“WELCOME l”

"Welcome to hell, Jophiel".

'What is this?' I thought. I had never been this befuddled in my entire life. 'Hell? How?' I never thought it existed or rather chose not to believe in it because it made no sense to me why there'd be a place where people would constantly burn in sulphur & fire as punishment after death. I thought of it as sarcasm or just an exclamation but unfortunately for me, l was proven wrong. I was in hell apparently, not dead but very much alive and I might just be standing before the Devil himself or maybe not. According to human beliefs, hell was ruled by the Devil. No, this had to be a dream or maybe a staged play arranged by Pierre and his men to scare me into returning back to the palace but where could he have gotten the time and resources to pull this stunt? Am l going mad? What is happening to me?!

"Earth to Jophiel!", Azazel snapped his fingers right in front of my eyes, bringing me back from my thoughts. I gasped and shooked my head hastily, taking some steps back and pointing a finger at the four masculine figures in front of me "You caught me Pierre, this is a good one".

Azazel facepalms and sighs, "That Pierre guy really did a number on her" he said as he moved towards me and gripped both my hands staring directly into my eyes, "Calm down, Pierre has nothing to do with this, I can promise that". He didn't say much but l found comfort in his words and was willing to actually know what was going on. I inhaled and exhaled heavily, pulling my hands away from his grip and glaring at him, "Elucidate".

He gave a slight nod and extended his hand towards the three men behind him, "Jophiel, this is Hades, the god of hell, the gem of the seven sins also commonly known as Lucifer Morningstar" He said with pride in his voice referring to the man in the middle. He pointed at himself this time, "I'm Azazel, the first direct offspring of Lucifer and the god of death, Daimō. Azazel turned to the man at the right and nodded towards him, "Seth". Seth scoffed and looked away. Azazel then turned to the man at his left with a smile "Acheron". Acheron returned the smile and replied "Brother".

I stood there frozen in shock as I was just introduced to what would be referred to as the authority in hell, the king and his princes. Was l to..Speak? Run? Plead? I had no idea what to do and these introductions left me utterly speechless then my head began to throb in pain. I raised both my hands and held my head as my vision became blurry and my legs gave out under me causing me to collapse.

***

I appeared behind her and caught her in my arms before she hit the ground. "Azazel, take her to a room and make sure Lucindel heals her up. The poison is spreading through her body and weakening her systems", I instructed.

"Yes, Father", he nodded and moved towards me as he picked her up and vanished in haste.

"Are you sure it's a good idea bringing her in? They're going to find out soon enough" Seth asked in an annoyed tone.

"She's bound to know anyways. Go with Acheron and help Azazel and Lucindel with anything they might need" I instructed once more.

"Yayy! Let's go" Acheron said enthusiastically and ran down the hall.

"Fools" muttered Seth as he strolled down sluggishly behind Acheron.

***

"The poison could have had a very serious effect on her since she hasn't harnessed any of her powers yet but I've extracted it. She's stable now and should be conscious anytime soon, Lord Azazel" the maid, Lucindel, said as she wrapped up Jophiel's treatment.

"Thank you, Lucy. You may leave now", I said as I stood to my feet. Lucindel nodded, turned and was leaving the room when Acheron and Seth strolled in. She curtsied, "My Lords" and left hastily.

Acheron moved quickly to where Jophiel was laid and sat at the edge of the bed stroking her hair with a smile on his face. Meanwhile, Seth and l were involved in a death stare 'contest' as we both glared at each other in annoyance. Acheron noticed and broke the silence, "If you want to shed blood, do it outside, don't wake her up".

"Who cares about her?" Seth uttered impulsively.

"She's our sister" said Acheron. Seth rolled his eyes and tuts, "Sister? She has angel blood for goodness sake. Sometimes I wonder if you're actually the god of despair or stupidity".

"She's angelic and demonic, remember that and stop whimpering like a child. It changes nothing if you accept her or not" l said and turned my gaze towards Jophiel. "Let's all leave, she needs her rest".

Acheron nodded and took to his feet while Seth stormed off without any further statements. Acheron and l locked eyes and sighed before we both made our way out as well.

***

I rubbed my eyes and opened them slowly as l raised myself up a bit, then a tingling pain traveled around my body, "Ugh", I groaned. I yawned and glanced around the room that had a stygian appearance, it had a golden chandelier with little candles that were placed on it hanging above my head, the walls were decorated with different colors and adorned with 3 beautiful portrait paintings of creatures that were not human like. I was confused for a bit until it all finally came back, l was still in that odd place. I checked on my shoulder, my wound was all healed up but I couldn't remember how.

I swung my legs down and a maid appeared in my room, I couldn't tell if she was human or a creature, she walked and looked like a human but she had scale-like patches on her skin and orange eyes with pointy ears. I guess that rules out the human part, I thought, although she seemed to be beautiful to look at. She went on to prepare a bath for me and dropped a few clothes at the edge of the bed before she bowed before me and vanished without a word.