"Alright, this will be a new chapter for you," Aurelia smiled. "There's a helicopter waiting to take us to base, so you can meet the team and start getting situated." The half-succubus, half-fairy led them on, her tail flicking about lazily. Haru followed, gritting her teeth and sucking in a slow breath, rolling her shoulders- conversely to her, Fox bounced around anxiously, swallowing and trembling as if she'd had a kilo of cocaine moments before this.
"New chapter. Right," Haru smiled, speaking drily. "Because being summoned to a new world wasn't a new chapter at all, right?"
"By the way," Aurelia yawned and glanced back at the two women, her eyes soft, expression thoughtful. "Thanks for taking me up on this offer. Really."
"How many people make up your team? So far, you've only explained that you're a team of what was it, eight? And that you handle special assignments from the Queen, right?"
"I'll go into a bit more detail once we get there," Aurelia began, but Fox, in her jittery excitement, cut in-
"What happens if the orders from the Queen are somehow wrong? Say, a political assassin has a gun to her head or something?"
"That won't be a problem," Aurelia answered immediately, confidently, and laughed, rolling her eyes. "Come on," She added, shoving through the same door that, a few days before, Haru had entered her new life through, so to speak. As promised, a helicopter waited on the other side, and Haru thought for a long moment as they approached the bird, climbing in, buckling their harnesses.
"Question." Haru began, and Aurelia raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, but run me through it one more time. Demons are formed how?"
"Deepest view of yourself, when you die," Aurelia stated matter of factly.
"Right. Sorry. Just want to make sure that I'm up to speed," Haru spoke distractedly. "So let's say I hate myself, when I die, and I believe I deserve to suffer, rather than embrace death, maybe I'd come back, what. Without skin? With spikes in my head?"
"You're getting the idea." Aurelia nodded, raising her eyebrows. "In the opposite case though, maybe you wouldn't need to eat or sleep anymore, it could be beneath you. It's the same for magic, your powers typically connect to your self-views and worldview."
"Got it," Haru nodded, continuing. "Then what if I, say, dropped a bomb on Mir that killed eighty thousand? Then, I was from Starria and believed that I was cleansing the world?"
"Maybe an angel? Something pure and good, in appearance, without flaws," Aurelia acknowledged the idea, crossing one leg over the other as the helicopter began to rise into the air, after she'd waved her hand at the pilot. "You believed that you were right, and that's the catch, the caveat- facts don't matter, only intent."
"So, you wind up with some seriously sick-in-the-head angels and some saintly demons who are good people that think they failed in life?" Haru raised an eyebrow.
"Correct," Aurelia nodded.
"So, what's your gimmick?" Haru raised an eyebrow, laughing quietly. "Have a lot of sex?"
"I'm a rare case, like you." Aurelia shrugged, flexing her hand. "Demons are infertile, but my dad was a scientist obsessed with finding a way to enable demons to have kids. He didn't think it fair that we can't reproduce without humans- one of the reasons for demon-kind never waging a war or developing a superiority complex that turns foul."
"Your dad succeeded then?" Haru asked, and then, "-Sorry. Dumb question."
"Yes and no." Aurelia shook her head. "Maybe with some development, it could be turned into something real, but I was basically created as a fetus in a petri dish. The fact that I survived long enough to grow was shocking to all. My dad is spending his life in prison, sadly, as is my mother. Turns out genetic experiments to create new freaky species are kind of against the rules."
"I see. Why are demons infertile, though?" Haru angled her head, sucking her cheek.
"They believe they are, really." Aurelia nodded, laughing tiredly. "Remember, too; your soul can die, for real. If you die and under any lies and bluster, you know that's it for you… then, it is."
"What if I think I'm god?" Haru snorted, wiggling her eyebrows. "Could I become omniscient?" She had to raise her voice, now- wind getting louder, but shouting to be heard was no problem.
"Nobody believes that, under the façade. Until they do- but there are gods. Not a lot of them- they're usually busy with pet projects like other worlds. Sometimes they do mess around with this world, though- but that's a story for another time," She added, dismissive. "Governmentally, we classify them as lesser demons, demons, greater demons, arch demons, and gods. Same scale for angels," She added. "With me?"
"Yeah enough information dumps, you're gonna make my head pop," Haru grinned, wiggling into her seat a bit deeper.
"Right, right."
"Nah," Fox cut in, "-MORE info dumps- there are GODS HERE? What can they do, like snap, planet gone?" Haru snorted, Aurelia laughed.
"Not much is known about them overall," Aurelia laughed. "There's an urban legend saying that a god of truth and knowledge walks the earth, but nobody can confirm this, obviously. There's also a myth about somebody called the Play Write who holds some sort of astral pocket dimension manor here on Earth, crafting stories from dying souls, but I don't know much. Aside from that, I hear most gods can't be sustained by earth, and wander the universe…? Overall, they're just myths to us- if they're even real. I assume they are since the governments keep records of god status, but that's just not something to worry about, so put it out of your mind, silly little girl."
"I'm not a little girl-!" Fox snarled, and Haru raised a hand, bonking her head.
"Short ass."
"I will kill you-!!"
-
For a time, Haru relaxed, letting her eyes wander outside- not much to see beyond beautiful rolling hills, plains, and rivers, lakes. She sucked in a long, slow breath, and closed her eyes;
A kitchen table and a middle-aged, dark-haired woman working on paperwork. Food, in the refrigerator- a soda bottle, and her hands popping the marble out of it. The taste of strawberry, and of freedom. Thoughts of leftover school work, and a test coming up…
Narrowing her eyes, Haru sat forward, opening her eyes.
"You, okay?" It was fox, who asked.
"I am," Haru nodded. "Just… flashes of the past. This still feels so weird, being summoned to another world. Aurelia, if I have to die in order to have a demon form, does that mean that I looked like this wherever I'm from?"
"Maybe. I don't know," Aurelia shrugged. "There were runes in the ritual about enhancing you, but that should have just affected your physical and magical attributes."
"Is there a way to like, find out if I have any abilities?" Haru raised an eyebrow, angling her head. "I mean, some machine you can plug me into?"
"Yeah," Aurelia nodded, closing her eyes for a moment. "They're kept far out of civilian hands, personal information, and all that, but most of the time, your information is kept on file if you've ever been arrested. There's a type of magical bracelet that's produced; we'll get you one to wear when we get back, and do an analysis."
"So is this base some kind of funny underground complex, or some grand glass castle in the hills?" Fox asked excitedly, snorting.
"It's retrofitted into an old castle that was built there in the time of minor lords and noble-owned land," Aurelia replied lazily, arching her back and stretching, groaning. "Nothing special, but I think some parts of it look kind of cool. Yeah, you're getting a lot of agency and freedom to do what you will, this way… I think you'll like it," She added, and for a second, it almost sounded like she was trying to convince herself. "Though, we're definitely going to get pulled into things with Starria… but it's fine, I'll teach you to fight…"
"Yeah? Gonna teach me to be some kind of badass assassin?" Haru laughed, but Aurelia nodded, laughing lightly.
"Yeah. That's kind of the running theme in my group, team, whatever you wanna call it. We're not normal soldiers, not by any means- and I don't say that so we can sound cool, or edgy, or whatever. It's just the truth- this group isn't part of the CA in any way except for what the paperwork reads."
"Interesting," Haru wiggled a bit further back into her seat. "Then I'll look forward to fighting. What if I don't have any special powers though? I want to throw fireballs and lightning, and wreak havoc- let me level a mountain!!" She added, a giggle bubbling up from her throat. "Jokes aside though- I'm kind of a nobody, if my memory serves. Then what if I don't have powers at all?"
"Then you're still somebody who can learn to fight." Aurelia shrugged, wrinkling her nose. "Why should I care if you can throw around spells? Strong combat magic is rare- you only see it among people who believe they caused harm. Real harm, like many people dead."
"I see…" Haru nodded, swallowing. "Magic… is it innate? Easy?"
"Depends," Aurelia shrugged, then smirked. "Some demons hate using their spells, you know?"
"What?"
The succubus-fairy hybrid, whatever she was, didn't answer.
-
"Touching down!!" The pilot screamed from up front, and Haru found something odd, suddenly.
"Shouldn't we be wearing helmets and such?" She asked, leaning forward again. The helicopter was descending, but all she could see below for now were trees.
"Why? Helicopters haven't been loud enough to give us any need for helmets in maybe eighty years?" Aurelia laughed, shaking her head. "It was a thing in the past about protecting your ears, but not anymore," she added, and suddenly, the slowing bird had landed, its rotors beginning to slow. Haru, surprised, unbuckled her harness and looked outside- she could see a flat expanse of stone and then a wall maybe as tall as her waist, with slits- maybe to, aim a bow or a gun through? There wasn't much, though-
Until she hopped out, and gasped, the breath sucked out of her lungs in an instant. Running to the wall, she gripped its edge, shoving her face into one of the gaps in the stone and looking around cathartically. In the distance, a massive dragon soared through the air, its muscles heaving visibly even from here. Its scales glistened like sapphire, and when it roared, lightning struck it from above, but the beast seemed unfazed.
"Is that a real dragon?! How does that work- I thought helicopters and dragons couldn't exist together!!" Haru shouted, Fox ramming her head through the gap under the snow-and-coal-haired girl's breasts to look.
"Why not?" Aurelia laughed, walking up behind the two women, watching appreciatively as the dragon flew around a mountain. "There are plenty of dragon's native to Mir, it's the best climate for them. Pempa has dragons too, though, and there are legends of old ice-dragons in the far north, around Ravenwood. Sorry-" She added, apologetically. "You two probably don't know any of those terms, and it's not the time for a geography lessons- but there are more dragons in this nation than anywhere else. They're strong, but a few dozen soldiers can take one down easily- thing is they're peaceful. Intelligent. Know to stay out of our way and we'll leave them alone."
"Best fantasy world, ever," Haru snorted. "Let me ride on dragon back, and then like, he can breathe fire all over an enemy army while I fire off grenade launchers and stuff, y'know? Like Rambo on crack!"
"Rambo?" Aurelia wrinkled her nose, raising an eyebrow. "The hell is that?"
"A story back home, I vaguely remember. Guy with guns, he goes like, boom, kaboom, and everybody dies," Haru laughed, snorted, shaking her head, and looked around properly, now. Trees taller than anything she'd ever seen- at least, she thought- and rolling hills. In the distance, she could see a massive mountain on the horizon- the Capitol, maybe, judging by the direction. In another random direction, there was something dark on the horizon- maybe a city, but it was too bright to tell.
Finally, Haru turned down- their helicopter pilot was a woman with dark hair and striking blue eyes, but that wasn't what caught her eyes, not really.
"Damn…" Fox exhaled, looking up. Built into the side of the mountain, the a number of ramparts and walkways sprawled out into the distance for a few miles, towers even higher than this one rising high into the air; with guards, to boot, Haru could see them manning massive anti-aircraft weaponry. The towers… there wasn't much rhyme of reason to them, but all were connected, the walkways dotted with guard stations and, protruding from the mountain itself, a massive blocky structure made from stone, its roof tapering upward like the dome of a cathedral, only to disappear into the mountain itself. The walls were made from a dull gray stone, but the structure disappearing into the mountain was something darker, like onyx. Where the paths from the walls connected to it, the transition was not smooth, but rather messy and choppy as her black and white hair, as though the onyx had given way to the plainer stone with great reluctance.
"Impressive, ain't it?!" the pilot grinned, saluting Haru, who shifted from foot to foot awkwardly. "We're just the foot soldiers of this place, we guard it. It's a high honor!!! A retreat as well- attacking this place is suicide!!"
"It's fascinating to me," Haru muttered as they began to walk, swallowing. "How Mir loves using the world to house them, instead of clearing the way for convenience. Where I'm from, I remember miles on miles of flattened land for straight paths and convenience… but…"
"Yeah," Aurelia spoke on a musical laugh, when Haru didn't continue, walking slow and lazy, tail flicking every which way like a cat's tail. The snow-and-ash haired girl noticed, eyes narrowing, that there was a heart on the tip of the tanned girl's tail. Have I noticed that before? The woman leading continued, and Haru snapped out of it, trying to focus on the words drifting into the air between them. "Well, don't you think the beauty of life is worth a little inconvenience? To snuff that out for nothing is… selfish, and harmful. Would you kill the planet for a few less steps? I wouldn't," Aurelia laughed lightly, turning down another path along the walls, up toward what seemed to be the main structure.
"So with how many guards there are, how big is your actual team?" Fox chirruped, tail wagging as they walked, beating Haru's thigh.
"Well, there's me, Cecil, and Hokuto- that's the masked one you met. There's Charlotte. Our ice-mage friend… quit," Aurelia frowned, looking down. "Then there's Cobalt- we nicknamed her for her eyes." She hitched a thumb, and Haru glanced back, having forgotten the pilot. "Finally, there's Lif and Ica. They do a lot of remote work, our voices on the phone, as well as recon. You'll meet them all, though Lif, Ica, Charlotte and Hokuto are out on a mission, so it may be a bit. For now, let's get you inside and get you set up with quarters."
"Quarters?" Fox asked, clueless.
"Living space? Apartment?" Aurelia glanced back, laughing. "Once you're fully trained, you won't spend much time here, but you're going to have your own place, regardless."
"Sounds good- but, I don't want to sit down just yet," Haru laughed, shaking her head. "I mean, just spent all that time in the chopper, y'know?"
"Good, then let's go for a tour," Aurelia replied, smirking lazily.
-
"Good to see you, again," Cecil grinned as Haru and Fox were led into a gym, letting a weight down before sitting up. He was shirtless, drenched in sweat, and Haru blinked rapidly at the abundance of scars on his strongly-muscled torso, her eyes widening. "Thanks for the stares, ladies," He added, and Haru turned her head, glaring, blushing as Cecil flexed, giving them a few different poses. "Sexy, right? That's why Aurelia knows I'll never die- what would she do without the motivating sight of my sexy self-existing in combat?" He
"Never gonna be with another man, you know this," Aurelia snorted, rolling her eyes. "So, girls, this is the gym. Come on, we'll get to your quarters and get you fitted with those cuffs I mentioned. We're almost there, but, just so you know, there are showers here in the gym, through that door," She added, pointing.
"Got it. Does that mean no shower in our room?" Haru angled her head, blinking slowly.
"No. This was the maid quarters, ages ago. You've got a bathroom in your room, but no showers. Don't worry, that one," She added, jerking her head toward the shower room door. "-Has stalls big enough for four, you'll be able to do your song and dance in the shower."
"Or invite me," Cecil chuckled, much more in his element now, it seemed, away from the noise of combat. "You know, inviting me is like inviting two people- Cecil and little Cecil, you feel me?" Haru snorted now, infinitely unladylike in comparison to Aurelia, covering her mouth, eyes widening.
"Please!!" Fox snarked, glaring. "As if Haru and I would ever."
"I mean-" Haru raised her eyebrows, looking away. "Them abs do be legit."
"Oh my god, I'm gonna suffocate you with a pillow tonight you horn-dog," Fox huffed, shoving Haru along. "Come on, let's get to our stupid quarters and see what they look like."
"Right, right- see you later, Cecil," Haru giggled, waving and continuing onward. Aurelia, for her part, kept quiet and pushed out of the gym into another long hallway, this one lined with several doors made from simple lacquered wood.
"Through here. If the door is locked, it's not yours, Aurelia hummed and pushed into the third door. "It doesn't matter who stays here, and who goes, finds another empty door. They're all the same," She added, gesturing for Haru and Fox to look around. Simple, but comfortable at the same time- a Queen-sized bed with plain, but nice, green sheets. A small bathroom with sink and toilet, and a kitchenette that was, currently, empty.
"You'll probably never use that," Aurelia hummed, following Haru's gaze. "I mean, we have the cafeteria, so unless you want to buy an expensive coffee machine or something…"
"I might," Fox nodded vigorously. "This one's mine, go die Haru."
"Sounds good," The snow-and-ash-haired girl laughed under her breath, eyes closing for a moment. "So, are you about to turn us free?"
"Well, tomorrow, you'll meet me in the gym," Aurelia grinned. "You're gonna learn how to fight. For now, come to my office, and let's see your abilities.
-
After a playful wolf whistle from the now-relaxed Cecil and a ten minute walk, Haru and Fox stepped into a small sort of office, with a simple desk, chairs, but several bookshelves along the windowed walls full of ancient-looking tomes. Fox sat without asking, Haru did so when Aurelia gestured, and the fairy herself began to rummage through a drawer, drawing out a gleaming metallic band.
"You keep something so rare in a drawer? What if it gets scratched," Haru asked, angling her head.
"Controlled for privacy, not rare or expensive or hard to replace," Aurelia set the cuff down, jutting her chin toward it. "It will take a drop of blood, heads up, ignore the sting. One of you, go ahead and take it." Before she'd quite finished, Fox was slamming her hand through it and giggling. For a moment, nothing happened, and then the band changed color- white- for a moment before returning to its metallic gray.
A small light blinked, and then there was, above the band, a projection in the air, showing something like a sheet of paper, but light with white text.
Note: The magic can be wrong, and should not be taken at greater than 83% believability.
Rating: Greater Demon
Magic Abilities:
*Night Vision
*Enhanced Sense of Smell
*Enhanced body
*Nose of the fox: Once she identifies a certain smell, she can likely track the subject for several miles, assuming steps have not been taken to disguise themselves.
*Hunter's Steps: Will passively channel mana into her feet to suppress noise
Suggested Units for put-down: Standard CA hunters
Suggested Gear for put-down: Standard Gear
"Cool!!" Fox grinned, yanking the band off and tossing it to Haru. "I'm sneaky sneaky, I can track you down for miles if you try to run, and I'm strong and fast AND I can see in the dark? What cool powers."
"Huh." Haru shrugged, putting it on her wrist and wincing lightly, as she was pricked. As before, the screen appeared.
Note: The magic can be wrong, and should not be taken at greater than 83% believability.
Rating: Lesser Demon
Magic Abilities:
*Enhanced Body
*Expanding Skin: Skin is magically reinforced to stretch as needed. As such, non-enchanted blades/weaponry will certainly be unable/struggle to pierce skin.
Suggested Units for put-down: Standard CA hunters
Suggested Gear for Put Down: Ice magics, Fumes Gear
"Lesser demon. Damn. Guess I just kill myself," Haru sighed, and Aurelia leaned forward, eyes wide.
"NO YOU WILL NOT- ARE YOU OKAY???"
"Uh. Yeah. I was joking," Haru muttered, leaning back, eyes wide. "Are you okay?"
"You were- you were joking?!" Aurelia glared, nose wrinkling. "That isn't something to joke about, you bitch, you had me scared sick!"
"Sorry." Haru raised her hands in mock surrender, sweating bullets. "Cultural differences, am I right?"
"Ugh." Aurelia shook her head and snatched the cuff from Haru's wrist, standing and walking toward the door. "Being a lesser demon isn't bad, and you can become stronger. Plus, with a trait like being borderline indestructible… I guess your tier only comes from how dangerous you are without a weapon? Seriously though… Don't joke about that again."
The door slammed.