Let’s recap a bit.
Found a suitcase under my bed, in my room. Found the keys to said suitcase in a camera lens (I still don’t know why it was there). Opened up the suitcase, and found multiple books.
Multiple Demonic Books. Not as in reading them would make the reader cursed or something — I was already cursed, it couldn't do s**t to me — but as in they were literally books about demons. History, biology, lore, rules, etc. etc. Originally thought them to be nothing but children books — especially the history one — but my family quickly brought down that supposition.
No, the books weren’t simple fairy tales of… unique tastes. That was the actual history. What history exactly?
Here is how our chat at the dinner went.
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Some time earlier... (A/N: Spongebob once again.)
I contemplated on the books that I had just seen. They were… childish. At best. The biology book was a little too detailed to put into that category, but I found it difficult to see much.
Soon, Mana came back from the washroom, and informed me of the dinner. I checked the small clock placed beside my bed. 8pm on the dot. I followed Mana down the stairs, and into the Kitchen. Dad was already there, helping Mom with placing the dishes. The TV had been turned off prior I suppose, for I did not hear any loud noises coming from the living room. Both the parents spared a glance towards us siblings, told us to wash our hands, and then went back to preparing the table. So we did. The water, what supply did this thing work on? I didn't know. Within a few minutes, we sat down.
"We express our respect for your importance. We hope to keep away from madness."
That weird prayer — I had my own thoughts about it. Especially after all the things that I had been through in the past 16 hours or so. We finished our small prayer and began eating. The food was tasty, it would satisfy both our appetite and taste buds. Rice once again, with a veggie soup mixed in. We had a… what is this again? A sushi. Right. We had a variety of sushi, some more fish, and a side salad. The variety may have been large, but the amount was small. We still needed to go sleep after this was over. And we couldn’t exactly do that on a over bloated belly.
Dad started the conversation. It wasn’t exactly anything abnormal, serious, or extremely important. No one would fill their entire day with such stuff. Right? Definitely not me. Heh. My mood was weird. Even the way I narrated and remembered stuff had changed. Was it due to me finally returning to this house? The house that I did not even remember the day before?
I felt safe here. Away from harm. I knew that much. And I wanted to preserve that feeling. Let loose. Bask in my own thoughts, in Mana’s weird antics, Mom and Dad’s playfulness. I wanted to remain in this serene environment. Eating her cooking. Nonetheless, I knew. Tomorrow would come, and once again we would go out. Go out to face whatever haunted us. I also knew that it was necessary. Otherwise, this peace that I had come to cherish in merely one day of interacting with my family, I would lose it. Again. Like the countless times I had lost them before.
The table had gone silent. No banter, no silliness. No clicking and tapping of utensils as well.
”Eon?” My mom called out, surprise and worry once again on her face. One day, in one day I had seen that expression more than I wanted to in my entire life. Dad placed his hand on my shoulder. “Eon." He called out slowly. "What happened? Why are you crying?” He asked.
Huh? Wait what?
I finally noticed the tears slowly flowing out my eyes. I didn’t understand. Why was I crying again? This was stupid. Embarrassing even. I kept wiping my tears off, yet they did not stop. My voice had gradually gone sore, without me ever speaking or wailing in these past few minutes. Covering my eyes and face, I focused on breathing. In, hold, and out. In, hold, and out. It helped. I had calmed down soon enough.
”Sorry, I might have gotten sentimental over everything.” I said, addressing to my family. Dad laughed, well it was more of a loud, heartful chuckle. He patted my back. “Never change Eon, never change.” Shaking his head once more, he resumed eating. He really liked the sushi.
The other two had similar reactions, both slightly smiling. Well not exactly the same. Mom was smiling fondly, presumably happy that I had retained something from my previous selves. Yes. I knew that I had cried like this before. Multiple times. After all, I had a super strong sense of Deja Vu when it happened.
Mana, on the other hand. She was smiling alright. It wasn’t the smile that Mom and Dad shared however. It was a small smile. One that one would not even notice, had they not paid attention. Her small smile could have been attributed to her usual expressionless face, had her eyes not betrayed her.
Her smile. It was the smile of reminiscence. The smile of remembering something she had lost before. It gripped my heart with pain. I kept eating slowly, not missing my movements. Didn’t want my parents to get troubled once again. Even then, my head revolved around that smile. Why? Brat, you are 9 years old. Just what happened to you to be capable of making that smile? It was gone already, replaced back by her usual curious, energy-controlled face.
So that’s what I did as well. Kept the thing at the back of my mind, and enjoyed the food. The discussions did not take much to start once again, and it was back to the mundane topics. The everyday life. Mom and Dad talked, we listened. Sometimes I would give my opinion on what I had heard. Or found. Sometimes stuff would revolve around Mana. That’s the only time Mana opened her mouth — food time specifically — to answer questions. Otherwise, it was put to work in gulping down unreasonably large amounts of food. The banter continued.
The topic somehow shifted to me and Mana exploring my room. How? I didn’t know. That was the fun of conversations after all. You never knew where it would go next. We both talked a little bit, about everything that we had found. Mom and Dad would continuously remind us where this and that had happened regarding that room. It seemed to be a treasure trove of memories. Of course it would be. I may have gone over the most important things that I found in the room, but I did not ever mention the minor details. One example; apparently one day I threw a knife at the wall with such force that it actually caused a small crack behind my bed. Another time, I kicked a ball too hard when I was practicing in my room. Hit the bulb, and the thing exploded. Only now that I think about it, does it not make sense. How does a lightbulb even explode like that? It would shatter, or break. Not explode.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The discussion about my adventures in the room continued, and soon we reached the suitcase. Not physically — we were still eating — but our discussion did. I explained to them about the books. How they were heavily based around demons and what not. The “fairy tale for children” that I had thought them to be. I was proven dutifully wrong. The books, they were actual knowledge about our world. The “fairy tale”? It was history.
The history of this world, when demons and humans lived on the same land, breathed the same air, and ate the same food. The demons might have had different forms of sustenance, but it did not take away from the fact that we lived with demons, and shared our culture with them. That’s why. That’s why it was too late when we found out.
”Demons are the most truthful creatures, and they are also the most deceitful. Trust in a demon, and it won’t be betrayed. Trust in a demon, and you won’t know how your promise will be fulfilled.”
It was too late when we concluded this line on the commandment page. In fact, it was the final — better term would be latest — commandment that we had interpreted. An interpretation of real live events, the commandments were. One could only imagine what these events must have been, for such lines to grace the eternal rules.
There was a problem that had ultimately led to this. The uncanny resemblance of demons to humans. In Mom’s words; “Demons are humans with longer nails, sharper teeth, paler skin, and hypnotizing eyes. Their hair usually sticks to a darker shade of the color they are born with. In their suppressed forms, one would not even know they were talking to a demon.” But that’s the thing. Suppressed Form. There was a form that revealed their species. It would come out in moments of absolute truth, panic, and chaos.
Dad fulfilled the missing part in the knowledge. “ Demons in their Fallen form as we like to call them, have the features they would have in their suppressed forms. As she said, longer nails, sharper teeth, paler skin, and hypnotizing eyes. Only difference is, everything is pronounced in effect. Except the last one.” He took a pause. Then a deep sighing breath. “The last one. In the Fallen form. Demons’ have the upper half of their face covered in pitch black darkness. It flows from the top of their head, and stops a few inches below their eyes, frizzly and scaly in outline.” Mana had finished her food. Quicker than the rest. As she usually did. After a bit of clatter disturbing the explanation as she took the utensils to the sink — and just left them there. Sigh. — She washed her face and hands, and went to the living room. Mom stared at her with a deadpan expression. She was definitely getting scolded after everyone was done eating.
Dad let out a short chuckle. “Right. As I was saying.” The fun tone quickly returned to the grim one. “Their faces are half covered in pitch black darkness. Their eyes. Once hypnotizing enough to draw you in forever, turn into crescent moons, with a black circular oval to replace their pupils. They always remain in the center of the crescent shape.” Dad shivered as he continued painting the horrifying image. “The icing on the cake is their smile. Completely contrasting their gentle beautiful ones, they are that of a clown. A serial killer clown. The whole visage, along with the aura change that they undergo… Son.” He turned to me. “If you ever see a a Fallen demon, run. They won’t do much to you. They don’t chase after anyone. As long as they are not irritated in any way or form, and do not go into a controlled frenzy, you will be safe. Oh and you can recognize when a demon’s in a controlled frenzy. Hazy mist will surround them, constantly shaping and turning into images inconceivable by the human mind. In some chances, they will shape into your worst fear.”
Mom continued from where he left off, “And one more thing. Never ever talk to a demon once you know that they are one. You remember the commandment right? "Trust in a demon, and it won’t be betrayed.” She enunciated the next part slowly. “Trust in a demon. And you won’t know how it will be fulfilled. That is the scary part son. Ask them to do anything, talk to them and if any sentence that escapes your mouth seems to be a request that they can fulfill, they will try their best to fulfill it. Just. It will be from their perspective. Okay?” She asked for confirmation. I slowly nodded. “I’m assuming you have questions about the history written too? In that book?” I nodded once again. She answered.
”A demon Mother took in a human orphan. She took him in for what reason, many still wonder. Maybe she had been asked so as a contract, a promise. Maybe she took pity on that child.”
Heh. Dad snickered in derision.
”Or she could have simply taken him in for her daughter. Demons may be a different species altogether, but they are still social ones. They need company for their eternal lives.” I got more info from those statements. Demons were immortal. Whether that extended to surviving from any physical threat, or remained as simple longevity, I did not know. Mom continued, “So mayyyyyyybe, the daughter simply needed another family member, and so the mother took him in and raised him.”
”As I have said before, demons live eternally. As long as they do not sustain life threatening injuries.” My question’s answered. It’s the latter. “But other species aren’t the same. That may have been the reason why the human child completed a ritual. And then was said to be immortal. Soon, in merely a few 20 or so years, something happened. Both the daughter and the Human Son, they broke the limits placed on them. How it happened we do not know. Why it happened, even that we do not know. All we know after that, is the Ascendance of the duo.”
”And thus, the Pillars of Creation were born. This world now rests on their shoulders. Their imagination and memories, people say. Was it developed for a specific purpose? No one knows. It has been twenty seven thousand years after all.” She completed the tale, easily explaining the most important bits. And thus, she stood up, She had finished her food. She stormed into the living room, startling Mana — she was busy in that absolutely brutal game— and gave her an earful.
A few moments later... (A/N: Once again.)
We all helped with the chores, washing dishes, cleaning the table, etc. Our conversations still continued. Now it focused our our plans for the future. Soon, in the middle, Dad spoke.
”Heh, you know a lot more about demons now don’t you, Son?”
”True. Though, I wonder if I will remember it the next time.”
”Don’t worry son, as long as you ask, your father will tell you whatever you need to know.” He nearly let a plate slip by. "Even more that what you want to know. Though that might be unlikely." He said as he deftly caught the plate.
”After all, The more you know…”
Unbeknownst to me, a plate had nearly slipped through Mana’s hands as well. Then again no one could blame me. After all, my focus remained on the words Dad whispered to himself next.
”The more you know, the more you wish you didn’t.”
It was not until later that I would truly understand what they meant.