The world crawled back into Emia’s head like molasses. Her body regained its functions slowly and sluggishly, and even as it did she found it hard to sit up. Only, take a breath. Then take another breath. Blink, and open her eyes. Though the room was dark, it was still too bright for her, and she had to get used to that.

Eventually, through time and effort, Emia regained enough of herself to get up from the table and pant with the exertion it took to do that.

“Nyaha~ you are finally up” came an excited and exuberant voice. She quickly looked over to see a dirt-caked Felinid in an outfit that looked sewn together by a blind man who had no hands. Though the look was different, there was no mistaking her glow of faith, or the deep red flames of every war ever fought in those eyes. She tried to lunge for the woman, but her still waking body failed that spectacularly and she just lurched off the table and hit the floor painfully.

“Missed you too, love” the Felinid said, a laugh as she walked over and helped Emia up to her feet.

“I’m going to fuckin’ kill you….the moment I can stand properly” Emia threatened, baring her teeth at the woman. Didn’t help at all, as the Felinid just slung an arm over her shoulder and helped her out of the room.

“Sounds like foreplay. Got any plans for after?” The cat retorted, clearly enjoying this whole thing.

It was being pulled out that she managed to see her state of dress. A long, full length robe adorned her, with very clear effort put in to make it white. Though, effort wasn’t enough and it lacked the bright purity of the Sororitas robes, one could call it white if they were generous. Its quality was much better than the clothes of others that she saw around her. Patched a thousand times, and enough bare chests to be a very sad treasury, it was clear these people had very little to their name.

And yet, they were all looking at her. Delight, fascinating, and amazement in their eyes. Some were truly weeping to see her, others grinning and laughing. The exuberant mix of emotions was delightful to see, and Emia couldn’t help but smile a bit at it.

“Welcome to the Underhive, Saint Emia~” The felinid cooed. Though the Underhive was a terrible place to be and it meant nobody around her was over thirty, the second part was the sticking point.

“Saint? What…?” Emia struggled off the Felinid, and stood shakily on her own two feet, staring at her with confusion.

“Well, the tales of the glorious benevolence you showed the Underhivers has spread across this entire city. And so a few days after the very messy attack on your camp, a few of them went out to see if they could find you and give you a gift. It was a lovely little thing of rat bones tied together with dried guts” The felinid grinned at Emia’s grimace of the description, but carried on.

“Instead, they found you dead. Armor so damaged it was basically falling off you and with nine separate wounds in your body. Last one blew most of your head off, even. So they took you to their city so that they might consume your flesh to gain your benevolence and adorn your bones atop their temple so that you might always look upon them. However, the next morning came and your body was pristine, without a single wound upon it. Some wanted to eat you because you could just grow your body back, but others took it as a sign that His Angel had come to look over them for all time, and so they put you in that cute number and left you in the chapel. Till now, when you woke up”

The Felinid finished her story and Emia was glad for the wait to get herself back together. She was no longer feeling the Daemon inside her, which was somewhat concerning. Where had it gone? Had it gone, or was it her now, as the Felinid was? While thinking, Emia got pulled into a shack that was barely standing by itself, but at least it was some kind of cover...

“So...what’s your name, and your whole deal with Daemonhosting?” Emia asked, taking deep breaths and trying to stop her hands post-death jitters.

“Ahh, I’m Elouviana Zashira. I’m not a Daemonhost, I’m a Daemon Princess. Kind of wanted to be like-” the cat droned on about something, but Emia could no longer hear it. Instead, all she heard was the name, ringing over and over in her head. After a few seconds she felt a deep and blinding fury bubble up inside her, and she lunged again for the Felinid. It went about as well as last time, with the Felinid grabbing one of Emia’s arms and twisting her around, wrapping her up in her own arms and whispering in a deep, sultry tone.

“Like I said, I love a bit of foreplay. Whenever you wanna come to my room, love” she whispered, sliding a hand where it was most unwelcome and then letting her go with a light shove.

This, Daemon was pissing her off enough just by existing, but to take the name of the most beloved woman in the history of her race was too much. And so, clenching her teeth, her eyes blotted out, replacing iris and pupil with burning white flames. Wings burst from her back and her hair bleached white as she called upon her powers.

“Careful now. You sure you can blast me with that and not hurt anyone else? Fire tends to spread~” Elou spoke, a playful flick of her tail from side to side and a most cheeky grin. Letting out a growl, she couldn’t refute the woman, and powered down without firing upon her.

“What do you want, you damn irritant?” Emia demanded, trying to keep her deep, unabiding fury under control. Was probably Elou’s doing, she seemed that kind of woman.

“Ohh, irritant, am I? How flattering~ But honestly. I am here for fun, giggles, and to piss off a rival. He made these viruses, right. One is spread by touch which is killer for a Hive, but isn’t very fatal. Most who die have underlying conditions. Then he made a second one, which is so virile you are guaranteed to get it if you are on the same planet. Trouble is, it does nothing. Unless, you have previously caught the first one. Then it….sorta turns you into a brainless zombie. I wanna eat some of them so I can gestate a cure for it and then laugh as he gets puss-filled blueballs” the laugh at the end of it really tied the woman together. She was just a powered up nutjob doing what she wanted to do for kicks. Who the hell even gave her this kind of power?

“Then why are you here? Clearly these viruses aren’t here or the planet would be screwed” Emia poked the obvious hole in her plans, though that was planned around, Creed style.

“The two were tested here, which means the Underhives have a load of the zombies down here. Hence why I am dressed like this and living in a place that seems made of literal shit. And if you want to help your ‘flock’ then why don’t you help me out, hmm~”