Within the confines of Athren’s ship, still riding the high of not just one but TWO successful retrievals of the ‘dragon balls’ she’d heard about. After she’d inspected them and thoroughly tested the signal she’d been tracking them with, Zerori had finally been able to make her radar more accurate AND find time to train a bit. Within the Gravitron that she’d (once again) take the liberty of using, Zerori had been using the time she had to brush up on her ability to use her Shadow Claws.

Gravity pumped up to the highest Zerori could take it, the hybrid woman was a vision of ferocity and demon-likeness. Along her arms, black and red swarmed across her skin to form a malevolent-looking skin with large claws tapered off at the end. Coming from out behind her back, however, would be not ONE pair of shadow-like vectors but TWO that slunk this way and that a Zerori swung with all six limbs in tandem. Sweat poured down from her face, pushing beyond her limits as she allowed herself to let go and just… attack.

In her mind, she was seeing all the moments she could have done something to change the tides of battle. And didn’t. All the times she’d boasted of how strong she was or how smart she was and yet, like an idiot, she’d miscalculated time and time again.

This was her way to vent, to connect with whatever this place meant to her before the memories that surrounded them became disjointed. For hours, Zerori trained in the Gravitron, and in between her breaks she had quite a lot of time to reminisce. Her time spent in Hell was… well, it certainly was something. For days she’d traveled with Maycair as they’d sought out their respective mothers and while it was an educational experience - Zerori would never forget the fun she had as Maycair and her had split up a few times.

She recalled a run-in with a few pirates that had apparently been renowned in Hell and had quite a few stories to tell…
…
..
.

One such time had Zerori sauntering the streets of a different level of Hell, one that apparently took on some of the worst forms of traffic blockades that Zerori had ever seen. Taking advantage of the calamity to enjoy their own variation of Heaven - the Silver Scared Pirates had begun to pilfer their victims whilst they were in their own vehicles - whether that be an aircair or some weird dated locomotive - none were spared the pirates’ cunning approach.

That is… until Zerori had spied an opportunity.

See, she’d heard a rumor of a gemstone that could lead one back to their own kin. It had been an odd artifact to hear about but it was exactly what Zerori would have needed. The only thing was that most Demons never carried it around on them; why would they when they never really had to leave their kin behind?

As she approached them, her armor likely catching their eye, Zerori didn’t hesitate, “Yo! I’m lookin’ for somethin’!” The lack of a halo was also a very good giveaway that she wasn’t a normal denizen of Hell. “It’s called an ‘Seeing Eye’ - would any of you guys happen to have one of those things?”

The pirates looked at each other, before finally one stepped forward. He didn't look that tough, but Zerori didn’t want to assume they weren’t a threat. Just as he approached, Zerori would find herself pleasantly surprised at his next words. "You're in luck," he said, his accent rolling through the air like a storm. "I do indeed have such an item." Zerori arched an inquisitive eyebrow. With a gesture of his head, he lead Zerori over to a collection of gathered goods. Among them and inside a crate lay a glowing blue orb, with a bunch of strange markings on its surface. Zerori reached forward and took it in her hands, carefully. The pirate's eyes went wide when he felt the power emanating from it, proving that Zerori was of some kind of Demonic lineage.

With a smile, Zerori tossed it high into the air, before she caught it again, this time with her other hand. She held it to her chest and closed her eyes, feeling it give off a soft humming noise.

When she opened her eyes, the pirates would give a gasp at the insidious red glow that stared back at them. A moment later as the glow of the orb ebbed away, they were back to their normal cerulean hue.
She grinned, looking up at them with a wink before she folate upwards into the air, "Thank you very much. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date to keep." Zerori laughed before quickly leaving the pirates behind to wonder what just happened.
…
..
.
A few days later, Zerori was sitting in a bar drinking. The place was about as fancy as a cantina could get, but the alcohol flowed freely and the food was good enough to make her stomach growl. It'd been over a week since she had gotten the orb, and she hadn't been any closer to finding her mother than she had been when she started this whole mess. The whole fiasco had frustrated the hell out of her but at least she’d managed to learn that there were multiple clans of Demons that lived here. Until then she'd be able to take her time searching for the others without worrying too much about being ambushed - until she’d find Maycair again.
She sat at the table alone, enjoying a drink and watching other demons and ogres pass around her. It wasn't long before someone approached her. Her peace didn’t last long, however, as a rather rugged looking Demon had decided that she was to be his entertainment for the evening and dropped down onto the seat next to her.
"Hi there, beautiful," he said, giving her a wink with her gnarled fangs on display. They curled out of his mouth like some kind of sea lion. Zerori raised an eyebrow but quickly brushed him off, uninterested in being someone conquest for the night.
"If you don’t mind, kindly fuck off," she replied, taking another sip from her glass. "Just trying to enjoy myself.” The drink wasn’t bad but it wasn’t getting her as drunk as she would have liked for being in Hell for over a week.
He leaned in close to her, his breath brushing over her face immediately putting her in a bad mood, "You know, I could make your night a lot more enjoyable than you think." Her skin crawled at the idea, her blue eyes narrowing at him as she glared over her drink.
Zerori put her glass down HARD with a frown, "I'm not interested in what you have to say. Leave me alone before I MAKE you leave me alone." Whether it was out of fool-hearty drunkenness or just because he was stupid, the sea lion-shaped male looked further enticed and had barely opened his mouth before he found himself thrown across the bar.

She finished her drink and stood up, ignoring the looks being given to her by the patrons that likely WANTED a bar fight, heading straight for the exit. As soon as she got outside, she immediately snorted with indignance out in the muggy air of Hell.
"This is pissing me off!" she hissed, glaring at any and everything in her line of sight before finally stomping off in a random direction.. "Damn it! I don’t understand why the orb isn’t working! It was working just fine DAYS ago and now I don’t have any idea where to go." She pulled out said orb, giving a once over before finally sighing deeply. She came here to find her mother and get some answers out of her but she’s basically spent her time doing fuck all. She needed a new direction. A new… level of Hell.
She scanned the area around her, looking for any clue about how to get out of this level, before she found a building with a sign that read "HFIL Flights". It didn’t really make a lot of sense to have such a thing but she didn’t care. It was perfect. She headed inside, looking for a flight attendant or someone who might be able to point her in the right direction.
"Excuse me?" she asked the first person she saw, a red-skinned ogre lady that was skinner than her arm. “I’m tryin’ to get to a couple upper levels of Hell. Any flights going out?”
She looked shocked but shook her head with a solemn look on her face "Oh, no, I'm sorry. We don't have any pilots available until the morning, so I can't help you. You should try asking if anyone is doing any private flights up!” For a long moment, Zerori just stared at her in bewilderment before she blinked dumbly.

“Uh… yeah, okay.”
The attendant gave her a smile before walking away, further confusing Zerori as she didn’t actually know where to find a private pilot. With a sigh, Zerori looked around with a sour look on her face.
"Where the fuck am I supposed to go now?!" she snarled, no closer now than she was before. She could see flights going out and found it hard to believe that not a SINGLE one wasn’t going to a different level of Hell.
Not even bothering to ask anyone else, she stomped her way into the airport hub and began to stalk the terminals for times of arrival, departure, and where they were going. As she did so, every terminal coming up ‘departed’ or ‘canceled’, She would spot a couple sitting down nearby. Maybe if she asked what flight they were going to take? They both seemed to be deep in conversation yet she decided to sit down in front of them anyway and wait. After a few moments, the pair noticed her hard staring at them before they seemed to get something inside their heads and smiled at her.
"Oh, hello," one of the girls said, flashing her a dazzling smile. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, with silver hair and pretty blue skin. Her companion was a bit older, with slightly darker blue skin and black hair tied back. Zerori was actually a bit taken by how pretty they both looked.
"Uh, hi," Zerori said nervously, shifting a little in her seat. The girl on her left reached over and put her hand on Zerori's, almost immediately setting off alarms in Zerori’s head. Oh boy, Zerori thought, fighting off the urge to swallow and try and look cool to them, "I'm Adriana, but you can call me Addy. And you are…?"
"Z-Zerori," she managed to answer with minimal hesitation - which was sad because she sounded like a teenager.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Zerori. My friend here is Jenine," she gestured to the older woman who didn’t hesitate to toss a wink her way.
Jenine shook Zerori's other, unoccupied, hand, "Nice to meet you, too. So, what brings you to the airport? Looking to catch a vacation or… just enjoying the view?”
Zerori wasn’t sure which was more lethal. The view or the fact that the view knew she was the view. "Uh…” She shook her head, not used to being in the place of being flirted with, “I was just hoping to find a flight to another level of Hell. See, I got this Seeing Eye but it’s literally worth jackshit at this point and I don’t think what I’m looking for is on this level.”
The two blinked, looking at each other for a moment before the older one shook her head sadly, "I’m afraid we don’t really know any flights staying within Hell and I doubt there’ll be any until the morning.” Just like the flight attendant had said before… Damn. “If you have the time, you could always check with the terminal Seer. They charge an arm and a leg but they might be able to give you more insight to that Eye of yours.”
Zerori sighed, grumbling a bit, "Yeah... I guess… aight, thanks for the suggestion," She stood up and walked out, giving the two girls a final wave for good measure before she looked around the airport for that Seer. Of course, what did she find but a closed sign right across the stall of the shop. She stared at the locked kiosk before folding her arms together angrily and stomping away. In a set of chairs near a corridor that would lead to more terminals, Zerori sat down - the strange orb held in both hands as she stared at it.
After a few minutes, someone approached her. They were wearing the uniform of a flight attendant. Zerori looked up, cocking an eyebrow up at them which prompted them to speak. "Excuse me, miss?"
"Yes?" Zerori answered.
"Were you the one looking for a flight to another level of Hell?” Zerori’s eyes widened at the woman before she scrambled to her feet from the chair.
“Yes!” Zerori confirmed, her tail whipping from side to side in an almost child-like excitement. “Can you take me there? I don’t really give a FUCK what level we go to but if it can make this thing,” She gestured toward the orb that had the attendant blink at it in curiosity. “-glow or give me a sign, I’ll take it!”
The woman's expression changed instantly. "Any Level?! Oh, my goodness! That's a pretty rare flight, isn't it? Would you be fine with any stops along the way to Heaven or the Check In Station?"
"No, not really! I just need to go to another level!"
"I’m not sure I can authorize a flight like that on such short notice without some kind of reason. Is it an emergency?"
"Yes, YES! It's urgent!" Zerori cried, standing up and grabbing her by the shoulder. "Please! Please help me!" The woman looked away from Zerori, as if thinking about her options, before she looked back at her with a smirk.
"All right, I think I can squeeze in this ONE flight, but I do have a price." And there it was. The reminder that she was in Hell with actual Devils.

“What’s your price?” Zerori asked, feeling her hopes teeter on her desperation.

The woman tilted her chin toward the orb. “Give it to me. Despite how I look, I actually know how to use that. Give it to me and I’ll show you how to use it properly.”

Zerori’s eyes narrowed suspiciously at the attendant before she looked at the orb and then back at her. With a sigh through her nose, she held the ball up in offer, “Fine.” With a nod and gentle tug of the ball from Zerori’s hands, the attendant turned away and waved for her to follow. The two walked over to a nearby terminal. The attendant input some commands for the plane to be ready for a last minute flight before she started toward the terminal where the plane was docked.
It was a small thing, barely able to hold five or so people, but it was more than enough for what Zerori needed. Once they were inside and in their seats - the pilot and copilot particularly since there would be no one else, Zerori looked to the attendant in the pilot seat with a dawning realization. “Wait a minute…”

"Alright, here we go!" The attendant turned suddenly pilot announced, putting on her helmet and flipping the switches with such speed and precision that Zerori almost couldn’t believe her eyes. When she was apparently all prepared, she pushed a button on her console. At once, the engines started to hum and the ship rose off the ground. Zerori buckled herself in nervously and watched the plane rise above everything around them. Within moments, they were flying at full speed.

Zerori looked over to her crazed pilot, “Were you playing me?!”

She laughed, “Not at all! You wanted a ride out of here and I wanted to make sure I got the price I wanted to help you for it!”

“But what good is the orb to you?!”

“Same good it is for you! I’ll explain later!”

And truth be told, the flight didn’t last that long at all. Within minutes Zerori and her pilot were on another level of Hell that looked a lot more… populated. Once they’d landed and docked and a particularly desolate port, Zerori was actually grateful to be on any kind of floor or land. She looked over at the now happy pilot with the orb in hand.
"There we are," the pilot said, putting the orb into a satchel she had at her side before she walked up to Zerori and gave her a rather sarcastic smile, "Thanks for flying with us today, Miss Zerori! I hope you enjoy your stay on the Demon Realm Level of Hell." She laughed before giving a wink. “OH!” She stopped, turning back to Zerori as the hybrid woman got her wits about her.

“Yeah?” Zerori dryly responded.

“The orb already worked. It’s been useless to you for a while now. Once it’s given it’s glow, the person you’re looking for knows you’re looking for them.” Zerori blinked, trying to digest everything she was told.

“Wait, so that means they could be looking for ME?!”

“Yup! So, keep an eye out! Later!”

And with that, her crazy pilot was off to do her own thing.



The atmosphere was much different than what she was used to. This was the real deal; a bustling city, filled with people. At this point, she was so excited that she didn't care where she ended up. She just wanted to get there and see whatever awaited her. She walked through the gates and headed straight towards the central plaza, hoping to find someone who could direct her to the palace. There was a huge fountain in the center of town, and a massive statue of a devil woman overlooking it all.
As she looked around, Zerori spotted a group of individuals gathered together. They were speaking quietly amongst themselves and pointing at something. She followed their gaze and saw a woman lying on the ground. Zerori hurried over to her and knelt beside her. She was clearly injured.
"Hey, are you alright?" Zerori asked, reaching out to touch her cheek. "What happened to you?"
The woman groaned, and Zerori was able to get a good look at her. She was tall, but not taller than her and she was dark skinned with silver hair (which was oddly very common in Hell) and as she opened her eyes with a flutter, she could see the red hue of her irises. Her voice was meek, "This... thing came out of nowhere. It was huge..."
“What thing?” Zerori questioned, helping the woman to her feet, steadying her in case she fell. “Well, whatever the case, it's okay. I'm here now, so let's get you somewhere safe." Throwing the woman’s arm over her shoulder, Zerori looked around for some place to get her medical attention.
The woman nodded, then whispered, "My name is Z’vel."
Without missing a beat, she grunted in acknowledgement, "Zerori. Sorry, I don’t often meet a lot of pretty ladies in one day - much less off of the ground.”
Z’vel smiled. "That's alright. I'm glad you're here."
Zerori looked down at her briefly before she cleared her throat, "Let's get you to a medical facility or somethin’. They have those here, right?! Shit, someone will know how to treat your injuries. Come on..." Zerori took the lead, making their way through the streets.They passed by a myriad of different looking denizens - some that looked like humans from Earth and others that looked like a combination of horned and animal-like creatures. The silence was getting a bit awkward and Zerori was curious of the woman.
"So, Z’vel, are you from here? How’d you get attacked and how come now one was helping you before I arrived?"
That seemed to get her attention and she looked shocked for a moment before responding with a strange confidence. "I'm originally from the lower levels of Hell," she explained. "I'm visiting my daughter, who lives here. I couldn’t tell you why they wouldn’t help me but the creature I was attacked by was like nothing I’d ever seen."
"Well, shit. Hopefully you don’t get attacked while I’m not around. Would be a bitch to die so soon after meeting, y’know?” She stopped at what looked like some kind of fancy facility in the distance that stood out amongst all the rest of the buildings
Z’vel laughed, "I agree and after meeting such a chivalrous knight as you?”
They walked for a while before arriving at the advanced-looking building. It was a giant structure, towering over everything else in the city. It was surrounded by several small buildings, including a medical facility. Zerori guided Z’vel in that direction, banking on them being able to help her. They passed a few guards along the way that paid her little mind, until…
Near the fancier parts of the building, Zerori had approached only for the guard to stop them. "I'm sorry, but you can't bring a stranger in here."
Zerori paused, her eyebrow furrowing, "But she needs medical attention!" Zerori insisted, believing this to be the medical facility.
"I'm afraid not. We're only allowed to accept patients from the current level of Hell."
Z’vel began to shake. "No, please! I'm in terrible pain!"
One of the guards stepped forward. "Look, lady, we won't be helping you. Go to one of the other facilities on the planet." He motioned for Zerori to leave. With little option and hardly any idea where else to go, Zerori opted instead to keep walking - shouldering passed one of the guards that looked at her in shock.

Z’vel looked nervous.
"We're not turning back," Zerori said gently, pulling Z’vel along. When they arrived at the door to the medical facility, the guard stopped them.

"Now listen here, miss. We can’t let you in and if you stay, we’ll have to remove you by force. This is the Palace of the Chakapak and we’ll not have just any outsider approach our King”.
Zerori sighed, turning around. "Fine, you wanna arrest me, DO it! But I ain’t gonna make it easy for you and you can try it AFTER I’ve gotten her some help!" She roared, making it clear that she wasn’t going to back down. She turn.and put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, let's go." She took her arm and led her past the guards that looked on in bewilderment before they made good on their promise and started to call in reinforcements.
Once they got to a place where Z’vel could rest, Zerori helped her take a break in the grass. “You gonna make it?” Zerori softly whispered, earning a grateful smile from the woman.

“I will be fine. My, it’s quite a treat to be so well protected. Do you do this often?”

Zerori shrugged, looking back to see the guards start to form a perimeter. “If I say ‘No’, will you be flattered?”

Z’vel smiled wider, finally giving up the act. “I just might. It is my kingdom, after all.”

Her back going ridgid, Zerori only had a moment to look back before the appearance of the woman was changing. She jumped back, ready to defend herself from a possible ambush before the woman floating in the air - a glowing beacon of magic. “What… the… fuck?”

“It’s been a while. I never imagined you’d ever make it here,” The woman’s voice would say, changing to one that was deeper and with an odd accent. As the glow faded, revealing a new (much taller) form - Zerori would find her mouth hanging open. Before her, standing even taller than her was a woman with dark black horns, fiery red hair and… satyr hooves?

“Welcome home, my daughter.”

…
..
.

Back in the present, ending her last break with a drink, Zerori looked onto that first meeting with her mother often when she felt like being on Earth was too much. She didn’t hate her mother. Well, not anymore. Not after what she’d explained she had to do back when she was ten. That didn’t make it easy to accept, however and Zerori just had to work through THAT gradually.

She still had more work to do. She could get just a little bit stronger.