Astrid slowly tries to open her eyes, her eye lids seem to weigh a ton as she does. After a few excruciating seconds, she finally gets them open. She sees a stone ceiling above her, glancing around she sees various colored stones embedded into the ceiling giving off a soft light. She quickly recognizes the ceiling as the ceiling of the medical building at the Flemmington academy.

“Why am I here?” She thinks to herself as she tries to move her head to look around but is unable to.

“eegrrggrggrggg” Astrid whimpers out as she tries to move her mouth, tears start to flow from her eyes, rolling down the side of her head as she lays there, unable to move.

“Ummmm Ms. Jasmine, I think she is awake.” A familiar feminine voice says behind Astrid, just out of view.

“I think so too, you stay here Amy, I will go get Blaze before we continue.” Jasmine says, her voice filled with a deep sadness.

“Eggrrgrggggg” Astrid tries to cry out but she is unable to move her mouth.

“I wouldn’t do that Astrid.” Amy says as she looks over Astrid. “You are in a slight pickle, but do to you being in that pickle, it got me out of a little bit of trouble myself because I am the only one who can help you. Well help you help yourself.” Amy pauses for a moment. “Well I think that is what he wants anyways.”

“What?” Astrid thinks to herself as Amy talks, just making herself more and more confused. “Wait… what happened to cause me to be here?” Astrid thinks to herself, trying to remember what happened. Images start to flash in her head, images of a carriage, of her and a strange man laughing. The images quickly change to her home, blood and bodies everywhere. “No… please stop…” Astrid thinks again as more tears flow. Suddenly the memories freeze on her in a cave. “No… please no…” The memory then jumps forward to a dagger getting plunged into her chest, what feels like a searing flame penetrates her chest. Astrid struggles, attempting to move as her chest burns. “Please… stop…” She thinks, trying to talk but still unable to.

“Woah there! Calm down there Astrid.” Amy says as she puts her hands on Astrid’s chest, as soon as she does a thin shadowy film seems to fall from Astrid’s head.

“Please.. stop…” Astrid screams out as the film falls away. A look of surprise now on both women’s faces.

“I said calm down! No one is going to hurt you, I did this as a safety precaution.” Amy says she watches Astrid looking around the room, fear in her eyes.

“How did I get here? What Happened? Where are my parents!?” Astrid screams out as she continues to struggle.

“What is happening in here Amy?” Blaze yells out as he walks into the room.

“Blaze!” Astrid screams as she looks over at him. “What is happening? Why am I here?” Astrid’s mind keeps racing, trying to grasp what is in front of her till she starts to feel her entire body start to tingle then a wave of warmth hits her. She looks behind Blaze to see Jasmine chanting, a soft light flowing from her hands and flowing over her.

Blaze puts a smile on his face as he watches Astrid stop struggling and start to calm down. “Thank you, Jasmine.” He then looks over at Amy. “So, what happened?”

“I released part of the holding spell so she could talk to me, but from the looks of it she remembered some sort of trauma and started to lose it. More than likely its memories of when she transformed.” Amy says as she moves closer to Astrid.

“What do you mean transformed?” Astrid asks, a hint of tiredness in her voice.

All three of the adults pause as they hear Astrid’s question.

“What is it that you remember?” Blaze asks as he walks up to Astrid.

“I… I just remember… being with people, then…” Astrid starts to burst into tears again.

“Blaze, I don’t think that she hast lost control.” Amy says as she watches Astrid cry. “I think we should go ahead and release her restraints.”

“I agree, she has been traumatized enough it seems.” Blaze says as Amy waves her hand over Astrid.

Astrid looks down to see a black film slide off her body, as it does she becomes able to move properly again. She slowly sits up, her entire body aching as if she had been thrown off a cliff. “What is happening? Why are you all ignoring my questions?” Astrid asks as she tries to wipe away her tears.

“Well… The guards found you in a coma like state, and something seemed to have happened to you which caused you to be in your current state.” Blaze says as he watches Astrid closely.

“What do you mean current state?” Astrid asks, her eyes going wide as she starts to look down at herself.

“Astrid, do you remember meeting someone… or something strange?” Blaze asks as he puts a hand on Astrid’s shoulder.

Astrid looks up at Blaze as she feels his warm hand on her shoulder. “I don’t… know… my memory is fuzzy… I remember a person stabbing me and that is the last thing I remember.”

“Astrid, I’m going to tell you something that may be… painful. Somehow, you were turned into a demon.”

Astrid freezes for a few seconds before starting to force out a laugh. “That is funny Blaze, I’m not a demon.” Astrid looks back and forth between Blaze, Jasmine, and Amy as they all stare seriously at Astrid.

“But… but there is no way that I am a demon, you can ask Viele, and Shortclaw.” Astrid says as tears start to appear on her face again. “And where are they at? Is Viele okay?”

“Viele disappeared before I could question him, but since he’s your familiar he should be returning soon. And Shortclaw is in his room at the moment, you can see him soon as long as everything checks out.” Blaze says as he puts his smile back on.

“Why are you saying that I am a demon? In class, we were told there are two ways to become a demon. Either you are born one or you become one by high level mages doing experiments on you. Neither of my parents were demons, and there was no laboratory or anything like that near my house for a high-level mage to do that to me. Plus, it has been outlawed! And… I look exactly the same! Demons are all giant ugly monsters! So, I can’t ben a demon!”

“Your chest…” Jasmine mutters.

“What about my chest?” Astrid asks as she moves her shirt, looking down at her chest. She gasps when she sees the black scales spreading from the center of her chest and already covering half of her breasts. She pauses for a moment before starting to laugh. “Oh hahahahaha, who put you up to this? Was it Shortclaw? He said he was going to get revenge for me eating the last of his fried rayfish but this is way too much.” She then reaches into her shirt and starts to try to get her fingers on the black scales in an attempt to remove them. “Did you seriously put these scales on me using magic?”

All three shake their heads. Amy then lets out a sigh. “Blaze, Jasmine, can you both give me a few minutes alone with Astrid.”

Blaze puts a hand on Jasmine’s shoulder. “Let’s give them a few minutes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, Amy is probably the best person for this.” Blaze says as he walks towards the door.

“What? How?” Jasmine asks confused as she follows blaze out the room, closing the door behind her.

“Why did you want to be in here by yourself? I thought I was supposed to be a demon, that would make me an uncontrollable mindless creature.” Astrid says as she pulls her knees up and wraps her arms around them.

“Astrid, I am about to show you something. I want you to promise you won’t scream or get all scared.” Amy says as she rubs her forehead.

“Are you finally going to admit that this is some sort of sick joke?” Astrid asks angrily.

“Promise me.”

Astrid sighs. “Fine.”

“Remember that promise.” Amy says with a grin as she gets enveloped in shadows, as the shadows start to dissipate Amy reappears with two large curved horns on her forehead. Behind her is a thing tail covered in barbs. “So, what do you think?”

“D…D…” Astrid starts to scream but a small but powerful hand covers her mouth.

“Shhhhhh Astrid, you already forgot the promise?” Amy asks in an over sexualized tone.

“But… but… you are a demon?” Astrid asks as she looks Amy up and down wild eyed.

“Yes, I was born as a demon known as a succubus.” Amy says before letting out a soft giggle.

“But… how?”

“My mom was a succubus, and her and my father ended up dying when I was very young. Then Blaze saved me and raised me. He knows I am a succubus and has been helping me my entire life.” Amy says as she sits down beside Astrid, wrapping an arm around her, pulling her close.

“So, it’s not a joke? I really am a demon?” Astrid asks as she presses her head into Amy. “Why? How?”

“I don’t know, but we are here to help you get through this.” Amy says as she holds Astrid close.

-Gate of Flemmington Academy-

“808 Is not pleased with your loitering.”

“Wh…at?” Viele asks as he is startled awake by a loud robotic voice. Viele looks up to see the face of a damaged 808 golem in front of him.

“808 is not pleased with your loitering in its’ area. It’s not against facility policy for a delivered package to loiter at the gate but it still displeases 808, so please finish delivering yourself to the appropriate department.”

Viele stands up, looking around confused. “How… am… I here?”

“You were delivered by a male beastkin, he said that you were a package to be delivered. Since he wasn’t a student or an authorized personnel he was forced to leave the package at the gate. Now I request a second time, package, please deliver yourself to the appropriate department or be viewed as a hostile package.”

“O…kay…” Viele says as he takes step after painful step. The voices in his head start to react as the pain hits him in waves.

“Viele, we cannot use my transformation again until you are strong enough to handle it. Your body will fall apart and will lead to our deaths if you attempt to utilize me again.” The voice of the alpha deathscythe says angrily.

“I’m… sorry… anger… got the best… of my… judgement…” Viele says as he continues to walk forward, following his link to his master. He follows it till he reaches the medical center, walking through the door he walks into a large open waiting room. He looks around at the people sitting in chairs till he finds Shortclaw. Viele walks up to him, noticing Shortclaw was napping he pokes at him till Shortclaw jumps out of his seat, looking around frantically till he sees Viele standing beside him.

“Where have you been?” Shortclaw says as he wraps his furry arms around Viele, hugging him. “They haven’t been letting me see Astrid this entire time. They just keep on saying she is okay and not to worry. How can I not worry when they won’t let me see her!” Shortclaw releases Viele from his hug and looks him up and down. “Do you know why I can’t see her? Does it involve you leaving when you did?” He then raises an eyebrow as he thinks about it. “Wait, why did you leave when Astrid is in the state she is?”

“I… I… I’m not… sssssure… if we can tell…” Viele stammers out.

Shortclaw stands up, reaching out and grabbing Viele as anger wells up inside him. “Even if you are my friend, I won’t stand by if you know something that may help Astrid. Now you damn snake, tell me what happened to Astrid this instant before I do something I regret.” Shortclaw says threateningly before he can feel his grip loosen as the part of Viele he grabbed turns into snakes to get out of his grip.

“You… don’t… need to threaten… I will tell…” Viele replies, a hint of agitation in voice. “When… we went… to massssster’ssss home… we got attacked… betrayed by group…. We went with…. They tried to kill massssster… masssster went into coma…then went ssssstrange… I ssssssaved masssster… when you were here… not helping masssssster…”

“I…” Shortclaw tries to make a comeback but realizes that Viele was correct. “I… I know… I should have been there for her, if I would have known I could of helped. But please tell me, was this group a group of beastkin with a large black beastkin as their leader?”

“No… leader was… human with one arm… I went… after them… that is why I left… Nearly killed… dirty humans… they sssssomehow… dissssapeared… only… two left…” Viele says again angrily.

“Wait, why didn’t you tell me this before you left? I could have helped!” Shortclaw yells angrily, causing the rest of the people in the room to all turn and look over at the two. “Sorry…” Shortclaw says as he lowers his voice.

“Becaussssse… had… to hurry…. You would of… ssssslowed me down…”

“I could have done something, anything. And wait, what happened? Did you just leave when you lost sight of them?”

“No…” Viele snaps at Shortclaw, a loud clicking noise as Viele’s teeth slam together mere inches from Shortclaw’s nose. “I passssssed out… after fight…. Black fur… blue and red armor…. last thing I ssssseen… before waking up here…”

Shortclaw freezes when he hears Viele describe the last thing he sees. “Are you sure that is the last thing you seen?”

“Yessss…”

“That is actually helpful, thank you.” Shortclaw says with a grin.

“What… do you…” Viele gets cut off as he sees Blaze walk into the room followed by Jasmine.

“Oh, you are back?” Blaze asks as he sees Viele and Shortclaw standing together. Before Viele could reply though, Blaze cuts him off. “Before either of you ask, don’t worry Astrid is doing fine. Shortclaw, we can’t let you see her just yet, but you can see her here in a day or two when she recovers. Now Viele, you can see her here shortly after you answer a few questions.”

“A day or two?” Shortclaw asks.

“Yes, don’t worry she is just fine, just going to be making sure she is stable before we let her out and about.” Blaze says with a smile, putting Shortclaw at ease. “Go ahead and go home and get some rest.”

“O… okay.” Shortclaw nods. He turns around and walks out of the room, leaving the three together. As he walks out the building he turns towards the front gate instead turning towards his room. He walks out the front gate, sniffs the air for a moment then walks down a nearby alley. “You can come out uncle.”

“Oh? How did you know I was here? Heheheheh”

“Because, uncle. You are the only one that I know that would actually wear that silly red and blue armor.” Shortclaw says with a hint of a growl behind it.

“Awwwww, you don’t have to be all growl growl.” Shadowclaw says as he suddenly appears a few feet in front of Shortclaw. The red and blue armor glowing slightly but it quickly loses its’ glow as Shadowclaw takes off a pair of yellow gauntlets. “I knew I should of went from behind when I picked him up.”

“I thought that you were following my father to make sure he left the area?”

“I was, until I brought our good friend Viele back.”

“I need details uncle. None of your usual skipping around them.” Shortclaw demands as he gives his uncle a death stare.

“Ohhohoho… You know the only one that has the right to command me is the chief or the council.”

Shortclaw pauses for a moment, knowing that if he isn’t careful hey may anger his uncle and get no information. He quickly bows his head, nearly groveling. “I…. I am sorry uncle.”

“That is my good nephew! Before I give you the information I have a question, what happened with your mate? I can’t get close to the building without anyone finding me.”

“She was attacked while visiting her parents, the attackers were mostly humans. Viele hunted them down and attempted to kill them in revenge, but they managed to escape at the last moment.” Shortclaw says as he slams his fist into the brown brick wall beside him, causing dust and dirt to fall from the brick.

Shadowclaw pauses for a moment, raising an eyebrow. “That is not good, not good at all.”

“Does that mean what I think it means uncle? Was my father involved?” Shortclaw’s lip curls up as his anger starts to rise more.

“Calm yourself young pup. There is no concrete proof that your father sent them to kill your mate. But it’s not looking good because your father’s men are the ones that saved two of the humans from Viele.” Shadowclaw starts to grin. “But we have something else to worry about, how much do you know about that creature Viele?”

“What are you talking about? He’s my mate’s familiar!” Shortclaw growls out at his uncle.

“He turned into a Deathscythe, luckily it seemed to only have a fraction of the power of a deathscythe but he still transformed into one. My guess is he can’t control it. But even with the power loss when Viele transformed, your father and I were both a good distance away but we could still feel the aura of fear it emitted. The humans beside it, all they could do was run in terror, they didn’t even try to fight back.”

“What are you saying? I trust Viele, we have been through a lot these last few months. Plus, he’s even eaten dinner with you before!”

“I’m just saying, there are too many unknown variables. Your father or I could take Viele when he’s in that form, but you couldn’t at your current level. And if Viele is able to control that form better neither your father or I could take him some form of backup.”

“Uncle, you don’t need to warn me about Viele. I just need to know information on the humans that hurt my mate, and how they are involved with my father.”

“From the interactions that I seen, your father, more than likely didn’t send them. But I can confirm your father is now involved with them. I couldn’t get close enough to listen in but it looked like your father was pressuring information out of one of them.”

“I don’t care at this point; my father has to be involved with them in some way shape or form. It can’t just be a coincidence that everything played out how it did.”

“Well, it won’t help you anyways, you are far too weak to even fight your father, and his guards would tear you apart before you even get close to him.”

“Then what do you expect me to do then uncle! Wait for Astrid to get attacked again and die?”

Shadowclaw puts his hand on Shortclaw’s shoulder, letting out a sigh as he does. “Listen runt, I can’t tell you what to do, but I can tell you what I would do. I would get stronger, so strong that one day your father can’t touch you. You have the potential, I think that is why your fa…” Shadowclaw cuts himself off as he realizes what he is about to say.

“What?”

“Nothing Shortclaw, nothing. I would go get some rest.” Shadowclaw says as he puts his yellow gauntlets back on, after a few seconds the red, blue and yellow all start glowing and Shadowclaw gets replaced by a barely noticeable blur. The blur starts to quickly move deep into town, leaving Shortclaw alone in the dark alley.

“I will get strong… strong enough that no one can hurt Astrid again.” Shortclaw says as he turns around, heading back towards his room.

-Blaze’s office-

Blaze and Jasmine both watch as Viele walks out Blaze’s office. When the large stone door slides shut Jasmine turns to Blaze.

“So, what do you think?” Jasmine asks, her long fingers tapping against the arm of her chair nervously.

“From what was just told to me by Viele, Astrid must have been transformed into a demon due to that miasma. But it is strange, miasma doesn’t have the ability to just transform someone into a demon. The only thing that I can think of is that elves interact with miasma differently from the rest of the races.” Blaze says as he rubs his chin, attempting to put all the pieces together in a way that makes sense.

“So, what are you going to do? Are you seriously going to let her go out?” Jasmine asks Blaze worriedly.

“Why wouldn’t I? She currently has control of herself, and for now, I think it is best to let her live a normal life. I will also make sure that she has someone to watch her to make sure she doesn’t lose control.”

“Who?” Jasmine asks as she raises and eyebrow. “You mean Amy? Sure she has a lot of magic ability but you have her in here every other week due to some violation.”

“I know, but out of everyone I know she is probably the only option for this circumstance.” Blaze sighs as he rubs his temples.

Jasmine leans forward, confusion setting in as she tries to figure out how Amy is the only option. “Is she related to a demon?”

Blaze pauses for a moment then nods. “Yeah, the lass had a demon in her family, I can’t go into too much detail but you can trust me, she is the only one we can trust with Astrid right now. And if anything happens I will make sure that I get control of the situation before it gets out of hand.” Blaze says as he pulls out a wooden box from below his desk.

-Shortclaw’s room-

Shortclaw lays in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was unable to go to sleep as his brain cycles over and over through everything that was told to him. Anger festering with each cycle. He wasn’t there for his mate when she needed him, he may have even allowed it by letting his father go as he did. He needed to get stronger is the only thing he wanted, to protect what was precious to him. He looks over at the shadowsteel mace, the intricate patterns on the head of the mace seem to taunt him. Shortclaw bares his teeth. “Why am I laying here? I am helping no one by doing this!” He sits up and jumps to his feet, the boards supporting his bed creaking as the weight baring down on them shifts. He grips the shadowsteel mace and lifts it up, placing it on his shoulder. He then turns towards the door and lets out a roar, pumping himself up. Shortclaw’s roar is cut short as he hears a knock on his door.

“Your… roar… weak…” A familiar voice says from the other side of the door.

“Viele? What are you doing at my room? Why aren’t you with Astrid?” Shortclaw asks as he opens the heavy wooden door.

“Massssster… asssssk… to check on you…. and tell you something… I won’t tell… no… I won’t hug… him…” Viele mutters.

Shortclaw raises and eyebrow as the tree ent seems to half talk to itself. “Is she doing okay?”

“Yessss… masssster… hasssss ssssstrange person… with ssssshadow… taking care of her… they called her… babyssssiter… not anything ssssussspiciousssss… sssshe ssssaid…”

“That is actually very suspicious.” Shortclaw says with a huff.

“Massssster…. Alsssso… ssssaid… you had… to feed me… if… you love… her…” Viele says with a giant smile on his face, causing Shortclaw to narrow his eyes at the tree ent, then he gets an idea.

“You want to eat all you can eat while also helping out Astrid?”

It’s now Viele’s turn to be suspicious. “And… what… do I need… to do?”

“Just help me kill a few weak creatures, should be fast with both of us.” Shortclaw says as he walks by Viele as he thinks.

“O… kay…” Viele says as he starts to follow Shortclaw into town.

Shortclaw quickly walks through town, the various shops and civilians seem to blur by in his peripheral vision as he goes to his uncles shop. Upon reaching the shop he quickly goes in, ignoring all the workers saying hello, he goes to the back of the shop where his uncle is always working. When he enters the back room, he sees his uncle sitting in his favorite chair with a giant grin on his face. “What can I help you with cub?”

-Medical room-

“Thank you for letting Viele go deliver that message for me.” Astrid says as she sits down in a chair near Amy. “And can you explain to me why Blaze is forcing me to wear these?” Astrid points at the two tight fitting white wristbands, the green stones embedded into it pulsating slowly.

“They are the insurance to make sure no one in town gets hurt, and don’t worry due to a certain circumstance I am forced to wear them too.” Amy says as she pulls back the long sleeves of her robe showing two on each arm.

“What do they do? Blaze wasn’t very informative about that. And how do they keep towns people from getting hurt?” Astrid asks as she pokes one of the green stones.

“They are actually part of something known as a prison collar, two wrist bands and a choker are put on high level prisoners that government officials don’t want to kill. The wrist bands are known as the non-lethal part of the set, what they do is if you try to violate a rule set on it, the wrist bands will send out a magical shock to your system and knock you out for a day or two. Now if we had the chokers, it would mean instant death if those went off.” Amy says with a chuckle, causing Astrid’s face to pale. “Don’t worry, you will be just fine, yours is just set to disable you if you attack a civilian in the city.”

“Attack a civilian? Wait, why only in the city?”

“In case you lose control. For the second question, you know that pillar in the center of the campus? Well it’s actually more than just a pillar, it sends out mana to the various devices connected to it, which includes these fashion accessories. But the range is only the city itself, so if you leave the city they won’t have the mana to do anything.” Amy says with a happy grin on her face.

“In case I lose control? I guess… I can see that…” Astrid says as she looks at her hands, before looking up at Amy. “And wait, why did he force you to wear them? I never seen you wear them before.”

“Oh that?” Amy asks as her face starts to turn a slight shade of red. “That was because I had, gotten hungry. Yeah gotten hungry, nothing happened so don’t worry. Just had to wear them because Blaze got angry at me.”

Astrid raises an eyebrow at the obvious half-truths that were coming out of Amy’s mouth. “Uh huh.”

“You don’t believe me?” Amy asks, feigning injury as she pouts. “You hurt me Astrid, and after I told you my biggest secret and spent all this time with you, helping you go through the change.”

Astrid starts to giggle at Amy’s show. “Okay, I’m sorry.”

“You better be. To pay me back you owe me lunch.” Amy says with a grin, grabbing the young elf’s hand she drags her out of bed, and out the door.

Astrid’s eyes grow wide. “Wait, what are we doing? Blaze said I had to stay put till tomorrow!”

“That stick in the mud won’t know, we will be in and out. If you are quiet I may even let you go visit that sexy boy toy of yours.” Amy glances back and winks at Astrid as they walk.

Astrid’s face turns apple red and she only babbles out in protest as she gets dragged by Amy.