“Tonight is our night to give devotion to any and all the gods. The offer what little we have to them and hope that what is returned to us is so much more than the sum of our parts.” Brenin’s voice boomed out over the crowds and I instinctively flinched, hunkering down in the hopes that I wouldn’t be spotted. Thankfully he was far away and high up on a stage so all his subjects could see him, but I was hidden in the simple mass of bodies, next to Aerona who seemed to know my unease.
                              
“No worries, I have you for the night. He’s much too busy with the necessity of being King to bother you right now. No object lessons today.” Aerona gave my hand a comforting squeeze. How sad that state of my life had become that the torturing, blood lust filled demon was my friend and safer to be around then the supposedly controlled King. “As I promised earlier, you do nothing tonight that you don’t want to do. And tonight I get to do everything I want to do.” Aerona offered with a saucy wink. And that’s when the noise started.
                              
At first I thought it was some kind of cannon fire, the loud booming became regular as other sounds started to spike in. It was their version of music, bodies started to thrash around and I realized that this was an energy pit; a way of worship similar to how I gave devotions through dance, only on a much larger scale. For sure there’d be more than simply dancing going on down here, there would inevitably be lust and violence as well, but many if not most of the patrons seemed content to simply move. The music started to get louder, throbbing through the air and smashing into my chest, stealing my breath and crushing my heart with its frantic energy. It reverberated with an almost visible wave and I felt a nearly predatory grin spread across my face as I realized that I was the lone mortal amongst the monsters. I could see Incubi, Imps, Vampires and Trolls, all creatures that were out of my league to handle and yet the part of me that had picked fights with Alex wasn’t as beaten down as the rest of me. I was food to these creatures and being here was a terrible idea but I was dreadfully tired of feeling like prey. I was a force to be reckoned with; filled past the brim with Wild Magic and more than a fair share of insanity, so I let that pressure build up inside of me. I’d once forced several very angry shape changers into submission by using the training I’d survived in University; this time I was just giving everyone a fair warning that I was done being toyed with. I flung that built up pressure outward and it washed over the crowds, sinking into each a little and giving me a taste of everything I’d touched. I was not food, I was not sport, prey, or bounty either. I was not to be provoked, and without a doubt I knew that no one would attack me tonight. So despite how crazy it seemed, I started to dance as well.
                              
It wasn’t the same as when I danced at Faerie Tales, and it was just a little different than even when I danced for the Goddess. In one instance I am dancing for everyone else, in the other I am dancing wholly for Her; now I danced for me. I danced for the tears I couldn’t shed yet and for the blood I’d already spilled so much of, for the future that was now ash in my mouth and the past that was a painful reminder. Each movement reminded me of the scars I bore, the finger I’d lost and the fact that I was nowhere near done fighting to survive yet. As the need for a drug I did not want started to sign its siren call inside my blood I pushed myself harder, feeling the constraint of a collar around my neck become lighter as I simply stopped caring about anything at all but the movement I made right here and now.
                              
The energy the crowd was raising almost had a taste to it, a flavour of spice and cinnamon. It wasn’t visible to the eye but I could still See it, a miasma of colours and lights lifting above the collective bodies. It was hideous and yet captivating, too many different parts to be unified and yet that was exact what was happening. These people, although they were Demons, were desperate for salvation from an enemy they had no power against. How was it any different than the Humans I cared about?
                              
Why do I have to suddenly develop a moral conscience for these people? I asked more of myself than the voice in my head. Because death does not discriminate. The reply was simple and unsettling because I wasn’t sure if that was my own revelation or not.