As Above So Below

Chapter 4

The following morning, he woke up to a sharp pain in his neck; as if he were choking. He looked up to see that there was a demon on top of him, grasping onto his neck with a death grip. As to how a demon got through, he couldn’t say, but either way, he tried to writhe free. Their hands were small, however; barely fitting over his neck, but Kcalb couldn’t quite make out the figure’s features. They looked rather short, and whatever horns they had were an incredible design; none he’d ever seen before.

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“Stay. Still!”

They mustered, before the door flew open to Lord Yahweh opening the door. The light from outside filled the entire room, and the scene basically looked like a child sitting on top of something with fourteen tails and six overlarge wings spilling off the sides of the bed.

“It’s only the first night, and you’ve already found him.”

Lord Yahweh said nonchalantly. The small demon on top of Kcalb moved his hands away from the neck of the taller demon, in which Kcalb  began to cough uncontrollably as he gasped for air. They turned around to look at the god, before pouting and folding his arms across his chest.

“I just wanted to say hi.”

They admitted, before Lord Yahweh came in and removed the smaller demon from the heir; carrying him like a toddler would. They seemed to be perhaps Kcalb’s age or younger, but due to their incredibly short height, it was hard to make out. Putting the demon down, Kcalb could finally see that it was a small boy who had a long cape-like coat and black hair. His purple eyes didn’t seem to match with the black he wore, but they seemed to suit him, as far as Kcalb was concerned. After silent talking before the god and the child, the demon disappeared into thin air, and the lord came into the room, sat down upon the edge of the bed, and began to apologize.

“Forgive him; for he knows not what he does. He believes by using a sort of force, he could get his answers, but alas… he’s only killed people in the past by doing so. He’s young, he’s young… perhaps younger than you. Are you alright?”

Kcalb, upon sitting up, gave a nod. Whoever that kid was, he was crazy. You don’t strangle someone to death to greet them. That’s like saying you’re going to kill the president when you find out they’re running for office. The lord stood up and took out a pair of clothes from the closet, setting it upon the bed.

“We’re going to hold some activities outside today. You might want to wear something light, or white, in this case. Hohoho…”

Lord Yahweh left the room, strolling out of the room slowly; leaving Kcalb to himself. The demon got up, stretched a bit (hoping to not knock anything over), and got dressed. He took one last look of his room, in case he never saw or found it again, and walked out the doorway and outside.

It was bright and sunny, nothing like where he came from, where it was always dark with an eerie red glow to everything. Etihw was waiting for him outside, coming up to him and giving him a big hug. After their embrace, she led him around the gardens and introduced him to some of her siblings (introducing him to 366 people in one day could be overwhelming). Soon, however, they broke paths once Kcalb misplaced her, and went on to walk through the garden alone; looking down at his feet and the colorful flowers whenever he walked past any.

 While he was walking, however, he could hear the slight, constant rustling of the flowers, in which every time he would look up and see nothing. Was there something there? As he walked further down the path, it became louder and louder, and soon enough, he caught the sight of two kittens. When they poked their little heads out from the shrubs, he swooped them up in his arms and stared into their wide eyes. They meowed happily, and Kcalb couldn’t help but smile. Cats were calm creatures, and they were a wonderful pet, but why were they out here alone? He sat down around the flowers and played with them, giving the two names. The white one was Ater, and the black one was Arbus. They were both female, and they would respond to their names cheerfully whenever he called them. They played together for hours upon hours, before there was a ‘universal search’ for him since he had been out so long without anyone knowing where he was. Soon, Sherbet, Rigatona, Ciel, and Etihw found him with the cats, and he looked up at the four of them nervously, while the kittens jumped out of his lap and fused into a demon form.

“Oh! Kcalb, you made some friends!”

Etihw sang, as she clapped. Kcalb stood up and looked at the two demon cat girls as they turned around to both give him a hug. He was quite startled at first, but allowed the two sisters to hug him.

“We’ll be with you forever, Kcalb!”

“Kcalb, forever we will be with you!”

The two girls smiled, and they pulled away from their embrace to turn around back to Etihw and ask if they could live with them. Upon getting a positive answer, the two girls gave a cheer, and followed with Kcalb as they walked back to the palace. Arbus had short black hair with white ears, and Ater had long white hair with black ears; their hair corresponding with their fur as cats. As to why their ears were different colors, he could not exactly say, but he didn’t seem to care. As they entered the castle, the girls looked around at the beautiful scenery of the inside, and went into their cat forms once again to explore the place, not before they told Kcalb they would meet up with him at dinner.

Dinner came around, and there was no sign of Ater or Arbus. Kcalb had merely lost his appetite to his nervousness, as he looked around the room hesitantly for any sign of them. As he was prodding the fork into the potato they had served, Lord Yahweh came up behind him; tapping his shoulder, getting him to turn around.

“I assume these are yours? I found them in your room.”

Ater and Arbus bounced into Kcalb’s lap and made themselves comfortable, as he stroked a hand down their backs. He looked up at the lord cautiously, but he only laughed, telling him to take care of the kittens and that he could keep them inside palace grounds. Kcalb began eating his dinner, knowing that his new kittens were safe, and from time to time, whenever he stumbled across a piece of food he didn’t like, he would give it to one of them. Etihw looked over at how happy Kcalb looked taking care of them, and smiled.

“See? You were all nervous at first; now you have kitten friends!”

Kcalb bowed his head down as if nodding, and continued eating. The two kittens purred as he pet them from time to time, and when it was time for bed, he got compliment upon compliment about the two black and white kittens he held in his arms. Upon entering his room, he, making sure Ater and Arbus didn’t see, put his pajamas on and went into his bed and snuggled with them before the three of them dozed off. Living with the gods wasn’t going to be so bad after all.