Repost: Hazards #4 [Mugy + Pyx]
From: October 28th, 2003
The first try at writing them in first person.


--=--Mugendie--=--

It hadn't been hard to track down the source of the new magic. Large bursts of new energy didn't appear out of just anywhere.

The source was a black haired creature standing at the gates of my uncle's palace. From the distance of a hundred meters or so (where I was perched up in a convenient tree), I couldn't quite discern the gender, but if it was what I thought it, then it was male. If it were a new devil, that is, it would have to be male, since Aree-Aru had already created his female of his set.

I had watched Videmy leave the boy there, mildly surprised that she hadn't made any blatant notice of my presence. Oh, she knew I was sitting here. At such a short distance she probably would have been able to sense me, even if I were masking my energy. Normally she would have had a screaming fit if I'd showed up this close to the palace. But this time, she simply had murmured something to the black haired boy, and went back inside.

Alone, he hadn't strayed very far from the gates. He reeked of Aree-Aru's magic, and it occurred to me that an opportunity had been laid at my feet.

I moved closer.

--+--Pyxoliperi--+--

"Now, you just wait here, and someone will be back for you in a few minutes."

"Alright.." I watched my sister go, then turned back to the outside. I sniffed. Everything smelled outside, how could anyone stand it? It was nearly overwhelming. And here they'd been curling their noses up at me...

Sniff sniff. There was an ever-present reek of sulfur, but I'd come to determine that that was from the lava fields. Sniff sniff. Flowers, and dirt, and the faintest hint of rust coming from the gates. I looked around. The palace was blocked off from the rest of the Devil's District by a broad ring of large trees. The branches were draped in heavy red moss and nearly touched the ground. Sniff. The moss and trees smelled too.

"I don't see why they made such a big deal about me...." I muttered into the clump of moss resting in my palm.

"It's because you absolutely reek, you stupid child," the moss hissed at me. No, it wasn't the moss, there was someone leaning over me, hissing into my ear. I yelped, stepping away. I turned to face the speaker.

Or rather, look up at him once he had righted himself. The speaker was another devil, I could tell, and he was absurdly tall. At least seven feet, if not a bit taller. His skin was a pale sulfurous yellow, and his orange eyes were glaring down at me. They seemed to release no light. I shivered a bit as his white hair fluttered behind him. He moved closer.

I wanted to run, but couldn't.

--=--Mugendie--=--

If I could give Aree-Aru any credit, it would be to the fact that he could, at the least, create quite beautiful little wretches for his children. Though this one was probably better looking than Videmy. (A Neguni's ass was better looking than her, in my opinion.) His skin was oddly pale, especially when contrasted with his black hair, but the overall look wasn't bad. The child's eyes were wide, and he was making little panicky noises.

"Tell me, boy, what's your name?"

The feline ears drooped a bit. "P-Pyxoliperi."

"A great deal of name for such a piteous amount of devil," I purred at him. He flinched.

"I'm not...not...piteous, you're just too big."

--+--Pyxoliperi--+--

The devil's hand had curled around my neck before I'd finished speaking. I'd neglected to notice his long, sharp nails. He squeezed my throat and lifted me off the ground. I couldn't help but give a little kick--my toe claws didn't even scrape the ground.

He leaned closer, terribly menacing at this angle. "Tell me, Pyx, have you ever seen death?"

I managed to gurgle out a "No." He smirked and squeezed tighter. His nails were digging into the side of my neck, and I could feel something moving out of place on the inside. I tried to move again, but couldn't. His mere presence was holding me back.

"Well, my lucky little Pyxoliperi, you're going to meet him now," the devil snarled. I couldn't respond, could barely see.

"Mugendie!" My creator's voice shot through the fog in my head. For a brief moment, a terrible anger swelled from somewhere inside me, but it was cut off by the dark.

--=--Mugendie--=--

"Oh, fuckall," I hissed. Pyxoliperi's eyes had rolled back, and his thin frame had gone completely still. I dropped his dead weight, taking a few steps back as the wolf god appeared through the gates of his palace.

Power or no power, I couldn't get away from him. He slammed me to the ground with a massive paw.

"You miserable wretch, what the hell do you think you're doing here?"

"Just saying hello to my new little cousin," I hissed. Aree-Aru growled.

"You are not to touch him again, do you hear me?" He pressed his weight into my back. "I will not hesitate to kill you if you harm him."

"Too late for tha-" I looked in the direction of where I'd dropped the little catboy, but he was gone. I couldn't feel out his magic either. "What? Where did he go?"

"Pyxoliperi?" The wolf stepped back, looking around.

"Cats always go to hide when they're going die," I said. Aree-Aru growled and knocked my head against the ground before dashing off. He probably knew where the boy had hidden himself.

I waited for the buzzing in my head to stop. I got to my feet, popping a few vertebrae back into proper alignment. Looking down at my fingers, I smirked. The boy had singed them a bit.

"Mmm, I suppose I'm still up for a little game of hide and seek..."

--
(note: The Neguni were a species of demon that only lived during the earlier history of hell. Their end will probably get into the story eventually.)