In the year 2070, man finally became a true space-faring race, finally blessed with the dream of true space exploration they colonized Mars first, terraforming it so that it would become inhabitable to the human species after setting up colonies all about the Solar system first.
However with the technology still in its infancy there were bound to be mistakes, and there were, thousands of them, in the form of humans with certain genes mutating into monstrous creatures. The Mutant War that took place on Mars lasted two decades until the last of the mutants were finally hunted and eliminated,the surface then scanned for what caused the mutation. Errors were fixed and the terraforming system was tried one more time.

The reforming of Mars succeeded, the humans with the mutative gene were capable of living on Mars. But this would not be the last of Man's difficulties. Unknowingly they awakened a dimensional portal, a gateway in space just above Mars, large enough for an entire Fleet to pass into.

Surely enough Man's curiosity forced them to investigate, taking the opportunity to investigate something believed to be mythical was the greatest find of the century, and Man's stupidity proved to be the worst. For total investigation of the alternative dimension, the Humans sent through several Federation Police battleships and two full colony ships.

During the year 2110, the investigative earth forces settled on a planet in the alternative dimension, supposedly inhabited by great deals of animal life. But some months after the colonies had settled on the planets surface near its Ocean, they discovered what could be described as a whole host of monsters and creatures never seen before int he forests and under the waters. What truly stunned them was that there were colonies of humanoids also, dotted all around the planet.

In the year 2112, the humans were finally treated to the horror that was 'Demons'. For the door to the alternate dimension had welcomed them, not to hell, but to a Netherworld. Although the planet was a great garden of beauty, those that inhabited it were hellish creatures with supernatural powers. However during the Demon raid of the human city, now called 'New Eden', when things seemed their worst, New Eden was bathed in a Holy Light from above. To humans amazement they were saved by honest-to-goodness Angels.

The Angels explained that the Humans had stumbled into a Dimension of supernatural powers that was once before locked away. And they, as creations of God, were created to regulate peace in the Nether-Galaxy. Now that the humans were here, however, they had no choice but to provide them aid and given them access to tools and materials required to kill out of control demons. However the Humans were warned that not all Demons were hostile, some even being quite docile.

In the passing years the Angels lectured the humans on what foods could be foraged and what creatures could be eaten without bad effects on their minds or bodies. They aided the humans in building Magical Barriers to stay lesser demons and ways to detect greater threats to the City, while at the same time the Angels also welcomed non-hostile demons into the city so that the humans could understand for themselves.

Humans discovered other, bizarre Boons to being on this Netherworld. They had been blessed with access to unnatural powers, magic, and again the Angels taught the humans. However Humans are fed by power.. And it was only a short time before some humans began to abuse these powers, Realizing they could absorb the life force of other humans upon their death to increase their power faster. A life-force named Mana by the Angels. The source of Magic.

The year is now 2190 AD. Humans that abuse their powers are contained or killed. Demons that cause problems or attack the city are hunted down, imprisoned or, similarly, executed. In order to fulfill this goal more effectively the Federation Police built a second Division, the Supernatural Defense Force, specializing int he hunting, capture or elimination of corrupt Humans, Fallen Angels or hostile Demons.

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It was in the mostly Demon dominated southeast residential district of New Eden, among the demons lived another of their ilk. He was quiet, kept to himself and enjoyed living among the humans. It was a much more peaceful existence than the one that was to be experienced outside New Eden's protective barriers, that was for certain. Although he seemed normal enough, Zeran, the human name assigned to him, was distinctly powerful for a demon. enough to be noticed, if he hadn't been suppressing the nature of his power.
Among the dangerous demons there were many weaker than him Graded A in terms of just how dangerous the potentially could be, seven the few S-Class types that were welcomed into the city could not measure up to Zeran's secretive power. In the end he was classed a C, a moderately strong demon with access to some magical power as he had been asked to demonstrate what he was capable of. The readings showed him to be telling the truth about his capabilities, they couldn't detect anything even close to a B or higher.

Zeran was a greater power because he descended from an Overlord, the most dangerous kind of Demon, the kind that occasionally had to be fought off by dozens of Angels. But unlike his birth parent, Zeran had no desire for destruction and mindless violence and so went rogue, fleeing to the city and containing his power with a rare skill passed to him. Perhaps Zeran's 'supposed' weakness of character was part of the breeding that produced him, but that would be a story for a different time.

As of right now, the silver-haired demon sat quietly in the apartment he had been given, he worked to pay for it like any human, and enjoyed the simpler things just because of how simple and different they were. In one hand he held a cup of coffee and in the other a remote for the modestly sized VidScreen that he flicked on with the purpose of watching the recent news. He foresaw another normal, quiet day, no work today, which meant he could relax and enjoy the interesting things humans would broadcast. What could possibly go wrong on such a nice morning?

Falda; with folded wings-- that's what her name meant. Though, mere humans didn't have wings; but she liked it that way. Magic to her was immoral and evil. It was against her people's former laws of physics. Even if she was in a totally different world, she still respected the stands of her former homeland. Home planet- no! Home dimension.

Falda was one of the few people here born on Earth. Only a few settlements still thrived on that dieing planet. In her teens, when volcanic ash from a recent eruption finally blocked out the sun, her family decided it was time to move on. They went to the moon, then Mars. It took over a decade, but science had expanded the lives of everything. They had time to burn.
After that she took a job with the federation police to help control the events and population in the new world. She had heard about the angels, but... to her it seemed like a giant government cover up. Angels? More like strange aliens who used the religions of man to take power over them. Despicable.

And as for the demons... they were just mutants. More aliens who had no civilized thoughts. It was just one giant fantasy story. There was no magic- only science and new physics. There were no angels or demons, just aliens in a new dimension. Calling them such was just as naive as ancient peoples thinking up folklore to explain natural occurrences.

She wasn't an atheist, though-- far from it. Her whole family was deeply religious, as was she. Over the centuries Christianity had morphed and until it became a mere husk of what it was. The bible had been abandoned long ago (for most it was to old to have any relevance for such a modern society-- in reality its morals had become to hard to follow. Thou shall not commit adultery? Thou shall not kill? People who did that now were considered saints. Self control had been abandoned long, long ago), but the basic concept was the same.


Falda sighed and climbed the stairs, taking the chance for a quick work out when she could. Pills could eat away fat, operations could replace organs, and electrical stimuli could build muscles, but it wasn't the same for her. She liked to do everything herself. If for whatever reason she was stranded somewhere, Falda was one of the few people in the world who could survive without technology holding her hand- and she was proud of it.

When she came to a door at the end of a hall the agent took a note out of her pocket. 651, fourth floor, last door to the left. Her green eyes looked over her destination again to double check. After she was sure Falda reached out a bony, metal covered hand to tap at the door.

"Police, open up!
C'mon, Zeran class C, I know you're in there. We can do this the hard way or the easy way."

Zeran was startled by the sudden rapping on the door. Why did the police want to speak with him? The demon got to his feet, placing down the coffee mug and the remote, turning the sound down quickly before making his way to the door which, as a courtesy, he opened to the female voice on the other side.

What he saw stunned him, but at the same time, saddened him. His eyes saw quite a world weary being before him. What dark secret was there within her? He didn't inquire into it, let alone even let her know he could sense such things. Graciously he opened the door further and motioned for her to enter if she wanted to,
"Please come in. What is this all about, ma'am?" Zeran asked, walking back in the direction of the living room and picking up his coffee mug. His apartment was decent, clean, mostly consistent of white or gray objects, even a few steel-silver surfaces.

Something about this situation didn't feel right. The demon's mind suddenly filling with thoughts, paranoia, worry. Police never bothered him before, and he certainly had done nothing wrong since arrival. Perhaps it was simply an inquiry into other demons activity? Somehow his mind told him there was more going on.
To continue, however, in a calm manner, he began to drink his coffee once again, turning tot he officer and keeping his blood-red eyes on her, barely moving himself.

Her emerald eyes looked him up and down, then scanned his apartment. She outstretched her hand to show the small holes on the tips of her fingers. Each one had a gun surgically inserted on the ends. Both hands looked like they had metal gloves, but for now she only used one.

Falda entered the apartment and edged along the walls to check the other rooms, never turning her back to him. When the area was secured-- no other demons or threats-- the officer finally relaxed slightly. She kept aiming for him, though. If he made any sudden movements he'd find at least ten bullets jammed into his skull within milliseconds.

"Don't play dumb with me. I've read your case file; they've misclassified you. C? I think you've slipped through the cracks. I've arranged for you to come down to the precinct to be questioned and tested again."

She nodded her brunette head towards the door and motioned him forward. "As I said, we can do this the hard way or the easy way. You know as well as I do that if I 'accidentally' shot you no disciplinary council would even bat an eye at it."

"I see... That is a bit of a problem... You wouldn't believe what you would see... I just want peace and quiet... If you want to see for yourself, shoot me." He replied, placing down the coffee mug and standing there calmly. He showed no fear at all. It was true he was heavily misclassified, but she wouldn't be downing an easy target, she had no clue at all what she was targeting.

Zeran knew this could not end well. There was no way they could have just found this out. At least not without outside interference. Some fool who knew he lived here, had retreated here. Unfortunately the suspect list was large, but most likely it was one of his father's personal soldiers, scum all of them and trouble every single one.

He braced himself for her to shoot him, calm red eyes complacently staring at the flimsy technology. The slight arrogance as a demon had come to rise in his mind. Even blessed tools or weapons, guns or swords, they couldn't simply strike down beings of his level. But was she really so regardless that she would do such a thing? He had never seen humans as the brightest bulbs on the planet, but was she really that cold?
"I'll make it easier for you.." He suddenly stated, walking in her direction, face calmly fixated on the gun-hand, if she shot, she shot, there would be blood,t here would be mess and his body would fall to the floor. But it would not stay down for long, "Go on. Please, I implore you. If I cant have peace, then you better start shooting and hope I stay dead.. Because if you don't manage it, I'll have to find the one who betrayed me and ruined what quiet life I had... And they probably wont want to die willingly.."

She aimed right at him and started shooting. It didn't require any movement from her. All it took was the very thought of shooting- like someone walking. You just think it, and you do it. The guns she had on her hand had been wired into her very brain!

Though the bullets were small, there were a lot of them. She aimed right to his chest, hoping to hit the heart. At least 50 jutted out of her finger tips like mini machine guns, making a funny "tiptiptip" sound as they did.

"I told you..." she sighed and pulled a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe her metal glove. "You picked the hard way, this isn't my fault."

Falda calmly walked over to the body and kicked it lightly with her foot, sighing again. "You know, your land lord isn't going to like the mess you made."

Once she was happy with her polishing, the officer turned back to the door and pulled out a PDA from her pocket to send a few notes to her superiors.

Suspect resisted, used reasonable force to detain him, resulting in death.

Short, sweet, and to the point. His life and death would be summed up in those eleven words.

The body remained still for a moment, sure enough there was quite a mess. But then Zeran moved, his body turning over and pushing itself up again. The glare from the window revealed the bullet holes that had formed on the other side of his body. The trail of blood and bits that had spread across the floor seeming to roll his way, absorbing into his flesh and slowly making him whole again, blood returning to him as a trail up his body that vanishing before the skin healed over.

"It would take much more to kill me, I'm afraid..." Zeran turned his body, red eyes focusing on the female in a much harder fashion than before. His calm, nonchalant expression traded for an angered one, "Much.. Much more than your human toys could hope to do..." The angered face seemed to go away and he held a hand over his face suddenly,
"No.. Stop... Calm down... This isn't your way... " He muttered to himself in sequence, taking a deep breath and relaxing.

"Who told you that I was incorrectly classified? Who knows that I am more than I want to be?" Zeran asked suddenly, lowering his hand and letting it hang at his side. She was welcome to try again if she wasn't satisfied, but the end result would always be the same,
"You cannot just make such a statement on a whim.. I fooled those tests easily... You must have had reason to believe I am what I am... If they even told you what I am..."

Falda quickly turned around with her eyes wide in shock.

"No! Get back on the ground, you were dead!"

She shot at him again, this time using both hands. When that didn't do anything again she let her hands drop to her sides.

"How'd I know? You left more questions than answers in your last interview. You're just flattering yourself if you think you're a good liar."

The officer took out her PDA again and started to type in more commands, requesting back up.

(Short, but you get the point. >_>)

Again the bullets passed through him, but did nothing more than smoothly make their way out of his body and patter on the floor behind him, leaving him to stare at her as she began to call for backup. But trying to get it through his head, he always answered things correctly,never displayed power beyond what was necessary, there was a traitor out there, a traitor of the court, some-one who wanted him caught so they had an excuse to start yet another war. The only love some demons had for their brethren, sons or daughters, was that of revenge, or open war.

Zeran raised his hand suddenly, palm open toward the PDA. Strange circles of runic words and cryptic shapes surrounded the item before it seemed to burst into flame. This was the magic that Falda so despised and ignored. Zeran then raised his hand in Falda's direction. It looked almost as if he would do it, yet nothing occurred and he drew back his hand, shaking his head,, It wasn't his way to harm innocents, he'd hammered it into his own mind until practically verging on the edge of insanity. Though this woman was probably no innocent,
"You've been used. You are bait to draw out a monster... A maiden offered to the beast to draw it out so that the knights may kill it and once again have reason to go hunting..." Zeran spoke of the situation quite simply, sighing and shaking his head, form going toward the windows where he simply stood, ignoring the sound of the VidScreen in the background.

The view was so peaceful, but soon it wouldn't be. Maybe not today, perhaps not even tomorrow, but soon it would be ruined. Oh how he loathed the way this world worked, humans, in their frailty, would die so easily, yet in their stubbornness would fight back and drive out what peaceful demons there were within the city already. And the Angels would show no mercy, they were worse than humans,
"One of us is meant to die to start a war... I fear the ones who planned this have made a grave error..."

Falda dropped the PDA to the floor and stomped on it before the flames tore and ate the whole building. What he said made her blood boil.

"Bait? A maiden?
Oh, I'm just some female? Some stupid girl who's making a 'grave error'?"

Now he really pissed her off. Every noise was starting to annoy her- especially that dumb TV. With a flick of her wrist she sent an army of bullets into the screen. It made a cracking noise, then simply started to smoke.

She walked further into the room, getting closer in order to get a better look at him. What an idiot. What a dramatic fool. War? A beast, knights? He was making this more complicated than it needed to be. This was a matter of protection for the public. He was a threat, so he must be terminated.

"'K, I'm done now. Keep on flattering yourself, I'm off to alert the world of my suspicions. Don't bother running, you've got officers watching you 24 hours a day. I'll be back with a whole @#%ing army* to take you down.
Good day, sir."

With that she turned and started towards the door, still fuming. Her body was acting calm, but her mind was racing. She wasn't afraid of death, but like all mortals she tried to avoid it as much as humanly possible. If he tried to kill her, so be it. It'll just inflate the wrath of the Federation. Their wrath would come crashing down on him harder and faster than ever before.

*I figured in 70 years their cuss words would be different.

"Do you mean like the police officers out there right now...?" Zeran mentioned, suddenly turning and dashing for Falda in an attempt to grab her, pin her down and cover her, in doing so he also placed a palm on the ground, a circle of lights and runs surrounding them just as the sound of Gunship fire could be heard, high-speed machine guns spitting a hail of bullets into the apartment, tearing apart furniture and appliances alike, the audible pops and bangs of things in his fridge being blown apart or cans of drink spilling out and beginning to bleed from the bottom.

However Falda and Zeran remained unharmed, for the demon had the time to protect her and cover them both in a barrier of energy. Bullets bouncing off the barrier with soft noises like metal bouncing off a rubber surface, dropping about them soundly, flattened or otherwise ricocheting into different areas past them. Once the gunfire stopped, Zeran's barrier vanished and he let go of Falda, standing up to brush himself off,
"Surely they would have told you they'd be doing something like this before you came here..."

Zeran sniffed at the air quietly, indeed the dust and debris that still surrounded them was buffering his senses, but he shook his head,
"And here come the pawns..." Zeran muttered, suddenly spreading his arms in both directions. A sudden gust of wind pushing the dust and particles in the air aside, blasting soft debris in the direction of the gunship outside and sending it veering away suddenly, probably so it could see again. But then the sounds of footsteps and shouting,
"Zeran, Grade C, come out with your hands up, you are wanted for violation of the Grade system!" They began though Zeran didn't step outside, waiting, "SDF Officer Falda; you are wanted on suspicion of consorting with and hiding the grade of incorrectly classified demons! If either of you resist, we will use deadly force!"

Falda just laid there for a second, staring at the ceiling. Or what was left of it. Her eyes were too clouded in light hallucinations to really tell.

Wanted...? Wanted. Wanted for enabling that scum? The words rolled around in her head like a broken track, spinning faster and faster until it snapped. Silence. It was deafening.

Then, it came back. She felt a light breeze and lifted her head slightly to look at where it was coming from. Him! That ugly demon who had ruined her life. Like a mad man she started kicking at the back of his legs and ankles- she couldn't think of anything else to do, the officer was too dizzy and upset to stand up.

"I HATE you! I hate you I hate you I hate you!"

Falda rolled over and started to pound the ground with her fists. Tears of anger started to swell in her emerald eyes. "Just kill me now! I don't want to live if they're going to accuse me of such a thing!"

If Zeran was going to continue in saving her, he'd have to drag her out. If he did her body would go limp like a rag doll. She had given up on life. Everything she had worked for, proving herself, achieving awards, rising in the ranks... gone in seconds. And why? She didn't know, but she did know it was all his fault.

Zeran avoided the kicking storm he was about to receive, smiling to himself, predictable, if it didn't work one way, they could just make it work another. There was only one force with the authority to perform something like this, but there still remained a traitor whom had sparked their attention to Zeran and his secret abilities.

He could hear the troopers running up to where the doorway was, but before they even had time he'd scooped up Falda and ran toward the open windows and torn walls that once gave him a view of the outside world,leaping from the apartment and higher, much higher to the second building, landing upon it smoothly. He didn't know why he was saving Falda, put perhaps it was natural inclination, he would not let innocents be harmed.

Zeran looked around, watching as several gunships fly up into view. The pilots were all ready for something much less than they could ever expect, one hovering too close. Zeran aimed in its direction, a long pole-thick beam like a laser canon striking out and piercing the engine of the gunship, causing it to veer off suddenly,
"Direct hit! Direct Hit! Gotta land!"
"Target is hostile! Open fire!" A second pilot yelled, the remaining two gunships firing down on Zeran, though he jumped out of the way, holding on to Falda and shielding her form debris. Just in time the first gunship spun wildly, its tail clashing with the second, which in turn was forced to fire on its companion, the third, all three then wildly flying away from the civilian territory to either crash or make a rough landing.

Before any more could show up, Zeran hauled Falda onto his shoulder in a fireman's carry and jumped toward another building. They wouldn't be able to pinpoint him among all the other normals in the city, there were plenty of Grade C's and thousands more of other lower grades. They couldn't start a war zone over one Demon, not even an over classed one.

One the next building Zeran climbed into the service shaft of an elevator with Falda, grabbing a line and sliding down it slowly, it would take a while yet to hit the bottom, but it was more than enough time for the SDF forces to waste their time scouring everywhere else,
"Have you ever wondered why they Grade Demons, but never once have they ever considered Grading Angels?" The Demon asked Falda as they slid down the line, head looking down for the bottom.

Falda merely stared into space. Her porcelain face seemed dazed and apathetic. She felt empty, alone.

"I don't care, I really don't. You're all alien scum. Unnatural, godless heathens..."

The officer lifted her hand and stared at the metal that had replaced her skin so long ago. Inside her arm dozens of fresh bullets had formed, generated by her own body. Oh, modern technology was wonderful at times.

Bullets, dozens of them. They couldn't kill him, but they could certainly kill any mortal.
Death would be such a sweet release. It had been a long run- a good one, even. Earth, the moon, Mars, now here. It wouldn't be a bad thing to end it all. There was nothing to live for anymore anyways.

With an unemotional face she scratched her neck lazily, casually. Then her fingers gripped at her skin. She braced herself for that sweet release but couldn't get herself to do it.

By then the glove had shut down anyways. Its measuring capabilities sensed a disturbance in conscious thought. The guns had been programmed to turn off when judgment was impaired, but it alcohol, sleep, or in this case, a sudden wave of spiraling depression.

"You're going to pay for this, Zeran." she mumbled, more to herself than him. "No one ruins my entire life-- my entire life work! and gets away with it."

"Heh.. Ruin your life? Funny that you should blame me.. I have been in this city for over a year and haven been peaceful for longer.. The ones who ruined your got you sent to me, but if you want your life back.." He smirked to himself continuing to slide down the line until he could finally see the bottom, slowing the descent just a little more,
"Stay with me and we will take it back for you. I'll make my every effort point to the goal of getting you back the life you once had. Or at least prove your innocence, whatever is left of it."

Once he landed he placed down Falda, sitting down on the floor and staring up the shaft, guess it was being refitted, this place wouldn't be safe forever, but for now they could have a moments rest. A rather amusing thought came over him when he thought back to Falda's attitude from before. She would have made an excellent demon with her carelessness and willingness to kill, but looking at her now she seemed quite the sad creature.
"The Angels have turned you humans into quite the good pawns, your beliefs of good and evil played right into their hands and now they use you humans as a home base from which they can continue their little personal war with us demons. They could easily have been there to greet and defend you humans before the demons attacked this city so long ago, but instead they waited until my brethren were already at your throats and saved you" He scoffed at the idea of the humans being saved by Angels, int he end the Angels were just using humans as extra fodder to fight the demons, they provided the humans with weapons and ways to fight the demons, even taught them magic and pointed them the right way.

"And here you are blaming me.. I swear if the Angels had never found out that there was something like me in the city you would never have been here and our lives would have stayed quite normal.. But you may blame me if it makes you feel better.. I refuse blame you for my peaceful existence being ruined.." Zeran got up, looking around the basement area of the building for a way out. The less damage he caused to escape the better, it would be harder to notice him if he acted casually. But his concerns lay with Falda, she seemed to have given up, and if he took her along in the state she was now; what if she did something stupid? Like alerting the SDF to their presence in an attempt to clear her name, it wouldn't work that way,
"Will you trust me and come with me, miss?" He offered her his hand, whether she was standing or not herself.

Once he was done lecturing her the officer rolled over and ignored his hand. When he had taken her off his shoulder she melted onto the floor like jelly.

"Angels, demons... why does everyone keep calling them that? Aliens! You're aliens! Why did we even come to this world. It was a mistake. I don't know why I let them ship me here. Federation, ha."

Falda paused, but then sat up. Her eyes narrowed in thought. "It depends on where you're going. I trust you, sure. Who else do I have to trust? Myself? Them? 'Angels'? 'Demons'?"

She shook her head, then turned to sarcasm to cover her pain. "I don't care, I really don't. How about this? You saved my life, I'm your slave. Heh. That's all I've ever been! A slave. A slave to them, doing whatever they told me to do like a mindless solider. I'm surprised they didn't just take my brain right out of me, would've been a lot easier on my part."

The officer started to rifle through her pockets and take out badges, documents, and other identification items. She piled them up and smashed her hand against them like a bat so they flew everywhere. "I don't get it, I give most of my life to them and this is what I get for one misunderstanding."

"You're not going to be my slave!" He responded, suddenly stamping hard. The floor easily giving way to the massive amounts of strength, leaving a small crater as energy sparked around his body. That term really seemed to creep upon his nerves as he leaned forward to Falda and stared at her directly,
"You don't know what a slave of Demons is treated like... Nor should you ever know. Don't ever use that term for yourself around me," He warned her, seeming to irradiate a dark energy about his body but he stood straight again, lowering his head. The energy faded, sparks of power disappearing as he quelled his energy once again.

"We do this right and you'll never be a servant to anyone, neither to the Demons nor the Angels. Now stop whimpering on the ground and get to your feet. Where's the fire and power you displayed before? There are people out there who need to pay for their mistakes, pay for what they've done to you, and to me. Now are we going to show them who they messed with, or are we going to sit around and mope about it in a dark little basement like a pair of frightened little rats..?" He questioned, grabbing Falda by the collar and lifting her,
"I don't care if you don't believe in Angels, or Demons for that matter, but surely you can believe in what is right and what is not? What they've done to you is wrong, so lets set things right, you and me. Do you agree?"

He stared at her hard. The sullen look in his eyes was gone, even in the lack of light in this basement, his eyes glowed a fiery red, quite obviously filled with energy, he would await a positive answer from her, he was not prepared to walk out there until this human had gotten to her senses and finally dusted herself off of this nonsense, whatever her response he then stated suddenly,
"You may continue to call me Zeran if you wish. We don't often reveal our own names but I'll entrust you with mine I am Xeriahalt, son of Overlord Deingardt. May I ask what your name is?"

Genuine fear possessed her eyes when he stomped, and even more so when he grabbed her. It faded and turned to anger after a moment, though.

"Let go, you're stretching my shirt."
When he did so she quickly tried to pull it back into place, but she couldn't hide the tattoo plastered all over her neck quick enough.

"For your information, I do know what they're treated like. I knew for a whole month!"

Falda adjusted her shirt until she was confident it covered everything. "I was undercover. When I came back the docs tried to get it off me, but even when they removed my skin it came back, like it's embedded into the muscle, I hate it. Branded like a common animal- they're the animals."

When she looked up again her face was back to its normal self. It had gone slightly heartless, cold, and unemotional. It was suddenly clear why she hated demons so much and why feelings normal human beings had was not exhibited in her actions. After only a few weeks of torture and misery, she had been changed for life. Maybe that's why the Federation wanted to snuff her out; she was too damaged. They had sent her on several suicide missions, but by some miracle she had always come back from them. Now they were just planning to pin her for some fake crime and lock her away.

"My name's Falda." The ex-officer held out her hand for him to shake. "Nice to meet you, Xeriahalt, but if it's all the same to you I'll continue to call you by your more civilized name, Zeran."

Zeran had noticed the tattoo, but said nothing of it, even when corrected. The fact that she was alive in itself was a miracle. She must have been quite the amusing slave to be still alive. Demons liked seeing how quickly humans could break, especially physically, so whatever she did, she was good.

He let go as requested, but made no further mention of the slaves. When the hand was offered he gave his own in return, in doing so a different energy surrounded his arm, flowing down to where their hands were and intertwining around them before vanishing. He watched it for a second, a curious look in his eyes and brow raising slightly but shook his head with a slight smirk,
"Falda," He sought his hand forth pst hers and placed his fingers about her neck suddenly, making sure the grip was just right that she could not push him off nor he was hurting her either. Unlike the rough hands that may have done this to her before.

Removal was impossible, once a demon marked you you were marked for good, but change of ownership, now that was easy as squashing a bug. The purpose of Zeran's move was to change the mark, warping its appearance and giving him dominion over her. But at the same time he craned his neck to the side. In Falda's newly formed mark there was a void, and upon Zeran's neck formed a mark of his own, that which would normally have filled the void,
"I absolve you of your past owner, its filth no longer holds sway over your body, its ilk no longer commands your presence. You will never be my slave, so I have made you my Vassal. A Greater Servant of my choice. You are linked to me now, Falda, but not once will you ever suffer a command you could not avoid, but would otherwise disobey, nor will you be made a simple puppet for my whims or pleasures. I promise you this, or may this mark of my own weaken me so that you may strike me down and kill me for my lies."

As Zeran spoke, various circles of energy and light surrounded the two of them, a strange link of electricity forming between the two of them at the neck as he stood back, for a while the show went on but eventually died down. It would leave Falda with a sensation, quite different to what she may have experienced the first time. And wherever Zeran moved, Falda could sense it, for he begun to walk around, getting her to feel the sensation of being linked to him. Sher could locate him, anywhere, anytime, a soft, warm pulse within her aiming in his direction at all times,
"The only demon who could ever hope to break that seal now is my own father. And he'd have to kill me first." Zeran smirked, sounding more like a demon this time, but turned towards the darkness of the basement, "Now, where shall we begin, Falda?"

(Oh yes, what ever she did. -winks-
xDD Kidding.)

She also watched the energy swirl around, but instead of smirking like he did, she narrowed her eyes in another glare. Pfft, more magic. But when he grabbed her neck she had no choice but to flinch and try to get away.

Anything tight on her neck brought her mind whirling back three years ago. She could still remember the whole experience, starting with a set up. Areas outside the city walls were notorious for kidnappings, and that was exactly where they sent her. Several men had descended on her like vultures, and before Falda could even think about running away they had knocked her out to shove her in the back of a truck. Hostages only came a few times a year now, so prey like her was a real treat-- a trained officer with discipline? The perfect servant. Once assigned to one of the higher ups, they branded her like cattle. It was a very painful experience. She could remember it feeling like someone covered in fire had been choking her. Days went on with the same sensation, but after awhile she got used to the light headed feeling.

She had been suspiciously submissive. They thought she was just weak willed and knew it was best to surrender. It bought her favor in their eyes, and pretty soon she was allowed to attend important meetings as a waitress, refilling their wine glasses and fetching more bread. She was only human, though, and bound to make mistakes. After a particularly harsh beating Falda decided it was time to go. Given her laxed restrictions, an escape was easy.


For the first time in three years that burning feeling faded, replaced with... warmth? Without that pain her mood improved like it was a miracle anti depressant. His words burned in her mind. Vassal, greater servant, promise. But one particular phrase suck out.

"Strike you down..." her lips curled into a smile with genuine humor in her voice, "I'll have to remember that."

As he moved around she rubbed her neck, still not believing that he had just don't what he did. It was a bitter blessing- she was back to her old self more than ever, but at what price? Would she have preferred this or her old job and relations?

Falda cleared her throat with a small 'ahem', coughing into her fist. "I want to start with..." She looked at the ground, trying to find the words. They were hard words to say, especially from her to a demon.
"I want to... th... th-ankyou. Thank you, I wanted to thank you."

She sighed heavily and looked up the shaft, staring for a sign of light. "And apologize. When I first met you, as you can imagine, I was not myself. You're never yourself with a collar like that around your neck."

Zeran chuckled a little after she'd begun to thank him. Being thanked wasn't something he was used to, the very thought making him laugh more, head raised slightly. Though he stopped finally, turning to Falda and smiling,
"You're welcome." He replied simply, backing away into the darkness, but it didn't stay dark for long as a glow surrounded his hand, forming a light that he used to light the way through the basement to find a doorway or some exit,
"We should move, Falda." He mentioned, staring up at the ceiling and various pipes, one of these didn't belong to the building itself, only fed into it. Once he isolated one he raised a hand to it. As always, various strange markings and runs filled the air surrounding the target and a white light shot form his palm, sinking into the pipe and apparently vanishing.

Within minutes an almighty blast could be heard from outside, but it was quite a distance away from the building,
"That should attract their attention for a while..." He mentioned. He knew the pipe lead to a safe zone where people wouldn't be standing at this time of day, causing an explosion of electricity that would attract the SDF to it. They wouldn't be able to determine where it came from in time.

"I know a lot of the demons in this sector, some would be willing to give us shelter, others don't hold a high opinion of humans and their trust of Angels. No surprise there. And try to watch the talk of Aliens," He mentioned, pulling open a doorway and standing at it,
"Ah, this looks good, we can get upstairs from here." He mentioned, stretching a little,
"We had actual aliens here a long time ago... They slaughtered a lot of demons and, to our great pleasure, a lot of Angels too. At least until the Overlords got sick of them completely and... Well I'd say it was probably more spectacular being there than speaking of it... I wasn't even born then.."

Zeran carried on his usual calm form, though in his mind he was running scenarios in his head, they still had to move quickly. The chase was far too fresh for them to be int he clear yet, they had to find a safe place to hunker down and wait. When they were finally in the clear he could begin to formulate a plan while unlocking the many seals he had placed within his body to suppress his power. He would need to unleash it one day, he knew that, so it was best to be prepared.

"Pfft, I can talk about aliens all I want. What are they going to do? Kill me? Oh, that'll really put a bummer on my life plans."

She rolled her eyes and preceded to follow him. While his mind was running, hers was barely working at all. After years of being clouded, clear thoughts finally were trickling in, and they weren't all that positive. Although she was still more positive than before, she was more carefree than the average person. Death didn't seem like a punishment, more of a release.

"So tell me about yourself. I read your file, but that's never accurate. You made everything up since I didn't know you were the son of whatshisface."

Falda sighed and watched a rat scamper away from them. That's what her life had been reduced to. From high ranking officer to run away within only one afternoon. Lovely.

"Well I actually told pretty much the whole truth, except the things that would potentially cause me the trouble back then that I appear to be having now." The demon mused, looking over his shoulder to Falda,"I lied about my family name, my grade and the name of my father. But everything else held truth. In some way or another." He kept to that story, and it was true, he'd spent a long time before coming to the human city trying to write out the story in his mind so that he lied as little as possible yet still obscured the truth enough to mask his presence.

He opened a doorway and stepped through it, waiting for Falda to pass before he gently closed it. Zeran didn't move yet though, looking up calmly at the ceiling while thinking to himself. It couldn't be much of a problem telling her,
"My father, as you now know, is Overlord Deingardt. However my mother... Hmm... Well its difficult to explain..." He chuckled a little, the light around his hand fading away as he placed both hands in his pockets,
"She was a human." He admitted suddenly, cracking his neck either way, "She was among some of the first humans that encountered demons so long ago... Not something she could have enjoyed but my father took a strange shine to her... In the middle of her pregnancy with me her body was completely transformed into that of a demon due to being in my fathers presence. The council do not like her but she remains at my fathers side to this day. At least as far as I know.."

"For a long time when I was young I was no different to my father.. I was quite the monster.." He stared at his hand for a moment, then closed it suddenly, a spark of lightning jumping around it, almost unrestrained power surrounding it for a second before vanishing,
"Something happened... It was the first thing I ever regretted... Ever since then I slowly changed into what I am now." Zeran held back on the subject, passing Falda as he lead her further through the maintenance rooms, "I just want peace.. And thanks to what humanity my mother passed on to me, I find I have the capacity for it, something no descendant oft he Overlords ever had."

She nodded slightly. "Yeah, I figured that. You're not like other demons I've met, so there had to be something different about you. Having a human mother... well, explains it pretty well!"

A normal person would've pushed the subject and ask what changed him, or want to know more about him. But not Falda. All she was worried about was getting away from the city as fast as she could. He could've been the former king of the world and she would've cared less.
She skipped ahead of him and took the lead.

"This way, I know this building's lay out. We had a drug dealer few years back."
She pointed a bony finger towards a corner they passed, "Over there a cop got killed, Lenny. He was a cool guy. Demon killed him."

The ex-officer sighed and went on. "So... your mother was human, and she turned to demon? I heard about that, some kind of radiation thing, right?"

She took a left and exited the building through a small steel door. Outside was just an alley leading to nowhere in particular. "You know, I think I might want to look into that. I may not turn out to be the most powerful demon, but it's a bonus. After all, I can't afford ammunition now."

Then it hit her. No job, no money! No money, no nothing. Falda couldn't help but sigh again and start walking down the alley. "I can't afford anything! Great, lovely. Lovely day, how're you? I'm great myself, thanks for asking..."