Sapphira's Past

[ShadowKyogre]

I've been typing up the past of my character Sapphira. Here's it so far (enjoy and provide constructive criticism):

 

Long ago in a large city in the arid land of Egypt, many humans lived their lives normally except for one lonely girl. Unlike the rest of the children, she was never allowed outside of the grand stone building that her family lived in. As rich as they were, the girl’s parents did not want to pay for a servant. Wanting to hoard as much money as possible, the parents shortly planned this future for their second daughter, who had no name so people could refer to her by any other degrading term.

 

Her life gradually grew worse after being imprisoned within the household because of one fateful day, when the high priests labeled the sorrowful girl as the deceiver of humanity. With this identification, the girl was tormented by the villagers she lived with everyday. Death was not in the minds of any of these humans, for suffering throughout life was perceived to be worse punishment by death, a sentence decreed by their gods for blasphemy that did not exist. Soon after this happened, the girl believed that they would change their ways. Nonetheless, the villagers continued to torment her, diminishing her faith in the goodness of people. At times, she would try to escape the village, but the girl would be caught on every attempt of fleeing. It has been eight years and eleven months since the horrific events, which persist.

 

“…How long has it been now?” the nameless girl asked herself. She glanced at the etchings she made in the rugged yellow-brown walls with a chisel she stole from a stone carver trying to handle her wrongly. The tool was still covered in blood from tip to half of the handle from the brutal fight the girl engaged in to protect herself. Crimson lines were scattered all over the wall, each signifying a day that passes during the current year.

 

“Three-hundred forty days,” the girl confirmed after counting each inscription meticulously. “It’s bothersome that they still think I’m a demon or anti-prophet just because the religious zealots said so. I should grab some food immediately before anyone notices me so I don’t get battered by the others again.”

 

Before leaving her room, the anonymous girl scanned the area near the square-shaped hole to check if anyone was nearby. There were many people near that area, but they seemed preoccupied with their social lives. After waiting for a few seconds to confirm that the villagers were overtly absentminded because of trivial social matters, the girl donned a tan cloak to conceal her long, slovenly black hair; innocent sapphire eyes; tattered sock-like clothing, and a scar-covered face. She then cautiously stepped over the bottom of the window and strutted as casual as she could over to the bazaar stand that sold foodstuffs.

 

Recently, imports of livestock were added to the selection of items that usually come once a year. Today, the owner of this bazaar stand is giving out samples of a bird called chicken, telling his workers to prepare more of these poultry just in case travelers from afar also wanted a portion. One portly man standing in line tore off a leg of the roasted bird and took a large bite to tear off all the meat on the limb. Chewing the meat meticulously, the man dazed off as the taste lingered in his jaws.

 

The glutton finished off his sample and remarked, “Truly delicious!” He left after purchasing a few chickens to either raise or cook up for himself or others. Tantalized by the thought of fresh, hot food, the nameless girl drooled while watching the man trot off to his home.

“If I can get my hands on an entire bird, it’ll be the luckiest day of my life!!” the anonymous girl contemplated. She tiptoed around the crowed to the back of the stand, where more of the birds were roasted for customer sampling. The girl took one of the newly cooked chickens and stuffed it under her shirt, thinking it was odd to have a nice, warm object right next to where it would end up within the next few minutes. She left the stand through the back into the open street with a big bulge where her abdomen was, covered by her cloak.

 

A few children noticed the girl walking about due to the large bird she was concealing below the cloak. One of the girls that noticed the nameless girl yelled at her teasingly, “You need to lose the weight!”

 

Panicked that the people now know that she is wandering in the streets, the nameless girl darted towards the hole where she leaved. The same group of kids that noticed the anonymous girl chased after her, shouting remarks such as “What’s the matter? Running off so no one sees how hideous you are?” and “Come back here! I want to pummel your face into the ground!” Others heard of the commotion that the children were creating, running over to where they were to figure out what all the excitement was about. The kids that were pursuing the nameless girl had trapped her in between two other stores. With nowhere to flee, the nameless girl could not do anything as the oldest of the children took off her cloak to reveal her and the chicken she was trying to take for breakfast.

 

“It’s the devil!” one of the women exclaimed. “She’s trying to pilfer a chicken from the bazaar!!” An eerie silence filled the arid air as everyone ceased his or her activities to glimpse where the nameless girl was.

 

“You aren’t allowing me to pay any of you so I can just purchase the bird and live normally and will not allow me to even take a free sample!” the nameless girl countered.

 

“Receiving money from you is defiance of the gods!” the food bazaar stand owner declared.

 

“Besides,” the high priest remarked as he shoved his way through the hefty crowd, “the gods declared with their own voices that torturing you is what pleases them best. Everyone beat this atrocity up!”

 

Hostile fists encompassed the defenseless girl alongside knives, spiked leather whips, and stones thrown at the girl from the other children. Extremely frightened, the nameless girl curled up in hopes of lessening the pain she was enduring. Obeying the high priest’s command, the people continued their beatings until nighttime, leaving the chilling temperature of the evening to resume the decree of the priest.

 

“Scratch that,” the girl uttered to herself. “This day is just like the rest of my life: horrible and nearly pointless…” She straggled back to her room through the square opening she left from, leaving the cold chicken in the desert sand. Now back inside the desolate room she lived in, the girl pilled up a makeshift blanket assembled out of papyrus and attempted to sleep. Only a few minutes later, the party cacophony intruded the girl’s ears, waking her up immediately.

An older girl with braided brown hair and blue eyes clad in a white dress slammed the door to the room of the nameless girl open. This is the nameless girl’s older sister, Sarah, who hates the nameless girl on the same outrageous level the others did. Sarah grabbed the girl by her right wrist and commanded, “Get moving slave!” She seized the nameless girl out of her room and kicked her into the middle of the gathering of party guests.

 

“Hey you!” one of the guests exclaimed rudely.

 

“Me?” the nameless girl asked after shrieking out of shock.

 

“Yes you!” the same guest answered. “Give me a knife and make it snappy!” He glared at the anonymous girl as she stormed out of the crowd, and into the kitchen. Digging through the various utensils in a container in the kitchen, the nameless girl found a knife and pulled it out. She stomped back into the crowd towards the disrespectful guest, locking up her aggravation intensely.

 

Slapping the knife onto the guest who requested it, the nameless girl sarcastically questioned, “Are you happy now?”

 

“No.” the guest answered. He used the knife to make a deep gash on the girl’s arm, wiped it clean with a rag, and then sliced the bread in front of him with an ungrateful pout painted on his face.

 

“Should have expected that…” the nameless girl mumbled to herself as she left the crowd to get a piece of cloth to wrap around her deep, bleeding cut and arrived back swiftly enough so Sarah doesn’t notice that the girl left to treat her injury. Meanwhile, the nameless girl’s parents, Apeth and Merilith, were conversing with the ten high priests of the village about the girl. Apeth was a highly known merchant clad in rich white silk fabrics he got from his trades off in another country, renowned for making plenty of money by exporting Egyptian goods to other lands. He spoils Sarah with whatever she wants and fully trusts her while the opposite can be said for his point of view of the nameless girl. Merilith was a weaver of clothing, often wearing some of the fancy clothing she fashions, who also made a considerable amount of money through clothing making.

 

“Your holiness, are any new revelations from the gods?” Apeth asked Panon, the rich leader of the high priests.

 

“Well,” Panon answered, “the gods want us to take more drastic measures in restraining the child.”

 

Sarah, talking with her boyfriend, overheard the words “drastic measures” and rushed over to the priests and asked enthusiastically, “Such as beating her to near death?”

 

“Yes,” the high priest answered in the same spirit, “I just wanted it to be more of a surprise so the people will get more fervent about this.”

“Oh, okay.” Merilith remarked. She took in a deep breath and declared, “Everyone, listen up!” Sound walked out of the room as the crowd of guests slowly but surely turned their attention to Merilith. “The gods have declared that we must torment the deceiver even further!” she declared.

 

“To what extent?” a horribly drunk man inquired.

 

“Near death!” Sarah exclaimed proudly.

 

“Great,” the nameless girl thought to herself. “Just when I thought current events could not get worse. Now it’ll be like dying a thousand times whenever a month passes by.”

 

Cheerful toasting, chuckles, and other party-related events shortly resumed after the revelation Apeth, Merilith, Sarah, and Panon revealed to the guests. Some of the adults invited began to implement Osiris’s will immediately and retrieved clubs, axes, and whips to utilize to cruelly mutilate the nameless girl. Spotting the belligerent stalkers, the nameless girl ran off to the kitchen to grab a knife to defend herself with. Even at a distance, some of the guests were fervent enough to chuck their weapons at the girl. The girl dodged most of the projectiles, but one axe managed to lodge itself halfway into her right shoulder, causing it to bleed profusely.

 

Terrified extremely, the girl ignored the embedded axe while outwitting her pursuers to run off in a direction opposite to where she was heading. As the pursuers vanished out of sight, the nameless girl went back into her room. She pulled the axe out and the deep cut rapidly healed to leave a faint scar on the girl’s shoulder. “That’s odd…” she thought, “My arm healed itself rapidly. At least this will help me survive for some time.” Exhausted, the girl yawned and tucked the sheet of papyrus over her injured body, shortly tossing and turning in a horrible nightmare.

 

In the nightmare, a giant, green-skinned man was chasing after the girl, consistently trying to squash the girl with his hand. The girl fled further and further until three pairs of giant, sandal-bearing feet stomped down in her way. Shortly, the giant hand flattened the nameless girl and then picked her up, lifting her until a pair of brown eyes pasted on a green face with a large, block-like beard jutting out was clearly visible. Two fingers of another colossal, emerald- tinted hand then started to steadily, forcefully twist the girl’s arm.

 

She screamed in pain and sorrowfully questioned, “What kind of gods are you that create beings to be tortured by your supposed children?”

 

With a smirk spread across, the face chuckled evilly and answered, “If only you accepted the fact that you are what I told them, but no. You keep on bantering about how you are a human.”

 

“I am!” the nameless girl irately declared.

 

“Well, let’s see about that.” The face confidently asserted. The hand dropped the girl on the ground wither her limbs sprained horribly. Violet plates with two large spikes tore through the skin on the top half of the girl’s arms and hands rapidly, partially covering the plates in blood. Nails shattered as the sharp dragon claws pierced through them, also puncturing the tips of the girl’s toes and fingers as they emerged. Joints in the girl’s legs abruptly and painfully rearranged themselves to give her dragon-like, digigrade footing. A tail almost as wide as the girl then burst free from her pants covered in the same plates on her legs and arms on top and had sky blue fur below these plates. The tail grew until its length matched the girl’s height. Two bursts of blood from the girl’s back sprayed onto the ground as a result of great purple dragon wings with sky blue webbing sprouting from her back. The sapphire color in the girl’s eyes faded to an icy metallic grey. Round human pupils slowly thinned and stretched vertically to resemble those of a snake. Messy black hair shifted to the same shade of blue that the girl’s eyes used to be. Ears shifted to the top of her head, morphing into long, blue cat-like ears with black tips. Just when it seemed to be finished, pain surged through the nameless girl’s mouth. She spat out the fragmented teeth along with a fair amount of blood. Using the blood as a mirror, the girl stared at her face through the reflection, spotting long, sharp teeth that curved towards her throat and a long, forked tongue.

 

She reeled back in horror, disbelieving her monstrous appearance. Voices laughed heartily at the girl, fingers pointing at her to highlight her demonic look. Each cackle was amplified to unbearable levels by the girl’s sensitive ears. All of a sudden, the anonymous girl sat straight up, breathing and sweating heavily.

 

“It’s just a dream…it’s just a dream.” The girl uttered to herself as she felt her body for any signs of cat ears, dragon claws, wings, plates, or a tail. Luckily, she found none of these mutations. Just to make sure her body was completely normal, the nameless girl grabbed a clay bowl from outside her window, filled it with water, and examined her face for blue hair, silver eyes, snake pupils, snake-like teeth, or a forked tongue. These too were not found, but all of the nameless girl’s teeth were loose. “I’m going to pull these out later.” The anonymous girl said to herself. Today, no one was working because this was a day of worship. On theses days, the girl would follow the other villagers to the temple to listen in on the supposed truths the priests spoke about her. The anonymous girl followed Panon into the temple, closing the doors behind him. High priests already inside started offering grains and cows to Bastet, goddess of cats, while Panon walked to a bowl of water as he does during these days in an attempt to see the future.

 

“I see,” Panon announced in a mystifying voice. Everyone but the nameless girl was invigorated with excitement for the prophecy. “I see,” Panon continued in the same voice, “Bastet herself getting ready to come to this temple!”

 

In the back, the unnamed girl wiggled her left canine gently to ease it out because of boredom. Soon, the tooth was extremely loose, so the nameless girl pulled it out. At the same time, a woman with a cat’s head wearing a white, sleeveless tunic with a knee-length skirt materialized before the mesmerized worshippers. As the cat woman strutted around the temple, she looked at the toadies and the nameless girl for a victim of her bloodlust.

 

“Ooh!” Sarah exclaimed enthusiastically. “Bastet will to maul the worthless fool!”

 

“Kill, eat.” Bastet growled once she set her eyes on the nameless girl.

 

“Grand…Now I’m really going to die.” The nameless girl mumbled to herself.

 

Bastet lunged at the girl, crunching down on her neck with massive, sharp fangs. Crazed zealots cheered Bastet on by chanting, “Maul her!” rhythmically. Intense pain coursed through the girl’s body, although it was not enough to stop the girl from moving.

 

“I don’t want to die!” the girl panicked to herself. As if by instinct, she bit Bastet’s wrist hard and kept her jaws locked forcefully. The feline reeled back in pain, despite being a deity. Apparently the girl chomped down on Bastet’s wrist with such ungodly might, she tore Bastet’s hand from her arm when Bastet backed off. Bastet teleported out of the temple to recover from the injury the girl dealt. Surprised by what she pulled off, the anonymous girl licked her teeth to check if they were normal. Serpent’s teeth had shattered her human teeth upon the moment the girl bit Bastet; and her tongue had morphed to a forked tongue with pointed tips.

 

“WH-what the?” the girl though, staring at the extremity she ripped off. “This cannot be happening!” Great hunger struck the girl, although she already ate breakfast. Instinct took over, causing the girl to leap on top of one of the children that had harassed her earlier and opened her jaws wide unwillingly.

 

“By Horus, the girl is a demon!” the terrified child stuttered while ogling at the cavernous maw.

 

The girl attempted to resist the urge to envelop the boy’s head with her jaws, but failed to accomplish the feat. She encased the child’s head with her mouth and walked her jaws across the boy’s body. Before long, the nameless girl had swallowed the boy out of impulse. She attempted to regurgitate the boy back out, but she couldn’t because she enjoyed the feeling of actually being well fed. Guilt also entered the nameless girl’s mind as she wondered if she was actually a demon as the priests had dictated. Everyone else in the room glared at the nameless girl, raising torches, swords, whips, and axes against her and doggedly pursued her as she fled from the temple, misdirecting so she could return to her room without being noticed. Upon entry, the nameless girl rammed her head against one of the stone walls several times in an endeavor to confirm what happened was a dreadful fantasy or reality. Unfortunately, what just recently occurred was valid.

 

“How can this be?” the anonymous girl asked herself. “I-I-I am a human, b-b-b-but-” Scenes from the horrid vision last night raced through her mind along with memories of the incident at the temple. Tears poured down the girl’s face as she shouted, “Why Osiris, why?” The stuffed her cloak with her face, soaking it in tears until she fell asleep.

 

Night fell and the girl woke up from her deep while feeling extremely uneasy. Due to her queasiness, the nameless girl leaned outside of her bedroom window and regurgitated an intact human skeleton drenched in an odd, blue slime on the cold desert sand. Curiosity urged the girl to touch the strange liquid, which stuck to her finger and formed itself into a question mark. “Awkward…” the girl reflected, shaking the slime off onto the ground. “What’s up with me now? My tummy feels like it’s caving in.”

 

Wanting to go back to sleep without awkwardly waking up again, the girl decided to peruse the village for any leftover food. Everyone else in the area was sound asleep and any remnants of dinner were just miniscule crumbs of bread. The girl craved for more than bits of baked goods, preferably a live victim at least bigger than a chicken. She inspected the village for any animals of this size, but all of the livestock were stored away in an unknown location. Discouraged that no livestock were out in the open, the nameless girl walked over to the Nile for her midnight meal. When she arrived there, the girl splashed Bastet’s dismembered hand against the water’s surface, luring a crocodile to bite the hand as a sort of free food. The anonymous girl snatched the crocodile after the mistake it made and quickly slurped it down. Afterward, she walked back to her room and slept peacefully.

 

The next morning was not as pleasant as the night before it for a man with a crocodile’s head dressed in clothing similar to Bastet’s loomed over the nameless girl, glaring at her with crossed arms. He angrily boomed at the startled girl, “What do you think you are doing?”

 

“Getting up.” The nameless girl anxiously answered.

 

“You ripped off my sister’s hand, ate a child, fed my sister’s hand to a crocodile, and then ate that as well!” the reptilian man continued to exclaim in an fuming voice. “I will not stand for this!”

 

Dumbfounded, the anonymous girl sat in silence for a minute and then stated, “If you cannot stand for it, then you can sit on the floor. Also, how come you two are related?”

 

Bothered to an extent beyond noticeable, the man slapped his hand on his forehead before shouting, “All of us gods are related you twit!! I’m Sobek, god of the Nile and I will rend you to the point where you wished you were never born!”

 

“I didn’t mean to!” the girl tried to explain. “She tried to kill me!”

 

“Well then, what do you have to say about the other two?” Sobek demanded in a cold voice.

 

“I couldn’t stop myself!” the nameless girl elaborated. “No one ever gives me food, even if I’m starving!”

 

Sobek retorted unsympathetically, “That’s the problem with all you demons: you make up excuses so you can continue with your fiendish ways.” Sobek then suddenly clutched the nameless girl with his massive hand with a forceful grip. The nameless girl attempted repeatedly to force Sobek to release her, but his grip constricted in response. “It’s no use trying to escape.” Sobek told her with a sinister grin on his face while the girl’s hair turned from a dull onyx to a brilliant sapphire blue. “Do you believe changing your hair color will save you?” Sobek mocked the nameless girl; not noticing the various cut and puncture injuries forming on his hand wherever the girl’s hair came in contact with. For each breath the anonymous girl took each minute, a puddle of blood slowly formed beneath Sobek’s hand, although he thought that he was constricting the girl so hard that blood gushed from her until his arm fell limp. Now realizing that it was his own blood that spilled, Sobek threw the nameless girl against the nearest wall and left the room while mumbling to himself about how the injuries appeared.

 

The girl was also speculating how the wounds appear on Sobek’s hand, so she plucked out one strand of hair and stroked it. It seemed harmless since it did not cut the girl’s finger, but when she straightened the hair and stroked it against the femur from the child’s skeleton from earlier, the hair made a clean cut where it was rubbed. “Whoa-” she thought to herself, her own thought interrupted by spewing out a skeleton of the animal she consumed earlier, creating a loud clanking crash that could be heard around the house the girl lived in. Sarah barged into the nameless girl’s room, discovering the nameless girl making a helmet out of the crocodile skull she spat out. Disgusted by the sight of saliva on the skull, Sarah called over Merilith and Apeth to witness the anonymous girl fiddling with animal bones.

 

“Where did you get that?” Apeth inquired the nameless girl grimly.

 

“Nearby a river.” The nameless girl demurely answered.

 

“I bet she dug it up from a tomb.” Merilith whispered to her husband.

 

“She ate one of the crocodiles and kept its skeleton.” Sarah deduced.

 

“Anyway,” Apeth said, unsheathing a great sword. “I’ll chop off those arms of yours so you never defile another crocodile again!” He swung the blade down at the girl’s right arm with great might; in response, the girl moved her hair in the way of the blade, which caused the blade to be sliced into many fragments. “What the?” Apeth said in shock, looking back and forth at the broken blade and the girl’s hair. “We need the high priests now!” Merilith and Apeth left the room, but Sarah kept a close eye on the nameless girl from a place where the girl could not notice her. Smelling the blood on the floor, the nameless girl flicked her forked tongue near the puddle to sample it. Sarah’s parents, Panon, and three other high priests arrived back at the room, noticing the girl lapping up the blood on the floor somewhat hesitantly. Panon stared at the girl for a while and stated after analyzing the situation, “She’s turning into a demon all right. Luckily, she’ll be one of the low demons, so a simple blessing should turn her back into a human.”

 

“Can you perform it now?” Merilith apprehensively asked Panon.

 

“Unfortunately, no.” Panon stated with disappointment.

 

“Why not?” Sarah queried, poking her head from the right side of the nameless girl’s door.

 

“We need to wait until she is a full demon and the girl is still mostly human.” Panon explained.

 

“But she can eat people whole!” Apeth complained.

 

“Then use spears and other long-range weapons to torment her.” Panon suggested while leaving the room with the other three priests, who sprinkled the room with holy water and placed an ankh on the girl’s door. Sarah, Merilith, and Apeth also left with the priests.

 

“For the sake of sanity, I am not a demon!” the nameless girl exclaimed. She walked over to her door and stared at the ankh in a baffled manner. Touching the relic posed no threat to her, so the nameless girl took the ankh off the wall, dressed herself in her cloak, and ran to the river with the ankh hidden inside the coat. A boy with armor hastily slapped on, a shoddy pair of pants and a pile of raw meat tossed a slab of flesh into the river on a crocodile. The creature readily tried to eat the meat, but another crocodile bit down on the meat and the crocodile, attempting to devour them both.

 

“Mister,” the girl politely asked the boy while pointing at the river. “Could you get me one of the crocodiles?”

 

Although the boy was extremely befuddled, he followed up on the girl’s request and dove into the river, arriving back unscathed with a live crocodile in his arms. “I suppose you aren’t supposed to be out here, right?” the boy inquired.

 

“I’m not even allowed in my own house without slaving around it.” The nameless girl meekly replied.

 

“Servant?” the boy continued to ask.

 

“No,” the girl answered sadly.

 

Astonished, the boy dropped the crocodile and said, “They enslave children down here?! I’m sick of my dad, but this is insane!”

 

Enraged, the crocodile tried to bite the boy’s arm off, but a long tongue wrapped around its snout and dragged it to the girl. The boy turned around and saw the nameless girl rapidly swallowing the reptile whole, shoving it in with her hands to reduce the time needed to eat it. He stood speechless while the village turned around in horror as the girl let out a small burp.

 

“Sobek is going to get so mad at you!” Sarah told the nameless girl teasingly.

 

“You know what I think of crocodile-face?” the boy yelled at Sarah. “This!” He chucked a piece of meat at Sarah’s face and a crocodile leaped up and clamped down on her face.

 

“Get it off me!” Sarah yelled, running around in frenzy. A priest hurried to Sarah and spoke to the reptile in an eccentric language, “Attack the boy!”

 

The reptile released its grip and charged towards the mischief-maker with open jaws but when it was about to bite, the boy grabbed the reptile and tossed it back into the Nile, walking away from the village whistling happily. Unable to get revenge on the outsider, Sarah turned her rage towards the nameless girl, shouting, “He was one of your henchmen, wasn’t he?”

 

“What are you talking about?” the anonymous girl argued. “He just appeared today!”

 

“So?” Sarah persisted. “You could have used some sort of summoning magic to bring him here!”

 

“I don’t know any magic!” the nameless girl contorted. Without warning, a hail of arrows and spears rained down upon the nameless girl, the impact causing her to collapse onto the ground.

 

“Serves you right…” Sarah murmured to herself, leaving with the other villagers assuming the nameless girl was dead.

 

Later, when day faded to night, the nameless girl struggled to rise from unconsciousness while the rest of the village rested peacefully, spotting a light spattering of blood on the grainy ground, broken arrows and spears scattered around each sprayed puddle. The girl stared at the fractured weapons flummoxed, pain rushing through her body afterward due to purple spikes piercing though her fingers, hands, arms, and legs. Fatigued by the pain, the girl fell unconscious when she arrived back at her room.

 

The subsequent morning, the nameless girl ripped off the human skin that was near where any spikes punctured because an odd sensation told her those coverings were not needed anymore. Under the skin the nameless girl pulled off were violet, metallic plates which covered the upper half of her arms while the underside was covered in cerulean reptilian scales. Another abnormal instinct made the nameless girl claw at the stonewalls of her room as if to tear it apart. Nails flew off the girl’s fingers, exposing the newly developed dragon claws that lay below. Suddenly, she felt someone sucking on her right index finger and looked over at the person, wondering how he got inside her room.

 

The unwelcome guest had a pallid complexion complemented by sky blue hair, crimson eyes that possessed snake-like pupils, and black aristocratic clothing. He was about the same age as the nameless girl with just about as clueless as the girl. Having no knowledge of this, the girl jerked her finger out of his mouth and firmly told him, “Find someone else to sap the life out, I’m already having trouble with both me and others around me.”

 

In response to the girl’s apathetic remark, the boy stated in a maudlin manner, “I didn’t have blood in days!”

 

“And why does that matter?” the nameless girl asked in a monotone voice.

 

“Is it not obvious?” the boy exclaimed. “Pale skin, red eyes, and the need for blood obviously says I’m a vampire!”

 

“Can you give me some other piece of evidence?” the girl inquired in a disbelieving voice.

 

Irritated by the nameless girl’s skepticism about what he is, the boy handed the nameless girl a dagger and said, “Stab me through the heart.”

 

The girl hesitated at first, thinking that the boy might be involved in some sort of twisted plot the village concocted to emphasize that she would kill anyone she sees. Shaking that fear off, the nameless girl plunged the blade into the boy’s chest as forcefully as she could. No blood spilled from the hole the dagger made and the boy was still breathing normally. With his point proven, the boy asked for the blade from the girl, slipping it back into its sheath.

 

“Do you believe me now?” the boy asked her. The anonymous girl slowly nodded yes as her answer. “Now that we’ve gotten though some barriers, allow me to introduce myself.” The boy stated. “I am Sylphane Blooddagger, and what is your name?”

 

The girl turned her head away, crying softly while answering, “I don’ have a name…”

 

“What?” Sylphane remarked. “You must have a name of some sort.”

 

“If I did,” the girl responded, “they would have already made spin-offs of it.”

 

“I could give you one.” Sylphane suggested. “You look beautiful and your hair is blue, so I would call you Sapphira.”

 

“You really think I’m beautiful?” the girl shyly replied.

 

“Yup,” the young vampire responded. “You must be the prettiest demon in this realm, so that’s why I’m going to call you by the Hebrew word for beautiful. Besides, if anyone does start to make fun of that name by saying sapphire, it doesn’t make a difference because sapphires are pretty as well.”

 

Sarah interrupted the nameless girl’s conversation with Sylphane, questioning him, “You believe you can just butter her up by giving her a name? She’ll eat you when you’re not looking and don’t you know she’s a damned demon?”

 

“Yes I do know that Sapphira is a demon/,” Sylphane stated calmly. “Demons are sacred beings who are not to be treated as garbage!”

 

A crowd consisted of every village resident gathered at the girl’s window after Sylphane’s blasphemous words spread though the community. Panon, who was most astonished by the vampire, declared to him, “Are you out of your mind you irreligious boy?” Without warning, Sylphane leaped onto the startled priest with fangs bared, biting Panon’s neck and sucking out about half his blood. Panon fainted afterward and the gathering glared at Sylphane with the same animosity they had shown to the nameless girl, pulling out spears, swords, and ankhs to mangle Sylphane with. Surprised at how hostile the people were, Sylphane explained to them that he is a vampire and did not have any blood in days, which was caused his deliria when Panon insulted him. The crowd paid no further attention to the vampire and chopped off his head, stuffed his mouth with an ankh, and turned their attention to the nameless girl.

“Where do you get these toadies?” Sarah questioned the girl.

 

“Why does everyone think someone who is nice to me is some sort of servant?” the nameless girl complained.

 

“Has it ever come to your mind that no one on Earth is supposed to care for you?” the owner of the food bazaar stand sharply informed the girl.

 

“Did you put oil on this?” the dismembered head spoke, spitting out the ankh afterward. “It tastes so rancid!”

 

“How are you still alive?” Sarah asked the head.

 

“I’m undead. What part of undead do you not understand?” Sylphane said reaching for his head and placing it back on his body. “Besides, why do you hate demons so much?”

 

“Demons are the most despicable monsters to ram the Earth because they deceive and devour the virtuous people of the world!” Sarah told Sylphane in a seething voice.

 

“Virtuous?!” Sylphane argued angrily. “Virtuous beings would not starve a child to the point where he or she has to resort to cannibalism for food!”

 

“It’s easy for you to support that abnormality since you also consume human blood!!” Sarah contorted with antipathy.

 

Sylphane pulled out a gray, metallic orb covered in eight crimson spikes with two white eyes and remarked, “NO, we vampires get our blood from our faithful Skuards. My parents told me they were the best source of blood, but they disappeared before they told me how to get any from one of them.”

 

“Do you think we care?” Sarah stated while Sylphane’s Skuard floated over to the nameless girl in curiosity, nudging her with one of its crimson needles. Also inquisitive, the nameless girl pulled out one of the Skuard’s spikes and gulped it down.

 

“Don’t eat it!” Sylphane panicked after seeing the nameless girl eat a spike.

 

“I told you she was going to eat something you care about.” Sarah said to him. Sylphane’s Skuard floated back to him and placed itself in his hands with the empty spike slot facing him, urging him to try to take a drink from it. Sylphane shook his Skuard first to check if there was any blood and then drank one mouthful from it.

 

Refreshed and surprised, Sylphane asked the nameless girl eagerly, “How did you get one of the spikes out of it?”

 

“I just pulled it off.” The anonymous girl answered casually as the Skuard floated away for a moment to grow another spike in the empty slot. Sylphane waited for his Skuard to float back to him and then pulled on one of the spikes, which smoothly came off. Observing this, Sylphane placed the needle back into the same slot.

 

Sarah attempted to tug all of the spikes off of Sylphane’s Skuard so all the blood it had would leak out, but she failed miserably. “It won’t come off!” Sarah exclaimed. Frightened by Sarah’s abrupt attempt to harm it, the scared Skuard ejected one of its spikes into Sarah’s right eye, sprayed red liquid on everyone but Sylphane and the nameless girl, and mewled for several hours. Injured in eye and ear, everyone else evacuated the area to escape the madness the Skuard created.

Now that the safety of the night had fallen, Sylphane and his Skuard were sure they could leave. Sylphane stepped through the window, but was interrupted by the nameless girl, asking, “Why are you going?”

 

Sylphane answered, “I need to get home, and I cannot just ‘poof’ back there.”

 

“Why can’t you go back there right now?” The anonymous girl questioned him.

 

“It’s complicated.” Sylphane explained.

 

“Can I come with you?” she asked.

 

“Sure, but you can’t come with me to home. I wish you could though.” He responded.

 

“Why?” the girl inquired.

 

“That too needs a lot of explaining.” Sylphane clarified. The Skuard floated over to Sylphane while the nameless girl stood still. “Well, what are you waiting for?” The nameless girl ran to Sylphane as he closed his eyes, making the three disappear in a flash of white light. They reappeared in a room that had a comfortable mattress, a coffin, and various other trinkets that could be found in a rich family’s room.

 

“Get some shut eye, you’re going to need it for tomorrow.” Sylphane told the girl while locking himself inside the fancy coffin.

 

“If someone asks me what my name is, should I say Sapphira?” the nameless girl prodded.

 

“Yes, now go to sleep.” Sylphane said, rolling over in the coffin afterward.

 

Waking up refreshed and cheerful, the nameless girl sprung out of bed and rushed to put her cloak on, but the slightest touch of her claws placed holes in it. She worried about how she was going to conceal her outlandish mutations, frantically browsing the closet near her for something to wear. The nameless girl found an elegant sable dress adorned with fancy red designs, so she touched it to make sure that she could wear it. Fortunately, the dress did not tear at contact with the girl’s claw, so she wore it immediately. With the same zeal she wok with, the nameless girl excitedly shook the tightly fastened coffin.

 

Contrasting the girl’s enthusiasm was Sylphane’s grogginess, which reared its ugly head when Sylphane responded to the nameless girl’s attempts to awaken him by rolling over in the coffin and stating, “It’s day time, sheesh! I need to get some rest!”

 

“He must have not slept in days if he’s acting like this.” The nameless girl inferred from Sylphane’s response, leaving him alone afterwards to explore the new area she was in. She darted outside and looked back at the building she came out of so she remembered where to go back. The nameless girl spotted shops that were similar to the ones in Egypt, people with dark spots in between their eyebrows, and no relics or statues that resembled anything Egyptian. Wondering where she was, the anonymous girl ran up to one man and asked, “Excuse me if this sounds ridiculous, but where am I?”

 

“India,” the man replied, “and what is your name, little girl?”

 

“Sapphira,” the girl answered.

 

“You must not be from around here, right?” the man inquired.

 

“Actually,” Sapphira said nervously, “I was named that because my hair is blue. Anyway, where is the food stand?”

 

The man walked Sapphira to a certain alley where each kind of food could easily be picked out by going to a certain stand. He told Sapphira to get whatever she wanted and waited for her near the fruit stand. Sapphira headed towards the livestock stand hurriedly, purchased a few animals, and then scuttled back to the building she was staying in. When Sapphira left, she scratched off some of her human skin along with a few sky blue scales. Curiosity entered the mind of the man that showed Sapphira the ally as he picked up the discarded scales to scrutinize them. A humanoid monstrosity with the head of a vulture, misshapen gray feathered wings, talons of an eagle, and a bulky constitution was looking over the man’s shoulder. The bird-human hybrid then questioned the man, “Are these scales from another demon?”

 

“Yes,” the man answered, “and why does that matter?”

 

“I have been keeping my grip on this city for hundreds of years and I will not let anyone else take it.” It stated. “Now if you want to be reincarnated when you die, I suggest you boot the newcomer out.”

 

“What makes you think I would comply to that, Ashakran?” the man inquired.

 

Chuckling, Ashakran summoned a large, black python that slithered in with the man’s wife, two boys, and a daughter already in its coils. “I’ll give you four days to meet my demand. For each day you fail to do so, one of your family members will be snake food. On the final day, if you still do not comply, you’ll end up on the menu as well. The most horrible part of this is that you and your family will not be reincarnating nor be with Brahma!” Ashakran threatened him.

Worried about his family, the man returned home to ponder about what to do about the situation. Meanwhile, Sapphira returned to the bedroom of the building she was staying in with a few chickens. At the same time, Sylphane just woke up from his heavy nap to recover much needed vitality. He spotted the birds that Sapphira purchased and asked her if anyone saw her without a disguise.

 

“I’m wearing from what looks like your mom’s dress. Does that count?” Sapphira remarked.

 

“I guess," Sylphane answered, shrugging his shoulders. “Look after the building while I’m out. Thorns needs some food.”

 

“Who’s Thorns?” Sapphira asked. Sylphane’s Skuard bounced up and down energetically, signaling to Sapphira that its name was Thorns. Sylphane walked out of the room and, with Thorns following closely behind him, locked the building as he exited it. Left alone with the animals she purchased, Sapphira picked up a large, gray box to contain the rest of the chickens, quickly turning the box upside down after placing the lid on it. After poking a few holes on the top so the contained creatures could breathe, Sapphira picked up the chicken running around and ate it whole while looking though the closet for a set of pajamas. The dress that Sapphira was wearing was making her itch crazily. Soon she found a set of pajamas, sloppily put it on after quickly taking off her dress, slammed herself on the bed, and fell asleep.

 

A fruit basket’s thud woke Sapphira up the next morning accompanied by the sight of an exhausted Sylphane and a hyperactive, happy Thorns. “What is with all this fruit?” Sapphira questioned while waking up and scratching her arms vigorously.

 

“Thorns eats a lot of sweets.” Sylphane panted while leaning on the wall. “I’m glad it only takes one whole fruit to satisfy him for a day.”

 

“Well, I’m going out.” Sapphira said as she walked out the door.

 

Sylphane dragged his body along the rough wall of the room and told Sapphira as she rushed outside, “You’re still in pajamas!” Sapphira ran back in, swiftly changed her clothes to what she wore yesterday, and then left the building. After popping off one of Thorns’ spikes to get a morning gulp, Sylphane darted after Sapphira to find out where she went.

 

Sapphira had wandered too far within a few minutes for Sylphane to follow her. Wondering where Sapphira had disappeared to, Sylphane ran around the stands frantically, bumping into the same man that Sapphira had met yesterday. The man quickly grabbed Sylphane and dragged him in between two buildings. “Have you seen anyone with blue scales?” the man asked Sylphane worriedly.

 

“I would like to know who you are before I answer that question.” Sylphane stated to the man.

 

“Okay then,” the man affirmed. “I am Amargurd Manam, the highest priest in this city. I also have a loving wife and three children. Is that an adequate response, young man?”

 

“I suppose so.” Sylphane assured him. “And yes, I have seen someone with blue scales.”

 

“Could you tell me where this person is?” Amargurd implored. “I need to speak with the person immediately.”

 

“Unfortunately, no.” Sylphane admitted. “I was following her, but she ran off to somewhere else and now I don’t know where she is.”

 

“I can help you search for her.” Amargurd suggested.

 

“We’ll split up,” Sylphane proposed. “I’ll cover the left half while you search through the right half.” The two took off in separate directions afterward, looking everywhere for Sapphira.

 

“While Sylphane and Amargurd searched through the city, Sapphira stopped by a clothes stand after wandering around several other stands. A blue yarn ball caught Sapphira’s attention when she looked at the available items, so she picked it up and started to poke at it with her claws. Finding the string sphere interesting, Sapphira gave the clothes stand owner a few rupees and walked over to a mat and sat down on it. She then amused herself like a cat would, playing with the ball as if it were a mouse. As Sapphira was fooling around, a black object slithered into an alley. Wondering what the onyx creature that passed by was, Sapphira followed the creature, clinging onto the yarn ball nervously. Sapphira continued to tag along with the creature up to the point where she could see the animal was a snake. She also saw beside the snake a frightened woman, two boys, and a girl. Suddenly, the snake began to slam its head into a wall while lamenting in an incomprehensible language. Because it was such an unusual sight to see an animal to harm itself for no particular reason, Sapphira tried to listen more closely to it. Apparently, the snake was moaning, “Why do I have to do this?”

 

“Do what?” Sapphira inquired curiously, her ears dropping off after she had asked. Blue, cat-like ears with black tips popped up on top of Sapphira’s head from beneath her hair. The snake screamed in terror at the sight of Sapphira’s abruptly discarded ears and coiled up, sucking on its tail.

 

“Are you okay?” Sapphira asked it in a surprised tone.

 

“No,” the snake answered. “My master always force feeds me people. People taste strange, especially when they put on perfume!”

 

“Why can’t you just eat something you like then?” Sapphira questioned the serpent.

 

“If my master catches me doing so,” the snake wailed, “he’ll kill me!”

 

“I can get what you want.” Sapphira said to the creature.

 

Elated, the snake immediately replied, “How about cows? I’ve always wanted to taste one!” Parading though the streets, several muscular men carrying a gigantic golden cow statue passed by the alley Sapphira, the snake, the woman, the two boys, and the girl were in.

 

Staring at the huge statue baffled, Sapphira stammered, “Are cows sacred in this place?”

 

“Of course!” the woman announced, “Eating one would be a sin!”

 

“Anything else you like?” Sapphira asked the snake, turning her attention back to it.

 

The snake wrapped its tail around a bag of coins and placed it in Sapphira’s hands while telling, “Use these to buy four goats. Come back here when you get them.”

 

Following the serpent’s request, Sapphira exited the alley and headed towards the livestock stand Amargurd had shown her before. Sylphane spotted Sapphira when she left and teleported to the right half of the city to get Amargurd. Once he had done so, Sylphane teleported to the same spot he saw Sapphira while holding onto Amargurd. Amargurd was about to ask Sylphane something, but Sylphane dragged him along the ground as he ran to find Sapphira by following a set of bloody footprints that slowly morphed into the shape of dragon’s feet. Eventually, Sylphane and Amargurd were able to see Sapphira at the end of the footprint trail, along with some fragmented human toenails.

 

Sapphira had just reached the livestock stand, looking around to see if there were goats available. Apparently, there were plenty of goats at the stand, so Sapphira requested, “Four goats please.” The owner let out four of the goats and tied ropes loosely to the goat’s necks. He outstretched his right hand while holding the ropes with his left hand. Sapphira emptied the bag of coins into the owner’s right hand, grabbed the ropes, and then walked off with the goats in the same direction she came from.

 

Sylphane and Amargurd quietly followed behind Sapphira, wondering where she would go to next. Sapphira retraced her footprints back to the alley where the serpent was. Suspicious of why Sapphira would go back to such a place, Amargurd and Sylphane also entered the alley. Amargurd saw his family with the giant serpent, triggering anxiety to flow through his body. Noticing that Sapphira was nearing the snake, Amargurd shouted to her, “Run! It’s going to attack you!”

 

“No it’s not!” Sapphira sharply countered. “All it wants is some goats!” Sapphira walked the goats over to the snake and cut the ropes around their necks with her claws. The snake coiled around the goats after Sapphira stepped away from them.

 

“Does it still want to eat my family?” Amargurd hastily questioned.

 

“It doesn’t like eating humans.” Sapphira answered while looking at the snake.

 

“Let’s go back home then,” Sylphane suggested, “because I still think you don’t quite understand snake language.”

Sapphira, Amargurd, and Sylphane walked back to the building where Sapphira and Sylphane were staying in, immediately heading towards three seats with purple cushions on them. The trio sat on the chairs and sat in silence for a few minutes. Sapphira then spontaneously blurted while pointing at Amargurd, “Why is this guy in here, Sylphane?”

 

“”He said he wanted to talk to you.” Sylphane responded.

 

Amargurd, now feeling he had permission to speak, said to Sapphira, “Will you scratch your arm for a moment?” Although it seemed like an outlandish request to her, Sapphira scratched her left arm, Sky blue scales and the last of Sapphira’s human skin on that arm fell to the floor. Reaching down at one of the scales, Amargurd picked it up and compared it to a scale he kept from the day before. “So you are the demon?” Amargurd asked to confirm his inference.

 

“Are you going to make a big fuss over that?” Sapphira replied.

 

“Someone already is,” Amargurd told Sapphira.

 

“Is it major?” Sapphira inquired.

 

“Yes.” Amargurd confirmed, “Ashakran wants you gone from this city and I am not going to let that happen. You are going to vanquish Ashakran to liberate this city.”

 

“What?!” Sapphira exclaimed in shock. “Who’s this Ashakran person anyway?”

_________

Info needed for story:

There are a few inconsistencies in my mind about some historical things that are relevant to Sapphira's Past. Among the pieces of information missing that are necessary are these:

 

A. Were there "freak shows" 5000 years ago and how do freak shows work or something similar to them?

 

B. If a demon listening to a sermon in a congregation complained about the "(fill in the blank) is all-loving" and how hypocritical it is while shedding real tears, how would the humans in this congregation react?

 

U. Any other info that would be relevant

 

If there are any other relevant pieces of information, please post them here. This is sort of a historical fiction, but mostly fantasy (if you can't find info on A or B and just want to pull up suggestions, read the story in the link first for some ideas).

 

When posting, put A, B, or U for the information pulled up corresponding to the letter of the inquiry.

[CeDeFiA]

That was long but meeningful and creepy

[ShadowKyogre]

Thank you (I designed it to be that way)! Just wondering, how is it meaningful?

[CeDeFiA]

it sorta teaches you about true beauty in the middle

[ShadowKyogre]

Okay, I was hoping that kind of message would get through. I'll write more of it and post it.

[CeDeFiA]

Bump what?

[ShadowKyogre]

Erm...never mind...

[CeDeFiA]

lol

[ShadowKyogre]

Anyway, I wonder what's the worst thing someone could think of after reading this.

[Ericmp11]

This Stinks

[ShadowKyogre]

Well, I would like a significant reasoning on why it does, and that was partial spam because I said give constructive criticism, not insults.

[Obi-wan Cannoli]

Cool. Long creepy hostile inhumane disturbing. But interesting to read.

 

Where did you use this character. Just wondering...

 

If someone spoke this I would probably have nightmares. Reading never effects me. But when someone speaks something scary I get creeped out for days.

[ShadowKyogre]

I used Sapphira in one of my cards (she's a full demon in the card version).

[Wyhe]

what an interesting piece of information on your nightmares/subconscious

[ShadowKyogre]

Thank you and this is somewhat only near the beginning of what I'm going to type on this.

[zlane]

very interesting

[CTFx]

wow. -cough- creepy -cough- I didnt even bother to read it. Why would you go into all that just for a frickin backstory. Waste of time, my friend.

[ShadowKyogre]

zlane: Thank you and is there anything you like or you think needs fixing?

 

CTFx: If you didn't read it, then don't comment. I don't want to give you a negative rep for not giving explicit reasons on why it sucks (plus you did not give any constructive criticism) but I will. Also, I am not your friend.

[bury the year]

zlane: Thank you and is there anything you like or you think needs fixing?

 

CTFx: If you didn't read it' date=' then don't comment. I don't want to give you a negative rep for not giving explicit reasons on why it sucks (plus you did not give any constructive criticism) and I am not your friend.

[/quote']

 

That's not the first time he's been very rude and demeaning to a member on this site... I do think this goes in Fan-Fic, though. ;)

[ShadowKyogre]

Tectonix, what fan-fic are you talking about? Sorry, I'm just a little clueless.

[bury the year]

Tectonix' date=' what fan-fic are you talking about? Sorry, I'm just a little clueless.

[/quote']

 

I'm saying that since this is a story, it should go in the fan-fic forum. Just FYI. :?

[ShadowKyogre]

Yes, but it isn't related to any sort of show, comic, story, etc. that already exists.

[bury the year]

Yes' date=' but it isn't related to any sort of show, comic, story, etc. that already exists.

[/quote']

 

My logic was just that's it's a story... Besides, well... Urgh, forget it.

[ShadowKyogre]

I understand your logic, but it would be weird to place it there. Anyway, what do you think of it so far?

[bury the year]

Excellent writing and description, in response to your query.