Young Writers Society

Her reddish eyes gaze back at him, piercing; she doesn't know why that final word of 'demonic' gave him such a reaction, but she'll pretend like she does and she'll use it. But what if he really is a demon? Could he be hiding?

Aw, Sarah, you don't like that, do you? the voice taunts.

The piercing gaze startled him. He was even more certain that she knew what he really was, and that terrified him. Even Ra hadn't fully understood what he was; that had been countless centuries ago. How could someone from another world know what he was? He had looked at her on the different planes when they first met, but he did so once again. There was nothing that he could see that suggested she was more than just a human. So why was he so convinced that there was more to her than what he saw?

The Ancients had mentioned beings with more power than him. He had scoffed at it then - he had been the strongest out of the entire city! - but his wiser, older self suddenly wondered if this woman was one of them.

He started to hurry down the hallway. He didn't like the implications of what that meant, especially when he wasn't even sure of what abilities someone that powerful could possess. "Let's go," he said. He pointed down the hallway he had just come down. "Since none of us have gone that way, I think that's our best option."

He's afraid. Worried. Use it, it urges. You hunger for it. I know you do...

She smirks slightly as he starts down the hallway, falling into step behind him with a casual, sauntering gait.

Adamina picked up her skirts and followed them, allowing herself to be behind the rest, so she could both keep an eye out behind and monitor her companions. She still didn't fully trust them.

James let Adamina fall to the back of the group, but kept a close eye on all of them. He watched the odd dynamics between Leo and Auryon with the sole intention of counteracting any tangible conflict between if it were to arise. As they advanced down the hallway and turned a corner, James saw another door come into view - well, double doors, actually. As they all got closer to it they could see the markings where the door handles should've been.

Songbirds.

They all looked back to Adamina.

She cleared her throat quietly and stepped past the others. She gave each door a small touch.

The doors opened to reveal another set of hallways. Still intent on staying as far away from Auryon as he possibly could, he pulled ahead of the group. Being close to her meant confronting the fact that she seemed to understand what he was. He needed a distraction. But the added distance failed to provide that, and he realized he needed a different strategy.

Which meant one thing.

Small talk.

He looked back over his shoulder at the others. Chatting with strangers was one of his recently acquired skills; if he didn't intrude too much into their lives, they wouldn't be offended by the conversation. It would both be a way to pass the time and learn more about them.

"Where are you from?" he asked with a smile. Answering the question himself was the best way to get them to open up - it was just a matter of choosing what past to go with. "I'm from a small village called Kartiel. It's surrounded by beautiful forests, and has a beautiful night sky. I've never seen any place with stars that shine as brightly as they did there."

"California," is Auryon's short reply.

Adamina stiffened. She could understand if she didn't know the name of a small village, but California? As far as she was aware, there was no such place on the earth with that name. At least, not in the present.

She began to wonder if she was stuck in some insane dream.

He came to a sudden stop. "California?" he repeated, staring at Auryon with brown wide eyes. The name had sounded like it was more befitting of another world; he hadn't even questioned her origin. Why had he decided that none of the group could come from Earth? "You're from Earth!?"

"Yeah...where else would I be from?"

Hell.

That's you, not me, asshole.

"Somewhere other than Earth," he weakly said, his voice little more than a whisper. This place couldn't be on Earth! Earth never possessed this sort of technology, and why would someone like Auryon be here? She didn't look like she belonged to the SGC. It would make sense for someone who had come into contact with the extraterrestrial, but she couldn't have. If she had, she would have said something else when she just replied!

Which meant that the person here had to know him from his time on Earth.

But they knew enough about him to have the room match the life he had lived under Ra, even though that had happened countless centuries ago!

"...This doesn't make any sense!"

“It doesn’t make sense for any of us, Leo,” James remarked.

He frantically shook his head. "No, it really doesn't make any sense. It's not just a confusing turn of events. There's no one who could have had the same motive for taking Auryon and me here." He gestured at both Adamina and Peter. "And I'm not even sure about you two! Whoever brought us here knows things about me that they can't possibly know."

"Auryon and I, firstly, and secondly how do we know it was the same person or we're connected in any way, shape, or form?"

Unless he really was a demon, that is.