Young Writers Society

Harry burst out laughing. That was a new one. He'd been called a million things before but an angel was one of the rarer ones. It wasn't something that was commonly associated with this look. As for demons, well that was typical. It would explain the slight fear he could sense in the strangers voice and the horns. It still wasn't going to help him however until he got a name. Let's try this one more time.

"Okay, Mr. Demon, that was helpful, sort of," said Harry," now if you could just say your name, we can finish this off. And yeah, I don't care in the slightest who you are, but I do need to know so that I know what to do with you. You're acting awfully suspicious at the moment so I might be forced to make an assumption and I hate doing that."

"You're already making an assumption!" Mage replied, exasperated.

He couldn't help himself. He was trying to stay calm and levelheaded, but it just wasn't working. He could barely keep his voice sounding deep, too. At the very end of his sentence, there had been another frustrating voice crack. He wished his body would stop doing that. He knew it was natural and what was supposed to happen, but it was hard to stand his ground when his voice decided to jump an octave out of nowhere.

"You said I'm suspicious, but I haven't done anything wrong," Mage said. "All I did was trip through that stupid-that doorway right behind me. And a name isn't going to help you figure out what to do with me. You already gave me your list, remember? You're going to take me away to wherever you bring your prisoners, or you're going to make me go back to Infernum. You're just going to forget who I am the moment you get rid of me."

"What assumption did I make?" asked Harry, shrugging, registering the slightly higher pitch at the end as an unusual anomaly.

"Okay, first of all, I didn't say you did anything wrong, you're suspicious because you're being very defensive, also a name is absolutely going to help. Ever heard the saying, 'names are powerful things'. Also, first part, no, I'll take you to a holding cell, and they'll decide what to do, put you on trial, all that jazz, second part, I haven't heard of that place so I doubt it, third part, no, I already told you. I don't forget things. I don't know how many times I have to tell you that. I just need a name, is that so hard to give."

Harry took a few stops forward. "One thing you said does intrigue me though." He pointed at the thing that he now figured was a portal in the center of the tomb. "So this is a doorway?"

Mage made a frustrated noise. He knew exactly what assumption he-

He faltered.

The angel was busy looking at the doorway now, but Mage's mind was elsewhere. He looked the angel over again. He was different than what Mage had glimpsed and expected from angels. The thought made a pit form in his stomach. The pit only got worse when he realized that the angel didn't know something every angel would have known.

He lowered his hands a little. Without really thinking it, the flames started to die down and the darkness started to retreat to his hands.

"...You...You don't know what Infernum is?" he slowly - and hesitantly - asked.

Harry turned away from the portal thing to look at the demon again.

"Uhh, yeah, never heard of that place and I don't usually forget places," said Harry, before adding with a laugh," of course there are places I haven't visited in millennia so you know, names change and all that." Then he did a face palm. That might have been a clue. I am dumb. "Wait, does this door lead to that? Is that where you're from?"

Mage was still processing the first part of the conversation. It took him a moment to really register what had just been said - and even longer than that to realize what the implications of it were. He stared at the angel with wide, dark eyes. He wasn't sure if he was scared, relieved or just plain confused.

"Infernum is where demons live," Mage whispered. "It's underneath Medium. Medium is where mostly humans live, and Caelum is where the angels live in the sky. But you...you would know that. You should know that. You're an angel. So why...why don't you know what Inferum is?"

Harry turned his full attention the demon and raised his eyebrows.

"I've just never heard of it," said Harry, "as for your Medium and Caelum, I don't know about those either. What part of that sentence is confusing you at the moment? I mean I recognize the structure you refer to, a world underground, above and center but its ridiculously common throughout the Omegaverse. Million, possibly billions like that, I really don't think I've heard of this specific one you're referring to. Why's that so important to you anyway?"

Mage made a tiny noise. Even he wasn't sure what it was supposed to be - a laugh, a sob, a whimper, or even a mix of the three. He was still struggling to grasp what the angel was saying, but the truth was staring him right in the face. It didn't make any sense, but it had to be the truth.

"That's all there is," Mage whispered. "There's...there's nothing left. There was a magical catastrophe that destroyed everything around us. That's why the demons have to live in Infernum now. We were innocent, but the angels said it was our fault. You're an angel. That's why you should know that."

He looked the angel over again.

"...But you're not like other angels," Mage slowly realized. He spun back around to face the archway he had gone stumbling through. It had been glowing before. It wasn't now. But when he looked at the room behind the doorway, he saw that the room was slightly different than the one he had walked into before.

His stomach twisted and turned.

...Kiera had told him stories of Sin powering things called portals.

What if he had just gone through one?

"I'm-I'm not in Medium anymore," he managed to get out, "am I?"

Harry walked over to the demon and gave him a pat on the back. "I'm sorry about your home. I've lost a couple in my lifetime, its never pretty."

"And yeah, you're currently on Kiertonan," said Harry, "and it looks like you didn't mean to be here, did you?"

"I didn't," Mage confirmed, his voice quiet and - for once - without the deepness he usually forced out. He didn't really feel like trying to sound older than he was right now. He just felt lost and confused. "I've...I've never heard of Kiertonan before."

"Ahh, there we go," said Harry, "well, don't worry. I'll get you to where to where you need to go. So, I'll ask again then, what's your name? And where exactly is it that you need to get to?"

"My name is Magestorrow," he softly said. "Magestorrow Rian."

He glanced back at the archway. He had a sinking feeling in his gut that he couldn't quite erase. That doorway - when it had glowed - had brought him to a place that wasn't anything like the world he knew. It wasn't even anything like the stories that Kiera had told him while he was growing up. But Kiera's stories had always had a kind of Sin that didn't match the kind either of them had, and this arch felt just like that.

"I need to get back to Medium," he said. He didn't have anyone waiting for him, and he didn't have a destination. But Medium - and Infernum - were the only places he had ever known, and he couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

He looked over at the not-angel.

"...Who are you?" he finally said, once again remembering the role he was supposed to be filling. His voice hadn't become too high when he was answering the questions, but he made sure that it sounded as mature as it had when they first started the conversation. He couldn't risk this not-angel seeing him as some scared child.

"Magestorrow Rian," repeated Harry, "that is quite the name. Hmm...well you're definitely not on the list of those not allowed in here which is good, I don't have to arrest you. And you say you want to get back to this medium place, well I haven't heard of that but I guess I should help you, no one else is in office at the moment." Harry silently cursed his luck before turning back to the demon.

"As for who I am, well, the answer to that one depends on who you are, and to be honest I don't completely know the answer myself most of the time but I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to know the name. We do need to call each other something if we're help each other so umm....unnecessarily long explanation aside, my name is Harrison Hardy, well Harry Hardy, no one calls me Harrison," said Harry, smiling a little. It was painfully obvious that this one was pretending to be a lot more mature than he actually was and that got him a bit of respect in Harry's book. He was taking the fact that he was lost in a strange world quite a bit better than several millions before him.

"So, before we do anything, I just need to make a really quick call," said Harry, turning away. He dialed his sister's number on his wrist mounted communicator. She picked up instantly.

"Are you done?" she asked.

"Unfortunately know, the target is...lost...like lost lost, not the other lost," said Harry.

"Dang it, so you're gonna miss the movie?" she asked.

"Yeah, looks like Operation Skystorm will have to postponed," said Harry.

"Seriously," she asked. Harry could almost feel her rolling her eyes through his earpiece.

"Yeah, I'll see you as soon as I get this one home," said Harry.

"Alright, take care of yourself."

"Will do."

The line went dead and Harry turned back to Mage.

"Right so that's dealt with," said Harry, "now, let's start with exactly how you found yourself here."

Harry - a name that Mage had never heard before - used a strange device on his wrist. Mage warily watched him as Harry spoke to someone that Mage couldn't see. He assumed it was some kind of magical communicator, but he had never seen anything like it before. It looked more like one of the automations he had seen while lurking in the back alleyways of some of Medium's larger towns.

Harry used words that Mage didn't recognize. Movies, Operation Skystorm, calls - he hadn't ever heard of those before. What he did recognize were the other words and phrases that Harry used. He knew what targets were. He knew what the threat of being arrested was. Harry seemed to have no intentions of harming him right now, but it still gave him an uneasy feeling.

"I was in ruins like these ones," Mage said. He walked over to the arch again. Now only a few inches away from it, it didn't look nearly as impressive as it did when he first saw it glowing. Maybe it was because it had lost its glow; maybe it was because he was here with another person instead of seeing it on his own.

He wasn't sure.

"I found an arch identical to this one," Mage added. "I wanted to see what it was, but I tripped and stumbled right through it. I heard a bell ringing. Then I found myself here, and the doorway stopped glowing."

"Huh, that's not usually a good sign. When you go through a glowing thing and then it stops glowing that's usually because its been deactivated so well...that doesn't bode too well I suppose. But just for the sake of it, why don't you just try going through again. It could work," said Harry. And I might get to watch my movie after all.