~ Chapter 23: A happy family ~

[Syliar’s point of view]

When a mortal looked at a true demon, they never saw them as beings able to love and care for another. Their very existence was the definition of evil and darkness. That was why even remotely believing a demon could fall in love with an angel was beyond absurd, maybe even blasphemous in some mortal eyes.

I always found those souls to be the most pleasing to torture and torment by setting succubus and incubus demons upon them. They would enthrall the mortal minds, pull them into their intoxicating embrace and when they would give in, strangle the last drops of life out of their pathetic bodies.

Least to be said this Universe didn’t follow the standard idea of good and evil.

As I flew together with the twins, I looked below and saw countless merry angelion families minding their own business. Where the wife was an angel, the husband could have been a demon or if the parents were angels, the children were demons. My family was also similar from this point of view. I was the only daughter they had and a demoness too. Both my siblings and parents were angels.

In a way, I was the black sheep of the family.

Fortunately, in this Universe there were no such things as black sheep. Parents never forced their children to take a certain path in their life. They guided them, nurtured them, but ultimately, we were the ones who chose if we picked the demon side or the angel side. It was like picking between dresses, you either found it to be ‘alright’ or absolutely loved it.

“We’re here!” said Tyon as he flew ahead of us.

His brother, Aryn, remained next to me, no doubt making sure I didn’t dare to flee.

I was told on the way that our house was located about three thousand kilometers from the sea and four hundred from the Azzurian Mountains. Thanks to the planet’s gigantic shape, we could see them with ease in the far distance. The house itself, with a few differences here and there was almost identical to the one we had in the previous biome. It was a regular two-story building with a small front yard and a large backyard. It was all white and reflected the purity, order, and happiness of a family with more angels than demons.

This house was one of the reasons I did not want to drop by to visit. It made me sick to my stomach and more than once I tried to burn it down. My idiotic siblings were the ones who stopped me back then.

As if knowing what I was thinking about, Metatron told me:

“It’s the same one, Syliar. I felt a bit nostalgic and when we moved here, we all agreed to bring it with us. Almost everything is the same, even your old room.” he showed me a gentle smile, but while I was just a tiny bit impressed by his desire to keep old junk, I couldn’t see the meaning behind doing it.

“If it was me, I would have burned it to the ground or nuked it from the sky.” I retorted.

“Then, I guess, it’s a good thing it wasn’t you who made that choice. The neighbors would have been terribly upset with us if we did any of that.” he giggled.

“That was the whole idea.”

As we landed in the front yard, the door opened and out came a beautiful angel woman. She looked like she was in her mid-twenties, but she was actually a lot older than me with or without the whole time jumping I did.

“You returned! Oh my! Syliar! It’s been so long!” said the woman as she approached me.

I growled and tried to pull back, but I was stopped by Aryn. He looked up at me and begged me with his eyes to remain. I groaned and looked back at mother. She jumped in that moment and embraced me, squeezing the very breath out of my lungs.

“C-can’t... breath...” I struggled to say.

“Syliar! My sweet daughter! You are finally back!” she squealed.

Groaning, I tried to free myself from her embrace.

“Let us enter the house. Mellana, did you cook anything?” asked Metatron.

“Yes, some stew, some pie, and I made some juice from freshly squeezed fruits!” she replied with a big smile on her lips while she continued to embrace me and rube her cheek against mine.

“I’m guessing I’ll be skipping on hunting and eating raw meat...” I grumbled.

“Oh dear! Was that what you have been eating so far? No wonder you look so skinny!” she joked pinching my cheeks.

“Mother! I’m a grown angelion woman and a Demon Queen at that!” I retorted as I pulled back to the relief of my cheeks.

“Yes, yes, dear, now let’s go inside.” she said and pulled my hand.

I glared back at Metatron and the twins who were snickering behind him.

My parents, like most angelions, saw little to no need in changing the decorations within their home too often, unless they wanted to change their current biome and even the species they were incarnated as. In regard to this, my family seemed to be an exception. Right now, this house was very similar to the house in my teenage memories. Although it had been adapted to suit another species, with a single glance, I could still tell that I was back ‘home’. The way it was decorated, the technology present here, everything was to my parents’ liking.

In general, angelions did not bother with tech too much, they mostly used whatever they saw to be more fun or enjoyable. Looking to the right, I was able to catch a glimpse of the kitchen. Mother had one of those medieval style ovens right next to a common oven used on most interstellar spaceships. It was a big metal box with a holographic display on it controlled by an integrated non-sentient AI, mostly used for quick temperature adjustments and internet browsing.

Looking over to the left, I saw some of the academy awards won by my twin brothers. There was nothing to show my brilliance in school. Back then, I was a problem child, but mostly due to the fact that I tried to stay on the angel side while acting more like a demon would. Eventually, I gave up completely on trying to become an angel and ever since then, it worked wonders for me. Maybe if I picked that side from the get-go, there would have been a couple of medals on that wall to show my achievements as well. Even so, I became a Demon Queen, something my former colleagues could only dream of, but my brothers apparently did much better than I ever could in the angel department.

“This place still looks like a dump.” I commented as I walked over to the living room.

I noticed the chewing marks on the couch’s leg.

I cannot believe they still have this old thing laying around… I thought.

They were placed there from the time when I tried to take care of a pet. Least to be said, father did not wear shoes for a few days thanks to some chewing accidents.

Hah! The mighty Archangel Metatron going to work without shoes! Now that was funny! that memory made me smile.

We had to give him away to another family, since mine didn’t quite enjoy the little rascal’s mischief. Well, they didn’t, but I sure as Hell did!

Taking a seat on the couch, I crossed my legs and arms, then I tossed a glare at the voice controlled holographic television in front of me.

“You call it a dump, but admit it sis, you like it here!” said Aryn as he sat down and hugged me.

“Ugh! Enough with the hugs already! Don’t you have any shame? Hugging a demon like this is...” I growled as I tried to push him off.

“Absolutely normal in this Universe?” completed Tyon, and I had no comeback to that.

I grumbled and gave up, letting the two hug me like two over-attached felines. My only salvation was to hope time would pass fast and the two of them would leave me alone before I lost all of my marbles.

“Why are you grumpy, Syliar?” asked Metatron as he took a seat on the armchair next to the couch.

Glaring back at him, I merely pointed at the two hugging machines to my left and right, who didn’t care whether they accidentally cut off my air supply or not.

The archangel merely laughed softly in reply.

“I’ll bring you something to drink!” said mother as she made her way to the kitchen.

“Apple juice!” shouted Aryn.

“Lor’sharl!” shouted Tyon.

“Ugh... Drev’Gar!” I smirked since I knew there was no way mother would have such a strong demon-only drink.

“A flag of rum!” said Metatron.

I looked at the archangel and raised an eyebrow, but then again, Tyon also ordered an alcoholic beverage, not like they had any effect on our bodies unless we enchanted them with a spell or two.

“Since when do you drink rum?” I asked him.

“Two years ago, after I met with Blackbeard of the Seven Skies.” he replied calmly.

“I’m guessing he has no connection to Earth’s Blackbeard of the Seven Seas?” I asked.

“Same soul, but one is born in the past as a pirate, and the other is born on the planet Aurora 7 as a knight enforcer for truth and justice.” explained Tyon.

“Not in any of my Universes.” I declared.

“No, he’s from father’s jurisdiction. I have a similar one in mine too. His name is Hitler!” said Aryn with a big smile plastered on his face.

“What Hitler are you talking about? There are countless versions...” I asked.

I was thinking about the one who so pleasantly murdered millions, the one who started the nuclear war on Earth, the one who conquered Mars through the power of his iron fist and led to its ultimate destruction, the one who took on the mantle of a modern Jack the Ripper, and many others oh so evil and merciless versions of him.

“He was born on the planet Nagrash and created an extremist regime against the other sentient species living there. Afterwards, he was reincarnated in the same world but as a fighter and rebellion leader against his initial regime.” explained Aryn.

“I’m guessing his soul wanted to learn what it means to be in those two contrary positions?” I said in a calm tone of voice.

Antithesis Reincarnation was one of the main devices used for soul learning in any Universe.

“Yes. But sister, let us not talk about work! Tell us, why haven’t you visited us in such a long time?” asked Tyon as he looked up at me with those puppy-dog-eyes of his.

“You... ugh... I don’t really want to talk about it.” I explained and looked down.

What was I to say? That I went on like a madman and destroyed countless worlds, tortured billions, killed off even more, and all for finding my Soul Mate, which I was destined to meet later anyway?

For a demon, it sounded like a good brag, but thanks to the stupid laws of this Universe, I had no choice but to feel bad about saying something like that. If we were in the mortal world, I would have laughed it out while slaughtering innocents to increase my kill count.

“Everyone has their reasons.” Metatron gave them an answer in my place.

“One thing I don’t get though... How did you end up a Demon Queen?” asked Tyon as he looked up into my eyes.

He was quite determined to find out and not have any of his questions postponed. He was well aware that after I left, there was a big chance I would return only after a very long time had passed.

“Do I have to?” I asked.

“Yes!” he stated.

“Ugh... After I left this Universe, I went under a Demon Lord. Countless years and reasons later, I killed the bastard and took his place. I continued to increase my strength until the Demon King there challenged me. I got beaten up quite badly. He made me into one of his mistresses for a while until I grew strong enough to cut off his head with my bare claws. As a result, I was granted half of his kingdom. Countless schemes, deaths, and wars later, I ended up with my current Kingdom.” I explained my history in as few words as possible, leaving out the various tortures and humiliating things I had to endure under the rule of the Demon Lord and then the Demon King.

“Oh, poor sister!” said Tyon as he rubbed his cheek against mine and hugged me tightly.

“That’s just a typical demon story. Some have it worse, but anyway, what about you two? Why are you archangels now?” I asked curiously.

If there was no way out of that hugging nightmare, I could only go with the flow and make my time as less painful as possible.

“We went under father for a few centuries, then we tried out Guardian Angel duty. It didn’t work out too well.” said Tyon with a wry smile on his face.

“We argued too much with the Guardian Demon.” continued Aryn.

“So, we went to become Scribes, but that was a bit problematic as well.” Tyon shook his head.

“They nearly burned down the Library of Heaven.” explained Metatron.

“That sounds more like my sort of thing to do.” I said raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, that’s why we were thinking of switching to the demon side, but father managed to introduce us to a Seraphim, and we tried out the Archangel positions. We found it to be easy and fun, unlike the other jobs.” said Tyon.

“Thus, I became the Archangel of Hope, and Tyon became the Archangel of Healing!” said Aryn quite proud of himself.

“Good for you two. Now can you stop hugging me?” I asked as I tried to push them off.

“OK!” said Tyon as the two of them let go at the same time.

I let out a sigh of relief. A Demon Queen and three Archangels sitting in a living room. It sounds more like the beginning of a bad joke, but for me that was a truth which perfectly described my current situation.

“I brought the drinks!” announced mother as she placed the tray over the coffee table.

“Seriously? You actually managed to make a Drev’Gar?” I asked surprised when I saw the red bubbling drink on the table.

The malicious energy stored inside of it made it clear to everyone that it wasn’t a safe drink to consume, at least for non-demons.

“It was actually rather easy to make. I already had the ingredients for it!” explained mother as she took a seat on the other armchair. “So, what were my lovely children talking about?” she asked with a bright smile on her face.

“We were telling Syliar about how we became archangels.” replied Tyon with a happy smile on his face.

Metatron nodded in confirmation, and I let out a long sigh.