Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan)

by Langland, J.

  "Come on Tom," Rupert sounded disappointed.

  "You need some sleep, I'll see what I can do. I promise."

  "Ok." Rupert relaxed, but didn't seem overly thrilled. No kid liked to go to bed. He closed his eyes.

  Tom leaned back and thought about what the boy said. Would it really be that different from what he'd done to open this latest gateway? There he'd really imagined himself the flame, completely merged himself with the flame. If he did the same with an image of his old self would that work? Boggy had said it took a lot of energy, and the perceptions and demands of the wizards usually forced demons to return to their 'true, demonic, form.' Actually, Boggy had been talking about doing it in the Abyss, not in Astlan. Would it even be possible for a demon to alter his form here?

  It seemed to Tom that a lot of this stuff about a demon's form, which was intrinsically magical was wrapped somehow in people's perceptions of him. As Tizzy and Boggy had said, they expect you to look like a demon, so you do. If he could change people's perceptions, could he also change his form? If that were true, then Gastropé and Jenn would need to think of him as a human. New people he met, would never know any difference. Just exactly how much did the beliefs of the Astlanians influence reality? That was the question.

  There was, Tom decided, only one way to find out. Taking a deep breath, which of course, being a demon he didn't need, he began to relax. Just as he'd done with the gateway, he put himself in a trance. He began to call up an image of his old self. He built a complete image of himself as he remembered from the mirror. He figured it was important to get the whole thing correct. That wasn't too hard, like many adolescents, he'd worried a lot about his growing body throughout puberty. He knew each little imperfection well. Soon he had the image in his mind. Then he created an image of himself, as he felt himself now. He hadn't really seen much of his current form, except during that first summons, but he knew what it felt like.

  He also knew what his old body felt like. He superimposed the images in his mind and the feelings of the two bodies. He willed, believed, imagined the sensations and appearance of his old body on top of his new one. Imagined himself shrinking to the smaller size. Imagined that he could actually feel hair growing on his scalp, his tail receding. His hooves turning into the balls of his feet. His lower joint becoming his heel, forming the entire foot. His claws retracting, becoming the fingers he remembered. He imagined, he believed, he knew. He opened his eyes.

  He felt like he was holding his breath. He felt like he was about to explode. He felt like he was wearing clothes fourteen sizes too small. His breathing was ragged. His eyes almost seemed to be watering with the effort to keep from exploding. It was almost all he could do to keep from bursting apart.

  Tom looked down at his legs. All he saw were these puny pink things with small wisps of hair on them. As he bent his head down to see the pinkish white flesh that was trying to contain the explosion, a lock of curly black hair fell over his eyes. He was himself! "Aaah, aah" Tom gasped.

  ~

  Rupert woke, hearing a strange noise. He'd just dozed off thinking about Tom. He looked over to the demon. The demon was gone! In its place was a teenage boy! A naked one at that. Squatting down in the corner was a boy about six or seven years older than himself. He had long, very curly black hair and some faint freckles on his cheeks. His body was thin, but not skinny, and dusted with some dark hair on his legs and forearms. The boy was breathing hard, as if he had been exerting himself a lot. "Tom?" Rupert asked incredulously.

  The boy smiled at him and nodded. Suddenly though, the boy gasped and bent over double. He began moaning in pain. Almost immediately his skin turned beet red and seemed to blister. The boy's hair fell out, as he raised his head as if to howl in pain. His nose began pulling upward, his jaw coming forward to form a short snout. Horns began poking through the skin on his forehead. His whole body was bloating. Literally, his muscles were swelling like melons. His feet stretching, becoming lower legs. A short tail was thrashing its way up from his rear, growing longer and longer. Finger nails thickened and grew black and long.

  Within only a few moments, the boy was gone and the demon was back.

  Chapter 47

  Tom ached all over. The pain of turning back into his demon form was almost as bad as the first time. Not quite, but at least similar. For once, since coming to Astlan, Tom actually felt relieved to be a demon. This form, hooves and all, felt more comfortable. He didn't feel like he was about to explode anymore. It just felt, 'right.' What a strange thought.

  He felt like he could really relax. In the short time he'd been human again, his whole body had felt under deep stress. As if forcing itself into some unnatural position. It was altogether unpleasant. "Aaagghhh," Tom sobbed. Talk about your Chalker-esk nightmare. Somehow he seemed to be mentally conditioned to prefer this form. Conditioned so that his old body was the unnatural one. Tom wanted to cry. He was a boy! not a demon! Naturally though, demons had no tear ducts so he couldn't. What was he going to do? Even if he could somehow shape change into his old form, he knew he wouldn't be comfortable. He'd always be fighting the urge to be a demon. There seemed like there was no going back!

  "That was fantastic Tom!" Rupert's voice brought Tom's thoughts back into the kitchen. "I know it was hard, but for a first try that was great. It gets easier the more you do it."

  Tom hoped so. He couldn't keep it up if it didn't. "Yeah?"

  "Yes, now try again. It's the only way."

  Tom really didn't feel he had the energy. Oh, sure physically he was recuperating fine now that he was back in his demon form, but mentally he just didn't feel up to it. "I don't know. Maybe I should wait awhile."

  Rupert was impatient, "And when the priest wakes up, and morning comes? How long do you think we can stay here. We'll have to leave soon, you gotta practice. What happens if you pop back into demon from in the middle of the market."

  "A lot of people start fainting." Tom answered testily. He knew the boy was right, he just couldn't bring himself to want to try again. It was, Tom was sure, like the damn bicycle/horse etc. analogy, if you fall off, try again immediately. "Very well," he couldn't stand Rupert's stare.

  Tom relaxed, it wasn't any easier this time. In fact it took longer because Tom had trouble concentrating and going into a trance state. Eventually however, he managed to superimpose the images, the feelings. Eyes closed Tom felt himself shrinking, contracting into the repellent puny pink and white form. From the inside, his skin felt feverish, again he felt like a bomb waiting to go off. He opened his eyes. Rupert was grinning at him.

  "Can you manage to talk?" Rupert asked.

  "Yess..." Tom answered hesitantly. His voice sounded weak, whiny. "I think so." Tom had to concentrate to keep from exploding while he talked. He decided to gingerly test things. He stood up. He swayed and almost fell over. God, this damn form had no balance. He swayed gently, balancing as best he could he took a few steps forward. The floor felt really weird under his bare feet. He looked down, it was just a smooth wood floor. It must just be his feet, they seemed awfully tender compared to his hooves.

  As he turned, he was trying to come up with a story in his mind about what to tell Jenn and the others. Given this belief thing, he didn't want them to know he was the demon. But what could he tell them? Concentrating too much on what to tell people and not enough on his lack of balance, Tom began to fall over. He reached out and his hand rammed into the stone of the fire place. The shock of pain in scraping his hand along the rough stone jolted him. Agony ripped through his body as he lost control and his muscles started ballooning to gargantuan proportion again.

  ~

  Jenn woke, she didn't know how much later it was. Probably some time, considering how rested she felt. It was hard to tell though as there were no windows in the chapel. She glanced around; Gastropé was still asleep. The bound priest was wide-awake and staring at her fearfully. What was she going to do about him? The candles had burned out but light was coming under the door
to the outside.

  She got up and stretched. She was also hungry. She decided she'd explore the other room, the demon had gone in there, but hadn't said what it was. She walked over to the doorway and looked through. It was a bit lighter in the kitchen as some filtered light was coming down the wide chimney. Sure enough, it was a kitchen. Actually rather strange for a temple, but then not many temple's she'd been in looked like this place. The kitchen, however, proved to be rather bare upon closer inspection. No food was on the shelves. Actually, she suddenly realized, there was no demon or Rupert in the kitchen either! Where were they? She ran back out into the main room. They weren't there either!

  "Aaaaaggghhhhh!" Jenn said in frustration. What had that damned demon done? Had it kidnapped Rupert back to the Abyss? If so, the poor kid was gone. How could she ever get him back? The sound of her voice woke Gastropé.

  "What's the matter," he asked, rubbing his eyes.

  "The demon! That's the matter!"

  Gastropé immediately jumped to his feet looking around wildly. "Where?"

  "He's not here, nor is Rupert! That's the problem, I don't know where they went!" Even as she said this, the door to the outside opened. Goddess! they'd forgot to bar it again. How stupid could they have been? Light, albeit not incredibly bright due to the overhang in the ally way, poured into the room. Rupert stepped into the room. Jenn sighed a sigh of relief.

  "Rupert, where have you been, you don't know how..." her voice trailed off as a young man followed Rupert into the room. She had no idea who he was. He was roughly her own age, but a bit taller, with rather long curly black hair. He was wearing breeches tightly belted at the waist and a shirt that didn't fit too well. Actually, he was rather cute, she thought in the back of her mind. As he carefully shut the door behind them however, Jenn noticed that he seemed extremely tense. Like he was trying to keep something bottled up. He was almost gritting his teeth. She imagined he'd be turning red in a moment from the stress he seemed to be under.

  "Who are you?" Gastrope' asked the young man.

  "His name is Edwyrd," Rupert said quickly. "He's my cousin."

  "Your what?" Jenn asked. She didn't know Rupert had any cousins. Certainly it was unlikely he'd just pop out and find one immediately after entering a strange city.

  "His cousin," the young man said tensely. "Amazing really. I'd just entered town, passing through, and I stopped in the market to get an apple when who should appear out of nowhere but Rupert." The fellow seemed to be forcing himself to seem casual.

  Gastropé and Jenn looked at each other. It sounded just a little too strange. Coincidences like that just didn't happen. Jenn stopped suddenly, where was the demon? "Rupert where'd the...." she paused, thinking of the priest, and this unknown Edwyrd fellow, "Tom, go?"

  Rupert looked up at Edwyrd and said, "uhm, he had to return home suddenly. Something about some conclave of ...uhm," he looked at the priest, knowing what Jenn actually meant, "...animages, meeting." He didn't care so much about letting the priest know anything about the demon, it was just that it was probably better to play along with Jenn so she wouldn't suspect Edwyrd.

  Gastropé was looking back and forth between Rupert and Jenn, totally lost. "Who's Tom? and what about the d...."

  "You know," Jenn said cutting him off suddenly, "Tom was the fellow who got upset with you when we first met." She gestured with her head to the priest and the hand by her side to Edwyrd. Gastropé caught on, sort of.

  "Oh. Yeah."

  What was Rupert talking about? Conclave of animages? demons, she supposed he meant. Why would the demon all of the sudden leave them for a meeting of demons? What did that portend? A meeting of demons, could it have something to do with this book? The whole thing didn't make much sense, but she couldn't exactly question Rupert more closely in the presence of the priest and Edwyrd. She really didn't want to freak people out any more than necessary.

  Actually, Rupert had looked at Edwyrd before answering. Ah, maybe that explained his tense look. Maybe Rupert had told him about the demon. Any sane person would certainly get tense and look like that if they had to worry about a demon popping up at any moment. Goddess knew the demon made her feel that way. Of course, he could also be kind of tense because he'd just walked into a temple in which three ragged individuals were holding a priest hostage. He might be leery of the company his cousin was keeping. She couldn't blame him for that either. Not that she exactly trusted Edwyrd for that matter. It was just too strange for Rupert to just wander out and find his cousin like that.

  "Fine, well, ok. So you went out. You really should not have gone alone, that was really stupid, Rupert. What's the name of the city then?"

  "Gizzor Del," Rupert answered.

  "Gizzor Del? where's that?"

  "I don't know," Rupert said. Gastropé also gave her a blank look. "It is however, ruled by a guy named Duke Swery."

  That didn't help much. She looked at Edwyrd. He came in through the gates, he should know. "Where is Gizzor Del?" she asked him. "I would think you would know, since you were passing through."

  He looked at her in surprise, it took him a moment to say anything. "Why don't you know? You had to come in the same way, didn't you?" That shut her up. The priest knew how they came in, but she wasn't sure she wanted to explain it to this Edwyrd fellow. It was really just a bit much to try and explain to a complete stranger. Ok, this wasn't going to get her any further. She turned to look down at the priest.

  She walked over to him. His eyes were lit up in fear. She bent down to remove his gag. He whimpered softly.

  "How far is it to Freehold from here?" Jenn asked him.

  "Lord Tiernon protect me from evil. I repent my sins fully. Lord save me from these forces of..." She gagged him again. She shook her head. Why did everything always have to be so difficult?

  Chapter 48

  Tick tock tick tock. How long could he hold it? It was beginning to remind him of having to hold his bladder, only worse. He'd held human form now for almost three hours. Neither he nor Rupert had gotten any sleep last night. He'd kept practicing his human form throughout the night. The first ten times had been real difficult. Eventually however, he learned enough tricks to hold it without turning back whenever something shocked him. After Rupert was able to successfully kick him in the shin without him losing control and turning back, they'd decided they could take some chances. They needed to, they had several details to work out.

  For one thing, Tom needed clothes. These they found in the wardrobe in the other room. Tom hoped the priest wouldn't notice him wearing his clothes. The other problem was how to explain Tom. They couldn't call him Tom, that would be too blatant, so he suggested they use his middle name, Edward. Rupert liked the idea and started calling him Edwyrd. Secondly, how to explain his presence. Rupert came up with the cousin idea. Unfortunately, if that were to be the case, they'd have know something about the city. Since dawn had just arrived, they decided to wander about.

  Actually the thought had made Tom nervous, but he'd have to go out some time, better with just him and Rupert rather than with all of them. Tom had gone back to demon form to rest for a little while, then changed back. They’d snuck out, making sure all the others were still asleep and wandered the city.

  Actually, it wasn't that incredibly large of a city. It wasn't that incredibly savory of a city either, but then Tom had little to judge cities in Astlan by. Tom, or Edwyrd didn't have much spare attention to pay to the city in any event. Every other second was spent on concentrating on his human form. He really didn't want to lose it in the middle of the street.

  One problem they'd quickly realized was lack of currency. Rupert had a couple copper pennies, but that was all. Edwyrd, naturally, had none. It would also be doubtful that either Jenn or Gastropé would have any either, having just been prisoners. They'd need money to at least get some supplies. Further, if this Gizzor Del as they discovered its name, was far from Freehold, they'd need horses for Jenn and Gastropé and probably a wagon for Edwyrd
and Rupert since Rupert was scared of horses and it was doubtful if the horses would like Edwyrd.

  It was unfortunate, but Tom doubted that he could just carry all three of the wizards and fly. If they could ditch Gastropé then he could take Jenn and Rupert, one in each arm, if she'd allow it. With three, though, he was afraid he'd drop one. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure he could convince Jenn to abandon the idiot wizard in a strange city. Actually, he wasn't sure he could agree with it either. It wasn't as bad as just killing him, but the thought did kind of bother him.

  Eventually they had returned to the little church place and found everyone awake. It was then the fun began for Edwyrd. He was really nervous that under close scrutiny these guys would figure out who he was. If they didn't believe him, then he was afraid their disbelief might keep him from holding form before others in the city. Edwyrd suspected that Gizzor Delians would be much more upset by his form than even Jenn or Gastropé. Thus it was that Edwyrd stood there while Jenn paced up and down trying to figure out where they were. Edwyrd hoped she wouldn't return to asking him questions, he didn't have a clue to the local geography.

  "Our other problem," Rupert said, causing Jenn to halt her pacing, "is money, Edwyrd here, just spent the last of his funds on his apple and I don't have anything but pennies. Do you guys have any?"

  Jenn frowned and shook her head. Gastropé just pulled his tattered pockets inside out. Actually, if they weren't going to attract too much attention, they'd have to get Jenn and Gastropé new clothes as well. Their current ones were rather ragged and singed. Edwyrd just shook his head as problems mounted.

  ~

  "Maybe the priest has some," Gastrope' suggested. "They are always taking collections."

  "But that's for their god..." Jenn protested.

  "Who needs it more now? His god or us? Besides if his god is one of the good guys, the money should be for the poor and indigent. I think we all fit in that category at the moment." Gastropé pointed out. He walked over to the priest. "Any money priest?" he asked as he pulled down the gag.