Dead… the demon king was dead… No, not the demon king I had just battled, but his… or her, father. Yes, Demon King Adamson the 292 n'd was dead, or so the new demon king had told me. 

“How, when, what, why?” I wasn’t sure what question to ask so I asked them all.

She sighed, “it happened a few months ago, and well, the rest of the kingdom hasn’t exactly taken it well,” we sat there on her bed as she explained it all to me. She told me how he died, and how the servants simply up and left, deciding death was a better option than serving a sissy king. In the end, of all the servants who knew, only Belail had remained loyal. 

“A chicken bone?” I did not want to believe it, “you are telling me the great demon king choked to death on a chicken bone?” I didn’t know whether to laugh or vomit. All that hard work, and my great enemy was slain not by a Champion, but his own supper! 

“Mother always did tell him to chew his food better,” she sighed again, wiping her eyes dry, “though it’s whatever now, right, honestly things are better this way.”

“How so?” 

“I get to be alone now and at least try to be my true self,” she smiled faintly, her eyes still shimmering with pools of tears, “even if all I can do is wear my silly little dress, at least it makes me happy. Happier than I ever was being his son.”

“So you’re just going to sit alone here in this castle till you die of starvation?” Dramatic much? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I understand where she was coming from, I would kill to get to wear a cute dress like that, in fact I have… I have killed so soo sooooo many demons, among other things/people. My hands were stained with rivers of blood, all so I could ask the goddess to transform me into a girl. It was my pure wish, my only desire in life. So yeah, if anyone understood her it was going to be me. Still, just sitting inside a castle for the rest of your life was no way to live.

“What else could I do?”

Her answer irked me, no it went beyond just irking me, “I don’t know, fight for your wish and desires to come true! Seize the day, no, the world, in your hands and make your dream a reality!” I stood up raising my sword to the sky as I gave my passionate speech.

She clicked her tongue, “tch, yeah like it’s that easy. How exactly am I supposed to do that?”

Oh, yeah… I guess she had a point. I had planned on using a goddess to get my wish, but she didn’t really have that option, did she? “I uh… I don’t know…”

“Exactly, there is no way. The world is unfair, and I could never be a girl,” she huffed, falling backwards into her bed and pulling a pillow over her face. “What’s the point of living if I can’t be beautiful?”

“I mean, no one ever said you can’t be beautiful,” honestly, if that was her biggest concern then I was jealous. She was already pretty, even if it was in a bit of a boyish way. I genuinely envied her hair, it was so long and silky and shimmering. Like seriously, I wanted to just run my fingers in it cause it looked so smooth. And like, silver hair is really, really cool. I wish my hair was silver. I got stuck with relatively short, dirty blond hair. Not ugly, but still not nearly as pretty as hers. No seriously, she was down right cute actually, adorable in her own sort of way. And I may have accidentally said that out loud even… 

“Flattery will get you nowhere with me, human,” she grumbled from beneath her pillow.

“No I mean it, like really,” I’m an honest person, I don’t believe in lying without a cause. When learning divine magic you’re taught to be a just and upright steward of the goddess.

Peeking out from beneath her pillow she nervously squeaked, “really?”

“Yeah, yeah, I really mean it!” My mortal enemy being down on herself about her looks was honestly not something I could just sit there and take, like seriously if any of the two of us has any reason to be sad about our appearance it was me. Though maybe she thought the same thing about me, who knows?

“Thank you,” she sat back up, still hiding her face from me with her pillow, “that is kind of you to say,” she was honestly being too cute now. How could I kill the demon king if she was this adorable? Her forlorn eyes gazed out into the room, as if ruminating on my words. A simple little spark of joy seemed to light up in her oddly colored eyes and she looked just slightly happier than before. 

“Cute…” I said subconsciously or unconsciously, or whatever… “Uh, no um, anyways ignoring that,” I rose to my feet and drew my rapier from its frog, “okay so I also have a wish to be a girl, and I’m not accomplishing that with simple hopes and dreams so.. I’ve come for your heart and I’m not leaving this place without it.”

“You came for my heart?” She tilted her head, holding her finger to her lip as she stared doe eye at me, perplexed by my words.

Like yes, duh, your heart, the thing all champions are after… Oh wait… “Oh, oh! No, not your heart like as in… no I mean literally your heart!” My heroic air of grandeur was foiled by my flustered frenzy, with a simple misunderstanding I was reduced to a mushy mess, too embarrassed to even lift my blade.

“I don’t have it,” she said plainly.

“Huh, what? Wuz that mean?” Don’t have your heart? Then how are you alive girl?

“The demon king's heart is an heirloom passed down from king to successor. Upon the demon king's death a priestess carves out his heart and presents it to their heir in a ceremony known as the passage of blessings. But like I said, my servants decided they didn’t want a king who dressed in drag to rule them, so they took my fathers body and left me here alone.” 

Gross, like seriously gross. They do what with your fathers heart? Demons are barbaric. Nevermind the fact that I was going to carve out her heart and bring it to the Goddess Abelia, this was like ten times more grossey.

 “Wait, wait so what you’re saying is you don’t have the heart?”

She rolled her eyes, clicking her tongue, “yes, that is literally what I just said,” well yeah, I know that’s what you said, but like come on, give me some time to process it.

“Fine, fine, so you don’t have it,” I returned my sword to its frog, “which also means we don’t have to fight,” this was honestly a nice turn of events, well sort of, I felt uneasy about killing her now that we’ve had this little heart to heart chit chat anyways. And also, to be honest, it was nice meeting someone else who felt the same way I felt. “So, where did the bastards who took your fathers body go?”

“Like I’d tell you,” her tone cut me deeper than any blade ever could.

“Guh, no like, okay fair…” I crossed my arms and thought for a moment, tapping my toe to the ground trying to come up with a solution to this new dilemma, “you want to be a girl right?”

“Yes, we’ve been over this already,” come on girl, cut the attitude, please, I’m trying to be friends here.

“Okay, okay, me too,” establish common ground, step one in negotiations. 

“Yes, that’s cool and all, we’re the same, woohoo, but what’s your point?”

I gave a cheeky grin and lowered myself to be eye level with her, “why don’t we track down the demon king’s heart and both bring it back to the goddess, together, so that way she’ll have to grant both our wishes?”

“There are three problems with your proposal,” she began to list off the holes in my plan, “One, the Goddess Abelia hates demons,” fair, “two, there’s only one heart so why would she grant two wishes?” also fair, “and three, I don’t really like you,” ouch…

“Hey, where you see issues, I see opportunities for innovation!” I grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet, "this can be an adventure, just think about it! Two silly girls from completely different backgrounds traveling through unknown territories together! It's just like the stories I grew up with!" Well except those stories were almost always about boys, but like, other than that it was pretty much the same. "We'll laugh together, learn together, cry together, kill a whole lot of enemies together, probably. And in the end we'll be girlfriends helping each other's wish come true!"

"Girlfriends?"

No, not that way! "Gah no! Not like, I mean like… you know, like how girls talk about their close friends…" I was not about to date the demon king, no matter how cute she was… "but yeah, I just think that maybe, maybe it's fate for us to meet like this." I had a more somber tone now, dropping my hyperactive facade for just a moment, "I've never met someone like me before."

She chuckled a little, then with a sigh of resignation she hung her head and agreed, "okay, fine. You win."

Wow, was I really that convincing? Maybe I should have been a salesperson instead. I'm joking, being a champion was the right life for me, but hey at least I know I could make a convincing argument. "So then, we'll go on this quest together?"

"Yes, we'll do it together," for a brief moment she wore a small cute smile on her soft little lips, an air of innocence radiating from her. 

"Yes, awesome!" Leaping in joyous triumph, I gave a little cheer, the demon king giggling at my childish behavior. Demon King really wasn’t an appropriate thing to call her, now was it? I mean, she’s a girl, and also she isn’t really a ruler. So like Demon Queen also just didn’t feel right. I pondered it a little too much…

“So, Champion, what is your name?” Of course, introductions, why hadn’t I thought of that?

“I am Sir… No,” I didn’t have to use that gross name anymore, she knew my secret and I knew hers, I could use a totally new name, “I am Lady Eve Adendarte, first of my name!”

“Very well, Lady Eve, I suppose it is a pleasure then to meet you,” Suppose? Also hearing her say it, maybe the lady part was a little audacious to have anyone say every time they addressed me. “I am Demon King Adamson the, well does the number really matter?”

Giggling I shrugged, “there seems to have been a bunch of you, what’s up with that?”

“Every demon king has taken the name of our progenitor, well sort of,” she explained, “the first Demon King was King Cain Adamson, and we simply were named after him.” She let out a long exhausted sigh, “I do not like the name one bit…”

“Well then change it, I wasn’t born Eve obviously,” I chirped, “how about, Adie? Ada? Ummm… Adamdaughter?”

“Those are all terrible,” she giggled, “you know you don’t have to just feminize my birth name, I actually really like the name Lilith.”

“Oooh, Lilith is a pretty name!”

She nodded with a big proud grin on her face, “It is, that was the name of the first Demon Queen, and well, I really really love the name.”

“Okay then, it’s my pleasure to meet you, Demon Queen Lilith,” I curtsied and we both laughed together. I came to the castle looking for blood, ready to kill any and all in my way, this however was not something I could have ever expected. “So, should we be getting ready to leave? They have like a several month head start right?”

She shook her head, “not exactly, It was only a month ago that everyone left, honestly I wish they left sooner,” it sounded pretty rough, being abandoned by your subjects cause they can’t accept you for who you are, “we can wait, besides, you look exhausted. There’s plenty of rooms. We’ll stay here tonight and prepare to leave tomorrow.”

I didn’t want to admit it, but I was exhausted, probably why I was so sloppy in that fight. If I had been properly rested I’d have killed her in ten seconds flat. So I guess it was a good thing I wasn’t in top form. “Alrighty, I’ll stay in the castle tonight,” I yawned and stretched, then winked at her with a cheeky grin, “just don’t kill me in my sleep, okay?”

“Same to you, miss ‘Champion of the Goddess’,” yes, teasing, we really were like girlfriends already. The platonic kind!

     She led me down a few halls, down a couple flights of stairs, and around a couple of corners till we came to a part of the castle with several doors. She opened a door and directed me inside, "here you can sleep in this one, I guess."

With big doe eyes I ran into the bedroom, giggly with glee as I jumped on a nice fluffy bed. It was so soft, with warm velvety blankets and plush feather stuffed pillows. As cliché as it sounds, it was like laying on a cloud. I rolled around in that luxurious bed laughing hysterically, if Lilith didn't already think I was crazy before then she definitely did now. 

"So you like the bed, I take?"

"Yeeee!" 

"Okay, well that's good," she was so awkward, it honestly felt like she never talked to someone her own age before, "I guess I'll leave now."

"Okie, good night Lilith~" I called out to her as she started to close the door.

"Good night, Eve," as she said good night I let out another ear piercing squeal. It was just so nice hearing someone call me my preferred name! No, not preferred, my real name.

The door clicked shut, and I was completely alone in that wonderfully luxurious room. It had to be a room for visiting nobles from other demon tribes, or something. Possibly, it could have even been a room for Lilith's family members, like cousins or something like that. It just felt so regal, so grand, so… nice. Now to be fair, I had slept outside a lot the past year, much of my journey getting there was spent either camping, sleeping in churches, or staying in low budget inns when I could afford it. So comparatively speaking almost anything was going to be nicer than that. Still, I felt like an honored guest, which is really saying something considering I was actually an intruder. With my body sinking into my soft and cushy bed, a dreamless sleep took hold of me in no time.

Being so deep within the castle walls there were no windows to allow the natural light of sunrise to wake me, or so I had thought. The ambient golden rays of the sun caressed my face in their warmth, coaxing me to wake with the new day. Well sort of… My eyes fluttered open to see a very odd sight indeed, the ceiling itself casted the image of the morning sky, as if I was looking through some sort of magical window to the outside world. I would have probably freaked, I mean I was still startled a little, but honestly it just looked so cool I couldn’t help but marvel at it. Was this magic? Like demon magic? How was this happening? I know I’m like on the first or second floor of like seven floors, so I can’t just be looking directly at the actual sky. Was this a normal way for demons to wake up? Just have magical sunrises act as some kind of alarm? I’d definitely have to ask Lilith about it, assuming I’d even remember.

Lost in the marvel of the fake sky above me, I almost had forgotten I needed to eat until my belly reminded me with a loud monstrous grumble of complaint. “Okay, okay, I know tummy,” I rummaged through my magic satchel, pulling out the various things it held, till I was able to fish out some dried meat and hard tack. Adventures essentials, but hardly an appetizing breakfast. Wait, wait, I’m in a castle! The thought didn't’ really dawn on me at first cause the fake sky was so convincing I almost completely forgot I wasn’t outside. Almost… But yea, a castle meant there had to be food, and like waaay better food than that meager meal of rations. Then again, I thought, the castle has been abandoned for a bit now, but also Lilith is still here, so yeah, definitely has to have some kind of food. Would the demon king really let herself starve? Actually, maybe she would? I don’t know, but still it was highly likely that I would be able to find something to eat there. So, I hopped outta bed and explored the castle, foraging like a bnuuy in wintertime. Even if it was slim pickings, it would be better than nothing, and worse case scenario I had my rations.

The castle felt bigger than it did the day before, maybe because I wasn’t just running down halls screaming like a maniac? Actually, can we forget I did that? Yeah, I didn’t do that. I walked to the demon king's throne like a dignified Champion, and challenged her the proper way. Perhaps calling her the demon king really wasn’t the right thing, her name is Lilith, but I guess then the throne also isn’t hers? I can’t say I completely understand the demon kingdom's politics, but I guess if your servants all leave you and you got no one to be king or queen or whatever, then you’re not really a ruler. Oh, yeah, ruler… that's a gender neutral word… duh… Oh, but yeah, getting off on a tangent again. The castle was huge, honestly I’d even argue it was bigger on the inside. Of course, there was no way that was possible, right? I mean yeah, I had a magical satchel that held a nearly infinite amount of items, sort of, but that’s just because it was actually a portal to a storage hold back at my home church’s vault. For an entire building to somehow magically be bigger inside would be insane. So no, it definitely couldn’t be bigger on the inside, but it did seem that way. 

After walking down several corridors aimlessly seeking out the kitchen, I began to notice just how truly empty it all felt. Room upon room of just, well nothing. Beds stripped of bedding, walls that clearly once had portraits and tapestries now a barren blank space. Whole entire halls just cleared out of any furniture or decoration. Even those silly suits of empty armor you’d normally see everywhere in castles, completely gone. Honestly, I think they would have taken the thrones too if they weren’t just so damn heavy. Did the castle have an “everything must go'' clearance sale? Okay, obviously not, but like that’s what it looked like. And like, poor Lilith has just been living here by herself for months? My stomach ached just thinking about it, or maybe it was because I was just really really hungry. 

I didn’t have to think about that for too long before the devil herself found me walking in circles in the main hall. “Hey, what are you doing?” She called to me as she descended a flight of stairs.

“Me hungry!” I whined, hunger reducing my wits to that of some prehistoric cave dweller. 

She giggled and waved to me, “come on, I’ll show you to our kitchen,” turning from the main hall she led me through three more corridors till we arrived in a glossy floored room. 

“Oooh, what is this place?” I marveled at the strange contraptions that lined the walls. A metallic basin with an odd metal pipe sat in one corner, next to some marbled surface. Another big metal contraption with knobs and dials was positioned in the center of a wall, with a giant vault of some sort across from it.

“The kitchen, silly,” she giggled again, her aloofness about it making me feel just a little dumb. “My former subjects may hate me, but they are not cruel, so they at least left the appliances for me to cook my own meals.”

"So what, they left you some dried meat or something? Maybe some cheese?" Unless she had a whole farm inside the cupboards I wasn't expecting too much. Maybe something better than my own jerky, but certainly nothing as good as a fresh supply of food from the market.

"Actually I just had my groceries delivered a couple days ago, so we should be fine. Does an omelet sound good to you?"

"A what? That some kinda demon food?"

"It's a dish made with eggs and other ingredients, have you never had one before?" Gee miss Demon King's daughter, maybe not all of us grew up in a castle.

"Nope, but eggs are good so I guess that sounds tasty," it was better that I not be snippy with my gracious hostess.

"Alright, then," she smiled, fetching some cookware from a cabinet, "do me a favor and heat some oil in a skillet while I chop the vegetables," she handed me a pan and pointed to the weird device against the wall.

"Oil? Like lantern oil?"

Her expression was as quizzical as my own, tilting her head she looked at me, "what? No, cooking oil, why would I… I mean olive oil, Eve."

I shrugged, "wuz that?" My meals consisted largely of rations, stew, and a healthy amount of beer. Sometimes using the other two things to make my stew. Cooking oil just sounded weird, like seriously who would eat oil?

With a deep sigh she walked over to a cupboard and opened it to reveal a variety of bottles filled with different liquids and powders. Grabbing a bottle she motioned to a big metal box, "I'll do this then, you cut the veggies."

"Oh… okie," so demons keep vegetables in a box, odd… I approached the large metal container, thrown off by the strange humming that came from it, "is this thing alive?"

"What? No, it's just a fridge, it keeps food cold." 

Fridge? Keep food cold? But doesn't the cold kill veggies? I don't know, demons are weird. Cautiously I seized the humming cold containers handle and pried open the door. A light shined inside the weird vessel,  and I might have jumped back into a defensive pose, or maybe I didn't, you certainly couldn't prove I was startled. Anyways, the box was cold, lit up, and absolutely filled to the brim with all sorts of foods. Drool dribbled down my chin as I stood there basking in the glorious display before my eyes. I know she's like the king and all, but hot damn that was alotta food! You could feed a few families, or one very hungry Champion. My stomach roared at the sight of it all, forget the omelet, couldn't I just start devouring all this now?

"Hey don't leave the fridge open too long, it's going to start beeping at you," she warned me as she grabbed a carton out of the fridge.

"Oh right, ummm…" I looked closer at the contents until I found some vegetables inside a little clear drawer. "Umm so, what are these?" 

"What? Vegetables, you know what vegetables are right?"

"Yes I know what vegetables are!" Okay maybe my diet consisted of very little veggies, but I still know what they are, "but like, what are these vegetables?" I had a basic idea of what they might be, sure, but the colors, shapes and sizes just seemed, wrong? I don’t know, there was certainly something off about them.

“Just grab some peppers, spinach, and some tomatoes,” Lilith was getting annoyed with me, but in my defense, I never claimed to be a chef.

“Umm.. okay,” I grabbed a couple things that looked right and brought them over to the counter. Locating a knife I began to slice what I was pretty sure was tomato.

“No, not on the counter!” She ran over and snatched the knife from my hand, a dangerous thing that you should never do, then scolded me, “you need to use a cutting board or you’re going to scratch up the counter.”

“A what?”

With a louder, longer sigh of resignation, she waved her hands, shooing me away, “I’ll take care of it,” I won’t lie, it felt demoralizing knowing I had exasperated her so much.

“Okie,” I stepped back, and she got to work. Humming and swaying in place, I watched as she chopped up the veggies, before sliding them off a little wood board into a bowl. She cracked a few eggs and added their contents to the bowl, then fetched a small block of cheese and a metal thingy and began to add little cheesy bits to the mixture. Once she was done with that she mixed it all together and poured the concoction into the pan. As it began to heat up, she shook some bottles of spices into the cooking egg mixture. When the egg was mostly solid, she grabbed a spatula and flipped it over, then another minute passed and she told me it was done.

“So it’s time to eat then?” 

She nodded while grabbing a couple plates and dividing the meal evenly.

“Yay food!”

“We can eat in the dining hall, though it may be a little messy, sorry if that is an issue,” she said, leading me through a door out of the kitchen.

“Pfft, a little mess is nothing, I just want food!” she could have been leading me to the stables to eat, I honestly didn’t care, my stomach was about to start digesting itself so the setting was hardly a concern.

“This will be the first time I’ve used the dining hall since everyone left, it’s honestly a little embarrassing,” we stepped into a giant room with a single table at its center. She called it a mess, but I think that was simply something lost in translation. I’d go as far as saying that it made the room less of a mess, but I guess I get her embarrassment. You’d expect a king's dining hall to be some jovial display of wealth that they flaunt for their guests, but this was just kinda sad. “Here you go, I hope it is to your liking,” she sat the plate at the table and took a seat.

“Taste isn’t really somethin that matters,” I shrugged as I took a seat across from her, “food is food, right?” Her face told me she didn’t really care for my response, but instead of saying anything she just passed me a little tiny trident.

“Well, either way, bon appetit,” not wasting any time, she began to take tiny little bites of her omelet. Goddess, even the way she ate was proper, like what the hell? 

I however, dug in, taking the little trident thingy and began to shovel the egg dish into my gaping maw. Holy crap it was actually good! Salty, fluffy, gooey goodness filled my mouth. The crunch of the peppers added a nice little contrast to the softness of the egg, while the tomato complemented everything with a hint of sweetness. A satisfying string of cheese stretched from each little bit I took, which like, I don’t know why but I really liked the way it looked. I’m pretty sure I threw my head back and savored each bite with a big grin.

Lilith giggled, “so, I take it you like it?”

“Mmm, yeth, ith’s really goob!” I said with a mouthful of my delicious omelet.

“I am glad you like it, eggs are my specialty,” she closed her eyes and nodded with a small dignified grin, “I know several dozen ways to prepare eggs, I even have perfected an egg cracking technique using only one hand,” she blushed, “though that sometimes makes a mess.”

“Well if those dozens of other egg meals are as good as this one, then I look forward to it!”

“And I look forward to cooking for you,” she was probably just saying that to be nice, but it still made me feel good. “I hope the servants quarters weren’t too uncomfortable for you last night.”

“Huh, the what?”

“The room you slept in, was the temperature fine? The bed wasn’t too soft was it?”

“The room was perfect, but did you say servants quarters?”

She nodded, “I hope you are not offended, it is just that the nobles took all their furniture so that was the only room with a bed.” You mean to tell me that the servants got to sleep in the lap of luxury? Like what?

“I uh, no it was fine,” it was more than fine, I just didn’t know how to process it.

“Alright, I’m glad,” she smiled then took another bite of her omelet.

        After we finished our breakfast, she returned to her room to pack supplies, finally getting ready to set off on our adventure. I waited outside her door, rocking back and forth, excited to get going. After what felt like ages, she peeked her head out the door, “Eve, I’m ready, but I need you to promise that you will not laugh, okay?”

“Huh? Why would I laugh?”

“Though my father never supported my desire to be a girl, he did indulge my love of cute things,” her cheeks blazed red, “that being said, our subjects used to laugh and tease me about my clothes and…”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m sure whatever you’re wearing will be fine,” seriously, who was I to judge a girl on her clothes? I wore the same three outfits everyday for the last several months.

“Alright, if you are sure then,” she opened the door fully and stepped out. Her outfit was honestly exactly what I had expected of a prince, with perhaps a little bit of a girly flair. She wore puffy shorts with a cute checkered pattern on their cuffs. A black blouse with big puffy sleeves, and a cute black bow tied around her neck. All perfectly normal, well except for the violet hooded vest with big long ears on the hood.

“Oh my gosh, are those Bnuuy ears?”

She pulled the hood over her head, hiding her face, “don’t make fun of me!”

“No, no, I’m not,” I insisted, “that’s honestly so adorable!” I was for real envious of the hood, it was so cute. My cloak's hood was just plain and drab looking, it was full of holes, was getting stiff from all the blood stains, and genuinely smelt of death… Okay yeah, I really needed a new hood. 

“You’re making fun of me,” she turned away with a huff.

“I promise you Lilith, I am not making fun of you,” seriously, who could make fun of this cutie? Her subjects sound like they were big jerks, “I would love to have a hood like that!”

“Really?” she slowly turned back around to face me.

“Really, I promise,” you’re lucky you’re cute because I might have had to steal it from you. Okay, no, I wouldn’t have stolen it from her, but like damn I wanted something like it.

“Thank you, Eve,”  her tiny lips broke into a cute smile, then she frowned for a moment, “actually, come to think of it, your clothes are kind of, well, gross.” 

Guh… So blunt, and after asking me to not bully her? But like, she wasn’t wrong… “Yeah, I know… But clothes are expensive, and I’ve never really been able to buy anything that I felt happy wearing anyways,” why buy clothes I’m just gonna hate when it costs nothing to keep wearing the clothes I already own? “Besides, adventuring is expensive, so I had to save my money for important stuff.” Stuff like swords, camping supplies, trashy forbidden love novels about cute girls, and beer!

“Well then I suppose we will have to visit a tailor when we get to town,” she smiled at me again and grabbed me by the sleeve, “come along, we should head out now.”

I just said clothes were a waste of money and she’s saying we should buy some? Girl just doesn’t listen. Either way, I followed her out the throne room and down another several halls, till we came to a door that looked as if it led nowhere. “Umm, isn’t the exit that way?”

“Huh? Oh, no we aren’t using the main gate, that would take too long,” she opened a tiny little door, revealing a dial of sorts, and twisted it a few times as a light flashed in the ‘window’ of the big door. “There we go, Castleton Square, the first stop in our journey.” Before opening the door she looked at me, “this should go without saying, but keep your hood on. We can’t have people knowing you are a human.”

“Oh, right!” I threw on my hood and pulled it down low over my eyes, “lez go!”

She chuckled, “alright, watch your step,” and with that last little warning she opened the door and stepped through.

Not knowing what to expect I followed, stepping into the outside world. A completely different outside world than that of the mountain I just scaled the day prior. “I.. wha… where?” By some strange magic I now found myself in a bustling city corner, standing outside what looked like a tiny little shop. Large contraptions rolled by on steel tracks, while people rode in horseless wagons' alongside them. Magic lights of many colors lit up signs on every street corner and over many shops and other sorts of establishments. The whole place was a buzz with many voices as demons conversed with each other on street corners. And even more noise came from the many weird devices and thingymabopppers that filled the city streets. It was overwhelming.   

Lilith turned to me and flashed me a big cheesy grin, “Welcome to the Demon Kingdom!”