Celestians and the Infernals

The bustling of the streets had an air of heightened anxiety today. I couldn't place why, and quite frankly, I didn't want to know. Knowing meant it'd become my problem, and I already had enough of those.

Repelling the foreboding energy, I reclined in my steel bistro chair, and the cold metal bit into my shoulder blades. The night cafe I frequented remained open until the city slept. I had a favorite seat out on the terrace, in a dark alcove off to the side. A perky waitress had already brought me my usual espresso, and the glass sat empty in the middle of the table as I waited for my companion to arrive.

"Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky."

At the mention of the forgotten cloud, I instinctively glanced up from my iPhone to the dining table across from mine and saw an elderly woman speaking animatedly to whom I assumed were her grandkids.

Psh. What a poetic way to describe the pastel overcast prick. I was glad it wasn't around anymore to hear her or the description would've blown up its already self-inflated vanity.

"At least, here in Rome, they did," she went on to say. "I can't speak for the rest of the world."

Nope. There's just the one and it's gone, I thought acerbically, silently inserting myself into their conversation.

"What happened to them, grandma?" One of the kiddies asked.

Her forehead creased, calling attention to all her worry lines as she gave the child a pitiful look. "They disappeared half a century ago. Just poof, vanished, never to be seen again. Like magic."

I snorted derisively, and they all turned in my direction. Oops. I quickly averted my focus back to my iPhone. With my headphones in, they dismissed me as eavesdropping and returned to a normal dinner conversation.

I sighed, long and drawn out. It wasn't that her story had no basis. It was magical, and I could silently attest to that because I knew the truth behind its manifestation and disappearance.

These terrestrials- humans- I instantly corrected- romanticized everything. They had no idea what truly loomed over their heads. As much as I wanted to inform the woman that her endearments towards the lilac bastard were misplaced, I resisted. Because although it may have looked like a "cloud" it wasn't. It was an egocentric magical portal my people knew as the Infinity Aperture.

As if it weren't already sufferable enough, the humans' deluded admiration fed its massive ego, and it gloated any chance it got, claiming they found it spectacular and marveled as if it were the gateway to Mount Olympus.

Humans and their lore.

Funny, considering they were on the right track, my thoughts teased me. I tried to shoo it away like an annoying bug, but my mind went against my wishes and lingered on it anyway.

We weren't exactly the Gods of Legends they novelized, but I could hardly blame them for thinking so. We even arrogantly thought of ourselves as such. The precise moniker for us was Celestians, and the self-admiring shimmering cosmic dust used to light up the sky of Rome every night, forming a bridge between Earth and my home realm, Adasia.

I wondered, if humans knew what the Aperture let in, would they still be so in awe with it... or would they run away in terror?

A smirk tilted the corners of my lips at the idea. It was amusing how extreme the human species was. So quick to scurry like ants from anything that exceeded their realm of comprehension. We had no interest in terrorizing them, though. Never had. I mean, why would the Queen ant antagonize her colony when it provided for her? Not with magic. There was none of that here. Adasia was where the organic magic of nature came from, and only that could sustain us. Except, as the woman sagely observed, the Infinity Aperture vanished fifty years ago with no warning, cutting off our magic source, and I was one of the hundreds of Celestians trapped here, unable to return. And I knew for a fact that it wasn't by accident.

I ground my teeth, working really hard to quiet my resentful thoughts. It was difficult considering I was stranded in the one place that imitated my homeworld almost to the tee- minus the rampant flow of energy. I'd always been on the fence about how the primeval Celestians convinced the Romans to make this place look like Adasia so we'd feel at home when we visited. Because by doing so, I was forced to endure this mocking torment every day. Yet at the same time, I was grateful for it. It seemed to be one of the few things keeping me sane.

"I know that look."

I peered up from my phone this time to see my old and dearest friend, Radriel, pulling out the empty seat across from me with his standard crafty grin in place. If there was anyone more aggrieved than me at being forsaken here, it was him.

"What look?" I groused as I put away my Airpods and phone. Unlike me, who decided to buck up and accept our new circumstances, he hadn't acquiesced to our fortuitous situation and adapted to the mundane terrestrial lifestyle. He acted like electronic devices– and by extension, the current way of life– offended him, and refused to associate with them. It made contacting him a headache. I had to resort to pen and ink whenever I wanted an audience with him.

"The one that says you're sick of our purgatory," he said with a wave of his hand, gesturing to our surroundings.

I thought of the terrestrial world as many things, but purgatory wasn't one of them. Sure, our magic was limited here without Aperture, but we still had our immortality. Plus, the terrestrials weren't so bad, the food was bomb, and I'd become addicted to coffee. Not to mention being spoiled by the innovation of indoor plumbing. When I first visited this realm fifty years ago, I didn't expect terrestrials to be so advanced. If I was being completely honest with myself, I didn't miss anything about Adasia... except maybe my mother.

"I'm more upset at the person behind this, and his reason," I bit out, crossing my arms.

Radriel's hazel eyes softened with knowing. "Ah, I see. Yes, your father is quite the-"

I sliced him with a look, effectively silencing him. Not because I disagreed with his detesting of my father. I wholeheartedly supported that sentiment and I even captained the club. Radriel was perhaps the only connection I had left to our old world, seeing as no one else wanted to affiliate themselves with their beloved Emperor's disowned daughter. But if the Aperture miraculously reappeared one day, and someone overheard him speak ill of my father, I had no doubt they'd hand him over for favor or whatever, for smearing his name.

He never said he disowned me publicly, or at least, not that I knew of. But imprisoning me here pretty much spoke for itself. I just felt sorry for the innocent Celestians who got caught in the crosshairs with his plot to exile me. Mercifully, there had been no attempts on my life. Then again, it was probably because they had no way of knowing for certain if I was truly the catalyst or not.

"Alright, well if it isn't your daddy issues you want to talk about then why did you summon me out tonight?" Radriel asked flippantly, and while he could be an absolute dick sometimes, I appreciated that he didn't treat me any differently because of my heritage. It was why we became friends in the first place.

I tapped my finger on my upper arm, already anticipating the fallout this conversation was going to create. "It happened again."

He arched a blonde brow at me. "What did? Your yearly cycle? Good, because if you have a terrestrial child I'd disown you quicker than your old man did."

I glared at him and punched him in the arm, to which he laughed. "No, ass. The mysterious disappearance of another Celestian."

As predicted, right after the words left my lips, all the laughter evaporated from his face. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, looking frustrated and inconvenienced by the topic. "I thought we decided that you'd stop snooping into the lives of the other Celestians marooned here."

"Pft. I never agreed to that and you know it," I responded pointedly. "Not when I'm constantly doing damage control for when some 'miracle' happens, getting them broadcasted on the internet because they were being careless about using their magic. And let's not pretend they aren't watching me, too."

He gave a nod in assent. "Yeah, okay, you make a valid argument there. But, as I said last time, they're probably just covering their tracks better to avoid you."

I gave a halfhearted scoff and eye roll. I worked my ass off to protect our secrets by issuing them new identities regularly or scrubbing the internet of any digital footprints they might accidentally leave. Not that they cared. Gratitude wasn't something they'd grant me, given my transgressions. But safety trumped their spitefulness.

"Tough! There are literal missing person signs of them, and cops are investigating the disappearances. So if they're trying to hide from me, they're being messy and drawing attention. We're not supposed to have our photos all over the internet. They know that. Someone could identify them from fifty years ago. Then the police will discover their identities are false. As of now, there've been five Celestials reported as missing in the past six months in the U.S., which at this point, is bound to raise suspicion. If the authorities notice a pattern in their forged records their cases will go straight to the FBI and they'll be listed as potential terrorists."

"Can't you just work your little trick with the weird buttons and screen contraption and erase those files from the something-base?" He asked, as if doing that wasn't a nuisance on its own.

I flopped back in my seat like a deflated balloon, feeling like I could sleep for a thousand years. "I'm trying. But chasing after each of them is more than just a simple hacking process. I have to go do my own investigating to make sure they didn't leave behind anything that might give away our origins." I held up a finger for each step I had to take in the exhaustive list of clearing up that mess. "That means flying to wherever the hell they were, searching their residence, interviewing neighbors and other people they encountered, then clearing up their sudden disappearance by making it seem like they moved. They know my rules about switching homes so shit like this doesn't happen."

He cocked his head to the side with a smirk, as if to say "touché" to my point. "Alright, so did you learn anything different about this past disappearance as opposed to the others?"

I sulked in petulant frustration. "No. Just like the four before, Illia left everything behind with no signs of a struggle. Her car, emergency cash, and phone were all there. She even left her saber fang necklace- the one that she attained after falling the beast in Adasia, which I heard she's never taken off, wearing it proudly like it's a damn gold medal."

Radriel's forehead nearly melded together as he sat up a bit more, seeming to take an interest in that. "Yeah, that is odd. Those rumors are true. I've never seen her go anywhere without that thing, always waiting for an opportunity to tell the story like it was some heroic deed. Bitch, please. I could fight one in my sleep."

I groaned so loud I could hear it echo off the wall—and dragged a hand down my face like I could wipe away my exasperation. "This isn't a contest. This is serious. You confirming she wouldn't have left the relic is evidence she didn't vanish to avoid me. Something more is going on here."

A loud commotion broke out at a table near ours, scaring the crap out of me and drawing both of our attention. The family sitting there all began clapping, singing 'Happy Birthday' around a large cake lit with candles in the center of the table. My gaze strayed to the dark alleyway behind them as if pulled by some gravitational source.

"Have you had your terrestrial pet look into this?" Radriel asked, bringing my focus back to our conversation.

I quirked a brow at him. "You mean Liz? Of course I had her do some digging." The girl was nothing short of a genius, surpassing even my hacking skills. If anyone could find the needle in the haystack, it was her.

Since the internet grew like a weed over the past couple of decades, with more platforms sprouting up than I could count, it became virtually impossible for me to keep track of them all. I asked- short of begging- the others for help, but unsurprisingly, none of them wanted to work with me, and Radriel loathed technology, so I resorted to hiring a terrestrial.

The memory of my recruitment process had me inwardly cringing. It was a nightmare filtering through which applicants to choose from in the pool of unconventional, illicit, and sketchy individuals. After doing some deep-diving into some of their shady pasts, I uncovered a treasure trove of criminal activity- so I let the world in on their "little secrets". The rest of them were mediocre hackers or people I'd never trust to be confidential.

How I found Liz was actually serendipitous. While I was looking into one of the questionable applicants, I saw someone was already exposing their nefarious acts. The "applicant" was revealed to be a black market weapons dealer, and he became an enemy of the state in mere seconds. I was impressed because Liz was cleaning up her trail exceedingly well, making it hard for me to trace her. I had to use every tool in my arsenal before I finally managed to get a message to her.

Liz pounced on the offer, thinking that my secret operation was taking apart human trafficking rings as well as any other cruel industries and helping the victims find new homes. I did that too, so it wasn't a complete lie... just omitting some of the truth. And I paid her handsomely for her discretion.

"And?" Radriel pressed, bringing my thoughts back to the present. "What did she find?"

I couldn't help but smirk as his attitude on the matter did a sudden 180, wondering if it was because he was starting to believe me or just wanted to hear about Liz. For someone who claimed to dislike terrestrials, he was always asking about her. Either way, I was glad to finally have someone to talk to about this.

I opened my mouth to respond when suddenly I got the uncanny sensation of being watched. I glanced over to the dark alleyway again. Radriel must've sensed it, too, because in an instant his muscles became tense, and he followed my line of sight. "Someone's watching us," I whispered.

Not even a second after the words left my lips, everything around us froze as if all life had come to a stop. My stomach did a free fall. There was only one individual I knew that could mess with time.

A black boot emerged from the shadowy backstreet, followed by the Celestian male it belonged to. He looked just like I remembered him, only far more devastating. I glared as I rose from my seat and stormed to where he waited just outside the shadows. The moment I reached him, the world around me was instantly reanimated.

"Well, isn't it the devil himself returning from the fiery depths of hell," Radriel said scathingly as he kept close on my heels.

The bastard coldly assessed Radriel as if he were nothing more than an insect. "Better than being a rat dragged up from the gutters."

"What the fuck are you doing here, Archilleon?" I gave his hard chest a shove. He barely budged.

"Archilleon? We're on a first-name basis again, huh?"

"Only friends use nicknames, and you lost that privilege when you tricked me. But there's another name for people like you that I could use."

He leaned into me and his tone dropped to a feather-light whisper, as if we were sharing some secret. "I recall you being the one who wanted to rendezvous here. So how could I have tricked you?"

My lips peeled back in a snarl, exposing my teeth. "Pretending to have feelings for me when you were conspiring with my father to have me banished is something most people consider a trick. You betrayed me! You backstabbing piece of-!"

"Careful, Morana. From what I hear you don't have many friends." His umber eyes flicked over to Radriel to emphasize his meaning, making me wonder just how long he'd been in the terrestrial realm. "And you don't want to lose the few you have left."

"Is that a threat?" Radriel demanded, standing beside me in a show of solidarity. They'd never gotten along, already sworn enemies by the time I came into the picture. Decades later and I'd yet to know the reason.

"It's a fact," Archilleon answered dismissively.

"I swear to Fate, if you don't tell me what you're doing here, I can't promise I'll remain civil," I warned him through my teeth.

"What do you mean?" He feigned innocence. "I've been here all along."

A disbelieving laugh burst from Radriel, and he turned to compose himself. I could sense his aggravation in the air as if it were a tangible thing.

"No, you haven't," I remarked icily. "I felt your essence leave with the Aperture because you knew if I didn't sense you here, I wouldn't have come. Proof of your trickery."

His lips twitched into a grin, as if I'd said something amusing. "But you didn't feel my return, did you? You didn't instantly notice me in the shadows either. How interesting. Perhaps your magic's depleted?"

In answer, I gave him a saccharine smile, and as the petals around us began to brown and droop, I suddenly plunged us into darkness, showing him just how plentiful my magic was. "I don't need Adasia to supply me. I never have." It was why my father hated me. My magic went against nature. He called me 'a curse that should've never been born.'

But Archilleon was right. I didn't notice his magical signature, and I vaguely sensed someone watching me from the shadows, which was troubling. Nothing got past me in the dark.

The thought disturbed me. If I were becoming weaker, that meant Adasia did supply me, and everyone was wrong to accuse me of being something I wasn't. Infernal.

My emotions began to tangle together to the point it was impossible to separate. I should be ecstatic that I wasn't born a blight to our world- not that my parents were ever accused in that regard. At birth, Adasia's biological essence embraced us, giving us a certain energy to harness depending on our response to it. Our magic was determined by which of the raw rudiments we felt most connected with. Parents had no influence on the matter.

My thoughts went to Radriel. He was an easy-going, breezy kind of guy, so it only made sense that he could harness the wind. My father had a temper so vociferous that it manifested itself in lightning- no surprise there. Archilleon's magic was an enigma- in a sense. He was a free soul. His spirit knew no bounds, which was how he could control space and time. Or at least, that was what we all assumed. There was really no way of knowing the truth of it since the things that defined our connections to nature went far deeper than we could fathom.

Then there was me. For some strange reason, when I was born all of Adasia's ethereal elements rejected me, leaving just the inorganic components of nature, meaning my strongest connection with the environment was death and darkness. How I got to be this way- I had no clue. All I knew was that I was what I was, and wasn't ashamed of it. Yet my father was and made that known to me on more than one occasion.

Like a death knell, my rage turned the atmosphere into a thick, stiflingly pervasive miasma of decay and destruction. I could feel the effects of my dark magic seeping from my skin like poison running through my veins. This always happened whenever I was in a really foul mood.

Archilleon inclined his head as he watched my deadly performance. I noticed that, rather than being threatened by my display of power like other Celestians, he appeared fascinated by it. Then again, he always had been. I guess being the only individual in the universe who possessed the ultimate cosmic power of manipulating time made him just as dangerous and deadly as me.

My fury was intercepted as all at once, the blackened flowers around me reversed back into their beautiful blossomed state as Archilleon exhibited his own magic.

"Why are you here?" I demanded. Again.

"Why else would I return?" He countered and took a step closer to me. "For you."

I took a giant step away from him. "Not gonna happen, so you can crawl back into whatever wormhole you came out of because I never want to see you again." I turned on my heel to leave when suddenly he appeared in front of me.

Sonovabitch.

His eyes darkened unsettlingly, and I smirked at the miserable expression. He never took well to rejection. "It's not a request, Mora, nor are you allowed to reject your summons, and I can't leave here empty-handed." My heart sank as I realized his meaning. He didn't actually come for me. My father sent him.

"Who, exactly is demanding her return?" Radriel questioned, and I knew his obliviousness was deliberate. "Couldn't be the same male who everyone knows despises and renounced her, condemning her and by extension, the unfortunate Celestians who did nothing to earn his wrath- to this wretched place?"

Archilleon's intense gaze bored into him. "That'd be the one."

Why? Why, after five decades, did he suddenly want me back? The moment Adasia decided on my magic, he disavowed me, saying I was an abomination to our kind and not his flesh and blood. He couldn't kill me, and it wasn't because he had a heart. I was death. So he had to collaborate with the one male I thought loved me to confine me to this magicless realm where I'd waste away. Well, the joke was on them, because despite their poor efforts, I still had all my dark magic. And now, knowing their schemes, there was no way in hell I'd ever trust Archilleon or go back there again.

I searched the sky, looking for that damn glittering cloud. Maybe I could convince it to take me elsewhere? Somewhere far away where not even my brother could find me.

"Aperture's not here," Archilleon said, knowing my intentions. "We couldn't risk Celestians noticing the return of their magic and flocking back to Adasia."

My fury reignited. "They aren't allowed to return home, but I am!?"

"All will be explained when-"

"How'd you get here?" Radriel interrupted, but I already knew the answer.

"Space travel," Archilleon answered with an air of arrogance, knowing it'd get under Radriel's skin. "We'll have to leave quickly since it'll take more magic to travel with two people, and the longer I'm away from Adasia the weaker my magic becomes."

"Yeah, we know," Radriel snapped, the grip on his temper barely holding. "Imagine how sapped we all are after being barred from home for the past fifty years. The extent of my air influence is pitiful." As if to prove his point, a small yet pleasant breeze swirled around us. My heart squeezed. It was a sorry sight to behold. Nothing like the massive maelstrom of mayhem I'd seen him summon in the past. I knew how demoralized he felt, not being the fearsome Celestian he once was.

Archilleon's devilish grin widened as his dark hair was stirred by the wind, like he was enjoying some joke neither of us was privy to. "The legendary Radriel who once leveled mountains with his mighty tourbillons, now controls... nothing. It's befitting since that's all you've become at home, too."

Radriel lunged at him, but Archilleon slid away with the grace of a snake.

"Enough!" I placed myself between them to avoid a fight. The last thing I needed right now was a Celestian power conflict to grab people's attention and end up on the internet.

Archilleon tsked at Radriel derisively, ignoring my warning. "Fifty years here has certainly done your combative skills a disservice."

"Fuck you!" Radriel snarled, his face twisted in a visage I'd never seen before.

I looked over my shoulder and pierced Archilleon with a lethal glare. "You have no right to come here, order me to leave with you, and ridicule Radriel after your contribution to our forsaking," I spat with venom. "If you and my father thought I'd ever go back to that place, with you, you're both delusional. I'd rather rot with the rest of the Celestians he abandoned here than go back to his subjugation."

He snorted and arched a dark eyebrow at me. "Don't act all high and mighty. If I'm not mistaken, you used to be incredibly heartless and didn't give a damn about who you hurt or how you might be screwing over others in your quest to get one over on your father."

I whirled on him. How DARE he insult my character after what he did! "Heartless!? You want to know what's heartless? Denying these people their loved ones and homes just to please a tyrant! I'd be shocked if they could ever bring themselves to forgive either of you for the injustice of being stranded here- a punishment they never deserved. And I know I'm not innocent in this. It was all our actions that led to their misery, but there's a difference between you and me. I've spent fifty years trying to atone for my part in their suffering by providing the best lives I could offer them. While here you stand, basking in the fruit of your sins. Not even sorry for the pain you've caused." I gave him a deprecatory once-over and scoffed, wondering what I ever saw in him. "And you know what? I'm eternally grateful for your betrayal, for if you hadn't deceived me, I would've been too blinded by my infatuation to see how ugly you were."

His jaw worked. I could tell by his furious expression that I hit a mark. Good.

I turned to leave with Radriel when Archilleon stopped us, freezing us where we stood. Motherfucker!

"I said you've been summoned. No one refuses the Emperor's decree."

"I just did," I snapped back belligerently.

He shook his head with a haughty smile in place. "Not even you. I'll take you by force if I have to. But I rather not. So if it makes you willing, then you should know the summons is regarding the mysterious disappearances of the Celestians here in the terrestrial realm, which I know interests you as you were just discussing it before our pleasant reunion."

How'd he know of the disappearances?

I closed my eyes. Don't take the bait- it's just another trick.

"Morbid."

"Don't call me that!" I barked, my blood boiling, his attempt to tug at my heartstrings nearly sending me over the edge.

He sighed. It was an insulting sound, the kind of noise one makes when they're disappointed in you. "Very well. Just put aside our differences, if not for me, then at least for the sake of those you've become protective of."

I thought I knew intense hatred, but it was nothing compared to how much I detested him at that moment. The balls on him for using guilt as a weapon.

I turned to face him, my eyes flashing. "I'm not your Morbid, and I don't care what pops wants. My only loyalty is to the Celestians who've been dealt a raw deal. So if this is a ruse to haul me back to Adasia with a hidden agenda, I'll make you regret it."

He shook his head, trying to seem sincere, though the expression he wore was one of triumph. "Not a ruse. I promise."

"You're promises mean shit," Radriel spat, beating me to the punch.

Archilleon held up a hand in a conciliatory gesture. "On my honor, I'm telling the truth. The Emperor might've trapped you all here, but it wasn't a condemnation. You're still his subjects. His concerns of the vanishings are genuine."

I narrowed my eyes on him. "Fine," I said, but I quickly doused Archilleon's smug expression with a condition. "But only if Radriel comes, too."

He gave me a hard stare, clearly not pleased. It made this bitter deal taste a little sweeter. "Fine."

With that, darkness closed in around us with a sickening howl as he transported us through the vacuum of space. Stars warped as we zoomed through the cosmos, and before I knew it, I was standing before a familiar forbidding throne.

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

Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed my story! It was originally meant to be a submission piece in the Purple Clouds challenge a while back, but I didn't finish it in time, and it's been sitting in my drafts ever since. I decided "to hell with it" and finished it, for no other reason than because I wanted to. :)