REALITY

Sibyl's POV

Gifted children, wunderkind, so often do they have to learn that they're only savants until the world grows around them. Betrayed by the same forces that cheered them on, they must embrace a future of do or die. Sibyl suddenly realized that she never should have been here. What in the hell was a year and a half of studies in comparison to a lifetime of shelter? Why did she believe that a few months of being kicked around by creatures that couldn't even use their full strength on her without breaking her actually… matter? So what if she was stronger than the other humans, so what if children growing up in The Sanctuary had mandatory military training? How did any of that matter out here with fucking demons who could control blood?

"Why did Aleister send me here?"

The single thought whipped through her mind as everything moved faster than she could anticipate. Demons of a certain level moved faster than human eyes could see. She was an insect being swatted down. Sibyl looked down and saw a javelin made of blood connected to the red haired demon's arm going straight through her center. The demon's nose wrinkled as he smelt her wet herself.

"I couldn't care less if I die now," he growled next to her ear, "a disrespectful human stain can't be allowed to live. You will not humiliate me."

Then he stepped back and she slid off his lance.

Merle's POV

"What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?!" Svetlana screamed from her hiding place in the woods.

Merle felt relieved, she knew that if she was screaming that she was alive and that she was moving all the humans they'd freed like they'd planned. Goal one had been accomplished. She jumped back from the demon as he hovered above ground, the blood beginning to cling to his arm in the shape of a large ornate javelin. This was worse than horrible, it had the possibility of ruining everything. The only demons on the west coast that had the ability to wield blood in this manner was the Urian crest, which unfortunately meant that this young demon was some sort of nobility.

She unleashed the tethers on her humanoid form and let her body fly into transformation. Her legs stretched into long digitigrade legs, sharp talons springing forth. Merle's arms turned back into wings, her hands into a strange mesh of human and bird. A large raven head took the place of her own, blood dripping from her entire form.

Unfortunately for her, this transformation, though only taking about five seconds, was five seconds too long. When her beady eyes focused she watched Sibyl's body slide off the demon's javelin. She threw her head back and screeched and flung her wings outwards, multiple of her longest feathers shooting off and moving independently around her. The feathers pointed towards the Urian, appearing more like blades than feathers.

She darted forward, her talons hooking onto the earth and propelling her forward. As she moved she grabbed the shaft of one of the long feathers, brandishing it like a short sword. The demon turned towards her, eyes bloodshot, and raised his javelin to her. She moved her short sword to the side, scraping it down the blood javelin to deflect it. The demon grinned as tentacles of blood stuck down her feather swords in the air.

He moved quickly and pulled his javelin to the side as if to bash her with it. At the last moment Merle closed her eyes and whispered, "Merula, merula," her body turned to nothing but falling feathers as the javelin slammed into her.

Then, she was behind him, a clawed hand through his chest, his heart crushed before his own eyes.

"I'd call this equivalent," she croaked, letting his body fall away from her arm.

Aleistar's POV

He paced back and forth, staring at Dominic who was standing by the door, as always. He did this for quite some time, before clapping his hands together and turning away from him and then staring out of the window. He ran a hand through his lilac hair, his finger getting caught in a curl. He huffed and then shoved his hands behind his back.

"Oh, I cannot wait, Dominic. I cannot," he gushed excitedly, manically even, "the stage is set and I can feel it in the air… the change. The chaos!"

He turned around dramatically and then leaned himself against the front of his desk.

"Finally, after so long, the play is set to start again. Oh, so long, so much… boredom," he sighed, leaning his face against his hand.

For once, Dominic spoke up, his voice soft and deep, "Aleistar, you are so very lucky I do not doubt your contract to humanity."

Aleistar tilted his head and grinned, "Oh, this again?"

"I know what you are going to do to that girl," Dominic replied, "and just because it worked on Felix does not mean it will work again."

Aleistar snickered, then chuckled, and finally completely bellowed, placing a hand on his stomach as he did so.

"Oh, oh-ho, I can send her off to be maimed by someone else but if I do it," he emphasized the stress on the 'I'.

Dominic shook his head. Aleistar knew better than to pick too hard, Dominic didn't speak to him unless he felt like it was absolutely necessary. He played kindly with him in public, even helping him in his histrionic behaviors, but Dominic truly felt that any conversation with Aleistar was one step away from verbal chess and refused to participate in it. Just as the fae lord was getting lost in his thoughts he felt the mana explode from beyond the mountain side and shivered.

"Prep the lab. This was both within and beyond my expectation. I don't know if the child is hurt, but they're not coming back unscathed," Aleistar murmured, his voice lacking its usual drama.

"What happened?" Dominic questioned, brow furrowing.

"Merle untethered herself and I can fucking smell the aether from a demon."