Kepi floated alone in her thoughts, they were all fuzzy and moved as if through syrup. She felt like she had been asleep for a long time but she had no way of knowing how long, Kepi dreamed of the sea and the wildlife that called it home. She dreamed for moving through the currents, playing with the dolphins and never needing to go up for air. It was as if she had her own world and a new life from the one she had previously.
Her body didn't feel like her own, if felt stronger, though she was never able to actually see what her body looked like. In her dream state she was never able to look at herself, she could only see the beauty around her and listen to her own thoughts.
But that's when something happened, her world shook and cracked violently, tearing away all that had managed to cling to her. The safety of the waters was evaporating as fast as sand through a siphon. It felt like her mind was being forced to awaken. Kepi screamed, but it was not herself, it was another sound. It was primal and full of pain, sorrow and confusion.
A hard surface met her body as she fell from a position she must have been in for a long time. She lay there for a moment breathing, then pushed herself up into a sitting position, something didn't feel right. The balance of her body was off; her back felt heavy, as well as her feet. Kepi's eyes cracked open and she had to blink rapidly to take in the view around her. As her vision cleared, a strange sight met her eyes.
There was a wall; it was made of stone, not unlike the stone that had once made up her home. But she knew it was not hers, it had a feeling of emptiness. A slight noise of someone moving made her head whip around and her eyes widen. There was a strangely dressed man, he wore a black suit and had strange facial hair along with what looked to be a pony tail.
He stood regarding Kepi and in turn Kepi stared back.
"Hello gargoyle" the man began, "I am David Xanatos."
Kepi shook her head slightly and looked at the man as if he were crazy, "gargoyle?"
The man's eyebrows rose, "yes, gargoyle". He signaled for someone behind him and another man entered. He looked stiff, like a butler of some kind and he brought a mirror. "This is Owen," Xanatos didn't even look at Owen as he introduced him, "he will bring you anything you may need."
The man named Owen wheeled the mirror near Kepi then stepped away. He had a look of boredom etched across his face, as if he wasn't at all surprised that she was here.
Kepi kept an eye on the two males as she stood shakily, for some reason, the way she was off balance upset her. She walked unsteadily in front of the mirror and almost fainted, what was in the mirror was not human. "What sorcery is this?" Her voice was shaky as she examined the mirror.
What looked back was what looked like the gargoyles that she had learned about when she was a child; they were supposed to sit atop building and were used to ward off evil spirits and the kind. But somehow it looked different, more aquatic, like it belonged in an undersea castle. The thing in the mirror wore her clothes but it was not her. Its skin was like that of a great white shark, the underbelly and under parts was a whitish color while the extremities and back parts were a darkish blue.
Wings protruded from the back and arched up over its head, they were built almost like those of a bat, with the fingers running through the inside of the wing. While a tail twitched idly on the floor beside the gargoyle.
"My dear," Xanatos interrupted her inspection, "there is no sorcery, you are a gargoyle and you are in the year 1996, currently standing in my castle estate perched atop a building in the middle of Manhattan."
Kepi growled at the man before looking down at herself. The dress that she felt like she had just been wearing a few moments before was shorter on her and her skin was not her own. No longer was it the pale color it once was, but that of the beast she had been looking upon. Her hair was now a white color and descended from her head like the mane of a horse, though she had a head full of hair, even if it was short on top. The hair she could see in the mirror stopped about midway down her back.
As an experiment she twitched a muscle and she heard a rustling sound. Her head looked to the right and was met by the wing she had seen previously, she twitched the muscle again, the wing flexed. "If what you say is true," she mused to herself, "then that talisman must have been spelled." Her English accent was beginning to show itself, even after all those lessons to make her undistinguishable to any certain culture.
Pulling herself together she looked at Xanatos, "since there is nothing I can do about being here I might as well know what it is like in this time."
"That's what I thought you might say," Xanatos smiled and waved for Owen, "I have someone who might want to meet you."
Kepi's wings flared at his tone of voice and her clawed feet moved uncertainly as the sound of an approaching person met her now sensitive ears (the fins funnel sounds).
Owen pulled back a tapestry and someone stepped through, it was a gargoyle.
"Kepi I would like you to meet your new mentor," Xanatos smiled, "that is, my underling."
"I am no ones underling, human," the word 'human' came out with such distain from the gargoyles mouth as her eyes bore into Kepi. The gargoyle paced slowly up to her, eyes never leaving Kepi's, likes that of a wild animal approaching another. The gargoyle stopped right in front of her. "Hello Kepi," the gargoyle greeted her, the smile she presented was without warmth, "welcome to my clan, I am Demona…."
