A Weapon’s Serenade

After the girls had to return home to sleep, Famine and Isha had moved to the observation dome. Famine had placed a large book at the window for Isha to read while the demon did some paperwork. Overall, it had been a quiet few hours.

Isha magically flipped over another page, then looked up at Famine. “I love this.”

“I’m glad you do. It’s a good novel.”

“Not just the novel, this entire moment here. Just the two of us silently enjoying each other’s company. At least I hope you enjoy mine.”

Famine smiled. “I do. Sharing silence is a sign of a good friendship.”

“I suppose it is. Now I feel sorry for breaking that silence.”

“Don’t be.” The old demon put her pen aside. “I could use a break and…” She paused, it seemed like she didn’t want to admit it. “a little conversation.”

“I wanted to ask you in private if you really think that making me a demon is possible. You were vague about it and I don’t want to give Serena false hope. She seems very interested in me.”

“I didn’t want to provide false hope either. I am not entirely certain but I am very sure. There is only a slim chance that you cannot be turned.”

“That is good news but… I almost don’t want to ask this, but what makes you so sure?”

Famine stood up and moved to the window. “I could lie to you. If I tell you the truth, you cannot tell anyone else. This knowledge is the only thing that the pandemonic council and the inquistorium agreed to keep secret. All other information is allowed to be shared freely.”

“I understand. I am still curious though. I suppose it would be good to follow our traditions then, to confirm your trust in me. When someone shares a secret with us, it is polite to a return a secret about yourself. Never someone else’s secret.”

“An interesting tradition.”

“It makes sure that even secret knowledge is never lost.”

“It might be interesting to integrate that into our traditions.” Famine paused for a moment. “Our species are related. We do not know how we can be related, but we are. We are also related to humans.”

“But that fact alone isn’t worthy of a secret, is it? It’s the logical extension that makes this so… problematic. Sirens and humans are also related to angels and that means that by extension you are too.”

“Exactly. There are many conclusions to be drawn from the pieces we have, but they are all uncomfortable.”

“And reasons for the less stable species to go to war over.”

“Yes.”

“I have my ideas of how this all came to be, but may I ask what those other pieces are?”

“All forms of felines don’t go their respective underworld on death, border world natives come here and even before we cut off our underworld, cats reincarnated. The same applies to canines and heaven. Ara had postulated that dogs are parasitic and she is partially right. The domesticated canines contain the parasitic strains that are defining for heavens dogs, but there are many canine species that are not parasitic.”

“And then there are the things I asked when Anne made her comment about all this. The similarities in the worlds, their atmospheres, the oceans, similar ecological structures.”

“It would all point to a single source of creation. The existence of so many similar inhabited planets in the border world supports that theory. But we know that there cannot be a single creator.”

“We do?”

“Jolene would have known.”

Isha tilted her head. “Who is Jolene?”

“She is outside the worlds. She has witnessed the creation of these worlds.”

“If she says that there is no creator, then that is the highest authority answer on that topic. Fair enough. To me, that leaves four options. Granted, I do not know enough to exclude any others or even be entirely sure on these four, but these are what I think are the most logical.”

“I am curious if they overlap with our assessments.”

“Given the magical aptitudes of three of the four connected species, one theory is a precursor civilization creating these similar environments and seeding life.”

“That is possible but without access to the early history of the heavens we cannot prove it. Hell had been too unstable for too long before becoming what it is now. Aeons before we developed, Hell was only lava and water. The two most common stones in this world are basalt, a result of cooled lava, and marble, metamorphic limestone formed under immense heat and pressure. There were no habitable areas in Hell until it cooled down.”

“And with no signs of any precursors to be found anywhere here, that would mean they created this world and then died out. Possible but unlikely. My second theory is that Hell and the heavens split from what you call the border world. Starting as pocket realities that evolved into full worlds would explain the strange forms both take.”

“That is also one of our theories, yes.”

“Then there is the option that it’s simply convergent development, but I find that highly unlikely.”

“We are considering that too, but I agree, it is unlikely.”

“I think my favourite is the idea that something contaminated the other two worlds from one source. Life like this started in one and something happened to accidently spread it onto the others. But even that has holes. What about the cats and dogs? What about the strange forms of heaven and Hell?”

“I agree in that it is also my favourite despite the holes. No matter how fitting our theories are, we must never tell them to anyone outside the inquisitorium. Even most other members of the pandemonic council do not know. To simplify this secrecy, the members of the pandemonic council only know about this knowledge being problematic and do not know any details. The only other demons outside the inquisitorium who are authorized to know the details are the scientists actively researching this matter and the librarians.”

“The librarians?”

“A group of demons running the library here and in the border world. One of them was an inquisitor in the past, she already knows, but the others only know that they are allowed to know. So far, none of them have sought out this information. It is also the only knowledge that is not available in the library.”

“Maybe I can help research it in the future. I don’t know what my plans are for eternal life, but researching things seems like a good plan.”

Famine nodded with a smile. “It is a good plan.”

“Well, I promised you a secret as well. Feels like such a minor one compared to what we just talked about but it is still something.”

“The impact of a secret does not dimmish it’s secrecy. That you are sharing at all honours me.”

“You are such a wonderful person… I know you will never tell anyone but it is still hard to speak about it… I… normally we evade fishing boats but I was curious and young. I managed to free myself from the net easily but…” Isha seemed genuinely ashamed.

“You do not have to tell me and no matter what you did, it is in the past. What you have learned from it and how you changed matters”

The siren forced a sad smile. “I was angry seeing what they did. It wasn’t that different to what we do, we also hunt fish but not like this. My tail was scratched and I was hurt… I was furious and I killed them. All five humans on that boat. After luring them into the water, I made them sink, made them drown just like they made all those fish choke to death. I was tempted to devour them but they were too disgusting. I let the sharks have them all while I destroyed their boat, leaving nothing but dust. It was hard answering your call to meet with Serena and the others, but I convinced our orator not to go and that I will go meet you in her stead. That day had haunted me for decades and I hated myself for it. I wanted to believe that not all humans were like that, that there were good humans somewhere. So, I met with you.” Isha turned away from the dome. “You can tell them. Just please not the things about those fishermen. You can tell them that I wasn’t sure about humans and that I had a bad experience. I just… I want to forget that I killed… people. I killed people.”

“It is not for me to tell our human friends anything. If you wish for me to tell them, I will do so, but unless you actively ask me, I will do nothing. I understand what it is like to take a life. I have killed humans before as well. It assures me to know that they will be embraced by Ara, that they will not simply disappear into nothingness.”

Isha turned back to face Famine. “I did not believe in the lightbringer until I met her. You are right, it is reassuring that I did not make those humans end. That their journeys continued in… what did you call it? The underworld?”

“Yes.”

“We call it the beyond. The endless oceans we cannot reach in life for they lie beyond the shores. Makes little sense when we found out what land is but it’s still a cute thought.”

“A beautiful idea, yes. In any case, I will guard your secret into eternity.”

“Thank you. As will I.”

“I must confess something, it is not a secret, but a thought I prefer to not spread. You have made me talk and I enjoyed it. Our friends have tried to teach me how to open myself, it appears to be working. For once, I feel the desire to talk.”

“I’m happy to be here to share in that with you.”

Famine put a hand on the glass. “I am happy too.”