He interrupted. “And never in your life have you ever called me kid. What do you usually call me?”

Lady Grandma could tell Asch was furious, and messing up this question would make him livid. She had to think what suit him best. She didn’t remember being good at nicknames anyways.

“Uh…キッド…?” She guessed.

Asch looked as if he was gonna bite her head off. He kept starting and stopping his sentences before accidentally letting out a sob.

He held his head in his hands. “Your little 溶水…you used to call me that…I know I hated that nickname when we were back home, but I’d literally do anything for you to call me that again and mean it.”

Asch looked at Lady Grandma with tears in his eyes. He waited for her to say something, but was met with disappointment when she didn’t say a thing.

He started to walk out of the bathroom until Lady Grandma ran to paw at the back of his leg.

He clenched his fists. “If you can’t remember anything, then don’t even bother talking to me. I just…I just can’t bear it.” Said Asch, refusing to look at the cat.

“Listen Asch, I may not be able to remember much, but I want to. You’re making it way harder than it has to be.” Scolded Lady Grandma.

Asch turned, intentionally almost kicking away the purple feline. “Clearly you forgot what this fucking tells me!” He yelled. He quickly covered his mouth and put his ear to the door.

Once he hadn’t heard anything, he looked back over to Lady Grandma. She was shocked Asch would even think to curse in front of her. She was going to give him hell about it to change the topic, but Asch stopped her.

“…It tells me every single moment you were with me was hell. That whenever I cried in your arms you were begging for it to be over…when we spent time together when I was little you despised every single second of it. You hate me, so I hate you.”

Asch walked out of the bathroom, leaving Lady Grandma alone with her thoughts. Her head hurt like crazy, and she squirmed around to make it stop.

She started blanking out because of the pain. It couldn’t be healthy for this to happen two times in one day. If only she hadn’t started caring, she’d never be in this mess.

She wouldn’t be stuck having to relive everything she didn’t have to. She wouldn’t be stuck having to look at someone who looked exactly like her husband.

That damn general. because of him, she had to use magic. If she hadn’t been cat-ified then, she would’ve had time to help save everyone. None of this was her fault. None of it.

Eventually, her body started to succumb to its instincts, reverting her back to a thoughtless kitten. Another memory regained, and more damage dealt.

OKIE DOKIE. Before I say anything else I just wanna give a quick translation for all the Japanese. If any of it is wrong that’s completely my bad since I used my own knowledge in Japanese 😭

神さまはわたしのよびかけをきく(Kamisami wa watashi no yobikake o kiku) should translate to gods hear my call (I’m not very confident with this truly. If any of these are wrong it’s most likely this.)

もう一度、あなたの助けが必要です。起きている間中、そうしているように (Mōichido, anata no tasuke ga hitsuyōdesu. Okite iru manaka, sōshite iru yō ni) should translate to Once again, I require your help. As I do in every waking moment.

キジャン、どうか私に時間の力を貸してください (Kijan, dō ka watashi ni jikan no chikara o kashite kudasai.) should translate to Kijan, please lend me your power of time to continue to serve you. (Kijan is the name of the time god btw. What’s that? This isn’t that great of world building and it feels like I’m just cramming it in? That’s okay bc that line of text right there is what I imagine you’re saying bc I usually think my world building is ass)

キッド (kiddo) should translate to kid

溶水 (Yōmizu) is actually just half of lava and all of water. So its literal translation is Lavawater or if you wanna be funny Lawater. Funny story, it was originally going to be obsidian, but straight up it wouldn’t have worked because having a nickname that long would be a lil dumb, (it’s 黒曜石 or Kokuyōseki btw) so I went with this. 溶水 fits better anyways since literally that’s how a lot of nicknames are made, which is combining two things that can describe a person in a cute way, so it worked out. I know that’s not how MOST nicknames are but that’s how it is for me personally

I had to redo the draft I had from ep 6 because I’m stupid and deleted it when I meant to work on it 🥰 I’m like kinda lucky tho because I spent way too much time introducing too much stuff so I guess it’s okay? Anyways enjoy my dinner (light snack) also for Lorelei’s boyfriend NOT ME FORGETTING JAKE WAS ALREADY A CHARACTER BEFORE WITH A WHOLE DIFFERENT PURPOSE. He’s a whole different character yall I just forgot the name Jake was already taken by the character 💀

Episode 6: Have an Easy Explanation for Once…

Lady Ki’s crowning sparked tension and fear throughout not only Chikara, but the rest of Daemos. All the royalty made sure to reassure their kingdoms they were okay, but not all of them were sure. Especially Garmon.

“It’s true that our tensions with Chikara have grown stronger before Queen Ki took Yakedo’s spot. Still, I’ll work night after night making sure our kingdom is safe.” Said Garmon during his speech

Hesitant applause filled the air as guards started to crowd around Garmon as he re-entered his palace.

The more and more Garmon began to think, the more he thought his speech was terrible. It felt as if he’d be better off if he hadn’t said a word. Could he really call himself a good king if he even did that?

In all honesty he’s been asking himself this question a lot these days. He felt like a cheater, smudged, dirty.

What he did to Yakedo had to be done, but what if it made things worse? What if his judgment was skewed? He did feel like there was some sort of change going on.

He could sense Yakedo calming down, something just got him riled up again. Garmon feels terrible that he panicked. Now Yakedo is suffering in some dungeon when there could’ve been change.

He wants to think it wasn’t his fault, but he also can’t blame Mothando.

Yakedo is a terrible Daemon, capable of things even the worst person couldn’t dream of. So he doesn’t blame her.

He didn’t know who to hold responsible.

Garmon couldn’t go further into his mind before a guard barged into his room.

“GAH! Oh heavens you scared me right out my head…what on Daemos are you doing?”

“My King I’m deeply sorry, I couldn’t find you and I panicked and…uhm…h-here!” The guard hurriedly shoved a scroll in Garmon’s hands.

“What? I-…thanks..?” Said Garmon while fumbling with the tie on the scroll.

When he finally managed to unfurl it, he saw it was from Mothando.

It read: “Hello Garmon. Apologies for the dry introduction, but this is urgent and I’m writing this quickly. I’ve told Yakedo about the decision Chikara made, and his reaction is peculiar. He’s starting to display something that isn’t sadness nor anger. It’s emptiness. We could blame the sitting in darkness, yet he’s been through much, much worse I’m sure. What’s even weirder is that he asked to see you. He didn’t hint at it or was cryptic he said it loud and clear ‘May I see Garmon?’ I understand if you don’t want to be near him, I wouldn’t either, but consider. By tomorrow preferably.”

Garmon’s eyes grew as wide as the moon. Why would Yakedo ask for him?

“My…My king..? May I take my leave?” Asked the guard still standing beside Garmon.

“Oh! My apologies. Yes, I permit you to leave.”

The guard immediately rushed to leave the room. Garmon thought it was odd how unprofessional the guard was, but he decided he may have been a rookie.

He thought he should do a better job at funding training for his guardsman. They’ve never been the strongest, and the only things that saved them from death were the animals they controlled.

Garmon laid on his bed still in his outside wear. He decided to sleep on his decision, this was a tomorrow Garmon’s problem.

Lady Grandma sat in the darkness of Chikara’s deepest dungeon bored out of her mind. She’s been through much worse by the clutches of her father, this was nothing.

“Mio…how’s my favorite grandma doing?” Said Queen Ki’s voice echoing through the hallways.

Something Lady Grandma wasn’t at all used to was Queen Ki using her real name. Throughout her entire life not many have called her that, and she wanted to keep it that way.

Queen Ki then became visible through the bars of the cell. She looked at Lady Grandma like that of prey.

Lady Grandma didn’t want to admit, but she felt genuine fear in Queen Ki’s present. When she was her student, she barely wanted to learn anything. Now she was preforming advanced rituals in order to get what she wanted, and Lady Grandma didn’t want to be a victim of that.

“I’ve…asked you to respect me.” Said Lady Grandma sternly.

“Aw, but you’re going to be my grandmother-in-law…if I get your blessing that is…” said Queen Ki with a sly grin.

Lady Grandma’s blood started to boil. If Queen Ki did anything to Hitoma, she wouldn’t know what to do with herself.

Lady Grandma slowly got up, as a magical aura started clouding the space around her.

“I’ve let you take this kingdom, I’ve taught you magic, and everything you need to know as a queen.” Lady Grandma braced herself assuming Queen Ki would use her magic.

“Yet, I rather die than let a bitch like you marry my grandson.”

“Well then you’re not needed. That was the last phase of the plan you were wanted for.”

“What..?”

Queen Ki formed her scythe and sliced Lady Grandma through the bars of the cell. She was too quick for the blanchette to respond.

Lady grandma could on get a few hiccups and sobs through before the top half of her body fell to the ground.

“You were a great service Lady Grandma…I hope you live your afterlife in bliss.”

Ava woke up by her alarm that she still hadn’t turned off since she got fired. It was way too early to go out there, and she knew she was gonna be half tired till about 9:00.

She wanted to be a bit more responsible, so she decided to plan the day out. Remembering how her dads called her last night, she wanted a way to distract them so she could get rid of the odor that surrounded those five guys

At this point they smelled like ass and fish, and she was bewildered to know that they apparently hadn’t noticed until she said something.

She had to get someone who both knew her dads well and would get them to listen to them.

And that someone was Lorelei.

Ava felt really bad about not responding to her text. Even worse now that she needs something from her, but Lorelei’s her only hope.

She opened her texts, and completely ignored Lorelei’s last message.

Ava: Hey girly!

Ava started to feel dumb as rocks, because she’s never called Lorelei “girly” or used punctuation marks unless she wanted something. It’s hard to break old habits though.

Lorelei: Hi Ava.

This was even worse. Lorelei never used “Hi” without a couple of I’s.

Ava: OKAYYYY IVE BEEN AN ASSHOLEEE but yknow I need u for sumthin my dads r worried about me since YOU TOLD THEM ABOUT MY JOB okay srry shouldn’t use caps but like could you distract them so I can get the guys to take some sort of bath plssss????? 🥺

Ava saw the …’s from Lorelei pop in and out. If she said no she couldn’t blame her, she’d just have to face everything head on.

Then, Lorelei finally responded.

Lorelei: why do you call me girly for these things? I’ve told you it brings back memories and I won’t help you until you promise not to call me that anymore.

Ava felt even more terrible. Sometimes she forgot it was miracle Lorelei still wanted to be friends even after they broke up.

Ava: I’m sorry. I won’t call you that anymore.

It felt like centuries until Lorelei finally responded.

Lorelei: Okay I’ll help. It was my fault just know they called ME and I panicked.

Ava kinda figured they called her first. She knew Lorelei was mad at the time, but not mad enough to get her dads involved.

She looked at the time. It was 7:55. Still way too early, but there’s no way all five of them were gonna shower before nightfall. Ava then caught a stench with her nose

It wasn’t worse than what the guys smelled like, but it was still horrible. It was like a wet cat dog mix.

Ava then connected the dots.

That smell was her.

She hadn’t showered in a bit, and that rain probably made her smell worse from the other day.

She needed to take a shower, and it had to be without any of those guys noticing. If they did, she had to make sure they wouldn’t break down the bathroom door thinking it was some sort of torture device she was setting up.

She absentmindedly grabbed some clothes from her drawer, and slowly cracked open the door.

She saw all five of the men crowded around something on the kitchen counter. The fridge was wide open and looked like a raccoon that was being chased by a bear ran through it.

They were all breathing heavily too, and Ava could hear them all crunching on something with the occasional hiccup or cough. She guessed from almost choking on something.

She normally would be more than pissed off from seeing them roam through her kitchen and turn it into a pig’s paradise, but she needed to get this shower done, and this was the perfect distraction.

She quickly tip toed into the bathroom and locked the door. She tried to look for something to block the door with, but there was just a box of toilet paper, and that wasn’t going to stop anything.

Ava decided to depend on the lock and turned on the shower to get started.

“Oh. My. GODS. Human food tastes so good!” Said Noi while stuffing his face with pre-cooked pasta.

“Quiet down, idiot! If Queen Ava finds out we’re doing this, who knows what she’ll do…” Said Asch in a harsh whisper.

“What was that thing a human on the TV said? Foodgasm? I think I’m having one of those” said Leif while munching on a granola bar.

All the Daemons immediately stopped eating to look at Leif.

“What?” Said Leif.

“You do understand what that word entails right?” Questioned Rhys.

“‘Course I do! I’m not a dumbass, I was making a joke! You don’t know what that word means though, do ya Rice!” Insulted Leif with a rising temper.

“I keep reminding you it’s Rhys not Rice! Is it too hard for your brain to comprehend?” Said Rhys, losing his patience.

“Well it’s spelt wrong first of all! How come the scholars name isn’t spelt R-I-S-E? Your name is stupid!” Yelled Leif on the edge.

“Don’t act like yours isn’t spelt abnormally too. Shouldn’t it be spelled L-E-A-F?” Taunted Rhys speaking in an outside voice.

“Well how’s about both of you chucklefucks got dumbass names! Shut up and let me sleep!” Said a human on the upper floor.

“How about you mind your goddamn business before I come up there and burn your bed so you have nowhere to sleep!?” Shouted Leif genuinely meaning what he said.

“….okay…” said the human sounding defeated.

Silence fell in the room before Noi picked up a bag of chips and struggled to open it. Pierce later snatched it from him and popped it open.

“Thanks…”

Lorelei rushed to put her clothes on so she could make breakfast for Jake. Her whole schedule was changed, and she couldn’t lie, that made her a tiny bit irritated.

What was originally planned was that she’d wake up, make breakfast for Jake, gently wake him up so he could get ready, get a serving for him and herself, kiss him goodbye while he rushes to leave, get ready herself, go out to make good on a few brand deals, make a few unsponsored posts, welcome Jake back from work, make them both dinner, and go to bed.

It doesn’t seem like a lot but social media’s her job. So it kinda is a lot for her. Especially the brand deals.

She needs to go to Pineapple garden to advertise their new wine, and go record Puss’s Sporting Goods commercial for their new cat fitness line.

It was a ton of work, and to distract Ava’s dads of all people would be overkill.

She did made a promise to Ava though. Yes, it’s in exchange for something she asked her to stop doing years ago, but it’d be progress. That’s something she wants more than anything.

Lorelei burst through the door to make breakfast, but when she got there, Jake was already making it.

“Babe? Aw…did I spend too much time daydreaming? Gosh I’m really sorry…” Said Lorelei, who sounded like she was about to cry.

“Nah Lorelei, I woke up early today so I wanted to give ya a break!” Jake looked at Lorelei to smile at her, and Lorelei’s heart started to swole.

When Ava and her broke up, Lorelei was in a really rough place. The only thing to take her out of it was Jake.

His dark brown hair styled in a comb-over, his dark brown eyes, silky smooth skin. She fell in love with his looks but the way he cared for her made her swoon.

Jake looked like he was sweating bullets when Lorelei stepped out of her head.

“Oh shit! Does this mess with your schedule? Damn Lei I’m super sorry” Said Jake looking nervous as ever.

“Oh? Oh! No, no, no, babe you’re fine! I was just think how this kinda lightens things today…” She rubbed the back of her head while she grabbed her stuff.

“Why? Gotta film some stuff today?” Said Jake while he put some bacon on a plate.

Lorelei was going to tell the truth, but she thought of how Jake felt about Ava.

He kinda hated her, not in a jealous sense, but with a more “respect my girlfriend” type of hate. At least that’s what she hopes.

“uh, yeah, Raisin Garden and Puss’s sporting goods remember?” Said Lorelei already feeling bad about the lying, even if it was only a half lie.

“You sure did tell me. My bad I forgot babe” Said Jake while handing Lorelei her plate.

Lorelei wanted to say she didn’t have the time to eat her breakfast here, but Jake took the time to organize it how she liked.

She quickly scarfed down the breakfast by sections and put the plate into the sink.

“Alright babe, gotta go! Bye!” She slammed the door in a rush.

Jake waited for a bit, and Lorelei ran back in.

“And I love you so much!” She blew a kiss at him and ran back out.

Jake sat in silence for a bit before a lightbulb shown in his head

“It’s not called Raisin Garden…Pineapple and Raisin doesn’t even sound the same…”

Ava slowly unlocked the door and cracked it open to see what the guys were doing.

She heard two of them yelling while she was showering, but she couldn’t tell who or what it was about. She just figured it was something dumb and harmless.

Ava saw all five of the Daemons sitting on the couch, seemingly in a bad mood. Especially the purple dude and the green dude, they looked livid.

She assumed they weren’t gonna be in a can-do attitude, and she was honestly relieved. She wasn’t either.

Ava walked out of the bathroom and stood in front of the TV like always.

“Guess we’re in a mood today aren’t we?” Said Ava trying her best to not make any of them angrier.

The only response any of the Daemons had to offer was a few grumbles. Ava thought this wasn’t going anywhere so she wanted to get to the point.

“So you guys smell like shit, as I’m sure you know.” Said Ava while all five of the men smelled themselves and recoiled.

“And y’know there’s this neat thing on Earth called a bath. Maybe even a shower depending on-“ Ava was cut off by a scoff coming from Asch.

“We’re not animals, we know what that is. Just lead us to your nearest river and we’ll get started.” Said Asch while standing up and starting to take off his shirt

Ava started to stammer and slur her words out of panic, “WOAH WOAH HEY!”, She ran to grab Asch’s shirt and pulled it all the way back down. She pulled it so far down it started to rip at the top.

“Woah…either these shirts are weak…or Ava’s the strongest human alive…” Said a mesmerized Noi.

Ava’s face started to get warm as she looked up at a now shirtless Asch.

“Fuck…I made it worse…” she murmured as she backed away from Asch.

“Is this how humans take off shirts here? Weird.” Said Asch while signaling the others to take off theirs.

All of the other four Daemons ripped off their tops the same way Ava had accidentally ripped off Asch’s.

“Okay maybe the shirts are weak, b-but I’m sure you’re still strong Queen Ava!” Said Noi while fiddling with the shreds of the now ruined shirt.

“S-Stop riding my dick and I’ll get a bath ready!” Yelled Ava blushing hard while rushing to the bathroom.

Ava slammed the door shut behind her and looked at herself in the mirror.

She had to give herself a pep talk. So what if there were five shirtless guys in her living room? So what if her landlord walked in she be in trouble? So what if that whole incident was low-key her fault?

None of that matters! Because there’s something those guys don’t know!

She’s Ava, goddamn, Thatcher-Valentino! And sometimes she wishes her dads just decided to take one of their last names so her name wouldn’t be so weird!

Ava pumped up her chest and went to setting up a bath for one of the guys.

Lorelei ran up and down New Rune trying to get everything done today.

The photo shoot for Pineapple Garden went okay, but it definitely could’ve been better. She kept daydreaming and missing when people would say things thinking about how Ava’s dads could already be on their way to her house.

Luckily, the commercial for Puss’s sporting goods wasn’t till 2:00, and it was 10:30 right now. That gives her about three and a half hours to distract Ava’s dads. There was no way it would take Ava more time to get those guys to shower, right?

Lorelei almost ran past the apartment building Ava’s dad lived in overthinking things. She opened the doors only to see Ava’s dads walking out of the elevator.

The unnatural blond was Devon. He had a tan complexion and wore a light blue dress shirt with khakis. Around his waist was a dark blue flannel that had clearly been over worn.

The blanchette was Andrew. He was about as white as paper and wore a typical business suit with a pair of glasses. Lorelei remembers Devon begging him to wear something different, but she guessed he never did.

She was really glad she wasn’t too late, but she had to come up with something that could get them to follow her around. She was terrible at lying though.

“Andrew! Devon! Hi!” Said Lorelei with her voice getting more high pitched as she talked.

Devon’s head whirled seeming confused as to where the voice was coming from until he saw Lorelei.

“Lorelei! Hi! How’s my favorite person?” Said Devon speed walking on his tip toes to hug the brunette.

Lorelei slightly laughed at what Devon called her. It used to be “How’s my favorite daughter-in-law?” Until her and Ava broke up. She thought it was funny how Devon respected her more than her own friend, but she couldn’t start getting snarky now that she’s doing something for her.

Lorelei wriggled out of Devon’s embrace and started thinking of a lie. A lie so good, there was no way they’d think it even was one.

“I’m good Devon! U-Uhm…listen I need you guys for…” she was silent for about three minutes, which was totally not suspicious at all.

“A COMMERCIAL! I-I need you guys to film a commercial with me!”

Dammit. Dammit! DAMMIT!

That was probably the worst thing Lorelei could’ve said. What on earth would everyone on the shoot think if she just brought in two random guys?

She’s got to commit to it though. She’s not gonna break her promise, because she knows Ava might break it back.

“W-What? Really!? Wow, Andrew! I guess my TV debut is finally here!” Said Devon while fake fainting into Andrew’s arms.

“What’s it even for? What would we be doing?” Said a skeptical Andrew, “besides we were going to visit Ava.”

Lorelei desperately scrapped at her brain for something that would make sense.

“haha! Uhm…well Ava she’s…got friends! And she’s hanging out with them! In a completely different part New Rune!” Blubbered Lorelei, “Also…they uh need…A COUPLE IN THE BACKGROUND. Yeah…a couple in the background…”

Devon and Andrew looked at each other worryingly and then back at Lorelei. She didn’t wanna know what they thought was happening.

“Hey Lorelei, we should go ahead to the shoot shouldn’t we? We’ll drive.” Said Andrew while letting Devon get back on his feat and heading towards the door.

“Uh…yeah…Sure!” Murmured Lorelei not at all understanding what the two men thought had happened.

“Wait! Wait! Wait a minute! Not ready yet!”

“What do you mean ‘not ready yet’!? Why do you have to get ready for me to take my pants off!?”

“I just do, okay!?”

Leif and Ava have been going at it like this for about 20 minutes, but it’s felt like 20 years. The other Daemons have been getting sick of their bickering, and all they wanted to do was get this over with.

“Queen Ava, it’s rather childish to think of all nudity as sexual. Just let Leif get clean.” Said Rhys.

“Whichever smartass said that better shut up before I kick their nuts in!” Shouted Ava through the door.

All the other Daemons snickered as Rhys’s face grew warm because of slight embarrassment, “Ah”, was all he could get out.

In the bathroom, Ava was in the farthest corner away from Leif.

“Okay…maybe if I count down it’ll be better for me.” Guessed Ava while putting a hand over her eyes.

“You said that the last two times, but guess where the fuck we are now!” Leif huffed.

“A-Alright but I mean it this time!” Spluttered Ava, slightly peaking through her fingers.

“Ready?”

“You’re just gonna stop me again…but sure”

“three…”

Leif untied his pants.

“two…”

He readied himself to pull them down.

“one!”

Leif fully pulled his pants down and kicked them off his feet leaving him naked. Then he just stood there, not really knowing what to do.

“The hell are you doing get in the tub!” Ava shouted.

Leif was about to dip a toe into the water until both him and Ava heard a shriek from the other room.

“Mrs. Oats!” Gasped Ava shooting out the bathroom door and running toward the other room.

The four men who were waiting didn’t know at all what was going on, but they decided on rushing after Ava to help with whatever she needed.

Leif swiftly followed behind while struggling to put back on his pants.

Ava kicked open the older woman’s door to see a peculiar sight.

Mrs. Oats was chasing a fluffy purple cat running on its hind legs with a broom.

“Hey! Hey! Come on, would you really wanna squish me? Let’s communicate! Old hag to old hag!” Said the purple cat before squeaking out of fear while dodging a swing from Mrs. Oats’s broom.

“Who are you calling old hag? How are you even talking? Answer my questions!” Yelled Mrs. Oats.

“What kind of cat would I be to tell my secrets? Or was that a fox…ugh humans are complicated.” Complained the feline while avoiding Mrs. Oats’s broom like the plague.

Ava and the others watched the two bicker back and forth. The cat’s dodging skills were immaculate, it looked as if it was popping in and out of reality just to escape Mrs. Oats’s broom.

Eventually it got pretty tiring for Ava to watch a magical cat call itself and Mrs. Oats the many synonyms for “old”.

She looked around to see the male Daemons absolutely terrified. With all the shit they looked like they’d been through, a walking and talking cat is where they draw the line?

Yet, the more she looked between the cat and the men, the more worried she got. She wanted to stop the two apparently old women from fighting before she finds out whatever happened.

“Alright ladies! Time out!” Ava declared before cutting between the two challengers.

The purple fuzz jumped on top of Ava trying to reach toward Mrs. Oats.

“Yo! Mamacita! Lemme try to win this round, would ya? See? I know human slang!” Jeered the cat.

“Ma…mamacita!? Ew! The fuck!?” Ava cringed while trying to get the cat off of her.

All five of the men were horrified by the sight, but it was mostly because of the cat’s voice. It happened to sound just like Lady Grandma. Asch especially felt petrified.

“Ma…?” He whimpered.

The fuzz ball immediately froze and slowly turned to look at the man. Its smile widened, looking ecstatic to look at him.

“Asch! Whew! I was worried I’d have to run all throughout this place to find you!”

“Devon…Andrew…excuse my language, but…”

Andrew steered the car illegally left and right all throughout New Rune to get to Lorelei’s apartment.

“WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE GOING!?” Shrieked Lorelei.

“We’re saving both you and Ava pumpkin!” Devon said triumphantly.

Andrew swerved and ran about two red lights before slamming the breaks right in front of the apartment building with a screech.

Lorelei felt she was going to throw up because of her panic. She was way too stimulated and felt like she was gonna burst because of stress.

The brunette squeaked startled at how the window beside her went down to reveal Andrew standing right outside. She hadn’t even noticed they got out the car.

“Sorry to scare ya Lorelei, but you should stay here while we handle that bastard.” Said Andrew while adjusting his glasses with confidence.

Devon snatched Andrew by the collar and ran towards the front doors of the complex.

“The hell do they- wait…no! No, no, no! Come back! Ava’s dads you got the wrong idea!” She banged on the car windows to no avail, as the couple had already disappeared into the doors

Mrs. Oats, the five Daemons, and Ava all sat on the couch before the purple cat that was apparently named Lady Grandma.

“It’s really you…? Does that mean you’re…” Asch didn’t even want to utter what he was referring to.

“Yup! I croaked! Don’t really remember how though…” said Lady Grandma completely fine with saying she’s dead.

Asch sat there in disbelief as the cat-ified Lady Grandma swung her legs while munching on some tuna she stole from Mrs. Oats’s fridge.

“W-What do you mean you don’t know!? Isn’t like the whole purpose of this type of reincarnation is to connect with Daemons with those same memories!?” Fumed Asch, admittedly getting more and more irritated at the older.

“I mean, yeah. I’m thinkin’ someone put a spell in my final moments that I could live peacefully with no bad memories. Which I guess includes how I died. And a lot of other stuff come to think of it.” Answered Lady Grandma while picking at her fur.

Everyone in the room sat there in silence as Asch silently did his best to hold back any tears.

Ava slowly raised her hand to grab the old cat’s attention.

The feline noticed her, “Whoops!”, she said while jumping on her feet on the table, “Forgot we had a couple a’ humans here!” She cleared her throat

“Alright so when a Daemon dies there’s two things that’ll happen to ‘em depending on what the family does!” Explained Lady Grandma while grabbing two sardines from a can she also stole from Mrs. Oats.

She held up one, “No matter what ya do, a Daemon will always get reincarnated into another thing. It’s just what we do.”, she completely stripped the fish of its meat, symbolizing it becoming something new.

Lady Grandma then held up another, “There’s a special spell that can let Daemons keep their memories even while reincarnating…except it’s only the good ones.”, she stripped the meat off this one too, except she chose a few pieces to stick in the head.

“Now,” she started while turning to Asch, “I’ll be honest, I’ve got no idea who did this to me, but if I had to guess it might’ve been your father or Hitoma…” she scratched her chin while thinking.

“What!? What do you mean!? What if it was someone…we’re not affiliated with?” He didn’t want to say “dangerous” that’d include his father and Hitoma.

“Listen squirt, if it was someone we didn’t trust I wouldn’t even be dead! I’d be fightin’! But look at me! Clearly deceased, so the kingdoms clearly fine…I think”

Asch was starting to get tired of all these guesses. Lady Grandma probably didn’t know a thing about what was going on. Asch knew dying was most likely not gonna be the happiest memory, but if she can’t remember much leading up to it, it had to be a struggle.

Asch then remembered something, “Rhys you brought that book right?”

Rhys’s ears slightly perked up, “of course!” He then formed a large notebook out of his hands.

Asch grabbed it and started wildly flipping through it. Rhys started to get anxious by the second.

“M-My prince! Be careful with that, I beg! I had to transcribe the whole thing myself. Th-There’s only one copy after all and they don’t let you take notes in it so I-“ Rhys nervously rambled, but Asch silently waved him off.

“Aha!” He declared, “here! In Rhys’s…legible…handwriting is this!”

Asch shoved the page in the fluffy cat’s face. She stepped away for comfort and scanned the page.

“Eugh, Rhys I forgot how…intricate your writing is…” said Lady Grandma as Rhys grumbled to himself about the comments on his penmanship.

With a bit of deciphering, the page read: “Of course, not all hope is lost. To help the reincarnated gain the ‘bad’ memories back one must take them on a journey of sorts. Bring them to sights and sounds that could jog it, or simply just live life. It takes time, and unless their mind proves to be troublesome, all should be fine.”

“Yup…I see it” the cat meowed under her breath. “One question, how are we gonna jog my memory if we aren’t on Daemos?”

Asch’s train of thought stopped as soon as he tried to think about it. It wasn’t possible. At least he didn’t think.

“It said to ‘simply live life’ right? It’s alien but here on earth is living life.” Said Pierce

Everyone looked at each other with a newfound sense of hope. Except for Lady Grandma.

“Damn it! I don’t wanna remember anythin’ bad!” Spouted Lady Grandma while rubbing her temples.

“We need to know what’s going on in Daemos Ma!” Argued Asch

“Well I’ll be damned if you get me to remember shit!”

The Grandma and Grandson went back and forth for what felt like ages. Mrs. Oats had at some point enough of it.

“Would both of you shut up!” Yelled the older woman, catching both Asch’s and Lady Grandma’s attention.

“There’s nothing I hate more than seeing a grandparent not respect their grandkids! If I had the chance to visit my grandson again, I’d gladly help him with anything for however many years I’m with him!” Mrs. Oats condemned while grabbing the cat by the coat.

“You’re only a kitten! You’ve got 12 years with this young man! 20 if you’re lucky! How can you call yourself a grandma if you don’t even care about your grandson or your own world enough to remember a few bad moments!?” Chastised Mrs. Oats while shaking Lady Grandma.

She dropped the old feline and it landed on its feet. Lady Grandma looked dizzy, as if getting fussed at by Mrs. Oats was a roller coaster.

“Fine…but I need breaks. I’ll be crashing at yours most of the time.” Appealed the purple fuzz.

“Fine with me.” Said Mrs. Oats while signaling for the cat to follow.

Before they went out Mrs. Oats stopped by the door.

“Oh and Ava!” She called out, “before y’all start doing anything, get them boys to take a shower. And take breaks! If they smell like that they must be overexerting theirselves.” Mrs. Oats then closed.

Ava laughed to herself until she realized what Mrs. Oats said.

“WHAT? No! You’ve got the wrong idea! They just stink!” She yelled, but Mrs. Oats had already walked out the door a long time ago.

Ava groaned, “let’s finish this bath day…” she got up and grabbed Leif’s hand to his surprise.

“This is why I hate Ava.” Fumed Jack.

“C’mon babe…don’t say that…” said Lorelei while trying to comfort him.

She couldn’t really act like she didn’t have the same thoughts about Ava at the moment though. She missed the meet up time for the Puss’s Sporting Goods ad, so either they found a replacement or it’s gonna be delayed to a month or more.

She almost broke down two times, and she hated crying. She’d be drowning in tears right now if Jake and her weren’t comforting each other right now. Being in a jail cell is a stressing thing.

Oh yeah. They were in a jail cell.

Ava’s dads had made a scene in the apartment check in center that Lorelei was in some sort of “kidnap” situation. They’d also blamed Jack for it.

Jack was detained for more investigation and so was Lorelei because she was apparently “too defendant of the suspect”. So now they were both in jail until the cops finally realize the two men were probably overreacting.

“At least I know how her dads think of me…” said Jack sounding hurt.

“Babe…”, comforted Lorelei, “Everything will be fine…it’s not like they’ll be in our lives 24/7.”

Despite this, Lorelei could hear movement from the other cell. She put her ear to the dry wall and could barely hear whimpers and sobs from the other end.

She’s never really seen Jack cry, he’s always been so tough. Hearing him cry made Lorelei want to wail, so she backed away from the wall to stop that from happening.

“Sorry Lei…” Jack sniffled, “it’s just I planned this to be a big night for us.”

Lorelei wished she could break through this dry wall, pick up Jack bridal style, and fly them to their apartment so they didn’t have to deal with this anymore.

“It’ll be alright Jack” reassured Lorelei. “Another night. K’?”

There was silence from the other end and she didn’t know what else to do.

Finally she could hear a door opening, and the jingling of keys of a guard. The man walked up to Lorelei’s cell and kneeled down to her level.

“Sorry miss, you and your boyfriend can go ahead and get outta here. Seems like the case was some baloney.” He said, and he got up and fiddled around to find the right key for the cell.

“This is ridiculous! No rocks, no salt, and you’re cleaning me like I’m a child! I am a prince!” Complained Asch as Ava scrubbed his underarm.

Ava mumbled curses at the man as she started rinsing the suds off him. The only saving grace of this was that he was the last guy, but this was a slog to get through.

Leif yapped the whole time about how long it took, and how he only really took ten second showers. Which was not only disgusting, but also you can’t count that as a shower.

Pierce just stared at her intensely the whole time. She couldn’t tell if she had preferred Leif’s constant talking, or if this was fine. It still unnerved her though.

Noi kept talking about anything other than the bath to distract himself that Ava was touching him. Ava could feel every insult that was building up over the past few days clawing at her throat to let them out. It was honestly a miracle she didn’t say anything.

Rhys kept asking a question about every little thing in the bathroom, it was like she was bathing a big ass toddler.

Then there was Asch. It was tiring hearing him constantly blabber about being a prince and how he should have some respect.

Finally, she was done. She threw Asch a towel and some oversized clothes.

Ava then triumphantly opened the bathroom door and crashed into the couch exhausted.

This accomplishment was only temporary, as she heard banging knocks from the door.

They must’ve been police knocks Ava thought. She then comprehended what she just described.

Those were police knocks.

“G-Gah! Everybody go in my room and don’t come out till I say so!” She harshly whispered.

“You crazy? Didn’t you say-“ started Leif but was cut off by Ava pushing him and the other guys into the bedroom.

She rushed to the door to open it as the knocking got louder.

As soon as she opened it, she was shocked with the sight of her dads in handcuffs with a cop between the both of them.

“W-What the!? What did you- what happened?!” Ava yelled.

“These two caused a scene at Rune Complex. They also wasted the police’s time with a fake accusation of kidnap.” Said the cop as he typed something up on his phone.

“We just wanted to see you honey, but everything got so out of control!” Whined Devon. “We’re gonna spend a night in the slammer…”

Ava’s face was now adorned with shock and looked at the cop looking for some sort of explanation.

“Don’t worry ma’am, that’s only for resisting arrest.” The cop put his phone away, “It’s only in county jail too. They just have to do a few weeks of community service.”

Ava face palmed and groaned into her hand, “okay…do I have to do anything or…”

“Nope” the cop cut off Ava “they just wouldn’t stop whining about wanting to see ya. Have a good rest of your night ma’am.”

The cop tipped off his hat and led the couple to the elevator as Ava closed the door.

She pinched the bridge of her nose while walking to the bedroom door. When she opened it, she saw no one.

She was confused, her room was kinda small so there’s no way five large guys were gonna hide in here.

“Queen Ava! Look!” Said Noi, his head peaking out of Ava’s wall.

Ava stared at the ginger with disbelief. That was definitely a solid wall, and there’s no sign of damage. Were these guys ghosts or something?

“C’mon! We can’t settle in until you give us your blessing!” Hurried Noi as he got out of the wall, and grabbed Ava’s hand to lead her to the it.

Ava closed her eyes and braced herself for some sort of impact, but it never came.

She slowly opened her eyes to see something that’d only be possible in her fantasies.

In front of her was a large grand staircase with a dark lavender carpet and golden steps and handrail.

These stairs led up to six doors each with corresponding colors that matched the five men and her.

Was this in her apartment the whole time? Could she just walk through this spot in the wall and be here? Here alone. Away from anything else.

It felt like a dream. Her legs were feeling wobbly and she could see dots in her vision. She couldn’t tell if she was about to faint, or her body was trying to handle this newfound excitement. She should’ve known it was a mix of both.

Ava collapsed on the ground to all the Daemon’s surprise.

As Ava started to lose consciousness, she could still hear the five men bickering about what they should do. She couldn’t care less right now though, she wanted to explore this place forever once she wakes up.

Okay so just so no ones confused I renamed Lady Bish to Lady Ki so I could take her character more seriously and I renamed Rhal to Hitoma so I wouldn’t go through the earth shattering, mind numbing amount of embarrassment that’d come with misspelling his name, autocorrect changing it to Rhys, and then not noticing it before I post the ep. (Basically it’s just a bunch of quality of life stuff for me lmao) That’s all I wanted to say I shall not yap for 10000 lines like I did last ep lol. OMG LAST MINUTE NOTE TUMBLR FREAKED OUT ON ME AND SHOWED ME A BLANK DRAFT AND FOR A SECOND I THOUGHT I LOST ALL MY PROGRESS 😭 (luckily tumblr was just being goofy)

Episode 9: Qualities of a King

Hitoma adjusted the collar of his new royal garments. He’s wanted something like this for ages, to wear a title such as king proudly and be able to flaunt it with nothing but a few pieces of clothing.

He was wearing a black silk jacket buttoned up with tiny bits of gold on the side. It was adorned with designs of rising red flames growing scarce as they went higher up on his torso and arms.

His pants were similar, except they were missing the red flames. A crimson red sash went across Hitoma’s torso, spelling out Chikara in their native tongue in golden letters. Perfect. It was all absolutely perfect

Except it wasn’t, and Hitoma couldn’t ignore it any longer. The elephant in the room was right next to him, flaunting its new garments the exact same way he was. It deserved it less. He knew it did.

This person was Lady Ki, or as it was now, Queen Ki. Hitoma vowed to never call her that.

She smoothed some wrinkles that were in her black silk dress. It was loose and slightly baggy in order to promote the modesty that came with being queen in Chikara. It was adorned with the same pattern that was in Hitoma’s clothes, but a bit more flowy.

Due to Lady Ki’s…body type…it happened to fit on her more than it should. She didn’t seem to care though, at least not as much as some guards Hitoma has consistently gotten on to.

Lady Ki looked over to the man with disapproval. “Your hair, you should fix it.” She stated.

Hitoma’s hair was styled as professional as it could be in a shaggy haircut. He’s wanted to cut it, but all the work and public appearances one has to make when king has stopped him

“I…more than likely would’ve had time if you had told me we were going to see Mothando today.” Said Hitoma passive aggressively.

Lady Ki hadn’t told Hitoma anything of what she was doing. He believed that she should at least be transparent about simple things, yet she wasn’t. It made him mad, but being pissy about it wasn’t going to do anything.

Lady Ki glared over at Hitoma. “You could always tell me what makes you so angry. Asking me about things is always an option as well.” She sassed.

“What’s the point?!” Snapped Hitoma. He took a deep breath to calm down. “No matter what, it feels like you’re lying to me. If I ever have to-“

“Kill me so you can hog all this power? You truly are an exact copy of your father.” Interrupted Lady Ki with a sly look in her eyes.

Hitoma looked at the woman shocked, mouth agape. He didn’t dare try to speak, fearing that he’ll stutter. He looked at his own reflection in the mirror.

A well kept secret between him and his father of what he saw that night. How did Lady Ki know? When did she find out?

“He told me a bit ago before he died.” She answered, seemingly reading Hitoma’s mind. “I trust that you know better than to simply use me.”

The new king wasn’t paying attention to Lady Ki at all, choosing to remember that night.

Watching Yakedo rip apart his mother out of anger. Seeing the blood that coated almost the entire room. His mother had struggled. She fought, but was no match.

He remembers cowering in fear after his father met his eyes, his whole body covered in his mother’s blood. “Hitoma. Come here.” He said, not making a single move.

At the time, he couldn’t do anything but listen to his father. Yakedo hugged him tightly. It felt real, and he didn’t want anything else other than to feel his father hug him like this again.

Despite this, Hitoma knew it was to hold him still. “Don’t tell anyone of this. Not even your brother.”

Hitoma had abided by that order for over a decade. Asch still thinks their mother was killed while protecting them from intruders.

“…I apologize.” Said Lady Ki.

Hitoma was so surprised by the sudden words he jumped a bit. He looked at the woman who for once looked remorseful.

“It was out of line for me to say such a thing. I shall be more truthful to you.” She continued, looking straight into Hitoma’s eyes.

The king hadn’t noticed how “catching” Lady Ki’s eyes were. It honestly made his chest feel tight, but he tucked that feeling away.

Hitoma cleared his throat. “Shall we get going?” He asked. Lady Ki nodded, and they were on their way to Umnotho.

A guard escorted the two to a carriage made specifically for Chikarian royalty. Wood painted black to make it blend in and look menacing. War horses that are nothing but slightly injured, reduced to leading this.

They had entered the back of the carriage, and the coachman removed the privacy guard temporarily.

“It’s an honor to be carrying you two to Umnotho today.” He said. “I must ask though, where exactly will I be dropping you off?”

Hitoma waited for Lady Ki to answer, but she never did. He looked over to her, and she seemed frustrated with something.

“I’m afraid Mothando did not tell me.” She finally said, “Taking us to Umnotho territory to get there shouldn’t be harmful.”

The coachman nodded and raised back up the privacy guard. The royalty could feel the slow start up of the carriage before they were on the move.

Hitoma looked over to Lady Ki. “I don’t know much about Mothando, but from what I’ve heard from Yakedo, she’s not one to forget something like that.”

Lady Ki looked away. “I forgot.” She simply said.

She seemed genuinely embarrassed at this, and Hitoma really wanted to laugh. He didn’t want to make Lady Ki feel bad about this though.

Then again, a part of him thought it was humorous that if he did the exact same thing he’d be getting an earful.

It was quite a while before they started riding on Umnotho land. Hitoma remembers all of the arguments and close calls his father had with Mothando. He always thought it was foolish, but he wouldn’t even be here if he voiced his concerns.

“Hitoma, you’ll be talking to Amahle. That’s the princess.” Stated Lady Ki.

The king looked at her with surprise. “Shouldn’t I be talking to Mothando? This should be a team effort, shouldn’t it?” He asked.

Lady Ki sighed, “We’ll have to make outings like this frequently. Amahle will be showing you around the palace whilst talking to you about Umnotho culture.”

Hitoma had a concerned look in his eyes that Lady Ki couldn’t help but notice.

She cupped his cheek, “I promise everything will be fine between me and Mothando. I have everything covered.” She reassured.

Hitoma hesitantly accepted the plan. He pulled away from Lady Ki’s hand and looked out the window of the carriage.

He could tell they were almost to the point where they had to sail for a bit in order to get to the palace. It was the only thing separating the two kingdoms, which his father had always complained about.

The coachman stopped the carriage and opened the door to lead the two royalty out. “I pray you two are safe when you return. Chikara shall rise.”

Both Lady Ki and Hitoma repeated Chikara shall rise and headed to the boat with an Umnotho sailor in waiting by the ramp.

She bowed before the two. “It’s nice to finally meet you two. Hitoma, is it? I promise you’ll love Umnotho!” She said cheerfully.

Hitoma simply nodded and walked ahead of Lady Ki when the sailor signaled for them to enter.

Just like he imagined, for a small boat, it was rather luxurious. Two chairs filled with goose feathers with a gold table between them sat in the bottom of the back of the boat.

On the table was a tea pot sat beside two already filled cups of tea.

“Mothando has asked you two stay here, so you can’t enjoy the view unfortunately.” Said the sailor. “Disappointing, I know, but you never can be too careful.”

The sailor gave them a wide smile and left them to their own devices.

The two chose not to talk to each other, making an awkward atmosphere. Hitoma did take the time to enjoy the tea that was provided, but surprisingly Lady Ki chose to skip over this.

They both sat in silence with the occasional slurping from Hitoma drinking his tea.

Mothando sat in her bedroom anxiously awaiting Hitoma and Ki’s arrival. She knew Ki was going to ask something about Yakedo, and she felt a sense of dread in the moment.

Garmon had accepted the ex-king’s request to visit him, but had set it at a date that happened to be today. It was madness, and Mothando was angered by the fact that she told him Ki was visiting, and yet he still set it today.

There was no changing Garmon’s mind about this, so she just had to plan accordingly.

The Queen heard a knock at her door. “Umama? Is everything alright? You have some visitors soon, lungisa?” Worried a voice outside the door.

“Don’t worry Amahle, I’ve already dressed.” Said Mothando getting up from her chair. “I’ll be there in a bit, but please greet them if I’m not there in time.”

Outside of the door, Amahle made a sound of acknowledgment and went towards the entrance of the palace, going down a flight of stairs.

Hitoma looked in awe at the sights and sounds Umnotho had to offer. Everywhere he looked people were dancing and smiling gleefully. Children played tag in reserved spaces, monitored by parents laughing joyfully to each other’s jokes.

Even when Daemos was dark most times, it felt as if everything glowed here. He thought it looked marvelous, but Lady Ki seemed to think the opposite.

“They’re acting like there isn’t a crisis going on.” She said with venom in her voice.

She was right, if not for everything else outside their kingdom, you’d think magic has never been better. Hitoma wanted to say something to combat her line of thinking, but even he thought it was foolish to act like magic isn’t dangerously close to running out.

The carriage they were riding in went through the golden gates that led to the palace, leaving behind the joyful Daemons.

“Lesi isitobhi sethu, ngithemba ukuthi konke kuhamba kahle!” said the Umnotho coachman.

“O-Of course…Ngiyabonga.” Faltered Hitoma, using the little Umnothu he knew.

Him and Lady Ki were led inside the palace by a guardsman. Before they reached the top of the stairs leading to it, the large golden door opened to reveal an uncertain looking girl.

Her pecan skin seemed to have glowed thanks to her yellow and dark purple clothes. It looked to be a makeshift yellow tank-top, as the sleeves looked ripped off. The girl’s hair was in a high Afro puff, held up by an unseeable band. Her pants were held up by a dark purple belt, the same color as Daemon blood.

She seemed to have had heterochromia, with one eye being a bright golden color, and her other eye again being the same as blood. Her horns even had the same issue.

Hitoma guessed she was the general and walked up to the girl. “We’re very sorry if you’re meeting with Queen Mothando, but we must see her and her daughter.” He bowed, “have you seen them?”

The girl snickered, then giggled, and full-blown shrieked with laughter. The guard behind Hitoma seemed to have exhaled out of their nose as a laugh.

Through her happy tears, she started clapping for Hitoma. “Ah, yes! You are such a good man already!” She said, “I am not a guard, I am the princess!”

Hitoma eyes widened out of embarrassment and quickly straightened up. He looked away from the girl who, now that he was closer, turned out to be way taller than him.

“No, no, Umuntu! You’re alright, it is my fault for not wearing my usual clothes!” She opened the doors wider. “Come in, come in! You are such a joy already!”

She practically ran ahead of Lady Ki and Hitoma. They did follow behind, but stayed far enough that the girl couldn’t hear their conversation.

“I always thought it was odd that the universal language isn’t as well known here.” Said Lady Ki leaning towards Hitoma so he could hear.

Hitoma shrugged, “it is their kingdom. Besides, it keeps the culture strong.” He looked towards Lady Ki, meeting her eyes. “Perhaps we should consider funding a class in the academy for learning Chika.”

Lady Ki’s expression grew softer, and she nodded while quickly looking away. Hitoma was a bit confused by the reaction, but thought nothing of it.

The girl stopped at a fork in the hallway and waited for the Chikarians to catch up.

“Queen Ki, go down this hallway and enter a door to the right! Uma- uhm, Mothando said you may partake in the sweets in there and sit where you’d like.” She said, referring to the hall on her right.

Lady Ki nodded and did as she was told, leaving Hitoma and the girl to themselves. She seemed to be questioning something, and Hitoma stood awkwardly so she could figure out what it was.

It looked like she finally solved her mini puzzle when her face grew brighter and she snapped her fingers. “I never told you my name, did I?”

Hitoma stuttered for a while before the girl interrupted him again. “I’m Amahle! Yini igama lakho?” She asked.

The king begged his brain to remember what that phrase meant, but it ultimately failed him. He didn’t want to admit he couldn’t remember such a simple thing though, at least out loud.

Fortunately, Amahle seemed to have perfectly read Hitoma. “Ah, sorry. I have a habit of going back and forth from Umnothu…what’s your name?” She said, with a thick Umnotho accent.

“It is Hitoma, I apologize for not knowing much of your language.” He said while bowing.

Amahle giggled, “It is okay, my friend! I myself do not know much of Chika!” She held out her hand. “Let me show you around! That is the main reason you are here, lun- right?”

Hitoma nodded, and Amahle immediately grabbed his hand and ran through the halls.

The king found himself almost tripping multiple times because of how fast Amahle was going. Eventually they ended up in a library of sorts.

It looked beautiful. The shelves filled to the brim with books painted with a beautiful dark brown. The wooden floors giving one a break from the white and gold that covered the hallways. An old gold colored carpet took up a good amount of the room.

“This is our library! I may not look it, but I love a good book from time to time.” Amahle said softly.

Hitoma hummed in acknowledgment, choosing to look over some of the books. Something was plaguing his mind about Amahle’s appearance though. He’s only seen something like it once before, so it was an anomaly to him.

Amahle looked over to him. “I thought Chikarians thought staring was rude. Was that a myth?” She questioned while cocking an eyebrow.

Hitoma once again faltered with his speech for a bit before Amahle broke into a hardy laugh. “It is jokes, my friend! Amahlaya!” She said while grabbing a book from the shelves.

The princess handed over to him while she sat into a comfy looking wooden chair. “Hitoma, it is nice you are so upfront about this!” She said while signaling for him to sit across from her.

Hitoma sat like he was supposed to and looked through the book. It looked like it was info on Daemon birth defects and different disabilities.

He stopped on one that seemed to depict a Daemon with the exact same condition as Amahle. It looked to be more severe, with even their skin being a dark purple.

Actually reading the page, the condition was called hypercoagulability-Y. To him, it just sounded like some sort of spell he and Asch used to make up when playing with each other as children.

“Ah, I see the question in your eyes, my friend!” Said Amahle. “Basically it is an issue where your blood is thicker and faster in some parts! Luckily, mine isn’t severe, but others do not have lady luck’s blessing.” She kissed her teeth.

Amahle moved to a more comfortable position, resting her feet on the table while the chair tilted. She seemed tired, but content.

Hitoma read more of the pages, learning about all sorts of different diseases and issues the Daemon body may have.

There was one specific to Chikarians, where your fight or flight response is triggered easily. Anger is part of the process of which the body automatically tries to react. It’s manipulated in a way where a Chikarian is more than likely to choose anger than every other reaction.

It proceeds to show a lot of past Chikarian rulers, including his father. Amahle seemed to have noticed Hitoma’s reaction to this.

“Aw, my friend, don’t mind the propaganda.” She said while almost falling off of her chair. “It is sad our tensions have been maintained all these years.”

Hitoma said a quick thank you, but did genuinely wonder if this issue was real. He questioned if he had it.

There were many times where his body would just act out a certain way. Whenever he and Asch fought, it’d always result in Asch having significant cuts and bruises. It’d result in him talking down to his brother, stating the usual “useless” and “Weak, pathetic” speech.

Then again, these weren’t unhappy moments for him. He reveled in the praise he’d be given by his father and guards who were monitoring them in case he got too close to killing Asch.

He felt satisfied whenever he would leave Asch to his own filth, whenever he could see his father cuss him out because of his tattletales.

Of course, Asch would do the same strategy of telling father the littlest of things that he knew would make him punish Hitoma. He couldn’t act like there was a balance between them, Hitoma most definitely got more privileges as he grew.

He remembers being frustrated with Asch coming up more when the topic of king came up. He remembers his grandmother having a conversation with his father about how Asch could be less cruel, if only a little.

He remembers being livid about this. In truth, he cried little tears when Lady Ki told him she died of old age. It was odd a funeral was not held, yet a tiny piece inside of him knew he wouldn’t visit it.

“Ingabe uyaphila? Hitoma, answer me! Khuluma uma ukwazi!” Worried a panicking Amahle.

Hitoma was quickly snapped out of his daydreaming and looked around frantically, startled.

He met eyes Amahle, and she looked as if she was close to crying.

“Ugh! Awuhlekisi! You had me as scared as a Mir soldier with its tail tucked between its legs! You looked brain dead! Isikhwebu esingcwele…” she kissed her teeth while hitting Hitoma on top of his head.

Hitoma wanted to be angry at this, but he couldn’t bring himself to. The action was almost motherly.

Amahle shook her head. “I have lost track of time…I’m supposed to be teaching you about Umnotho! Not telling you about my life!”

Amahle grabbed Hitoma’s hand once again, and led him through the halls. They were going in the direction where Lady Ki was told to go, until the princess passed it.

Instead they went into a porch of sorts. It was decorated with beautiful bird houses and flowers. Amahle opened a window to reveal some type of zip line.

“You do know how to use something like this, lungi- hawu…correct?” Asked the princess while mounting the ride.

Hitoma lied and nodded his head, which signaled Amahle to zip down the attraction. Hitoma watched as she skillfully landed on her feet and waved over to him.

He looked over to his left to see a basket full of the things the girl just used to get down to ground level. There was a handle on either side and a dip of sorts in the middle. As much as it looked frail, it did seem to be pretty strong.

Hitoma placed the middle of the bar on the line. He stepped over the window, shaking a lot out of nerves.

“Hitoma! My friend, you’ve got this! Let yourself flow like water!” She hesitated a bit before saying “And hold tightly to it! You won’t live from that drop!”

Hitoma started to shake even more, but did as he was told. He gripped onto the handle tightly and jumped off the window sill.

The king shut his eyes so he wouldn’t be tempted to look down. Before he knew it, he crashed into the poor princess. He swiftly got off of her and said his apologies.

“You are too kind, my friend. I am the Isilima for not dodging!” Said Amahle while getting up to dust herself off.

They walked through the luscious forest for a while. It reminded Hitoma of when he and his brother climbed up the mountain to fight each other.

The two eventually found a shack that Amahle excitedly opened and led Hitoma inside of.

It was filled with many different instruments and drums. A lot of them seemed to be made of wood and animal hair and bones. It wasn’t much like the luxurious gold and silver the king had come to expect from this place.

“My Uma- Onkulunkulu bami…Mothando said to not go outside where all the people are. I still wanted to take you outside, so I filled this shack with Umnotho culture! Can you guess what it is?” Amahle said excitedly.

Hitoma faked thinking hard about it to humor Amahle. He playfully snapped his fingers like he finally figured it out. “It’s music, isn’t it?”

Amahle did a wide smile. “Hitoma, I love your humor! Haha!”

The princess took out a tall drum that was tucked between some string instruments. She slammed it in front of Hitoma and got them both a stool.

“I’ll teach you something easier to learn.” She said while stylishly performing a polyrhythm on the drum.

Hitoma looked puzzled for a bit, so Amahle explained more. “It is only hard if you think about it too hard, Hitoma! One hand does a different number of beats than the others!”

She started to hit the drum a set number of times. “It is easier once you think of a saying to go along with it! Like…please pass the salt and pepper!” She said rhythmically.

This seemed a lot less complicated than what Amahle had done before. Hitoma attempted it using the strategy Amahle suggested. He looked up at her, noticing her eyes were wide with surprise.

“Wow! Hitoma, you are a natural!” She jumped up with excitement and grabbed another drum to slam next to Hitoma. “Let us jam together, my friend! A call and response! How does that sound?”

This was something Hitoma was used to. Whenever a new year rolled around, Chikarians would dress up as mythical fire breathing beasts and parade through the streets. His father never really liked it, but he and Asch loved to see to common Daemons participate in such traditions.

The Daemons dressed up as these creatures would speak in deep, booming voices in Chika. Those who were on the sidewalks or leading those in character would act like the beast’s minions, singing praises to it.

The parade would always end right in front of the palace, and finally conclude with a prayer to Sonné, the god who cared for these creatures.

He remembers how his mother would tell him and Asch to also pray to Irene, for a hopeful and peaceful year. He’s never cared to do his research on the gods, but he knew Irene was supposed to keep you protected and at peace.

He’s always assumed this goddess in particular hated him. For whatever reason.

Hitoma could feel himself starting to drag along Amahle’s fast paced beat, so he threw his thinking in the trash to keep up with her.

The two queens stared at each other with disgust. They knew things about each other that made them want to slit each other’s throats, but they kept everything to themselves.

“I suppose I shall stop with the staring and get on with my questions.” Said Lady Ki, keeping her eyes on Mothando.

The Umnotho queen readjusted in her seat. “Of course, go ahead.” She said, “if I had such a bad built butch bitch of an attitude and body I’d have to work up the confidence to talk to me too.” She snarked to herself, just loud enough for Lady Ki to hear.

The Chikarian queen hummed in response and took a sip of her tea. She held the liquid in her mouth, and proceeded to do a spit take right in Mothando’s face.

“Hm.” She said in response, blinking only a few times with the tea dripping down her face. “Such a childish response means you agree with me, right?”

Lady Ki Held in a growl. If she had actually snarled her teeth, she knew Mothando would’ve had something to say about that too.

The two were going at it with the insults for a while now. If she was being honest, Lady Ki simply wanted to blow a bit of steam off before asking Mothando her questions, but after she fired back, there was no way she could end on a loss.

“It’s odd…I wouldn’t think you’d know much about children.” Jeered Lady Ki.

Mothando wiped some of the tea off her face. “Hmph. There is such thing as knowing too much about them though isn’t there?”

Lady Ki showed her teeth. “We are five years apart! I’m only 28 not-“

“Damn.”

Lady Ki held out her hands to strangle Mothando, but quickly restrained herself once she saw the guard’s face.

“You are nearly twice my age Mothando, I feel you have little to say on the matter.” She said while still calming herself.

The Umnotho queen laughed to herself. “I’m aware, uju. It’s just that you look like…that?”

“You’re just trying to get me angry at this point. There’s no way in hell you think that.” Said Lady Ki while furrowing her brows.

Mothando straightened her posture to keep her Afro from getting flattened in the back. “It’s surprising it took you this long to figure out I was trying to get a rise out of you. Could you stop this madness and tell me what you need to.”

Lady Ki grumbled to herself, but got comfortable in her chair while refilling her cup of tea. She drank some and held it in her mouth, darting her eyes towards Mothando. She could see that the Umnotho queen flinched, if only just a little, and felt satisfied with herself.

“I’d like to ask about Yakedo. I know your little secret.” Lady Ki smirked.

She felt a lot of enjoyment from watching Mothando shift around in her seat while tensing up. She wanted to strike another nerve, but who knows if that’ll send her to the same fate as the man.

“Ki, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but clearly it’s out of delirium.” Said Mothando while standing up. “Now I believe you’ve been here long enough.”

“I don’t need him to come back. I need him dead. Kill him and I’ll make sure Hitoma never finds out.” Said Lady Ki trying her best to meet Mothando’s height.

The Umnotho queen’s expression turned into nothing but hatred. “I don’t care about what you want or need. If you don’t get out of Umnotho territory in the next ten minutes I’ll make sure Chikara falls.”

Lady Ki started to laugh in Mothando’s face, provoking her even more. She slightly shoved her in the process.

“All of these empty threats…do it then. I dare you.”

Mothando pushed Lady Ki away and put her hand up in a finger gun. The Chikarian chuckled at this for a while.

“Ilanga.” Said Mothando before a beam of light shot out of her fingers, barely missing Lady Ki.

The newer queen immediately halted her chortling, feeling over her face to see if it had been cut. Sure enough, she looked at her hand to see the tiniest bit of blood.

She turned to look at the wall and saw a hole spanning multiple rooms was made. The Chikarian looked back at Mothando and bowed. “We’ll be leaving right this minute. I couldn’t be more sorry.”

Lady Ki ran out of the room leaving Mothando to count the minutes.

After Hitoma’s response, Amahle did a section longer than usual, signaling to the Chikarian he should end with a big finish.

He definitely delivered, deciding to preform the complicated polyrhythm Amahle had shown him before. The timing of everything about it seemed to amaze Amahle, which is what he really wanted.

When Hitoma was finished, the princess rewarded him with applause and loads of praise.“Kuyamangaza! You have had to have done this before, my friend! That was amazing.”

Hitoma scratched the back of his while doing a tight smile. He had to admit, this was fun, but what he really wanted to do was find out what Lady Ki was up to.

He liked hanging with Amahle, he really did, it made him revisit some memories he thought he’d never come across again. It was just that something about Umnotho, more specifically the palace, made him feel uneasy.

There was something with Amahle too. She wanted to tell him something, but he couldn’t tell if it was just something simple or life changing. It drove him crazy, but couldn’t show he was feeling this way.

Looking over at her, Hitoma could see the princess’s expression darken slightly. Amahle quickly shook her head and plastered her smile back on.

“It’s been a while, don’t you think? We should get back to the castle.” She clasped her hands.

Now she was speaking Hitoma’s language. Again, fun, but he really wanted to go back to Chikara.

As he got up out of his stool, Amahle rushed to block the door. Hitoma could feel his panic settling in way too early. His posture and face tightened into straight line to make it known that the girl shouldn’t try anything funny.

“C-Calm down you Ikhanda elishisayo. I need to give you something. Hold out your hand.”

Hitoma hesitantly did as he was told, and Amahle put an envelope in it.

It was surprisingly heavy. At least heavier than what’d you expect something like this to be. There was something in here, and Hitoma desperately wanted to know what was inside.

“Aye you isilima! I don’t want you to open it now.” Amahle looked out the window of the shack. She turned back to Hitoma, “open it when you are back at Chikara. Alone.”

This only piqued the king’s curiosity even more, but he obeyed and put the envelope in the inside pocket of his jacket. Amahle smiled at him, but Hitoma still had the feeling she was hiding something.

The two exited the shack and walked through the forest. It was hot and humid, making Hitoma’s hair limp.

This wasn’t a rare occurrence, Chikara was the hottest out of all the kingdoms, but getting this sweaty in his outing clothes did not feel good.

Everything stuck to him like glue, and it made his clothes feel heavier. Amahle asked him multiple times if he was okay, but he lied and said everything was fine.

It was weird. He didn’t remember it being this hot earlier. There was no way the excitement of going down a zip line distracted him from how hot it was for how long they walked.

Actually, it felt as if they were walking for even longer. He could’ve sworn Amahle had moved way more branches out of the way for him when they came here originally.

The princess stopped suddenly and groaned into her hands. “Onkulunkulu bami…I swear this is the same way we went earlier…” she whispered to herself.

“Are you saying you got us lost?” Hitoma snapped, feeling his anger rise quickly.

Amahle licked her finger and put it in the air. Hitoma felt as if he could explode with anger and sweat.

“Hitoma, my friend, calm yourself. I can feel your fumes from here.” Said Amahle while looking around.

This made Hitoma even more furious with the princess, but he at least made an effort to hide it.

Amahle started to have a look of slight fear in her eyes. Hitoma thought that it scarily didn’t suit her, and if whatever she’s scared of is out here in this forest, they needed to get out immediately.

“Hitoma…I…I cannot tell if this is aura or magic, but…someone has got us trapped.” Stated Amahle in a tone more serious than ever before.

A sound of rustling emitted from behind the duo, making them both jump. Amahle formed her weapons, two mambeles, and inched closer to the sound.

As she got closer, the rustling became more frantic, and an odd giggling sound started to come from the shadow. Amahle suddenly stopped in her tracks, and her look of fear was replaced by frustration.

“Nadia! Yeka isihogo?! Using your aura like this is not funny!” Shouted Amahle while putting away her weapons.

The figure emerged from the shadows, revealing it to be a small strange looking girl. She was as pale as a ghost, and her eyebrows were the thinnest things Hitoma’s ever seen.

Her hair was straight and pale blonde, and her eyes were like staring into two dark green voids. It was odd how much of the eye her pupils covered.

Her horns were mint green and they spiraled outwards. It was an uncommon for Daemons to have this type of horn shape, unless they were Mir of course.

It then dawned on Hitoma. It’d be weird for a unique looking Mir girl to just wander into Umnotho territory, unless they were important enough to have business there. This had to be the Princess of Mir.

“Ama? Did you like the prank..?” Asked Nadia while cocking her head to the side.

Amahle rolled her eyes. “I suppose your pranking skills have been getting better…” she exasperated while looking the smaller up and down. “Are you in your casual clothing? I thought Umama and Garmon’s meeting was supposed to be important.”

Hitoma decided to examine the odd girl’s clothing as well. She was wearing a knitted green cardigan over a white shirt. She also wore a dark green skirt with mint green flowers embroidered all over.

“My Папа said that I should wear something that I could play with you in. I chose this.” Nadia said plainly.

Amahle sighed, “I can never be against spending time with you Nadia…I do have to get back to the castle though. Got to get this…how do you say…” the Umnotho princess whispered something to the short girl.

Nadia giggled to herself. “It’s Горячая голова.”

Amahle did a hardy laugh. “Yes! This Горячая голова! I have got to get him back to the palace, so lessen your aura.”

Nadia held out her hands and squeezed her eyes shut. The trees around them started to faze out revealing them to be right in front of the castle. Hitoma’s eyes widened with surprise. He didn’t know something like this could be done without magic.

The short princess laughed to herself when she saw Hitoma’s face, but didn’t seem to want to answer his questions. She walked in front of both him and Amahle.

The king looked over towards the Umnotho princess, and she did a wide grin. “Nadia is a strong little one. She is just…unique. She was a sheltered child, I would not expect her to be a master at socializing.”

Amahle went to catch up with Nadia. Hitoma still had questions, but he could ask another time. After all, Lady Ki wanted to see Garmon next.

The three entered the palace, hearing the sound of quick footsteps. They sounded like the clicking of heels, which let Hitoma know it was most likely Lady Ki.

Sure enough, the Chikarian Queen turned the corner sprinting. She had a look of panic on her face while looking straight at the king.

“Hitoma! Let’s get out of here! Preferably quickly, and within the next two minutes!” Said Lady Ki, obviously out of breath.

Just as he was about to protest, Lady Ki grabbed Hitoma by the collar and practically dragged him back out the door.

Amahle looked slightly surprised but waved at him. “I guess you are leaving now! I hope to see you again, my friend!”

Nadia waved at Hitoma as well with a tinge of emotion in her face. The king waved back at them, but was mainly focused on how Lady Ki was stretching the collar of his clothes.

This was the first day he got to wear something like this, and it was being ruined because of carelessness. It especially wasn’t helping that his shoes were creasing and got absolutely covered in mud when he was following Amahle in the forest.

He could feel his temper rising as Lady Ki pushed him into the carriage. She yelled something incoherent at the coachman who looked rather distressed.

“Angiqondi!” He cried while looking at Hitoma for some type of help.

Hitoma could do nothing but shrug and let Lady Ki continue her babbling.

“Get us to the boat! Are you deaf?!” She finally yelled while banging on the protector separating her and the cowering coachman.

“Kulungile! Kulungile! Ngicela wehlise umoya!” He panicked while putting up the privacy guard.

The carriage started going at a very unsafe speed, with it sending both Hitoma and Lady Ki to both sides of the seats.

“This coachman is going way too fast! I’m gonna tell him to slow down.” Shouted Hitoma while going to knock on the privacy guard.

Lady Ki grabbed his hand arm tightly practically piercing his soul with her glare. “If you tell that man a thing, I swear on my life you won’t make it to Chikara alive.”

Hitoma stared back at Lady Ki with something other than fear. It was shock. he wouldn’t expect her to make such a bold threat, but he listened to her and sat back in his seat.

Throughout the whole ride back to the boat, the king continued to stare down Lady Ki. She hadn’t seemed to notice due to her own panic, but Hitoma had turned the other way to get a glimpse at the envelope Amahle gave him.

Originally, he was going to tell Lady Ki about it. Due to his self admitted pettiness though, he decided against it. He slyly put the letter back into his inner pocket and looked out the window.

“It’s nice to see you Mothando, I do hope you’ve had a great day so far.” Said Garmon while walking with the queen to the prisons.

She kept quiet while still following the Umnotho soldier through the forest. Mothando was still greatly peeved by the Mir king’s disregard for her schedule.

It was childish and she knew it, but there was no way her mind would let her let go of it. Once she was feeling a certain way, it clawed into her psyche like an animal. She hated this aspect of herself, and it was impossible to hide.

“You’re being awfully quiet…is everything okay?” Worried Garmon while quickening his pace a bit to be beside her.

Mothando sighed, “It’s an insignificant issue. It’s just…” the queen hesitated, “you know how much it irks me when you don’t consider how I work.” She finally said.

Garmon looked slightly surprised, yet still remorseful. “Oh…my apologies Mothando. I would’ve rescheduled, but my sweet Nadia requires a lot of attention, so…not a lot of dates work for me.”

The two walked behind the soldier quietly. Neither of them truly wanted to talk to each other at the moment, as both of them had grievances with one another. Of course it wasn’t life changing amounts of hate, but neither of them wanted to unpack anything.

They finally reached the entrance of the prison, and the guard pushed the doors open, revealing it to be a flight of stairs.

The Umnotho prison was an underground building kept far away from the main city. It’s only guarded by the most talented and trusted Umnotho men and women, and has some of the worst criminals from different kingdoms.

The reason for this is that this prison can actually reform someone. Mostly due to Mothando and Garmon’s teamwork.

The animals and soldiers that are kept there have the ability to beat someone down till they’re too scared to even walk. These newly frightened Daemons are then sent to Mir to start the journey of becoming better.

Most times they do end up taking their own lives, but there are Daemons who genuinely end up changing for the better.

Garmon has always thought a place like this was too harsh for Yakedo, but Mothando was dead set on sending him here. He’s actually wanted to stand his ground lately, and order her to send him over to the Mir prisons.

In fact, once he’s done talking to Yakedo with whatever he needs, he will be speaking his mind.

“You know the way Garmon. Please make it quick.” Said Mothando while standing beside the soldier as they opened the door to Yakedo’s cell.

The Mir king nodded and went into the darkness that led to the Chikarian’s imprisonment. It was a long walk before he saw the man.

In all honesty, he looked terrible. He seemed to be asleep, but he looked as if it took every ounce of his energy to not let his heart go out. It sickened Garmon to find him like this.

He walked over to the ex-king and crouched down at his level. He fit his hand through the bars to run his fingers through Yakedo’s hair.

Garmon turned his head to the animal controlling the ex-king’s ailment. “Открыть” he commanded.

The bird-like animal headed Garmon’s words and crowed loudly. Yakedo’s body language immediately lightened, and his eyes slightly opened.

“You…came..?” He said listlessly, clearly not in the right headspace for anything.

The Mir king started to have tears prick at his eyes, but he quickly blinked them away. “My gods…this is all my fault Yakedo. If I hadn’t been too hasty, you wouldn’t be like this. I’m sorry…”

The Chikarian’s furrowed his brows. “Garmon…I do not want or need your pity. Stop your crying.” He chided.

Yakedo sat up which looked to take up a large amount of his energy. He looked straight at Garmon, practically freezing him out of fear.

“I wanted you here because I need you to get me out.” Said Yakedo while grabbing Garmon’s hand. “I can’t live like this any longer. I can’t live like a peasant. I’d rather starve myself than have to eat nothing but bread and subpar meat for another week.”

Garmon stared at how Yakedo squeezed his hand, but he quickly took his mind off it. “As much as I’d like to get you out of here, there’s just no way Mothando would ever let me-“

“Then make her let you. Threaten her, do something. You have the power to control beasts that can eradicate all of Daemos. Stop being a weak waste of space and be a king.” Insisted Yakedo, squeezing Garmon’s hand tighter.

The Mir king could tell Yakedo was desperate. He could tell his only way he thought he could get out of here was convince Garmon he liked him. He told himself it wasn’t going to work. Not again. Not ever.

The more Garmon saw the look in his eyes though, the more sympathetic he became. If he was being honest, Yakedo was right too.

He’s always been a doormat, he’s always went with what others did. Mothando was the only person aside from his late wife who didn’t take advantage of this weakness, and slowly she’s starting to disregard him.

Everything about the situation made Garmon sick to his stomach until he could feel himself agreeing with Yakedo. He stood up and looked back towards the creature.

“Следуйте за.” He said to it, and it started flapping its wings to gain height.

Garmon walked back down the long hallway. Resentment started to find its way through his body, and he slowly started to get angrier and angrier.

He stopped a few steps to the door as Mothando noticed him. “Oh. That took a lot less time than I was expecting.” She cleared her throat, “I understand if it’s private, but I’d like to hear about the conversation you two had.”

Garmon glared at the queen, attempting to pierce her confidence. Mothando looked confused by this, but kept her stance.

“Garmon? Are you alright?” She said wearily while backing away.

“Mothando, I…I’d like you to apologize to me.” Mumbled Garmon while taking a step towards her. “If you don’t, I’ll have to resort to serious measures to make you.”

The queen nodded slowly while raising her hand. “Of course…” she pointed at the soldier and he quickly tried to strike Garmon.

“Атака” he stated, and the creature behind him went to rip at the soldiers face.

They fell down and writhed in agony as the beast picked at their ribs and teared at their skin. Mothando watched in horror as she saw Garmon walk towards her.

“Apologize to me. Now.” He demanded while stomping on the soldiers neck, making them choke out a scream.

The queen looked between the soldier and Garmon. She’s never seen him act like this, not even towards creatures who disobeyed him. If she tried to stand her ground, she’ll surely die here. Even if it’d be terrible for him in the long run, it’s clearly what Garmon wanted.

“I’m…I’m sorry. Please call off that thing.” She fretted.

The Mir king seemed to be studying her. He got off the soldier’s neck, but didn’t tell the creature to fall back.

“Mothando…” he hesitated, “Beg.”

“Wh-What?”

“Beg for my mercy. Tell me you’re sorry and that you’ll never take advantage of me again.”

Mothando slowly kneeled down, looking up at Garmon with subtle anger. She then bowed, “I’m deeply sorry Garmon. I beg of you to call off your pet, and I’ll be more considerate of how you feel.”

The king smiled, “Привал.” The creature immediately turned towards Garmon and flew to rest on his shoulder. The soldier gasped for air as they bled out on the floor.

Mothando continued to glare at the king. “Did he make you do this?” She asked while reaching her hand out to care for the soldier.

Garmon sighed, “he simply said something that I agree with.” He looked as Mothando ripped off parts of her dress to cover the soldier’s wounds.

“I’d like to transfer Yakedo over to the Mir prison.” He stated, not looking to argue any further.

Unfortunately Mothando didn’t catch the hint. “Garmon please…I’m so close to him telling me where he is I…” she trailed off as she tried her best to stop the soldier from bleeding.

“I don’t want to demean, but…have you never stopped to think that he may be-“

“Garmon please. You’re not acting like yourself what happened..?” Said Mothando, trying her best to fight off tears.

The king was going to tell the creature to attack her, but something stopped him. Something was watching him. They were watching everything take place and waiting for him to make one more move.

He looked around to prove himself, but saw nothing. Slowly, everything he’s done so far started to affect him. This wasn’t like him, he didn’t even know why he was so angry.

Tears started to fall down his face and he collapsed onto the ground. His whole body started to ache as he sobbed into his hands.

“Mothando I…I’m so sorry I don’t know what happened…” Garmon wept softly.

They sat in silence that was interrupted by the quiet gasps that escaped the soldier’s mouth. The Mir king wanted to apologize, but he could tell Mothando didn’t want to hear anything until she was done tending to the injuries.

“Garmon, I’ll transfer Yakedo over to you as soon as he tells me where my son is. I swear on my life that I’m so close to making a breakthrough.” She finally said.

The king could do nothing but nod. “I shall put the ailment back on him.” He said as he walked back through the hallway, leaving Mothando alone.

Hitoma stayed awake waiting for Lady Ki to fall asleep. He’s been doing this for weeks ever since she said it’d be more professional to sleep in the same bed. Obviously, he thought it was weird, so he’s been sneaking away to his old room at night, and sneaking back in the morning.

He’s honestly been meaning to ask Lady Ki about it, but there was never a good time. Then again, there’s always never a good time to ask her anything.

He slowly sat up and got off the bed. He thought it was rather lucky that it was so big that even if he jumped on it, it’d only tilt Lady Ki’s side slightly. Maybe that was why she even thought sleeping together would be a good idea.

Hitoma tiptoed throughout the room and exited quietly through the door. He left it cracked slightly only because closing it would be too much sound.

He walked through the long hallways of the palace that led to his old room. When he went to turn the knob, he noticed something horrible. The door was sealed shut.

Hitoma started to panic. When did someone do this? How did someone do this? Why would someone do this?

He immediately thought of Lady Ki. It had to have been her. She must’ve seen him sneaking out one night, and if that’s the case, she’s probably wide awake sitting up on the bed waiting for him to do a walk of shame back into the room.

Part of him wanted to accept defeat, but the other part really wanted to read the letter Amahle gave him. There was no way he could have any privacy to see what was in it without Lady Ki snooping in his business.

He had to think of some other place to have his privacy. There was the restroom, but Lady Ki might ask why he’s taking so long.

He could go to a balcony, but any guard could walk in on him while they’re patrolling. The more he thought about it, the more impossible it was to find any type of security.

His thinking was rudely ambushed by a guard tapping his shoulder. He slightly jumped and quickly hid the letter in the pocket of his sleep garments.

“I didn’t mean to scare you, my king.” The guard bowed. “I just wanted to know why you aren’t in your bedroom.”

Hitoma was still surprised, but cleared his throat to speak in a professional manner. “I simply couldn’t sleep. I’m sorry for any worry.”

The guard nodded, but seemed to have been looking at something behind the king.

They then looked straight into Hitoma’s eyes. “I promise to you I did not tell her, my king.”

Hitoma’s surprise started to show on his face. It wasn’t Lady Ki who found out?

Despite the guard meaning to reassure the king, it only made him more anxious. People who served for Chikara obviously had personal lives and opinions, but to have such disdain for him to rat him out to Lady Ki honestly had him scared.

To think that there was possible gossip like this. Except, maybe he was being irrational. Hitoma’s no stranger to overthinking like this, but something in him made him think he was right.

“My king? Are you alright?” The guard asked, immediately kicking Hitoma out of his mind palace.

“O-Of course…” he sighed, and hesitated. “I don’t want to sleep there is all. This room is the only time I can be alone…I shouldn’t be venting to you. I’ll go back to bed.”

Hitoma went to return to his bedroom with shame. He’ll have to find a way to read the letter another time, and also find a better place to sleep.

The guard quickly went to grab Hitoma’s hand, making him jump. “My king, I…my sleeping quarters are near the palace if you don’t mind walking for a bit.”

The king was about to tell off the guard, but they continued. “I have a night shift, so I won’t be there until early morning. Around the time you’d have to go back to your room.”

Hitoma softened his expression. If this guard was telling the truth, he could finally be far away from Lady Ki and be with his own thoughts.

“…I’ll take you up on this offer. Thank you, truly.” He shook the hand of the guard. “By the way, if you don’t mind me asking, what is your name?”

The guard smiled. “It’s Zex, my king…here let me show you where the room is.”

After 50 years…it’s done….lol. When I told you guys late night or tomorrow I might’ve meant both lmao. I’m very sorry for taking so long, me and my family went on vacation recently so I couldn’t write then. (The internet there was so trash😭) but yeah hope you enjoy!!! If you want stuff that’s happening here to make sense, I’d recommend going through my blog to see all the other episodes. One and two are kinda a slog to get through (at least to me) like u can legit see my writing go from complete ass to pretty fine it’s crazy.

Episode 4: A Grieving Queen

Yakedo woke up in a cold dark cell. Everything around him was dark and fuzzy. He couldn’t feel anything aside from the water that dripped down from the ceiling. Since two of his senses were unusable, he decided to use his smell.

There was a metallic smell, much like blood, yet he could tell it wasn’t. The smell was distinct something he never smelled before. There was something else in the room he was in. He just couldn’t tell if it was outside or inside his cell. He tried to move, but a wave of pain hit him hard.

Every time, no matter if he moved an inch, a horrible tinge of pain would sprawl all over his body. With sheer willpower, he managed to move his body to face the bars of his cell.

He still couldn’t see anything. His eyes were still fuzzy from just awaking, but he thought they should’ve adjusted long before now. Then again, the darkness he was in didn’t feel right to him. Almost like it was unnatural.

There are many spells or beings that can produce this type of thing, but the only two kingdoms that have been able to harness this type of power are Mir and Noimosýni. But there was no way Noimosýni would use its magic in a crisis, so that left Mir and their beasts.

Yakedo couldn’t deny that the thought of having to go against something that could abstract vision as much as it was right now slightly frightened him. Of course with a good team, they could take something of this caliber down. Hell what was he thinking? He could take it down by himself. The darkness was making him vulnerable to rather outrageous feelings.

Before Yakedo could worry too much, he could hear footsteps that echoed throughout the outside of his cell. There was a click of a lock followed by more footsteps. Yakedo could tell now that they sounded more like heels. Yet there were more armored steps accompanied by it.

“Garmon, please tell your companion to lift Yakedo’s blight.” It was Mothando.

As if by the flick of a switch Yakedo could see Mothando, Garmon, two Umnotho soldiers, and a bird-like creature. They were all illuminated by a torch one of the guards were holding.

Yakedo payed attention to the beast. That must’ve been the thing that was obstructing his vision. It looked like a falcon, and its feathers were a midnight blue, with speckles of white and purple. Its beak was a dark purple, and slobber slowly dripped from it. Yakedo guessed that was the smell.

He payed more attention to Mothando. Immediately feeling enraged, but more at himself for letting himself get caught.

“O-Of course… I should’ve-“ Mothando interrupted by hushing him.

“I have no time for any of this foolishness.” She crouched down to meet Yakedo’s level

“I’ve waited a long time for this…to be able to have you in my mercy…for me to finally have my answer…”

“Do you know how stupid this is?” Yakedo gained the strength to crawl towards Mothando despite the pain.

“My soldiers…my knights…hell, even my advisor will come to strike you down for this.”

“It’s funny you say that actually…considering you agreed to a month’s worth of relaxation with Garmon written in a letter.”

“What..?” Yakedo’s anger started to rise by the second. Refusing to believe they’d in act on such an idiotic plan.

“I’ve known you for years Yakedo, I know how you are. I know how you treat your soldiers, your advisor, anyone that interacts with you. With that, I can guess how you treat your sons.”

Yakedo knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to kill Mothando. Obviously with how he was now he couldn’t, but he’ll try.

Despite all that pained him, he started to stand up. Fueled by his pure and utter hatred for Mothando.

“You keep our children out of this…it’s none of your business how I treat them.” He bared his teeth, “Besides, you’ve never even had a child. You wouldn’t even know how to raise a roach to be royalty.”

Mothando got up to meet Yakedo’s level. The torch behind her made her Afro look like that of a sun. Her golden eyes looked deep into Yakedo’s soul, and Yakedo couldn’t tell what emotion she had.

“I feel you would know that I only got to experience that for three years…and then he was taken from me.”

Anger and frustration were practically beaming from her face. Her eyes were starting to pierce through Yakedo.

“I just want to ask one question Yakedo. Where is my son?”

The tension in the air was so thick, not even a freshly sharpened sword could cut through it. Mothando still stabbed Yakedo with her gaze, awaiting an answer.

Yakedo’s mind was a storm of questions and ignorance. How could Mothando even start to think he’d have any knowledge of her son? He thought.

“You might be even dumber than a rodent.” Simply stated Yakedo. His hands gripped at the bars tightly, and he started to prepare his fire magic.

“I’ll ask you this again. Where is my son?” She stayed still, as if she was petrified by Medusa.

“I’m…” Yakedo readied his magic, preparing to strike Mothando with it, “I’m not answering shit.”

Yakedo then stepped back quickly, and fired his attack at Mothando’s face. Mothando was not able to act fast enough, so the fire struck her on the side of her face.

She hissed in pain at the burn. Her face looked as if she was proven right on something, like she was reassured. The tears that were streaming down her face said otherwise though.

The tears screamed pain, they screamed frustration, grief, and surprise. These tears stopped Mothando from saying anything more. She didn’t trust her voice.

The two Umnotho guards stood in front of Mothando as Yakedo prepared to make another blow. Garmon quickly started to sign to the bird-like beast behind him to reinforce the spell.

Yakedo aimed his next attack on the bars, trying to melt them. As soon as he shot this, the beast beside Garmon started to screech. When it did this, that same pain and darkness surrounded Yakedo once again.

This time it felt almost 1000 times worse than before. It nearly made him pass out, but there was nothing else he could do besides that.

He could barely hear anything, as a painful ringing noise invaded his ears. His mind and body begged him to succumb to its attempts at relief, and he yielded to it.

Ava paced around her room, awaiting Lorelei’s arrival. She didn’t understand what was taking her so long, she needed to head to work like, now. Ava then got a text on her phone. She quickly went to see who it was, and it happened to be Lorelei

the text read: “yo! Sososo soz for being late!!! Jake wanted to make me something for lunch later today (ain’t he sweet🥹🥹🥹) so ofc had to stay!! But NOW I’m heading over there!!! Should only take a few minsss!!”

Ava laid on her bed face first and groaned into her pillow. She was definitely gonna be a little late, but surely Max will just be glad she’s gonna be there. At least that’s what she hoped.

She figured she could tell the Daemons that Lorelei was almost here. Did they even know her name? She thought. She decided not to think too hard and just tell them.

Once again like yesterday she slammed the door open. She also hit Leif again in the process.

“Woah what the-!? Why would you sleep there again!?” Asked Ava.

“None of your business…asshole” he murmured as he quickly moved away.

Ava cursed under her breath while trying to get into her “royal” state of mind.

“My dear guests!” Exclaimed Ava in a bit of a hushed tone.

All the Daemons ears perked up, showing that they were paying full attention. Ava slightly winced at the sight of them. She didn’t really know if they could control that aspect of themselves.

She tucked that worry deep inside her mind and began to silently hype herself up.

“So my royal friend is a bit…” Ava paused. What was the best way to describe Lorelei? “…much” she decided on.

“But I assure you! She means well!” As soon as Ava finished speaking a flurry of knocks banged at the front door.

“see? That’s her right now!” She speed walked to the front door to answer.

“Ava! So so sorry! I would’ve came a itsy bitsy bit earlier but I wanted to bring things for me and your-“ Ava cut off Lorelei.

“Yeah sure just make sure to uh…yeah.” She sped past Lorelei and ran to the elevator.

Lorelei thought it was a bit weird Ava would brush her off like that. Especially because she hasn’t introduced her other friends. Then again, she was running a bit late.

She turned around to meet her future best friends and was immediately shocked. She didn’t really expect all of them to be guys, and for them to be so tall too. Their ears too. They all looked like elves.

Maybe they were just earbuds? She thought. There were some new headphones that looked like elf ears, but they were meant for cosplayers.

“Sup future best friends!” She exclaimed, slightly startling the men.

“I’m uber duber excited to meet you guys!” She squealed. She immediately went to the table.

She slammed her heavy bag onto the table and started taking things out of it. It ranged from board games, different foods, some video games, and basically all of Lorelei’s favorite things.

All the Daemons were very much confused. They didn’t know what any of these things were, let alone what they were supposed to do.

Noi picked one of some type of game called “Scraggle” eyeing it a bit. It looked like some type of education game to him. At least it taught you the spelling of words.

“Oh! Orange! Lemme know your names and stuff first! Haha!” Lorelei grabbed the board game out of Noi’s hand and sat down on the couch.

”So I’m pretty sure Ava already introduced me, but in case she didn’t, I’m Lorelei! I’ve got a boyfriend, and I really like dogs!” She looked at the five men who looked confused as ever.

“Psst. Now you introduce yourselves.”

Asch looked as if a lightbulb finally shown in his head. “Oh! I’m Asch, Prince of Chikara queen Lorelei.” He then bowed.

It was now Lorelei’s turn to be confused. Of course lightly, she already assumed they were cosplayers. Maybe they were just really in character.

“These three are my knights for this mission, Pierce, Leif, and Noi ” he pointed at them all. “And this is my dear advisor, Rhys”

Leif snorted at the word “dear” and Asch punched him in the arm.

“Wow! You guys got some interestin’ names!” She started putting stuff off the table and slammed the box named “Scraggle” on it.

“Unless you guys are hungry, we can get to playing some board games!” She started to open the box.

Inside it was cardboard with a velvet cover. There was also a small bag that seemed to have something in it.

As entranced by the things that were on the table as they were, they couldn’t help but focus on the word hungry. They hadn’t eaten something since they came here after all.

“We are hungry. Feed us.” Blankly stated Pierce.

“Pfft, straight to the point I guess!” Lorelei took out a big plastic bag and a metal container.

As soon as she opened the metal container, a fiesta of spices and scents hit the five Daemon’s noses.

It was unlike anything they’ve smelt before. Of course they had their fair share of well seasoned foods and sauces, but nothing to this degree.

“Hey Lorelei…what is this..?” Asked Noi. He almost put his finger in the sauce before Lorelei quickly smacked his hand away.

“Yo! Don’t put your hands in the salsa!” Lorelei then remembered what Ava said. They were from a different country, so maybe stuff like this is obscure.

“O-M-G! Totally forgot to ask! What country are you guys from?” Lorelei opened the bag and another waft of smell hit the Daemon’s senses.

”Ah, we are from Daemos, not a country, as it’s a whole other world.” Said Rhys, ignoring how tempting the smell of whatever was inside the container was.

“…uh…I like the dedication, but just tell me where you guys are from.” Lorelei started to look a bit irritated, but the five men didn’t have the faintest clue as to why.

“Well? You guys are cosplayers right?”

“What’s a costco-player..?” Asked Leif.

Lorelei scanned the five men again. The more she looked at their ears, the more real they seemed. She had slightly pointy ears herself, but those were human. Their ears looked like that of a bat.

“Are…what are you guys..?”

Ava ran as fast as she could to the burger joint. She constantly bumped into people while mumbling apologies all throughout the city. One guy even cussed her out, but she didn’t pay enough attention to care. All Ava wanted to do was keep this job.

Her dads were practically handing her jobs, and she always managed to lose them. It’s not like she wanted to, she just didn’t really want to work for money.

As privileged as she knew it sounded, it really was how she felt. Her dads always provided her with money when she was jobless, and most of the time they just handed things to her.

She was starting to feel bad about it though. Everyone around her was rich while she was just some jobless leech. Lorelei of all people was pretty rich because she was an influencer, and Jake worked in tech. Sometimes they would just send her money unprovoked, and she always felt terrible afterwards.

As she got close to the doors she saw Max putting up a “Now Hiring” sign. Ava was praying that meant someone other than her was fired.

“M-Max! Wait!” She started to catch her breath, “I’m here…”

Max looked at Ava, but Ava felt it was like she was looking down on her. She didn’t know if that was because of the height difference though.

“Ava, I’m sorry but…We’re gonna have to let you go…” Max handed Ava a paycheck, “Here’s your last payment…I hope you can find another job.”

Ava’s heart sunk right down to her stomach. She was here now, shouldn’t Max be glad? She thought.

Ava’s temper started to rise. She thought she had every right to still work here. Before she knew it, Ava exploded at Max.

“Oh c’mon! I’m here now you asshole! You should be grateful I even worked here! Do you know who my dads are!? They’ll make you let me work here!” Ava’s eyes made it seem she was ready to argue for hours, but Max was even more ready.

“Ava, I gave you so many chances to keep this job but…” Max turned away, “You just kept disappointing me. I want you to keep a job but you have to work. You’re like 25 now right? Act like it.”

Max went into the store leaving Ava speechless. Ava looked around seeing that almost everyone was staring at her. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she walked away from the store.

Ava felt completely defeated. Nothing about these past few days went her way. And as if the world was against her, it started to rain. Which was exactly what she needed.

The city went from a wild atmosphere with the smell of car fuel and hot dog stands to a melancholy set of streets and car honking.

As sad and out of it as she was, Ava could hear a very faint sound of meowing. She looked around for a bit to find that it was coming from an alley.

She knew better than to just go inside random alleys, but she can tell that this meowing sound was real. Her mind was still barking at her to turn back though.

As she went deeper and deeper down the potential death trap, the meowing became louder and more desperate. Once she finally got to the source, she found a tiny, malnourished, cat by a box. When Ava looked in the box, she found two kittens.

One already looked like life had failed it, but the second one was still breathing. It still looked like it was suffering though, and that made Ava’s heart sink even deeper than it was.

She gently picked up the adult cat and placed it in the box. Even though it pained her, she picked up the deceased kitten and put it by the box.

When she picked up the box, it was surprisingly light. She figured she should’ve expected it to be this light due to how underweight they were.

Ava speed walked to her apartment to get these cats some hope of survival. She felt a tiny bit better about herself, which was good given how shitty she thought the day went.

Before she could reach the elevator to get to her apartment, she came across her neighbor, Mrs. Oats.

“Ava! Oh it’s great to see you!” Said Mrs. Oats, carrying some grocery bags.

“Hey Mrs. Oats, glad you missed the rain?” Said Ava while pressing the elevator button.

“Oh most definitely! Shouldn’t you be at work though?” Asked Mrs. Oats.

Ava slightly winced at the question, even though it was an understandable one.

“Y-Yeah uhm…they let me go…” said Ava. Mrs. Oats looked like she felt terrible for asking.

“Aw Ava…I’m sorry…” said Mrs. Oats. Ava tried to make her not feel bad.

“No! No! You didn’t know, it’s totally fine!” Said Ava, and she continued to blurt out a wave of reassurances.

She continued this mini damage control while they entered the elevator with Mrs. Oats looking quite overwhelmed.

“Ava it’s fine! I should be the one apologizing, haha!” Mrs. Oats then pressed the button to their floor.

“But Ava, I’ve been wanting to ask…what’s all that…commotion going on in your apartment lately?” Asked Mrs. Oats.

Ava started to blush a bit. If she told Mrs. Oats it was a bunch of guys or even friends she’d get the wrong idea. But by the way Mrs. Oats was looking at her, it seemed she already assumed the worse.

“Oh don’t worry Ava. If it’s something like that, I won’t pry into it anymore.” Mrs. Oats then winked at her, and Ava felt like she was gonna die of embarrassment.

Before things could get any worse the elevator opened, and Ava quickly walked out of it.

They talked a bit more before going into their separate apartments. But before Mrs. Oats left, Ava remembered something.

“Oh, Mrs. Oats!” Mrs. Oats turned her attention to Ava.

“I uh…found this box and…” she showed Mrs. Oats what was inside, “I found these lil’ guys”

Mrs. Oats lightly gasped, “Oh Ava…you want me to take care of them don’t you?”

Ava nodded, “I know you already have a cat and stuff but…just these two? Please?” She pleaded.

“I could…but once the mother is healthy enough, she has to go to you. I don’t have enough room for two adult cats.” Said Mrs. Oats, gently picking up the box.

“Of course, thank you so much!” Said Ava hugging Mrs. Oats while being careful not to crush the box.

Mrs. Oats smiled and hummed as a response. They both then walked into their separate apartments with Mrs. Oats having two more responsibilities.

As Ava walked into the room, the atmosphere hit her like a truck. It was like a murder just happened. There was clearly a struggle on the couch of some kind. Actually, it wasn’t just the couch, it was just about the whole room.

She closed the door behind her and forced herself to investigate.

Everything was so eerie and dark, it made a shiver crawl up her spine. She got closer to the bathroom where the mumbling was coming from, and put her ear to it.

“Lady Grandma, I think the best course of action for now would be to strike up on this deal.” Said a voice that sounded like Asch.

“Obviously, we’re gonna have to change how we’re approaching things. This queen…she’s stubborn…”

“So you’re thinking on taking her as prisoner?” Said a voice that was unfamiliar to Ava.

“Not exactly…we’re gonna be a bit more foreword with what we want. We can’t make her hand over power or marry us. Her friend told us so.”

Ava held in a gasp. That “friend” must’ve been Lorelei. She started to feel terrible. She sucked Lorelei into this, and it felt like it was going to get 100 times worse.

“Thank you boys so much for the report! I expect much more!”

“Of course Lady Grandma. Thank you for being available.”

Ava then heard the click of a lock and immediately scrambled to hide somewhere. She eventually settled on hiding behind the couch and peep from the side of it.

“Lady Lorelei, how long is her task gonna take?” Said Leif, looking a bit irritated.

“…Maybe not till five o’ clock? I don’t know…” said Lorelei. She looked exhausted.

“Lady Lorelei…know that the harshness we’re treating you with right now is out of…frustration with your queen.” Said Noi trying to reassure her.

“Your food…it was very good. I liked it.” Said Pierce, seemingly with the same goal as Noi.

Ava did a slight whimper out of pity for Lorelei. But when she did this, all the attention was immediately on her.

“A-Ava? Shouldn’t you be at work?” Asked Lorelei. She sounded drained.

“They…I got fired…” said Ava weakly.

Lorelei simply hummed in response. She turned to Asch

“Well she’s here now…can I go?” Asch nodded and pointed at the door.

“Remember not to tell anyone about where we’re from and stuff like that k’?” Lorelei hummed again as a response.

Lorelei briskly walked out the door and slammed it shut. That left Ava and the five Daemons staring at one another.

“What…What did you guys do to her..!?” Ava’s temper started to rise again.

“We asked her some questions about you. That is all.” stated Pierce.

“No…you can’t..! I bet she was terrified! Do you know that this looks like!? What the fuck is wrong with you guys!?” Yelled Ava, but in a hushed tone.

“It’s true she was scared. She only got that…in that state when we told her what you told us is all.” Said Rhys.

Ava started to think for a bit. It’s true, Lorelei doesn’t really have a sense for danger, but there’s no way she wasn’t terrified.

“She said she’ll ‘text’ you tomorrow. Whatever that means” Asch got a blanket from on top of the couch, “We’re going to sleep now, so go to your room or whatever.”

Ava refused to move for a second. Time and time again today she was left speechless. Almost every time, it was because of something terrible. If she could, she would go back in time to prevent any of this from happening. But unless there was anything she could steal from these guys to have it, there was nothing she could do.

“Well? If you don’t say anything I might sleep in your room.” Said Asch, seeming like he meant it as a threat.

“Fine, just…I’ll go…but we’re talking about this tomorrow…I’m way too tired.” Ava weakly went inside her room.

Ava flopped on to her bed and rolled on her back. She didn’t even feel like having to get into anything comfy. Barely anything today went well, frankly, she was surprised she even thought today would go well.

She picked up her phone and started to doom scroll through Meower a bit. She didn’t even want to touch her text messages, because she left it on Lorelei’s texts.

There was your average dumb opinion, fifth Punch streamer getting called out that week, random gaming news mixed in with politics. What you’d expect.

Except she found something weird. It was some sort of small news story about…those five Daemos guys.

It read: “Five suspicious men spotted in Up Town, New Rune. Some are saying they are cosplayers. Others state it’s something more dangerous.”

It was some weird conspiracy theory account so of course no one believed it except for its very few followers.

She did a tiny sigh of relief, but she didn’t know why. She didn’t care for these guys. They’re just slowly ruining her life. But at that moment, it seemed they were the only people there at the moment.

Lorelei seemed like she didn’t want to talk to her, so her only friend was basically gone. She knew it was a weird thought process, but she was used to things like this at that point.

She turned off her phone, put it on its charger, and faced the ceiling.

she didn’t know if she was just tired, or because so much had happened, but those guys might be another chance.

Tears built up in her eyes. She was definitely tired. She wouldn’t get so sad about something like this. All they want to do is marry her.

Ava’s eyes were starting to get heavy, and her last thought for that night was: “Maybe there was something more to those guys.”