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.”