Explanation

"The world as you knew it is far, far different to how it actually is. You might think of the seven continents of our world, or the celestial bodies of the solar system beyond. When you think of religion, you might think of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, or any of the other ones. You might think of hell as a place filled with lava and suffering, and of heaven as a golden, tranquil place where everyone is in bliss. All of this is accurate, it's true. But none of it is the whole story of… well, anything."

As he spoke, Evan continued to glance back in the direction of where he and Jeremy had fought off the swarm of birds. There was something tugging at the back of his mind, like there was something that he was missing back there.

"No point thinking back there, nothing you could do that would be worth your time," Elias said, in that same reassuring tone that he had spoke in before. "Even if you do feel almost all human, just the fact that you have the taint of Demonhood means that he hates you. It is the curse of the Grounded."

"He was cursed? But, that's not what I was thinking about. There were all of those birds left behind there, couldn't I have, like, eaten them to get stronger? I can't even care about this," Evan laughed. "I have work tomorrow."

"You got all excited about almost dying, but you're worried about work?" Jeremy asked.

"I didn't ask for it," he shrugged. "That's just how it is."

"Forget about your old life," Elias answered. "Forget about work, forget about your friends and your family. This will be your life now."

He stopped talking for a moment, allowing Evan to fully realise the weight of what he had just said. Once he was confident that Evan was okay with it, he continued to speak.

"No, he isn't cursed in the literal sense. No one cast a spell on him, or anything you might think of. But his very existence is a curse in itself, and in more than one way. Acrias is the leader of the Grounded, a faction of what you would know closely as Angels who made it their sole purpose to hunt the Demon threat and those factions of what you would call Fallen Angels. He has sworn oaths to the highest degree, and as a result has no other purpose in life. Wouldn't you call that a curse, too? But more than that, most of the Angels and other divine beings end up shunning him and the rest of the Grounded, thinking of them as being too close to the Fallen Angels to be trusted."

"What?" Evan asked. His mind was still focused on what had been asked of him prior. He was expected to just forget about his old life like it was nothing, and join these people that he had only just met, all because he had got caught up with something that he had little to no control over. Some part of him was excited by the prospect, however immature it would be to admit that, but most of him was rightfully apprehensive.

"Guy's an Angel extremist who despises bad Angels," Jeremy said. "You might just want to be careful around him and his group. As for the rest of it, I wouldn't say that it's too important to know."

"And the fact that you would say that is what will inevitably end up holding you back." Elias said.

"Does it matter? I can kill Demons, that's all I need to do."

"I hope you can learn to be at least a bit more than him," Elias said to Evan. "He is skilled, but his attitude is… lacking."

"Anyway, you were saying?" Evan asked, prompting Elias to get back to what he had been talking about before.

"In truth, Heaven, Hell, and Earth are like three rooms in a corridor, each stood next to each other. Sometimes, the doors between worlds can open, and the beings of each are able to pass between. Another analogy we use is like different floors of a building, with the passageways being an elevator. It might be a bit more accurate, just depends on how everything is actually set out. But we can't tell right now. Anyway, it's these times where the origins of the human mythos regarding religion can be found. Demonic entities would take the opportunity to enter this world whenever they could, and the Angelic beings came to face them. But sometimes, the doors don't always open equally. We could be faced with a Demonic threat with no assistance from the Angels, so we are forced to deal with them ourselves."

"That's where we come in," Jeremy added.

'As if it wasn't obvious,' Evan thought. Between both stating the obvious and his general lack of care for knowing things that seemed rather important, Evan's opinion on him was dropping further and further with every second more that they spent together. 

"We hunt them whenever they appear, finding them both through our own means of detecting them as well as through select individuals within global governments who are aware of both our existence and the realities that I have just told you. While I am able to defeat Demons with my bare hands, people like Jeremy require the use of special tools that come from the Angels. Take his hammer, it is a relic that was once a gift from them."

"Do I have a choice in this?" Evan asked. "Do I have a choice of whether or not to come with you? Why can't I just choose to go back to my old life?"

"You're a Crimson now. You can never go back. So either you come with us, or we have to treat you as a threat. But I think you already knew that, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Evan sighed. Not that he thought it was a problem, given that he would never choose to go back to his old life now that he had become aware of everything now. He just wanted to know if it was going to be his choice or if he only had the illusion. "Just at least wanted the choice."

"This might have been forced on you, but you'll have a choice with almost everything in the future if you work with us."