Satan, January 2nd

Satan sat on his throne, leaning his head on his hand as he watched two fellow demons argue. Though the demons screamed back and forth at each other, staring each other down, their voices were drowned out by Satan’s thoughts instead. His eyes darted around the palace’s throne room, staring at the carpet leading up towards his throne, and the large door he knew dozens upon dozens of demons lined up behind as they awaited their turn. Drifting upwards, Satan looked out the windows. Despite Hell not having much sunlight, some parts of this Hell had some sun let into the palace through the windows, with lava also joining in. Satan’s eyes returned to the two demons. He frowned. ‘Maybe this is the year I can quit, would be nice if I could focus on my writing and poetry again…’ he thought.

“Your majesty, are you listening?” the gray tailed demon called out, Satan finally listening again.

Satan sat up, his left eye twitching. “Yes, yes. I’m listening to your stupid fucking argument.”

The red demon said, “But your majesty, this man robbed my home and refuses to give my stuff back.”

The gray tailed demon fired back with: “Well, maybe if you weren’t dating my daughter against my wishes, then this wouldn’t have–”

“Enough!” Satan shouted over the two, his warm bronze skin morphing into a blush red, balling up his fists as he rose from his throne. “This has gone on long enough. The palace is open for citizens to air grievances for things related to the laws of this kingdom, or the way I rule. Not for your petty disagreements. You better get out of my sight, or Diablo help me resist dragging you out myself!”

The two demons deflated with his outburst, scurrying out the door.

Satan descended from the throne, with his advisor tagging close behind. “Your majesty, I get that you’re annoyed, but was that really necessary?”

“If I just let them continue, who knows how long I’d have to wait for them to finish. This public forum has gone so downhill since my reign started. I think we need to start screening citizens in line,” Satan said as he tied his messy, raven-colored hair into a low ponytail.

“Alright, sir,” the advisor said.

Satan took a deep breath as he moved his ponytail over his right shoulder. His rage melted away as his skin shifted back to bronze. He stopped in his tracks in the doorway behind his throne with just enough space to open the door, as he rested his hand on the doorknob. Turning to face his advisor, he asked, “I think now’s a good time for my break. No one needs another outburst from me. I don’t mean to be a bother, but would you be able to screen everyone waiting in line?”

“Of course. I’ll get started on that then, your majesty. I’ll call you back when it’s time.”

“Thank you.”

Satan entered the room. He shut the door behind him, before making his way over to the couch. Carelessly, he kicked off his boots, and flung himself on it, with his long legs taking up the entire couch. Yawning, as sleep began to take over Satan, he wondered, ‘ What are Arsene and Nico up to right now? Usually they’re home right about now. Arsene must be swamped with her creation goddess work I suppose…’

Arsene, January 2nd

Arsene lifted her dress with one hand, making sure she wouldn’t step on it, as she walked in a field of tall grass and flowers that brushed against her dress. In her other hand was her sceptor, a which had a circular crystal at the top, another crystal, that one being white and tinier at the very top, and to the side of the crystal, white wings. The delicate, gentle scent of the flowers wafted in Arsene’s nostrils. Behind, she knew Nico followed, as hearing him step on the plants and shift the grass from side to side.

Arsene looked over her shoulder at Nico. "I’m so sorry to make you pull out that note again, but can you read me my next assignment, please?"

She watched Nico pull out the unfolding paper, forming a pile at his feet. He groaned as he started rolling it up. All the while, he scanned the page, before stopping at the end of the long paper. “Good news, only one more thing to create for the day. You have to create a seed for a lily, and then plant it on the other side of this field.”

“Oh! That’s easy,” Arsene said.

She raced through the grass until she reached the other side. She marveled at the field in front of her. Flowers dotted the landscape, thick oak trees reached into the clouds, and a waterfall flowed into a lake, creating a mist that showered both her and the nearby grass.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

She tightened her grip on her white and blue sceptor. Magic began pouring out of her hands as she uttered a spell. “Creo: granum.” She directed the magical particles of blue and white angel wings to her other hand, while guiding them with her scepter. The particles all joined together as one, rapidly morphing into the shape of the seed until the particles faded away, leaving the seed resting in her palm.

Arsene knelt in the dirt and buried the seed. She held out a palm towards the lake, then partially closed it, and softly said, “Magicae: capto.” Particles surrounded a small part of the lake, and as if in a tube, a thin stream of water approached her, before guiding the stream into the dirt.

As she stood up, she heard footsteps and panting. Turning around, she saw Nico at her side again, bending towards the ground as he panted.

“Sorry,” Arsene said.

“It’s fine, I just hope your father doesn’t get me in trouble for not being around to bodyguard or protect you from someone trying to assassinate you, or whatever ridiculous thing he’d say. Not like you even need protection, but you know,” Nico said in between pants.

“He better not! It’s not like you were that far away either. He can be so unreasonable sometimes…” Arsene huffed.

“I know. Well, you know him better than me. Not like I’ve met the guy…” Nico rubbed the back of his head.

“I’m glad you haven’t. He’s just a miserable God looking for power. Sometimes I think if he actually had some worshippers I could do my assignments by my terms since he’d actually have other things to occupy his time.. But nobody has any business worshiping him anyway, besides other power-hungry mortals…”

“Maybe,” was all Nico could respond with.

Silence fell for a moment, as Arsene turned her attention to the lake again.

A smile grew on Arsene’s face. “It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

For a few minutes, the pair stood, looking and taking in the scenery of the surrounding nature. Wind and singing birds filled their silence, with the water of the lake flowing. Arsene’s thoughts wandered to her sisters. ‘I wonder what things would be like if you were home again. How long has it been Arista, some thousand years? I still read each and every single letter, but nothing gives me any form of clue. And Araya, you’ve still been off for ten years now, and I haven’t heard a thing from you. What happened?’ As she wondered about them, tears pricked her eyes and her lips quivered. As the sounds of nature faded back in, she wiped them away.

“Well, if we’re done for the day, why don’t we just get out of here? If you want to leave for home, that is. Speaking of, wonder what Satan’s up to, I know the reunion is coming up and all,” Arsene said.

“Sure.”

“I’ll do the honors. Magicae: transportari!”

The magical particles surrounded the pair once more, until bright whites and blues were all they could see. And like a comet in the sky, they shot off the face of the Earth, Arsene’s magic carrying them through space.

After ten minutes, finally, they went downwards, twisting and turning. Their feet touched the ground again. Magic particles dissolved in mere seconds as the pair took a moment to steady themselves.

Their first sight upon the end of their journey was the familiar, large, black palace, with a black door, both towering over them. Arsene pushed the door open like it was nothing, beckoning Nico to follow inside.

Arsene walked through the empty throne room, the red carpet crunching underneath Arsene’s shoes. She smiled as she said. “I think my teleportation speed is getting faster. I feel like when we first started working together, the journey was twenty minutes.”

Nico followed behind her. “That sounds about right. I just wish I could see something that wasn’t blinding bright magic. Ten minutes of reading on the trip would be nice.”

“It would be. At that point we might as well just get a ship, but then the journey’s a week long, so it’s not even worth it.”

They walked behind the throne into the living room. Arsene and Nico stopped upon seeing Satan laying on the couch, curled up like a sleeping cat. His eyes were delicately closed and his chest rose and fell. He had on his black robes, akin to a grim reaper’s, over top a pair of gray sweatpants. To top it all off, were the chains adorning his waist.

“Is he… asleep?” Arsene whispered.

“Seems like it.”

“Maybe let’s leave him be, then.”

Arsene and Nico began to tiptoe away, but stopped when they heard shuffling from Satan.

“Fuck, how long was I asleep for?” Satan wiped his left eye, his other still covered by extra long bangs like they usually did. Slowly, he rose from the couch, his hair messier than usual, with stray locks curling around his horns,

“Not sure,” Nico looked at the time on his phone, “but it’s five-ten now.”

“Fuck! I slept too long… whatever. You two know that the reunion’s the 4th, right?”

Arsene and Nico nodded.

“Good. I think this year I’m finally going to retire from being king. Just have to talk to dad first. Really hoping dad says yes, I’m so done with these Ayuzumian demons and Ayuzuma in general. No offense, Nico,” Satan scowled, frowning with furrowed eyebrows.

“None taken. Things have gotten worse among the Ayuzumian demons for demon. If I knew anything I’d help, but I’m just the bodyguard. You’d think since I grew up in the Ayuzumian Hell I’d know better how to help but I guess I just don’t have anything…” Nico rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well, you’ve been good since the… well, you know, so there’s a good chance you can stop. I just wonder who’s gonna take over.” Arsene bit her lower lip. ‘Hopefully talking about the incident isn’t going to anger him…’

“No idea, but I’m gonna hold on to that hope. Speaking of, Nico, do you wanna come? My parents have been itching to see you again.”

Nico paused for a second. “You know what? Sure, I’ll come. Do I need to bring something or…?”

“Everyone usually brings some kind of food. All the main dishes have been covered so you can bring a side dish or a dessert. I can show you the list of what everyone else is bringing if you need.” Satan wandered to the kitchen.

“Alright, perfect.”