“I am sorry for my absence, the only library on my side of the city that had computers has been shut down, so I was unable to check my vmail in quite some time. I hope you are doing well Odie, as for me, I am safe and happy. I actually managed to find that friend I had told you about, the girl with mismatched eyes. She’s alive and well, and best of all she’s found a home. Anyways, I hope to hear from you soon. -Lady Jojo”

Oden could not find the words to express the relief they felt reading the vmail from their friend. Nearly six months was quite the long time to go without contact, a part of them thought she had no longer wished to speak with them. They were very happy that was not the case, and even happier to just know they were alive. They began typing up their response, then read it over a few times, contemplating whether they should send it.

“It is very good to hear from you again, I am doing quite well, thank you. Or, I am doing well enough. Things are not always the best here. I am glad your friend is alright too, I could imagine you were quite excited to see them again. Actually, if you would not mind, I would love to be able to message them as well. I have not met very many people like me before, and I think it would be nice to talk to someone who understands how it feels to be different.”

While they certainly did wish to talk to this friend, they also felt awkward asking at all. She’d probably think it was weird, a stranger asking to speak with her like that. They mulled it over in their head, going back and forth on their decision to hit the send button, then instead saved the message in their drafts folder in order to give their decision more time.

Mentally exhausted from such a simple task as that, Oden slumped over in their computer chair and sighed. Quinn was the only other demon they knew, at least on a personal level, so of course they were excited about the possibility of making a new friend. But would this demon girl even like Oden? How could they like them, when they didn’t even like themself?

“Huh, I never thought of that before,” they spoke their thoughts out loud, “I do not like me, not one bit, maybe… maybe I even hate myself,” they said, spinning their chair away from the computer screen. Standing up they walked to the mirror and took a good long look at their reflection. “Have I ever liked myself?” they questioned, “has my reflection ever been anything more than a mockery to me?” Their eyes stared back at them like the sad sunken eyes of a stranger on the street, so dim and full of anguish. A question then began to pop in their head, “If I hate myself, why continue on?”

This question burned in their mind and brought their attention to the drawer of their bedside table. It was filled with many things from hair ties to writing implements, to printer paper and even a little razor to open letters. It was a silly thing for the young prince to have, what letters would the little royal receive in this day and age of vspace and vmail? Yet his father had given it to them all the same. A hardly used little blade that was perfectly sharp, and perfectly untouched. It just laid there amidst the other junk inside that little drawer, waiting for them to take it out and put it to good use.

Rummaging through the drawer however, reminded Oden of something else, “oh, my eyeshadow, that’s right. I never tried this on, have I?” Nioto had bought it for them a good long time ago, but for whatever reason Oden had no recollection of using it. They remembered being excited, and even promising Quinn that she could help them put it on, and yet it simply sat in that drawer collecting dust for months. “It could not hurt trying it on now, I just will not tell Quinnie I used it without her,” the prince moved their fingers from the letter opener and grabbed the little makeup tin instead.

They had never used such a vibrant array of colors before, having preferred to stick to blacks and grays for all their makeup pallets, and so they had some trouble understanding how to properly apply it. So, they returned to their computer and began to look up makeup tutorial videos, before being lost down the rabbit hole of “just one more video”. After a good couple of hours passed, they had seen everything from “Makeup basics 101” to “feminization techniques for Boys who want to be girls” and a plethora of other very specific search results they would have to expunge from their computer history, lest their father ever spy on their browsing data. Still, they made sure to make a secret document to bookmark the especially good tutorials they came across.

Once they felt good and ready to give it a try themselves, they returned to the mirror, makeup in hand, and got to work applying their newly learned techniques. It was far more complicated than videos made it seem, but after some trial and error they produced results they found satisfactory. It was not quite as good as what Nioto or Quinn were capable of, but Oden found it to be pretty all the same. So pretty in fact, they felt positively adorable if not downright beautiful. They were a boy, yes, but they were an incredibly cute boy, one might even say a girlish boy. Their reflection was the prettiest they ever remembered it being, and suddenly their thoughts of self-hate were drowned by new feelings that their young mind did not quite understand, but they knew that it was a good feeling. So good, the best even, the only thing that could possibly make it better would be if Nioto came in through their bedroom door bearing the dress they had asked her for so long ago.

“Filthy sinner,” a voice rasped from the darkness, and they turned to see who the voice belonged to, but Oden was alone, entirely and wholly alone. “Disgusting pervert!” it gave another wicked hiss, and they turned around and around trying to identify who it was that was harassing them.

“Who, who are you?” the prince called out, “where are you?”

“Repent!” the voice growled.

“For what?”

“You masquerade as something you’re not, and in doing so drive another into lust,” the voice answered.

“Drive another into lust? What do you mean?”

“Repent!” it repeated, “repent and cleanse yourself before he sees you!”

Oden felt as though they were about to crack into a million tiny pieces as they wracked their brain over what was happening to them. Their heart raced a mile a minute and they began to sweat as a dark shadow gripped their heart. Thoughts of their father flooded their head as the voice repeated itself,

“Repent”

“Why?”

“you are guilty of leading another to sin,” it answered before repeating again, “repent!”

Icy darkness surrounded the poor prince as they broke down crying, “who, who are you and why are you doing this to me?”

“I am the eyes inside staring back at you, and I have seen your wickedness,” the voice answered.

“But what sin have I committed; what do you mean I have tempted another?”

“It is your fault he hurts you, it is your fault for what he’s done,” the voice whispered.

“Who, who hurt me, who have I tempted?”

“Our father…”

***

“So, you want answers?” the young man they called Vox chuckled as he sat at the table staring back at an ill-tempered Isa.

"No I wanna sit around drinkin tea and eatin cupcakes with you all day," she grumbled as she sat down, placing a bag beside Kara.

"Oh thank you, love, I'll be sure to get this to Josie," she took the bag and left the room, "Kain sweetie, please keep an eye on the stew, and Isa love, be easy on little Voxie."

After Kara left Voxie sat there staring at Isa with wide doe eyes as it tried to appear as cute and innocent as possible, "you really want to eat cupcakes together?"

"Tell me what you did to me!"

"Did to you, I'm not entirely sure I know what you mean, could you elaborate?"

Isa glared at the wanderer then sighed, "you're not playin dumb, are you?"

Voxie shook its head, "not this time, as far as I know I haven't done anything to you I haven't done before."

"So you normally go around puttin devils inside people?" Voxie's vacant stare made her fear she was further away from getting an answer than she'd hoped, "you really don't know what I'm talkin about? Ever since you fed me that thing, I've been blacking out and hearing a voice."

"I didn't put a devil inside of you though, just the opposite in fact," he smiled at her and winked, "I fed you the heart of a goddess."

"Quit playing around and just give me an honest answer!" She slammed her hand on the table, making Kain whimper behind her.

"Voxie, you can't just go around telling people things like that, silly," a girl's voice spoke suddenly as if from thin air.

"Who said that?" Isa turned her head every which way looking for the speaker.

"Oh, you can hear me? So it really did work," the voice giggled then suddenly a girl bathed in light appeared in the room.

"Holy shit!" Kandi fell backwards, startled by the girls sudden appearance.

"What are you?" Isa asked, maintaining her own composure rather well all things considered.

"I am Raylelael, a Sophia and Voxie's familiar," she answered, floating there in front of them, her words only bringing up only more questions.

"Sophia? Familiar?" What?"

"A goddess made from she who sleeps in the garden."

"You're really not doin any better makin me understand what's goin on here," Isa groaned, "okay, let's focus, can you tell me what's wrong with me?"

Her feet touched the ground and she stared deep into Isa's eyes, "hmmm, perhaps if I were to look at your soul-seed."

"Soul-seed?" Kain asked this time, being the one most in the dark about the whole situation.

"The very essence of life that ties a person's existence to the grand tree, the Sephiroth, and all the worlds connected to it. In short, it is as the name implies, the core thing that makes up your soul," the goddess answered. "If I could look at yours, miss Isa, I could perhaps get an understanding of what's happening to you."

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" She huffed.

"Like this, boop," she pushed her finger inside Isa's chest and pulled a small crystalline object out her body. "Oh my, quite an unusual little soul-seed. It's all cracked and worn down," she examined the strange crystal. As she had said, the glowing little crystal seed was cracked, though it did not look brittle as though it would break. It shimmered a pink glow accented by speckles of blue, its glow pulsing like a heartbeat. Isa however, was more focused on the strings of light that radiated from it, their many different color strands wrapped around it like ribbons.

"What, what are those lights?" She asked as she watched them flicker and flow in all different directions.

"Soul ties, though yours are extremely unusual," Ralye pointed to them as she spoke, "the silvery ones are normal, they are what binds you to other versions of yourself across the vast plane of existence," she then pointed to a red one, "but these ones are odd, I've never seen soul ties like these."

Isa looked at the red ones, and saw one trailing behind her, as if it was reaching out to someone, and another going forward in the wanderer’s direction. The other two red ties ran in the opposite direction, north east, stretching out far beyond their present location.

"I bet it's because she's an alter," Voxie chimed in, "would make sense right? Cause her soul-seed is part of another person's, or atleast used to be."

"Hmmm, maybe," Raylelael looked over at Kain, "you're an alter too, right? Mind if I take a look at your soul-seed?"

"If it's all the same, I'd rather you not,” Kain stood beside Isa, looking at her little seed, before turning away blushing, “that's like even more personal than seeing someone naked," he shuddered, "but uh, if you did, would that be able to tell you who's alter I am?"

"No idea, honestly, this alter thing is kind of new to me to be completely honest," the goddess furrowed her brow as she spoke, “in all the worlds I don’t believe such a magic exists like this one here. The idea of a soul-seed splitting up and creating new people is absolutely fascinating.”

“Isn’t it though?” A dry voice laughed from the doorway. Isa turned her head to see the voice belonged to none other than her mother, who stood there wearing a look of fascination on her face.

“Oh wow, haven’t seen you go topside since we met,” Vox chuckled, “did you come all this way to see little old me?”

Arasta approached Isa, examining her soul-seed with intense scrutiny, “I have seen something like this before, within my own soulscape, this little crystal with its ties that bind us together,” she moved in closer, bending down to get a better look, “Voxie, have you seen your own soul-seed before?”

The wanderer shook it’s head, “to be fully honest, I never thought I had one,” it tapped its chest and giggled, “this body is pretty much nothing more than a fabrication, to quote some bastard, I am just a mockery of existence.”

“Aw, sweetie, don’t say things like that,” Raylelael turned to hug it, “you’re just as real as everyone else, your origin doesn’t matter.”

“Real or fake, you still have ties to others I’m sure,” Arasta pointed to one of Isa’s red ribbons, “look, where do you think this one leads?”

Voxie tilted it’s head and took a closer look, “I mean, yeah it’s going in my general direction but like, that doesn’t mean it’s pointing at me, see,” it took five steps to the side to prove a point, only for the little red thread of light to follow it, “oh, that’s just a coincidence, watch,” it took five steps to the left this time, the ribbon following it once again. “Huh?”

“What does that mean?” Isa asked looking at Vox suspiciously.

“I think it means,” Voxie placed it’s finger to its lower lip and thought for a moment, “I think, we might be alters.” It turned away and rustled it’s golden blond hair while holding in a scream, “it doesn’t make sense though, I’m not from this world!”

“And your hair isn’t silver either,” Kain pointed out.

“Well that’s because I chose my own hair color,” Vox spun around and returned to it’s typical cutesy posture, “because I didn’t have a body of my own, I’ve been building it based on my own preferred presentation. Like that’s why I look so darn cute, cause I wanted to be cute. And my eyes are purple cause I wanted them to be purple see,” it bent over and opened its sparkly violet eyes wide. They were indeed purple, but not exclusively purple, there was a shimmering ring around each iris, one blue and the other pink.

“Umm, when is the last time you looked in a mirror?” Isa chuckled, “cause your eyes are, well they’re kind of suspicious, you know?”

“Huh, what’s sus about my eyes?” Voxie shrugged, “the point is, I came from the void, so I can’t be your alter.”

“This is perhaps something to consider later, Voxie, look at her soul-seed, I think I found the source of her problem!” Raylelael redirected everyone's attention back to Isa’s crystal, “here, look,” along the back there was a strange protrusion, a piece that had cracked off, but was wrapped tightly by a red soul tie, as well as a coursing swell of black energy.

“What is that?” Isa asked, unable to hide the fright in her voice.

“It would seem as though your soul-seed suffered another fracture,” Raylelael explained, “but it hasn’t fully broken off yet.”

“Then, could that be the person I hear inside my mind?”

“It very well could be,” Arasta nodded, “but, more importantly, what is that energy around it?”

“Malice,” Vox answered, “her soul-seed is entangled with a dangerous amount of malice.”

“Dangerous? Malice? What do you mean?” Isa’s mind began to race as she became panicked, and as her panic increased, so did the sparks of dark energy around her soul-seed.

“Calm yourself child,” Arasta placed her hand on her daughter's head, “if you were in danger, the wanderer would be sure to help.”

“I mean, as much as I could,” Vox sighed, “sorry, let me reword that. It would be a dangerous amount of malice, if it wasn’t for the heart of the goddess you ate.”

“What do you mean though?” Isa wrapped her arms around her body and rocked back and forth, “how can you tell me not to be worried when I have this icky black stuff on my soul thing.”

Voxie smiled at her, placing his hand on her shoulder, “everything is going to be alright, you’re going to be fine Isarael,” he pursed his lips and scrunched his nose, “though, I will admit, I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like this.”

“Isarael? Is that what Isa’s short for?” Kain chuckled, “sounds cute actually.”

“It’s the name Voxie gave her,” Rayle answered, “four years ago she nearly died, beaten and stabbed by a man who had become consumed with malice, Voxie here saved her by offering her a piece of the Goddess Barbelael’s heart.”

“I wonder, could it be that when she was dying, the malice from that man kinda seeped into her, like it was drawn to an aspect of her soul-seed, but because of the hearts power, it couldn’t consume her,” Vox speculated.

“So the odd-eyed devil is a devourer of gods? I chose my daughter well it would seem,” Arasta chuckled, rusting Isa’s hair.

“What does any of this mean though?” Isa struggled to wrap her mind around everything being said. Too much information and emotions were coming at her all at once. She wasn’t sure if she could process it all. She was like a pot full of stew boiling over.

“The stew!” Kain ran to the stove and turned down the flame, that momentary distraction being enough to lull Isa’s nerves back to a managable level.

“I need to get some air,” Isa stood up, and looked at Raylelael, “umm, is it safe for me to move when this thing is... out?”

“Oh, here, allow me to, boop,” she pushed it with her finger back into the girls chest and smiled at her, “hey, don’t worry, you’re going to be okay.”

Isa faked a smile back at her, then stepped out of the room, passing Kara who stood at the door, “you been listening in this whole time?”

“No, I went to retrieve Arasta so I’ve only been here as long as she has,” she brushed her hand over Isa’s cheek, “don’t worry sweetie, you’ll be fine,” her words parroted everyone else’, yet no matter how many times Isa heard it, she didn’t really believe it.

Stepping out onto the balcony, she watched as stormy clouds blanketed the sky, letting out a sigh as she braced herself for the coming rain. Where she had hoped to find answeres, she only found more questions. Honestly it was far too much for a child like her to handle, but she also refused to buckle under the weight of it all.

“Hey, is it okay if I sit with you?” Kain poked his head out the door and waited for her response. Isa nodded, and he took a seat beside her. For several minutes they sat there together in silence, as the sound of distant thunder rumbled ahead of them. “So,” he started to say then lowered his head, “oh... nevermind.”

“What?” Isa grumbled, only to change her tone when she saw him flinch timidly beside her, “it’s okay, what did you want to say?”

He chuckled lightly, “well, I was just going to ask, is it true, did you really eat a goddess’ heart?”

“Yeah, I guess it is true,” Isa rolled her eyes.

“What did it taste like?”

She pressed her finger to her lips as she recalled the sweet rich taste of the heart, even though it had been four years she could still remember every detail of it, from the texture to the aftertaste, “it tasted, like a bonbon.”

“What? No way, you serious?” Kain nudged her shoulder.

“Yeah, you think I’d like about that?” her mood lifted as she began to laugh, “it was like a chocolate bonbon, the kind I’d imagine only rich folk can afford.”

“Oh? So then, it tasted really good?”

Isa nodded, “yep, super super good actually, like I could honestly go for another bite,” she patted her belly and grinned, then for the first time realized something. She wasn’t hungry. Not just in that moment, but ever. Not since that day she ate the heart. Yeah, she ate food, especially apples because she liked them, but it was never out of a need, only a desire. She hadn’t really put much thought towards it, but it had almost been as if eating was a habbit more than anything else, something to do because she thought it was the correct thing to do. A perfectly normal, human thing. But then again, when has she ever been a human?

“Child,” Arasta’s strong yet warm voice caught the two teen’s attention, “Kain, would you give me a moment with my daughter?”

“Yeah, of course,” he hopped off the railing back to the floor and quickly gave Isa a kiss on the cheek, “feel better, okay?” Before Isa could give a response he scurried back into the complex.

Arasta approached Isa, taking her hand into her own as she sat on the railing next to her, “child, I know this is all hard, I have been through this as well,” the girl looked up at her with a cocked brow, “okay, not everything, but I am an alter as well, and so much of what you have experienced mirrors my own life in ways.”

“So, you just goin to tell me you can relate to me, and I should feel better cause everythin is goin to be okay?”

“I’ll forgive the sarcasm,” Arasta sighed and pulled Isa into a hug, “it will be okay, I will help it be okay, you’re not a street urchin anymore, you are my daughter now.” In the several months she had been under Arasta’s care, that was the first time she had held her. “It is okay to cry, you bare a heavy burden, you do not have to hold it inside you.”

“I’m not crying,” she lied.

Arasta held her daughter in her arm, allowing her to empty herself of all her worries and fears as she cried into her chest. She stroked her hair as Isa sobbed, reasuring her with her loving touch. And when Isa could cry no more, she wipped the tears from the girls face and smiled at her. “I beleive I know a way to help you child,” she stood and helped Isa down from the railing, “starting tomorrow I will teach you how to acess your inner world, your soulscape. Perhaps there you will be able to find the answere you seek.”

***

After everyone else had left, Vox excused himself, bidding Kara a good evening, and ran towards the woods that bordered the city. Once it was alone, he stopped in a small clearing beside a babbling brook and called Raylelael out.

“Show me my soul-seed,” he asked her, and she did as it requested. Contrary to its own beliefe, it did indeed have a soulseed. A little crystal, clearish with the faintest sparkles of pink and blue, and much like Isa’s it was cracked and worn. Curiously it had soulties, the little red ribbons of light, but no silver ones. Two ribbons ran back towards the Red Light district, while two more ran north. “So, I know who these two are,” it said pointing to the ones that led towards Isa, “but who are these two?”

“Perhaps we should follow them and find out,” Raylelael suggested.

“You already know that’s what I was planning,” Voxie grinned.

They followed the ribbons shimmering path as it guided them through the woods along the cities edge for hours. The sun set and the moons iluminated the sky in their silvery light, but no matter how late it got, Voxie continued to follow those little red ribbons. Finally as the night began to give to dawn Voxie arrived at a stone wall surrounding a rather large manor.

“Stopping here? Last time I checked walls were never enough to keep you out,” Rayle teased it.

“I don’t have to go any further, I’ve got my answere already,” Voxie shrugged, “though, perhaps I should check in on little Quinnie.”