A Bit of a Demon

Bas loved these places. Loved the vibrancy, the pulsing, beating life of them. The heat and energy flowing in waves around her was almost tangible: it was like standing in a supercharger.

She stepped from the darkness into the light.

The multicoloured strobing, flickering light of the huge dance floor.

Into the throbbing mass of young people.

The strength of her aura gently pushed them away. They couldn't feel it, didn't know it was happening but the slide of a foot was softly nudged to one side, a swaying body rolled left instead of right and Bas slipped through the gap created: like a ship through water; parting at the bow, closing at the stern.

A memory came to her. A memory of a ship: a ship leaving Eridu. The first ship and the first city. A ship long gone. A city now standing only in ruin.

A memory from long ago.

From her first days.

The days after her first day.

Bas rememered that first day, her awakening, as though it were yesterday: she could recall every day she had ever lived, in fact she could recall everything she had ever done, everything she had ever learnt: she could recall everything since that moment of her awakening, it was one of her curses; that memory of everything. But that first day, that day of her awakening, was the one she thought of the most.

She wasn't called Bas then. She wasn't called anything.

She opened her eyes.

She was lying on her side, curled up with her knees tucked into her chest.

Looking at white sand.

She didn't move.

Her mind was a blank. Just the knowledge that she was lying on her side, curled up with her knees tucked into her chest. Looking at white sand.

She rolled onto her back and looked at the sky. She didn't know why it was the sky, she just did. It was blue.

And the sun. She didn't know why it was the sun, she just did. It was yellow.

She climbed to her feet.

Turned in a full circle.

There was nothing but blue sky and white sand, a seemingly dead straight line dividing the two. The horizon.

She looked down at herself. Pink skin, arms and legs, hands and feet, breasts with small, dark nipples. She studied her hands: turning them over, long slender fingers, pink nails. She ran her fingers over her face: eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, lips, teeth, saw hair from the corner of her eye, pulled it around; black, long; down to her bum, her fingers traced over her buttocks.

She turned another full circle. Still nothing but white sand, blue sky and the yellow sun. She looked down at her feet, at the impression her body had made and the indentations from her shuffling feet.

She looked up and started walking. She had to do something and this was the way she was facing.

It was the day of her awakening.

At one point she looked back. Her line of footprints stretched back in a perfectly straight line all the way to the horizon.

Day turned to night and she walked. Walked and thought.

After a long time of dark a sliver of white appeared above, what she still assumed, was the horizon. She instantly knew it was the moon. She didn't know how she knew, she just did. She watched it until it was a full disc of white, then started walking again.

She walked and thought.

The next day dawned. She stopped and watched as the sky brightened and the sun rose. Then she started walking again.

Nothing changed, except day into night, night into day.

She thought about herself and about her surroundings.

She seemed to know things, she didn't know how, she just did. Her mind had been blank at that moment of her awakening, but the instant she'd seen the sand she'd known it was sand. The same with the sky, the sun, the horizon and the moon.

She'd looked at herself, seen arms, legs and so on. She'd seen her breasts, had known what they were: had known that she was a woman.

She'd watched her muscles flex as she'd walked, known what they were, what they did and how they worked.

Four days and four nights. That's how long she walked. She'd stop twice each day; to watch the sun rise and to watch it set, each time she'd look back at the perfectly straight line of her footprints and then start walking again.

She learnt a lot about herself in those four days and nights. She didn't know where the knowledge came from, it just came. If she looked at something, in this case: herself, then she understood.

But she still didn't know who she was.

As the fifth day dawned she sensed a change. She changed direction. The sun was passed its zenith when she heard a sound.

As it grew louder she understood that she was getting nearer to its source. The sun was setting when, in the shimmering distance, she saw something white.

The moon was high by the time she was close enough to understand what they were; a number of buildings surrounded by a wall.

She walked in a wide circle, arriving back at her footprints as black began to turn to gray.

She'd seen that there were two ways through the wall: one directly in front of her, the other on the opposite side where the ground leading away from the buildings was much firmer and interspersed with the occasional clump of what seemed to be plants. Both were blocked.

She walked around again until she was in a position where she could see both entrances and then walked away until she was almost out of sight. Knew that her footprints would betray her.

All these things she hadn't known five days and nights ago.

Not long after the sun rose she watched as a number of four legged animals, goats, came rushing out of the entrance leading out onto the firm ground.

They were followed by two people, an adult and a child. They looked the same as her except for long white garments covering their bodies and a head covering, and, although it was hard to tell from this distance, it seemed that their skin was much darker than hers.

The goats and the two people turned away and disappeared from sight.

Through the rest of the day she watched a number of people appear, they would stand just outside the wall and stare out into the sand, then they disappeared back into what was clearly a settlement.

She stayed where she was throughout that day, and through the next two. Each night the entrance was blocked and each morning it was opened, by the third day nobody ventured out other than the goats and their two attendants.

Midway through the third night she approached the wall. Many of the structures were built against it but there were plenty of gaps between. She reached up and, without any effort at all, climbed to the top.

Squatting on top of the wall she felt lighter, stronger than she had in days, she could feel something, something she hadn't felt before, as though she was drawing something from around her, from the structures, the buildings, something from inside the buildings. She didn't understand.

She dropped to the ground. Padded soundlessly forward.

Coming around a corner two animals, dogs, lifted their heads and looked at her, they didn't move, didn't make a sound, just watched.

It was a small settlement, smaller than it looked from outside. She came across the goats in a small pen, those that were awake watched with wide, black eyes as she passed.

A door was slightly ajar, without hesitation she pushed it wider and stepped in. A small room with two more beyond.

Two people lying on a platform in one, two children in the other.

That feeling again. Of taking something. From these people. She'd felt it as she'd passed the buildings, passed the animals, now it felt stronger, cleaner.

A pile of garments in one corner. She chose one and slipped it over her head, took a head covering and wrapped it around hers in the manner she'd seen.

She took a last look around then left, made her way through to the opposite, outer wall. Climbed over and followed the line of scuffed footprints that led away across the much harder ground towards the horizon.

She walked for the rest of the night and into the next day.

She thought about what had happened. About that feeling.

She still didn't understand it. But she knew it had made her feel stronger, how her hearing had sharpened, how she'd been able to see more clearly, how her skin had tingled. Knew that what she had taken she had needed.

There were two people ahead of her, coming towards her.

They had their faces covered by a turn of their head covering. She copied them: covered everything but her eyes.

She kept walking as they got nearer. They were talking, gesturing with their hands as they talked.

They kept walking, didn't look at her, didn't acknowledge her presence.

She stopped.

Still they kept walking. She turned as they passed, watched them.

They didn't pause, didn't look, didn't stop talking.

It was as though they hadn't seen her.

Something else to think about.

As the sun began to drop she saw another small settlement ahead.

The entrances were still open so she walked straight through. Again that feeling of drawing something, an energy, from her surroundings, from the people and animals around her.

Through the night and the next day. The next, and the next.

She started to see more and more settlements, more and more people. She'd quickly realised that the animals; the goats and the dogs, the occasional cow, could see her, the people couldn't. But once, a man had stumbled as he'd passed and his foot had touched hers, he'd looked up as though surprised, shocked that he hadn't seen her until that moment of contact, and he'd shied away at what he'd seen.

She'd kept walking, hadn't looked back but knew that he was standing watching her.

And then, finally, ahead, was a much larger settlement, much larger.

She knew it. But she also knew that she'd never seen it before, but still she knew it. This city called Eridu.

Surrounded by high walls the structures inside were taller, more substantial than those she'd seen before.

And the nearer she got the stronger that feeling. That feeling of people. That feeling of drawing something from them. An energy. But there were too many people, too much energy. It was beginning to overwhelm.

She stepped to the side. Stepped away from the stream of people.

Stood still and closed her eyes.

And worked to control the flood that assailed her. It took her two days and a night until she had it fully at her control. To the point where she could take as much as she wanted; all of it, a steady, gentle trickle or none at all.

She opened her eyes and, as the sun began to drop over the horizon, entered the city.

It was where she really started to learn. About herself, the people around her, and the world she now lived in.

She walked, watched, listened and touched.

The city was a thriving mass of people and animals A bustling place of sights, sounds and smells.

At first sight she might look the same.

But she found that she was very different.

She didn't need to eat, drink or sleep. She didn't need to rest. She didn't even need to breath.

She found that if she wanted them to see her then they could. She just had to think it.

She found that, with a mere thought, she could calm them, get them to accept her, take her for what she was without fear, even with pleasure.

But later, once she knew of it, she also found that, if she wished it, they could see that other side of her as something else, as something that terrified them, even to the point of insanity.

She spent her time in the city watching, listening and learning.

The first time she saw two people naked was a shock. As always she knew what she was seeing, what shocked her was how different physically she was from them. She didn't have what they had: either the woman's, which is what she'd assumed she was, or the man's. She had nothing. She had breasts, but from there down she was a smooth expanse of skin. She had buttocks, but nothing else.

And then, later, it happened. For the first time.

She'd done what she'd often done. She'd entered a house.

She'd stood and watched; a man, a woman and two young boys, they'd eaten their food and then the two boys had gone to their room.

The man and woman had sat talking. She'd stayed with them until they themselves had gone to their room. She was on the point of leaving when she'd heard noises she hadn't heard before.

She'd climbed the stairs and stood in the open doorway.

They were having sex.

The woman was on her knees in front of him. Had his penis in her mouth. It had grown, got harder. He pulled her to her feet.

She'd seen that his penis was longer, thicker, pointing straight out in front of him.

She'd felt warm, her skin tingled.

Her head was hurting, her mouth aching, she felt strange.

He pushed the woman towards the bed, she dropped onto it and he pushed her onto her back then flipped her over onto her stomach.

Her back was throbbing, even her hands and feet ached.

The man crouched over the woman and pushed himself between her buttocks.

Her skin seemed to be burning, head really pounding and she groaned.

He looked and jumped back in alarm, recoiled against the wall: he could see her.

The woman looked at him then at her, had screamed. She stood for a moment longer then growled, turned and ran out to a balcony. She scaled the wall and pulled herself onto the flat roof.

And, without conscious thought or effort, ran, leaping from rooftop to rooftop until she was far away.

She stopped.

For once she didn't know what was happening.

She felt hot. But the burning, the ache and the pain had gone. Replaced by a feeling of......euphoria, of strength.

She recalled the feeling of exhilaration as she'd leapt from roof to roof.

But her body felt different.

She stared at her hands. The backs were covered in small scales, the skin a deep red. Her nails were longer, thicker, pointed like claws.

She touched her face.

She flinched, took a shocked step back. Hesitantly touched it again.

Scales! Tiny, soft scales. Her face was covered in the same tiny scales as her hands.

She explored further. Less hesitant.

Her head covering had gone, lost in her run across the rooftops.

The tops of her ears had slight points. She flinched again as she touched her forehead: horns! Two finger-lengths long, protruding from her hairline; slightly curved, twisted and ridged, thick at the base, with very sharp points.

What had happened to her. This really was beyond her understanding.

Without realising what she was doing her tongue probed along her teeth, the two eyeteeth were twice as long, with sharp points. She had fangs! Even her tongue felt different.

She licked her lips and it flicked out of her mouth. In experimentation she touched her eyebrows and instantly saw that the last inch was forked.

She wound it back into her mouth, it seemed to contract, didn't feel too different.

She was shaking.

With a huge feeling of trepidation she pulled her clothes off.

Jumped as something curled around in front of her. She reached out and grasped the bulbous end. She traced along its full length, reached the base of her spine. It was a tail. Her tail.

It was muscular, also covered in scales; larger than those on her head but getting smaller towards the tip, until they were almost nonexistent just below that bulbous end. Which was solid, a long finger-length long and half as thick, covered in little bumps. Like a small club.

She let go and it curled out of sight.

With a feeling of the inevitable she ran her hands over her torso. Scales. More scales. Different sizes over different parts of her body, but always soft. Even her breasts and bum were covered in the tiny soft scales.

Running her fingers down her abdomen she touched what, for some reason she'd expected, a penis. It was soft and smooth, hanging down between her thighs. A pair of testicles behind.

She hefted the length, slowly massaged it: it thickened, hardened in her hand. She watched, fascinated as the head emerged from the foreskin, as it tightened and straightened until finally at stood of its own accord, rampant and solid.

She pushed a finger between her buttocks, traced the crack round until she tentatively touched an anus.

She yanked her hand away. Stood with her muscles and fists clenched. Screamed into the night.

Slowly she gathered herself. What was she? What was she to do? She couldn't wander the streets like this. She'd seen the fear and horror in their eyes. Even if she could keep it so that they couldn't see her it would be a monstrous task and too risky, it would require a concentration and effort she wasn't sure she was yet capable of.

She would have to escape the city tonight and disappear into the desert.

She calmed herself further, tried to think.

She'd controlled everything else so far. She'd begun to change when she'd watched those two having sex. Perhaps she could control this.

She closed her eyes. It proved to be easier than she'd imagined. She felt a difference almost immediately.

Her straining erection softened, then it all began to happen at once. Not in the blink of an eye but almost, everything just seemed to melt away; her tail, her penis, her horns, her claws: she felt her bum tighten, then the heat in her body disappeared, she could even feel a softening of her skin as the scales faded away. And suddenly she knew her body was back to how it had been before. She ran her hands over herself. Nothing. No sign. Not even a blemish. If she didn't know differently she would question if it had really happened at all.

She breathed a sigh of relief. The change to that 'whatever it was' had been so quick and unexpected, so extreme, that it had almost been too much for her. There had been a moment of panic, of not knowing what to do. It had only been the knowledge that she had already gained, that she was so different anyway, that had saved her: it had allowed her to think, to take that step back and see if she had control over this new 'different'.

She began to get dressed then paused. Maybe?

Still naked she closed her eyes again.

Thought about the scales, the horns, the sinuous tail, everything: pictured herself as she'd been, drew the image to herself. And felt them grow. Felt the change in her skin. Felt the transformation.

She opened her eyes and looked. Touched herself. It was all back. Everything. Just as it had been.

There'd been no pain; no pounding head, no burning, no ache. It was as though she'd had to go through that the once, just for that first time, but now it was hers, hers for the asking.

And just as easily she pushed it away. Then back again.

There was two of her now.

The 'human' looking her. And the......what? Lizard?

She stopped. She'd been playing. Changing back and forth. She found that she'd actually been revelling in it. In the new her. In the whatever it was.

But what to do now? There was still, even with the approaching daylight, a furore on the other side of the city as they searched for the other her.

She wouldn't have a problem as the 'human' her but it might still be difficult in the days ahead. She decided it was time to leave.

She dressed and by the time she got to the nearest gate it was open. She walked straight through, unseen, and followed the canal down to the river.

It was already bustling. The tide was high and boats of all sizes were coming and going. She boarded the largest, just as they raised its sails: it was far too big to be going upriver so had to be heading out to sea.

She walked to the prow as the ship was pushed away from the wharf and turned across the river to head downstream and the unknown.

Five thousand years of memories had passed since that first day. That day of her awakening.

Five thousand years of discovery, of learning. Of learning about this world, the people and herself.

But still she didn't know who or what she was.