Astara, 564th Princess of the Realm of Demons, ruler of this realm for centuries, sat on her throne, in a near catatonic state.
Bara was once Barry, one of the very first demons created by Dana and Astara when this had been a realm of mortals rather than endless and
wild passions twisted instincts. She was rather tiger-anthro like, except for her demonic wings, fangs, and her tail ended in a strange blossom
that acted as paint for her art work.
She was what inspired Astara to take the transformations in a completely new direction from what she had been doing before, delighted and
curious about that tiny spark of will inside Dana and inside Bara as well.
Bara had long since given up any fantasy of the world reverting to what it once was. It would be just too strange after everything that had
happened. And like it or not, Bara felt PROUD of the painting she had done, some had taken a thousand years to complete, that covered
MOUNTAINS! And when not doing commissions for Dana and their princess, she was allowed her own artistic endevors.
Bara had long since gotten used to a world where long term partnership was alien, where self control was something to be done in moderation
not the other way around, and where the old laws of reality had long since rotted away. And she had become an artist to ROYALTY, the ruler of
this world for crying out loud! She had, circumstance aside, likely gotten more out of her life than she would have if Astara had not come.
Bara hesitated as the princess stood there on her absurdly oversized throne, looking emptily at the vast mosaic floor. Her hair hanging from
her head like a weeping willow.
The imp that had once been Dana's brother poked her but nothing. Bara had a gut feeling that something -wrong- had invaded their kingdom.
"Go and hide little one."
"Where's Dana?" The imp asked.
"She'll be back soon I promise go and hide." Bara hugged her and the imp scampered off.
"Showing concern like that. Not very demon like." Astara finally broke the silence. Her voice sounded hollow almost.
Bara stood ready for whatever punishment Astara invented, hoping she'd be something easy on the eyes this time for her century of
punishment. Nothing happened.
"But that's what interested me about you, and Dana." Astara said, "That spark, the tinny, tiny spark of inner most WILL, even after you had truly
become one of us, even after you had fully embraced what you were and stopped trying to fight it. That tiny bit of WILL never left you or her,
ever, or any of the others you transformed personally and they transformed personally, and so on. I liked watching you transform as many as
you could. You were all so slightly DIFFERENT from my six hundred and sixty five sisters. You made me feel unique."
Bara chose her words carefully, "You . . . honor me princess."
"Don't bother trying to sow favor with me Bara . . . I won't be ruler here much longer."
"What?"
"I felt it through our empathic like I've always had with Dana. . . . " She looked up. And Bara could hold back her gasp in pure absolutely shock.
Astara was crying. CRYING! "DANA'S DEAD! SHE'S MORE THAN DEAD! THAT TINY SPARK OF WILL! THAT THING THAT MADE HER MORE THAN
JUST ANOTHER DEMONESS! IT'S GONE! GONE! And . . . and . . . and… curse you! Curse her! All these centuries and eons! You had no idea did
you?! You infected me! Without even knowing it! These things I feel! No demoness is meant to feel them! I realize now I felt happy with Dana
just for her company! I felt worried when she was gone! I felt relieved when she returned! . . . And, now that the one thing that made her
special is dead, I feel sad! I feel regret for her! I'm tainted! I'm no longer pure! . . . " She leaned back in her giant throne. Laying about listless.
"Now I've been corrupted by human emotion, now that I've committed the ultimate crime a demon can commit by feeling regret for another,
the power I have will be retracted by my Father/Mother/Parent. I am no longer your princess Bara. Just go."
" . . . what about you?"
"Dana's been turned into a true demon princess, even if she doesn't realize it our empathic link was never actually broken. She is now the Sixth
Hundredth Sixty Seventh Demon Princess, and my little sister. She is on her way to kill me, or exile me back to our original core realm, where
I'll be executed on the spot for being infected by human emotion. Then my spirit will be absorbed by Father/Mother/Parent, I'll cease to exist,
and that'll be that."
As Astara spoke, shadows emerged from her and fled her body like giant black clouds. And her body shrank. Bara rubbed her eyes. And when
the spoke cleared and the darkness abandoned her, Astara still had her black hair, and red skin. But her wings were now small than a cupid's
wings and her horns were tiny nubs. But most shocking, she had gone form a big breasted shapely teenager, to a tween-age girl just before
the wrong side of puberty and as flat as a board.
She sounded exactly like the child she looked like, "Just go. This realm will be either reverted soon, destroying and killing everything that has
happened since then, or claimed as Dana's own. Your fate is your own now."