Chapter One

The buildings below me shone with colour. People in every building seemed to laugh at me. Why was that? That people’s joy hurt me?

              I sat on the railing of the bridge and leaned back with a smile. I found it hard to smile, but for some reason, dying made me happy. If I died, I would be free. I let go of the railing and fell through the sky. The stars in the sky, void of colour, glared at me as I tried to escape his grasp. It was futile. Eyes appeared amongst the stars, and I knew that I could not escape. 

“Shit.” I cursed.

Before I knew it, I was in the arms of a man I hated. His gaze was cold, and he wore a smile made of knives. 

“What were you just trying to do?”

The man had horns just like me, except he had two unbroken ones. He had strange markings on his face that looked like space was trapped inside them. His eyes were a deep purple, and his expression became colder as I continued to stare without saying a word.

“Answer me.” He demanded. 

The collar around my neck chilled, and I became aware again, of the monster in front of me. My eyelids lowered, and my emotions cooled. I thought, “If I am to please the monster, I must give up hope of defeating it.” 

“I apologise, my lord. I had a foolish desire to end my life again.”

The monster lowered me to the ground and smiled as though he were scolding a child.

“Even if you fall from such a great height, even if you burn alive, you will never die. Even if you are stabbed with a thousand knives and drowned in an ocean, you will still never die. As long as you are useful to me, you will never die. So give up and submit to your master, because there is no other option for you. You will always live a life of misery and anguish, little one.”

The man patted me on the head and disappeared. I lowered my head and sank to my knees. Hot tears ran down my cheeks, and I swear that I heard laughter.

I walked down the streets that were full of sin. The people all had horns and tails, me included, because we were demons in the Underworld. Most of us had done horrible things in our past lives, we were not perfectionist angels, and we were not ghosts haunting things we cared about. The city's buildings towered over me, and overpasses covered the surroundings. I felt as though people stared at me as I walked, and maybe it was true. 

I entered a huge temple made of stone. The temple was different from any other building in this city, and it laid there with a threatening presence. The hall's walls were full of paintings of brutality. The ceiling was tall, and light shone from the large stained glass windows. At the end of the hall there was a throne. No guard could be seen in this place, as it was never needed and never will be. My master rested on the throne. His long black hair graced his shoulders, and his eyelids laid shut. I knew never to be deceived by his beautiful appearance because he was a monster.

              The wall next to me blew to pieces, and before I could blink, my vision was covered by the body of my master. 

“Woah, still so protective of your pet, little brother?!” Said a man with hair made of fire. This man wore the same smile as my master, and he had the same markings, but he no longer had eyes. 

“Issac, leave right now. You are not welcome here.” Threatened my master with an expression made of knives.

“Aww, little Jayin, don’t be saying these hurtful words to your big brother. We haven't seen each other in hundreds of years. I thought after winning the battle you caused, you would be happy to see me. I bet little Vita is happy to see me. Right?”

                Issac approached me in an instant, and his large scar across his eyes terrified me. As I stared in shock at his scar, I remembered a horrifying memory of a man ripping my horn off of my head. That man had the same smile as Issac. 

“Hah…” My master scoffed.

I looked up at my master's cold eyes, and he pushed me out of the way. 

“You know… Issac? You might want to apologise right now. I don’t want another body to burden me. I’m sure you can understand.”

                Issac started to back away from the man approaching him.

“I am in a really foul mood today. So you best be on your way.”

               Issac’s smile grew big and his energy erupted. It seemed as though he was in a rush to be killed by Jayin.

“Stop acting like you are a threat, little brother. I know just how weak you are, we share the same marks. I don’t understand how you could possibly be so narcissistic. It’s like our mother didn’t teach you any manners. Oh, yeah… She left you behind!”

My master smiled with no joy, but the air around us trembled intensely. He started to laugh and gripped his staff. 

“Alright then. I guess it was quite rude of me not to offer my service to help my poor blind brother find his way out of my temple.” 

Jayin raised his staff.

“I’m also quite sorry to tell you that you in fact did nothing but disservice in the war. I am the one who won the war, you were but a pawn who got friendly with your comrades. Also, must you be so disgusting with your mocking? So what if our mother left me behind? It’s not like I fucking cared anyway!”

Jayin slammed his staff into the ground, and thousands of eyes covered the walls and floor. Arms rose from within the eyes, grabbed Issac’s limbs, and stretched them past their limit. He twisted and turned, groaned, and screamed, and then there was blood. 

“What a mess, but it was about time I killed him anyway. I should have dealt with him after I pulled out his eyes.”

Light shone on my master like he was a warrior who just saved the Earth, but I knew he was not a hero.