Young Writers Society

This ship would've been lost forever if it wasn't for you.

It's the only spot of color in this infinite desert. A gigantic airship covered over the top and back by what was once a massive balloon, it's lying at an angle against one of the sand dunes, threatening to fall onto the ground at any moment. Behind the shattered glass, rusted metal, battered floors, and torn canvas, you get the sense that it used to be a top-of-the-line vessel. If the oversized beds, tarnished silver utensils in the restaurants, and the brass bolts holding the frame together are any indicator, it served the wealthy and well-to-do.

But something happened - they're all gone. There isn't another soul on this ship beyond you. Yet there's no bodies on the ship, no signs of a struggle that haven't vanished with age or time. Time isn't your friend; intact as the ship might be, you have no idea how long ago it was abandoned, or how much longer it's going to last. Those clouds in the distance don't reassure you either.

Despite your fears and questions and concerns, you have one thought at the front of your mind.

You need to get out of here.

Rules:

1. Third-person perspective (preferred)

2. Past tense (preferred)

3. I'm pretty open to violence or romance, but ask if me you think anything will be too explicit.

4. Have fun!

Aegeas woke up to the sound of snoring.

He opened one eye, then the other. As usual, he could barely see anything in front of him - his nearsightedness only got worse in the morning. Yawning and stretching his arms, he felt a weight against his chest. Also usual. The otter smiled faintly as he looked down and saw Kellach sleeping peacefully, arms wrapped around Aegeas's stomach. Except for the snoring, it was about as peaceful as Aegeas could imagine.

Still, something felt a little off. The first sign was that it was awfully dark for what Aegeas was pretty sure was the morning. It took a few seconds for Aegeas's eyesight to adjust enough for him to figure out why. The bed loomed over their heads, one end resting on the floor and the other on a glass window. Bedsheets hovered inches about their faces, the fabric full of tears.

Where were they? He was sure they hadn't been drinking last night, and neither of them moved around much in their sleep. Before he could say or do anything, though, he heard Kellach stop snoring.

With a loud snort, Kellach opened his eyes and looked up. "Hey," he said. "How's it?" Then he noticed the look on Aegeas's face. "Something up?"

Aegeas pointed to the bed.

Kellach looked up, squinting. "Huh," he said, letting go of Aegeas and moving back. "What did we do last-"

Kellach disappeared.

Lunging forward, Aegeas gripped onto the edges of the metal frame before he could accidentally throw himself out into the desert. His heartrate exploded as he stared at the huge dunes in front of him, and then his eyes focused on the pair of paws also clinging onto the frame. Aegeas breathed a sigh of relief as he reached down and grabbed onto Kellach's arm. Trying to ignore the pain in his other paw as it clung onto the hot metal, Aegeas yanked Kellach back up.

They collapsed back under the bed, panting. Neither needed to say a word to the other - their panicked expressions said it all.

"This isn't safe," Aegeas said when his heart wasn't louder than his thoughts. "We need to get out of here."

"No s***," Kellach said, already pushing against the bed. The otters strained and shoved until the bed flipped back onto its legs. Of course, thanks to the angle of the floor, it skidded towards them. They vaulted over it, hearing it as it crashed through the windows and fell towards the ground below.

Grabbing Kellach's arm, Aegeas pulled the both of them towards the other side of the room. They squeezed through the open doorway, finding themselves in a long, poorly-lit hallway.

"Anybody 'ere?" Kellach called, cupping his paws over his mouth.

When she opened her eyes, she was laying in a completely unfamiliar room with her shadow peering over her. A grin immediately spread across her face, and she eagerly shot up: she loved every chance she had to speak with Zion. But she didn't realize just how close the sentient shadow was to where she was laying down, and she ended up slamming her head against Zion's forehead. Both let out cries of pain and fell back on their butts, heads pounding in agony as Ari regretted her decision to get up so suddenly.

"Sorry, Zion," she apologized when the pain finally died down.

"It's alright," they reassured her. They held out their hand, and she gratefully grabbed onto it. A second later, they were both on their feet, surveying the room they had found themselves in.

"Do you think Loki did this?" she asked.

Zion shook their head. "It doesn't match his or Sam's style."

"Huh." She frowned. "If it wasn't them, then who was it?"

Zion shrugged. Before Ari could ask any more questions, her best friend retreated to their seemingly normal shadow form. The timing was perfect; a second later, a man popped his unfamiliar head into the room. From the look on his face, Ari seriously doubted that he was the one responsible for this, so she eagerly went to go meet him by the door.

"Hi," she said, looking up at him.

"Hi," he replied. "You don't know where this place is, do you?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," she said. "I just got up."

He crossed his arms. "I was afraid of that." As he spoke, a little tiny snake head peeked out of his pocket. Ari seriously considered the possibility that he was Loki using a different form, then promptly ignored said theory when four more snake heads popped out of his other pockets.

"You have baby snakes!" she squealed.

"Yup," he confirmed, giving them an affectionate pat on the head with his pinky finger. "I bred them myself. They don't have names yet because they're too little to tell apart, but, I don't think they mind."

He gave her a smile.

She eagerly returned it.

"It's not often that people like snakes," he said as the snakes ducked back into their respective pockets. "I'm glad I'm not stuck with someone who doesn't like them."

He held out his hand.

"I'm Alex, by the way."

She eagerly shook it.

"I'm Ari-"

She was cut off by the sound of someone yelling out in the hallway. Zion shifted uneasily at her feet as she and Alex turned their attention to the doorway. After a moment passed, the two emerged from the room to find themselves looking at...

Two bipedal otters?

Ari didn't even know that was a thing, but her smile immediately grew into a gigantic grin. "Monsters," she whispered, eyes alight. Alex gave her a confused look, but she didn't elaborate further. She was in the middle of trying to dig through her backpack as she approached the two; she wanted to find her notebook and ballpoint pen.

Auryon's eyes shot open, heaving a breath that ended with sand instead of air. She felt a startled cry leave her lips that was only muted by the sea of grit. Her heart stopped and she felt the weight in her stomach as she clawed for wherever 'out' was, reaching up and tearing through it.

Fingers met hers and she gripped the hand for dear life. They hauled her up and she came falling out of the dune, coughing and hacking up the clots of dirt and dust, expelling it onto the golden ground. Her saviour knelt beside her and put her hand on Auryon's back, gazing at her with eyes the same color as the desert that had some semblance of concern in them. It was impossible to tell if said concern was because she actually cared about Auryon's well-being or if it was merely that she didn't want any real harm to befall her tool, but it was all she'd get, so Auryon appreciated it nonetheless.

"Are you alright?" Apophis inquired, head cocked to the side slightly.

The woman nodded mutely and caught her breath, spitting even more of the sand onto the ground and blinking it out of her eyes. The other was patient as she recovered from the scare and got as much as she could out of her system. After several moments, she pushed herself to her feet, taking in their surroundings.

It was, truly, like the ocean. Tan extended as far as either one could see and the horizon was a rich blue. There were no clouds in the sky and the white-hot sun perched on its zenith. Apophis, of course, didn't mind this; the desert was the former god's natural habitat. Auryon herself was partial to warmer climates but, needless to say, her introduction to this Sahara-like place had started the whole thing on the wrong foot.

A half-buried structure lay nearby. It was difficult to tell what it was, but it appeared to be some kind of transportation vessel. It was torn and smooth from having spent many weeks, months, or even years in the desert.

"I don't suppose you know how we got here or where here is?" she asked Apophis, who shook her head.

"I merely woke when you were in danger," she said. "And I awoke above you, on the sand. As to our location, I only know that we are not on Earth. Or, our Earth."

"Yeah, no kidding, Sherlock," Auryon grumbled. Even she could work out they were on the wrong planet.

Her comrade either decided she didn't want to dignify that with a response or she didn't understand the sarcasm, for instead of replying, she merely started towards the vessel. Auryon fell in behind her, sticking close.

They'd only just entered the complex when they heard voices from down the hall. Auryon looked to Apophis, who cocked her head, listening.

"There's five entities," she said. "All are endothermic; picking up the heat. There's also snakes but they're very close together and I can't get anything specific. They're small, though."

"Great," Auryon clapped her hands together and walked down the hall, turning a corner to catch sight of the others. There were two bipedal otters and three seemingly human individuals, one of which was very familiar.

Auryon frowned immediately upon seeing the other Apophis and stepped back towards her own, unsure about this. She didn't remember much from being in the back of Apophis' mind but she didn't trust anyone who hung out with Lucifer. Either of them. Even if it was unfair, it was better safe than sorry.

Apophis - her Apophis - merely looked down at her and put a hand on her shoulder, looking up at her male counterpart. "Hello again, Apophis," she greeted, then looked at the others. "Are these more of your friends?"

Alex froze when he heard the familiar voice ring out through the hallway; he wasn't terrified by the voice's owner, but he was worried about what might have been accidentally revealed. "Not exactly," he said, giving the other Apophis and Auryon a look that he hoped clearly said he was trying to use his name-

"Your name is Apophis?" Ari asked beside him. She has way too much of an eager look on her face when she spoke; no one ever got that excited about him."I thought it was Alex."

"It's a nickname," he hurriedly said. "I've always loved Egyptian mythology, and I do have a lot of snakes, so..."

He gave her a smile, though she looked weirdly disappointed when he finished speaking.

"I th-" Apophis started before Auryon jumped in, realizing what was going on.

"Great nickname, isn't it?" Auryon said with a polite smile, shooting her Apophis a meaningful glance. "It's an alias, you dunce, you're going to blow his cover!"

Apophis frowned, thinking back with some annoyance. "How was I supposed to know?"

"Use your eyes!" she suggested, accidentally out loud. It took her a moment to realize she did that and instead of trying to explain she merely changed the subject. "Well, pleasure to meet you all, I'm Auryon and this is Apophis. Don't shorten it, it annoys the hell out of us. Her."

Eugh, it was so hot this morning. Hopefully Lasan wasn't overheating. At least it wasn't so humid this time - living in a bog had its disadvantages.

Mal frowned. Actually, it was a lot less than humid this time. He felt parched, like all the water had been sucked out of him. And what was that burning-

The lion pulled his head away from whatever it'd been resting on. Opening his eyes, he gasped for air and rubbed the back of his mane. Yep, some of the fur was singed. Not close enough to damage any of the skin, but it wasn't pretty. He'd have to have it cut off sometime. Thytes would be more than happy to do that, but it wasn't like he was around.

...Where was anyone, anyways? It wasn't usually this quiet in the morning.

Mal stood up, rubbing his eyes. He froze when he saw the dunes. A gust buffeted the sand off their peaks, blowing it towards him. Raising his hands over his face, he looked back to see the metal plate that he'd been sleeping against. And he looked up, and up, and up, and up at the airship over his head.

"What-" he began, before a black paw grabbed him by the back of his robes and yanked him up.

The lion tried to grab the offending arm, flailing and kicking, but the other person was just too strong. When that other person held Mal up to eye level, it made perfect sense.

"Oh," Lunis said, staring into Mal's eyes. "You."

"Yeah," Mal said, freezing up. Nope, this isn't how he'd wanted to meet him. Specifically, he'd never wanted to see Lunis ever again.

Lunis sighed. "I thought you were Zech."

"Yeah," said Mal. He looked down at the sand a good distance below his feet. It appeared that Lunis had pulled him up to an expansive, dimly-lit room.

Not that he could see it for long. The panther shook his head, swung Mal around, set the lion on his back, and pointed up. "He might be up there," Lunis said. "I heard voices."

The lion hesitated for a few seconds, then wrapped his arms around Lunis's neck. "This is undignified," he said.

Lunis snorted. "Because you haven't done worse to me."

Before Mal could answer that, Lunis ran across the room, jumped on an old chair (which snapped into pieces under his weight) and grabbed the edge of a hole in the ceiling, pulling himself up.

This was going to be a long climb.

"Erm," Kellach whispered as the group of people in front of them grew bigger, "That answers that."

Aegeas focused more on the strange lady coming in their direction. He couldn't trust the look on her face, or that she was searching her backpack for something, or that she'd called them both monsters. Grabbing Kellach by the hand, Aegeas started running down the hallway. Fortunately, the other otter got the hint, since it wasn't long before he was in front of Aegeas.

They came to a sudden stop at the end of the hallway, scanning their surroundings for some way out. When Kellach pointed to a ladder set into the wall, Aegeas let go of him, grabbed the rungs, and hauled himself up to the next floor.

Instead of more hallways and rooms, this appeared to be the hub of the airship. A massive glass-dome, half-covered in sand, rested to Aegeas's right. The captain's wheel, poised at the center of a wooden deck, extended out to meet it - thanks to the sand plugging up holes in the dome, it had been kept surprisingly intact. On the other side, tossed chairs and broken umbrellas indicated that there had once been some kind of restaurant. The bar and the empty brick ovens were also helpful hints.

Pulling Kellach up, Aegeas led him to the old restaurant. They quickly jumped over the bar and hid underneath it, both straining to hear if anyone would follow them.

Now Ari's face lit back up - even if Alex wasn’t actually Apophis, this woman was! She triumphantly pulled out her notebook and pen from her bag, torn between addressing that or asking the two bipedal otters a plethora of questions.

But when she turned around to face them, all she saw were their backs as they retreated down the hallway. She frowned. She hadn’t even said the monster hunter part yet, and that was usually what sent people running.

She cast a glance over at Apophis, Auryon and Alex before darting down the hallway after them. It was a little hard climbing up the ladder with her pen and composition notebook in her hands, but she somehow managed.

She stopped when she finished climbing up.

"Whoa," she whispered. After a moment when she saw no one else present in the room, she added, "Zion, you have to see this."

Her shadow shifted for a moment, then promptly pulled themself off of the ground and assumed a more solid shape. There was still something disconcerting about suddenly not having a shadow, but she was more focused on the strange layout.

She turned to Zion. "Have you ever seen something like this before?"

"No," they said with a shake of their head. "It almost...It almost looks like a ship. But we're in the middle of the desert, so how could it be a ship..."

"Maybe the ocean dried up?" Ari helpfully suggested, but even she couldn't really explain why everything would be in such relatively good condition. "While we try to figure out what this place is, can you help me find those two otters, Zion? I think they're somewhere up here."

Zion nodded, then began a sweep of the room with Ari in tow.

Of course she'd follow them. And it sounded like she'd brought company too. Aegeas couldn't blame Kellach for pulling a knife out. Her partner sounded...bizarre. It was vaguely inhuman, and all too familiar.

But Kellach had two knives, didn't he? Aegeas looked around Kellach and, sure enough, the other otter was trying to grab a bottle of something (presumably alcohol) set right at the edge of the bar.

Putting a claw over his lips, Aegeas tried to reach up and block Kellach, but it was too late.

The bottle crashed onto the floor, spilling its contents into the wood.

They both turned at the sound of the crash, Ari positively beaming when she assumed the otters were responsible, and Zion readying a strand of darkness.

"Found them," Ari whispered. With a click of her pen, she was heading off to the source of the noise. Zion tried to grab onto her before she could get too far, but it was to no avail - Ari was simply too far ahead. Sighing, the sentient shadow covered the distance between themself and their host, even going ahead of them. Ari did know magic, but their reflexes were far better.

"Hello," they said, stepping around the bar and looking at the two otters. They had never seen anything quite like them before, but asking questions was what would Ari would be doing in only a short amount of time.

Auryon watched the chaos as the two otters fled, followed by Ari, and leaving the two Apophises and human alone.

Auryon herself fell silent and backed off a little. She was uncomfortable being between two demons, and she would much prefer to stay out of their interaction as much as possible, now that the crisis has been averted. Apophis looked down and watched her as she fell back but didn't comment. Her gaze went back to her counterpart.

"I'm surprised to see you here," she said. "Did you come here deliberately?"

Aegeas shouted in alarm at the creature that walked in front of him. He pushed himself back, shoving into Kellach, who hit one of the posts holding the bar up.

While Kellach grumbled, Aegeas pulled out his scimitars. They barely fit in the cramped space beneath the bar, and he didn't have a clue as to how he was going to use them, but it made him feel a little more secure. Besides, he could hear the lady pull out her own weapon. She was close.

He pointed the blades at the dark figure. Behind him, he could hear Kellach yank out his other knife. "What are you?" Aegeas said. "Are you one of its creatures?"

He shook his head, giving the baby snakes another series of affectionate pinky rubs. They were larger than when his counterpart had last seen them, but were still on the small side. “I was just out for a walk,” he said, looking back up at her. “Instead of being on the sidewalk, I suddenly found myself on the floor here.”

He looked over at Auryon. “I didn’t know you could separate,” he commented. He glanced back at the other Apophis, head tilted ever so slightly in confusion. The other Apophis made him feel just as weird and icky as the other Lucifer made his Lucifer feel, but there was nothing he could do about it.


When Ari caught up with her shadow, Zion was in the middle of staring at the two otters. Each were wielding weapons, and Ari felt more than a little underprepared when she realized she only had her notebook and pen out. But she wasn't stupid, so she lingered behind Zion and watched the two with a spell on the tip of her tongue.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Zion carefully said. They raised their hands in surrender; Ari could only hope that they wouldn't attack her best friend if they saw it as an opening. "My name is Zion. I'm her sentient shadow."

They gestured back at Ari with a nod of their head.

"Hi," Ari sheepishly said, peeking over Zion's shoulder. "I'm Ari. Sorry for scaring you - I'm not used to monsters getting scared before I say that I'm a monster hunter."

Zion sighed. "Ari, we've been over this. It's not a good idea to call yourself a monster hunter, even if that's what you technically do. You'll scare people and give them the wrong idea."

Apophis' head tilted to mirror his in an almost robotic fashion. There was something inhuman about her that hadn't been present before. Something almost...artificial, though she was still very much alive.

"Yes, we may take different forms," she affirmed. "I do not require a vessel to be corporeal and she needs not I to seize control of her body. It is curious that you spontaneously appeared here. I did not know that instantaneous, unwilling teleportation over such long distances was possible, though I suppose you did manage to come to our Earth before. Still, that could be explained by other variables that are no longer present."

Auryon herself didn't answer, letting Apophis do the talking and sidling over so she was next to and partly behind her demon. One Apophis was plenty enough for her to deal with - a second one just plain scared her. Whether or not her Apophis was evil and cruel was hardly debatable, but at least she was a known variable, and for all else, Auryon knew that she wouldn't allow her vessel to come to unnecessary harm.