Arrival
A week after my fourth imprint, mama wakes me up on the night of my birthday.
“Good morning, dear. Happy Birthday.”
“Hmm? Yeah…Happy Birthday.”
“Pfft You don’t have to say it back, here put on your other pajamas, your wings hurt, right?”
“Huh? Oh…Yeah, thanks mama.”
“You’re welcome, dear. Now go back to sleep.”
“Gao…Yawn I love you mama.”
“I love you too, Rose.”
—----------------------------------------------------
About six hours later in Berk, Rayla gives Meshir Bakan a handshake, “Thanks for the torture.”
“Hah! Well said, disciple. Word of advice though, if they catch any poison on you you are on the fast track to be hanged. Try not to bring any into the castle.”
“Don’t worry I’m not taking any with me, you taught me how to make and buy them after all.”
“As long as you’re sure you don’t have any left on you it’s fine. Come back whenever you want to train.”
“Will do, see ya.”
Confidently walking to the teleportation relay Rayla goes through the customs then enters through the portal. On the other side a couple of elite looking guards await her.
A grizzled looking man with short violet hair and a royal knight’s uniform greets her, “Good day to you Duchess. My name is Atlas, I am the captain of the royal guard. I am under orders to have you escorted to a temporary holding facility until Duchess Resplandor gives her okay for you to join the festivities.”
“Temporary holding facility? Do you suspect me of a crime?”
“No, this is simply a way to check your character before officially allowing you to meet her Highness. Though…I do hope you weren’t foolish enough to bring any poison.”
“I did not.”
“And yet you are practically coated in its scent. Either way, the maids will do a checkup when they prepare your gowns.”
“Am I to understand that I am under arrest then?”
“No, so far you are but a guest, your Grace. Please follow the knights to the carriage.”
“Alright…Good day to you, Captain.”
“Good day to you as well, Duchess.”
Rayla is then led to the carriage with what can only be described as immense professionalism that hides any true emotions of the servants and knights. Though Rayla can smell a scent of strong emotions on them that are being suppressed. Even after arriving at her destination, despite being treated like a proper noble, Rayla still feels like she’s surrounded by ferocious beasts trying to hold themselves back. Eventually the servants lead her to a room to wait in for evaluation. It seems like a proper tea room for nobles where Rayla hears a familiar voice.
“Rayla!? It’s been so long!”
“Sher Aka!? Are you here as well?”
Giving each other a hug a lot of the uncertainty both of them felt before vanishes.
“Oh my gosh, how was your training? Are you okay? Is John here as well?”
“Hell, mostly and not yet. How about you? How was your training?”
“Ah well…Not to be a copycat but calling it hell is pretty accurate for me as well. But tell me what happened to you after the King kidnapped you?”
“I’ll go into the details later when John is here as well but it was genuinely torture. His training involved me consistently getting cut up and stitched together while being thrown at beasts.”
“That sounds horrible…Miraculously you don’t seem to have gotten any scars though.”
“Ah there is actually a reason for it, I will also explain that later.”
“Did they also tell you they were going to assess your character? Also where is the King?”
“Yes they did. As for the King, I’m not sure. We were together until I was sent here and we split up”
“I see…”
Meanwhile in Naturia.
“Fuck, are you sure you don’t have your wallet on you?”
Martin answers quite annoyed, “If I had my bloody wallet on me I wouldn’t be eating foraged fruits, would I?”
“Yeah…Mine’s gone too. I think we got pickpocketed.”
“Ya think?”
“Shit…What am I going to do? I can’t go to a castle dressed in furs.”
“Well jungle man, I quite frankly don’t care. But chances are they’ll give you clothes if they see you like that. Provided they don’t kill you on sight of course.”
“You’re reassuring as always…”
“Thanks, that's what I’m known for.”
Approaching the portal relay of one of Naturia’s cities, guards quickly block the way.
“Halt, identify yourself, savage.”
“Aw come on, there is no need to be mean, I know he’s a Human but they’re not all bad.”
“We were talking about you.”
“Sigh I know…My name is John. I came here a while ago under the jurisdiction of the Queen of Blaze. I’ve been invited to attend the birthday party of Princess Rose.”
There is some mumbling going on and one of the guards goes back to his supervisor to ask for permission.
“Captain, a savage says he was invited to the Birthday Party of Blaze’s second princess. He calls himself John.”
With a devious smile the captain answers, “That’s no mere savage. It’s a demon in disguise.”
“It is!? What are your orders?”
“Send him through. Let’s hope that thing causes as much mayhem as possible on the other side.”
“A-are you sure Captain?”
“Of course. Let those dragon scum deal with it.”
“Certainly, Sir.”
Returning to John and Martin he yells, “Let them through!”
Martin pipes up, “Actually I need to go to Frieden. I’m under contract with the Saintess.”
“Then stay here until we have confirmation.”
“Alright, see ya jungle man. Let’s hope you don’t die before we meet again.”
“Yeah, yeah, same to you.”
Taking a deep breath, John then walks through the portal where almost instantly a loud alarm starts to blare as multiple guards, soldiers and mages surround him, weapons drawn.
“Fuck…”
About another hour later while Rayla and Sher Aka drink tea a loud knock is heard on the door.
“Yes? You may come in.” Rayla answers.
The guard captain enters and asks, “Would you be able to help me identify someone that claims to be Mr. John?”
“Certainly, bring him in.”
“As you wish.”
A group of guards then carry in a person completely restricted in what looks like cloth with the symbol of Lum and other religious symbols on it. He has his eyes blinded by a similar looking blindfold and has been gagged.
“John!? What the hell are you doing to him let him go!” Sher Aka yells.
“No, wait a second Sher Aka. I’m not sure that’s him.” Rayla answers.
“What!? What are you talking about?”
“His scent. It’s completely different. I do smell traces that remind me of him but it’s not the same.”
The captain speaks up, “We have detected traces of demonic energy coming from him. We were able to confirm he is not fully a demon but that's about it.”
“Can you remove his gag so we can confirm he is the real one?” Rayla asks.
“If you wish.”
Four guards then surround John and hold their weapons at his neck, ready to decapitate him at any moment, while the captain ungags him.
“Only speak when spoken to, understood?”
“Yes.”
“Good, ask your questions.”
Sher Aka asks first, “What bet did you make with me after we first met the Princess?”
“That she’s actually an Elven child and that if you win you can kiss me whenever you want to and that you can ask me for kisses as well.”
Rayla asks next, “When we met your best friend Jack in Skar, what was the gift he gave us.”
“Trick question, my best friend was Miranda and is now Rose. She gave us a bag of seeds for Sherry.”
Sher Aka goes next, “If you were to meet your dad again what would you tell him?”
“If I met my dad again that means we’re both in hell so I’d probably be too ashamed to face him.”
“He seems to at least have the memories of John…Tell me why does Rayla say you smell different and the guards say you’re part demon?”
“Uhm, so I went training with Martin in the jungles of Naturia. We trained with one of the dark tribes and they taught me a technique that allows me to eat the hearts of enemies I have defeated and transform into them. The first enemy I defeated was a demon.”
“What kind of demon?”
“Uhhhh…Do I need to answer that?”
Putting their weapons closer to John's neck to the point he starts to slightly bleed, the captain says, “Answer the question.”
“Fine! It was a… mumble”
“You have one more chance to say it audibly before you get beheaded.”
“Fine! It was a succubus, alright. I killed a succubus. I got really lucky because the tribe forced me to fight it and the charm didn’t work on me.”
“What did you do to be immune to its charm?” The captain asks.
“Nothing, I’m just gay so it didn’t work. Had it been an Incubus I would have been fucked. Figuratively and literally. The demon underestimated me and I was able to kill it. Afterwards I trained hard to make sure I could control the power and also killed a few other beasts that I can transform into now. I’m not possessed and I’m in control.”
Rayla in a slightly taunting voice asks, “So you are part female sex demon now?”
“Yeah and I’m still more dignified than you are. That should give you some cause to think your life over shouldn’t it?”
“Oh, shut up! I’m convinced. No demon could annoy me as much as John could and it’s not the first time I saw someone change race.”
“I agree with Rayla, I think this is the real John. You can loosen his bindings now.”
“That is not your call to make.”
“Then whose is it?”
“It’s mine.” Duchess Carmilla answers as she enters the room together with her husband.