Painted Lies and Demon Eyes (SVTFOE Fan Fic)

Earth

The cool, crisp feel of the night air touched my skin, making me feel reborn. I inhaled heavily, drinking up the fresh air. And when I looked upwards, there was the sky, trillions of tiny sparkling stars gazing down.

I could get used to the surface.

What a shame it was, living underground, missing the scenery.

Even as kids, Tom and I never went out as much. I don't know what was keeping us from getting out.

My lazy wings unfurled slowly, arching towards the sky, embracing the chilling breeze from the height of the rooftop. It was a nice change from the suffocating heat of the Underworld. Above all, it was soothing against my sore, throbbing ache of my infection.

I found safety and shelter while lurking in the shadows of the rooftop, away and out of sight from the attention of the mortals. From this height, no busying eyes would bother my secret observation of the city.

Not far from where I was, I could overhear the commotion - talking, laughing, beeping, honking, and sounds of traffic.

The constant animated, glimmering lights were practically enough to render me blind and the bustling noise seemed to all blend together into one indefinite sound.

I tilted my face upwards, towards the brilliant light of the full moon, darkened clouds surrounding it, almost strangling it.

I decided to take a look for myself, testing out my weary wings. I hadn't used them in a long time. I flapped and fluttered, building up momentum. I tested the air current against my wings, using it to my advantage. Getting off the ground was more difficult than I recalled it to be, yet once my wings regained their former glory and strength to carry me, I was ascending.

My feet hung just slightly so, levitating just above the rooftop.

For a moment, however, something grew hot and heavy from behind, a dizzying pain overcame me. I sputtered and faltered, stumbling down on my hands and knees.

Damn this infection!

It stung like a scorching blade. It shrieked like a sinner in the deepest pits of the Underworld.

I knelt there, head bowed and wings curling from the sudden strain and exertion. I swore under my heaving breath.

"C'mon!" I hissed through gritted teeth, trying to hold back a wail of frustration and pain.

I rose up slowly, steadying myself against the disorienting, relentless torment. Besides, I had to get up. I couldn't let Tom be right about me - I couldn't let our father be right about me.

I was a demon!

Pain was a weakness and the level of endurance a demon could undergo was all that more praiseworthy. And true demons didn't fear anything - not even the most excruciating of torture. In fact, some even found pain to be nothing more than just entertainment, a welcoming invitation of exhilaration and pleasure. And those who embraced it as such are the most feared of all the Underworld - the ones who had conquered mortality and had nothing left to fear. Only then did a demon gain respect and triumph through the rest.

I knew I couldn't shrivel under the pain. I didn't dare let it win. No matter how much it burned. No matter how much it blazed down my back like a lightning bolt.

Slowly, I tried my wings once more. The pain seized again but I remained persistent. With a forceful boost of my foot, I lunged myself upwards, into the air. Into the darkness of the sky, where I could finally be free.

Higher and higher, seeking to graze the stars, escaping the heavy chains that were bound to me.

High and higher, and the more I could taste the thinning air and the more I could feel the icy breeze contrast with my blistering infection.

Finally slicing through the clouds, moisture dampening against my skin, sending a rush of adrenaline through me instantaneously. A euphoric breath, a sudden pause. It was almost as if the whole world itself had just simply fallen away and I was left. I hung there and it was almost as if everything had slowed, my chest towards the open, constant sky.

Forget the Underworld.

This was what it was like to be alive. To feel the goosebumps prick me and for my hair to blow swiftly in my face. When I had reached the clouds, my wings were in control, not even the wind being able to sway me at this height.

I howled throughout the endless abyss, hearing my voice echo off into the dark of the night.

This was what it was like to be truly free. No boundaries. No limits. I could go anywhere I wanted to go. I could do anything I wanted to do.

Damn, how liberating it was - to have the whole sky to myself. It was almost too good to be true. Besides, all this open sky for the taking and no other force in sight to challenge me.

I was free and the weighing restraints of the Underworld couldn't reach me here - not in the clouds.

I lounged there in the clouds and as time began to return, I was slowly descending back down, plunging headfirst back to the ground. On my descent, feet above my head, I could've missed it. Yet, something of the unnatural light made my head turn and my eyes fall into a submissive trance.

A familiar, captivating red - one that I knew all too well.

And when I lifted my head to gaze in a dumbfound wonder, I found the full moon to be swallowed in it.

The Blood Moon.

Strange...

The Blood Moon Ball was about a year ago, yet here it was. Not only that, it wasn't supposed to reappear for another 666 years.

That is, unless...

If it was reminding its chosen ones of its presence.

But, way up in the clouds, where the night sky seemed smothered by the gloom and mist, there was no one who would ever know of its presence...

Except for me.

But I wasn't bonded with anyone.

Was I?

No, I definitely would've remembered that.

Then... Why did it reveal itself to me?

And in the blink of an eye, the Blood Moon vanished, leaving me more bewildered than when it had appeared. Typical. The Blood Moon, as mystical and mesmerizing as it was, was also notorious for its trickery and unclear motivations. And despite it all, we demons worshipped it, even dedicating a royal ball in its name.

It didn't matter, however, because at that moment, I was plummeting from the sky.

Free falling towards the city below, towards the streets.