Adeline and Bihse stopped their squabbling as they stared at Azazel. Tymon was very concerned by the statement as he frowned. Azazel simply pointed at the empty chairs as everyone took their seat silently. Adeline was very curious about that statement; was he referring to her or the others? Azazel drank a cup of water as he took a bite of his steak. Once he was done and satisfied, he put the utensils to the side and cleared his throat.

  “Have you ever wondered how demons came to be?”

  “The shamans taught us they are the guardians of the forest, just like us, but they are not born like us. They are created by the forest, a manifestation of its will.” Bihse was first to answer.

  “The church taught us they are a vile evil conjured by the monsters through sacrifice,” Tymon answered.

  “Where I am from, they are from hell, and they seduce humans to do bad things. I was called one a lot, which I found very rude,” Adeline puffed her cheeks.

  Azazel slightly thought of what Adeline spoke, then shook his head. He would need to talk to her privately next time. “Adeline, I would recommend you don’t tell anyone who you don’t trust.”

  “I am not stupid, so don’t worry about that.”

  “Anyways, demons are very complex creatures by nature, but to understand them, you need to go all the way back to the beginning of time.”

  Blue mana flowed from his hands toward the desk as the room darkened, and images started to appear on the table. They started to move as a video slowly began to form. Azazel cleared his throat as his narration began.

  “When the gods and goddesses created this world, each had a role to py, but the five strongest among them shaped parts of it to their liking: the god of war, death, justice, sea, and void. They are the ones responsible for creating most living things, but they created humans st.”

  The video pyed as the group looked closely in admiration and curiosity.

  “When all was done, they left it be and simply watched from the shadows. They saw it as a form of entertainment, but over time, they grew attached to their creations. The goddess of void especially loved the creatures of the forest and she did her utmost best to care for them. This love changed her into the goddess of life and nature; she broke the void into light and darkness, creating day and night.”

  “Her love for these creatures was so strong that the other gods grew jealous and in turn gave humanity the gift of fire and knowledge. With that, they grew exceptionally fast and expanded. With this, her lovely forest slowly started to shrink, and her creatures were driven deeper and deeper. She tried to fight the other gods but was stripped of most of her power and became a lesser goddess.”

  “Her heart cried out for the forest as she called for the remaining pieces of the void deep within her. That void manifested as what you call a demon, an extension of the goddess. A creature that loved the forest and despised humans and the other gods who tried to harm it. The demon ravaged humans for a hundred days and nights. On the dawn of the hundred and first day, the other gods gifted the humans divinity and magic. With that, they killed the demon and resumed their expansion.”

  The video pyed as the body of the dark demon could be seen slowly rotting back into the earth. When it was nothing but bones, a singur stem could be seen emerging. A stem appeared which grew into a small tree, and over time, the tree grew bigger and bigger. Adeline and Tymon were able to recognize the tree as it became as big as a building. It was the world tree!

  “Its body grew into a rge tree. The first to notice the tree were the elves. Mesmerized, they broke a branch off the tree; it was then they got connected to the will of the goddess. The creatures of the forest naturally gravitated to the tree, and they all got united under the need to protect the forest.”

  “That proved to be difficult because, unlike the humans, creatures of the forest were unable to use magic. Feeling remorse for his actions towards the goddess, the god of war, the strongest of all gods, sacrificed some of his powers to give them that ability also. Something unforeseen happened through that gesture.”

  “The elves who cared for the tree were now connected to it, and the creatures who took a branch slowly turned into a weaker image of the first demon. I was one of those creatures. Previously, I was an orc, but as you can see, I don’t look like one anymore. This word ‘demons’ is not what we are actually called; the name gifted by the goddess was Angelos—the messengers of the goddess. The troll woman might be from that bloodline and somehow maintained that connection, but I would recommend you revisit the world tree.”

  “What was the message?” Adeline asked, but she already had a suspicion about the answer.

  “Death to those who oppose the forest.”

  What Azazel told them matched what Bihse was taught from a young age, but to hear it from his mouth further cemented that belief. For Tymon, this contradicted everything they were taught by the churches.

  “Our sacred text says the opposite. Humanity had been oppressed by the monsters for a long time, and we broke free thanks to the gods. Ever since then, we have made efforts to make sure that doesn’t happen by making sure they don’t overpopute.”

  “Even after centuries, only the trolls, orcs, oni, and ogres are deemed warriors, and that is stretching it with the orcs. We are not made for war, unlike the humans, so this notion that we somehow oppressed your kind is total bull shit.” Azazel stopped as he drank some water, with the video finally ending. The room brightened once more. The group took a moment to process this information as they all exchanged quiet gazes. Adeline cleared her throat as Azazel stared at her.

  “Two humans have had the branch, but one thing that confuses me is why did the elves willingly give it to them? Surely they knew what would happen.”

  “It is because the tree told them to do so. The world tree is sentient. It sees things only gods could see; every inch of this world is connected to it. Over the centuries, its roots spread far and wide.”

  “I still don’t understand why? Will Tymon and Melora really turn into demons? Is that possible?”

  “First of all, we are not demons; we are Angelos. Second, from scanning his core, the process has already started. I don’t know what a human-Angelos hybrid will be; I will have to do tests and monitor their progress. You also fit that description, Adeline; your soul is human and more connected to the world tree than your friends. I will need to meet this woman called Melora and see how far she has progressed.”

  Tymon felt conflicted as the possibility of losing his humanity dawned on him. Adeline was more worried about how Melora would take this. Bihse stared at Tymon, her gaze full of worry. She pced her hand on Tymon as he turned and stared back at her. He was greeted with a warm smile; he reluctantly accepted it. Azazel got up, leaving them in their thoughts. His priority was now contacting his dear wife and resuming his experiments with magic.

  Retrothewise