What You Are Is Beautiful

Demonic Awakening

Lilith's body crashed back into her bedroom door just closed behind her. She brought her hands up to her head, pulling at her head, the ringing growing louder and louder. She felt her claws scrape at her scalp and pulled them away. Their black exterior was covered with a faint red sheen. She let out a growl of frustration and moved to wipe them off before noticing a familiar yellow glow out of the corner of her eye.

She turned to see the ethereal smoke of the Iblis, it's glowing eyes just inches from her face. She felt anger boiling within her chest and lashed out at it, swiping her clawed fingers through its form. They passed through its form, barely disturbing the smokey billows that composed it. She felt her back bristle in its demonic nature and held back the cry of pain at remembering her Hell given affliction. She held its gaze, refusing to blink or look away.

The Iblis only moved closer, passing through her as she watched. A sensation washed over her, both foreign and familiar. She looked down at herself and up to the Iblis. She finally allowed herself to blink, feeling relieved, but that was short lived.

She opened her eyes to a Hellscape of red paving stones and the busy walkways filled with unspeakable creatures and corruptions. Lilith shrieked out of fear before looking down at herself. Gray hair spilled down over her shoulders. She reached up to feel a scaly mass on her forehead, crowning her hairline and leaving way for two small protrusions. She felt at the curved masses protruding from her skull and tugged lightly, confirming their attachment to her.

She cried out in panic, feeling a hand on her shoulder. She turned and slashed at the figure, feeling the satisfying glide of her claws through living flesh. Something animalistic beckoned her to do more, to cut deeper and longer. It didn't disgust her at first. No, she wanted it, enjoyed it. It was her pleasure in it that scared her. The way it stirred her to do more. Something was not right.

"Lilith," the voice cooed, low and smooth. She recognized it instantly. Something about it scratched at an itch in her mind.

She turned, shuffling backwards on instinct. She looked him up and down, seeing him in all black clothing held together with various belts and clasps, their exteriors radiating a purplish glow. "What did you do to me?"

Adriel chuckled lightly. "I didn't do anything to you, dear."

"Don't call me that."

"But you don't dislike it. And you don't fear me. You fear yourself. Or more specifically, you fear that you may be like me."

"I will never be anything like you!" Lilith roared in response. She curled her hands into fists and felt her skin tear open to give way to claws. She only squeezed tighter and listened as the blood dripped down to the ground below her before sizzling away under the pressure of the hellish heat around them.

Adriel smiled sadistically. "But you already are. And whether you like it or not, you will be a part of my plan. The greatest plan." He smirked at his pun, pleased that it was so easy to twist something so holy and divine.

Lilith clenched her jaw. "I will never help you."

"We'll see about that." A flash of light blinded her, leaving her in the dark.

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Camila heard the scream from her room only a few doors down the hall. It was something so otherworldly and human all the same, it shook her to her core making her whole body tense up in apprehension.

She had been in the middle of re-fixing her curls to lay smoothly and comfortably under her habit. The tin of pins she had been previously working with crashed to the ground, a complimentary cacophony to pound of her feet pummeling the ground as she sprinted to the source of the noise.