The Nothing World: Intertwining Fates

Chapter two: Old Friends, New Enemies


          When Ai woke up, she sat up and stretched, then realized that she was not in her room.  She looked down at the body next to her. Kain was still sleeping, but shifted a bit when her heat left him.  She quickly looked down at herself, afraid of what she would see, but all of her cloths were in place, and Kain’s Pants were still on.  “I guess I was a good girl…”she muttered, looking around the abnormally clean room.
“Yes you were.” A voice behind her purred, startling her.
“HOLY CHESE AND RICE!!!” She shrieked, looking behind her, only to see Kain awake, his light blue eyes alight with laughter.  “It’s not funny,” she pouted, sticking her lower lip out.  He just laughed and pulled her down next to him.
“It was VERY funny and you know it,” he said, nuzzling her neck. As he did that, his soft fuzzy fox ears lightly brushed across her chin.
“Stop that!  It tickles!”  He smiled wider and ran his ears down her neck; at the same time he ran his slender fingers up her spine.
“Am I forgiven?”
“Y-yes of…of…of…OF COURSE” She gasped, trying to crawl out of his grasp.
“Oh, no, YOU are not going anywhere” he grabbed her gently around the waist and started pulling her back.
“That’s it, NO MORE MS. NICE PRINCESS!!!” she playfully growled, snatching a peacock feather out of the decretive vase on the nightstand before he could grab her again.  She rolled on the bed to face him, brandishing the feather like a sword.
“You wouldn’t.” his face suddenly serious, doubt in his eyes.
“Wouldn’t I?” she inquired him, a mischievous grin on her face.  When she saw all doubt disappear from his eyes, she pounced on him. This would have been a good tactic…if they weren’t on a bed.  She had put too much energy into the pounce, and the extra momentum carried them off the bed, into a crumpled heap on the floor.  They stared at each other a minuet, then burst out laughing again.  Gasping for breath, they both scrambled upright and Ai tackled him with the feather again. In no time, Kain had grabbed a feather and soon they were scampering around the room trying to tickle each other, in the process knocking over many things, many of them were expensive.  Their frolicking only stopped when a servant knocked on the door.
“Princess, Lord Kain, your presents is required in the study, Lord Kiba of the Bobcat clan and lady Cassandra of the Fox demon clan.” He called through the door.
“All right, well be right down” Ai called, managing to compose herself. She turned to Kain. “You could probably get me to my room faster than if I walked.”  He nodded and knelt so she could climb on his back.
“Hold on.” She nodded and wrapped her delicate arms around his neck in a chokehold.  He walked out to the balcony and jumped across he grounds to her balcony.  It didn’t even feel like they were moving, just gliding.  Once safely on the balcony, Ai dismounted.  
"Alright. You stay here while I change, then well go down together."  He nodded in agreement and she rushed into the bathroom with a change of clothes.  She quickly changed, this time wearing a deep burgundy silk dress that brought out the red in her hair and contrasted well with her bright green eyes.  When she got out Kain was still in the same position as when she left him.  "You left." she accused, eyeing his fresh cloths.  He Just smiled and offered her his arm, which she accepted.  They gracefully walked to her study where they greeted Cassandra and Kiba.  "Sorry we're late, we had no idea that you were coming." Ai apologized.
"There's no need to apologize Princess, like you said, you had no idea we were coming."  Kiba said in his deep, purring voice.
"Do they know about my awakened power?" Ai inquired of Ki, who was standing nearby.
"Yes my princess." he said, looking away from her green eyes.
"Good, could you send messengers to all of the loyal clan leaders informing them?"
"It will Be done"
"Ki, what would I do without you?" he turned bright red and gave a low bow before retreating from the room.  The princess rushed after him and yelled at his retreating back "DIDN'T I TELL YOU NOT TO BOW TO BE ANYMORE?" but she knew that he would continue to bow no matter what she told him.  She returned fuming to the study.  "So." she started "I assume you are not here for a social visit are you?"
"No, we have some grave news, but Kiba can go first." Cassandra said speaking up for the first time, her voice like honey and silk, a trap for any man. The princess turned to Kiba.
"My patrols have reported some strange demon activity.  More than the usual cattle have disappeared.  At the present moment we have a list of thirty-two missing persons, and several eye witnesses."  he took a great breath and continued.  "The witnesses say he looks like a man, except his silted green eyes, fangs and forked tongue."
"A rampaging snake demon?" the Princess suggested.
"What is your report, Lady Cassandra?" Kain inquired, a cold tone to his voice.  Ai looked at him quizzically, but he averted his gaze.  Cassandra didn't appear to notice his cold tone.
"Princess...Kain." she shot him a flirting look when she said his name. Kain scowled at her flirtatious ways. "I have a similar report to Lord Kiba's" she continued "the only difference is my foxes got close enough to get his sent and..." she bit her lip. "He's a half demon."
"Only half?  How could he do all of this if he is only half?" Kiba asked. "I have no idea, but that's not all."  She looked at Kain again before beginning again.  "He can transform into a demon snake."
"WHAT?" Kain shouted. "Only a full fledged demon can transform!"
"I know" Cassandra said miserably.  "But the worst of it is when we were following his sent, it vanished. We scouted the surrounding aria, but there was nothing."
"That is most strange." Ki said, suddenly appearing next to the Princess.
"HOLLY SHITALKING MUSHROOMS!” she yelped.  "Don't do that!...And don't you DARE bow!" she exclaimed as his head started moving downwards.
"Yes Princess, sorry Princess"
"Do ether of you have the slightest idea what has been going on?" Kain asked, to draw the attention off his friend.  The Leaders shook their heads.  "Then will you have your patrols on the lookout for this half-breed?"
"Of course!" Cassandra exclaimed, making a point to agree with everything Kain said.  He scowled in response and the Princess chuckled at the rejection before turning to one of the always-ready maids.
"Could you have two rooms prepared for our guests?"
"Of course my lady." she said, curtsying before exiting to complete her task.  the princess then conferred with Ki.  "We should send messaged to all of the loyal clans to tell them to be on the lookout." he nodded and left the room once more. to her Guests she added "Please stay as long as you want, and please relax, we'll get to the bottom of this. Kain, please come with me."  He nodded and she escorted him to the garden, where they started walking along a stone path through the flowers.  "Kain." the Princess said solemnly.
"Yes my Princess?" he playfully purred.
"The protection of the Nothingworld is weak.  We need someone to pull it together."
"Well, who is this lucky nominee?"
"You. I am now appointing you the head of protectors.  And your first assignment is to find strong demons, preferably from each clan, then have them live in a village, preferably near the wolf dens.  But remember, they have to want to live there. And anyone can go, even if they are not strong. All are welcome. Then have Ki make a permanent portal from there to the castle. Can you do that?"
"Anything for you my love" he said, giving her a quick kiss before transforming into his fuzzy fox form bounding off to complete his task.
"BUT DON'T JUST GO CHARGING INTO THEIR LIVES!!" She called to him, fretting. She sighed and looked around at where they had stopped.  In front of her was her favorite flower.  it was a deep blue thorn-less rose that only Kain and a few extremely talented plant demons had managed to grow.  She picked one of the plump blossoms and studied it. She was concentrating so hard that she didn't hear someone approach from behind.
"Quite an interesting flower, huh?" a light feminine voice said, it sounded pleasant, like a stream running over smooth rocks. Ai jumped for the third time that day.
Why dose this always seem to happen to me?  She thought as she faced the speaker.  She was a short woman, with a pretty face that looked twenty, but looks could be deceiving.  She had shoulder-length moss green hair, pulled back into a ponytail, revealing her pointed ears.  her confident smile revealed her razor sharp fangs.  Her skin was pale and slightly scaly with a tint of aquamarine to it.  Like most demons she had long sharp nails, blue, but in-between the fingers, there was a thin film of skin attaching it to the next.  She had large liquid blue eyes that would make any makeup model cry.
"I don't pretend to be an expert on plant's, but I do know a thing or two about the water that feeds them."  she knelt and touched the earth. "Hmmmm...This plant was made using (insert random elements)"
"Uh..." The Princess said stupidly.  She had no idea what to make of this demon.
"Oh, I'm Ava, and I'm a water demon." she said, extending her hand.  The princess took it. It was damp and slippery.  "You're wondering why I'm here." it wasn't a question.  "Well, rumor has it in my water that you are looking for a battle planer."
"How did you..."
"Know?" she laughed "I here many things.  Words travel quickly on water.  Did you know that there is water in the air? Probably not."
"Uh..." The Princess said again, feeling stupider by the minuet.  "You seam pretty smart, let's see what you can do, welcome to the job!"
"Thanks" she replied casually.
"So...where do you want your work aria to be?  We could have a tower built."
"No, not a tower. Just a big room. a really big room with books and drawing utilities. Lots of books."
"I know just the room!" The Princess exclaimed, grabbing Ava's slippery hand and dragging her through the castle until they reached a pair of large honey oak doors.  Ai pushed Ava through them and stepped back to gouge her reaction.  Ava stood bugged eyed.  It was a large hexagonal room.  In one corner there was an elaborately decorated dark ash desk with a jumble of righting instruments, and a stack of paper.  But nearly all of the rest of the room was filled top to bottom with books of all sorts.  History, fictional, Sci-Fi, mystery, science and many more.
"Where in the name of water did you get all of these?!  What is this room, a library?  Is this where I'm going to be working?" Ava shot off, rapid fire.  The Princess chuckled.
"To answer your first question, Ki has portaled to many worlds to get these. This is not a library, only a privet stock, you should see the library.  And you can work here if you want, it's yours."
"Do I sleep in here?"
"Heavens no! You could choose any of the surrounding rooms to decorate to your liking."
"YES!!! Sweet!" Ava yelled, sprinting out to look at the rooms. She’s such an odd demon. Ai thought, watching Ava sprint room one room to the next.  Well, let's see what she's like once she settles in.

†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††

          At dinner Ava was indeed calmer and Ai was able to see her true personality.  She was kind, sometimes quiet, but always was thinking of something interesting.  Kain was not back yet, so the Princess sat with Ki for company.  Not that much company though. He kept quiet like always.  About halfway through the meal, the double doors at the end of the hall started opening.  The room became quiet as everyone turned to see who was the latecomer.  A tall girl leaning heavily on the doors.  Her head was hanging from exhaustion so all you could see was a curtain of raven black hair with pumpkin orange streaks.  She was abnormally pale, like she hadn’t seen the sun in a very long time.  She suddenly looked up at the dinner table, like she was noticing it for the first time.  Her brilliant amber cat eyes were blazing in pain. There was a long, heavily bleeding scratch that started on her left cheekbone, across the bridge of her nose, and down to her jawbone.  It was only then that Ai noticed that the girl was bleeding all over.  As she stood up to help, the girl’s eyes rolled back and she collapsed on the oriental tapestry.