Chapter 0
The Day Humanity Broke

Once upon a time, someone told me they believed in a little theory. If infinite universes could exist, does that mean all universes could exist? If every work of fiction could have it's own universe, with it's own laws of reality. Could that also mean every work of fiction has endless variations? An endless expanse of realities born of countless works of art.

I responded, "What if those works of fiction are just our mind catching glimpses of another world?" I asked, a smile threatening to play along my lips. The look of pure excitement, and fascinated in their eyes at that idea was a moment I will never forget. But then, I had only told them the truth, and you know what they say. Sometimes the truth is far stranger than fiction.

Earth, May 1693. A time Humanity should never have forgotten. And yet,the reason it is remember is in blissful ignorance. A time where lunatics of religion burned innocent men and women, hung them, tried them for a crime they were innocent. The crime was true. The Victims, were only a fraction of the truth.

The Salem Witch Trials were only one of the great moments of tragedy, spurred on by humanities disregard for understanding, and willingness to destroy anything that even is hinted to separate from what they believe to be real. 20 people, recorded, were executed for the practice of "Witchcraft." A word that for some seems so dirty. The practice of magic, believing them to be Wives of the Devil, who dance, and work in his name.

20 people was nowhere near the true scope of this pain. Nor were humans the only victims. Near 400 souls met the fire that day. Over 600 were accused of witchcraft. 200 of them were humans. over 400 were things that now, humanity only remembers in legends, twisted and mutated by their own hatreds, and pains.

2 of those people, were daughters of Hell. Demons, who came to earth in hopes of learning more about humans. Women seeking knowledge in curiosity. Sadly, a demon is just a demon, to humanity. Nothing but creatures of sin, and evil. If only they could see.

I slowly slumped against a wall, shaking quietly as I clutched my younger sister tightly. My curly brown hair now completely covered black with ash, my red eyes now strained from tears, and wails of fear. My pale skinned covered in a mixture of dirt, soot, and sweat from running. How had things gone so far downhill, so quickly..

I took out a brush, and slowly began to work on my little sister's hair. Her lavender locks, normally wavy were now tangled and knotted, as she shook in my lap. Her beautiful purple eyes were clamped shut as she clutched her little penguin doll. Her soft peach skin was as muddied as mine, but luckily lacked the sweat mine did as I had carried her this far.

She was only 700, she didn't need to see this. Why had I brought her along, I should of known better. I should of been more prepared.. I gently work to fix her hair, safe now hidden by the wall of stone behind us, as I hear in the distance the marching footsteps of the villagers. They must be at least 2 miles off, plenty of distance for now. Even with hounds, my magic has covered our scent plenty to avoid tracking at this range.

I run the brush slowly over the front section, careful of her horns. Her two twisted horns, starting at the back of her hair, curl softly down the sides of her head, like a circlet just above her hair, peeking at her forehead into two small spikes. She always had the cutest of my sisters. Still, she's also one of the youngest.

I kiss her head, trying to whisper comforting things to help calm her down, as i gently rock her in my arms. She seems to relax slowly, as her shaking calms down, but she mutters something that makes me want to cry. Her voice cracked, in shock, but laced with anger. "Why can't we just killed them...?"

I sit there, holding her closely as I pet her head quietly. My own voice harsh from running, I answer slowly. "Because they just don't know any better yet Kimisa." I always sucked at physical actions, and those brands.. They stunted my magic enough to stop me from empowering my limbs. I'll need to get home later and use some olystrite to burn off whatever hex they placed on me with these odd mishaped T's.

She takes a shakey breath, leaning more into me clutching her doll. She seems annoyed with my answer, but understanding. She's always disliked humans, seeing them as pests who cause the yokai and hybriod races issues. She always wondered why they were allowed to live on Sol, and not just made to live in their own separate world. I've always tried to explain that they are a newer race, it takes time.

"Ok... C.. can we j just go home t then..?" Her voice afraid, shaky and hoarse. I clutch her tighter to me, taking a nervous breath as tears threaten to spill. The brands hurt so badly as i try to pool mana to my hands, stopping any chance to open a portal home. When we get there, I am asking Chef to make us the biggest fucking cookie pizza ever.

"We will Kimisa, we will. We just need to get to get away from them long enough for these weird hexes to wear off, ok?" I tell her, trying not to let on how much I want to cry.

"Ok Big Sissy. I love you, so I trust you." She responds, a bit calmer as she nestles into me, keeping her eyes closed to try and nap. I pet her head, softly singing a lullaby as I wipe my face. If only i could tell her, I have no clue how long that might be.

Night slowly comes, as I look back from our stony barrier. I can still see the glow of torches passed the forest line, the smoke of a bonfire, and the snarling of hounds. They are so much closer now, not even 100 meters away.

I pick up my sweet Kimi, putting her on my back careful not to wake her. She doesn't need to see their eyes, it'll only destroy the hope she has left for these people. I take off, ignoring the burning in my legs as I rush towards a nearby river, using a small dose of mana to erase each footprint and as much of my scent as I can. Every cast burns my back like resting it against a searing cauldron, but keeping her safe is far more important than the pain.

I hear the snarling grow closer, and closer. I close my eyes and shout to the river, ignoring the pain as much as I can, "Help Us!" as loudly as I can, praying the nyads will hear my cries. A moment passes, running, panting, as the growls and barks of the hounds grow closer. I close my eyes, awaiting the pain of their teeth on my legs. A moment later, the water surges up, forming like a titan as it's massive arm slams onto the land, and I toss Kimi into the water as she wakes from the sudden noise. In a strained cry I scream, "KEEP HER SAFE!" as the crashinbg arm of the titan blasts away the crowd and their hounds, dosing the blaze of their torches, but pushing me to the ground from the force and splash.

I hear a cry among my daze, a scream of desperation, as the grogginess of impact starts to wear off, and the villagers recover. "Momosa!" I hear my little sister scream. I look up, watching the Nyad hold her, as she rushes down the river toward a sanctuary hidden in the mountains. I smile quietly, tears pooling in my eyes.

"I'll be with you soon little sissy, I just need to let them calm down," I whisper to myself. I know these humans can't kill me. Even with the burning stakes, the anchors among the waves, or their nooses and brands. My body would survive, for a succubus is not so easily killed, but the pain..

I feel the fangs of hounds clamp down visciously on my calves. They don't break skin, but the pressure and violent jerking are agony of my strained limps as I cry out. The villagers quickly grab me, bind me, and force their odd symbols on me in beads and jeweled symbols that scorch my skin as i scream with each one, before I am gagged, and hauled away to their village.

A cage is all that awaits me. A cage, and a joke of a trial. For the very crime of existing. For the crime of being a demon. For the crime of not being human. How i pity these foolish little things.. How simple they think, and yet what hatred it can inspire. All I wanted to do was come to study.

3 days. Nothing but Iron bars surrounded me. If not for these weird hexes, these bars would be a joke. Metal magic, or a flick of my finger would split them like fabric to a hot blade. I stare up when I can, the few hours they don't cover my cage with a tarp. The hours they call Mass. I watch them all in this house of wood, with symbols all over to something. Those odd T's, symbols of what I can only imagine are the twisted images of Seraphs, seeing them as some pure infallible creatures.

My drinking buddies would have a riot seeing these. Especially Crua. She's about as pure as an Irish alcoholic can be. A Seraph born from a heroine, as most are, given a second chance to be great. She sure is great alright, a great binge drinker. Woman can toss back more ale than the bar can brew some nights. What she'd do if she saw this might make these people really afraid.

As they gather, I hear them speak in common tongue. Sometimes sharing stories, sometimes singing. Some of the stories resemble things from history books, but they seem almost, twisted. As if someone changed them, to fit something different. Others seem outright outlandish, or completed fabricated. If these were just children stories, I'd find it funny, but these tales spin hateful narratives at times, and these people listen with an almost if not zealous addiction. Like these are the cornerstone of their entire lives.

I feel baffled. I understand that tales can influence the morality of people, but this is almost hysterical. These are little more than twisted history book snippets, and others outright lies, and these people take it as the word of life itself, and they keep repeating that it is all in the name of god. I can't tell which god they are talking about. Are they Worshippers of Zeus, or Jupiter? Even he wouldn't be this dickheaded and pompous. Hell any belief that limits he's ability to have shrimp would be met with lightning.

I consider Odin maybe, but as twisted a man as he is, he always saw midgarians as foolish but wellmeaning. He'd never create these types of rules. Maybe Ra? No, the symbolism of light seems similar, but he's a child of Life herself, noway in damnation would he encourage this kind of behavior.

I hear something that begins to clue me in to what they think, but it only serves to disturb me all the more as the leader of this meeting says it. "The One true God." I feel my heart stop. Are they talking about Amestria? Do they not know about Synia? There's no way they can be though, this is nothing she'd ever promote. This is the exact opposite of what she'd teach.

I sit in my cage, 3 days of darkness with sporadic meetings of these people, continuing to talk of these twisted tales, and occasionally pointing to me when naming Satan. What does the Pride King have to do with this, and why are they only calling him by his status title?

I feel so confused. I almost thought being stuck here would give me insight to what they are doing, why they are acting this way, but all it's done is leave me with countless more questions.

On the fourth day, the tarp is removed as my cage is opened, and I'm dragged out by a sickly chain around the collar they forced on my neck that tries to bite into my skin. My eyes widen in horror, as I'm led outside. People gathering around massive spikes in the ground laiden with Hay, and soaked in oil. That isn't what horrifies me, as I knew where I was going. The Fires will hurt, but so long as I can wait for them to try and dump what they'll assume is my corpse, I can make my escape.

No.. It's the lines of others, waiting to meet the flames. Even some of their own I noticed are shackled, and hundreds of others. Elves, trolls, kitsune, slimes bound in glass, sahanguin, murlocks, dryads, satyrs, even a few harpies and mirium. Some entire families, shackled in lines with iron, branded painfully with these same strange hexes. I realize with horror and anger, that they plan to burn them all. Of them all, only the Kitsune have a chance to survive like I would. Flames have little effect on fire elementals such as them, but the rest... What point is there to this massacre..?

I hear the leader call out. His voice vindictive to us, but almost like a triumphant roar to the crowd."Today! We offer these, these demons, abominations, and witches to the fire. Today, we punish the wicked, the blasphemous and heretical traitors of God!" The crowd eats it up, cheering excitedly like an army of zealots. I see no mercy, no sympathy in their eyes for us. They seem to look down on us, like we are just animals, lesser. Like we are just monsters to them.

I lose all focus, in total shock of what I am witnessing. Even as my chain is dragged and I'm bound to the spire, stripped of my clothes and bound like there like a pig ready to be cooked. I look up, meeting the leader in the eyes, his body clad in black with a large T on his chest hanging by a beaded necklace, as i simply utter in shock, "Why..?"

He simply snorted at me as he grabbed a torch. "You know what you have done, demon. The sin you spread, the souls you have corrupted. Even if we have not witnessed all your destruction, your kind is all the same. Today, we shall destroy you, and deliver you unto the hands of God. May he have mercy on your wretched soul." His voice nothing but cruel, and demeaning as he marches towards the haystack.

I watch the flame, eyes shaking. To them I must look terrified for my own life, but all I can think of are the children in shackles, the people who will come after me. I can only think back now, to the words I said to Kimi. "They just don't know any better."

I feel my anger bubble, as the hexes on my begin to sear. I don't care. I feel them heat up as i grit my teeth, face marred with rage. I don't care. Mana pools into my hands, as my hair begins to glow with crackling lightning, the brands heating further, as they begin to light the oil itself even as the leader backs up, staring afraid. I don't care how much I'll suffer. I will survive. Pain is nothing anymore. I have to save them.

"FUCK YOU!" I shriek in pure rage. I feel a hint of hate enter my voice, as my eyes glow crackling with mana and fury. I roar loudly, surging might as my binds partially crack, but that isn't my focus. I cast a powerful push spell around those surrounding the captives, and then use a metal sever spell on their chains and push spell outward on the glass holding the slimes, as all of them are set free. I shriek "RUN! WARN EVERYONE YOU CAN!" As loud as my voice can manage. They look at me for a brief instant, a few young boys almost rushing to help me among then, before the adults mouth quiet thanks, ebfore bolting into the trees, as I form ghostly shackles behind them, barring these humans from making chase when they recover.

At that moment, the blaze, the hexes, and the agony become to much, as the mana in my hands vanishes. I scream, clamping my eyes shut as the fire surrounds me. It chars the outter layer of skin, tyhe heat is so intense. It's like sitting in a boiling pot. My lung burn as the smoke fills them with every breath, and I force myself to stop breathing to avoid further pain. I can last a while without air as i shakily try to look at the leader even as the wall of fire and smoke surrounds me.

The glare I receive tells me everything I should of known. They know exactly what they are doing. I only hope in time, they can learn.