The face of the approaching figure became clear once it was a few cells away. It was the apprentice jailer, his sunken cheeks and bagged eyes illuminated by the warm glow of the oil lamp he held out before him. He walked at a moderate pace, taking time to look into each cell he passed by and occasionally stopping for a closer look.

Once he got to Kalia’s cell though, he stopped.

 

“You just got here, so I’m sure that you remember our rules. No talking.” He said with a rather plain tone.

 

Kalia thought of lying, but quickly found she could bring no words to mind to compose one. 

 

“How do you know it was me and not someone else?” She asked, noting that she could still say things that were neutral to the truth. “This place has quite the distorting echo.”

 

“Well, you’re awake for one thing.” The jailer said, gesturing to the cell next to Kalia’s with the still-sleeping figure. “You’re the only one around here who is.”

 

Kalia pointed past the warden-in-training to the cell that had previously housed the mustached man.

“Surely you remember the guy who was in that cell. I swear he just vanished not but moments ago.”

 

The gaunt man looked over his shoulder briefly, but didn’t seem too concerned.

“Geez lady, we get a lot of crazies down here, but you must be on a whole other level to try something like that. That cell is empty. Has been for weeks.”

 

Kalia tsked, realizing that the mustached man had more than one trick up his sleeve.

 

What had he called himself? A voyeur? Does that mean he’s still watching me from somewhere?

 

“Alright, well who was I talking to then if I’m all alone?” Kalia asked, reluctantly shaking previous thoughts from her head. She had never really been a fan of being watched, but the gaunt man still deserved more of her attention.

 

“I dunno? Yourself? Her?” The man said, gesturing to the sleeping figure. “Or maybe you were trying to get my attention. Well you’ve got it now, for better or for worse.”

 

Kalia’s eyes narrowed at the man’s sunken eyes. He seemed rather cynical, but certainly wasn’t as needlessly cruel as she had heard was the normal for the cave.

 

Kalia also noticed that he didn’t seem to stare too much at her. Still in the tailor’s dress, she displayed enough at the moment to warrant a paddling from her old Mother Superior, yet the trainee warden was still able to maintain a great degree of eye contact with her. Sure his gaze would still linger occasionally, but Kalia had grown accustomed to glances over the years and could tell that the apprentice displayed a degree of self-control greater than most men twice his age.

 

Unfortunately, this was making Kalia disappointed in a whole different manner, because the seduction of this man would have served as a potential way out.

 

“And to what end would your attention lead?” Kalia asked the man softly, taking a step towards him.

 

As soon as she did this, the man’s eyes narrowed slightly and he took a step back from the bars.

 

“Well, at the moment it isn’t doing you any good.” He said, otherwise ignoring Kalia’s attempt. “I should remind you that your behavior down here could serve to either halve or double your sentence.”

 

Damn. Although I suppose it makes sense that he’d be wise to that sort of thing down here.

 

“Right.” Kalia groaned, slumping backwards down the bars. “Remind me again when lunch is?”

 

The jailer let out a brief, bemused chuckle.

“Lady, I know I’ve been treating you better than is the norm around here, but this isn’t a nice place. Any other guard would beat you for speaking out of line in the way you’ve been doing.”

 

Kalia attempted to dowse the man to see whether he was genuinely being nice or just wanted to get under her dress, but failed to come to a concrete conclusion. 

There was definitely something there, but the man either was concealing it from himself or did not actively seek to fulfill his desires. 

Ultimately, she concluded that since there was no change in his lust when he spoke he was not trying to talk her into bed.

 

Perhaps this was unfortunate, since the close contact that would arise from that sort of thing might allow for a chance to escape.

 

“And what, are you saying that you’re different?” Kalia asked, deciding that playing up the slut act wouldn’t get her anywhere with this guy. “If I wasn’t being forced to be here I’d think that you were trying to sell me something.”

 

The wiry man pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Look, it’s the middle of the night and I’m relatively new here. Sound travels far in this place and the less commotion that happens under my watch, the better. Also, didn’t you give yourself up rather easily?”

 

Kalia sighed and found that she had already slumped all the way to the floor.

 

“Ugh, I don’t know… at the time it felt like a bit of an act of defiance I guess. I didn’t really think too much about what would happen afterwards.” Kalia said, hoping to get on the guard’s good side by opening up a bit.

 

“Defiance against who?” The man asked, leaning forwards onto the bars. “Is someone making you go out like this?”

 

“No- no!” Kalia quickly replied. “I misspoke. I…” 

Kalia’s train of thought halted once she couldn’t find a reasonably truthful excuse, so she tried to divert the conversation elsewhere.

“I just think it’s dumb that people can be so critical about what another person will voluntarily wear.”

 

“Didn’t you seduce a city guardsman?” The man retorted, squinting slightly.

 

“Aw, c’mon, I just messed with him a little. What happened next was just a total overreaction.” Kalia scoffed.

 

“Uh-huh.” The man replied. “Well, that kind of contradicts what I was told by the judge.”

 

“Why?” Kalia asked, looking at the tired man more directly. “What’d he say I do?” 

 

“Just that you were a whore who tried to entice a guard into your company in broad daylight. Said I should be wary of you pulling something similar.” The apprentice warden said rather bluntly.

 

“Pfffft! The guard totally approached me first.” Kalia huffed, waving off the claim. “Tell you what, I bet he just wanted to pad his record for a promotion or something and saw me as an easy arrest. Anyways, I’m not really as much of a whore as he claimed, he was just a really easy tease.”

 

The man paused for a moment, seemingly thinking about something.

 

“…How can you not be ‘much’ of a whore? Isn’t that a yes or no question?” He asked, accepting Kalia’s challenge.

 

“Well, if your asking if someone has ever given me money to fuck them, then I guess I am; but I’m not a professional or anything.” Kalia explained.

 

“What? No, that totally makes you a whore!” The man exclaimed. “That’s like, the definition of a whore right there: you’re willing to get paid for sex!”

 

“Are you into men?” Kalia asked immediately, much to the man’s bewilderment”.

 

“What kind of- No!” He exclaimed loudly.”

 

“Would you fuck a relatively ugly one for a Golden Hand?” Kalia quickly continued, tapping all of the fingers of her right hand a couple of times against the floor.

 

The man took a second to respond.

 

“…No! Of course not!” He scoffed, slightly rolling his eyes.

 

Kalia didn’t need to dowse the man to tell that he was lying.

 

“C’mon, It’s an whole fucking Hand! This is solid gold I’m talking about!” She laughed, raising her arms welcomingly. “You were totally just thinking about it there! I saw you!”

 

The man huffed.

“This is ridiculous-

 

“Aw who’s gonna hear you down here anyway? Ol’ sleepyhead over here?” Kalia interrupted, gesturing to her cell neighbor. “You can’t have less shame than anyone down here; so just come clean!”

 

The man’s face tightened up a bit as he considered his options again. He wouldn’t actually be agreeing to such a proposal, right? Just saying that he’d be willing to agree in the minuscule change that such a thing were to occur.

 

“Alright, well, I guess it is a lot of money…” he finally admitted, trailing off. “Enough to get me out of this crummy place.”

 

“God, that’s an understatement! I think that a single Hand could buy you a fleet!” Kalia said. “The Syer used a single Palm to buy like, half a dozen of the mountains north of here, and those are only worth a fifth as much!”

 

“Yea, I guess it would be pretty dumb not to take that. Being set up for life is worth far more than a single evening of pain and humiliation.” The man said acceptingly.

 

“Right, so that means that you’re a whore too then, just a pricier one than me.” Kalia said, pointing at the man with a grin. “Welcome to the club, buddy! ”

 

“Wait, no, that’s not fair!” He said back, sputtering slightly. “By that logic pretty much everyone would be a whore, which I think would just make the term meaningless.”

 

“But I might not take the offer.” Kalia stated. “I don’t know what I’d do with that sort of money, so my choice would be based on who's asking. Maybe I know who they are and don’t think that they deserve the satisfaction of fucking me. That makes me less of a whore than you.”

 

The man was growing more and more confused by the moment, halting his trains of thought part way as Kalia said each new word.

 

“Wait- That’s- But- No, stop screwing with me. Open prostitution is a literal crime here and you attempted to engage in it with a guard. That’s why you’re here.” He said, attempting to level his head.

 

“Ah, but I never brought the topic of money with him. What if he was just a catch and I wanted to get in his pants. That would make me a slut, not a whore.” Kalia specified. 

 

“I feel like those terms are mostly interchangeable…”

 

“Hey so does that old guy pay you to argue with sluts or do you just enjoy my company?” Kalia asked, interrupting the man and deciding that since the conversation was so delightfully raunchy she may as well extend an invitation. “Because you're welcome to come here and enjoy me a lot more if you’d like. I love sex, conversation, and conversation about sex. We’re doing two of those already, so why not go 3 for 3?”

 

The man was still hesitant, taking another step back eve; though Kalia hadn’t moved.

 

“I’m sorry, but you’re really too forward for me. I know you think you’re pretty enough to get away with saying that sort of thing, but it’s really just a big turn off for most men.” The trainee said. “I know that reality is a bit more level out here on the frontier, but back in the old kingdoms women are followers; and many people still hold that expectation to mind.”

 

Kalia noticed the man’s insults, but elected to ignore it since it could have been unintentional. His latter statement was true, but Kalia just didn’t care about what people expected of her. It also helped that she was in a rather meritocratic profession.

 

“That may be for some people under most circumstances, but trust me, many of the most prudish men will stop caring about formalities once they get all hot and bothered.” Kalia said. “A hardened cock can turn a distinguished man into an antsy boy in search of a wet hole to slide into without any commitment or games.”

 

The trainee did not reply immediately. It seemed as if he was trying to recall something.

 

“A lot of the prostitutes I meet down here can be pretty bitter or see their jobs as a necessary trial to obtain some quality to their lives. Surely you don’t just see yourself as just a simple… uh, wet hole, right?” He asked, showing a degree of sensitivity that surprised Kalia.

 

“Well I’ve certainly got one that I’m all too happy to lend the use of to those in need of it!” Kalia said with a laugh. “But the reason I’m so content with all this is because I play the same games that you men do. I’m looking for short-term satisfaction and entertainment and I couldn’t care less about what comes after. There isn’t really any effort made on my part to accommodate since I just so happen to like dick enough to permanently align my interests with the drunk, horny, and irresponsible, of which most men happen to be at least one of.”

 

“That’s not true!” The man said defensively, seemingly a bit peeved.

 

“Is it not? I can almost guarantee that I’ve fucked more more of them than you have.” She said jokingly.

 

The man paused again to think. Kalia didn’t exactly know how rare her type was that it made him like this, but it seemed like he hadn’t met anyone with a similar attitude before; or at least no one who was as upfront about it as she was.

 

“You act like you know a lot about men, but I think that you might not be seeing the whole picture since the only people willing to get close to you want to use you in such a manner.” He stated. “You’ll only see the same thing if you stay in the same place.”

 

Kalia shrugged.

“I guess you could be right. I don’t really know much about high society. Or the middle. Really, I’m only familiar with the outskirts.” She said,

“But all those men who just want me for one night before they rinse their hands and move on? I get the same things out of it that they do. And I get to meet some interesting people.”

 

“But you’ll have consequences that they won’t. Having level footing doesn’t mean that you’ll be the same height. Look at where this sorta thing has gotten you already.” The man said, tapping the bars of her cell. “Think about where it’ll bring you next.”

 

Kalia gave a dismissive wave.

 

“I didn’t put myself here though, you guys did. I just happened to forget how many people there are around here.” Kalia said. “And I don’t really have to give a shit about the future, my gift-

 

Kalia wasn’t sure if it was her own action to stop speaking or if she had mistakenly run into the no-lying clause. Either way, he mind was rapidly pulled away from the conversation with the baggy-eyed trainee.

 

Right, I don’t have my gift anymore, it’s been replaced by something else.

 

The man seemed to notice immediately that the conversation and just stumbled and died.

“Well this has been rather enlightening I suppose, I do have to continue my rounds.” He said.

 

Kalia’s eyes had left the man a while ago, and they now stared blankly further down the cave.

 

“Yea, don’t let me keep you any longer. I know you’ve got a job to do.” She said, not really focusing on him anymore.

 

The heat in Kalia’s belly wasn’t quite as comforting as it had been at the start. Now it also seemed to contrast with the rest of her, and reminded her of how cold she was in comparison.

 

God, what the hell am I even doing? All of this feels wrong somehow. Like it’s not real. Am I dreaming?

 

Kalia watched as the lamplight from the man faded into the darkness much the same way that it had arrived, and found herself sitting in the dark again. It reminded her of some of the nightmares that she had been having before all this had begun.

 

“Yes. Correct. You are indeed dreaming, just not in the way that humans are used to.”The disembodied voice of the shadow rang out for the first time in a while, barely just showing a degree of excitement. “Feelings of surrealism are quite common with nascent demons, and are by no means a bad thing.”

 

Kalia was still fed up at the being’s nonsense, and gave an audible groan as it mentally spoke to her.

 

“Demons dream in reverse.” It explained. “When humans dream they leave their bodies behind and their souls stretch into the immaterial planes. When demons dream, their immaterial selves dip into the material world and gain the power to latch onto things, possessing them.”

 

“I’m not like whatever previous damned tools you’ve had on this earth. This body is me, not some bloody thing you’ve stolen for your little monsters.” She finally spoke back to the shadow, unable to find anything else to distract herself from it. 

 

“You’re mistaken, Hel. You haven’t realized it yet because you’re weak and stupid, but you are my so-called ‘monsters’.” It said with its devoid tone. “I’ve tried to be as nice as I can to ease you into your new life gently, but time and time again you’ve responded with fear and uncertainty. Those two traits get demons killed.”

 

“Well tough shit then! It’s not my fault you’ve picked the wrong human to torture!” Kalia exclaimed. “Everything about this is totally fucked for me, so I’m going to make it just as tough for you! Every time you make my teeth start growing, or you do any other weird bullshit to me, all I’ll do is rub in the fact that you agreed to not fully control me.”

 

“You’re wrong again Hel, that was not a concession on my part. I never had the power to do that. Those are simply your instincts as a demon manifesting as changes in your body.” The shadow said.

 

“So what can you do then? Because the only thing I can think of is the power to royally piss me the fuck off.” She cursed at the being.

 

“I never intended to tell you this; I wanted you to figure it out yourself, but our powers are both linked to our names.” The shadow said. “I have had many other years, each earned from the mouths of humans and each given up individually to one of my sires. Now the only one I have left is Soul, because I am the first one, and its power lets me do this:”

 

A pain suddenly wracked Kalia, unlike any she had felt before. It lasted but a fleeting moment, and yet it was greater than the sum of all the pain she had previously ever felt. Her body jolted, but the pain was so brief that it was over even before her instincts told her to scream.

 

As she tried to reorient herself from the greatest shock she had ever felt, a new sensation struck her. From her position seated on the cold stone floor, she could feel that she was sitting on something long and thin that was coiled under her butt. In fact, she could also feel her butt sitting on top of the thing.

 

Kalia quickly reached down, shifting her weight to grab the thing. 

At the same time, she could feel the thing get grabbed.

 

“What the fuck dude? This is exactly what I was talking about!” Kalia exclaimed. “I thought you said that those were my instincts doing shit to my body or something!”

 

“They were, but this is different. I gave your soul a nudge further into demonhood, and it’s manifested in your body as a tail. I didn’t want to do this because I’m basically deciding how you grow; which you should be doing yourself, but something this generic shouldn’t derail you too much.” Soul said. “I hope this was a learning experience for you, changing your physical form is something all demons should learn how to do.”

 

Kalia’s hands inspected her new appendage, lifting her body to free it and feeling down to its base. As one might expect, it came out of her tailbone, and was about the width of a large coin there. It was smooth as a bald man’s head and felt firm and rubbery, and it did not hurt much when she squeezed it. Next she ran her hands down its length but ran into a sharp pain right as she did thought she’d reach the end, and she let go of it at once.

 

Quickly Kalia realized that it was not her tail that she had hurt, but her hand; feeling a cut on her finger from something unseen in the dark. 

She held her wound in her mouth and it slowly knit itself back together, much to her surprise. It seemed as if demons could heal as well.

 

With a second, more careful inspection she discovered the cause: the tail had two barbs pointed backwards at the tip, which was also pointed. It was shaped like a nasty arrowhead.

 

“Of course demons like having knives attached to their bodies. How fucking convenient.” She said sarcastically. “I swear I’ll cut this thing off first chance I get so it doesn’t cut me again.”

 

“So change it then. You should be able to do something that small.” Came the voice of Soul.

 

Kalia didn’t like doing what the shadow told her to, but realized that changing her mind because it had agreed with her was an action even too petty for her.

 

“Okay, uhh, How?” She said, scathingly.

 

“Remember, demons dream in the real world. It’s all just a matter of your will against your expectations. To change, the dream has to become more believed than the reality.” The shadow said.

 

“That’s so, ridiculously stupid. I can’t change-

 

“Reality is winning, those thoughts will make any exertion of your will impossible.” Soul said. “The expectation to understand everything is a delusion carried over from your humanity.”

 

Kalia thought about Soul’s words for a second, running them back through her head. Strangely, the being was actually starting to make a bit of sense. If she understood it correctly, then it was saying that her expectation for nothing to change would sabotage her ability to change anything. It sounded like a piece of motivational nonsense, but made sense in the context of a dream. It wasn’t the world she had to change, but her mind. Reality would then follow on its own because she was a demon.

 

She grabbed her tail again, which had previously been gently wafting itself in the air behind her, and held it in front of her close to the end. Down there, it had tapered to be only about as wide as her little finger.

 

Ok, it’s dark and I haven’t seen it yet. If I were to see it, what would it look like? 

 

Kalia thought about shapes, and the arrowhead that she had felt previously. She imagined the barbs being worn down and the tip feeling rubbery instead of hard.

 

It should look like a little heart then, a little squishy heart.

 

Kalia pictured what that would look like, and visualized her tail in her mind. It started at her tailbone where it was the width of a large coin, and it was just a little longer than one of her legs. Down its length it slowly taped to the width of her little finger, and at the very end it was tipped by a heart.

 

Quickly, and with the faith that it wouldn’t hurt her, Kalia shifted her hand and grabbed the tip of her tail.

 

And she did not get cut.

 

“Ha... Haha…” she laughed awkwardly, squeezing the little heart. “What the fuck…”

 

“Congratulations, you aren’t a complete failure. Just don’t try doing that on anything that isn’t your own body.” The shadow said. “You’ll starve yourself in an instant.”

 

Soul’s words brought Kalia’s thoughts back to reality, and she quickly realized something. She was cold. Very cold. The heat in her belly wasn’t enough to calm her.

Changing her body like that had caused her to lose a lot of spirit, and she now wasn’t in a place were she could easily replenish it.

 

“While you probably wouldn’t have lasted down here for a month anyways, now you’ll starve for sure. No more stalling, Hel.” Soul said.

 

Realization dawned on Kalia, the shadow had foreseen all of this and had guided her actions. This was revenge for when she allowed herself to get arrested.

 

“You bastard!” She cursed. “You manipulative bastard!”

 

“If you don’t want me to intervene, then prove that you don’t need it. Escape, grow stronger, and gain more names.” Soul said. “You won’t live eternally if you remain weak.”

 

Despite her seething anger at the being, Kalia found her mind drifting elsewhere. She thought of the apprentice warden. He made for good conversation even if he was a bit rude.

And he had nice cheekbones.