The sandy deserts outside lightly graze over the dead, cracked land by the cool night winds that would send shivers down any spine like a death glare sent from the evil lord himself. It'd make frost fall all over if it weren't for the planet being different then the homeland of a specific ebony creature that lived in this new world. Homes made of peach rock and dark leather circle in on one another like old times of Before-Home, Earth. Each house was made of this sturdy tan material and dark animal-skins that moved by the air.

A golden-beaming light shone through one window of a home and curious laughter floated out. A friend group of six - all ebony shades due from evolution - and sat at a grand wooden table, each sitting in a seat with no room to spare. Five of these friends were lizard-like with well-built scaled bodies, long death catching tails. The dark hides used as village decoration was woven into leather straps that draped over their bulked forms, making 'X's over their abdomens, pouches for small weapons like knives or daggers, and larger flaps that hung in the front of the waist, covering their personal parts. Only their eyes, shades of skin, tone of voice, and talent of doing differentiated them from one another.

The last one of these six was near entirely different from them. She - being only female friend in the group - was covered in black-night fur with a much shorter and thicker tail swishing tentatively through the crook of the chair she sat in - like everyone else - and large, heavy wings that could take their being over the atmosphere if desired. Two body-long, razor-sharp quills hung off the back of this female's head and her small, triangular ears swivelled in different directions, following wherever sound came from. She was a hedgehog demon-angel hybrid.

"I told you that getting that game was a stupid mistake," Midnight, the hedgehog female, said to her dark companion ice-blue-eyed Monhra, who was pulling out many trinkets from the satchel he adorned.

"How do you know? You haven't played all our games," Monhra mocked back with a smug gleam. The males response was a low growl to the reminder of the young adult.

"Now, now Monhra. You know Midnight doesn't like being reminded of where she came from, remember?" Dar, a sun-kissed-eyed man, and best friend to the demoness, defended against his long-time friend.

"Speaking of," Gradu, leafy-green eyed and sitting beside Midnight, hummed while snaking up a arm to rest his chin upon, "Where did you come from? Everyone knows you don't like to talk about it and all, but you know we are all curious."

Midnight huffed, cheeks tinting with anger red, and crossed her arms. "If this 'game' of Monhra's works like he says, then I don't have to tell nothing."

"And if it doesn't, like you keep saying?," pursued Suranni, cloud-light-eyed and sitting beside Monhra.

Midnight shrugged her relaxed shoulders. "Then no one knows."

"That's not fair!" argued Halu, stone-eyed and beside Gradu.

"You all know I'm too stubborn to tell anything. This thing will be the only way." Midnight looked Halu dead in the eyes, making him understand that she was serious on the topic. Halu frowned in disappointment at the loss.

"Okay," Monhra softly said to himself, setting the last bits of trinkets on the table. Midnight raised an eye ridge in curiousity of what they'd all be used for and wonder if this 'game' was actually going to work. Cause then all her secrets would be spilled.

Monhra moved things in certain places then deemed his work worthy. A crystal ball sat on a stand in the middle of the table. A bottle of some liquid, which Midnight didn't want to know by the noxious lingering smell, was off to his right, near the demoness, and a box of marbles on his other side, closer to Dar on the opposite end of the table. The female took note of how each item looked and where they were placed. They reminded her of things from her home world. Which made her frown deeply and lightly shake her head before looking to her friend.

"What's all this for? Gonna read my mind or something?" Midnight mocked.

"Not read it. See it."

Midnights frown deepened even further. She didn't like anything of where this was going.

Monhra raised his hands and waved them in circular motions over all the items. Smoke puffed out the bottle and grazed over the table like morning fog in a swamp, clouding everything it reached. He hummed small words that Midnights sensitive ears could pick up, closing his eyes and continuing his motions.

A light flashed before Midnight's eyes and she snapped her head away. She wanted to get up. To leave and ease over this dread feeling digging into the pit of her chest. But she was stuck. Everything felt tied down to whatever it were touching. Legs pinned to the floor, rear glued to the seat, hands latched onto upper arms, tail and wings frozen in place.

Dar noticed Midnights sudden freeze, looking at her in worry and wonder. Something went off. Midnight suddenly became someone else to Dar, though she didn't change at all. She was still the same black-haired, purple-eyed, female demoness that he knew from day one.

A split broke in Dar. His amber eyes went wide and everything went into an abyss.

Dar's POV

There was nothing but black everywhere. No matter where I look or how fast I turn. Nothing. A loud, roar-like sound came from a distant. No, it's not a roar. Not quite. It was more of a hum? But what could hum so loud it was like roaring?

A loud, much higher-pitched buzz made me cover my unnoticed ears. Everything dissolved around me. The black turned into a green forest with a large patch of grass that I have ever seen. Though, it was being blocked from spreading with high stone walls and metal poles sticking out the top. Some grass was peeking out of the wall and cracks in the stone path, had made their own escape for freedom from the prison.

Laughter filled my ears. It was soft but harmonised by different tones. I look to see a group of... what kind of animal is this? It's all pale and looks more frail than a newborn bundle. They each had some color of fur sprouting from their heads. Some was short while others draped along the beings' backs. Their faces were all flat with a little nub in the very center, eyes just to the side of the top of the nub and mouth just below it.

But one of these creatures seemed to catch my attention the most. By my guesses, it were female. With long brown fur tied up on her head, dark brown eyes changing orange from the sunlight, and a piece of attire along her nub, crossing her eyes. What kind of fashion would that be? Putting glass over your eyes?

"Oh! Before I forget!" she says, voice toned with remembrance as she pulled over a weighted bag from her back. "I have this 'personality project' in English. It's where I ask people, friends or family, how they'd describe me. I need at least three things from one more person."

"Is that the same project Lennon gave us last week?" a male with a fluff of black curly fur and black-rimmed eyewear said in complain. The brown-haired female nodded with a chuckled.

"Well," one of the others, another female with curly dark-golden fur and black-rimmed glasses, hummed. "Definitely kind hearted and stubborn."

The brown-haired wrote something down on the sheet of white paper. "I need one more word," she said thoughtfully, finishing her writing.

"Trustworthy," the other finished instantly.

"Thanks Kat," brown-fur replied. She put the paper in a folder and folder in her bag.

"I'm guessing you asked your parents though?" black-fur asked.

"Yeah," brown-fur said nonchalantly, "My dad said I wa fun, loyal, and talented."

"Also sounds like you," 'Kat' commented.

Brown-fur shrugged, turning her direction to cross the larger black pathway with large beasts roaring by at unexplainable speeds. "I'll see ya tomorrow!" she waved.

"See ya Ashton!" Kat waved back.

'Ashton, huh?' I think, watching after the girl.

She crosses the black path and strides up on the tan one. She moved fluently with a pep in her step and raised chin. She - Ashton - was proud and courageous, obvious to the eye.

A big, bulked, black beast came to a slow halt, blocking my view of the creature. A muffled shout cried out along with a slide and bang before screeching wheels. Ashton was nowhere in sight anymore.

Midnight's POV

My mind replied all the horrors of my past. From that dreadful day of deciding to walk home from school with my friends to being tied down on a metal table with mad scientists hovering over me and putting chemicals in my body to coming out the creation pod like what I am now and killing them all before making a mad dash and somehow teleporting here.

I snapped my head back with a gruff snarl and scrapped my ears and temples with agony.

Why? Why did they want to know? Why did they make me remember?

Voices echo out lowly with worry, some louder and closer and some not. A hand comes and grasps my shoulder, another joining its action on my other. I growl and snap my jaws at both appendages, clawing at their arms and pushing up from the table, stomping up the stairs and to my shared room, slamming the door behind me. My breath shakes with every take, vibrating my voice and making me growl as I try to calm down.

It took so long to forget... So long to be happy again...

A knock comes on the door and angers me so much I fall to the floor beside my bed, moonlight casting over me in the darkness. The door creaks open and the pads of large feet thump over to me like rain clouds in a thunderstorm. Someone sits next to me, I fling my legs and curl away, wrapping my wings over my body.

No words are spoken for a long moment. An arm reaches out and wraps around my curled frame. They pull me close, not flinching away when my quills snap and snag on their scaled body.

I snarl in defense. A hand goes through my quills. I soften immediately. It was just like when we first met.

"Dar," I say without knowing.

My voice is so rasp I don't know my own from a stranger.

"You don't need to tell," he whispers back.

I press my ear to his chest and listen. His heart is strong and steady. He knows my tale... the horror story of how I came to be...

A tear pricks my eye and I nuzzle him further, seeking comfort unlike any day I had before. And he gives me just that, stroking hands in my quills and lithe fingers rubbing my ears.

He's the only one who knows me most. The only one who knows the truth..