Under a New Moon

Ruins.

It's what any living person in the days before the dawn might have called the bustling streamside village. Its lively citizens had patched the damaged, but sturdy stone walls with wood and mortar. Salvaged metal lamps hung from hooks and glowed from columns all around as the darkness after the brilliant purple sunset descended, the shadows of the trees stretching and converging to leave only the cheery street lanterns. A shepard drove his stock of sheep and goats over an aged stone bridge towards a pen near the outskirts of town where a sagacious sheepdog slept, unaware of the menace near his very nose.

This threat lay in the brush several hundred yards off, downwind and mildly interested at the sight of the caprids coming closer. The beast had recently defeated and deposited a foe some few miles back, and though she had her own stock of goats at home, this small village's stock had the advantage of convenience.

So she stood, twice as tall as a tiger at the shoulder and twice as heavy, a white, spotted, bristling mass of muscle, her mind full of thousands of years of tested predatory instincts honed with an unnatural cunning arising from her sapience as a spirit. Almost coyly, she began to trot towards the sheep pen after the shepard turned and left for his home for the night.

The old sheepdog continued to sleep. The hyena ensured he never truly woke up, leaving her the frightened livestock all for herself.

She licked her chops, her blue eyes darting from one beast to another, trying to discern the plumpest-looking specimen to start the night with.

[ EXP: 340 ]

Iskra gave in to her bloodlust, springing at a frightened, spotted kid near the corner. She'd nearly brought her teeth together on one of its spindly legs when she heard the obtrusively loud movements that could only come from a humanoid.

The thought of someone seeing her bothered the demon to an extent. Humans had a tendency to overreact to any perceived theft of their livestock, and she didn't live that far away from here. There weren't many hyenas with a coat of such fine quality and light shade as hers, and they'd probably pay warriors from far and wide to come after her.

The thought unsettled her, so she refrained from indulging in any mutton for the moment and tried to think of something to do to make herself seem less suspicious.

Well, first of all, the beast had more than one form. There was her default human one, but it retained the same spots in the hair as she now had all over her body. There was one other form with obsidian hair, and that was the form she picked. After all, she was usually only in it for brief periods of time, and she would have to grow more used to it.

The hyena upreared on her back legs, and in a manner of seconds its body began to shift. The toes of her paws uncurled, lengthened, and lightened until they were fair-skinned fingers. There wasn't much height she had to gain that she didn't get by the thickening and straightening of her back legs, but they grew longer as her feet grew shorter and more stable. Her ribs and shoulders rearranged themselves until they supported two thickly-muscled arms, and her fur grew away from her body and matted in on itself until it formed a protective shell: clothes and armor.

The transformation was complete as the beast's mane whipped out into a long, black ponytail and he turned with a human face to take a look at the entity who had happened upon the pathway near the pen, hoping that whoever it was hadn't seen the change.

[ EXP: 414 ]

The person ahead had stopped. Such was cause for concern, though simply being curious wasn't necessarily a sign that the person had seen the dramatic transformation. It might be a sign that she simply didn't know why there would be a man in a livestock pen in the middle of the night. Iskra had learned enough about human society to know that a normal person would naturally only draw one of two conclusions about his presence in the pen: either he was there for some twisted reason of lust, or he was there to steal.

There remained a third option. He wasn't very sure if the red-clad figure ahead was a resident of the village, or merely someone passing through. If it was a traveler, then maybe she would conclude that the man standing there owned the creatures. After all, that was the most normal explanation, and humans tended to believe the normal before they thought of the more abnormal solutions. It was a mark of sanity in their species.

"Hello there, stranger," he started in an amiable baritone as he leaned casually against the wood of the pen. "Not safe for a young lady to be out at night, you know. Robbers... monsters... all types of bad stuff. What brings you here?"

[ EXP: 250 ]

The man immediately found it odd that this hooded person, who looked and smelled female as far as he could tell, got confused at the address of "lady". Furthermore, it was suspicious that she was out at this time of night. Human women, as he knew them, were either crazy, demon-hunting Amazons or the retiring, shy type who were never more than a solid seventy yards from their parents' homes. The final hint was the way that the red-clad entity referred to the other humans as "people of this plane".

"So am I correct in assuming that you are a spirit, ma'am?"

Iskra kept her tone polite and kind, as she was in the uncomfortable position of being near a human habitation with no allies, though in the dim light she could swear there was something familiar about the woman...

...oh...

This was Jack's friend, the one she had seen near the lake that was the spittle in the maw of hell's entrance. What a small world this was, that he'd accidentally run into this woman again.

How had that encounter ended? Oh. This one had bowed politely and immediately retreated.

For her humility, the demon decided that he owed this person kindness, though she wouldn't reveal her identity right away. After all, a bit of curiosity had taken hold...

"Would you happen to know a similar creature by the name of Jack?"

[ EXP: 267 || +1 TEXP (5th post) ]

Iskra raised a dark eyebrow, quite frankly surprised at the response to the question. The light, pale grey of his eyes stared hard at the woman, and he dissected her every word. It wasn't something he did consciously. He did it as a way of sizing up the other demon and determining where she "fit", as it were. Seeing the situation from another perspective... well, he wasn't there at the time. He'd only happened upon a snapshot of the scene that rapidly changed into something wholly different. He remembered the transformation as Jack had sprang from her lap. He remembered the aura of power that the pride demon had released upon the air as several thousand pounds.

But no, he didn't know the whole story. He was interested, however.

"A turn off?" He leaned harder against the railing, crossing one foot over the other as the intensely interested stare continued. "Does that mean that you found him attractive, but his personality wasn't to your liking? Rather, what did this man do to such a pretty little thing as yourself... for you to classify him as a jerk?"

[ EXP: 215 ]

"It's okay," the man answered quickly in answer to the other spirit's apology. He did find it peculiar that she would refer to Jack as a "pest", however. It was ridiculous in the way that someone referring to a six-hundred-foot-tall mosquito as a "pest" would be. Sure, it may or may not be classified as such, but pest implied smallness or weakness. She saw Jack as anything but small or weak, especially in that big dog form of his.

Perhaps the spoken-of demon's ears were itching at this point. Who could know?

"Well, it's only natural," Iskra began casually, shifting slightly as one of the sheep bleated out in distress at the two spiritual entities before it that persisted in their presence. "He's a pride demon after all. That's the sort of thing they do... try to subjugate others to boost their egos. The key is being strong enough to stand against them."

Of course, he was basing his advice off of a single man, but it made sense, since he'd never encountered any others of that kind. "Then they fall into line and view you as a strong ally... which I suppose boosts their egos in a way too, since it takes a powerful person to maintain powerful friends at an equal level. Say, what kind of demon are you? Perhaps an angel?" He winked. From the way that she spoke of "playing", he judged that being charming and nice was the best way to gain this person as an ally.

[ EXP: 279 ]

"There are many interpretations of such a thing," the man continued on smoothly. "I'm not that well versed in the way of demons... well, other than what they tell me."

He hopped over the fence and, when he landed, picked up a nearby stick and walked back to the grassless area they stood at. "I was given my name at birth. By that I mean I was born very close to the dawn. There was a colorful piece of paper I remember. It had... strange symbols on it."

As Iskra talked, he began drawing the stick down, up, and around to replicate those he'd seen on the poster at birth. He couldn't read them. Nobody could, but the shape of them were inscribed upon his mind and heart... a call to another world.

Do you want to see

All the neon in the world

All the lasers and the fog

All the boys and the girls

Do you want to see all the neon that still around?

It's in the lights, in the fights, every single ray

Shines through everything, shines through you and me

The stick's motions came to an end and the black-haired one tilted his head at them. Every time he saw them, he felt like they said something important, but he could never know. "Maybe one day I'll find someone who can tell me what these marks mean. Surely there must be someone."

[ EXP: 256 || +1 TEXP (2nd post) ]

"Most advanced village?" He murmured airily. "Hmmm..."

After a bit of thinking, he still wasn't sure. Out of all of the villages he had seen, most of them still had the advancement of an anthill. That is, their societies were relatively advanced in structure and organization while the people themselves lived in a primitive state. It was more than could be said for most of the non-kamikanjou spirits' habitations that he'd come across. It was a real shame. Most of the demons he'd come across seemed smarter than humans, or at least knew more. One would think that if they actually organized long enough to actually put their heads together they could make some major breakthrough.

But it wasn't to be, at least for awhile. He couldn't immediately think of any demons interested in bringing together the fiends of the pit for any purpose, and the powerful entities who ruled over strips and segments of hell were themselves only interested in enriching their own lifestyle, not any kind of research.

"I'm not sure, honestly. There's only one place I haven't been. They call it Medius. Sounded like an ominous place, so I've never been there."

He pulled the stick along the ground and made a small pictograph of a monster, and beneath the monster he drew people bowed in worship and bearing sacrifices. "A powerful demon rules that city, they say... a city built right above hell." Above and behind the demon, he drew a swirling mass with cracks like tentacles. "There's a giant hole in the middle of the city. I imagine it's the shortest way to the infernal realms, a short jump and a long fall. I'm sure such a place would hold knowledgeable beings."

[ EXP: 334 || +1 TEXP (1st post) ]

"Really, now?"

The man stopped his drawings and propped his stick up against the fencepost, leaning back against the wood and folding his arms. Somehow he didn't picture the hooded demon before him as capable of escaping very much danger at all, but she seemed apt at getting into it and offending the powerful. No doubt if she'd called some powerful person there a "pest", said powerful person would be offended.

"It seems you have poor luck with men in power." He shook his head and grinned. "Quite a dangerous thing to own. I, myself, have no authority, really..."

It was false humility. He had at least one underling, and one person that she sought to make her underling one day, though for now he was only an ally.

"So perhaps you could tell me some things of Medius? As I said, I haven't been there myself, but I hear many frightening tales from the various people. Namely, I trade in lust and blood, but my business has never taken me anywhere near a place where I didn't feel I could easily escape. I hear the dense walls are like a labyrinth to anyone not from there... a trap to get lost in."

[ EXP: 229 ]

Perhaps if the man had actually been a silly human, he might have been offended, but as things were he simply took her words to mean that the land of Medius was something not unlike Barathrum Regnum, that is, a place where the strong flourished under adversity and choked out the weak like an oak tree causes the grass at its roots to shrivel and die.

The demon had no interest in Darwinism, however, except the way he instinctively despised everything weak and admired and emulated those things that were strong.

Something seemed "wrong" about such a central segment Terra being reigned by a demon, however. Somehow he thought of them as confined to the bowels of perdition. Then again, her clan ultimately came from the southern forests, but those were mostly wild spirits like herself as opposed to the kind of souls one might see in Barathrum Regnum. In those pits you saw humanoid demons who existed as the nemesis and vice of mankind: lust demons, personifications of pride, and creatures born under the banner of every sin imaginable.

He was a mere hyena.

"It sounds like an amazing place. I have no business there, however, only curiosity, and now that I hear about it, I am glad it's far away from my... emporium... a good four or five hour walk. I wouldn't want them coming upon my livestock and stealing, after all."

[ EXP: 273 ]

"Oh?" the man continued on, somewhat disinterestedly because of a single fact: human woman were relatively easy to subdue, much like kamikonjou females. Demon women were a different thing altogether. He wouldn't want to go press-ganging her into service like he would the average Terra-bound person with no plans for her life other than marriage, children, and domesticity. Onikonjou, of course, didn't have the same inhibitions as those same human women, however, so he wouldn't want to make his next implication discourage a certain type of "partnership". "Well, if you're tingling, maybe that's your heart telling you that you want in on such a thing? The building's pretty comfortable. I need to trade for some nice beds. So far I've just got mine."

He wasn't entirely sure what a red-light district was, though he was acquainted with all manner of stores and was familiar with the term "brothel". Of course, from the context, it was hard not to guess that it was some sort of synonym for the term, or perhaps a district of such buildings. He still had much to learn as far as human habits went, like how to count higher than a couple dozen.

[ EXP: 235 ]

Iskra smiled toothily, less as a threat and more of a simple, malign happiness that came to all of demonic blood when wickedness, however great or small, was afoot. It was almost a mirror of the red-hooded one's, in fact... a reciprocal gesture.

"Perhaps it is too evil for a human mind," he continued smoothly above the increasingly panicked bleating of the creatures behind him. "I got the idea when I was in the depths of the place they call Barathrum Regnum, collecting twenty-seven virgins for a dark and powerful dragon in The Deep. He taught me many things. Sometimes I feel like I'm still learning..."

For a moment, he seemed to drift off, staring up at the dark sky above before his attention came back down to the matters of the here and the now.

"This lesser spirit will be honored to have your help."

[ EXP: 172 ]

Iskra, or Iskren, since she was apparently a he for the moment, grinned, happy to have another member in her far-flung clan.

"Well, the first order of things," he said, "Is that you should tell me a little bit more about yourself. Are you accustomed to fighting, for one?" Provided Zaiaku followed, he would begin walking a little bit further away from the village as he talked. If he manifested any magic, he didn't really care for the idea of some villagers coming out, seeing the spectacle, and coming out as an angry mob determined to burn the demons or witches or whatever it was the ignorant people sometimes called them nowadays.

"It's not really a big deal if you don't know how. These things are instinctive. Even cubs have to be taught how to kill..."

It was a reference to his more bestial origins, of course, though he still wasn't completely sure if his friend had seen him in his more comfortable form. Indeed, if they began sparring as he hoped to do to test her strength, he would revert to that state.

[ EXP: 215 || +1 TEXP (1st post) ]

So she was a deceiver, not a fighter... at least that's what Iskren decided from the description of his manner of fighting. "Well, tricks can be powerful as well. Power can be more than just strength." That much the hyena demon had decided when she observed the organization of humanity and how, though they were individually rather helpless, their power came from their groups and their ability to adapt and fight as a unit.

"By this I mean, that I'd like to see some of your tricks."

As the man talked, he lowered himself down to all fours and with an almost grotesque rapidness his flesh began to churn. His spine lengthened with a resounding crack until it was several feet in length. If he had stood at this instant, he might have been about nine feet tall, but the changes lent him an instantaneous instability as his ribcage flushed out and pointed backwards, holding his organs at an angle more suited for quadrupedal motion. The shoulderblades mirrored this, falling from the back to the sides. The neck also changed angle as the head morphed, no longer bearing a humanoid visage, but that of a beast. The hair flushed out, covering many of the changes as it became short, white fur with round, black spots. The fingers and toes shortened and curled into paws as the nails became longer and narrower, pointed, yet blunt at the ends, for hyenas fought solely with their teeth.

At the end of it all, what stood on its four legs, about four feet from the ground at the shoulder and with an overall large presence to it, was a white hyena.

"Does the idea of a little spar make you uncomfortable?" she asked, her jaws unmoving as the sound seemed to generate from her head, but not her throat.

[ EXP: 351 ]

The beast paced experimentally back and forth, her head tilted to the side in curiosity as she saw the chains withdrawn. "Interesting weapon," she said with a bit of wonder in her voice. Wonder, for they seemed to use the same weapon outside of the fact that hers had blades on the end.

She wouldn't use the chain-blades this fight, however. The magical powers that the beast possessed within herself were enough.

Yes, it was true that she'd make much the same mistake as her pride demon friend did. That is, she wasn't planning to go all-out against Zaiaku, but simply because she didn't want to expend too much energy. Danger could pop up at any moment, and if it did, she wanted to be able to adequately defend both her own person and the person of her new friend.

So for her opening spell, she chose something somewhat gradual. Namely, she murmured out a few grumbled chuckles with the comment, "Transforming doesn't hurt much, actually. It's a dead feeling."

Like a charmed snake, tendrils of magical energy began to circle the hyena, writhing like ghosts imbued with the pain of every prey animal she'd ever feasted upon. The prey of an animal assaulted by a clan of hyenas was greater than the pain from a lion kill or even a pack of wolves, for the hyena was distinct among carnivores for its tendency to kill its victims by swallowing great hunks of flesh off of the still-living creature. The horde never really struck a decisive, killing blow.

This pain was contained in the spirit symbols as they funneled themselves forward in a focused cloud speeding straight for the other demon.

[ EXP: 327 ]

Actions:
> Used Malady [Mastered]: Dark - STE (3) [Poison] (Abnormal Spell Movement)
> Sta: -23
> HP: 100

Iskra had no sensing abilities outside of her unusually sensitive ability to detect and discern between scents, and she had no prior experience with psionics or the power of suggestion.

Thus, she could only conclude that the request was an insult arising from the pain that the other demon no doubt felt.

She also lacked a witty retort to such a statement, so she satisfied herself with another chuckle. "The grass I piss on has better insults, but nice try."

It seemed like a good enough opportunity to practice her less deadly spells. She had no way of knowing that Zaiaku couldn't fight back much, but she'd witnessed the demon retreating from a fight with Jack, and she knew she could beat Jack. Generally, not holding ones ground made the other party appear weak to her, and this gave her confidence as she moved forwards a bit.

"I usually only do this to males, but I want to see what its effect on a woman would be? Are you ready?"

Without really waiting for an answer, the woman growled out a few syllables. Confusion filled the air as a similar ability to her last one went forth. An influence gathered at her mouth, curling like smoke from a dragon's mouth as she uttered the vile words upon the air. The magical gas focused itself at length and funneled towards the woman.

If it worked, she would simply cease to be a woman, instead changing into a man of some description. It wasn't a skill Iskra was practiced at, but she thought now would be the best time to try it.

[ EXP: 305 || +1 TEXP (5th post) ]

> Actions: Used Dysphoria
:: > Support - BND (3), SHP (2)
:: > Changes the gender of target
> Sta: -53
> HP: 100

Iskra shook her head for a moment at the insistence of her new underling on using the same insult... that is, until actually bashing her head up against one of the nearby trees seemed like a viable option for a fleeting moment...

Wait. She shook her head again, snorting in consternation. That was ridiculous! What trickery was this?

Her will broke the influence of the skill when she realized what it was trying to get her to do, and the hardest part of it all was disallowing herself from growing angry at the prospect of this person trying to make her look ridiculous. It really was fair for Zaiaku to try, and if she could almost convince the hyena demon to go bashing her head up against an object, then she might be able to convince her enemies to sample the bark of the trees with their foreheads as well.

"Ah, now I see what you're doing," she growled, a grin on her face. "But it's not going to work."

Once again, she chanted and the words seemed to spill over the side of her jaws as she prepared the gender-swapping spell once more.

[ EXP: 215 ]

> Actions:
:: > Used Power of Will (Perfected) to break bind
:: > Used Dysphoria again
> STA: -90
> HP: 100

Iskra's thoughts wrote:

I wonder if this is why Jack was upset at her that time I found them in the clearing with his head in her lap Maybe he succumbed temporarily to some spell like this that told him to do that I wonder if I could learn this type of thing Maybe I could learn it from eating her Well I can't really eat her because she's in my clan now I'll have to just find one like her and I'll definitely have to teach her to fight better Those tricks are pretty interesting but I'm not going to be that impressed yet She needs to learn to defend herself from demons of my caliber Let me try this spell again Why isn't it working? It worked perfectly well when I raped Yuki Raping Yuki was fun I should do it again sometime Then again that would make him pretty upset I imagine imagery from Yuki's rape Then again I guess that was wrong to do but he never swore allegiance to me so that means anything's liable to happen to him That was my territory he was infringing upon anyways

This time, Iskra had no way to know that the woman before her was infringing upon her mind again with her magical influence, though if she'd been aware her will might have broken the effects.

"That one's a bit better, more ominous, maybe, but you could try to make it sound a bit scarier."

The hyena chuckled again and prepared the spell, but first she decided to lay down. After all, she didn't need to be standing up to cast the spells, and trying repeatedly tired her out, even if none of the magic seemed to be working correctly. Had the poison worn off yet? She tilted her head to the side and looked at the hooded demon, trying to detect signs of pain. It seemed as if her influence had worn off.

An icy blue mist enveloped her form as she chanted, and a few more seconds passed before she could try the gender-swapping spell again.

Iskra's thoughts wrote:

I hope it works this time

Iskra tilted her head to the side and squinted. Somehow a man in that outfit looked absolutely ridiculous. It was like seeing a rottweiler in a pink tutu. Then again, she wasn't sure what exactly she expected on actually connecting with the spell.

Yet, her curiosity was satisfied and she had tired herself out with the efforts while sustaining absolutely no damage. She'd seen all she needed to see.

"Very good," the hyena began. "I'm satisfied, though I would recommend you learn at least one pain-inducing move if we part ways and meet again... or at least make that odd suggestion trick stronger." As she shifted back to human form, she laughed, a smile breaking out across her face. "But it's really no big deal. You've got a lot of potential."

She walked forward and jabbed her hand out for a shake. Long ago, she'd learned that sniffing genitals wasn't really an... acceptable way to greet non-hyenas or exchange identity information, but then again, she knew that before she really left her clan. Different species had different ways of greeting one another, and humans were unique in having hands in much the same way that her kind were unique in having a strong sense of smell. "When you're back to normal, we can begin. I want to show you the building."

[ EXP: 262 ]

The woman shook her new friend's hand eagerly, still grinning and pleased with her ability to use another species's form of greeting. The gesture still seemed peculiar to her, however. Her eyes fell to the tattoo on the other person's wrist. "It's actually a pretty complex spell," she began casually, thinking over the effects that she'd experimented with over time. "I can only force you to remain in the form a short while. When my influence breaks, you simply will yourself back to your old form and it happens."

There was something about that chain design that tugged at the back of her mind, and when she'd let go of the shake, the hyena demon put a hand against her chin. This was the form she'd used when first meeting this particular person down by the lake on the way to hell, so she'd met this one before, and yet she still felt like this person might be closer to her life than she originally suspected. Rather, it seemed as though she kept running into the same people repeatedly. "Do you mind me asking you about that mark on your wrist?"

Markings were usually significant, after all. "I have a friend with marks, and they convey a particular power."

[ EXP: 241 || +1 TEXP (2nd post) ]

"Odd..." Iskra said aloud hesitantly, though she wasn't exactly sure why something about the chain seemed to resonate with her. "I don't think I see many tattoos. It's something my kind don't do often since we have, well, you know..." the demon pointed to her characteristically marked hair. "I have a friend with magic tattoos all over his body... a barbarian from the village of the moon. In fact..."

Her hand went to her chin again. She hadn't spoken to Lethe in awhile. No doubt her servant had gotten much accomplished with his time... more than Iskra probably had. It was important that she stay in close touch with him and ensure that he didn't have any sort of tribute to give her. Every little bit helped towards her goal.

"I actually need to go see him. I plan to stop by the building that I'm making into the brothel first, however. Do you wish to see it?"

Rarely did the hyena offer to show people her home, as it was precious to her and she didn't want to risk an attack. Zaiaku's promise to help bred trust, however.

[ EXP: 215 ]