Young Writers Society

Damascus is a demon of Hell. His job is to punish human souls, and he's fairly good at it. But he harbors a secret desire to learn more about the humans he's supposed to torture, so he often goes on trips to the surface world to see what being human is like.

Tessa Bryant is your average high school student, except that she's not. She has a tendency to encounter all sorts of things that stray outside the realm of normal - she's met the Grim Reaper, literally danced with a devil, and has even been visited by the Personification of Magic.

So when Tessa sees a man fumbling around in the local convenience store, it doesn't take long for her to realize that she's stumbled upon another extraordinary person in need of assistance. Naturally, she decides that she needs to chat with him.

And it's this chance meeting that leads to the adventure of a lifetime.

Damascus

Damascus closed his eyes as he rested underneath the shade of the cherry trees in the Paradise plane. Though the glow of the petals that seemed to radiate with warmth, they had all but lost their grandeur to him. Ever since the day that he had first felt the sun on his face, he had stopped finding beauty or peace in the dark atmosphere and weak mockeries of light in the Underworld. The grove of Paradise was the closest that there was to the Surface World, and so it was where he escaped and spent most of his time.

Of all days, Damascus was having an especially hard one. Molleck had given him another test- it seemed like those would never end. He had lived many centuries, and never failed to remind his mentor of this. Unfortunately, Molleck didn't seem to care how old or experienced Damascus was. He recognized some sort of weakness in his pupil and was doing everything he possibly could to squelch it.

Today, he had been forced to judge the souls of a group of teenagers- children, really, who had inadvertently caused a whole apartment to burn down, along with the souls of all those who had died in the fire. These were the type of tests that gave him the most grief. He was required to be fair, not merciful. And, according to the Ancient Laws of Judgement, most of those people were condemned to fates of various eternal misery.

The feeling of sadness and unease had still not faded, no matter how long he lay under the cherry trees. A longing that was always present in his mind grew into a large ache, and after a few moments of trying to withstand the whole it created, he sat up in a flurry of motion. He needed to visit the surface world. Needed to.

Though each of his visits came with a fair amount of risk, Damascus' history of never getting caught made him more and more careless, if anything. The truth was that none of the other demons shared his love of humans, and therefore never expected him to want to see them up close.

It took Damascus a few moments to travel his familiar shortcuts between shadows and planes before he was standing at the foot of the familiar radiant staircase. Every time he used this exit, the seed of guilt he possessed over his deception grew less and less. A factor that aided in this was what he reminded himself every time- really, it was the Authorities' faults for leaving a forbidden exit constantly unguarded.

Looking around quickly, he shifted into his human form, which fit comfortably after so much use. He frowned at the loose robes that he was still wearing from his last visit, and decided that he would change them based on whatever fashions the people were wearing when he arrived.

Wasting no time, he took the first step, and with a rush of warmth, was transported into another world. Before he even had time to survey his surroundings, he was laughing in excitement. Though it seemed that it was evening here, and the sun had gone down not long before, the remaining warmth was enough to melt the chill that had seized his heart.

Taking inventory, he kept to the shadows while he got a chance to survey the few people walking down the... concrete. The word came to him- concrete. It seemed that there were strips fashioned where the humans could walk smoothly.

Damascus eyed the clothes, not taking too much time to dwell on the unfamiliar style, and conjered some of the denim pants and flimsy shirts for himself. The shoes were a bit of a struggle, and so after failing to get enough detail from the passer-bys' fast-moving feet, he conjured some loafers for himself.

Now that he blended in and could step out of the shadows, Damascus was able to take in his surroundings. It seemed to be some sort of village, with buildings on the sides of the concrete that had bright lights in the windows and display. The closest one caught his eye- a flashing neon sign displaying words that he couldn't read.

Without a second thought, he walked over and attempted to open the door. When several tugs wouldn't budge the glass door, he sighed and started to walk on to the next building, figuring it was locked.

A person behind him got out of a giant metal machine and grabbed the handle. Damascus opened his mouth the save this person the trouble and tell them it was locked, when the person pushed against the long handle and was instantly granted access.

Surprised and delighted, he tried the same thing, and was able to walk into the curious building. Fluorescent lights illuminated its contents, and he felt his eyes widen at the overwhelming amount of various packages lining the shelves.

What was this place!?

Tessa Bryant

It was a beautiful fall evening, and Tessa Bryant was absolutely bored out of her mind. She had spent the past few hours wandering around town in a perpetual state of boredom, hoping that something interesting would finally happen. Unfortunately, not much had happened. There were some things that had happened that might be called interesting by someone else, but she wasn't someone else. She was herself, and that meant she had certain standards that needed to be fulfilled.

She needed an adventure, she decided. A glorious adventure that would span all of the upcoming long weekend, and an adventure that would take her mind off of how mundane her town really was.

But first, she needed to get some good old caffeine and sugar in her system.

She made a beeline to the convenience store at the very end of the street she was on, mulling over what would provide the strongest burst of energy. An iced coffee would be nice, she supposed, and a good old Hershey bar wouldn't hurt. Maybe a five hour energy while she was at it? She had never used one before, but they did advertise that they'd provide a decent amount of energy.

She entered the store.

And immediately found herself staring right at an adventure.

An adventure being man gawking at the beauty of an old convenience store that people only used out of necessity and not because they seriously wanted to be there. She could read the signs. This guy wasn't normal, and she would just have to figure out why.

But, in the meantime, she had to make sure he didn't do something stupid.

"Hey there," she said, walking around in front of him. "You seem a little lost. Need some help?"

Damascus took a step forward, wondering where he should start exploring first, and nearly ran right into a girl who he hadn't noticed. He blinked, and then realized that she had said something. Lost? Was he that obvious?

"Oh, hello. Pardon me. I'm- not exactly lost, perse." With a frown, he wondered how to phrase the next words. Some help would be nice, but he didn't want to call too much attention to himself. "Is this, by any chance, a... shop? Where goods are sold?"

Tessa Bryant

Not lost her foot. This guy was definitely lost, going by how he had just asked if what was obviously a convenience store was a place where "goods" were sold. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, she grabbed onto his arm and started to bring him towards the nearest aisle. Or, at least she tried to. He was a bit harder to move than expected, so she ended up just kind of walking in place and tugging on his arm.

"This is a shop," she confirmed. She gave his arm a stronger tug. Giving a sigh of frustration, she let go and dropped her voice down as low as she could possibly make it. "But you asking complete strangers questions like that makes it pretty obvious that you're not exactly normal, so can you please just come with me before you say something stupid?"

Damascus

Damascus couldn't decide what he was more surprised by- the girl trying to pull him somewhere, or the fact that she had called him not normal. Was it that obvious? A blush rose to his cheeks out of fear that she would see through his disguise.

"I- I'm normal!" He choked out, his voice rising defensively. He looked around and cleared his throat before lowering it. "Completely normal, by my honor. B- but if you insist, I will come with you."

Letting out a breath, he started to walk in the direction that the human was trying to take him, letting himself be led. He would just have to be careful with the words he chose. Very careful.

"Then I don't trust your honor that much," she said, bringing him into the aisle. The aisle closest to the door happened to be the hair product and makeup aisle, but the store was always deserted during this time of day.

She let go of his wrist and crossed her arms.

"Look," she said, "I was just hanging out with the Grim Reaper last week, and the week before that, Magic and I chatted over Harry Potter. And the week before that, I want to a party and ended up meeting a devil who then asked me to dance with her. And that's only in the past few weeks - I'm used to all sorts of crazy stuff. So it's stupid to pretend like I'm completely wrong because I know I'm not. You're not normal. I don't know how, but you're not."

Damascus

He raised an eyebrow at the girl's long list of things that she considered unusual. Maybe he was missing something, but he didn't seem to understand the significance of most of them. He sighed, knowing that neither of them would get anywhere with him continuing to blatantly deny the obvious.

"Alright, I concede. I'm not normal- but who is, really? Everybody had their quirks. There are endless definitions for the generalization of normal, so it really won't accomplish anything to try to place one." Stalling. Perhaps stalling would distract her. Or maybe if he were to change the subject.

"These products really are fascinating." He said conversationally, picking up a compact of gold eyeshadow. "Are they catering to royalty here?"

She gave him a look.

"They're not," she answered, grabbing the eyeshadow out of his hands and placing it back down where he had taken it from. She might not have known his name yet, but she was already growing exasperated with how hard he was trying to conceal the truth.

Letting out a sigh, she leaned up against the shelf displaying the makeup. "Look," she said, "I used the word 'normal' because I don't know what you are. Maybe you're something that hides away from humans. Maybe you're a time traveler, since golden eyeshadow isn't exactly a sign of royalty these days. Whatever you are, I know it's not normal, and I'm not talking about you having a funny little hobby."

Damascus

He shrugged and turned his attention back to the girl, playing off the fact that his heart was currently drumming a tattoo onto his sternum.

"I'm simply an out-of-towner." He answered. "How about you? Do you usually make a habit of dissecting strangers?"

Clearing his throat, he picked at the hem of his tshirt with one hand, looking down with the shame of his rude words.

"I just meant... it's not something I can talk about, exactly. And if I have to reveal my nature to a hu- to someone, I'd prefer it was someone who knows my name, at least. So, let's start this over. I'm called Damascus." He stretched out his hand like a peace offering.

She shook it, still fully intent on demanding more answers. A name like Damascus wasn't a normal one, and sounded distinctively Greek. Maybe she was dealing with a demigod, or some sort of ancient Greek god? (She knew the chances of that were unlikely, but a girl could dream.)

"I'm Tessa," she said "Tessa Bryant. Tess and Tessie work too. Now, what were you saying about having to reveal your nature to a human?"

She gave him a smile.

Damascus

Letting out a barking laugh, he dropped her hand.

"Well, Tessa, you are persistent, if anything." With a sigh, he tilted his head up toward the florecent lights above, as if he could find answers there. Molleck, forgive me. He lowered his voice slightly. "I'm not human, as you seemed to have guessed. And I don't come from this world, either."

He paused to let this information sink in while he worked up how to phrase what he was going to say next. And of course, he still clung to the sliver of a hope that she would be satisfied with this vague confession. Suddenly, an idea blossomed into being.

"Why don't we make a deal? You show me how this shop works, help me blend in until closing hours, and then I'll tell you what I really am. Unless, of course, you guess by then."

She thought for a moment.

"That does sound like a good deal," she admitted, mulling it over. She stopped leaning up against the makeup rack and walked back in front of him. Holding a hand out, she said, "But even though it's a good deal, let me make a better one. This store's going to bore me if I have to stay here for much longer, so let me show you the rest of town instead. It's a boring place, too, but it's better than here."

She checked the time on her phone.

"And in...hmm...two hours from now, if I haven't figured out what you are, you have to tell me. Deal?"

Damascus

Damascus smiled in surprise at this, delighted. He would get to see the entire town? Without hesitation, he reached out and grabbed her hand to shake it, closing the bargain.

"It's a deal. Thank you for adding something... less boring, that was thoughtful of you. So, where should we start?" Eyes glittering in excitement, he tried to turn and survey the shop and barely avoided tripping and knocking over an entire display of shampoo.

"Perhaps the... place where children play? Would that be entertaining enough for you?"

Tessa Bryant

"I mean, our playground's not the nicest one around and both of us look a little old to be going there, but I'll take you," she said. She let go of his hand and tried to ignore the fact that he had almost knocked over the shampoo display. "I'll show you the way."