Alex looked at the two people before him, Telan and Cera, as he sat on the low velvet settee in his room. Telan was standing further off to the side, not entirely sure where to be, while Cera looked more closely at Alex, even taking ahold of his jaw and jerking his head about.

“Is it… reversible?” Alex ventured to ask.

Cera shook her head, “Not as far as my knowledge goes, no,” Alex’s shoulder’s slumped and he looked down but Cera brought his face back up into her line of sight, “No other magic would be powerful enough to undo this and theoretically, summon circles work based on heavy belief in a legend by a large group of people over centuries. Making a new summon circle that could change you back would require a legend with the same amount of extreme belief as the one we used, which would take far too long…”

“We are very sorry,” Telan attempted to chime in, much more saddened by the situation now that he had time to think about how it would impact Alex personally.

“It…” Alex wasn’t sure what to say. It wasn’t... really fine, but it wasn’t as if he could do anything about it now, and he promised to help them, whether he hadn’t known the full consequences of everything happening around him at the time or not, “It’s fine. I’ll be fine,” Alex looked back up to the two demons, “Besides, I promised to help defeat the human army, and I won’t go back on my word. I can figure everything out later…” Alex gave them a clearly unconvincing smile.

Telan gazed at Alex sympathetically before stepping forward, “I negotiated with the demon generals and most have agreed to aide us in at least protecting the border,” Telan sighed, clearly somewhat annoyed by something, “A few either abstained or… acted rather rudely, but I believe we have enough allies to stand a chance… to an extent.”

Alex looked between Telan and Cera, both seeming a bit tired. He looked out the window and noticed that the sun was starting to go down, “Ah…” Alex let out, causing the other two to turn toward where he was looking.

“It is starting to get late, isn’t it…?” Telan sighed. Alex usually saw him as fairly energetic, so it was surprising to seem him so tired. Telan settled his eyes on Alex, “There are new clothes for you to try on in the wardrobe. You will need to meet with some of our allies soon and I believe wearing the new set will make you less…” Telan looked at Alex from head to toe, weighing his words, “…human.” Telan shrugged hesitantly. Alex wasn’t sure what exactly about his clothes screamed “not a demon”, it probably had something to do with the style or make, he guessed. Probably.

Both Telan and Cera left him alone to his own devices, Cera making sure to tell him where the washroom would be and both wishing him a good rest. Alex managed to follow Cera’s directions while only getting lost once or twice on the way and opened and closed the door to the washroom behind him. He set down the bundle of clothes he had received from the wardrobe, curious what they would look like unfolded, and got ready to bathe, pleased to see the water was already drawn and steaming.

Before stepping into the stone bathtub, Alex looked into the tall mirror standing in the corner of the room before remembering he maybe should have prepared himself before doing so. The person that looked back at him from the mirror was still mostly Alex, but as he moved his head back and forth, observing whatever change he could find, Alex realized just how different he had become in such a short time. His eyes were bright red, with only a little bit of dull brown left at the bottom of the irises. They were definitely slitted now. He noticed his ears had become pointed. Not as pointed as his hosts, but they were clearly getting there. Alex ran his tongue over his teeth and flinched when he drew a bit of blood. He opened his mouth and saw sharp canines, causing him to immediately clamp it shut and never think about it again.

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When he had brought his hands up, he had also noticed that the nails on his fingers had gotten longer and far more pointed. They seemed to be turning black, matching some odd ink black markings he was gaining on his arms starting at his fingers as well. He should probably ask Cera and Telan about that… Looking further down, Alex noticed that his feet and legs seemed to be getting a similar treatment to his arms and hands. He hoped the markings wouldn’t encroach too far, but his luck wasn’t looking great.

Alex sighed and resignedly climbed into the tub, finally beginning to relax as he leaned back. He began to think. Mostly about his fellow summoned companions. He wondered if they had gone home yet. The castle’s mages had said that the ritual to send them back would take a few days to prepare. Then his mind turned to whether he’d be able to go home, since now that he’s not… no, there’s no reason to think like that, not right now.

Alex let his thoughts wander for who knows how long as he let the steaming water relax his body. He closed his eyes and sunk down further into the water. After a while, and almost nodding off a few times, he finally forced himself to step out of the tub and wash himself off.

As Alex passed the floor length mirror, he stole a small glance and noticed something he had not seen earlier. A long black line appeared near him. He slowed down and stepped back to where he had first seen the thing flit into view. He saw it again. It was behind him, so Alex turned around, but he couldn’t find it. Then, realization and horror dawned on him. Alex reached behind him and found what he was looking for. He turned his neck and looked down and saw… a tail. A long black tail with a little forked end. Fantastic.

Alex sighed for what seemed the thousandth time that day, let the tail drop, and continued over to the other end of the room where he had set his new clothing. Alex picked up the first folded piece and inspected it. It seemed to be a sleeveless collared shirt. Oh, this outfit was going to be weird, he could already tell.

Alex proceeded to clothe himself, his steps being: pick up new piece, look at it trying to figure out what it was, maybe try to put it on wrong a few times, finally figure it out, repeat. Alex was pleased and a little alarmed to see there was a place for his new… tail? Finally finished, he went over to the floor length mirror again and observed himself. He had a short cloak covering his upper body with short tassels connecting strings on either side. Underneath he wore a long sleeveless collared shirt paired with long-sleeved gloves. He was glad to see the belt he was given had places he could attach his dual swords.

The outfit was a bit… different from what he was used to, but it was fine, so Alex left the washroom and headed back to his bedroom. The hallway was completely silent, and the only light came from flickering candle holders on the walls. Alex was surprised by how good his sight was despite the deep shadows. When he reached the doors he was looking for, he slowly opened them, remembering Telan was the room next to him and not wanting to wake him if he were asleep. Alex slowly stepped inside then closed the doors.

Alex turned back to face his room, and, knowing he wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight, decided to sit down on the settee. He brought up a small journal Telan had given him earlier and began scratching down some notes to organize his thoughts.

Telan had also gifted Alex some books on the demon kingdom, Helem, specifically about some of its customs and a short guide on how to read the demon script which Telan had written himself. Alex found it to be well-done and told Telan so, which caused the demon to blush. Alex smiled remembering it.

It seemed that tomorrow, Alex would be meeting other demons and he was extremely worried. Wes usually did the talking before, and Alex had no idea how good Telan was, although Telan did seem to do fine earlier. Cera was out of the question, so Alex tried his best to translate the books in hopes they would be useful.

Alex looked up into the room after a long bout of translating and sighed. This was going to be stressful; he could already tell. He just hoped the humans would give them all time to prepare.

He hoped he hadn’t just jinxed it.