I stepped out of the house and into the sunlight of early morning. My face twisted as I grimaced and I put my hand over my aching eyes, wishing I had like a… hat or something to keep the brightness out of my face.

Doctor had said that I had a fall down the stairs at the office. Injured my head and had some short-term amnesia. Although, part of that seemed to include not being able to remember what the doctor had looked like, or when I had seen them exactly. Nor where I had been working.

With a sigh, I decided to carry out my normal routine. Walked from the large mansion that I was surprised that I could afford with my office job, down the private access road and into the city proper.

I liked walking - it kept me active. Doctor was vague about how long I’d need to recover - but said I’d know when I was ready. Not that I was keen to get back to the office and see… all those people I couldn’t quite remember at present.

Traffic was… well, non existent again. No cars moving on the roads. No people out walking. Shopfronts empty. Quiet in an unnerving way. Part of my brain knew that it was wrong, but I had accepted it. Was hard to argue when the weather was so nice and—despite my injuries—I was rather content with existence.

Humming something tuneless to myself, I eventually made it to my intended destination. A little park that I was familiar with. So far… I’d come here every day of my recovery - but couldn’t remember how many days or weeks it had been. If I cared to, I could probably leave a tally somewhere to keep track… but I didn’t care to. I was at peace.

I walked around, looking at the healthy flowers in bloom, and enjoyed the different greens of the plant life. The shapes and different ways they grew. Funny how these sorts of things could tickle you like that - I couldn’t remember being so enamored with the beauty of nature before. Almost felt like I was on holiday.

With a smile, I found my regular bench and sat down on it. Warm from being in the sunlight for so long.

My eyes wandered over to the patch of grass where I’d feed the birds - if there were any. Another day where my pocket of breadcrumbs would go to waste. I was sure I’d see one soon, though. Little blackbirds were my favorite.

For a while, I just sat in silence. My eyes trying to… peel back the layers of something. Couldn’t quite understand it, but it kept my mind busy even if I was starting to get a headache from it. My concentration was then interrupted by the sounds of footsteps nearby.

“Mind if I sit here?”

With eyebrows raised, I turned my eyes up at the figure. A rather dazzling woman in a sundress that was an off-white with a certain colorful sheen to it. Dark black hair in a short bob-cut, pale and freckled, with stunning emerald eyes.

“Be my guest,” I said, looking back out at the empty park.

She fluffed out her dress and sat down, following my gaze. “Were you waiting for someone?”

I frowned, my eyes focused on the children’s play park. Imagining the swings going back and forth. “I’m not sure. I… think I expected to see a couple of people here.”

“I’m sorry you have been unable to see them.”

“You?”

“Well… I realize this might sound odd, but I was hoping to see you here.”

I turned to look at the woman. Although there was some apprehension in her face, there was also calm confidence in her eyes. “Sorry, do I know you?”

“It doesn’t seem so.” She gave me a glum smile before looking back at the park. “You have good taste in places to relax.”

“Calls to me for some reason. Out of all the places in the city. You’d think my own home would give me comfort… but it doesn’t feel right. Too empty.” I shrugged and looked down at my hands. Who else was supposed to be there? Maybe I had bought a house that was too big for one person.

“I know that the city is rather empty, but if you like, we can meet here sometimes.”

“When I’m ready?”

She tilted her head and frown at me. “Exactly that, yes. But you’re not?”

I shrugged. There was a part of me that knew I had to be ready to accept… whatever it was she was offering. Something more than casual friendship, I was sure.

Despite my brain assuring me I had actually spoken to a doctor, there was a little voice that was trying to tell me I might have died.

Was this Heaven, though? Seemed peaceful and comforting enough, although I hadn’t seen the expected people here. Or anyone at all - which almost made it seem like more of a Hell. Not that I thought - as just a lowly office worker - I'd be worthy of going to Hell. So maybe this was purgatory?

I wondered if this woman was from of those designated places. A shepherd to take me to one when I was ready? It felt reasonable, but not quite right.

“What happens when I’m ready?”

She gave me a shrug this time, which was surprising. “This is mostly new ground for me too, so I can’t say.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“What do I call you?”

Some tiredness appeared in her eyes as she looked back at me, trying to read my face. “It is better that we don’t share names. In fact, it is probably time I left.”

“Oh, okay.” I smiled, but it felt… off. I watched as she stood, giving me a brief nod before hurrying away. Vanishing as soon as she was out of sight, but some manner of… sadness on her face?

I danced around in my aimless thoughts for a few more hours before heading home. Wasn’t hungry. My life had just been sleeping alone in silence and sitting around in my thoughts. Didn’t even feel that injured, if it wasn’t for my errant mind.

Two days later, as I sat in the park as usual, the woman came back. I marked a second line on the floor.

“We meet again,” she smiled and gestured to the chair.

With a nod, I smiled back. “I was hoping we would.”

“Oh? Tell me what’s new.”

A sigh escaped my lungs as I buckled in for the looming awkward conversation. “I… am coming to believe that this isn’t reality. It’s not real, and neither are you.”

“I’m very real - look.” She placed a soft hand on mine.

I jerked away as a brief series of images flashed through my mind. My heartbeat thrummed in my chest alongside an uncomfortable, rising panic.

“Shit, I’m sorry.” She grimaced and stood from the bench.

I wanted to tell her to stop, but my tongue caught in my mouth. Instead, I covered my eyes with my hands and tried to make sense of what I had seen. Blood. Amber. Bullet holes. Monsters beyond my understanding.

It was as if somebody had flashed a horror movie through my brain in an instant, and I struggled to accept it on an emotional level.

By the time I had recovered, the mysterious woman had gone.

I spent another week in my solitude. But now, my thoughts were intertwined with the pulse of unknown scenes. I grew to… be familiar with them. Some sort of order, even if I didn’t conventionally understand where they had come from.

It was on this day that she reappeared.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, sitting beside me.

“Better. Thank you.”

“No, you shouldn’t thank me.” She sighed and pulled a face. “I’m just… impatient. I want things to change for you… but I don’t know if they can."

I raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying this blissful world of peace isn’t what is good for me?”

Her mouth opened and closed, before she relented to just giving me a smile. I couldn’t quite place it, but there was a familiarity in her eyes. Not that I’d met her before, but I could tell she knew me very well. A test to see if I was correct. “What’s my favorite food?” I asked.

“Pancakes, of course,” she answered before considering any ramifications.

I did like them, that was true. My hand went up to rub at my nose, and it came away bloody.

“Oh, fuck’s sake. I’m so-”

“No.” My head shook. “Please don’t leave this time.”

She paused, half away from me, before settling down again. “I just don’t want to hurt you. You’re not ready and…”

I sighed. “When have I ever been ready?” Another slideshow of painful confusion flickered through my mind. Made me dizzy, but… I was in control.

“You don’t look too well.”

Gave her a slow nod and closed my eyes. “Getting a headache. Want to help though? Would you rub my temples?”

“If... you are sure.”

I shuffled so that I could lie across the bench with my head on her lap. Maybe a bit rude or forward of me, but I had a feeling she’d forgive me. Eyes closed tight, I willed the pain in my skull away.

And then her finger touched me. Ran softly through my hair across my temple. My whole body shuddered and squirmed from the feeling, and I felt like I was going to burst. With what? Tears? Elation? Mania? I tried to keep everything in control. This was normal. This was... all too familiar.

Eyes scrunched closed to keep the light away, but I couldn’t do it anymore. I allowed myself to let go.

Reality tore wide apart as my true eyes opened. Ache and pain to peer through dried gunk. Bright white lights paired with the dull gray of furniture. Disorientated and dry.

I looked up as a figure loomed over me. Horns. Sharp teeth. Silver hair. Purple skin wet with fresh tears from pearlescent eyes. She took up my hand and squeezed it. “Eric?” Behind her were two wings of pastel purple leather.

“Pearl?” Emotion flooded through me. Memories of all my life leading up to this point. Overwhelming. I struggled to parse everything and come out with more words than that. I was bed bound and…

I had been in her Domain. A false reality where I could be comfortable and recover like an induced coma. The truth hit me like a brick as my brain burned up, trying to cycle through all my lost memories flooding back. But this was Pearl, my demon-wife.

Her eyes went to the other side of the room, something else in her eyes other than relieved joy, and I tried turning my stiff neck to see who was there.

As I slowly moved, the room grew darker on the other side of the bed, as if any light had been eaten up by a void opposite to the woman who was the light of my life. Tendrils of smoke snaked across the ceiling and walls as I finally met the source of pitch-black nothingness.

Eight feet tall, two burning eyes of crimson energy, and large feathered wings that obscured the wall behind him. A beak of polished ebony turned up at the edges into a smile.

[Welcome back to Hell, Eric.]

----------------------------------------

I exhaled slowly. Despite being my focal point for the last ten minutes, the aged newspaper rendered me no solace. Three weeks and we hadn't had a lead. Pearl was out roughing some people up, but had been more busy with her official work than the hustle we were trying to put together here. That was the problem with dames, they... no - as much as I loved a cliche - that wasn't it.

Plunging my shattered form into Makkari's head had stabbed the knife in enough for the power to fill her dagger to the brim. She had her Mask and wings back, and had never been happier.

I lowered my newspaper slightly to peer over to the dark shape that was sucking away at the light, sitting in a chair at a desk and reading a newspaper just as I was. After having absorbed the risen god, Wight had torn himself from this reality to live in the plane he was meant to - but had managed to leave a shard of himself behind. Despite now towering over me, he retained the same personality and had been eager to set this detective agency up. Just as planned.

Rodney and David had been doing well. Not only an official couple, but the Exorcist had set them up as heads of a separate force in the Church to deal with communicating with Hell. It meant we got to chat rather regularly, and while it burned in my heart not to be able to see them again, we had helped each other with our work quite regularly.

The connection to Heaven had been restored. What this really meant, I wasn't sure. Down here in the Mids, I saw no sign of it. Probably in the same way as people living their lives in the mortal world saw no overt difference. It was enough for me to know that balance was restored.

As for me? We didn't know how long I could live in the Mids. Including the time spent in Pearl's Domain, I'd been here two months and... touch wood... had seen no negative effects from it. Could be part of the soul bond. Maybe I absorbed enough demonic power during those last fights to acclimatize me. Perhaps destiny saw fit to throw me at something else in the near future.

[We should go investigate the aftermath of our bar fight. Criminals often return to the scene of the crime.]

I grunted and folded the newspaper up. "Are you saying that's us then, or them?"

[Correct.]

With a grin, I stood from my chair and tipped my hat towards him.

"Let's get going then, partner."

The End