Fire torches were lit so frequently that there was a source of light everywhere she looked, highlighting streets, lanes, buildings, and even their entrances. It left the area dim, but gave enough brightness that she could see clearly.

There were buildings made of wood and clay, tall with some having multiple levels. Some had signs like clothier, blacksmith, shoemaker, even a fucking florist.

It looked like her kind had made this place. The buildings, the carts of wares they were trying to sell, the houses painted in bright colours – although they seemed to favour the colour red. It looked like a village she could have travelled to that was further away from the Veil above the surface.

The further humans lived from the Veil, the bigger their towns or cities were and the more advanced they could be.

She’d always wanted to travel to one that had large, unclimbable walls, and she wondered if they would have looked similar to this.

It looked human, as though at first glance she could have been mistaken – if it wasn’t for all the Demons that walked around. But even they were strange and odd, so different from what she’d ever seen.

They were mostly human-shaped. Some had more animalistic feet, others had spikes or fur jutting out slightly, but their faces looked similar to her own. One might have large fangs around their lips while another had a pig-like

snout. A Demon who looked human except his horns walked past her, and she could see many others with different kinds of wings. Most of their skin was black like the void she was accustomed to, as if stars might begin to twinkle like the night sky, but some had patches of flesh. Some brown, and others pale like her.

None were completely human coloured, but it appeared as though they were starting to look like them. She suddenly realised they were. They had consumed enough of her kind to start looking like them, acting like them. Humanity. They were consuming humanity with each person and changing.

They were even wearing clothes, hats, and shoes!

Holy shit. This was so mind-boggling she feared her brain would burst from her skull in an explosion of information overload.

The Mavka, who had been instructed to stand on his back feet as much as possible, whined as he scratched at his snout.

“It smells here. It is too sweet.”

“That is a cloaking aroma to dilute the smell of blood and fresh meat,” Orpheus explained, keeping a firm arm around Reia hidden inside his cloak except for her head. “It helps to stop those who would become crazed by the scent of blood from going into a frenzy. You will shortly grow accustomed to it and grow thankful when we are closer to the markets.”

As they walked further in, the odd Demon walking around became many. They grunted, snorted, and gave lowing noises like cows. One laughed and it sounded like a bird squawking repeatedly.

“Is that music?” Reia whispered up to Orpheus so he could hear her over the bombardment of noises.

“Yes. They have mimicked everything and have figured out how to play instruments they have stolen.”

They’re actually not bad at it. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but she thought they were better at it than she could ever be.

The music came from everywhere, and she looked up to the top of a house when she thought she heard the banging of a drum getting louder. She saw a lone Demon sitting on the tilted rooftop playing one with their hands.

They passed building after building, and she retreated into Orpheus when they were inside a small crowd of Demons.

The sweet aroma she could smell completely diluted the usual scent of rotting decay. She barely smelt it. They were getting closer to the centre of the village from what she could tell by looking up, and she could smell the undertone of pastries wafting in the air that helped to pierce anything unpleasant.

She couldn’t smell meat, but she could smell every other kind of food a human would cook.

In the distance, she thought she could see the twirling of fire like someone was doing a dance with fire poi or fire sticks.

I wasn’t expecting this. Orpheus was right. There were shops, food stalls, and even entertainment. The Demons were chatting with each other, laughing their animalistic noises while shouting with bustle and excitement.

Curt growling next to her drew her frazzled attention.

It grew louder before an outright snarl broke out, and she saw that the Mavka’s eyes were growing red. He stepped towards the last Demon that shouldered him out of the way with his jaws separated to bare his fangs, while his hands were curled rigid to threaten with his claws.

Orpheus shot his hand out and grabbed him by the snout to draw him closer. “You will be walked into here. They are not being hostile. They are not looking for a fight. Calm yourself, or I will have to abandon you to protect Reia.”

“Orpheus,” she warned, wishing he could see her lips thinned in disapproval.

He released his snout and looked down to her.

“If he transforms and attacks someone, there will be chaos. He is a Mavka, they already perceive us as a threat.”

She noticed the odd lurking red eye here and there, and realised the Demons already looking at them warily. She swallowed a thick lump that formed in her throat.

“It’s okay.”

She reached out while holding the side of the cloak to hide her hands and patted the Mavka’s arm since he looked overwhelmed with all the noise and touches from others.

His head spun to her suddenly, before he looked down to her patting his arm. His tense shoulders loosened, and he let out a long breath. Then he looked around, his head darting quickly one way and then the other, before his eyes slowly faded back to their usual green.

“I am sorry,” he apologised. “This is much for me. I am unfamiliar with so many and worry of being harmed.”

She had to bite back her laugh.

“Don’t worry, I understand,” she said quietly. “I feel the same way. It’s a lot.”

“I am not alone in this feeling?” He touched his hand over his chest.

She shook her head, and his eyes flashed yellow for a moment.

“Thank you. I will try to focus on remaining calm so I do not bring harm to you.”

Orpheus walked them down a narrow street that was less cluttered to bring them to a particular shop. It was as if he knew the layout of the village by memory. A large bell chimed as they walked inside, both Duskwalkers needed to duck under the doorframe as not to knock their horns and antlers.

“Orpheus!” A gruff masculine voice exclaimed before a tall Demon with patches of brown skin within his black void flesh ran from behind a counter. “You have returned.”

Orpheus and Reia were the first to enter, and she saw the tall Demon’s red eyes widen when the other Duskwalker walked in behind them.

“And you have brought another Mavka?” His eyes turned to her. “And a smaller one?”

Reia clutched at Orpheus’ shirt. A Demon is talking...

talking like a human, like a proper shopkeeper.

“Greetings, Snush,” he answered calmly, his arm tightening around Reia at the Demon’s observational gaze.

“I have come to procure clothing for the Mavka.”

Snush, with little curling horns that sprouted from just above his temples and went sideways, let out a mousy laugh. He was wearing a perfectly tailored white suit shirt, black vest, pants, and dress boots. His black and white pinstriped jacket was even a coat tail.

“Well, he does look rather underdressed. Look at him!