“Every single one of the library support people are demons?” Sarah was watching Fury prepare a nice meal for her. She wasn’t quite sure what that food she was looking at was, but it looked delicious.

  “Most of them.” Fury didn’t turn around and kept tossing the weird vegetables in her pan.

  “Most?”

  “You are human, as is Evelyn. Until next year at least. There is also this very pretty vampire dy, she counts as mostly human. And, who could forget, the chef.”

  “Aren’t you the chef?”

  “Oh no, I run a food cart travelling through Hell. The chef of the library restaurant is human.”

  “I really need to know how she got involved in all this.”

  “Ask the librarians. While they often seek me out for my food, I must admit that I am not an avid reader. I know little about their dealings and history.”

  “Fair enough, but you know a lot about food and the demons of Hell. I mean you travel around a lot, you must meet a lot of people.”

  “I do. And I know quite a bit about military tactics and combat. I was one of six high commanders in the armies of Hell. Honestly, I prefer cooking for people. But I’m happy to share some stories, now that you have permission to hear them.”

  Sarah made a happy noise. “I would love to hear them!”

  “Hm… where to start though? The wars? The chariot? The magic bomb?”

  “Why not start with your first day or why you joined the armies?”

  Fury nodded, still turned away from the young human, eagerly cooking. “Yes, let’s start there.” Fury paused. “No, actually. Let’s start way before that. About a thousand of your years before we became immortal, which itself is over a hundred thousand years ago, Hell was split into nations like this world is now and two of them started a trend that led to reshaping how we lived and thought of the world. The Fields of Mourning and the city state of Dis, including the coastline under its control, joined their governments together and became what we now know as the sixth circle of Hell. That was incredibly successful causing the entire region to thrive. So much that other regions joined in. Higan, Kur, Erebus, they all joined together with the young state of Dis becoming the Pandemonium. I was born on the isnd of Tehom about a century after the Pandemonium was founded. Tehom was one of the st regions to join and when we did, the leader of the pandemonic military, General Beleth, approached me. I had just signed up for the path to become a ship captain for the Tehom navy. Beleth was looking for a successor and a command staff to support her. So, I instead began training to become a high commander in the armies of Hell, the new joined military, and to be the representative of Tehom in all that. We had enjoyed peace for millennia and that position was supposed to be purely ceremonial, so I agreed. Beleth found her successor in Apollyon, who picked me to be a high commander, just as Beleth had predicted and prepared me for. Sadly, that position didn’t turn out to be as ceremonial as everyone had hoped.”

  Sarah frowned. “That sounds like you went to war.”

  Fury finally turned around with two rge ptes of food and set them down on the counter of her food cart. “Twice before we disbanded the armies.”

  “Disbanded? Why? Thank you.” Sarah took a fork-full of the stir-fry. “This is amazing!”

  “Thank you, it’s a favourite of mine. A nice warm and comforting dish to help me rex. Anyway, yes, there was war. A short few decades after the Pandemonium was formed, we made contact with the angels and became trading partners. Many thousands of years ter, our differences in how to deal with humanity strained our retionship enough to eventually escate into war. Three times. After the second war, Apollyon made the choice to dismantle the armed forces and let the inquisitorium take over military duties.”

  “But why dismantle?”

  “She bmes purely herself. She butchered an archangel near the end of the war, the culmination of ever more brutal and merciless implementations of near perfect strategies. We won easily. The thing Apollyon forgets, I don’t think she wants to even see it, is that we all were supporting those brutal methods. We all fell to blood lust. We became monsters and no longer had a pce in a peaceful society. The inquisitorium did a good job winning the third way as well, proving that we were no longer needed. I decided to offer what used to be my hobby to whoever indulged me. I made food and started travelling from town to town to share it. Now, I get to share it with you.” Fury took a fork-full as well.

  “I’m grateful that you haven’t just shared your food with me but also your story. Thank you. But I have to ask, why were you so open with it all?”

  “On the purely practical side, I know what we can do if you break our trust. On the personal end, I have much to mentally deal with about that time and sharing it helps. There is no pain, no regret, just that it didn’t quite sink in yet. Twelve thousand years and it still feels like I’m just taking a vacation and will go back to pnning drills in just a few short weeks.”

  “I can barely imagine such a time scale, but I do know that feeling. I have dreams about exams, I wake up rushing to the door before I catch myself and realize that I have two more hours before I need to be at uni. It takes a moment to sink in on those mornings that I now live alone, that my mum won’t shoot me a snarky remark about the bus always being te, so I don’t need to fuss about getting ready so early. I almost hear her voice when I jump out of bed, telling me to not forget breakfast.” Sarah smiled. “I think we all have those changes in life that just refuse to sink in.”

  “That we do. Strange really, how some things never become normal and some even bigger changes feel like they have always been that way. Life is strange and it never stops being that way. I suppose that’s for the best.”

  “You tell me. A few minutes ago, I had a history lesson about a world that I didn’t even know existed when I got out of bed this morning.”

  Fury chuckled softly. “I’m just gd you are taking this so well.”

  “I don’t know about that, I might not sleep tonight because of all this. There is too much to think about.”

  “You could have broken down screaming and fainting at the sight of our dear librarians.”

  “Fair point. You are all too sweet to get scared, honestly.”

  “We try our best. Did you realize you aren’t eating human food?”

  Sarah nodded. “I expected it to be demonic. Doesn’t look or taste like anything I know and you said it was your comfort food. I don’t expect a demon’s comfort food to be of human origin.”

  “You’d be surprised how many of our foods were inspired by yours. Sure, we had something vaguely resembling burgers, but the precise construction of our current iteration was invented by humans. Same with the incredible doner kebab.”

  The young human giggled. “That’s a funny thought. You are such old and incredible beings, capable of forming reality, and you never invented doner kebab. Did you adapt the spicy sauce as well?”

  “We improved on the spicy sauce. It’s what brings the entire thing together.”

  “On that we definitely agree.”

  “So, I told you my story, what about yours?” Fury had finished her pte and was now leaning onto the counter.

  “I’m boring, even by human standards. I always had good grades, barely missed a day of school, took part in the volleyball club until I broke my hand. I never got back to pying after that. When I was thirteen, maybe fourteen I think, I saw the kerfuffle here with that angel and that put me on my path. I never told anyone what I saw, just asking my mum what she saw. The official story that a librarian got mugged gave me the idea to pursue some form of journalism, the best way I could think of to eventually ask questions here. To be even allowed to ask. I got a bit obsessive trying to become a journalist. I signed up for the school newspaper, alienated nearly all my friends on the side, and made no new ones that stuck around. I guess Jenn stuck with me… she’s great but I never told her why I went crazy. Now I’m studying journalism and, well, I got my answers.” Sarah shook her head. “Without Kate’s offer I wouldn’t even know what to do now.”

  “I wouldn't say you're boring. You saw something unique, it changed your life, and you decided to chase the truth, which also changed your life. As for friends, I hope you’ll count me among them.”

  “I don’t know how often I can come visit your food cart. I don’t even know if I will be allowed into Hell again at all.”

  “Then I will make sure to visit you.”