94. Demons and Deaths

The cavern walls of the Inferno pulsed in a gentle, constant rhythm. The glowing red heat emitting from within the stones was as bright as ever, and overhead the bridges swayed like layers and layers of circling jump ropes. They highlighted the vastness of the space, the way the cavern seemed to extend upwards eternally even though he knew there was eventually a ceiling.

Isaac didn’t know what he’d been expecting. A part of him might have assumed that the realm would settle, that perhaps it would sense what had happened and grieve in silence. Instead, the place was as lively as ever, and when he looked up, he could make out the distant shadows of demons soaring in the upper levels of the cavern without a care in the world. Surely they didn’t know, Isaac thought. Or maybe he was only hoping for that to be true so that he could justify himself, could justify the dullness that had settled over him since he’d read the names on that list.

He took a step forward, and the ground beneath him felt soft, as though he were weightless. He kept his eyes scanning the walls, the spiraling stairs, the undulating bridges, but every demon he saw flew.

The sound of flapping wings behind him made him turn around just as a long shadow fell over him. From above, a familiar demon descended until she was hovering with her serpentine tail a few inches above the ground, six bat-like wings beating constantly and sending a gust of wind circling around her surroundings.

“Sharil.”

The demon’s solid yellow eyes stared in his direction, their homogeneous surface impossible to extract any emotions from. Her lips curved into a tight, strained smile, rows of jagged teeth made visible.

“I suspected you’d come.” Her voice was quieter than usual, and the natural raspiness in her tone rang sharply in the cavern. She slowly drifted downward until her tail brushed against the ground, though her wings remained spread to keep balance.

Isaac was silent for a few moments. He ran possible words over in his head, but none of them felt right. Finally, he just said, “I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t enough, but he didn’t know what to say that would be.

Sharil shook her head. “I know you had nothing to do with it. If anyone is to blame, it’s the killer and the one irresponsible enough to leave such a gap in the System.” As she spoke, the demon’s lips pulled back into a sneer. Isaac swallowed, but didn’t retort. It wasn’t his place to.

“It’s fixed now,” was all he could say. “She said it wouldn’t happen again.”

Sharil just scoffed, her wings beating a few times in disbelief.

The two stood there, neither one meeting the other’s gaze entirely. Finally, when the silence grew too heavy, Isaac forced himself to speak. “How much do you know?”

“Fable explained things,” Sharil said by way of explanation. She clenched and unclenched a fist. “Lord Lucius sensed something was wrong. When he went to check, he found—“ Her voice cut off and she pursed her lips. She inhaled, visibly calming herself.

“…Where is Lucius right now?”

Numbly, Isaac could practically hear Olzu yelling at him that it was “Lord Lucius” in that indignant, lively tone. The small demon had always been in motion, whether yelling, flapping his wings, or jumping around. Isaac hadn’t realized how much space he had occupied in his own understanding of the Inferno. The realm felt incomplete without the demon’s presence.

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Sharil exhaled. “Lord Lucius hasn’t left his chambers since Fable left.” Her voice quieted, and her head briefly flicked over to the pulsing cavern walls, hiding a maze of tunnels and rooms behind them. Somehow, the demon’s voice quieted even further, though it did nothing to mask the rising frustration. “I believe he may view this as a personal failure.” Her nails extended and retracted again.

Isaac’s own eyes shifted to those walls, glowing that constant bright red. The day he and Mortimer had stepped through, trailing behind Olzu, seemed at once so recent and yet so far away.

Steeling himself, Isaac stepped over to one of the walls. For a moment he simply stared at the pattern of pulses, effortlessly making the substance look soft and malleable, half alive like organs splayed out for the world to see. Isaac swallowed and took a breath to calm himself, allowing his eyes to unfocus. He raised a hand and, after a moment of hesitation, knocked four times.

He waited for the rumbling of stones, the shifting of rocks, but there was no response. He frowned and tried again, hitting with enough force to make his fist thrum, but once again, there was nothing.

“Lord Lucius hasn’t allowed anyone to see him,” Sharil said. Isaac spun around to face the demon again. She hadn’t moved from her spot, and her solid eyes were watching him with an unreadable emotion.

Isaac felt a flare of embarrassment rise as he stepped back over followed immediately with guilt. There were much more important things to think about right now.

If Sharil noticed and thought the same thing, she didn’t show it. Instead, she remained quiet, still watching him, and Isaac shifted his weight uncomfortably. He should say more, he thought. Something comforting.

Instead, he asked, “Do you know when he’ll be around again?” Isaac winced internally at the phrasing. It sounded like Lucius had just gone on a trip, not that he was mourning the sudden and violent deaths of his subjects. What was he doing, standing there asking so many questions?

“I do not know,” Sharil said. She shut her eyes briefly, then opened them again. “I imagine he will appear again to say a passing rite.”

He hadn’t even thought about funerals. Images of the alleyway flashed in his mind, and he suppressed a shudder. Were the bodies intact enough for burial?

Perhaps sensing what he was thinking, Sharil flapped her wings a few times and hovered over to the cavern walls. She pressed a palm against the surface. “Demons are born from the Inferno’s walls,” she said. “Whenever a demon dies, a new one is created by the cavern.” Her fingers curled, long nails sinking into the surface, but leaving no visible scratches. She pulled away and turned to face Isaac again. “In the past, the Inferno never bothered with such rites. Death and new births were too common. It’s only after Lord Lucius ascended that he took up the tradition, though the majority of demons still follow the old ways.”

Sharil frowned, sharp teeth glinting in the red glow. “I don’t think many other demons will be at the rites.” She scoffed. “No, I’m sure this is exciting for most of them.”

She fell quiet, and for several moments neither one spoke. Isaac’s eyes wandered listlessly about the cavern, staring up at those distant silhouettes that looked almost like they were dancing in the sky from where he stood.

Finally, Sharil opened her mouth to speak again, voice rough and harsh in texture, like the crackling of flames.

“Do you know who did it?”

“No,” Isaac answered truthfully. He balled his fingers into a fist. “But I promise we’ll—I’ll find out.”

Sharil stared at him. Her wings shook slightly, and Isaac realized with a start how much anger was there, locked carefully beneath the surface, only making its presence known in the tremble of limbs, the sharpening of claws, the bright glow of piercing eyes.

Looming slightly over him, the demon’s shadow easily cloaked him and the surrounding ground, swallowing and rendering the textures of the stones into one blurred, indistinguishable mass.

Isaac had to crane his neck to face her. Instinct said to step back, but he stood his ground. Somehow, he sensed that if he turned away now, something would be irreparably broken.

“When you find out,” the demon said, voice low yet easily echoing about the cavern, “Do you swear to tell me first? Me and Lord Lucius?”

A small voice in Isaac’s head told him that this was a bad idea. There was too much rage in the sharp thrum of those words, too much in the curl of clawed hands. He thought about Seaton’s tattoo flaring gold, about Lilith saying that the System would be reinforced.

But at the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to say no. Not when Olzu’s presence still lingered in every memory of the Inferno. Not when his knuckles still throbbed from knocking against the still cavern walls that staunchly rejected any visitors.

Isaac met the demon’s gaze. “I swear,” he said.