“What do you mean, not normal?” Kalia puzzled. “Is there even such a thing?”

 

“I mean completely impossible. Not once has one of my scions, or any demon to my knowledge for that matter, reported feeling a sensation of warmth at any time other than feeding.” The shadow explained frantically. “Even fully satiated, they would just feel, well, normal.”

 

“Well it can’t be impossible.” Kalia huffed, brushing off the shadow’s concern. “I’m feeling it right now.”

 

As the shadow held its chin in thought, Kalia began to get dressed. She wiped away the dried and darkened blood from her hand with a cloth and slid her arms through the sleeves of a half-toga, tying the belt high on her waist.

 

“You said that the heat was gentle, right? How does it compare the act of feeding itself?” The shadow asked.

 

“Well, I guess it’s not at all as overwhelming. As you can tell, I’m still able to focus on other stuff.” Kalia said, wiping semen from her thighs and crotch with the other side of the cloth.

 

“Y’see, that should also be impossible. The heat is the feeling of satisfaction that comes with feeding, and you can’t be half-eating something. It’s that you either are or are not.” The shadow child reckoned.

“Was there anything else that would be comparable to the feeling at all?

 

Now it was Kalia’s turn to puzzle, attempting to draw memories out of her still-frazzled mind.

 

“I had other things to focus on at the time, but I guess I felt a little warm while I was fucking the blondie. I mean, I had him inside me and he was quite warm.” She said.

 

“So the feeling is closest to when there was a source in very close proximity to you then?” The shadow asked, it’s voice wavering slightly. “So, in physical, intimate contact, right?”

 

“I suppose so. How is that…” Kalia's sentence stopped partway as she placed her hand on her skin over the source of the heat. It was just slightly below her navel.

 

Kalia gulped.

“Oh no. Nope. No way. That’s impossible…” She trailed off, still holding her hand to her stomach.

 

“Yes! That’s exactly what I’ve been saying!” The shadow yelled. “Everything you’ve been describing just now has been so far outside the normal that I’ve been beginning to suspect that something might have gone wrong with your transformation. No demon in history has ever been able to reproduce!”

 

“Pregnant…” Kalia whispered, not acknowledging a word that the shadow had said.

 

“Are you even listening to me? This. Is. Not. Possible! Now get yourself together and let’s just think this through.” The shadow stated sternly.

 

“R- Right… So what is it that makes this so hard to believe?” Kalia asked unsteadily. “This has got to be Life Creation, hasn’t it?”

 

“No… life creation was an ability I used to have before I transferred it to Hel. But that isn’t even remotely how I used it.” The shadow began.

 

“Why, how is it supposed to work?” Kalia asked frantically.

 

“I really shouldn’t tell you. Your skills are going to be much easier to use if you figure them out yourself. The shadow hesitated.

 

“Yea- I think we’re a little past that at this point! I just need to know what’s happening!” Kalia exclaimed.

 

“In its simplest form my blood would gather into a small jinn when spilled intentionally. I could also sculpt and animate imps and mare from the soil in the underworld. Anything more advanced, like Hel, would take considerable time and care.” The shadow explained.

 

“Ah. That’s kinda… not exactly… what came to mind for me…” Kalia admitted sheepishly. “Y’know, when someone hears something like life creation, I think it would be pretty natural to think of something like, uhhh… this…”

 

“Mm-hm. Anyways, the most unbelievable part of this whole ordeal is that whatever is growing inside you has a warm soul. I don’t know exactly what was going through your subconsciousness that would have caused this, but I have never succeeded  in creating a warm-souled demon myself. Ever. This is all unknown territory to me.” The shadow said. “I’m used to thralls, familiars

 

“Wait, are you suggesting that I have… No, no. I didn’t want this. I mean, I value my own freedom and authority too much, there’s no way I’d want a kid!” Kalia exclaimed. “I didn’t even think that I could get pregnant, since my bleeding ranged from once a week to a 5 month dry spell! Back then I totally thought that I must have been-”

 

“Yeah, unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. It’s what you think, not what you want. And you’re right, looking at it from a human’s perspective I suppose it makes sense why this happened.” The shadow admitted. “Reproduction and things related to it do make up a fair portion of a human's thoughts. You can surely attest to that.”

 

“It’s ‘cause you had to fuck around with that whole ‘mind list’ thing!” Kalia accused the shadow with an outstretched finger. “You couldn’t have just made up a riddle like every other creepy monster, or god forbid it; have just told me?”

 

“For crying out loud, I was just trying to foster your growth! It’s better for you in the long run anyway when the ability is already tangential to what you’re good at” The shadow said.

 

“Fu- I’M GOOD AT OTHER THINGS!” Kalia objected loudly. “I haven’t been unsuccessful as a merc. I’ve had loads of jobs!”

 

“Oh you’ve had loads of something alright. Being a mercenary barely occupies your thoughts a tenth of the time. The rest is all alcohol and genitalia. Maybe it’s about time for you to be responsible for once, hmm?” The shadow nagged.

 

“Aw fuck you, Satan. Your goal is to seed the world with evil or some shit. Isn’t plain old lust supposed to be like, the least bad of the sins? I’m an angel compared to you.” Kalia said.

 

“Accurate. I’ve met plenty of angels before and most of them are just as fucking naive as you are.” The shadow child laughed.

“Anyway, throwing insults around won’t change this situation. Whatever is growing inside of you right now is a complete wildcard. It may even just be an ordinary human for all I know. That would explain the soul’s warmth.”

 

Kalia wanted to keep arguing. She wanted to yell at the shadow, the devil, who had just uprooted her life. It hadn’t even been a day and yet so much had changed.

But realistically, what could she do? She was basically a child again, at the mercy of a parent that obviously had some sort of ulterior motive in raising her.

At least it wanted to raise her, right?

She chuckled awkwardly at the prospect she had come up with.

Now she was most likely going to be a parent as well, even though she knew practically nothing about her new world to begin with.

 

Kalia reached over to her mirror again and grabbed it to take another look at her face.

 

Her wrinkles were gone. Her eyes no longer had bags under them. Even her hair seemed darker, and Kalia realized that she must have been going gray already.

 

She checked to make sure that the tiny horns on her head were properly hidden under her hair, and then she put the mirror down. 

 

The pregnancy, while surprising, did not unsettle Kalia as much as it rightly should have. Perhaps she was just already overloaded with too much other shit at the moment, but 9 whole months felt like an eternity compared to everything that had just happened. It almost felt relieving to have a problem that she didn’t need to deal with immediately.

 

“Alright.” Kalia whispered to herself.

 

She finished dressing herself in simple town clothes and began to repack her rucksack. Glancing over to her leather armor heaped in a corner of the room, she placed a hand on her belly as she realized that she wouldn’t be able to wear it for much longer.

 

“I know you had always planned on abandoning your party once you got to the point where your condition was noticeable.” The shadow revealed.

“Suffice to say I think you should stick to that plan.”

 

“I don’t want to abandon my friends. I’ll find a way to make this work.” Kalia said, 

 

“Oh you’ll be forced to leave them sooner or later, trust me. That woman; Angela, loathes anythone that doesn’t fit in her rigid guidelines of what is and isn’t ‘human’. I could practically taste her hatred when you ran into those elves.” The shadow said.

“And the oaf will spill any secret he finds to anyone within the same building as him.”

 

“You're still nascent, remember?” It continued.

“You won’t be able to disguise your unearthly status properly for quite a while. Your horns will grow in and your aura will develop faster than your skill in hiding them, and you’ll be found if you try to participate in their society at all.”

 

“Oh, and I suppose this is the whole ‘whispering doubt and temptation in your ear’ thing that I’ve heard so much about. To think that you’d even do it to your own kind.” Kalia nagged.

 

“I’m just trying to help you out, Hel. Remember that neither of us can lie.” The shadow repeated as Kalia neared the end of her packing.

“It’s just a warning.”

 

The devil was not what Kalia had expected. Sure, she could predict the urge to kill and cannibalize, and it being a shadowy figure wasn’t too far off of the monster that it was touted as being.

But temperament was another thing entirely.

It was friendly, if mischievous, speaking openly and clearly about whatever it wanted.

And its temptations did not come in the form of lies.

Its words would linger with Kalia because she knew that they had to be true.

 

She knew that Davy would accept her no matter what, but it was also true that he was notoriously loose-lipped. Who knows who he could leak the information to without even realizing it?

Angela was out as well, obviously. Kalia knew that she had some sort of history with vampires and utterly detested them because of it. A demon would just be more of the same to her.

 

And Codrin. 

It was a strange thing to say, but Kalia didn’t know all that much about her brother.

He was reserved, the type of person who would rather stay quiet than talk about themselves. Sure, they got along just fine, but they were not close. No one was close to Codrin. Despite his fishy name, Kalia felt like her brother acted most like a crow; a wild animal who only existed on the outskirts of human society. He would perch somewhere nearby, say something occasionally, take the things you offered and offer his own gifts back. 

But you could not get close to him, you could not touch him, and he could not hold a conversation with you.

 

And yet he still seemed to hold onto the mentality that his little sister didn’t need to deal with the messier aspects of the world.The paperwork, the screw ups, the angry spouses created by drunken encounters. Codrin dealt with them all without being asked and without complaining.

 

The crow would eat Kalia’s trash, and he even seemed to enjoy it.

Regardless of his acceptance of Kalia’s new unholy self, he would surely never cease in attempting to try and help her in one way or another; no matter her own wishes. It was an aspect of him that Kalia found endlessly annoying.

 

Yes, Kalia knew that she would have to leave her friends behind sometime very soon, but that finality seemed to make things simpler. While dramatically accelerated, her aging had still been slow enough to fly under the gaze of those who saw her every day.

Disregarding the pregnancy, her demonic transformation would be much harder to hide, and apparently it wasn't even over yet.

 

Since she didn’t know how much longer she had until it became outwardly visible, Kalia felt like she now had a timer running. She had to put her affairs in order right now. She had to come up with a plan for her future right now. She had money to gather, research to do, and people to say goodbye to all before her body changed into something that might be unmistakably inhuman.

 

And once she was ready, she’d turn to the next page in her life. A new one without the looming threat of a premature ending.

She just needed to hide this for a few short weeks.

 

…

 

The ninth freight dock was never used in autumn. Undesirable as the furthest mooring spot from the main warehouses, there simply wasn’t enough traffic in the off-seasons to back the port up enough to require its use.

For Codrin, it was the one place he could get to without leaving Fort Ettene that would provide him with some relief from his gift.

 

He could still hear the bustle of the city in the distance of course, but it was quiet enough that relaxation was not entirely impossible. The louder sounds like the clap of sudden pain, the squeal of hostility, or the monotonous droning of stress would still carry on the wind out this far and beyond. It was far from a perfect spot, especially considering its availability depended whether or not it was cold out.

 

So Codrin took a gulp of his tea and had a puff from his pipe, and he pulled his bison coat just a bit tighter around himself in an effort to grasp every sliver of comfort within reach; even if he knew it wouldn’t last. 

 

Codrin knew that there was something wrong with his sister.

He could hear it, and it was deafening.

 

For the past few months she had been growing more and more anxious about something. The sound of would scratch at his ears like hundreds of insects, made all the worth because of how familiar her normal sound had been to him.

 

Codrin listened as a rat scurried underneath the dock. 

It sounded pleased about something, inadvertently causing Codrin to briefly smile.

In the next second he forced the emotion back, reminding himself that it was an animal and cursing the inaccuracies of his own gift. 

The sounds of joy and despair were the same for both man and beast.

 

He gulped down the rest of his tea quickly before it lost all of its heat to the fall air before he rose from the dock. It was time he started searching for the party’s next job.

 

A few buildings away from the middle mast was the local branch of the Jeane’s Sound Company, a guild that controlled a majority of the trade in the northern frontier.

With their deep pockets and fleet of merchant ships, they shuttled goods back and forth between the old and new worlds and were a steady supply of work if nothing more lucrative could be found.

 

A small heel attached to the door sounded as Codrin opened it, entering the branch’s lobby and taking a glance around inside. As was typical for this time of year, it wasn’t too busy.

 

He then checked the primary contractor’s board for any of the more usual jobs that his party took, and there were indeed a couple.

A couple more escort jobs, a buy notice for live frostbugs, and even a missing shipment report were the ones that seemed most approachable. Taking a mental note of them all, he would first have to check a few other sources before he made his final choice.

 

Before he was about to leave however, Codrin overheard the sound of a voice that had become familiar to him in the past few days. That young thaumaturgist Thomas seemed to be in conversation with reception over at one of the terminals at the front desk. With a few paces, he was close enough to overhear their speech.

 

“-any of our coachmen at the moment, I’m afraid. You could take it up there yourself I suppose if you can’t afford to wait, but the usual rental deposit of a mid-nail will still be required even if you’re going to come right back.” Codrin heard the receptionist say to Thomas, although it was clear he missed a bit at the beginning.

 

“Ah, I haven’t got quite that much left after my travels. Could I leave something behind as collateral instead?” The young man asked.

 

“If you have something that’s verifiably of equivalent value, then yes. Preferably it should be obvious though, like a piece of jewelry. I don’t think either of us want to wait around for a proper evaluation.” The receptionist answered.

 

“Again, I’m afraid that I don’t keep such things on me when traveling. Please though, I’m sure that your bosses would mind skirting around that rule since this is for the Syer.” Thomas bargained, taking the seal of Syer Dona out from his coat as proof.

 

“I can’t very well just ignore the rules, Mr Dupoint. Not even for members of the city board.” The receptionist said, standing her ground.

 

After listening to a few phrases Codrin finally stepped forward, moving to the side of Thomas just enough that he could be seen.

 

“You just going up to the Syer’s chalet, right?” Codrin chimed in. “I’ll be happy to spot you some knucks if I can get them back by this evening.”

 

“Oh, Cod- Yea, that’d be great, thanks!” The young scholar exclaimed, taking out his coinpurse and looking inside. “Lets see, I’ve got 2 mid-knuckles, 7 point-nails, a single-”

 

Codrin cut the young man off by placing the full mid-nail on the receptionist's desk.

“Eh, you’re going to pay me back right away anyway. Don’t bother with change.” Codrin said.

 

Taking the coin, the receptionist thanked Codrin and left to some unseen part of the branch office, telling the both of them that she’d be right back.

 

“Why didn’t you just go to Chawla’s?” Codrin asked after a few moments. “You know it’s only a few blocks away, right?

 

“Lady Dona doesn't trust the frontier banks for some reason. All of her holdings are held overseas.” Thomas explained. “She says that I shouldn’t have one either, and who am I to argue with a Syer?”

 

“Ha… right.” Codrin chuckled, taking a mental note to maybe look into doing the same.

 

The receptionist then came back holding an etched metal tablet.

“Show this to boys down at the warehouse and they’ll let you take the wagon and horse away yourself.” She said, placing it on the desk and pulling out a very boring looking book.

“I’ll just need your signature right here first.”

 

Thomas signed his name where the receptionist was pointing and she handed over the small metal plate, which he stored in his jacket alongside the seal of the Syer.

 

“Around how long is the trip?” Codrin asked shortly after Thomas finished the requisite paperwork. 

 

“Up the mountain? Three or four hours. Why?” Thomas asked.

 

“Oh, I was just thinking it would be easier if I were to tag along. If you don’t mind, of course.” Codrin suggested.

“It’ll spare you the trip back down to pay me back and return the wagon.”

 

“Oh! That would indeed be… convenient.” Thomas said, an edge of suspicion showing in his voice. “But you don’t strike me as the type to waste your whole day for the convenience of a recent stranger.”

 

“Hey, you got me.” Codrin acknowledged with a chuckle. “Potential audience with the Syer might also be on my mind.”

 

Thomas sighed.

“Well I suppose you have been good company. And you’ve got a useful gift.” He said with a slight frown. “Sure then; however, I will promise nothing. If she denies you her presence, I will not press her.”

 

“Ah well, that’s as much as I had hoped for. I suppose you must get tired of requests like that.” Codrin said. “Thank you for indulging me.”

 

The two men exited the branch office and walked across the street to the company’s warehouse. Thomas showed a worker there the tablet and he pointed out where Thomas’s goods were stored before leaving to go get them a wagon.

 

“Yes, it isn’t exactly the best feeling, but it comes with the job. I’m looking forward to the day when I’ll no longer have to second guess why people want to be close to me.” The young man said.

 

“Oh, are you planning to leave her service?” Codrin asked, surprised.

 

“Well I suppose it doesn’t need to be kept a secret. Truth is that it can feel quite taxing to work for someone who knows the future; or part of it anyway. Nothing I do really feels like I’m the only one doing it.” Thomas revealed.

“Syers tell practically no one the specifics of what exactly their gifts show them. For all I know she could already know the exact choices and actions I’ll take before I even think of taking them. If that’s the case, then am I not just an extension of her own will, sent only on the missions in which she knows I will serve her best?” He continued to rant.

 

“Alright alright, calm down.” Codrin said. “If anything, it sounds as if you need a vacation from her right now!”

 

“Pfft, I was basically just on one.” Thomas scoffed, hunching over slightly in defeat. “She wanted me to survey some archeological sites inland and look for artifacts with a few specific features. It was quite fun and I bought as many as I could, which is why I’m basically broke right now.”

 

The clopping of horse’s hoofs steadily grew in the background as the men spoke as the worker drove a wagon up to them.

 

“One of you two is going to have to help me load up those crates. It takes two to lift one and I’m the only one here right now.” The worker told them, causing the two men to look to each other.

 

“You should probably go and tell your party that you’ll be gone for the day.” Thamas spoke first.

 

Codrin opened his mouth to protest, but stopped himself a moment later.

“Right, this is your shipment. My turn to be the passenger this time, eh?” Codrin joked.

 

“Um. Yes? Wait, were you really just about to offer to do that?” Thomas asked, slightly bewildered as to why his acquaintance nearly offered to do his paying job for him.

 

“I guess I’m just used to being the older sibling.” Codrin chuckled with a shut.

 

As Thomas and the worker began loading a few crates onto the back of the wagon, Codrin made his leave. It would disrupt his party’s schedule to disappear for a day since they didn’t have a job planned currently, but it would still be best for him to tell them where he was going. Not that they would worry or anything, but he knew that it was still the requisite thing to do.

 

As he walked, Codrin looked up to the sky. 

It was overcast, but he could still divine the position of the sun based on which part of the sky was brightest. 

Perhaps 2 or three hours before midday?

Maybe he could still make it back before it became totally dark then.

 

Codrin crossed an intersection and reached the point where he was close enough to the middle mast to begin hearing minds with his gift. The tavern was rather empty at this time of day. Around a dozen occupants?

Few enough that it was still easy enough to discern the familiar sound of his party’s heads.

 

Angela sounded relatively composed as usual, with sharp, precise notes that were neither perfectly harmonious nor totally discordant. She was still in bed it seemed, drifting somewhere between sleep and drowsy stillness. After Kalia, she was the next heaviest sleeper.

 

Davriel was downstairs in the main dining portion of the building. He was clearly feeling quite hungover because of the droning, whining sounds of pain that were coming from him. For such a larger person, he couldn’t really handle his alcohol that well.

 

And Kalia was missing it seemed. Not unusual either, since this was the first time she had been to a large city in months. Whatever she was up to at the moment, Codrin guessed that it probably wasn't very constructive. Oh well, he had resigned himself years ago to the fact that no being alive could tell her what to do.

 

Codrin walked through the front doors of the tavern to see a rather boring sight. Just 3 people, two of them staff and one of them Davriel, inhabited the dining room of the tavern. The former both doing ordinary cleaning and the latter slumped over in a booth in front of a plate with a dried eel on it: a hangover cure that may or may not work.

 

“Hey Davriel?” Codrin said rather quietly once he was close enough to the large man.

 

“hmmmmgMMM?” The giant said eloquently, turning his head to see just who was speaking with squinted eyes.

 

“Just letting you know that I’m going to be gone all afternoon.” Codrin said softly so as not to disturb the man more than he already was.

 

“HMMgm.” Davriel said, turning away from his boss to resume gazing longingly at his eel. 

 

Codrin then slunk away from the hulk of a man. Next was his room upstairs. He’d be gone all afternoon, so he should at least bring his waterskin. 

 

Wooden stairs creaked under him as he made his way upstairs past the two employees who Codrin could now tell were cleaning up a puddle of vomit. A large pile of vomit. A Davriel sized quantity of vomit.

 

“Oh!” Codrin lept in surprise slightly as soon as he had exited the stairwell.

 

There was his sister, standing just down the hallway having just left her room.

Except…

No, that wasn’t Kalia. Her mind sounded nothing at all like his sister’s

Actually no, that wasn’t it either. 

It was that her mind sounded like nothing at all. 

It was just… silent. Entirely.

He hadn’t heard her from the street, he hadn’t heard her from the dining floor, and he couldn't hear her even right now.

 

Suddenly, Codrin shivered. This felt wrong. This was all so wrong.

From seagulls to rats to even fucking fruitflies, everything sounded like something.

Everything had always sounded like something.

That was why he hated cities. It was why he hated bugs. It was why he was such a good hunter. 

Everything made noise to him, all the time, ceaselessly.

Except now, apparently, for his own sister.