...Teach Me

Alex's POV

******************

My eyes snapped open, and I grabbed onto the first person I saw who was beside me on the bed. Grabbing on to them and holding them tight as I began to sob into their chest, while they caressed my head, creating shushing sounds to calm me down.

"It's alright, you're okay now. You're okay." The voice continued to say. When I heard it, I realized it was the voice that kept reaching out to me while I was in the nightmare. The one telling me to wake up and calling my name.

Calming down from the scare of the nightmare I experienced, I backed out of the comfort of the person who assisted me. Sniffling and wiping away the tears, I looked around the room, which seemed foreign to me.

I turned to look at the woman who calmed me down. Her red irises stared back at me as her face remained neutral. Staring at the unfamiliar eye color made me suspect that she wasn't human. Especially with all the things I went through and saw from my parents.

I looked down at my bare upper half wrapped in bandages.

'Is she the one who bandaged me up?'

Thankfully, this individual didn't seem to be evil or exhibit any demonic features, except for the red eyes, of course. I should be able to trust them. No one would take me in randomly, bandage me up, and even comfort me.

"May…I ask where I am…Miss?" I asked, staring into her eyes briefly until I shifted them to look at the window with the curtains closed. Allowing a minimal amount of sunlight to pass through.

"Azaelia," the beautiful lady answered, getting up and sitting on the chair beside the bed, and crossing her legs. "No need to add Miss."

Azaelia placed her right elbow on the armrest of the chair and rested her right cheek on her palm.

"And to answer you're question, darling. You're in the Nether realm."

"Nether realm?"

"Hell, sweetheart."

"I know what the Nether realm is," I said, shifting from the bed and swinging my legs over the side so that my feet were now touching the cool floor. "But there must be some mistake. I shouldn't be here."

"Oh?" Azaelia responded, raising her left eyebrow towards me with a slight smirk. "The sin energy of lust and wrath in your Sin core says otherwise, Alex."

I looked at Azaelia, confused.

"Sin what in what? Wait...how do you know my name?" I wondered, now on guard towards Azaelia as I shifted back to create some distance between us, even if it was minuscule.

Azaelia sighed and reached out towards an open envelope that was on the black nightstand, accompanied by a glass of wine she was drinking and a black book. She faced the open envelope towards me to show who it was addressed to.

'Azaelia and Alex'

"Sister dearest seemed to have sent you to my humble abode without my permission."

"Sister? My mother doesn't have a sister. I would know." I said, squinting my eyes at Azaelia, looking at her suspiciously.

"And I would know that I had a niece."

"Nephew," I interjected, still not used to the fact that I was no longer a boy, even though it's been just over a day.

"What?" Azaelia responded with confusion and slight disgust. "Are you a transgender? I mean, I don't care if you are. I've seen my fair share. "

"No? Not exactly. Maybe?" I said, repeatedly waving my arms to reject the accusation. Then I had to think about it. My gender did change, literally with biologically current anatomy. In a way, I was a biologically correct transgender.

"The Nether are you saying. Do you hear yourself?"

I sighed before explaining.

"I was a boy, but a witch cursed me," I said, scratching my cheek with my index finger while releasing a fake laugh. "So, technically, yes. I am a transgender."

Azaelia's lips twitched a couple of times on the right side, clearly trying to hold back a laugh, causing me to frown at her.

Seeing me frown probably made her hold back no longer, and she laughed out loud.

"Pfft...hahahaHAHAHA!"

I stared at the woman with a weird expression. Is this the same woman who was looking at me with a neutral expression earlier?

Once her laughter died down, I asked her a question that I've been itching to ask her.

"Where are my parents?" 

Azaelia wiped away the few tears that escaped her eyes due to laughing so hard and responded. 

"Dead,"

I froze, baffled for a moment at the response.

She probably thought that would be a funny joke to get at me with since I unintentionally made her laugh earlier.

"That's not funny," I said, shaking my head at her with a slight frown. "Where are my parents?" I asked seriously this time to emphasize that I wasn't joking.

She leaned forward, uncrossing her legs on the chair, and stared at me with her neutral expression once again. Her forearms rested on her thighs as she interlocked her fingers and responded with seriousness this time, making sure to emphasize each word at the end.

"Like I said, Alex. They. Are. Dead."

"Stop lying!" I yelled out, starting to get angry at her words as my eyes turned a bright orange.

Unknowingly releasing a black mist-like aura from my body.

"Hmph," Azaelia snorted. Her eyes began to glow, and a pressure released from her and weighed me down and filled me up with so much dread and fear that I couldn't breathe. 

"You're puny wrath is a disgrace. My sister and your father, two of the top ten strongest warriors in this realm in their prime, to birth such a weakling and die for you disgusts me."

'Die for you...'

'Weakling...'

Those words echoed in my head as my heart began to ache. I didn't want to believe her, the woman who claims to be my aunt. My parents...were dead? It couldn't be true. It just couldn't.

The pressure she had been releasing disappeared, yet it took me a moment to breathe once again.

"Since you are having a hard time believing me, then look at this," she said, pointing her right index finger towards a black bracelet with a cracked and gray jewel.

"Marie left this behind for me. It's a soul-bonded bracelet. This bracelet once pulsed and shone red with the heartbeat of your mother. It let me know that she was still alive throughout those years, back in the mortal realm."

Azaelia explained, and I hesitantly reached my right hand towards the bracelet on her wrist. My fingers gently wrapped around the accessory as I ran my thumb against the cracked jewel, afraid that it would break further with any more pressure applied to it. 

"It... can't be true. I'm...just in another nightmare." I said in denial.

Azaelia released the gentle hold I had on her wrist and placed the open envelope, addressed to both her and me, in my hand that had once held her wrist. In the open envelope was still a letter, about two pages long.

I unfolded the paper with trembling fingers. The words were handwritten in my mother's beautiful, delicate script. But it was her voice, almost whispering through the rustle of the pages, that filled my mind.

As I began to read, I could hear her. Not just see the words, but feel them. Almost as if she were beside me, reading aloud in the warmth of her voice, one last time...

If you are reading this, then I am gone.

My breath hitched. My eyes already blurred as the following words seemed to float above the paper.

I never imagined this day would come so soon. I hoped the protection spells and seals would be enough to buy us more time. But the Veil and Shadow have always been relentless...

My fingers clenched the letter tighter.

We broke sacred laws by bringing you into the world in the mortal realm and sealing your demonic powers, knowing full well the cost. But your father and I did it anyway...because we chose love over law. And we would do it again, even if it meant dying a thousand deaths.

The paper shook violently in my hands as her voice echoed louder in my ears, or perhaps my mind.

My sweet child...this is not your fault. None of it is. You did not bring ruin to our family. Our love for you did.

Tears rolled down my cheeks like silent rain.

I loved you from the moment your soul formed inside me. I would've moved the stars for you. And though my body may be gone, my love has not dimmed. It never will.

I sent you to Azaelia, your aunt, not out of cruelty, but necessity...if anyone can help you survive the trials to come, it's her.

The Nether Realm is no place for the weak. Pain, betrayal, monsters...you'll face them all. But I believe in you, Alex.

You will be hated. Hunted. Tested. And you will rise.

I am sorry for leaving you this way. My soul aches knowing I couldn't say goodbye.

But this letter...is all I could leave behind, along with the grimoire of techniques and abilities of the fallen angels and demons left behind by your father and I.

I love you, Alex. More than all the stars in the universe.

Forever with you,

Mom

The last word blurred beyond recognition. I couldn't breathe. My chest caved in, my vision crumbling beneath the weight of her absence.

The letter slipped from my hands.

It floated gently...and then landed on the cold floor.

I sat there, frozen until something inside me broke wide open.

I turned and ran.

Pain flared down my back like fire. Agony from the raw wounds left by my wings. But I didn't care. I couldn't care. The ache in my soul swallowed it whole.

Bursting out of the room, I found myself in a dimly lit living room. But what caught my attention, what truly broke me, were the boxes. Sealed with shimmering diagrams and runes, some cracked with instability.

She had sent them before she died.

That was it.

That was the proof.

And the tears came harder like thundering rain. I turned and sprinted out the front door of the house, blinded by emotion, not realizing where I was going.

Down the obsidian marble steps with crimson accents, and into the woods that surrounded the house.

...

The sky above bled a twilight red. Gnarled trees twisted like claws, reaching down to tear at me. Shadows writhed in every corner of my vision. The ground was thick with ash and bone. 

I didn't stop. Even as branches cut my arms and even scratched at the wounds on my back, I didn't stop. I couldn't.

A shriek echoed...a beast, maybe two.

Still...I didn't stop.

I stumbled through thick undergrowth until a clearing. That's when the growling started. Deep. Guttural. Too many at once.

Eyes. Glowing yellow, green, violet. There were almost dozens of them.

They circled me.

I fell to my knees, gasping, weak. I couldn't even stand anymore. 

But her words came back to me, rising like a mantra.

You must fight. You must survive.

I gritted my teeth. My hands clenched into fists. A faint, invisible force pulsed beneath my skin, like coals waiting to catch fire.

But it was too faint, and I was too weak.

The beasts lunged...twelve in total. Fangs bared, talons gleaming. Their blackened fur shimmered with sin, their eyes nothing but hunger and hatred.

I didn't move or scream. I just...stared.

And that was when she appeared.

The air behind me ripped apart like fragile silk, followed by an eruption of pressure so overwhelming, it drove the beasts back mid-leap. A shadow fell over me, cloaked in unnatural malice.

And then I saw her.

Azaelia.

But not as she was before.

Her eyes were glowing a deep, nearly burning red, filled with wrath. Demonic horns curled from her skull, jagged and regal. Her curly midnight hair had transformed into living black flames, licking the air wildly, each strand burning red at the ends.

From her back unfurled four massive, black angelic wings. Majestic and terrifying, with crimson-tipped feathers as sharp as blades. Each movement of her wings whispered of death. And radiating from her body...was flame. Not an ordinary flame. Black fire, edged with a bluish glow that distorted the space around it. 

A fallen angel drenched in sin. A goddess of damnation.

One of the demons tried to continue its attack, but froze midair, eyes wide, before its head slid cleanly off its shoulders. Its body thudded beside me, spewing dark smoke instead of blood.

I blinked.

Azaelia stood between me and the beasts. Her eyes glowed like dying suns, and her presence rippled with enough pressure to send the remaining monsters skidding back.

The demons snarled, undeterred. One of them leapt again, but Azaelia didn't move. She simply lifted a hand and snapped her fingers.

The sound echoed unnaturally.

Suddenly, gravity shifted.

A purple sigil flared under the demon mid-air then it imploded into a ball of writhing darkness, shrieking as it was swallowed into a tear in reality. The ten remaining beasts hesitated, no longer lunging.

They were watching. Waiting.

"Oh good," she said, cracking her neck, "Smart enough to fear me."

One of them roared, bulking up with veins coursing through its limbs. It charged. So did the others, in unison.

Azaelia smiled.

Her form blurred and then split.

In a blink, there were four of her, each trailing red and black smoke. They weaved through the demons like dancers, each illusion slashing, bending space, or warping shadows.

One demon let out a final growl before it was torn in two by a swipe of her wing. Another tried to run, only to find its legs frozen in time.

Azaelia walked toward it casually, pressing a finger against its forehead.

"You won't be missed."

A single word left her lips.

"Break."

The demon shattered into glass-like shards that dissolved into the air, as if it had never been real.

All that remained were six more beasts. Her illusions vanished, but her presence increased, sending a pressure that made anyone who stared at her to bow before her.

One of the six demonic beasts remaining tried to attack. A move that was brave but stupid, as it never stood a chance.

Azaelia moved a finger. 

And a spike of blue-black fire exploded through the beast's chest, lifting it into the air before exploding into a burst of ash and howls.

The remaining five demon beasts froze.

Then, as if driven mad by fear, they attacked all at once. Desperation dripping from their roars.

Azaelia's wings spread wide, and with just one flap of her wings.

She vanished.

Not with speed, but with presence.

Suddenly, she was everywhere.

Blades of red-tipped feathers sliced through the necks of two demons. Another burst into black flame just from her gaze, crumbling into ashes before it hit the ground. 

She raised both hands and brought them down like crashing hammers. The ground cracked with a fiery sigil. Blue-black fire erupted in a dome around her, swallowing one of the last demons whole. Its screams echoed far too long before silence took it.

One remained.

Whimpering.

It turned to flee; however, it never made it more than three steps.

Azaelia extended her arm, and her black flame condensed into a spear, glowing with runic symbols. Then she threw it. One moment it was in her hands, and the next the beast was pinned mid-run, body twitching, before erupting into a thousand shards of obsidian and sin.

Silence.

Azaelia stood amidst the bodies, if you could even call them that.

Wreathed in her burning aura, wings folded in slowly. Her flames dimmed. Her hair settled back into thick curls, no longer fiery, but just black as midnight.

Her horns receded, but her eyes remained a haunting red glow.

She turned to face me and walked over slowly, the ground still hissing beneath her feet.

She crouched in front of me, those red eyes burning into mine.

"You could have died," she said softly, her voice like velvet laced with embers.

"I know."

"And yet you ran into the forest with nothing but pain and grief in your heart."

I hesitated. "Because...everything hurts. My back. My soul. My mind. It's too much."

"It will hurt," she said. "And you've only tasted the surface. The Nether doesn't care if you're sad. It doesn't care if your heart is shattered. If you cry long enough, this world will feed on your tears."

I bit my lip, trembling. Not from fear. But from something stirring deep in my chest.

Resolve.

I looked at the place where the demons had died. The strange markings, the way the air had bent, the power she wielded so easily. Power I didn't even know existed.

I wanted that.

To live.

To make sure my mother and father didn't die for nothing.

Azaelia rose and turned her back on me. "If you stay weak, this realm will devour you. You'll die before you find answers. Before you become anything."

I stood.

Still trembling, still aching, but standing.

She looked at me, waiting.

I took a deep breath. My shoulders ached, my wings...those cursed, bloodied wings, itched beneath my skin.

I remembered the letter. My mother's voice. Her love.

My mother believed in me. 

Even when I didn't believe in myself.

"...Teach me," I said.

A smile touched her lips. Not mocking. Not amused.

Proud.

"Good, you're taking the first step in the right direction," she said

And just like that, something in the Nether shifted.

And so did I.