Mary of Grassdale sighed as she walked down the narrow dirt road, looking up at the clear blue sky. Leaves rustled in the trees on either side of the path, birds fluttered overhead, and a light breeze tickled Mary's face.
"Beautiful day, isn't it?" Mary asked, sighing contentedly.
To Mary's left, her companion grunted. Although she appeared human, this woman was really the demon queen Enn'kir'zxpl'ufarl'ghot, or Enn for short.
"It's too bright," Enn complained. "I wish I were back in my castle."
"Remember, Enn, you
chose
to accompany me on my journey back to Grassdale," Mary said. "Nobody is forcing you to be out in the human world but yourself."
"I know," Enn said, crossing her arms. "I just like complaining."
Off in the distance, Mary noticed a cloud of dust. "What could that be?" Squinting her eyes, the armored swordmaiden saw something begin to take shape, a small horse-drawn carriage.
"Man, that thing's sure kicking up a lot of dust," Enn observed. "I think it's heading this way."
Sure enough, both women were bowled over as the carriage flew past them in the opposite direction, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.
"Gods!" Mary remarked, waving her arms to try and clear the dust, her eyes stinging. "Did they even see us?"
"Hey, they dropped something," Enn said, pointing to a small wooden box laying on the ground. Reaching out to pick it up, the demon queen recoiled in pain. "Fuck! It burned me!"
"It's just a wooden box," Mary said, picking it up with no problems. "Maybe it's warded against demons."
"Ah, typical human prejudice," Enn snorted. "I don't see what could possibly in there that they wouldn't want a demon to touch it."
Opening the box, Mary's eyes went wide. Inside the box, nestled in straw, was a small black orb.
"I've...I've seen this before," Mary muttered. "I know it."
Leaning over to take a look, Enn scoffed at the swordmaiden. "Looks like nothing," the demoness said.
"I...I feel like I have to hold on to this," Mary said, closing the box before shoving it in her knapsack. "Okay, let's continue. It's only a few miles until the next town."
======================================
"Ah, it feels good to be back in civilization," Mary sighed as she stretched her aching muscles. Surrounded by the hustle and bustle of a busy town, Mary felt at home. Her companion, however, was a different story.
"I hate it here," Enn mumbled, shifting uncomfortably. "There are far too many humans here."
"Listen," Mary said as the two walked through the busy streets of a town called Idlerook, "If you want to travel with me, Enn, you just have to learn to live with humans, and not constantly murder them."
"Remind me again why I decided to travel with you?" Enn asked, the two entering a tavern.
"Because you're a per-" Mary started, stopping mid-word as she noticed a rather large commotion in the tavern.
"What's going on?" Mary asked the bartender.
"Another one of those religious nuts," the bartender replied, rolling his eyes. "It's killing my fuckin' business. Dumb stuck-up bitch."
"Sinners!" a woman shouted, standing on a table, surrounded by a crowd of spectators. "Hast thou read from the pages of the holiest book of holy books, The Grimoire of the Pantheon? Dost thou not know that consuming mind-altering substances is akin to dealing with demons? Repent, and be spared eternal torment in the underworld!"
"Eternal torment?" Enn said to Mary, peeved. "It's a party 24/7 down there! I should know, I only lived there for over four thousand years..."
"Boo!" one spectator yelled.
"Fuck you!" another spectator shouted.
"Sinners, the lot of you!" the woman shouted, her light blue robes rustling around her. "I can see that you all are beyond help!"
"I've got an idea," Enn said devilishly, shoving her way through the crowd of spectators. "All right, priestess, you're outta here!" she said, hoisting the woman up onto her shoulders and carrying her through the crowd.
"Enn, what are you doing?" Mary shouted in disbelief.
"Taking out the trash," Enn replied with a wink.
"Unhand me, you brute!" the woman commanded, but Enn was having none of it. Embarrassed, Mary followed Enn outside, where the disguised demoness deposited the holy woman in the street outside.
"Sinners! I shall-" the woman stopped, staring at Mary.
"Umm, hello?" Mary said nervously.
"DEMON!!!!!!!" the woman screamed, pointing an accusatory finger at Mary. "I can sense the demonic energies on you!!!"
"Relax, lady," Enn said, trying to calm down the hysterical priestess. "Mary here has just returned from defeating a powerful demon queen. Some of the demon's energies rubbed off on her during the battle."
"A demonslayer?" the woman breathed. "Really?"
"
Gods, she's gullible
," Enn whispered. "Yeah! She defeated possibly
the
most powerful and stunningly attractive demon of them all! It makes sense that some of that power would have incidentally rubbed off on her!"
"I see..." the woman said, deep in thought.
"
I can't believe she's buying this
," Enn whispered to Mary.
"
How come she didn't detect any demonic energies on you, the actual demon
?" Mary whispered back.
