Page 28 of Fallen Demon

“This is Rage,” Tanner said. “He’s a half demon, half demon hunter like me. A couple of months ago, he joined us to explore the underworld.” He stared at Zad. “Unlike a certain angel.”

Zad took it in stride. “When you asked, I had other priorities.”

“Did you complete those priorities?” Jasmin asked and Zad nodded. He wanted revenge against the angel who had imprisoned him in the underworld for twenty years. “Are you ready to join us now?”

Zad shook his head. “I apologize, but I think my place is with Lord Drake and DuMoir Castle.”

“Can’t blame you,” Tanner said. “Things here are complicated.”

“What does any of that have to do with your lead?” I asked, my patience running thin.

Tanner looked at me. “I’m getting there.” He moved his hand again and this time a table that was at least twelve feet long and eight feet wide appeared before us, and on top of the table was a dark, magical map of a place I had never seen before.

The underworld.

Curious, I stood and approached the table to get a better look. Everyone loomed over the table as well. The map was a wonder in itself. It seemed made of moving shadows, and if I stretched up and crouched down, I could see the elevations.

Unfortunately, only the center was well defined, with this castle built of shadows in great detail. The immediate area around it was on the map, and then just another two sections were drawn and named, both of them a little bigger than the center and directly south of the castle.

The rest was plain dark clouds, though some had hard lines separating them.

“When we took over—” Tanner said, his voice closer. I looked up and saw him, Jasmin, and Rage on the other side of the table. “—the underworld was a mess.”

“It still is,” Jasmin muttered.

“The demons residing here ran rampant, either to other corners of the underworld, or to Earth,” Tanner went on. “Some even tried taking the castle, but thankfully, the demon hunters had come with us and made sure we had the castle and the entire area cleared.”

“Apart from Lily and Moth,” Jasmin said.

“Right. Lily and Moth are two lower demons. They've proven themselves loyal to us.”

“Lily served as a maid, so she knew most of the castle’s secret passages and what was where,” Jasmin said. “While Moth was a servant for Brikan. He was the fly on the wall on several of his meetings, though he admits that he was afraid and never really paid attention to what was going.”

“However, he seems to remember some details about the land,” Tanner said. He pointed to the map. “He told us that the castle is the center, and that the entire underworld is twice the size of Earth.”

“With a lot less water and more land.” Jasmin shuddered. “Dry, brittle, dead land.”

“Anyway, Rage here is looking over the exploration of the underworld with a few trusted demons,” Tanner continued. “He started exploring this section.” The king gestured to a large area on the upper part of the map. “Tell us about it, Rage.”

Rage nodded once. “Right now, we believe this area is probably the size of Asia. But it could be bigger.” His voice was deep, which definitely gave out warrior vibes. “A couple of days ago, I encountered demons here.” He pointed to where the section met another. “They were hiding, but harmless, afraid of all the changes and what it meant for them. They told me they saw a big ball of fire with some weird, moving shapes fall from the sky in this direction.” He pointed to the middle of the section. “An explosion followed, and then everything went quiet. Usually, I go inch by inch, registering everything so we can map it out, but King Tanner told me about your predicament.” He glanced at me. “So, I went directly to that area.”

I held my breath. “And?”

“It opens to a big cliff with mist at the bottom,” Rage said. “But I saw a trail of scorched earth where the ball of fire could have touched before falling into the mist.”

“And you’re assuming this ball of fire was Levi and Ylena?”

“It’s a stretch, but it matches the timing. Plus, this cliff and whatever is down there seems like a prison for dangerous demons.”

“Something like fiery pits,” I muttered.

Rage nodded. “Exactly.”

“When Rage told us about it, I knew I had to tell you,” Tanner said.

I looked at him. “Thank you.”

“In all honesty,” Tanner continued, “if I didn’t know you were looking for your demon, I would have probably told Rage to continue exploring everything around the cliff and leave that for last. But knowing you’re after your demon, I offer you a chance to go down into the mist and search for him.”

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