Post by acclue lockheart on Feb 29, 2008 23:56:01 GMT -5
Chapter VII: Winding Down
I started down the road, entranced by my seeming invisibility. It was true that most of the populace was human, but I could freely walk right by them without so much as a second glance from most of them. It was amazing.
If it weren't for the danger of my imminent demise, I might have asked to stay in that place just for that.
And now I was more worried than impressed. Why were we here? My end could happen any minute now and we were stopping in a town for no immediately evident reason.
I frantically ran between all the buildings, searching for anyone I knew. I kept Hoshi's presence in my head, but it was hard, even for a demon, to pick a single being out of such a large group.
I saw numerous Wolf Demons on my way through, but none of them Hoshi. I thought I saw Ayaka once, but it was just someone who looked like her from behind, and I just ended up embaressed.
In an attempt to hurry my way away from that particular person, I turned to see if they were still watching and slammed head on into someone, falling back onto the ground.
It was a Wolf Demon boy, just a little older than me it seemed. He stared right at me with a cnfused look on his face as we both fell back off our feet and sat facing eachother. I stared back, locked in a silent stare.
He finally stood and said "I-I'm sorry." and ran off down the street. That was weird.
"You gotta watch where you're going." I turned to see Ami standng over me "This place is so weird, you never know what you'll run into."
I pushed myself up off the ground and stood by her "What are we doing here Ami?"
"We're getting a guide. Ayaka only knows that there's a psychic up there. She doesn't know her way up there."
"But... But how long do we need to stay?!" I complained "I don't know how long I've got!"
"Acclue, if you really believe that, then think of this as your last few days to relax." she smiled widely.
"You really don't believe me, do you?"
"I believe that that shadow's messing with you." she crossed her arms "You said yourself that it messes with your head, and I wouldn't think it would stop to avoid hurting you if it meant it could get you around people."
"Ami, it couldn't have known we would leave, Ayaka was the only person that knew about where we're going, and she didn't say anything until after I had the vision!"
"Even I would've thought you'd do 'something' after what you saw. It was just an illusion, and this is a wasted trip. I mean, jeez, you're a little fox, why would anyone want to kill you?"
"You saw the attack on the village... Some humans..." I turned around to check if any of them could hear me talking, even though it was in Kurs. I continued, whispering quietly "Some humans just don't like us..."
"'Some'? Ha! Not even these humans really like us." Ami turned down the street and began walking with me in tow "They're either afraid of us or just keeping us in check."
"You're conceited." I sighed "Where are we going?"
"To see your wolf friend." she spoke flatly. Was she angry at Hoshi for something?
She walked me into another of the human buildings and I had to take a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting of the fires they had hung from the ceiling. That light bothered me. It was enough so I could just barely see, but not enough to set off my dark vision, leaving an unsettling gap that I was used to seeing into with ease. Glancing around in a somewhat confused manner as Ami led me deeper into the little place. There were people of all sorts leaning over a counter, built far too high for me to see over, from stools that I couldn't even dream of reaching up to. They all seemed like they were in a daze. Some even looked like they were sleeping. The air presented a hazy smoke of a familiar smell that I couldn't place.
"Stop smelling the air, do you wanna end up like them?" Ami motioned to the people at the ounter. I didn't know what she meant, but I complied.
We stopped. I looked forward. Leaning over a table in the corner was Hoshi. Why, of all places, would she choose this disgusting place to spend her day in?
"We also can't go because of her." Ami said "She's awake, but something's wrong with her... I mean besides this foul place. You know her, find out what's wrong or we might have to stay here longer."
"O-okay..." I nodded.
"And break out of here every once in awhile, the air's toxic or something. I gotta keep looking for Ayaka now, haven't seen her all day. Damn big town..." she stormed off muttering about being the voice of reason among the group. She was so tense. It didn't matter, I at least knew where Hoshi was, even if the place reeked of that dizzying scent.
I struggled to climb up onto the significantly lower chair, compared to the counter's stools, across from Hoshi.
Her eyes were glazed over and she stared blankly right through me. Tucked close under her arm was a mug of... questionable liquid... that I hadn't noticed from the floor. She appeared to have not noticed me yet. I leaned over the table to look closer into her eyes “Hoshi?” I waited for a response, but there was nothing “Are you dead?” it seems funny now, but my first assumption was that she was actually dead. I tried to stay calm, looked around for some kind of answer, then reassured myself that Ami must have already checked.
I climbed up onto the table so that I could reach her and poked her in the head with my finger. Still nothing.
She let off a violent twitch and made me jump back “Huh, whu- Whaz goin' on?” she stammered into a drunken slur “Hey, Acclue, where ya' been?”
“Sleeping. What're you doing?”
“I'm just waitin' for Denzel... getting' his stuff ready... Don' worry, we'll save some time like this!” she sounded like she hadn't slept for weeks or something. Of course, at the time, I hadn't been exposed to alcohol and didn't know what it did to people. Had I known, I'd probably try to stop her from performing even more self-destructive acts.
“What's wrong with you?”
“I dunno, what's wrong with you?” she fell face first onto the table and I think she just fell unconscious as her cup spilled out toward me. I jumped backward, nearly falling back onto my chair. I knelt down to the advancing liquid and breathed it in. It smelled more foul than the air. It made me feel sick “Why would anyone drink this stuff?”
I looked around me again, and took a few drops of the liquid in my hands and stared at it for a few moments. I lifted it to my mouth and almost immediately spit it back out “It tastes disgusting too!”
Hoshi liked that place for some reason, but I didn't trust it. I jumped to the floor and bolted out the door, looking for a source of water to clear the rancid taste from my mouth.
Hoshi would be alright without me. That's all that ran through my head as I rushed out of town and dove head first into the first stream I saw.
As I took my fill, I noticed that the ground didn't seem consistently level. It shook slightly. I stood from the stream's bank and rubbed my eyes. The ground was fine after that. Unaware of alcohol's effect, I also didn't know that demons were just about the most susceptible beings to it. Thankfully, I had barely gotten any in my system and I was left with a small throbbing in my head for a few minutes. Hoshi was drinking it in significantly higher amounts and was knocked out by about half a glass. The things that affect us are really a strange group.
I climbed up from the hill that formed the stream's bank and shook the water out of my hair.
My clothes were soaked and that was going to bother me for the rest of the day, but I was still too determined, at the moment, to get us moving again.
I wasn't sure if she was reliable, given her state, but Hoshi had told me we were waiting for Denzel... of course the slur was so deep that it was questionable if she had even said it right.
Regardless, I scoured the streets once again for Ami this time, and found her rather quickly.
She had with her, of all people, Clad. They both looked extremely irritated.
"Acclue! Translate!" they both demanded at about the same time in their respective languages. I had to snicker at their frustration, it was impossible for them to communicate and usually Hoshi was able to perform that duty. I hadn't had the honor yet.
It turns out that Ami just wanted to ask what to do about Hoshi and whether he'd seen Ayaka. Clad was also asking at Ayaka, but that really just cancelled that whole thing out. Clad said he would bring Hoshi back to the inn in just a little while. Now, it was my turn.
"Okay, where's this Denzel guy now?"
"He's at the North end of town, he's still getting ready, or so he says." Ami shrugged it off.
"Great, thanks." I ran from the two because I knew Ami would start complaining about abandoning them, but drunk, missing, and disbelieving members of our group wouldn't stop me from getting us going faster.
I reached the edge of the town before I realized that I had run East instead of North most of the way, and I had no idea what he looked like.
I turned around the North edge of town and began asking anyone I saw to help find him. Most ignored me or couldn't understand me and didn't care to stick around for me to ask again.
A Wolf Demon child finally pointed me toward a covered cart mounted by two basilisks.
A basilisk was a large crawling lizard with a huge bulky body. They had a long neck and a head with eerily dragon-like qualities. I had seen these beasts of burden before when we recieved our occasional wandering trader in my village. They frightened me then, and even with my new confidence, I was scared stiff at the sight of them.
I approached the wagon from behind to avoid letting the creatures hear me, and attempted to climb the edge of the back step. I failed miserably. I didn't have the upper body strength to lift myself over the lip.
Cursing my small body in my mind for what must've been the tenth time that day, I backed up to see if I could use anything as a ladder.
"Lookin' for somethin'?" I heard a voice behind me. Turning around, I saw a man sitting up against the wall of the closest building. He wore a folded cloth over his head and long hair came down behind it. He wore a grey cloak over his whole upper body, so I couldn't see what he was wearing. Even with his features concealed, I could tell he was a demon.
He smiled lazily at me "You must be that little possessed kid Hoshi was talkin' about." he sounded disinterested on the subject of my possession "So, what's up?"
I was only slightly startled that he knew Hoshi "I... uhh, where's Denzel?"
"You're looking at him."
That did surprise me. I had formed this image in my mind, after seeing the basilisks, that Denzel would be a big, musclebound human man, not this small demon. I was relieved that my assumptions had been wrong though. "Umm, when are we leaving? I'm not sure if you're aware of my... vision, but we need to leave soon. I mean really soon!"
"I'll tell you what I told them. I'll be ready tomorrow." he yawned.
"You're not even doing anything!"
"I'm waitin' for a guy."
"I'm going to die!"
"We all die someday."
"I mean soon!" this man was really beginning to frustrate me "I wanna try and stop it, but if we keep wasting time, I'm gonna die!"
"Yes. You are." his demeanor changed to a serious one. "Your shadow showed you a vision. It will come true." he stood up in one swift motion.
I percieved this as a threat and backed up slowly "Wh-what do you mean?"
"Not on a single occasion has a true psychic vision been changed. One way or another, it will come true." he fell back to the ground and a smile returned to his face "So you gotta enjoy the time you've got left, right?"
I was a bit confused, and scared that this person might not be the most stable guy to take us on this journey. But I wasn't dettered.
"Please, I really need to know when this'll happen! I have to reach the mountains!"
"And you will, in time." he lied against the wall with his eyes closed again, not speaking another word.
I was getting angry at the man, a rage inside me I'd never known had arisen. I looked down at the groun in thought and saw my shadow slowly creeping up my leg. "Okay, calm down. Calm down, I don't want to hurt him." I breathed deeply a few times and watched it return to the ground.
"Okay, you know what? I'm not going to risk this anymore. I'd rather wait than accidentally kill someone over a little argument." I turned around and began to walk away "Sorry to bother your work." I added, hoping to get him to change his mind.
"No problem little buddy." he waved me away and I complied relutantly.
I supposed it was useless to go against the current. I was stuck here for awhile so I'd just have to deal with it. Though somewhat distracted by what Denzel said, I still wanted to learn more about how he humans lived. I had only what I'd read in books to go by, and those didn't seem too reliable so far.
But first, I had to dry off. My clothes were still soaking wet from my dip in that shallow creek. In hindsight, that was a terrible idea. I'm just glad I didn't have my spellbook on me at the time, it would've been ruined.
For one thing, I couldn't swim, and I still can't today! I've always hated water. Thankfully, it was shallow enough to stand in.
Second of all, I hadn't brought any extra clothes with me. Demons aren't really too fond of clothing, we only really wear them to avoid reinforcing the stereotype that we're 'savages', or for their ability to hide our features.
Whether I wanted to wear them or not, I needed new ones now. The signs hung near the doorways of the various shops showed their specialty but it wasn't the same as home. We had never traded anything with eachother indoors. It was an old Fox Demon superstition that I felt overly attached to when I saw the humans' methods.
I saw a sign in Kurs and had to look twice just to make sure. It was a clothing store. What an unusual place for a demon to own.
Peeking in through the open doorway, I was surprised to see a human woman leaning on her elbow with her hand against her head. I stepped in and said "<Uhh, hello?>"
The woman looked down to me and her expression turned to excitement "Aww! And who are you lottle guy?"
"Oh. You speak Kurs?" there was something odd about this woman as I came closer.
"I don't know much of the human language." she laughed a little "I'm a demon like you."
"What?"
"Down south of the miasma line, my family and I were... well, they did some... strange things... They... removed... certain parts..."
"Oh Gods..."
"It's alright, I can still hear, I'd just... rather not let people see under my hair..." she sat down behind the counter "So, what can I help you with?"
"Umm, I need some new... clothes..." I thought my needs were pretty obvious.
"Oh, right, what happened?"
"I needed a drink." I smiled.
"Heh, you're funny, kid." she grinned back at me "So, what kind do you want? I have some stuff that'll let you hide. Have you seen any of the demons around here walking around with hooded clothing?”
“I saw a Cat Demon this morning-”
“Oh! Now that's a rare sight! It must've been Ash. She's a bit shy, so she even hides herself around here.”
“Well... I think I should be hiding...”
“Huh? What could you be hiding from?”
“Probably the same people that attacked my village.”
“Oh right, I'd heard about that. I guess it isn't too bad since you could get through.”
“I was lucky. My sister even more so. I think we're the last two...”
“Oh! Oh my... I'm so sorry! That's-that's just terrible!”
“Our father might still be alive, but... we're just not sure where he is.”
“So you came here alone then?”
I shook my head “I made some friends... Had to travel up from Kayton. The humans took me all the way down there.”
“Gods, you've been through a lot, haven't you?”
“Don't worry about it, I just need new clothes.”
“Oh! Right, right!” she stepped backwards from the counter, still looking at me, then turned toward the back room.
I sighed. Something told me that it was a mistake to have told this woman my story.
She stepped back in after only a moment. “Err, do you know what size you wear?”
“There are sizes?” I had always just assumed there were clothes for adults and clothes for children. I had, admittedly, only ever worn two outfits in my life. The ones I wore as an infant and the soaked ones I had worn into that store that day.
“Yeah, like... Small? Smaller? Extra small?”
“Ha, funny.” I tried to stay indifferent even though it was actually a pretty good joke at the time.
She smiled “I'm just kidding, I'll get you something.”
There was only a little shuffling in the back room for the next few minutes. She stepped out with a folded white bundle in hand, and placed it in my hands. “Try this one.”
“I can try it on first?”
“Of course. How else will you know if it'll fit?” she pointed to a curtained doorway on the side wall. “You can change in there if you want some privacy.”
“Uhh, okay.” I walked up to the curtain, unsure how I intended to pay for the cloak when I got back.
It took me a surprisingly long time to get out of my wet clothes, and even longer for me to figure out how to get into the new ones without getting them damp. Eventually, I couldn't wait anymore, and pulled the clothing on.
It was a black set of clothes all the way down, contrasting my skin and blending with my hair.
I pulled the cloak over my head and had some trouble figuring out how it was put on. The cloak, which was really more of a sheet with a hood on it than anything else, was pure white with a thick zig-zagging line of pale blue near the base. It covered myself down to the floor, making it very hard to use my hands, but it hid all my demonic features as long as I left my tail limp. It was a strange choice to combine with the black clothes, and really made me feel more noticible, but they were dry in the very least. It was attached around my neck by a small metal chain that fit loosely, and was actually very comfortable. I hadn't worn anything like that since I snuck into that human town with Hoshi a few weeks ago, and those weren't really clothes.
I looked at myself in the mirror on the wall and noticed that I looked very different in clothing that hadn't been covered in spots of dirt and dried blood from more recent encounters. I knew that wouldn't last long.
I stepped out of the dressing room with a smile on my face "So... how is it?" I asked the woman expectantly.
"Looks great, kid." she smiled "So what're you up to?"
"Hiding, I guess." I said, putting the hood down from my head.
"Yeah, I mean, what are you actually gonna do now? Like, right now."
"Oh. Well, I... didn't have anything but my clothes with me... I'm not sure what to give you for-"
"You can have 'em." she shrugged "Truth be told, those are just old clothes that I cleaned up. They were mine when I was a kid. I mean, before the whole..."
I nodded. The differences between a male and female demon of my age were essentially non-existent. "You don't want them?"
"I don't care, they're just old clothes to me."
"In that case, I think I'm gonna go look for my sister." I said, looking down at my new clothes one more time. "Thank you so much... uhh, you didn't say your name."
"It's Nari." she stood back from the counter and I didn't hear her at the time, but she spoke quietly "Thanks for listening."
I started down the road, entranced by my seeming invisibility. It was true that most of the populace was human, but I could freely walk right by them without so much as a second glance from most of them. It was amazing.
If it weren't for the danger of my imminent demise, I might have asked to stay in that place just for that.
And now I was more worried than impressed. Why were we here? My end could happen any minute now and we were stopping in a town for no immediately evident reason.
I frantically ran between all the buildings, searching for anyone I knew. I kept Hoshi's presence in my head, but it was hard, even for a demon, to pick a single being out of such a large group.
I saw numerous Wolf Demons on my way through, but none of them Hoshi. I thought I saw Ayaka once, but it was just someone who looked like her from behind, and I just ended up embaressed.
In an attempt to hurry my way away from that particular person, I turned to see if they were still watching and slammed head on into someone, falling back onto the ground.
It was a Wolf Demon boy, just a little older than me it seemed. He stared right at me with a cnfused look on his face as we both fell back off our feet and sat facing eachother. I stared back, locked in a silent stare.
He finally stood and said "I-I'm sorry." and ran off down the street. That was weird.
"You gotta watch where you're going." I turned to see Ami standng over me "This place is so weird, you never know what you'll run into."
I pushed myself up off the ground and stood by her "What are we doing here Ami?"
"We're getting a guide. Ayaka only knows that there's a psychic up there. She doesn't know her way up there."
"But... But how long do we need to stay?!" I complained "I don't know how long I've got!"
"Acclue, if you really believe that, then think of this as your last few days to relax." she smiled widely.
"You really don't believe me, do you?"
"I believe that that shadow's messing with you." she crossed her arms "You said yourself that it messes with your head, and I wouldn't think it would stop to avoid hurting you if it meant it could get you around people."
"Ami, it couldn't have known we would leave, Ayaka was the only person that knew about where we're going, and she didn't say anything until after I had the vision!"
"Even I would've thought you'd do 'something' after what you saw. It was just an illusion, and this is a wasted trip. I mean, jeez, you're a little fox, why would anyone want to kill you?"
"You saw the attack on the village... Some humans..." I turned around to check if any of them could hear me talking, even though it was in Kurs. I continued, whispering quietly "Some humans just don't like us..."
"'Some'? Ha! Not even these humans really like us." Ami turned down the street and began walking with me in tow "They're either afraid of us or just keeping us in check."
"You're conceited." I sighed "Where are we going?"
"To see your wolf friend." she spoke flatly. Was she angry at Hoshi for something?
She walked me into another of the human buildings and I had to take a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting of the fires they had hung from the ceiling. That light bothered me. It was enough so I could just barely see, but not enough to set off my dark vision, leaving an unsettling gap that I was used to seeing into with ease. Glancing around in a somewhat confused manner as Ami led me deeper into the little place. There were people of all sorts leaning over a counter, built far too high for me to see over, from stools that I couldn't even dream of reaching up to. They all seemed like they were in a daze. Some even looked like they were sleeping. The air presented a hazy smoke of a familiar smell that I couldn't place.
"Stop smelling the air, do you wanna end up like them?" Ami motioned to the people at the ounter. I didn't know what she meant, but I complied.
We stopped. I looked forward. Leaning over a table in the corner was Hoshi. Why, of all places, would she choose this disgusting place to spend her day in?
"We also can't go because of her." Ami said "She's awake, but something's wrong with her... I mean besides this foul place. You know her, find out what's wrong or we might have to stay here longer."
"O-okay..." I nodded.
"And break out of here every once in awhile, the air's toxic or something. I gotta keep looking for Ayaka now, haven't seen her all day. Damn big town..." she stormed off muttering about being the voice of reason among the group. She was so tense. It didn't matter, I at least knew where Hoshi was, even if the place reeked of that dizzying scent.
I struggled to climb up onto the significantly lower chair, compared to the counter's stools, across from Hoshi.
Her eyes were glazed over and she stared blankly right through me. Tucked close under her arm was a mug of... questionable liquid... that I hadn't noticed from the floor. She appeared to have not noticed me yet. I leaned over the table to look closer into her eyes “Hoshi?” I waited for a response, but there was nothing “Are you dead?” it seems funny now, but my first assumption was that she was actually dead. I tried to stay calm, looked around for some kind of answer, then reassured myself that Ami must have already checked.
I climbed up onto the table so that I could reach her and poked her in the head with my finger. Still nothing.
She let off a violent twitch and made me jump back “Huh, whu- Whaz goin' on?” she stammered into a drunken slur “Hey, Acclue, where ya' been?”
“Sleeping. What're you doing?”
“I'm just waitin' for Denzel... getting' his stuff ready... Don' worry, we'll save some time like this!” she sounded like she hadn't slept for weeks or something. Of course, at the time, I hadn't been exposed to alcohol and didn't know what it did to people. Had I known, I'd probably try to stop her from performing even more self-destructive acts.
“What's wrong with you?”
“I dunno, what's wrong with you?” she fell face first onto the table and I think she just fell unconscious as her cup spilled out toward me. I jumped backward, nearly falling back onto my chair. I knelt down to the advancing liquid and breathed it in. It smelled more foul than the air. It made me feel sick “Why would anyone drink this stuff?”
I looked around me again, and took a few drops of the liquid in my hands and stared at it for a few moments. I lifted it to my mouth and almost immediately spit it back out “It tastes disgusting too!”
Hoshi liked that place for some reason, but I didn't trust it. I jumped to the floor and bolted out the door, looking for a source of water to clear the rancid taste from my mouth.
Hoshi would be alright without me. That's all that ran through my head as I rushed out of town and dove head first into the first stream I saw.
As I took my fill, I noticed that the ground didn't seem consistently level. It shook slightly. I stood from the stream's bank and rubbed my eyes. The ground was fine after that. Unaware of alcohol's effect, I also didn't know that demons were just about the most susceptible beings to it. Thankfully, I had barely gotten any in my system and I was left with a small throbbing in my head for a few minutes. Hoshi was drinking it in significantly higher amounts and was knocked out by about half a glass. The things that affect us are really a strange group.
I climbed up from the hill that formed the stream's bank and shook the water out of my hair.
My clothes were soaked and that was going to bother me for the rest of the day, but I was still too determined, at the moment, to get us moving again.
I wasn't sure if she was reliable, given her state, but Hoshi had told me we were waiting for Denzel... of course the slur was so deep that it was questionable if she had even said it right.
Regardless, I scoured the streets once again for Ami this time, and found her rather quickly.
She had with her, of all people, Clad. They both looked extremely irritated.
"Acclue! Translate!" they both demanded at about the same time in their respective languages. I had to snicker at their frustration, it was impossible for them to communicate and usually Hoshi was able to perform that duty. I hadn't had the honor yet.
It turns out that Ami just wanted to ask what to do about Hoshi and whether he'd seen Ayaka. Clad was also asking at Ayaka, but that really just cancelled that whole thing out. Clad said he would bring Hoshi back to the inn in just a little while. Now, it was my turn.
"Okay, where's this Denzel guy now?"
"He's at the North end of town, he's still getting ready, or so he says." Ami shrugged it off.
"Great, thanks." I ran from the two because I knew Ami would start complaining about abandoning them, but drunk, missing, and disbelieving members of our group wouldn't stop me from getting us going faster.
I reached the edge of the town before I realized that I had run East instead of North most of the way, and I had no idea what he looked like.
I turned around the North edge of town and began asking anyone I saw to help find him. Most ignored me or couldn't understand me and didn't care to stick around for me to ask again.
A Wolf Demon child finally pointed me toward a covered cart mounted by two basilisks.
A basilisk was a large crawling lizard with a huge bulky body. They had a long neck and a head with eerily dragon-like qualities. I had seen these beasts of burden before when we recieved our occasional wandering trader in my village. They frightened me then, and even with my new confidence, I was scared stiff at the sight of them.
I approached the wagon from behind to avoid letting the creatures hear me, and attempted to climb the edge of the back step. I failed miserably. I didn't have the upper body strength to lift myself over the lip.
Cursing my small body in my mind for what must've been the tenth time that day, I backed up to see if I could use anything as a ladder.
"Lookin' for somethin'?" I heard a voice behind me. Turning around, I saw a man sitting up against the wall of the closest building. He wore a folded cloth over his head and long hair came down behind it. He wore a grey cloak over his whole upper body, so I couldn't see what he was wearing. Even with his features concealed, I could tell he was a demon.
He smiled lazily at me "You must be that little possessed kid Hoshi was talkin' about." he sounded disinterested on the subject of my possession "So, what's up?"
I was only slightly startled that he knew Hoshi "I... uhh, where's Denzel?"
"You're looking at him."
That did surprise me. I had formed this image in my mind, after seeing the basilisks, that Denzel would be a big, musclebound human man, not this small demon. I was relieved that my assumptions had been wrong though. "Umm, when are we leaving? I'm not sure if you're aware of my... vision, but we need to leave soon. I mean really soon!"
"I'll tell you what I told them. I'll be ready tomorrow." he yawned.
"You're not even doing anything!"
"I'm waitin' for a guy."
"I'm going to die!"
"We all die someday."
"I mean soon!" this man was really beginning to frustrate me "I wanna try and stop it, but if we keep wasting time, I'm gonna die!"
"Yes. You are." his demeanor changed to a serious one. "Your shadow showed you a vision. It will come true." he stood up in one swift motion.
I percieved this as a threat and backed up slowly "Wh-what do you mean?"
"Not on a single occasion has a true psychic vision been changed. One way or another, it will come true." he fell back to the ground and a smile returned to his face "So you gotta enjoy the time you've got left, right?"
I was a bit confused, and scared that this person might not be the most stable guy to take us on this journey. But I wasn't dettered.
"Please, I really need to know when this'll happen! I have to reach the mountains!"
"And you will, in time." he lied against the wall with his eyes closed again, not speaking another word.
I was getting angry at the man, a rage inside me I'd never known had arisen. I looked down at the groun in thought and saw my shadow slowly creeping up my leg. "Okay, calm down. Calm down, I don't want to hurt him." I breathed deeply a few times and watched it return to the ground.
"Okay, you know what? I'm not going to risk this anymore. I'd rather wait than accidentally kill someone over a little argument." I turned around and began to walk away "Sorry to bother your work." I added, hoping to get him to change his mind.
"No problem little buddy." he waved me away and I complied relutantly.
I supposed it was useless to go against the current. I was stuck here for awhile so I'd just have to deal with it. Though somewhat distracted by what Denzel said, I still wanted to learn more about how he humans lived. I had only what I'd read in books to go by, and those didn't seem too reliable so far.
But first, I had to dry off. My clothes were still soaking wet from my dip in that shallow creek. In hindsight, that was a terrible idea. I'm just glad I didn't have my spellbook on me at the time, it would've been ruined.
For one thing, I couldn't swim, and I still can't today! I've always hated water. Thankfully, it was shallow enough to stand in.
Second of all, I hadn't brought any extra clothes with me. Demons aren't really too fond of clothing, we only really wear them to avoid reinforcing the stereotype that we're 'savages', or for their ability to hide our features.
Whether I wanted to wear them or not, I needed new ones now. The signs hung near the doorways of the various shops showed their specialty but it wasn't the same as home. We had never traded anything with eachother indoors. It was an old Fox Demon superstition that I felt overly attached to when I saw the humans' methods.
I saw a sign in Kurs and had to look twice just to make sure. It was a clothing store. What an unusual place for a demon to own.
Peeking in through the open doorway, I was surprised to see a human woman leaning on her elbow with her hand against her head. I stepped in and said "<Uhh, hello?>"
The woman looked down to me and her expression turned to excitement "Aww! And who are you lottle guy?"
"Oh. You speak Kurs?" there was something odd about this woman as I came closer.
"I don't know much of the human language." she laughed a little "I'm a demon like you."
"What?"
"Down south of the miasma line, my family and I were... well, they did some... strange things... They... removed... certain parts..."
"Oh Gods..."
"It's alright, I can still hear, I'd just... rather not let people see under my hair..." she sat down behind the counter "So, what can I help you with?"
"Umm, I need some new... clothes..." I thought my needs were pretty obvious.
"Oh, right, what happened?"
"I needed a drink." I smiled.
"Heh, you're funny, kid." she grinned back at me "So, what kind do you want? I have some stuff that'll let you hide. Have you seen any of the demons around here walking around with hooded clothing?”
“I saw a Cat Demon this morning-”
“Oh! Now that's a rare sight! It must've been Ash. She's a bit shy, so she even hides herself around here.”
“Well... I think I should be hiding...”
“Huh? What could you be hiding from?”
“Probably the same people that attacked my village.”
“Oh right, I'd heard about that. I guess it isn't too bad since you could get through.”
“I was lucky. My sister even more so. I think we're the last two...”
“Oh! Oh my... I'm so sorry! That's-that's just terrible!”
“Our father might still be alive, but... we're just not sure where he is.”
“So you came here alone then?”
I shook my head “I made some friends... Had to travel up from Kayton. The humans took me all the way down there.”
“Gods, you've been through a lot, haven't you?”
“Don't worry about it, I just need new clothes.”
“Oh! Right, right!” she stepped backwards from the counter, still looking at me, then turned toward the back room.
I sighed. Something told me that it was a mistake to have told this woman my story.
She stepped back in after only a moment. “Err, do you know what size you wear?”
“There are sizes?” I had always just assumed there were clothes for adults and clothes for children. I had, admittedly, only ever worn two outfits in my life. The ones I wore as an infant and the soaked ones I had worn into that store that day.
“Yeah, like... Small? Smaller? Extra small?”
“Ha, funny.” I tried to stay indifferent even though it was actually a pretty good joke at the time.
She smiled “I'm just kidding, I'll get you something.”
There was only a little shuffling in the back room for the next few minutes. She stepped out with a folded white bundle in hand, and placed it in my hands. “Try this one.”
“I can try it on first?”
“Of course. How else will you know if it'll fit?” she pointed to a curtained doorway on the side wall. “You can change in there if you want some privacy.”
“Uhh, okay.” I walked up to the curtain, unsure how I intended to pay for the cloak when I got back.
It took me a surprisingly long time to get out of my wet clothes, and even longer for me to figure out how to get into the new ones without getting them damp. Eventually, I couldn't wait anymore, and pulled the clothing on.
It was a black set of clothes all the way down, contrasting my skin and blending with my hair.
I pulled the cloak over my head and had some trouble figuring out how it was put on. The cloak, which was really more of a sheet with a hood on it than anything else, was pure white with a thick zig-zagging line of pale blue near the base. It covered myself down to the floor, making it very hard to use my hands, but it hid all my demonic features as long as I left my tail limp. It was a strange choice to combine with the black clothes, and really made me feel more noticible, but they were dry in the very least. It was attached around my neck by a small metal chain that fit loosely, and was actually very comfortable. I hadn't worn anything like that since I snuck into that human town with Hoshi a few weeks ago, and those weren't really clothes.
I looked at myself in the mirror on the wall and noticed that I looked very different in clothing that hadn't been covered in spots of dirt and dried blood from more recent encounters. I knew that wouldn't last long.
I stepped out of the dressing room with a smile on my face "So... how is it?" I asked the woman expectantly.
"Looks great, kid." she smiled "So what're you up to?"
"Hiding, I guess." I said, putting the hood down from my head.
"Yeah, I mean, what are you actually gonna do now? Like, right now."
"Oh. Well, I... didn't have anything but my clothes with me... I'm not sure what to give you for-"
"You can have 'em." she shrugged "Truth be told, those are just old clothes that I cleaned up. They were mine when I was a kid. I mean, before the whole..."
I nodded. The differences between a male and female demon of my age were essentially non-existent. "You don't want them?"
"I don't care, they're just old clothes to me."
"In that case, I think I'm gonna go look for my sister." I said, looking down at my new clothes one more time. "Thank you so much... uhh, you didn't say your name."
"It's Nari." she stood back from the counter and I didn't hear her at the time, but she spoke quietly "Thanks for listening."
