Brianna screamed as she fell off the top of the building, several creatures (all with licenses to fly within city limits of course), right down to the street below. She covered her eyes... every fiber in her being thinking one thing: STOP!
And... Brianna slowly opened her eyes... for a moment worried she's scared herself out of time and space somehow. But nope, there was the street below her. And... She looked up.
"I'm not flapping my wings." Brianna wispered.
"Like DUH! Of course you're not." Jem floated down next to her. "And you want to know why? Because this here," she grasped Brianna's wings. "This is just a facade... something for humans to see something familiar. Most humans would freak out if they tried to comprehend what we really look like. That's something you needed to understand. This isn't shape shifting, this is presenting something that humans with their limited senses can understand. And you need to work out of that human mindset. ... Because you're not human. Not in the least. You can't feel emotions like say 'regret.' We CAN'T go back on our choices."
"So ... uh... what is something close to what we look like?" You managed to blurt out.
"Oh. Here's something for you to get a vague idea." Jem said with a nod. And it was like a veil was pulled back.
And Jem's shape changed completely.
On her shoulders now was the heads of a lionness, a lamb, a dove, and a little girl, facing off in four cardinal directions. Instead of a halo around her head was a ring of flames all around her, with eyes within looking in every direction. And her wings were not feathers, and she didn't have arms or legs, but wisps of light flowing off in every direct.
The lamb head said, "So this is a closer approximation."
The lion head said, "But it isn't still isn't really right."
"But it's still close enough for now," said the lamb head.
"I hope you're not scared of yourself now," said the little girl head.
"Not that you can regret your decision now," said the lion head.
"But you'll get used to it, that much is a promise," said the dove head.
"The rebels do the same thing really," said the lion head.
"Rebels?" You parroted.
"Rebels. Slavers. Demons. Devils. Joined only in their beliefs that subservience to demons is the mortal man's natural state. Call them what you will."
"Oh."
"As long as we're on the subject of seeing beyond your mortal perception, it seems we have a object lesson nearby, you can just watch and learn, seems the Magical Girls and the Spirit Guides have this one covered." Jem took your hand, and flapped her wings, it was less like you and she moved, and more like the entire world moved under you.
You saw you were at a local bar, no one seemed to notice you, or that you'd come through the wall.
You saw a round bellied man sitting with a lady with short hair and glasses, the two of them talking about their favorite show and how it had totally jumped the shark. Then a woman looked like a super model sat down next to the man.
She said sultry, "Hey handsome, nice day isn't it? Don't you think the view is nice?"
The man turned away from the lady he'd been talking to, in favor of the new arrival. "I... that is... it's very nice."
"I think the view from here is very nice as well," she said smiling like she was doing a lipstick commercial.
"George..." the woman with glasses said looking a little worried, and miffed.
"You know, it's so rare to see someone who looks so good as you here, among all these ordinary men living ordinary lives. I can see it in you. You're better than this aren't you? It's in your eyes. Those of a great tiger just waiting to let out! You're being held back. You need to break free. Explore the possibilities right in front of you, instead of settling for the things." She leaned closer. George was blushing up a storm. And you could see he was being turned on.
But... then you saw it. The woman seducing George ... it was a marionette, a shadow puppet, it wasn't alive. It was so obvious! Why was no one else reacting to it?! And... the strings led up... and up... Your eyes widened. It was a towering naked old woman, her arms and legs skeletal, instead of hands and feet, she had the claws of vultures. And her face... you weren't sure how to describe it... but it wasn't human. And... between her legs... was a set of comping teeth... You also became aware of a red thread between the man and woman... and the... thing... with one hand on the puppet cross... began taking the string, and putting it in its mouth.
"Porn studios think that succubi feed off of sexual gratification or some nonsense. They don't. They feed on BROKEN relationship, ruined friendship, divided families, all that destroyed potential is what they feed off of." Jem calmly explained.
"We have to do something!"
"The proper authority have already been called in."
"HALT! DEMON! In the name of love, I'll punish you!" Shouted a little girl who had kicked the door down, wearing a frilly dress. Beside her was a cat-bunny thing... A magical girl.
"SHIT!" Hissed the succubus, the real succubus, not the puppet.
The little girl held out her hand. And you saw being beyond the cat-bunny, the cat-bunny being just a shadow puppet... It seemed to be a chimera of some sort, and several times larger than the game... but with more than height, width and depth. It passed through the walls like they were just holograms (or rather, than the walls were less real than the spirit guide was). It look out a glowing white rod put it in the hands of the girl.
And she was holding a pink scepter ending in a golden star. You realized from everyone else's point of view it was like the scepter had appeared out of thin air! You also realized that the girl and the spirit guide were chained together... or rather... it seemed the spirit guide was chained to the little girl instead of the other way around. When she moved, he followed.
"Spirit guides bind themselves to their magical girl, they can't leave them even if they want to unless she grossly violates their code of conduct. They aren't just guides, they're living magic batteries for their magical girl or squad. But because of how friendship works, the better the squad, the more power a spirit guide can provide."
"TRUE LOVE BLAST!" The little girl shouted as the succubus tried desperate attack before the girl could get a shot off... it blasted through the real succubus... but at the same time, the puppet itself changed to that of the succubus that you saw on porn sites, dominatrix leather, red skin, and little wings tail and horn... It leapt at the magical girl at the same time, and it looked like to everyone else that she had blasted the woman who'd just turned into a monster...
The succubus... wasn't so much destroyed... and it was like she had lost an anchor, and was now blow away out of sight like she'd been at the bottom of the ocean and was a bubble of air. But the puppet was.
George reared back in shock and horror. The glasses girl gave him a silent hug. The red string between them still intact.
"Normally I'd have given you the power-point slide show... but this seemed like a better way to get the point across of what you'll be fighting for."
You looked at your hands... and had an odd feeling of playing a video game, and having mistaken your game avatar for the real you, for lack of a better term... You were reminded of Plato's Cave.