"Yes. I'm a succubus." Jade said deciding, as she usually did, that frank candidness was the best way to approach the situation. "A demon."

"A succubus…" Siora breathed, eyes widening in surprise. The elf took a step back, reaching a hand inside the pouch at her waist.

"Wait!" Jade hurriedly continued, raising her hands in peace. "It's not what you think! I had to choose a new race when I became a wayfarer. This… was my only option."

Siora hesitated, glancing at Luis and Naomi before shifting her attention back to Jade.

"You… transformed when you gained your wayfarer mark?" Siora asked slowly, her eyes flitting over to inspect the mark on Jade's raised hand. She stopped rummaging through her bag, although she remained tense. "I thought hardly anyone did that."

Jade took a minute to explain her narrow escape from the venomhound that had chased her when she'd first arrived in the Labyrinth, and her subsequent dire wound. Siora nodded slowly, folding her arms across her chest.

"So, you're not a natural born demon?" she finally asked.

"As in, a demon from birth? No." Jade shook her head. "I've only been like this for a couple of days."

"Ok." Siora breathed out a long breath, relaxing ever so slightly. "That… That's ok. I was just… surprised."

"Is this a problem?" Jade asked. To say that Siora's initial reaction had her concerned would be a massive understatement. Would everyone else she met here be just as hostile upon discovering her nature? She was already dreading having to explain this back on Earth. But what did being a demon even mean to the people of the Labyrinth? Or, for that matter, to people from other worlds? Nothing good, apparently, but surely whatever beliefs they held were wildly divergent from anything found on Earth.

"Maybe… I don't know." Siora replied hesitantly. The elf still looked wary, but was growing less so as they conversed. Luis and Naomi were standing nearby, listening closely. "If you explain you're a human who took a race change when you became a wayfarer, you… might be ok."

"Might?" Jade asked. She didn't like the sound of that.

"Demons don't have a good reputation." Siora winced, glancing at the ground. "There aren't many of them around these days. But when they do show up, bad things tend to happen. I mean, I've never met one before myself, that's just what everyone says." The elf shrugged. "Some people might not mind, though. Their invasion was a long, long time ago."

"Their what?" Naomi asked, echoing Jade's tone.

Jade covered her face with her hands, subconsciously drooping her wings and tail. Great. This was just what she needed.

"Oh… I keep forgetting how isolated your world was." Siora was frustrated, and at least a little rattled. She took a calming breath, then continued. "Ok, I'll give you a quick history lesson. What I'm about to tell you, pretty much everyone in the cosmos learns about as a child. Are you ready?"

Jade, Luis, and Naomi all nodded. Naomi looked overwhelmed, while Luis just looked interested. As for Jade, after the shock of almost dying a few minutes ago she wasn't sure that she was capable of processing any of this right now. But it was important for her to know, so she listened as closely as she could.

"Thousands of years ago there was a war, a really big war, that involved a lot of different worlds." Siora began. She examined Jade while she spoke, cautiously inspecting her demonic features. "I've heard people call it 'The Cinder Cataclysm', but I think most just say 'The Cataclysm.' Anyway, what matters is that the invaders were demons."

The elf paused to take a breath. When no one else said anything, she continued.

"Demons were… are… a group of many different kinds of creatures that all came from the same realm, a place known in legend as 'Tenebrian.'"

Jade lowered herself to sit back against a tree. Her body needed to rest after the fight. The others joined her, sitting in a loose circle. They'd moved a little away from the scene of the battle. The jungle around them was tranquil, with no sign of other monsters. As she spoke, Siora picked up a small stick from the ground and used it to draw a group of circles in a patch of dirt. Then she began crossing them out one by one until only a few remained.

"The demons invaded world after world, conquering their way across the universe. Back then the Labyrinth wasn't anywhere near as large as it is now, so travelling between worlds required powerful dimensional magic that not many people knew how to use. They say the demon races were gifted with arcane talent and that they used that power to spread their dominion across the stars."

The elf narrowed her eyes, her forehead scrunching in concentration.

"I don't remember many details, sorry, just the stories the lorekeeper told when I was a child. One day, long after the start of their invasion, the demon armies were confronted by a great alliance of many worlds that had joined together to stand against them. That lead to a massive battle centered on one planet, the latest place the demons had chosen to invade."

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Siora drew another circle, then several arrows pointing to it from every direction.

"Almost nothing survived the fighting." she said quietly. "Not the armies, not the demon emperor, not even the world itself."

She crossed out that circle too, then rubbed the ground with her hand to wipe it from the simple diagram entirely.

"After that, their empire collapsed. Without their emperor, many of the demons turned on each other. The ones that survived disappeared, fleeing to the dark corners of the cosmos." Siora said, looking up at Jade again. "In the millennia since, they've become a rarity."

Jade was having trouble envisioning conflict on the scale Siora was describing. Battles that consumed entire worlds? As in, many of them? She had studied both of Earth's world wars in high school. If Siora's story were true, those conflicts would have been just a battle in the cataclysm that had been the war against demonkind.

No wonder everyone hates them. Jade thought, and then remembered that she was one of them now.

No. I might share their form, but I am not one of their people.

"Mostly, they're spoken of in legend and religion these days." Siora finished, wiping away the rest of her drawing. "Every once in a while, you hear a story about one showing up somewhere, usually to cause trouble, but who knows if they're true of not. Honestly, I didn't even know the Labyrinth gave demon races as options to wayfarers. I've never heard of that."

"Yeah.…"Jade muttered, staring at the ground. "The Voice of the Labyrinth… That's what you call the system that governs this place, right?"

Siora nodded, brushing a lock of auburn hair out of her face. It was still covered in the remnants of sticky webbing, as was the rest of her flowing outfit. Given that she was covered in spider blood, Jade knew that she had to look even worse.

"Well, the Voice didn't tell me any of this before giving me the choice." Jade said bitterly. "Neither did Damos. Not that he really had the time…"

She sighed heavily, then took a drink from her water bottle. The water was as warm as the hot jungle day. What she wouldn't give for some ice...

"But people won't actually equate those ancient wars with me, will they?" She asked. "I mean, I'm not even a part of their people."

"No." Siora shook her head. "No, I don't think so. You'll have to get used to explaining yourself, though. It won't be fun, but it'll… probably be ok."

'Probably' was doing a lot of work in that statement. Jade grunted, closing the bottle and setting it on the ground beside her.

"Although…" Siora continued, embarassed. "Succubi are pretty infamous, even for demons. There are a lot of stories about their powers. How they get into people's heads, twist their minds, make them do things…"

Jade caught Naomi looking at her. The dark-haired girl looked away, biting her lower lip. Then, to Jade's surprise, she set her shoulders and met her eyes again.

"Well." Naomi said. "You'll just have to let your actions speak for you, Jade. If you're as good to everyone else as you have been to us, then I'm sure people will accept you."

Jade detected more than a little forced optimism in her friend's words, but she appreciated the vote of confidence, nonetheless.

"Thanks, Naomi."

"But don't be too convincing." Luis said, raising a finger. "Or they might think you're trying to enchant them into liking you, even if you're not."

Jade threw her water bottle at him. He ducked out of way, laughing. Jade found herself laughing too and, after a moment, Naomi and Siora followed suit. The tension, which had been growing since Siora had approached her, eased just a little. This whole situation was just so ridiculous. Demons and monsters and interdimensional wars. Ten minutes ago, she'd nearly been eaten alive by a giant spider. For all Jade knew, she wouldn't live long enough for any of this to matter. Was that the healthiest way to look at her situation? Probably not, but Jade didn't care.

"It'll be ok, Jade." Siora said, still smiling at Luis's lame joke. "I'll introduce you to everyone in Lysara. If I tell them you're trustworthy, they'll believe me."

"Do you think that I'm trustworthy?" Jade asked, shuffling her wings anxiously.

The elf didn't answer immediately. She looked at the ground, twisting a blade of grass between her fingers.

"Something tells me you are." she finally said. "Maybe that's stupid of me. For all I know, you're influencing me already. But… I don't think you're doing that."

"Is there any way I can prove it to you?"

"Not here, but it's fine." Siora said quietly. "I'm choosing to trust you. That's what feels right to me. I'd rather look for the best in someone than live in fear."

"Thanks, Siora…" Jade said, genuinely moved by her decision. "I… appreciate that."

"The three of you are helping me. That's worth something."

Jade could tell that Siora was struggling with the revelation, the elf would barely meet her eyes. But she was clearly making an effort to overcome her prejudices. If the circumstances were reversed, Jade didn't know that she'd be as generous.

The conversation lapsed, the four of them falling silent. Jade found herself reflecting on the strange onslaught of dark emotions she had felt when transforming in the heat of battle. Did that have to do with being a demon? Did her true form affect how she felt? Searching her feelings, Jade couldn't find any trace of the anger and bloodlust that had flowed through her earlier. Even so it was an unpleasant thought, and she decided to shift back to her human form for the moment.

"We should get goin' while the goin's good." Said Luis, standing up and tossing Jade back her water bottle. She deftly caught it, stowing it in her pack as her wings retracted. "We still heading to the node?"

"Yes, please." Said Siora. "And then to the sanctuary?"

"Definitely. I've had enough fighting for the day." Naomi agreed. "And year, for that matter. Actually, make it for life."

"Sorry, Naomi." Siora said, putting a hand on the other woman's arm. "I know the Labyrinth can be dangerous, but there's a lot of wonderful things here too." She smiled at her. "I'll try and show you the good parts."

"That would be nice." Naomi gave her a half smile. Then she looked down at her sticky, blood spattered armor and sighed. "So much for that bath…"

Jade shouldered her pack, thinking over what Siora had told them. She had so much to process and even more unanswered questions. Hopefully, Damos would be present in the sanctuary this time. She took a deep breath, savoring the sweet scent of the jungle. The valley was beautiful, filled with colorful plants and unblemished nature.

Siora's right. She thought, taking in the scenery. It's not all bad.

She fell into step with her new friends as they set off in the direction of the node, Naomi taking the lead. She said something, and Siora and Luis laughed. Jade found herself smiling with them.

Not all of it.

"Oh, wait!" Luis said, snapping his fingers and coming to a stop.

Everyone paused, turning to look at him.

"We forgot to loot the monsters!" He said, turning to hike back towards the scene of the battle. "Can't leave without that!"