Chapter Text
Ashswag wasn’t a fool.
As the Ruler of Lies, he, along with the other rulers, could always tell why someone was sent to their respective courts.
Some were children of The Underground, born in the depths to parents who had served in the court, and chose to serve in a court, instead of living in one of the villages. Most, however, were sentenced to serve in the courts by the angels, because of their crimes when they were alive.
Whenever they received a new servant, someone would inform him and he would have a filer come in, and then they wrote down the years of service each person had served.
But today… the guard had seemed nervous, and dripping with dishonestly when they had notified Ash of the wounded person in one of the inner gardens of his palace, which was strange, because usually those who entered were cured of their ails when they entered The Underground.
Ash sighed and took a moment to mentally prepare himself for whatever was about to happen. His office was full of books, though his desk was currently covered in stacks of paperwork. He ran a finger through his hair, tugging when it didn't go through easily. He straightened his tie and tugged back on his suit jacket, which had slowly fallen off as he filled out file after file.
Once he entered the courtyard, a large garden with sprawling banyan trees which were carefully trimmed, and snapdragons, which somehow were always in season, his eyes locked onto the two guards.
They surrounded a figure crouched low by the rocky, grey fountain, which was situated in the center, surrounded by stones.
Then, the pieces finally clicked into place and he finally realized what was happening. That was an angel. An angel who had a missing halo, and nearly tattered insect wings. His guard’s spears were clean, which meant the yellow blood dripping from their wings and back wasn’t caused by them.
He walked closer, and the angel looked up.
Despite the colored glasses, and the orange and yellow, hand-stitched hood, Ash could see the lies written all over her face.
Her brain seemed to catch up, and they shrieked before leaping across the fountain and hiding behind the other edge. His tail flicked in annoyance, but he understood the angel’s fear. Ash had been told many times that he seemed to radiate power. Also, she probably had not a single clue of what was happening. Most angels knew of The Underground, but never left The Skies or interact with The Underground’s residents.
Ash turned halfway towards the pair of guards, making sure to keep an eye on the angel, watching as the guards straightened their backs and held their spears straight.
“You, grab a healer for our new guest, and you,” he pointed at the second guard, “Inform the cleaners they will find something that can clean angel blood off of the stones.”
As they scampered off, he turned back towards the angel, who had not even tried to make an escape. For some reason.
The angel tried to tuck herself behind the fountain even more, which really didn’t do much considering the fountain was circular, and Ash was much taller than the short edge of the fountain that they were trying to hide behind.
The other guards that had been in the archways began slowly backing away from the scene, and seemed to be returning to their posts.
“You’re lucky. The other Rulers are not nearly as merciful as I am.” He sighed in a mumble, though loud enough for her to hear.
Their crouch was lessened, and upon closer inspection, Ash could see that along her back, there were large tears, revealing where their injuries were. Neat scratches ran up and down her back, and her goldish blood soaked into the orange robes.
Ash’s mind suddenly flashed to the sharp spears that the angel guards carried whenever the high ranking officials of both The Underground and The Skies. They seemed to usually be used to poke and prod at whatever new species the angels were working on at the moment, and Ash hadn’t considered how dangerous they would be against other beings.
Especially other angels.
Footsteps on the grass and rock behind him snapped Ash out of his own head, and right back to the bleeding angel.
One of the healers stood behind him, and Ash turned to face them. They dipped their head in a slight bow.
“My sire, we will care for the patient. Please feel free to return to your duties.”
Great. Back to boring paperwork. He’d much rather have to deal with a confused angel.