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Prologue

Seated before a study desk in a dimly lit room, a white-furred feline looked through pages and documents patiently, red eyes glowing beneath the warm light of a potted bellflower near him. After a moment of sorting through those papers, a little blue glowing messenger appeared before him, tweeting and chirping as it landed upon the paw that he stretched out to receive it. He smiled just a bit as he saw the familiar energy and the bird transformed into a glowing piece of parchment with a letter just for him to read, his chin rested on his free paw.

"Darling Cousin Nicolas, I've come to the realization that I'm just not as peppered in life as I should be. Things are busy at the shop, and it isn't that I can't handle it, just, something seems to be off with my mood. I no longer draw much joy from my potion making at the store and the sights of home and the surrounding area just make me feel kind of dreary. This is why I'm going to the demon continent for a small vacation to see how the so-called dangerous demons live. It won't even be too deep into the continent, just a stick and stay in the port city of Pret, so you won't have to worry a bit! Oh, and I might be moving if I like it. It has been a long time since I had to run away from home with your help, and I think I'm finally able to stand on my own two feet. I'm kind of scared to be honest. I still think about mother and father far too often, and lately the nightmares have come back. It feels like I'm running away again even though I'm so far away from them. I'll chin up though, you'll see! I'll make you proud and live on through my own choices. Ever yours, Layne Luness."

With a sigh, Nicolas leaned back in his seat and placed a paw over his heart. Perhaps Layne was acting on impulse, and yet he couldn't find it in himself send a reply immediately. It sounded as if she needed some time to think for herself, without anyone bothering her. That was difficult considering the love he had for her, but he would probably make it worse with an instant reply, or worse, a face to face visit. With a small smile he closed his eyes and let the piece of magic parchment fade into nothing, he would trust Layne to make the right decisions and to follow her own heart. Most of all, he hoped she would be safe and happy.

Chapter 1

A black furred feline with blue bands of fur around her wrists watched over the rails of a ship as it set sail from a grand, verdant harbor, her blue eyes locked on the port with a certain mix of determination and just a bit of melancholy. Layne stood on the deck in a black dress that hugged her just right with a light blue mantle around her shoulders and collar to match. There she watched the great vine and woodwork that made up the Countres Grand Port with a small bittersweet smile, everything seemed so pretty and fresh with flowers growing off the various portions of the dock and fish stalls that lined the boardwalk near shore, and yet the sights were all the same to her, mundane and uninteresting. With all that she had been through, she just couldn't summon up the sadness to see her home country vanish over the horizon, and yet the simple sight was enough to give her pause for gloomy thoughts of a different nature. She wasn't sad to see her home go, but rather she felt herself sad of that fact. Her home continent of Ultera was where she had been born and raised beneath the roof of a household that didn't love her, and that was fine, she was older now and a person all to herself, or at the very least that was the way she tried to appear on the outside. There were so many doubts she had day in and day out, even though she owned a proper store and made good profit there without the help of anyone. She should by all rights feel proud of herself for staking her own life, and yet, she couldn't shake the feeling of her family looming over the hills. Layne brushed aside those thoughts and wondered as she held her purse close to her hip if she would actually find something worthwhile over on the demon continent of Bafol, maybe she'd be bored to tears at how mundane and regulated they were, just like the people of the Court back at home, or maybe she'd find something strange, she couldn't really know. All she had to go on were rumors from researchers sailors and supposed first-hand accounts of dangerous and strange things over the water with frightening folk that could call magic with a breath. Rumors were just that and didn't make a difference to her. While this little trip was certainly just a temporary vacation to give her mind and body a bit of a break from everyday life, her thoughts continued to roll back to what her friend had told her, that she could probably move anywhere if she wanted to, and that was something that had bothered her ever since. She could move anywhere she desired that was true, but would she really want to start from square one in a new place? Perhaps it would be nice, perhaps even nicer than she thought since it would be on her own terms rather than the result of her needing to get away from her family. On her own terms hm? With a deep sigh she turned away from the sight of her home continent and looked towards the open ocean where surely there would be something far more interesting at the end of her journey; adventure, new and interesting people to meet, and hopefully, escape. All of it, her own choice.

Layne had been out on deck for nearly the entire trip. Her eyes had been too focused on the sea around them which she so rarely saw, the rolling waves crashing against the wood of the ship was something spectacular in her troubled mind. Her home was far away from the ocean so even just the cool salted breeze across her cheeks was a refreshing change of pace, something she could close her eyes and simply experience without troubling thoughts nagging at her. She knew that it wouldn't be the longest trip, but still she found herself practically boiling in anticipation and so she stood by the rails eyeing the ocean in hopes to see the new continent as it rolled on by until a kindly sailor had recommended that she head back to her cabin for fear of her falling overboard. So much time had passed on by, so much time without sight or tell of the new continent, that this gave way for her to feel a bit antsy. Surely it was something that she had to be patient with, but her long furred tail still flicked from side to side with anticipation and irritation, she hated to be left to her own devices without anything to do, they hadn't even allowed her to take any of her potion making tools with her or any herbs that could be deemed dangerous. Maritime laws be damned.

Just when she felt as if she were ready to leap in the ocean for a quick swim rather than stay aboard the boat, she heard the sudden call.

"Land ho'!" Yelled out a sailor from the top of the ship.

Layne's ears perked on high and she rushed out of her cabin to spot the port town and city she would be staying in for the duration of her vacation. With big eyes, she leaned over the rail and brought herself as close as she could manage without tipping over as she spotted spires and large buildings all over the port town along with what looked like a dock made of metal and wood fused together. It was a strange sight to behold for sure and she already wanted to see more. The closer they veered towards the dock the more she was able to take in with her eyes, the strange shapes of the ship's native to the land, the various specks upon the vessels marking different species she had never seen before, and the massive amount of stalls and small shops right at the very dock as if they were inviting her to spend a bit of coin. Of course, she had only heard that they accepted any form of currency in this place but wasn't sure what they paid out in and if that was the same for deeper in the continent, that could be trouble if she planned on going back or visiting any other place, but then again it wasn't as if she had taken her entire life savings with her. She had been told that the inn she would be staying in was a massive thing to see and that once they spotted the shore she would be surely seeing it. With paw on her forehead to keep the sun from her eyes, she looked around until she saw a towering square far off from the many stalls and stands that was marked as the "Inn's Inn." Such an awful name, but what was more important was the fact that she could not believe it was so massive, nothing could compare, at least, nothing that she had ever seen herself up until this point.

When they were oh-so-close to the dock Layne felt the urge to jump ship mounting. They'd unpack her things and take them to that fat inn and she'd be able to identify herself with the weird card they gave her so why shouldn't she get off a little bit early? She couldn't wait to see something new, to experience what this place had to offer! She fished through her purse for a moment and pulled out the wand she had been making back at home. Quick and dirty magic on the fly without any nonsense. Her family were fools for thinking less of people who used a focus to bring out their magic faster, screw that, take any advantage, and so without further delay she brought her wand up and gave it a swish in the air just as she hopped off the side of the boat, many disgruntled and yelling sailors left in her wake as she bounced off a large glyph that appeared in the air at her back and was sent onto the dock. She landed gracefully as she could manage, holding onto her purse and steeple hat with a childlike grin. Looking around for a moment at the various crates and demons handling them she began to trot on away from the odd metal boardwalk and head towards the strange bazaar that awaited her.

Strangely enough, no one stopped her, not even any of the demon sailors. The demons themselves all around were of varying sizes and shapes, creatures that were vulpine, lupine, feline and much much more. She barely had any time to register the fact that she was about to crash into one of those very demons she was treating like a commodity.

Layne let out a puff as she bounced back against something soft, "Oh uh, sorry."

Her eyes then looked directly ahead into the cyan eye and rectangular pupil of a red curly wooled sheep-like creature wearing black shorts with plenty of zippers and a vest of the same making, "What do you think you're doing cat? Getting in my way like that, you should know that I'm about to get down to some important work here!"

Layne cleared her throat, "I uh, don't really know who you are, or anyone is. I'm not from around here, or this continent."

"Great! A foreigner, I don't have time for this. See the lamps? I'm here to upgrade them, make them better."

Layne raised a brow as she turned her head to see black metal poles that the angered ewe was pointing towards. In the dim glow of the evening sun, she could see that there were bulbs at the top of the poles producing light, "Uh, make them better? They seem pretty impressive to me."

Layne blew out a puff of air as she was pushed to the side by the angered ewe who moved ahead without Layne, "Then you're blind, get out of my way!"

Whistling quietly to herself Layne decided it was better not to get involved with that creature, not at all. When she turned she saw a mass of blue wool dressed in a poncho of frayed leather with metal bracelets around his wrists and long pants with plenty of zippers, a large pack around his shoulder, his eyes obscured by a mess of head wool. Slowly, he bowed to Layne, "Sorry about that." He said so quietly she had to lean in.

Layne blinked, "Ah, excuse me?"

"Colette, she's a bit rude. Only concerned 'bout her work. Me too, I help her. Might wanna step away. Her upgrades can go really well or really bad."

Layne did indeed step away and found herself wondering what in the world she had gotten herself into in the most exciting of ways. She hadn't expected to meet such colorful locals so quickly, and let alone such interesting and strange technology. Whereas at home they were more focused on combining magic with plant life to make what they needed, over here it seemed more about weird meshes of metal and various forms of magic that made light and other necessities. There were even demons that seemed to be just walking forms of armor, again she found herself entirely entranced in her surroundings and barely realized that again something awful was going to happen and again her blue woolen friend had to push her out of the way and help her, "Careful!"

With a spark and a pop, the lamp that Colette had been fiddling with at the bottom suddenly burst into flames and popped sending glass shards out and around, the disgruntled ewe cursing and punching the box that she had been yanking and replacing wires from which only caused things to spark further. Layne yelped and jumped even though she was safe where the blue fellow had put her and her eyes were wide with fright, "Goodness! Is that really the upgrading process?"

Her savior simply nodded, "Give or take. I'm bad at making stuff, I'm better at fixin' and upgrading period, but she's a variable with everything. Names Sander. Y'might wanna head into the bazaar, no place here for tourist when Colette's on a rampage, especially if a Voleit is on the way to see what happened to this lamp."

"Is she not supposed to be doing this?"

Sander shrugged, "No...Not really. Actually, not at all. Docks aren't her jurisdiction, but she does it anyway cuz if it turns out well then it'll turn out really well, but if it doesn't well." He turned his head to the sight of another lamp post popping and Colette swearing.

"See, she's passionate about what she does, just a little hot-headed. I don't disagree with her though. Anything for innovation."

Layne blinked, "Hm, I suppose I can wrap my head around that. Say, mind telling me the quickest way to the Inn's Inn?"

Sander pointed with a cloven digit, "Through the bazaar you should find yourself in the inner city. Just follow the streets from there and if you get lost one of the shopkeepers by the stalls should be able to help out."

"A bit of shopping sounds fun!" Layne said clapping her paws together.

"Just be careful." Sander warned, "Not everyone is on the up and up. Watch y'self."

After another bulb popped in a more fiery fashion Layne recoiled and Sander simply looked at her and shrugged before going to clean up the mess of his boss without question. Layne herself only left once a searing piece of glass nearly hit her foot. With that matter attended to she turned tail and took the advice of the kind stranger to head far away from the docks and into the bazaar away from Colette.

Certainly she had already found a bit of adventure and interesting folk, as well as the danger that accompanied them, but hopefully, stall shopping wouldn't be such a strenuous thing. Among the rows and rows of stalls and various small stores set up near the dock she saw a variety of strange fruits and foreign fish that were sure to make her list of purchase long when she could actually budget herself out a bit, or at the very least see cost versus what she had in paw. Still, it was great to see so many different items, and the demons there were pretty impressive too. Long necks, strange fangs, weird colors and more. The hum and drum of the town just felt different than any village she had been in too. There was a person at every corner and she had to be careful not to be knocked over by the crowds that came and went. It was all at the same time exciting and frightening and she loved it!

From afar she heard an all too sweet sound, a sonorous song that brought a shiver beneath her fur. She couldn't explain it, but something sounded very off about the song. With a frown, she found herself being pulled towards the song, and towards a gathering crowd surrounding a great serpentine-like creature with a strange bulbous throat. The music coming from that strange maw sounded rather nice, pretty even, but she didn't want to move towards there, she wanted to head more towards the direction of the inn. With a quirk of the brow she pulled the wand from her purse and she very lightly tapped her ears and with a small smile put it away and stepped towards the crowd, she didn't enjoy anyone trying to rope her in with fancy tricks, besides, she was the alpha saleswoman and it was time to assert that.

Very politely she made her way through the small gathering to stand at the front where people were practically tossing their pouches, purses and more towards the demon singing while others of their kind collected and thanked the crowd for their patronage. One of those serpentine creatures approached Layne and twisted and coiled around her in a manner that could only be seen as intrusive towards her personal space, "Why hello dear, such a pretty thing with those blue markings around your wrists, and such pretty eyes! You're from Ultera hmmm? Don't see many of your kind here. You want to donate? We accept all currency on this land? Just listen to the song and you'll certainly feel your heart uplift."

Layne put a paw out and shook her head, "No thank you. I'm really impressed though. Lacing a song with a magic spell isn't something I'm accustomed to. Can anyone learn that magic?"

That brought the singing to a hiccup or two while the serpentine thing dealing with her kept on with a nervous smile, "Why, I don't know what you mean? Magic can come in song certainly and we commonly use it, but are you suggesting my sister's song is somehow tainted?"

Layne snorted, "Sure I am! Look at these people, literally throwing their money at you. I would've too if it weren't for a bit of protection used. Now, once you realize you're being controlled it becomes a lot easier to resist, so suspicion on my part helped, can't give magic all the credit now."

Slowly one by one the crowd began to realize that their actions were being influenced, most of them disgruntled and confused as to why they were standing there without their money. The bulk majority of them were also closing in on the serpentine sisters and before Layne could be cornered by those demons she slipped free of the crowd to continue her stall shopping undisturbed by hooligans trying to trick people of their good money. Tourist and hero, that had a nice ring to it.

With a giggle, she continued on without much care for what was happening behind her. As she rounded the corner she found herself moving from a sandy gravel path to a cobbled street with more of those lamps and several stalls and tall buildings. She blinked and stepped back around the corner to look back and it was like she was staring at a different locale, still, this was the way towards the inn and so she kept walking down that strange cobbled street. There were more stalls here and there, but generally, it was quieter, a bit more eerie. There were plenty of large figures dressed in flowing robes standing by alleys, but it didn't feel dangerous, in fact those strange masked figures seemed to radiate a peaceful vibe. With a shrug, she decided to check through the stalls and soon found a variety of magical things. What a strange way to segment off a magic sector, or maybe the demons here simply enjoyed it like this better.

At one of those stalls, she was beckoned by a brightly furred fellow with a big sawtooth grin and curved muzzle. Their fur was a rich peach with white frost on their paws and ears and muzzle. She wasn't sure what to make of them as they seemed like a strange combination of a vulpine weasel, fox-like but with a long body. When she stopped before the stall the vulpine creature brought his paws towards her and called out, "Come, come, aren't you a pretty sight and scent. I can practically smell the enchantments off of you, the magic pouring off of you, you were just around a song too hmmm? My my, what a powerful thing, did you escape with your money, I'm guessing you ran into some Ebras using their voices for no good eh?"

Layne smiled just a bit as she looked towards the fox's stall, she saw several items that looked normal enough but she could feel the latent magic on them, "Well thank you uh..."

As if they read her mind the vulpine figure brought their paw to the side, a glyph appearing and as they stepped through it, they appeared on the other side wearing a tailcoat, "A sir at times and then..." They stepped through the glyph again and the tailcoat disappeared and a pretty gown replaced it the fox grinning wide, "A ma'am at others, just call me Bav, just Bav, nothing more nothing less, now now now, how can I help you?"

Layne blinked and giggled, a colorful fellow for sure and an interesting sort, "No thank you, I'm just looking."

Bav raised a brow, still with that grin, "Ah, not looking to buy, but what about to sell? I can pay you plenty for what you might have in that purse of yours, I can smell the enchantments, masterfully done might I add."

Layne thought about that for a moment but shook her head, "No thanks, need to keep everything nice and close before seeing what I want to sell and what I want to buy, but maybe, just maybe you can tell me some things." Very lightly with one digit, she set down a coin of gold upon the stall.

Bav moved their paw swift as possible and it was gone, "Ah! You know the know then? A business woman I'm sure. Well, if you have questions then Bav can help you for certain. Now, question away."

Layne looked around at the various buildings and stalls and asked, "Why the sudden change from the port town to the inner city?"

Bav put a single digit up and simply answered in a hushed tone, "Magic." They then chuckled and continued on, "Not really. We just like keeping things properly separated. The bazaar on the dock belongs to a different group and we wouldn't want to get confused, although, lines mean very little to demons around here. I'm sure you've run into some very abrasive sorts already."

Layne nodded with a snort, "I certainly have, now uh, hm, what would be the fastest way to get to the inn? I had directions before, but I didn't really expect the inner city to be so big."

Bav tilted their head, "Hotel you mean? Inn's Inn? Good place. Well, if you want to see a magic trick and a bit of quick travel I can get you there in a blink, but you just have to pay two more of those coins, and that is all, for a little loaner."

Layne thought about it for a moment, eyeing the vulpine demon with some suspicion before she shrugged and set down two more coins, "Sure, I'll bite."

Bav was then around the stall with a ring in paw placing it lightly on Layne's head, "Just hold on tight and whatever you do please don't bite."

"Oh! Wait, I just have one more question, how would someone go about moving to this place?"

Bav remained quiet for that one, his grin eerie as he uttered the words, "You can't necessarily move here, not yet at least, but I think you'd make a good resident, I like you, come see me again sometime, and maybe I'll put in a good word for you."

Layne was about to question whatever the hell that meant, but then her world was shifted upside down and she felt as if the contents of her body had spilled out. With her head swimming, she turned a couple of times only to realize she was just outside of the building that she needed to be at. Whatever magic that fox had used had been done quickly enough to bring her to the front of that hotel without even so much as using an incantation or any form of sign at all, still the after-effects were there and Layne felt as if she could use a bit of a rest after that and so she turned to step through the glass doors of the hotel and bring herself to her room. Hopefully, she would get to experience more of this strange new land, abrasive sheep, trickster snakes, shady foxes and all! What a worthwhile vacation already. It was definitely exciting enough to warrant the choice to come here oversea, and enough to keep her mind off of her family.