Back Story

For a long while, he stared at me. I met his gaze head-on to prove to him that he could trust me.

Finally, he looked away and started, 'Demons are usually created through human sacrifice. I wouldn't say all demons are immortal, but we do live for more than a thousand years.'

He started pacing, or more like floating in air from side to side as he continued, 'When a demon died, they just vanished into nothingness. None of us had souls because we were borne out of pure darkness. However,' He raised a finger as if he was a scholar, '-demons began to mingle amongst humans. Aside from encouraging humanity to become corrupt, this also led to the start of the human-demon race.'

He stopped and pointed a finger at me. 'You, Náli, were the first half-human half-demon child. The daughter of Azazel.'

I frowned, 'Uh, I have no idea who that is,' I smiled willy, '-but sounds cool.'

The glowing eyes blinked at me for a second, 'You're kidding right?'

I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes, 'I was trapped in an asylum for the last seven years. They fed us bread and water once every two days.'

'Oh.' He looked away, 'I'm sorry.'

I waved my hand as if telling him to go with his story. He cleared his throat and said, 'Azazel is one of the four demon princes'. All of them are known for their heinous acts of corrupting human souls.'

He scratched the back of his shadowy neck, looking sort of sheepish, 'You were exactly the same as Azazel, if not eviler. Over time, you garnered a reputation for yourself that made people tremble just by hearing your name.'

'Oh?' I raised an eyebrow in excitement.

He rolled his eyes but answered anyway, 'Yes. Anyway, here's the interesting part. Many demons looked up to you, they were scared of you more than they were scared of your dad. Rumours spread that he became quite envious of what you had accomplished in such a short time.'

'So.. he killed me?' I concluded.

He threw me a glance but continued pacing, or floating. 'Maybe. No one knows for sure. But you died all of a sudden. Many demons suspected Azazel had killed you with his special blade. But there was no proof, so the speculations were just that, speculations.'

I rolled my eyes. He stopped and looked at me, 'Do you know what limbo is?'

I looked sideways and pouted, 'Uh.. no?'

He groaned, 'It's a place where souls go to after death. For a short time before going to either Heaven or Hell. Remember I mentioned earlier that demons who were half humans only had souls?'

'So, my soul went to limbo?'

'Yes.' He agreed, 'But the problem was that there's no judgement for demons. We couldn't go back to Hell, so we were basically stuck in Limbo. It became the kingdom for lost souls. Our kingdom.'

I held my chin in my hands and frowned, 'So how did I get out?'

He came closer, and I frowned but didn't back down. The glowing eyes stared straight into my amber ones as he said slowly, 'Yes, so how did you get out?'

I frowned and leaned in, 'How did you get out?'

He leaned back and answered, 'Tell me how you got out first.'

'Why should I?' I raised my chin in defiance. The feel of the lightsaber in my hand was comforting, knowing I could use it any second I wanted.

As if reading my mind, his eyes drifted to the object in my hand then back to my eyes. The question was clear in his eyes. But before he could voice it out loud, I blurted out. 'I don't remember anything.'

He blinked and squinted me, as if analyzing to see if I was lying and would crack under the pressure. An amateur trick, really. It would take a lot more than that for me to lose my cool mask.

'Nothing?' He tilted his head at me in thought.

'No.' I answered, it was a half-lie. I have had random flashbacks in the past, but most of them never made any sense so I discarded them quickly.

He stared at me for a minute before snapping his fingers. A whirl of shadows swirled around his form and flashes of light peaked out from within the shadows. It took all of a second, I blinked and the shadow was gone. Instead, before me stood a tall guy with boyish features.

'Reincarnation.' He answered my earlier question. My eyes had narrowed at him, and I was debating if I should drive one of the knives through his heart or make a run for it.

My eyes followed his every move as he took a seat on the sofa. I asked, 'Why do you remember who you are then but I don't?'

He shook his head, 'Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for that.'

I crossed my arms, 'What are you doing here then?'

'A few days before you disappeared, you made me promise to stay by your side no matter wha-'

I cut him off, 'I, hereby, release you of that promise. You're free to do as you please.'

I turned towards the window and heard him laugh. I was too preoccupied staring out the window that I hadn't noticed him standing up until he was standing right behind me. My shoulders tensed and one of the kitchen knives sunk into his shoulder at breakneck speed just as his hands landed on my hips.

His groan was satisfying to my ears, and I glimpsed at him out of the corner of my eyes. He was clutching his bloody shoulder and murmured, 'Should've expected that.'

I chuckled and his blue eyes snapped to mine, 'That was a warning. Touch me again, and I'll cut off your hands.'

There was a lightness in his gaze that made me look away. I could still feel his gaze weighing down on me as he said, 'Raven, right?'

I narrowed my eyes at him and he chuckled then started coughing, 'Kieran. Listen, Raven,' His hand landed on the wall left of the window. A knife flew for his abdomen but he caught it at the last moment with the hand that had been clutching his shoulder. He twirled the knife through the air repeatedly while staring at me, 'I know you don't trust me. But I trust Náli, so you'll be seeing a lot more of me, whether you like it or not.'

I didn't react. I just analyzed his capabilities. If I wanted, I could kill him easily right now. He was already weak from the stab wound on his shoulder and the blood loss. Two more stabs and he'd be dead. But I needed him. He was useful for now.

He removed his hand from the wall and walked away. My eyes followed his every move as he lay the knife on the coffee table. He raised a hand in farewell and said, 'If you need me, you know how to find me.'

The door closed behind him, and I turned to the window. I had been lying earlier. The flashbacks I have been getting for the past sixteen years playing through my mind almost every day. I have been analysing them ever since they started. Kieran's story had put the pieces into place.

Azazel hadn't killed me. I had simply taken his place. Azazel had no soul so it had been to take over his body. I had sent my body into limbo as a keepsake. I figured it might've come in handy later.

But I hadn't been entirely lying about not knowing how my body had escaped from limbo. Kieran was right that demon souls could escape limbo through reincarnation. But my body was just a shell with no mind of its own.

This was only possible if a soul possessed my body, just as I had done with Azazel's body. It was exactly why I felt suspicious of Kieran's sudden appearance. It didn't make sense, and I had too many questions.

Originally, I had placed my body in chains in limbo so it wouldn't be able to escape. As soon as I realized my body had escaped the bounds of limbo, I sealed away Azazel's body in a secret coffin and jumped into some random human's body. Unfortunately, as soon as I had possessed this girl, all my past memories of being Náli disappeared.

I fully became Raven, with no memory of my original identity. Until the flashbacks started. Even after Kieran's story, my memory wasn't fully back. This was a problem because I had to remember where Azazel's body was hidden.

Moreover, I still didn't know how to escape out of this girl's body. I have been pretending to be Raven for so long that I didn't even know who Náli was anymore. I had lost sight of myself. The asylum hadn't helped.

But all this had given me a purpose. I had to find Nali's body. Unfortunately, I didn't where to start. I loathe to admit but I needed Kieran's help because I didn't remember anything about being a demon anymore. I was Raven, the girl with mysterious superpowers. Not Náli, the powerful demon hybrid.

But I felt hesitant about involving Kieran. I didn't trust him. There were too many problems with what he had told me, and I needed answers before I could fully trust him.

When Kieran had said 'you know how to reach me,' strangely I knew the answer to that. So I grabbed a knife and pricked my finger to draw a drop of blood. The knife already had some of Kieran's blood on it from when I'd stabbed him so it mixed with my blood. I lit the knife on fire and the smell of metal wafted through the air.

The black smoke that wafted through the air swirled around into an oval shape. Within the black portal, Kieran's face appeared.

I crossed my arms in all seriousness and asked, 'How do I know if I can trust you?'

'The tiara.' He stared at the said object on my forehead pointedly.

I shook my head, 'I need to hear it from you.'

He sighed and said, 'Azazel has a soul.'

I blinked. Then blinked again, and frowned, 'How-'

He cut me off by shaking his head, 'I've no idea how. But I only know this because when I first appeared in Limbo, your body was in chains, asleep. Then, a few days later, you came up to me and started talking. At the time, I didn't know it was Azazel because I hadn't heard the rumours. But then the others appeared. I found it strange how 'you' always defended your father. Demons are known for holding grudges. It was only a matter of time before I figured out it was Azazel.'

I tilted my head at him, 'So why did you lie earlier about 'always staying by my side?'

He shrugged and looked away, 'It was a test to make sure it really was you.'

I narrowed my eyes at him in suspicion, 'You're hiding something from me.'

He met my eyes with his own narrowed ones. He didn't say anything at first then slowly, 'We may have talked once or twice in hell.'

I shook my head, 'No, you sounded and acted like we had been lovers at some point.'

He looked away but I saw the longing in his eyes. Jackpot. That was when I knew I could trust him because this guy would do anything for me. I was internally smiling with glee. If he really was in love with me, he'd do anything for me. Maybe even die if it meant I lived. I needed more people like that in my life whom I could use as a scapegoat if I was backed into a corner.

'I need to find my body.' I told him, figuring he was probably in connection with a few demons. That would be helpful and quick. If my guess was correct, his first strategy would be to gather an army of his own. Preferably turn demons against me.