The Riddle Of Magic

Chapter 10: Shade Of A Smile

Hellborn may have been eternal beings, but they could still be killed.

Charlotte Morningstar had seen her first kill when she was still young. Far too young, perhaps, but this was Hell and that was the way of things.

The princess had looked on, clutching her mother's hand as the sword came down; and the Queen had given her sweets afterwards, proud that her daughter had not wept for a doomed fool.

She hadn't been unfeeling, merely ignorant.

Charlie didn't understand at the time why her father had executed the Goetia demon who had always been so nice to her, who was teaching her to sing. He'd even let her play with her flames despite the danger to his feathers. She'd never felt anything but safe around him. Capable even, as though she could do anything, so long as she put her mind enough to a task.

She didn't know what he'd done wrong, other than he had caused some kind of vague threat to her father's rule.

It had been almost a century later, when she'd begun forming the idea of her Hotel, that Charlie had learned about Dominion, and why her father tolerated her singing, but never encouraged it.

When the Goetia demon had been voided by her father's heavenly blade, it was as though it had never been in Hell to begin with. Not a drop of blood, spec of dust, or single feather remained.

It was as though the Other Alastor was voiding, but in slow motion. There was an odd thinness to him, and a shining pallor to his skin as though he was literally made of glass.

"He collapsed while making breakfast," Niffty told them as he laid in bed.

"It was the strangest thing. I... couldn't feel the floor anymore," Blue said weakly, his ears drooped flat against his skull.

Charlie knelt beside the bed, hands fluttering nervously as she looked over the blue deer demon. She touched his cheek, and it was frigid, colder somehow than he'd been before. He still permitted her touch despite his evident weakness, far easier than Alastor did.

The princess didn't know what to say, what to do.

"Al," Charlie breathed out, trying to keep her composure. "What's wrong with him?"

Alastor looked the other demon over casually. "There's different forms of magic working against each other. It's likely an aftereffect from the returning spell as well as whatever his magic is."

"You just cast on him blindly?" Charlie's head snapped up to him. "Why didn't you two work through it together?"

"It hardly seemed necessary! It's not as though he needed my assistance in coming through."

"Charlie, should we get your dad?" Vaggie asked, gathered in the doorway with Cherri, Angel, and Husk while Niffty took the opportunity to clean the Other Alastor's room.

"I'm not sure, Vaggie. I don't know how he's going to act about a demon from a different Hell being here." She certainly didn't see the passive deer demon as any sort of trouble, but that wouldn't matter to her father.

If there was any chance her father would react to the Other Alastor with aggression, then they couldn't risk it. She was on her own.

"I-I wish I could be of help, princess," Blue offered. "I just feel so weak."

"It's okay, save your strength!" Charlie shushed him, as gently as she could. "It's just a dream, right? Just like you said! You'll be just fine!"

She had to resist the urge to fuss over him, it seemed as though he might shatter if she touched him too much.