Post by acclue lockheart on Feb 29, 2008 23:55:07 GMT -5
Chapter VI: Symbiosis
Time heals all wounds, even imaginary ones. The first two days were spent almost entirely on travel, the ground between my hometown and the mountains was about a week's travel distance in the event of constant walking, but we knew that would be impossible.
By the end of the second day, my hysteria had been reduced to a mild discomfort when the subject was brought up. And it occasionally did become part of the conversation.
We all got along well in those few days. I tried to teach Ami Mantle, but she refused to listen. She said she would never need it once the humans went away. I guess she didn't foresee that we would be with Clad and Ayaka for very long.
I didn't see Hoshi trying to mutilate herself again, and I was really watching for it. I didn't want to see her get hurt because of something that happened so long ago. I suppose I felt a duty to her to keep her safe in my own way.
I definitely felt safer on the trip now that I had my spellbook back. I was actually hoping that someone would try something so I could use my knowledge of magic against someone at least once before I died. Call it a whim for violence that every little boy has at times. My recent jump out of my shell and into an extremely slow descent to insanity left me more than a bit confused with these new aggressive thoughts and tendencies. The shadow had definitely gotten what it wanted out of me, but I think he didn't intend me to go so far.
The first night, I slept soundly through the entire night for the first time since I got beaten by Clad in Port Phoenix, and the second night, I was delighted to return to it again. Had I actually succeeded in becoming the dominant being over a Shadow Demon? Whatever was going on, the images still flashed through my mind every few hours, and on occasion, I caused some distress among the group when I felt the pain again. I dropped in and out of depression at these times and was beginning to accept my fate.
The shadow was still there, just weakened. My change in appearance. My visions. The mere presence within me. I knew I wasn't rid of it, and it was only a matter of time before I was back to being the servant, and it knew not to underestimate me now.
The third day came and I remembered falling asleep in the midst of my vision. I expected to awake circled around a campfire with the others either fast asleep, on watch, or impatiently waiting for me to wake up. Instead, I opened my eyes to a new kind of place.
Before I opened my eyes, I relaxed my whole body. The bed beneath me felt so comfortable in comparison to the ground. I'd almost forgotten how nice they were after that week back home. Wait... bed? Why was I in a bed? I let my eyelids unfold and looked up at a young human woman in a slightly stained white gown. She was looking right down at me. “Ahh!” I jumped up onto my feet and tried to back myself up, only to trip over the the soft surface and land on the floor. Not to be stopped by a two foot fall, I stumbled to my feet again and backed up against the wall.
“<Whoa, slow down little guy, I- oh wait... freaking languages... uhh...” she tried to think for a moment before making a pitiful attempt to speak Kurs “I machine floating harmony blanket-” I think she was just spouting out random words she may have happened to hear in our language just that day, and that really broke the panic of waking up to an unfamiliar person in a strange place.
As funny as it was to watch this woman butcher Kurs when I knew a great amount of their language anyway, I had to stop her. “<You are not making any sense! What do you want?!>” I shouted.
“<Oh! You speak Mantle! I am sorry... err, what did I say in your language?>”
“<I think you wanted to know how to make blankets float or something, I do not know! What do you want?!>”
“<Calm down, I am just here to collect the sheets.>” and she began to do just that. Now I was confused. “<Why are you freaking out so much, I was just looking. You just look... a little strange for a Fox Demon.>”
“<I am possessed. Where are Hoshi and Ami and->”
“<Your friends left maybe twenty minutes ago, said to save the room for them.>” she folded up the sheets into a handful and began to leave “<Do not be so scared, no one will hurt you here. Go find your mother.>”
Why is it that everyone thought Hoshi was my mother? We weren't even the same species. It didn't really concern me at the time though, I was still trying to comprehend exactly what had just happened. I decided to follow the woman out of the room, and I saw her going down a short hallway of doors. Following closely behind this apparent friend, I found myself at a foyer in front of an open doorway leading outside. At the desk stood a middle-aged human man, speaking to an adult Cat Demon with white fur and wearing some worn cloth armor and a cloak behind her.
Cat and Dog Demons were known to be a little different from the rest of us. Mostly it was just that they actually had fur all over their bodies like their respective animals, most other demon species lacked fur, and simply grew a lot of hair to respect their animal roots. Cats specifically were a very secretive bunch. They usually never revealed themselves even amongst other demons. I had never actually seen a Cat Demon before that day, and I only ever had books to describe them.
I made the mistake of staring. The cat quickly picked up on me, looked and I nervously looked away, straight into a wall. Realizing that staring at an empty wall was even more suspicious than actually looking at her, I glanced back and saw her leaving with the hood of her cloak up. She would have looked human beneath the garment if I didn't already know her identity.
“<Who is this kid, Lauren?>” the man at the counter said.
“<That Wolf Demon's kid from this morning, remember?>” the human I met in my room earlier said, passing through into another corridor
"<Actually... she is just a friend...>" I watched the man's surprisesd expression with delight as I spoke Mantle to him, but kept myself in check as I continued "<My sister and I were orphaned when humans attacked our village... My shadow thinks that we are the last of our kind...>"
"<Oh, uhh, I am... sorry to hear that. You will not get hurt here though, Fer is a peaceful zone.>" the man smiled "<All the humans here will just see you as a kid, nothing else.>"
"<Wow... really...>" I had heard of humans and demons living together before, even been near them before with Hoshi and my father, but I had never stayed long, and I'd expected a lot of hostility between us, not symbiosis. "<I need to go.>" I passed the counter and right out the door.
The outside of the inn revealed just how indifferent we were to the humans. The dirt road running between the many buildings that littered the area were lined with all sorts of people, human and otherwise. They walked right by each other without concerning themselves, they occasionally stopped to talk to others if one happened to know the other's tongue. A group of children around my age and of differing species ran by, chasing a ball down the street and around a corner. They were oblivious to the fact that the demons would remain children for many years after the humans were fully grown. It was an amazing sight to see for someone who'd seen nothing in humans but hate for our kind his whole life.
Maybe that's why we ended up here. To see what humans were really like. Not an angry group devoted to hating my kind, but just another people trying to live their lives in relative normality. I had never realized until then that I had my own prejudice for humans based only on groups that had some kind of hatred for us because we were a little more primitive than them. I guess I was too quick to judge all humans like that too...
Time heals all wounds, even imaginary ones. The first two days were spent almost entirely on travel, the ground between my hometown and the mountains was about a week's travel distance in the event of constant walking, but we knew that would be impossible.
By the end of the second day, my hysteria had been reduced to a mild discomfort when the subject was brought up. And it occasionally did become part of the conversation.
We all got along well in those few days. I tried to teach Ami Mantle, but she refused to listen. She said she would never need it once the humans went away. I guess she didn't foresee that we would be with Clad and Ayaka for very long.
I didn't see Hoshi trying to mutilate herself again, and I was really watching for it. I didn't want to see her get hurt because of something that happened so long ago. I suppose I felt a duty to her to keep her safe in my own way.
I definitely felt safer on the trip now that I had my spellbook back. I was actually hoping that someone would try something so I could use my knowledge of magic against someone at least once before I died. Call it a whim for violence that every little boy has at times. My recent jump out of my shell and into an extremely slow descent to insanity left me more than a bit confused with these new aggressive thoughts and tendencies. The shadow had definitely gotten what it wanted out of me, but I think he didn't intend me to go so far.
The first night, I slept soundly through the entire night for the first time since I got beaten by Clad in Port Phoenix, and the second night, I was delighted to return to it again. Had I actually succeeded in becoming the dominant being over a Shadow Demon? Whatever was going on, the images still flashed through my mind every few hours, and on occasion, I caused some distress among the group when I felt the pain again. I dropped in and out of depression at these times and was beginning to accept my fate.
The shadow was still there, just weakened. My change in appearance. My visions. The mere presence within me. I knew I wasn't rid of it, and it was only a matter of time before I was back to being the servant, and it knew not to underestimate me now.
The third day came and I remembered falling asleep in the midst of my vision. I expected to awake circled around a campfire with the others either fast asleep, on watch, or impatiently waiting for me to wake up. Instead, I opened my eyes to a new kind of place.
Before I opened my eyes, I relaxed my whole body. The bed beneath me felt so comfortable in comparison to the ground. I'd almost forgotten how nice they were after that week back home. Wait... bed? Why was I in a bed? I let my eyelids unfold and looked up at a young human woman in a slightly stained white gown. She was looking right down at me. “Ahh!” I jumped up onto my feet and tried to back myself up, only to trip over the the soft surface and land on the floor. Not to be stopped by a two foot fall, I stumbled to my feet again and backed up against the wall.
“<Whoa, slow down little guy, I- oh wait... freaking languages... uhh...” she tried to think for a moment before making a pitiful attempt to speak Kurs “I machine floating harmony blanket-” I think she was just spouting out random words she may have happened to hear in our language just that day, and that really broke the panic of waking up to an unfamiliar person in a strange place.
As funny as it was to watch this woman butcher Kurs when I knew a great amount of their language anyway, I had to stop her. “<You are not making any sense! What do you want?!>” I shouted.
“<Oh! You speak Mantle! I am sorry... err, what did I say in your language?>”
“<I think you wanted to know how to make blankets float or something, I do not know! What do you want?!>”
“<Calm down, I am just here to collect the sheets.>” and she began to do just that. Now I was confused. “<Why are you freaking out so much, I was just looking. You just look... a little strange for a Fox Demon.>”
“<I am possessed. Where are Hoshi and Ami and->”
“<Your friends left maybe twenty minutes ago, said to save the room for them.>” she folded up the sheets into a handful and began to leave “<Do not be so scared, no one will hurt you here. Go find your mother.>”
Why is it that everyone thought Hoshi was my mother? We weren't even the same species. It didn't really concern me at the time though, I was still trying to comprehend exactly what had just happened. I decided to follow the woman out of the room, and I saw her going down a short hallway of doors. Following closely behind this apparent friend, I found myself at a foyer in front of an open doorway leading outside. At the desk stood a middle-aged human man, speaking to an adult Cat Demon with white fur and wearing some worn cloth armor and a cloak behind her.
Cat and Dog Demons were known to be a little different from the rest of us. Mostly it was just that they actually had fur all over their bodies like their respective animals, most other demon species lacked fur, and simply grew a lot of hair to respect their animal roots. Cats specifically were a very secretive bunch. They usually never revealed themselves even amongst other demons. I had never actually seen a Cat Demon before that day, and I only ever had books to describe them.
I made the mistake of staring. The cat quickly picked up on me, looked and I nervously looked away, straight into a wall. Realizing that staring at an empty wall was even more suspicious than actually looking at her, I glanced back and saw her leaving with the hood of her cloak up. She would have looked human beneath the garment if I didn't already know her identity.
“<Who is this kid, Lauren?>” the man at the counter said.
“<That Wolf Demon's kid from this morning, remember?>” the human I met in my room earlier said, passing through into another corridor
"<Actually... she is just a friend...>" I watched the man's surprisesd expression with delight as I spoke Mantle to him, but kept myself in check as I continued "<My sister and I were orphaned when humans attacked our village... My shadow thinks that we are the last of our kind...>"
"<Oh, uhh, I am... sorry to hear that. You will not get hurt here though, Fer is a peaceful zone.>" the man smiled "<All the humans here will just see you as a kid, nothing else.>"
"<Wow... really...>" I had heard of humans and demons living together before, even been near them before with Hoshi and my father, but I had never stayed long, and I'd expected a lot of hostility between us, not symbiosis. "<I need to go.>" I passed the counter and right out the door.
The outside of the inn revealed just how indifferent we were to the humans. The dirt road running between the many buildings that littered the area were lined with all sorts of people, human and otherwise. They walked right by each other without concerning themselves, they occasionally stopped to talk to others if one happened to know the other's tongue. A group of children around my age and of differing species ran by, chasing a ball down the street and around a corner. They were oblivious to the fact that the demons would remain children for many years after the humans were fully grown. It was an amazing sight to see for someone who'd seen nothing in humans but hate for our kind his whole life.
Maybe that's why we ended up here. To see what humans were really like. Not an angry group devoted to hating my kind, but just another people trying to live their lives in relative normality. I had never realized until then that I had my own prejudice for humans based only on groups that had some kind of hatred for us because we were a little more primitive than them. I guess I was too quick to judge all humans like that too...
