"Come with me"

 She said while pulling my hand.

"Alteraportamundi, Baratrum"

 

As she spoke those words a dark mist left her fingertips forming the shape of a circle.

Soon after a dark portal appeared in its place. She went first while holding my hand and pulled me through. I had no clue what to expect.

'Ah... seems surprisingly normal...' I thought.

"Welcome back to Pandemonium, my lord"

 

The paisage that filled my view was but unfamiliar, actually, it was pretty much the same as the small, rural city in Europe where I had grown up. There were valleys as far as the eye can see, brimming with life. Trees covered the plains and the foot of the mountain that embraced the valley, the background. Small crop fields dotted the dense forest with their wooden fences and barns. It took me some time to take notice of the oddities. Although it was clearly day there was a twilight, a purplish one to that. As I looked up, I was able to confirm this was not a normal place. The was a purple sun setting, a red one at its apex and moon rising, all at the same time. All of it filled my heart with nostalgia... But I had never been here before, I thought.

 

<<Access Denied - Sys Thema 1 Offline>>

 

As these words reverberated in my mind it finally hit me.

My memories had been sealed by someone, or something.

 

"This place... This is where I came from, right?"

 

"Y-Y-YOU KNOW?"

 

Her tone changed, the difference was like night and day. The before all-mighty mysterious woman now finally matched her looks.

Her face changed from surprise, to disbelief, to joy in just a second, as tears started to form in her eyes.             

 

"I still can't remember it... but this place, it feels so nostalgic..."

 

"There's no helping it then"

And, as if nothing happened, her happiness vanished, bringing back her previous behavior.

 

"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASTAAAAAAAAA"

A shrill voice, like a child's, resounded from somewhere in the woods.

 

"Ah, Paimon!"

The atmosphere around the girl changed again, back to what it was a moment ago.

 

A small fox pup came running from the woods and jumped onto the girl, who embraced it tightly.

 

"Masta, Masta, you finally came back! Paimon missed you sooooo much!"

"hoooooooo! Masta found young lord? Paimon soooo happy"

 

"yeah, yeah, I found him..."

 

Paimon's words made Lue remember why she felt lonely.

 

"hmmmm, masta doesn't seem to be happy..."

 

"He doesn't remember me at all..."

 

"ho, then masta just has to make him remember, no?"

 

Paimon tried to cheer her up, but to no avail.

 

"The problem is I don't know how..."

"Also, Paimon, why are you in this form?"

 

"You see... Paimon got scared... After masta went after the young lord weird things started to happen... Mammon started giving orders to everyone."

 

"So, you had to run away from the capital, right?"

 

"Yeah... Paimon didn't know what to do. You took too long!!!!"

 

"Too long? but I only spent a few centuries in Tellus looking for him?"

 

"THAT'S A LOT!"

 

As I heard their conversation things felt completely amiss. The fuck did she say? centuries?

 

"Ah, excuse me..."

 

"Ah, right, Paimon, change back to normal and introduce yourself."

 

"Heeeeeh, but Paimon likes this form... Okey."

 

As it said those words the small fox started morphing in a dark mist. After a couple seconds the mist subsidized and the form that appeared had almost nothing to do with what it used to be.

A young girl in her mid-teens. She was extremely cute. With short white hair, red eyes and a very delicate face she gave off an atmosphere akin to that of a puppy, but her eyes held a lot of wisdom. While enchanted by her beauty, I kept staring at her. She was short, about 1,50, and very slender with tiny, almost nonexistent, breasts.

As she noticed my gaze, Paimon started blushing and slightly shrunk.

 

"AHEM!"

 

The girl that brough me here coughed with an annoyed expression.

 

"Oh, my bad, sorry!"

 

Her expression reminded me a lot of jealous girls from back when I went to school. She must be very fond of Paimon, I guess.

As I looked away, Paimon got even redder but tried her best to stop blushing.

 

"We best introduce ourselves, I'm Lᵫcyƒer Luxfero Stella Aurora, but you can all me Lue as you used to. This girl is my friend and subordinate, Paimon. She is a little shy so don't try anything. Ok?"

 

"Yesh, Paimon is Paimon!"

Said a still blushing Paimon, touching her fingertips.

 

"You said before when talking to Paimon and now again but... Do we know each other?"

 

"You could say that... It's more than just “know” but, it’s not like I can say it... You know."

 

"Paimon thinks masta likes young lord..."

 

"SHUT THE FUCK UP PAIMON!!!"

 

With those words, Paimon was blown away by a strong gust of wind that carried her a few meters before falling to the ground, rolling.

 

"KYAAAAAAA! Masta is so meant to Paimon!"

She screamed with tearing eyes as she walked back slowly towards us.

 

"Ignore that kid, she doesn't know any better." Said a slightly blushed Lue.

 

"Okay..."

'Better be careful not anger her' I thought.

"So where am I, exactly?"

 

"Oh, yeah, this is Baratrum, the world of Demons and Fallen Angels. We are in the outskirts of Hervorragend, the capital of the Suberbia Principality."