Road trips are not fun.

Being stuck in a floating hunk of metal for longer than 10 minutes with nothing better to do than look out the window is not fun.

Letting an undead do the driving and sitting in the back with three sleeping girls and a handful of undead iS NoT fuN.

These girls better be grateful they’re traveling with the me of today and not the me of yesteryear. Well Lily’s only in this situation because of me anyway so I guess she has every reason to curse me.

Anyways, this sucks. It's like less than .0001% of my life span right?

At least Helia’s enjoying herself sitting up front. This would have been worse if she was like me. Maybe a couple hundred years would change that. Would she even live that long?

Shoulda packed a book…

“Why are we stopping? It's not even been an hour,” Lily complained.

“You got somewhere better to be Princess?” Luiza shot back.

“Shut up half-freak! We stop here and we’re gonna attract attention.”

“You’re seriously more worried about some insignificant-”

Strongly contemplating for a moment whether it would make sense to shut both of them up permanently, I got up from the seat and pressed the button that opened up the rear door. As the door went upwards, I jumped out of the still moving truck and onto the grassy hillock that separated the highway from the river. A confused driver momentarily wavered at the sight of me leaving out the back but they managed to regain their bearings before causing any lasting trouble.

Good for them.

The morning sun glistened as a couple of cargo ships cruised lazily up and down the water. I tugged at the slave collar around my neck and formed a ball of electricity in my hand, ready to hurl it at….

I nullified the magic but not before it had made my hair stand on end. Sitting down in the grass, I futilely tried to get my hair back to something that Ziden or Lukas wouldn’t make fun of, before promptly giving up and laying down in the grass. At this point, Helia walked up and sat down next to me, not saying a thing.

Some time went by before I broke the silence by saying, “Pretty pathetic isn’t it?”

“...I wouldn’t…say so…”

“We both know that isn’t-”

“Except maybe your hair right now,” she interrupted me sheepishly.

I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Always go for the easy targets first, as everyone’s been teaching me,” she shrugged.

“I’m doing something wrong if I’m painting myself as an easy target,” I said, forcing out a laugh.

Neither of us spoke for a couple of minutes, with the only sounds coming from the highway some distance behind and the river directly in front of us. In that moment, I reflected on how something so mundane and simple was able to cause enough stress and tension to get me to this point. It also didn’t help to stuff individuals that didn’t get along inside the back of a confined space. I guess that should have been obvious to begin with, but it didn’t cross any of our minds…or at least no one had vocalized it at the time. Perhaps it was one of those things where everyone thought it should have been obvious.

Regardless, what’s done is done. No one’s died…so nothing irreversible…yet.

“Something’s gotta change…” I said to no one in particular.

“What has to change?”

“This misadventure that I put on all of us.”

I heard Tania’s cautious footsteps in the grass and I sat up just as she drew closer.

“Luiza’s just about ready to tear Lily’s throat out,” the demihuman girl announced. “I doubt there’s any stopping her here soon. Not even those undead of yours.”

“I guess that’s something,” I scoffed.

“Mom!”

“Yeah, yeah. That's not the point.” I jumped up and even though Helia didn’t need it, I extended her a hand. “Got any bright ideas for turning this entire thing around Tania?”

She turned her head towards the direction of the parked truck and contemplated for a moment before responding, “Short of disbanding our merry group, I don’t got any.”

“Tsk, I may as well fly back and dump Lily off in Chamont and maybe that will be enough.”

Scratching her head, Tania hesitated before I motioned for her to speak up.

“I know this sounds really simple, and maybe stupid, but why not share some stories of your past? Demihumans love sharing stories as a pastime,” she said looking down for a second. More confidently, she looked back up and continued, “I’m sure you have plenty of cool things you could share.”

I gave Tania a stare devoid of emotion and pondered for a moment whether that would work or not.

“I like her idea,” Helia chimed in. “I don’t think you talk about yourself enough.”

After a moment of hesitation, I said, “Fine, let's give it a shot. Simple solutions are best. Right?” I said clapping Tania on the back; her knees to buckled a little. “But everyone better have their own exciting stuff to share - I’m not into monologues.”

Unlike some demons, and people for that matter, I don’t take excessive pleasure in hearing the sound of my own voice.

****************************************************************************

On another part of the highway, in a similar truck, a young man with long blond hair and an ugly scar on his left cheek was silently driving. Not being a native to this world, he had had some driving experience before being forcibly summoned to Osetia, so the absence of tires on the road felt odd to him. Occasionally the wind would pick up and the vehicle would struggle a bit, but otherwise it was a smooth ride. For the most part he was able to keep his attention on the road ahead…notwithstanding the body that lay in the passenger seat.

Not dumping the body somewhere convenient was the decision of the grizzled minotaur that sat in the back, who was meditating with his eyes closed. Sitting next to him were two other minotaurs, who also quietly prepared themselves for what was coming ahead. No strangers to combat, it was simply one of the rituals that the race of bull-like humanoids did prior to anything of significance. *****************************************************************************

A long time ago…

Birds scrambled out of the tops of trees as a fireball went up into the cloudy sky. Smoke that could be seen for a kilometer irritated the noses of the various animals that had otherwise remained unbothered by the sounds of fighting. While some had already fled to other areas, most of the nearby fauna recognized that they weren’t in any danger. Or at least they didn’t recognize the danger for what it was.

On a widely traveled dirt path through the forest, the route split into two directions, forming a crude Y-shape. Normally a large boulder sat at the middle of the juncture but it had been moved to the left side, blocking any traffic from coming or going in that direction. While the bodies of horses and men alike bloodied the tan surface, the smoldering wreckage of a handful of carriages masked the smell of death.

Two merchants in expensive clothing cowered in the one remaining carriage, with one whimpering and the other silently praying that some miracle would come down from the heavens to save them. Outside the carriage, only 5 of the 24 guards hired for this journey were left - which included three men in full plate armor with melee weapons, a lightly armored crossbowman on top of the carriage, and the only remaining mage who stood behind her heavily armored comrades.

Breaking the momentary silence, one of the men muttered, “Nowhere to run.”

“Nowhere to hide,” another smiled grimly underneath his helmet.

“And surrender don’t seem like an option either,” the third breathed deeply.

Despite her concentration on strengthening her comrades and managing her remaining mana, the mage yelled out, “Shut up and let it take us out already! I bet it's only toying with us at this point anyway.”

“What? Think it will let us go if we just give up?” laughed the first man maniacally.

“THREE O’CLOCK! IN-!” yelled the man on the carriage as a small purple demon with white wings rushed in, using one of the men’s shoulders as a jumping board to propel herself towards the top of the carriage. The man shot his crossbow at the demonic girl, the bolt embedding itself in the demon’s left leg, but before the man could express any elation, she slashed her claws through his chest armor. Before the merchants even heard the body fall, the demon had already disappeared into the dense foliage.

“Did you see that? Canus managed to get a hit in.”

“I doubt that’s enough to drive it off.”

Sitting down briefly in the camouflage of the forest, the demon girl for the first time in her life felt what intense pain was like. Grimacing as the pain around her leg throbbed, she became curious at the difference in color between the dark red on her claws versus the brighter red coming out from her body. Instinctively, she pulled out the bolt and looked at it closer, taking note of the material it was made from and how it had penetrated her flesh. The young demon realized a moment later that the pain had subsided, her skin automatically closing the open wound.

This came as a huge surprise - none of the beings she had inflicted injuries on up until now had that kind of healing ability.

Among her reasons for attacking different people was to try and find someone like her, yet she had basically given up on that after repeated attempts; she may be the only one of her kind.

She had seen and fought bipedal creatures with all kinds of traits, had encountered intelligent creatures with wings on their backs or scales for their skin, but none of them appeared to be like her. Worse still was when the demon took the time to observe some of the creatures' homes and ways of life, she identified that they had some sense of community and belonging.

Something that she felt some attraction to but had no access to. To the demon’s confusion and dismay, she was immediately attacked when she tried peacefully approaching these areas, especially since it was more out of curiosity than any sense of malice. Following a few unsuccessful attempts, she finally gave up on trying to learn more that way.

Back to the present situation, the little demon had a decision to make: leave the area to pursue other interests or finish off these beings that had finally given her pause?

Going back to the scene of battle, the remaining guards finished helping the two merchants climb over the boulder before hoisting their lightly armored mage to the top. Before going all the way, she asked, “Are you sure about this?”

“If that little devil comes back, we’ll hold her off here for as long as we can.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

“We’ll meet up in the next town. Now get a move on and warn the townspeople of the danger in the forest. Hurry!”

“Tch-”

The mage went over the boulder, her black hair the last thing to disappear, before the three remaining men drew their swords once more.

“You think she’ll be back?”

“Aye.”

After a moment’s pause, “Are we just winging it then?”

“Got any bright ideas Gallio?”

“Nah,” he replied with a shake of the head. “Just wish I had some alcohol for these last moments is all.”

Before the other man was able to respond, they all turned towards the sound of a bolt, flying rapidly through the air. The men quickly raised their large metal shields before the bolt pierced, but didn’t penetrate, the shield in the center. Wondering for a moment whether they were being attacked by some other group, they readied themselves, but other than the sounds of their own breathing and the forest, everything went disturbingly quiet.

One. Two. Ten seconds go by without any developments. Then a minute turns into two.

“IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?!”

“OPITER!” said Gallio furiously. “Shut. Up.”

Another minute or so passed by before, the third man named Vel murmured, “Perhaps we managed to drive the demon off?”

“It could just be waiting for us to lower our guard,” Gallio said.

“That thing hasn’t demonstrated patience before, I doubt-”

Before Opiter could finish, they all heard the distant scream of a woman before it was abruptly cut off.

Not long after, the little demon knelt at the edge of a clear blue pond, tarnishing that little section of water by cleaning off her hands of dried blood. Already having made sure that there was nothing around that would do her harm, she calmly scrubbed her hands, pausing momentarily to study her reflection in the water.

“You’re a demon. Kill and destroy. You’ll be happy. Maybe we’ll talk again. Until then, have fun,” the voice she didn’t recognize had imprinted upon her thoughts.

That voice had come and gone; her first experience in this life that she was able to recall.

During that brief one sided communication, she sensed malice and hatred, but not towards her - towards her, she felt a twisted sense of pride and excitement. After the voice had gone silent, the little demon had opened her eyes underwater, surrounded by other living things. Some stayed well clear of her. Others went about their business like she wasn’t even there.

Only after leaving what she would later learn was an oasis, did she notice her reflection which showed a small girl, with purple skin and black horns, as well as soaked white hair and feathery wings. She opened her mouth and felt her fangs, then extended and retracted the sharp claws on her hands. After gaining a rough sense of who she was and what she looked like, the demon had started to explore and investigate the world around her.

But being in the middle of the desert turned into a rude surprise. There was basically nothing to interact with! And it was so oppressively hot outside…the new demon had dove back into the water.

In any case, leaving the desert had been a challenge - and partially what drove her to kill the first intelligent beings that she had run across. Her first victims had been some short, stocky bipedal creatures that had been trying to get something out of some rocks. As she stumbled across these beings for the first time, the urge to attack them rose quickly and naturally, overriding any sense of curiosity or desire to communicate.

A frog jumped into the pond, bringing the demonic girl back to the present. Having cleaned her hands, she did her best to clean the other parts of her body as best as she could. Unfortunately there was nothing she could do about the blood on the clothes that she had procured, having learned that it was useless to try and get such stains out. While it bothered her slightly, she chose not to dwell on it.

After this latest fight, she realized more fully that she had a long way to go before becoming good at combat. Being the first time that someone had managed to land an attack on her, it had also been the first time that she had fought against foes that had been properly armed, armored, and trained for this type of encounter. Despite being unfamiliar with their loadout, she had chosen to dive right in and engage them - which she now decided had been a mistake.

Sitting back for a moment and stroking her wings, she reflected on the things that she needed to work on.

Combat and magic were two obvious things. For this she knew that she would have to practice some more and choose her targets more wisely.

Communication was another; she still didn’t understand one bit the spoken form of communication that she had overheard. But hold on…this would require getting someone to help her? Was that even going to be possible?

Not to mention she still didn’t know how to fly.

Having seen other creatures with wings soaring through the air, she had selected a spot to attempt her first flight, but to her major embarrassment, that had only ended in pain and some twigs in her white hair.

Lamenting at her shortcomings, she failed to notice the red and white beast that was cautiously approaching her from behind…

Present Day

“I call bullshit!” Lily said passionately, arms crossed. “There’s no way in hell you remember all of that, not when you can’t even remember what you ate for breakfast.”

“It does seem a bit far-fetched that you were…born?...underwater,” Luiza muttered.

“Oh shut up,” I snapped. “Memories are a fickle thing, I’ll grant you that, but those were some defining moments for me and if I wanted to make something up, it’d be far more exciting than what I just described.”

“She’s got a point there,” Tania joined in.

“I guess I’ve never questioned the authenticity of Mom’s stories before…,” Helia mused.

“Now isn’t the time to start doing so either,” I said, sticking out my tongue.

At this point, one of the demtroopers interrupted by announcing that we would be crossing a signals bridge soon - whatever that meant. Considering that the crossing would involve a security inspection, it was imperative that we did nothing to cause a stir. Well maybe it wasn’t imperative…

“Alright listen up you ingrates, I got one more story to share before we travel across this bridge. It’s one Helia hasn't heard already either,” I said, while giving her a look. “And you all better stay quiet for this one. This one means something to me.”

Sometime after the convoy clash…

On the outer edge of a field, a male child with the top half of a human and the lower half of a spider hung upside down from the trees, reading a book. The child had hardened tan skin and short black hair, matching the color of his lower body. Perusing the book with his red eyes, he was lost in the fictional world, escaping the dull and depressing reality he had to call his own.

In a large barn on the opposite side of the field, the child’s mother along with a handful of other arachne worked tirelessly, weaving thread and mass producing clothes for a human company that dealt in such things. On each of the arachne was a somewhat ghoulish mark; a physical manifestation of the dark magic that kept them enslaved.

A thin brunette walked among them, ensuring that none of them misbehaved or fell behind in their production. Fortunately for the slaves, they had given her no reason to use the punishing power of slave magic in recent memory.

While their situation was far from great, the price of revolting currently exceeded the price of remaining docile and obedient. At least that was the sentiment that most of the adults shared. However, to the young arachne currently reading, he wasn’t satisfied with the status quo. In fact, he wanted to break free from the magical shackles that bound him. Except he wasn’t quite sure what he would do after leaving…

Regardless, the desire to free his mother and the other slaves persisted. After all, the only reason why he was permitted to be reading right now was simply because he currently didn’t have the experience and endurance of the adults. Basically, as long as he wasn’t causing any trouble, the humans were occupied with other things. Once he got older, things would change. Maybe he would know better than to fully engross himself in a book, which is why he failed to notice the rustling of leaves above him.

Having sighted the young arachne from afar, the purple demoness silently approached Talcott, wondering if or when the spider-like creature would notice impending death. Purposefully taking her time, she had cautiously leaped from a neighboring tree, only to be disappointed that she still remained unnoticed. Before giving in to her desire to kill, she looked closer at what the arachne was doing.

Just what was the spider doing? What was he holding in his hands? Maybe this was a rare moment to work on one of her non-combat related shortcomings? It wasn’t very often that she felt excited in this way. She breathed deeply and silently, closing her eyes to focus on stifling the urge to kill.

Hooking her legs on the branch above, she gently lowered herself upside down towards the still unaware Talcott. Upon getting within a comfortable distance, the demon girl managed to utter one of the few words that she knew.

“Hulloe”

Without looking away from his book, Talcott replied with a hello of his own, only to suddenly realize that he didn’t recognize the interruption. Upon glancing up, he saw the purple skin, white wings, the black horns. His eyes widened.

“Oh crap,” he gasped.

As Talcott was about to instinctively drop his book and release his hold on the thread, the demon grabbed the book with one hand, and used her other hand to prevent him from going anywhere. Feeling the strong grip on his body, his immediate reaction was to try and break away, but when he saw that the demon was more interested in the book than she was in him, he relaxed ever so slightly. Only slightly.

“Uhhhhhhhh, hi there.”

She paused her light bouncing of the book and let go of Talcott. Pointing at the faded cover of the book, the girl tilted her head.

“Oh-h, I t-take it you don’t know too many words?” Talcott inquired. Putting one of his own fingers on the book, he said, “Book.”

“Book,” she uttered. More excitedly, she repeated the word.

“This is weird,” Talcott whispered to himself.

“Here,” Talcott said to the demon girl. Standing taller than her, he extended to her three pairs of garments that would cover the girl’s lower body. Up until now, Talcott had only seen her wearing the same article of clothing which meant that it was permanently stained and dirtied at this point. Occasionally the arachne could identify that she made some attempts to clean her black colored bottom wear but there was only so much abuse one piece of clothing could take.

When Talcott had made this request of his mother, he had come prepared with half an explanation to answer any questions. Except to his surprise, his mother had only asked what size and what colors. He took a guess at the girl’s size and then the male arachne thought about the tone of the girl’s skin and responded with teal, lilac, and gray. His mother nodded and said to give her two weeks to get it put together. With a wan smile, she ended the conversation by telling Talcott to be careful, whatever he was up to.

The little demoness accepted the bottoms and started to take off the ones she currently wore, before being quickly stopped by Talcott. He told her that it wasn’t proper to get undressed in front of someone like that. The arachne wasn’t sure she fully understood, but as long as it stopped her from being fully naked in front of him, that was all that mattered.

“Fanks,” she said with a toothy smile. As she smiled, her wings fluttered slightly as well. Those fangs of hers still freaked Talcott out.

Even so he knew that if this demon had wanted to do him harm, it would have happened weeks ago. After all, they met almost on a daily basis at the edge of the field to look at picture books or just to talk. Well…it was more him helping her learn how to converse anyway.

And strangely enough, it had become a comfortable routine for the young male arachne, even more comfortable than doing anything with the other young arachne that were also around. A small part of Talcott thought that maybe the demoness was charming him with magic or something, except for the fact that there was something way too innocent about all of this.

Looking at the ground, Talcott asked, “Can I ask you something?”

“What, Talcott?”

“Are you going to kill me?”

“Probablie tomorrow,” she declared.

“What?! Really?!”

She started giggling and said, “Jus kidding.”

“Hey! Don’t scare me like that,” he protested. “But phew, that’s a relief.”

The demon girl, who Talcott still didn’t have a name for, put a serious expression on her face and said, “I…no have…parents. Or family. And I…can’t learn…all, just me. So thanks.”

Oh nuts, Talcott thought to himself. Am I helping a demon become more dangerous? But she can’t be all that bad…can she?

Present day

Leaning back on the uncomfortable seat, I took a break from talking about the young arachne to collect some thoughts. I would have continued the story if it weren’t for the fact that we had just entered the queue to be inspected before crossing a major bridge that travelers had to cross to get to Viersier. Even though we could technically travel all day, we had already proven it unwise to stay cooped up like this all day, so the decision was made to stay overnight in an unknown city. Obviously I knew that could end up being the wrong choice, but I was sticking by it.

As I looked out the window, I could see other vehicles waiting to be inspected. There were also a number of blue and gray colored soldiers either on patrol or examining crossers for contraband or other illegal activities; interestingly there weren’t any of the red and white soldiers that I had become accustomed to.

Helia asked me a question to which I had to ask her to repeat.

“Did something bad happen to Talcott?”

“My guess is that he was sold off, or our resident demoness here ended up killing him, don’t ya think?” Lily interjected.

“Jeez you’re insufferable,” Tania said.

“Alya has made known that she despises slavery right? Even though she has all the power in the world, she chooses not to lord it over other people. There has to be a reason right?”

“I hate to admit it, but your deduction is correct; however, Talcott died a natural death,” I admitted while giving Lily a look devoid of emotion. I looked back out the window and said, “But you’ll have to wait until later. Something isn’t right, I can sense it.”

Before I had said that, Lily had a smirk on her face. Now she looked out her window as well and said, “I’ve been across this bridge multiple times. I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. Though the line seems somewhat more backed up than normal…”

“Mom, you figure something’s going to happen? Could it be because of us?” Helia asked while making her way to the rear.

“It could be nothing. My intuition isn’t always right. Still we have yet to go through the inspection, so stay alert.”

Luiza put her head into her hands while her sister placed a hand on her back, looking out of the vehicle as well. The demtroopers sat quietly while the one that was driving rolled down the driver’s side window.

“Good afternoon,” a male voice said. The undead replied with a greeting of its own.

“Haven’t seen that type of armor before. New unit?”

“You could say that. I’ve got our papers right here.”

“Lemme have a look.”

A moment passed where I assumed the man was looking over our documents before he said, “Everything appears to be in order. However, my apologies. We’re under orders to inspect everyone thoroughly. There’s been some trouble afoot. Shouldn’t take long though.”

Well alright. Guess I should have examined those papers Roche’s aide had prepared for us. Since I had no idea what was in them, I couldn’t say for certain how these soldiers were going to react to what they were going to see.

I still had a feeling something was going to happen.

******************************************************************************

Down below, on one of the ships that was cruising lazily towards the signals bridge, six winged creatures known as harpies quietly listened as a stocky dwarf explained their target and the overall mission objectives. While they watched the male dwarf point to a visual of the bridge and explain its structure, others behind them carefully placed shoulder mounted rockets onto the backs of the harpies. The dwarf explained that the bridge was dual purpose: 1. It was to provide a safe crossing across the river and 2. That the structure in the middle acted as a relay for communications across the country,

One of the individuals preparing rockets was a large female arachne with black and red hair. Standing behind a blue and green winged harpy, she verified that all of the harpy’s equipment was good to go before giving her back a light double tap with one of her hands.

The arachne named Aranea gave one more glance towards the front, before withdrawing to grab her own gear.

******************************************************************************

Having already passed the security checkpoint, a set of three commercial trucks were already crossing the bridge, going in the same direction as Alya and her group. While the one in the middle contained a group of men providing security, the lead and trailing vehicles were filled with fatigued and somewhat sad looking devils and elves.

…on each of their necks was a certain black mark.