I was woken up by a sensation of something furry tickling my arm. I opened my eyes and saw that it was morning, already.

I looked around and discovered that Lilyth was lying on her side, her back facing me. That meant the tickling was…

I looked down. It indeed was her bushy tail. I had no idea why she was embarrassed by it. It was so majestic. I wished my own was like that. I stroked it delicately and found out the fur was silky smooth.

So soft.

Led by an impulse, I reached out towards Lilyth's head and scratched her behind her ear. The fur there was equally soft. I heard her softly moan from obvious pleasure.

Something to keep in mind for alone time, I laughed to myself and stopped.

Instead, I just snuggled against her.

I was woken up by Lilyth's stirring. She must have awoken too, so I wrapped my hand around her body.

‘Good morning,’ I whispered.

She slowly, so as not to wake up Caei, rolled over towards me and embraced me. While she was still moving I noticed a curious thing. The moment she would crush it her tail turned ghostly to not get damaged. This I really envied. I couldn't count how many times I snagged mine on something, or accidentally pulled it while asleep. It was very resilient because as mom put it “it was magic”, but it still hurt.

Lilyth kissed me, and we just lay there absorbing each other’s presence.

‘That thing tickles you know,’ Caei yawned.

‘Oh… sorry,’ Lilyth said, her face turning blue.

‘It’s not unpleasant tickling, mind you. And that fur… oh my.’

‘I know, right?’ I responded, deciding against mentioning the ear thing for now.

Let that be a surprise.

While we ate I remembered the System Update notification. I brought the subject up and the others got it too. Sav already went through hers and said that it was “leaner”, whatever that meant.

I checked the interface and discovered that in this reality it was very different:

The following options are available. You can access them by thinking or saying their name:

* Basic Details

* Weapon Proficiencies

* Arcanas

* Spells

* Abilities

* Traits

* Statuses

* Notifications

* Quest Journal

* Utilities

I went through all of the available options.

Basic Details Name Aki Race Demonborn Gender Female Age 19 Level 8 (0% progress) Perk Points 0 Patron Deity Irmen Title -

Weapon Proficiencies Name Rank Falchions Novice Falchions - Dual Wield Novice Thrown Weapons Novice Magitek Handguns Novice

Arcana Name Rank Level Progress Flame Novice 2 56% Water Novice 1 0%

Spells Name Arcana Rank Flaming Weapons Flame Novice

Abilities Name Rank Abyssal Spark Novice Lesser Abyssal Bolt Novice

Traits Name Rank Monophobia Moderate Sense Magic Minor Duelist's Flourish Novice

Most of the stuff I had was there, just with less detail. My [Duelist’s Flourish] trait was different.

Trait: Duelist’s Flourish

Type: Class - Legacy

Level: Novice

Effects:

* You have a higher chance of developing new abilities and traits if you fight in a stylish and nimble way.

To my surprise, Irmen was still listed as my patron. Did Lady Madness let her know too?

‘Yes, my child,’ I heard her say. ‘Go to a largish body of water in a secluded spot after Nyx visits you. Take your friends too.’

Yes, my Lady.

The connection went silent.

I went to quickly skim my character sheet again. Yes, the only big difference was that my class was missing. No, there was one more…

‘What’s “Title”?’

‘The memories of my other self say that it is… how people know you around here,’ Sav said. ‘If you get enough notoriety people will start talking. My “Title” is “Riftseeker”, because my quest is apparently something the populace views as “Romantic”. I can’t say I am exactly pleased by this, but given how the other Savri wanted nothing to do with either your douchebag grandfather OR The Sun… I’ll take that. Also, in her memories, I can see that perk points can only be spent on getting new spells, traits and abilities. No buying skills, proficiencies or levelling anything you already have.

‘Fair is fair,’ Lilyth said. ‘Good thing I got that [Silent Step] ability for those Perk Points we got from clearing the hospital. I still had two points left from the level up and they are gone. And so is any excess level progression.’

‘Look at the bright side… you can use magic again,’ I smiled.

‘Not all of it,’ she shook her head. ‘Just Umbral and Air. My arcane connectors are still on the fritz. I guess those are tied to the soul.’

‘You are joking,’ Sav said, genuinely astounded. ‘Tell me you are joking.’

Lilyth said nothing.

‘Sister, all I can say is that you really know how to fuck up. Managing to damage your own soul is not easy.’

‘Just channel the power of gods through your own body and add water,’ my girlfriend sighed.

I wrapped my arms around her.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

‘Don’t worry. We still love you.’

That earned me a weak smile.

I think we all need a break.

‘So what is our destination?’ Sav asked after we were done eating.

‘We could go check out the cave Lilyth mentioned, and then head to Tyr-Mel.’

‘Let’s hit the nearby village first,’ my slimy cutie suggested. ‘If we are headed there we will need some parchment and writing utensils. Tyr-Mel is out of the question due to Caei, and I would stay away from Zel-Vyme or Ror-Bhyk, as we can't be sure whether the Inquisitor will still be there. We could bypass Tyr-Mel and head south, I guess? It’s still the safest of two destinations, I think.

‘Won’t people recognize Caei in the village too?’ I wondered.

Lilyth turned to Caei:

‘Am I right that the image you have in the clan is “tall pale crimson-haired woman with a creepy mask, wings and wearing sexy outfits ”?’

‘Sounds about right,’ she slowly replied, a weird look on her face.

‘So, we are good then,’ Savri said. ‘You no longer have that mask, you can hide your wings while we are there, and while I wouldn't call your outfit modest, it’s still within the norm.

‘You should have seen the goth outfit,’ Lilyth said. ‘It’s still imprinted in my memory.’

Her tail wagged happily.

‘Anyhow, Savri continued, undeterred. ‘I guess we could cut Caei’s hair, but there is no way we can pass her off as a man.’

She pointed to Caeileera's bosom.

‘At least not with the stuff we have,’ she finished. ‘Still, we should be able to avoid detection either here or in Tyr-Mel. Assuming we don't spend too long there.’

‘So… Sav… Special Forces or Intelligence? Lilyth asked her after we finished packing up our stuff.

‘The former,’ she replied proudly and then sighed. ‘Working for the latter. What clued you off?’

‘The triple-locked container with a DNA lock was the biggest clue.’

‘How do you know that this isn't a standard security precaution where I was?’

‘Tell you what, Sav,’ Lilyth responded with a confident smile. ‘I will become your servant for a week if, at no point during your stay there, you didn't meet anyone who reused their passwords or wrote them down on something they kept by their computer. I’ll throw in an extra one if you weren't one of them.’

I was going to protest Lilyth's crazy idea, but then I saw Savri’s defeated expression.

‘It’s so much easier to just change the number at the end,’ she laughed. ‘I would never do it for work stuff, but my personal accounts…’

‘Can you translate from People-from-another-world to Raivarian, please?’ Caei asked in mild annoyance.

It took us a couple of hours to find the road to the village, which gave them plenty of time to further confuse us with their explanations.

All the talk about the jenetiks made me ask Sav something that was bugging me.

‘Will Zekuthran know if I start using my Abyssal abilities?’

‘No. He’s not omniscient… what makes… don’t tell me…’

Savri trailed off and let out a curse string that even made Lilyth blush.

‘And here I thought my opinion about the motherfucker couldn't get any lower,’ Sav said after she was done. ‘So… Zekuthran had a bit of a reputation. I assume you are aware of the phrase “go whoring”?’

‘My grandma wasn’t a wh…’ I started fury building inside of me at the mere suggestion, Savri interrupted me raising her hands in a placating gesture.

‘Not saying she was, Akster. Calm down. You see… the story was that Zekuthran was too good to pay for sex AND he had a fetish for human women. So he would take a few of his buddies, go to Dwynveia and while they did a brothel run he would find some poor girl who didn't know any better, promise her the moon and then disappear after he was done.’

Lilyth and Caei looked sick after hearing what Sav just said. I was just furious.

‘I assumed those were just stories. Like there were hundreds of those going around the palace. But it gets worse… you see… we demons live for centuries. I may not look like it, but I am thirty-nine, so I am very young by our standards. Not sure how old your douchebag of a grandfather is, but since he founded the legions he must easily be over a thousand years old. So… it’s inevitable when you live for so long that some of your flings… well… you know. This ties to another palace rumour about him. Apparently, he had a scrying device of some kind that let him know whenever… a descendant of his became a person of interest. Let me guess, he contacted you shortly after you developed your powers?’

‘Yes,’ I spat. ‘My mom warned me about doing that… but I assumed this was about people hating me even more.’

‘And it likely was,’ Lilyth sighed. ‘Based on what Sav said chances your mom or grandma knew about the device are minimal.’

‘Yup,’ the medic agreed. ‘So basically, Zekuthran's device let him know you started using your powers. You used your [Abyssal Spark] yesterday and didn't receive any messages from him?’

‘At least not yet,’ I confirmed.

‘I want to say you are in the clear, but can’t do that with any degree of certainty. I have no idea how the scrying device works, conditions that would cause it to trigger or whether it would even work on you you, since you are not related to this Zekuthran.’

‘If he does contact you it is not like he will know you know,’ Caei pointed out. ‘So we can just string him along.’

‘I really want nothing to do with him,’ I protested. ‘When he first contacted me I was happy to know I still have family.’

‘And then reality hit you like a car… riage,’ Lilyth sighed sadly. ‘You do have a family still. And I am not talking about us. You said that the village elder and his wife took you in and did right by you. So they became your parents. Your new dad and mom.’

‘I never thought of them like that,’ I said, the idea made me sad, as I couldn't deny the truth of Lilyth's words.

They may not have been my mom, but they really were my family.

‘I hope I get to see them again,’ I said. ‘Since we’ll be heading to Tyr-Mel… let’s go to Dan-Hem. I want to show them I am fine and have friends. Even if I am not the same Aki they remember.’

‘We’ll be happy to meet them,’ Caei said and we all agreed.

As we were slowly nearing the settlement I realised one thing. At no point during the day, Lilyth changed out of her fox form. And now that she did there was something I wouldn't expect from her given her attitude yesterday: sadness.

So, she actually likes that form.

‘Lilyth,’ I began, talking slowly to find the best wording. ‘I don’t think it matters in which form you go in.’

‘But what will people… I mean, I would never want to…’

‘Go in as the fucking fox if you want,’ Caei said. ‘I don’t think you will particularly stand out, among two demons and me. It’s okay for you to like it.’

Lilyth debated this internally, then with a face overflowing with joy turned back to the kitsune form.

‘Good girl,’ I laughed when I saw that she was wagging her tail happily.

If before today you asked me: “What would make Lilyth actually enjoy her life on Dwynveia”, her being turned into a kitsune would not even make the list.

‘What’s the big deal about that, anyway? I asked.

Lilyth said and explained.

‘Earth really is a weird place,’ I said. ‘Why would people care about someone dressing as an animal?’

‘Social conventions rarely make sense. So when you guys started…”

‘We were just teasing you, silly,’ I said.

Wait. People in Dan-Hem used the same excuse.

The look on Lilyth's face made me realise she had heard it in the past too.

‘No, sorry,’ I said feeling remorseful. ‘It was insensitive of us. I realise it was a bit of a shock to you too.’

‘Yeah,’ Sav added. ‘It was one of those “really funny when it happens to other people things”, but I think we pushed it too far.’

Only Caei looked initially unrepentant, but then she sighed and said sounding disgusted at herself:

‘At no point, you were unaccepting of us or mean to me over my situation, so I think we… I owe you the same.’

Lilyth simply nodded in acknowledgement, clearly somewhat distressed. A moment later she brightened up.

‘I can't say it didn't hurt a bit, but then again I am not exactly without sin, as far as this stuff is concerned. So let’s just treat this as a learning opportunity. For all of us.’

Just before we entered the village and, seeing how utterly miserable Caei was due to having to hide her newly regained wings, Lilyth decided, in her own special way, to be our girlfriend’s knight in the slimy armour. While still out of sight she went back to the elf form.

‘Why?’ I asked.

‘Misery loves company. Feels wrong to be happy about my body when Caei needs to hide what makes her happy.’

‘Thank you,’ our girlfriend said to my surprise, sounding genuinely grateful. ‘‘It’s weirdly comforting.’

‘No problem. So long as you have to hide I will stay this way. As long as it doesn't put us in danger. Or you ask me to change.’

Caei looked genuinely tormented by guilt upon hearing this.

‘Thank you,’ she muttered.

‘I think I finally understood Lilyth,’ Sav whispered to me. ‘Why she is… how she is. You and Caei are the only things she has here to live for.

Oh.

‘Which is why she is willing to die to keep us safe?’

‘Yes. That's very unhealthy. But also not something we can do much about. You are her only anchor here. She needs to start feeling at home here. Build a life for herself. Develop other connections. Find a purpose. So other than just giving her shit for her idiocy we should help her channel that energy towards other purposes. Otherwise… she could grow resentful. And so could we.’

‘But how?’ I asked, helpless.

‘She promised to help me find a way back to the other world, though I think we both realise that it is a fool’s errand. The message I got from my guardian angel was that it’s possible, but the answer lies in Vanderstadt, the old capital. That place is a death trap. He is also looking for a route on his end, but can't make any promises whether he'll find it, or will be able to get my friends there. Still, that's a start. Then… well… she needs to find something she wants to achieve for herself. Not just help us with our issues.’

‘Now that I think about it, I don’t think she had a single normal day here so far.’

‘Doctor’s recommendation then: Let’s go someplace far away from here and settle down for a bit. Not saying we should get a house or anything, but you know… spend a few weeks at an inn, find some work, and then decide what's next.’

‘We all really need a break,’ I agreed. ‘But Lilyth's most of all, I think.’

Of course, as life usually had it, that would not be so simple.