Chapter 2: Family and fun
“Why not at the Heaven and Hell Competitions.”(Diuscrucis)
“Sounds good to me but first, can you remove all these swords? I would like to move freely again.”(Samantha)
Smiling he waved his right hand causing all the swords to turn into smoke and disappear. Taking this opportunity to move freely, I went up the steps to the table they were playing cards at. I took the chair the lamia was sitting on earlier and bring it back down the stairs to where I was previously standing in the room. I set up my new chair and sit down on it while giving a sigh of relief. I’ve been on my feet for hours coming here and if he thinks I’m going to have this conversation with him standing up, he is very mistaken. Happy with my new seat, I look up at the two men in the room and they are just smiling at me like I did something funny.
“Something wrong?”(Samantha)
“That depends. Are You claiming ownership of that chair?”(Diuscrucis)
“Temporarily.”(Samantha)
“Then ya. You see, over the years this guy has had his clothes, phone, house, and at one point even his pet fox stolen from him. They would later be returned however, they would be a bit…... different than before they were gone. Though this is the first time someone stole his chair. Kudos to you for being original!”(Death)
“What! Really? Why?”(Samantha)
“He has a way of drawing crazy to himself.”(Death)
‘Heavy sigh’ “Ya. its weird.”(Diuscrucis)
“Wow.”(Samantha)
“We know.”(Diuscrucis\Death)
We spent the next few minutes in silence, just thinking about what was just said. Diuscrucis suddenly just smiled and started talking.
“Enough depressing talk, that comes later. Let's start this story already! I hope you don’t mind but I will be starting from right before the competition.”(Diuscrucis)
“Go ahead.”(Samantha)
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* Several thousand years earlier in Hell’s capital city, Dinsor -
* Diuscrucis’s POV -
Its the day of the competition and I still can’t find a present to give my mom. I know giving gifts to the rulers of both Heaven and Hell is tradition, and as the son of the Devil I don’t need to offer gifts. I still want to give her something because I've done so every year since I was five and I refuse to stop now, because of inconveniences. I know! I can ask my sister to help me. I mean she is going to be pissed because I promised to take her shopping this morning, but if I offer her a favor in return…...Ya. I’m sure it will work. Going with this plan I quickly change into a velvet tracksuit and green sneakers before leaving my room. I am currently a 6 and a half ft. tall, tan skinned man, with red slit eyes, blotchy black and white short hair, and a black 5 foot long scaled tail. My family lives in a giant emerald green mansion with a large garden and black electric fence around the outside of the property. Leaving home, I run to the market place to meet up with my sister. As I got there I found her sitting on a bench and yelling at someone over the phone. Not wanting to interrupt her call in fear that she would freak out and attack me again, I just lean on the wall to my left and admire what my sister was wearing. She is a 5 foot tall, pale skinned girl with red slit eyes, black and white hair that seems to spiral outward from the top of her skull to the tip of her hair that goes down to her shoulders, and a black 4 foot long scaled tail. She also has two dragon wings that come from the center of her back, but they seem to be hidden for some reason. She is wearing a red dress and a matching pair of heels that makes her look very attractive. Now that I think about it….she looks like she’s dressed up for a date, but I don’t remember her talking about any girls recently and isn't it to early to dress like that? Oh No!
“If you are unwilling to do your job then, I will find someone to do this job for you!”(Suzi)
‘Beep’ “I need to concentrate. Straighten my hair, dust off my dress, purse on my lap with hands gently holding it, legs together at a 45 degree angle to the right, and smile while shyly looking around to optimize my attractiveness. This will surely make him fall for me this time.”(suzi)
This is worse than I thought. She is in her “Brother please love me!” mode again. Damn it! Sorry mom but, it is either don’t get your gift or commit insest in public and I would prefer the former over the latter so…...RUN!
“Diuscrucis your here! How do I look? Are you ready to go shopping? Why do you look scared?”(Suzi)
Fuck! She saw me. Ok let's think. If I ask her for help finding mom’s gift now, maybe the anger will knock her out of this mode… hopefully.
“You look great, I’m ready to go but first I have a favor to ask, and lastly I’m not scared. Just…. cautious.”(Diuscrucis)
“What’s the favor?”(Suzi)
“I need to find a gift for mom and I was hoping you would help me find one. I will also be willing to do one thing you want without question as long as it does not involve sex.”(Diuscrucis)
When I started talking I saw her left eye twitch and the moment I mentioned mom, she looked pissed. Her eyes had fire in them and I could see her teeth grinding against each other, however when she heard what she would get in return…. Let's just say that all you could see were stars, and glitter
“I will help you find mom’s gift, under the condition that you will owe me two and you treat this shopping trip like a date.”(Suzi)
“No! That’s not even close to a fair trade.”(Diuscrucis)
“How badly do you want my help and for me to stay quiet about it?”(Suzi)
‘Heavy sigh’ ‘Why do I feel like I’m making a deal to sell my soul?’ “Fine. Deal.”(Diuscrucis)
‘Smiles accompanied by hops’ “Excellent! Now you are going to kiss me and only stop when I push away. Then we will start this date.”(Suzi)
Resigning to my fate, I lean in to kiss my sister when she grabs my head and pulls me in for a deep kiss.
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* Present day -
* Star’s POV -
“The kiss lasts for more than an hour and they finally go on their date, but before I continue, I would like to explain a few things. Firstly the money system at the time was just gold coins. Copper, silver, and platinum coins didn’t come until later. Secondly there are four realms of our world Heaven which houses all the gods, angels, and holy beings. Hell which houses demons, lost spirits, and cursed beings. Terra which houses animal, and the last of the sentient races. The last realm is the Underworld that houses the souls of the dead and sends them to be reincarnated based on how they acted in their last life. Thirdly at that point in time there were only Demons, Angels, Humans, and Elves. These were the only sentient races with many variation of them for example: lizard like and succubus for Demons/ gods and valkyrie for the Angels/ high elf and blood elf for the Elves/ and different shades of skin for the humans. Beastmen and real monsters didn’t start appearing until much, much later. Lastly, the Heaven and Hell competitions are big festivals that encourage competition between races. They take place every ten years and it is hosted by the Gods or the Devil. Thus the name. The next host of the competition is always decided by whoever won the previous one. If the elves or demons win, then the next competition is in Hell. If Humans or angels win, then the next competition will be in Heaven. With that said do you have any questions Star?”(Narrator)
“Ya, about suzi’s “Brother please love me!” mode. Does she have other modes that she uses? Can she control when she enters a mode? And lastly do the modes have different phases or something to measure out what level they are at?”(Star)
Narrator stopped drinking tea and seemed to just stare at me for a few seconds before talking again? I say seems because it is a tall shadowy figure that seems to be made of black smoke. I also can’t give it a gender because when it talks the voice sounds like a man, woman, and a robot all talking at the same time. The voices overlap and echo a little making it hard to tell.
“Yes she has other modes such as “Motherly”, “Combat”, and “Boss” mode. She can’t force herself into a mode. She just seems to fall into one of them as she goes on with life and everyone just attributed it to her personality. All modes have four phases. “Brother please love me!” mode goes from first phase to last phase like this.“Attention hog” to “Possessive” to “Lustful” to “Yandere”. The first time she entered the last phase of that one, she murdered every maid in the mansion they lived in. Again.”(Narrator)
“Again?”(Star)
“It’s better not to ask.”(Narrator)
“Ok. Last question before we start again. When does Samantha start talking about her side of the story?”(Star)
“She won’t start telling her side of it until after the big explosion…”(Narrator)
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Big explosion?”(Star)
“You will find out later.”(Narrator)
Taking notes on my touchpad I write down what I just learn and look up waiting for it to start talking again.
“Ok. Now where did I leave off?”(Narrator)
“They kissed for over an hour.”(Star)
“Yes! Now I remember. She used one of the favors she gained to force him into a kiss.”...”That Bitch”.....(Narrator)
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* Several thousand years earlier -
* Diuscrucis’s POV -
When she finally pushed away to stop, all I could see on her face was drool coming from her lips, glazed over eyes, and I swear I hear her moaning as she orgazomed from me kissing her…….Nope! I’m not even gonna acknowledge that last thought.
“Are you ready?”(Diuscrucis)
‘Wiping her drool’ “Yup! Let’s go and find that gift.”(Suzi)
She pulled me by the arm with a smile on her face and we started our”Date”. Entering the city marketplace we went from stall to stall looking at jewels and snacking on junk food. The marketplace we are in has different sections for weather you're rich or poor. The poorer section sells all the food and simple tools. The buildings are made of wood and stone while the items they sell cost only a handful of gold. The middle class section the buildings were made of cement and they sell weapons, armors, and pets for a fair bit of gold. The high class section buildings were made of metal and had entertainment for all ages. They sold clothes, and jewelry that they sell for far more than they are actually worth. Now guess where we went shopping………………………………………………………………………………………………….You guessed it. The high class section. There we had the pleasure of going to clothing stores to “try on” dresses; had a plasma gun fight at an arcade with expert snipers “Those fucking cheaters”; eat at a fancy restaurant with terrible food; and last but not least we beat the shit out of a bunch of assholes who tried to mug us. All this was before she helped me get a gift for mom. Seeing me start to get into a bad mood, Suzi quickly finished a smoothy that she was trying to get me to drink with her and took me to a store where she claimed I could find a gift for mom. The building was two stories tall and had no door or windows. It just looked like a box with black wood that seemed to move on its own. It had an opening on one side to mark the entrance. When we walked inside I saw that the building was completely white with shelves that seemed to go on for miles in every direction. hundreds of wooden models of creatures, animals, objects, and people lining the shelves. The wooden figures had gems in very specific locations throughout their bodies. For example: swords had a gem at the top of their handles, while people had gems for eyes. In the center of the room sat a tall pale skinned, blond hair, blue eyed elf. He was young looking but I could sense intelligence behind his eyes.
“So it’s that kind of building.”(Diuscrucis)
“Hello customer. Please let me know if there is anything you would like to buy.”(Elf)
“We will old man. Now bro look around as much as you like, but remember the competitions start in half an hour.”(Suzi)
I despise you sometimes.”(Diuscrucis)
With our last words said we split up. I go looking through the shelves and she goes to talk to the elf. Walking by the shelves, I can’t help but admire how well done these wooden statues were made. They have so much detail that if they were painted they would look exactly like the real thing but only smaller. I spent nearly twenty minutes looking before I settle on what I want. The wooden statue is of a man on top of a mountain of corpses with a sword in his left hand pointed toward the sky. His right hand is holding a skull and all around the man’s feet are several half naked women that appear to be trying to grab him to get his attention. All their eyes, the outline of the sword, and the skull seem to be made of ruby. My mother has always been one for the dramatic, so this is perfect. Grabbing the work of art I went back to where the elf was and find both him and my sister in a staring contest. Well I say staring contest but in reality there is so much killing intent between them that if they glare at each other any harder, they might learn how to use heat vision. As I get closer to them I look down the other rows of shelves and see several people on the floor foaming at the mouth.
“If you two keep going you're probably going to start killing customers.”(Diuscrucis)
At that comment they both look at me with wide smiles and seem to be pretending that they were not trying to kill each other with stares.
“Excellent the cost for both statues will be 45,000 gold. Please pay in cash.”(Elf)
“I can work with the price but what do you mean by both statues?”(Diuscrucis)
‘Pulls out a blue box from beneath the counter and shows it to me.’ “Your girlfriend here asked me to make a piece for her a while back and most of the cost is from the construction of it. “(Elf)
“Firstly she is not my girlfriend.” ‘look to the blushing girl who refuses to look me in the eyes’ “Secondly what did you want him to make it out of?”(Diuscrucis)
“Interesting, that is not what she has told me…….. Anyway they are materials which I would never normally make carvings out of.”(Elf)
‘Sigh’ “tell You what. You put the statue in my hand, in its own box and I will pay what it actually cost you to make these statues.”(Diuscrucis)
“What! But I spent so long to make him lower the price for us!”(Suzi)
“You got a a deal kid. That will mean that the cost is 100,000 gold.”(Elf)
I payed the elf and we said our farewells while we went to the arena for the competitions. On the way there I gave her the statue she had wanted and told her that she owed me big time since that cost me almost all my personal savings. She nodded and we walked the rest of the way in silence. The arena is a giant cylinder with hundreds of thousands of seats to hold guests. The building has large archways all around it as well as multiple changing sections inside to hold many small event or one large event. It is Made of stone and the outside of the building is lined with large tvs so the people who couldn't get into the arena can still see what is happening. In the center of the arena and hundreds of feet up are eight large screens that show everyone in the stands what is happening below. When we arrived we walked to our personal viewing room overlooking the stadium, And saw mom lounging around on a leather couch with a orange haired succubus maid feeding her grapes. Out of everyone in our family she is the one that looks the most human. She is 6 and a half feet tall, with black hair, red eyes, and pale skin. She also has two white goat horns coming out of the side of her head and they are always on fire with a dark green flame. Seeing us she jumps off the couch and tackles me to the floor.
“Why me? Why not her? You never tackle her.”(Diuscrucis)
“She would always turn it into a sparring match and you only complain about it so, ya.”(Devil)
“You know what! I don’t care anymore! Here is your gift. Hope you like it, now if you will excuse me….”(Diuscrucis)
“Awwwww you got moma something this year too? See Suzi, this is why he is my favorite child.”(Devil)
‘Strained smile’ “I love you too mom. Now if you excuse us we have to get ready for the competitions. Wish us luck, also brother?”(Suzi)
“I know. I’ll change into a form more suitable for battle.”(Diuscrucis)
“Thanks. Well then, see you in the ring.”(Suzi)
With that said I changed into into my regular appearance and phased through mom. My true appearance is a tall shadowy figure that is made of black smoke. Heading toward the door I take my previous shape before leaving the room with suzi. My sister and I split up after leaving the room, she had a smug look on her face and mom was pouting and complaining about, how when I was younger my real appearance could not stop her from holding on to me.
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* Present Day -
* Star’s POV -
“And that is enough for today. I’m tired and we both should get some rest.”(Narrator)
“What! But, aren't you going to continue? What about the competition?”(Star)
“Ha ha! Where is the fun if I told you everything right here? No, we will stop for tonight and continue this at a later time. Besides there are multiple ways to learn Something Star. See you later and have fun enjoying our grand city.”(Narrator)
After saying that, Narrator faded away. Getting up from my chair, I left the castle to find myself a hotel to stay at. Outside is still dark and I just decide to wander aimlessly in hopes that I would find people close by. After walking for close to an hour, I saw a wolf beastman. After talking to him he pointed me in a direction of a hotel. Saying my thanks I head to a hotel, only to see someone I wasn't expecting.
“Hay Star. Glad to see you made it to the city ok.”(Suzi)