Core carving class went… well, in the end, I suppose? At the very least it didn’t go as bad as it could have. Pauline didn’t run away from me in fear, call me an evil bitch, or do anything to imply she’d like to see me arrested or killed. Yes, she was perhaps a bit standoffish with me, and occasionally I saw her flinch away from me, but by and large she seemed willing to tolerate my company. I’d even caught her smiling a time or two!
Her smile was rather pretty, too - enough that my heart might have been sent aflutter, if I didn’t know that the smile existed in spite of me rather than because. I was in the body of her tormentor, after all, and it wasn’t as if I could claim to be fully innocent of her crimes… not when I’d potentially written them into existence. Though, honestly, I was starting to think that the demon had perhaps been telling the truth about this world existing before me… It was just too complex to have sprung forth from the romantic fantasy slop I’d been writing.
Starting with the magic system - I’d never imagined anything remotely like it! Which was, perhaps, why I was struggling so much with it… Everyone kept talking about getting in touch with my ‘unconscious mind,’ saying that the proper symbols for what I wanted to do should just come to me, but they might as well have been spewing instructions in Latin, for all the good it did me. I was a writer, not a painter, and the more abstract forms of art had never really appealed to me before.
As such, it didn’t really feel like I managed to accomplish much by class’s end. Mostly I’d just doodled on a piece of parchment, my random scribblings more akin to ink blots than legible symbols, let alone magical marks that somehow ‘meant something’ to me.
It was something of a relief when class finally ended, as it meant I could stop hitting my head against a wall. Truthfully, the looks of pity I’d received from Pauline for my paltry efforts had done little to lift my spirits. At least Tereesa - or rather, Professor Devulchas, as she insisted on being called - hadn’t seemed to mind much. She just said to give inspiration time to strike, and that I’d know it when it happened. Regardless, it was with a heavy heart that I eventually trudged out of the classroom and began to head home.
Which made it all the more upsetting when my travel was interrupted by an imperious figure.
“There you are,” Firanna said, striding across the courtyard to greet me. I, of course, looked around in the vague hope that she might be talking to someone else, but - whether by chance, or plot - there was nobody but the two of us in the vicinity. “I was a little worried you might think to go out of your way to avoid me - shall I assume that you’re as eager to get through this spat as me?”
“What spat?” I asked, confused. “I thought you were done with me, after this morning’s debacle.”
“Done with you?” Firanna scoffed. “Please. You may have forced me to rearrange my plans a little, but trust me when I say they won’t be stopped. It’s only a matter of time before Bridgette sees through your little ploy, and leaves you behind - and that’s when I’ll strike.”
“It’s not a ploy,” I replied, annoyed. “And I don’t get what Bridgette has to do with anything, either.”
“Playing innocent?” Firanna asked. “It doesn’t suit you - but then, I suppose it’s your only option at this point, isn’t it? Seeing as how all your other schemes have crumbled to dust. It’s only a matter of time until this one fails, too, and then your head will be back on the chopping block. Where it belongs.”
“Why do you even care what happens to me?” I asked, careful to keep my expression blank. I didn’t want her to know how much that threat got to me - how an image of the executioner’s axe had just flashed through my mind. I’d almost peed myself, thinking I was about to be killed, before my frantic pleas managed to rouse the king into action. “Do you have some sort of history with the original Amelia I don’t know about?”
“Maybe I just like seeing nasty schemers like you being put in your place,” Firanna remarked, smirking. “It makes me feel like there’s actual justice to be found in this world.”
“Well, you won’t get justice by ending me. As I keep saying, I’m-”
“Not Amelia? Yes, yes, I know,” Firanna replied, rolling her eyes. “I was there at the execution. I assume you’re the one who had the truth stone swapped out? A nice way to delay your inevitable demise, but I do wonder what you’re going to do when a replacement is brought…”
“Swapped out?” I asked, frowning. “I thought it was broken.”
“Of course you did.” Firana sighed, shaking her head. “Look. I don’t care what trouble you get up to for the sake of preserving your skin - but if you think I’ll let you bring Bridgette down with you, then you have another thing coming.”
“For the last time, I’m not up to anything! Least of all anything that would trouble Bridgette - in fact, if anything, Bridgette’s the one troubling me.”
“Yes, I’m sure having a knight in shining armor save you at every opportunity must be so terrible for you,” Firanna replied. “I don’t know how you deal with it.”
“I mean… Okay, yeah, she’s helped me here and there, but… it’s not like she even likes me. She’s just doing it out of some… I don’t know, her sense of duty maybe?”
“Of course she doesn’t like you! You’re… Well you. The only one who can even stand you is that maid of yours, and even then it’s likely only because of how much you pay her.”
“I’m not paying her anything at the moment, actually,” I confessed. “Because I don’t have any money. Because I couldn’t keep myself from being robbed, or stabbed in the throat, because I have no damn magic, because I’m not Amelia!”
Firanna stared at me for a moment, before scoffing and turning on her heel. “Whatever you say, MissAmelia. Just know that if your plans bring so much as a prick’s worth of harm to Bridgette, I will see to it that you meet a fate far worse than death.”
I stared after the woman, actively fighting to keep from screaming or running after her. It wasn’t as if anything I said would actually penetrate - that much was clear.
Honestly, it almost made me feel bad for the real Amelia… if even the honest truth couldn’t sway people towards trusting me, a fake who’d been forced into her place, then what chance did the real thing ever have of escaping her fate? Even if she’d truly turned her life around, nobody would have believed her…
Maybe it was for the best that she wasn’t a part of this world any longer.
***
***
“Are you done sulking?”
I groaned, in response, grabbing hold of the thick blanket surrounding me and pulling it tight against myself - a proactive defense against the tug upon my covers that I knew was coming.
Sure enough, the blasted demon did in fact try to force me out into the open, but my grip upon the blankets was tight and my body as a whole heavy enough that they soon gave up.
“Seriously,” they muttered. “Your counterpart is so much easier to deal with than this…”
“My counterpart must be an idiot, then,” I replied, before flinching at the sound of my own voice. Even muffled against the mattress, it was far too deep for my liking. A stark reminder of what had happened to me - what I’d lost. “Anyone with even the tiniest hint of a brain should know better than to work with a demon like you.”
“And what does that say about you, who called me in the first place?” the demon asked, their tone as condescending as their words.
“I was a fool, too,” I replied. “But now I know better. Foul beast.”
“Now, now, there’s no need for insults,” the demon replied. “I’ve done what I can to help you, have I not? I’ve provided books upon your new world, taught you how to work a computer - I even made a reading recommendation or two to help you get used to using it!”
“You just want to poison my mind with happy stories about idiots doing idiotic things,” I replied - though there was admittedly a lack of conviction in my voice. In truth, I wasn’t sure what the demon was trying to accomplish by recommending half-finished stories posted on this… web. Something awful was planned, though, no doubt.
“Look, you’re never going to be rid of me if you keep hiding like this. Not that I particularly want to be gone, but… Well, it’s quite frankly depressing to watch the great and powerful Lady A-”
“Don’t call me that!” I snapped, finally sticking my head out from under the blanket. “I won’t have that name associated with this… this hideous mockery of a form you’ve stuck me in. So gangly, and hairy and… and…”
“Wrong?” the demon suggested, arching an eyebrow.
“Yes,” I spat out. “Wrong. Every inch of my being is wrong, and gross, and… Does my counterpart feel the same? I can’t imagine they do, with a form as gracious as mine, but…”
“She took to it quite well, actually,” the demon replied.
“Well, lucky them, I suppose,” I muttered, drawing the blanket back over my head. “For however long they have until death, at least…”
“Yes,” the demon replied. “Death. Death you escaped - and yet you don’t seem very happy about that, do you?”
I scowled at them, even knowing they couldn’t see. “I’d be happier if I had a body of my choosing.”
“So would lots of people, but you don’t see all of them moping around in bed doing nothing, do you?”
“Well bully for them,” I grumbled. “I bet they weren’t all shoved into a shambling mess of a form by a demon who promised them happiness though.”
“No. Just by luck, genetics, and fate… but, you know, it’s not like there’s nothing you can do on the matter.”
I didn’t say anything for a moment. I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of jumping on what was clearly nothing but bait.
On the other hand…
“Well?” I snapped. “Are you going to go on, or are you simply trying to tease me?”
“It’s called plastic surgery, my dear,” the demon replied, their voice so smug I wanted nothing more than to punch them. “Though there’s some other, less dramatic steps you can take to feminize yourself a little.”
“And those steps are?” I demanded, impatient.
“Easily findable online. Just use the search engine - assuming you remember what I taught you about those?”
“Yes!” No, I didn’t, but like hell I was going to admit it. I did know it had something to do with the computer, though, and I knew how to turn that on, which was clearly step one.
“Of course, if that doesn’t appeal, there’s also the option of making another deal with me.”
“Shut up,” I grumbled, reluctantly pushing myself up with one massive, hairy, annoyingly gangly arm. “What are you even doing here, anyway? I’ve never heard of demons sticking around after being summoned.”
“Yes, well, maybe that’s simply because you haven’t read enough stories on the subject. There’s one in particular I enjoy, called Self-Sum-”
I threw a pillow at the demon, glaring at them for a moment in the vague hope that my anger would somehow get through to them.
They grinned at me in reply. “Should I open it up in a tab for you?”
~~~
Author's Notes
Fun fact: Part of why I was so excited to write chapter 14 for Patreon was the thought of getting to unleash this chapter on the public... I've been looking forward to hearing people's reactions, so please do comment and let me know what you think~!
I seem to have deleted my original author's notes on this story, but I do recall that part two of it was not in my original plans. I was saving that particular reveal for the end of volume 1, in fact - but the way part 1 of the chapter ended basically demanded I check in on her, so here we are!
Hope you enjoyed? And if you're curious about what comes next, you can always pop on over to Patreon to read two chapters ahead on this (and several of my other stories) for as little as $1~