-Mason-

After walking a short distance, Meila was already stopping us to talk more about humans. I was appreciative of her help, but couldn't help wondering how it was possible to have so many questions. Meila herself was quite odd; she was nothing like the other demons, yet still followed their customs like nothing was wrong.

She was very pretty, but also, as we recently found out, very mischievous. In only the past ten minutes, she'd stolen Jaycen's journal, snapped Isaac's goggles, and tripped Chanson - none of which was taken all too well. Jaycen mourned the loss of a page of his notes and scrambled to rewrite them anew, Isaac sadly fixed his goggles with duct tape he seemingly pulled from nowhere, and Chanson grumbled incessantly about how "stupid" all of this was. The group was already falling into chaos, not far into the journey.

Currently, Meila was talking Cowyn's ears off about all the human stuff she'd stolen during her trips to Earth, including the cargo pants she wore. "So many pockets!" She exclaimed, praising the usefulness of such a plain piece of clothing. Soon after, she was commending lipstick for "-completely transforming someone's face, and don't get me started on that other makeup stuff!" Cowyn was massaging away a headache, this time not induced by the magic intake.

"Can you be quiet a moment, for the love of God?" Chanson cried. "You can't learn anything if you keep yapping!" Meila's eyes widened, and her lipstick-covered bottom lip began to tremble. She's going to cry, I dreaded.

"No, no, hold on," I said frantically, making my way over to her. I couldn't stand crying, and some part of myself commanded me to sympathize with her. "It's okay. I get what it's like to be excited about things! We really do want to help you learn, it's just a little hard to answer unasked questions. Maybe... Slow down... A bit?" I tried. Her lip stopped trembling, but her eyes welled up with red tears.

"I'm... Sorry..." She sniffled. Very emotional, too. Hmm. I isolated her inner monologue and read her thoughts, realizing how very inexperienced she must be. She truly didn't understand what she was doing wrong, and honestly only wanted to know. Her thoughts were very naive, in a childish way, as if she were only ten or so years old - but they were also very sporadic, and jumped all over the place, making them hard to read.

"Meila, how old are you?" I wondered. She wiped her tears away slowly, her poorly applied mascara streaking her cheeks.

"I'm only a hundred and forty nine," she sighed. "But it's almost my Existence Day Celebration, so I'm not that young!" Right. Demons live just about forever. She's like a slightly more literate human child.

"Existence celebration?" Jaycen wondered, quill and journal at the ready.

"Yeah," Meila smiled, fangs showing once again. "The day I remember when I came into existence! It just means I've been existing another year. It's a big deal though, especially since I will be a hundred and fifty this time!"

"Oh, like a birthday party!" Isaac said happily, while Jaycen excitedly wrote down the information. "What are you doing to celebrate?"

"That's the best part!" She said, hardly able to contain her excitement. "That's the day I get to do whatever I want, so that's when I go visit the human dimension of my choosing! Which is always Earth; it's so pretty there, and easy to blend in because they don't believe in my race!" She was levitating a few inches off the ground in her excitement, clasping her hands together under her chin and smiling like a child on Christmas.

"Is that when you get all your... Um... Human stuff?" Cowyn asked. She nodded.

"Yep! It's so easy to find, you know. Humans just leave all their stuff in unlocked buildings with tons of shelves. Why do they do that?" She rambled. I wanted to explain to her the concept of a store, but thought better of it. It'd only confuse her, and most likely subject us to a million more questions anyhow.

"Who celebrates this... Existence Day with you?" Jaycen inquired, flipping a page in his journal and now watching her every move with curiosity. This must be a blast for him.

"Oh, uh... No one," she said quietly.

"What?" I asked.

"Well, I don't have anyone to celebrate with. The only reason I can go to the human realm is because of Karma's world-build rules. But that's okay! It's more fun that way, I think." She said, though her tone sounded less than happy.

"Oh. When is it?" I asked, hoping she'd cheer up.

"In a few days!" She said ecstatically. Well, that worked quickly.

"Just a moment," Jaycen interjected. "What do you mean by world-build rules? Did Karma create this dimension?" We all turned to him at the new revelation.

"Well, yeah! That's why he's the king, duh," Meila joked. "Now seriously, what's with humans and leaving their stuff everywhere?"

"No no, let's talk about this for a second," Cowyn said. "If he created this dimension... Who created ours?"

"That is precisely what I was thinking," Jaycen smiled, excited to talk about it. "We haven't given much thought to the fact that why we are against these demons in the first place could be linked to a creator. Something we cannot understand as of yet. It's an equally frustrating and exciting possibility! Much more exciting, I believe."

"Do you even hear yourself right now?" Chanson commented. "You act like everything is a positive opportunity or something."

"It is! You see, if we can somehow find out who our creator is, we may discover our purpose. Why we specifically were chosen for this mission - you and Cowyn excluded, of course - and what we should do to finish it," Jaycen explained. "We could have a creator, and a purpose! It's very exciting, and very probable."

"Or," Chanson said, "This creator could be evil and pitting us against the demons because they know we'll die."

"Geez, pessimistic much?" I laughed. He shrugged.

"Optimism breeds disappointment."

I thought about it for a moment. First impression: It's true, what he said. When we stay optimistic about all things, we're disappointed when it turns out less than positively. However, fully optimistic people can see the bright side of even their worst failures, which therefore eradicates disappointment and breeds, instead, hopefulness. It was nearly impossible to be that positive, however. I glanced over at Jaycen, his smile still there despite everything. Well, he does it.

I decided to simply leave Chanson's comment open. No need to argue what I knew he wouldn't understand; his brain was programmed to think negatively. It's saved him before, and his mind has adopted it now as a way of life - the only one who could change that was him.

"Let's just keep the whole idea in mind and keep going," Cowyn suggested. We nodded, but Meila was confused.

"What mission?" She asked finally, though it was very late in the conversation.

"Um... Life in general?" I tried. If she knew we were attempting to overthrow her king, she'd leave for sure. We needed her help.

"Oh." She sighed. "I was hoping it was more interesting."

"Like what?" Beckham tested sarcastically.

"Like overthrowing Karma," she smirked. Wait... What? 

Author's Note!

HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Halloween is legit my favorite holiday lol but hey guys! I hope you like this chapter, and how about that cliffhanger? Hmm? (You may kill me now.) I'd love to know your thoughts ^_^

Love y'all, thanks for reading!

Savy