Chapter 7: Where demons live

Jaeger did not bother following the group for long. As soon as the voices sounded again, within his head, he knew exactly where to go and split off from them, heading for a nearby gate. This one led into a hub, a world connected to an abnormally high number of others leading to it becoming a centre for many trade routes. As a result of this, it was also a centre for pirating and, as his destination lay over a sea, he knew that he would have to hitch a ride.

The island that he had emerged onto was small and unpopulated as the world it led to was of no interest for trade and had not yet been discovered by most people. This meant that he was forced to plod along a connection to another spit of land in the archipelago, all whilst the lapping deep blue waters reached to his waist. It wasn't cold here, but it certainly wasn't warm, and he would have much rather made such a journey where beautiful sandy beaches surrounded him and where he didn't have had to shiver on account of the waves. At the far end of this grouping of islands was a much larger landmass that contained several hills covered in green trees and, as he discovered later, a hidden cove.

This cove was actually rather big, taking up a good third of the whole piece of land and with a high cliff surrounding it. The sea did not reach the rock's base, and so a community of buildings had been constructed there out of view of the main shipping lines. Jaeger was obviously quite suspicious about the nature of the place he had found, but he soon realized that it was hiding separately because it was connected to another plane. This was a plane lived on mainly by yokai and, as yokai were often viewed with distrust, them having their own quiet town made plenty of sense.

It was a surprisingly large settlement with roughly a thousand buildings. These were strangely built, all from different shades of wood, and had tiled rooves that greatly overhung at each level that became narrower as they went up. The very tallest were around five floors high and had extremely pointed tops. None had proper windows, and instead they simply had open areas in their walls that were barred over so no one could climb in or out, or at least not easily. Most did not even have doors, instead sporting cloths that could be drawn over the entrances to stop the entering of flies and other irritating insects.

Everything was arranged around several winding streets centred on a dock that held room for a dozen good-sized vessels. Four of these berths were occupied. Yokai did not bother Jaeger, and he actually got along with them quite well. After all, they were his own kind, so he guessed that this would be the perfect place to rent out a boat from.

It had taken him so long to get to be overlooking this inlet that night had arrived. This world did not feature any moon, so it would have been terribly dark without the lights put up by the town's people. Hundreds of candles had been lit within different paper beacons that spewed a brilliant array of colour over the whole place. Many of them were hung from wires, held up between the houses to light the streets, and the most common colour was orange so that town glowed like it was its own sunken star.

Enticed by the view, Jaeger completed the short climb down to stand at the edge of the docklands so that he could go and find somewhere to stay for the night. He had very little to trade, but he thought that he might be able to scrape together enough to convince someone to give him a room for the night.

Despite the time, the unpaved streets were still busy with people looking to have some nighttime fun. Entering the main one, Jaeger passed a gaggle of demi-human looking women he knew were probably a type of yokai, fox yokai perhaps. On either side of him, bakers and chefs were still flaunting their wares from their own shops, and the smells of meat and bread filled the air. This was not just any meat either, but the kind that had been so delicately prepared that it could practically dissolve in your mouth, between your teeth, leaving only the most satisfying of flavours.

To his left was a house, set a little back from the rest, with a sign above the door that fluoresced green outlining the image of words, but, even without understanding them, it was obvious what the place was offering. A man with a dog's face, entirely furred, was stood outside and he called to Jaeger, seeing that the establishment had taken his attention, to offer him the dance of bones - the devil's own tango. However, Jaeger was not too interested, and he moved on.

Down a covered alleyway, squashed between two creaking buildings, a strange encounter was unfolding. It was between three people with two against one. The one was a short woman, looking like an average human, and the two were wolf-like creatures, one with a scar running across his face and through a now sightless eye. They both wore robes like those of preachers and the scarred one, with the darker fur of the two, held an open leather-bound book whilst the other held up an iron lantern to cast light upon their faces.

The wolves were screaming into the person's ears as she seemed to be trying to make herself disappear by sinking into herself even as their shadows loomed over her like escaped monsters of the abyss. "For the last rite of heaven; the seventh sacrament, to his word we're sworn. In the moonlight we must fight for the Father, cursed by his desire as we are, therefore repent, repent before the altar in flames!" shouted one, and the quieter one holding the lantern murmured, "We are brave to the heart." despite looking somewhat concerned by his companion's ravings.

Noticing Jaeger's approach, they stopped and took a moment to look in his direction whilst the supposedly possessed girl took this as an opportunity to leave. Feeling their three eyes upon him, Jaeger wondered if he should be the one to start the conversation, but they did it for him.

"Oi, that one was ours." stated the scarred wolf, actually talking quite normally, "We were going ta make her repent."

"Repent for what?"

"She insulted the Father."

"Ah," said Jaeger, not fazed by the situation, "Well, better luck next time, know where I could find a place to stay overnight?"

"There's the… the inn…" came the wolf's reply, and he turned over to his partner, who was busy opening the lantern to replace the dripping candle within it with one from a pack that he carried with him, "Yeah, that'd be alright." the second one murmured.

Following after them, Jaeger was led over to what he assumed was the inn and the three entered it together. The quieter priest went to get the drinks and food whilst Jaeger was shown over to a table at the edge of the main room, by a burnt-out fire, where he sat opposite his new guide.

"Have you heard of the Father?" he was asked.

"No," Jaeger told him truthfully, "But, I'm willing to learn…."

"Excellent, the Father is who grants us undead life!" Jaeger thought that the only way to achieve this was through the abyss, but he kept silent, "He sends us to fight for the final day; for when we may go sit beside him. Servants in life we are…" and the wolf stood to thrust his face across the table with his eye glossing over, "… but with him, we'll all be emperors…."

The food and ale then arrived, and so Jaeger settled down to eat whilst only half keeping track of what was being said. He didn't care much for it anyway but, when the nearby candles were spluttering in their holsters, and the livelier preacher was asleep at the table, several empty jugs near him, Jaeger questioned the other, "If everyone is considered an emperor with your god, then how can anyone be a true emperor?"

"It's simple really," he was told, "So long as we believe, we will receive reward."

After that, Jaeger departed to give the awake one a chance to nurse his partner back to health and went looking for a place to sleep. It was not too hard as he only had to go up some rickety stairs, hand over a few coins that he had taken from the drunken wolves, and he was able to walk right straight into a single-bed apartment. He had a most beautiful view of the harbour where lanterns danced like fireflies as they hung from the rocking masts of ships.