DESCENDANTS OF CHAOS

  Chapter 1: A Conversation With A Goddess

  I lived my life believing there weren’t second chances: not for someone who royally fucked up by taking the lives of others and spraying gunfire on a bunch of men. Then maybe potentially traumatizing the future lives of children whose orphanage was set on fire. I didn’t cause the fire in the orphanage though. THAT was the work of a notorious organization that betrayed me and sent several men on my tail to finish the dirty work and leave my bullet ridden corpse to die in the middle of a dusty desert. I would probably die in some unmarked grave, if I don’t have my bones picked clean by the vultures first. By God, anyone with a conscience left would be driven mad, but instead, I’ve grown numb and apathetic to the organization I had been beholden to. The concept of heaven and hell were merely idealized delusions. I’ve taken cursory glimpses of books on the topic, of the afterlife, souls, demons, angels, and other mythological creatures that should be legends. I shunned them all. I laughed at those who believed. After all, the world I lived in was ruthless Darwinism. Those accepted crazy notions, who were easily duped, wouldn’t last long. Even a vague possibility that this was real, it wasn’t the imagination that trembled at dying, I probably would’ve scoffed at God or Satan himself.

  I, a man who lacked faith, conversed with a God.

  Surely I would be condemned to Hell, right?

  You would be surprised at the oversight of the higher-ups…

  But then, maybe playing the role of a good guy wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

  —x—

  A feverish consciousness emerged as though he woke from a very long dream or drought of sickness that left him bedridden. This must be like when you’re just being born or dying. He opened his eyes, as they adjusted to the darkness. A void swallowed him in inky gloom as he waved a hand experimentally in front of his face. His eyes still didn’t adjust to the shadows.

  This sucks. Did I die? I don’t even believe in an afterlife, but I’m still alive somehow. Let me see. What do I last remember?

  The gunner vaguely remembered fighting in a senseless war. Dante cringed at the thought of dying on the battlefield, though such is life. Bloodshed was that world, where common reason and human rationality shattered. Even someone formerly known as the Demon Desperado could die with a bullet through the heart. They surrounded him, leaving him nowhere to go. After a hail of bullets rained down on him, Dante shot several scatter-shots of bullets of his own. He took down a horde of men, but the lead slugged into his body. Dante took his death grinning and simply slumped to the ground a rag-doll corpse. Still, he wiped out a good portion of those bastards before he died, he noted with some satisfaction.

  Okay, so I’m dead. Heh…I went out in a blaze of glory. I suppose there are worse ways to die.

  A stained glass window appeared on the ground, depicting what appeared to be angelic and demonic figures, alongside what he had once been. Human. The darkness materialized more stained glass window steps leading higher. It seemed he had no choice but to ascend those steps. The platform he stood on led to nothing but darkness below.

  Should I just plummet to the darkness down below? End whatever bullshit that might be waiting ahead of me? I mean, the last world I was in wasn’t any good. Who knows what other lifetime of bullshit would be in store for me if I ascend those stairs.

  Dante poised at the ledge, daring to tiptoe as far as he could and lean forward to stare into the infinite darkness. He squinted, trying to ascertain how far the darkness went, and drew back to the safety of the sturdier part of the stained glass platform with jagged prisms of dancing demonic figures. His gaze lingered on the ascending steps, before he took a quick glance at the darkness falling into the bowels of whatever Hell or tomb probably awaited someone there. A cold sweat broke across his brow, to which he took off his black hat, shook it, and wiped his forehead. Once he wiped the sweat from his chilled brow, he adjusted it on his head once more, While he fiddled with the hat and snugged it around his ears, when he brushed his fingers against his ears, he noticed the tips were pointed.

  My ears are pointed?

  Dante scrunched his nose.

  Huh.

  He glanced toward the rising spiral staircase, which welcomed him toward a celestial light beckoning above like a ship harboring to shore. After debating with himself, Dante walked up the jagged shard steps. It took a while for him to clamber up the stained glass ledges. Even for a fit and trim physique, Dante panted as he finally made it to the top, his thighs and calves burning with exertion as he drew in deep ragged breaths of air to regather his bearings. A woman with long black hair and deep green eyes waited at the top. A rippling aura of authority and grace surrounded her without the pretentiousness, a power like a caged tiger that was confined in a room too small for her. She tapped the pen once, before scribbling something in her paperwork. Dante felt static in the air, as though he would be shocked if he approached too close. Her chest was supported by an emerald green corseted dress that cinched her waist into a wasp thin point and the skirt of the dress spilled on the floor in rippling silk festooned with ribbons and bows like ice. Dante averted his gaze and cleared his throat. She seemed absorbed in her work while she shuffled papers on the desk. He recognized one of the files on them with his name on them. He quirked a brow at the person before him.

  “Excuse me,” he said.

  The woman glanced up at him, tapping a pin to a cherry-red lip as she furrowed her brow in thought.

  “Ah yes…” the woman said. “Dante Villiers. You’ve had an interesting life, from what I recall.”

  Dante swallowed a lump as though he swallowed the raw salted fish he hated so much growing up. He didn’t have much faith in the afterlife or gods and goddesses before. But if his intuition was correct, this was the person judging his deeds in his previous life. A life of senselessness and bloodshed. Dante was no Saint, but he at least tried to make the world a better mark than it had been been. Yet he had no delusions she would cast him to heaven. Either he would be sent to Hell or the gallows—whatever punishment she deemed fit, she held his life within her grasp. Her green eyes smoldered, the weight of a thousand lifetimes and wisdom behind them, and the stillness she observed him caused his skin to prickle and rise.

  “Well,” Dante lowered the brim of his hat to cover his eyes. “I suppose that you’ve deemed me unworthy for something nice like heaven, then?”

  The woman shuffled through her papers and pursed her lips. “You’ve lived your life as a former assassin.”

  Dante felt rolling his eyes would’ve earned him a thunderbolt or whatever magical witchcraft gods and goddess pulled out of their asses. Considering his karma quota, chances of him surviving looked pretty slim.

  “I didn’t know much else.”

  “Naturally, taking another life is said to be a sin. Though I’ve been watching your entire life, Dante Villiers.”

  Dante couldn’t suppress his eyes widening. Of course he was always being watched.

  “I know there is something about you that has the potential to grow and surprise me. When you saved those two children at the end of your life, I wasn’t expecting that.”

  “Of course,” Dante said before he looked the goddess in the eyes. “There is no excusing what I did. But even I had principles of not killing a child in my former life. Maybe if I had a choice in my previous life, I wouldn’t have followed the life that I had before. Though…I think that there is no chance for reformation in that way, is there?”

  The goddess looked towards him, before she said. “Dante Villiers. There is the matter of you killing people in a world filled with senseless violence and bloodshed. How would you like the opportunity to reincarnate—as an indentured servant to an Overlord, of course.”

  Dante winced. “And if I refuse?”

  The Goddess tapped a nail against the desk. “Mm. You could. But that wouldn’t be a wise choice.”

  Dante took in a deep breath.

  “Is there a way out of eternal servitude towards this Overlord or whatever it is? I’m guessing it’s a denizen of hell or something, right?”

  The goddess smiled and tapped her head with a slender finger. “Very quick on the uptake, Mr. Dante. Yes, an Overlord is a ruler of the Netherworld—or what you humans would call Hell. Some souls come into the Hell realm who have sinned to serve underneath an Overlord as the lowest rung of vassals, though if you wish to escape that kind of punishment, well…”

  The goddess got up from her dusk, ruffling papers, and rose before Dante like a Queen about to bear a decree to her subject. She made a rather impressive and imposing figure, the air prickling around her with the taste of ozone and the static only intensifying and pricking his skin. Dante’s breathing steadied and his hands showed no signs of tremors, though sweat started to form on his brow again. That oppressive aura, a spiritual pressure greater than gravity would’ve brought him to his knees.

  “You’ll have to win in a battle against me.”

  Dante measured up the goddess and swallowed. He didn’t want to live a life of eternal servitude towards a demon hell-spawn. Defiance flared in his gut at that thought, burning like hellfire until it seared his skin and pores. Though maybe he should ask more about the rules of the afterlife before confronting a battle with a goddess who could likely kill him on the spot. The tigress’s claws were currently sheathed, though the kinetic energy and beauty of her lithe dynamism held the predatory instinct of such majestic creatures. Dante knew not to poke at slumbering tigers. His muscles tightened and though his expression remained schooled, a subtle clench in his jaw.

  “So, I would like some things clarified, if I’m going to seriously consider taking on a goddess so that I can escape eternal servitude towards this Overlord,” Dante said. “First of all—what are the rules and laws of the afterlife? Is there another loophole besides fighting a Goddess or whatever? Can one advance in rank when they’re an indentured servant to the Overlord, what kind of mentality do demons or angels or whatever place I’m going have? Will I still have a human form? Do I still retain my powers and abilities from my previous life, do I get new ones, are there conditions for a duel with a Goddess or Overlord?”

  The Goddess looked towards her polished nails, an expression of indifference making her emotions unreadable. Dante didn’t know whether to applaud her tight control or snap her pretty little neck. “As I’ve reincarnated you into this dimension, I suppose it’s fair that I explain the rules of the Netherworld, The Human World, and Heaven towards you. These three dimensions coexist in a world like a three-layer cake—angels and demons do exist, and humans exist to sustain the supply of economy of the afterlife. When a human dies, they can become an angel or demon or another lifetime as a human, depending on their deeds and accomplishments during their previous life.”

  The Goddess raised one finger, before revealing a magical projection of the world in question showing the Heaven Realm, Earth, and the Netherworld. “You will likely have a humanoid form when you reincarnate into the Netherworld, which is your designated destination, though you will be the lowest vassal on the rung of servants that serves the Overlord of that place. Of course, you can always challenge the Overlord for his title too…though at this point, you would be utterly decimated, even with your previous abilities and skills intact from your previous lifetime.”

  Dante clenched his hands into fists. Silence fell with a thick tension in the room. Even though he was powerful in his previous life, there was no fighting against a Goddess or an Overlord. Dante looked downward, lip trembling. He supposed he deserved this.

  The Goddess tilted his chin up, however, and glanced at him with half-hooded eyes. “You are a rather handsome fellow, though. Many women would die to sleep with you, wouldn’t they? Of course, I am no ordinary woman, after all, but...a Goddess.”

  She flicked from underneath his chin, before she turned her back on him, her long black hair shimmering behind her in a banner as the green adorned dress trailed on the floor. Dante noted the perfume she wore wafting to his nostrils, a subtle sweet scent that would’ve normally charmed lesser men, though it made Dante freeze. What was she playing at here? Why the hell would she want to sleep with him?

  “Dante Villiers,” The Goddess said. “Maybe one day you will become a man worthy of having as a loyal follower. If you pledge your allegiance to me, I could, perhaps, still send you to the Netherworld, but I will groom you into a man who can ascend even to Godhood.”

  Dante dug his nails into his palms and clamped his jaw even tighter. If it wasn’t servitude towards an Overlord, then it was servitude towards a Goddess. Though in all likelihood, it would be preferable to be aligned with a Goddess. Some part of Dante said he couldn’t completely take everything this goddess said at face value, either. The ‘sleeping with him’ comment twisted his stomach into knots. Would he serve as a sensual consort with the Goddess? Though…she did have knowledge of the afterlife and this strange place, he trusted that judgment more than his newborn blind ignorance towards the afterlife and its existence.

  “I…” Dante bit his lip. “I don’t want to fight you, Goddess. I truly regret the things I’ve done in my previous life. I suppose it’s too late to say that, but whatever I can do to atone for my past actions—I’m willing to work myself to the bone so that I can escape servitude towards the Demon Overlord of this Netherworld. But if you can challenge an Overlord or a Goddess for their title or status or whatever—then is it possible for even a lowly peon to rise up to the top?”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  The Goddess rose petal pink lips tilted upward, before she gestured and beckoned for him to come closer. He leaned forward and she whispered in his ear. “I want you to protect my daughter.”

  Dante blinked. “Come again?”

  “She seems to have disappeared into the Netherworld and hasn’t come up to the Heaven Realm ever since. If you find my daughter, perhaps she can help you…and also, it would sow the seeds of trust between me and you.”

  Dante looked worried. “What is her name? But if she’s an angel or goddess or whatever in the Netherworld—wouldn’t that be a bad thing?”

  The Goddess tapped her head again. “Ever quick on the uptake, Dante. I guess I don’t have to explain as much. Yes, when a higher entity such as an angel or goddess is exposed to the Netherworld, they can become, say…more demonic. It’s just how the environment is. No one knows what the conditions are for an angel to become a fallen angel, though it would be bad for the higher ministry of Kahlan to turn into a fallen angel. She is rather important, you see.”

  Dante thought for a moment before he said. “If I can retrieve Kahlan for you, would you think about lessening my sentence about serving underneath an Overlord as their lowly vassal?”

  “I could consider it. Though to be honest, Dante—you are an interesting soul. I think if you work hard at redeeming yourself for your past sins, I could, perhaps, grant you a power that will make you rise above all other demons and maybe even Gods.”

  The Goddess snapped her fingers before as a warm light enveloped him. Dizziness and disorientation whirled and nearly tilted him off balance to fall nearly off the platform before he looked in awe at the magical energy chagrined with sparks and spiritual pressure around him. It flared to newfound heights, a bonfire of energy that sparked and emanated radiating waves of heat and pressure.

  “A blessing, if you will,” The Goddess said. “Before I ship you off to the Netherworld, there is one task that I must do. Before you go to the trenches of the Netherworld itself. The last known whereabouts of Kahlan were in Sector 17. Though of course she probably could’ve changed locations, and I don’t think that the demons would be willing to tell you information for free, unless if you bribe them or you defeat them in a duel or battle of sorts. Sector 17 has low level demons that you can fight to your hearts content and practice your newfound abilities upon, though be warned—the stronger that you get, the more demons will come after you and challenge you for your title and position.”

  “Is there anything else I should know before I find Miss Kahlan?” Dante asked.

  The Goddess remained silent for a moment, before a slow smirk spread across her cheeks.

  “You make a very dashing demon, to be honest,” Melusina said.

  Dante reddened and sneezed, glancing away. “For a goddess, don’t you have a vow of chastity or whatever?”

  Melusina smiled. “I didn’t think there would be a human or demon alive to resist my charms. Though honestly, I think that even if you spent an unforgettable night with me, your heart will be entwined with another’s.”

  Dante said nothing. “I don’t even know Kahlan.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” the Goddess leaned back. “You have an obligation to your goddess to fulfill. My niece is a powerful angel who will be your ally on a certain mission—which is descending through the nine circles of hell. Deep in the barriers of the nine circles of hell is buried a treasure within that was stolen by Heaven a demon.”

  “What is this treasure?” Dante asked. “What exactly does it do?”

  “The treasure Is of Celestial make,” Melusina said. “Befitting for one who would become a God. The Celestial Treasure takes on the form of a Sword meant for the true hero that would save all dimensions from chaos and destruction.”

  “Who is going to cause all this chaos and destruction though,” Dante said. “And how are you sure that that person isn’t me?”

  Melusina smiled while wagging a finger toward Dante.

  “You have a lot of mana power, right?”

  Dante nodded hesitantly.

  “That’s right.”

  “Try to suppress it.”

  Dante wondered how he was supposed to do that. Imagine it or visualize a flame being doused? He tried this mental imagery, trying to suppress the radiating waves of pressure and power coming from him, though the power rippling in him in waves only surged with more power, electrical sparks flaring and bursting. “I don’t think I’ve got the right idea.”

  “Try to suppress it and think smaller, Mr. Dante,” Melusina said with an amused smile.

  Dante visualized a candle flame, a wisp of a flame that shrunk down from the bonfire that he currently wielded, and poof, the tremendous energy he emitted became a small, suppressed fire.

  “This is tiring me out more than dying did,” Dante said with a slight terseness in his tone. “How long do I have to do this?”

  “Keep on doing this for as long as you live,” Melusina said.

  Dante stared with mouth ajar.

  “The rest of my life? What? Are you…”

  “Yes. The rest of your life.”

  “But I…”

  “Remember the lives you’ve taken, Mr. Dante,” Melusina said softly. “For each life force that you’ve taken, you’re carrying on their burdens and dreams. You have a responsibility to pay off those debts, for each life that you took, and suppress the mana you have for the rest of your life so that you won’t be detected.”

  “Detected by who or what, exactly?” Dante said, though he had a feeling he knew.

  Melusina tapped a finger underneath her chin.

  “You and I both know it’s the Overlord, among other demons and the denizens that are crawling in the Netherworld. You need to suppress your mana so that other demons don’t detect you while you’re traversing the vaults in the nine concentric circles of hell. Kahlan has also been undertaking the same training as you as well.”

  “Suppressing your mana so that you can’t detect someone energy? It seems useful, but—“

  “No buts, Mister Dante. If you give up now, then you’re as good as dead to me.”

  Dante bucked up.

  “Very well. I will do it no matter how tiring it is.”

  “Good,” Melusina nodded in approval. “By the way, Mister Villiers…remember when I mentioned that I had a special task for you?”

  Dante nodded, saying nothing.

  “There is a series of agendas that I want to ask you with,” Melusina said, check-marking her notes for Dante. “First, suppress your mana until you gather enough mana over a lifetime to take down an Overlord and steal his title. That is your overall goal. Next, you must get together with Kahlan and retrieve her out of the Netherworld to make her way out of the Celestial Realm. Second—retrieve the Celestial Treasure that was stolen by a demon in the nine concentric circles of Hell.”

  Dante gasped, nearly blue in the face, though still managing to hold and suppress his mana and struggling to hold his position. “How many years would it take for me to take down this Overlord? How long does it take till I get enough mana to take down the Overlord?”

  “Hm,” Melusina said as she regarded Dante curiously. “You have a good amount of mana to start, though not enough to take down an Overlord at your level. It would take a couple thousand years or so—give or take…though as a demon, you definitely have that long to live. And live you will for that essential purpose, or you will no longer be of use to me.”

  “So you’re going to be keeping a tight eye on me this entire time, eh?” Dante said with a weak chuckle, wondering if he would just be a puppet of another higher up like he was in his previous life.

  “It doesn’t come without it’s benefits, of course,” Melusina said. “I did, after all, give you a Blessing.”

  “So, about demons,” Dante said, looking curious. “What makes them different from humans?”

  “You will be stronger, faster, and more magically inclined of course,” Melusina said. “Your nature is chaotic by nature, though there are some demons that defy these general expectations. Much like there are some angels that defy the expectations and stereotypes of the holy and righteous crusaders that you think of when you think ‘angel’.”

  “Is there a faster way of harvesting more mana power than just…meditating and gathering mana pools into my body and suppressing it with all my might?” Dante said.

  “There are hardly any shortcuts in life worth mentioning, Mr. Dante,” Melusina said. “Though if you wanted to harvest a decent amount of mana, you could always stockpile mana from demons and monsters that attack you in the Netherworld. After all, might makes right there—whoever wins and comes out unscathed comes out the victor with spoils, including mana and life force.”

  “That’s good to know,” Dante said, thinking about it further. “Hey…do you think…that there will be any allies that would be good to bribe or be willing to listen to my story? Do you have any information on that?”

  Melusina fanned a hand to her mouth, looking amused, before she said, “Aren’t you full of questions today. Though this very curiosity will save you, especially if you know the right sources and mentors, so to speak—I suggest that you contact someone named Vassalage Fortunato in the Netherworld.”

  “Vassago…Fortunato?” Dante felt the cold sweat coming on again and a prickle at the back of his neck. The imposing power of the name not only intimidated him, but it seemed that the words themselves had a magical embodiment that spoke of magic-imbued Deity levels of power.

  “Yes,” Melusina said. “He is a very powerful Demon Magus, someone that you would like to have on your side as an ally. And someone you would greatly fear as your enemy.”

  “What exactly is he?” Dante asked.

  “A good-hearted demon that protects the Netherworld and Human World by disposing of and eliminating bad spirits and demons that have gotten out of control,” Melusina said. “In essence, he puts them to rest and binds them rather than outright killing them and purifies them so that they might pass onto the next life as a human or angel, depending on what that soul is wiling to do with their newfound purpose in life once he’s through with his rehabilitation methods.”

  “There are demons like that in the Netherworld?” Dante said in wonderment.

  Melusina put a hand against her cheek in sardonic amusement, half-hooded eyes fluttering lashes at him. “Oh yes, there are many demons quite like him in the Netherworld. Of course, there are many peons and fight happy morons who try to increase their rank and title in the Netherworld to improve their prestige and clout in the world to lord it over lesser demons or there the absolutely irredeemably awful demons that are kept confined in the lower sectors of hell in a forbidden zone where they must not escape.”

  “So is this like a prison or something like that?” Dante said.

  Melusina toyed with a piece of hair. “You could say that. It is the deepest, darkest pits of Hell where the Devil himself is said to dwell, and only those who have earned especially notorious reputation as evil in the Netherworld gets to go there, where they will be rehabilitated, if they’re not killed first.”

  “So…if you die…you’re gone for good?” Dante asked.

  Melusina tapped her head.

  “The soul goes on endless cycles or reincarnations until they reach nirvana. The soul doesn’t truly die, so to speak, though it’s the goal of the Heaven Realm and angels and Gods to one day lift all of humanity and demons to Heaven.”

  “Dontcha think that’s a little optimistic in human nature or demon nature?” Dante said. “Besides, this Vassago guy…what makes you think that I won’t go and steal HIS title or something.”

  “You’re welcome to try but he won’t make It easy for you,” Melusina said with an inviting smile. “He would probably bind your soul for such a transgression, though if you’re that curious about a demonstration of his abilities, using yourself as the guinea pig, then be my guest.”

  “No thanks,” Dante said with a wrinkled nose. “So, what else should I know about Vassago?”

  “He has two sons,” Melusina said. “Eros and Thanatos. Two very bright and brilliant Mage students who are to make their way in the Clocktower Academia.”

  “So…I’m guessing you want me to infiltrate the Clocktower Academia as a first area to search for this Kahlan?”

  Melusina smiled. “Seems I don’t have to explain as much to you. Very good. Though perhaps, as we’ve had this intimate conversation with one another, is there anything else you would like to know? Perhaps something about yours truly?”

  Dante thought for a moment, before saying softly. “Why me?”

  “Because I thought it would be amusing, is all,” Melusina lounged on her side and letting out a graceful yawn with long manicured hand. “What, did you honestly think that you were so special or something?”

  Dante flushed. “Well, no.”

  Melusina smiled again. “Ah, you look cute when flustered. My daughter is going to be a lucky woman indeed, though first things first. You have to remember that going into the Netherworld blind is like going in the water with the sharks.”

  Dante gulped.

  He faced down dangers before, though going into something like the Netherworld in a demon infested world was an entirely different beast altogether. If there were Gods and angels and demons and heaven and hell, then Dante was indeed in Hell, that was apparently being raised as a Champion for a goddess who had a secret agenda he couldn’t quite trust. He was manipulated like a pawn like in his old life, except instead of an organization of assassins and criminals, he was being manipulated by a higher entity that could dictate your entire life and fate within the palm of her pretty, slender hand. Dante didn’t necessarily like this, though he knew it was part of his rehabilitation that would involve him getting more favorable chances of a better outcome in the afterlife than if he denied a Goddess’s wishes.

  “What you should know that demons have an affinity toward magic and are stronger and more physically resilient than humans,” Melusina observed. “Yous karmic weight made you become a demon in the afterlife, which means you are stronger than a normal human. However, there are bigger and scarier demons than you out there, and I suggest that you contact Vassago as soon as possible for his protection.”

  “What does he even look like?” Dante said. “I think a description would be a good thing to go by, first of all.”

  “He has long white hair and violet eyes,” Melusina noted with an amused smirk. “Another devilishly handsome man of quite renown and reputation, though he is, of course, devoted to another. Still…many demons aren’t the gnarled grotesque gargoyles or versions of baroque atrocities that you see in human imitations of them. Demons can and do look quite attractive, to better lure and ensnare their human prey into temptation.”

  “And angels?” Dante said. “Are they as beautiful as the legends usually depict them as?”

  “But of course,” Melusina said. “However, angels aren’t really supposed to have emotions or talk about such things or it’s considered ‘heretical’. Honestly with the Big Guy in the sky and the other angels trying to get his approval, it’s like a high school clique among the Celestial Realm.”

  “Why are angels not supposed to have emotions?” Dante said with a raised brow. “Aren’t they supposed to be about love and all that preachy justice bullshit?”

  “Angels were supposed to be soldiers, not creatures with emotion,” Melusina intoned. “Having emotions clouded their judgment and made them righteous crusader paladins that would destroy indiscriminately any sign of evil at sight, which led to a great Purging and a decimated population of demons and the Human World which is still recovering. The guy known as ‘God’ disappeared, instead dispersing himself into several fragments of consciousness known as angels with glimmers of his consciousness and intelligence. They used to be mere puppets, you know.”

  “I think I get it, basically,” Dante said wryly. “The higher ups fucked up.”

  “You could say that,” Melusina wagged a finger toward Dante. “Kahlan was meant to be sent to the Netherworld to become an emissary between demons and angels, though she has since disappeared and is missing. We don’t know where she is or where she’s located, so it will be up to you to find her.”

  Dante nodded.

  “Is there anything else I should know? Besides that Heaven fucked up, demons are rehabilitation rather than agents of evil, and other such things?”

  “I think I’ve explained as best as I could about everything that you would need to know,” Melusina said as she put a hand against her cheek and looked toward Dante with half-hooded eyes. “And if you would tell me something, I would like to know.”

  “What is it?”

  “What made you save those children at the end?”

  Dante shrugged.

  “I don’t know. A passing whim?”

  “Ah,” Melusina put a thoughtful finger to her lip as she regarded him. “Perhaps, perhaps not. Maybe you don’t know the reason yourself, but you made the choice to save them in the end, and that gave you a chance for the redemption that you seek.”

  “What makes you think that I’m seeking redemption?” Dante asked. “I’m in no way a good guy by any means.”

  “Perhaps,” Melusina said as she began to clean her nails. “Though you also are full of surprises. Every former human is capable of that. And of course, being a reincarnated demon now, you will understand what it means to be in a position of change.”

  Dante raised a brow. “Demons are catalysts for change?”

  “Demons are agents of chaos,” Melusina said. “Thus, they are catalysts for change. Angels are meant for stability and equalization as a balance toward demons.”

  “Makes sense,” Dante murmured. “Though, Goddess—I’m guessing what I have to do is pledge my faith and allegiance toward you, right? Is that how it works?”

  “I believe that would be so,” Melusina said with a smile. “Do you object?”

  “Not necessarily,” Dante said, giving a small quirk of his own smile. “A second chance at life. Who wouldn’t take the opportunity?”

  “This time you’re going to play the role of a Hero rather than the Villain that you used to be,” Melusina said. “It will be an interesting project to reform you, though I think with time and patience you will become someone worthy of being my Champion.”