Terry quickly ran some water through his hair, running it roughly through his fingers. He was more then annoyed and his expression in the mirror showed it. Why did they have to do this?
His father worked in the other world so he barely saw him that much. His mother worked as a teacher and so... he got on with his studies pretty well. Having his mother to answer questions on homework was incredibly useful. Despite this there was this one aspect of his family he really didn't like. “Mom do we really have to go...” Terry was now dressed in his finest clothes as his mother inspected him in the hallway. A simple shirt with dark black trousers. He still retained a set of white trainers. The young teenager was sixteen years old, and had short black hair. A pretty average and ordinary young man just getting on with school, friends and working out what he wanted to do with his life.
“Hm, tuck in your shirt dear,” his mother requested with a sharp tug towards his belt.
Terry complied still annoyed. “What's the point, its going to come off in the car and I'll have to tuck it back in anyway.” He was going to go meet some 'family' that was in the other world.. though he never really felt they could ever be family. He had more in common with his friends in school then anything 'they' had. He just wanted to forget about that place and get on with his video games.
His mother rolled her eyes. “Come on Terry, we're going to have dinner with your cousin. Besides I want to see my brother too... your Uncle Shawn. You like him don't you?” 'Why did teenagers act out at this age,' she wondered.
“Uncle Shawn is crazy.” He did like his uncle... though he saw him even less then his father. He did send a Christmas card which was.. kind of weird given who- well 'what' he married.
His new aunt was... a demon.
It made him more then a little uncomfortable to be honest. She wasn't too 'demon looking', if one could... feel some relief in that. From what he heard, some of the demon folk looked... nasty. Razor sharp teeth, claws, or maybe six eyes. He took a breath wondering how he could possibly get out of this. Was there any excuse he could come up with at the last minute?
“Oh come on your cousin really likes you!” His mother insisted.
“She's a literal hell-monster-demon mom!”
His mother looked annoyed now. “She's just ten years old. Come on, she adores you!”
There wasn't much Terry could say back as he was marched into the car... why in the world did they have to discover this 'other place'.. .and make it so casual to go from one world to the other? There was still so much that they didn't even know about the place...
He didn't want anything to do with demons...
They were approaching the bridge to the other world. An interestng checkpoint with the shimmering circle on the other side maintained by four columns each with some kind of crystal at the top. They had to give their passports and wait for approval. He glanced at the vehicles coming back from the other side.
Vehicle travel was highly regulated. One could park near a bridge though and take alternative transport... but generally high technology didn't work on the other side anyway. They would be searched for computers or devices. How he wished he could have brought a game console!
“Purpose of visit?” asked the officer.
“Visiting family.” His mother responded. That seemed to be enough and they waved them through to the next point.
He eyed one contraption on the other side of the road... with a centaur driving it (with no actual driver) … did that mean it was the centaur's wagon? However it looked like he was getting into some trouble with the authorities, that his vehicle was not road worthy. He could hear the centaur argue that its not a vehicle but simple more like a 'back pack' …
“Freaky...” He shivered at the mix of human and animal parts. Were they all like that?
They had to get into a horse drawn carriage now. A simple horse pulling them for the rest of the journey to this other world. Terry found this less worse then expected... it was kind of like going back in time. He half wondered how the centaur would regard the horse... would that be something he felt offence by? Eh... best not think about it.
Going through the field of energy made him tingle a bit. It felt kinda like briefly his eyes going forward and his body having to catch up with them. It didn't feel that bad though.
Soon enough they had entered the 'new world', trotting down the roads in pristine landscaped untouched by human technology. The markings from the portal vanished and there was a strange cleanliness to the air that made one take a deep breath of it. The wagon driver seemed pleasant enough... until Terry saw 'what' it was.
“Always nice to see humans visit.” A winged being... a harpy? A male one who was holding the horses by his talon feet. He had brown skin and white hair. Human-like face despite the strange mix of white feathers on his legs as well as feathery tails. There were even some feathers in his hair. Like most in this world, he had slightly larger elfin ears... which seemed to be a strong signifier one could rely on, for which side of the border one must have been born in (more or less.)
Terry stared at him then quickly ducked back down into the carriage. “... he's controlling the horse... with his feet.”
His mother once again scolded him. “Terry, mind your manners.”
Terry sighed... quietly wishing he had been able to sneak in that video game. How long was this going to take?
The horse trotted onwards... the sound was quite pleasant to Terry after a while. Maybe this wasn't too bad. Though looking out at this world made him realise how similar and yet different it was. Everything looked Earth like... but like a distorted mirror. How was it physically so similar but the people were different? Entirely different species even...
They slowly approached the town which- was actually their own town in this mirror world. He wondered who lived in his mirror house. It looked similar... physically. Houses existed where they were supposed to be... and if not a house it was a tree or bush shaped similarly. Something he knew was a speed camera in his world was actually a small house here, for a bunch of fairies to live in. That was... pretty weird. He wondered if there was any connection to the camera flashing and the way the fairies lit as they flew off.
The road layout was identical.. A little more green in most areas and quite pleasant; If one didn't mind that it had these 'weird creatures' in it. There were a lo of cat-like beings in this town, as well as fox ones... they all had varying degrees of just how much they were.. different. One cat looked like a normal house cat except it was standing on two legs and wore a tie/ There were some other creatures that caught his interest... a weird snake-girl crossing the street- somehow coiling around a corner. “yeesh..” He didn't see any Demon-folk though. Were they rare? Mostly just animal types... with one strange reptile... kinda like a dinosaur.. at least on her lower body? The dinosaur's gaze turned to him in the carriage and Terry quickly looked away wishing there was a window button he could push. “Mom- this place is messed up.”
“It's fine dear. We've been here a few times before and its quite safe. It's just like home in some ways. There are many doors back to Earth too.” She felt assured in that... humans rarely were trapped on the other side of the border... even when some protestors damaged a bridge, they simply went to another town to access their bridge and get back home. An inconvenience at best, no different then a traffic jam.
The uncanny resemblance to his home town made this place uncomfortable to Terry. He saw something similar leading to a place that was not what it was supposed to be. How did anyone come here and not lose their minds?
Finally the two arrived in the house of his demon-marrying uncle and freaky cousin. Strange how it was on the same street as his own house. They could have been neighbours. He got out as his mother paid the Harpy-man... using his weird talons to take the money. “Pleasure,” he nodded. “I'll be back to pick you up tonight then.” He tugged at the horses as they set off down the road.
“Thanks.” His mother smiled as she looked around. “Now let's find your crazy uncle Shawn.”
“Cousin Terry!” A small red demon-girl smiled as she ran towards him. She swished her tail back and forth in a clear sign of joy.
“Uh... Hi Margaret...” Terry tried his best to prepare for this but wasn't quite prepared for the demon girl to jump on his back and almost wrestle him down. He was not in a playing mood though. “Ah- uh- you're bigger then I remember.”
Margaret was a ten year old demon-girl. She had dark black hair, similar to Terry though clearly longer. There was a small resemblance with the general shape of their faces but besides that Margaret looked completely different. Red skin for one though her eyes looked adorably large. She had a thick tail behind her ending in a spade. Her clothes were loose robes that seem to be common in this place, given how many variable shapes there were.
The lack of a response made Margaret jump off him. “Is something wrong?” the demon girl asked. “You had a hard time coming in? Nobody was mean were they?”
“Uh- no. Sorry uh- happy birthday.” It was her birthday wasn't it? Terry cleared his throat and gave the girl the present his mother gave him to give to her. “This is for you.”
“Oh! What did you get me? Is it one of those video games you told me about?” Margaret was always excited to hear about human technology and in particular video games. She had enough of those dolls her aunt sometimes gave.
Terry had no idea what was in the gift wrap and was kinda curious himself. Eventually Margaret found herself the proud owner of an Earth made T-shirt and a what limited technology was allowed to bring here. A simple torch running on winding power, which delighted the young demon girl, and some kind of doll... alas the actual video game she was hoping for didn't come through.
“I'm sorry dear,” Terry's mother said. “Your cousin did try to get a console in but they wouldn't allow us. You don't really have a way to plug it in anyway and there's no compatible power source yet.” Trade might change that one day, if they could bring a generator or something one day.
The large elfin ears of the demon-girl dropped slightly. “Oh.. well- can I come to your house someday? I'd love to play.”
Terry's mother patted the demon-girl's head. “Of course! Now where's your dad?”
“I'll go get him!” Margaret said cheerfully as she took her clothes and torch to the front door.
As they were alone Terry's mother gave another stern look to her son. “Terry...” his mother intoned. “Please behave. They are not bad people okay? It's my brother and your new cousin... you were not always like this.”
Terry tried to hold his breath... he just wanted to go back home and not spend any time in this crazy place. He had to behave but there was no way he could fake 'enjoying' himself. He did when he was younger, at least taking solace that the food was good... but the lack of any technology was something he couldn't bare. There was no TV, no radio... it was just so primitive.
Finally a familiar face... his Uncle Shawn. “Hello!” he smiled. “Come on inside.” He was dressed quite casually... but clearly had taken to the fashions of this world. Robes with some ornate necklace around his neck. He was groomed with a large handlebar moustache. He was in pretty good physical shape and had a jovial personality. A pair of spectacles rested on his eyes.
“Thanks Shawn,” His mom smiled back giving a small kiss on his cheek. “So where's my sister in law?”
“Is that you Helen!?” A high pitched voice called out... which made Terry groan quietly.
Finally the matriarch of the house appeared. She was a more 'human' looking one... which made Margarets appearance all the more unsettling. Human toned skin though with red nails and almost impossibly red lips all of which seemed natural on her. She looked quite tanned with ravishing red hair. Her elfin ears were quite exaggerated almost as much as her... bosom. Yet natural it was... she was fairly tall, about five feet ten inches but of more concern to Terry.. she was also pregnant.
A small spindly tail extended behind her that seemed another hall-mark of her demon features. It seemed thinner then her daughters.
“Akamari!” Helen smiled. “Wow- when- how- uh- when did this happen!” She gasped gesturing to her pregnancy. “You never told me!”
The woman laughed. “Quite suddenly. I mean you do know what its like with demons right? We don't show at all and then suddenly we just wake up with this. I had no idea myself until yesterday.”
“Quite a surprise for me too!” Uncle Shawn laughed. “I mean... not that I mind of course. I was hoping for three to be honest.”
“You never know when another will come,” winked Akamari. “Who knows maybe this time it will be twins.” She shared a kiss with her husband.
Terry was quite grossed out and wanted to get away from all this. The though of having two- or even three just like Margaret... urgh. Hopefully by then he would be older and could simply say no to these things.
Margaret sensed his cousin was uncomfortable around his mom and thought she could help. She tugged at his shirt to get his attention. “Uh, do you want to see my house? I go some new things in my room!” She looked hopefully to her human cousin.
Margaret's father then nodded at that. “Yes! Why don't you play with your cousin Terry? We're still preparing dinner anyway. Be good you two.”
Given the other option was to stay and here a conversation about babies.. Terry bit the bullet and decided to hang around his young demonic cousin.
'This sucks' Terry sighed as he was now stuck with his cousin Margaret... the devil-demon-freaky thing was quite excited to see him. Why though? He had no idea... he just didn't belong here that's for sure.
“My room's got some new toys. See?” She gestured. “I'm getting a few from school coming to my birthday too.” Her tail swished back and forth. “What's school like in your world?”
“School? Uh.. its you know, the same as ever. We don't have different races or anything like that. Maybe one or two exchange students.”
“I'd love to be an exchange student on Earth but my grades are not good enough,” she said with a sigh. “Do you want to play a board game? I can show you some fun ones we made here. I got chess!” She smiled. “It's popular on your world right?”
“Chess?” Terry raised an eyebrow. Damn it! Why was this place so boring.
Margaret noticed his cousin wasn't interested in that. “Well- I've got some books too!” She said quickly.
“I can't actually read the language of this world Margaret,” he reminded. He tried to soften a bit. He didn't really want to be here but he was here... and this freaky demon-girl was trying to be 'nice' to him.
“Well... maybe I could teach you?” She said with a smile. “I even know demon-language! I'd be happy to teach that to you. My mom says its a natural bloodline gift.”
“Uh- no no... I really rather not.” Terry gulped. Learning some weird forbidden language of demon-folk?! He didn't even want to have anything to do with them!
“Oh...” The girl frowned. “I wish there was something we could do.” She said with a sigh. “You're my cousin after all. I was hoping we could write to each other. All my school friends are jealous that I have family in the other world. I want to show them to you! Maybe you can teach me human writings?”
Communication was a weird thing. For some reason everyone on this world could be understood when spoken to... people would hear the language they expected. A kind of universal translator? However it didn't work for writing.
Terry was unsure how to respond to the idea of being a celebrity in his cousin's school. Little kids sure thought in strange ways. How was the fact that he was a human who lived literally just down the street (despite being in another world) something of note?
He should try to find 'something' to pass the time with her as quickly as possible, have dinner then get out of here. He pointed to a random box. “Uh- what's that thing?” He asked.
“Hm?” The girl smiled as her cousin was finally interested in something. “Oh let me get it.” She had to reach up, her tail stretching a bit as she did so.
Terry bit his lip. “Eh, let me help.” He reached up for her and set the box down. Whatever it was it seemed delicate.
Margaret slowly opened the box showing a crystal on a necklace. It was very small, no larger then a bead. It was almost silvery in appearance and had a slight glow as if capturing light in the room. “It's a mana crystal,” The demon girl explained. “My first one. It's really small but I can do some real magic with it! Pretty cool right?”
“Magic? Uh.. yeah that's cool. So it's kinda like your version of a battery?”
“Uh huh. With the right incantations we can do some fun things. Like...” She started to whisper into it. The crystal began to hover and make small flashes of lights appear. “That's my first spell!” She giggled. “Isn't that awesome?”
“I... guess?” Terry didn't know how magic worked here. He knew they had these crystals that had some kind of a charge... and apparently the crystals provided energy to magically power certain artefacts. Nothing that he had back home of course, so it was like a battery. Batteries didn't work on their stuff and Mana Crystals didn't work with human technology... such was the way it was at the moment.
The girl continued to play with the bead changing it into different colours and even rotating it to shine like a rainbow. “As a demon I'm hoping I can learn a lot of spells. I'm going to even create new spells to teleport us back and forth between our worlds. Wouldn't that be cool?”
“It's... fun I guess,” Terry said scratching his head. “Humans don't really do magic though.” As a result though it was fun to watch .. it was also annoying. He couldn't do it so what was the point?
“You can with a Mana Crystal! I could try teaching you a basic spell.” She said quickly. She gave the crystal to her cousin. “Go on just try one spell.” Here read this. The strange writing was presented to Terry... he had no idea how to speak any of it. Marge tried to press him. “Say... Volvaria.”
“...Volvaria?” Terry tried. The crystal didn't respond. “Volvaria!” He tried again.
Marge frowned. What was missing? Why didn't it work? He said the right word right? This was the most basic a spell could get. “.. heh, guess you're right humans can't do magic,” she said a little disappointed. “I'm sure we can work out why someday. Maybe that should be my school project.”
“Kids dinner is ready!” Marge's mother called.
Terry felt somewhat relieved. He quickly walked down the stairs to see the table set with all kinds of... weird vegetables and meat from this world. The meat was mostly the same but the vegetables and fruits seem to have their own unique quirks. He sat down noting that the chairs all had spaces for tails... his little cousin slipping into it casually as anything. She sat next to him still smiling happily. “Mom can I go to Terry's birthday? Its in three months right?”
Akamari gave it some thought. “Well, its not quite as easy for us to go to Earth then for them to come here... maybe he can come here and you throw him a party?”
“Uh- actually I got a lot of friends in school I want to bring,” Terry tried to insist. “I wouldn't be able to do all the paperwork for them.”
Akamari gave a little odd smirk, her eyes gleaming as if she was in on a joke. “Well if you insist Terry...” she started to fill the plates.
Terry ate cautiously. A little bit only... he was hungry and there was nothing wrong with the food. He found himself looking at his uncle and his demonic daughter, noting the similarities in features... but he was curious as to why the Akamari looked so different to her daughter. The skin tone was wrong... the horns different... and even the tail. Though the facial features were there... the eyes were the same... she had her father's hair and there 'was' a resemblance... so why so different in those things? It didn't seem a polite thing to ask. Maybe his cousin was adopted? Or... was something else going on?
Conversations turned a bit political as it often did with the adults. Mostly about how people were getting on with the new world and trading conditions, what materials could be brought over... then the topic came to magic.
“Why can't humans do magic?” Margaret asked.
Akamari glanced at her daughter then to Terry. “Well, they 'can' but they need to build their connection to the Mana first,” she explained. “Humans can tap into many energy sources at once... but because of that they tend to cancel everything out. Getting them to focus on one particular energy source is surprisingly difficult... its just the way they are made. Being surprisingly strong in all areas can be a significant weakness when it comes to magic. They have no natural affinity to the direction and flow of Mana.”
“It's a bit like a row of batteries all connected the wrong way, all different sizes too,” Shawn explained.
“Oh... so they can never learn magic?” Marge glanced to her cousin. It would have been nice to teach him.
“With time they can, but it's quite rare. It seems to require a few things to happen... usually a very strong and focused emotion, or even some kind of clarity in thinking.
Terry was rather glad he couldn't do magic after thinking about it. The last thing he wanted was a reason to have to spend more time with his freaky- and now witch-like demon cousin.
“I have something from us, a tradition in Earth we call a birthday cake.” Terry's mother quickly brought out a cake with ten candles on it. “If you make a wish... an honest wish it will come true. Though you must not tell anyone what it is!”
“Oh! Is this Earth magic?” Marge looked excited with that as the red-skinned girl blew out the candles. She gave a slight glance to Terry as she did so. “All done!”
Time went by.. more talking and soon it was time to go. Terry said goodbye to his uncle and aunt... and also had to 'endure' another hug from his cousin.
“Don't be strangers!” His uncle Shawn said giving him a hug too.
Terry had... a lot of questions. Why did his uncle even fall in love with something so... sinful that might kill him? This 'things' were evil... demons! The carriage arrived with the harpy man and finally... he could leave.
Terry was restless after the whole thing. He was back home... and there were no freaky monsters. Tomorrow he could go back home and hopefully wont be seeing anything like that for another couple of months. Maybe he was a bit hard on them... but... it made no sense to him. “Mom... why are we being 'nice' to demons when they are... you know... Evil?” Terry asked finally.
She glanced to him with a brief look. “My brother, your uncle married one... and she's honestly not that bad. Akamari is not 'evil'.”
“But... she's a demon. My 'cousin' is a demon... we're not demons how can we have anything in common with them?” It was an honest question... he didn't want to have anything to do with such evil beings.
Helen sighed. “How can I explain this... from what I understand, yes... demons do have the capacity for malice... maybe even have a bit of a mean-streak that is slightly higher then humans. They feel the darker side of emotions more then humans do... but that's not really that different to what some humans feel anyway. We're not that different.”
“So you're saying some humans are demons anyway and therefore its okay to make friends with 'actual' demons?”
“They are not 'actual' demons Terry,” his mother tried to explain. “The demons you are thinking about are like their progenitors... even humans came from tribes that would do horrific and barbaric things. We were all barbarians in the past. They have their own unique biology and perspective in life... and as far as mythology is concerned they have a lot in common with humans. How would you feel if they thought you were running around with a club and lived in a cave?”
“I don't think that's the same mom. Humans were.. um... well savage sure, but we evolved. Demons are... demons! We're human... demons are monsters. Monsters are always going to be monsters!” He didn't hate demons exactly but... he just didn't think it was a good idea to be friendly with a species that was the literal incarnations of Evil in the world. Why would his mother treat them as just 'another kind of human?'
“Terry... there are people that think similarly. Those protests outside that think we should close up the world. Do you honestly want that other world to be closed off? To never see your uncle and cousin again? For me to never see my brother?”
“... Well my uncle could just come live in this world... He was born here.”
“Yes and he worked there and fell in love with a demon and now has a family there. That world is part of our world now... you have to accept that. Anyway you have school tomorrow, so we'll talk about this later okay?”
Terry didn't think his mother would understand any of his concerns. He didn't hate that world but... they had no idea what was going on there. They could barely keep up with events in one Earth let alone a second... and a second world with mythological, terrifying species that was written about in human history.
He tried to put it aside for now... and got ready for bed. He was tired even if it was a short journey across the portal...
He wondered what his cousin wished for... what did she need to wish for given they could do magic?
