DEMON 688

Where polished brass surfaces had once crowded the core of the facility, ash and fog now concealed their gleam. Though they did not much consider it now, the engineers that survived would later think themselves grateful for respite from the dangerous reflections that now roamed their home and workplace.

Another burst of escaping steam hissed into the corridor, adding weight to the hot mist. Somewhere in the grey and the noise, the outline of the foreign entity still moved.

"Directions unclear," clacked and rasped the voice of the intruder. Impatience mounting like pressure in the stressed machinery that littered the giant factory's top floor, Sikksayt rammed its bladepoint into the nearest porthole, wrenched it away again with a horrible keening shriek of glass. Beyond the window, sunset, and smoking chimneys. "Repeat them."

But the engineer had already crawled away into the fog, and Sikksayt could no longer see who or what was hiding behind the cloud. Nor could it see which route down the hallway lead to the roof, or even distinguish the walls from the doors.

The demon was furious, and it was upset, and it was hopelessly lost.

"State name and nature," it barked desperately into the tangled pipeworks behind the grey, and decided that, in the absence of a guide, one route was as good as any.

Finally learning how to traverse between planes, It set to go on a random plane, lucky it would be Earth's. Finding Itself in the human world, it began to explore, kill, manipulate, curiosity leading It's decisions. After a while It had already learned all the human languages and their cultures. Social interaction was still an unknown for It but it adapted quickly. It even projected a human body with It's shadow powers. Though it was all dark and shadowy, it worked if others saw it from a distance. It was easier for It to manipulate a human body using shadows. Taking a ride along side a factory worker's shadow, It left to start the day. Almost like "Bring Your Shadow to Work" day.

Upon arriving, It was met with another strange creature indeed. The engineer was obliging the hellish creature's request by telling information and The Shadow lay hidden, quietly listening. As the engineer made to crawl away, leaving, The Shadow quickly intervened. It had to know more about this strange alien. It made the engineer get up and turn back from the direction he came. Standing before the hellish creature, It tilted the body's head as if to show curiosity. The engineer was almost having a heart attack but unable to do anything as the body wasn't his anymore.

@Antarctic Termite

Elizabeth could remember nothing of her last few moments, or of even the last few hours. This concerned her, but for now she had concerns greater than that. She had awoke surrounded by immense clouds of smoke, fog, and mist, and coughed as it entered her lungs. She fanned her right hand in front of her mouth in order to try to get it all away from her as she coughed, and with her stern wooden staff held in front of her feet she began to walk. She looked down at herself, and at least everything was in order in regards to her appearance; a long robe mostly of blue with portions of white, and her long, flowing blonde hair was fine except that it was a little messy.

"Damnation!" Elizabeth said. "Where the hell am I? Under what sort of nefarious contraption was I brought here? Has some sort of spell brought me here? No matter. Tara? Miles? Are you there? No? Hell."

It became clear to her that where she was not at Haven anymore once she took a good look at where she was. The bronze of the facility was hidden by the fog, but when Elizabeth took a closer look she could tell that it was a factory. She supposed that she was once again back on Earth. She was not glad to be back here. She hated this world. She walked with flame conjured in one of her hands, just in case she found her way to some danger. She was walking basically in the dark when she found some being walking there. She did not know that it was a demon.

"Who's there?" Elizabeth said. "I'm warning you, if you cross me you won't like the result."

DEMON 688

It was the flickering light that caught Sikksayt's attention first. Whether too stubborn to turn now that it had settled on a direction or simply distracted by hissing steam, the demon was not aware of the puppet body until after it sailed towards Elizabeth, hearts thudding.

Fire! Fire is good; Fire meant home. Surely the wizardess capable of conjuring such a bright flame was a senior devil, well acquainted with the Hellish arts! She could show him the way.

"Six-eight," wheezed Sikksayt in answer as it sailed out of the fog and waved its head respectfully at the blue-robed demon, neck uncoiling and twisting around like a worm. The two words slurred together in its accent, as always. "Please escort me to the rooftop observatory immediately. I have very important business."

Not too far away, the footsteps grew closer.

"...Also, I believe I'm being followed. Your protection would be much appreciated, sir."

Without pausing, Sikksayt moved to the wall and gestured for Elizabeth to take the lead towards the approaching engineer, turning back the way it had come. Changing directions didn't bother Sikksayt much. Given my luck, I was most certainly going the wrong way anyway.

The puppet human shambled from the fog, the fear in his face flattened by a lifelessly calm curiousity.