Peter awoke in a cell. He was attached to the wall with long chains and handcuffs. His stick was put against a wall. Putting a hand on the ground, he could feel the power in the ground. Those chains were more sending a message that really restraining him.

  “Hey, I’m awake. Someone’s there ? ” Peter asked loudly.

  There was some noise outside but no one answered him.

  “Hey, I’m awake ! ” Peter said. But, again, no one answered.

  Well, if he was stuck in a cell with nothing else to do, he could at least try to use his power without falling unconscious again, Peter thought to himself.

  “So. let’s try this.” Peter said, starting to take power. “This time, more slowly.”

  Peter drew some power and wanted a simple rock to appear in front of his hand. The power flowed within him, went out by his hand and a small rock appeared in front of him. He had to be careful as he was feeling his body getting exhausted by the flow of this power.

  “Ok, we go nice and slow.” Peter said.

  Peter started to manipulate it by moving his hand, rotating it and changing its shape. Peter felt it was not burning a lot of power and his body was slowly accommodating to the flow going through it.

  He complexified the form of the rock, starting to give it the form of a statue. He was now using both hands as the task was more complex. The statue was fluctuating, taking the appearance from one demon to another. Tianne, with her feathers, Sophie, with her scales, Lucas, with his guns. Okay, probably no one could recognize them as the statue was really crude.

  At one point, someone put a bowl through a small opening at the bottom of the door before leaving. It broke Peter's concentration and the rock fell on the ground before disappearing.

  “Hey, what’s happening ? “Peter said. But no one answered him.

  Peter quickly ate the bowl. It was not that terrible, he expected worse in a jail in Hell. Without anything more interesting to do, he began again to play and manipulate rocks with his power.

  It was an interesting task for Peter. Instead of just launching a very large mass of power, he was now trying to manipulate with deep finesse a small fraction of his power. Denaelle said his limit was experience, so he had to use his power as much as possible to acquire it. It was also an experience for his body, it was apparently his main limit until now.

  While he was sculpting a gun for a Lucas statue trying to replicate what he saw during the battle at the plaza, the door of his cell opened. Peter released his concentration, destroying the statue. He saw Sophie in the frame of the door.

  Her expression was a mix of fear and anger but Peter was not sure he was the direct source of this anger. Sophie took a large breath and moved her hand sending a couple of scales towards Peter’s handcuff. A second later, the handcuffs fell on the ground and Peter was free.

  “Thanks, I guess.” Peter said. He was not sure how to feel about the situation.

  “Follow me and don’t thank me yet. You are a witness in the trial of Tianne and your life and hers depends on it.” Sophie said, trying to stay calm. “Since you did not destroy the cell trying to evade and, well, we do owe you our lives, I think you are likely to be banned by the court.”

  “What ? What is happening ? A trial for what ? ” Peter asked while taking his stick. What could Tianne have done to deserve such a thing ?

  “Well. Primordials are supposed to be killed on sight. She knew it and still brought you back. Hence the need for a trial.” Sophie said, leaving the cell.

  “And Lucas ? ” Peter asked, following her.

  “He is too young and did not know that rule. In fact, it’s just the council and some key members of Tol’Osa that really are concerned by this specific rule as, officially, Primordials are legends. Your arrival, and more importantly, your demonstration of power forced us to explain some things we would have preferred to stay hidden.”

  “Hey, it’s not my fault ! I didn’t exactly choose to be a Primordial.” Peter argued.

  “I know. And the way you behaved until now is why you are alive. Believe me, in all my existence here, I’ve only heard of two other Primordials. None of them were as calm or nice as you.” Sophie said.

  Peter was speechless. He saved all of them because he was a Primordial but apparently he was going to get judged for this.

  ”It’s time for you to see the court of Tol’Osa.” Sophie said.

  ******

  Peter entered the same room where he stood when the council received him yesterday. At least he thought it was yesterday. Except now, the amphitheater was full and every demon there instantly went on edge at his arrival and aimed at him with whatever they had, gun, fork, spear, metal or wood spikes…

  From down there, Peter could see that Lucas and Ben were not happy at aiming at him. He could also see they were not the only ones not happy at this situation.

  Tianne was in chains kneeling in the middle of the room and Sophie was just behind her. Edgar was sitting on the middle desk right in front of them. His eyes were furious.

  “Sophie, why is that thing not in chains ? Is he not dangerous enough to be detained at any time ? Don’t tell me that witch corrupted you ?” Edgar bellowed.

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  “I won’t keep our savior in chains. Whatever you may think of him, he still saved everyone here. You can not deny him that.” Sophie replied with strength in her voice.

  That assembly was really on edge, Peter thought. Not a good thing, especially if that court was like older courts with a tendency to kill quickly.

  “That’s the only reason he is still alive. I did not protect this town for half a millenia for it to be destroyed by a freak corrupted by its own power.” Edgar replied with an aggressive tone. “Now ! Peter, apparently Tianne did not tell you what you were and thought she could prevent the Primordial corruption. Is that true ? ”

  “Yes, Tianne never told me I was a Primordial.” Peter answered walking toward the feather demon on the ground. “I don’t even know what that corruption stuff is.” Tianne was not in a good shape and suffered multiple hits. But the wounds were not from birds. Has she really been tortured by another demon ? This town was starting to get on his nerves.

  “You will be corrupted by your own power. Each time a Primordial awakens, each time they have to be stopped from destroying Hell. Last time, it was the Prince herself that had to act. So now, we are doing prevention. Apparently Tianne already knew you were a Primordial and brought you back instead of killing you in the plain. For this, that witch deserves death. As for you, I can not forget Tol’Osa is alive because of you, so we will banish you from the town.”

  “So you are gonna kill someone whose actions saved the town and banish someone because he saved your town. Yeah, this is Hell.” Peter said with anger in his voice” Sophie, are you okay with letting her die ? ”

  “No. But we must have rules to survive, I tried but I can’t save her, not without killing someone else.” Sophie said, looking at Edgar.

  “We both know no one here can challenge me to take my seat at this council.” Edgar said, looking back at her. ”Don’t even think of it, Peter, you are way too inexperienced to have any chance against me. The judgement is now clear. Tianne, for deliberately putting in danger our whole town, I condemn you to death. Peter, as you were not aware of your own situation and you saved us all, we are simply banishing you from our town. Know that everyone will try to kill you if you come back. Does anyone object ?.”

  Sophie hissed with contempt. Everyone else in the assembly was murmuring. Apparently, the death of Tianne was not very well accepted but no one was objecting.

  Peter kneeled in front of Tianne, she had cried before and was now resigned.

  “How are you ? ” Peter simply asked.

  “It’s over Peter, I’m sorry I couldn’t do more. I have to pay the price. Maybe if I could have shown them you were uncorrupted I would have some luck but it’s always like this. People can’t accept change and new options.”

  “Yeah, I’m not sure everyone shares Edgar’s opinion. Do you think I can punch some sense in him ?” Peter said with a smile.

  “Peter, no. He is too strong for you.” Tianne said with fear.

  “I can’t care less. I won’t live letting the ones around me die.” Peter said before turning back to Edgar. “Hey, that’s my answer to your judgment.”

  Peter stomped the ground to draw a little power and used it to give Edgar a rocky middle finger statue. The assembly was in shock.

  “You want to kill Tianne. You’ll have to come get me first.” Peter yelled at the assembly. ”So who will I have to punch to explain that we don’t kill our friends or our fellows ? Who wants to test what I delivered to those birds ?”

  All around Peter, each demon hesitated. They were all taking aim at him but now, they were clearly not sure they could take him.

  Edgar raised his hand.

  “I will personally end you at the same plaza where we fought back the Blackwing swarm and protect Hell from the destruction you’re carrying. People of Tol’Osa, I have been challenged. Let it be known that a leader never goes back against such a thing. I will defend my seat and my title and I will destroy that menace to our town.”

  “This is madness, Peter.” Tianne said. “You are just throwing your life away. You can’t save me.”

  “Yeah, well, apparently you didn’t have to save me and you still did it. So, I’m doing the same thing for you.” Peter said back.

  “Everyone, out, we are doing this now ! ” Edgar said loudly, surpassing the noise of the assembly.

  Sophie walked next to Tianne and started to support her.

  “I won the bet.” Sophie said as she was putting herself under the shoulder of the feather demon.

  “Which bet ? ” Peter asked, going under the other shoulder and using his stick as a support.

  “The one where she bet with me you would challenge Edgar. And technically Peter did not challenge Edgar.” Tianne said, laughing in pain.

  "Well, Edgar took it as a challenge." Sophie said.

  “Really ? Are life and death situations a joke for the both of you ? ” Peter asked, annoyed.

  “Well, we do share some ways of thinking.” Tianne said.

  “And we shared a lot more than that back in the days.” Sophie added.

  “Hey, if I somehow survive all of this, Sophie, would you share a night with me ? ” Tianne asked.

  “Of course, my love.” Sophie said.

  “Okay, I know we are in Hell and people here are not saints but is everyone so casual about sex ? ” Peter asked as they were now on the plaza.

  “Yeah. We don’t really have any taboos about this. Especially after a couple of centuries.” Tianne said.

  ”Who else did you meet to think that ? ” Sophie asked.

  “The First Fallen, Denaelle. She asked to sleep with me at our second meeting.” Peter said while looking at other demons who were forming a large circle on the plaza.

  “You’ve met the Prince of Hell ? In her legendary palace ?” Sophie said, shocked.

  “And you slept with her ? ” Tianne added, as shocked as Sophie.

  “I did not sleep with her ! Why would you think that, you bunch of pervs? ” Peter said.

  “Hey, she's the sexiest girl around.” Sophie said.

  "And the most powerfull." Tianne added.

  “Yeah, the looks are not my priority when I want someone in my bed and I was more focused on trying to survive and understand Hell. And, by the way, this is still my priority as I’m going to fight Edgar !” Peter said with energy.

  They were now on one side of the circle and Edgar was at the opposite. Donero was standing right in the middle.

  “People of Tol’Osa. This fight will oppose the will of Edgar, our council member and Peter, our savior about the judgment delivered against Tianne. That fight will end whenever a member concedes or dies. May the contestants come forward.” Donero announced.

  Edgar removed his tunic and walked forward. As he walked, his fur got denser and his horns longer.

  “Any advice ? ” Peter asked, looking at the two demon ladies.

  “That guy is an old warrior. He chose Hell to be with his platoon. He will fight to death.” Sophie said.

  “Your only advantage is that you have more power than him, but I don’t think you can make him burn all of his own before he gets you.” Tianne added while sitting on the ground.

  “Okay, I have a plan. I just have to overcome a mental blockage.” Peter said.

  “Which is ? ” Sophie asked.

  “Destroying a human soul ! ” Peter said, walking forward.