There is Power in Death

Chapter 33

"Well, I made it so whenever you wish to contact me, I will appear. I do get a warning so I can prepare myself. Did I not tell you this?"

"No, you didn't."

"Well, I'm sorry about that, any-who, why was I called here? Oh, there's a child! Hello little boy."

"H-hi."

"Lord Hectie, I want to talk to you about the demon problem."

"Ah yes, that. I released them to lower the numbers of Phanters, and yours were the ones that got affected the most. It's a shame that Alex was recruited. I doubt that any of this would have happened without him. Talan would have continued being a shut in, Benji and him never would have met. Alegra would slowly fade away, and Oliver would still be in a bad place. My pets would be a much greater number, and my plan would have worked. It's a bit of a pity, but I do like the way it turned out. If Alex didn't become a Phanter, we wouldn't be best friends!"

"What does this have to do with demons?"

"Now Alex, you'll have to explain which type of demon you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb. Just capture them."

"Don't be so cold. I'll get my servants to catch them."

"Good."

"Talan didn't tell you about the other demons, did he?"

"What are you talking about?"

"So he didn't. That's not good mentoring.  Maybe I should be the one to tell you. I excuse you three from your duties. The kid can come with. You will be accompanying me for lunch. There's an adorable little restaurant down the street that I've been meaning to visit. Come along, the other mentors can continue on."

We follow the god out the door. The guards are visibly confused when they see that there is another person with us. They seem to brush it off as we step into the elevator.

"I'm going to make things easier for us. Hold on."

The elevator in enveloped in purple and we go through it. It leads us to a small restaurant and we walk in.

"Hello, you may sit anywhere."

We get to a table and one of the waiters walks over.

"Would you like two kids menus?"

"No thanks."

Hectie looks angry at the waiter, but calms down quickly.

"I guess it was a bad idea to stay in this form in the mortal realm. That reminds me, why are there humans working there?"

"I'm not sure. The bosses hired them."

"Okay. Order your food. I'll pay inadvertently, so get anything you want. We can talk while we wait."

We call over the waiter when we're ready and order.

"Okay, so there are two different types of demons, the ones I keep as pets, and the one that are humanoid. Both are able to kill Phanters and angels, but only my pets do that. The humanoid ones are call devils to separate the two. Devils can be quite friendly and  live in commune in the Underworld. Each and every one of them is a sinner. They have all endured the torture they deserved as souls. Every one of them has a job, if they didn't then they wouldn't be able to stay devils. The entirety o my staff is devils. Erin is the most human looking, and hides his horns and tail, so he picks up the Phanters and souls I ask him to."

"I see, so what do most demons look like?"

"They all have either red or yellow eyes and red skin. Most of them have tails, but all of them have horns. Their teeth are also very sharp, so be careful not to anger one. They will bite."

Our food gets delivered by the same waiter, who keeps on looking at me.

"Do you want something?"I ask her.

"Um, yeah. Are you, by any chance, Alex Seles."

"I am."

"C-could I possibly have an autograph?"

"Sure."

She hands me a pen and paper and I sign it. This is probably part of the reason I didn't ever go outside when I was alive. She grins when I sign it and scurries off.

"Quite popular, aren't we?"

"Yeah, but not by choice."

"I see."

"Well, you mentioned something about angels earlier, could you elaborate on that?" Al interrupts.

"Oh, right! Angles live in the other region of the Underworld. They're ruled over by Alanea, Goddess of life. The angels are responsible for creating life and often recruiting some non sinners. They also look after the souls of non sinners and allow them to relive a second life. I don't pay much attention to them. It's very likely that you'll end up meeting one someday. They are very annoying and do everything perfectly. There are a select few that might choose to start a fight with a Phanter when they encounter one. You don't have to worry about that, you can easily defeat even the strongest one."

Hectie stops to take a few bites as he explains.

"That's about all that's important. Devils are on your side, but the angels are not. Whatever you do, do not make contact with Alanea. She can be very scary, so you don't want to to mess with her."

"Good idea. I'd rather not get on a god or goddess's bad side. I don't think I could continue on with that."

"I have another question. Where do Phanter, or anything like us, go when we die a second time?"

"They either disappear forever, or they get reborn. Fate decides on that. For example, if the one that died again was a sinner that was working toward redemption, and they ended up close to redeeming themselves, then they would most likely be reborn. On the other hand, if that sinner was nowhere near redeeming themselves, they would vanish and become mindless. They would end up in a void with no escape. If the person died without having to work towards redemption, they would be reborn. Everyone that gets reborn ends up forgetting about all of this, unless Fate chooses otherwise."

"Thank you. This was very helpful, and I doubt Talan would have told me about any of this."

"I'm sure Al or Maddy would have, but you really should have known this sooner."

We all finish eating and get up to pay. Hectie hands me his credit card and I use it to pay. We head back out side and continue to follow Hectie down the street.

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