It was mid-afternoon and Isabelle was outside helping her mother with the farm again. She could tell her mother was finally starting to get more comfortable around her. She, too, grew more comfortable with her new body. It felt much easier to use than before and even though her height caused her to run into things before, she’d mostly gotten past that by now. She may not have liked how her body looked so monstrous, but she couldn’t deny that the improved strength and dexterity were nice to have. It made farm work much, much easier, especially because having to help provide for such a large family meant a lot of labor was needed.

However, there were some things about her new body she didn’t feel like she could ever get used to. The most uncomfortable example being that… almost every day she laid a fat egg. They were starting to pile up in her room. It felt creepy to her; people weren’t supposed to do that. She was just glad they hadn’t hatched.

Could they hatch? she frequently wondered to herself. It’s not like I’ve been with anyone, so it shouldn’t be possible, she thought. Then again…

Isabelle felt a shiver run down her spine. She used her enhanced senses to peer through the walls and into the forest where she saw a group of people with spears and swords coming her way. Most of them wore thick armor with the symbol of the three deities emblazoned onto it, but one individual stood out among the group. It was an older man wearing thick robes. He walked ahead of the rest and looked like the authority figure of the group.

What are they doing here? Is it the church? Holy knights? Are they here for me? Should I run? Those thoughts were quickly squashed. No, if I run they might see me. I've got to hide.

She called out to her Mom.

"Mom! There are people approaching, I'm going to go inside," Isabelle said with an understanding look from her mother. She went inside the house and saw her younger siblings playing together with toys in the main room. Alan wasn’t there, he was still out.

Isabelle watched with a tight knot in her stomach from inside the house as the riders approached her mother. They dismounted from their horses and the man in robes started speaking.

“Hello! I’m Arab, the arch priest of the three gods church in this city. Who might you be?” the priest said in an authoritative voice. Katharos gave a light bow and spoke.

“Hello, priest of the three gods. I’m Katharos.”

“I’m sure you must be wondering why we’re here today. To put it simply, we’ve come to investigate a report that there’s a demon hiding here. Would you know anything about that?” Arab asked. Katharos stood silent for an abnormal amount of time before finally responding to the priest’s request.

“No, I wouldn’t know anything about demons. I’m sorry you had to waste your time coming out here,” Katharos replied.

“Would you mind if we had a look around?” Arab asked.

“I don't mind as long as you stay out of the house, my kids don’t like strangers,” Katharos said. The priest’s face grew concerned.

“I’m afraid we must go in there, but if you would like to go in to calm your children first you may,” said the priest.

“V-very well, thank you,” Katharos replied and walked inside the house. Outside, the house was being surrounded by the holy knights.

Concern was etched into Katharos’ face as she opened the door to Isabelle’s room in a hurry.

“Isabelle, they’re looking for you. They’ll be searching the house. Get out through the back window,” Katharos told her daughter.

“But what about you?” Isabelle asked, clearly worried.

“I’ll be fine. Go, now,” Katharos said.

“Okay, I’ll go. Thanks, mom,” Isabelle replied. A knock was heard on the door and Isabelle turned towards the back window, prepared to make her escape.

“Are you ready for us to come in?” the robed priest asked loudly. Katharos rushed back to the front door.

“Y-yes, you may come inside,” Katharos replied, slowly opening the door to let the priest in. The priest entered and scanned the room while Isabelle jumped through the window.

A knight stood near the window Isabelle was crawling out of, looking towards the forest behind the house. Before she even hit the ground she had slashed his face with the end of her tail.

“The demon, it’s trying to escape!” a second knight shouted while the one Isabelle slashed fell to the ground. Isabelle glanced at the knight and then turned her head back towards the forest and booked it. The knight gave chase but she couldn’t keep up with Isabelle’s speed.

Inside the house, the priest heard the holy knight shouting about a demon's escape. In a flash, he grabbed the smallest of Isabelle’s siblings and ran outside. He dashed to the back of the house only to see his holy knight lying on the ground and a tall person running off like an arrow into the distance. He pulled out a sharp dagger from under his cloak and held it up to the little girl's neck he was holding onto. He pulled on her hair which elicited a cry from her.

“STOP! Or I’ll slit her throat,” the priest yelled. Isabelle stopped and turned around.

What an idiot, the priest thought to himself while smirking. The other holy knights caught up to the priest and were now standing behind him, making sure Katharos didn’t interfere.

“Arrest her,” the priest yelled out to the holy knight that chased Isabelle. She walked up to Isabelle and pinned her to the ground. The holy knights standing next to the priest left and came back with some rope and shackles, then walked up to Isabelle and tied her up, even going as far as to strictly bind her tail. After she was thoroughly bound, the priest released the little girl. Red blood appeared where the knife pressed against her throat. She ran up to Katharos in tears and her mother picked her up and held her in her arms.

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The three holy knights dragged the bound Isabelle to the priest. Disgust painted his face as he got a closer look at her.

I’ve never seen such a demon in all my years of holy service, he thought to himself. The priest turned to Katharos.

“Disgusting. Take this creature to the horses and wait for me,” he said and turned to Katharos while the knights moved Isabelle to where they left their horses.

“Harboring a demon is a crime punishable by death. Had this been a regular demon I’d have had you hanged, but I’ve no doubt this powerful demon manipulated your mind. Those not of the cloth, like yourself, aren’t resistant to such tricks. I’ve never seen such a powerful one.”

“Ye-yes,” Katharos meekly replied.

The priest and holy knights left with Isabelle as their prisoner. The paralyzed holy knight was placed on a horse that was tied up to one of the other holy knights' horses to keep it in tow.

At the city gate, Isabelle’s father was standing duty with a fellow guard. It was boring work, standing there all day, but it was necessary for the protection of the city. He’d been working this job for most of his life and was one of the senior members of the guard now. Balancing his guard duties with his farming duties was sometimes difficult, but the extra income helped him care for his large family.

He stood guard and saw an approaching group, but they were too far off to make out yet. As they got closer, he realized that it was the same group of holy knights that left earlier. His body froze when he realized they had his daughter with them. His mind was racing and he was scared. He thought about fighting them; rescuing his daughter. But he was no match for a holy knight, much less three of them.

His eyes locked with his daughter as they forced her to walk into the city. She could see the anxiety on his face, but her face was calm and expressionless, and she turned away. A second later he did as well, to keep the holy knights from noticing him. As soon as they passed, the young guard next to him spoke up. She had a large scar on her face and wasn’t a fresh recruit, but she hadn’t been a guard for that long, either.

“What the hell was that? Did you see that thing?” she asked him.

“I have to go deal with something. Can you handle guard duty by yourself?” he said.

“Uh, sure,” she replied. Isabelle’s father left and headed home to check on his family.

Isabelle was paraded through the city as people stared at her. She felt their stares boring into her as she held her head down, refusing to make eye contact.

Are they doing this on purpose? she asked herself. It’s as if I’m some sort of circus freak!

Isabelle was taken to a dirty, damp dungeon within the city. It reeked of excrement and death and it made her want to vomit. The holy knights threw her into a cell with an old man and closed the rusty iron door. The old man, her cellmate, had a flowing, filthy white beard. Just like the man himself. He seemed slightly surprised when they threw her into the cell, but that was it. No doubt his reaction was because of her strange appearance.

He hardly reacted to me, even though I look like this… Isabelle thought.

As she looked at him lying there, it seemed to her like he’d just given up on life. No wonder he hardly reacted.

She moved her eyes away from the old man and discovered a rusty bucket in the corner of the cell with flies buzzing around it. She got closer and the smell coming wafting from it made her choke so she backed away, realizing it’s intended use. She didn’t look forward to having to use it.

They both sat there for hours without saying anything until Isabelle spoke up.

“Hi,” she said. He didn’t reply. “What’s your name?” The old man shifted his eyes towards her and answered in a feeble voice.

“Eric.”

“Hi Eric. I’m Isabelle,” she said. “What are you in here for?” His shifting face told her that he was thinking.

“My brother spoke out against the Queen, so I was arrested,” he said. There was a surprising lack of emotion in his voice.

“That’s terrible. I’m sorry,” Isabelle replied, a sullen look in her eyes. “How long have you been here?”

“A long time.” He pointed his thin, wobbly arm at the stone wall. It was covered in small lines etched into it. “I used to count the days. But not anymore.”

This poor man… he’s been treated so harshly and he hasn’t even done anything wrong. This isn’t good news. If this is how they treat a relative of a criminal, what are they going to do to me? she wondered.

A woman in disheveled clothing came barging in the next day, followed closely by three prison guards. She told Isabelle to put her hands through the cell bars, and she complied. The woman then put shackles on her wrists. Considering this woman’s brunt attitude, Isabelle knew this woman was going to show her exactly what they had planned for her.

“Turn around and put your tail through the bars,” the woman demanded. Isabelle complied, and they wrapped some sort of cloth around her tail and opened the door to her cell.

“Follow me,” she said. Isabelle followed her until they entered a room with all sorts of horrible things lying around. It was obviously a room meant for torture. Isabelle hesitated and wondered if she should run, but she didn’t get the chance. They pushed her and forcibly tied her down to a chair. The disheveled woman began asking her strange questions.

“Are you a demon?” was the first thing the woman asked. Isabelle denied it. Each time, Isabelle said no. But the woman kept repeating the question, as if Isabelle’s answer would change. After a further barrage of questions, they moved on to the torture she feared was coming. They peeled her claws off, pulled her teeth, whipped her, and even marked her with a hot rod. It was slow and methodical. Each time they tortured her, they’d repeat the same questions, mostly whether or not she was a demon. She denied it each time until she couldn’t bear it anymore. By the third day, her eyes became cold and lifeless. She was all too happy to tell them she was a demon with the same eyes the old man in the cell had. They understood each other now.

An enormous pyre was built in the cobblestone square of the city; standard for an execution by burning. A massive crowd gathered around the pyre as Isabelle was dragged out and tied to the pole in the center of the pyre. Isabelle had seen an execution once when she was a teenager and the crowd was far bigger than back then, even though executions always had large crowds. She knew why; it was due to her strange looks. Guards surrounded the pyre, to keep the peace and ensure the crowd wouldn’t interfere. Arab, the priest that had found and arrested Isabelle, stood on a raised platform next to the pyre and spoke.

"Quiet!" he yelled at the crowd, but few of the people seemed to hear him and it was just as loud as before. "QUIET!" he shouted. His loud voice captured their attention and they quieted down.

"We are here today to bring justice for our gods and to vanquish evil. This demon—” he gestured to Isabelle, “—has been hiding among us, sowing evil. Not anymore! You can all see its demonic nature just by looking at this creature! Demon, confess to everyone what you are! Tell them you are a demon," he demanded.

"I’m… a demon," Isabelle murmured barely loud enough for the front row of the crowd to hear.

"She confesses! Demon, do you have any final words of repentance?" the priest said. Isabelle just hung her head and didn't say anything. The priest grabbed a torch and threw it at the bottom of the pyre, igniting it. As soon as the torch touched the pyre the crowd roared like feral animals. Cheers were mixed in with shouts for her painful execution.

Why? she wondered to herself as the flames slowly spread further.

Isabelle recognized a few somber faces within the crowd. Her mother, father, and Susy were standing together. None of her younger siblings were there, which wasn’t surprising to her, as if her parents would allow them to attend this horrid event. It was how she preferred it, she didn’t want to scar her young and impressionable siblings. Susy was balling her eyes out, which didn't surprise Isabelle in the least. Susy was a crybaby who was even scared of tiny little bugs.

The flames started to burn her but she resisted screaming, she didn't want to give the priest or anyone else that was happily watching the satisfaction. The armored parts of her body helped her quite a lot. They were virtually unaffected by the fire, unlike exposed skin. Eventually, though, it became too much to bear and she screamed in agony. After who knows how long of that painful screaming, all that was left of her youthful body was a charred corpse.