Chapter Text
A storm raged over the endless bone plains over the underworld. Ash and soot rained down as the winds shrieked through the moonless night. Off in the distance, a single structure rose above the plain around it.
It was a fortress of black stone and steel, materials which marked it as having been built by outsiders. Its walls reached at least twenty feet up, and were covered in downwards facing spikes. Three tall towers reached for the sky, their bright windows piercing through the night.
Behind one of those windows, was a short figure waving a quill in front of her face. In front of her was a desk with a single blank sheet of parchment on it. She placed her quill on the top right corner of the parchment, hummed to herself for a bit, before shaking her head. She pulled her quill back just as someone knocked on the door.
"Come in," she placed her quill down and got to her feet as the light in the center of the room illuminated her fully.
At first glance, one could have mistaken her for a normal human girl with long blond hair and tanned skin. Her short stature would have given the impression of a child, but her confident stance and the spark in her eye were unmistakably that of a teenager who did not yet know of her own mortality.
Her dress was also that of a teenager, at least a typically rebellious one. A short purple shirt under a black jacket, both of them cut high enough to expose her stomach. She wore a pair of high shorts with a black leather belt studded with purple gems, real of course. On her feet were a pair of black boots, a bit simpler than the rest of her clothes, but she needed them with how many stairs this castle had.
However the second she took a step forward the shifting lights, other non-human features appeared. A long tail emerged from her exposed lower back, ending in a flat arrowhead. A pair of short black horns shot out from her forehead and through her hair. Her eyes were ruby red with yellow centers. And on her back were a pair of bat wings coming from a pair of holes cut in her shirt and jacket. The long wings were folded up, to not be in the way.
But they would not be folded up for long. She reached the center of the door and stood in a wide stance with her arms crossed. She smirked as her wings unfolded and the door opened.
"Lilly, we've received…" The young voice paused as another figure entered the room carrying a few papers. "I see you have gone through the gifts you aunt sent you."
"You like them," she broke her stance and gestured towards the clothing. "The latest styles from one of the more advanced human worlds the underworld's connected to. Aunt Carmela said this was what all the girls my age were wearing."
"Most impressive, but how are your wings holding up?"
"Oh, that's the best part," she reached behind her and took off the jacket, the back of it phasing through her wings without issue. "The back's enchanted to just let my wings through. Aunt Carmela did it for me."
"How convenient," the figure walked up to Lilly as she put the jacket back on. "Now for the reason I'm here. The letters from the capital arrived, and a few were for you."
"Thank you Ollie," she accepted the papers and set them down on the desk. "You going doing anything at the moment?"
"Not at the moment my lady," the temperature of the room dropped.
"Ollie… how many times have I told you to call me Lilly?" She demanded as she looked into her servant/best friend's glowing eyes.
"My apologies Lilly, it won't happen again," Oliver calmly informed his mistress/best friend. He thanked his luck that his eyes would not inform Lilly what he was truly thinking. They both may have been demons, but they were not from the same tribe. Lilly was a high devil, well known for their magical power as well as their ability to appear near human. Oliver was a hellthorn, a tribe of demon who were plants in the shape of men.
Oliver in particular, looked like an average teenager wearing a butler's suit with gloves and all, as long as you ignored the glowing jack-o-lantern he used as a head. Most would have been unnerved by his empty eyes and ever-present smile, but Lilly was used to it. Even if it meant moments like this, when she wasn't sure if he was mocking her or not.
"Well, okay then, but work on it. If I don't have at least one person calling me by my real name, I'll go insane," she reached for the letters and started shifting through them. She checked the name of each before putting it to the back of the small stack and checking the next. She reached the very last one when the name caught her eye. "Oh, looks like Nocti's written back to me."
She put the rest of the letters on her desk as she sat back down, Oliver taking his position next to her.
"You know, I was about to write a letter to her when you walked in. It's what I wanted your help with actually."
"Of course Lilly, what did you need aid with?" he glanced down at the desk, quill and parchment.
"Well, I wanted to write her about how I'm spending my time here at the vacation manor, but I haven't done anything new since the last time I sent a letter. I don't want to give her the impression that I'm bored and just doing the same things every day, but I also don't want to insult her by simply not writing a letter." She explained as she held her hand out to Oliver. Without a second though, he reached into his coat pocket and handed her a small knife. With a single slice, Nocti's letter was open. She was careful to open it away from her face, as well as quickly cast a hand full of protection spells on the two of them in case it was booby-trapped. "But now that she's sent me something, I can just reply to that instead."
"She sent you one only a week ago, whatever could this one be about?" Oliver pondered as Lilly carefully took the letter out and unfolded it.
"No idea, but it must have been big if she's sending me another letter so soon." She started reading the letter, face neutral at first, but growing into a wide smile the longer she read.
"Only good news I presume?" Oliver asked as Lilly set the paper down.
"The black priests have marked one hundred years since the last demon lord's fall. The mark of the lord is now in play. It's only a matter of time until a new demon lord is chosen by the mark."
"Ah, are you hoping to be the one Lilly? It would be the highest honor to serve the demon lord, but only if it was you of course," he chuckled as Lilly did her best to keep her face neutral. There were certain things about the position of demon lord she knew as a high devil. Things the eleven other tribes were not aware of.
"Maybe not. But I wouldn't mind getting a chance to see a human world," especially since the last time a demon lord was around, her family had done pretty well for itself. From citizens of the capital, to middle nobility. Demon lords meant invasions of a human world, and invasions meant chances to advance.
And all they needed to do, was avoid the hero at all cost. But maybe she would have a chance to take the hero down. With all of her levels in high devil magician, the hero wouldn't have a chance against her.
Meanwhile, in a high tower in a certain human world.
"A hero approaches," one of the white robbed priests whispered as he gazed through his telescope. He narrowed his eyes and blinked his eyes, but the symbol remained. Up in the sky above was a glowing blue star shining in the night sky. The hero's mark only appeared once every hundred years, and its appearance marked the coming of a new hero.
"I must alert the high priest," the white robbed man put the telescope back into its case and raced down the stairs of the high tower. He reached the high priest's bed chambers and the two guards standing in front of it. "Stand aside, the time has come."
Trained their entire lives for this very moment, the two guard's eyes widened as they stepped aside to allow the white robbed man to enter. The white robbed man marched up to the bed and loudly announced his presence.
"High Priest Isodal, you must awaken!" The old man grumbled as he slowly opened an eye. "The mark of the hero has been spotted in the sky!"
The old man shot out of bed and in a few quick minutes the pair were marching out towards the main hall.
"Alert the high ranking priests, we must prepare the ceremony!" One of the guards ran off to follow his orders as the other followed behind the pair. Over the course of the next few minutes, word spread among the church as priests were awakened and rushed out of bed. Despite the order to only awaken the high ranking priests, there was no way to contain the noise. Soon, every man and woman of the church was awake. A few of them heard whispers of the hero's mark, rushed up to the observatory, and then rushed down a few minutes later to spread the word.
By the time the last of the high ranking priests had arrived, the whole grand hall was filled to the brim. Every eye fell on the high priest, still clad in his sleeping robes under his hastily placed vestments. The whole hall fell silent as they all awaited for him to speak. He let out a single cough which echoed across the hall.
"In case you have not heard, I have tremendous news. The mark of the hero has been spotted in the night sky. A demon lord will soon arise, and a hero will rise to meet them. I and the high ranking priests will reconvene in the ritual chamber. The rest of you will return to bed. There will be further announcements at breakfast this morning."
Some of the lower priests tried to hide their disappointment as they slowly marched their way back to their beds. Soon, only twelve individuals remained in the hall. Without a word, ten high ranking clergy, one lower priest, and a single guard walked towards a single chamber. The high priest himself stood at the head of the room, with the lower priest and the guard flanking him. The other nine high priests stood in a circle around a large pool of water.
"High Priestess Metin, you are the one in charge of tracking the last hero's descendants. What can you tell us?" The high priest demanded as an older woman stepped towards the pool. She waved her hand over the pool as an image appeared in it of a young man with spiky hair appeared.
"The hero Eldren had thr… two children. Between the two of them, they had six children, and those six children has over twenty children. Based on the hero's of the past, our new hero could be one of the twenty great grandchildren. If we limit ourselves to children from the ages of fourteen and twenty, there are seven candidates. If we expand our sight to the ages of ten and twenty five, each of which has happened once, we have eleven candidates."
"And we're in position to contact all of them?" High priest Isodal asked as Metin nodded.
"We can have each and every one of them contacted before dawn," she confirmed as Isodal marched towards the pool.
"Then it's time to reveal the identity of the new hero!" He announced as he waved his hand in front of the pool.
They all watched as an image started to form. At first, smiles appeared on their faces as they could see a flash of blond hair. But as the image pulled back, horror crawled over their face. Black horns, black wings and an arrowhead tail.
In the pool was a demon. A young high devil girl with needle like objects floating around her. She was surrounded by fire, but it was unclear as to what was on fire or who started it. But what was as clear as the star overhead, was that the new hero was a demon.