~•~• MEPHIS •~•~

Mephis has lessons with his father now and then. It might be the best time of the day for him, and then there are the afternoons of games with the human, which have become an important part of his routine that he never wants to miss.

As he walks behind his father down a long hallway in the mansion, he wonders how his dad would react to the idea of him having a human friend in secret. Mephis figured it wasn’t the right time to confess such things since his father didn’t like being interrupted during a lesson. So he kept quiet and preferred to pay attention to what his father was going to teach him.

They reached a hallway that Mephis hadn’t ventured into yet. The mansion was so big that even he didn’t know all its nooks and crannies because it seemed too boring to him, but seeing the portraits of demons that looked like his father immediately caught his attention. The portraits showed a demon and a human; the human sat in a chair while the demon posed behind him in different ways in each painting. The humans seemed to change the most between portraits, although they shared certain similar traits that Mephis barely noticed. He approached one of them and read the inscription below the painting, which said:

Heinrich Faust & Mephistopheles.

His father noticed his son's curiosity and smiled with satisfaction. They arrived at an office at the end of the hallway, which had a larger portrait than the others; this one featured Mephis’s father along with a young human, quite big and sturdy, who for some reason, seemed strangely familiar to him, though he didn’t give it much thought since he hadn’t seen many humans in his life. Mephis got closer to read the inscription, and it said:

Frank Heinrich Faust & Mephistopheles III.

Mephis looked at his father, who invited him to sit on one of the couches in the office. The demon didn't sit down; he stayed in front of his painting, admiring it with a big smile as he started talking to his son.

“You see, humans are greedy, my son. That's one of their biggest sins, and that's why we demons have to take advantage of mortals' weaknesses to profit from their souls. The one you see here…” he continued, pointing to his portrait, alongside a human who was in the foreground ”is undoubtedly an intelligent, yet naive human who signed a contract with me a long time ago... Our lineage, dear Mephis, is very important. Part of our powers is based on granting someone a wish, a gift, in exchange for their soul. What they desire isn't what matters to us; it's their soul. As demons, we feed on them and live for them, we use them here in hell however we want and we're free to make contracts for our own benefit. The human in question doesn't know what he's doing and will sign anything without a second thought; they're just selfish, seeking to become more powerful, to surpass others, and be better than everyone else.”

Maybe they're very much like us, Mephis thought to himself at that moment, since everything his father was describing sounded like he was talking about himself, although Mephis wouldn’t dare say something like that to him.

“Look, son. This is Heinrich Faust” Mephistopheles waved his long, blackened nails, causing one of the paintings in the hallway to detach from the wall and float towards them. It was the painting Mephis saw at the beginning of the hallway  “the human who traded his soul for infinite knowledge. From here is where our story... our family! Emerged from the depths of hell itself, and we managed to claim one of the circles of hell.Even Lucifer himself can't interfere in our business, which says a lot about how powerful our family can be.”

The demon waved his hand in the air as if pushing something invisible. The painting he had summoned returned to its original position in the hallway.

“The descendant of Faust fell into the same trap as his father” Mephistopheles continued “He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth because his father was a genius and did incredible things for the human world. His son, seeing the success in the family, thanks to the power of the demon contract, decided to set one up for himself, and the gift he asked for was even more impressive, one that would establish us as one of the best families in the Monster World. He asked that all our descendants, both human and demonic, be compelled to sign the contract so that both families could continue enjoying power and recognition.

 “As you can see” Mephistopheles raised his arms and looked at the gigantic painting in his office, then pointed at the ones in the hallway. “These paintings represent each of those humans and all of our predecessors who signed the contract to maintain the status of both families in both worlds. Each of these humans was granted some gift that enhanced their skills in the arts and sciences, so they could remain in their world as a prestigious family, but with a dark secret that they never revealed to anyone. Meanwhile, we fed off their souls, and our powers grew stronger as we feasted on those prodigious souls.”

The demon lord approached his son and leaned in with a smile to look him straight in the eyes.

“That means I'll have someone by my side, keeping me company. Just like you said, I wouldn't be alone for long” Mephis said with a smile. His father grimaced in disapproval, though he really thought that maybe when his son grew up, his perspective would change to what he expected.

“Remember, your duty lies down here, son” Mephistopheles picked his son up and carried him out of the office. They walked back through the hallway of paintings they had come through “Humans are tools for us, they’re not company, they’re good for nothing else. Got it?”

Mephis didn’t understand why he couldn’t just have his human be the companion he had always wanted; he didn’t see anything wrong with them being friends. Plus, he wondered if the human he had befriended was the same one he would have to sign a contract with; for him, if that was the case, Mephis couldn’t be happier about it because he enjoyed their company and wanted to be friends for eternity. Although there was still the possibility that it might be another human...