It was still raining when I arrived at home. The gutters were overflowing, puddles pooling in the grass of my backyard. The window to my room was still shattered from our earlier incursion. I supposed Ecto hadn’t bothered to fix it in the intervening weeks, thankfully.

I glided inside and set Thea down on the carpet. “Thanks,” she said. “Follow me.” She led the way through the quiet hallway, turning on the light and walking to the very end, stopping at the door to what had used to be my father’s office. Even with the hallway lit, light emanated through the door. I couldn’t help but wonder what lay inside.

“Don’t let your guard down,” said Vespa.

“I don’t need to be reminded,” I whispered.

“Well?” said Thea, “Do you want to go in?” Though she asked, she already knew my answer; her hand was already on the handle. I wasn’t going to be fooled any longer. This was the real deal. It had to be. And I was sick and tired of being controlled by these damn Angels. I just wanted to know the truth.

The room was white. No. Bright? Thea’s Echoes didn’t seem to mind, their black, smouldering forms flickering against the stark background. The walls were sleek and smooth, whiter than white. The chairs were white, too. The shelves, the decorations, even the potted plants were all-white. It was as if the world was a game and the textures were still loading. Against the wall, though, were countless displays, almost portals, live video footage of the whole city in perfect resolution.

This was the only room in my house that had changed substantially from what it had been before. It had been dad’s office, back when he... when he was still around. The thought stung less than it had only weeks ago. He had been working from home, mostly. Accounting stuff. His desk and computer will still set up here, even if their surroundings were now very different... and he’d be back soon, if everything went according to Thea’s plan.

“I thought it would be more black.”

Thea smiled. “Yeah. Me too. Though Ecto has an affinity for the colour white, you know. Still, don’t misunderstand. The Echoes are black, creatures of the earth. But we are Demons. Our home is not on earth. We like the light. Unlike you, we can stand proudly in the light, instead of slinking around in the shadows, away from human eyes.” She walked up to the desk, typing away at the computer, quickly getting past the lock screen and loading up the desktop.

“How did you get in so quickly?”

“Demons are bad at coming up with passwords,” Thea winked. “Come here.”

“Quinn...”

“What is it, Vespa? I’m being careful, okay?” I hurried to Thea’s side. The computer was stuffed with an inordinate amount of data. Enough video to fill a thousand lifetimes’ worth of runtime. Thea rapidly clicked through the folders and files, searching for... something. “What are you looking for?”

“I’m finding the... where is it.... here?” She clicked something, and the screen filled with overlapping patterns and colours that ebbed and flowed with a hypnotic rhythm. “There it is. Okay, look carefully, Quinn. Focus on the colours. It’s calibrating.”

“Quinn!” said Vespa

“What?” My eyes were drawn to the lights, watching them crystallize into... not quite a picture, but a projection. Light. So bright. A brilliant sky full of stars and comets, beautiful cities of glass and marble, soaring through the stars. “What is this?”

“It’s paradise,” Thea whispered into my ear. “As real as any other video, as real as anything else that Ecto has his eyes on. New Eden. A place for humanity, if you only let us take you there. You see? We can end the fighting. We can bring everything together in harmony. Your world, so full of pain and hardships, ended. We will bring order and fairness to humanity. Make you live in peace.”

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“But you would take control of the whole earth to do it.”

“Quinn! Look at the world you live in. You may be fine, but millions are languishing in poverty. People are starving, dying, crying out for justice. And you, the Angels, despite all your powers, have done nothing to stop that.

“I...” I couldn’t look away. The city grew closer, streets straight and shining, vaulted gardens, cascading waters, and the people and—

And then the veneer melted away. The city was made of thorns and shards of bone, rivers of blood pouring down through gardens of agony. Those who walked among it were not even recognizable as human, gaunt figures stretched into painful mockeries of what had once been life, crying out endlessly for release. But none could come, for they were already worse than dead, and not even the void could take them away.

And despite it all, I still couldn’t look away. The necropolis enveloped me. I could feel the jagged stones tearing into my skin, the screams ripping through my eardrums, my bones and tendons stretched and twisted in every which way, my body distended in pure agony, and yet... I felt some calling that that was where I belonged. The thought made me shudder. “What is this?”

“It’s what New Eden really is.” Who? A hand on my shoulder, skin purple and blistered. A man —well, a Demon —in a dark suit. Ecto. “Excellent work, Thea. Really. And those poor Angels didn’t even find me. They’re rushing to Boundary Bay... but I don’t need to be there. It’s too late to stop, now.” Vespa lay trapped inside a glass jar, which the Demon set on the table, just out of reach. Since our last encounter, it looked like he’d aged decades, though given Demons could change their appearance, I didn’t know what to think of that. He towered over me, cold black eyes bloodshot, yet cold blue. He smiled, but his lips quivered, as if he was shivering.

“What?” Thea stumbled over her words. “Quinn, Quinn, I didn’t plan this, I promise. Quinn, you have to believe me. I thought this was—”

“Aw, still trying to keep yourself in her good graces, Thea. How cute. How devious of you. I expected nothing less.” A stream of pigeons flew in through the open door, darkening the room with black feathers that stuck like tar to the walls and floors. “I thought you’d be happier that my plan can proceed, Thea. That the seventh Calamity can begin.”

“Quinn, I swear. It’s not as he says. New Eden has to be real. It’s paradise. We can work together to stop him. To peacefully—”

I stared her in the eyes. “Prove it. Stop him with me.” The glaive slid out of my palm, readied in my arms. My body shivered in anticipation.

But Thea shook her head. “Quinn, something’s wrong about this. If you fight him... you won’t be able to go back. Don’t you feel it? You’ll become like all the other Angels, baptized in blood. A killing machine. I hate Ecto and what he stands for, but—”

Of course. Perhaps I’d just wanted to hope against hope, or been swayed by my romanticized ideals of what life was like. But of course it was like this. She was a Demon. And Demons betrayed, and took, and destroyed, no matter how kind or pretty they looked. “But what? But even though your paradise is a lie, you’ll still fight for it? That we should simply go quietly into the grave? They were right. I was stupid to think anything else. Stupid to ever trust a Demon.”

“No, Quinn... You don’t get it. I can’t—”

Ecto laughed. “Stop it, Thea. Stop getting her hopes up. You want to ease their suffering, let them think that there is something wonderful awaiting them beyond the release. There is not. There is only the endless torment. There is no need to sugarcoat. To do so would be cruel. Crueller, even, than I am.”

Tears were running down her face. “There is hope yet, though. We don’t need to fight. And New Eden can be good. It can be paradise. It has to be.”

“No. It never was, and never will be. Enough of this farce. Now tie her down, Thea. Or she will be the end of us.”

And despite the tears running down her face, she grabbed all four of my arms and pulled them tight around the chair, tying them together with a ribbon of cloth. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You don’t understand.” I’m sorry? As if. I really should’ve just... listened. My blade clattered to the floor, useless.

Ecto spoke again. “Good, Thea. Now leave us alone. You’ve played your part.”

And she did, walking down the hall and disappearing into the rainy night.