Road to Eden | ONC 2022

2 - Dark clouds ahead

Azazel grimaced at the mention of the name of his ancestor. Of course, she had to find out about that part of his ancestry instead of his very human and boring mother that had been actually present for him. The last time Asmodeus had been sighted on Caidos, humans still lived on Gaia and resembled monkeys. Still, the old man's name followed him everywhere.

He let out a humourless chuckle, a nervous habit he struggled to cut.

"Why would I tell you? Your fancy eye trick is not intimidating at all."

"I can hear your heartbeat." she deadpanned.

Crap. He mentally cursed. He had let his heartbeat raise to a human level. How embarrassing. With a single deep breath, he managed to bring it down. His mindfilter was getting darker, so he forced himself to think about more positive stuff. It was hard, but he was trained for that.

The angel smirked, and it was even more annoying to see it without the mask.

"Impressive control for a low-level demon." She whistled.

Low level!?

He was a prince. Maybe it was the heat of the summer night or the radiance of the starry sky or the not so angelic angel in front of him, but Azazel felt like showing off. Deep inside, he knew it was because he had stayed hidden too long. He needed to measure his strength against the world and know how strong he was.

He blew on his left palm and a tiny black flame burst out of it. The flame grew progressively to the size of a fist, heating the air in the process. He had enough control to keep it from burning himself.

Not bad this time. Azazel was glad to have brought out the hellfire in one try. He had practised tirelessly after his brothers had mocked him for his tiny droplet of fire.

His enthusiasm was dampened by the meek response of the angel, a simple raised eyebrow that seemed to say "That's it?" She should have been more impressed. Only powerful demons could summon and withstand hellfire.

He ignored the disappointing reaction and decided to answer the question.

"Okay, Ms. big-shot-angel-that-has-seen-it-all, I am here to enjoy the night view." It was not a lie. There was no point lying to an angel, they were living lie detectors. Azazel chose the most innocent one of the reasons he had.

"Why?" She hesitated before continuing. "Is there no sky in Caidos?"

Azazel was surprised to recognize a hint of genuine something in her tone. Concern? Curiosity? He wasn't sure. That was not the answer he had expected. The silence stretched on while he tried to understand the hidden meaning of her words.

"So? Is there a sky?" She asked again, impatient.

"I guess we do have a sky, but we can't see the stars." He pensively gazed at the celestial bodies above their heads.

"These too won't be visible from here soon." He regretted saying that as soon as he finished the sentence.

"You can see it too?" The surprise in her voice made him turn and face her again.

"Uh?"

"You can see it, right?" She repeated excitedly and pointed towards the south where the Arcadian metropolis stood. The city was not visible behind the high hedges of the garden, but he could see the sky above it. He could see the dark clouds hanging above it, creating a black spot in the Milky Way. A dark hole that only he could see, until now. All the demons he had asked could see the clouds but not the way they were swirling and twisting as if they had a life of their own.

He nodded and stared at the angel. Angel couldn't lie, right?

"What do you see?" He questioned.