Cold and bland concrete walls of the relatively small "interrogation and containment compound

regional headquarters". Agent Calhoun has seen better-kept facilities, as he reminiscent while looking
and old and visibly weathered white paint on the wall while waiting for an elevator that is supposed to
take him to level -2 where perhaps the biggest revelation in their hunt for paranormal is kept. He
wondered about what will it look like as he looks at the logo of which the paint already started chipping,
but still proudly displayed its name. "D.H.O.R.K.S.- Demon Hunting and Occult Research Kansas Site". To
think that nobody felt an immense level of embarrassment just by suggesting this name is beyond
understanding even by people who experienced contact with the eldritch elements. *DING*. The old
elevator finally made its way to floor 0. Calhoun stepped into the small lift which had more common with
a rusted bucket than an elevator mechanism, but it worked and was supposed to be "perfectly safe". As
he made his way down, his mind started lingering again at the thought that they finally managed to
catch one of them after all this time. "Subject 001 was sighted at approximately 3 in the morning while
he was terrorizing a gas station on interstate highway 70 somewhere between Quinter and WaKeeney".
He again glossed over the after-report. "After the initial pursuit subject was traced to Roberts's family
farmhouse where he was finally caught in the wheat fields while he was pursuing Mr. and Ms. Roberts's
child. Sadly for Jeremy Roberts (14-year-old, male), we were too late and both of his parents have been
already killed by the subject before we arrived". "Poor kid, If we only were there a little sooner..."
Calhoun said under his breath, staring at the sheet of paper in his hand while scanning with his eyes
photos of two mutilated corpses of what he can only assume is Mr. and Ms. Roberts. Bodies were cut up
crudely and most important, brutally, later examination showed that both parents were conscious
through the whole process and were finally killed not by blood loss or organ trauma, but were in some
way... mumificated? It would seem as if life left their bodies as if someone sucked it out, leaving only two
empty corpses with terrified grimaces. *DING* *bzzt* "floor minus-two". As the elevator doors opened
to the sides with a sound comparable to a fork scratching a plate Agent Michael Calhoun left the small
metal box and made his way through the next set of concrete corridors which at first had a few research
rooms then small containment cells which slowly transitioned into interrogation cells where currently
one is held as surprisingly two of the most useless weirdos managed to capture to more, although less...
intimidating specimen of some sort of demonkind they were still valuable and approved for their... iffy at
best methods of interrogation. But the room he looked for was at the end of the whole facility. He stood
before gigantic Steel shutter doors that led to Special Containment Cell. As he put his ID card in the slot
next to the door a voice could be heard from an intercom beside it. "Who is thi- Oh agent Calhoun, the
one from California right?." a calm male voice said through an old communication system. "That would
be about right," Michael responded. "Well, your ID seems alright so... Welcome in." As he finished his
sentence the door started to open itself and lift all the security measures put in place to stop whatever
or whoever trying to get inside, or more importantly, stop anything from getting... outside.

After a few seconds, doors opened with a heavy swing revealing a room split in two by a wall
with a thick piece of glass for the personnel to peek and see what is inside the second room. "Agent
Calhoun, It's great to finally see you. My name is Professor Abraham Dekodi, I'm this facility's head
researcher". "Pleasure is all mine professor". The man responds not paying attention to the old man,
choosing to come closer to the big window. "A-a-a not so close, He is known to emm." Abraham stops to
search for a correct word to describe the behavior of the creature. "React in a particularly violent
fashion." Inside the well-lit room is a table, a set of two chairs, and most importantly a glass box in which
is held a ball of smoke-like substance which tries to spread itself on the walls of its small prison but
everything it can throw on the glass slides and pools on the bottom, slowly getting pulled back into the
mass. "is that it?" Michael said with a little disbelief heard in his voice "Well, yes and no," Professor
exclaimed. "The thing inside the box is believed to be the demon. We theorize that it's too weak to
sustain its, let's say true form, and opts to remain this ball of demonic essence of sorts. when we
captured it, it was manifesting through a crudely made scarecrow of sorts. although we weren't able to
make it talk, we know he is capable of speech. We also managed to trap it in a box of glass half a meter
on all sides which we put in a magnetic field that seems to interfere with him trying to... spread? we
don't exactly know how the residue he leaves works, although we have a sample and it seems to be akin
to something we could only describe as rotting blood." Professor explained as his eyes quickly moved
over his notes, sporadically looking onto the creature. "well professor, excuse me for my french, but no
shit the thing can't talk with no mouth. Bring me this scarecrow of his, restrain it, and put this whole
magnetic field over it. let's see what he has to say." Professor opened his mouth as if he wanted to say
something but after a quick thought he turned around to a few of his scientist personnel and guards and
with a worried look in his eyes exclaimed "what are you waiting for, you heard the agent."

Meanwhile, although mute, the dark mass of smoke of crimson and black listened. In pain
comparable to one of a head-splitting headache as magnetic waves smashed his fragile form, he
struggled to even hold. In this state when he was left alone he was not in a state of anger toward his
captors or agony of his body being thrown all over his small prison made of transparent glass plates, but
he was in a state of sorrow. He is reminiscent of how he got to this point, how did it all go wrong and
what mistakes led him here. wishful he would be able to just go home, to a person he now realizes he
loved not being sure he will be able to see her again. A story that began a few months ago but not here
on earth began in hell. And more exactly it began in his old family household. Household of family Avers

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next few days went without any major things happening. Both the young aristocrats began
talking to each other and became good friends over this short period and it's only one day away from
they going to the Avers estate inside. Since Rodhlann doesn't have that many preparations to make and
since Stella was very insistent about it, Rodhlann and Stolas were forced to spend some time together so
they decided to take a walk through the beautiful gardens of the estate. "it's good to see that you're so
excited about going to Avers estate. It's quite surprising considering your attitude towards Rodhlann
when he arrived." Stella said as she opened one of her daughters' wardrobes. "Yeah... We... Let's say had
a bad beginning. But I still don't like the idea of marrying him." Octavia responds as she packs a few of
her shirts. "Well that's why you too are living with each other, isn't it? to make you two more
comfortable with the whole affair." Her mother explains as she takes out one of her black dresses. As
quickly as Octavia spotted the attire she immediately fired off. " Oh no. No way." "Yes way, young lady.
You're going to meet the family of your husband and you better be sure you will present yourself." Stella
said. "But-" "No buts." Octavia was quickly interrupted before she could say anything. "Rodhlann may
not have anything against you dressing so casually all the time, but his parents may have. Besides you
look amazing in it." She follows up as she puts the dress to her. "But why? Not a single other noble ever
had anything to say about the way I dress even if it is "Casual" or whatever." Octavia protested. Stella let
out a long sigh as she put the dress onto her bed next to the other clothes she is taking with her "Yes,
other nobles may not have a problem with it. They probably won't have as well. But. The Ancient
Demons can be a little..." "weird?" Octavia interrupts. "Out of the ordinary. And they are quite
traditional. I wouldn't be surprised if they would out of the blue have a party or a banquet or festival or
anything other that would require that you would wear something more formal." She continued
explaining. "Well... to be honest, I don't know too much about them..." Octavia exclaims as she finishes
putting the dress into her bag. "Really? I guess Rodhlann was right. You didn't learn anything before his
arrival." Octavia's face drops as soon as her mother reminds her of the day she had that argument with
Rodhlann "how do you know about that?" she asks worriedly "My dear, He was screaming on top of his
lungs in the middle of our courtyard. Do I need to explain more?" Octavia just stood silently with her
eyes darting around the room in slight embarrassment at the fact that hers and Rodhlanns reconciling
was not so secret as she thought. "So. Define "not knowing much" about them." Stella continued
"Ehmm... By not much, I might have meant nothing at all." Octavia responds as she looks away. "Ugh.
Fine then. Listen now, so you may know at least something." She continues her thought as she packs
Octavia's things and finishes picking dresses, as apparently, one isn't enough. "To make a long story
short, they ruled hell before Lucifer fell from heaven. After he fell there was a conflict between the two
parties and eventually, they came to an agreement. They temporarily swore allegiance to Lucifer, but
under the condition that they withhold the right to separate and form their own government. And some
time ago they did just that. The ancient documents were found and they used them against lucifer so
they could get their own piece of land. They never fully separated and they never intended to, they don't
have the self-sufficiency they would need for that. Nonetheless, the Grand Duchy of Hell was born, or at
least that's one name for it. It's a federation of many smaller duchies ruled by dukes and barons. All
ruled over by the archduke." Octavia listened with curiosity. "What do you mean by "one name for it"?"
She exclaimed. "Some call it by its first name they got after they were created, Federation of Wrath as it
was formed there, now they own land in other rings as well. Some even refer to it as the "Old Empire".
Mainly by those who want to go back to that "golden era" before Lucifer that they read about in ancient
texts." Stella Explained, now sitting in a chair after finishing everything with Octavias' luggage. "And
Rodhlanns father rules that whole Grand Duchy?" The young Owl asked. "Yes and no. The de facto ruler
of the Grand Duchy is the Archduke and that Rodhlanns father is not." "Oh" Octavia says dismissively
"That's his grandfather." "OH" a much louder reaction this time can be heard from the young noble. "But
Rodhlanns grandfather is not too keen on keeping an eye on the day to day politics and operation of the
duchy, so he made his son-in-law, Rodhlanns father, the Regent. A person that rules in the name of the
king, in this case, the Archduke, if he is not able to or doesn't want to." That was a lot of information to
take in for her, but Octavia got a bit curious about the other realm in hell, however autonomous it may
be. "Then why Rodhlann says he's not important to his parents at all? Even if he has so many brothers
he's still the grandson of the Archduke right? That has to amount to something." Octavia asked, trying to
understand what is this all about. Stella's eyes widened. She knew the answer, like most other nobles
that knew the Avers know it as well. She should not tell of it, or at least that's what manners would
dictate... "I Don't... I... I Shouldn't talk about this..." She responded, hoping her daughter would drop it. "I
think as his future wife I should know about things like that, and he won't tell me for sure if he even
knows." Octavia stood adamantly stubborn. Stella had no choice. She spoke too much and it's better to
tell her than leave her with a half-rumor that she will go to research on her own. After a long sigh and a
few seconds, Stella spoke again. "his brothers are only his half-brothers." Octavia raised her brow in
surprise. "Rodhlanns parents both had affairs with other nobles that ended... Poorly to put it lightly. Both
met each other after their respective divorces at some dance. They quickly became fond of each other
due to them working alongside themselves in politics. Soon enough they got married, much to the
distaste of their fellow dukes." "And why would be that?" Octavia interrupted. "They saw it as a power
grab. But they loved each other too much to care for the backlash, at least in their own, weird way... But
here's the thing about Rodhlann... They... Umm... They never wanted to have a child together..."
Octavias' eyes were now wide open. "He was an accident which brought them a lot of troubles... There's
even a rumor they tried to... get rid of him. But Rodhlanns grandparents, the Archdukes protested. Other
dukes saw that as a try to upset the status quo and combine both of the families to get more power. That
led to many problems for the two of them. They still blame him in a way for all of that, but I still think
they love him somewhere deep inside." "D-does he knows?" Octavia asked with a worried voice. Stella
looked out of the window, freezing her gaze on one of the walnut trees. "The way I know is that I was
one of the witnesses to one of their arguments... All I told you was paraphrased from them yelling at
each other... Well, mostly them yelling at him." That was a lot of information to take in for the young
avian. A lot of what Rodhlann was yelling about that day had a lot more sense now. "Only person he
really had for all these years were his grandparents. And due to their position and his parents not
wanting it that much, he never got to spend much time with them. You won't even probably stay in his
parents' estate for long. As soon as his grandparents learn that their precious grandson is with his future
bride are in town they will immediately order his parents to send you over. And you don't want to upset
the Archdukes." "Why would his parents be so keen on not letting him spend his time with his
grandparents" Octavia said confused. "If they hate him so much, wouldn't that be just getting rid of him
for some time?" "They are scared" Stella responded nonchalantly "of what?" Octavia said in even
greater confusion. "That they will want, and then find a way or reason to make him the heir. If that
would happen they would lose a lot of their political power, deals, and schemes. Like your marriage"
"What?" She spits dumbfounded. Stella just closed her eyes and continued with an explanation. "If
Rodhlann would become the heir to their throne, that would make him a Crown Duke or a Crown prince,
just like you are a Crown princess. The deal was not as much about him but about his position. So if he
would change his positions..." "...then the deal would be lost." "Exactly."