《This life of Sin: Demonia》


 Broken

    A musty, dirt smell assaulted my senses when consciousness first began to return to me. It was the first thing I noticed at least, and maybe the unpleasant smell is what awoke me. The second sensation was pain. Not horrible pain but a dull ache all over my body. Like maybe I fell down the stairs. That''s when I remember that Ihadfallen, but not down a flight of stairs. It had been off a spider. A big, hairy green one with about a hundred eyes.


    I groaned and attempted to pull my arm out from under my body but everything was sore. I thought I was too sore to get up until even more memories flashed behind my eyelids: Roran, his crazy ramblings, and the odd hole in the side of the boulder he had shoved me through. Panicking, I forced my hands under me and lifted, opening my dry, caked eyes.


    "Oh, shit..." I croaked to the empty air. I was not in Kansas anymore. Well, not in a dungeon in the kingdom of Larasta at least. Where I was now, I had no clue, but it was bad. Very, very bad. "No..." I instinctively made to jump up but winced and fell back to the ground.


    And what a ground it was. Dry and cracked, purplish grey packed earth as far as my eyes could see. An oddly colored barren waste land with no end it seemed. What the actual, hell? And why was I naked? Again!


    I wrapped my arms around my exposed breasts and shivered. The air was dry as a bone and I could tell my lips were already dry and chapped from my dirt nap. A cool breeze blew almost constantly, like a chilly sigh, causing small purple-ish dust clouds to shift across the land. I glanced around myself, some how expecting to see a bag with cloths in it like the first time I awoke in a strange new place.


    I saw no convenient bag, but about four feet away there was a small, dark leather, book. My grimoire! Wincing, I crawled forward and snatched it up to my chest. It was the only familiar thing I had right now.


    "Alright Sin, get up." I told myself in a quiet whisper. It felt better to speak out loud.


    I was halfway to my feet when another bout of panic hit, making me jump up painfully. I ran my hands over my shoulders while checking the ground around me again. I groaned. It was a heart-breaking noise. Drogin was no where to be seen! I was so used to him being on my shoulder that I suddenly felt devastated to find that he wasn''t there.


    Then I remember that he had been sleeping on Vendaval''s back before I went to go find Roran. That sneaky, backstabbing, nut case! I was going to beat him within an inch of his life the next time I saw the bastard. If I saw him again. I remembered then, that as I was being thrown into what must have been some sort of portal that he had conjured, I had torn off his arm with my tail.


    I lifted the appendage in question and ran my hands over its long, thin, whip like length, careful of my sharp scales. No blood. Surly, if I had just sawn a man''s arm off with it there should be blood. Even if it had dried out in the time I had been passed out here in these dead lands, there should still be blood.


    I shook my head and put that issue off for another time. I had to see if my tames were alright. I closed my eyes and tried to feal for them. Normally I could sense them in some form or another. We shared a blood bonded contract after all. Nothing. Terrified I tore open the grimoire and flipped through the pages. I sighed in relief when I saw the two spell circles written in blood and both labelled with a name. Had they of died, the contracts would have disappeared from the book.


    Still shaking, I placed a hand on Vendaval''s seal and said, "Come, Vendaval." Nothing. Not a damn thing. I shivered, slammed the book shut and screamed, fighting back tears. Why could I not summon them? It should have been costly, mana wise, but easily doable! But I didn''t even feel a single drop in my mana levels. A horrific thought, that I couldn''t use magic anymore, crossed my mind and I felt dizzy.


    I flipped my left hand over and using the right one, still clutching the small grimoire, I waved it over the left hand. I breathed a sigh of relief when my status chart appeared in a pale, blue-white light. Okay, so magic still worked. At least some of it. I glared at my numbers. I was way over due for another assessment at the guild to get them updated but that would have to wait even longer now. I was sure my power rating and such should be at least a little higher than my last assessment.


    I was about to put my hand down when a number caught my eye. I glared at it for a solid minute, confused. Mana Pool: 100,000.


    No, that couldn''t be right. I had a debuff that made my number more like 20,000. It was an insanely high number of course but it was not 100,000. Irritated I scanned down lower on the list to where my abilities and status effects were listed. My eyes passed over the twenty five percent increase in fire and poison resistance and several others till I reached the end where it usually said: Mana Pool -80%, magical attack -80%. There was nothing.


    My eyes darted back to my numbers, and I sought out my magical attack stat which, normally, said 30. Now it said: Magical Attack 150.


    My debuffs were gone. The debuffs that demons received by being in the realm of Hearth, were now missing. I was at full strength. I didn''t know much about my race, the demons. There wasn''t much known about them as the only contact the other races had with the demons was that of summoned demons and the were just puppets with no ability to speak. The few demons that were on Hearth freely, didn''t really speak about the demon world. That or no one bothered to ask. Either way, it made it very hard for me to know anything about the race I had reincarnated into.


    I did know that demons who came to Hearth received an 80% debuff to their mana pool and magical attack stats. I also knew that demons came to Hearth, but nothing went to the demon realm. Nothing. I had read that you could make portals there, but nothing could make it through. If it didn''t belong to the demon realm, then it couldn''t go to the demon realm. I looked again at my naked body and noted that there were no cloths on the ground, even the human blood that had been on my tail was gone as if it had never been there. Ad that to the fact that I could not summon my monsters...


    "Roran you little shit!" I screamed out into the universe.


    Hell! I was literally in hell. Well, the demon realm, and- for all intents and purposes- was Hell. I had no cloths because they were not from the realm. My monsters could not be summoned here because they were not Demon Realm monsters. That rat bastard Priest had shoved me through a portal to the demon realm.


    I could remember Vale, red faced and furious, pounding on an invisible barrier as I was sucked back into the portal. He wasn''t part of this world so he couldn''t get through either. Damn it, how did I get back? There must be a way. There were at least some uncontracted demons on Hearth. I had heard about one acting as one of the queens'' guards on several occasions. So there had to be a way to get back.


    I needed to find a town. Surly demons had those right? I needed to find people and ask them how to get back. How to get back as soon as possible! Poor Drogin and Vendaval! They must be going nuts with me being gone like that. Would they be alright? I hoped someone looked after them.


    I hugged my grimoire close again, shivered, and steeled my resolve. I needed to get home and standing here was not going to get it done. I took another look around. Everything was pretty much the same shade of purple grey: the dirt and the thick cloud cover up above. I couldn''t even tell what time it was as I couldn''t see the sun and the color was sort of like the snow in winter. It made it so that, even if it was dark outside, you could see well so long as there was some light.


    I cursed and instead scanned the horizon. Maybe I could find a landmark? I thought it was just clouds for a full three-sixty degrees till I noticed a smudge. Had not clue the direction but it was the only thing I had to go with, so I began to walk. I locked my eyes on the smudge and willed it closer, faster.


    I must have been walking for about an hour or two when I realized that I was starving. I could have sworn I had had at least a little to eat before I got thrust here. After all, Vale had been harping on my lack of eating hard and made sure I ate at least something. But, of course, that was Hearth food, wasn''t it? Apparently even the food in my belly wasn''t exempt from the rules.


    As I walked, head bent and stumbling with thirst and hunger, I saw that there were a few things in the parched earth. Normal stuff like stones and twigs from time to time, yes. But I once stopped and picked up an odd shaped rock, and found that it was an arrow head. I saw a scrap of cloth blow by once too.


    For hours I trudged on till time stopped registering. Fatigue, starvation, and dehydration weighed me down, made it hard to think anything other than ''one more step''. So, when pain laced up my leg I was caught completely by surprise.


    I screamed- or at least tried to but all that came out was a dry croak- and my eyes came into focus. My foot was bleeding. The crimson blood looked so odd on the purple earth. I shook my head. I needed to focus. That''s when it occurred to me that it wasn''t just red blood, a dirty foot, and purple packed earth that I was looking at. There were things on the ground. Startled, I looked up and nearly froze in shock.


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    The ground was littered with bones. Bones, chunks of metal and chain armor, I saw battered helmets and broken spears scattered around. My breath caught and I spun in a circle. Stretching out in front of me as well as to the left and right were the ancient corpses of thousands of people. Behind me the purple wastes stretched mostly empty. I had passed a good twenty feet of death before what ever I had stepped on had broken through my daze.


    At my feet was a helmet of dull and tarnished metal, and thrust through it and the horned skull within, was a spear. The wood of the shaft looked nearly rotted away, but it still stood. A short distance away something flapped in the wind. I took a few careful steps that way, not wanting to step on anything else sharp. It was a flag of some sort. A battle standard perhaps. And it was held to the ground by the broken hilt of a sword. Feeling a little like a desecrator, I lifted the thread bare fabric. It wasn''t much but I tied it around myself like a towel, the dusty purple cloth barely covering my breasts and I was sure my ass was still mostly hanging out. But it was something.


    Fighting back the thirst I turned once again to my goal. Mountains, I thought they were now that I had gotten a little closer. Had this army died of hunger and thirst on their way there? No. you didn''t get a spear through the skull from dehydration. I shook my head again, trying to clear it. I wasn''t thinking right. I really needed to find food and water. I didn''t know how long a demon could survive with out either, but I knew I wasn''t going to be moving for much longer. How long had I been walking already? Days it must have been.


    Surly there would be food or at least water in the mountains right. Didn''t mountains usually mean forests? And forests needed water. Also, animals lived in forests, and I could eat animals...


    I grunted and continued toward the shadows on the horizon. It didn''t take long for my eyes to no longer see the corpses I walked amongst, nor for my feet to feal all the cuts. Just one foot in front of the other... just one more step.


    Loneliness, I decided. That was what was worst. Not the need for food and water but the sheer silence and sense of being alone. Just me and the corpses. How big had this army been? Didn''t matter. I missed them: my new friends. I missed my monsters yes, but also, I missed stupid Vale and his over bearing suborn ass, and I missed Zach. I missed the pestering Captain Rift and his stoic brother Commander Rice... I never missed people before. Never had any to miss in my old life. No friends and no family to mourn me when I died, nearly three months ago now. I heard my somewhat manic giggle as I imagined the horror on some poor guys face at finding my own corpse on the side walk back on Earth. I bet it was a grizzly one. I was pretty sure I had gotten cut in half- lengthwise.


    I wasn''t dead now, but would my new friends think I was? Either way there was nothing they could do even if they did want to come help me. Only I could help me now.


    I stumbled and fell again but picked myself up without a thought. I didn''t even feel the fresh cut to my knee, nor the one oozing on my palm. I didn''t feel much at the moment. Not even the hunger or the thirst. I continued to stumble forward toward the mountains. The sky stayed the same, the ground stayed the same and the mountains slowly got bigger.


    Up, I realized, some unknown amount of time later. I was going up. Stupidly I blinked at the purple earth, but it wasn''t purple anymore. Now it was black. Black and glassy. Weird, I blinked again and wobbled from side to side, a hand flashing out to catch myself. When I didn''t fall, I looked to the hand to see that I had caught myself on more black rock. It was the first thing I had saw that was above knee level in... I didn''t know how long.


    Also, why was everything kind of red? I blinked again but the red tinge didn''t clear, like I was wearing red tinted sunglasses. The clouds were still there, still purple, but now they were tinted red too. Annoying.


    Up. Yes, I was going up now. I felt odd, going up. And hard. Was it always this hard to go up?


    My breaths came out in pants and gasps, the sound so very harsh in all the silence around me. But up was good right? That meant I had reached the mountains, didn''t it? And mountains meant trees, and trees meant water, and water meant animals! A spark, as feint as it was, of excitement had me lifting my head in hopes of seeing the forest that was absolutely supposed to be here. There was no doubt it was here. It had to be here.


    Rocks. So very many black and glassy rocks all the way up, up, up. I noted dully that there was still purple earth, but now it was looser and gravely with black and purple stones than it was the dry packed earth of before. Maybe, when I got to the top and looked down the other side, I would see the forest. Yes, that had to be right. It had to be right.


    I was using my hands and arms as much to move up the side of the mountain now as I was my battered feet. It wasn''t that the slope was particularly steep, I was just that exhausted. Had I still of been human I would have died by now; I had no doubt. I had no clear judge of time but if pressed I would say at least five days since I found myself in the demon realm. Probably more though. I wasn''t exactly thinking straight now, the thought of finding food and water only helping very little to clear my thoughts.


    Something on the barely-there wind caught my sense of smell and I growled. Was that my stomach? No, I was pretty sure it was me not my belly. The red in my eyes got deeper and I felt myself speed up ever so slightly. I was sweating. That can''t have been good, I didn''t really have the water in my body for that after all. But the smell was pushing me forward, reason had left me, and I was running on instinct. Even thought had completely gone. I was nothing more than an animal now. The red in my eyes now so intense that I could tell that they were actually glowing. Their light reflected off the black glass stone.


    Eventually even that bare amount of awareness left me, and I just continued forward. Nothing more than a wild beast on the hunt.


    Rougier lifted his head up from his crossed paws. What was this? Another animal was crossing his path. That was three in less than that many days. He had eaten the mountain elk the moment it had been fool enough to enter his domain, but the boar that came by earlier that day he had just killed and put aside. He would either need to eat it soon or cook it and eat it tomorrow. Raw was best, but it maybe smart to save it for a little later.


    Still, a third meal was quite a surprise. When was the last time so many creatures had stumbled his way all at once. He couldn''t even remember. So maybe he would eat the boar and then roast what ever was scrabbling his way now. What ever it was it was not very large, judging by the sounds it was making. Maybe a hundred pounds. Hardly a mouthful.


    Rougier kept his immense body as still as possible. His kind were not earth-bound ambush hunters but over the ages he had had to adapt. Silence was his best friend, especially in these ever-quiet mountains that were his prison. As he waited for the creature to come, he contemplated what it could be. The scent of the boar kill was still strong and so he could only assume it was some kind of scavenger. Any herd beast would have bolted at the scent of blood.


    The sliding of rocks alerted him that his prey was nearly upon him. What caused him some confusion was thedirectionthe creature was coming from: the north side of the mountain. Nothing came from that side because there was nothing there. Nothing but bones and poisoned earth that was. Maybe a creature had gotten lost and wound up over there and was coming this way to get back to the south?


    Didn''t really matter. It was about to be a snack.


    Rougier was nearly startled into moving when the creature stumbled to the top of his mountain and fairly fell out from behind a rock. A demon? Here? It was painfully thin with only a strip of cloth wrapped around it to keep out the chill. It had a long dark mane of red-black hair and its skin was pale under the purple dirt it was crusted in, a whip like tail dragging in the gravel behind it. Where were its horns? Ah there they were, tiny little things they were too.


    The demon creature growled, a deep and dangerous sound that mad even his blood run cold. He knew that sound after all. He had heard it several times back when he was lashed to this mountain top. The demon, a female he now understood, stumbled forward, its face lifting and he watched as she sniffed the air. He did not know much about the workings of demons, but he did know that a female with a growl like that and eyes that glowed crimson was very bad news.


    Abandoning his attempt at hiding, Rougier shifted and got to his massive full height. His shoulder was easily three times as high as the woman, his neck adding another thirteen feet on top of that, so that his pointed head was a good twenty-two or twenty three feet above her own. The woman did not flinch nor did she back away. She simply glared and salivated, growling all the while.


    No way was this creature alone, was it? But she must be. Rougier knew enough to know that a Queen was never left to get into such a state. Never. He should eat her before she regained any of her wits and killed him. He was weakened as well after all. Long ages have gone by since he last fought five of these creatures, all at full strength. They had bound him to the mountain in the end, unable to end his life, and he had eaten four of them.


    The demon queen growled again. But she wasn''t making a move. Why? She was clearly in a state of mindlessness brought on from neglect. She was skin an bones and smelt of fatigue and sick ness. Smelt of a creature near death. But she did not pounce. Did not cast any spells upon him even.


    That when he realized that the female was intentionally holding herself back. One hand held a book, something he hadn''t even noticed she held till that point, but the other arm was across her body, gripping her own arm with such force that her black claws were drawing blood. She was half hunched, teeth bared and snarling but her feet were parted and firmly planted. She was ignoring her instinct to attack and preventing herself from moving by sheer force of will. He saw tears make dirty streaks down her cheeks and she whimpered between growls.


    Cautiously, not making any swift movements, Rougier reached behind himself with his neck. It was a risk to take his eyes off the threat, but he did it anyway. He slowly swung his head back around toward the female, this time he had the large boar held in his fanged jaws. Slowly, not taking his eyes off the demon, he set the carcass down at the woman''s feet.


    "Eat." He rumbled in the demon language. Not many dragons bothered to learn the tongues of others, but he had. It had amused him to taunt his prey and the effect was much better when the prey knew what you were saying.


    The demon queen wasted to time and launched herself on the meat, tearing into it in a fashion befitting a dragon rather than the two legged she was. He did not begrudge her that, however. Starvation was not a pleasant experience.


    He watched over the next hour as she devoured the meat. Eventually she slowed and then stopped. When she got to her feet her stomach was visibly filled in sharp contrast to the ribs he could see. She wobbled, then he heard a mumbled "Scuro." And tensed when a spell circle appeared beneath the female. But it appeared to be a cleansing spell as the gore on her flesh and improvised cloths fell away. She then stumbled forward. Rougier raised his head, ready to strike if she showed even a hint of aggression. She shuffled forward then collapsed against the hard, deep purple scales of his side, slid to the ground, and curled into a ball, promptly falling asleep.


    He pushed his head forward and scented the woman. She was asleep. Asleep and crying. Rougier sneezed once before lifting his head and draping it across his paws once again.

 Anger and fear in the capital

    Larasta City, eight days after the Dungeon raid


    Vale stood behind his captain and did his best to keep in control. It had been over a week now since Sin had been thrown into the portal, but the rage still had not subsided. He was unaccustomed to being out of control. He had many decades of training and experience, a decorated officer in on of the nine royal squads... but right now he was as pissed as he had ever been. The small dragon newt on his shoulder made a sad noise and Vale''s lips pressed together in a thin line. The monster had been inconsolable the whole time, lethargic and not eating well.


    Rift sighed, his chin resting on his folded fingers, elbows resting on the polished oval table. Captain Rift Rice of the Red Ravens was only one of the esteemed members present at this meeting today. Normally some one such as Vale would not have been invited here but he was the only member of the Squad who had firsthand knowledge of what had happened in the dungeon and so Captain Rift had asked that he be aloud to be there. Vale knew that his captain was angry, but like himself, Rift was good at hiding his emotions.


    "Should that creature really be aloud in here." Sighed Geld. He was the captain of the Green Serpents, and one of Vale''s least favorite Squad leaders. He was a human in his late fifties with a belly so big he was wider than he was tall. He had brown hair and a tiny mustache; his eyes were too close together and his nose was small. To Vale, he looked like an overweight rat. He sat a few seats down from Captain Rift and glared at the dragon newt with distaste.


    "Really though." Agreed Rain, a stern look in her yellow eyes. She sat next to the rotund Serpent captain and couldn''t have been a bigger contrast. She was nearly six feet tall, muscled, and straight backed. She was the leader and founder of the Black Tigers and a fiercely proud and loyal woman. A tiger beastmen herself, she preferred to accept those of the beastmen race as he subordinates. Vale had a lot of respect for the woman. "I know it is only a newt, but monsters should not be present around the queen."


    The queen didn''t seem to mind, however. She sat at the head of this long table, her long blonde hair braided with gemstones today, pale blue eyes locked on the dragon newt with concern. If Vale remembered correctly, her mother had once worn a dragon newt back when such a thing was in fashion. He had not met the queen often. She was young at only twenty-six, but she seemed to be a fair ruler. It was a difficult time to be a monarch now. It was those who reigned during the rising of the Demon King who often stood out most in history. No doubt Queen Seraphina the fourth would like wise be remembered.


    "Drogin is my guest." Rumbled Rift. His tone the only indication that he was not very happy right then. "Besides, he is a tamers companion, not some wild monster. His master is the reason for this meeting as a matter of fact, so how about we get back to the discussion at hand?"


    Vale watched as several of the gathered captains glared. The Red Raven''s had a reputation as being a band of eccentric, and often low brow, trouble makers with barely any over site. Mostly the rumors were true. But Rift was a stellar captain and Vale did not appreciate the looks he was receiving. Still, he stayed quiet. It was not his place to speak now.


    "Why are we here exactly?" Asked another captain, this one seated to the left of the queen. Orphryn could be prickly and snobbish, but that was how most of the high elves were so Vale never held it against the man. He looked to be in his early thirties, but Vale knew he was more like in his eighties. How did he know? Because he and the brown eyed, pointed ear elf were about the same age. They had entered the Squads at the same time. Now Orphryn was the captain of the Silver Phoenix, the second strongest Squad in service to the kingdom.


    "Something about a demon I believe." Drawled Geld, scratching his stomach as if he felt a little peckish.


    "We are here," said the Queen, instantly silencing the room. "Because during the dungeon raid that included Lady Kassidy and Sir Markus, a member of the party was lost."


    All eyes turned to the two heroes standing behind the Queen''s chair. Kassidy was pale and red eyed. She had been upset most of the weeklong ride back to the capital. He and Rift had accompanied the two heroes and the now one-armed Roran back to Larasta and called for the meeting immediately upon arrival. Markus stood next to the much smaller girl. Not only was the man a mountain of muscle but his dark skin also made him stand out. Only heroes, or those descended from heroes, ever had that skin color. The most a native Hearthian could hope for was a nice tan.


    Markus usually had a bright white smile, but he was grim faced today. He had also been furious with the High Priest back in the dungeon, but they had all agreed that this was a matter to be discussed amongst the assembled Captains council and so here they were.


    "I have only received the bare minimum of detail from our heroes and the high priest. I would like to hear the full accounting now if you would please." Continued the queen, directing her inquiry to Markus. Normally Vale suspected that Kassidy would have been the better choice for a debriefing, but he was sure the queen could see the state the girl was in as well. Vale had only known the two heroes for about two weeks, one of those weeks spent in the saddle in mainly silence, but he knew Kassidy to be stern, kind, and witty. Markus was boisterous and friendly, an easy-going sort of man, who was dependable in a fight.


    Markus took a breath and began to tell of the quest. "The day after our arrival to Bellana Roran took Kassidy and I to the base of the Red Ravens. We needed more party members for the raid on the Forest of Elswell and the Ravens were the nearest Squad." Here Markus nodded to captain Rift. "They were quite accommodating and friendly. But they do not have many members, and most of them were out on other missions or just returning from them. As such, Captain Rift sent Vale with us as well as a young woman by the name of Sin."


    "Sin?" Asked the queen, forehead wrinkled. Vale almost smiled as an image of the dark-haired demon flashed before his eyes, a scowl on her face. "And she is the demon I was told about then? The one rumored to be able to enter the church in Bellana?"


    "Yes, your majesty." Replied Markus. Vales saw his eyes dart to the man to the right of Kassidy. Roran was here as well, pale faced with a great many bandages around his stump of a shoulder. Sin had not gone quietly. Kassidy had mostly healed the wound, but she could not reattach limbs. "She was an interesting woman and a hopeful for the Red Ravens from what I understand."


    "Wanted a demon for yourself did you Rift?" Chuckled August. He was the oldest, in appearance at least, of the captain collective. But his age was not apparent in his bearing as he was always tall and straight backed. A man of power and pride. He had led the Golden dragons for nearly thirty years now. Some say that he is getting ready to retire and hand the reigns to his vice captain. But it was not the vice captain that stood with the captain today.


    The older man pointed a finger at the other man that stood behind his chair. This man was undeniably a demon. Had Sin looked this way she never would have been able to hide her identity. This demon was about six and a half feet tall, red skinned, red eyed, and had large, curved horns above each of his red pointed ears. His hair was long and black, tied in a thick braid over one shoulder. He looked like strength incarnate. So, this was the famous demon August had taken into his Squad during the last Summer Selection.


    "The fact that Sin is a demon had nothing to do with it per say." Sighed Rift, shaking his head as if to clear it. "She has strength and an indominable spirit. Not to mention a natural talent for taming and hand to hand combat. Her personality fits well with my Squad, and I was looking forward to her showing at the Summer Selection this year." As Captain Rift spoke vale watched as the demon in the room looked more and more confused. Strange.


    "Please continue Markus." Asked the queen, listening intently.


    "We found the Dungeon without too much effort and forged ahead with our objective, the Summer Sleeper staff. We came across many a monster but thanks, mostly, to Vale''s leadership and experience we made great progress. Working together we took down several B-ranked monsters with out suffering much if any injuries. It was on the second day that Sin showed her true worth." Said Markus. Roran made a disbelieving noise but other than a glare from Markus, no one paid him any mind.


    "How so? You said she was a tamer correct?" Asked the queen, her blonde hair catching the sun light from the windows. "I assume the little newt is hers." She said indicating the red Drogin currently pouting on Vale''s shoulder.


    "Correct." Said The warrior hero with a nod. "When we left the Red Raven''s base she only had the newt and her own claws as weapons-"


    "And tail." Added Kassidy, sadly. She shot Roran a death glare that actually got a smirk out of Vale. She had been Roran''s biggest fan for some time. The High Priest had been her mentor after all. But she was furious with him now.


    "And tail." Agreed Markus. "But on the second day of our adventure we got our selves cornered by a pack of about fifteen Storm Wolves." At that several of the captains began paying better attention. Storm wolves were strong when they were alone, standing as B-ranked monsters, but a massive pack of them? Even a captain would be warry of going against that lot, alone. "We thought we were goners to be honest. I sent out a prayer that the other three would be enough to keep the kingdom together..."


    At this there were whispers of concern. No one blamed Markus for his fear of course, anyone of them would have feared, and they had been fighting monsters for decades not just a few short months. What got them whispering was the collective fear of being two heroes short.


    "What happened then?" Asked August. His demon was listening raptly as well. Vale supposed that he didn''t get to hear too much about his own kind given how rare free demons were in Hearth.


    "Apparently the demon can speak monster." Growled Roran, earning a glare and a shush from Kassidy. He clicked his tongue and kept quiet though.


    "Yes, Sin was able to converse with the wolves. I am unsure if this is a trait common to tamers or maybe demons, or if it is just a skill that she picked up over time. Either way she managed to convince the Alpha of the pack to fight her, one on one." Said Markus. But what caught Vale''s eye was the look of disbelief on the face of the demon. He wasn''t very good at masking his emotions. "It was a dicey fight to be sure and she nearly got herself fried by lightning a time or two. In the end she won by ducking under the beast and stabbing it in the eye with her tail."


    Someone at the table whistled their appreciation but Vale didn''t notice who. He had been fairly impressed at the time too, but hadn''t told the woman that, she would have brought it up for the rest of his life he had no doubt.


    "As a prize for the win, Sin got us the location of the item we were looking for. She also managed to get herself a Storm wolf to boot. Seemed to be a win to me, but after she tamed the monster, Roran got very upset and they got into an argument."


    "About what? "Asked the husky voice of Collette, the elvish witch captain of the Amethyst Spiders. She was tall and dark haired with a perpetual frown. Vale had never had a bad encounter with the elf, but she did practice necromancy which garnered her a bit of a bad reputation among some groups.


    "She named it!" Spat Roran, making Kassidy jump and shoot him a dirty look. "A demon with a divine power?! Absurd. Sacrilegious even!"


    "Enough, High Priest Roran." Admonished queen Seraphina, also shooting the one armed man a quelling gaze. When the group had gotten to the capital the priest had gone on a mad spiel and the queen feared he had gone mad. They managed to calm him but made him promise to not have an out burst in the meeting or he would be removed. Seraphina turned back to Markus. "She named it. As in an actual, true, name?"


    "So she, and the priest, both said. She was weakened by the fight and from the taming and naming. I think that, had she of been of sounder mind, she would not have reveled that fact. But she made no attempt to deny it once she had. I am afraid I do not grasp the full implications given everyone''s reactions, but I gathered that it was not something a normal person could do. Roran made it sound like it was something only a great deal of time or the Gods themselves could accomplish."


    There was a lot of silence after this. Everyone processing. Vale did not blame them. He was still processing it after all. The number of revelations that night had been intense. Twenty thousand MP? The god like ability to name monsters... it was clear that Sin had been no ordinary woman. Usually this kind of intense magic only happened with the heroes, not some cast out demon looking to just live her life.


    "it is an amazing thing. Something that I would have denied had it not been one of esteemed heroes who had told me of it..." Admitted August, fingers steepled before him. "The mana cost alone is normally staggering. Hypothetically speaking of course, given we have nothing to compare it to. I take it that this newt has a name as well then?" He asked, now eyeing the dragon newt with curiosity.


    Vale reached up and removed the newt from his shoulder, much to his distaste, as the little beast clawed and whined. "This is Drogin. From what I have been told, he was an E Ranked monster but is now B ranked. Mostly he is a lazy cry baby from what I have seen." Vale said, glaring at the squirming lizard. It had attached itself to him almost from the moment Sin had been sent away. "He refuses to leave my side for some reason. Depressed I think."


    "It went from an E rank to B rank?" Asked Geld, eyeing the newt wit something like greed.


    At a nod from his captain, Vale continued. "Yes. So said Sin at least. It gained the ability to use some weak fire spells but not much else. He seems mostly to be her pet."


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    "Sin does have a spell to make him the size of an actual dragon though." Said Kassidy, no doubt remembering the day before the dungeon adventure. Vale had been shocked to see that as well.


    "Really?" Asked August. "I am sure that that too would take an immense amount of mana. Unless it was just an illusion to make the newt look bigger?"


    "No sir. She was riding on its back. It was definitely solid." Said Markus. "During the fight after she named her wolf, Sin did admit that she had twenty thousand MP." There were several choked gasps at that. So many that, had vale of not been watching him, he wouldn''t have heard the one uttered by August''s demon. If a red man could go pale, this one was. "And that is twenty thousand here on Hearth. She said quite clearly that had she of been in the Demon realm, that number would easily be in excess of one hundred thousand."


    "One hundred thousand!" Bellowed Heig, the Captain of the White Stags. He was a dwarf of great skill. It was rare to be a dwarf born with magical talent, much less enough talent to become one of the Squad Captains. But Heig''s Earth magic was on another level. Vale had been in battle with him a few times. "Why not infinite at that point? How can that be possible?"


    "I do not know sir." Said Markus. "She wouldn''t say, and Roran was being rather insulting at the time." The priest looked as if he wanted to interrupt again but refrained himself. "She passed out after that and we decided to let her rest before following her new wolf companion, now named Vendaval, to the location of the staff. The trip there was mostly uneventful. But what we saw upon arrival was rather unnerving, an immense dome of vines, seeming to stretch on into eternity..."


    "Never heard of such a thing in the Elswell." Said Geld, still looking like he was mulling this news over.


    "It was in a very obscure and far away location in the dungeon. One where even the monster had come to avoid. We were apprehensive to enter as it reeked of death and danger, and we were hardly a balanced Squad, even with the wolf to add more teeth to the mix. But the dungeon would close soon, and Kassidy needed that staff, so we decided to risk it."


    "There was a spider in there." Intoned Kassidy and Markus nodded. "A huge one. As big as a house or even bigger. Should have known..."


    "You should have?" Asked Orphryn, clearly confused.


    "Any time there is a big dark cave its always spiders..."


    At everyone''s confused look, Markus laughed. "It''s a thing from our world."


    "Sin thought so too." Said Kassidy. "When we heard the clicking and the sound of the spider moving around. Remember?"


    Markus nodded. "Maybe demons have spider caves." He laughed.


    The comment made Vale look to the only demon in the room again, and again the man looked pale and confused. Like he had an idea, and what ever it was made no sense and scared the crap out of him. No doubt, August probably brought him because this meeting was about a demon, and he hoped this one would have some insight. If Vale had to guess, that''s exactly what the demon had, and he was not happy bout it.


    "It was an extremely difficult fight." Markus continued. "We were not well prepared, and the monster had the stamina and life force to be an s rank for sure. We were mostly lucky that Sin decided to put the enlarging spell on her newt so he could hold the spider still. Since it wasn''t bucking us off, Vale and I were able to hack away at it till we finally killed it."


    "Roran and I tried to keep up with the healing, but we were mostly useless." Said Kassidy with a sigh. "I need to investigate ways that I can be of more use in a fight. Anyway, between Markus and Vale attacking and Sin and her tames distracting and immobilizing, we got the job done. But it was close."


    "It was." Agreed the other hero.


    "Sin got thrown pretty hard while the spider was in its death throws and ended up in a bad way... Even when she was in the dirt, broken and bloodied, she was concerned for the others and the fight. I managed to get her mobile once the beast was dead."


    "Yes. Then we followed some lights to our target. The staff was there. It was being guarded by a fairy who asked if we could restore her home. Kassidy was able to do it splendidly. We thought we were in the clear then. Just another day, maybe two, due to fatigue and injury, and we would be out of the dungeon and on our way back..."


    "What happened? I take it that is when the priest took matters into his own hands?" Asked Orphryn, glaring suspiciously at the man in question.


    Markus nodded his large head. "We had just set up camp. He had been acting strange, but I did not think much of it. We had all just been through a lot and Roran was a priest, not a fighter. At some point, he and Sin disappeared. We had just been discussing how odd it was for them both to be out of sight when Vendaval and Drogin began getting anxious and we heard shouting a couple hundred meters away." At this Markus looked to Vale, all other eyes followed suit.


    "I heard the shouting and figured the pair were arguing once again. I told the others to wait, and I would go break them up once again. Roran had been getting increasingly more aggressive through out the tip, and Sin had been getting less and less tolerant of his bigotry. I had figured that they would be at blows when I got there but I hadn''t expected what was going on." Vale shook his head, anger still fresh and potent. "As I hurried nearer, I could hear Roran screaming about how Sin was destined to be the end of us. Telling her that she was blasphemous and that there was no way the Gods would have gifted her with such talents. She was screaming at him as well, refuting all he said and probably being a little insulting as well. I heard him insist that Sin had intentionally made herself seen by the Ravens, that she was an infiltrator of the Demon King. Bellowing that she was the Demon Queen and the doom of the kingdom... When I got there it was to see Roran tossing Sin into a gateway, likely to the demon realm given that I was unable to reach through it and grab her. As she was falling, she used her tail to remove the moron''s arm."


    At the end of the tale the room broke out in chatter, excitable and anxious. Rift turned in his chair and addressed Vale. "You are sure he called her a ''demon queen''?" He asked, looking concerned. Vale nodded and Rift cursed. When he got to his feet the room grew silent once more.


    "What is it captain Rift?" Asked the queen.


    Instead of addressing the monarch, Rift looked to the priest. "I take it you and I have a similar ancestor, priest."


    Roran''s sneer seemed to be answer enough, but the man spoke all the same. "Yes. And you knew the whole time. With your Decerning Eye, you knew from the very moment you set eyes on her that that woman was the enemy!"


    "What is he blabbering about?" Snapped Heig, tugging on his beard in agitation.


    "As many, if not all of you, know, my blood line has afforded me the skill of the Decerning Eye. I can see the stats of anyone I use it on, given I spend the large amount of mana needed to use it. It appears the Priest has the same skill" said Rift, taking his seat once more and glaring at Roran.


    "And how would you have known that this, Sin, was an enemy?" This time from Rain of the Black Tigers.


    "One of her titles!" Snarled the priest, nearly ripping his own bandages off in his agitation. "One of her titles was ''Demon Queen''! I am sure you all can guess what that means? She was destined to become the bride of our greatest enemy. Probably planning to get in good with the squads and take him a force of named monsters while she was at it. I saved us! I stopped her from- "


    "You may have doomed us all..." Said a deep, rolling rumble of a voice. Silently, the room turned to look at the demon member of the Golden Dragons.


    "What ever are you talking about Gelzrieg?" Asked August, only noticing now the state of distress his man had been in.


    The demon ran a red hand down his chiselled face, looking almost pink he was so pale. "You are sure she was a Demon Queen?" He asked Rift, not Roran. When Rift nodded the man let out a slew of what Vale assumed were curse words but in no language he knew. "Then I repeat: you have doomed us all!" He snarled at Roran, who recoiled from the demon.


    "Calm your self, son." Snapped August. "Speak plainly."


    "If what was said here today is true than this fool just angered one of the worst possible people you could pick a fight with."


    "Are you confirming that this Sin truly is part of the Demon Kings army?" Growled Heig.


    "Tch!" Said Gelzrieg, sounding so much like Sin that Vale actually took a double take. "As I have tried to explain to my captain before, demons recognize no demon king!"


    "Weather you recognize them or not hardly-"began Rain but the demon interrupted.


    "You do not understand. I am not saying the enemy we face does not exist. I am simply stating that he is no demon king. Just because I call a rabbit a dog, does not make it a dog. No matter how many people call it a dog, nor how long those people call it a dog, that does not mean it is a dog. What I am telling you is that the demon people do not recognize any kings. We are a matriarchal society. Demons are ruled by Queens."


    "Then who is the Demon King?" Asked Seraphina while at the same time Roran shouted "You lying demon scum!"


    "Speak up again, Priest, and I will have you forcibly removed myself!" Snapped August.


    "The Demon King, as far as I know, is a force of nature, not an actual person. He is definitely not a demon."


    "He could be though could he not? A demon who has come to this world and wants to rule?" Asked Rain.


    "No." Sighed Gelzrieg. "First of all, the last things demons want is anything to do with this world. You all think we want to take over for souls or some such I assume."


    "That has been speculated about the demon king, yes." Confirmed Syntry, the dark elf captain of the Bule Wolves. She normally did not say much but Vale knew her to be quite wise, even if she was young for a dark elf in a position of power.


    "Souls hold power for demons, yes. But we can not take them. A soul can only be given, and this is accomplished through the demon summoning contracts. In all actuality, most demons don''t even want to see Hearth, much less take it over. Why would we want to have a world that renders most demons greatest power, magic, pretty much useless. As you know, a demon on hearth loses 80% of its magical power."


    "Then why are you here?" Asked Rift. There was no accusation, just a genuine desire to know.


    "How to explain..." Grumbled the demon. "We are like ants, or bees perhaps. Each clan lives in its own lands and grows together. And each clan has a queen. The queen passes her gifts on to her children, her magics and her physical traits. My clan, it has far less magical talent than most demon clans. But we are physically strong. However, in the demon realm, magic is might as it were. So, I came here, hoping what magic I did have combined with the power of my body, would get me farther. And it has. But the vast majority of demons will laugh in your face if you suggest they come here."


    "Truly?" Seraphina Asked, looking relived. "Then why did you say we are doomed?"


    "I should probably explain the basics of the demon structure, then you may be able to better understand just how badly this priest messed up." Roran looked as if he wanted to interrupt but squeezed his mouth shut. "Demon clans are started, protected, guided, and governed by a Queen. There is not one of these people. Over the whole realm there are maybe three hundred total. A Queen is the absolute center of a demon''s world. We serve our queens, care for them, listen to every command. Queens can be absentminded when it come to their own health and safety, so it is the job of the males to be sure they eat- and they must eat a lot, especially if they have used a lot of mana- or things go bad."


    "We had to keep reminding Sin to eat." Said Kassidy in surprise. "We pretty much had to hold an intervention! She was all bones, but she insisted that she was getting three square meals a day. Vale literally had to stand over her and watch as she ate four bowls of stew..."


    The demon bowed to Vale, seemingly relived. "It is an honor, amongst demons, to care for a Queen. And it is a great thing you did. As I said, they can be very hard-headed and willful. But a starved Queen is a truly terrifying thing. They get cranky at first, then tired, then a mix of both, eventually their eyes begin to glow red... then they go feral. They will attack anything and everything. Such a thing has not happened in thousands of years of course, as the males work hard to prevent such a thing."


    "Are you saying that we are doomed because a demon woman got hangry?" Asked Markus, incredulous.


    "No, sorry, I got off topic. Though had a starved Queen found itself in this city, then a goodly part of the population would be dead long before we could quell her." Gelzrieg sighed, still very agitated and pale. "But the Queens are the center of each clan. The clan only has one."


    "There are more women than that." Snorted Geld. "I have seen summoned Demon females as well as a couple free ones. I wouldn''t say any of them were special. Not even as strong as the average male."


    "You are right captain. Though females are severely less common than males, they do exist. But they are not queens. Without the queens our spices would die."


    "How so?" Asked Vale. He was desperately trying to connect the dots here, but it just wasn''t happening. Not once had Sin even alluded to the fact that she was any kind of royalty, great power, or even anyone of import.


    "Only the Queens can give birth to women."


    At that, everyone was confused. But vale knew better than to apply typical human breeding standards on another race. Sure, it was nothing like any race on Hearth, but the demons were not from Hearth.


    "Women are only born to the queens. One in every twenty births may be a female. And another queen... well there is only one of those born every few hundred years or so."


    "that''s... that''s ridiculous! How can your species survive like that?" Exclaimed Collette. "If one man decided to just murder ten of them then you would be set back ten thousand years."


    "Impossible." Said Gelzrieg with a shake over his head. "A male could never kill a Queen. They are far too strong. Maybe if one came here, it would be possible, but other than this Sin person, I have never once heard of a Queen leaving Demonia... Queens, even the youngest and weakest, could handle a named A Ranked monster all on their own. The most powerful and oldest? They could wipe out this kingdom without much effort. Demon queens are always gaining power and they never die of old age. In fact, due to their power and near immortality, they are essentially considered Demi Gods. And your Priest threw one in a hole."


    All eyes turned to Roran. "I sent it back home." He growled, clearly trying to restrain as much as he could not to shout and rail against the world. "Now it is there and not here. And given how few demons make it here, we won''t be seeing that woman any time soon."


    "You are terrifyingly wrong Sir." Said the demon, in a low and deadly voice.


    "What?"


    "I told you; demons don''t want to come here. I didn''t say the couldn''t. It is impossible for anything not belonging to the demon world to enter the realm, but it is staggeringly easy for what is in the demon realm to come to Hearth. They just don''t want to. About once every two months a portal can be made to hearth without much issue. It costs more mana than most things here do, but there is no shortage of mana or people who can use it, in the demon realm. I have no idea where in the cycle we are right now, but anywhere between now and two months from now, she can back here with ease."


    Vale felt the tension leave his body. She could get back. She just needed to bide her time.


    "The problem is that your man went and royally pissed off and insulted what amounts to a living god. And depending on how old she is, how large her clan is, and what allies she has... well lets just say she may not be coming back alone. For all we know, in less than two months from now, the whole of the demon realm may empty out into Hearth and declare war, right when we are already in the middle of one! You through her back to the demon real in the hopes of stopping a war but all you did was possibly drag us into a worse one."


    At these ominous words the room burst into chatter again. Vale gritted his teeth. This didn''t sound right. Not compared with what little he did know about Sin. But Rift had agreed that she did indeed have the tile of Demon Queen.


    "Captain Rift." Spoke the Queen over the top of the others once again. "You know this Sin better than the rest of us. Do you think she will bare this grudge she has for Roran on to the rest of the kingdom?"


    Rift did not answer right away, and Vale clenched his fists, frustrated. The Rift laughed. "That woman has zero tact. I would not put it past her to barge into your own bed chambers your majesty, and scream out her grievances to you in person, probably in several colorful languages. I would expect her to maybe even beat the ever-loving crap out of Roran... but I would not expect her to send an army on our people no." he smiled at the others in the room. "Sin loves this country. She loves Bellana and she loves at least some of the red Ravens. As much as she is capable at least. She seems a little stunted in the emotions department. Like an ally cat that got kicked too much and now expects every foot to deliver a blow. But no, I do not think she will lay an aggressive finger on this kingdom nor its people. Its not her style."


    "She has nothing but monsters on the brain." Said Vale, watching the dragon newt in his arms sleep fitfully. "She will be back, if for no other reason than to be sure this guy and Vendaval are okay. Besides," he said with a smile. "She hasn''t even tamed a single real dragon yet."


    Rift busted into loud laughter. "You are right. She hasn''t, has she. Plus, the base likes her."


    Vale''s lips twitched. Sin would be back. She would absolutely be back. And she would be back pissed and raring for a fight. He almost laughed.

 Rougier

    The demon realm, nine hours after Sin fell unconscious.


    I came to consciousness slowly, like trying to push up through a pool full of jelly. So slow that I was awake before I opened my eyes. I felt the cold earth beneath me, but also what felt like warm stone against my back. Warm, moving stone. As my brain began processing that bit of confusing information, I also noted that there was a loud, but dull, booming noise in my ears. And was that the sound of a bellows? What the heck.


    It was as my eyes were fluttering open that my trek across the barren battlefield came back into my thoughts. I vaguely remembered reaching the mountains, and seeing the glassy, volcanic rock type stones, but... no that was it. I reached up and rubbed my forehead, hoping the pressure might just get the headache I felt coming on, out. Coffee would have done it.


    I reached up and gripped my chest above my heart. Ow. That hurt. It was totally that I was missing coffee and not the damn Red Raven dwarf Dural. Definitely the coffee. Or Fiervir as he said it was called. What ever it was I could really use some caffeine right now.


    "Have you awoken, little demon?" Not only was the voice like rumbling stones in a river, but as I heard the voice I also felt the warm rocks at my back vibrate. "If you are then I would ask that you stay calm and not attack me."


    "Hu?" Confused I let my eyes focus. I was in a small clearing between several large black rocky spires. And as odd as that was, the massive metal manacles attached to them were stranger still. And attached to those were chains as thick as my thighs. I followed where they stretched across the purple dirt and saw that two went to my right and two went to my left. I followed the ones on my left and was immediately eye to eye with a monster. It was a red eyeball at least the size of my grimoire. That eye was set into a face of rough, stone like scales that were a deep plum colour. "Um... what?"


    The eye narrowed a little and it spoke again. "I fed you, so you can not attack me, yes? I saved your life."


    Again, I blinked. This time I got up and took a few unsteady steps back, only so I could get the full view of what lay before me. Well, this was a dragon... It lay on the ground, its body a deep plum color, and he look not a thing like Drogin. Not even giant Drogin. There was no comparison. I could see why people looked at me like I was crazy for insisting that my little newt was just an itty-bitty dragon.


    There were no smooth or sleek lines to this beast. He was all rock-hard rough scales and plates, covered in ridges and spines from narrow, spade shamed head to its tree trunk tail. Where Drogin looked sleek and slim, this dragon was a tank. How could it even fly? Speaking of flying, its wings were massive, and that was folded. Each on a mass of bone, plate scale and leathery, battle scared and torn, membrane. Drogin looked like a piece of art, a pretty painting, compared to this creature. It screamed age, wisdom, and unspeakable power. I felt tears well up in my eyes: He was beautiful. Beautiful in a way only nature could be. Like a grizzly bear was beautiful, or a glacier... pure force of nature.


    "You''re a dragon!" Was all I could say, voice filled with awe.


    The dragon raised its head up on a heavily plated swan neck, purple scales catching the light, and looked at me like he thought I really had hit my head. Even laying on its belly like it was, the head was a good ten feet above me, making me crane my neck to look him in the eye.


    "... Yes, I am." He said in that amazing boulder-y dragon voice that I decided right then and there was the absolute best.


    I laughed in pure joy. "That''s amazing!"


    The dragon''s eye- I could only see the one at the moment- narrowed, a red slit in a purple face. "I agree. But I did not expect you to think so."


    "Why?"


    "You do understand that most people, monster, animal, or demon, are afraid of dragons are you not?" He spoke slow, like I was dimwitted, but it just made me laugh.


    "If that is the case then why did you ask that I not attack you?" I asked, confused. He had sounded worried, but it made no sense. This beast could eat me in two bites. One if he chewed good first. I saw no reason that he should be even a little afraid of me. I doubted even my claws could get through his rock like scales and dense hide.


    "You are a Demon Queen, are you not. And I am, indeed, a dragon. But a bound one. I can not use any magic here, in my mountain top cage."


    Now it was my time to be confused. "Demon Queen? That''s a thing? I thought it was just some title I had, but you say it like it''s a species." Also, what did he mean cage? I saw no bars... then I remember the chains that had been forgotten in the awe of seeing my first ever real dragon. Yes, the chains did reach from the stone pillars to identical manacles around the dragon''s ankles on both its front paws and rear legs. Why was it tied up?


    The dragon snorted, purple-ish smoke coiling from its fist sized nostrils. "It is a sub species of your race. How is it you do not know this about your own kind?"


    "Tch!" I said, annoyed. "I don''t know much of anything about any race, and significantly less about my own. This is my first time to the demon realm."


    He still looked suspicious, but I didn''t blame him. Without knowing context, I am sure it sounded extremely farfetched. "Well, I am afraid I do not know much about demons, other than they are a pain." Said the dragon.


    "I have been told that I am a pain." I said with a nod. "Well, how about you tell me what you do know?" I held up my hands in a placating gesture. "I promise I will not attack you if you do not attack me." Not that I would tell the thing that if he did attack me, I would be dead meat, chains or not. How the heck had this dragon though I was any kind of threat to him I have no clue.


    "Well," he said slowly. "You are what is called a Demon Queen. They are the strongest of demons. I have fought them before and as you can see, I did not come out on top." He said, lifting his left paw and clinking the chains. "They are not as physically strong as many of the males, but your magic is quite fearsome. Even compared to my own when I had use of it." He set the paw back down. "When you stumbled up here from the poisoned lands, you had gone into a feral state. Very dangerous. I encounter no Queen in that state before, but once spoke to an older dragon who had. He claimed that when Demon Queens become those with glowing eyes that even their physical strength is enough to throw a full-grown dragon such as my self. He was not a dragon prone to exaggeration."


    "No kidding... Sorry, but I don''t even remember coming up here. I find it hard to believe, but if I did hurt you then I am sorry." I said, giving him the once over from a distance and not seeing any wounds.


    He shook his serpentine head. "You did not harm me. You seemed to have kept some control and held yourself back. Luckily, I had a fresh kill and gave it to you. It seemed to appease you and then, when you were done eating, you fell asleep. That was about nine hours ago."


    I frowned. "I ate raw meat?" I looked around and saw the blood slick just past the dragon. "That won''t make me sick?"


    "I could not tell you. You ate It as if it were a natural thing to do. If you become ill, then you will know."


    "True. So, being a demon queen just means I am a very strong demon?" I asked. It was way better a reason than because I was destined to be the bride of the demon king or something.


    "Again, I do not know much. From what I have seen, demon Queens lead the demons. They are queens in both name and status."


    "Well, I don''t see how I can be a queen without a kingdom." I sighed. Still tired I decided to sit on the ground, cross legged. "Okay then, why not tell me more about you then? Why are you chained up here?"


    The dragon sighed, causing a gust of rather unpleasant smelling wind to brush over me. "I was pretty wild in my younger years." He said sadly. "I guess the demon queens thought I had attack one or two too many of their settlements... It was an entertaining way to get food, but I suppose I could have been a tad more considerate of another, intelligent race. Anyway, they sent out five or six of their queens to deal with me. I managed to defeat most of them but then they chained me with their magic up here." He ended with an angry harrumph.


    "If they are so strong, and saw you as being such a danger, why didn''t they just kill you?"


    "I am not so easy to kill. Nearly impossible in fact. They seemed to think the only way to stop me was to contain me. And so here I am. I suppose they may have found a way to kill me once I was immobilized here, but I am under the impression that demon queens are inherently lazy things. I was rendered practically powerless up here, so they just decided to let me rot the centuries away. Almost would have been better dead..."


    I wasn''t sure if I should feel bad for the dragon or the demons, but the story did make me laugh. "Perhaps you should not play with your food, dragon." I said with a smile.


    "I would have though you would condemn me for eating your kind?''


    "Why? People, even dragons, need to eat. But I do not blame the demon queens for putting a stop to you either. Eat or be eaten, it''s the way of nature right. But you really shouldn''t sound so pouty. Where I come from, they have a saying: you reap what you sow. If you didn''t want to get in a fight with bad ass demon queens, then you should not have eaten their people."


    The dragon just grumbled, making me chuckle again.


    "I don''t suppose you have a name? or should I just call you dragon?"


    "I have a name. You don''t get as old and powerful as me without getting one." He said proudly. "I am Rougier Death-Bringer."


    "Wow... that''s quite the ominous name."


    "Indeed. When I was free to do as I pleased, all feared my wing beats. My roar meant that death was coming and swiftly! It was a glorious time. "He sighed and set his head back on his paws. "Now I am just a collared laze about. I can''t even get a decent meal here you know."


    "There was an awful lot of bodies on my way here. Was that your work too?"


    "Indeed. During that last battle, oh about two thousand years ago now. Every now and a gain a lone demon or even a small group come and try their hands in defeating me, no doubt hoping to win fame. They all become my food. The ones down in the waste lands have been gone all that time though. I killed most with my cursed flames. They are so deadly that I went and killed the land too. Apparently, the demons were most aggravated about that. Its why the queens came I think."


    "You were the one who turned the land all purple and dusty."


    "Yes. My cursed flames kill all and even poison the ground. Normally I show more restraint, but I was quite aggravated when it looked like I might loose. At least, so claimed the Queens who confronted me."


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    "Well shame on you." I huffed angerly.


    Rougier looked taken aback. "How so? You were fine with me killing entire armies not two seconds ago!"


    "Well, they came to fight you didn''t they. But you shouldn''t go destroying the land! Have you seen it? What a waste. And you say it has been that way for two thousand years? That horrible!"


    "Hmmm." Said the dragon. "Yes, I suppose I can see your point. Had I not done it, then food would not be so scarce to say the least. The north is barren. But to the south all is well." He said indicating to the side of the mountain behind me. I looked over my shoulder but couldn''t see anything from where I was.


    "So at least that means this whole world isn''t a barren waste land..." I sighed, relived. "Do you have any idea how unpleasant it was walking through that?"


    "Er, my apologies?"


    "Humph." I eyed the chains on the dragon. "So, you can''t get those off?"


    "Not at all. They appear to be forged in a demonic blood magic. I think one or more of the queens gave their life to make them. Unbreakable. I am stuck here till I die. Or I guess I could chew my own legs off but given how tough my scales and hide are and my lack of healing skills, I would die of blood loss before the second leg was removed. Even if I did manage it, then I would be legless. Might as well be dead then too."


    "I guess. Still two thousand years is a long time. Has no queen come by to see if you have repented? Maybe you could make a deal with one so that you could be free once again. Promise to not eat demons or ruin anymore large swaths of perfectly good mountains and valleys."


    Rougier grunted. "I have seen no Queen since the battle. Other than you that is. If I promised you, I would not eat demons or ruin lands, would you set me free?" He laughed.


    "Sorry, I''m afraid I don''t know how-"I stopped mid apology. It was true that I didn''t know how to break the spell. But there may be a way I could get around it. "Say... what would you say if I told you I may have a slim chance of getting you off this mountain?"


    The dragon perked up, lifting his head up once again. "You can do this?"


    "I am not sure. But I am willing to try. But- "


    "But I must promise not to kill demons and destroy the land?"


    I laughed. "No. well that would be appreciated yes, but I am afraid that it would cost you more then that."


    "How do you mean?" He asked. He looked like he would agree to just about anything to get off the mountain. I didn''t really blame him. The boredom must be intense.


    "Unfortunately, you would be trading one binding for another. You see, I am a tamer. If I make that contract with you, I think I can get the chains off. But... then you would blood bound to me. A regular temporary tame would not work I do not think. It would be costly, weak, and probably the blood magic holding you would be too powerful. But if I override it with my own blood magic... then maybe."


    "And what would being bound to you mean for me?" Asked the dragon. Desperation was clearly making him consider the deal.


    "You would be stuck with me till the day I died. I could, if I wanted, have complete control over you. Though I have never exercised that power before. But you would, essentially, be my servant in the eyes of everyone. And I would definitely not allow you to go around killing anything just for the fun. Nor would I be alright with you ruining lands."


    "But I would be able to get off this rock?" He asked. "Fly, use magic, see things that are not just rocks and the occasional animal?"


    "If it works, yes. In fact, I should warn you that I have no intention of even staying in this world. I very much intend to find a way back to Hearth."


    The dragon sighed once again. "May I think on this?"


    "of course, its your life after all." I stretched out and stood. Rougier had said I ate- if a slab of raw what-ever-it-was can be called food- and I was not starved, but I could eat again. At the same time, I didn''t really want to risk eating anything near this poisoned place again. Maybe its like radiation or something. "I am going to have a walk around, see what I see." I said with a wave.


    "You will be back?" He asked and I tried not to smile at the sound of desperation in his voice.


    "Yup! No way you can get rid of me that easy after all."


    I headed in the southern direction that Rougier had indicated earlier. I wanted to see what this world really looked like. Surely there had to be more to this world than black rock, dry purple earth, and the constant purple clouds. It was interesting to look at in that it wasn''t what I was used to, but I was really tired of it at the moment. I would guess that I must have spent at least a week wandering in that death field. I was done with the purple landscape.


    I clambered over rocks and was careful on the gravel lest I slip. It took only a few minutes of traversing the rocks for me to reach the other side of the mountain. But what I found was even more mountains, clearly a range of black and purple spires. But between the peaks, in the distance, I could see a glow on the horizon. Perhaps a sun? It was the first time I had even gotten a hint that there was a parting of the clouds. Also, the air smelt a little better over here. But was that the poison or the dragon. I laughed a little to myself, thinking what the dragon may say if I told him I thought he may have had bad BO.


    I sighed. It wasn''t as long of an adventure as I had planned, but there wasn''t much else I could do. There was a large drop off here and I wasn''t about to go to the northern side. The east and west had large walls that would be a hassle to climb. Too much effort to bother. So, I decided to just sit and relax for a bit while Rougier thought. My hand went up to pet Drogin, but of course he wasn''t there. Sadly, I lowered my hand. I hoped he was alright. I was worried about Vendaval, too, of course, but he was more capable than poor little Drogin. And the little newt wasn''t used to being without me anymore.


    I also wondered about what had happened to Roran. Wouldn''t surprise me if Vendaval ate him. Truth was I wouldn''t care if he had, nor would I care if he was still alive, having a grand old time as the High Priest again. I hoped to clobber him, but it wasn''t like an all-consuming need for revenge or anything. I mean, I already took his arm. Seems like a pretty good punishment to me.


    I tried not to think of Vale or the heroes, or even the other Red Ravens. It was an odd feeling, caring for other people. It was easy to accept caring for my monsters, but for some reason it was not as easy to wrap my head around people. Well, it was what it was I suppose. I would just have to return to them as well.


    I gave the dragon another hour before I got up and made my way back. He was still laying on the gravel, his head resting on his paws and his large red eyes closed. I still couldn''t believe I was seeing a real, honest to goodness, dragon. And maybe, just maybe, he was going to be my dragon.


    "I am back Rougier." I said, perfectly aware that he could smell me and hear me a mile off more than likely. "Come to any conclusions? Or do you still need time?"


    "No." said the dragon, opening red eyes and lifting his head. "I am ready."


    "Okay," I said, stepping off a rock and approaching the dragon. "And?"


    "And, I have decided that I will go with you." The dragon got to his feet, and I saw that he was easily twenty five feet tall. "weather with you or on this mountain, I will be chained, but with you I can see more than just this mountain, and I can use my magic once again. Perhaps even fight. Now I am in chains, with you it is more like a collar. I can accept this."


    I smiled broadly. "Fantastic! I would be honored to have you with me." Perhaps that was an odd thing to say. Yes. Rougier was a dragon, but he had admitted to slaughtering what appeared to be an army of 100,000 men as well as more than one Demon Queen. I was sure any normal person would have at least thought about, not only allying myself with him, but even just setting him free from his bindings.


    "What is it that needs to be done for this binding to take place. Is there anything I need to do?" Rougier asked, sitting, chains clanging.


    "I just need some of my blood and some of yours. Barely more than a drop. And I need my-"I patted my sides, looking for my bag which was obviously not here. I was wearing nothing but a dirty, two-thousand-year-old piece of scratch cloth. Where was my book? "Did I drop my book?"


    "It is right there." Said Rougier, pointing with his nose to where I had awoken. And there it was, sitting on the ground. Mind you, coming to the demon realm hadn''t gotten it taken from me so no doubt, even if I dropped it in the ocean, I could some how get it back. I just didn''t know how. I would need to read the book again. It seemed to like adding information once I thought of a question I wanted answered.


    I picked up the book but didn''t bother looking for the answer just yet. I was about to get myself a freaking dragon. I flipped past Vendaval and Drogin''s seals with a pang and turned to a blank page.


    "I need to draw a magic binding circle in my blood on the page. Then I use some of your blood to write your name on the space above it... I have never tamed anyone with a name already." I realized. "I am not even sure if the naming part is necessary but it best to do it anyway." This I said to myself more than to the dragon.


    "Very well. You will need to take the blood from a wing I think." Said Rougier, partially extending one of the leathery appendages my way. "The rest of my body is too tough to pierce by normal means. The inside of my mouth would be easier to cut as well, but id imagine the wing would be better all round."


    I chuckled. "You are probably right." Using a claw, same as the last two times I did this, I punctured my palm and let the blood pool for a moment before beginning to etch the familiar circle. It took much less time to do this time. Apparently, I was getting used to it. That done I reached out for the wing. It was thicker than I would have guessed: maybe was wide as a finger where Drogin''s was nearly paper thin- or parchment thin I suppose. I located a vein in the warm skin quite easily, also noting that his wing had several small rents in it already, as well as places of scar tissue and frayed tips. He was truly a creature used to battle, his wings one of the few places even really capable of taking damage. I had to use a good amount of force for my claw to pierce the skin and when I did the blood flowed quite easily.


    "Do not worry about the flow." Rougier said when he saw my worried look. "For one of my sizes it is really nothing. Plus, the little pin prick will seal its self in a moment or two."


    "Alright..." I used my finger soaked in blood to begin writing his name. I briefly thought to ask the way to spell it to be sure, but figured the dragon had little use for correct spelling one way or another. I also debated weather or not I should add the ''death-bringer'' part. I put it down all the same, after all it was how he had introduced himself. "You ready?" I asked.


    "Yes." He rumbled.


    Without another thought I said: "Seal. I name thee, Rougier Death-bringer."


    That instant I realized something that really should have crossed my mind well before ever attempting this binding: What rank and power would a named, multi-millennium, dragon have? I still did not know, but what I did know was that my mana flew from me at an unprecedented rate. So fast and in such an amount that I felt pain from its passing. Had I of been on Hearth, I would have died. Right now, I was at 100,000 mana and I could tell that that number had fallen to nearly zero. What kind of monster was Rougier? And what did that make me?


    The binding clicked into place, and I fell back onto the ground, mind dizzy and limbs week. I was just barely holding in the mystery meat from earlier. I turned my head to the side, but Rougier didn''t look like he was changing any, like the other two had. Probably the name was not a gift from me but one he already had. That may have saved my life, I realized. Had he taken more mana to change himself then I may have died. But I could feel his consciousness. The tame was a success.


    "Are you alright?" Rougier asked. He sounded more curious than concerned.


    "Yeah... stupidity on my part." I panted. "I am guessing you are an SS Ranked monster. A very strong one at that. The stronger the monster, the more mana to tame them. You drained me out."


    Making the ground shake a bit, the dragon took a couple steps to reach me. "I made no secret that I was powerful. Greatly so. Though I have no idea what an SS Ranked monster is. I would guess this is a term from Hearth."


    "I guess, I never really thought about the fact that something like that would be different here. Then again. I never thought I would be here period."


    "I am still chained." Said Rougier, stating the obvious. "I can tell that we are bonded, but did it not work the way we had hoped?"


    I waved my hand up at him weakly. "No, I don''t know about that yet. I must cast another spell, but the binding has tapped me out. I need to wait for at least some of my mana to return."


    The dragon nodded. "I understand. Perhaps you should rest. In a couple hours we can try this other spell of yours, then I can take you to others of your kind."


    "Huh?" I said, confused.


    "You say you used up your mana yes? Then you likely need to eat. Food here is few and far between. We need to get you fed again before you go red eyes again. Besides, your goal is to return to Hearth, right?"


    "Yes, that''s right."


    "Well, I do not know how to do that. We will need to find other demons, and hope they know. Do you know which family you belong to?"


    "Family?" I asked. I was so exhausted that even single word sentences were a chore.


    "Yes, every demon family- or clan I think they call them selves- is different. To me it looked as if all the demons who looked like one another and who had similar powers kept to one another. I assume you also must have a clan you belong to."


    "Ugh. Maybe, but I do not know. I guess I will just have to go and find out."


    "Then rest just long enough to use your spell. Once I am free you can rest more while we fly."


    "Fly?" I asked, perking up out of my exhaustion a bit.


    The dragon looked at me like he was worried about my brain function. "How did you expect to get out of these mountains? Walk? I can guarantee that once I get the ability to fly, I will be using that ability to the fullest."


    I smiled, wild with excitement. Who wouldn''t be crazy excited about flying, much less flying on the back of a dragon? But then I frowned. "You haven''t flown in two thousand years... Are you sure you still can?"


    The dragon snorted out a puff of smoke again. "Dragons are born with the ability to fly. It is not just something we forget you know."


    "Okay... but what about the fact that you haven''t used those muscles in that long of a time? No offense, but you look like you weigh more than a herd of elephants, can your wings even lift your weight right now, much less with my weight added to it?"


    Another condescending look from Rougier. "You do know that dragons'' flying is more about magic then bodily ability do you not? If it was just a matter of wing lift, my wings would need to be so large that I wouldn''t be able to walk."


    I settled back against the dragon and grumbled. How was I supposed to know that? Rougier eyed me for a moment while I pointedly ignored him, then sighed before curling his big body around me, a wing blocking out the chill wind.

 Demons

    Eventually I decided that I should have regained enough mana for my spell. According to the grimoire this one was supposed to be not nearly as mana consuming as the Gigantium Spell, because it was removing size and stats, rather than using my own mana to add to my targets. I should be able to Use Miniminazi without too much effort. My hope was that one, my own blood magic would be enough to override the two thousand year old spell on the chains, and two, once the spell broke through the old blood magic, I could just shrink the dragon right out of those chains.


    Potential problems would be that the spell just did not work at all, the dragon stayed the size he was, and the chains would still bind him. Or, the spell worked, but the old blood binding doesn''t get overridden and the chains simply shrink with Rougier. But I wouldn''t know anything for sure till I tried.


    "Ready?" I asked Rougier, standing before him, set to cast the spell. The dragon, looking nervous- or as nervous as a dragon could look, I guess- nodded and stood still. I pictured the spell I needed, having looked it over before casting it just to be safe, and said: "Miniminazi."


    As a spell circle appeared below the dragon, I felt a dip in my mana. It was small compared to some of the spells I had been casting lately, but I was sure an average person would not have been able to do it. Not on a monster like Rougier at least. And I really was using too much mana. Even I could tell I was starving, and normally- due to pretty much living half starved most my life- I didn''t really notice.


    I looked down at my stomach and winced. I was thin. Too thin. Vale would be mad. And with that thought I was depressed again. How dare that Abs- For- Brains make me miss him, even as slightly as I did right now? I''d have to punch him next time I saw him.


    I watched, breath held, as Rougier shone with a blue-ish light in the spell circle. It seemed to flicker and I almost lost hope, but suddenly the giant dragon began to shrink and I leapt up with joy and whooped. I don''t think I had ever done that before. The thought made me smile as I hurried forward, the light fading from the dragon.


    "Did it work?" he asked, his voice was still deep and bouldery, but not nearly as loud and lost its echo like feel.


    I laughed and knelt by the pint-sized dragon. He was now the size of a dragon newt! But where Drogin was smooth scaled, sleek, thin and stream lined, Rougier still looked like the rough and spiky beast he was. Drogin was a race car and Rougier was a tank. "It worked. See I am bigger than you are now."


    Slowly, Rougier looked up and blinked at me. I don''t think that he would have appreciated me calling him cute right then, but he couldn''t do anything about me thinking it. His red eyes went wide, and he jumped to his feet. "I do not like this!" He snapped but I just laughed.


    "You might like this though." I said and scooped up the struggling dragon in my arms, taking him over to one of the chains. He froze when he saw the manacle, sitting empty on the ground. As we watched the silver like material began to corrode and rust. In a matter of seconds, they crumbled to a brownish dust that got carried away on the wind.


    Rougier looked at his paws, purple and free of chains, and then looked up at me with awe. He stayed that way for about three full seconds before his eyes narrowed and he snarled. "You said nothing of turning me into a hatching, Female!"


    I laughed again. "No need to worry. The moment I release the spell you go back to normal size. I have used the opposite spell to turn my Dragon Newt large. You are fine."


    "I am not fine! I feel weak and small!"


    "Oh, don''t be a baby. Being this size is very convenient! I can take you anywhere. You can do and see things you have never done before."


    "Oh?" He huffed. "Like what?''


    "Ummm... Enter a house? Be carried so you do not have to walk yourself? I don''t know, lots of stuff. Anyway, just be happy you are free. I could have just left you in the chains." He just grumbled to himself, and I chuckled. "Alright, lets get you back to size. I am afraid you are right, and I really do need to eat."


    I headed to the center of Rougier''s mountain top base and set him on the ground where he sat and glared at me. Smiling, I stepped back to a safe distance. "Miniminazi Rei."


    Within seconds Rougier was back to his full size and rolling his shoulders and wing joints. He really was a work of natural art, every bit of him should have been impossible, yet on this black glass mountain, he looked in his element. It felt more like I was the unnatural one.


    If a dragon could smirk than that would be the name, I would have given the look on Rougier''s face as he craned his neck up to his full height and let out a loud trumpet that had me covering my ears and the ground shaking. As I lowered my hands, the sound still echoing around. His jaws parted and there was the sound of a deep inhalation. I watched in awe as a pillar of high heat blue flames shot up into the air, it was double Rougier''s height, and I could feel it even at a distance.


    For the first time, I watched as he spread his two wings, seeing them fully at last. The ridges and fingers were thickly scaled; the leathery membranes pulled taut. Even in the dim light of this purple cloud sky I could see the veins in the wings. They were as scared and tattered as I figured, even when I only saw them folded at his sides. There was nothing I would call tears or rents, but there were some fist sized holes and the bottom edge had definitely seen better days.


    Rougier crouched low, his purple chest scraping the ground, his wings slammed downward with a blast of air that nearly knocked me over, then he sprang into the air. It was amazing, seeing something so big and so heavy take to sky like he was meant for it. I watched as he made several passes, never flying out of my sight. Then he appeared to be showing off as he did several acrobatic stunts, like corkscrews and loops. I laughed, feeling joy in his apparent revelry in freedom.


    It wasn''t too long when he made his landing. It was almost a drop, with minimal flapping, yet he touched down so softly that I didn''t even hear it. Once all four feet were on the ground, he shook himself out and made a happy sort of rumbling noise that was somewhere between a growl and a purr. I laughed and made my way over to him.


    "Looked like you were having fun." I said, putting a pale hand on his side with a smile.


    "Indeed. Like getting to stretch after being in a cramped box for an age." He said in what I assumed was an amused tone.


    I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "And you know what it feels like to be in a box?"


    "Do not play smart with me girl."


    "Sin." I said, realizing that I hadn''t told him my name. he hadn''t asked either but as a monster, no doubt he was used to most of the things he once spoke with not having names. "My name is Sin."


    "Very well Sin, let us be off. The faster I am away from this mountain the better. I am tired of purple earth and black stones."


    I rolled my eyes. "Then maybe you shouldn''t have done it."


    "Back talking." He rumbled. "I feel that I am going to be subjected to too much of that."


    "Most likely." I confirmed. "I don''t suppose you have any tips for riding a dragon. I can''t say I have ever had the occasion to do so before now."


    "Hmm. I have never had anyone on my back before either. I am sure it is a great honor."


    This time I snorted. Luckily no smoke came out of my nose. "I am sure we will both be embarrassed if I fall off, oh great dragon."


    There was an irritated rumble in Rougier''s chest. "Hold on tight? But I suggest not holding to tight with your legs. You appear to have a thin hide; my scales may cause damage."


    I looked down at my naked lower half. Yeah, this was going to be an uncomfortable trip. That first time I went horse back riding the other day was painful and I had on leather pants and a saddle to work with. Oh well, all I could do was hope we found people soon.


    Rougier got as low to the ground as he could and set his foreleg in a way that I could climb up. "Careful of my spines and ridges. We don''t need you cutting an artery."


    "Yeah, yeah. I got it." He was sharp all over. But luckily, I was small and managed to find a spot between some spines around where his wings met his shoulders and got as comfy as I could. He was definitely wider than a horse. If I didn''t think I would fall of I could have sat cross legged there easily. I smiled, a little giddy. I was absolutely on the back of a dragon right now. I wonder if he would consent to a saddle being made for him for when we needed to make long trips. I didn''t want him to think I thought of him as a mode of transport. Plus, I would be pretty offended if some one asked to put a saddle on me...


    "Grab what ever you can and hold on. Don''t get stabbed either."


    "Yes, I get it already." I huffed. "You are big and stab-y. Now can we just go?"


    "Again, with the attitude. I have eaten people for less you know?"


    "Well, no more eating people unless I say so. I don''t need the angry comments from people when you can get a viable snack some place else."


    The dragon laughed and I felt my belly do a little wobble as he crouched down, then jumped into the air with a woosh. I admit I let out an unflattering scream and plastered my small body to his back, nearly goring out an eye on a spike. The air pressure kept me plastered to his back as he flapped three more times, tilted forward, and then the air was pushing against my face.


    "don''t go too fast." I squealed, not sure if he could even hear me over the wind. "At least not till I get used to it."


    "Yeah, yeah. I got it." He said sarcastically, his bendy neck turning so he could shoot a snarky look at me. I growled and punched his back. My fist hurt, and judging from the roaring laughter on the wind, he hadn''t felt a thing. I should have known better.


    It took a while before I got the courage to look over the side of the dragon. Not that I could see much without contorting myself in a way that I was sure would have me sliding off his side. But I could see the peeks of the mountains, their speed making me a little nauseous. I almost laughed when I though about what Rougier''s reaction would be if I puked on him. Probably best to keep what little nutrition I had left in my body, right where it was.


    "We are nearing the end of the poison." Rougier said after about fifteen minutes. "Hold on tight and I will fly lower so you can see better."


    I gripped the spines I had been using as hand holds and I felt as we began to descend. I shivered in fear but trusted that the dragon had at least an inkling of what he was doing. I saw the we were now between two mountains rather than over them, the dark rock and dirt zooming past on either side. I then looked to the front and gasped.


    With his head angled down I now had an unobstructed view ahead and it was breath takingly sunning and alien. The mountains made for a V-shaped frame of the land beyond them. The clouds faded from purple to a pale pink color before disappearing altogether, leaving not a light blue sky but a sea green one, a pink clouds drifting by here and there. To my left was a yellow sunbathing the land in a gentle light. Beyond the peeks was a vast field of yellow grass dotted with blue and white flowers and beyond that a great, red lake.


    "Its beautiful..." I gasped, eyes wide and even a little wet. I really was stunned.


    Soon Rougier leveled off and I could only see a little of the yellow grass, but after a couple minutes, as the lake drew closer, I could see the opposite bank. There seemed to be trees there. They were not easy to make out just yet, but I saw they appeared to have yellow leaves while others looked a lot like the green conifers from earth.


    "The air feels much better here." Rumbled the dragon. "And it feels good to see trees and grass again." I opened my mouth to be snarky again but snapped it shut when he turned to narrow his red eye on me.


    "Where I come from the grass is green, the water is blue, and the clouds are white." I told him. His narrowed eyes blinked curiously. "And the leaves on the trees are normally only yellow in the fall."


    "Hearth sounds like a strange place." He spoke. "Still, I think I would like to see that."


    I opened my mouth, about to tell him that I hadn''t been speaking of hearth, though the sky and such seemed to be the same either way. But before I could tell him I came from earth not hearth, he dipped his wing and made a left turn, away from the lake.


    I yelped and pressed myself closer to his scales. "Sorry." He said, "I see demon dwellings this way, just on the other side of these trees."


    I glanced over his dipped wing and did indeed see buildings. I don''t really know what I was expecting Demon dwellings to look like, but for some reason simple stone houses was not what I had thought to see. Mind you the stones were a purple color rather than the grey I was used to. The roofs seemed to be shingled in black wood.


    "Should you really be flying so low over peoples houses?" I asked, suddenly panicked as I heard what sounded like shouts as we flew by. They had magic, right? What if they tried to shoot us out of the sky?


    "It is fine. They may run like little mice, but they can not harm me even if they tried."


    "Yes, sure, but why the heck are you scaring their pants off for no reason?" I yelped as he made a flap with his wings and adjusted his angle once again.


    Rougier snorted and laughed, sounding like an imminent attack to the people below no doubt. "I do not think I have ever frightened some so bad their pants came off."


    "Ugh! It''s a figure of speech!"


    "We are fine." He said. "I am heading for the castle. No doubt we will be met by warriors, but they would not dare attack on sight. Not unless I was aggressive. And I am being perfectly well behaved."


    "Tch!" I snapped as he turned a little again, getting lower. "Behaved my sore butt!"


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    I gasped as a castle did, indeed, come into view. It was made of the same purple- grey stones as the houses and sat on top of a hill of yellow grass. There was a stone paved road leading up to a wall that had a large dark wooded gate. We were low enough now that I could only see the top three floors of the castle, but I would guess, without towers, it was about five stories tall.


    There was a jerking sensation as Rougier back flapped and began to set his hindlegs on the grass a little way outside the walls. It was as he began to fold his wings that I saw the people streaming out of the castle walls to great us with weapons drawn.


    They were smaller than I expected. That was my first thought at least. Though in less than a second, I realized that it was a foolish one. I was a small demon after all. And these men were bigger than me by twenty or thirty pounds on average. They still looked a little different of course, but there were things about them that were consistent throughout. No doubt the family traits that Rougier had mentioned.


    Each of these men had red eyes like me. But that was about the only distinctive thing that was the same. They had black horns above their ears that swooped back behind their heads. And unlike my whip like tail, theirs was more like Drogin''s thin dragon like one, but black with small dark spines. They were not as long as my tail either, theirs just reaching the ground. The biggest difference was the wings though. I had none while they all had long, thin, black, bat like wings each with a sharp silver claw at the knuckle.


    Most of the men- about twenty- were on the ground, some with spears and others with bows, but there were about five to seven in the air, about nine feet up. All of them looked afraid but determined.


    "Why are you here, Dragon!" A man shouted. My eyes darted around till I spotted a man about six feet tall holding a spear and wearing chain mail. "This is the territory of Demon Queen Felicity, you would do well to find a new place to find prey or trouble."


    "Man, do all dragons have a bad reputation, or is this all for you?" I mumbled.


    Rougier seemed to think for a moment. "I doubt they know who I am specifically. They may know me by name, but it has been two thousand years since any have seen me."


    "So, its just all dragons then?"


    "Probably."


    Well, wasn''t that lovely. I sighed and raised a hand, trying to get their attention. "I am sorry. We didn''t mean to startle you... I don''t think there is a non-scary way to land a dragon."


    Rougier rumbled in amusement, and I bumped him with a foot, a warning to be nice and not scare the jumpy demons with spears.


    "Who- who are you?" The man asked. "Has this dragon kidnapped you miss?" he called up.


    "Um, no... Do you mind if I come down. Its sort of hard to hold conversation when I am nearly a story and a half above you..."


    He hesitated, craning his neck to try and catch a glimpse of me around Rougier''s neck. "Yes, of course." He turned back and addressed another man that I couldn''t make out to well. "Go get Garris and be sure the Queen knows what is happening." I watched the back of a man fly off toward the castle, seeing more men up on the wall with bows drawn.


    A little nervous, I slid down Rougier''s back carful of spines and the sharp points of scales. I hit the ground lightly enough but stumbled, my legs feeling a little like jelly. I laid a hand on the dragon for support, before taking some unsteady steps so that I was standing at Rougier''s large, relatively smooth, chest plate.


    The man who had spoken started. I wasn''t sure if it was the ''cloths'' I was wearing or my current state of emaciation, but he looked shocked. "Please wait while Sir Garris comes. He is the head butler and will better be able to address your issues miss."


    The way he said miss made me think that demons had respect for women. It was hard to explain, but it was kind of like how people said ''sir'' on earth. It was usually said with a kind of respect. Mean while when people said ''miss'' on earth, half the time it sounded condescending, or down right patronizing at times. I nodded at his statement despite being confused. A butler had more authority than a soldier with at least enough command to tell other soldiers what to do?


    "Rahime, Fasder. Go to the town and tell the people to stay away for now" He said. He was still looking at me but clearly speaking to others. I heard flapping but did not see the two men take off.


    "Do- does the dragon not have speech?" He asked me, eyeing Rougier warily. "Or does he use you as a proxy?"


    "The Dragon- "Rumbled Rougier making the man jump. "Can speak just fine thank you." It was condescending, but he did use nice words which I took as an improvement.


    More flapping had my eyes looking up. There was a murmur amongst the demons as all the ones on the ground dropped to a knee. Seemed like a dumb thing to do in a potentially dangerous situation.


    There was a man and a girl flying down to us. The man was around six-six I would guess, with shoulder length black hair with a slight curl to it, and the typical red eyes. He looked to be of the same clan as the other males here. The girl did not look like them, however. For one thing, she was a child. If she was a teenager, I would be surprised to be honest, probably a preteen. She had long wavy silver hair, red eyes of course, and pale skin. But she had double pronged horns that were above her ears but instead of swooped they were pointed. Her wings were black, but they seemed wider than the others and did not have the silver claw, and her tail was thicker than the others with two white spines on the end. Was she from a different clan?


    One thing was for sure, despite her age she was a queen. There was no other reason for the men to be stupidly bowing. The man who I assumed was Garris, landed a few feet from me, just out of reach of Rougier''s teeth, and the girl settled in next to him.


    "Oh my gosh, she looks so sick!" Gasped the girl. I would have felt embarrassed if it wasn''t true and if she wasn''t a child. Plus, I didn''t get embarrassed easily anyway. I could have landed here in the buff and probably not have minded too much.


    "My Queen..." Sighed the butler, sounding a little exasperated but looking perfectly calm with a stiff spine. Dude could win a posture contest.


    "Oh, gosh I am sorry. That was rude." Said the girl. She sounds sweet and cute and was dressed in total Lolita style to boot. How anime...


    "Its fine. I am sure I do look rough." I had no clue what I was supposed to be doing or saying at this point. Was I supposed to bow? According to Rougier and my title, I was also a demon queen. Did demon queens bow to other demon queens?


    The butler sighed, took a single step forward and froze like some one cast a freezing spell on him. He slowly looked at me, eyes wide. "I- I apologize." He said, sounding a little off guard. "I did not realize that you were a Queen. Might I ask where your attendants are?" That last sentence sounded angry, and I was worried for a second before I saw that he was looking at my ribs, and the rage was that he thought I wasn''t being taken care of.


    "Oh, um, well..." I sighed. "I am sorry, but I do not have any. Not unless you count my dragon friend here, whom I only just met. It''s a rather long story..."


    The butler nodded, eyes hard and turned to the man who had been issuing orders earlier. "Go tell the others to prepare this queen with our best rooms, tell the cooks to get a meal started but have something brought to Lady Felicity''s greeting room right away." The soldier stood at attention, placing his right hand over his heart in a claw like gesture, like he was holding his chest. He nodded then wasted no time doing as he was told.


    "You must be very tired and hungry." Said the little Queen. "It is not safe. Will you please enter my home and find respite?"


    "Um yes, thank you. That would be appreciated." Gods this was awkward. I turned to Rougier. "Unless you want to sit out here on the grass you should probably get small again."


    Rougier did not look happy about it but sighed and agreed all the same. The queen, felicity, looked curious about what I was doing, while the butler looked cautious.


    I put my hand on the dragon''s chest, concentrated and said: "Miniminazi." Hands tightened on spears and there were a few nervous rumbling when the dragon began to glow. Oops, probably should have warned them. Soon there was just a tiny lizard on the ground. It mopped and complained but I smiled and picked him up. "You are fine, quit moaning."


    "That was amazing!" Exclaimed the queen. "What kind of magic was that?" She asked. Here red eyes were dancing, and I was sure she wanted to pet the dragon. I didn''t think Rougier''s ego would stand up well to that though.


    "Taming magic." I said with a smile. "I am a tamer."


    "Wow... Garris, what is a tamer?" She asked, excited.


    "A magic user who tames monsters. Though," he said eyeing my dragon. "They are quite rare, especially amongst demons, and I have never met a tamer who has tamed a dragon."


    "Queens truly are amazing creatures..." I heard a man whisper close by to another man.


    "Please, come this way, Milady. Queen Felicity, if you would?" The young queen smiled at me once more before walking ahead, escorted by two men from the crowd. I followed with the butler behind me. It was like walking into a wolf den with the biggest wolf at my tail. I felt on edge with him there. I understood though, I was a stranger, and a stranger queen at that. I guess to them it was akin to letting a wild and unknow dragon into their home without much to protect against it. Though, given that I had Rougier with me, I guessed that was exactly what they were doing.


    The men that we passed bowed and made way for us as we came up to the castle wall. It was well built I guess, mind you the only reference I had was for the wall Around Bellana which wasn''t that amazing. I was told the Wall around the palace in the capital of Larasta, was far more impressive. I resisted the urge to touch the stones as we entered the tunnel, it was about three meters long and had another open door at the end.


    The courtyard was beautiful. There were winding stone paths in the yellow grass and at the center was a large fountain of marble with flowing red water. There were a couple, dark trunked trees with yellow leaves, and I saw woman walk by in a long silver dress holding a clear vase of long stemmed, red flowers before she disappeared through a door. To the left, along the wall appeared to be a stable perhaps, and along the right were a couple buildings. Looming ahead was a grand staircase and the castle itself. It was a simple castle, but it looked elegant against the sea green sky.


    "This was my mother''s castle." Said the girl, looking back at me with a smile. "She had It built many centuries ago, so it may not look as grand as other castles. I like it though, it has a hot spring in the basement!"


    I smiled back. "Um, it would be safe for you to assume I know exactly nothing about being a demon or about demon culture..." I said as politely as I could. How were you supposed to talk to royalty anyway? "So, I wouldn''t know a good castle from a bad one. But I do think this one looks very pretty. I''d also like to apologize up front... I may accidentally do or say something offensive, so please bare with my ignorance."


    "You know nothing about demons?" She asked, looking baffled.


    "Your Majesty, perhaps we should let the Queen get comfortable and have something to eat before you question her?" Said the butler behind me.


    "Oh, yes, you are quite right Garris. So sorry Lady- umm." She blushed and fumbled for what to say.


    "My name is Sin."


    "Sin? What an odd name. Very well Lady Sin. I am sure Garris will have a butler take you to a place where you can freshen up from your travels and then I will meet you in the greeting hall, where we may take a meal together and you can tell me your whole story. With any luck I may be able to help you out."


    "Thank you very much Queen Felicity. It is very much appreciated." Ugh, formal speak. I felt like my skin was crawling. I did not do well around rich people and their far too many rules and etiquette. One of the many reasons I tended to avoid the nobles district in Bellana.


    We walked up the stairs, there were only about ten, but it made for a very elegant entrance all the same, and two more men held open the double doors to the castle. Inside was a large hall with a wide-open center, an even grander stairway in the back, and large pillars holding up balconies along the walls. It was like a great ball room from some Disney movie. Here is where we stopped. Three women and one man approached us and bowed, each of them belonging to the same clan as Garris the butler.


    "Silva, Cassip, please take the queen to her chamber to ready for the evening meal." Said Garris and two of the women stepped forward. One had black hair and the other was a dirty blonde. They both bowed then escorted the queen to the back of the hall and out a door. "Lady Sin, this is Trina. She is a maid here and will attend you your rooms and any other needs you may have." A red-haired demon girl curtsied, her dress the same pale blue as the other two had worn. A uniform perhaps.


    "It is an honor to serve you Lady Sin. Please let me know your clothing preferences, and I will do my utmost to have them prepared for you."


    "And this is my son, Kieran." He said the name like Key-rin. He was only a few inches taller than me with the same family demon traits as his father. He was handsome and even though he looked slight, he held himself like a person accustomed to a fight. His hair was a little longer than his fathers but also black, tied at the base of his neck in a loose tail. He wore a similar suit to his father as well, the tails of his coat brushing the floor as he bowed low. "I am assigning him to you during your stay with us Lady Sin. Please let me know if either is unsatisfactory in their skills."


    "Oh, um, thank you." I said to them both, not sure how I was supposed to respond.


    "Both of you take excellent care of Queen Sin. I will go attend to Queen Felicity." After addressing the maid and butler he turned back to me and bowed. "We will see you again shortly my Lady." With that he hurried off after Felicity at an even and controlled pace.


    "Please, come this way lady Sin." Said Kieran, gesturing to the other side of the stair that Garris had just disappeared behind.


    As I followed, the maid, Trina, began to speak. "What clothing do you prefer to where Lady Sin? I can probably fetch you anything."


    "Um, well if it isn''t offensive, then I would prefer pants or a shorter skit over a gown please. Something that doesn''t impede my movement or that of my tail." I spoke. I was pretty sure it was rude on earth for a royal to where tight pants and short skirts. Not that I was an expert.


    "I can do that right away!" She said happily, and hurried away as Kieran and I entered a long hall with many doors and elegant paintings. I was fascinated by them since most seemed to depict landscapes of the demon world.


    "This will be your room, Lady Sin." Said Kieran, his voice soft and even a little melodic. Maybe he was a good singer. "I will be right outside should you have need of anything. Trina will arrive shortly with some clothing. There should already be a bath ready should you wish to take one."


    "Oh, thank you very much Kieran." I said. At least he knew how to be tactful when telling a girl, she looked and smelled like a trash can.


    He smiled broadly and it made his face light up. He opened the door for me, and I entered the room. "There is no rush, so take what ever time you need. But if you take much longer than a half hour the food will begin to get cold." And with that and a bow, he shut me in the room.


    It was a massive space with a huge four poster bed that I was pretty sure five people could sleep in without touching. There were bookshelves filled with leather bound books, a couple sitting tables and several furred rugs. On either side of the bed were two large windows that looked out onto the central courtyard. I could see people out there bustling about, looking a bit frantic and excited. I guess it wasn''t every day a bedraggled queen fell from the sky on the back of a dragon.


    Speaking of dragons. "You have been pretty quiet." I laughed down at the purple Rougier in my arms.


    "Humph. I figured you had it covered. Besides, my voice sound ridiculous in this form." He said looking grouchy.


    "Don''t be like that." Laughed and headed for an open door to the left of the room where I could smell floral scents and saw steam wafting out. Sure-enough it was a bathroom with a large claw footed tub filled with pinkish water and smelling of flowers. "Let''s have a bath. You haven''t had one in two thousand years!"


    It took only a second to drop the rag I had been using as cloths to the floor. There was a step up to the bath and I used it to get myself and Rougier into the rather hot water. Still, I had pretty good heat resistance, so it felt wonderful. Rougier squirmed so I let him go and he began paddling back and forth. I laughed.


    "You know, in a normal lake or ocean, dragons are actually very graceful swimmers." He rumbled.


    "I have no doubt." I sighed and let the dirt soak off me. It felt so nice to be getting clean. "So, what do you think?"


    "What do I know about demons?" He said. "Probably not much more than you. I ate them. Do you talk to your food?"


    I laughed, despite the morbid-ness of the statement. "No. But you will not be eating these demons, so please try and be civil. They are being very kind to us. So, if you can not say anything nice then just continue to be mute." I sighed and began rubbing my skin. "I will have to tell them everything if I hope to really get any help. It''ll be the first time... but if I tell them only parts then it will get confusing."


    "What are you blathering about?" He asked. I watched him swim, using his tail as a rudder.


    "I will tell you too when I tell them. Its too long of a story to repeat."


    "What ever you say. I hope they feed me too."


    I laughed. "If they don''t then you are fee to eat some of my food."


    The dragon snorted, then fell into a coughing fit when he sucked up water. "You need all the food you can get. Even I wouldn''t bother eating you in the state you are in now."


    I frowned, looking down at my body in the water. Yeah, I was a mess. Even I thought I looked emaciated. Borderline skeleton at this point, really. Yeah, this was bad. Vale would yell at me, and Honey would be force feeding me pastries. It was hard to believe that it had been well over a week since I had seen any of them. Most of my trek in that poisoned valley was a blur after all.


    When I heard the door open and someone enter my room, I decided that I had bathed long enough. By the time I exited the bathroom, wrapped in a towel made of something similar to wool, Trina had left again. At the bottom of the bed were several piles of cloths. She had brought me options.


    I slipped into a long, dark shirt that had a low V-neck and a pair of pants that pulled up just below the base of my tail. I was not provided with under garments nor any kind of shoes. I doubted it was an oversite, yet I was sure that the men and the maids had been wearing shoes. Oh well, if they had a problem with that then I suppose they would provide me with them. Maybe they just didn''t know my shoe size immediately, despite apparently being able to figure out what sized cloths I wore.


    Once I was presentable and I had dried my hair as best I could, I exited the room. Both Trina and Kieran were in the hallway, waiting for me. "You look lovely your Majesty!" Chirped Trina, a wide smile and bright eyes telling me she wasn''t just placating me. "Queen Felicity is waiting for you in the greeting hall, and the meal is ready. If your dragon companion wished to have something, not cooked, then I can ask the chefs to provide him with a suitable meal near the kitchens."


    "I will stay with Sin." Said the dragon. Out of habit I lifted him up and he clambered onto my shoulder. He was a little bulkier than Drogin and a few pounds heavier, but I had the strength of a demon, so it didn''t really affect me much. Though it did cause a pang of longing in my chest.


    "Very well Master Dragon." She said with a slight bow. "This way please."

 To Be a Demon, To Be a Queen

    The greeting hall seemed to be like a large sitting room; but instead of couches and coffee tables, there were many low tables and comfortable look cushions on the rugged floors. On the far wall was a cozy, but currently unlit, fire place, and on the opposite wall were tall windows with Dark blue curtains pulled back. There was an amazing view of the lake beyond the balcony. I realized that we had gone up the stairs but I didn''t realize that we were now above the wall.


    "Sin!" Called a young voice, drawing my wandering eyes to the Queen who was seated on the floor near one of these windows. Near by, a glass door stood open, letting in a warm breeze. "Over here!" I smiled at the girl and Trina hurried me her way. "Have a seat! I had the chefs make us some sandwiches for now while they finish up the real food. Do you mind if Garris joins us? He is my advisor and where I am lacking in knowledge, he is usually well versed. I may be queen, but he will probably be more helpful to you than I am at the moment."


    "No, I don''t mind at all." I said and sat on a puffy green pillow on the floor. Trina and Kieran sat as well, but they were several feet back keeping a respectful distance while still close if needed. There were two men seated behind Felicity as well, and Garris settled himself next to the queen.


    "Alright," said Garris kindly. "Perhaps you should tell us your tale. Then we may better understand where to go from there."


    I nodded and took a deep breath. "It will be a long tale, and it may even sound unbelievable, but please bare with me." I looked at my hands, wondering where to start. At the beginning. "First of all, you should know that I am not from this world. I am from a place called Earth."


    "Do you mean Hearth?" Asked the queen.


    "No, I was on heath before coming here, but I am originally from earth..."


    I went on to tell them a brief synopsis of my life as a human living on the streets, about my death, and then about the incredible circumstances of my rebirth, including the intervention of the god Kradiff. I explained my attempts at fitting in on Hearth, and how I had next to no access to information about demons or their lives. I told them about being a tamer and my time with the Red Ravens. Finally, I told them about the heroes and my mission into the Elswell dungeon, where Roran had shoved me through a gate or portal to the Demon Realm. I finished with a short blurb of my trek through the wastelands and meeting and taming Rougier.


    "You are Rougier Death-Bringer?" The butler asked the small dragon who now sat on the table, munching on some sort of sausage roll.


    "I am." said the Dragon, still totally focused on the roll.


    "As in, the strongest, most hated and feared dragon to ever fly the skies of this realm, Rougier? The dragon who caused the deaths of four Queens, essentially eradicating four whole family lines, as well as reducing the numbers of several other lines?"


    "Yes," Said the dragon and I felt myself pale. "That was probably me."


    "You are the dragon to whom fathers tell their sons who miss behave, ''do right or you may find yourself fed to the Death-Bringer''?" He asked and I winced.


    At this Rougier stopped eating and looked up at the man. "How am I supposed to know what you tell your hatchlings, demon?"


    "Rougier..." I warned. I wasn''t so much feeling sick over what the dragon may or may not have done a millennium ago, as much as how him being here may be seen as a grave insult to these people.


    "He asked..." Pouted the dragon, returning to his food which he seemed pretty fond of.


    "Um, I am sorry for what grievances my dragon may have committed in the past." I said softly. "But as my tame, I assure you that he will do only as I say. If ever he does something that is seen as disrespectful or worse, than please direct your ire at me. As his master it is my responsibility."


    "Indeed, it is all her fault."


    "Rougier!" I snapped with a death glare. "I will make sure you never get one of those again!"


    "Oh, very well! I apologize for eating your Queens, killing your armies, burning down a few minor villages, and causing an entire country or two to be unfit to sustain life." He said with a rather mocking bow to the Queen and her butler. "Happy?" He asked me.


    I glared down at the dragon. "I took you from the top of that mountain, do not think that I wont look for a way to put you back you ungrateful little lizard."


    Both the dragon and I glared at one another till, eventually, Rougier was the one to look away. "As you say Mistress." He sighed. Pleased, I patted his head and put another sausage roll in front of him. I turned back to the other demons. "In all honesty, he had told me he had done somethings demons would not thank him for, to say the least. But I hadn''t known he was that famous."


    "Well, to be frank, he is the second scariest thing to demon kind. Or at least that is how he is portrayed. Sometimes men go into the Sickened Lands on a quest to defeat the dragon, to win glory. Almost none make it back."


    "None who found me did." Said Rougier, back still turned to us.


    I sighed. "Could you at least be like me and pretend you have manners."


    The butler laughed. "Dragons are known to be selfish, self indulgent, oblivious to others, and vain above all else. His attitude is merely the norm for his kind. They say that dragons are the closest creatures to the gods, after all."


    "Do they?"


    "They fashioned us in their liking." Said Rougier. "I''d say you are the only one to reduce a god to that of a human child..."


    "I hardly think that is my fault." I looked back at my hosts. "I have to say you are taking this all-in stride. I was sort of expecting disbelief and denial."


    "As far as I can tell there is no need to lie to us. Besides," said the butler with a smile to his Queen. "Lady Felicity''s bloodline ability is the ability to detect truths and lies. If you were an exceptionally good liar you may have been able to fool her, as she is young and only just learning her gift, but other wise she would be able to tell."


    "Wow! That is a very handy power to have. What is a bloodline ability?" I asked, smiling at the smug look on the Queen''s face.


    She blinked in surprise. "You really don''t have any idea bout our people, do you?"


    "None at all. And anything I do know is from the mouths of other races."


    "All demons have a bloodline ability. It is handed down from our mothers. So, any children Felicity has will inherit her physical attributes as well as her bloodline ability to detect lies."


    "There are some humans with that ability." I said remembering Rift, commander Rice, and Roran. Hang on, did everyone in that family have an "R" in their name? "I heard that those who are summoned as heroes can develop skills, and then those skills have a chance to be passed on to their children."


    "It sounds similar. Though with all demons it is certain that they will have the bloodline ability. Though the strength of the inherited ability can vary."


    "I noticed that there are other women here. What is the difference between a normal demon female, and a Queen?"


    "Hmmm. Let''s see if I can explain." Said Garris, setting down his teacup. "The most important person to demons is their queen. There is only one per family and there can only be one. They are born only very rarely, and even then, they can only be born to a queen. So, as you can imagine, the death of all queens would be the death of our race. And the death of even one queen is a great loss. Hence why Rougier, with four Queen murders to his name, is so hated."


    "Yeah, that sounds bad."


    "Indeed. A new queen only comes along about once every few hundred years, on average, so were are still two thousand years form even replacing the ones lost, and that''s not even considering the centuries it would take for new queens to start new clans.


    So, only queens and birth queens. But another reason, among many, that queens are so important, is that only queens can give birth, regularly, to females. Other females only very rarely give birth to other females, and never queens of their own. Every woman you see in this castle is precious because they can make sons for the family, but almost only sons."


    "Um, wouldn''t that mean that all the men and women in a clan are related?" I asked. Was incest not an issue on this world.


    "Yes, they are. Females, the queen included of course, take breeding partners from other clans. The mothers raise their young till they are five years old, then it is the men in the clans job to finish raising them. I introduced Kieran as my son, but biologically speaking, he is my half brother. But he was given to me to raise when he turned five, so I am his father. Biological fathers have nothing to do with their young."


    I tried to work my head around that a bit. "Okay" I said glancing back at the man behind me. "Then you and he had the same mother? Or else he would have been a cousin or nephew?" would demons even have these terms?


    "Kieran and I are sons to the previous demon Queen of this clan, as such, we are also Queen Felicity''s half brothers. Or we could be full siblings I suppose. I have no clue who our sires were."


    "I thought you said that a clan can only ever have one queen?"


    "They can." Replied Felicity this time. "But not long after I was born- about when I was nineteen- my mother died. It was due to a rare illness, and it was very sudden. Normally a clan would elect a female, preferably the strongest one, to be the Reihee. A Reihee is a woman who is elected to be queen till she dies, then a new one is elected till the line eventually dies out. As in no females remain in the clan. Because when there is no queen there are no more newborn females.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    But when mother passed, I was still so young. I still am as a matter of fact. I would not even normally leave to start my own clan till I turn fifty. At twenty-six, I still have another twenty-four years. So, my situation is unique. I decided to take on my mother''s clan. They will do what they can to ensure I reach breeding years, and I will protect them during that time."


    I sat, quiet, for a moment, letting that sink in. The information was one thing, but the revelation that this child was twenty-six despite looking twelve was a mind bender. "What happens to the clan once you do come of age?"


    "Then they will elect a Reihee, and I will go on my way. It is the way of demons."


    "It was a great loss when our Queen passed, but it was an immense joy that she left another queen before she died." Said Garris sadly. "Some queens never produce a queen themselves, so the late Mistress was very happy and proud in her final years. "For the next couple decades, we will follow Felicity faithfully. Then we will decline. It will take time, for we are a fairly large clan spanning several towns like the one you flew over to get here. But in a thousand years, perhaps, we will be gone."


    "That''s kind of sad..." I spoke. And it truly brought into perspective how horrible a loss those four queens Rougier had killed really were. I wasn''t about to blame him. I mean, that would be like blaming a cat for eating birds, weather those birds went extinct or not.


    "But you, Lady Sin, are a true miracle!" Said Garris.


    "I am?" I asked. Can''t say I was ever called that before.


    "Indeed! A new Queen is already a thing to be celebrated far and wide. Once the other Queens know there will be celebrations all across the land."


    "Woah, wait, what? That sounds like a bit much."


    Felicity laughed. "Before you, I was the youngest- or newest I guess- Queen, before me the last one was eight hundred years ago."


    "And on top of all that, you were made by the gods them selves! Brought to us from the planet of heroes none the less. Essentially, you are a demon hero queen." Chuckled Garris.


    "I am pretty sure I am a product of Kradiff''s prodigious lack of awareness." I sighed. "I am willing to bet he did not even think about the consequences of slapping down a demon woman on Hearth. I am betting that the reason I am even a queen is because I was reincarnated as a full-grown woman. I wasn''t born to any line, so nature had no choice but to make me a first of a line... that stupid kid."


    "If it was a mistake, then it was a happy one for our kind." Laughed the butler.


    "Well, I mean, hold up there. I don''t know how I feal about being a mother to one kid much less to an entire line of them! I was thirty plus in my old life and never once even thought about being a mother!"


    Garris shook his head with a small smile. "No one can make you do what you do not want to do Lady Sin. You are, in effect, too powerful to force into anything. Even if you were the weakest of all demon queens, that would still mean you were at least amongst the top few hundred most powerful people. And the only ones above you would be other demon queens. And possibly a handful of dragons and such. But also, no one can force a demon female to have a child. The hole biological process is voluntary. There is no such thing as an accidental demon pregnancy."


    "Besides," Added Felicity with a mischievous smirk, "By your own admission, you are only about three or four months old after all. Even by human standards that is far too young to have children."


    "A technicality..." I sighed but felt relief all the same. Supposedly, so long as my stupidity didn''t get me killed first, I was gonna live indefinitely. No doubt I would eventually want to settle down and start that family line.


    "Hmmm." I said as something entered my mind. "I wonder what my bloodline ability is. If I even have one considering my odd origins."


    "It is possible that your insane levels of mana could be your blood line trait." Said Garris. "If so, it would be a formidable one. But that could just be because you were made a demon from earth by a god. Some Queens do not know for sure what their trait is till they have young. A queen''s stats are so high that it isn''t till she has a child with exceptional strength that it is known that that is the blood line trait."


    "Wait, that''s a thing? Just a stat boost rather than a power?"


    "Oh yes." Said Felicity. "At least a third of the demon lines are just boosted in either physical or magical strength."


    I popped a fruit that looked a bit like a grape into my mouth. The flesh was red but the inside was more like a citrus fruit. "What other ways are we queens different then?" I think I had a hold on the whole bloodline thing. But what about me had clued Garris in that I was a queen in the first place?


    "There are many, but some are bigger or more obvious than others. There are a few physical differences for instance. Queens have black claws for one. It is the easiest was to tell by sight that a female is a queen immediately if it is in doubt somehow. Also, queens almost never were foot coverings."


    "Why?" I asked, confused but now understanding why I hadn''t been provided with shoes.


    "You haven''t noticed anything different while walking barefoot?" Asked Felicity.


    "No. Mind you, I don''t often walk about without shoes on either."


    "Well, you can try now if you like. It works better on soil but put your feet on the floor and concentrate." I did as I was told, swiveling my body so I was seated sideways to the table. Feet flat on the floor I concentrated on them, as odd as that was. "It will be feint as we are on stone floors and a couple stories up, but you should be able to feel a sort of energy. That energy is the mana flow of this world."


    Surprised I tried to focus harder. It took a moment, and it may have just been in my head, but I thought I felt something. Kind of like a light tingling sensation. "I might feel something..."


    "Do not worry if you can not. It is a skill that works best with practice." Said Garris, nodding wisely. "But it is an essential part of being a demon queen. It is one of a queen''s most important jobs to feel and aid the flow of mana in her lands. To be good at it can mean the difference between a great harvest on year and a bad one the next."


    "Queens really are super important..." I said, suddenly feeling the weight of impending responsibility. Sure, maybe I wouldn''t be expected to take it on any time soon, but eventually...


    "Very." Agreed the butler. "Another application of a queen''s mana is the ability to share her mana with her people and her land. And in this, you have the greatest potential as it stands right now." He took another sip of tea and looked at me with meaning. "This ability, only performed by our queens, is called ''Gift'', and you, with your virtually unheard-of mana pool, have the potential to out do all other queens."


    "I do?" I asked, worried for my sanity at this point. What the hell had Kradiff been thinking, having me become a demon queen? Nothing apparently?


    "Yes. As you said, you have been a demon for only a few short months, yet you have a mana pool so large that you would rank in the top ten queens on our world. Sin, a queen''s mana pool is always increasing. Perhaps not by leaps and bounds, but the longer you live the larger your mana pool will be. There are queens who are thousands of years old who can not match you right now. Maybe in a thousand years you could have double the amount of mana you have now. It is rather incredible. And having this much mana means that you have that much more to share with your land and people when the need arises. It is truly remarkable."


    "For reference, my mana pool is thirty-six thousand. And that is high for my age." Said Felicity. "It is not always the case, but usually the demon lines that are smaller and less physically powerful, tend to be more magically inclined. Also, usually demon queens with pale skin make smaller demons. It is not always the case, but it is the norm. Red skinned demons are the most common and are usually large. But then there are the out liars who look very strange. But beautiful as well. For instance, Queen Hardera''s line are small with blue skin, yet they are actually very physically strong!"


    "Queen felicity has grown fond of learning about the other clans as of late." Explained Garris.


    I laughed. "It does seem to be an interesting topic."


    We continued to talk for a long time, the chefs bringing in a continuous stream of food. Rougier seemed to be enjoying his meal at least. Garris asked me what I knew about Hearth. Apparently, for the most part, demons were disinterested in the world of Hearth. Just the fact that their power was so greatly diminished made it downright unbelievable that people actually wanted to go there. Add to that the biases that the other races felt toward demons I could see why most demons avoided the place. According to Garris, the reason why there were so few free demons on hearth was that they just had no reason to go. Mostly it was only a handful of demons who felt they could add nothing to the world they lived in and hoped to make an impression elsewhere. Almost all the demons who do decide to go are those who no longer had queens.


    "How do I get back there?" I eventually asked. It was my most pressing question, an the one I feared to be answered, as I didn''t want to hear bad news.


    "It is actually very easy to get to Hearth. Just takes time and mana."


    "Wait, really?"


    "Yes, it can only be done in the few weeks scattered through out the year when the two moons of the demon realm are in the day lit sky. It opens the mana flows. Then a goodly chunk of mana is needed to open the gate. If you wish to go to a specific location- within a couple kilometers- you need to use a permanent gate. As you can imagine they are few and far between. But there is one in a territory not far from here. So, you should be able to go back in less than a month if that is what you want."


    The amount of relief I felt was palpable, and a little surprising. I knew I wanted to go back but I did not realize that it mattered that much to me. So, in less than a month I could go back. That was good. Really good. It also made me think that Roran was far less intelligent than I thought, or he had no clue just how easy it was to go back and forth for demons. I was spiteful enough to just assume he was dumb.


    "Seeing as how you are stuck here either way, Lady Sin, why not make the best of it?" Asked Felicity with a smile. "I would love some company during my own lessons, and I am sure there is much else besides you can learn while you are here."


    "The Lady is right." Agreed Garris. "It is a perfect opportunity for you to learn more about your people, and there fore about yourself. Also, you told us that you were unable to utilize the Hearthian magics, correct? Well now is the time to learn what you can about the magics of demons. They would be stronger here in the Realm, but I am sure you can use them to some effect on Hearth as well."


    "Yes," I said happily. "I would really appreciate that."


    "Though most queens do not bother, unless they get bored, you may also like to learn the combat skills of our males? Normally a queen''s magic is so powerful that it renders the need for combat skill irrelevant, but I am certain you will need them on Hearth."


    "Thank you, yes."


    "Good." Said the butler. "We have spoken into the night now Lady Sin, and I am sure you are exhausted from your mana use. Go get some rest and I will see about tutors for your lessons."


    "And tomorrow I will have my messengers send word to the other clans of you! There will be much celebrating, I am sure!" Exclaimed Felicity. I wasn''t one for parties and attention being laid upon me, but I wasn''t about to snub their traditions, especially after how kind they have been and how much help they were offering. "You will be having a welcoming ball before the week is done, I am sure."


    "Yes, it is as you say my Queen." Sighed Garris and I smiled. She may be a demon, but Felicity was about a bubbly as they came. "Kieran, Trina, please bring Queen Sin back to her rooms." He told the two people who had been seated behind me this whole time, except when fetching me tea or helping with the food. They had been so quiet that I had forgotten them a time or two, but now worried that they must be fatigued and probably had leg cramps. "You are in no way a prisoner here Miss Sin, but I ask you not go exploring with out one or the other. This castle may not be large, but the halls can get confusing and it would be poor hosting on our part if something happened and we were not their to aid you."


    "Yes, I understand." I was pretty sure I was going to completely pass out when I got back to my room any way.


    We all got to our feet, I said my good nights to Garris and Felicity, scooped up the sleeping and noticeably fatter dragon, and followed my two aids out of the room. They led me back to my chambers, pointing out painting and statues that depicted places and people as we passed. Once there Kieran told Trina that she could go get some sleep and he would stay close in case I needed any thing.


    Trina bowed to me, said good night, and disappeared rather quickly.


    "Are you not tired Kieran?" I asked in the doorway of my room.


    "I am quite fine Miss Sin. We are trained to stay up for days if the need be. Trina was not so I sent her back for rest."


    "Oh, well thank you for looking out for me then."


    Kieran positively beamed and bowed. I shut my door, wondering if he just never got thanked, or if being thanked by a Queen meant that much. I shook my head and stumbled for the comfortable bed. I can''t say I had ever slept in anything so grand before. I gently laid Rougier on a pillow then collapsed next to him. I was pretty sure I was asleep before I even thought about it.

 Demon Lessons

    I was up early the next day, what with Rougier bemoaning the fact that he was hungry and stuck as a small prey animal. As soon as I was dressed and presentable in another loose shirt and Dark leather pants, I left the room. Sure enough, Kieran was standing on the other side of the door leaning against the wall.


    Well, I say leaning but it was nothing so pedestrian. He was pin straight and looked fresh as a daisy, like he hadn''t just spent a whole night standing outside my door like a statue. I envied his fortitude and discipline, sure I would never have the patients to attain it my self. I asked if it would be bad if I set Rougier back to his rightful size and let him off to hunt, with clear instructions to be away from people and not to eat any livestock.


    "My father already came by this morning to inform me that this would be fine. Would you like me to take you out to the courtyard?" He said politely.


    "Take me out like I am some kind of pet..." Grumbled the dragon.


    "Need I remind you that you agreed to all of this?" I sighed at the purple creature once again perched on my shoulder. "Be sides, I hardly saw you complaining yesterday when you got to laze about and stuff your face with every piece of spiced meat you could find."


    He did not reply, just huffed a tiny whisp of smoke. We brought him outside and he stretched his wings lazily. "Take off up into the sky." I told him. "I don''t want to release the spell on the ground, you will tear up the courtyard."


    "So bossy." But he extended his wings and lifted into the air. He seemed to almost fall out of the sky for a second and I was alarmed till I heard him snarl at the air about tiny prey animal bodies and laughed. Bit windy at higher altitudes I supposed.


    I was about to release the spell when Kieran put out a hand to stop me them made a high-pitched whistle. A man poked his head over the side of the wall. "Mr. Kieran?" he asked, horns gleaming in the early morning light.


    "There is about to be a large dragon on the wing. Spread the word lest there be some panicked buffoon who tries to shoot him down." Said the young butler. The guard paled and nodded. Then I heard a series of shouts flowing along the wall as the guards shouted out the instructions down the line. Kieran turned to me and nodded.


    "Miniminazi Rei." I said, and about twenty feet above the wall the massive Dragon appeared. "don''t you dare roar this early in the morning!" I snapped at him when I saw his jaw began to open. It snapped shut. "Sorry," he said. "Didn''t think about it. I''m going into the forest. And do not worry, I will not burn it down."


    I sighed and glared up at the toothily grinning dragon. "I wasn''t worried, but now I am." He just made his dragon rumble laugh and took off, the buffeting of his wings causing my hair to fly about as I hadn''t tied it back.


    "It is a terrifying sight, that dragon." Said Kieran, watching Rougier fly off.


    "I''d imagine every dragon is terrifying to look at." I said, also watching the dragon disappear. Though I was more exasperated than afraid.


    Kieran chuckled. "That is true. It''s a good thing they are so rare."


    I sighed. "You may think so, but I wish there were more. It is funny, but ever since Kradiff brought it up I''ve had it in my head that I would tame a whole bunch of them. Now that would be power..." I glanced down and saw Kieran looking at me in an odd way and I back tracked. "Er, sorry. I guess that sounded a little like an ego-centric power grabber."


    The butler smiled, a sort of shine to his eye that nearly made me blush. "Not at all. I was just thinking that you sounded very much like a Demon Queen. They all crave power. Power to succeed, power to keep what they have, and power to protect. It is the insurmountable power of our Queens that keeps our society as peaceful as it is. They are a deterrent to the conflict craving males after all. The only thing that can take on a Demon Queen is another Demon Queen; and if two Demon Queens ever did fight with the intention to kill, they are so strong that they could destroy this world. And so it became necessary to find less violent ways to solve issues. Or at least, not the kind of violence that would get everyone and everything involved."


    "You say some pretty smart things."


    He looked surprised at my praise. "Not at all. Consider it the first of the many lessons you will receive while here." He added with a laugh. I groaned. I did want to know all I could, of course, but the idea of essentially, going to demon school sounded so dull and tedious.


    As it turned out I was both right and wrong about my learning. Over the next week I spent my mornings with Garris and Felicity, learning demon history, geography, politics, genealogy... so many things. So many things that my head would hurt by the time we would stop for lunch. Then, after eating, Felicity would go and take care of all the duties she had as a Queen, and I was left in the hands of one Varcheon Braiol. He was a tall man, built buffer than most of his line, with almost buzz cut brown hair. It was very odd to see his horns to the root.


    Apparently a Varcheon was what demons called their military captains. Varcheon Braiol oversaw training recruits and keeping the officers in top form. And now he oversaw teaching me how to fight too. I may have been a Queen, but I asked him from day one not to take it easy on me and he was sure to keep to that request. I think he was even harsher than Vale! But I was learning a lot from him, especially in utilizing my claws and tail.


    He had seemed fascinated by my tail as a matter of fact. Apparently, it was a unique style, with its sharp and flexible scales. Whip like tails were as common as the larger, dragon like tails, but every tail was different. It was the easiest way to tell different clans apart, and my scales and the bolt arrowhead shape a the head of my tail made it very distinctive, and surprisingly useful. Surprising to him at least. I already used my tail to great affect after all, and now I was getting even more lethal with it.


    But my discussion about tails and claws with Braiol made me think of another distinctive feature that I hadn''t thought about since I saw the soldiers when I arrived. It suddenly occurred to me that I didn''t see any wings. Confused and slightly panicked, thinking that I may have been over worked and just imagined the demons had wings, I brought it up with the Varcheon. Laughing, he said: "No need to fret Lady Sin. A demon''s wings are a biological magic. Like dragon''s fire, or the poisonous miasma that several monsters have. Our wings are a part of us, they hurt and they bleed... But they are also magical. They only come out when needed. And if, somehow, one got torn off, they could always come back." He explained, spreading his own dark appendages to show them to me. "But always keep in mind that to conjure your wings you need mana. They are a draining spell, so once you run out of mana your wings will vanish. You would be surprised how many fool demons have fallen to their death because they did not pay attention to their mana consumption."


    He then began dedicating a few hours into teaching me how to summon them. I was embarrassed that it was taking so long to figure out how to do something the others seemed to be able to do with out much thought. But Varcheon Braiol assured me that I was fine, and when I finally achieved it he told me that most young demons take a week or two to figure it out so I was doing fantastic.


    And like with my tail, he was also fascinated by my wings. I was too for that matter. They were rather large compared to the others here at the castle, but Braiol told me that it wasn''t just compared to them that my wings were big. Apparently, they were just large for my size in general. Like theirs however, mine were like a dragon''s wings but with out the claw at the knuckle. What was wild about them, though, was the feather looking, long black scales on the back side of the wings. When looking at my front I appeared to have normal wings, but if you looked from the back it was more like I had oddly shaped feathered wings.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Curious, I plucked off a feather scale. It did hurt to do, but not unbearably so. The largest of the feathers were al long as my forearm! And they were sharp, just like the tiny scales on my tail. The wing scales were slightly flexible, but sharp as a blade. I nearly sliced a finger when examining it.


    "Fascinating." Said Kieran. He had been training that day as well and both he and Braiol were checking out my wings. "It is like you have an arsenal of daggers on your back..."


    "Huh, you are right." I said thoughtfully. "Though if you tried to use this a knife with out a guard or hilt then you would likely loose a finger."


    So, flight training was added to my lesson from then on. But as it turned out I could fly from the get-go. I guess demons were like dragons in that they just knew how to do it. But Rougier decided that that wasn''t good enough, and that the trainers at the castle were not up to the task. Out of all the things that have happened to me since my death, I think the one thing that confused me most was ralising that I was now getting flight combat training from an ancient and terrifying dragon. One who had zero patents. In fact, I was pretty sure that the reason he insisted on teaching me was simply to have an excuse to mouth off and belittle me from time to time.


    BY the end of the week I was pretty burnt out but I also hadn''t ever felt so accomplished either. I was making amazing progress with my studies, combat training and even with my attempts at training with my mana as a queen was supposed to do. A few times over the week I had accompanied Garris and Felicity during trips about the countryside where we used our mana to help the crops grow, and even ''gifted'' mana to a Ginrager, who was having a difficult labour, aiding the mother in giving birth to her calf. I learned that the massive, elephant sized badger looking monsters were a little like cows. They were kept for their milk, but also because their dung was favored by another monster: the Feeder Worms.


    "Feeder Worms are gross." Explained Felicity as we flew our way back to the castle, nine gauds surrounding us and villagers on the ground waving and wishing us well. Felicity waved back as she spoke. "But they are some of the most prized monsters in the Demonia." Apparently, the Demon Realm consisted of the planet, Demonia, and her two moons: Fausta and Deadrin.


    Fausta was the largest of the two moons, accessible via portals. It is the home of the oldest and strongest of the demon clans. They were not a ruling body as such, but usually the families there are well respected and hold a great deal of pull in the Realm''s doings. The moon is mostly covered in a great ocean where there are said to be absurdly huge water monsters. And, according to unproven legends, mermaids.


    As for Deadrin, it was the smallest of the moons but the most important one. It was here that the demons focused all their spiritual concepts. It was said to be the house of the gods, much as those on Hearth viewed the churches and cathedrals. Only Queens were aloud to go to Deadrin, or great warriors who have earned the right and have gotten permission from a queen. It was a place to address the god or go on spirit quests.


    "Why are they so important?" I asked.


    "You see, they are these huge earth worms, like the size of a person! And they love Ginrager dung. If you put the dung on your crops and the like, it is far more likely the worms will come and help your fields. So, people of Demonia prize the Ginrager. After all, Demonia''s soil is not very fertile without the aid of the Feeder Worms."


    I thought for a moment, then asked: "What about the waste lands? Couldn''t the Feeder worms clean that up?"


    It was Garris who answered me this time. "They could clean up the earth there." He said but with a sad shake of the head. "But they wont. They despise the taste of the soil there and refuse to even take a single bite. It has been attempted several times over the millennia but nothing has worked. Not even mixing Ginrager dung into the earth will get them to clean it. It is a shame but there isn''t much we can do but hope nature will eventually take care of it."


    At the end of the week, during our evening meal, Felicity skipped into the greeting hall looking fit to burst. I looked at her with a smile as she took her usual place and Garris sat behind her. I hoped the butlers and maids ate at some point, because I never saw them do it.


    "What has you grinning from ear to ear?" I asked as Rougier hopped on to his customary cushion and eyed the current selection of food stuffs.


    "I just got all the confirmations back! The day after tomorrow will be your presentation ball! Its very exciting."


    I wasn''t excited. "Um, just so you know, I don''t dance... and I am anti scotial. And crude. I am not sure this is a good idea. I don''t want to cause any trouble for you, after all you are the one hosting it. I don''t want my bad manners to reflect poorly on you."


    At that Felicity only laughed, smoothing out her dress and taking a sip of tea. "You needn''t worry about all that. As for dancing, there won''t be any. A presentation ball is only for Queens, no dates. The only males present will be those who are hired to guard the queens, and each queen is permitted one during the actual event. Any others they bring will be housed in the palace."


    Well, I felt a little better but was still very on edge. It was odd, I was cool as a cucumber beheading a man, but a fancy party. Hell no. ugh, kill me now.


    "Will Rougier be aloud to attend?" I asked forking a piece of mystery meat onto a plate for the miniature Death-Bringer.


    "Not the actual ball, no. but the next day will be meetings and I am sure there will be no problem then, so long as he stays this size."


    "The smell of your perfumes aggravates me any way." Grumbled the dragon. "I can only imagine additional females will simply mean more false scents."


    "You know, you make me look kind, gentle, and polite." I glowered down at Rougier, annoyed as I was fond of him.


    "You''re welcome."


    Felicity laughed. "The ball is divided into three separate events. First is the Presentation: The Queens who decided to attend introduce themselves to you one by one and present you with a gift. It is usually a speciality of their lands, like a tree bearing rare fruit, or a product they are famous for producing. Then, that evening, is the ball. We call it a ball, but it is more like an excuse for queens to get together in a big group and catch up with one another. It''s a chance for you to get to know them and for them to get to know you. And lastly, the following morning, is a Queen''s Meeting."


    "And what''s that?" I asked, already not fond of getting presents or socializing. Maybe I should just become a dragon hermit in the mountain some place.


    "Well, they can be called for any number of reasons. This time it will be about you though. A new Queen means that there needs to be some changes made. There wasn''t too much hassle during my presentation as it was just decided that I would take over my mother''s territory. But we will have to come together and figure out where you will make your new home."


    "Th-that''s not necessary- "


    "Apologies," Interrupted Garris, clearing his throat. "But it is necessary Lady Sin. You have made it clear that you have no current intent on settling down and starting your clan. And that is still fine. But you will, eventually, wish to have at least a home base here on Demonia, will you not? Or do you think that you will never wish to spend any significant time on this world?"


    I sighed and looked at my hands. "I don''t know. But I do like it here, even if my focus is on Hearth for now. But you are probably right..."


    "Exactly. And it is best to work out the details now, in the traditional way, rather than wait a century or two and then bring it up, possibly aggravating some parties."


    "Yes, I understand."


    "Good. It is fine Lady Sin. No one will expect you to do anything with your lands if you do not wish to. In fact, I have heard that there is an ancient Queen living on Faust, who has stopped having young and has decided to just live a quiet and uneventful life. She hasn''t had any young in so long that her whole clan died out. And you can imagine how long that would have taken."


    "Wow, that''s taking the hermit life to new heights. I''m impressed."


    Felicity laughed. "It is said that she mothered three Queens in her lifetime though. So, she made quite the contribution to the race as a whole, even if she has decided to let her own line die off."


    "I guess I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I am essentially immortal now. Where I come from, people only live to be about eighty, one hundred if you are lucky. Coming across all these races that have super long lives has messed with my mind a bit."


    "You needn''t worry about it too much my lady." Said Garris, clearly picking up on my discomfort. "Though it is a rare occasion, the coming of a new Queen, it is still one that the others know how to deal with. No one expects the new Queen to be the one in charge of all this. It''s a group effort."


    "Alright. I will try and relax about the whole thing." I sighed and shoveled more food onto Rougier''s plate.

 A Demon King?

    I fell back onto the soft yellow grass with a gasp, quickly followed by a moan. I hurt everywhere. But at least it was another gorgeous day in the demon realm. Perfect for an aerial beating apparently. I turned my head as a pair of legs landed next to me and chuckled. I looked up into the amused face of Kieran, his dark ponytail over one shoulder and a slight rip in one of his white sleeves, the only indication that he had been in a fight at all.


    "Are you unharmed Lady Sin?" He asked.


    "No, my soul is bruised. I think I was better off with the dragon. Stupid lizard." It was funny that I always told people off for calling Drogin a lizard, but relished cursing Rougier as one. "He just wanted to be lazy today because its so warm." Earlier in the day the purple dragon had informed me that he had told Kieran to teach me how to fight while in the air today. Then he wasted no time having me remove the Miniminazi spell from him and taking off over the red lake.


    Kieran laughed again, then sat cross-legged on the grass next to me. "Perhaps, but he was right that you should probably learn to protect yourself on the wing as well."


    "But my wings are so heavy!" I whined, glaring at the black leathery things that were splayed out on the ground behind me. And they were heavy. The feather scales were lighter than they looked but they still added weight to them. Enough weight that it was difficult to sustain an extended flight. I was better at gliding than actual flight.


    "All the more reason to build up your stamina."


    "Yeah, yeah, I get it already." I sighed and watched the pink clouds drift past, a flock of green birds flying by easily, mockingly. "I need to learn all I can for when I return. I can''t be as useless as I was in the dungeon last time. Or as weak. If I didn''t have Drogin and Vendaval I would have been dead weight. As a tamer, I know my true value is in my tames, and how I use them, but I can''t help feeling useless if I just stand back and let them do all the work..."


    Kieran chuckled and I glared at him. "Sorry. Its just, most- nearly all, really- Queens would never even consider getting into a fight. Especially one that meant them physically having to do something. Their magic is quite the deterrent, and should they ever actually need to fight, they just use that to great effect. You have been learning right?"


    "Yes... But I am pretty sure I am not very good at the magic." I looked up at the butler and frowned. "Felicity has been trying to teach me, but most elemental magic just eludes me. I do alright with the practical spells and the ones that Varcheon Braiol taught me for hand-to-hand combat."


    "I saw that you were doing very well with your mana control though." He said, referring to my abilities in using ''gift'' to share my mana with the land or with other people. "My father says that you can even share with people who are not your clan without much effort at all."


    "I can. Though I still do not understand how its any harder to use it on the land verses people, or my people verses other clans. It all feels the same to me."


    "And that is very amazing. Normally it is incredibly difficult to Gift to those not of your clan, or the land your clan calls home. It is why a clan who''s queen has died fares so poorly in the long run."


    "You guys seem fine." I said, referring to his clan. Felicity''s mother had been their true Queen, not Felicity herself.


    Kieran nodded. "We are not too bad off right now because it has only been a couple years since the Queen''s passing. Queen Felicity does have trouble using Gift on us, but it won''t be a noticeable problem for a few decades yet. Also, this land has become her land now, so she can share with it easily enough." He seemed to think for a long moment, watching the grass shiver in the breeze. "The way you use Gift... Well, it is like you think of everyone as your clan. Like your mana wishes to help and guard all. And I don''t just mean demons, as you have shown amazing abilities while working with the land."


    I sighed, sitting up. "And none of that makes me a better mage. I really shouldn''t complain; I have been given so many blessings. I don''t deserve any of them so I will try not to dwell on what I can''t do... like fly and fight at the same time."


    Kieran laughed happily and got to his feet, holding out a hand to help me up. I accepted the aid, as my wings had the tendency to drag me back down once I was horizontal. "How about we try just fighting on the ground, wings out, for a bit. That way you can rest them, but we are still training?"


    "Ugh! You are a slave driver! Almost as bad as Vale..." I complained, moving so that we could get into fighting stances.


    "Vale? He is a friend from Hearth, correct?" He drew his two steel daggers, raising them at the ready. Unlike me, he didn''t have murder claws.


    "Hmmm. I don''t know if I would call him a friend. But he was training me to fight before I came here. From what I have heard, he is a big deal. Mostly I just think he has muscles for brains."


    Kieran chuckled and wiggled one of his blades, indicating for me to make the first move. I lifted my hands and, as I had been taught just a few short days ago, visualized dark energies solidifying on my fingertips. Without too much effort a deep purple-red smoke appeared then solidified on my claws, extending them by a good three inches. It was one of the spells I was good at. I added a void like quality to my hands, hardening and sharpening my claws even more than they already were. And, more importantly, made that I could cut through magic protective spells.


    I took a calming breath then lunged. Kieran parried my blow with one dagger and made to slash at me with the other. I dodged, though the wings slowed me down quite a bit, and swung around, attempting to get around his guard. Kieran seemed to have less trouble with his lighter, much smaller wings, he moved swiftly and blocked my strike.


    I jumped back, knowing from experience that if I stayed close for too long then Kieran would get me. But I didn''t let him get settled before I dashed in again, this time going for a face shot. Was that dirty of me? Maybe, but at least I didn''t go for his privates. He moved his head aside and my claws glanced off one of his horns. He knocked my hand away with an elbow and slashed at my stomach with the other blade.


    I grunted when he switched from a slash to a blunt hit with the hilt of the dagger, knocking the wind out of me. "Bastard." I growled, holding my new bruise, before going for a low shot, attempting to slash at his calves and take him off his feet. It nearly worked; I don''t think he expected me to try It with my heavy wings out. I tore his pants leg but didn''t hit flesh. I cursed again, unfortunately bad words and insults appeared to do no damage.


    I was still off balance when Kieran made a moved to knock me over the head with the pommel when I instinctively extended a wing and nocked the man off balance. He was taken off guard but recovered easily enough. At least it gave me the precious second I needed to steady my balance. But a second was all I got, as Kieran came at me again, this time with a slash that would have cut me from Shoulder to hip. Again, my wings moved on instinct, this time folding over me, their large size having no trouble covering my small body.


    There was the sound of metal on hard scale, followed by a curse. I slowly pulled my wing back and saw Kieran standing a couple feet away holding his left wrist and glaring. It was not often I got to see him disgruntled and so I smirked causing his eyes to narrow.


    "Not hurt, are you?" I asked, maybe a little mockingly. Bad habits are hard to break after all.


    "No, I am not. Surprised though... If anyone hit my wings like that they would be in tatters."


    "Apparently my wings are better shields than flight apparatuses." I laughed. "I honestly, barely felt a thing with that hit."


    Kieran stepped forward and examined my wings. "Not even a scratch." He said, curiosity evident in his voice. "Fascinating. Can you raise the feathers like you do the scales on your tail?"


    I tried, but nothing. "Not that I can tell. But maybe I could if I practiced?"


    "Maybe. Suffice to say, you are a truly unique demon Lady Sin."


    I narrowed my eyes at the young butler and glared. "That sounds like you are calling me weird."


    He laughed. "Not at all. Just extremely different. There has never been a demon who came from the world of Earth after all. In fact, given the impossibility, our kind barely even spare a thought to that world."


    "Everyone does seem pretty content here. Though one castles worth of demons is hardly an adequate sampling of the populace."


    "Indeed." He sat on the grass, and I took that as us taking a break. I was a bit of a lost clause at this flying thing. A girl can''t be good at everything I guess. "You could always stay longer, explore the world to your hearts content."


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    I smiled at the man but shook my head. "One day, I think I would like that. But I have things I want to still do on Hearth, even if most of those things are vague at the moment." I laughed. "At the very least I can''t just leave like I did. It feels like loosing. I am sure Roran would have a disgustingly smug look on his face."


    "He is the priest that sent you here?"


    "Yes. A pain in my ass is what he is."


    "Queens are known for keeping grudges." He said with a small chuckle.


    "If I had Felicity''s ability, I could confront him in front of a crowd and he wouldn''t be able to lie at all."


    "He would be able to; you would just know that he was. And that doesn''t mean others will believe you when you tell them he is lying. I would imagine it is a moot point at any rate. He did send you here in front of others. The Heroes from Earth, yes?"


    "That''s true. And yes, they are from Earth, but I really don''t know much else about them. I didn''t want to ask about their old lives while we were in the dungeon. I was worried that it would make them think about what they lost when they got summoned... Hang on" I said, something suddenly occurring to me. "I know Felicity''s ability, but yours and Garris- everyone in the castle- they have a different blood line ability, don''t they?"


    "Yes. The former queen passed down to her clan a very different ability."


    "What is it?" I asked, suddenly very curious. I didn''t recall anyone at the castle visibly using any sort of ability I would have associated with a blood line trait. There had been plenty of demonic magic flying about though. Perhaps Kieran''s ability was that of greater magical talents? Hadn''t Garris and Felicity said that that was a common bloodline ability?


    "It is moderately useful I suppose, but we do not get too much use out of it." He spoke. "We have the skill known as ''All seeing eye''."


    "And what is that?" I asked, none the wiser now that I knew its name. "Can you read minds or something?"


    He laughed. "No, nothing that helpful. It is a visual gift that allows me and the others to see the statuses of things and people."


    "Wait, like Captain Rift? You can look at a person and see their stat charts?"


    "I believe you mentioned this Rift person as being a leader?"


    "Sort of. He is a captain of a royal squad known as the Red Ravens. "


    "Hmm. Well, I do not know anything about him, but All Seeing Eye allows me to see the stats of anything with mana: People, monsters, even enchanted items. When the former queen was alive, she would send our males out to asses magical items for other clans, or scan monsters to see how great a threat they were to the near by populace... But the demon world as a whole has no great need for the talent. Hence why I said it was moderately useful."


    "Wait, you can see the stats of anything?" I asked, amazed. How could he say that was just of minimal use?


    "Anything with mana, yes. So, there are animals I can''t See. Or inanimate objects like a rock or a paint brush. Unless someone adds mana to them, making them enchanted, I can''t see anything."


    "Are you crazy?" I snapped at him, making him blink in surprise. "That sounds incredibly useful! I would be using it everyday all day so long as it didn''t kill me. It would save me so much time reading all those bestiaries and memorizing monster stat averages. And anytime someone thought to pick a fight I could see in a heartbeat if it was worth the time in thrashing the guy, or if he would kick my ass. Ugh, I am jealous right now!" I said with an irritated growl, falling back into the grass. "How can you say that it isn''t useful? I thought Rifts ability was annoyingly handy, but his only sees the stats of people."


    "You... you really think that?" He asked, his tone making me turn my head to look at him. He looked part astounded, part confused, and another part flattered. "That you would like to have this skill to use?"


    "Well, I mean, yes." I frowned, thinking that maybe my social awkwardness my have gotten me in trouble again. "Sorry, I guess I didn''t think on weather what I said may offend you or not..." Maybe the power caused him pain to use, or maybe the mana cost was so high that it made the skill all but useless at times.


    Kieran shook his head with a soft smile. "I am not offended in the slightest. I am flattered if anything. As I said, there is only so much use to be found for this skill, especially when there is a whole clan that possesses it. Perhaps, when the clan falls further into decline there may be more use, but I''d rather not think of finding good points to the slow expiration of my family. I, as one who is particularly gifted with this ability, tend to get more use out of it compared to others in the clan but it is nice to here that there are at least some who would find use of it."


    I supposed that was a sad take on it.


    "Out of curiosity, what bloodline ability does the demon king have?" It may be a good piece of information to take back to Hearth after all. "Or is he a different demon every time he comes back around and there for has a different ability every time he comes back?"


    Now Kieran''s smile turned into a frown. "Lady Sin, I am afraid that you are mistaken."


    "Mistaken? How so?"


    "The creature the people of Hearth refer to as the ''Demon King'' in in no way a demon."


    "What? Really?" How could such a colossal mix up have occurred?


    "Since you have been here, have you once heard of a Demon King? No, because no male would ever dare give himself that title. He would be killed simply for the presumption that he could have a title such as that. It would be the ultimate insult to every Queen, and any male would risk his neck simple to end the other male''s life."


    "I- guess that makes sense. But maybe it is a male who went to Hearth and named himself King in a bid for power and glory in a world where there a few other males to challenge him, much less any Queens."


    At that Kieran nodded. "When our people first learned of this ''demon king'' near on a thousand years ago, a party of strong males were sent to Hearth to deal with the insult swiftly. But what they found was no demon at all." He looked up to the sky and appeared to think for a moment, perhaps organizing his thoughts. He was better at that then me. I tended to ere on the side of disorganized word vomit on the best of days. "All things in life have an opposite of sorts." He said finally. "Light has dark, water and fire, life, and death. Well, even mana has its opposite, and we demons simply refer to it as anti-mana. This anti-mana lives in a dimension of its own and is always trying to break into the mana filled dimensions to feast on the mana there. To do so would destroy those dimensions, as surly as removing oxygen from the air would destroy most living beings. And it was a manifestation of this anti-mana that the demon party found when they went to confront this so-called Demon King."


    This news was a shock to be honest. My mind had thought for the longest time now that the Demon King was some puffed up male demon, maybe with a super powerful reincarnation ability, just wrecking the world every couple hundred years. The last thing I would have expected was an unknown entity... mind you, the people of hearth were pretty biased to demons, and I wouldn''t put it passed them to just assume the big baddie was a demon, especially if it looked even slightly demon like.


    "Does it attack the other realms as it does Hearth then?" Surly those of other realms could have cleared up the confusion. I could see the demons not bothering. They had about zero cares when it came to Hearth. They didn''t care if the people there called their enemy a demon so long as they were sure that it wasn''t actually one.


    Kieran shook his head once more and sighed. "No, not in the same way at least. Hear on Demonia we get small incursions from time to time. Once or twice a year. Usually the nearest Queen intervenes, the losses are fairly minimal most times, and then things settle down for another half a year. But Hearth is different than Demonia and the Demon realm. Indeed, it is different than any of the other realms. It is only to Hearth that all these other realms have large mana connections. Essentially, mana flows more heavily through Hearth and there fore the anti-magic has better access to it."


    "Well, wouldn''t that just mean they would have more frequent, but small encounters? Why a big, world ending, catastrophe like they have now?"


    "Hmmm. From what I understand, scholars of our kind hypothesized that there once was a time, eons ago, that Hearth was essentially over run with anti-magic. To the point that it was probably nearly wiped out. My father told me that it was thought that a plea was made to the gods and the gods actually responded. Which God, I do not know. Maybe it was all of them. Either way, the cut Hearth off from the anti-mana. But, as I said, mana can not exist without anti-mana. So the cut off could not be permanent. So, instead of being continuously attacked by the anti-mana, it builds and builds behind the block. Then, every couple centuries, the block erodes and the anti-magic rushes in. And it is this manifestation of anti-magic that the people of Hearth must defeat."


    Now it was my turn to think. It was a scary thought, anti-mana. And this whole conversation opened so many more questions too: Why were heroes from earth so adept at handling anti-mana? It must have intelligence, right? How else would it formulate attack plans and get confused for an actual evil ruler?


    "I suppose it makes sense that this method of dealing with anti-mana was preferred. If the People of Hearth were given a couple hundred years to prepare, then they could better deal with the problem rather than being constantly under attack." I said after a few seconds. "Still, why do they need the Heroes? I guess it''s a question for another time. The whole thing feels like a consequence of messing with the natural order of things. Not that I blame the people of Hearth for wanting to save their own hides and asking the gods for help. But if you put up a dam to block the river and then there is a flood, the damn may break, and everyone might just drown under all that built up water."


    "Indeed." Said Kieran, getting to his feet and holding out a hand to help me to mine. "We should head back and get ready for the evening meal. You would likely like to get an early nights rest in for the events of tomorrow. The Presentation can sometimes take a long time, depending on how many queens actually show up. My father has gotten the whole castle bustling to prepare for ALL of them in the event they all show."


    I blinked in surprise. "Wait, all of them?" I asked, feeling numb. Sure, all of them was only a couple hundred from what I understand, and in the terms of a race that wasn''t a huge number, but I hadn''t been expecting that many... I was a stranger to these people!


    This time Kieran laughed and led the way back to the castle, where I had, indeed, noticed a ton of activity as people prepared for the next couple days. Getting it all set up in less than a week was quite the feet as a matter of fact. Who ever oversaw Felicity''s party planning needed a raise.


    "Well, you are an oddity." Chuckled the butler. "Everyone will want to see you, meet you, see what kind of Queen you may be. The rumors are already flying about after all."


    "What rumors?" I asked, a little panicked now.


    "They call you Sin Andra." He said with an amused look over his shoulder.


    "Andra?" I asked, my linguistics catching up I added "as in Sin ''Dragon''?" Andra was the demonic word for a female dragon. Do''andra, was a male dragon.


    "That is right. Though in this sense it would be translated as ''Sin, Queen of Dragons''. Every queen gets a manicure of sorts at some point in their lives. Queen Felicity is still rather young and hasn''t done much of note to earn a name yet. But I bet a queen showing up on the back of the single most feared dragon on Demonia and having tamed it to boot... Well, I am sure that is more than worthy of a name."


    I mulled it over for a moment then smiled. "I kind of like it." I laughed. "Sin, Queen of Dragons..."


    Kieran laughed. "I think it suits you well. Besides, the name Sin Andra sort of rolls off the tongue does it not?"


    I nodded. "It sounds like a real name. I guess it can''t complain about it. And it is sort of my goal to tame as many dragons as I can. I think Rougier puts me off at a good start."

 The Queens Presentation

    I was a bit of a nervous reck near mid-day. It was going to be my Presentation in about an hour and I stood on a fancy box a few inches off the ground as a man stuck needles in a gown. Wouldn''t he need longer than an hour to finish this thing?


    I had protested the long, puffed skirt, tight bodice gown at first. It was lovely, don''t get me wrong. A real demon''s princess dress of black and red fabric in all sorts of layers... but it was heavy, and awkward to move in. And apparently designed to constrict breathing. I did not want to wear it, but Garris assured me that it would only be for the Presentation section of the Ball. It was tradition, he said. So, I begrudgingly aloud them to put the straight jacket on me.


    "You look magnificent." Smiled Garris, looking rather amused if I had to say so.


    I glared at the older male. "I always look magnificent. I just usually pull it off while also being able to breath and walk without fear of tripping."


    He laughed. "You are right, of course. Luckily, you will mainly just be standing at the end off the courtyard as the other Queens present you with their gifts. You will not need to move too much."


    "Or even breath that much." Added Felicity as she danced into the room looking like a gothic princess in a long dark grey dress with her white hair done up in tight curls.


    "Oh yes, very funny." I sighed, then winced as the corset pinched me.


    She smiled brightly then stood next to Garris and Kieran. "I was wracking my brains, trying to figure out what to give you these last few days you know."


    "You don''t have to give me anything." I said quickly. "No one does as a matter of fact. But especially not you. You took me in with out even a second thought! I can''t say I would be as open minded if a strange woman on the back of a dragon showed up on my door step, half naked and claiming to be from another world you know?"


    Felicity waved a small, dismissive hand. "It is customary for all to bring a gift to aid the new Queen in starting her new life of independence! Most give money, after all, you can get all you need with gold, but some like to put more thought into it. And I didn''t just want to give you gold!"


    "Alright." I sighed, resigned, once again, to this who debacle. "Lay it on me then, what did you get me."


    Felicity giggled and winked. "Well, last night I had an epiphany and checked with Kieran to see if I was correct. He spends the most time with you now after all. And he confirmed my suspicions!"


    Confused, I looked to the butler. He too looked confused and surprised.


    Felicity continued. "And then I went and spoke to Garris to be sure it was alright. He said it would be fine in his opinion..." The older butler smiled, not looking confused or concerned whatsoever. I wasn''t a fan of guessing games in the slightest, so I hoped she planned on getting to the point soon. "I wished to gift you something useful, both in your life as a Demon Queen, as well as in your adventures on Hearth. So, I decided to gift you Kieran! He may continue his duties, but as your butler rather than one of my own!"


    "Huh?" I said rather stupidly. Did she just say that she gifted me a person? Wasn''t that, like, illegal? Human trafficking or slavery or something. Then again, I wasn''t up on my demon laws...


    My eyes shot to Kieran once again. I expected him to look horrified, or at least hurt! His Queen was using him as a present after all. But he was neither: his eyes were wide, but he wore a smile, if anything he looked hopeful and excited.


    "You are a Queen without anything to your name after all." Continued Felicity, clearly unaware of the ethical dilemma playing though my head. "It is not uncommon for new Queens to take in demons from families led by Reihee until they are fully established. Some even keep them on until they pass. And you would even be able to act as a true Queen to Kieran!"


    "W-what do you mean?" I asked, brain landing on the one question amongst a thousand rushing through it that may not offend the young queen.


    "Well, the reason the queen-less ones do not fare well is that the other queens can not share their mana Gift as they would be able to with one of their own line. But you seem to have little trouble at all, sharing your mana with much of anyone or anything."


    "That''s true... Are- are you sure about this though?" I finally asked, really hoping not to offended anyone in the room. Mind you the tailor was plugging away at his work like he was deaf and determined. Nothing was going to stop that demon. "Its just that, where I am from anyway, its illegal to ''give'' people to other people... morally wrong I guess. I would be more than glad to have Kieran with me. His ability aside, we get along better than most people I have met since I died, and he is dependable and smart. But..." I looked at the man in question, concerned. "Would you really be alright with this? I really am pretty sure I would not make all that great of a queen now. Also, I am not even planning on staying here in Demonia! In a couple weeks I am hoping to be back on Hearth, and your magical abilities will be much less there..."


    Kieran approached me than immediately got down into a kneeling bow, his right hand clawed over his heart in the demon show of respect. "Please, Lady Sin, I would beyond honored to accept this position for how ever long you would have me. I would serve you with dignity and diligence, being sure to uphold the standards of your clan with my very life if that is what it takes."


    Well shit. How the heck was I supposed to refuse that? He seemed sure... anyway, if he decided, down the road, that he wasn''t happy being my butler anymore, I could always just let him go. Surly I wasn''t a slaver if I made sure not to conduct myself as one, right? He would be my assistant rather than servant... Demon instinct was telling me this was all well and good... but thirty plus years as a human from Earth was screaming ''BAD, BAD, BAD!''.


    I sighed, then smiled. Oh well, I was a demon after all. "Very well, then I would be pleased to have you on board. Your ability alone would be of great value to me in all honesty." I looked at Felicity and smiled again. "Thank you for your generous gift."


    Felicity clapped happily. "You are welcome! This is good. I was worried." She laughed then turned to Garris. "I will need your help supervising the final preparations. People should be arriving very soon."


    Garris left with his queen leaving Kieran and I alone, with the diligent tailor, who was now pinning something up on the back of the dress. Kieran got to his feet and smiled at me. Since he wasn''t too much taller than me , I was about an inch taller than him on the box.


    I sighed and spoke my mind. It was something I was mostly good at. "Are you sure about this Kieran? I wasn''t lying, I''d be happy to have you along, without a doubt. But I see no benefit for you. I am essential hopeless you know... I forget to eat as much as I should, I am easily distractable, and clearly do not think things through as well as I should. And I have no clue how to be a queen to you either."


    "I am sure." He said with all seriousness. "I am sure, and I am glad. Queen Felicity does not need anymore butlers you know. I would work but I would not be needed, I would not be of any great use. And for a butler it is our greatest desire to be of use to our queens. With you, I would be of great use, I am sure of it." Now he smiled, a mischievous one that I was becoming familiar with. "I have already been reminding you to eat, even if you never realized it. I have been keeping your mind on task and slowing you down when you appear ready to just charge into something without thinking it through first."


    I blushed Because I was pretty sure he was right, and I was just realizing that he had been doing it. It was his job, but it was embarrassing all the same.


    Kieran chuckled. "Most queens are as you described so you needn''t worry. And as for not knowing how to be a queen, well, you are not really planning on being one right away are you? So, you can take your time and learn. It is how all queens start out after all. Queen Felicity has been thrust into her responsibilities at a very young age, but most don''t really start their clans till they are five or more decades into their lives. Some even longer. You have been a demon for all, what? Three months now? You have time. And in that time, I would be honored to be your butler."


    I sighed, giving in. I wasn''t about to keep arguing. "Well, you better not complain, that''s all I am saying."


    He laughed and ran a hand through his dark hair. "I will do my best, Sin Andra."


    It wasn''t much later when Kieran assisted me out to the courtyard in my miraculously finished, gorgeous, death trap of a dress. I stood next to Felicity, who was the Queen hosting the event. Garris stood to the left and a little behind her and Kieran took his place to the right and a little behind me. I could hear the commotion outside the open gates and waited nervously for the first Queen to be announced.


    According to Garris, each queen would be announced in order of arrival. They would come, introduce them selves to me, present their gift, then either be escorted into the ball room where food and drink awaited them, or they would go to the sides of the courtyard and watch what the other queens were giving me. Apparently it was a chance for the queens to show off to one another, as much as this was a chance for them all to get to know me.


    One of Felicity''s guardsmen, holding a ceremonial pike and wearing a dress uniform, appeared in the gate way, stood at attention, and announced. "Bri, Queen of Herdeara." Loudly, then spun on his heel so he had his back to the door and took four steps backwards, clearing the way for the Queen.


    Kieran leaned forward slightly and said quietly in my ear: "She is called Queen of Herdeara because her clans call the desert of Herdeara their home. They are praised for not only surviving in such a harsh area but for thriving. They are amongst the wealthiest of the clans." His explanation finished; he stood back up straight.


    Bri was short. Very short, in fact. I would guess she was five foot tall at best. But short or not she was beautiful, with reddish skin and thick, wavy chestnut hair that framed an elegant and girlish face. She had Very large horns that sort of curved like the number six above her ears, the tips adding another half a foot to her height. She entered the courtyard with two massive males of her clan. Clearly the woman''s height was not passed on to her children because these men dwarfed their queen by a good two feet.


    She approached me and curtsied. I did the same. Then she waved for one of the men to step for ward. I saw that he was holding a wooden case with a latch on it. The box was made of a pretty, white wood and had a stunning, interlocking pattern carved into it.


    "I bring these for you Queen Sin." She said and her voice was very musical. She reached out and opened the case, revealing five stones in black velvet. Each was round and roughly the size of a large marble. They looked expensive to me, and I was sure they were probably more expensive than I thought. There was a clear blue one, then a gently green colored one, next to that was a stone of bright yellow like a topaz, then a deep red colored gem, and lastly a stone of the deepest of blacks. "Five gems of greatest quality, each enchanted with a spell of power upon them. We often use such gems in my clan as pommel stones in weapons or as adornments in armour. It is my hope that they can help protect your clan in the future."


    "Thank you, Queen Bri. These are beautiful and most welcome. You honor me with your gift." I said with a slight curtsy of my own. I was told that it was expected of me to thank the queen personally, compliment, then tell them that the gift honors me. I was sure it was going to get repetitive before the afternoon was done.


    The Queen beamed and bowed. One of felicity''s men accepted the gift and took it to the designated area around the corner and out of sight where several other men stood guard. Assuring the other queens that no one could steel their gifts, despite the fact that it would be utter madness for anyone to try anything with literally nearly every queen here. It was kind of terrifying to know how much power was here. Now that I had been doing so much practice with my mana, I was more attuned to the mana around me and the air here was fairly humming right now.


    Once Bri had stepped over to the side, opting to watch with her guards rather than head in right away and eat, the guard at the gate announced the next queen. "Jillian, Queen of Hearts."


    "She is named this way, because she is known for her beauty and for her fondness of charming males. She takes many mates but does not choose to breed with most of them. Her clan is relatively small for a queen of her age." Whispered Kieran.


    Queen Jillian was, indeed, a beauty. She stood at about five and a half feet with immensely long black hair she literally had to carry or risk dragging it in the dirt. Her skin was pale as snows and her eyes, though still red, were of a darker color that I had seen so far. She had short horns, almost as small as mine, but hers were on her forehead and pointed out straight rather than up. And her tail was a long black dragon looking thing with a sheen to it that made it look a bit like the rainbow colors of an oil slick.


    Like Queen Bri, Jillian approached with two men in tow, both holding a handle of a large heavy chest. She presented me with it, showing it contained a lot of gold and precious gems. No doubt it was a damn fortune. I thanked her and she walked away. Unlike Bri, Jillian didn''t bother to wait out in the sun to watch but headed right into the cool castle.


    This continued for a good hour longer. Most of the women did bring me money as I was told they would. One gave me a selection of elegant perfumes that I wasn''t sure I would wear any time soon, but I did pick up one of the small bottles to sniff it and truthfully told the queen that it smelled amazing. She left to join the growing crowed with a smile. Another Queen gifted me with several bolts of gorgeous silks, another with a case of rare ores for crafting.


    One Queen, named Winona, Battle Queen, made a gift of what I had at first thought was more silk. It turned out to be no ordinary silk at all. It was a case of dragon silk. Apparently, this queen, known for having males very dominant in battle, was also known as being able to turn dragon scales into an incredibly tough and light weight silk. It was a fabric able to be turned into armour as strong as steel yet as light as cotton. According to Kieran, she had gifted me enough to outfit at least five warriors. He sounded amazed by this so I could only imagine that it was indeed a queenly gift and thanked the queen heartily. It would be put to good use I had no doubt about that. The moment I had the chance I was getting a new outfit. The queen of dragons wearing dragon scales. Seemed appropriate.


    I was getting tired, but I knew we weren''t even halfway done yet. Still, I never had a birthday party before, in fact my parents barely acknowledged I was alive much less celebrated the fact. So, this was a warm feeling, people coming to celebrate me and giving me gifts. So, despite the fatigue I held in there. I wasn''t about to snub all these important people''s kindness after all.


    "Cristine, The Summer Queen." Said the guard. He looked just as fresh as he had at the start of all this. He had my respect.


    "Cristine is one of the newer queens." Said Kieran. "She was born about six hundred years ago and only has a small clan right now." He hesitated then continued. "Some of the other Queens look down on her. She is not as well off as most, having dedicated much of her wealth to aiding the demons without queens. She lives a simple life compared to most and the others tend to think she is fake and falsely concerned for the less fortunate demons."


    I resisted the urge to wrinkle my nose in distaste, sounds like this girl was a better person than me. And of course, a group of girls would bet catty. Way to set the women''s movement back a few years girls. Did demons have a woman''s movement? I rather doubted it seeing as how it was a female dominated society.


    The woman who stepped forward was close to six feet tall with honey colored hair that she had done up high on her head. She had red horns that stuck up high on her head and a tail that was thin and whip like, but half as long as mine. She did wear a dress that looked less extravagant as the others, but she didn''t looked poor or sickly. She looked pretty and sweet.


    She stepped forward and suddenly there were a few horrified gasps. I was confused at first, till two relatively short males of about six feet walked into the court, each held a rope, and at the other ends of those ropes they led two horses.


    Now calling these horses was like calling a tiger a cat. I have only ever seen pictures of a Clydesdale horse but these were easily as big as those massive steeds, but without the furry hooves. If I had to call any horse a war horse it would be these horses. They were both red, a red as deep, rich, and dark as blood, with long black manes and tales. And their eyes were as black as night. My eyes widened as they were led up to me. I barely even heard the whispers and snickers of the others, but I could see the young queen blush and saw her men''s faces grow hard.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "I have brought you these, Queen Sin." She said in a small voice, and I could tell that she was second guessing her gift choice. I never thought I would see a demon cry, but she looked close to it. "My clan lives on a great plain. And these are the greatest beasts upon it. As Demons, I know we do not have great need for land mounts, but these are powerful and noble creatures. I have brought you a bonded pair, so that, should you find them useful, you may breed them and..." She sort of tapered off and I felt horrible for her. She must have been so embarrassed.


    "I do not know about most Queens, Cristina." I said breaking from the traditional response. If someone had a problem with it, they were free to voice it at their own risk. "But my wings are a little strange. I am honestly not good at long distance flying, yet I plan on doing a lot of travel. I guarantee that these will be very useful to me. May I ask what they are called?"


    "Oh, um they are Andra Horses. Dragon horses, that is. They were named as such for their size, their omnivorous diets, and for their intelligence and bravery. An Andra horse will never through its rider and yet will only carry those they deem worthy."


    I looked at the horses again and saw they were looking at me with some intelligence behind the black eyes. I also saw the sharp canines poking out between their lips. Horses that ate meat. Awesome. "Dragon horses for the dragon queen..." I mused.


    Cristine chuckled. "I thought it was poetic. Also, I heard that you were a tamer, and thought that they would make good partners for you. Unlike most horses, these have a stronger fight response than a flight one."


    I smiled widely at the Queen. "I love them." I spoke. "I am honored by your gift."


    Cristine joined the crowd looking much happier than she did when she fist got here. Two of Felicity''s men led the horses away, looking a little nervous. I was planning on taming the pair as soon as I had the chance. They were beautiful and I had always wanted a steed to ride. I could fly, but it was exhausting with my heavy wings. Besides, once I got back to Hearth, I would likely be traveling with people who couldn''t fly. So, horses were a must, and these would indeed impress and intimidate. I wondered if I could get someone to make them good saddles and armor...


    As it turned out, Cristine was not the only Queen to bring a monster for me. About half an hour later a Queen Victory, The Jungle Queen was announced. She was a dark beauty from every angle. Her hair was short and curly, the color of dark chocolate, and her skin was more along the line of coco powder. Her horns were a dark grey and shaped like a ram''s, but only the size of a fist. She was also the first demon I saw with long fur on her tail, making it look a little like a black lion''s tail. Her coloring made her red eyes pop in a dangerous and exotic way.


    "Queen Victory is one of the oldest queens still on Demonia. Most of the elders have moved to the moon. She is also known as one of the most beautiful queens of all time. She has ruled over the Avian Jungle for as long as most can remember, holding the entire forest for herself." Hissed Kieran. I could tell by his tone that he held a great deal of respect for this woman. Though weather it was because he knew her personally in some way, or just because she was a very old Queen, I did not know.


    Victory was also the first to approach unaided, with not a male to be seen to escort her. As she neared, I realized that she had the feint traces of lines under her eyes and around her sultry smile. It was the only time I had yet seen the signs of age in a demon queen. "I have brought you this as a gift, Sin Andra." She purred, a hint of a warm accent around her R''s.


    Queen Victory Turned to the side, lifting a chocolate arm, and waving something forward, making a sharp clicking noise. What I noticed first was the paling of the guard who stood at the gate. He hastily took several steps back, banging into the door, looking horrified. It only took a second to see the reason: A massive cat like monster prowled it, causing several queens to gasp or make disapproving noises and step farther away. I even felt Kieran''s energy tense behind me.


    But I was not afraid, I was enamored. This cat was nearly as tall as me, with silky black fur, a feint hint of a darker stripes flashing in the sunlight. Its head was bigger than even Vale''s robust torso the saber like fangs it wore were as long as my hand. Each paw, placed in elegance and complete silence on the ground, were as big as my head and its body was at least as long as me. And that wasn''t including the four-foot tail, thick around as my arm. But it was the eyes that were most captivating; the were large and a blazing green color, almost seeming to glow.


    Taking a deep breath in anticipation, I stepped forward without fear, eager to meet this magnificent beast my self. I stood next to Queen Victory, who still held her hand out to the large black tiger and didn''t even notice that her eyes were now on me. She smiled as I too, held out a hand to the beast.


    "She is a native of my lands." Purred the Queen, her voice barely above a murmur yet still very audible. "There are untold numbers of dangerous monsters in my jungle, but none are as silent or efficient as the Pangar Tigers. They have long since fascinated me and so I have trained several to obey me. This one is in its prime, fast strong, and fierce."


    "She is beautiful." I breathed, the tiger stopping before us. I reached up and slowly and respectfully, ran a hand through her silky fur on her forehead. Her fur was incredibly thick and silky, and she was warm.


    "Normally I would not trust one with another demon." Said Victory softly. "They may listen to me but have nothing but contempt for others." She chuckled, watching me pat the cat with no repercussions. "Well, most others, but I have heard that you claim to be a tamer?"


    "I am, yes." I said, still totally captured by the cat beneath my hand.


    "they say you tamed none other that Rougier the Death-Bringer himself. I was there during the battle that took the lives of four of our sister Queens."


    I frowned then and turned back to the Queen. I was surprised to see we were the same height. For some reason- perhaps because she had such a large presence- I had thought her to be taller. She didn''t look upset or angry, just curious. "I did tame him. And I did so, knowing what he had done. Though, perhaps not in exact detail, but I knew he had done things that were cruel and thoughtless. But weather he wishes to continue those things or not, I would not allow it."


    "You restrain him?" She asked, and I couldn''t place the tone she used right now but it didn''t set off any alarm bells, so I continued.


    "I can. I could make him mindless and nothing more than a puppet, much the same way our kind are bound by those who call themselves demon summoners."


    "But you do not constrain him like that, do you."


    "No." I said simply, returning my eyes to the cat. "Rougier is rude, and self entitled, but he is now my dear friend. As much as a servant can be a master''s dear friend at least. He bad mouths me, I call him names, then we both eat. I like the dynamic and have seen no reason to change it. But if you fear he will run rampant, I assure you, he will not."


    "He is not with you now?" She asked, now sounding amused. I glanced back at her and saw that her eyes were roaming the courtyard.


    "Tch, I was told he should not be here right now. Not that he listens very well." I added with a soft chuckle. I turned my back on the cat and pointed up to the top of a decorative statue of a bird above the main entrance to the castle. "He is hiding up there being nosy." I laughed.


    The Queen turned as well. In fact, many shifted their gazes to the stone bird. I saw Felicity glare and I suppressed a smile. She had threatened the dragon to stay away lest he cause a ruckus. It took a few seconds but eventually the dragon poked his tiny purple head from around the bird and glared at me. Clearly, he was not pleased about being found out at all. He rumbled a little then took to the air, gliding down and settling on my shoulder.


    Victory looked taken aback; she blinked a few times at the mini dragon be fore speaking. "But- this is too small to be the Death-Bringer." She gasped, confused and maybe a little offended. Maybe she thought I was lying.


    "I shrunk him." I said. "It costs mana to do, more than anyone, not a queen, would have trouble with... But it makes it easier to take him places. He spends much of the day in his true form, but I spelled him to his current size so that he would not disturb anyone. I could have sent him away, but I didn''t want to." I said stroking his head with a finger.


    "Indeed?" She breathed, bent over, and looked the dragon in the eye. "You are not nearly as fearsome as I remember, Death-Bringer."


    "And I do not remember you at all." Quipped the dragon, making me sigh. His rolling, rumbling voice making many of the on looker''s whisper.


    "Could you not insult everyone you meet?" I asked, giving the dragon a small, rough shake. "You clearly caused this Queen some trouble to say the least. Don''t you think you should apologize?"


    Rougier snorted, glaring up at the dark Queen. "Why? Surly one should not apologize unless one means it."


    "I should nail you into a small box and burry you in a hole." I snapped. "Maybe then you could learn some manners. Honestly..." I sighed, but then ruined my rebuke by petting him affectionately once again.


    Victory laughed. "Fascinating. I admit, when I heard the beast had been released, I was worried. But then I heard that he had been tamed. Tamed by a queen no less.... Did you know," She asked, giving me a mischievous smile. "That there has only ever been one other Queen who was also a tamer?"


    "No." I said, shocked. I had not known that at all. Yet suddenly my mind conjured up an image of my Grimoire. A Grimoire that was able to come to the demon world. I had thought that it being tied to me made it able to come here, but my tames were tied to me. Tied to me by a soul binding blood pack, yet they couldn''t come here at all. Was the mysterious former owner also a demon?


    Queen Victory nodded. "It was a very long time ago though. Ages and ages have passed, so much that it is but a feint memory..." She sighed and shook her head sadly. "Anything longer than a thousand years or so tends to get fuzzy in ones mind when you reach an age such as my own. I hope you get to experience the frustration yourself in the future." She added with a husky chuckle.


    "I am afraid my mind still hasn''t accepted the fact that I will live such a long time... provided I don''t get myself eaten first." I said eyeing the beautiful tiger.


    "I am sure I can prevent anything smaller than myself from eating you." Sighed the dragon setting himself comfortably around my neck. Comfortable for him at least; for me it was like wearing a rocky boa around my throat. But I missed having Drogin there, so I didn''t complain.


    Victory raised a rather dignified eyebrow at the fearsome scarf. "Most things are larger than you at the moment."


    Rougier glared at the queen. I was pretty sure that had he been anything other than a dragon- an incredibly dangerous one at that- the glare would have gotten him in trouble. As it was the Queen simply laughed.


    I sighed and decided that getting the focus of the Death-Bringer in the courtyard was probably the safest thing to do at the moment. "Is she safe to be lead away? Or shall I tame her now to prevent any of Felicity''s good men being eaten while we continue here?"


    "I am sure I wouldn''t be the only one who would find that a fascinating thing to watch." Mused Victory, a dark nail looking more grey than black next to her rich skin. "But if you would rather not have people see the secrets to your magic, than I can just keep her by my side till you have a private moment."


    I thought for a moment than settled on just doing it now. We had already broken from tradition with this long conversation, not to mention the Rougier interruption. What was one more disturbance? Besides, I really would rather not risk any accidental kitty snacks.


    "So long as no one objects, I would rather just do it now." I said, eyeing the gathered royalty. None looked overly annoyed, most seemed curious and some seemed a tad exasperated at the break from tradition more than anything I suspected. "It will only take a moment after all."


    I stroked the cat once again and she sat patiently. I could see an intelligence in her eyes yet she made no attempt at any sort of language. I was sure that if she had then my Linguistics skill would have translated for me. I turned to Kieran, ready to put his skills to work for the first time under my rule. "What rank is she Kieran?"


    He bowed his head to me then stepped forward, offering another bow to Queen Victory and Queen Felicity, before setting those gifted eyes on the tiger. I didn''t notice a change in his eyes or presence but I did feel a slight shift in the mana surrounding Kieran and within him. "She is B-ranked my Queen. Dark magic elemental with high physical attack skills and the special skill known as Shadow Step."


    I smiled at my new butler. Damn, but his eyes were handy to have around! I still wasn''t wholly comfortably with him being given to me... and that thought suddenly made me feel a little off about the monsters being given to me as well. After all, most monsters that I tame seem quite intelligent and self aware. That made them people too. I decided that I would have to put those feelings to the side. Besides, if any of these people or monsters ever told me they did not want to be mine than I would set them free in a heart beat. I was no slave trader. The only exception being Rougier at least. Just setting that dragon loose would be a potential disaster after all, even if he seemed far less monstrous than I had been told he was. I would not keep him against his will, but I may have to find a way to rebind him to his mountain prison. Or something like prevent him going full scale demon hunting...


    "Rank B? This should be easy then," I said cheerily. I went to reach into my bag for my grimoire before realizing that my hand was now in several layers of skirts and not my usual bag. Right... the bag was back on Hearth, and I was dressed to the nines. But to my everlasting shock my fingers closed around a spine and I felt the familiar heft in my hand. I pulled my hand out from behind my back to find the familiar dark leather tomb in my grasp. "Hello Book!" I said with a happy laugh. I guess it could just appear when needed? It was tied to me after all and couldn''t be far from me. No point questioning magic. Especially convenient magic!


    Normally I got down on the ground to do this but given the swanky gown and the audience, I decided that standing up was probably for the best right now. I flipped the book open to a blank page and drew the memorized circle with a finger I pricked with the tip of my tail. I tried not to get stage fright with the audience. As one of only two demon tamers (apparently) I was sure most, if any besides maybe Victory, had ever seen this magic before.


    "I need a drop or two of her blood." I told Victory.


    She blinked in surprise but instructed the cat to lift and flip one huge paw, so her pads faced up. "Why? I was not aware that taming was a blood art?" She said and pricked the cat''s paw with one of her own claws. The tiger made a low growl but other wise stood its ground and did not become aggressive.


    I dipped my own claw into the crimson ink and held it above the page, racking my brain for a name. "It isn''t normally." I said, eyes locked on the page held out before me. "But I am not one to do things normally I guess."


    Apparently, thinking of names while under the pressure of several dozen eyes was hard. Only one name kept cropping up and I was getting annoyed. For one, naming a magical tiger Shere Khan from ''The Jungle Book'' was way to clich¨¦, and for another: that was a boys name. I  tried rolling similar sounding names around in my head and finally landed on one that seemed to fit. I scrawled it above the circle then placed my hand on the tiger''s massive head.


    "Seal. I name thee, Shinra." I intoned. Instantly there appeared a red circle under the cat, making Victory and Kieran take a step back, closer to Felicity and Garris. I felt the mana leave me and estimated it to have cost about what it took to tame Vendaval back in Elswell Forest. But this time it was much less taxing as I had a great deal more mana to work with. Going back to having just twenty thousand when I returned to Hearth would be hard. And wasn''t that a crazy sentiment? Only twenty thousand? That number was considered staggering, even by demon Queen standards. At my age at least. I would have to be careful though, that I didn''t over use my mana without taking in the eighty percent decrease when I got back.


    Shinra roared and got to her impressive feet, causing several gasps from the crowed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a few butlers reach for their charges, in case the tiger attacked. She did not attack, however. But she did begin to change: Her claws seemed to elongate and acquire a serrated quality, two short horns the same black has her stripes budded out of her fore head above her eyes. What was most surprising was the fist sized, round, dark blue gem that grew between the horns, looking a little like a third eye.


    Once the shifting of her skin settled, Shinra shook out her fir. Then she stretched in true cat style: Back arched, claws digging gouges into hard stone slabs, and a big yawn displaying those huge saber teeth. I smiled at the behavior, but judging from the worried glances of others, they were more nervous than amused.


    "How are you feeling Shinra?" I asked as she settled back onto her rump, eyeing the crowed around her in the courtyard.


    "I am well Mistress." Said the cat but her mouth did not move. But given the gasp from Victory and felicity as well as others in the audience, they too could here Shinra speak, so it wasn''t like she was speaking into my mind. Perhaps a type of thought projection? "I am honored to have received my name."


    "Of course. I am glad you like it."


    "This is a marvelous magic." Gushed Victory, walking in a circle around Shinra. "Come." She ordered, pointing to the spot near her feet. Shinra did not move. "Amazing. Just like that she obeys only you. I expected that of course, but this blood magic of yours is truly wonderous. It is a true binding?"


    "I don''t pretend to know how it all works," I told her. I was planning to tell the queens as a whole at tomorrows meeting about my origins, but for now they were in the dark so they wouldn''t understand much. "But yes, it is how I tame all my monsters. Once I bind the two horses to me that Queen Christine gifted me, then I will have a total of six tames."


    "Truly fascinating." She turned her gaze back to me then bowed. "I have disturbed these proceedings quite long enough, I think. Thank you for humoring me, Queen Sin Andra."


    "Not at all." I said, giving the other queen a short bow of my own. As she stepped away and went to enter the castle, I removed Rougier from my shoulders and set him on Shinra''s back. "You two head off. I will see you both soon, but I mustn''t keep the other Queens waiting any longer. It would be rude of me to say the least. Keep an eye on him." I added to the cat, glaring playfully at the small dragon. He grumbled, but let the large tiger walk him off and around the corner.


    "Is it really okay to let the tiger just go?" Asked Felicity quietly as I rejoined her back in my spot, ready to receive more guests.


    "You have no problem with Rougier fluttering about the place." I laughed quietly. I placed the grimoire into Kieran''s out stretched hands and he grasped it, stepping back next to his father. "He is far scarier than Shinra. No need to worry, they wouldn''t do anything they know I would disapprove of. I guess you can think of it like how a butler would not dream of disobeying his Queen?"


    "Oh." She said. "I guess when you put it that way..."


    The rest of the Presentation went smoothly, and without any further monster interruptions. I met many Queens. In fact, I was willing to bet that nearly every Queen from Demonia was here! It was exhausting, yet also fascinating, to meet so many varied and interesting people. And the gifts they gave were just as wonderous. I received more gold than I was really sure I knew what to do with, and bolts of fine silks and furs. I got seeds to rare and valuable crops and fruiting trees, finely crafted weapons in all shapes and forms, something called a Hoarding stone that Kieran explained was used to turn a defined space into a vault of sorts. No one could enter without expressed permission and I could use it to even make a gate between the room and a pack or sack with a special spell. I would be able to call forth any item withing the vault at will and use the bag to add things to it as well. A heck of a sight better than the old bag I had back on Hearth. Another Queen gifted me a set of Portal Stones. I would be able to use the stones to set up a permanent portal between any location in Demonia to any location in Hearth. I may not have told all the Queens about my past yet but clearly the rumor mill was at work if these people not only knew that I was a tamer but that I also intended to go to Hearth.


    Still, rumors or not, I was grateful for all that I received. And it was a lot. So much that I was glad for the vault magic so that I would have a place to store it all!


    By the time I had seen the last Queen: Daisha, The Ruby Queen, with hair as red as he skin and four short horns, two above each ear, and a twin whip tail, I was well into the after noon. Nearly evening really. And I was starved. I wasn''t the only one either. By the time I had seen everyone there were barely any demons in the courtyard anymore, they had all gone inside to eat and relax. And I was very glad that I was about to go going them, even if that meant that I now had to sit through a party.

 A Demons Ball

    I had been to Felicity''s ball room before. I was helping with the preparations at least. Well, the others said I was helping but really it was just Felicity and I standing in a corner approving of minor details. She seemed to think that it was of great importance, but I was pretty sure it was just the servants and butlers humoring us. Either way, seeing the large, marble room then and now were two completely different things.


    Apparently, Demon Queens took their balls very seriously. It was a time to show off to other queens in a way that didn''t involve starting wars, so the other demons were happy to pull all the stops and throw truly extravagant parties. I was told that six or sever balls were thrown every year amongst the queens for one reason or another and most queens attend at lest one of these, every year. This year the massive room was packed to bursting with demons dressed in their most expensive gowns and jewelry. Everyone had a wardrobe change before entering the ballroom and now the place was positively dazzling.


    I had also gone through a wardrobe change for the event. I was now in a shimmering black slip of a dress; the sides open nearly to my hips and the cloth dragging on the floor around my bare feet. It was in no way functional and I would likely trip and fall if I tried to run in it, but I preferred it to the pounds of cloth I had to wear most of the day. And the copious amounts of exposed skin and cleavage didn''t really bug me any. I wasn''t a touchy-feely person but I also wasn''t body shy. I could have come in here stark naked and not have care one bit so long as people kept their grubby hands to them selves.


    And I wasn''t the only one dressed less queen like than any royal on Earth would have. But most wore more sedated dresses, but everyone was gorgeous to the extreme, even those that may have been considered more manly than the typical human view of a queen.


    These balls were probably the only time in the demon world that there were more women than men. Many of the queens had brought their one aloud butler but several others decided to attend unescorted. I had Kieran with me. No way was I going to be forced to interact with hundreds of strangers and do it all on my own. He wore a fancy tux with a jacket that had long tails. He literally looked like some hot demon butler from a movie. How dare most demons look gorgeous! Didn''t seem fair to me but who was I to judge I suppose.


    "You look stunning Lady Sin." He told me with a bow, holding out an arm so that he could escort me the proper way. "Even if you also look like you would rather be any place else." He added with a smirk.


    "That obvious huh?" I asked, smoothing out the dress and glancing about nervously. There was no dancing going on despite the gentle music being played by the orchestra on the other side of the room. Mostly people seemed to be chatting and laughing amongst one another. I also noted that I was drawing a lot of attention from those around me. It was to be expected of course, it was my party, and I was the new girl in town. But that didn''t mean I had to like it either. "Exactly how long does this last?"


    Kieran laughed. "Lucky for you that the Presentation went on so long. You will only have to mingle for a couple hours."


    I groaned. Only? Yuck. I tried to pick out a friendly face amongst the queens. If I could find Felicity or maybe that Christine Queen than I could get through the night with minimal socializing. But I couldn''t make either out amongst all the fancy dresses and done up hair and make up. Damn it.


    "Sin Andra." Purred a familiar voice from behind me. I sighed and spun to meet the gaze of Queen Victory once again. She laughed, the diadem on her forehead sparkling under the chandeliers and in her hand a flute of red wine. She was dressed in a deep green chiffon gown that made her look even more like a jungle Queen. She looked like she was supposed to have a tiger at her side and have everyone here bow before her. I hoped to have her power and presence when I grew up to be a big girl demon. "You look like a maiden in need of rescuing. It is not a flattering look for one such as yourself." She said with a laugh. "You strike me as a woman much like myself."


    I sighed and smiled at her. "Perhaps, under normal circumstances. But I am not fond of large gatherings. Especially ones where I am supposed to be the center of attention."


    At that she broke out into a loud, deep laugh. "But you draw attention so well and so effortlessly."


    "I guess that is a fact that I can''t really deny." I said with a small smile of my own.


    "Well, we can not have you being a wall flower at your own party." She chided, taking my pale arm in her firm hand. "Come, let us get you a drink and something to eat. Then I will introduce you around."


    This woman had all the charisma, and I was in awe. She had me making the rounds in no time flat and making up for my awkwardness with extreme ease. She was powerful and dignified and seemed to know at least a little of every Queen in attendance. After an hour of following Victory around I knew more about this land than I ever thought I would. But mostly I came out with unending amounts of unverified gossip.


    "You looked drained." She chuckled once we were alone once again, having just said good bye to Felicity who claimed she needed to speak to a few other Queens. She offered to have me join her, but I was at my limit.


    "Put me in a room full of dangerous monsters over this any day." I sighed, resisting the urge to rub my eyes and ruin my make up. "How can you be so good at this?"


    She laughed. "I may live in a jungle, but I am a woman who loves to be in the know. Keep in mind that I have a lot more years of practice in this than you do."


    "Yes, that is true. Still, I am impressed."


    "As you should be." She said teasingly. "I am sure you will not have to suffer much longer. I see many who are about ready to be on their way."


    "On their way?" I asked. "I thought that there was supposed to be a meeting tomorrow?"


    "Oh, there is." She said, eyeing a butler with an appraising eye as he walked past us, no doubt getting his queen a drink. "But most here will not be in attendance. It''ll just be nosy people like me and then those who will likely be affected by the discussions taking place. Most of the people here have no interest in the political dealings that are set to be discussed tomorrow morning. They just wanted to be seen, do some seeing, and have a good excuse to show off."


    "I was told that these parties were seen that way."


    "Oh yes." She said with a nod. "Many Queens use a presentation to prove their wealth or talent in the gifts they give. Then there are people like me who just wanted to see something interesting. Am too old, and too amazing, to bother with the show boating."


    I laughed openly. It felt good to laugh for real as it was something I didn''t do all that often. "You are in no short supply of confidence. I like that."


    She smiled happily. "I am glad we get along so well. Not many appreciate my unique personality. It bugged me in my younger years, but not so much these days."


    "Who do you think will be staying then?" I asked, eyeing the people around me more appraisingly.


    "Hmmm. Well, Felicity is the one introducing you so that means that she has taken some small responsibility for you. So that means that the Queens who own lands near here will have a vested interest. I''d say that Cristine will be there and Queen Cinder and Queen Mairith too. Their lands boarded this one and their property is large and under used. They may have to give up a portion to you for your new Queendom. I would think that Queen Darcious will attend as well. She lost a sister to the battle with Rougier, and I do not think she is feeling as forgiving as me."


    I tried to keep up with the names, but many had become blurs over the entire day and only Cristine had stuck in my mind at all. I was a little worried over this Darcious woman though. A family grudge could be bad. I wasn''t sure how demons, who lived such long lives, handled such things but I wasn''t eager to find out either.


    "Would there be blood shed over it?" I asked worriedly.


    "No" she said softly. "Not likely at least. It was so long ago, and she is a fairly old queen in her own right, not prone to emotional decisions. But she may try and slight you in some way. Perhaps influence the size of the lands you are allotted or even the quality of them. You would be hard pressed to start a line from scratch in an arid desert after all. I would just be wary. Actual fights between queens or lines are incredibly rare after all. And, though the loss of a sister is no small thing, it would reflect poorly on her if she started the first clan war in seven thousand years over it. Especially since you had nothing to do with the acts of Rougier, even if you are his master now."


    "Alright. I suppose I can manage that at least."


    "Apologies, Lady Sin." Victory said suddenly, returning to a more formal tone and standing a little straighter. I looked over and saw that she was eyeing someone on the other side of the ball room. It was too crowded for me to make out exactly who had gotten her so serious. "I see some one I have been meaning to speak with. Not sure the next time I will get the excuse given we do not see eye to eye."


    "Did you need me to accompany you?" I asked, worried.


    She smiled at me but shook her head, the smile fading rather swiftly. "It will be fine. I will not start a commotion during your ball. But I would like to speak with her all the same. I can''t imagine it will take long. Why not get yourself something to eat... I have a feeling you have been told this often enough, but you need to eat more. I swear taming that tiger earlier took five pounds off you..." She eyed me worriedly before tossing a meaningful look over my shoulder to Kieran, making me roll my own eyes.


    "Yes, yes. Very well." I sighed. Who ever thought I would be so hounded over my lack of weight. Though I think Victory was right and I had burned through a few calories taming Shinra earlier. A snack wouldn''t hurt anyway.


    Kieran faithfully followed me to the buffet table and made himself busy getting me a plate of food. Gods forbid a queen get her own plate in a formal setting after all. Still, he was much better at picking out the good stuff amongst these demon foods than I was. Not that I was picky over food. Going without made one grateful for any and every meal, no matter where it came from or what it tasted like.


    He had hardly left my side when I was approached by another butler. I did not recognize him, after all I hadn''t really met the queen''s attendants and even the queen themselves were mostly a blur at this point. He was tall and muscular with red gold hair and a thick beard of the same color. His eyes were red but wider than I was used to amongst the demons, giving him a some what baby like face. Perhaps that was why he grew the beard. His tail was long and dragged on the floor, its red scales glimmering in the candlelight and the barbed end looking pretty dangerous.


    "Sin Andra." He said in a low rumbled, an odd sound when coupled with the boyish face. "It is a great honor to attend this gathering and meet you in person. I am much grateful to my own Queen for the opportunity."


    "Um, yes." I said awkwardly. If he was grateful to his queen then should he not be thanking her and not telling me? "Sorry if we were already introduced, but I am afraid I can not recall your name." We were not introduced. I wasn''t introduced to any of the attendants really, but I wasn''t all that sure what else to say.


    "I am Garven of Queen Komura''s line." He said with a small bow. The name of the queen sounded familiar at least. I think she had given be a chest of gems if I remembered correctly. "I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself you your highness."


    "Oh, well, its good to meet you then Garven..." Wow could I get any more awkward? I was, by no means, unaccustomed to interacting with men. Any, and all men really, though I was not very fond of romance overall. Or more like I didn''t much believe in the thing people referred to as romantic love. I hadn''t had many opportunities to find myself trusting any men. The closest I had come to even a friendship with the opposite sex was with the men in the Red Bulls and now with Kieran. What had me stammering was the unfamiliar setting and my lack of understanding on what was and was not offensive in these situations.


    "I am honored. If you would like, I could get you something to eat- "


    At that second Kieran appeared at my side, plate in hand. One arm bent behind his back he made a small bow and handed me the small China plate with a few bite sized foods on it. I took the dish gratefully and sighed in relief. My hero.


    "Garven." Toned my butler, a small, polite, nod of the head to the other male. "I am not surprised that Queen Komura saw fit to have you attend her this evening. It is a great honor indeed."


    Despite Kieran sounding nothing but polite and sincere, even if his eyes did not hold the humor I often saw in them, Garven did not seem impressed in the slightest. The male seemed to be holding back a sneer and his wide red eyes flashed with something ugly I couldn''t quite place. "I am a little surprised to see you however, Kieran. It must have been a true shock and honor for you to have been assigned to Queen Sin by Queen Felicity. It must be hard for the young Queen to have no males of her own to put trust in-"


    "Excuse me?" I snapped, going from uncomfortable to irritated in a flash. I may not know why Garven was taking this tone, but I did know that he was trying to insult Kieran in some way.


    "It is alright My Lady. I am not offended-"Began Kieran, but I interrupted him immediately.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    "Well, I am." I said, flashing angry eyes at both men. Kieran seemed to wise up a little and his mouth snapped shut. Clearly Garven didn''t get that subtle message, however.


    "I am sure Queen Felicity meant no offense Lady Sin." Said the male, eyes even wider in his apparent back peddling. He seemed to believe that it was Felicity that had offended me and not his own moronic mouth. "She only has her mother''s males to choose from and- "


    "Queen Felicity has been nothing but open and welcoming to me." I said in a deadly hushed voice. I saw Kieran''s eyes widen and knew that he realized that the other male was starting to step into dangerous waters. He may have only known me for a week or so but he was a smart butler and could see warning signs better than most. "Are you claiming that she has mistreated me in some fashion, Garven of Queen Komura''s line?"


    Garven swallowed and took a nervous step back, finally understanding that he had said some thing that had offended me, in a bad way. "No, I did not intend to imply- "


    "But you did imply that. You also implied that Kieran was an unfit butler. Why?" Clearly the two men knew one another enough to recognize each other, but did they have some sort of bad mojo between them. If so then why would this Queen Komura have brought the male here where he may have run into the male?


    "No I- I just meant that it is difficult to be attended to by one who does not have a queen." He stammered, taking another step back, but I took one toward him, stepping in front of Kieran, wanting to be sure that he was not targeted again on instinct. He would tell me off for it later. It was his job to defend me not the other way around after all. Or so he would say at least.


    "Kieran does have a Queen. He has me." I growled.


    I was about to advance on the male again when another voice reached my ears. "See Komura. I told you your butler was irritating Lady Sin." It was the low purr of Queen Victory and it had me stopping my advance and turning to the new commers.


    "What do you think you are doing Garven?" Hissed a tall, leggy Queen with white gold wavey hair down to her ankles. I instantly remembered her as a Queen who had shown up around half way through the day. She had given me a selection of rare fruit seedlings. Komura Queen of Revelry. Kieran had told me that she was famous for attending just about every festivity thrown by the Queens. She was good natured and kind but a little naive as well.


    Garven, noticeably pale, bowed to his queen and quickly retreated to her side, avoiding any kind of eye contact with me.


    "Sorry for my male''s insult Lady Sin." Said the Queen, her slight bow causing her golden locks to touch the floor. She was dressed in a pink lacy dress that made her look almost angelic despite the tail and horns. "I would not have brought him had I known he was so rude."


    I took a calming breath and sighed, shaking my head to clear it. "No. I may have overreacted a little. I am also sorry Queen Komura. It was probably rude to have snapped at your butler even after you gave me such a generous gift earlier today."


    "I will take him away at once." She said, giving the male an angry glare. "I will bring him back to our lands and be sure he has no reason to return to your sight."


    "No." I said, shaking my head. "Please, stay. I would hate to have you leave over this. It makes me happy to see you all enjoying the party. I hope this doesn''t ruin the atmosphere."


    Komura seemed relived. She was a rumored party animal after all. No doubt Garven would get a stern tongue lashing later for nearly making his queen miss such a happening event. It wasn''t often that nearly all the queens were in one place after all. Someone like her would not want to miss a prime opportunity like this one. She wasted no time hurrying her butler off before I could changed my mind and have them both removed.


    Once they were gone, I sighed and glared down at my plate of food, still annoyed. It wasn''t till I heard Victory chuckle that I looked up, confused as to what was so funny.


    "What?" I asked, a little snappier than the Queen deserved, but I was irritated, and the source of the frustration had fled.


    "Its just... Well, I am very sure that that male will never dare to approach you again. You scared him off well and truly." She laughed, red eyes sparkling.


    I growled then stuffed a small square of what tasted like a kind of melon into my mouth. "Well, he was being an ass and deserved worse. Where does he get off saying that my butler is less than any other or that Felicity is some how worse off for having Garris and the others? Its none of his business now is it."


    Kieran smiled at me kindly. "I am honored that you stepped up in my defense Lady Sin. But I am quite sure that that male was simply trying to flirt with you. As for his comments concerning myself and the line, I belong to... well, many feal that way, and with good reason. It is a fact that having servants not of one''s own line is less than optimal. Lady Felicity can not share mana with those of my line as well as she will be able to with her future family. One male of her own line can be several times more effective as a servant than ten who are not of her line."


    "Tch!" I said glaring at the direction the source of my ire had fled. "I haven''t had any problems! And even if that is the case that your family is less effective than her own future family, she is not making one any time soon now, is she? So, I would assume any assistance is better than none." I stuff another square into my mouth only to wince when it turned out to taste more like cheese than the red melon that it looked like. "And who the Hell flirts with someone by insulting their benefactors and their servants anyway!"


    "You do hold a grudge." Laughed Victory. "I find I like you more every time you speak." She ran a clawed hand through her hair and smiled. "I assume he was planning on flirting with you normally before your butler showed up. Normally it is bad form for a male to interfere in such an interaction, but even I could see you desperately wanted rescuing."


    "Humph. It was awkward." I said feeling a little bad for the man but mostly still really insulted.


    "It is common for Queens to meet potential partners at these events. As you can imagine, they are mostly around family." Said Kieran. "It is usually only during large events like these that queens have an opportunity to meet with strong and dependable males. It is why the men who are invited to escort their queens are honored to receive the position."


    "Well, I am not in the market for a boyfriend, thanks." I snapped.


    "What is a ''boy friend''?" Asked Victory, still looking quite amused.


    "It''s a term referring to a man, someone in a committed relationship with another person." I sighed, my anger beginning to fade.


    "Committed relationship?" Snorted the Jungle Queen. "Like those humans have? I have heard that they throw large parties and claim to devote their whole selves to one another till the day they die. Some even beyond that." She laughed, like the very idea was the funniest piece of gossip she had ever heard.


    "Yup. Well, no not exactly. That is more like marriage. A boyfriend is a more temporary thing I guess." I sighed, just not even in the mood now. I didn''t want to do this to begin with and now I was just completely drained.


    "Poor things." She sighed. "Anyway, if you are good and rescued, then I am off again. Judging by the look of you this party will be good and over in less than an hour and I have a couple more people I want to greet before it ends. I will be sure to see you before I leave."


    "No staying for the meeting then?" I asked. I had sort of thought that she was going to attend, just out of curiosity.


    "No." she said, waving a dismissive hand. "Too much boring talk for me. So, I will pass. But I do hope to see one another again soon. Its not every millennium that I meet someone so entertaining."


    "Gee thanks." I said but with a good-natured smile. She gave me a quick hug then hurried off.


    "I think I will keep close to you till this night ends, shall I Mistress?" Chuckled Kieran.


    I gave him a dirty look but nodded. "Yeah, that would probably be for the best. I want some air."


    "Very well, come, I will take you out too the balcony. I am sure you will avoid most of the interested males at least."


    "You are so funny." I drawled, following behind my butler.


    It was not a quick trip, even though it was just on the other side of the room. I had to stop often to greet queens and share small talk and gratitude for gifts received. If I never had to attend another one of these parties again it would be too soon. Still, I predicted that there would be no avoiding all of them in the end, both here and on Hearth too no doubt.


    Once we finally reached the open air of the night sky out on the balcony I sighed. At last, open space and clean, unscented air. I now understood Rougier''s distaste for the perfumes of the demon queens. My new demon nose was far too sensitive to handle it, and these were scents made for demon noses. I could only imagine how perfumes made for people with less sensitive noses would smell. But the outside was fresh and clean with a restorative breeze.


    "You do seem quite worn-out Sin." Said a concerned Kieran as I leaned against a stone banister, the grand courtyard below and behind me and the wide dark sky above. I had to admit that the night sky here was something to behold. Just like earth and Hearth it was black and full of stars. But unlike them, there were two moons and what looked like a glowing red milky way between them. And in a few weeks, both of those moons would be out in the day light, and I would be able to go back to Hearth at last.


    "I am, I guess. I am not good a things like this. I am not a social creature by nature." I sighed, closing my eyes, and enjoying the breeze and the feel of the mana flow around me. It was a wonder I never noticed there, back on Hearth. Perhaps it just wasn''t as obvious as it was here on Demonia. That or it had to be known before one could sense it. Either way, I could not imagine not feeling the warm pulsing energy all about me. The world would feel wrong without it. "I think I will miss this place when I leave." I mused.


    "It matters not to me what you decide, for I will follow wherever the fates take you my queen, but if you wish to stay then why not stay?" Kieran asked, and I could feel his eyes on me.


    "No, I need to go back. My monsters aside, I feel like there is still unfinished business there. I can''t even pin point what it is, but I feel like I would regret not going back." I opened my eyes and looked out over the walls of the castle. "I have an infinite number of lifetimes to live, and I plan on living everyone to the fullest. This is my second chance, and I will not waste it second guessing my life choices as I did with my last life."


    "Was your life on Earth truly that bad?" He asked, clearly curious as much as he was concerned. I couldn''t blame him, after all I rarely spoke about my past or even my future. I learned that the present was already hard enough to deal with, without worrying about what had happened and what still hadn''t.


    "I am sure that millions of people had it worse than me, but yes, it was that bad to me. My family was horrid, I learned to keep people at a great distance, and there fore had no friends. I barely had acquaintances. I lived homeless and afraid almost all the time. I stole to eat; I stole to keep warm. And I killed just to feel a little safe." I turned and looked at the man who had sworn himself to me. He was the most meaningful connection I have ever had with another person. If you didn''t count monsters as people that is. But even my monsters were not as close to me as he was right now. I think that I would truly call Kieran my friend, and that was such a big thing for me. A scary thing too.


    "On Earth," I said slowly. "Demons are not a thing. Not really. And those who do believe in demons would not see you, and others like you, as real demons. On earth demons are creatures of malice and evil. Tricksters and torturers. The worst of the worst and things of people''s nightmares. They believe that they live in a fiery, horrid place called hell where evil human souls go to be tortured for all eternity."


    He blinked in surprise. "I would not call Demonia that at all." He said simply.


    "Nor would I." I said, again enjoying the flow of pure and unsullied mana. "But when Kradiff was listing off the races I could be after I died- when he said the last race was demon... Well, I thought that that sounded about right. I saw myself as a bad person. I Was a thief and a killer. I would take from a man just so that I could have a slightly better life, and not regret it for a second. I had taken a man''s life in fear and anger, and I still do not regret it to this day."


    "You thought you deserved to be seen as an evil person?" He asked softly.


    I nodded. "I mean, I wanted all that Kradiff said being a demon could give me: strength, long life, and mountains of magic. I wanted to be strong and untouchable with minimal effort. And, yes, I thought that those things coming with the label of ''demon'' seemed to be poetic in a way." I sighed and interlocked my fingers. "Now I find myself worried that I can''t uphold what being a demon truly means. How can I, a tainted and unworthy thing, be everything that a demon Queen needs to be?"


    "My Lady?"


    "I see all these other queens, graceful, dignified, and respected. Confident in their roles in this world and fulfilling these roles splendidly, even if they do seem a little self centered and scatter brained at times. I see them and wonder how I can be that way. Do I even want to be that way? I think that''s why I can''t stay here right now. I am not ready, as a person, to fulfill the role that I would be expected to fill here."


    I felt a warm hand rest a top my head and looked up in surprise. Was Kieran seriously patting me on the head right now? And was I really tearing up? Ugh.


    "You are so young Sin." He said softly. "Even before you became a demon, to us, you are still very young. Look a Felicity. If you had been a demon from the start, you would not look much older than she is. Even I am considered young to my kind, even if I am of age. It is normal to not be ready to uphold such responsibilities at your age. Felicity does it, yes, but she is a special breed of female, that one."


    I laughed and shook my head, dislodging his hand. "She is special."


    "Indeed." He leaned on the rail and looked off into the distance with a smile. "Let us get you back to Hearth my queen. It will be your first conquest as queen. Surly, if you can put that rag tag world in some kind of order than becoming a real and true demon queen would be an easy task, yes? And do not forget; you will have me at your side for as long as you allow me to be there. Not to mention your horrid little dragon. He may be a monster, but I can tell he cares for you just as much as I do. We both owe you, for giving us this better life."


    Now it was my turn to be surprised. "I haven''t done anything so special." I said with a dismissive eye roll.


    He laughed. "Everything you do is special. Weather that is a good or a bad thing depends on the situation at this point. But as for Rougier and I, you are a good thing. Without you, Rougier would still be alone on a poisoned mountain-top, in a vile prison of his own making, with nothing but anger and regret for company. As for me... well, what Garven said was not far off the mark. I would not have been of much help to Lady Felicity. No more so than any other male who lives here in any case. And eventually, in the very near future, we would be of almost no use at all. We would have been assigned a Reihee, and she would have done her best to find queens willing to take in un-blooded servants. Most of us, me included, would have slowly faded with out our queen to aid us. It is the way of demons, and I had accepted that." He turned and smiled at me, his handsome face filled with what I took to be gratitude and affection, though both emotions I didn''t have much practice in seeing. "You told me that you needed me. Sure, it was my eyes that you were fond of, but I am attached to them, and they would surly not work without me attached to them." He said with a laugh. "You need me. And if that is the case, in what ever form that need takes, I will be there. I am well and truly yours Sin Andra, and am proud to call you my queen. So, if you want to take over the whole of Hearth then I will go there and I will do all I can to make that happen for you."


    I glared at the man. "What?" He asked, and I could tell he was worried he had offended me in some way.


    "My first order for you is that you are absolutely not aloud to ever tell anyone I cried." I said, stiffly.


    "Wh-?" His eyes widened as large warm tears began leaking down my face. So much for never crying. Stupid demon butlers and their stupid, sincere, emotions! He sighed softly and I felt a warm hand land on my head once again. "I will take it to my grave."


    Before I knew it, I was against his shoulder and doing my best not to sob like a damn baby. I hoped that Kieran was keeping a look out for anyone approaching us. I, so, did not want to have to explain why I was crying out on the balcony while a party in my honor was taking place behind me. Who knew that becoming a demon meant that I''d be prone to weeping my eyes red- okay, redder- every few weeks.


    After a few moments, where I was thankfully not discovered to be a baby, I dried my eyes and stepped back. I had one good snuffle, shook myself, then squared my shoulders, letting out a puff of air from my nose. Time to buck up and put my big girl pants on once again.


    "Better?" Kieran asked, he looked mildly concerned but also relived.


    "I am fine." I huffed making the man smile. "I want to go back to Hearth. But I also know I can''t just pick up and leave either. So, I will use the next two weeks to get things situated here as best as I can, as well as to prepare for our departure." I rubbed a puffy eye and fought the need to sleep. "Once the meeting is over tomorrow, we will need to get to work Kieran."


    He grinned and stood straight, arms folded behind his back, looking very professional. "As you say Milady. All you need do is ask, and I will see that it is done, what ever those preparations may be." I heard my name called out from within the ball room and sighed, so ready for this to be done with. Kieran laughed. "Come, let us return to the party. I think they are getting ready to wrap it up anyway, and you must say farewell to your guests."


    "Yes, alright..." I groaned.

 Trouble Brewing

    Larasta, Red Raven''s Base


    About the Same Time Sin is Accepting Gifts in Queen Felicity''s Courtyard


    "-What I want to know is why we are just sitting here." Growled a very angry dwarf as he tugged on his beard and ground his teeth. Dural was usually a patient man, but even he was not one to sit about and wait for others to do the fighting.


    Rift sighed. He had already had this talk three or four times that day but knew his man meant well. If he was honest with himself, Rift also wanted to be in the field and aiding the heroes and the other Captains who were out fighting. But there was a reason the Red Ravens were not mobilized to this battle. Several of them in fact, and he had told the others them often enough already.


    "Dural, enough." Gripped Sandra. She had taken to pacing in front of the bar, her lavender witch''s hat a little askew and her heels nearly wearing a groove in the stone floor. "You know full well that we would be lending aid if we could or if we were needed."


    "The fact of the matter is that we would not make it to the battlefield in time even if we wanted to be there." Said Vale, arms crossed and back holding up the wall as he coldly glared around the room. Everyone showed their stress differently, and Vale was the type to brood. He was not in a good mood as it was, and when the news came in several hours ago that the heroes had been deployed to the Kingdom of Harrow to fight a battle against the minions of the Demon King, he was plunged into an even sourer mood. "Harrow is nearly on the other side of the country. And we do not have a mage capable of teleportation in our ranks. It would take us weeks to get there on horse back."


    Dural let out a stream of curses in dwarfish and took to pacing a path on the other side of the room. It was hard for them all to just sit around and wait, even if they all knew that there was no way to lend aid. It was the first battle against the Demon King''s forces in the last three hundred years. They had been told that it was not a large incursion, but the people of Larasta were not used to fighting the dark and corrupted forces of the Demon King anymore, their skills now three centuries rusty. But at least they had the heroes to help. Sometimes the heroes were not summoned till the Demon King already attacked and then the losses were always tragically large.


    "Where is the attack happening again?" Aske Zach. He was sitting on the couch that Sin usually occupied. He sat there often these days, his nose in a book. Reading was not odd for the resident Enchanter but being out of his laboratory was strange. He had taken the loss of Sin to the Demon Realm hard, and sitting in her spot was a way to be close to her. Right now, he sat with his knees pulled up like a child, and his boyish face pale.


    "On the outskirts of a small town called Rosa''s Pass. Its mainly a farming village and we were told via messenger that the people were evacuated with no casualties." Said Rift. The monotonous tone revealing just how many times he had had to repeat the facts for his anxious squad. Most people tried not to get angry at the tinkerer though. He was kind of the kid brother of the squad, and they all knew how sensitive he was.


    "I do not like that we haven''t heard a word from the battlefield in so long." Worried Leon, the powerful, but usually terrified, healer. He was truly gifted in the arts of healing magic but the poor elf was known to jump at his own shadow from time to time. "Has Honey still not sent word from the capital?"


    "No" Replied Rift for perhaps the sixth time. He really did try for patients with his people. "She would have contacted us if she could. I assume the battle is still on going."


    Honey, the vice captain of the Red Ravens and a rather charismatic wolf beastmen, was currently the only Red Raven on sight. She had been sent to the capital after Rift and Vale had returned to the base, a week ago. She was supposed to be helping with some preparations for the coming Summer Selection, a test held to help squad captains choose new members, but was barely there a day when the call was made to alert the capitol that the Demon King had launched his first attack. Honey was a berserker and was more then capable to take care of herself and others. But they all still worried.


    Not all squads were as close to one another as the Ravens, but most were bigger than their rag tag group of misfits. At only seven members they were impressively small. Most squads had dozens of members. Partially, it was because that the goal of the Red Ravens was not so much to be the best, but simply be who they were and still be of use to the kingdom and country. Rift had been hoping to add the Demon woman, Sin, to their ranks, bringing their total to eight people strong.


    Rift had liked the fiery and obstinate demon woman, even if she had any number of secrets. Though, oddly enough, he did believe that not all the secrets she herself even knew. The fact that she was a demon queen for one thing... they had all been shocked to learn of her status at the last meeting at the capital a week ago. All but Rift, who''s unique eyes were able to see her status chart. Though he had no clue the ramifications of what ''demon queen'' truly meant, the consensus of the captains was that she simply hid what she was from everyone for her own reasons. Yet, Rift believed other wise. He really did think that she had no clue as to what she was in the eyes of the demons. He wasn''t sure how that was possible, but he had learned to trust his instincts.


    A fizzing sound had all conversation and pacing come to a stop, and everyone fixed their eyes on the crystal cube set in the center of the table. It was a communications crystal and they had been anxiously awaiting word from their vice captain to come through for hours now. It was no surprise to hear the sighs of relief from the gathered Ravens when Honey''s perfect face with her blonde curls came into view. She looked awful, but they were all to relived to comment on it, happy she was still alive.


    "Honey!" Said Rift, hands on the table and leaning forward, the only true show of concern he had allowed himself that day, for fear of discouraging his men. "Are you hurt? What is the news?"


    The wolf beastmen coughed and the image wavered slightly before her tired eyes came back into focus. "I am well enough." She wheezed, brushing her once immaculate hair out of her face. They all knew that her horse voice meant that she had to use her berserker skills. If she had to resort to that then the battle had to of been rough, after all, Honey did not like relying on the skill that made her essentially turn into a wild animal. "We made it out with no fatalities, and even managed to protect the village." She sighed.


    "Was the force bigger than expected?" Sandra asked, looking concerned and anxious. It was an odd sight for a woman so commonly projecting an air of not giving a care.


    Honey shook her head, the image flickering again. "No, it wasn''t that large at all... And that made it even more frightening." She took a deep breath and locked eyes with Rift. "I know we all heard stories and even read up on what the Demon King''s forces are like but-"She trailed off, rubbing the back of her neck with a filthy hand. "I thought I was prepared for it, Captain, I really did. But there is no preparing for this."


    "You mean the phenomenon that the tales speak of?" Asked Zach, his thirst for knowledge over shadowing his concern for a moment. "Where those that set their eyes on the Demon King''s forces freeze up in fear, then get cut down before they come to their senses?"


    "Yes Zach..." Honey drawled, a smile briefly touching her lips upon seeing him acting true to form. "We got lucky. If the heroes Markus and Kayden were not present, we would have seen many more injuries and even deaths."


    "Those stories are true as well then, that the heroes are unaffected by the Call?" Asked Rift, sitting back in his seat and running a large hand down his face. He was as relived as the rest of the Squad that not only Honey was safe, but there were no other deaths, either.


    The Call was the name of the supposed spell that the armies of the Demon King use to freeze their enemies in their tracks. It is said that it is something that soldiers can get used to, that the more you fight the evil armies the more accustom you get to resisting the Call. This spell alone had the ability to result in the deaths of countless soldiers. They had all thought if they just mentally prepared for it, made sure they expected its effects, then they could avoid it all together. Apparently not.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    "The heroes were able to hold off the enemy long enough for the rest of the army to come to its senses. They were amazing in all honesty. I would hate to see our chances against these foes if we had not summoned them. Still, I wish Lady Kassidy had been with us. Many men and women were gravely injured this day and I am sure at least some would be able to make full recoveries had she been able to join us on the battlefield. As it stands now, I fear some will be going home and not returning to the field of battle again..."


    "I understand that, like us, the other heroes were to far out to help, but did the capital not send out any healers at all?" whispered Leon, looking sad as he often did when learning of people being hurt and not being able to help them.


    "That seems like a major oversight." Growled Dural.


    "No, of course there were healers." Said Honey. "But they could only do so much. Lady Kassidy is just so gifted at wide area healing spells. Not to mention her power alone may have been enough to reattach some limbs..." She did not elaborate further, and Sandra reached out a hand to grasp Leon''s shoulder as the healer grew pale. Despite his chosen field of work Leon really did have a week constitution.


    "Are you coming back?" Asked Rift, his face stoney now. "Is there a teleportation mage at the ready there or not?"


    Again, Honey shook her head with a frown. "No there is none here. King Farkus of Harrow is sending aid already and a few mages gifted in the art of teleportation. I am here for the next few days at least. I hope we manage to get us a good teleporter at the next selection." She sighed with a week smile, an attempt to add humor where little could be found. "What about you guys? How are you holding up?"


    "We have just been sitting around." Huffed Sandra, trying to right her large lavender witch''s hat. "Unlike you we were not risking our lives."


    "I really hope we are able to get more notice before the next attack." Stated Zach, rubbing his eyes. Now that Honey was proven to be safe, he was beginning to feel the strain of the day. "With less than two days notice we barely had time to get anyone out there. We got lucky that the two heroes that were at the battle were on hand when the incursion was announced."


    "According to Markus, Queen Seraphina is ordering that more patrols be sent out to keep an eye out for the kataracts. Which is good, as we can ill afford to go into another fight so unprepared again. I suspect there will be some announcements made in the coming days in regards to the kataracts, and the enemy, once the Queen and her council had been briefed on the happenings here."


    "Yes, alright." Said Rift Kindly. "Thank you for getting in touch so soon after the fight, but go rest now. I expect you in good health when you make it back here."


    Honey chuckled. "As you say, sir."


    "Get some rest Lovely." Smiled Sandra at the cube where Honey''s pale face wavered. "You look terrible."


    "I can always count on you to point out the things most people would let lie..." Sighed the vice captain with a weak smirk. "Alright, I will eat and then get some sleep. Just so you know though, you all look ragged. At least I have an adequate excuse."


    And with that the cube returned to its glass like state, and the spell was terminated. The squad all looked relived and tired. The day was still young, but it was doubtful that the group would get much done now. At least they knew the results of the battle, and the fate of their friend.


    "Dural, please get us some food on the go, would you?" Sighed Rift, leaning back and slumping his shoulders. "We all need a meal. I am sure I am not the only one who hasn''t eaten today."


    The dwarf chuckled. "Eye, I can do that Cap''. Could use a bite to eat myself."


    He had just turned to head for the kitchen when the cube on the table fizzled once again.


    "What?" Sighed Rift.


    "Did she forget to tell us something?" Laughed Sandra as the group leaned into the crystal again.


    But it was not Honey''s wore out face that appeared before them. This time it was an older human male with white hair and a beard. He had a stern face, and it was currently set in a firm frown as he looked out at the gathered Squad.


    "August." Said Rift, surprised. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"


    August was the Captain of the Golden Dragons; the greatest of the Royal Squadrons and the one in charge of guarding the queen and the capital. He was a stern man but a good and honest one as well, always putting the good of the kingdom before all else.


    "Nothing good I am afraid." He sighed, stroking his beard, and looking as worn out as Rift felt. "Have you had word from Harrow?"


    Rift nodded. "My Vice captain just contacted me. She was the only one of our squads to participate. She says the battle was hard but won all the same."


    August nodded. "Yes, I have just heard much the same. It was mainly the Stags that were out there on the field of battle today. Their base is out that way after all. Heig was here, however, and has his vice captain leading the charge with the heroes."


    "How did his men fare?"


    "Not amazingly." Admitted August with a frown. "We were too underprepared. Heig, says he has several men laid up for a month or more. At least there were no lives lost."


    "Not that I am not honored that the captain of the Golden Dragons has decided to check in on me but... was this the real reason for your call?"


    The older man chuckled. "No, it is not. As I said, I bear some unfortunate news. Her Majesty bade that I contact you immediately, so that is what I am doing." He sighed and gave his beard a tug, smile fading. "We just received word from the scouting party that was sent out from Bellana: it looks like there is a Kataract to the southwest of the city. A large one."


    Dural and Rift cursed, almost simultaneously, while Sandra groaned and sat in a chair. Zach merely stared wide eyed at the crystal, and Leon closed his eyes, looking pained. Vale glared at the projected image of the Dragon''s captain, as if that would somehow change the news they had just received.


    "How close?" Asked Rift angerly.


    "Too close. Less than a quarter hour outside the city walls. And as I said, it''s a large one. The only bit of good news is that the men sent to look for the Kataracts literally saw it forming before their eyes. And one that size will take longer to spit out the enemy. Still, I''d say that we have two weeks, tops, before we have the biggest battle this country has seen in nearly three hundred years."


    Captain rift cursed again, messing his hair with a battle scared hand. "Two weeks huh? Not much time, but perhaps the best we could hope for, given the circumstances."


    "Indeed. At least we have time to mobilize our forces and send them your way. Queen Seraphina has called back all the heroes as well. You should have all hands-on-deck, as they say. Still, I do not like this at all."


    "Yes... A large Kataract so soon. It doesn''t bode well."


    Both men fell silent for a short time, thinking, when August broke the silence. "Any word from your demon?"


    Rift started in surprise, not expecting the man to bring up Sin really. Yes, it was a thing to be concerned about, but they seemed to have more pressing issues at the moment. "Nothing yet. Why do you ask?"


    August shook his head, hand still on his white beard. "Gelzrieg seems convinced that she will not let the insult of being banished stand. But if this Demon Queen of yours does feel as fond of you as you seem to believe, then, perhaps, she can help. If she returns in time that is. My man seems to think that she could be here by then, if his calculations are correct about the time frames. He seems to have supreme confidence that having a demon queen on our side would be nearly as momentous as having a sixth hero. At least that''s how he makes it sound. Mind you-"He added looking annoyed. "He seems half convinced that she just may be angry enough over what the High Priest did that she might just join with the Demon King, simply out of spite."


    "Sin can be pretty spiteful." Agreed Vale, speaking up at last. "But I do not think she would join the Demon King''s forces. Especially if it is Bellana that they are attacking."


    "Sin loves this city." Agreed Zach. "And at the very least she would want to see it safe, even if she refused to assist the rest of the nation. And she loves our base..."


    It seemed a lame reason, but the others knew it to be true. Even the base, as magical and some what sentient as it was, seemed to be missing her since she had been gone. There was a sense of melancholy about the massive building over the few weeks. Zach seemed convinced that it was because the base itself wished for Sin to return. She had not been with them long, but they all felt her absence.


    "Well, if you hear tell of her, please let the capital know right away." Sighed the other captain. "At the very least I want Gelzrieg off my back about it. I swear the demon seems more afraid of these demon queens than he is of the Demon King him self. I may never understand these demons."


    Rift laughed softly. "I can understand that. I can''t say I have as much exposure to the race as some others, but the woman, Sin, has been a handful since the moment she first saved our Zachariah''s life."


    "I can''t say she ever showed any of the terrifying power your man claimed the demon queens have." Said Vale reaching up and tapping the sleeping red dragon around his neck. The damned lizard was still acting as a second skin to him. Even the storm wolf Vendaval had been keeping close to the different members off the squad most of the time. None of them could understand his strange growling language as Sin could but he seemed to be trying to make himself useful. "But she is a whirlwind of attitude and determination at the very least."


    Zach laughed. "Yes! I hope she comes home soon." He reached down and patted the stone floor as if to comfort the base itself.


    "I will send word if we hear anything on the demon front. Please make sure we are kept up to date on the coming attack. I will head out to look at the Kataract myself in the morning." Rift said to the other captain.


    August nodded once, then his face faded the same as Honey''s had. The brief burst of relief that had filled the base at the end of Honey''s call had faded, and was once again replaced with anxiety. They were on the cusp of a truly massive battle, and the outcome was far from certain. It was doubtful that any of them would get much rest after all.

 The Queens Meeting

    I was up bright and early the next day after the ball thanks to a very insistent Kieran not taking ''no, go away'' as the order it was meant as and insisting, I drag my poor sorry carcass out of bed and eat breakfast. I would have to have a word with him about what was, and was not, an order. Also, apparently, Demonia had no coffee, in any kind of name, for me to drink. No wonder demons had such a bad reputation: most people must have encountered them just after waking up. Anyone would be a grouch without caffeine. Heck, I was homeless much of my adult life and even I splurged on my choice addiction. That was how necessary coffee was to one''s existence.


    Kieran did not seem to be able to grasp that concept, however.


    "Come now, Lady Sin." He sighed, clearly getting exasperated with my slow progress into true consciousness. "You need to get dressed and be alert. Normally you could sleep the whole day and I would not dare rouse you, but you do have a great many esteemed guests at present."


    I groaned and stuffed a piece of toast into my mouth in a very un-queen like fashion. No coffee meant no effort spent on manners. "How many ended up staying in the end?" I asked. Well, more like mumbled. I really hoped I did not have to attend to three hundred self absorbed demon queens right now.


    "I was told that seven chose to stay in the end." He said, holding up a simple yet expensive looking short dress. "This one should do. These meetings, though important, tend to be rather informal in situations like these."


    "Wait- only seven?" I asked, feeling more awake suddenly. I thought for sure that at least a third of the guests were going to stay, if only to be nosey.


    Kieran chuckled, draping the dress over my bed, and rummaging through a dresser as he spoke. "I am sure you have realised by now that demons, and queens, tend to be concerned only with themselves. Queens are also hopeless gossips, given they have very little to do on a daily bases, especially the queens who are older and well established. They all figure that what ever the few who stay here hear, they will share in no time. No doubt what ever is discussed here this morning, eighty percent of the Realm will hear about it before this time tomorrow."


    "Wow, and I thought gossip spread fast on Earth with the internet and cell phones. The demon network must be a beast..."


    Kieran looked at me with a screwed-up face while holding a set of leg wraps the same color as the dress. "There are times when you speak, Lady Sin Andra, that I am completely lost as to how to comment."


    I laughed. "Sorry. Earth, talk I suppose. I will have to tell the people I know on Hearth about where I am from when I return. I was doing a semi- good job of keeping my Earth mannerisms in check for a good while, but I got out of the habit when I came here. They will be even more confused than you if I say something strange when we get there."


    "Indeed. But before thinking on that we must first get you through this meeting."


    "Yeah, yeah I''m getting ready alright." I stuffed a chunk of orange cheese into my mouth and pulled my sleeping gown up over my head with a sleepy grunt. "Where is Rougier anyway?" I asked Kieran as he pulled a brush out of gods only knew where and began attacking my hair, completely unphased by my nakedness.


    I had stopped caring about him seeing me nude a while ago. I had only been reticent for his sake in the first place, but when I once disrobed- in a hope that he would flee and let me get ten more minutes of sleep- and he just kept on trying to get me on my way, I realized that he couldn''t care less what form of dress I was in. Nothing would prevent my butler from doing his job.


    "He took off for the stables as I was coming to wake you."


    "The stables?" I asked, pulling the white silky dress over my head, and doing up the single button over my cleavage. "Why the heck is he going there?"


    "he said he would rather smell your horses than breath in even one more lung full of demon perfume. He also said to bring him back a snack."


    I chuckled softly. "Sounds like something he would say. That does remind me though, I need to tame my new horses. Remind me to do so once we are done with this current chore."


    "Yes Milady. Though I feel I should point out that this is hardly a chore. More like a relaxing tea party." He said as I sat on the bed where he began lacing up the white leg wraps that I now saw had soft pink flowers embroidered on them. I wrinkled my nose at them. Sure, the out fit was nice, and I even look alright in it, but really it was not my style at all.


    "I don''t suppose that this tea will have caffeine in it? A nice orange Peko perhaps?"


    Kieran clicked his tongue and stood up. "Yet again, I must tell you that I have no idea what this caffeine is that you seem to want so badly. I will point out that any kind of addiction is not good for you, however."


    "Tch! I see it as keeping the world safe. Caffeine is a medicine that stops me from murdering people who bug me."


    Kieran merely rolled his eyes then helped me to my feet. He turned to the large black tiger laying in the middle of the floor. Shinra had stayed with me last night and I saw no issue with that. "Will you be attending the Mistress, Miss Shinra?"


    "If it does not cause her any trouble than I would like to." Replied the cat in a voice much softer than you would expect of a tiger that must weigh close to a ton.


    "I do not think the other Queens will have an issue. Rougier may have caused a bit of a fuss depending on which queens are in attendance, but they will likely have no problem with you being there."


    "Good. Then I would like her to come." I said with a smile, reaching out a hand to pat her massive head, the blue gem between her horns glimmering in the morning sunlight filtering through the white curtains. "Having you around does make a statement." I laughed.


    "I will be there as well, standing at the back of the room with the butlers of the other queens. We are not permitted to speak during the Queen''s Meeting unless addressed directly. I would suggest you also not interrupt Shinra." Said Kieran, running the brush through my hair again to be sure I was presentable. I really could not wait till all the pomp and circumstance was done and over with. Someone like me was just not cut out for palace life.


    "I will be discreet." Said the cat, blinking large eyes slowly. She seemed to have a studious nature that paired well with Kieran''s serious yet kind one. I almost felt like calling her butler number two. Or perhaps, more like a bodyguard. She could go with me anywhere after all, even in her large form, with her ability to move from shadow to shadow and even hide in them. My own one-ton ninja tiger with steak knives for claws. I felt like she would murder a dude and then apologize for it, but in a way that sounded like she really wasn''t all that sorry for it at all.


    "I am sure that Shinra will be a perfect gentle cat." I said with a smile. "While also terrifying any moron who thinks they can get within five feet of me.


    "As it should be." Agreed the tiger looking as smug as a cat with a head the size of an exercise ball could look.


    The meeting was taking place in the very room I first had my talk with Felicity and Garris, the very room we had been sharing meals together this whole time. I had begun to associate this place with pleasant thoughts and so decided to take it as a good sign that this is where these talks would be taking place today. The room was light and airy, the breeze warm and a little dry; a foreshadowing of the summer to come.


    The thought distracted me for a moment as I realised that the seasons here seemed to be in line with the ones on Hearth, where as the ones of Earth seemed to be different. There, winter would be in full swing, and I would have been scrounging left and right for what money I could find if only to get out of the cold for one more night and maybe even get a hot meal. How my life had changed. Now I found myself in a castle, warm and more than well fed, about to have a freaking tea party with a bunch of self indulgent demon queens... had it really been a few months since I had died? Time sure flies when you are fighting monsters and being tossed into demon portals, I guess.


    Pulling my thoughts back to the issue at hand I saw that I was the last to arrive. Oops. Kieran bowed to me once, turned the gathered queens over by the huge glass windows and bowed a second time. He then glided over to the far wall, where, several other men stood, as well as a couple women. He put his back to the wall and stood there, looking like he belonged, next to his father.


    "There you are Sin!" Trilled Felicity, the shortest of the gathered Queens by far, but also the most elaborately dressed in her usual gothic attire despite how warm it must been in this late spring heat. "We were beginning to worry." She added with a laugh.


    The other Queens looked to be a mix of amused and irritated. That was how most people looked at me these days, so I wasn''t too worried. They were not openly hostile at least. I saw that Cristina, who gifted me my Andra Horses, was in attendance, as well as the three Queens that Victory said she was sure would stick around. Queen Mairith and Cinder stood next to one another, both holding glasses of wine despite the early hour and smiled my way.


    Mairith was short and stocky with shoulder length brown hair and a pinkish red hue to her skin. She had one black horn above her left brow. I did not see a broken stub nor a scare above her right brow so could only assume that this was just how her horns -or horn I supposed- grew naturally. She had a short red tail with boney ridges. She smiled kindly at me when our eyes met. I was a little mortified to realise that I could not remember her from the day before. Clearly, she had been one of the queens to get lost in the masses that had come to greet me.


    Queen Cinder, I recognized, however. She was tall and willowy, even standing above several of the butlers in the room. I had quickly come to realise that the female demons were naturally much smaller than their male counter parts and so figured that what ever males this woman produced must be giants. I did not see a giant over by the butlers but that was only what I expected. After all, I remembered that she was one of the few queens that had come with only female attendants, though I could not remember which was hers among the handful standing with the butlers.


    Cinder had rather generic demon features in my opinion. No doubt people who had lived in this world all their lives would have been able to say that she was distinctive but all I saw were averages sized and shaped horns and a plain whip like black tail with hooked head. Her height set her apart but other wise see just looked like what a human on earth would have considered a generic demon from the four or five standard images of demons.


    Three of the other Queens looked faintly familiar from the day before and each wore a neutral face, giving me a slight bow of their heads which I returned in kind as Shinra prowled in behind me. I saw them all eye her warily, but they did not show any out right fear as many had the day before at the sight of the Pangar Tiger. Either they had great confidence in my taming abilities, or they were trying to save face and not show fear. I was betting on the later reason.


    The last Queen in attendance I also recognized, and she wore the same sour look today has she had when Victory had pointed her out to me at the Ball. Queen Darcious was a slight woman with red curls done up elegantly atop her head and pale skin the color of cream. She had two horns but both were dead center of her forehead, one above the other. The bottom black horn was slightly longer than the top one. Her tail was a long and thick black scaled dragon tail with sharp black spikes down its length. She was eyeing me like I side of bad meat.


    Victory had said that this woman had a grudge against Rougier, and it seemed that that grudge now extended- to some extent-  toward me. I could sympathize with her loss, but I would not just roll over and take what ever she deemed an appropriate punishment for me. I hadn''t done anything wrong, and just because Rougier was my responsibility now, did not mean that I was responsible for the deeds of his past.


    "Sorry, I am not much of a morning person I''m afraid." I said with what I hoped was a kind and innocent smile. I rather doubt it was. Probably more like a guilty grimace, judging from the smirk I saw cross Kieran''s face out of the corner of my eye.


    "No need to worry." Sang Felicity, waving a small hand. "We were not waiting long and I, at least, am used to your slow starts." She added with a little laugh. "Any way, come, let us sit!"


    Felicity lead us all to a large table surrounded by cushions and we each settled down on one. As soon as all Queens were seated a flurry of servants entered the room, making me believe that they were on the other side of the door, just waiting for this moment. I hope I didn''t cause the meal to go cold. They laid out a wide variety of cakes and breads out on the table before us, the smell of sugar strong in the air. Then another group entered as the first left, this one carrying various tea pots and cups, getting us all situated for out talk.


    The whole fan fare took about five minute and when we were all settled in with a beverage- Cinder and Mairith ignoring theirs for the time being in favor of their wine- the servants disappeared from whence they came. Shinra decided to settle herself down at my back causing Queen Remedy and Felicity who sat either side of me to give her a warry look before returning to their plates and cups.


    The first fifteen minutes of the meeting were all dull small talk and introductions. I was starting to tone it out when Darcious opened her mouth and said in a rather biting tone. "I am sorry, but should we not know a little more about you Queen Sin." She glared around the room, as if looking for support. "We have come to greet you, a surprise stranger amongst us, yet still no one has seen fit to explain one iota about who you are. How is it that there was a new queen, and none of us knew till a week ago? Who was your mother?"


    "Darcious!" Gasped Cinder, looking aghast. "That is so rude! Ones lineage- "


    "I think it is very important." Huffed the Queen, eyes still coldly locked on me. "We all seem determined to ignore the mystery for the sake of manners and tradition. Well, I say that that is foolish and dangerous. How can a queen appear out of nowhere, tame the monster of the wastes, and just expect us to accept it as fact, asking no questions?"


    Felicity looked like she was about to angerly snap at the other Queen, but I raised my hand and stopped her. Not breaking eye contact with Darcious I said, slow and quiet, "I had fully intended to give a complete explanation of myself here at this meeting, Queen Darcious. I was a little surprised to learn that there would be so few in attendance, as I don''t have the time to go and speak to all the queens in person before I leave for Hearth. But I have been assured that what ever I say here will be spread to the others before much time passes."


    Darcious scoffed. "Not enough of an audience for you, are we?"


    "Hardly." I droned. "I just am pretty antisocial, and was not looking forward to having to repeat myself a dozen or so times. I have already told everything to Felicity, and I am sure I could have relied on her to spread the word if needed. But I figured that it would be more respectful to tell you all myself. Or was I wrong."


    There was a moment of awkward silence before Mairith sighed and shook her head. "Do not mind Darcious, Sin. Please, tell us what you wish for us to know. Darcious is right in that we are all curious about your origins."


    And so, for the second time in as many weeks, I told my tale once again. I told them of my Earthly origins, my death, and my rebirth as a demon on Hearth. I made sure they knew of my ignorance, and begged they for give any rudeness it may bring out, and that I was hoping to get heir advice and wisdom in the future.


    "This is all a little too fantastical to believe." Snapped Darcious. "You expect us to believe even half of it?"


    "I believe Sin whole heartedly." Said Felicity, coming to my defense. "And I know that you are aware of what my bloodline ability is, Queen Darcious. So, you either believe me, or you are going to sit there and call me a liar."


    There was a tense silence while Darcious fish lipped for a moment, looking to get herself out of the hole she had unwittingly put herself in. Felicity may have been young, but as a new queen she held a lot of pull in that she was a source of new wealth and alliances going forward. She had potential, and it would be foolish to burn any bridges before the girl had even come into her own yet. And unlike with me, she had no solid reason to have ill intent toward the young Queen.


    "I choose to believe this story." Rumbled Silvetta. She was a some what rounded Queen with pink cheeks and smooth skin. Her horns were hardly more than nubs on her for head and her tail forked halfway to the tip, its red scales a some what rosier hue than most. "There is no reason to lie that I can see. No good one, at least. And there is something different about Sin. Also, there is no denying that she is a Queen, as such, how would any one have hidden her for a century or more, till she came into her own. Why would any Queen hide a Queen born daughter? It makes more sense to believe Sin than to try and find some long winded conspiracy theory to explain away all the oddities."


    The other queens nodded and Darcious looked like she was suck on a lemon.


    I sighed. "I really have no idea how to prove what I am saying is true. I could describe Earth, but you would have no way to prove what I said was accurate or not. Anything I said on just about any subject would be unprovable as far as I can tell. But if felicity''s bloodline ability is not enough for you that I do not know what else I could possibly do to convince you."


    Another silence, but this one was more contemplative than hostile or awkward in any way. Then Cinder spoke again. "So, you truly met the god Kradiff?" She asked sounding excited.


    I smiled slightly. "That''s what he said he was. I have no way to confirm that I suppose. I was dead, he brought me to Hearth as a demon. If anyone other than a god of reincarnation can do that then these worlds are far scarier than I first thought."


    "Fascinating." Cinder said, eyes bright. "Other Queens have met gods over the years, next to the dragons were said to be the closest to them after all, but I do not think Kradiff was one of them. Usually, it is the Goddess of the Either or perhaps one of the other elemental gods... And neither has anyone ever described them as a human child."


    I snorted. "he said much the same. But how was I to know he was a god when I first opened my eyes, much less one that was supposed to look like a dragon? On Earth there are many religions and such, but I never subscribed to any of them. Before I died, If I was asked if there was a god, much less a lot of them, I would have said no. But here I am, and I plan on making the best of the life I have been given."


    "But not here?" Asked Darcious. I couldn''t tell if she was happy about that or if she was insulted. Her face always looked sour, so it was hard to tell one emotion from another. "You intend to shun your responsibility as a queen, ignore the duty you have been given to start a line, and go and risk your life for a bunch of people who are not even demons?" Okay, she was disgusted, I guess.


    "Darcious, you are really being too harsh." Huffed Mairith, crossing her arms. "Even if Sin stayed, she would not be expected to start a line for some time. According to her she was barley thirty when she died, and has only been in this new body for a short few months. She may have the physical maturity of a full-grown demon, but to our kind she is still but a young woman hardly older than Felicity here. Or do you expect our young Queen here to begin a line as well?"


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "Of course not." Snapped Darcious, eyes cold. "Felicity is not even capable of that yet. But she is thinking of that future and working towards it. TO continue our great demon race. What does this Sin want to do? Run off and loose her life while taming monsters in another world?" She made an aggravated noise and glared. "It is a queens scared duty to work for the people of this world. We dedicate our all to them, and they, in turn, make sure we are well cared for. How can you condone a Queen completely shirking those duties?"


    "Look." I snapped, not liking being told what I was and was not supposed to do with my life. "As far as I am concerned, Kradiff only made me a Queen out of pure absentmindedness. I was told by him- a god- that this life was mine to do with as I pleased. I was not given this new life as a punishment nor as a reward. I was not sent here to save this world or any other for that matter. I was sent here- or Hearth more specifically- simply because a god and a priest messed up and I had no place else to go. I had a choice to make, and I choose to come back to life as a demon and as a tamer. Those were the choices I made, not the responsibilities forced upon me."


    The others watched me closely but silently, even Darcious. I sighed again, feeling rather drained for it being so early. I really needed a good cup of fiervir. "As far as I am concerned, I have no responsibility to the demon race. My life Is my own. I have no ill will or distaste for the people here or its laws and customs. I would love to continue having a place here. And hell, maybe one day I would like to settle down and start that line that everyone here says is so good to have. But I have never seen myself as the mothering type. In my old life I never had any kids, and I never really gave it any thought in this life either. I can barley remember to feed myself much less have a baby that is going to rely on me too. But I am told that this is going to be a long life, and I know that opinions can change. I would like to have a place her, amongst my new people, for if or when this desire ever does come over me in the future."


    "It is your right Sin." Said Cinder with a dignified nod and a slight glare at Darcious. "Every queen, no matter how strange their origins may be, has a right to live and prosper on Demonia. She is given that right by the gods who gifted her to this realm. You may have come to this life in a very odd and round about way but that does not change the rights you have whatsoever. And no where does it say that a Queen must start a line of her own. Is it expected? Perhaps, but that is not a law or rule in any way. Besides, as you said, maybe in the future you will wish to continue the demon blood line the gods have gifted you. Until then your life is yours to live as you wish. Even if you decide to start a line it is still your life to live as you wish."


    I had to admit that my feelings on this subject were complicated and conflicted. I wanted my freedom. I wanted it like a dragon wanted treasure, and now that I had gotten a taste of it, I was loathed to let it go, even if being tied down the demon way didn''t seem so bad either. Clearly a girl would be lucky to find herself instant royalty and in a race that prized and nearly worshiped the ground I was set to walk on. Every need or want I had was guaranteed to be fulfilled and with gusto and eagerness no less. But to me, it felt like a cage. Or maybe more like a nature preserve. Sure, I was the queen lion and the fences were miles away... but it was still a stagnant cage where I was expected to be and do things a certain way. I was not willing to confine myself to that life. Not yet at least. Not till I really got to live the life of magic and adventure I had longed for but never even dared dream would ever be mine before a few months ago.


    I had lived and grown in a cruel and practical world. There was no time or room for fantasy and dreams. I had that time, and I had that opportunity now and I planned on taking full advantage. I just didn''t want to burn any bridges or offended to many of these people to do it. After all, out of all the truly wonderous creatures in these realms, it seemed like the long lived and highly magical demon queens were going to be in my life the longest and I was told they really held on to grudges.


    Case in point being the simmering Darcious, who sat before me with a scowl. She had lost her sister to the dragon Rougier a millennia ago yet she still held onto her hurt and rage. I never had a close family tie with anyone before but I cant even imagine remembering a person''s face that I hadn''t seen for that long much less stay angry and vengeful. Sad maybe, but that angry? No.


    "Darcious, I feel for your situation. "I said softly, knowing I was now treading on water that was probably more like lava... And I was never a very delicate creature. "But what ever happened in the past between the Queens and Rougier has next to nothing to do with me. Your ire is misdirected. Unfortunately, I can not let you beat the crap out of Rougier. He may deserve it and have it coming, I don''t know, but he is mine now and I will not allow harm to come to him for vengeance''s sake."


    She glared, lips turning in a scowl but made no move to comment, so I decided to continue, making my stance on the topic of my unruly dragon clear. "I may have no responsibility over the life Rougier had before we met, and I tamed him, but I fully intend to assume responsibility for him now. I can not see him disobeying me, but if it some how happened, or if he committed some grievance under my command, I fully intend to assume the consequences. As I do with any of my tames. As you all do with any of your lineage even. They may not be related to me via a blood line, or even by race, but I count all that I call mine as my family. I will attend to their faults, and I will defend them with my life."


    It was an odd sentiment for me: family. It had always been an ''f'' word to me. An unclean and rejected thing that caused pain, heartache, and undue suffering. A cancer to be exercised. But since arriving on Hearth, I had been reassessing my view on the word and what it meant for me. Where those that I was beginning to see as ''mine'' fell into that category. Because what I felt for most of those people I have come across since my rebirth wasn''t really friendship. I found I was to possessive for such a word to be used. I figured Family fit well enough.


    "Tch." Said Darcious. The sound was derisive but there was a sort of deflated look about her now, like the anger was slowly leaving her body and she was getting a little empty without it. "So, you say but only those bound by blood are ones family. It is the demon way. Or do you laugh in the face of that tradition as well?"


    I blinked at the woman in irritation. "Rougier is bound to me by blood. As are all my tames. I am unsure if you were their when I tamed Shinra here, but many saw that it was a blood binding. So, by your logic they are, well and truly, my family then. But with or without blood, I am free to view whoever I want however I want. Shinra is family to me, as is Rougier. But so too are Felicity." I said nodding at the younger queen. "If she called me up right now and said she needed my aid and all that she loved and held dear were about to crumble around her I would drop what ever I was doing and lend aid, even if she did not tell me what the issue was. She is a sister which I never had before and no matter your opinion on the matter, it would not change my mind."


    Felicity seemed to tear up and smiled my way. Several other queens also seemed satisfied by this response. Darcious seemed to be holding out simply out of spite. "And what then? Do you also count your pet butler as family then? One who is without the aid of a queen is week and ineffective. Felicity may have to rely on those without a proper queen out of necessity- as do you I suppose- but I would hardly say that that made them family."


    "If you are speaking of Kieran then I assure you I very much hold him very dear to me." I said quite simply. "I''d say that he is my best friend and greatest supporter at this point, as a matter of fact. And I would ask that you not insinuate that he is without the support of a Queen. He has me. And I haven''t heard him complain about that fact yet, despite being a very poor excuse for one, as you seem determined to point out."


    She narrowed her eyes as the others covered their mouths, looking rather scandalized. I didn''t look back at Kieran but I could feel his eyes on me. I hoped he didn''t mind me speaking of him so informally but I thought that he would be fine with it. Or I hoped at least.


    "He may have you in name." Said Cinder, her voice soft and caring, like she was speaking to a sick child. It made me narrow my eyes on her. She had been nothing but polite this whole time, but I was no infant to be coddled and babied. She winced under my scrutiny but continued all the same. "But the bond between a queen and her line is not something that can just be replaced. You are new to all this so you may not know, but a line without a queen is less than what they should be. It is not a matter of us all looking down on them- though I admit that some do just that- but it is a biological thing. Like a plant that no longer receives good water and sun light. Those left behind after their queen passes become weak and sickly and then slowly wither away."


    "She is right." Agreed Mairith, interrupting the retort I was about to spit out. "It is why Darcious and others loath Rougier so much." She explained. Also using the same tone, like I was a simpleton. Sure, I was not full aware of all I needed to know in this role as a demon queen but was it necessary to speak to me like I had just asked how to eat toast? But her words toward Rougier had me holding my tongue and listening. "He took the lives of four Queens. That is four lines that fell to this withering. Hundreds, and maybe even thousands of demons now have, or will, fade away. We had friends among them Sin''Andra." She implored and I let my anger fade in the wake of her pain. "Not just the Queens them selves, but amongst their people too. I had a lover in that battle who died. I was young and naive then but the pain was real. He was gone, and with out their queen I watched as his sister prematurely aged, his two closest brothers fell to illness less than a decade later."


    I sighed and watched my hands for a moment trying to organize my thoughts. "I am sorry." I said finally, looking not just at the two women who had reprimanded me, but all of them, Darcious included. "It had been explained to me in part, what happens when a queen passes but I guess I had not really considered the real ramifications till just now. Really am sorry for your losses. All of them..." I chose my next words carefully, as I wasn''t really sure of the implications myself right now, but I was beginning to see a little of what Kieran had tried to tell me when he was gifted to me. What it meant that I could share my mana with him and others so freely. "But weather it was an unintended side effect, or maybe a bloodline trait of mine, Kieran is not without the support of a queen. I do not mean in name alone. I can, and have been, supplying him with my mana Gift since before he became my butler. I am still new to the process but I have zero difficulty in doing so as Felicity has tried to explain to me, that she has Gifting mana to those of her mother''s line."


    Felicity had tried to explain the difficulty of it to me during our training sessions but I could not really comprehend what she was trying to explain. Apparently, when a queen shares the flow of mana with her own line it is as simple as breathing: Natural and instinctual. But when she tries to do the same for Garris and the others it is difficult. It was like trying to push putty through a small hole. Sure, it was possible but she couldn''t do it without actual intent and a determination to get it done. It meant that for every task she had to apply concentration when a blood bonded queen to her lineage would simply do it, like the flick of the wrist, without a second thought. It was draining and even painful at times for the young Queen.


    "You claim that you can share the mana flow with the late queens line?" Asked Perna, another of the Queens in attendance who had been keeping their silence till now. She was of average height with dark hair and long jagged horns. "As if they were your own line?"


    I shrugged. "I do not have any frame of reference for that. But I do know that it is not difficult as Felicity has described to me. It was a little hard to get the hang of the process, having never known of it before, but then it was just easy. Like sharing mana with my tames."


    The women shared a significant look while Felicity, who looked irrationally smug. Like she was my proud mother or something. It almost made me laugh.


    "Varity." Said Cristina, another Queen who had kept silent this whole time till now. I wasn''t surprised though, as she struck me as quite shy. At her barked word, as woman with dark gold hair, tanned skin, a single red horn on her brow, and nervous eyes stepped forward behind me. She had been standing with the butlers and maids but now stood a few feet behind me and I had to crane my neck around to see her. "This girl is a servant of mine. She is from a dead-line." Explained Christina. "As a newer queen I do not have many in my own line yet and so I employ those who have lost their queens and are led by Reihee. Varity''s queen died a couple hundred years ago due to a tragic accident and many of that line that are still alive have joined me in my lands."


    I nodded at the young woman who was actually a couple hundred years old, apparently. She bowed low and waited for Christina to elaborate as to why she was called over. The Queen looked at me and said, "Would you be willing to Gift your mana to her? I know it is rather presumptuous of me, but I am curious. And maybe it will be one fact that we can confirm." She added, giving Darcious a rather cold look for woman who was normally so shy.


    I shrugged. It was no hair off my back. "Would you mind?" I asked the girl. I wasn''t about to force my mana on her. Maybe it was silliness on my part, but it seemed like a rude thing to do. I feel that I would be offended it if someone did it to me, without it being a dire circumstance or without asking me first. The girl shook her head, wide eyed and a little pale now.


    I sent a thread of mana her way as Felicity and Garris had been training me. It was easy. Like throwing a ball to a child if the ball weighed as much as a feather. It involved nothing but a stray thought and my intent. And even those were minimal. We all watched as the girls'' eyes grew even wider then suddenly fill with tears. She gasped and I was instantly worried I had hurt her some how.


    "It''s-"She said in a soft and shaky voice. "Its like Queen Jillian has returned.;'' She choked out, wiping at her tears. "I feel... I feel like me again."


    Out of the corner of my eye I saw bother Kiran and Garris nod . They both looked oddly wet eyed.


    "How is this possible?" Christina asked, amazed. Her question was not directed at anyone in particular but it was Felicity who answered.


    "Even Sin doesn''t know. She truly does not see the enormity of this." She smiled at me and my confused expression. "Apparently, Earth, where she is from is saturated in unused mana. I think that she is just so used to it flowing threw and around her that she has no concept of it not existing at all or of it being diminished. Even now her standing mana pool is a staggering one-hundred thousand."


    "What?" gasped Darcious, looking pale and somehow, hopeful. "Is this true?"


    "According to the assessment I had done when I first arrived on Hearth." I confirmed. Though I have not had my status checked since then. My eyes wandered to where the spell had been placed on my hand at the adventurer''s guild. It felt like a lifetime ago. I turned then to my butler. "Would you be able to check again for me Kieran." Man, those eyes of his were amazing things.


    I saw Kieran''s lip twitch, like he knew what I was thinking as he stepped forward.


    "For those who do not know," Said felicity. "My late mother''s bloodline ability was the All-Seeing Eye. Those of the line can see the statuses for anyone or anything with very few exceptions, so long as those things and people have mana."


    "Out of curiosity, have you ever examined me?" I asked him.


    Kieran shook his head. "No Milady. Though my father did upon your arrival."


    "Alright, go a head then." I was curious and I was sure that my mana pool was a little bigger than it had been.


    Kieran looked at me for a moment then I saw surprise flash over his face. Worried, I asked ''What is it?"


    "Your mana pool has indeed grown Sin Andra. You sit now at- well, at one-hundred and fifty thousand Milady..."


    "What?" I asked, dumbfounded. I thought I had gone up by one or two thousand. That was a lot after all. But an additional half my total mana? That was crazy. How was that even possible? "But- How? Why?"


    "I am afraid I do not know Lady Sin. But your other stats are a little higher as well. Not as drastic as your mana pool has grown but you have indeed improved since arriving here."


    "Well, you have been training." Breathed Felicity, also looking a little stunned. "Add that to the fact that you are from earth..."


    "Why would that matter?" I asked, confused.


    "Well, you said yourself, when you arrived, that the People of Hearth summon humans from Earth specifically because they hare so rich in mana and growth potential right?" Said Felicity, looking contemplative. "They have the capacity to grow swiftly and explosively in order to combat what the people of Hearth refer to as the Demon King."


    "Well, yes, but that is the Heroes. The ones chosen for the express purpose of fighting that enemy..."


    "But is it them specifically that are special? What If the only thing that makes them heroes is that they were brought from earth? What If the individual had no bearing at all?"


    I recalled Commander Rice of the Bellana guard telling me of some of the former heroes. How some were merely heroes in name alone and were never such in their actions. In the last summoning there was even a man from earth who became a demon summoner and even switched sides, joining the Demon King and its armies. It is true that being summoned did not mean you had what it took to be a hero. But was it true that anyone from earth had this explosive potential then?


    "So, you are like the demon Hero." Smiled the young Queen, her silver curls reflecting the sun outside the large windows.


    I screwed up my face. "I don''t know if I like that..." I grumped making several of the others laugh.


    Christina smiled and shook her head. "What ever the reason, this is a truly amazing thing. Who knows how great your power will reach. And the fact that you can share that mana with other demons not of your own line... well, that is as close to a demonic miracle as I have ever seen."


    Even Darcious nodded at that, her eyes down cast and contemplative. "And you can do this with any demon?" She asked, eyeing Cristina''s Verity.


    I nodded. "I haven''t run into any problems yet at least. Not with demons nor with monster. Or even land for that matter. Now that I have been made aware of the mana flows around me its a simple thing to touch them, even send my mana their way. My control is still lacking, but Garris has told me that that is something that will come with time and practice."


    "I have to think on this more." Mumbled the cranky queen, turned thoughtful.


    "All that aside," Sighed Mairith with a roll of her eyes. "Could we not actually get to the reason we are here. I am fairly sure it was not to talk down to our new sister Queen. Nor was it to marvel at her many and varied talents. I find this all fascinating, but I do have a line to run, and the day is a wasting away."


    The others laughed and nodded. I dismissed Kieran back to the butlers and settled back against Shinra, still thinking as the other queens began speaking of land divides.


    It felt like I had been in denial for some time now on just how different I had become since coming to these realms. Sure, I accepted on face value that I was no longer human, and that magic and monsters were real. But there were things I was trying to subconsciously push aside. One of them being the fact that the only thing separating me from Markus and the other summoned Heroes, was the fact that I was here by mistake while they were intentional. But apparently, we were all here at random. And if that was the case, then that meant that we were a lot more a like then I wanted to believe. Was it some how my duty to remove the anti-mana stain from Hearth, as it was for the other heroes?


    I didn''t want that to be true. I didn''t want to have that kind of responsibility. I didn''t want any responsibility as a matter of fact and I would have been very happy to keep on being a lazy person. The truth was that I had already decided that I was going to aid the heroes in their quest. I wasn''t sure exactly when this decision had been made or what made me make it specifically, but it was clear to me now that I had made it. I had a lot of mana, but really, compared to not only the heroes, but even people like the Squad Captains I was far inferior in all other areas. Sure, I could take out Joe-Nobody the bandit, but a real one-on-one with a being of power? Id be burnt toast in no time flat.


    I was a side character. I wasn''t the main protagonist of this epic tale of Demon Kings and Heroes. It would never be by my little hand that the great evil would be thwarted, and the world brought back to piece. But I was beginning to think that I was, perhaps, meant to be a strong supporting character in this tale. I could help. And that was never something I was able to do before. And I realized now, exactly how much not being the victim and being part of the solution meant to me. And I was okay with that.


    "-Could spare the Leiter River, but it is hardly prime farming or even hunting grounds." I heard Cinder say in a worried voice, pulling me back to the issue a hand. "Sin would not be able to grow there at all and I am also sure that neither of you could spare the connecting lands."


    I saw Mairith and Cristina nod solemnly. "We may have to call a larger meeting," Felicity sighed. "See where we can find a better fit for Sin, where she can actually have a chance to prosper."


    "Why not giver her the damn wastelands." Grumbled Darcious, not really paying much attention. "Its not like she is planning on using any of the land any way." Suddenly she seemed to realize that she had spoken out loud, and winced.


    "That was unfair to suggest." Huffed Cinder, eyeing the other queen, irritated. "Weather she decides to use the land now, later, or never, she has a right to lands of her own. Real and true lands. Not that poison."


    "You take your anger too far Darcious." Sighed another queen disapprovingly.


    But I suddenly had an epiphany. A light went off in my heard and I smiled. "No, it''s a fine idea." I said breathlessly.


    "What?" Gasped Cristina. "You do not need to bend to Darcious'' ire Sin, we can find you another place." Even Darcious looked shocked at my amusement.


    "No. It makes sense, anyway, given it was partially Rougier''s fault that this happened to those lands. But I think I may have a way to fix them." I said excitedly. "It will take a long time and it won''t be easy... and I may need to find other things to aid me if I want it to go faster."


    "What are you talking about Sin?"


    "We can get the Feeder Worms to clean the place." I spoke.


    The others shook their heads sadly and Felicity addressed me. "We already explained to you before sin. The feeder worms won''t go near that soil. They hate it."


    "We have all tried to cleanse those lands and its impossible." Said Mairith sadly. "There was once a grate lake there of the purest of waters, watched over by my good friend, Queen Aura, for millennia. It was corrupted in the battle and Aura was killed. I am afraid there is no hope..."


    "I can not speak for the source of the corruption..." I said slowly, wanting to know more about it. "But as for the feeder worms, I have a plan. It is not that the soil in the wastelands is poison to them right? The don''t eat it because they do not like the taste or whatever. But they can clean it."


    "Well, yes." Laughed Felicity with an incredulous shake of her head. "But it is not like you can just tell a bunch of monsters to ignore the taste and... and..." she trailed off as comprehension of what I was suggesting hit her.


    "Exactly!" I exclaimed as the dawning look of wonder came over her young face.


    "I don''t understand." Hissed Darcious looking suspicious.


    "Sin is a tamer! A very mana rich tamer at that." Exclaimed Felicity, picking up on my excitement.


    I saw understanding flash across Cinder''s face next. "And mana worms may be talented and useful little bugs, but they are weak."


    "That''s right." I said with a smile. "I could make temporary contracts with a great many of them. An insane number of them." I added when I remembered just how large my mana pool now was. "And if I tell them to clean it, bad taste or not that is what they will do."


    "But" said Felicity, deflating somewhat. "That area is massive. Surly it would take years to clean it all."


    "And the feeder worms can only do so much. If the corruption is in the water as many suspect, then, no matter how much they clean, the corruption will just keep coming back."


    "Alright." I said, determined and feeling in the depths of my self that this was the right course. "How about I go and see this corruption source for myself? I know that the corruption will not have an affect on me. After all, I spent a week wandering aimlessly through it when I first got here, and nothing made me sick."


    "It is true that people or monsters seem unaffected" Agreed Cinder thoughtfully. "The corruption seems to affect the land itself and not the creatures that inhabit it."


    "Then I would like to go to this lake where the source of the corruption lies. Maybe I can figure something out that hasn''t occurred to you all. If I can fix the issue than I will take those lands as my own, no matter how long it takes to fix them. But if it is indeed hopeless, then we can call another meeting to discuss the issue." The others nodded and made some whispers but, in the end, agreed with the plan going forward.

 Guther the Smith

    Once we had agreed to shelf the land issue till I could go and check out the situation myself, we then turned to other stately matters. It was long winded and dull, and I wished I could flee. But I knew that it was important, so I sat through it without any complaint. No outward complaint at least.


    There were discussions on trade and commerce. But that all seemed so far off in the future and mostly between the other Queens as my land wasn''t even decided yet. I did chime back in when talks turned to labor and such. I wanted information on who to contact about getting my preparations on the roll for getting back to Hearth. I was hopping to have everything worked out within the next two weeks in time to get the portal back to the other world. With any luck I could even get the ball rolling on the corruption issue. Taming a ton of worms shouldn''t be too hard, at the very least.


    I managed to get a couple of the queens to get in touch with some craftsmen for me too. Not just because I wanted to turn some of the gifts, I had received into new gear but also because I was hoping to find someone to help me set up the portal stone I had received. If taking the waste lands for my own worked out then I could set up a permanent connection between there and my home at the Red Raven''s base. I probably should ask Rift before making a portal from the base to Demonia, but- nah.


    Luckily the meeting ended fairly amicably, and I was referred to a few craftsmen. We even managed to close the whole deal before lunch. I still had a million things to do but this had been the thing I was dreading most, so I was relived that it was finally done and over with. Kieran laughed as he escorted me back to my rooms.


    "I don''t see what is so funny." I huffed good naturedly.


    "You are, my lady. But I am unsurprised that you don''t think the same." He said, shutting my door behind us. I threw myself dramatically onto the bed, earning an angry squawk from Rougier who had been sleeping on one of my pillows.


    "Oops." I laughed. "Sorry Rougier. I didn''t realise you were here. Got bored of the stables?"


    "Horses- weather they are named after the great dragons or not- are only so entertaining." He grumbled, hauling himself back onto the pillow and curling up again. "I see you managed to survive the Demon''s den then."


    "Yes. Thankfully. If I had to sit through anymore political or economical talk my head may have exploded. I so did not sign up for all this noise." I sighed and rolled onto my back, looking up at the canopy of my bed. "I just wanted to be a normal demon lady with a pet dragon or two. Was that so much to ask for?"


    "I am not a pet." Rumbled Rougier but not sounding overly offended.


    "I need to head out to the stables myself here in a moment to name my new ponies. I take it you will be staying here then?"


    "I will be, yes. Especially seeing as how you seem to have forgotten to bring me a snack."


    "Ho ho! Shows what you know. Shinra?" At my call the large tiger manifested out of the shadows under the bed, her large size making the king-sized bed look small. In her jaws she held a small sack and dropped it on my sheets. It opened to reveal a selection of pastries. "They were only serving sweets, so if you want some meat you will have to go out and get your own or wait a couple hours for lunch."


    "I will wait. I hunted not long ago. If I keep eating this well, I well be too fat to fly." He sighed as I laughed. "Being here is making me lazy. What I need is a good fight to keep me in shape."


    "I am sure I will get you into plenty of those, don''t you worry." I said, patting his lumpy head. "But till then you will have to settle for just regular exorcizes."


    Rougier made a dismissive noise and curled himself into a ball for what appeared to be another nap. Maybe he would get fat. Sure, he wasn''t very active in those chains but he also ate only enough to live as far as I knew. I hoped that when we got to Hearth he could fly about more freely. There was too much stigma around him here on Demonia for that to be feasible. Not that I knew for sure that the People of Hearth were going to be very welcoming to a massive dragon flying around their flocks of sheep. But at least the people there didn''t know how aggressive Rougier truly was.


    I wished I could nap with the miniaturized dragon, but I still had work to do. I took Kieran and Shinra out to the stables with me where we found my new steads happily munching on hay and an oat like grain that was green in color. The stable master had been taking good care of them and I found that, though they looked quite fearsome, they were pretty docile. Even Shinra didn''t send them skittering when she approached, though they did eye her warily.


    I wasted no time taming the pair, naming the male Breagol, and the female I called Glendra. They were relatively low ranked and I barely felt the mana drain. I was getting a little worried about what my reserve was going to look like by the time I got back to Heath though. Rougier put a massive chunk of mana in limbo; a whopping three thousand or so. Shinra cost me about the same as Vendaval had. Luckily the Andra horses were minimal in comparison. The biggest plus was the fifty thousand increase I obtained since being here. With the eighty percent loss due to the de-buff that still left me with a new total of thirty thousand. So, in reality, even with my new tames, I would still have more mana when I returned.


    The rest of the day was spent training and discussing different merchants amongst Felicity''s people and the surrounding lands, trying to figure out what I should do in the coming week. By the end of the week, I hopped to be back in the waste lands at the lake that was supposedly the source of the corruption. When I asked Rougier about it he was vague.


    "I do remember a lake." He said between bites of some roasted bird like creature that did not taste like chicken. I didn''t know what it tasted like, but I didn''t find it nearly as delicious as the dragon apparently did. "I think. There was a great deal of flying around and there were fire and spells being cast every which way." The way he spoke you would think it was a fond memory.


    I glared at him, wondering if snatching the nasty bird away would be a good punishment for reminiscing over the corruption of an entire mountain range and its accompanying valleys. "Would it kill you to at least try and be of help here. We will all be going there soon, after my trips into town. I would like to at least get a small idea as to what I will be walking into."


    "I may have at least a little information for you." Said Garris as he poured a cup of cider for Felicity.


    "Oh?" I asked, accepting the cup that Kieran offered me, this one with something a little stronger than what Felicity was drinking.


    "It happened before even I was born, but I heard my mother, the pervious ruler of our line, speak of the time of the battle once."


    "She was not part of it was she?" Asked Kieran, looking like he was trying to remember.


    Garris shook his head. "No, she was with child at the time from what I was told. I can not recall which of our brothers or sisters she was carrying at the time. But she told me that she had to flee to a friend''s lands during that time, for fear that the dragon would come to our lands and she would loose the child."


    My eyes landed, once again, on my evil little dragon. "What?" He snapped. "I will not lie and say I never killed a pregnant woman, but I never did it intentionally. Collateral damage."


    I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Look, I get that we are all little bugs or some such in your eyes, but you could at least feign contrition when speaking of those deaths with others... I admit I never once thought of weather or not the animal I was eating had a family, but I also never went out and just killed a whole heard merely because I was bored either you know."


    Rougier shrugged, causing his shoulders and his wings to rise and fall. "Would it make you feel better if I promise to never do it again so long as I am your dragon?"


    I narrowed my eyes. "No. Because, as my dragon, you are forbidden from doing it in the first place. If you tried to go against my wishes, you would be punished by the magic that binds you."


    He shrugged again, swallowing a mouthful of white meat. "All the same."


    I sighed and turned back to the older butler. "Please continue Garris."


    "Yes, I am curious as well." Said Felicity brightly. "It is not a tale Mother ever had the chance to share with me."


    "Well, one of the Queens that were lost was a good friend of hers." Said Garris, looking thoughtful. "I believe it was Queen Aura."


    "Oh, I have heard of her in my lessons!" Exclaimed Felicity. "She was the guardian of the Eternal Lake, right?"


    "Indeed." Agreed Garris.


    "And what is the Eternal Lake?" I asked.


    "I am afraid that I do not know much about it." Said Garris sadly. "It was the very lake that you intend to visit, However, Most lore about it and other places like it were lost in the battle. It was Queen Aura who was the keeper of such knowledge. It was said that there was once a large and stunning palace built next to the lake and within It was the greatest library in all of Demonia. It was lost in the battle and subsequent corruption. Aura was the only Queen to die in that fight while not actively participating in it."


    "That is sadder than I''d like to think. You are such a jerk Rougier." I snapped at the dragon.


    "Tch!" He snapped back, baring his little fangs. "I fought Queens and their men. I even remember a lake. But I do not recall destroying any palaces. It was once a fun pass time of mine so I am sure I would remember that at the very least."


    "I know not the direct cause of the palaces destruction." Admitted Garris. "Not of the actual cause of Lady Aura''s demise. All I do know, is that it occurred at the same time as that battle. She died attempting to protect the Eternal Lake when the corruption took root."


    "What exactly is this corruption any way?" I asked. "I just assumed that Rougier had breathed poison or something in the fight and it was that, that killed everything. But it sounds like that is not the case."


    "I have no such skill." Agreed the dragon.


    Kieran nodded. "From what I understand it was caused by the clashing of so much powerful magic. It is the very reason why all demon kind does their best so that no Queens ever must fight. With that much mana and ill intended magic flying about any number of unexpected and devastating things could occur."


    "That is correct." Garris agreed as he sat himself next to Felicity, placing the tea pot down on a cozy. "It is believing that one or more of the Queens cast spells that collided with the Death-Bringer''s great flame magic and the mix created the corruption. From what I was told, the combined polluted mana fell and entered the very lake itself."


    "And how did that make the corruption spread?" I asked. "I can understand if it spread to the surrounding land but how would it reach over mountains and such?"


    "That I do not know." Sighed the older man with a shake of his head. "But I do know that that Lake was considered a sacred place. A place loved by the gods themselves. Its loss was as devastating as the loss of the Queens, perhaps even more so."


    "So." I said, thinking. "It sounds like I need to see what is in or around that lake then. The Feeder Worms should work, but not if I can''t get rid of what is causing the corruption at its source first."


    "I wish you all the best in your endeavor, Lady Sin." Said Garris, but he did not sound confident. I had to admit I was less than convinced that I would be able to pull this off either. But I knew I needed to try. There was a pull in my heart telling me that this was a task that I needed to accomplish. It felt heavy and that worried me.


    Three days later I found myself in the city of Froth. It was one of the very few Demon cities out there. Normally demons lived in small towns or villages comprised of a single-family line. People came to visit and to find partners, but mostly each family kept to themselves. But there were half a dozen cities out there too. They were run buy a coalition over several Queens who over see them but mostly they are run buy Reihee elders and Do''Reiks- males who have earned high status for their service to queens. Many of the citizens of these cities were either very well-off demons who have great talent in their fields, like black smithing or even merchants. But also, there were the Reihan- the Lost Ones. Reihan were the demons like Kieran who had lost their Queens, or even some who were cast out as traitors or criminals and are governed by a Reihee.


    As such it was like any other city in that it had its well off people and its poor people, and then the people in between. Though the Queens supposedly over saw these cities, really it was mostly down to the council of Reihee and Do''Reik to keep law and order in the cities.


    I made sure not to announce my arrival in Froth seeing as how it would likely mean a ton of fan fare and hoopla that I just did not want to deal with. But in true demon fashion, my arrival not as secret as I would have liked. When Kieran and I stabled Breagol and Glendra at the inn he had booked for us, we were greeted by three people dressed in rather nice cloths and whom got a lot of bowing and hand ringing from the large horned inn keeper.


    "Queen Sin Andra." Said an older woman. I was surprised to see someone so old but then my lessons came back to me and I realised that this woman with the white, thin hair, curved black horns and tanned and wrinkled face must be one of the Reihan. When a line loses their queen the demons in that line tend to age faster and get sick easier. Also, the birthrate, which is already low in demons, drops even farther till eventually- usually two hundred to five hundred years depending on how large the line was at the time of the queen''s passing- the line dies off. "I am Reihee Quentis, one of the elders on the Froth council. We were told that you would be arriving here today and thought that we would come and greet you appropriately. So welcome to Froth Lady Sin."


    "Er, thanks." I said awkwardly, shooting Kieran a glare where he was stroking Breagol''s neck and smirking at my unease. "I am not about to walk out of here to a parade or something am I?"


    The older woman chuckled, followed by the two men who accompanied her. "No Lady Sin. It was proposed but I had heard that you were not fond of such things. I am glad I was correct as many on the council were pushing rather hard for the parade."


    "It was a very close call." Agreed a middle-aged man with a dark goatee and a patch over one eye. Or lack of an eye more likely given the massive scar that I could see, and the patch was hard pressed to cover. "I am Do''Reik Leve, and this is Do''Reik Hausten." He said indicating the younger male with dark brown hair, red skin and a single, massive horn on his forehead that curved back almost all the way over his head.


    "Well, um, hello." I said nervously. I hadn''t been expecting a reception though I really should have at this point. "I am Sin, and this is my butler, Kieran." I said indicating the man trying to keep a straight face next to me. He looked perfectly calm when he bowed to the councilmen, however. "And this is Rougier. I did call ahead and confirm that it was fine for him to be here so long as he is staying in his smaller form..." I added swiftly, laying a hand on the back of the dragon that was currently wrapped around my shoulders and glaring at the two men and elderly woman.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Yes, we were made aware." Rumbled Hausten, his voice deeper than I would have thought. "Do''andra Rougier." He said formally to the small dragon, giving him a small bow. Other than curt nods, neither had paid much attention to Kieran. But I had learned that that was to be expected. It was considered rude to pay too much attention to a butler in a formal setting where all eyes were meant to be on the Queen. And though a barn was hardly a formal setting this was a meeting between a queen and members of the government of this city.


    "We have only come to be sure you are well Lady Sin." Said Quentis with a kind smile. "We ask only that you have Leve escort you. We have all the faith in your chosen Butler Lady sin," She added when it looked like I was about to protest. "But you must understand that usually when a Queen visits she has numerous guards and a reported itinerary. We do not wish to impose or step on your privacy but we really must insist on a member of the council being with you while you are here. It would be a catastrophe if something- even something you may think trivial- were to happen while you were here, and we did not make at least a small amount of effort to keep you safe and comfortable here in our good city."


    I wanted to argue but I had to admit that she had a point. I may not like it, but I was considered royalty and there fore a high priority guest here. It would look bad for these people if I was even seen falling face first into a puddle much less actually getting hurt while I was here. They would appear neglectful, or even disrespectful. And if there was one thing demons seemed to pride themselves on it was their care and respect, they had for their queens.


    I sighed, giving in. "Yes, alright. But I am afraid that you may be bored Do''Reik Leve... All I am doing is visiting crafts men and being fitted for cloths and such." Men on Earth hated shopping with women, right? I could only imagine that demon men were even more impatient over the event.


    The man laughed. "I am sure that I will manage just fine Lady Sin. And please, call me Leve. Much easier to say."


    I nodded and smiled. "I would say you can just call me Sin, but I am sure that you would ignore me unless I ordered it, so I won''t bother."


    "You are indeed wise beyond your years good Queen." Chuckled the man.


    Leve aided Kieran in finishing getting my horses settled and the other two councilmen excused themselves with offers for me to come and dine with them at their estates if I so wished. I highly doubted I would, but I would at the very least try and remember their names and their kindness. I am sure if I forgot, then Kieran would remember for me.


    We were on the better side of town this visit, but I was sure that the bad end of town would probably look much like any other lower income area that I had lived in most of my life. Here everything was clean and orderly. And it was busy. The cobbled streets were filled with towns people and merchants alike. Between the shops people had set up stalls selling everything from cloths to live animals. It was noisy and at times a little smelly but it was also full of energy and life. I felt more at home here than in the small village where Felicity had her home. Cities let you hide among the crowd and just be another person. Weather you are a Queen hoping to avoid all the bowing, or a thief hoping to avoid the eyes of the law. I have now lived both viewpoints and I was not really sure how one differed from the other in this respect. I kind of would rather get hauled over by a cop then deal with throngs of demons wanting to bow to me to be honest.


    Today was pleasant enough but the aqua colored sky was covered in pink hued clouds today and there was a dampness to the air that foretold rain in the near future. It was probably this that made the throngs of people seem a little more hurried than what they normally would have been. No one wanted to be caught out in the rain. It suddenly occurred to me that rain here was probably red. Creepy. I kind of wanted to see it.


    Our first stop was to a clothier. The shop was small and neat and had come recommended to me by Cristine. I was told that this dress maker specialized in rare fabrics. She did not come cheep but soon I was fitted for a few new outfits made of the dragon silks that I had been gifted, including a gown that I had been a little reluctant to have made given my distaste for balls, not so much distaste for pretty dresses. But Kieran convinced my that it was necessary that I have at least a few formal gowns, weather her or on Hearth, and wearing dragon silk would make a real statement. The dress maker, a short and cheery demon with a forked tail, seemed ecstatic to be working with the fabric, and even more giddy to be making cloths for a queen.


    Leve lead us to several locations that probably would have taken us a while to find, despite Kieran having visited Froth before. So, in the end it was good that we had him with us. For instance, neither one of us would have been able to find Guther the weapons smith with out the man''s aid. The smithy was in the better part of town, away from most other shops, squeezed between two large manor houses of three storeys plus. Apparently Guther was caring for his ailing sister, and it was better for his shop to be next to his home. He was such a well-known smith that no one complained about their homes being in close proximity to the smells and the noise.


    "Guther is a renowned smith of immense talent." Explained Leve as we approached the small building between the two mansions. "But he does bear a gevda mark." He warned causing Kieran to scowl.


    "A what?" I asked with a raised brow.


    "It''s a mark of shame given by a queen. It is given to demons who have greatly displeased a queen." Grumbled Kieran looking displeased himself. "Usually reserved for those who have caused harm to another, mainly females, or the well being of a line in general. For instance, there was one in my line whose neglect caused the death of a child. My mother raked the man across the face so that all would know that he was a male not worthy of trust or breeding."


    Ouch. Though I could totally see myself clawing a man''s eyes out if he tried to hurt a kid in front of me as well. I wondered what this Guther had done to earn his mark.


    As if reading my mind, Leve answered my unasked question. "It is well known around these parts that Guther did not earn his mark. He was about twenty, I''d say, when his Queen flew into a madness induced rage and attacked several males of her line, Guther included. The illness took the life of his Queen a short five years later. He and his sister a two of a mere handful left of that line. They are now among the reihan."


    "You are certain?" Kieran asked as we stood outside the shop. He held the items I needed, balanced on one arm, while his other hand rested on the door handle. "I would not have my Queen seek the aid of one marked as gevda. It may bring shame."


    "I would also dissuade you if I was truly believing that Guther was deserving of his mark. I would never, knowingly, lay such shame at Lady Sin Andra''s feet." Assured Leve, his eyes serious and honest.


    Kieran sighed. "Very well." And with that he opened the door, and I was hit by a wave of heat.


    I was confused as to the source of the high temperature at first, seeing as how what we walked into looked like an average shop. There were tables and shelves stacked with various weapons and armour throughout the small room, and along the back of the shop was a long counter. Behind the counter were what must have been the smith''s greatest works. Or at least the ones he did not think he had to keep hidden from thieves at least. There were massive and intricate swords and staves, huge maces and shining shield of varying sizes, all adorned in filigree and various gems. They were beautiful. Had this not of been a magical world I would also have said that most of them were impractical as well, but I was sure these were all enchanted and protected in some form or another.


    It was the sounds I heard coming from behind a door that I had just noticed, behind the counter, that told me where the heat was coming from. I could hear the pounding of metal on heated metal echoing from behind the simple wooden door. Clearly Guther had his workshop there.


    "Guther!" Shouted Leve, advancing toward the door but not stepping behind the counter. "Oi! Guther! You have customers out here boy!"


    I chuckled lowly as the Do''Reik continued to attempt to get the hidden smith''s attention. From what I understood, Guther was at least 100 years old. No where near the average life span of a demon, true, but hardly an age that I would call him ''boy''.


    After another moment the banging stopped and there was a loud hissing noise. It looked like Leve was about to shout again when the door swung open. The man who walked out was an intimidating sight. He was nearly seven feet tall and so wide that he could barely fit through the doorway. He had thick dark hair atop beet red skin and a thick bushy beard. Bove his brow curved a single, large red horn, the other one was broken off at the root. And across his unnatural aged face were four, jagged rents of pale skin, the gevda mark I would assume.


    "Calm yourselves would you!" He snapped, slamming the door behind him, and wiping his hands off with a dirty grey rag. "No amount of hollering can make my work go any faster."


    I laughed silently, but Leve cursed. "Mind your words boy!" he snapped and waved a hand in my direction. "You have a queen here to see you, you fool."


    "Eh?" Growled the man, looking my way with a shrewd eye. "A queen you say. Not some messenger?"


    "No, you meat head." Sighed Leve, shaking his head and glaring at the smith. "An honest to goodness Queen. This is her majesty Queen Sin Andra herself, come to have you complete some work for her."


    "Ah." Guther made a shallow and awkward bow, still wiping his hands, then eyed me critically. "I can''t say I have ever hear of a Dragon Queen, Lady Sin..."


    "Well, you have now." Huffed an impatient Rougier, glaring red eyes from beneath my long dark red-black hair. He had actually behaved rather well till now, so I resisted the urge to tell him off for being unnecessarily sarcastic.


    "Queen of the miniature dragons then?" Guther asked with a mischievous smile at the small purple stoney dragon around my neck.


    "Boy, if you took your misshapen head out of that room for longer than it takes to keep an eye on your sister then you would know exactly who this is, and why it is a bad idea to poke fun at this dragon!" Snapped Leve. "I apologise, Lady Sin, Rougier Do''andra, for Guther''s bad manners. So much of his skill has been funnelled into his art that the gods ran out when fashioning him a decent personality."


    I laughed harder. "It is alright. I think the same can be said of me in many ways. It is nice to meet you Guther."


    "And you." Said the smith, still seeming a little unsure if I was indeed the queen and not a messenger sent to request work from him. Felicity had told me that it was more customary to have a servant go out and handle all this for me, but I had wanted to do this myself. "What is it that I can do for you then?"


    I nodded at Kieran, and he stepped up to the counter, depositing the two wooden boxes he had been carrying there. One was a large but simple looking wooden crate of sorts, while the other was the beautifully decorated box that Queen Bri of the Herdeara Desert had gifted me mere days ago. This box Kieran set down delicately as the box itself was worth a great deal, much less the stunning magical gems with in it.


    Guther stepped up behind the counter and threw his cloth down, reaching for the simple box first. He lifted the lid and looked inside. "What are these?" He asked after a few seconds of silent examination. He reached in and lifted out a large, two foot long, black, serrated scale from within the wooden container.


    "It is a scale." I said plainly. There were five of them in there to be exact, pulled from my wings- to Kieran''s horror- the night before. Two were about two feet in length while the other three were a little less than a foot. I did my best to keep the sizes even and picked out the ones I thought looked nicest. Kieran had been pale and confused through the whole process, and it had made me laugh. It had hurt a little to pull out the scales, kind of like removing a hang nail, but the wounds were small and the pain brief. I hoped that it would be well worth it once they were fashioned into the weapons that I hoped this smith could make of them.


    "A scale? From what?" Asked the smith with a laugh. "A flightless bird? They look like feathers as much as they do scales." But he was examining them curiously, flipping them over and testing the edge on a finger, drawing blood quite easily.


    "They are my scales. From my wings to be exact. And you are close to correct, I do find flight tedious. The scales are strong and deadly sharp, but they are heavy and not very aerodynamic."


    Guther looked like he was about to ask to see them but a glare from Leve had him snapping his bearded mouth shut.


    "Is it possible to fashion weapons of these?" Asked Kieran. I knew that he was worried that I had plucked myself for no reason at all. I wonder how he would feel if I told him that I had done it for him. I wanted these blades for Kieran to wield, not for me. I may have been practicing, but I just had minimal talent with a sword. Daggers were a little easier but my claws worked just as well, if not better than any dagger, so what would be the point in having one?


    "Hmm." Hummed the smith, putting the larger scale on the counter and pulling one of the smaller ones out of the box. "I believe so. They appear to be made of the same material as a dragon''s scales, though there must be some other element added to them, for they are quite a bit more flexible. If I can craft them into blades, they should make excellent ones... I must admit that I am eager to try."


    I nodded. "Excellent. I do have to say that I am in a bit of a hurry, however. I am willing to pay well to have the job put to the top of your list." Guther did not look to pleased about this, no doubt not wanting to upset his other customers. "Normally I would wait, but I plan on not even being on Demonia in less than two weeks and I would be unable to retrieve them for an unknown length of time."


    "Leaving Demonia? Are you going to Fausta?" He asked, wondering if I had business on the larger of Demonia''s two moons.


    "No, Hearth."


    "Hear-? You mean that other Realm? Where the demons who get summoned are whisked off to?"


    "Yes, that''s the one. I have business there and plan to be gone for quite some time. I may make visits back here, but they would have to coincide with the moons movements."


    "Ah, hence the less than two weeks time limit." He said, understanding the rush.


    "Yes."


    "I believe that my customers would not put up too much of a stink if I told them it was for the request of a queen, assuming you are alright with me informing them that a queen is asking of work from me."


    I nodded. "That''s fine, so long as you have no need to name drop. I am sure that the other queens are aware of my intentions by now but id like it if at least some people in this world did not know every single little move I make..."


    Leve and Guther both laughed loudly. "Good luck with that Lady Sin. Demons love to gossip," said Leve with a shameless smirk. "And they love to gossip about our Queens most of all."


    "Yes." Agreed Guther, still chuckling. "But at the very least, I can promise that it will not be from me that they will here it from."


    "I suppose that is the best I can ask for."


    Guther smiled then turned his eyes to the last box. "I take it that these would be the magical cores that you wish to attach to these weapons that I am to make. I am no enchanter, "he warned. "So, if you want magic, you have to bring it yourself. I assume that''s what this is?"


    "That''s right." I said and stepped forward past Kieran and gently opened the lid of the ornate box. The five round and colorful gems glimmered up at me, each imbued with a magic of its own. Each worth a small fortune. "I wish for each of these to adorn a single weapon a piece."


    The same day I plucked myself, I had Kieran examine the stones so that I would know exactly what enchantments were on them. Each had what Kieran called the ''usual'' assortment of spells for protection and cleansing that such gems are given. But I had wanted to know about the powers given to them. Kieran explained that these were special stones that were mined in select regions around this world and around others. They were called Mana Stones, as each was imbued with magic by the very flow of the worlds mana itself. Most magical stones were just regular precious gems like rubies or emeralds. An enchanter adds magical properties to them. But Mana Stones were created by compressed natural mana. They were rare and powerful, each holding spells said to be gifted by the will of the gods. I was pretty sure it was just a natural process of these magical realms and not anything that the gods did intentionally, however.


    "Well, well..." Beathed Guther looking excited. "I admit that I see these more often than the average smith, but it makes it no less a wonder every time I lay my eyes on mana stones."


    "Their clarity is astonishing." Agreed Leve, leaning past Kieran to see the gems better. "These must be from the Herdeara desert mines owned by Lady Bri."


    "You are quite knowledgeable." I said to the man with an eye patch.


    "I didn''t loose this eye to a shaving accident My Lady." Chuckled the Do''Reik, pointing to the patch. "I spent a lot of time around battle and saw my fair share of mana stones, and regular stones too."


    "Besides, most who have these stones tend to brag and show them off." Laughed Guther. "Nearly anyone can point them out after having them shoved under their noses enough times."


    "These were gifted to Queen Sin at her presentation by Queen Bri herself." Said Kieran proudly, as if he were the one to have received them. I resisted the urge to laugh, because in the end, he was the one who was going to have them after all. But I kept silent. If he knows that I intended these weapons for him, Kieran would likely try to convince me other wise.


    Leve looked impressed. "She would have picked out the best of the best then. No way would a Queen give another queen a sub par product, especially at a presentation."


    "Do you know the attributes of these? And do you prefer which stone goes to which blade?" Asked the smith.


    I replied in the affinitive and began describing the stones and where I wanted them. Kieran had given me their attributes already and I just repeated what he had told me. The deep blue, mellow green, and topaz yellow stones I wanted made into daggers. They each contained, respectively, stealth magic, tracking magic, and acceleration magic. I thought those would be best served in the smaller weapons. As for the two short swords, I thought the last two stones- the ruby red and the midnight black- would be best suited. The ruby colored one had the ability to cut through magic and the obsidian stone the ability to cut through just about any solid object that wasn''t spelled. They complemented one another and would be put to great use by my talented butler.


    After the details were worked out and I had paid the smith a very large sum in gold coins, we left the stuffy building and headed back out onto the streets. I stretched, eyeing the darkening clouds warily. I did not want to get rained on, as much as I was curious about there being red rain. It would be two days for most of my items to be finished. The dress would take longer but I simply asked the seamstress to have it delivered to Felicity''s castle. But I was not leaving without most of my items. After all, there was now a massive amount of my wealth in and around this city. It was welded too much into my very being to not let my stuff out of my sight. I would be too wound up if I just left it all here to be sent back for me. So, I had arranged for Kieran and I to stay in the inn for a few days.


    "Is there anything else you needed done today, Lady Sin?" Asked Leve, seeing that I was examining the weather. "If so, we should get to it. I''d say we are due for an early summer storm at any moment. They can be fierce this time of year."


    I sighed, looking away from the pink clouds that had been darkening to a light shade of purple. It reminded me of the wastelands, and the horrible week I had spent wandering them. "There are a few people I still need to speak with. Mostly masons and the like. But it will have to wait. It was the least important of my tasks anyway and I am exhausted and hungry."


    "I think it best that we return to the inn then, my lady." Said Kieran, also eyeing the sky. "No reason to risk getting soaked when there is no need."


    "Yes, alright."