Valac frowned, mirroring his expression. “Why?”
Julian raised his head, searching the horizon for answers. “I feel like I was complicit in some of the things the guild was doing. I spied on the Sentinels. I repeated the lie that they were traitors for leaving, even though they’ve never raised a hand against the guild itself. I followed orders I didn’t agree with.” He affected a shrug. “I left eventually, but I’m not sure that was enough. Maybe I should have taken a real stand while I was still on the inside. Maybe others would’ve stood up with me. Maybe we could’ve stopped them from getting worse.”
Valac stroked Julian’s arm gently. “Those are a lot of maybes,” he pointed out kindly.
Julian blew out a breath. “I know. Anxiety, remember? I worry about everything, even the things I can’t change.Especiallythe things I can’t change.” He tilted his head back and met Valac’s violet eyes. “Now, can we talk about something else? I’m starved for conversation during the day. All I do is ask people how their food is and make small talk with the other employees. Tell me something. Anything.”
“Like what, my jewel?” Valac offered him an indulgent smile, one hand sliding down to thread their fingers together. He would give Julian anything he wanted.
Julian pulled Valac over to the edge of the roof, and they sat down, dangling their feet off the edge. “What exactly do behemoths do? You don’t go to Earth much, so I assume you spend most of your time in Hell? Do you have a job there?”
“We do, yes. Behemoths patrol the pathways to Hell, ensuring no souls try to escape judgment.”
Julian idly swung his dangling feet back and forth. “Is it scary down there? Hell?”
Valac shrugged. “It’s my home. I don’t imagine it’s quite what your guild taught you to think it is, but the Pit isn’t particularly pleasant for the souls there.”
“The Pit?”
“Where the souls are tortured for their wrongdoings.”
Julian’s eyes widened. “That’s just one section of Hell? What’s the rest of it like?”
Valac tipped his head back toward the starry sky. “Our sun isn’t as bright.”
“Y-You have a sun in Hell?” Julian sputtered.
“We do. Think of it like a mirror of Earth. The sun is fainter, the world darker. The Pit contains the human souls that come there for judgment, and the rest of Hell is where the demons live. It isn’t an eternity of punishment, as I think your religion teaches. The souls are only there for as long as it takes them to realize the harm they caused during life and repent.”
Julian turned to face him. “Wait, what? What if they don’t think they did anything wrong?”
“Many start out that way. Some take longer than others. But often, souls already harbor guilt for the things they knew were wrong. Those souls are punished until they come to terms with their wrongdoings, and then they go on to find peace.” He smiled at Julian’s dumbfounded expression. “Hell would have to be a very big place to contain every human soul who ever sinned since the dawn of time.”
“Right.” Julian cocked his head to one side. “I guess I never thought of souls as tangible things that needed space to be… stored or housed. What about Heaven? Does it have to containall the souls from Hell that find peace as well as the ones who didn’t pass through Hell first?”
“I can’t say. I haven’t been there.”
Julian chuckled. The hand not holding Valac’s trailed up the demon’s forearm, absently following the path of one undulating black tendril across his skin. “Right. I guess it stands to reason that they have a similar method. Maybe the souls there experience true happiness for a certain amount of time and then… expire or something. Return to the cosmos or the fabric of reality.”
Valac turned their hands, letting Julian follow the tendril across the underside of his forearm. “That sounds nice.”
“What about the rest of Hell? You said that’s the part where the souls go. What about where the demons live?”
“You’re very curious for a human.”
Julian laughed brightly. “Yeah, sorry. It’s not everyday you get to ask an immortal demon all the burning questions you’ve ever had about the afterlife.”
Valac chuckled. “We have homes much like you do—well.” He gestured with his free hand toward the electric skyline in the distance. “Not exactly. We don’t have electricity. We don’t even need food while we’re there. Hell itself sustains us, though many indulge themselves by feeding on the souls in the Pit.”
“Whoa. But you need food while you’re on Earth?”
“Yes. Having a physical body on Earth is different than existing in Hell. It’s a spiritual plane. While we’re on the surface, we need food and water and sleep, although not as much as a mortal. There are certain demons who wouldn’t need to eat food or sleep even on Earth, but not many of them bother coming to the surface.”
“So do you have a house?”
“I do. A small abode in what I suppose you’d call our capital, Pandemonium.”
“No concentric circles filled with sinners, then?” Julian asked cheekily, casting him a smile.
