~3rd~ 

The boy sighed as he looked through the bars on the window. The scenery never changed down here. There were always yellow clouds of sulfuric gas floating in the red sky. The screams were what really got to him though. Not just the screams from the pits but just the screams in general. 

'I don't want to go out there, please don't let them take me Tynan,' a small girl with red skin, short horns coming out of her forehead and waist length black hair whimpered in Tynan's mind as she clutched the sleeve of his tattered shirt. 

Tynan sighed and pet the girl's head as he pulled her against him and held her, hoping to give her even the smallest amount of comfort. The girl grabbed him and started to sob into his tattered shirt. 

'I know,' Tynan spoke in her mind, taking special care to open a specific link between the two of them, 'Dont worry, when the ring master comes I'll take your place.' 

'But you can't, you'll be killed,' the girl said as she pushed away to look him in the eyes. 'Going in there alone is suicide.' 

Tynan smiled humorlessly. It wasnt the first time someone had made this mistake, but it didnt make it less painful, 'It wouldn't be the first time I've had to fight alone, you do remember what my punishment is.' 

'I know but still,' she said as she burried her face back into his shirt, 'I hate making you go through that.' 

Tynan smiled and rubbed her back as he looked around the the crammed room filled with fifteen other children. They all had skin tones varying from normal human skin tones all the way to pitch black, gray, crimson and a few others with just as much variety in hair color and extra appendages. Every child in that room was what was called a neplilim, the unholy union of mortal and demon. 

The other children looked to Tynan for help and he felt horrible since there was little he could do. The only reason he had survived this long was because his father, the king of hell enjoyed his suffering too much to let him die. 

Tynan heard the rattle of the door to the cell. The other children quickly rushed and burried themselves deeper in the wall. He knew it wouldn't work, it was time to go to the pit where they would be forced to fight until they either died or manage to survive until they ran out of things to throw at you. 

'Good morning runts,' Tynan heard the voice of the demon in his head. He didn't bother looking even though he knew where the demon was. He would rather wait a while before seeing the demon's ugly face. 

But sadly the world had different plans, Tynan turned when he heard a scream to see a humanoid man with dark gray skin, glowing yellow eyes, and a set of glossy black wings. He walked in and flashed his fangs while walking up and snatching the red skinned girl from Tynan's arms by her hair. 'Your turn in the pit runt, you'll be having a nice long day in the pits.' 

The look of fear on her face made Tynan's blood boil. He stood and immediately walked up to the fallen one ignoring the gasps of surprise from the other children at his audacity. He struggled to hold his fear at bay but he knew he had to do this.

'Stop take me instead.' Tynan said hoping he sounded more confident and self assured than he felt at the moment.

The demon glared down at him but Tynan refused to waver under the harsh gaze of the demon. He hated not being able to do anything, but before he could react he was backhanded and thrown into the far wall. 

'I said it was her turn brat,' the demon said. He picked Tynan up by the hair and looked him in the eyes, 'just because your the boss's son doesn't mean...' 

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

'Doesn't mean what?' The demon turned to see a teenage girl with stark white skin and glowing lavender eyes. She looked more humanoid than he did but she still had the same black bat-like wings. 'What does being Lucifer's child not mean.' 

'My lady, I didn't know you were coming by,'  the demon said nervously, 'this one thought he could disrespect...' 

'Save it,' she said simply. The demon looked like he wanted to object but quickly decided against it. The female demon smiled menacingly at Tynan, 'hello brother, father wishes to speak to you.' 

Tynan's blood boiled, she had the nerve to call him brother after abandoning him and their dad to Lucifer's mercy. 

'Lucifer is not my father and your not my sister Myah,' he said to her, silently thankful for the first time that he could direct his telepathy unlike other demons and nephilim. He didnt feel like everyone else in this cell hearing what he was saying the Myah. 'You lost that right when you abandoned me and dad.' 

He could tell that he had struck a nerve. Myah grabbed Tynan by the throat and drug him out of the cage slamming the door behind her and dragging him down the hallway, the fallen one not far behind. When they got out of earshot of the screaming children Myah slammed Tynan against a wall and glared into his eyes. 'Never speak to me that way again or what I do to you will make that bastard's punishment look like a blessing.' 

Tynan looked her in the eyes, defiance blazing in his piercing blue eyes as he spat blood into her face, 'Do your worst Myah, because your father already did his worst to me.' 

'My lady,' the demon said, 'Let me take the boy, I'll teach him a lesson he won...' 

He never got to finish his thought due to the shadows strangling the demon and restraining Myah. He immediately dropped to the floor dead as the shadows grew and trasformed into a boy with pale gray skin that was almost white. 

'Duncan?' Tynan asked while staring in amazement at his twin brother. Duncan smiled as he smirked at Myah who struggled in vain to escape from the shadows that bound her. 

"It time to go Tynan," Duncan walked up and took Tynan's hand, dragging him down the hallway. 

'What about the others?' He asked, pulling against Duncan's grip. He wanted nothing more than to be free, but he couldn't leave the others. Tynan knew his punishment meant him taking alot of the fights. That was the only reason they had survived this long. He had to free the other children but he couldn't break the boys grip. 'Please, you don't understand I can't leave them.' 

Duncan didn't say anything, but Tynan could feel his regret and pain. Tynan thought about going deeper but immediately stopped when he remembered what happened last time. 

Duncan glanced back at the boy and smiled. This immediately stopped Tynan in his tracks, nobody other than the other kids had smiled at him since... 

He shook himself of the memory, he had to keep his mind straight. He didn't want to leave the others but the boy seemed to have some sort of plan. 

'Where are you taking me Duncan,' Tynan asked trying to glean any bit of information he could, 'you know your father will...' 

'That monster isn't my father,' Duncan said telepathically, and Tynan was shocked at the amount of anger and hate dripping from the words aling with the fact that they were spoken through telepathy. Duncan hated speaking that way and almost never did. 'I never should have let things go this far. I shouldn't have agreed to be trained by him. I shouldn't have abandoned you and dad.' 

Tynan just shook his head in defeat. There wasn't be much he could say to get his brother to take that back, and honestly Tynan kindof blamed him anyway. 

'So what's your plan?' Tynan asked, 'Lucifer isnt going to be happy about you helping me escape.' 

Duncan didn't respond he just kept pulling Tynan down a hallway he'd never been down before. Duncan cut a quick left and drug tynan into a room that was mostly empty except for a swirling green portal. 

"Ok, we're here," Duncan said, "Now hurry you need to get through the portal."

'Wait, stop for a second,' Tynan said, finally managing to free his hand, 'What's this all about? I thought you and Myah hated me, why are you helping me?' 

"Because I learned the truth," Duncan said, "I learned who really killed dad and why you were blamed, and now I'm making it right."

Before Tynan could do anything Duncan put his hand on his brother's head. Tynan was confused until he realized what Duncan was doing. Duncan has the ability to manipulate someone's memories however he wanted. He was sealing away Tynan's memories and he hadn't been fast enough to react. 

'Why,' Tynan asked. His mind was foggy, he didn't know why his brother was doing this. He remembered his brother possessing the power to alter memories but every time Duncan had tried it on his brother it had failed.

'I'm sorry little brother but I have to do this,' Duncan said, he smiled at his twin and pulled out a black rind. 'She will help you, trust her Tynan.' 

When Duncan was done he slipped the black ring on his brother's finger and pushed him through the portal behind him hoping that Tynan would find a better life.