The Woods of Death

Aisha.

"You can't leave me here!" I yell in desperation as I watch him fly away.

"I already have!" he exclaims.

Even from a distance, I can see his white teeth peeking out in a mischievous smile.

"You're a damn fool!" I shriek indignantly.

"I'm the prince of hell! What do you expect?!" inquires teasing.

"You don't even have a purpose for leaving me!"

"It's phase one of your demon training!" he finally says, until he disappears.

I breathe in frustration and turn around until my eyes settle on the enormous forest that is present in front of me. After what I could calculate to be two days, Everette decided to bring me to this place. I thought it was just a journey, but when I turned around, I saw him rise and move away.

This place is tetrical.

The branches creak in the wind and I feel cold, unexpectedly. How can you even feel cold in hell? I have no idea, and stupid Everette is nowhere to be found. Resignedly I start walking into the forest, there is no sound other than the wind. It's scary.

Why does Everette always leaves me behind?

I thought that with the fact that I am "his", he would take a little more care of me. I know I'm a burden, and I'm pretty sure being the prince of hell requires a lot of work, so I wouldn't have to complain about starting my demon training.

But the truth is, walking in this forest helps you to be a little selfish.

"Soul..." they whisper in the distance.

"Hello?" I'm nervous.

"Human soul..."

Panic begins to take hold of me, so I speed up my pace. What am I supposed to do? He didn't even give me any instructions. I feel like something is watching me. I see the shadows twisting, so I search in the dark to make sure no creature is stalking me. A movement in my neck catches my attention. Startled, I stop abruptly.

The little snake in the charm that Everette gave me begins to move, I watch it fascinated and it finally begins to slide down my shoulder, then along my arm until it reaches my hand. I lift it up and hold it in my palm as I examine it.

Officially, I'm crazy.

The golden snake turns and drops to the ground, then begins to advance as it snakes. She turns around and watches me, so I assume she expects me to follow her. I don't really have much of a choice, so slowly, I begin to follow it. She goes deeper and deeper into the forest, my anguish never stops.

How can I be following a golden snake?

I try to think of some hint that might indicate to me, what is the purpose of starting my training in this place. Nothing, no comment that could be a clue comes to my thoughts.

After a long time, the snake finds a huge cave. Its entrance is completely dark, but to my surprise, the air that comes out of it is quite warm, which relaxes me, because the temperature here is getting colder and colder.

Once the snake enters the darkness, its skin glows like a million diamonds, which allows me to see it very easily.

In the distance, the silhouette of a girl catches my attention. I walk quickly and when I am in front of her, the snake stops, crawls to me, climbs up my leg and curls up on the necklace, remaining completely immobile.

"Hello, little one." I murmur, coming down to her height.

Her presence is different, since her complexion is almost translucent.

Is she a soul?

"Who are you?" she asks in a sweet voice.

"My name is Aisha." I respond. "And yours?"

"I am Aphra." she answers, with a lost look. "Are you dead?"

Confuse, I close my eyes.

"Actually, I'm not sure." I laugh.

She walks towards me and puts her hand on my cheek.

"You are warm." she says.

"You are cold." I comment, feeling her gelid touch.

"My father and I are like this." she shrugs.

A roar echoes through the cave, and I am startled, feeling a little stupid, as Aphra laughs underneath. Once everything is quiet, she takes my hand and goes further into the cave. The place has a very peculiar smell, but it's quite clean, there don't seem to be any animals around.

A light is present further on, Aphra walks towards it and somehow we find ourselves in a kind of room, there are old chairs and it is full of candlesticks. She lets go of my hand and runs down one of the many corridors. Fearful of losing myself and finding myself alone, I decide to follow her closely, I see her hair moving because of the running and a weak smile lands on her pale lips.

She enters through another opening and once I arrive, I find myself in some kind of medieval Gothic throne room. A huge throne is at the end of the place, and on top of it there is a man wearing a black tunic that covers his legs. I watch him curiously for a few seconds. Aphra runs towards him and throws herself into his arms, they both laugh. I decide to approach.

"Where were you?" he asks her.

She turns in my direction and points to me. The man's gaze falls on me and his face becomes serious.

"Her name is Aisha." says Aphra with a half smile.

"What is a human soul doing here?" his voice is gentle but firm.

"I am not sure where I am." I recognize.

"This is the forest of the Death." he warns. "My forest."

"Are you...?"

"Death!" an exclamation interrupts me. Everette, behind me, walks in our direction in all his glory. "It has been a millennium

since I had the pleasure of meeting you."

A smile falls on the man's pale lips and he walks towards him to shake his hand.

"Everette, this is a surprise." he says.

"Surprises are supposed to be nice." I mutter to myself.

Aphra runs to Everette and hugs him warmly.

"Uncle Everette!" she screams.

"Aphra! You little beast! You're just like your mother." he says as he smiles at her in a way I've never seen before.

"She is." says the pleased man. "Does this soul belong to you?"

He looks at me with mockery and nods.

"I am really sorry that I did not ask you if I could use your domain name to start her training." he apologizes.

"Don't worry, there's not much here either." they both laugh at his comment.

"Aisha." says Everette. "Meet Death."

"You are Death?" I inquire in surprise.

Aphra approaches and rises to my face, leaving me stunned.

"You've just been told that he is." she whispers.

Why Aisha?

Why are you asking stupid questions?

"Oh, I'm sorry." I apologize for acting like a total idiot. "I just didn't expect Death to be so..."

"Attractive?" he guesses for me.

Under my ashamed face. He is really very beautiful, his complexion pale, his hair and eyes gray, is like the painting of a god. I have no idea what his body looks like under that tunic, but since I saw Asmodeus and Everette, nothing surprises me anymore.

"She is his daughter." Everette says as he strokes Aphra's hair.

"Uncle Everette, she's very warm. Do you love her for that?" she asks excitedly.

He stretches immediately and his expression becomes indecipherable.

"It would be difficult to explain this to you." he acknowledges with a half smile. "One day, when you are older, you will understand."

She nods smiling and hugs her father.

All these demons look like nineteen-year-old boys, even though they are a thousand years old.

"I am very pleased with your company." says Death.

"How is life?" Everette asks.

The expression of Death becomes nostalgic.

"In the kingdom of the Celestials." his voice sounds sad. "We will go to visit her soon."

"It relaxes me to hear that. I will see you soon, for now I must go. May the darkness be in your path."

"And guide my destiny." answer Aphra and Death in unison.

They both bow slightly and Everette turns to me, nodding my hand. Confused, I reach out and he takes it, from one second to the next, we materialize outside the cave, appearing on the outside of the forest, right where he left me in the first place.

"I'm surprised you managed to do it." he says in admiration.

"You left me in the forest of death! Literally!" I exclaim in exasperation.

"How observant she is..." he lets out a sarcastic remark.

"Everette, you really are an idiot."

"Every time you say my name, the only thing I wish is that you pronounce it between moans." he gets closer, coquettishly.

The breath gets stuck in my lungs and I reproach myself for reacting this way to his provocations. He just makes that for me to keep quiet!

"Rot." I murmur annoyingly.

"Dirty mouth." he laughs.

Instead of rising like the last time, he begins to walk in the opposite direction to the forest, he jogs to be at his level and we walk in silence. From what I understand now, my task was to find Death. I wonder if Everette knows that the necklace he gave me was actually what guided me to him. I still don't understand how this is possible, but this place has the special characteristic of making the impossible, possible.

"You asked Death about Life." I mean after a while.

"That's right." he nods, looking straight ahead.

"Is life also a being?"

"She is a Heavenly." he grimaces.

"Do you dislike Celestials?" I raise an eyebrow in doubt.

He closes his eyes thoughtfully for a moment.

"I am half Heavenly." he says after a while.

I stop and look at him in amazement.

"But you are the son of the Devil." I reason.

"My mother is a Celestial." he reminds me. "I couldn't hate a part of who I am and yet I still do."

The news surprises me more than it should, logically if his mother is a Celestial, he would have to be half Celestial, but Everette loves hell so much that I don't understand how he can have purity inside.

"So you could live with the Celestials if you wanted to." I insinuate.

His mischievous smile takes place.

"It would be fun to see their expression." he laughs underneath. "But I don't think I can tolerate that."

(...)

"So... she made it?" Asmodeus asks as we enter the great playhouse of hell.

Everette explained to me everything about this place, about how if I'm not careful I can spend my eternity obsessed with playing here, to avoid doing something stupid, I stay pretty close to them.

"Surprisingly, she was able to find Death." he says.

Asmodeus smiles contentedly and comes so close that his breath bumps into me.

"I knew you could do it, Aisha."

"Don't touch her..." he commands in a harsh voice.

Everette pulls him aside and stands in front of me in a protective manner, blinks in a daze, then curses underneath as Asmodeus lets out a clean laugh.

"Wow, I see that the mark is getting heavier and heavier." he mocks.

"Shut up, it's your fault." spits poisonous.

Without understanding I frown.

"Do you talk about the necklace?" I ask.

Asmodeus laughs and nods.

"Don't you know how important that necklace is? It is as if a part of Everette was always with you." he explains.

"Don't exaggerate." Everette rolls his eyes.

"And it seems that she and your mark are joined in perfection, because if she were to relapse, your instinct of possession would not be worse and worse," he crosses his arms over his chest and evaluates us.

"Are you saying it's my fault?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Many things can't be fully explained, the wearer's mark is one of them." he shrugs.

"Not much to understand, as I told you before, we are stuck together for all eternity." Everette passes a hand through his hair.

"We have no choice."

"Can't the mark be removed?"

"Wow brother, the girl hasn't been with you for a month and she already wants to leave you. You must really be a jerk." laughs Asmodeus.

"The only pain in the ass here is her, she's clumsy, doesn't understand anything and refuses to accept her demonic side in its entirety."

"Why are we even arguing?" I grimace.

"Very simple, that's his way of loving." Asmodeus says.

"Don't joke about something so repulsive, please." Everette complains with disgust.

"Love is not repulsive." I reply.

They both look at me in surprise and laugh.

"Pathetic." says Everette.

"Adorable." Asmodeus mocks. "My dear, demons do not feel love."

"Death yes, the Devil too." I cross my arms over my chest. "I think every time you say love is pathetic, you only show how weak you are."

"Wow, you think we care about what you say." Everette jeers.

"Listen, there's a reason we'd rather not love, someday you'll realize that." Asmodeus promises me.

I don't understand what their excuse for never feeling love could be. I don't remember anything about my human life, but I am sure that love is part of everything and can even melt the coldest of ice.