"Stupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupid- So freaking stupid!" It was about 1 am and the castle had finally quieted down for the night. Having said goodnight to her Mistress, Eriya was alone in her room in the servant's wing, exhausted. Her Majesty, despite her solemn promise to give Eriya the day off, had suddenly decided that she needed someone to organize her shoes. While this was a clear display of her Majesty's tyrannical nature, Eriya had been quite grateful for the task. Not, in fact, because she liked organizing shoes but because it had 1) Saved her from a day confined to her bed being smothered by an endless stream of healthy things to eat and remedies that she didn't require. (Grandfather was quite shaken by the fact that she had entered a five-foot radius of his least favorite person, and seemed to imagine that she must be equally shaken as well as an anemic weakling, which was true, but in an entirely different way, but more on that later.) 2) occupied her mind with nice simple things like color-coding and a kitten heel versus platforms and eel-hide versus the epidermis of full moon sacrificed virgin. Her Majesty's had a shoe collection of such complexity that it had made it very easy not to stop and reflect on the start of the day and the complete and utter lack of intelligence, decorum, and discretion she had displayed. Oh yes it had been so very nice and fun and exciting, but really? She was not the kind of girl to let some military playboy put his dirty hands all over her! Gross, who knew how many other, much sluttier, women those hands had touched? Hundreds probably, she could get a disease! She burned with embarrassment at the thought, and shame seeped into her every thought, so that now all she could do was mutter admonishments to herself like a basket case.
She flopped face down on her bed and tried to relax, knowing full-well that most "regular" demons would probably laugh at her for being all shook up over something like this. But she wasn't like that, her purpose in that world was very specific and if she strayed from it, it felt so very wrong. Normal demons got to have torrid, passionate affairs that popped up out of nowhere. Useless half-breeds like herself got to be thankful that they lived out everyday in peace. Eriya really really liked living out every day in peace, some guy with the wrong idea and some really nice green eyes was not worth sacrificing that. Not to mention-! He had totally been a jerk there at the end... pushing her away and then making snide comments about "her kind" it was obviou- that was where she had to stop. No matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, she knew that the way Sir Kuyabrion that had spoken to her grandfather was just an act. His manner had been too cocky and over-exaggerated to be a real person, bad acting if you asked her. Though as far as the rest of the afternoon went there was nothing that lead her to believe that that wasn't an act too. Yeah, the King's Knight was definitely a faker of the highest caliber, she was sure of it.
Eriya squeezed her pillow with all the strength she could muster, burying in her face as far as she could, the waves of self loathing would not be stopping anytime soon. She had far overstepped her bounds and and the most terrifying thing was that she felt like she might just do it again, without even thinking twice. This time though, before she spiraled back in to the five-millionth inner retelling of the same mistakes, Eriya glanced up at the clock. It was getting later and later and she needed to get some rest or she would be useless the next day. With effort, she quieted her own thoughts, something she had to do quite often. Pushing back the inner turmoil was as easy as telling herself that it didn't matter. Lie or not, she fell into a light sleep.
...
The pub was dimly lit, with visibility being further obscured by thin plumes of smoke drifting out of the poorly ventilated hearth. Kuyabrion was seated furthest from the door, he had unconsciously pushed the table away as he leaned back, resting the back of his chair on the rough wooden wall. His gaze flicked around the room taking stock of his fellow patrons. The imp at the bar, crying into his beer, the scraggly dark figure, lurking around the entrance. There was group of palace guards, by the look of their uniform, who seemed to be trying to catch the attention of the bartender, a decently attractive cat-creature of some kind. He absorbed the information from his surroundings without having to think about it too hard, such awareness was second nature to anyone who wanted to stay alive in battle. He took a long breath and stared over at his own empty table where a completely untouched tankard of ale sat. He would probably have to down it sooner or later, it would have been a waste of money otherwise, but there was nothing that he really wanted more than an anonymous place to think.
His thoughts didn't hold anything that he considered particularly heavy. Actually by most standards things were going quite well, we had wiped the floor with everyone who'd challenged him to an arena match so far, thus defending his title as Royal Knight, he'd had lunch with a cute girl, simultaneously sticking it to the second most annoying person in Hades, and now he had the evening all to himself for once. Really, there wasn't much to think about at all. And, maybe that was why he felt the need sit there gloomily in a smoky pub, not even drinking anything...
"Hohoho- Pensive as always I see!" He must have begun to space out because a deep laugh right next to his head came as a mild surprise. He looked up to see the burly figure of a man, looking down through the slitted eyes of a mountain goat. "Did that shiny hair of yours suck out your brain as nutrients again!?"
"I don't know," a wide grin began to spread over his face as he stood from the chair, "Is that thick skull of yours even housing anything at all?"
"Hahaha!" The goat-like demon let out a hearty, braying laugh, taking Kuyabrion's hand in an equally hearty handshake "It's been a while, Captain!"
"It has, hasn't it, Costranovo!" The young swordsman couldn't help but laugh at the appearance of his military buddy, "Last thing I heard you were blending in with your brethren in the human realm!"
"Psh, don't you even start calling those filthy animals my brethren," He said animatedly as he pulled up a chair and sat down, his bulk making it creak a little with complaint, "You wouldn't believe what I've had to endure- You gonna drink this?" he said gesturing to Kuyabrion's lukewarm ale. He shook his head and the drink was downed in one go, "That's what I get for ragging on my superiors, eh?"
"General Eregal was just mad that you coined his awesome title." Kuyabrion caught the eye of the bartender, signaling for her to bring another round. "How'd you finally get out of it?
"He's dead and the new general's less of a prick, I guess. Finally reassessed the tactical advantages of impersonating livestock. Got a week or so till they work out my new assignment."
"Niice." He smiled at the barmaid as she set their drinks down and paused briefly as she walked away, "Well, I guess you should rest easy in the meantime." He held his own tankard up, somehow feeling a bit thirstier in present company.
"Of course!" The goat man guffawed, "Though you should take it easy, Mr. Prize-fighter, or you might end up right back with he rest of us!"
...
His bedroom swayed back and fourth, seeming to mimic the motion of a sailing ship. He felt sick, like his whole body had been turned to Jelly, maybe he shouldn't have ordered that fith round, or challenged those succubi to a drinking contest. Though, Costranovo had done a fine job of getting him home, considering the shape he had been in himself.
Kuyabrion stumbled over to the window, bracing himself on every piece of furniture along the way. It was too hot, if he didn't get some air... He fumbled with the latch to the low lying window, blearily staring out from his second-story perch. As soon as the night air hit his face he was overcome by nausea, willfully, he suppressed the urge to vomit. Successful, he was, but only at the expense of paying attention to his balance. One moment, he was staring at the bushes below, the next he was meeting them with his face.
...
Eriya awoke that morning with an uncanny start. It was a familiar feeling, like the sound of a hundred wings, but only there inside her own mind. She shook her head slightly and and got out of bed, moving over to the small window on the other side of her room. All she could see in the early morning light was the craggy shapes of the bushes in the courtyard with the shapes of the section of the palace that lay beyond. If Eriya remembered right, it housed lesser members of the Royal Court, though it always seemed pretty empty, probably because her Majesty kept murdering/banishing members of court. Seemed like a waste of perfectly good sycophants, though she supposed that was just something one wouldn't ever have the capacity to understand being literally the lowest life form in the palace...
Her thoughts ceased as the calls fluttered through her mind again... They were here.
Quickly, she slid out of bed and grabbed a burlap sack that she usually used to hold dirty clothes. Thank goodness she had taken her things to the laundry just yesterday! It was a pain to carry so many feathers in her hands and she preferred to keep such side enterprises as this discrete. Grandfather said it was perfectly fine to save for retirement and such, but she still felt somehow guilty. Quietly she made her way through the few hallways it took her to get outside, keeping her steps quiet and her ears perked for any sound. She winced as the old wooden door complained a bit too loudly on it's way closed and she shifted from bare foot to bare foot as her uncovered feet made contact with the icy ground. It wasn't so bad, she just had to get used to it... Now where could they be?
That weird sense carried her through the courtyard and past most of the regularly used palace outbuildings. Eriya walked on sense alone until her ears picked of the cawing and general scuffling noises of her query. She glanced about, feeling as nervous as always. This was probably the riskiest thing that she ever did on a regular basis, but the money was too good to deny and if she didn't think about it too much it was downright fun.
She peeked through a hole in the bushes and caught a glimpse of shiny back wings. She took a deep breath feeling, exited despite herself. It was unknown whether crows originated in the demon realm or the that of the humans but something unique about their feathers granted them the magic to travel between the two worlds with little consequence. Eriya suspected that their movements were not much deeper than that of any other animal, they went from world to world largely based on the presence of food. Eriya noticed with slight distaste that this particular murder had found a pile of mostly rotten hard-to-recognize organic matter. But she was glad that it meant they were distracted for the moment.
Because of their world-jumping properties, crow feathers were a widely sought-after magical ingredient in the demon realm. It was what had made the teleportation of entire armies possible. The only problem was, the collection method for thousands of years had been to hunt the creatures, outright killing them and either disposing of, or making their meat into a wide range of unappetizing foods. This, surprisingly enough, made the birds incredibly wary of anything of demonic origin. On the other hand, it seemed that no such practice had come into play in the human realm and it was just Eriya's particular luck that they birds were smart enough to know the difference.
With one last furtive glace about, Eriya changed to her human form. The cold morning air went from uncomfortable to limb-numbing as she felt her entire form become, for lack of a better term, less structurally sound. She would have to hurry, lest someone see her and try to take advantage of that.
Though the act of collecting feathers wasn't something she could rush, the crows didn't actually like her, they just weren't AS wary of humans. Furthermore, Eriya prefered to go about it humanely, the price on crow feathers was high enough that she didn't need to get too many in order make a solid profit. Instead of killing the crows she just plucked loose-looking plumage free and collected it to sell later, but if she was too direct or sudden they would all fly away. She took another deep breath and cracked her knuckles, trying to get some blood flow to her fingertips and calm down a bit. So what if she was in human form? It wasn't like anyone would be outside at this time of day.
...
At first, he couldn't tell if the pain was originating from the inside or the outside of his skull but as Kuyabrion laboriously pushed his eyes open, it was quite obvious that the matter that composed his entire body had simply been turned to pain altogether. He could see the grayish colored sky while the darker grayish stones of the palace wall stretched upwards. The cold air and thin light told him that it was sometime in the early morning. Kuyabrion stiffly tried to sit up. How had he gotten outside again? He couldn't quite remember...
A few turns of his head and stretches of his limbs lead him to conclude that, while stiff, he probably wasn't seriously injured. Though the feeling was not at all pleasant as he slowly struggled to his feet. His head throbbed painfully and his mouth tasted like dirt. Groggily, he remembered the goings on of the previous evening and figured that he should have seen this situation coming a mile off. Excessive alcohol use never really ended well for him.
So, it seemed like he had fallen two stories down to the garden below his apartment window. The wide, but unattractive plot of land didn't really catch his interest. Across the way was the large outbuilding where the castle's servants lived, beyond that there were a bunch of old abandoned sheds and more junk that Kuyabrion could have cared less about. He sort-of thought that his quarters should have been somewhere more awesome, considering the fact that he was a famous knight. But a large part of him also didn't care, it wasn't like he did much more than sleep where he lived.
He cracked his neck and took a big breath of the fresh morning air, he didn't have much to do today, so he would probably go back to his room and fall asleep soon enough. But maybe moving around a bit might help with his sore joints and achy head in the meantime.
However, as the "fresh" air reached his nose he detected a smell that was both familiar and unexpected at the same time, a smell that reminded him of a different place and time entirely. He could almost hear the clash of swords and the frenzies cries of battle. His green eyes narrowed as he looked out into the scrubby bushes. Somewhere out there, he could smell a human, and they were going to regret the day that they decided to trespass on demonic turf.
...
Eriya had been too busy looking at the odd patterns that the clouds of the human sky made to notice what exactly had caused her to trip. She had been momentarily aware of something darkish-colored just below her eye level and contact with something that had felt alive. But as she pulled her face from the dusty ground there was not another living being in sight. If she switched back to demon form, she would have been able to feel the presence of every living thing, right down to the blades of grass, but it was too risky to reveal herself now that she was out in the open.
Instead she reached out with the limited sense that she had, closing her eyes and trying to feel the smaller energies that were there underneath the world's magical forces. It was like trying to see through marshwater but as she concentrated the slightest flash of something familiar came to her. It surprised her out of meditation, her breath rushing into her lungs and her closed eyes opening once again. How could she have felt THAT? Was it possible for a new world to play tricks on her? Could her unspoken desires have made her senses hallucinate? She looked around the deserted road, feeling colder, lonelier. She brushed off her white shift and continued onward, there was so much more work to do before this tragedy could draw to it's close.