“I will spend the next life, too, hunting down your kind, foul demon…” The powerful, armored warrior gasped out, and with that, his eyes lost their light, and he fell back. His final moment was greeted with thunderous appuse, ughter; he had performed spectacurly!! Not a moment ter, he stood up, as well, taking a deep bow and ughing along with the other actors, waving and smiling to an audience of hundreds upon hundreds.

  “Thank you, all!!” An announcer called through his megaphone; a pompous old man, waist as bloated as his coin-bags. “Thank you for attending this year’s performance in honor of the legendary Musashi, Pempan Strategist!! The legendary hero who died at the Mirian border, battling off the demon armies, lives forever in our memories, having saved all of our great nation!!” There were whispers among the crowd, but these were vastly overrun by cheers, appuse, merriment.

  “However!!” The politician shouted again, and as he cleared his throat, a retive silence fell over the crowd; clearly, the people hadn’t been expecting more. “There is unfortunate news, once more, from the western ocean borders. The demons are attacking from the sea, and so, your benevolent rulers have found a solution for you!!” He waited, arms in the air in a vague gesture of grandeur.

  “Tonight, for the first time in fifteen years- the Starrian Monarch will be allowing a very controlled instance of magic. Care to guess why, citizens?!” He chuckled, seemingly for dramatic effect, as the crowd began to buzz with whispers and wide eyes. “We will be summoning heroes from another world for the sake of our salvation!! Superhumans from another world, TOMORROW AT DAWN!!”

  There was silence, for a moment- it came as suddenly as a bolt of lightning might appear in the sky.

  Then, a collective, mighty cheer, screaming, excitement- only one figure seemed unaffected, bundling their cloak more tightly around themselves and turning. They slipped around an empty market stall and practically flew into an alleyway, disappearing into the long shadows therein.

  “What’s going on, then?” Somebody asked, and the figure threw their hood back, briefly, as she slipped through a doorway and into an empty tavern, closed for the festival. As she did, long hair, blonde at the roots but fading to ginger as it fell around her shoulders spilled free, framing a soft, tanned face and heterochromia; blue on one side, green the other. As if to round off her odd features, pointed ears became apparent, poking through her hair.

  “It’s exactly what we thought. They want to make a spectacle out of the summoning and use it to set an example. If we want to destabilize the monarch, we’ve got the right pn. They’re looking for symbols of power, and we’ll give them that.”

  “Pn is unchanged then?”

  “As long as I’m in charge of the operation, yes, pn is unchanged,” The tanned woman nodded, stretching. “Have Charlotte infiltrate and alter the runes during the midnight swap, report back to me when it’s done. I need a drink, so I’m going to go out and do some more… surveilnce.”

  “Surveilnce, huh? You don’t want to celebrate the great and powerful Musashi, even a little?” The woman she spoke to arched an eyebrow, but was met with a look of disdain.

  “No. That’s not it. It’s been a long day and I need a drink.”

  “Alright, Aurelia, I apologize, I wasn’t really doubting you- we all need to unwind from time to time.”

  “True that, and I work a lot harder than you ever could, messenger,” Aurelia huffed, tugging her hood up once more, turning on her heel and pushing back out into the chill evening air. The noises of revelry had returned louder than before, and Aurelia looked down as she began to walk, glowering down at the cobblestone underfoot, headed for the market district. The faint hum of electrical nterns aggravated her rising headache, but she tried to think nothing of it, even as she longed for the warm glow of the magical streetlights back home. This pce was cold and dead by comparison- she hated the cold air. Even during a festival, the ck of anything other than ordinary, uniform, and human drove her up the wall.

  “Hey- pour me out one of your strongest,” Aurelia spoke up as she slid up onto an outdoor bar thrown up for the event, dropping a few bills on the counter- she wasn’t even gnced at, let alone questioned for the cloak pulled tightly around her head. Instead, her money was taken and a drink smmed down in front of her, just as asked. “Thanks boss.”

  “Course. Keep that cloak tight round yourself- I don’t want to see anything I shouldn’t. It’s human money you’re paying with regardless,” He grunted out. Ugh… can’t make excuses for most of them, can I? Monarch might not represent the beliefs of his people, but as long as he controls them… I just hope we can avoid civilian casualties, at the very least. As many as possible.

  “Yeah. Thanks, boss,” Aurelia sighed quietly and threw back her mug, swallowing. The taste was bitter, but refined- not the cheap cat piss they sold down at the docks, far off. For a time, she just drank, taking a few refills and enjoying the air as best she could- humans here sang and danced and ughed- and then, of course, there was the buzz of excited conversation.

  “I mean, can you believe it?!” Somebody asked, nudging her, and Aurelia gnced sideways, grunting.

  “What?”

  “The fact they’re summoning heroes to help us!! Humans are incapable of magic, but oh our King is full of wonders!!” An excited young man jeered.

  “I don’t know man,” One of his buddies slurred around his mug. “Magic is destructive- is it really a good thing if we use it? King or not, magic is responsible for the greatest atrocities in history an’ shit, man…”

  “Nah, rex, if it’s our King, he’d never do us wrong!! The first official use of magic in Starria, just think; and it will be public, for us to see!! Oh, the monarch spoils us!!”

  “Yeah, well when you get the king’s cock out of your cheek, you’ll see this is a dangerous precedent to set… it better be a one-off occurrence…” The clearly more drunk of the two-gentleman sighed, returning to his mug.

  “What do you think, dy??” The other nudged her again, and Aurelia shrugged.

  “Let’s just see who these heroes even are. I’m excited to watch the ceremony,” She replied quietly, smirking.

  “Right?? Me too!!” The young man ughed and turned, hobbling off, calling out to another group.

  “Hm, you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, don’t you, girl?” The drunk beside her looked up, winking. “King spends thirty years screaming about the terrors of magic… this is either a bad precedent or the biggest show of hypocrisy I’ve ever seen… but what would the old man be, without his xenophobia to keep him in check… kill anything with horns or wings, and always check the ears… it’s horrible…”

  For a moment, there was silence, and then he continued.

  “Do you think that the others are really so bad, girl?”

  “What do you mean?” Aurelia asked gently, after some deliberation.

  “I mean… just doesn’t make sense to me, the idea that non-humans are all bad. Even if they’re evil by nature, there have to be some that don’t crave bloodlust, right? It seems impossible that they’re really all bad… sometimes I wish I had the money to travel beyond the walls, and see what’s out there for myself… and if I died because the first non-human, I came across ripped me in half, at least I’d die having seen something other than this monotone crap in my life…” He sighed, then, trailing off.

  “Sorry, girl. Making you listen to the depressed ramblings of a dying man, like this. You enjoy the festival,” he added, voice slurring once again, and stood, turning and wandering off, steps uneven. Aurelia watched him go, then stood slowly, nodding to the bartender before headed off. Round her waist, her tail, slim and deeply violet, almost bck, tightened. The tip of it, shaped like a heart, fit snuggly between the bottoms of her breasts, but nonetheless she tightened her colr, making sure that no such shape was visible.

  “I’d better get some good sleep, tonight…”

  -

  “You’re sure you saw somebody?”

  “I swear I did,” A second guard replied, and Charlotte smiled zily down at them where she y on a ceiling rafter, tail idly flicking around behind her back. “I swear, I swear she came this way…”

  “You need more sleep, man. Come on, let’s get going, and get you a beer, and some good sleep.” The guards below began to holster their weapons, sighing and turning, leaving the room… and the dais meant to be used for the summoning. Charlotte could only smile down at the dais itself, for a moment, before rolling sideways and falling.

  -

  “It’s done!!” Charlotte beamed, pushing through a rickety old door and throwing her hood off, lic-colored cat’s ears twitching. “Those summonses are going to be the st thing these people want, but everything they need- we’re the real heroes now.”

  “Good job, Lottie,” Aurelia sighed, nodding and standing from the table where she rested until now. “I’m going to go and get some sleep, I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Okay! Good night boss~ let me know if you need any help falling asleep, I sing the best lulbies- “

  “Yeah thanks, maybe some other time,” Aurelia waved dismissively, headed for the stairs and rolling her shoulders. “Can’t wait to see the monarch implode when he sees what happens tomorrow…”

  “Me neither, I can’t wait to watch~ I’ll see you in the morning, Aurie~”

  “Night.” The tanned woman headed upstairs, and Lottie pouted, throwing herself down into the chair that had until then been occupied. “The inn-keeper must be asleep… I’m so lonely anymore… guess a freak can’t make friends too easily huh, even among freaks…” Sighing, the cat-girl shook her head and put her head down on the table. “Well, I did a good job, I’ll just rest for now… sorry, to whoever I’ve screwed over, nyehe~”

  Tunabun