The More You Know

"So what are you doing out here?"

Bixey leaned against the cave wall, lounged out and gnawing at her bear steak. I'd tried to nibble at mine, but between the chewiness of the meat, earthy taste, and the nose turning musty smell, I didn't have an appetite.

"I'm—"

The world spun and I pressed my palm into my eye to try and push back stabbing pain in my head. Images flashed through my mind that I couldn't understand, like a movie at ten times speed. Then, nothing.

"Are you alright? Is the bear making you sick?"

"No," I said, catching my breath. I was breathing like I'd sprinted a kilometer and my heart was beating so hard it was ready to burst. "I just got a little dizzy. I'm heading north."

"North?"

Bixey's hair bristled and she sat up. Her already narrow eyes bore into me, searching for answers I wasn't even sure I had to give. Why had I said that? From what I could recall, Royal Hearts took place in the Goldsplain Empire which encompassed the entire continent aside from the frozen northern hellscape, Purga, which was infested with demons and monsters. Why would I want to go there?

"Just a little further. I ran away from home and I've been trying to find a village I can start a new life in."

I could tell from how hot my cheeks burned that my lie was apparent and I tensed as I waited for Bixey to interrogate me.

"That makes sense. I left my family to travel on my own when I was younger, too. It must have been pretty bad if you ran off this unprepared, though."

"Something like that."

She didn't pry more after that and the rest of the afternoon and evening were spent making a smoker for the meat and small talk. It was fascinating to see how much Bixey knew, especially since she looked younger than I was. When I commented, she looked ready to slap me, angrily informing me that she had just turned three hundred a few months prior.

"There's no way a person can live to three hundred!"

"Maybe not a human," Bixey growled, baring her teeth at me. "You bald monkeys weren't always the dominant species ya know."

I wasn't sure how to respond. I'd had my suspicions, but, even with them confirmed, it didn't feel real.

"You're a demon?"

Claws lashed out at me and I covered my face with my arms and squeezed my eyes. The blow never came. Confused, I peeked between my arms.

A clawed black hand gripped Bixey's wrist like a vice. She struggled to free it, twisting and pulling while spitting curses I'd never heard before. All while Yahime stood frozen looking at me.

"It's fine," I said, staring into Yahime's halo eyes. "She didn't mean it, so let her go."

"What in the frozen north is a daughter of the Goddess of Souls doing here?!"

Bixey clenched her wrist with her hand and I noticed her face had elongated into a short snout. Two pointed orange ears poked out from her hair and I caught a fluffy grey and orange tail receding back into her robes.

"Stop trying to change the subject. Those people are hunting you because you're a demon, aren't they?"

"Don't call me a demon."

The rage seething from Bixey was palpable and I tried to understand why. It was canonical in Royal Hearts that non-humans were referred to as demons.

But the empire is a human dominated society. Thinking about it, I can't even recall any non-human characters in the game. They were only referenced. Is "demon" some sort of racial slur then?

"Bixey," I said, dipping my toe to gauge her mood. "Is demon actually an insult?"

She spit on the ground and glared, though I could tell it wasn't really at me. "Damn right it is! Do I look like someone with a blood fetish to you?"

I watched as her animal features receded until she looked as human as I did. Only then did I notice the small indicators: a slightly longer and dark nose, the blue flames, the sharp teeth. A kitsune. Then were yokai different from demons?

"Then should I call you a kitsune?"

"What the hell is that? And don't try to deflect from that."

Her finger trembled as she pointed at Yahime, her body tense and her ears flat against her head.

"I don't know," I admitted, stepping beside my towering familiar. "But she's my familiar."

"Familiar? As if. Why would a daughter of the Goddess of Souls become your familiar? She would never allow that!"

Goddess of Souls? I racked my memory. I'd played Royal Hearts for years, done every route and event, and I couldn't recall ever hearing about a Goddess of Souls. So why did I know her name?

"Vide."

"Yes, Vide," Bixey snapped. "That thing beside you is a Dusk, one of her daughters! There's no way you haven't heard of them."

"Let's say I haven't."

"Mother… Dusk are the daughters of Vide and escort the souls of the dead to the Twilight where the souls wait for reincarnation. They kill anyone and anything that gets in their way and a sane person runs the other way when they see one. Which is why it makes no sense you have one as a familiar!"

Daughter of a goddess? I didn't meet any before waking up in Royal Hearts, but maybe she was the one who brought me here? What if Yahime is my cheat ability after all?

"She is rather adept at killing," I laughed. "When I woke up in the forest I was attacked by a pack of Seele and she killed them for me. Then she became my familiar."

Bixey's expression was marred with a mixture of doubt and confusion. I didn't blame her; who would believe that a divine creature would become some random teenage girl's familiar? I wouldn't have believed it either.

"A pack? Then…" she looked me up and down several times. "I guess that's possible. Maybe it came for her too early? Or… gah! I don't know! That useless woman would, but who knows where she's gallivanting around."

"Um, are you alright Bixey?"

"It's nothing," she said, sitting down. "I'm sorry for lashing out. To answer your question, yes, demon is an insult. Just another way for humans to demean the other species."

Essentially, the continent had been inhabited by several different species of people half a century prior. Then, one day, the humans decided they should be in charge and systematically conquered the surrounding non-human kingdoms. Some surrendered immediately, hoping to stay in the humans' good graces, while others fought to the brink of extinction. In the end it was all the same: the non-human kingdoms were assimilated into the Goldsplain Empire and their residents were branded demons and exiled to the northern lands of Purga to live in exile. This included Beastfolk like Bixey, Horned, which from her description best matched Earth demons, dragon people named Drakengarden, and Blessed, who Bixey stayed rather vague about. Collectively they called themselves the Exiled.

I hadn't realized the complexity of the Royal Hearts world. Or rather, is it supposed to be this complex? This all seems so detailed for an otome game that mostly took place at a school. I know there was a lot of extra content that took place after the main story, but even that was focused on the romance, not whatever political nightmare Bixey is describing.

"I didn't realize that de— Exiled had been through so much."

Bixey shrugged. "It's not like it's a popular point of conversation topic in the empire. But who cares about that when you've got a literal Dusk as a familiar! It's rare enough to see a diving creature, let alone know someone who tamed one."

"Yahime's not a pet," I said, grabbing Yahime's arm and pulling her behind me. "Don't think of trying to steal her."

The kitsune's eyes narrowed. Had I upset her again? Before I could apologize she sealed my lips with her finger and nodded her head towards the entrance of the cave.

"Someone's out there," she whispered.

I looked at Yahime for confirmation, but she didn't seem to notice or care. Whoever it was couldn't be that much of a threat then, right?

"The humans who were chasing you?"

She nodded and stretched her arms over her head. I didn't like where this was going.

"I was hoping they'd give up," she sighed. "Killing humans is always messy."

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