𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐒𝐢𝐧 • 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐠

*.·:·.☽✧ 2 ✧☾.·:·.*

Deep shadows pass over them as Minho guides Jisung through the darkness to the place he calls home.

Minho had once told him within their dreams, that like humans and angels, demons also chose material dwellings to rest in. But unlike the ivory towers in the clouds where Jisung had lain to rest when the moon was high, Minho's home was carved from ore, stone and ancient trees, high upon the mountains of Hell.

Jisung had read about Hell in books, he'd heard the stories of an underworld that drowned in eternal darkness. A place with no moon, no guiding stars, no sun. But yet as the initial shadows fell away, as Jisung followed Minho out of the thick miasma that surrounded Hell's gate, this dark world lit up.

The sky was ablaze with an ambient glow that shifted between an eerie lime to a sombre purple. It's like it had a mind of its own, shifting and changing before his very eyes like the clouds on a warm summer's day.

That was another thing Jisung observed. He was not cold, nor was his skin burning in flames like he had been led to believe. Instead the air was calm, like early autumn before the rain.

As Jisung stares up at the sky above, his heart stills as a monstrous beast cuts through the glowing light, its wings double the size of what had once been his own and its cries piercing into the haunting sky.

Jisung huddles towards his demon who instinctively holds him close.

"What was that?" he asks as the beast flies south.

"That's a demon, my angel, like me, but one who has shifted their corporeal form"

"Will you look like that one day?"

"If I so choose, though I much prefer my current form since my line of work predominantly deals with humans. They are much more trusting and reflective when they see familiar eyes staring back."

Jisung turns to look at his demon, remembering that Minho hadn't been brought up to protect humans or Earth's creatures, like he had, or at least that's what he'd been told. "Do you hurt them? Humans, I mean"

Minho looks to the distance. "Only the bad ones, and only if I need to, but probably not in any way you would expect. Good and Evil exist as I'm sure you're aware, and it is a demon's duty to ensure there is balance. Sometimes bad things must happen in order for good things to thrive. But there are those who tip the balance too far, and it's my job to put them back in place. If they can't be put back in place then there are much darker places in this world they shall go"

Jisung trembles at the thought, but he doesn't run away. He knew when he came from Heaven to Hell that things would be different, but the balance Minho spoke of was also something he was very familiar with.

Where there is darkness there is also light, and it had been a duty of Jisung's to maintain that light; that warmth that empowered humans to grow. He was well aware that too much light could taint even the strongest of individuals.

It was strange to consider that demons were not the creators of sin but instead were a force to maintain the virtues angels empowered in humans and Earth's creatures. Demons were doing their fair share of work, but without any credit.

Minho shifts his stance, breaking Jisung from his thoughts, and it's only then that he catches sight of the crisp black wings suddenly forming outwards and upwards behind Minho.

"How?" Is the only word that falls from Jisung's lips. He had never seen Minho's wings before, nor did he know he had them, though given the beast that had just flown over it wasn't so hard to believe in their existence.

Minho snaps and careens his neck until his wings are at their full form. "Unlike yours were," he begins. "Mine are not permanent. I guess you could say I summon them, and once they've fulfilled their duty they fall away"