Kate, Lilith, Phea and Saliria took their seats at one of the restaurant tables while Apollyon stood beside it.

  “I will cook for you tonight. Do you have preferences?”

  Lilith shook her head. “I am just happy to finally eat something properly cooked with love again, no more conjured stuff for a while.”

  Saliria looked at her friend for confirmation. “Nothing too fancy please.”

  Phea nodded. “Something simple and hearty, something that makes you feel good.”

  Apollyon returned a smile. “Then I know what to do, might take a bit though.”

  “Please don’t rush, I just want something good, not something fast.”

  “Of course. I will return shortly.” With that, the devil left for the kitchen.

  A moment of silence followed, broken by Kate tilting her head at Phea, who returned a smile and a question.

  “You noticed something, didn’t you?”

  “I have and I am trying figure out how that works. The way your hair does the…” She vaguely gestured behind her head. “tentacle thing.”

  “It does that naturally, wherever my hair bunches together, it forms a little tentacle.” Currently, the pale violet-ish grey skinned woman had her dark blue hair gathered into a tight ponytail which turned into single tentacle a few centimetres below her hair tie.

  “It looks really cute.”

  “You think so?”

  “I do! I have only ever read about one type of demon having those tentacles… you’re a Shadow, right?”

  “I am, and you are a Nightmare. I have felt your distinct presence since I woke up.”

  “I need you to expin that.”

  “When we explored my powers, Lilith expined that Nightmares will feel more solid to me. You know what I can do, right?”

  “Slipping into other people’s bodies.”

  “Among other things, yes. Wasn’t the worst distraction in that endless void. Anyway, I can’t slip into a Nightmare. Everyone else feels more… fluid? Like when you look into a clear pond and you can see everything under the surface and you can reach in, but instead of water you are like gss. I can still see inside but I can’t reach in.”

  “If I were still human, this would have felt intrusive and horrifying, but since minds are transparent to me as well, I can rete. Some people are just more gooey or rigid or even light and wispy than others.”

  “We need to take some time eventually to compare how we perceive the minds of others, that’s super fascinating but maybe a little creepy for the two here who can’t do that.”

  “That’s fair and we totally need to do that. Speaking of what demons we are, Saliria, what about you?”

  The ashen white-haired woman looked quite happy with herself. “I’m a devil with the single most useful aura for getting stuck somewhere for millennia. I radiate patience.”

  “You’re kidding me.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Okay, that is an amazing coincidence.”

  “It really was.”

  Kate took a deep breath. “If I may ask, how did you two even end up in the needle with Lilith? And to that end, what happened back then?”

  The three former needle prisoners looked at each other. Lilith spoke after a moment of deliberation. “They tried to warn me but were too te. I found something out and tried to confront the sorcerer king about it. Phea and her guard Saliria knew it was a trap and tried to warn me, then the trap was sprung.”

  “And what did you find out? I know from reading the reports made after you vanished that the king wanted to use the needle to preserve himself to rule in a ter, more advanced, era. I think he also figured out that it would not work that way, that’s why he used it to trap you.”

  “Likely at an angel’s behest. I will need talk to Yaldebaoth quite soon about it. What do you know about the human improvement tempte project that we ran in Atntis?”

  “We call it the ‘original human tempte’ now and that most of the genes that were part of it are now nearly extinct. There was a second round of alterations that most humans carry, like the inability to learn Atntean or magic and a change in how the body reacts to magical diseases. I don’t know why the original tempte was discarded though.”

  “There was a fw in it, something Yaldebaoth believed to be her own fault. She went into self-imposed exile over it. There was a heightened chance that instead of bearing a child, a mother’s womb would turn cancerous and kill her.”

  Phea scoffed. “Heightened is an understatement. Without magical treatment, every second conception would end in death.”

  “We provided treatment that was also a gamble, almost a coinflip if it would protect the mother or turn her infertile. If it worked, she would always have twins. An Atntean archivist found records of a conversation between the sorcerer king and the archangel God in which the angel confessed to sabotaging the tempte he work on with Yaldebaoth. I don’t know to what end.”

  Kate sighed. “God is dead now, so we won’t get any answers from him. But his former right hand switched sides. Sariel killed him to end the third war and then fell, for the ck of a better word. She became one of us. Maybe she knows something.”

  “Possibly. You said she became one of us? She turned into a demon?”

  “Yes. She leads the justiciars now, a retively new group dedicated to protecting anything demon reted from potential threats. The demons in the library on border world side are working for her, they’ll be here until the defence rings are back up and running. Sariel herself killed Gabriel earlier to stop him from interfering with our attempt to free you. I honestly can’t imagine anyone more... loyal? No, that’s the wrong word… dedicated with all her heart to Hell and everything we stand for.”

  “That is high praise. I will face her with an open heart and mind then.”

  “That is all I could ask for. I wonder if Gabriel knew and if that was why he tried to stop us today.”

  “A good question. He must have known… Hm. Why did killing God end the third war?”

  “He took power in the heavens after the second war, uniting the high courts under himself and practically banishing the Elders to the far corners of their world. He became a tyrant, even by angelic standards. The war was practically already over when Sariel killed him. Your direct successor, High Inquisitor Athena, led a strike team that fought the entire war basically. The armed forces were already disbanded by that point. She and the four riders had made their way to God’s throne room to confront him. The seven archangels, now six, stood beside him. Then Sariel simply stabbed him and tore him apart. The other angels fled and she surrendered herself to Athena’s mercy.”

  “It seems much has happened since we were imprisoned.”

  “Sadly, yea. But that’s not a topic for today, today we are happy.”

  “Yes, it is cause to celebrate to be here again.”

  “That it is.”

  “I wonder…” Phea spoke up. “Since humans can become demons, there might be a chance my sister is still alive.”

  “There were Atntean refugees that were turned into demons. Give me a list of people you might want to meet again and I will hand it to Lucifer or Azazel. Maybe there is someone still there.” Kate sounded rather optimistic.

  “A good idea. We’ll make one.”

  “I am hopeful that we will find someone you remember.”

  “Thank you for that optimism. I’m just happy to talk to someone new again.”

  “Well, I am happy to be of service. It’s fun to meet new people for me as well. Especially when it’s ancient people who remember events I can only read about.”

  “I can imagine how awesome that must be. You are quite young, right?”

  “Only turned six years ago, yea. I’m twenty-seven.”

  “So, you know a bit about modern humans. Would you care to show us around the city here?”

  “That would be my pleasure.”

  “I suppose after all this time, Atntis changed as well, didn’t it?”

  Kate gnced at the kitchen door, hoping that Apollyon might return to postpone this question. As, she would have to answer it on her own. “Atntis is gone. I told you about the refugees, the reports tell of barely a thousand being transported to Hell before the city was destroyed.”

  Phea didn’t seem surprised. “I see. When and how?”

  “Weeks after you became imprisoned. As for the how… that’s not my pce to tell. Eisheth will be able to properly tell you. I’m sorry.”

  “Then there is a chance that my sister was among the refugees.”

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s not dwell on this anyway. As you said, today is a day of celebration.”

  Apollyon finally interrupted, carrying a big pot of stir fry. “It is and I hope the food is adequate for that.”

  “I am absolutely certain just going by the smell alone.”