LILITHToday was the same as yesterday. And the day before. And nearly every day since I was born in this lonely life. Demons don''t really have families. They don''t have a sense of fun, not in the same way that you humans understand it, anyway. The closest definition of fun involves vandalism, rape, and murder on human settlements. They don''t do anything like cooking, board games, or books. They don''t have room for love, they don''t do much actually that I''d find enjoyable. So when I became an adult, I locked myself away in my room, built a mail slot, and ordered everything from Gargarean.com, the online retailer. I read books, I watched movies, but other than that, I nothing much different from one day to the next. I did have to eat, but unlike the demons, I had my own source of income, and a home that couldn''t be taken by the other demons, even Satan. And yet, I was quite lonely. I had nobody in the demon race that I connected to, and never would.

    I''d better back up my story a bit. I was born after the death of Jesus. More specifically, as a direct result of the death of Jesus. You see, angels and demons are typically only created, not born. Typically, angels stopped being born since the ban on mating for all the seraphim. Demons exist as that angel''s shadow, to interfere with their counterparts. But we couldn''t really fight each other directly without passing damage to our counterparts. It''s like the Mystics and the Skeksis in Dark Crystal, whatever happened to us happened to the angel counterparts. Then, there were the archangels in heaven, those who had names. Then there were the seraphim which had no counterparts because they were a unified whole. And finally there were the Fallen, which were basically corrupted seraphim during the war in Heaven. And then there was me.

    I was born, as I say, at the death of Jesus. You''ve heard of the Harrowing of Hell, right? What, you haven''t?!? Long ago, Jesus died for the sins of humans. Dwarves, elves, and the like were also under the auspices of this death, but because of a lot of stuff I won''t really get into, it affected them in different ways. When he died, two major things happened. First, the curtain of the Temple was torn. This meant that people no longer had a barrier separating them from God. But it would be awhile before people realized the implications of this. But more importantly, the Afterlife was fundamentally changed. Under the Law, you had a sort of standard that was difficult or impossible to live up to, so pretty much everyone who died fell short and the Afterlife generally sucked. But the Harrowing of Hell meant that the gates separating the place were thrown open. So, people were released from being trapped in a bad Afterlife. But there was a third thing that happened. Jesus forgave us, the demons. We demons were now able to have children, unlike those angels, by using our tails. But those children had free will and souls. They had normal feelings rather than wanting to rape and kill. I was the first child born to a demonic pairing since that time. And once they saw how I was, they were determined that it be the last. The Demonic Method, the system of laws that Satan governed humans and demons with, ruled it a crime worthy of extinction to bear demon children with souls. And by extinction, I mean extinction of one''s bloodline. They''d kill until none of that household remained. And yet, I was a Blessed demon. I had no angelic counterpart, and I was immune to the laws of Hell. I was able to hold a job from home and immune from property taxes. They wanted to evict me, but they found they couldn''t, nor could they destroy my house. So they left me alone provided I stayed away from other demons, something I was only too happy to do.

    I guess that brings things up to speed, aside from talking about the thousands of years living in Hell when it was still hidden in Earth, living through Belial''s binding, and into the New Earth. Besides angels, we demons were the only ones that witnessed this. Not that I saw much from my window. I did however see humans, an elf, and an angel of all things enter the town and look around for awhile before coming to my house. They checked to make sure that the door was in fact locked. They must have asked Satan. Nobody trusted that guy. It didn''t help much that he looked like one of the performers of Malice Mizer but for his red eyes. Nobody trusts goth musicians.

    After becoming satisfied with there actually being no open entrance (though I was sorely tempted to invite them inside, since it had been nearly seven millennia since I had had contact with any living thing), they headed toward the volcano. This was a very rough road ahead for them. I had hid my key under a rock in the volcano, then guarded it with fire elementals that I bought the loyalty of ages ago with some nice firewood. The high temperature of the volcano was such that water magic wouldn''t even cast. They''d have to collect water in some kind of specially-made bottle good enough to stand up to the temperature, and then dump it on them, but collecting the water was one quest, and somehow getting Lucre for such a bottle was another. They would never...

    I recall thinking this, but sure enough, a couple hours passed, and they unlocked my door. Who were these people?!? I had just enough time to try to shoo them off, but they didn''t seem to pay attention.

    AMBROSIA

    My brain was baked by too much heat exposure, so inside this girl Lilith''s house was suddenly like a cool breeze. In fact, this was a cold house. I didn''t understand how, but it was like the loneliness and isolation of this girl formed a buffer against what was outside. I felt for her, without her saying anything. Then she opened her mouth, and I wanted to hug her. Her voice sounded so sad.

    The girl was dressed in a little black dress and a black cape, more for sex appeal than anything else. Horns extended from her skull, much like a goat when they first filled in, short and straight nubs without too much of a point. Her hair was a dark purple to the point of nearly black, darker even than Evil Ambrosia''s, and her skin was strangely tan despite zero exposure to sunlight. Her cape hid what I would later see were a set of bat wings large enough for her to probably do limited flight, or more likely gliding, since her body seemed pretty muscular and heavy. Every now and then, a cute little tail moved out from her dress and cape, it had a point like a blunt spear, but as I later learned, it could becomes harder or softer and even sorta changes shape.

    Her voice sounded normal, not all possessed like the other ones. She asked us, “What are you doing here? I thought I made it clear that I didn''t want to be disturbed when I hid my keys.” The expression on her face told another story, though. “I... we''re here because I''m the Oracle of Tao, and I''ve come to awaken my powers and stuff. I guess?”

    I looked around her house. The decor was weird. It was an all stone building, including the roof, all the better to not have one''s house burned down, I guess. Most noticeable was a giant pet rock in the center of the room. She had a Crystal Mirror for viewing shows, and from the looks of her collection of crystals, had an entire set of the Deltora Quest anime in Japanese, along with Osamu Tezuka''s Buddha series. I found this funny, as the entire mess in both stories started because a king never went outside. She had a large ice crystal in her room, which was probably another good reason her house was so cold. She had barrels of supplies, two beds joined together, statues of grotesque demons, and some stained glass windows along with her regular windows for viewing outside. The stained glass showed the most sacred scenes of an otter eating a watermelon and being grumpy about it, and the other one was of a man''s hands on a keyboard looking at something familiar on the computer screen. There seemed to be a faint image of a blue-haired girl and a blond guy on that screen. A third stained glass was of course a nude. There was an elf girl standing there touching herself, and Aqorm blushed. Oh yeah, and she had a five-star kitchen, a large bookshelf, and a chamber organ.

    “Hmmm,” she said, stepping behind her organ, playing as she listened more to our story. She played “The Oracle''s Calling”, a moody indecisive piece that started out with a repetitive beat before adding in a lot more heavy organ stuff. It was composed without any real understanding of musical theory, apparently. “That does sound like some journey that you went on. I wanna see your power, okay? If you can impress me, I''d like to join you. But only if you leave that angel over there behind. He''s too intense-looking, he scares me.” Lilith wasn''t quick like Michael was. She had about size 15 heels, which she took off along with her leggings to move faster in that dress. Her hands and feet didn''t have regular nails on top of them, but a small slit where the nails should be and completely smooth skin there. She had retractable nails, after all. Her feet were used for hanging on surfaces. She trudged along at a pretty steady speed, wisely deciding to retract her toe claws for better running.

    We were all set to fight as a team against her, since Michael had been hard enough, when she stopped all of us. “Hold it, hold it, you guys,” she said, “I can''t face all of you in battle! I''d get creamed! What you think I''m a superhero or something? I''m just a demon girl, I''ve never trained in any kind of martial arts. And besides, come on, I''m shy, go away everyone! One at a time! I want to face each of you in single combat. Except him! I''ve heard of that guy. Michael fought most of the Fallen here! He''ll kill me.” We agreed, only to realize we had been tricked.

    No, Lilith hadn''t lied, she was about as skilled at fighting as an average shut-in. The difference is that while a human hikikomori tended to pack on pounds (it was much worse for the original Earth), much like angels and elves, demons stayed healthy and sexy. She had terrible skill, basically being like a brawler, but her body was built tough, like a tank or something. She didn''t have a force field around her like Michael, but then she didn''t need one. Her skin was tough enough to stop most bullets. And in she had several natural weapons to work with (horns although hers were pretty useless, four sets of claws, a tail, her teeth, and her wings, even before we got into demonic powers), so she really didn''t need to know how to fight well.

    Just as Michael and Lilith were social opposites, they also had completely different style of fighting. Michael had use of Script, and was fast enough to fight against mobs. Lilith, meanwhile, managed to overpower each of us in one-on-one combat until she finally got beat. Since Michael had nothing much to do, he started using his personal barrier, spreading a golden glow on the bookcase, books, walls, ceiling, floor, ice crystals, mirror, data crystals for the mirror, barrels, beds, stained glass… “I''m not touching those demon statues. Hey ummm, fiend, what''s up with the rock.” Fiend was an insulting slur against demons. I didn''t really understand the insult though, but she looked more hurt than mad at him. “Don''t call me that!” she said, tears in her eyes. Most people didn''t start crying when someone had insulted them. It looked like she''d had a lot of grief from the other demons. She probably was left out of a lot of demonic activities, too. “I''m not a fiend, I''m not...” Michael started again, “Ummm, Lilith, was it? Do you want me to protect that big hulking boulder in the middle of the room?” She snapped at him a bit, “No, I don''t want you slapping any of your creepy angel magic on my stuff! This yellow glow hurts my eyes and I''m actually standing on glowing stuff too! You leave Christina alone!” Michael looked puzzled, “Who is Christina...? You named your pet rock that?” Lilith glared at him, “Quit talking about her like she''s just an object! She''s my friend, which is more than I can say for you lot! What are you thinking, covering my room with bright auras?” Michael responded, “First of all, I didn''t want your room smashed up with us in it. Second, I don''t like your attitude, you should be thankful!” And she retorted, “Thankful? Hah! Why should I be thankful to a fluffy white like you? And for the record, you take that off the floors, walls, and ceilings, those held out against demons for seven millennia, and it makes everything too bright!” This went on for awhile more, disrupting the battle we were supposed to have. It was like watching an old married couple fighting.

    We all drew straws to decide fighting order. It looked like Nevras would fight last, then me, then Aqorm, Azrael, Elias, and Zoe was going first. Zoe went first. “Guys, I got this, I beat that dragon Bahamut earlier.” Hearing her say that, I totally believed it. Until I saw her overconfidence, and remembered the way the last fight went down. She''d lost 108 times, and could have died forever. Her immortal body was just immortal, it wasn''t any stronger! She swung her scythe, but she was off-rhythm, and Lilith caught the blade samurai style. You see that in a lot of movies, but it isn''t so, you''re more likely to get your hand sliced up than stop the blade. But Lilith had a much sturdier body than us humans, so yeah, she was able to do that kinda thing. She didn''t have much skill, so she didn''t really disarm her so much as just push the scythe back, and she knocked Zoe back with it. Seeing as how her scythe wasn''t likely to do much, Zoe tried her Fire spells. There''s something you should know about demons, that I only learned after this battle. Demons are not only physically invulnerable but their skin disrupts most magic at least as well as dragon skin. About the only thing they were rumored to weak to was holy power, and in particular, they were said to absorb fire into their skin, becoming stronger. I don''t know it that''s true, but she did basically walk through a wall of fire without flinching. For that matter, not even her dress was burned. Zoe put up her guard, freaked out at this girl who was way stronger than her. Lilith was right, the ceilings and stuff didn''t need to be reinforced. Zoe slammed her head into it pretty hard thanks to an uppercut from Lilith, and there no dent or anything. Ditto for the walls, Elias didn''t get a chance to gather holy runes, as Lilith rushed him, slashing at his arms, and whacking him with her tail hard enough to send him flying.

    “You bitch!” screamed Aqorm, as she broke order, and went ahead of Azrael. Those of us who could heal spent their time getting Elias back to stable condition. Zoe had already recovered, with just a bit of stiffness in her neck. Aqorm rushed ahead, and was in fact faster than Lilith. She got a few swipes in, and the elven knives did react strongly against demonic skin, though she didn''t manage to hit any vital spots before Lilith countered. She flapped her wings hard, going aloft for a few seconds, then clapped her wings hard around Aqorm''s body. Her ribs cracked, and she went down. “Seriously?!?” Zoe cried, “we just got done healing up Elias.”

    Azrael was next, and seeing how badly the others got brutalized, she cast Fast Healing. She also used a Protection spell to prevent anything from being too fatal. She swung her sword once, only to have Lilith block it. Azrael swung lower the second time, this time grazing her dress. Unlike the spells of Zoe, the sword Raphael had fire as part of the fiber of its being. So when it hit her dress, unlike Zoe''s basic spells, which left her dress untouched, it caught fire. She kept trying to put it out, but it was ruined, so she unzipped it and tossed it aside. She fought the rest of the battle in her chainmail bikini. Azrael couldn''t use her effect spells on the demon, so she tried her new solid magic on Lilith. But even though Azrael cast Black Ice, sending shards of ice at her to impale her skin, there was a reason there was such an expression “like a demon” to describe extreme ruggedness. I mean, seriously, she had punctures right through her, and she just ripped them out and started moving right towards Azrael as if nothing had happened. Thankfully, all the defensive stuff she''d cast meant that while she got beat up, she wasn''t needing too much nursing.

    And then it was my turn. Remembering what God had said about my weapon, and fearing to seriously hurt Lilith, I put my First Iron dagger away. I also wasn''t sure about most of my Oracle effects. My powers tended to be slower than the others, and far more powerful, and since Lilith seemed to shrug off a lot of magic, and I wasn''t really sure how my Oracle powers differed, so it might do too much to her or nothing at all, and I had no way of knowing in advance. And so, I whipped out my fishing pole, which I had been told I could turn into anything I could imagine. For some reason, the most practical thing that came to mind when fighting a demon was to turn my tool into a golden-banded cudgel. The weapon was long and flexible, and made out of some weird red metal. I put one hand over another, until the staff rotated in a circle clockwise. I whipped it sideways, whacking Lilith across her chest. The places it hit seemed to burn her body almost like attacking with elven weapons. I continued attacking, blocking with one end her claws, and hitting her belly. The rod caused her skin to sizzle, and blacken a bit, although contrary to the stories, demons are pretty good at healing even wounds to stuff that hurts them. She tried to grab my staff but seemed to find it really hard to hold or something. Regaining the weapon, I basically whacked her a bunch of times, hitting her back, her knees, and her head a few times. Finally she was knocked on the floor. I turned around, talking to Nevras, “Hey look, I did it Nevras! I won against her! Aren''t I great?” Nevras seemed impressed for a second, then looked behind me, “Hey ummm, she''s getting up...” Sear?h the ηovёlFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    LILITH

    How dare he! How dare that angel call me a fiend! A sweet and innocent demon like me is not, by any means a fiend. That title is for those who kill loads and loads of humans and eat their mystic power, those who possess humans and take over their bodies from within, or those that make those bargains with humans. I''ve not done any of that!

    He had no idea the pain and suffering I''d felt all these years. How could he say that to me?!? I wanted to beat him up so badly, but I settled for all of those other people. I did have fun arguing with this guy though. And, to be honest, his angel body was kind of hot.

    As the others fought me, I was looking for people other than the angel which I could talk to later. After all, it wasn''t right that angels and demons mix, that seemed forbidden or something. The swordsman seemed extremely taken. Nah. I also ruled out the blue-haired girl. The Druid and the exorcist seemed in a committed relationship, given how the latter tried to hide the fact that she was visibly upset that the Druid got hurt. In my experience, the grand displays, like that elf did after I smashed up the scholar, are not always what they seem. I had been around demons all my life, I knew when someone didn''t seem like they were here for the right reasons. This elf girl, Aqorm, intrigued me.

    I had heard an old religious story about this concept. It was called the Atman. Long ago, there was one Soul. This Soul was all alone in the world. Let''s see it as a big crystal, where each piece is part of the whole, but also a shard of the crystal. This Soul broke into smaller souls, so that it would not feel alone, but each part is the same as the whole. Humans use such analogies to explain religion, or why humans should be closer and more peaceful or something. I''m using it to explain why Aqorm should be in a polygamous relationship with me. ...What? I''m a demon. To my way of thinking, this Elias and I are two parts of the same soul, the one who wants to be with her. One of us is only interested in a friendship, a spiritual connection with her, and the other one (me) wants her body. Obviously, she can only be with both of us to have someone who loves all of her. That way, I don''t have to be with this angel Michael, who makes my heart flutter so. I was thinking this as I smashed up most of their group. Some of them tried to hurt me, but I usually made them hurt worse. Including that last one.

    NEVRAS

    I watched Ambrosia declare an early victory, only to be blindsided while she was patting herself on the back. On average, demons are much slower than either elves or angels, they cannot maneuver well and aren''t good runners. However, there''s some things people misunderstand about demons.

    People expect demons to be a certain way. Like angels, with the whole winged humans thing, the average person is surprised to find out otherwise. Nevermind, most of these are symbols. For example, the horns to remind people of an aggressive animal like a bull, the cloven hooves to remind of an unclean thing, and the teeth and claws to draw parallels to a predator cat. The tail on the other hand, is quite another symbol. Like how its eyes and fire-breathing are meant to call images of some fiery underworld, the tail is another symbol, that of oppressive government like the State. The tail looks like a splice of two weapons: the spear and the whip, both of which were used to punish others. Because these images are so powerful, people have trouble seeing demons any other way.

    But demons are actually greatly varied. They do all have tails, but this is not only their main defensive weapon but also their... ummm sexual organ. Also, while there are male and female demons, the more human-looking sex organs they have don''t really work the same way. They''re mostly for pleasure. Female demons are also far more common than male ones, whereas angels were only male. Most demons also have fangs and claws, but their look can vary. Some demons look more like lions, some look almost human, and still others are a weird hybrid of furry mammal and human. Not all of them have wings or horns. Many of them are able to withdraw or retract their tails, horns, and claws although their teeth and eyes usually reveal them as being at least some sort of evil critter. Their feet can curl as much as their hands (though not fully opposable) allowing them to gain traction and walk on hands or feet.

    Next, there''s the whole “All demons speak in creepy voices” thing. The reasons they have altered voices in the first place is when they start to absorb spirits into their voice. This usually happens if they try to possess people''s bodies or suck out their energy. That''s why, if a demon has a creepy voice, it''s better to move away.

    Prime among these misunderstandings, however, is that people see them trudge about with huge shoes and decide they are easy to avoid. You see, as I explained earlier, a demon has more versatile hands and feet than humans. If they ever get on all fours, they can charge, and it is fast enough that a person won''t see it coming. That''s kinda what happened with Ambrosia. She saw Lilith prone on the ground, and then she saw her on all fours, believing she was getting up, and then Lilith pounced at full speed. After some healing, she regained consciousness. “Ow! What train hit me?” she asked, before losing consciousness. Lilith responded with a smile, “I did!”

    It was my turn. She would pay for doing that. Maybe Michael wasn''t fighting. Maybe the others weren''t good enough, but I could stop her. Drawing my sword, I blocked her claws, as they came for me. She stabbed me a bit with her tail. I stabbed her in the knee with my sword, and she screamed in pain, blood coming from her leg only to rapidly burn, closing the wound as much as possible.

    ELIAS

    Demons are not built like angels, despite being the same essential species. As you know, elves are essentially similar to humans with all the same internal organs, with the exception of a faster metabolism, more efficient immune system, and an extra region in their brain allowing them to read Elvish. Dwarves are basically identical to humans, though their compressed body allows their system to be slightly more rugged, and their bones and muscles are bigger in proportion, making a race that is on average much stronger. Let''s not talk about goblins, gnomes, trolls, and many of the others, we''d be here all day explaining specialized organs. Aside from wings, an angel that looks human generally has human internal anatomy (again, we''re not talking about the floating eye or giant wheel angels, because such information usually isn''t found in the books I read).

    Angels have one heart, they have a brain, kidneys, spleen, you get the idea. However, they have features to them that have no equivalent in humans. And they are missing other organs. Angels have no Adam''s apple, but rather a modified unisex larynx. They also have an incomplete hypothalamus, as they do not develop sexually. But what is more pronounced is not what they lack, but what is added. Angels, in addition to a physical system of internal organs, have a fully developed spiritual organ system. This is why attempts to use X-rays on angels to look at their insides would usually blind the device, and usually can''t perform surgery anyway, because angels heal very quickly.

    An angel has five spiritual organs, each of which is marked by a symbol. These are like chakras, except all angels have at least the bottom three active, and most have four. The corona at the center of the their forehead, this allows angels to activate or deactivate their halo, although not all angels have a developed halo. When an angel has managed to unblock this part of themselves, they can see through illusions, see events far away, and even predict the future. On the neck is the bhasana, the spiritual organ responsible for Script. It also allows them to speak any language. In the center of their chest is the shinzo, which forms a barrier around themselves that they can allow or restrict anything from entering. They can suppress this, allowing them to be hurt, but restrained by antimagic. And they could share their protection with others without the use of Script. On the center of their belly was the ionad, which centered all healing processes to form a sort of secondary protective layer. That is, as long as they were conscious, and even some while they slept, their body would constantly heal their wounds and cleanse most toxins. Angels did however have pretty poor immunity to alcohol and mood-altering drugs, but they could usually clean up quickly. At the bottom was beten, just above where their legs met. On all angels, this allowed them to expose or hide their wings, and even change sex.

    Demons had a corrupted version of each of these organs. They can retract many of their demonic features, they have a firm body and fast healing rather than a barrier, their voices would alter the more they did evil and they had breath weapons, and lastly those who were powerful demons tended to have huge horns. Good and evil are simply twisted mirrors of each other, after all. But there was a key difference. Demons shouldn''t be alive. Angels had living organs, while demons had internal organs largely just for show. On the operating table, demons don''t have a beating heart in their chest. They don''t bleed. They can''t get brain-damaged from getting punched in the skull. They don''t breathe either. So, what was this demon doing bleeding just now?

    LILITH

    As a next-generation demon, I was the first in a new batch of fell creatures. I could bleed, my heart could beat, and I could experience Grace, and thus have my sins forgiven. My voice didn''t show any sign of taint, but even what sins I had committed could be forgiven. And so, while my blood burned outside my body, I nonetheless bled.

    But... this human shouldn''t be able to make me bleed my own blood. That weird exorcist girl almost managed it, but that was because she was using some sort of ancient magic. Who were these people? They were hardcore!

    The rest of the battle was a blur. I tossed a darkness ball or two at him, but somehow he swiped it with his sword and it disappeared. That wasn''t supposed to happen either! I tried to pounce at this guy, but he''d seen it before so he dodged aside. He slashed me with a flurry of blows. I think I was done.

    “Whoa! Totally awesome, dude!” He stared at me, so I tried again, “I mean, ummm... I see you are a warrior of great merit. I''m impressed!” Ambrosia said, “Please, teach me the truth of your Crest.” I shook my head. “I won''t. Or rather, I can''t. I''m sure you understand.” She looked confused, “No, I don''t follow.” I explained, “Have you ever tried to tell a child NOT to do something? They do it. Especially our demon children, but that''s beside the point.” The one called Elias nodded, “The Way that can be named is not the True Way. Although we learned much from previous Oracles, actually doing it in practice is another thing entirely. I understand.” Where''d they get this guy? He''s sharp! “How about this,” I said, “I accompany you, and maybe you can teach me something about being an Oracle. That will earn your Crest. Is it a deal?” She nodded.

    Somehow or other, this line of thought granted her the power of my Crest. I saw myself teaching her my own Crest at some point in the future. Then I saw her palms glowing, as we were about to walk outside my house. She tested out the Snake Creeping Through Grass stance, throwing balls of darkness and fire along the floor of my house. We stepped outside. The daylight was blinding.