Chapters The hustling and extraordinarily bustling market was accompanied by the yammering of the various(yet ironically similar) shoppers, the stone lamp posts shining with the fluorescent cobble that fills them, illuminating the vast shops and kiosks.
These streets were never filthy or damp, since these beings never bothered with food, and all there "toilets" were actually little holes that went into a lava pool a few kilometers down, so nothing smelled bad. Along with this, the only food they brought down was for me, since I actually had to eat, unlike they do...
This market only dealt in clothes, furniture, jewelry, tools, and various confidential files so thy can impersonate some one on the surface.
The files and lack of food confused me, and made me quite startled. I never asked what they were, and never bothered to ask there names, since they were identical in almost every way except their eyes and insect wings, which varied in color, but they were all a blackish gray, every last on of them.
But in a surprisingly quiet corner, in a small townhouse supplied to me by "The Queen", is where I sat contently making bead necklaces for the market to have something to do. It got me a few presents, so the rooms were never bland.
But, by a sender by the initials "Q.C.", I was getting a full house with a voluntary maid, so I would have to move immediately.
So here are the results of a ridiculous and mysterious letter:
"Bye everybody, I'll come by as soon as I can, okay?" I smiled, calling out. No one anwsered, as they were all busy getting various disguises for "The Mission", as it was called going around town. As soon as I got into the new house, I was to stay in there and lock the doors, a concept forbidden here.
I grabbed my box of things, and walked my way to the lower levels of the underground city, dubbed "The Hive".
Those three names were easy to remember, but no one actually knew the queen that well, since a new one just popped up, and this mission was her direct orders after five minutes of her new rule... But hey, you can't complain since she is the ruler.
But yada yada yada, I journeyed through the emptying streets, contemplating how the maid will be, as I probably never met her.
After ten minutes of walking, I see a guard looking at me rather confused by a big stone house. "Are you the Beader?" it was a woman for sure, wearing black and green armor, having a strong Russian accent. I felt a bit embarrassed, being in filthy rags.
"I'm a beader, but my name is Tristan." I sigh, but smile at her afterwards.
"Oh... The milkm-" I quickly blush and cover my face. "-aid.... What's wrong?"
"I was once a male ya know... This is very embarrassing for me..." I turn around, crimson, "And never call me the milkmaid ever again."
"... I can make the female thing permanent and you won't have to be embarrassed."
I didn't blush(this was a regular statement since females were more effective "Soldiers" apparently), and sighed, "I wouldn't mind that, but it's impossible." I poke her in the nose, "But why does everyone keep saying that?"
"... Class-"
"Classified, yes I get it already! But why!! It makes no sense that it's classified in the first place! Just tell me why it's classified!"
"..... She has plans for you, but she doesn't want to scare you. So it's classified. You are also irreplaceable and one of a kind, so your cooperation is invaluable. There. Quit bothering the guards about it now."
"Deal." I sigh, and open the door, grinning, "Russian ladies first."
"How did you know I was Russian?" she walks inside, and I follow, shutting and locking the door.
I mimicked her accent, "Because my home planet has Russians."
"Don't do that, but your quite funny actually. Well, I guess you should get acquainted with the house. Go nuts..."
I giggle (don't judge me) and run around the new house, and when I'm done counting what the rooms were(Three bedrooms, a bathroom, two storage rooms, a dining room, a kitchen, and a room with[believe it or not] a TV), I rush back to the Russian and hug her tight, twirling her around laughing. "THANK YOU SO MUCH! THIS IS SO WONDERFUL!" I stop twirling and hug her tight.
"It wasn't me, but your welcome... And if you ever get lonely, call me over, and you and your maid can go where ever you want.... But just wait, I need to go fetch her.... But let go first." I let go and scratch the back of my head.
She smiles and walks of into the roomy house, and is gone for quite some time.
When the wait becomes unbearable(ten minutes) I check in the bathroom, and before you could saw "Sorry" I shut the door and turned around, blushing a deep crimson again.
"It is hard, okay. I can't get the back zipped up.... You try getting a maid costume on."
"Remember when I said I was a guy..."
"So your not used to this?"
"Don't even look down when I'm nude... It feels so wrong..."
"But you don't mind helping? Right?"
"....." I choose not to answer that at all... Isn't that as easy as putting on one of those disguises or a uniform?"
"Ha, that was so funny I forgot to laugh... If you don't choose a gender, I'm making you a female Human permanently. Either help me zip this on or find a new maid."
"......." I cover my eyes, open the door and zip something up. "There."
"Now.... You can open your eyes and smile... This was hard to make."
I open my eyes and turn to face her... 'OH GOD! WHY DID I LOOK!' she was indescribable... Really, it's hard to, and my nose felt runny as something warm oozed out of my nostrils.
"Is that normal for your kind?"
"...." I blush and look away. "Change back into your armor.... Please." I shut the door and sit with my back to the door, sighing. "I really really hate my life..."
"Maybe we can make your for-"
"Tell me what the new queen's plan for me is first." I relax against the door, getting comfy.
"That will take a lot of persuading and the mission to be finally complete... But we must wait a few weeks for that..."
"I thought Ru-"
"No more stereotypes or I will force my order on you."
"... Fine." the door slams open and I fall on my head, getting a good view of the stone roof. "....Ow."
"You'll be fine, but wipe your nose. I'll get you some proper clothes.... Be good to yourself and your body."
I blush, get up and hide my face. "What are you things anyway."
"Thats classified." she grins and taps my nose. "But ask the Overworlders, and you'll know."
"And when can I get out of this hole?"
She grins and walks into one of the bedrooms, and without an accent, she says: "Maybe when you understand we are not all we seem to be. Okay." her voice flowed like a beautiful symphony, and there it stayed, so she wasn't Russian...
Too bad, I kinda fantasized about a friend that can handle anything....
But these were the very beginnings of the calm before the storm.
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Chapter 2: Girly habits and Crazy happenings
For the next few hours, we decorated the house, not saying a word. The maid simply decorated with precision, not really seeking to care about her surroundings. She took care of all the heavy lifting and I took care of all the little details, decorating the bland walls.
But I was distracted, very distracted. It was the man inside me, relaying what I say from the bathroom over and over again. The whole time I was very distant to everything.
Before I knew it, while I was just sitting on the bed staring off into nothingness, I felt a hand grab my left shoulder lightly.
I look to see the maid, seeming rather concerned for me. "What's wrong Tristan?"
I sigh and lay on the bed, my feet hanging off the side.
"Would you like to talk about it."
I look away and nod, and feel my face is rather warm.
"Is it about the bathroom incident?"
I nod.
"Are you confused how to feel? Because if you are, I'll level with you. I didn't mind that at all, so no need to feel embarrassed."
I mutter 'thanks.' but my blush doesn't go away. "But that's not it... Why would the queen make you wear that just for me..."
"That's-"
"Classified, fine..." I mutter, and look her in the eyes.
"Actually, she just wanted you to have some luxury. She thought owning a maid would help with moving in and cleaning the house. But hey, if the dress was too revealing...."
"Yeah, no maid outfit... But why am I stuck down here?"
"She's afraid of the security of her people. You are alien to this world, and anyone would take you away and interrogate on everything. We can't risk being discovered after so many decades of secrecy."
".... Oh...." I sigh.
"But when the mission is over, you can go Topside."
I grin, "Okay... Can you knock me out first, so I can sleep through it?"
"I can, but first... Tell me about yourself... Where did you come from, what it was like there, and how do you perform magic?" she me in the eye, anticipating mind-blowingly awesome things by the grin on her face.
"..." I smile and sit up, only to lie in the bed properly right after. "Okay, I won't tell you were I'm from so you don't invade it..."
She glares at me immediately.
"I'm only kidding, but where I come from, it's covered mostly by water, like huge seas. My species are the most sentient ones there are, and weve only documented only two percent of what lives or lived-"
She scoffs, and I wait and listen, "No offense but your species sounds really stupid."
"Hey, my planets sixty billion years old and in only five decades or so, have organisms been recorded officially... And if there was one encyclopedia of all of them, the pages could reach to the lowest part of this place to the highest in a tightly bound book."
"Okay, impressive than..."
"Yeah, we're smart but yes, we are quite stupid. We fight with whole armies over something stupid, and many of my species have disorders, addictions, and because of how the planets going, there have been birth problems..."
"Oh my!" she covers her mouth.
"Yeah, it sucks, but because of that we mastered many creativities, keep many traditions from long ago, and have many advances in technology. Some of my people are born geniuses and end up revolutionizing something important of our lives, and our education is very good..."
She frowns at me, "But is that all worth it?"
"My planet is quickly overpopulating, and were running out of resources and the planet is polluted... So much but you can't see it..." I sigh, "But even than, at least we became civil."
"Not worth it."
"Yeah, and the only magic we perform are fake tricks meant to amuse the weaker minds..."
"NO!" she stares with bewilderment and disbelief screaming at me.
"Yeah.... But I don't know much about your world... So tell me, what is up with this place?"
She sighs, and begins explaining everything about this planet in extreme depth, and than after a while something about 'Her Kind' ..... 'Born in eggs.', but I was nodding off, and soon fell asleep afterwards.
But I did dream about everything she just mentioned: the legend of the Princesses, Griffons, Pegisi, Unicorns, basically anything mythical being real... Even world peace.
But what kept relaying in my head, was the legend of the princesses:
The eldest sister, the Day, overshone her sister, Night for a long time. After a bit, Night grew jealous, and manifested in that form(jealousy) and plunged the world in darkness, threatening 'Night Time Eternal'. The eldest had to choose wether to save her people, or wait to save her sister... Day chose her people, and banished her sister on the moon, still trapped in her jealous form. The banished sister would return after a thousand years... Plunging the world into night once more....
And I actually dreamt I was her 'handmaiden of darkness'... But it felt way too real.
And all I could feel that whole night with my unconcious body, is the maid lying on my chest, and a tug on my heart... As if I was being summoned.
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Chapter 3: Explaining done with More mysteries
For the next few days, I ignored the constant tugging when I slept and discussed how our planets worked with the Maid/Guard, but I was vague about mine, since I thought that bringing that to light would cause chaos.
And when all was settled, I popped the question nagging at the back of my head. "What is your name..." I emphasized 'is' to prove the point she never introduced me.(hey, I could go a month without knowing someone's name, and not care...)
"... Call me Shade." she grinned at me from the other edge of the bed.
We've been sleeping in the same bed because Miss 'Shade' was scared something might happen to me... I called it a load of crap, but she simply shrugged and did it anyway. I didn't mind that much, as long as she didn't do anything.
"Okay.... What's your rank?" She looked at me rather perplexed and sat up, than I explained, "Your in the queens army right?"
"Oh... Lieutenant. So I'm high up, but not too high up."
"Than why are you wasting your time with little ol' me?" I grinned.
"I actually volunteered...." she smiled back.
"Was that when..."
"Yes, during your little psycho-accident.... I thought you needed guidance... So I volunteered. You should be lucky... No other non-possessive guards volunteered."
This was my turn to stare at her confused.
"Meaning you'd be slave nine out of ten." she grins wider.
"Well... Maybe they would have told me what you guys were and why exactly I'm still stuck here."
"You would have been whipped." she sang, sounding not very amused.
"So what?" I grinned, and poked her nose.
"ARE YOU C-" the stone front door gets knocked repeatedly.
"HEY, SHADE! MISSION IS ABORTED! I REPEAT, MISSION IS ABORTED! WE HAVE TO GO NOW! THE QUEEN HAS BEEN DEFEATED! LEETS GOOOO!" a voice shouted and than heavy footsteps echo through the empty streets.
"Oh no... We need to go!" Shade quickly grabs me and carries me over her shoulder as she bolts out the door, rushing through the streets, and she joins the other guard(who's male), and we all escape the confines of the city.
My head bobbles all around as I'm tossed around like a little girls doll, and Shade dashes through the caverns, which are nearly pitch black. All the three of us could probably hear is the crunch of loose stones, the bounds of their feet, and the pants of our breath.
"What happened?!" I shouted out finally, feeling a bit sick actually.
"We tried what we thought was impossible, and we were proving victorious... But we were overthrown from a mere decimal chance! We should've locked the prisoner in a far away dungeon... We never saw I coming..."
"Saw what?!" Me and shade asked in unison.
It was a few moments, but we got our anwser: "The prisoner escaped and was reunited, striking a magical blow never seen before... From the same magic we were obtaining... In every way."
"..... You can steal magic?" I whispered in Shades ears.
"I'll explain later, but close your eyes, the light might blind you..." she replies.
I close my eyes tight and cover them, trying make sure I didn't go blind... Being a girl and blind when your a boy with good eyesight... Total reversal and I didn't like that.
Time passed slowly, and the cool caverns seemed to go on forever. We didnt stop, and we didn't seem to go any farther. I decided to go to sleep and wake up when we reached safety. So I did, and found serenity despite everything going on.
I awoke with a yawn and open my eyes to see the moon out and a woman with blue hair glaring right at me. She grins and hugs me tight, "Thank goodness your okay!"
There are to more guards leaning over Shade and the other one.
"You were kidnapped by these fiends, and these same ones are wanted for espionage, kidnapping, attempted murder... And other new age crimes." the woman replies.
"WHAT?!" I push her off, and she falls on her back. The other two guards help her up and scowl at me. "Listen, these people were helping me! They took care of me and helped me live! And you are the same people who discriminate them and imprison them!"
She glares at me, angry, than with understanding. than she walks straight into my face and I glare menacingly into her eyes... They were a beautiful emerald green.... Tis a shame..."You've obviously been brainwash-" I punch her in the eye and spit in the other one.
"You're obviously insane! Leave us alone and go far far away!" I shout as she recovers, and I stand up, "Come on guys, lets ditch these bounty hunter fools."
The guards laughed and quickly catch themselves, the woman glaring at them as she nurses her one eye.
"We hope your intoxicated..." she starts, than her eye turns into a reptile-like green slits, and she sneers. "Or do you want an initiation to be a living nightmare?"
"What?" I was very confused by the statement.
Her eyes are normal and she repeats: "We said, 'We hope your intoxicated'."
".... I heard that, by the other thing..." I was still confused.
Every body present stared at me, and I got self-conscious, my face heating up. "The initiation thing..." I murmured and my face grew hotter.
"She's clearly intoxicated, but maybe she's sober enough to tell me what went down there...." the women points at the cave entrance.
"Oh. Not much. A bit of mining' here and there for some extra pay.... They are really strange... That and I was once someone else." I admit.
"........ Well, I guess she didnt do anything to provoke them, and she probably was just being assisted to somewhere from being asked.... Let them go."
The perplexed guards released my comrades, even the queen, and even I gave the same bewildered expression to the guards, and mouthed to them 'What just happened?'
They both just shrugged, than they start to gape. I turn to look at the recently-freed queen.... Making out with the woman!
"God! Get a room!" I call out, and everyone glares a me. Either that was bad timing, or really rude... Both are 99% correct... I think.
The guards start to whisper to one another, while the woman sighs and begins to walk away, soon escorted by the guards as they carry their jailing equipment.
I hold a clenched fist to the side of my head, and open it quickly while making a vocal explosion sound effect, than I stare at the queen...
Her familiar insect wings and gray skin meant she was definitely one of them, and her hands were glowing behind her back.
"What are yo-"
"Be silent, insolent boy-" ('YES! SHE GOT MY GENDER RIGHT!') "- and listen to me very carefully! They want not only me, but you! You almost jeopardized everything!...." she sighs and looks me in the eye, "But I regretfully admit, you did save me. I respect you for that. You don't even care what you've gotten into, and put someone you never knew infront of your own safety...." she scowls and her eyes grow fierce, "BUT NOW WERE EVEN! There's a town far down that way-" she points to a rock, which is met by the north star above it, "- and I dont even want to see you in our kingdom ever again."
I was taken aback by this... I was welcome everywhere in the hive, is this really how her rule will go?
"Now good luck sir... Thank you for your assistance." she walks away quickly, escorted by Shade and the other guard. They head to a hill and cross it, going out of sight.
"Anytime my-lady..." I mutter, sighing after. I sit down and begin to stew in my own juices, trying to comprehend what happened.
Time flew, and soon the sky was getting brighter. It didn't bother my eyes, but I knew I had to rush to town before I got lost in the woods, which I could now see surrounding me.
I found the north star shining dimly and I began to sprint in its direction, finally reaching what looked like a hut inside a tree.
Civilization was only a knock away!
New Beginnings
Melodic plunks echoed through the ever deep caverns ravaged by earth and time, darkness coating them throughout, with only the illuminating rocks to give light... To find their prey.
I knew this place. It was my prison... But now it's my keep, incapable of being disturbed let alone invade.
The dark stone and various odds decorate the cavern walls, accompanied by the gorgeous gems many seek to find, but remain undisturbed by the beings that walk alongside them everyday. Their worldview is that gems and ores are worth hardly of any value. A prehistoric-like community. Yet they are civilized in every fashion.
But here I stay, abandoned, alone, and forever shunned, even by the very things that welcome(d) me here so long ago. I was nothing more than a cattle, and they fed of me everyday, yet I lay unscathed in this wretched hay.
Once upon a time, I was free from this place, only to be knocked unconscious and locked away in a cell, for I was, and forever will be: the Human.
And even longer ago, I was a man of dignity and pride. But here I stay, subject to sorcery and magic beyond comprehension, even more ravaged by there heinous tricks and illusions. Now, I am, and sadly will forever be just the milk to their cookies: a simpleton by their standards of education, and just a woman.