Submitted by ImmortalJadeEye t3_z4y09n in WritingPrompts
Maxathron t1_ixz3d5t wrote
The Demon That Followed Him Home
Stephen woke up at eight o’clock sharp. For weeks, this little demon had been following him. He found it on the way home from work and it had not left him alone since. No one else could see it and attempts to tell people about it only made him a pariah. People looked at him with odd expressions, whispered behind his back. He was the crazy cooch that talked about a demon that did not exist.
It sat on the bed next to where Stephen slept, staring at him, smiling. It was almost always smiling. It was weird like that. Like it was in near-perpetual happiness.
The demon slept during the day and became active at night. Stephen was not actually sure it was nocturnal. The demon had a tendency to back itself into a corner during the night. Like his closet. Stephen deduced it was actually just afraid of the dark and ran to a place that had limited access to hide. So, like his closet. Odd. The stories were wrong he guessed.
Stephen got up. He threw the covers off him and over the demon. It made a surprised sound and struggled to get the covers off. Stephen’s daily routine was interrupted by the demon teleporting into his bathroom. Half the time it would follow him into the shower and clean itself. The other half it would just sit there and wait for Stephen to finish everything.
Once done, Stephen went to get his clothes. The demon of course followed him back out. Stephen would get breakfast at a local café. Coffee too. He needed that. His job was being the groundskeeper of a medium-sized accounting firm. The land they were on required upkeep. Mowing, trash, weeding, and so on.
It was a good job. The demon followed him out the door and to the café. He had long gotten used to it being around him. It was harmless, despite being a demon. As he was walking, he heard the demon trip and fall forward. Every so often, it would trip over its own feet. It went down and made a squeak. Stephen didn’t bother to try to help it. He kept walking. The demon would catch up.
Stephen got to the café and ordered his usual. The demon sat behind him as he talked to the cashier and paid. A breakfast sandwich and a coffee. As he was making his way to a seat, he spied something odd. There was a demon. Not his. Sitting on a woman’s head. She would say some things. And that demon moved its mouth as if it was responding back.
Stephen stopped walking. And of course, his demon walked into him. He could feel it look up at him in confusion. The woman noticed the commotion and was confused too until she looked down and saw his demon walking around him to get in front of Stephen while looking up at his face. The woman beckoned Stephen to come over and have a seat. Nothing better to do and this was the first time he had ever seen a second demon, Stephen did so.
“Hi. I’m Sandy.” The woman stood up to shake his hand. She was a bit shorter than him. Her hair was light brown and her eyes were hazel. She was wearing her hair in a bun behind her. Her clothes looked trendy. Maybe someone from minor nobility.
The demon continued to sit on her head.
As a comparison, Stephen was shaved bald. All male commoners were shaved bald. His eyes were pale green, though. His clothes were drab. Made him look like a prisoner. Most male commoners did.
“Stephen.”
“Not much of a talker, I guess, Stephen,” as Stephen shook her hand and sat down.
“No. Not really. You can see it?”
“Yes. His name is Spot. Short for Spartacus Flavius Maximus. And even that is short for his people’s name for him. He’s a Catalum, or puppy dog. He likes Old Roman culture.”
Stephen eyed the demon on her head. Like his, it had four legs, a tail, floppy ears, and a snout. This “Spot” demon was obviously named so because its spots were vaguely heart-shaped, with a big fully heart-shaped one over its left eye. It made a low whining sound and tilted its head to the side. Spot was seemingly confused. Then it moved its head back to normal and started to happy smile.
Stephen’s demon got on top of his shoe and laid its body against his boot.
Sandy continued: “Catalums are aliens native to the Andromeda galaxy and command an empire that spans the Virgo Supercluster. They only look superficially like dogs from the home world. Their biology is definitely alien.
“Sometimes, the empire will assign a Catalum to people they deem trustworthy and safe. Spot was assigned to me ten years ago and I’ve been traveling this world with him in tow. His people have an extremely advanced series of cloaking technology placed on their members that only allow us trustworthy people to see them.
“Have… you been shunned because no one else can see yours?”
Stephen nodded. His eyes moistened thinking back about how far his life went down when he tried to convince people of his demon.
“That’s… disappointing. While I do not think it was the fault of your little one, it’s tragic that you had to deal with that.”
Sandy reached down under the table and Stephen’s demon walked over to her hands. She picked it up and placed it on the table. It made some sounds. Sandy scritched it behind its right ear.
“His name is Maxwell. Short for Maximillian Wellington the Third. Apparently, he’s a student of history. And was around the time when Napoleon tried to conquer Europe.”
“Wait, wasn’t that a thousand years ago?”
“Indeed. The Catalum people attained biological immortality millions of years ago. Maxwell is a little over a thousand years old. Spot is a youngster and only about thirty years old.
“Although, really, they’re both babies. They won’t be considered mentally adults until the ten-thousand-year mark.
“Maxwell cannot speak Basic. Spot can. Also, by the way, if you haven’t noticed, Spot likes to sit on my head.”
“Din’ notice.” Stephen chuckled. He was warming up to the woman and the two demons. He was no longer seeing Maxwell as an evil omen.
“Well, that’s because Catalums come from a planet that required them as a species to live on tops of plateaus. They’re adept climbers and only when they transitioned from small tribes to a civilization, they ventured into the planet’s valleys. That was when they could fend off their predators. They have a tendency to sit on top of people or on high places.”
Maxathron t1_ixz3gi5 wrote
“These Catalums…,” Stephen began, “Are they afraid of the dark?”
Sandy looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“Why yes, they are afraid of the dark. Spot told me their home system is dominated by a pair of orange stars. Their planet was effectively daylight all day and all night. A twenty-eight-hour day of which twenty-four were legit daylight. And tidally locked so there was no fluctuation throughout the year. It doesn’t help that the majority of their predators lived in the dark crevices in the valleys and had dark or black colored coats.
“Why do you ask?”
“Just peculiarities I saw with him.”
“Hey, I’m sorry that the people here shunned you when you tried to explain Maxwell.”
“It’s no worries. Now I can know that he wasn’t a demon.”
“A demon!?” Sandy gasped and put her hand over her mouth. She lowered it a few moments after.
“Yes. He has the basic shape of what we know as demons. It is seen as a bad sign for one to follow you around.”
“Oh my God. I didn’t know.”
“Like I said, it’s now not a problem.”
“Is this a cultural thing?”
“What, the demon shape? I guess so. The government keeps reminding people that this shape is evil and I guess it stuck in our hearts.”
“Hey Spot.”
Spot looked down at Sandy. It was comical since he continued to sit on her head.
“Ooorrraahhoooo?”
“Could you do me a favor? Could you send me the data about this planet’s government? Have your ship beam it directly to my head.”
“Rrraaayipp!”
The planet was controlled by an organization that called itself the Government. “Government” was actually its name. They said they were for the people. The reality they oppressed the people. Stephen’s lot in life was considered pretty good. Most people toiled away in factories or scrapyards.
The Government used a quasi-religious culture that put them on a pedestal and marked demons as evil. It was the basis for extreme oppressive against the People.
“Okay…I’m getting the information. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. That’s worrisome.”
“What?”
“In laymen’s terms, the planetary Government is the remnant of a larger interstellar human government far from the home world that disagreed with the Catalum empire over something or another. Things got heated and the government did a stupid by challenging the Catalums for claim over something.
“The Catalums gave them the usual response for these things, which was to decloak a couple of their starships and blow up a major military space station. The shield was vaporized almost instantly. All hands were lost. Nearby ships as part of the station’s defense fleet were also vaporized.
“The Government ever since had instilled a culture of hate against the Catalums. The Catalum empire don’t care so as long as the Government doesn’t try to challenge or hurt them. The Government doesn’t have anywhere near the firepower needed to fight them. The largest Government warships are about the same strength as a Catalum corvette, which are the ships these two have as their personal guardians. And the smallest ships the Catalums employ.”
Sandy was talking about Spot and Maxwell. Each of them had a ship as powerful as the Government’s battleship class? Government battleships were over ten kilometers in length and four kilometers wipe. They had a dagger shaped profile. And they were considered “small”?!
“The Catalum people have quadrillions upon quadrillions of individuals in this galaxy alone. The Milky Way is basically a backwater nowhere land to them despite its relative proximity to their capital galaxy Andromeda. And each has a ship at least the size and power as your government’s battleship class.
“I think it’s time to do something about it. Spot?”
The Catalum hopped off Sandy’s head and turned to look at her.
“Raaaaroo?”
“Could you do me another favor? English too, please. I don’t speak Catalum.”
“Yesh?”
“Get your ship to decloak right in front of the Government’s headquarters. Have it broadcast to all televisions that your people do not stand for being called evil. Make sure to explain in the broadcast that your people are exactly the thing the Government keeps calling evil.
“You or your ship does not need to do much more than that. I suspect the Government will try to deal with you and or your ship. I don’t think it’d matter. There’s two Catalum ships here that we know of, your and Maxwell’s. I’m sure there’s a dozen more of your ships’ size at least. Knowing what I know about other attempts to challenge your people, there’s a destroyer lurking around out there and a few frigates backing it up. I just don’t know how many of each size.”
“Yhere yare yome twenty shyips close to us. One destroyer, six fwigates, and thirteen corvettes. Yhere yare also thirty probes spehwifically escorting the destroyer. Yas you know, probes are half the size and power of corvettes but maintwain no long-term facilities for our people. They woften act as fighter escort. Yhis small force can fwatten them.”
The amount of firepower that was nearby, Stephen had no idea. The Government maintained eight battleships across their twelve systems. And to say this was a small Catalum fleet? Unbelievable.
Stephen noticed everyone was watching the screen. On the television was a news channel detailing how a massive starship appeared right in from of the Government’s palace and blasted all channels, television, radio, and internet with broadcasts that they were unhappy with how the Government portrayed its people as evil, showing pictures of evil demons with the body plan of the Catalum. A delegation of Catalum diplomats sat on the top of the palace steps, anger in their eyes, not happy about the Government hurting their image.
The footage changed to the Government’s space stations where other Catalum ships were decloaked, weapons powered up and ready to vaporize anything that tried something funny. One of the Government’s battleships was on point. It was dwarfed by the six hundred kilometer long, one hundred kilometer wide and tall, hexagonal-shaped destroyer. Additional Catalum ships were escorting the destroyer, but it was making its point.
“The Government has no way out of this, Stephen. Things are going to be messy for a while as the People make their own government.”
“What do we do now?”
“Would you like to travel with me? I was getting lonely for human companionship. And it’d do Maxwell some good getting out of the rut you must’ve been in.” Sandy batted her eyelashes and winked at Stephen.
“I’ll take you up on that offer.” His job sucked and it looked like he wouldn’t have a job for a while. “When do we start?”
“Right now.”
They got up from their table and each scooped up their respective puppy dog. Stephen threw his trash in the bin as they walked out. Sandy slipped her hand into his. He looked down at her with a “Really?” look on his face. She looked back at him and smiled.
The two demons in their hands were smiling too.
r/maxathronwrites
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