“So let me get this straight,” I said wearily, rubbing my temples to stave off a headache. “You two used to be human, until a chance encounter with this magical book transformed you both into tiny purple demon gremlins.”

“Imps!” Skye corrected me, flitting around the room. Her feet hadn’t so much as touched the ground in the hour we’d been talking, and she seemed to have a limitless supply of energy. “And to be precise, I’m the only one the tome transformed. Zuliva followed suit via the transitive power of imp fucking!”

“Ugh,” Zuliva groaned, sitting on the ground with her legs crossed. “I knew I’d regret that turn of phrase. I’m never going to live it down.”

“Trans- Transi-… what?” I asked incredulously.

“Transitive power of imp fucking!” Skye responded with a giggle, while Zuliva planted her face in her hands. “In other words, we had sex.”

“You… you wha…” I stammered. “But you’re both…”

“Both what? Girls?” Skye said with feigned indignation. “We’re demons, so who cares if a girl wants to love another girl? The Church can bite me.”

Ayem, who was still hiding behind me, let out a little peep of protest. “You can’t just… SAY that!”

Zuliva spread her fingers and stared at us through them. “And why can’t we?”

“It’s… heresy…” Ayem whisper-responded.

Skye wiped her brow in mock horror. “Oh NOOOOO! Not HERESY! Whatever will we DO, Zuliva? We’re HERETICS!”

“We have no choice but to exile ourselves in shame,” Zuliva said flatly. “We’ll have to make for the polar tropics. Maybe the Screaming Forest would take in disgraced curs such as ourselves.”

“Okay, okay, point made,” I said bitterly, a bit miffed they were picking on Ayem. I protectively folded my arms around him. “You can at least understand why we’re a little apprehensive.”

Skye’s expression softened as she orbited around us. “Well, yes, I do understand. We were both apprehensive as well when this first happened to us. That said, we’re much happier this way! Especially me, considering the transformation also swapped my gender!”

There was a pause, and both me and Ayem stared at her curiously. She chuckled and flipped her hair dramatically. “Oh, I thought that part might interest you. Yes, gentle readers, I was born as a human boy. Now I’m an imp girl, and it’s an upgrade in every way.”

“You… I… the tome can do that?!” I asked, perhaps a bit too loudly.

“Oh yes, it most certainly can. And what’s more, it seems to find its way to people who might find that concept… intriguing?”

“Liberating,” Zuliva added.

I looked at Ayem, whose eyes were wide… but with curiosity this time instead of terror. “They’re saying we could…” he whispered.

“Yeah…” I echoed. “And there’d be nothing stopping us from…” My hold around him tightened, and I felt his body melt against mine. “We could finally…”

“But it would mean throwing away everything…” he protested weakly.

“I mean, you could always hang with us!” Skye offered. “We’re way less stuffy than those Church folks. And if you two want to finally act on that thick romantic tension that you constantly radiate, we’d be fully supportive!”

“We’re not- ” I began to protest, before looking down at Ayem’s red-flushed face and realizing it was pointless. “Where would we even stay? This Creation Hall wouldn’t be safe.”

Zuliva pointed to the book. “Inside there, obviously. It’s where we’ve been living for the past century.”

“Yup!” Skye added. “We impify you two into girls, you smooch and do all the things you’ve been wanting to, and we add a couple of healer-trained imps to our number!” Skye said enthusiastically. “And then you can go heal folks in the slums, for free, without the overbearing Church trying to stop you. It’s a win-win for everyone!”

“This is… a lot…” I muttered. “Can we have some time to think about it? Privately?”

Skye shrugged. “Sure, whatever you need. We’re not here to force you, just to extend the offer. If we get too pushy, I’m sure our patron would give us a good long scolding.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Your patron? The author of the book?”

Skye nodded. “Yup, the almighty Goddess of Entropy, Sk-”

She was interrupted by the loud noise of rapping against the door, followed by tense shouting. “VRAIDEN, OPEN UP! THE HIGH BREEDER WANTS TO SEE YOU IMMEDIATELY!”

I felt my blood turn cold. Zuliva sprang to her feet and pulled a bow and arrow out of hammerspace, while Skye’s expression twisted into a frown and her hands glowed with indigo mana.

“Well, it seems you might need to make a decision sooner rather than later. So, Versyn and Ayem, what’s it going to be?”

I paced back and forth, absentmindedly tugging on my own hair as I felt my stomach twist in knots. The banging at the door made it hard to think, so I was impulsive in my decision.

“I'll calm the High Breeder down. I’ll act the part of a good little Priest and take the heat off us, then we can discuss this in more detail.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Skye asked skeptically.

“I really can’t recommend it,” Zuliva added. “Egotistical people in power who feel like that power is threatened often lash out disproportionately.”

“He’s hit me before, and I endured it,” I said, rubbing my cheek. “I’m tough.”

“Not tough enough to fight back if he summons the guards,” Zuliva added, her eyes glinting.

“Versyn, you don’t have to do this…” Ayem fretted, wringing his hands in worry.

I placed my hand on his shoulder and smiled as reassuringly as I could. “Don’t worry. It will be fine.”

******

I thought I had made the right decision, but after a few minutes of being yelled at by the High Breeder, I began to second-guess myself.

“So, Vraiden, you decided to ignore my warning,” he scowled, tapping his fingers impatiently on his oversized, ostentatious desk. He was trying his hardest to seem stern, which was equal parts ridiculous and terrifying; ridiculous because he had the manner of a bloviating tinpot dictator, especially dwarfed by his desk, and terrifying because I knew he had the bureaucratic power to utterly destroy me if he wanted.

Or did he? For the first time in my life, I had options.

“Once again you extended charitable healing to someone in defiance of MY WILL,” he continued, face twisted in impotent rage. “And you did it here, in the sanctity of the Creation Hall itself! Vraiden, your disobedience has gone on LONG ENOUGH!”

I knew that if I simply kept my mouth shut, acted demure, and answered with “Yes sir” where appropriate, this would go down with the minimum amount of pain possible. Just a bit of ego-stroking and the High Breeder would let the matter go after spewing his piece. For some reason, however, I wasn’t particularly in the mood for that old routine. My eyes had been opened by tome and imps alike, and the longer I sat here being yelled at by this ridiculous man, the more I felt like I was wasting my time.

“Why am I even doing this?” I wondered aloud. My rationalization of a few moments ago, that I’d somehow find a way to calm the High Breeder down, had completely fallen apart. There was no reasoning with this fool.

“Excuse me? Are you even listening to me?” the High Breeder huffed.

“Not really,” I answered back absentmindedly, while running over the day’s events in my head.

There was a clattering as the High Breeder rose to his feet, sending his chair toppling backwards onto the floor. “What did you just say?! Vraiden, you’ve always been disrespectful, but this is a whole new level! When I speak, you will LISTEN TO ME! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

I rolled my eyes. “Sure. I’ll listen when you say something worth listening to.”

He smashed his fist on his desk, clearly trying to frighten me, but I didn’t flinch. I’d spent my whole life being afraid of this egotistical chud, and I’d had enough.

“This is a waste of my time,” I said, turning around to leave. “Goodbye.”

“I DIDN’T SAY YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE!” he screeched, storming around his desk and trying to grab my arm. I smoothly sidestepped, and his movement carried him forward into a half-stumble. I looked at the pitiful man, trying desperately to regain his balance, only for him to trip on the hem of his own robes and clatter to the ground.

“Fuck you,” I said, and kicked him in the side.

“GUARDS!” he yelped. “GUARDS! VRAIDEN IS ATTACKING ME!”

“You attacked me first, you miserable little man,” I responded, kicking him again for good measure. “I have the bruises to prove it. And by the way? My name isn’t Vraiden. It’s VERSYN.”

“And that’s our cue!” rang out a sonorous voice. There was a spurt of black lightning and a double thunderclap, and the imp tome appeared floating in midair. It splayed its pages open, and Skye came charging out with Zuliva right behind her. Skye quickly threw up a barrier on the door just as the guards began to pound at it, while Zuliva pulled out a comically oversized hammer, three times larger than herself, and whacked the High Breeder on the noggin. He lapsed into unconsciousness with a pitiful moan.

The satisfaction of watching the source of so much pain in my life crumpled into an unconscious heap was quickly drowned out by the persistent banging on the door. “Why are you here?” I asked the imps, although I already knew the answer.

“Ayem was worried and asked us to keep an eye on things,” Skye answered. “He’s such a sweet little thing, fretting about your safety.”

My heart warmed, and I involuntarily let out a dreamy sigh. “Oh, Ayem. I should have known. It’s time for us to go, I take it?”

Zuliva nodded. “Ayem’s already inside. Hop in.” Obligingly, the portal in the book widened, now large enough to accommodate a human. She dove in ahead of me, and I followed behind, clenching my teeth. Before jumping in, I looked back at Skye, who was hovering over the unconscious High Breeder and funneling yellow mana into his body.

“What are you doing?” I asked her.

“Just a little imp trick,” she responded, breaking out into a malevolent grin. “I’m going to make sure he never harms anyone ever again. Now hop to, I’ll be right behind you.”

I shrugged, squeezed my eyes shut, and dove into the tome.

******

I couldn’t help giggling as the other end of the portal spat me out. The inside of the tome was, apparently, a cozy room with a vaulted ceiling, bookshelves along three of the walls and filled with overstuffed chairs and sofas. Ayem sprang out from one of these chairs and dashed towards me, a look of worry on his face, only for that worry to morph into confusion as I doubled over in mirth.

“Versyn? Are you okay?” he asked.

I responded by pulling him into a tight hug and planting a big smooch on his lips. His face flowered into the most beautiful shade of bright red.

“V-V-Versyn?” he stammered after I pulled away from the kiss.

“We’re free, Ayem!” I gushed.

“What? How-”

“I told the High Breeder to go fuck himself.”

Ayem looked at me in shock. “Wait, really?”

“Yup! Then I kicked him… twice! Hoo boy, that felt really good!”

Ayem’s shock turned to admiration. “You kicked him?”

“After that I hit him over the head with a hammer,” Zuliva added matter-of-factly. “I would say that makes your separation from the Church official.”

“Which means I’m free to do this!” I exclaimed, planting another big smooch on Ayem’s lips.

“Th-Th-That’s…” Ayem stammered, face glowing brighter than the Red Moon, “that’s p-pretty good, I’ll admit.”

“Should I do it some more, then?” I asked teasingly. His eager nod quickly lead to another round of kissing… although it was cut short by the arrival of Skye, who flew through the portal while dusting off her hands.

“Wow, that didn’t take long!” she said, smirking as she looked at Ayem and me entangled. “You two want some privacy, or…?”

“Actually,” I said, pulling away from Ayem a bit, “I think I’d like to become a demon now. A demon girl, please.”

Ayem stared at me, surprised. “So soon? I thought you wanted to think this over more?”

I shook my head. “No, I’ve had a revelation. I realized while I was in the High Breeder’s office that if I kept making excuses and putting this off, I’d be stuck in a rut for the rest of my life. It’s time for us to be bold, Ayem. It’s time for us to secure our happiness, like the tome says. Gods and Church be damned.”

Ayem looked at me with a mix of admiration and trepidation, and clenched his fists. “This is a big change, but… I-If you’re doing it, I want to as well…” 

Skye nodded. “And since we presumably won’t be doing this the transitive way…” She snapped her fingers and the portal into the physical world closed, revealing a bookstand holding a pristine copy of the imp tome.

“Hang on. Aren’t we inside the tome right now?” I said, staring in confusion.

“Yup, but the tome is also inside itself,” Skye said breezily. “Don’t bother trying to figure it out; I spent three years on it with nothing to show but a splitting headache, and I’m a professional scholar. When Gods get involved, the rules of reality twist around awfully quick.”

I looked over to the tome, which was open to seemingly blank pages. “What do I…”

“Just read,” Skye responded, motioning us to step forwards.

Ayem and I did as instructed, approaching the book gingerly just in case it decided to suddenly start levitating, or bite us, or do anything else unnatural. It, however, remained motionless. As we stared at its blank pages, ink swirled around and formed letters.

“Hello, Versyn and Ayem. Congratulations on your escape from the Church. Now, without further ado, would you like to become demons?”

I looked at Ayem, and he nodded. Then I swallowed and looked back.

“Yeah. We would.”

“Very good. See you in the morning.”

Quite suddenly, we both lost consciousness.

******

I’m not sure what I was expecting a demonic transformation to be like. Scary? Painful? Tingling? I was blacked out for the entire thing, so I honestly don’t have an answer. The first thing I do remember after waking up is… euphoria.

I was splayed out on one of the overstuffed sofas, and the magelights in the room had been dimmed to a twilight level. Across from me was Zuliva, who was snoring lightly with a book in her lap. I mulled over whether to wake her up, or move quietly so as not to disturb… and all those thoughts vanished the moment I looked down at my body.

I was stark-naked and swimming in robes that, a few hours (days?) ago had fit me perfectly… but were now draped across my body like a blanket, far too large to be usable as clothing anymore. Under that was supple purple skin, completely hairless and soft to the touch. As I poked my arm with my finger, I let out a gasp at the vividity of the sensation. My sense of touch seemed magnified.

Looking down, well. As expected, I had medium-sized breasts, and as expected, I cupped one in each hand and played with them for a while. I don’t know how long, exactly, but when I looked back up… Zuliva was awake and staring at me with a sardonic, amused smirk.

Suddenly feeling quite bashful, I tried to swaddle myself in my ex-clothes… only for them to catch on one of my horns, which seemed to erupt straight up from my forehead and zig-zag slightly before reaching a pointed tip. “G-Good morning…” I said sheepishly, only to gasp in excited surprise; the melodic sound of my voice shot another spurt of euphoria through my nerves. “I was just, uh…”

“No explanation required,” Zuliva said. “You’re showing more restraint than Skye did when she first got her forever body.”

Now that piqued my interest. “What did she…”

“Take a wild guess.”

It didn’t take me long to figure that one out. “Oh.”

“‘Oh’ indeed.” She sighed heavily. “Why don’t you wake up your lovebird and I’ll rustle you up some breakfast real quick. I’m sure h… they will be just as excited as you.”

As she left the main library-room for the attached kitchen, I searched around in the swaddling for Ayem. Sure enough my dearest friend (and more) was curled up against my side, still dozing lightly, and sure enough the imp glo-up had done wonders.

Ayem had the same purple skin as me, and short-cropped, perfectly coiffed dark purple hair that hung down to the shoulders. Small-ish horns, about half as large as Zuliva’s and pointed straight upwards, framed the face. Beneath that, large, pronounced breasts (twice as big as my own) and thick thighs completed a wonderfully curvy figure with a bit of paunch around the waist, garnished by a pair of batlike wings and a prehensile, spaded tail. Whereas human Ayem had been tall, thin and gangly, imp Ayem was short, chubby and curvy.

Although, one little detail stuck with me.

As Ayem blearily blinked awake, eyes filling with affectionate wonder as they drank in my new body, I couldn’t resist asking about the obvious.

“Good morning. We seem to have turned into imps as expected,” I said, a bit warily.

“Yeah,” Ayem responded. “Is something wrong? You seem apprehensive.”

Able to see right through me, as usual. “It’s not, it’s just… you uh… still have your… you know…”

Ayem looked down, then back up. “Ah, yeah. That’s not surprising.”

I raised an eyebrow. “It isn’t?”

“No. I’ve always wanted a body that was thicker and more feminine… but not necessarily a girl’s body, if that makes sense? I dunno, I've never really felt like a boy or a girl. More like… I dunno...” In that moment they seemed very vulnerable, almost as if they thought that admission would cause me to reject them. I responded by pulling them into a tight hug.

“It seems like we both wound up with the bodies we want, huh?” I said gently, resting my chin on the top of their head.

“Yeah,” they whispered back. “You’re… okay with this?”

“Of course I am,” I said, squeezing them tightly. “I love you, Ayem, and those feelings are only stronger now that I’m free to express them.”

“I’m so…” they managed, their eyes welling up with tears of joy. “I’m so h-happy to hear you say that!”

We sat for a while, enjoying each other’s warmth, as Zuliva cooked breakfast in the next room over.

******

“Non-binary?” I asked as I chomped down on a forkful of pancakes.

Skye nodded, sipping her coffee; mealtime was about the only time she wasn’t constantly flying around. “The Church thinks in binary terms, remember? They shove everything into neat little categories to suit their backwards moralizing. Good and evil, saint and sinner, male and female, angel and demon. Every single one of those is a lie or oversimplification. There are plenty of folks out there who don’t correspond to either male or female, and the demons call that ‘non-binary.’”

“There are… others like me, in the Demon Realm?” Ayem said in wonderment.

“Loads!” Skye responded. “Bear in mind I’ve never actually been to the Demon Realm, but I’ve got tons of demonic books in the library!”

“I’d… I think I’d like to go there…” Ayem said dreamily.

“That might be a problem,” Zuliva said, pointing at Ayem with a fork. “The border used to be pretty porous a century ago, but the construction of the Anti-Demon Wall makes it hard to get in or out of the Realm.”

“And the tome can only teleport short distances,” Skye added. “A few hundred meters at most. Perfect for escaping from a High Breeder’s office, but useless for long-distance travel.”

“Actually, that reminds me. You were doing something distinctly magical to the High Breeder before we escaped. What exactly did you do?”

Skye grinned conspiratorially. “You really wanna know? I left a scrying focus behind in his office, so we can take a peek.”

******

It took the guards nearly ten hours to break through the force field Skye cast over the door; the girl was no slouch when it came to spellcraft, that’s for sure. The sound of the door shattering thundered through the room, and as guards charged in they stared at the Breeder’s robes, collapsed to the floor and empty, with confusion.

Well, nearly empty. There was a soft rustling as the collar of the robes shifted to reveal… a tiny, naked pixie, who looked around in confusion.

The guards recoiled back, pointing their weapons at the two-inch-tall creature. “DEMON!” they cried out.

“Wh-What?” the pixie said, his bright blue hair whipping all over as he looked around frantically. “I’m not… why is everything so big? What happ-” His words cut off as he looked down at himself, and reached around to feel his dragonfly-like wings. “What the FUCK?”

“What did you do with the High Breeder?” one of the guards growled. “Speak, demon!”

“No! NO NO NO! I’m not a demon! I’m the High Breeder!” the pixie insisted, his adorably tiny voice failing to impress his point upon the guards.

“Enough with your lies, demon! You have ten seconds to answer!” The guard made a stabbing motion, and the pixie jumped up into the air in a panic. As if by muscle memory alone, his wings buzzed and he zoomed through the air. The guards tried to stab him, but any career soldier will tell you swords and spears don’t make terribly effective flyswatters.

And so, in a panic, the pixie flew out the window and far away from Mesonida, towards an uncertain future.

******

“I feel kind of bad for him…” Ayem mumbled, watching on Skye’s conjured spellscreen as the desperate and confused pixie darted off towards the horizon.

“Don’t,” I responded icily. “He was a jerk. Maybe he’ll use this drastic life change as a chance to become a better person, or maybe he’ll get eaten by a hawkbat. Either way, he got what’s coming to him.”

“Consider it restorative justice,” Skye added, “doubly so if he takes the chance to change his ways.”

“More to the point,” Zuliva added, “you two should worry about your own futures. You’re free to do what you like now. So what will you make of your lives?”

I tapped my chin. “Hmm. Most importantly? I want to smooch and cuddle Ayem a whole lot.”

That drew a giggle from Skye, and a firm affirmative nod from Ayem. “M-Me too…” they said shyly, blushing once more.

“Secondly, I want to learn more about the author of this tome, the mysterious Goddess.”

“Hrm…” Skye said thoughtfully. “I can tell you what I learned from my books, but I think you might be in a better position to learn than me. She seems to have taken a liking to you, and I suspect she may make you one of her official Priestesses.”

I grinned. “I’d like that very much. And third…” I paused for dramatic effect, and the three other imps at the table leaned forwards obligingly.

“Third, and most important of all… I want to help people.”