Throne of Byrinthia - Book Two

Chapter 7

(Hey guys, this update is early because I won't be at home on Sunday to update! I actually have a lot written so hopefully my updates will be somewhat regular for a few weeks, beginning last week ^_^ Thanks for reading, in advance!)

-Beckham-

My eyes looked upward incredibly slowly, dreading what would undoubtedly be above us - a demon. Well, if Jaycen wanted to find one, here it is. When I was finally looking directly up, I saw a young, thin demon. Her hair was long, straight, and bright orange, and she had straight across bangs framing her ruby red eyes and light grey face dusted with freckles. The girl wore black cargo pants and a black tank top, and no shoes. She looked unlike any image of a stereotypical demon I had in my mind, but that was most definitely what she was.

She was very close to me, almost inspecting me with her eyes. My own eyes widened in fear as I waited for her to say or do something. She was flitting through the air, seemingly flying, between each of us. She only took a moment to assess each one, but it felt like forever before she broke the heavy silence.

"Are you guys real humans?" She asked excitedly. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Um, yeah?" Chanson answered. "What else would we be?"

"The testing dummies, of course!" She replied. We all shared terrified glances. "Just kidding! Humans are so easy to joke with." Isaac laughed, but the rest of us stayed silent, confused. "Geez, you really don't talk much, do you?"

"We do, we are simply not sure of the situation at this moment," Jaycen tried. "Perhaps you could explain?" The demon gave a lopsided smirk and stuck her hands in her pockets.

"I don't know either!" She said happily. "My name's Meila. Y'all got caught in my trap!" She seemed very proud of herself, but I still wasn't sure how to respond. "Oh come on! I worked a long time on this one. And I found real humans to test it! Isn't that awesome? I didn't know humans came to the demon realm."

"Uh... They don't," Isaac laughed. "But it seems like we'll be hanging around a bit longer than we thought." He burst into giggles.

"Oh hey, the funny one! You're my favorite." Meila said. "So why are you here then?"

"To find the-" Jaycen began, before I cut him off.

"Just visiting!" I shouted. "Nothing special." Jaycen gave me a confused look, and I simply shook my head.

"Oh! Do you like demons?" Meila wondered.

"I... We... Uh-"

"Because I love humans!" She exclaimed. "They're so interesting. They're not the smartest sometimes, but they're pretty creative! Especially with all that... Whad'ya call it? Food? So weird..." She continued to explain all the things she found "interesting" about humans as we all shared more confused looks. Is this actually happening? "Hey! Are you listening?" She snapped in front of my face and I blinked, staring at her once again.

"Sorry, you were saying?" I asked sarcastically.

"I was saying, it's really weird to see so many humans out here. Why are you visiting?" Meila asked. I rolled my eyes.

"For the great view."

"Ha! That's a good one," Isaac laughed loudly, much to Meila's great bewilderment. I sighed in annoyance.

"Could you let us down now?" I asked Meila. She pursed her red lips and crossed her arms. Is she angry? I thought. Surely she'll attack...

"No. I want to learn more about you! I only get to visit Earth once a year," she whined. "I can't wait that long!"

"Hold on," Isaac said. "If you let us down and come with us, we'll help you as long as you help us."

Meila only seemed to think on this for a moment before her eyes lit up and her mouth pulled into a wide, fanged smile resembling a vampire. She did a flip in the air.

"That sounds perfect!" She shouted, nodded enthusiastically. I sighed in relief and silently thanked Isaac for the solution. "But... Where are we going?"

"I guess we'll see!" I lied quickly, hoping to be let down as soon as possible.

"Ooh, like an adventure? Awesome." She said happily. Tracing a sparkling symbol in the air with her finger, she brought our invisible nets closer together to follow her as she passed the river that once blocked our way. We all crashed to the ground, less than ceremoniously, groaning in pain. "Whoops. I never practiced the landing... Sorry!" She giggled.

Jaycen stood up and dusted himself off, quickly taking his journal and quill out of his bag and writing away excitedly. Everyone else simply stared at Meila, the surroundings, or Isaac (who was now talking quite animatedly to Meila).

"Are humans stupid?" Meila asked innocently, as we began walking.

"Excuse me?" Chanson asked, offended. "That's rude."

"Well, you fell for my trick, even with the lever. I thought for sure I wouldn't catch anyone that way; everyone knows you don't pull strange levers, or push unknown buttons, or interact with any other things you don't know about. Why do humans do that?" She wondered.

"Humans do a lot of stupid things," Cowyn sighed. "Take the lottery, for example. We pay money for pieces of paper, on the very slight chance that we could get more money. All odds are against it, yet we do it anyway."

"Humans are funny," Meila said. "Where are we going?"

"Don't know," Mason replied. "Just looking around. Would you happen to know where the... Uh... Demon King is?" I shot Mason a look. She could see right through our lies if we started bringing that up.

"Oh, sure! He lives in the middle of the labyrinth," She answered. "I've never met him, but I've heard he's wonderful! Are you going to meet him?"

"Um... Not exactly," Grace said, scared. I shook my head animatedly, attempting to cover up any suspicion we may have given Meila about us.

"We already met him once, right guys?" I asked, nodding overdramatically. All their eyes widened, realizing what was going on. They nodded with me.

"Yeah, he dropped in for a visit earlier today actually," Isaac said assuredly. Meila gasped.

"You've met Karma?" She asked, dumbfounded. "We just have to see him, then! I would love to meet him!"

"Could you... Uh... Show us the way?" Cowyn asked. Meila nodded.

"Of course!" She said confidently. "Right this way! It should only take a few hours, except all the traps... So, two days, at most?"

"Two days?!" I exclaimed, in unison with half the group. That's not nearly fast enough!

"Is there any possible way to travel there in a more efficient fashion?" Jaycen asked politely. "It really is very urgent business."

"Can you fly?" Meila wondered. We shook our heads. "Then... No. Not that I know of, at least. I'll try my best to avoid the traps, of course, but some of them are unavoidable puzzles - unless you want to be dinner."

"Dinner?" Isaac gulped.

"Well yeah, what do you think demons eat?" Meila asked, as though it were obvious.

"I didn't know they did," he replied. "Is that why traps are set? What if they catch other demons?"

"That's the point, silly!" Meila laughed. "If you're not smart enough to survive, that's what happens. I'm not exactly sure what would happen to humans... But it'd be a fun experiment, don't you think?"

"No!" We shouted, making Meila frown.

"Humans are boring."

Author's Note!

GUYS MEILA IS ONE OF MY FAVE CHARACTERS EVER AND I HAVE BEEN WAITING TO INTRODUCE HER FOR LIKE A YEAR SO WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! 

Lemme know what you think, of her, of the story, of anything! Thanks so much for reading, love you guys!

Savy