It was a beautiful cloudless night, the moon's face was slightly turned away, a crescent casting dim light down on the island below. The island was large, here and there dotted lights in the night, cities spread out over its surface.

  What bordered this island was not water, but clouds and air. Near the edge, closer to the surface was a brighter patch with activity even at this late hour. An object slowly came into view as it descended to land among other similar objects.

  It was an airship of some kind, and people began to get off it. Among those people a familiar set of reddish orange fox ears appeared. Stepping out from the crowd was Lilly dressed in a simple leather adventurers outfit with a short skirt and a leather cloak. She was holding the hand of Belphagor, the demon Princess, dressed in a moon and star themed asymmetrical dress. One shoulder bear with a crescent moon crafted into the neckline.

  They made their way off the landing strip and into town, Belphagor was swaying sleepily, she'd gotten some rest on the ride here, but seemed to have only made her more tired.

  "Come on, we'll get an inn and move out in the morning. We have a bit of a long journey ahead of us." Lilly urged her softly as she led the way towards a sign in the distance that read 'A Rest Among The Clouds' Belphy simply murmured an annoyed sound.

  Lilly pushed the door open, a jingle from the bell announced her arrival. The interior was cozy with candles lit giving a warm glow. On one side there was a fireplace and two chairs, empty but the atmosphere was nice. Ahead of her and an old man with greying hair sat at the counter, reading glasses adorned his face as he sifted through the pages of a book.

  He looked up as they stepped in, his eyes softened at the sight of the young girl barely staying on her feet. Unaware of her true identity as an enemy of humanity.

  "Hello, welcome." He spoke with warmth as he closed the book and set it aside. Lilly smiled and set a gold coin on the table.

  "Give us your coziest room, please." She pushed the coin towards him, her eyes were on Belphy, she had her head down and avoided eye contact.

  "Of course here, your change and room key. It's on the top floor." He took the golden coin and passed her two silvers and a key with the number fifteen on it.

  "Thank you sir." She bowed lightly before taking the lead upstairs to their room.

  "Have a nice rest." The old man called after them better returning to his book. Drifting through the pages once more with only the sound of the fire as background noise.

  Lilly closed the door and locked it, sliding her cloak from her shoulders she approached the bed and sat down. Belphy did the same, though she pressed herself against Lilly and yawned.

  "Belphy, do you know the other Bishops?" Lilly asked curiously, Belphagor paused before looking up at her. The sleepiness was gone and her eyes were clear.

  "Yeah, I knew all seven." Belphagor replied softly, "There's only five now."

  "Wait, I know that Asmodeus disappeared, but that's only six. Who's the seventh?" Lilly sat a bit straighter as her interest peaked, Belphagor tilted her head with a difficult expression.

  "Um, well. . . You know how the Bishops are currently led by Maxwell with only Griax butting heads?" Belphagor asked, lifting her finger like she was teaching a child.

  "Huh, um yeah, but how do you know that? Didn't you wake up recently?"

  "I'm getting there sis, ok so around four hundred years ago, prior to the demon King's defeat the Bishop's had a leader named Sariel, The Bishop of Alchemy. . . She was my favorite. . . Daddy let me play with her all the time. It was always sad when she went to war. Lonely without her." Belphagor pulled her knees up as tears peaked out from the edge of her eyes. "Daddy was changing slowly, Sariel confided in me a lot about that. She was trying to save him, she kept saying that. I guess she failed."

  "Cause he was defeated?" Lilly asked, her face softening, pulling the young demon closer.

  "No, cause he ordered her execution, Maxwell ripped her core out. I'm the princess, I had to be there, to watch my mentor die." Belphagor choked as the words came out, the tears finally fell and she quickly wiped them away and covered them with a cough.

  "After that Maxwell took over leadership of the Bishops, however Maxwell could never control Griax, who'd become listless and chaotic." Belphagor sighed softly, "I think he liked Sariel too."

  "Hmm, Maxwell never told me about the Seventh." Lilly pondered softly, "I've probably pushed you too much I'll ask about the others later. We should get some sleep."

  "Sister Lilly. . . The one we're gonna meet at the School of Magic, she is the Bishop of Deceit. . . I never felt too comfortable around her I'm a bit worried." Belphagor murmured sleepily as she crawled deeper into bed.

  Everything was dark and misty, she slowly became aware of her existence though. And as the feeling of a flesh form rose up inside her she became aware that her eyes were closed.

  As her lids cracked open, light seeped in and burned her eyes. She flinched uncontrollably, a voice touched her ears for a moment, and she became aware of the concept of sound.

  The sense of touch was next, something kinda soft and rough at the same time was brushing the skin in between her toes and fingers. It was also a bit cold, and damp. This was also the same time that the idea of limbs, hands, and feet entered her perception.

  She pushed downward and rose up, drifting side to side something warm brushed against her and that sound entered her ears. A deep soft voice, and a touch.

  Her lashes fluttered once more attempting to adjust to the light, and this time she was greeted by such an overwhelming amount of information that her legs went weak.

  Birds chirped among green and brown, blue dotting the in between with the occasional white painted over it. The brown traveled down in various pillars reaching the green blanketing the ground. Traveling all the way to beneath her bare feet, her eyes curiously took in her own skin, pale clean and smooth.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  She wiggled her toes and an uncontrollable smile appeared, suddenly another sensation touched her shoulders as a sheet of malleable black was wrapped around her and she turned to see a face. Young and male, and the very basic information she had contained his race and more importantly his name.

  "Hello, Master Galen."

  "Hello, my first demon, your name will be Sariel." He spoke passionately as he stepped in front of her. "An angelic name, because you will be my light, and my hope. I yearn to end the cycle so I will fight my destiny with everything I have. I hope you will help me, but if I fail. I need someone to kill me."

  "Kill you? How could you ask that of your faithful servant." Sariel protested in frustration, she'd just woken up and this was her greeting.

  "Ha, no need to dwell on it now. We have time to learn and grow, however time is deaf, it can't hear you ask for more. We must do well with what we have. Let's get moving, I need to teach you a lot in order for my plan to work." He held out his hand and Sariel took it without thought. That beautiful, handsome face cracked and the heartless cold demon he was destined to be broke through. She was suddenly kneeling on the platform, Maxwell stood before her with her core in his hand. She didn't care about that though, her eyes were locked on him. Sitting on his throne, with no emotion on his face. She trembled, letting her head drop, a deep empty regret sinking into her stomach.

  Just then a light began to shine on her, like a spotlight, she frowned and squinted into it. Sunlight, streaming through her window. Sariel sat up with a yawn, demons didn't need to sleep, but that didn't mean they couldn't. Sariel picked up plenty of habits from her late Master, one of those was sleeping.

  Stumbling over to her workbench while rubbing sleep from her eyes she sat down. The world became clearer as the dream faded, on the desk sat two bracelets. Metal links similar to a watch band, one was mostly completed and she finished it in a short time before sliding it into her wrist. It had two prongs that stretched out and rested a red magic stone against her palm.

  Having finished the first cuff, she got to work on the second. In the meantime she heard the footsteps of the older woman coming down the stairs.

  Click, the second cuff was attached, she pressed down on the stone and flicked her wrist. The prongs flipped and pressed against her forearm instead, disappearing beneath her own coat's sleeves.

  Sariel stood up and stepped from her room, the smell of breakfast caused a smile to settle on her face. Pausing as she entered the kitchen, watching the older woman cook. She may have been blind, but she'd been living on her own so long she had learned how to do everything herself.

  Breakfast was served and Sariel greeted the old woman. "Good morning."

  "Good morning child." Grace smiled as she sat down at the table, Sariel followed suit as they began to eat. "It's been wonderful having you here dear, but isn't there somewhere you should be?" Grace suddenly asked, Sariel tensed, pausing for a moment.

  Technically, there was a place she should be, her being awake meant that the energy of the demon kings was radiating across the world. Other demons would begin to awaken, if she was a normal demon, she would seek out the closest demon with a higher rank. . . And the only one that fit that would be the demon king.

  "Not really, I'm not ready to meet up with old allies. I think I'm quite content here." Sariel responded, with a light smile before taking another bite.

  "Well, I'm not going to complain, you've brightened my life in these final years." Grace mused softly.

  After the meal Sariel said goodbye, then headed down into the village. The path to the house was maintained, the porch was clean. Sariel had been working to clean up and maintain Grace's home.

  "Miss Sariel!" A voice called out, a kid ran up with a young girl following him. They were close friends. The girl was holding a flower, but she seemed hesitant. "Hey, are you coming down to the store, can't we spar again!" The boy exclaimed, reminding her of the fight they'd had when she first entered the village. Since then, Sariel would occasionally spar with him while teaching him. His name was Ash and-

  "Sister, here." The young girl, her name was Marlene, stepped forward and presented the flower. This girl was shy and gentle, reminding Sariel of the past. The story of the demon king had multiple tellings, but none were correct, though each contained a little bit of truth. One of those stories completely demonized the demons and their king. In that story the hero had a wife, a gentle girl who was shy and hid over a hood. Always sticking close to the hero.

  The thing is, no one ever realized that that story was about the Demon King and Sariel. I was recently created and knew very little, it was scary back then.

  Sariel crouched down and took the flower. "Thank you very much Marlene, I'll find the time to teach you more about flowers later." Surprisingly, for a demon touted as the greatest strategist, and leader of the most powerful demons to ever walk Thelsia, she could be surprisingly girly at times.

  Sariel headed down the street with the kids in tow, pushing open the door to a small shop she stepped inside. The jingling of a bell announcing her arrival.

  "Hello welcome!" A young man called out, his name was Andrew, a young blacksmith and swordsman. He was part timing here at this shop, Sariel smiled as she stepped up to the counter. She kept her hood on when in the town, using magic to keep it in place.

  "Ah, Sariel, welcome welcome. We haven't gotten anything new that would fit into what you normally buy sadly. No mana stones or precious metals I'm the latest batch." Andrew explained as he stepped out from behind the counter, "However, I was thinking, from your sparring sessions. Would you be interested in a sword?"

  Sariel pondered for a moment, the Hero's sword clashing against her Master's entered her mind for a moment. But she soon shook her head.

  "No, I prefer a more loose weapon. Something like a whip would do well." Sariel explained, leaning on the counter, watching as Ash picked up a stuff and swung it lightly. Puffing his chest out like a hero.

  "Yeah, a whip huh?" Andrew pondered softly, "got it!" Sariel wasn't really listening, she was thinking about the spar and flowers. It truly was peaceful, she didn't feel resentment to the one who killed her master, how could she be mad at family. The other demons probably didn't feel the same though.

  Crack, Sariel smiled, crack, crack, crack. She back stepped and readied her sword. The young boy Ash was panting with sweat dripping down his cheek.

  "Honestly you're pretty good, reminds me a bit of learning with my own master." She mused absently.

  "Who taught you swordsmanship?" The boy asked curiously as he downed a pouch of water.

  "Ha, would you believe me if I told you the hero did." Sariel chuckled, but Ash paused.

  "Cody? You've been to Kozak?" Ash asked curiously.

  "Ah, heh, guess I have." She responded hesitantly, I guess the cycle really has started again. A new hero and this energy. . . It's not my place to interfere. It's not my Master.

  Sariel tossed the wooden sword to Andrew who caught it and smiled, "You sure you don't want a sword?" He asked again and she only shook her head.

  "They're too slow and predictable, I need something far more flexible to keep up." She explained, her eyes moving towards Marlene, picking flowers at the edge of the sparing ring. There was an interesting flower growing there and Sariel approached, bending over to pluck it.

  She remembered this was created by the hero back then, he said it was his favorite flower from his world, something called a spider Lily. It was blood red and honestly a very pretty flower.

  But in this world it had a different name, Rinsei, though it was a flower that grew in places with strong demonic energy. Some falsely believe that it grows in places steeped in death, but that's simply a misconception.

  She frowned, this is probably my fault, my energy seeps into the ground.

  "What's that flower called?" Marlene asked, looking at the flower with sparkling eyes.

  "Ah, this is a Rinsei, a flower cultivated by a past hero who was homesick. Here-" Sariel placed the flower behind her ear. "This flower, is special, it detects rampant demonic energy. If it ever suddenly blooms brighter then it currently is, come tell me immediately." Sariel told her sternly.

  "Is it important?" She asked curiously, Sariel nodded.

  "Yes, very, it could save your entire village." She then picked a couple more flowers and began to show Marlene how to make a flower bracelet from woven flowers. It would be nice if things could stay peaceful like this.