Archive of Our Own ^beta

Lamp Entertainment presents…

It’s one of my earliest memories.

My eyes snap open and I raise my head, looking around groggily.

I’m in my cage. I’m always in my cage.

”Why do I gotta do it?”

Voices. It was voices that woke me up, the voices of the guards. They’re coming closer. They must be coming to give me my food. I lay back down and pretend to sleep until they have left the food.

”’Cause you’re the strongest one here.”

”But I had to do all the other ones. And this is the littlest one, can’t one of you do it? Just this one time?”

The guards stop in front of my cage. I take a deep breath but I don’t smell any food. I smell magic and my stomach growls. I take another deep breath and smell some blood. My other stomach growls.

”You handled the other ones so well, I just figured—”

”Number One nearly bit my head off!”

Number One attacked a guard again? I hope they didn’t hurt her too bad…

”Yeah, and imagine what it would have done with the rest of us if you hadn’t been there! This one’s tiny, so it should be easy peasy for a big strong guy like you, right?”

I take another deep breath. I can’t smell any food. No food, no rats. If they are not going to feed me, then what are they doing here? I want to open my eyes but I don’t dare to. If Number One attacked them then they are probably angry.

”You’re just making me do it because I’m half-a-witch, aren’t you? You guys don’t think I have any magic to steal, is that what it is?”

That guard sounds angry.

”What? No! We’re ma-we’re asking you to do it because you’re strong and really good at handling beasts. Have people been calling you half-a-witch? Because that’s not okay, and it goes against everything the Emperor’s Coven stands for. You should talk to the captain about it after we’re done here.”

”No… look, I feel kinda bad about this whole thing, okay? Putting muzzles and chains on these beasties… it’s one thing with the big ones, but this one’s just a baby.”

Baby. I don’t know what that is. Muzzles. Chains. I know what those are. Beast. I know what that means. That’s what I am, I think.

The guard doesn’t sound happy but the other guards laugh.

”Oh Titan, that’s what this is all about? Looks like you’ve got a soft side under that stony hide after all!”

They suddenly stop laughing.

”B-but I kinda get it, it does look kinda cute when it’s sleeping… but remember, it’s still a basilisk. Even a small one can drain all your magic in just a few seconds.”

”I know, I know, but… can you put the muzzle on her? Just this one time?”

Muzzle. They put that on our mouths so we can’t bite them or eat their magic. I don’t like them. Makes it hard to breathe. 

They put the muzzle on me and take me out of the cage when they need to clean the cage. Maybe they are going to clean the cage.

”…fine. I’ll do it. You did take care of the big ones, I suppose it’s only fair. Gudrun, Erwin, same as before. As soon as I get the muzzle on it, you come in with the shackles. Got it?”

Fabric rustles. Steps on stone. Soft clanging when metal meets metal. Metal scrapes on stone.

My heart starts beating faster when the guard comes closer. I want to do something. I want to scratch the guard. I want to bite the guard. I want to open my eyes and look at the guard.

I do nothing. I don’t want the guard to get angry and hurt me.

Cold metal presses against my face. Leather around my head, tight.

I can’t take it anymore. I open my eyes. The guard looks like all the other guards. Grey face. Black eyes. Grey and black and white fur.

”It’s awake! Erwin, Gudrun, quick now!”

It sounds afraid. Of me? Why?

How does the guard speak when it doesn’t have a mouth?

Two more guards run in fast. They put more cold metal on me. One shackles my hands together. The other puts a collar around my neck. It’s heavy, with a chain that a big guard outside the cage is holding.

The big guard pulls on the chain. I rise slowly.

”Good girl, just stay calm. We’re not gonna hurt you.”

Girl. I don’t know what that means. Is that what I am?

Beast. Monster. Basilisk. Number Five. V. I know I am those.

”Just come here…”

The big guard pulls on the chain again. I move forward slowly. None of the guards yell or hit me, so I’m not doing anything wrong.

I follow the big guard through the… corridor? The long place outside the cages… I don’t think I have ever been this far away from my cage. The other guards follow behind.

We go through a door and then another corridor and then we come to a big door. One of the guards goes up to it and unlocks it with a big key.

The guard opens the door and I’m blinded, by a big, warm light.

Ecstasy of Gold

My phone makes a loud buzz, interrupting my meditation. ”Meditation,” in this case, being another word for a nap.

I stretch my arm above my head with a groan. I breathe in the hot summer air. A slight breeze tries to cool me down, but it’s no match for the sun’s intense rays.

My phone buzzes again and with a small sigh I open my eyes. Rolling over on my side, I pull my phone out of my pocket. I have to shield it with my hand to even see what’s on the screen in the bright sunlight.

Two messages from Masha.

Hello???

I’m here now is anyone home?

Oh, right. Stupid me. How could I have forgotten Masha was coming over today?

I quickly text them back.

I’m on the roof

I don’t have to wait for long before Masha comes walking around the back of the house, looking up at the roof.

”What are you doing up there?” they ask with a smile that was equal parts amused and bemused.

”Basking,” I half-shout back, giving them a little shrug. ”Enjoying the sun, you know. Taking a nap. I, uh… I kinda forgot you were coming over. Sorry.”

”Basking, right… ’cause you’re a lizard,” they say, as if they had somehow forgotten that little detail.

Well, scientifically speaking, I’m not a lizard, and I’m not even coldblooded, so I don’t really need to bask… but it feels nice, so I do it anyway.

I was just about to hop on down when Masha started climbing the ladder I used to get up.

”Be careful,” I warn them. ”You could get really hurt if-”

”Yeah yeah, I’ve got fragile human bones, I know,” Masha interrupts me. ”Don’t worry, I won’t fall,” they say, though they still accept my hand when I reach out to help them up and onto the roof. They carefully sit down and scoot over next to me.

”Actually, speaking of lizard people…” they say, wiggling around a little, trying to get comfortable. ”I ran into Hopkins today, and he had some stuff to say about that. Did you know you guys control the government? ’Cause you haven’t told me that.”

”Meh, give Tetra a few years. If anyone’s gonna take over the world, it’s her,” I say jokingly… well, mostly jokingly.

”She’d probably do a better job than most supposed world leaders right now,” they say with a crooked smile. They take my hand, intertwining their fingers with mine.

I nod and hum in agreement. I love the Human Realm, but if I had hoped that stupidity and cruelty were exclusive to the Demon Realm, then I had set myself up for disappointment. But it’s hard to think about such things on a day as nice as this. So I lay back down, Masha doing the same.

I close my eyes again and face the sun. The sun hangs high up in the sky, sharing an ecstasy of gold with us little ones down here on the planet Earth.

Whatever else we had planned to do that day was now forgotten as we simply lay there, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the silent warmth of each other’s company. It’s a quiet day, only the occasional wind rustling the leaves, or a car passing by on the street, or a few birds singing.

”It’s one of my earliest memories,” I say after a little while. Or maybe it’s been a long while and I dozed off again. ”When I saw the sun for the first time.”

”Hmm,” Masha hums. ”I think you told me about that,” they say, struggling to hold back a yawn. ”They were moving you to a new place, right?”

”Yeah…” I mumble. I told them that? I can’t remember when I did that. I don’t like to talk about my past too much. Especially with Masha. I… I don’t want to burden them. ”It’s a good memory. I think that was… I think the reason I remember that so clearly is because when I saw the sun and felt its warmth… that was the first time I felt alive.”

Yes… now that I was thinking about it, I really couldn’t remember anything specific from before that day. It was all just feelings and impressions. Cold, dull, grey, and dark. That was all I knew before that day when I first saw the sun. That was hardly something you could call living.

I don’t like talking about my past too much, because I don’t want to burden the people I love. The knowledge of pain is also pain, after all. And I would much rather make new memories with them, good memories. 

I feel Masha shifting a little next to me and they squeeze my hand a little tighter. I squeeze their hand back.

Memories like this, so simple, yet so far away from that cold prison. No pain, no worries, no fear, just love, and joy in the simple things, existing together. That’s what life should be. And that’s what my life is right now.