The Veil That Divides Us

Chapter 2: The Price

I woke up the next morning and things were noticeably different immediately.

When I woke up, I was pretty sure I was still the same, both physically and mentally, so when I went to look in the mirror and saw a giant white streak of hair on my head I freaked out. My hair is usually completely black, so this was an extremely new development I was not prepared for. It took me about a minute to think back again to whatever I did the night before, if I tried dying my hair or something to make it look cool (and failed miserably).

A small flashback of what exactly happened last night drove me to barge back into my room and throw on the biggest beanie I had to cover the whole thing for the day. I knew it wasn't going to be long before it probably completely went white, and my mind was rushing through ways of trying to hide it or reverse it in some way. But my hair turning suddenly white wasn't my biggest fear right now.

It was explaining it to my parents that was the biggest fear I had on mind right now. I was already in the midst of coming up with some sort of believable alibi to get away with this for at least as long as it remains to stick around. But this was an after effect I did not consider when I was down in the forest with,... him, so I'm probably on my own for the most, if not the rest of this new apparent power set I have now that involved me looking like an old grandma.

You know what, right there, perfect alibi. I'm getting premature grey. It is a genetic trait in my family, I can just pass it as finally catching up to me. My younger brother already had the trait, you could tell by the small strands of gray in his amass of black wild tangles of his hair, and my mother has had it since she was 17. I guess mine is just gonna look like it's coming in waves? I have no clue, but it's about as much as I can muster up in the current moment of panic I was in.

For the rest of the day, it was mostly just gaming on my PC, heading outside to watch the nature of my neighborhood settle into the coming of spring, and a bit of housekeeping here and there. I don't have very many friends, and I graduated high school last year while I was still 17 myself. I kinda had to keep the occasional, "Why do you need a beanie right now, it's spring?" questions low-key and impersonal, explaining that my head hurt from the sunlight or I had a terrible case of "bad hair day blues", or whatever.

The avoidance didn't last very long. By the time dinner rolled around my family had me cornered in the kitchen asking what was up with me the whole day and I finally had to admit defeat. I pulled off the beanie, expecting shocked expressions and possibly a lecture. But no sort of event happened. In fact, quite the opposite.

My mom laughed, and handed me her black hair dye that she uses to keep her hair the same raven color it's been ever since she started to gain her grays. She knew this was coming, and although it was kinda odd to see it in such a mass amount of hair in such short time, she knew what it was like. I took a hard look at the dye, then thanked her and went upstairs to my room, my head spinning from the confusion of what just happened.

I laid in bed for about 3 hours just staring at the ceiling before a small tap sounded on my window. I shot up and looked over the sill.

There was a giant crow sitting on my window sill, tapping on my window. And once again for the second time that day, I freaked.

After my small freak out, I opened the window and climbed out like I normally do when I can't sleep (this is nothing new, I always sneak out at night when Morpheus decides not to bless me with slumber), and started the short climb down to the ground. But before I can get a good foothold on the ledge below my window, my balance slipped.

I thought I was a goner. But I instead I did something I never thought I was ever capable of. I flipped towards the ground and rolled away from the impact of my back against the floor, spinning up onto my feet and into a crouch. It took me a couple of seconds before I realized what I just did, smiled a bit in shock before my expression went from happy to venomous. This was the result of what he did.

And I still don't have the answers I want. Only one way to find out now. I booked it down the street, all the way down the hill towards the forest below. I kicked open the gate and didn't even bother to look back to see if it was still open for a quick getaway later. It wouldn't have mattered this time.

I made it to the clearing and switched on my phone light again, looking around to find the same log he was sitting on last night. I found a crow sitting on it like before. And blew up.

"What the hell is going on with me?! What did you do to me?! I now have this random as hell white streak going through my hair and I've had to wear this stupid beanie all day in fear of being made fun of or looking like an old grandma!" I shrieked, pulling the beanie off to show the crow in rage.

The crow merely made a small "caw" before shaking out its wings and starting to preen its own feathers. Like it didn't care at all, or didn't hear a word I just said.

It only made my anger worse.

"Ok, listen up you ass. I was able to save myself from injury when I climbed out of my window to get here. I have a random white streak going through my hair, and from observation of those two things alone there's something up with me that's not considered really 'human' anymore. What. Did. You. Do???" I seethed, pointing my finger angrily at the crow's beak.

It shook, squawked, and finally I get my answer.

"One, you're a bigger idiot than you look. Two, it will take a while before most of your powers finally grow into you and have a realization of who you are as a person. This whole thing is usually changed a little bit here and there, but otherwise, it stays the same each time. The only difference is what kind of powers are granted to you, and what you look like as a person afterward. It's unique depending on the person who is granted the gifts. But now you have a responsibility I no longer have to do myself, thanks to your kind generosity, I thought it'd be best to stick around a while longer and witness your reaction myself. I'm glad I did too." the crow said.

If I was frankly spooked before, I'm just shocked now. Cue jaw hanging from my mouth like dead weight once more.

"Could you possibly stop looking at me like that? It's weirder when I'm in my transformation. I don't even look human right now, and that's kinda creepy. Anyways. I sealed a contract deal that I made many years ago to 'ahem' Diablo, to hunt down and send the Seven Deadly Sins, or their demon forms, from Earth back to Hell. They've gone rogue, and Lucy isn't exactly happy with that, since it's going against a lot of plans he has in the midst of everything that's going on right now between the realms. Lucy being Lucifer himself. Hates the nickname, I don't care, I find it hilarious. But I am on my last strings of luck and hope left to continue to do this job, it's wearing me down and it's made me realize I'm not cut out for hunting down anyone, let alone extremely powerful demons. But you might."

The more I watch his beak move the harder it's becoming to process the information he's giving me. I think a nest of flies has started to grow in my mouth.

"So I decided to allow one other lucky person to obtain the powers I gained from making the deal. But for a price, since everyone knows you can't obtain diddly squat for free. That price was immense, but simple enough that it was possible to be able to make it transfer easily from me to someone else, which is something I don't even think Lucy himself saw coming."

"What price was that?" My mouth finally granted me the ability to speak.

"My soul, in the form of blood. So from that answer alone, you could probably guess what you got yourself into."

"... I,... hunt demons now? How am I gonna do that? What do I do? What am I even called? A Demon Hunter?" I pondered, my mind slowly crumbling in its lack of realizing my new reality.

"I know exactly the name you'll be called from now on. I figured out what your powers are from just the fall you had earlier."

"What are they?"

"You will be called Parodia."

"What does that mean?"

"Illusion."