"It was a dark and stormy night. Cascading thunder roared over the rolling hills of the Kingdom."
She stared at what she had just written. No, the lamb finally decided and scratched out the two sentences. Hello, square one, it's me again, she thought bitterly, flexing both sets of her wings, the telltale signs of a Succubus. The wings on her back settled down quickly enough, but the small wings on her head kept moving, reflecting her irritation. What if I'm just not meant to be a good author? Somebody once told me that writing is easy for people who have witnessed amazing and exciting things. Maybe my life just isn't interesting enough.
Just at that moment, something inside her living room started to tear apart the dimensional borders. She gave the vortex a glance. "Yep. Life's not interesting enough. That must be it."
"If you wanted a more interesting life, you could just join me, Fewobia," the tall creature standing in the center of the vortex replied. The creature, a female, white-furred poodle with pale fuchsia hair, gave the lamb a toothy grin. Like Fewobia, she had two sets of feathered wings, the flight feathers being colored in the tone of her hair.
"Hello, Fa'Lina," the lamb replied evenly. "It's been a while." She gave the small creature next to Fa'Lina a look. "Having trouble?"
"Stupid humidity!" the Warp-Aci hissed, its tail moving around erratically as it sealed the dimensional borders again. "Always messes up a clean transport. Of course, Fa'Lina gaining a few pounds doesn't exactly help since-"
"Kifo!" the tall poodle barked sharply.
"You know it's totally true," Kifo muttered. Then, with a final snap of the tail, the vortex disappeared. "There. Finally."
Fewobia snickered. "I assume you are here because of my message?" she asked, offering the fellow Succubus a seat.
"Why else would I come here? There is nothing else I could want in the area. After all, you live in the middle of nowhere, and that's coming from somebody who built a school in a place so remote that it almost counts as its own plane of existence."
"You know that I prefer peace and quiet to your little pet project," Fewobia teased the taller Succubus.
"Pet project? Oh puh-lease. The Academy has been around for a few centuries and houses Cubi from a few dozen Clans. We're all settled in!"
"Oh, I see. So... picked a wallpaper for your office yet?" The lamb smirked when she noticed Fa'Lina's uneasy expression.
"Got one last week," the poodle finally admitted, making Fewobia laugh. "It's hardly important, though!" she quickly added. "The rest of the Academy is looking great! We already got most courses running, there are two dozen full-time professors, and there haven't been any major clashes yet!"
"A school filled with Cubi from rival Clans and no major clashes," Fewobia mused. "Not bad, actually. Never expected you to have any success with this idea, but I admit I'm glad you proved me wrong!"
Fa'Lina let out a quiet sigh. "You're not the only one who thought that the Academy had been a lousy idea," she muttered. "And I figure it'll take a few hundred years more before it will be widely accepted as a success. But it'll be worth it." The poodle Succubus looked down at the floor, apparently lost in thought. Then, suddenly, her head snapped up again. "Speaking of which! Your message! You wrote that you know of a stray Incubus living in the village..."
"Oh, yes. Well, actually I just heard a few rumors from the neighbor village. But from what people told me, it's a young Cubi just coming into power."
"What did you hear?" Fa'Lina asked and cocked her head. It was unusual for Cubi to grow up in a village of Beings. An orphan maybe? It seems unlikely that the parents are Cubi in disguise, otherwise they would have tought him the basics to avoid being noticed.
"Oh, the usual," Fewobia said. "Winged kid suddenly growing a second set of wings and acting strangely. You know, mood swings and stuff like that."
"Headwings already? No Clan mark, no magic, just the wings and mood swings?" Fa'Lina frowned. Most Cubi started using magic before growing their second pair of wings.
"Hey, I never met the kid. Just telling you what I heard."
"Fine, fine." Fa'Lina sighed and got up. "Can you at least give me a name?"
"Family name is 'Callempia'. No clue about the kid's first name, but he's their only son, so you should have no trouble finding him."
"That will have to do, then," the poodle said and nodded. "Let's just hope I can get through to him before they organize a small mob because of me."
"You're not going to shapeshift? Not even to hide your wings?"
Fa'Lina hesitated briefly, noticing the concern in Fewobia's voice. Many Cubi chose to use their shapeshifting abilities to blend in with the environment, but Fa'Lina had a habit of showing people her true self, even if it meant getting into a fight. Besides, she figured, there already is somebody with headwings, and nobody started a mob for him. "No, I think I'll go in like this. If push comes to shove, I'll just teleport out with him. The village is like a powder keg, and the boy is the fuse. Once he discovers his wing tentacles or something equally obvious, the village will be after him. But maybe I can convince them that their son is better off at the Academy..."
"If you say so," the lamb said with little enthusiasm. "The village is a few minutes north from here. Hard to miss, really."
"Excellent, thank you! I'll be on my way then." Fa'Lina gave Kifo a nod. "Take us out of the village. No need to start rumors about Fewobia having strange guests." She let Kifo fly around her, its tail opening a rift between the dimensions. "Oh, and Fewobia... I meant it when I made you the offer to join me. If you want to teach at the Academy, just say so."
Fewobia opened her mouth to reply, but Fa'Lina had already been teleported out of the house.
---
Author's Notes:
- One of the things that startled me during the research phase was Fi's Cast page. Fi's age is 3, so I assumed that Fa'Lina has had quite a few Warp-Aci. That's why we won't see Fi in this story, but Kifo hopefully makes up for it :P
- A more general note is that these chapters won't be beta-read (my beta reader would strangle me for 30 days of 1000+ words ;)). So there may be errors, even though I hope they are not severe. If you catch something, just say it.
- I will try to explain at least some of the DMFA mechanics in the fic so potential readers who don't know Amber's universe inside out won't get too lost. It's mostly a challenge for myself and will be more visible in the future chapters. The result will be how I view the DMFAverse. It will be partially based on Amber's forum posts, partially on my deductions, and the last (hopefully small) part will be basically some guesstimation.
- The word count in my sig reflects how far I am right now, not how much I posted here.