Chapter 8: Evening star

Eventually, even Hon fell asleep, but he was woken up by an arrow stucked in a tree right next to his head. His peaceful nights were over, huh?

Someone was shooting arrows at them! It was probably the same person that shot the crow.

He grabbed Xuan and ran to Florence and Adam, woke them up and right when it looked like he would get shot by an arrow, an arm was raised right next to him, holding the arrow. 

It was Florence with her surprisingly fast reflexes. 

She grinned at Hon, reached into her handbag, took out an umbrella and opened it. It was a really big umbrella and all four people managed to hide behind it. 

Since it was a literal demonic umbrella, arrows weren’t able to break it, and because it belonged to the demon queen, even cursed arrows wouldn’t break it that easily. 

They all somehow expected this attack, even though they thought that the attacker wouldn’t be so daring. 

Florence handed her umbrella to Adam and looked closely at the arrow. It had a mark of the second kingdom of Lust. 

„Why would be Dante trying to kill us?!“ Florence asked. 

„You remember t-that one party in Limbo... Circa 80 years ago?“ Hon replied with another question, but Florence immediately understood. 

„Oh, no way he would still- Okay, he might still care about it, but he’s in a literal war with Styx, do you really think he would care about you pushing him off the roof even now?“ 

„You did what?!“ Xuan yelled. 

„Look- I got uncomfortable and I was just trying to be alone for a minute. It’s not my fault that he was s-so stupid...“ Hon said and smirked. „But I never thought he would care about it until now...“ he added. 

„There’s so much I don’t know about him.“ Xuan thought. He actually pushed someone off the roof! Amazing! 

„It might be someone from his circle who holds some grudge against you...“ Adam said and they all gave it a thought. 

Just who would want to kill Hon? Unfortunately, there were too many people. Hon might seem calm and self-possessed, but he has not always been like that. 

He’s been introverted his whole life and afterlife, but he used to be very passive-aggressive. When he was too annoyed with someone, he would say „fuck you“ but in some three sections long term and then push the person off the roof or drown them or something. And that was how he earned most of his friends, but also lots of enemies... 

Throughout the past 50 years, he learnt how to ignore everyone and when to stay silent, but he can’t change the past. It was impossible to change people’s minds easily, even in the realm where past and future blended into each other daily. 

„What about taking care of that guy out there and then find out who it is?“ Florence suggested and Hon replied simply:

„Sure.“

Florence nodded to Adam, who nodded back, then her and Hon looked at each other and swiftly jumped into the directions they were facing. 

Xuan and Adam weren’t able to see what was going on on the other side of the umbrella, but they could surely hear Hon’s katana knocking off the arrows shot at him and something like a hissing. 

Soon, they heard a scream of pain, Florence‘s giggling and something falling heavily on the ground. 

„Come here y‘all!“ Florence yelled at Adam and Xuan and they both stood up and obediently came to her and Hon. 

She was standing above some young man tied by her boa, while Hon crouched down and examined his body. 

„I don’t know this one.“ He said and Florence moved her hand. With this move, the boa on the man’s mouth slightly loosened and he was able to speak now. 

„So? Who are you?“ Hon asked, still crouching down. 

„...“ 

„Why do you want to kill me?“ He asked another question. 

„...“

Still silence. Of course he refused to say anything, but that wasn’t helping at all. 

Hon stood up, sighed and walked to Xuan. „There’s no point in this. Florence, he’s yours.“ He said and turned around, facing them again. 

„Ohhh~ You’re being humble again your highness~“ Florence licked her lower lip and smiled like she was going insane. 

„This is your last chance, boy. Your soul is pretty strong. You do have some potential. So, I can either absorb you now and get a bit stronger, or you tell us what we need to know and we‘ll see each other at some elite banquet in a few years.“ She said and stood on his chest with her right foot, pinning him to the ground. 

„...“ He didn’t say a word. As expected. 

Florence sighed and leaned down, placed her right hand on his forehead and pressed his head to the ground. 

His cries of pain could’ve been heard by everyone present. The light in his eyes was fastly disappearing, but Florence’s eyes shone brightly red. 

Soon, he closed his eyes and didn’t move anymore. If he was a human, he would have some chance to survive, but since he was already dead, his soul was now absorbed by Florence. 

She stood up straightly and licked her lips. Her eyes changed color again and now they were as grey as before. 

„Is he... Dead?“ Xuan asked but Hon sighed and replied: 

„He was already dead...“

He looked back at the body and shook his head.

„Take the arrows and let’s get moving.“ He added and moved forward. 

Adam picked up the bow and arrows from the dead man’s back, Florence called back her boa that crawled up her arm like a snake and they moved. 

The sun wasn’t up yet, but they continued their way to the demon realm portal. 

They walked silently until sunrise. Xuan suddenly grabbed Hon’s hand and dragged him forward, further from Florence and Adam. 

„...What do you need?“ Hon asked, but Xuan still refused to let go of his hand. 

„Can you...“ He stopped his words for a moment and then stopped his whole body and looked at Hon. „Can you take me to the top of that tree?“

„Sure, but why?“ 

„I have never watched the sunrise from up there, but I always wanted to...“

There weren’t any more words needed. Hon understood that he just wanted to see the sunrise from the trees, and there wasn’t any point in not granting him this wish. 

Hon embraced him tightly with his left hand and jumped up. They landed on some huge branch and Xuan slowly turned to watch the sunrise. 

They sat down and watched it together for a while, Xuan holding the top of Hon’s hand. Hon understood that the sunrise probably wasn’t Xuan’s main interest and sighed. 

„Xuan... W-What’s the real meaning of this?“

„Hm?“

„We’re not up here because of the sunrise, are we?“

Xuan looked down and hesitated, before saying: „Well, it’s true that I’ve never watched the sunrise like this...“

Hon sighed again. „You understand that I am a demon king, right?“

„I do.“

„Then, you surely understand that I can’t-“

Xuan jumped into his speech: „That you can’t love me back? I don’t care about that.“ 

„Then why are you still...“

Xuan looked at Hon. „Because I enjoy being close to you. You don’t have to feel anything romantic towards me. I’m not even sure if what I feel is romantic. I just love you and want to stay by your side. Isn’t it the same for you?“

„...I guess...“ Hon replied and looked at Xuan. He sighed once again, looked back into the sun and rested his head on Xuan’s shoulder.

Xuan just smiled and they kept on watching the sunrise, until Florence called for them. 

Before they climbed down, Hon suddenly grabbed Xuan’s hands and looked him in the eyes, saying:

„I noticed that you really like sunrises... When we’ll get to the demon realm, I’ll show you this thing called the internet... You can basically watch as many sunrises as you‘d like, whenever you want on it...“

„I don’t know what that is, but thank you. You can do literally anything in the demon realm, can’t you?“ Xuan asked and smiled. 

Hon laughed a bit and slowly nodded. There were lots of things that they could do, but there were lots of things they couldn’t do at all. Or, better said, they could do nearly everything, but to actually be able to do something, not everyone could afford it. 

Hon was a demon king, so, of course he could do whatever he ever wanted to, but he was still not able to freely come into another person’s territory and start a random fire there. 

Besides „crimes“ and things they appointed „forbidden“, there actually were many things to do, and it would probably be things that a person from this age never even dreamt of. So, of course using the internet would be „being able to do anything“ for Xuan. 

They climbed down the tree and continued their way without speaking anymore. 

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to talk, but they were tired. Especially Florence, who’s been yawning the entire time. 

Hon was thinking about what Xuan just said. Were his feelings actually romantic, or just platonic? He never felt like this before with anyons, so he really couldn’t tell. Maybe it wasn’t even love in the first place... 

But he was really glad that Xuan wasn’t forcing him to love him back. They needed each other, but maybe not in that way.

Soon enough, they arrived in some village. It was much smaller than the town they visited before and people there seemed to be kind and welcoming. 

When the villagers saw that these people travelled a lot, they gave them some food and some of them even invited them to stay in their houses for a bit. 

Still, they decided to rest on some benches around a big fountain in the middle of the village. They couldn’t come into just anyone’s house, and because they were getting close to the portal, they had to look out for everything suspicious. 

Xuan was napping, laying his body on the bench and his head in Hon’s lap once again, and Florence with Adam hypnotized the fountain, when some child approached them. 

It was a little girl, with black hair tied up in a bun, probably 9 or 10 years old, and she made her way directly to Florence. 

„Auntie! Auntie! It’s been so long!“

„Um... Hi? Do I know you?“ Florence asked. She was kinda confused, because children are usually scared of her. 

„It’s me! Klara!“ 

„Klara?! No way! I thought you were dead?“ Florence gasped and looked at her from the bottom to the top. 

„I did die! We all did actually... But now we’re possessing these bodies and living as humans once again!“ Klara actually yelled, which was very strange. 

If ghosts and demons possessed human bodies, they usually wouldn’t say it out loud and pretend to be normal humans. 

If actual humans found out, they would probably get scared. But, what was even odder, none of the passer-by folks cared at all. 

„You shouldn’t say it out that loudly, my dear...“

„It’s fine we’re all dead here.“ Klara said. 

Florence was stunned and Hon, who was listening to them from behind, started paying more attention. 

„What- What do you mean by that?“ Florence asked, even more confused. 

„Well, we are all from the Treachery kingdom. We escaped and came here long time ago! There were loooots of humans, so everyone got a body to possess.“

„Oh! I get it now. Can I talk to your mom?“ 

„Sure! She told me to get you actually!“

„Great! Yumeno!“ Florence yelled and turned to Hon. „Are you coming with us?“ 

Hon looked down at napping Xuan, who just muttered something from his sleep. He sighed and decided not to wake him up yet, if he was comfortable like that. He shook his head and Florence nodded. 

Her and Adam stood up and left with Klara, leaving Hon and Xuan on the bench. 

Hon lay his head on the bench’s armrest and decided to take a little nap too. 

And while the two of them were napping, Florence and Adam walked down a short street and arrived to Klara’s new family house. 

When they entered, someone rushed to Florence and hugged her. 

It was a woman that looked somehow similar to her, with black hair tied up in a bun and in a long blue-ish kimono. 

„Florence! Dear sister! I missed you!“ The woman yelled and Florence slowly and unwillingly patted her back twice. 

„Yeah... Missed you too, sis...“

„I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard you’ve became a demon queen! I wanted to contact you, but you were quite difficult to reach!“ 

„Please, don’t tell me you tried to break into my palace...“

„Of course not! It was only your summer house! I haven’t seen you for 2000 years! I can’t believe you’re finally here!“ Her sister yelled, not letting go of her.

„Please, just tell me what happened and why you didn’t stay in my circle?“

„Come in, I’ll explain everything. 2000 years is a long time, after all.“

And so, the two sisters walked into a room that looked like a kitchen, sat down and talked a bit. 

Meanwhile, Klara went out with Adam and they played with some other children. 

„So? Tell me everything!“ Florence urged. 

„So- basically, after we died, we came to the demon realm. It was chaos at first, but we settled in the  kingdom of Gluttony. We searched for you everywhere, but it was as if you completely disappeared! When we found out you became the new monarch, I couldn’t believe my ears! I tried to reach you, but I just wasn’t able to...“

„So, you tried to break into my summer house?“

„Yes... Well, we were exiled after they caught us and we moved to the kingdom of Treachery. It was quiet and peaceful there and we really enjoyed our stay there! Well... After like 600 years of living there we became well-known all over the place and even met Stroke...“

„Meeting Stroke? That’s quite rare! You know how short that guy ruled? He should be glad he’s double dead now! Well, that’s what you get for taking over a kingdom with the most previous monarchs!“ Florence laughed a bit, but then she saw her sister’s serious expression. 

„Well, about that...“ She said, silently, and stood up. She went to the bird cage in the corner of the room, which was covered with a white blanket, and brought it over. 

„What’s that?“ Florence asked and her sister just sighed and uncovered the cage. 

There was a crow, looking directly into Florence’s eyes, as if it was going to suck her soul out. 

„No way this is Stroke.“ She said, not even a sign of surprise in her eyes. 

Her sister just sighed. „It is... About meeting him... I became his personal assistant. You know how he doesn’t trust anyone? Well, he trusted me. And I wanted to help him somehow and this was the only way...“

„So, you transferred his soul into a crow only a few seconds before his second death?“ Florence guessed.

„I did...“

„Dear god... Cornelia! Are you kidding me? It was so careless of you! Doing this, you could’ve died instead of him! What would you do with Klara then?“

„Well, I know it was very careless of me...“

„Careless my ass! Do you even have anyone who would be willing to take care of a small child’s soul? They would immediately absorb her!“

„But I couldn’t just watch him die!“

Florence sighed and held her own forehead. „Alright, so, what happened next?“ 

„We obviously came here, since it wasn’t that far from the portal. We are currently possessing 96 bodies and no one besides me knows about Stroke.“

„Not even Klara?“

„No. I told her it’s a pet crow I found injured when we were on our way here.“

„And who exactly is „we“?“

„Me, Klara and 94 other souls from the old Treachery circle. I am the mayor here, actually.“ Cornelia explained.

„As expected of my older sister.“ Florence nodded and smiled at her. 

„Florence, I thought you would come here sooner or later... I need your help.“ Cornelia gave Florence one desperate and pleading look.

„I ain’t helping you with that Stroke bird, since he lost his rank. It’s your problem and I am the demon queen. You have no right to ask me to help you with serious matters like these.“

„But I am not asking as your underling, I ask you as your older sister.“ 

Florence looked at her, blinking a few times and then she laughed. 

„Look, there’s no point in bringing him back. He will never be able to defeat The Butcher. Remember that he absorbed all of Stroke’s powers? Even if he wasn’t a crow now, he would still be weaker than your Klara.“

„I don’t care. I need you to find a suitable body for him. Please, we weren’t able to find any body that would be able to hold his soul.“ Cornelia begged. 

Florence thought about it for a bit, then said: „Well, I can think of one. It’s here, in your village, right now...“

„But?“

„The person it belongs to is under the protection of the king of Violence, Yumeno.“ Florence said and side-eyed the Stroke crow. 

„I don’t know your relationship with Yumeno, but if it’s possible for Stroke to take on the human form once again...“

„I don’t want to fight him... But I’ll try to do my best... Just this one time... Because I left without a word back then and didn’t say anything for 2000 years... Sorry.“

„It’s okay.“ Cornelia said and hugged her sister. „You did great.“ 

Florence hugged her back, but she really didn’t want to hurt Xuan. She noticed his similar aura as Hon’s and she found him really interesting in these past days. 

She has never met a human, who wouldn’t be scared of her, and no way in hell there would be someone who wasn’t scared while walking besides two demon monarchs! 

This boy was too good to get possessed by someone as stupid as Stroke, but she felt really bad for leaving her family behind and really wanted to let go of this feeling again. 

Florence immediately understood that she’s being manipulated, but she just couldn’t help it. Family was family, after all... Although, she knew she would definitely lose all trust from Yumeno’s side.

Cornelia covered the cage with the blanket again and they both left. 

They soon came to Hon and Xuan. They weren’t sleeping anymore, but sitting on the bench and happily chatted. 

„I have one question for you.“ Xuan looked at Hon energetically. 

„What is it?“ 

„I heard people calling their territories... Well, territories, kingdoms or circles. What’s up with that?“

„All three terms are correct actually. It really depends on what the person prefers.“

„I see... Thanks.“

Hon just nodded and smiled. 

„Are those two flirting?“ Cornelia asked and looked at Florence. 

„They’re always like this. It’ll be hard to part them.“

„Are you sure you can do this?“

Florence didn’t reply at all. She just put on her usual smile and walked happily to Hon and Xuan. 

„Your highness! Human! I would like you to meet my~ Sister!“ she yelled and Cornelia walked out from behind her. 

„Hi! I’m Cornelia! Florence’s older sister. The girl you probably saw before is my daughter, Florence’s niece. Nice to meet you!“

„You have a sister?!“ Hon asked. He was really surprised by that information. Florence used to mention every single detail from her life on the tea parties, but she never mentioned a sister, nor any kind of a family. 

„I do!“ Florence replied. „Shouldn’t you introduce yourselves?“

Hon quickly realised that he was being impolite and stood up. „S-Sorry for my rudeness. My name is Yumeno, the king of the Seventh circle of Violence.“

„Nice to meet you, your highness.“ Cornelia said and bowed. 

Hon looked at Xuan, signifying to introduce himself too. Xuan got it and stood up too. He bowed to her and introduced himself awkwardly: „My name is Xuan... Nice to meet you...“

„There’s no need to bow to me! My powers aren’t even close to my sister’s! I am but a basic demon.“ Cornelia said and smiled at him. Xuan looked up and smiled back. 

He wasn’t sure if he should bow or not, since he didn’t really understand demon manners, but he thought that since she’s a queen’s sister, she’s probably something like a princess. But that’s not how it worked at all. 

„Y-Yumeno! Can I talk to you for a minute?“ Florence asked and without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Hon’s hand and started dragging him away. 

Hon suddenly stopped and forced his hand free. 

„Hurt Xuan and you’re dead.“ He said with a deadly stare in his eyes. And he was dead serious. 

„Wh-what are you talking about?“ 

„Your speech and the way you walked just now. You’re very uncomfortable and nervous. Say it, there’s no point in hiding anything.“

„...There’s really no point, is there?“ she raised her hand and Hon was immediately tied up with her boa. 

„Hon? Wh-what’s going on?“ Xuan asked and walked a few steps towards him, before being knocked out by Cornelia, who was standing behind him. 

He fell down and Cornelia caught him. She held his small body in her arms and lifted him. 

Hon was looking at this scene carefully, his eyes widened and burning with red. He looked back at Florence, his eyes redder than ever before, and said:

„End this stupid act before I rip off your organs, turn back into my real form and then kill you, but keep a part of your soul and then kill you again and again and again.“ 

„I’m sorry Yumeno... I can’t betray my family...“

„I thought of you as of my family!“

Florence wasn’t sure what to say to this. Hon felt like family to her too and she was much closer with him than with her sister, but she just wanted to help her sister at least once. 

„I’m sorry...“ she whispered, silently. 

It was very hard for her, betraying Hon like this, but her mind was already set. She would let Stroke possess Xuan’s body and then... And then what? 

She didn’t really think about Cornelia’s motive. Why she wanted to bring him back so desperately? 

Perhaps, she was in love? But there wasn’t a point in going this far and needing a specific body if just a crow was able to hold his soul... 

Just why would they need someone who would be able to hold his powers? 

Florence looked nervously at Hon and then at her sister. „Cornelia... I can’t do this.“ She said and released Hon. 

Hon immediately ran after her but Cornelia disappeared with just one jump. That didn’t stop him and he started chasing her. He couldn’t let her hurt Xuan. 

Florence wanted to yell at them, but then she just sat on a bench, deeply sighed and covered her face. 

„I really fucked up this time, didn’t I?“