Chapter Text
Adora had to be dreaming.
That was the only explanation for the creature in front of her. The demon looked to be a young woman, but the tail waving behind her back was only the most obvious of her feline features. Her yellow and turquoise eyes were staring at Adora as if she was prey.
“Who are you?!” Adora demanded. She attempted to rise from her cot, only for the crippling pain in her right leg to force her back to the wooden floor. The slave settled for simply glaring at the demon.
“Demon Queen Catra, at your service.”
It did need to be said that her visitor did look regal. A scarlet headpiece kept her long, neat hair behind her head. Her red and black leotard looked deceptively simple, but it was clearly made of silk that Adora would never dream of being able to afford. Even in the dim candlelight of Adora’s bedroom it was clear that Catra’s demeanor was that of a proud noblewoman.
No. This is a demon here to tempt me. Goddess Mara, please protect my soul.
“I don’t need anything from you,” Adora said, keeping her voice even despite the pain in her leg.
Catra laughed, crossing her legs and sitting down in front of Adora. “Oh, really?” She leaned back confidently against the wall, looking for all the world like a cat satisfied to have caught her prey. “I’ve been watching you for a few hours. You’re a slave of Duchess Octavia, one of this kingdom’s most powerful vassals. And tomorrow morning, you’ll be executed once they realize what’s happened to you. I can sense your desperation. It’s what brought me here in the first place.”
The demon’s condescending tone was only made worse by the fact that she was right. Adora’s fall down the stairs a few hours ago had all but broken her leg in two. Her friend Bow had been able to cover up the mess and escort her back to her quarters, but there was nothing he could do for her leg.
Even now, the pain was almost unbearable. Shards of bone were sticking out of her thigh, and her knee felt like it had been shattered. Despite Bow’s best efforts, blood and pus were pooling on the floor. Adora would likely die of infection within days. Of course, she wouldn’t even be given that time. The Duchess’s staff would see there was no hope of full recovery. And a slave who couldn’t work in the fields was of no value to the household.
“Yes, I’ll die,” Adora agreed. “Better than giving up my soul for an eternity of torment. Tomorrow, I’ll be with the Goddess.”
Catra rolled her eyes. “You humans and your myths. No one knows what happens after a natural death.” She glanced at the slave, looking at her up and down. “Yes, I want your soul, but I don’t want to torment it. You’ll belong to me, a demon living in my realm.”
Fuck. Adora gritted her teeth at another surge of pain. “Even if that was true, I’ve had enough of being a slave. Just let me die in peace. Find someone else to tempt.”
“Normally I would. But your soul…well, it’s powerful. You just ooze virtue, don’t you?” Catra grinned, crossing her arms. “That makes my job easy. So, here’s the deal. Promise me your soul and I can heal your leg. I’ll give you more than enough power to take the Duchess down. Interested?”
“I’m not really one for revenge.”
Catra laughed. “No. But with my power, you could free everyone enslaved here. Your friend Bow, for example. He did seem so distraught when trying to fix your leg. I can hear him now,” the demon said, pointing to her feline ears. “Stuck in his room because of curfew, crying over what’s going to happen-”
SMACK!
Adora’s hand left no imprint on Catra’s cheek, but the demon seemed to recoil just from sheer surprise. The slave’s heart skipped a beat, but Catra merely fixed with a reappraising smile.
“Huh. You’re a brave one.” She leaned close to Adora, grinning. “I’m not here to screw you over. Take the deal and you can live the rest of your life before I get your soul. And enough power to protect yourself and your friends.”
The demon held out a hand for Adora to shake.
“I can’t trust you.”
The teachings of the Goddess Mara were very clear. Religion was one of the few luxuries available to slaves, and faith in the Goddess was one of the few things that made her life bearable. Demons were wholly evil and never to be trusted.
Catra offered her a small smile. “If I lie to you about the terms of our agreement, there is no bargain. Besides, you’re not taking this deal to save yourself. A bleeding heart like yours is so easy to predict.”
And that was the point at which Adora realized she was fucked. The slave had been willing to accept her own death, but how could she ever go to the grave peacefully if it meant giving up the chance to save dozens of people from this living hell?
What choice do I have? She couldn’t leave Bow and the others to this fate. By the glint in Catra’s eyes, the demon knew that too. “A full life?” Adora repeated dully. My soul. I’m going to lose my soul. Goddess forgive me.
“Well, why don’t we make it interesting?” Catra proposed. “A full life, or until you make ten wishes of me. Once you do, I get your soul immediately. And no, you can’t wish for ownership of your soul back. I can refuse any of your wishes, if I want.”
Adora wasn’t stupid. “You’re just going to put people in danger. I’ll have to wish to save them. Why would I ever agree to that?”
The Demon Queen rolled her eyes. “Do you even know who you’re dealing with? I conquered half of Despondos before I became a woman. I don’t need to cheat to beat a mortal at my own game. Make the deal and I won’t do anything that forces you to make a wish.”
There was no more escaping it. The only thing that scared Adora more than losing her soul was the thought of Bow and the others being left in this hell because of her own selfishness. Adora nodded, her heart pumping furiously. This was it. She was selling her soul to a demon.
“Deal.”
They shook hands, Catra still grinning. Crimson energy erupted from where their palms touched. Adora barely had time to blink her eyes before the light vanished into the demon’s tan skin. The triumph in Catra’s eyes, however, remained on full display.
“We’re bonded now. Can’t you sense it?” Catra asked. “Call to me whenever you have a request, and I’ll come by.” She smiled again. “Money. Jewels. Pleasurable company. Name it, and it’s yours.” She paused, shooting Adora a sultry smirk. “Of course, my company alone is pleasure enough, isn’t it?”
Really? Adora thought. This is what I’m stuck with now? “Selling you my soul was one thing. I did not agree to put up with your flirting.”
Catra’s tail was waving through the air as the demon sent her an amused smile. “You’ve got some fire for a mortal. Oh, this is going to be a fun eternity with you at my side.”
Adora grunted. “Whatever. I won’t ask you for anything. Now, our bargain?”
'Oh, you will.’ Catra’s eyes seemed to say. “But of course, Princess.” The demon waved her arm with a flourish.
Another bright light appeared in the room, this one blue in color. Adora blinked as the glare faded, revealing an ornate sword materializing on the floor. The blade was so fine it could have been made of glass, but even Adora’s untrained eyes could see its quality.
Still… “A sword? That’s it?”
Catra rolled her eyes. “I can’t just give you my power directly. Or even heal your leg, for that matter. That much demonic energy would kill your mortal body immediately. The sword is a container. As long as you’re holding it…well, why don’t you see for yourself?”
Adora carefully picked up the sword.
Amazing relief swept through her body. The constant, agonizing pain instantly vanished. Adora felt like she could cry tears of joy as she ran a finger over the smooth, unblemished skin of her right leg. If not for the stains of blood and fluid on the floor, she could have forgotten she was ever injured.
She felt as good as new. No. Better. Adora’s entire body was filled with strength. She knew, without even trying, that a single blow from her fist could shatter her room’s locked door. Adora would never, ever, be a prisoner again.
Then her gaze landed on Catra, and her heart sobered.
“Enjoy.” The demon winked.
Wait. Adora hadn’t even considered the possibility before making the deal. But now, her body flushed with energy, she felt that anything was possible. Demons weren’t an unknown quantity. There had to be some scientist or sorcerer or someone who could free Adora from this deal.
The demon scoffed. “I rule one of the largest realms in Despondos. You think I’d make you a bargain if I thought you could break it?”
Adora’s face paled. “You can read my mind?” Had she finally won her physical freedom only at the cost of the privacy of her own thoughts?
“Relax, Princess. I just have a general sense of what you’re thinking.” Catra shrugged. “We’re bonded now, forever. Looks like you’re mine now…for all eternity.” She stroked a claw on Adora’s cheek. The slave recoiled. “I wonder what kind of demon you’ll turn into after I take your soul?” she mused tauntingly. “Don’t worry, Princess. You’ll thank me for this someday.”
Adora growled. “You’re lying. You don’t want me to look only because you’re afraid of what I might find.”
“Look all you want. Maybe you’ll get killed trying. Hm…that would be ironic, wouldn’t it?” Catra bared her fangs. “Why not just kill yourself tonight and save us both a lot of trouble?”
I have had it. Adora lifted up her sword, leveling the trip right between Catra’s eyes. “I will be free. I’ll go to the ends of the earth if I have to, but I will find a way!”
“Go ahead. Maybe you’ll get yourself killed and I’ll get your soul early. See ya around, Adora.” The demon vanished into thin air.
Adora took a deep breath. First things first. She’d been living in this nightmare for seven years. Adora had been a slave since she was old enough to walk. At long last, it was time to be free.
\
Bow banged his hands on the wall in frustration. What could he do? There was no way they would be able to hide Adora’s injury for long. A slave would be kept alive if it was clear they could recover from an injury, but Bow had seen his friend’s leg.
There was no recovery from that.
The two of them had been here together for seven years, ever since Bow had been sold to the estate by another noble. It wasn’t easy for slaves to make friends. There was no free time outside of designated sleeping hours, during which they were locked in their rooms. Worse, they were often pitted against one another for scraps of food and water; it was a system designed to keep them from uniting.
Bow and Adora had found a way. It had started when Adora had slipped Bow one of his precious strips of meat. The newly arrived ten-year-old hadn’t yet adjusted to the grueling diet of the estate’s slaves. Adora’s own hunger at the time had clearly been terrible; he could tell just by listening to girl’s soft stomach. Bow had tried to refuse the morsel, only for Adora to stuff it down his mouth.
Since then, they’d been all each other had.
This shouldn’t have happened. Bow should have protected her. He should have seen the signs and-
BANG! BANG!
Thuds of commotion moved through the halls. Cries of alarm echoed throughout the estate, only to be quickly silenced as whatever force was invading swept through the corridors. Bow barely had time to gape in shock and back away from the door before it was blown open, revealing-
“Adora?!”
His friend was standing confidently in the doorway. The only thing more remarkable than her ability to walk was the gleaming sword in her hand. Bow’s jaw dropped even further as Adora reached down and hauled him off the floor.
“Your leg…the door…how...?!”
He paused as one of the Duchess’s guards emerged down the hallway, a spear in hand. He thrust the weapon at Adora, who leaped to the side at inhuman speed. Her kick caught him in the stomach with sickening force. The guard crashed into the wall, blood flowing from his mouth as he slumped to the floor.
Adora tugged on Bow again. “I’ll explain once we’re out of here! Come on!”
\
For over ten years, escaping the Duchess’s estate had been an unthinkable dream. Although at the edge of the city, the complex was manned by dozens of guards and enclosed by walled fortifications. Every slave knew that an attempted escape meant a painful death. For those like Adora who might have been brave enough to try anyway, it was also official policy that any successful escape would result in another slave suffering in that individual’s stead.
Adora had stared at those walls for years as she worked on the grounds. Now, the unescapable cage might as well have been made of paper.
Her strength, speed, and reflexes were now superhuman. Any guards that attacked Adora were all but moving in slow motion. She dispatched them effortlessly, pausing only to free her fellow slaves from their confines. It was only minutes later that she was knocking down the estate’s gate with her bare hands.
“Come on! Let’s stick together!” she called to the others. All except Bow ignored her, fleeing into the night towards the scattered villages that dotted the horizon. Some shouted back thanks as they ran, while others looked on her in terror and fled without a word.
Bow grabbed her arm. “We’ll be easy enough to track as it is. We can’t stay together as one big group. Just you and me. Same as always, right?”
Adora sighed as she looked at the retreating slaves. Some would undoubtedly be recaptured, and the duchess would purchase new slaves to replace those who’d escaped. Even killing Octavia would have made no difference in the long run; another noble of the Kingdom of Mirwell would have taken her place.
They couldn’t stay here. Adora’s new powers didn’t make her invincible. More importantly, she couldn’t protect Bow forever. Leaving would be the safest option for them…and allow Adora to start searching for a way out of her predicament.
“Okay! Come on!” She grabbed Bow and hoisted him into her back, ignoring his protestations that he could run on his own. Adora was faster, and even his muscular frame felt almost as light as a feather.
She ran into the darkness, taking a moment to center herself as Bow unleashed a barrage of questions. “How are you doing this?!” “What the hell is even happening right now?!” “Where did you get that sword?!”
“I sold my soul to a demon.” Her pace increased as she said the words, as if her body hoped that running would allow her to escape the bitter truth.
The former slave felt Bow deflate against her back. “Adora, no…”
Demons weren’t common on Etheria, but they weren’t unheard of either. Bow and Adora both knew about demonic bargains. And they were well aware that no one whose soul had been taken by one of those creatures had ever been seen again, as far as the rumors went.
“I had to get us out of there. Once I die, she gets my soul. She says I’ll become a demon…and belong to her.” Adora shook her head. “I’m going to find a way out of this. Somehow. There was to be something out there! I’ll spend the rest of my life looking, if that’s what it takes.”
Bow was silent for a long moment. Then he said. “Well, if that’s the plan, we’d better find a map.”
Adora was so startled she stopped her run, skidding her feet across the grassy field. “You don’t have to come.”
He jumped off her back, walking around to her front and placing his hands on her shoulders. “We stick together, remember? Besides, it’s not like I have somewhere else to go. It’ll be an adventure! After being trapped for so long, it’ll be cool to see the world!”
Adora bit her lip. It was true. Both of them had been captured in slave raids at infancy. They didn’t know where they came from, or even if they still had any family. Just each other and a desire to be free.
“It might not be safe,” she said.
Bow smiled, lowering his arms. “Have you seen what you can do? Standing next to you is probably the safest place on Etheria.”
Feeling an unexpected surge of relief, Adora hoisted him onto her back again. “Let’s go. We should be able to make it to a village out of the Duchess’s range. We’ll need to buy new clothes and food…somehow…”
Bow dangled a set of chinking coins out in front of her as she began to run again. “I swiped a few while you were beating up those guards at the gate. It should be enough to get us started.”
\
Catra reclined comfortably on her throne. What a great day! Adora had the most powerful soul she had ever seen. Once that power belonged to the Demon Queen, the entire realm of Despondos would belong to her. The pretenders who thought to rival her power would be brought to her knees.
“Now…how to tempt her?” she mused to herself with a grin. Catra wasn’t known for her patience. Adora’s soul would be hers in time, but the demon didn’t feel like waiting decades. Ten wishes might seem like a lot, but Adora would burn through them quickly. After having been a slave her entire life, there would be so much in the world she hadn’t experienced. Catra could offer it all.
Catra laughed to herself. “And she seriously thinks she can get out of this.”
“WHO CAN GET OUT OF WHAT?” A loud voice suddenly asked.
The Demon Queen resisted the urge to flinch at the sound. A glance to the side revealed that another demon had materialized in her throne room. The newcomer took the form of a young woman, normal except for the massive strands of lilac hair that she could somehow move as easily as her arms. She was Catra’s most valuable engineer, a trusted minion, and a giant pain in her ass.
“What did I say about surprising me?” Catra demanded. “You’re lucky I’m in a good mood today. I just made a deal for a mortal soul powerful enough for me to take this dimension once and for all.”
Entrapta bounded forward. “Oh? Good for you!” Her giant pigtails clapped together. “And I hope you let me use some of that power for my own inventions. We’re on the cusp of a breakthrough!”
“You always say you’re on the cusp of a breakthrough,” Catra deadpanned. Still, it couldn’t be denied that Entrapta got results. “Anyway, you’ll have to be patient. I don’t get the soul until she dies or makes ten wishes.”
“I see.” Entrapta nodded. “And I guess I can assume that this is the individual who ‘thinks she can get out of this.’?”
The Demon Queen massaged her temples. She’d really been in the mood to bask in her victory alone for a few hours. Gloating to her allies wasn’t supposed to be on the schedule until tomorrow. Yet Entrapta wasn’t giving her much choice. “Yeah. The girl thinks she can get out of our deal somehow. She’ll be wandering Etheria looking for a way. Let her look.” Catra shrugged.
There was no way out of a bargain with a demon. Catra’s eyes wandered to a tiara on display on the throne room wall. Unless the demon willingly made a new deal with the mortal, there was no breaking that contract. With how powerful Adora’s soul was…and how fun it would be to claim the proud mortal as her own…there was no way Catra was amending their bargain.
“But what if she finds a way?” Entrapta asked innocently.
Eyes widening, Catra turned to her head researcher and most knowledgeable minion. “Excuse me? There is no way. Everyone knows that.”
Entrapta frowned. “We’ve never found a way. That doesn’t eliminate the possibility that there is one. Demons don’t know everything about the mortal world and its magic. Ah! New experiment!” she cried happily. One of her pigtails reached into her pocket, procuring a notepad and quill. “Is breaking a soul bargain possible?” she said, writing the words down feverishly. “Test subject…what was her name again?”
“Adora,” the Queen replied through clenched teeth. “You can shelve that experiment, because she will not find a way. There isn’t one, and I’ll tempt her into ten wishes before the year is out.”
Still, with a soul like this on the line, Catra couldn’t afford to take any chances. Perhaps some insurance was in order…