The Fateless Soul, volume 1 : Fallen Demon

'I'm tired.'

Ethan took a sip of his apple juice as the music coming out off Alyssa's phone assaulted his ears. That mixed with the loud voices around him made him dizzy. Meanwhile, the others seemed energized by the overall ambiance.

Other than Alyssa and Ethan there was three other Pillars : Razael Goldbane, nephew of the Angel's queen, a young angel of nineteen year old. Being the oldest child of the queen's sister, he was supposed to become the advisor of the future ruler. But two years ago, he announced that he was giving up on the position.

His aunt has always been particularly cold with him, and she didn't even tried to convince him, happily nominating Razael's little sister as the next advisor.

There also was Carilysh Leafsdust, a eighteen year old succubus. She is the first succubus to become a Pillar and spends the majority of her time locked up in her room. The only times she would emerge, she would looked completely exhausted and overworked. Even tonight, she refused to join the get-together, saying she has better things to do.

Then there was Zegrath Irongust, an eighteen years old wolf who recently lost the fight for the throne, which lead to the Wolf Clan having for first time in the Land's history a woman becoming the Chef.

Ethan thought it was a good thing, even though he had already overheard Zegrath ranting to himself one night about how there clearly was cheating involved because there is no way he could have lost to "a stupid woman".

Ethan preferred walking away without saying anything.

'He is so loud too...'

In any case, the situation was mentally exhausting for him. All in all, he has been here for two hours, which was two hours too long for him. But since it would be too rude to leave, even with a good excuse, he had no choice but to bite his tongue and continue drinking his juice.

His back against the wall, he tried to be as discreet as possible, not wanting to get involved in a drinking game or something like that. So instead he kept his head low, not uttering a word unless spoken to. But more importantly, trying to avoid looking towards the window.

"And now, for the highlight of the party..."

Ethan glanced towards Alyssa. The Ambassador was rubbing her hands in anticipation and smiling. She walked towards the fridge and took out a big white box that she lifted in the air like it was some kind of prize.

"Chocolate raspberry cake !"

She put the box on the kitchen counter and opened it. Razael leaned forward, his icy blue eyes shining with anticipation and his mouth watering.

"It's going to be my first time eating chocolate..." He whispered in awe.

Zegrath, who was finishing his fourteenth cup of beer, turned to them, eyeing the cake with scepticism.

"What is chocolate ?"

Surprised by that question, Alyssa blinked in confusion.

"You guys don't know what chocolate is ?"

Razael shook his head, explaining there were no chocolate on the Lands. Alyssa sighed with sympathy, saying that life here must be quite sad. While talking, she cut the cake and handed the pieces to Zegrath first, then Razael. As she was about to cut another piece, Zegrath suddenly spoke up, pointing to Razael's plate :

"Why does he have a bigger piece ?"

Alyssa shrugged and went back to cutting while Razael slowly took a bite, as if trying to rub it in Zegrath's face. However, the angel's expression quickly shifted to one of pure delight and he let out a long hum of satisfaction.

"This is so good ! Zeraphiel, you have to try this !"

Ethan bit the inside of his cheeks and stared at the wall to avoid looking at the young man near the window.

Zeraphiel Goldcrest.

A nineteen years old angel with the softest and warmest smile Ethan had ever seen, chosen specifically by Elyon himself to be the personal guide of the Alyssa. And more importantly, Ethan's cousin.

Despite the fact that they're from the same family, the Laws make any interaction between them completely and purely illegal. In fact, except for the Crows and the Pillars, all and any contact with someone from another Clan is forbidden.

Officially, the only time the cousins interacted was during the few weeks Zeraphiel's family was allowed to house Ethan for a weeks ten years ago.

Unofficially...

"I'm fine, thanks. I don't like raspberries."

Seemingly disappointed, Razael still nodded in understanding. Alyssa shrugged and turned to Ethan, motioning him to get closer. He reluctantly obeyed and took the plate Alyssa was handing him. He never had any cake before as the Lands lacked the ingredients to make one, so he despite being weary, he was still a little curious.

As he was about to take a bite, he heard a gasp near him. Turning, he saw Zegrath trying to grab Razael's plate.

"Hey !" The angel exclaimed. "It's mine !"

"As the leader, I deserve the bigger piece !"

Pulling Razael back, Zegrath tried to steal his plate again. Razael scoffed and, barely moving his wrist, created a strong gust of wind between him and Zegrath, briefly surprising the wolf who loosened his grip. After putting distance between them, Razael stuck out his tongue.

"You're not the leader."

Zegrath groaned and stabilized himself before rolling his eyes.

"Not yet."

"An why would you be the leader ?"

"Because it makes sense, obviously. First, I'm a man, second, I'm not a disabled or mixed freak. Also, I'm the strongest and more charismatic one, not choosing me would be stupid !"

Laughing proudly, Zegrath flexed his muscles, completely obvious to the look of judgement everyone was giving him. Ethan could tell he most likely was waiting for praises, for them to agree with him. But he only received long seconds of silence.

"There's no way our very generous God Elyon will choose you."

Razael's words cause Zegrath to stop his flexing.

"Why wouldn't he ?" The wolf scoffed. "I'm the best choice."

"You're not royalty."

Zegrath's smile faltered but he didn't utter another word, frowning. He munched on his cake, upset. Zeraphiel hummed.

"Who knows, maybe Alyssa will be chosen."

Zegrath scoffed.

"As if."

"It's not impossible." Zeraphiel shrugged.

Alyssa put her now empty plate down, licking her lips in satisfaction, and turned to her guide.

"You think so ?"

"I love you Aly', but there is no way it's going to happen."

Razael immediately objected causing Alyssa to pout.

"Oh come on... Ethan, what do you think ?"

Ethan, who was starting to completely check out of the conversation, too focused on the cake that was indeed delicious, flinched and swallowed quickly, his brain trying to come up with a satisfying answer.

He thought about the different factors that would influence the likelihood of someone being chosen as the Pillars' leader and made a quick assumption.

'Prince Goldbane would be the obvious choice. When it comes to background, personality or magical strength among the Pillars, none of us can compete. However...'

He glanced at Alyssa. Since she's a human, one would think she had no chance, but considering Elyon Himself was the one with the final say in that matter, Ethan wasn't so sure anymore. If the God had taken the liberty to make a human a Pillars, ignoring the opinion of the Clans, who's to say he wouldn't do the same when choosing the leader ?

So after taking another bite of his cake, Ethan carefully articulated :

"What I think doesn't matter, at the end of the day it will be our very generous God Elyo's decision."

Alyssa and Razael seemed to find his answer acceptable, but Zegrath snarled and threw his plate on the counter before storming out.

"Forget it. I'm leaving."

As soon as he slammed the door shut, the others went back to partying. Alyssa turned the song's volume up and Ethan felt overwhelmed by the loud, quick music. But he stayed silent. Surely, they'll want to go sleep soon, right ?

Visibly no, as one hour later the party was still going. Ethan was getting more and more exhausted. He didn't know what time it was, but he knew they had to be up before six a.m to see Elyon's speech, and he doubted Alyssa and Razael would actually have the energy to listen if they kept going like this. Drinking and eating, and drinking, and eating, and drinking...

The minutes passed. Ethan nervously fidgeted with his empty cup while Alyssa and Razael finished another can of beer. Zeraphiel was looking out the kitchen window most of the time, but he still discreetly kept an eye on them to make sure they wouldn't go overboard.

Eventually, Zeraphiel convinced them to go to sleep and Ethan couldn't be more grateful.

After biding goodnight to Alyssa and Razael, he didn't even looked at Zeraphiel, and his cousin avoided looking at him too, he walked down the hallway to head back to his room.

As he approached the door, he could hear grunting coming from the room right next to his. Zegrath's room.

'He's still not done ?'

Ethan didn't really have any complain about him complaining in the middle of the night as, due to his training, the demon had developed insomnia at an early age and could go weeks without sleeping.

The problem was that, at any given time of the day, or night, Zegrath would often make quite... Indecent noises.

So loudly that it was impossible not to hear. This not only made Ethan really uncomfortable, but also made it practically impossible for him to focus on anything.

'The worse is that he keeps complaining while doing this.'

Holding back a sigh, Ethan stepped into his room. Maybe was it due to exhaustion, but he accidentally let his mind slip and he internally cursed, closing the door more brutally than he wanted :

'I swear, what a pervert.'