-- Alena's perspective --

I woke up in the late afternoon and it took me a moment to realize I was not at home. Groggily I looked around, registering my surroundings. My mind started to piece everything together as I reached up and touched my forehead. The horns were still there.

Looking behind me I saw that my companion was already up, watching me with some curiosity. No aggression. Demons killed people, right? What was different about this one? I was in no position to resist if it wanted to kill me, I had seen how easily it killed another demon. Even with the extra strength I felt in my body, I was just no match if it decided to attack.

I got up and started looking through my bag. I was hungry. Thanks to events last night. I had nothing to eat since lunch yesterday.

Inside the bag were some dried meat and other less perishable foods. I needed to be careful and ration what I could, so I grabbed a piece of jerky and at that to settle my stomach, leaving the rest for later.

The wolf, seeing me up and about just got up and took off into the woods. This had to be its own, so it would be back. Might be heading out to hunt for itself.

Should I sneak away while it’s gone? I didn’t know exactly where I was, if I assume we continued south all night we should be near the river that bordered Crosta. I didn’t yet know what to expect though, so it was best to adapt a bit to my new reality first.

I took my bag, just in case, and explored the surroundings. There was a little creek not far with what looked like a dam made by some animals, creating a fairly deep pool.

A bath would be nice, I was covered in sweat from all the activity yesterday. Though I didn’t have anything to dry myself with. I also felt skinny dipping was a bad idea. But I had fire magic, didn’t I? I may not be able to control it well, but I could dry myself, and my armor was fire-resistant.

I put my bag down and hopped in the water. A horrible idea. The water was cold, so cold. Why did I not think it would be this cold and just hop in? I scrambled back out, shivering. A quick dunk would have to do for now.

Moving to a little more of an open area, to avoid setting anything on fire I felt inside, trying to pull out my mana. I could feel it much easier than before like it had no resistance to leave my body if I willed it.

I erupted in flames. Control was hard, but I warmed up quickly. Steam coming off as the water evaporated. Thankfully I didn’t start a forest fire and stemmed the flow of my mana to extinguish myself. I would need to practice, this cave felt like a good place to take some time to do so. I would run out of food quickly though, so I needed to hunt if I was to spend much time here. I hoped my companion did not mind some company.

As I thought that, the wolf returned. Carrying, not one, but two deers. Efficient hunter, barely 10 minutes to get 2 kills.

It glanced over to me as it re-entered the cave. I followed, after grabbing my bag.

It left one deer near the entrance and took the other to the back. It looked between me and the deer a couple of times before starting to feast. Did it get the second for me? That would make things easier.

I went into my back and grabbed a skinning knife. But before starting on the deer I looked back holding the knife. To see the wolf’s reaction. I certainly did not want to take a kill from it if I was misunderstanding, but it just looked over and continued to eat.

The hide was destroyed, and the deer certainly did not suffer from the looks of the wounds. Still, there was a lot of meat, and I could get my fill this way too.

Processing took quite a while. I was not used to doing this alone. The wolf had long finished the other deer, leaving only bones, it ate everything. But that could be handy. I laid out the fur and put anything I would not be using there, to keep it off the dirt. My companion happily cleaned it up as I went.

Wasting anything from a kill was frowned upon. Every part of an animal could be used in some way. I couldn’t exactly use it all though, and at least I would not have to put it somewhere and attract scavengers.

Once I had the meat laid out on a mat from the bag, I went out of the cave to set up a fire. If my companion decided to just eat all the meat I worked so hard to cut up there was not much I could do, but it was its kill anyway, so I couldn’t exactly complain.

It didn’t bother though, just rested its head on its paw and watched me work.

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There was a lot of convenient deadwood around, so it didn’t take me long to have a fire ready. Being able to use fire magic made it so convenient. Even if my control left a lot to be desired, lighting a fire was easy.

I was curious if a fire I created like this would still be considered my mana, so I kept my hand close to the flame. At first, I could still touch the flame, even the burning logs. But within a few minutes, I started to feel more and more heat. My mana only started it, eventually, it burned on its own without my mana. Good to know.

I set up some poles to smoke some of the meat. There was far too much for me to eat before it would rot, might as well prepare as much as I could for the road.

As I worked, the wolf kept looking at the fire and the sizzling meat, drooling and licking its lips. It was still hungry and probably didn’t get cooked meat often, if ever.

I couldn’t say no to that face, so I took some cooked bits and tossed it onto the fur I was using before. They barely landed before they were lapped up. Why was this demon so damn adorable. Shouldn’t demons be scary?

I couldn’t help but laugh at its antics. Laughing felt good, my entire world had flipped upside down in a single night, so I had to take the little bits of happiness I could.

It was already getting dark by the time I ate and had packed away some of the meat for later. I would need to get quicker at this if I wanted some time to practice my magic.

At least I was not alone. But why was this demon so friendly? Why did it help me? It could not speak, so I probably would never get a clear answer. At least we could communicate somewhat through gestures. It was intelligent.

Giving demons a name was taboo in Aston, but I could hardly just call it demon, or wolf. It saved me so I should give it a name at least.

Only one seemed fitting to me. Fang. It had massive teeth, so it felt fitting.

“You mind if I call you Fang?” I asked the wolf. The concept of a name was a human thing, so I didn’t know if it would understand. But after looking at me and tilting its head I didn’t care. Fang it is. I was only with it for a day and I couldn't consider it some evil beast anymore. It was just too adorable.

After deciding that, I headed back to the pond. I needed another bath. I was covered in deer blood. I also took the remnants of the fur with me. I smoked it after I was done with the meat, so it should keep so long as I keep it clean. The fire was still going, so I could easily dry it without just burning it to a crisp with my mana.

The water felt just as cold as before. But this time I let my body acclimate to it. Slowly taking steps in. However, I did not notice the asshole coming behind me. Fang wanted a bath too and unfortunately did what I did earlier, jumping right in without a care.

The amount of water displaced was a sight to see. I could only groan as I was blasted back and soaked head to toe. It was freezing, but I could not help but laugh uncontrollably, unable to get up from the side of the pond where I fell over. I was covered in mud now, messier than I was to start with.

Finally regaining some composure, I could see Fang’s head poking out of the water. Watching me. I slipped back into the water to clean myself off and sent as big of a wave as I could muster at the cause of my grief.

Fang just responded by flapping its ears to get the water off, seeming completely unperturbed by my revenge.

The water was cold, but I felt warm. Everything I was taught since birth was that the demon before me was to be feared. But all I could see was an annoying asshole that I just could not be angry with.

I finished my soak and got out. Fang followed after me. The fur was quite clean now, so I set it up on a nearby branch to dry myself off.

Working my mana to dry myself off. I failed to think about fang needing to dry off as well.

As I focused on my mana, Fang also dried itself. The amount of water contained in its fur was more than my meager flame could manage. I was quickly extinguished and soaking wet yet again.

I started to laugh so hard my sides hurt. I was careful to not sit down, and risk getting covered in mud again, the entire area was a mess.

Fang trotted back to the cave. Seemingly satisfied. Thankfully the water did not go as far as the fire back at the cave. It would have been annoying having to deal with that.

I dried myself off again and headed back to the fire to dry the fur. Fang was hanging around the fire. Warming up it seemed, and getting the last bit of its fur dry.

Adding some more wood to the fire, I sat with Fang. The fire felt nice after a cold bath, but it was a bad idea to let it continue too far past dusk. I was still being chased, and who knows if it could be seen by a patrol after dark.

Fang would probably deal with any attackers pretty easily, but I didn’t want to kill anyone if I could help it. I didn’t want to prove myself the demon they wanted me to be.

What would I say to Alaster if I had killed members of the order? He was probably confused about the whole situation. Father should be able to set him straight though.

Thinking of them hurt, I had been holding it back but I wouldn’t see them for who knows how long, I had to get to this Bradley person, that was my best hope. But I could not move unprepared.

I sniffled a little, trying to keep myself in check. I wanted to grieve the loss of my family. I could never go back to Silvergrove. That would mean I would probably never see Father again since he was the priest there, and could not exactly abandon that duty. Maybe Mother? Alaster was part of the order, so I probably would not be able to see him either.

It hurt, it hurt a lot. All the feelings I was keeping suppressed earlier were boiling to the surface.

I curled up and put my head on my knees, to try to keep myself quiet as I cried. But my pain was not lost on Fang. I felt Fang’s cold nose against my leg. Moving in closer to comfort me.

I leaned back into Fang’s neck, their ear covering me, giving me extra warmth.

Fuck the fire for tonight.

I cried, Leaning into Fang and letting out all my anguish. Fang remained silent and unmoving. Letting me dig my face into their still slightly damp fur.

The fire continued to burn, and my wails continued well into the night before my exhaustion finally took me and I fell asleep with Fang.