”Fine, I promise I won’t kill you or those that rely on you.” Sirona replied as she sheathed her blade as the demon came from around the tree she was hiding behind. Sirona kept her shield in her left hand just in case, and, if she couldn’t get to her blade in time if she needed it, in her right gauntlet was a short blade that could snap out on a simple flick of her wrist.

The demon named herself, Veda, and Sirona listened as she explained in short what was going on. Family? Interesting, so, did that mean that Veda had children? Or was she providing for her siblings? This was a line of thinking that Sirona hadn’t thought she ever find herself pondering. ”I am Sirona.” The angel replied. ”As for hurting anyone, I will always defend myself and those that cannot defend themselves from evil. Death isn’t always the first option, but it’s always an option.” She explained flatly, but made no move or said anything on that otherwise.

”As for the demons I have dealt with in the past. Every demon I have encountered, up to you, has either attacked me on sight first, or, was already attacking others when I came across them. So when I saw you I figured it was about time I had the advantage.” She explained, reaching up she removed the hood from her head, revealing her raven black hair and facial tattoos and piercing and glowing blue eyes. ”The demons I have seen in my past come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. From ones that look, hm, similar in shape to yourself but with physical differences that make still look much different from you. To towering monsters that look deformed and look like beasts.” She described as best she could. ”They’re evil, pure and simple. Tempting mortals with desires or treasures, knowledge, but, even if they grant the mortal what they want and the mortal is willing, in the end, the demon wins by taking the mortal’s life and soul.”

She paused a moment. ”But, as for yourself, you are different, now that I take a little more time to look you over. For that I will apologize for attacking right away and for not noticing the differences that I see. Your horns and tail mark you as demonic, though there are other races, like dragons, that share those traits. Most of all it’s a sense that I had that I had you were a demon, a feeling, perhaps because of what I am and what you are it’s a natural thing. I cannot say, but I knew you were a demon the moment my eyes saw you.” Sirona explained. ”What I am wondering though, is how you came to be? How is that you are not like the rest of the demons in the ways that I have known. May I ask, where did you come from, Veda?”

"That is fair. It isn't an option that I deny either." The demon replied.

Veda plopped down on the ground with her legs cris-crossed. Her demonic ears were perked up to hear the stranger better. The stranger talked about how the other demons she had met had always attacked or was evil. That made sense. Veda had only heard about evil demons from everybody. As far as she knew, there weren't any other demons like her or her family. Veda let the woman continue talking about demons and about how Veda was strange. The demon didn't mind much. She was aware that she was strange. It was a fact, nothing to be offended or ashamed about.

"Vilpamolan. That's where I was born." Veda responded, "My mum and pa are the ones who traveled around. They haven't mentioned where they came from or anything yet. But they are the ones who taught me and my siblings to be intelligent."

She thought for a moment about what the angel mentioned.

"Demons sound incredibly dumb. I mean normal demons." The demon responded, "Why would you try to waste all your time getting a soul? Souls seem to be rather useless. I mean look at the goddess of death, she doesn't appeared to be powered by souls yet she's the one who takes the most. I mean why would a demon want a soul anyway? Do they eat it? Do they use it? Is it like a power source?"

The demon's curiosity over regular demons grew. However, she also wanted to find reasons to call them dumb.

Vilpamolan, a city of demons? Sirona wanted to know before she went there, she didn’t want to walk into a viper’s nest by accident. Her parents taught her and her siblings, so it started with them then, interesting. ”Is it a city of your kind, or are there other races there as well?” Sirona asked in the small pause that Veda had in her words.

Veda spoke of the other demons that Sirona had described to her, calling them dumb for wanting souls, which seemed useless to Veda. She wounded sincere in her words, so Sirona guessed that she didn’t have to worry about Veda trying to collect souls. Still, there was no reason, at the moment, to lie to the demon about them. ”Both reasons, actually.” Sirona started as she leaned her back against a tree careful of her wings. ”Some demons I have encountered devour the soul itself, destroying it but consuming the power it holds, the power of life itself. This makes the demon stronger with each soul it devours. Others bind the soul into an item, most often a gem, and use them to fuel vile rituals to either call more demons over to this realm, or to make themselves stronger. And still some simple collect them so that they may torture the poor soul until it breaks, for no other reason than it amuses them.” Sirona explained with a sigh. ”But it all comes back to power, those kinds of demons are always looking to gain more power for themselves. Were as we angels can and will work together, demons aren’t known for getting along, less so once the fight is over and the spoils are available to divide, then more infighting starts.”

Sirona glanced away for a moment and then looked back to Veda again. ”So I hope that you do not become like them, Veda, that your parents have taught you, and your siblings, well. If you’re living in a city then I see hope for you.”

"There are orcs, goblins, vampires, and other creatures. But we are the only demonic family that I know of." She explained, "There are also humans, dragon people, and many other species."

Veda listened quietly to the angel's words as the woman spoke. She thought about the way that demons ate souls. It still seemed a lot of work to get power like that. That wasn't even including the fact that a human or person might change their mind and half that demon's work would be gone. Veda didn't really see the point. The amount of work that a demon would have to go through to get a soul seemed to be the same amount of work that one might have to learn a new spell or get physically stronger. The demon didn't really get the point of gathering souls if it was so difficult to do so in the first place…

"I don't really want souls. It sounds like a lot of work and danger." Veda said simply, "So…is that why angels want to kill us? Because regular demons keep wanting to eat souls? What do angels get out of killing us?"

The question wasn't meant to be insulting. But the demon really wanted to know why angels wanted to protect the souls. What did they get out of it? She did not believe that an entire species would protect humans because they were nice. That did not make sense. There must have been something that angels received after protecting a soul. Maybe they used the sole in some way?

Sirona nodded as Veda explained what and who else lived in the city she came from. ”So a diverse racial population then, ok, good to know.” Sirona replied with a slight nod of understanding. The vampires she really didn’t like the sound of, creatures who drank the blood of mortals to survive in her mind were always going to be evil in some way. Those types needed to be cleansed from the world as much as possible to stop the spread of their disease.

Veda asked a rather good question of the angel, and Sirona found herself thinking it over for a moment before she replied. ”Souls are immortal, in a fashion. When a being dies their soul enters the afterlife, where they are judge to either go to a good or bad place depending on their actions while alive. Sometimes souls are put into new born beings as a way to reincarnate them. As an angel, for example, it’s possible that I was a human before this life, I died and then my soul was placed into this new body. I don’t have any memories of my life as a human, if that is the case, but my immortal soul lives on in this body.” She explained as best she could with what she knew. ”When a demon devours a soul and takes it for its power, that soul is utterly destroyed, it’s the ultimate end for that being who’s soul was devoured. There is no chance for reincarnation after a demon takes the soul. So we angels fight against the demons to stop them from destroying those souls so that they be reincarnated, if that is their fate. We get the satisfaction that, for each demon we kill, we know that a mortal soul has been saved and can continue to live from life to life. Angels do have a hierarchy of power as well. I’m a normal angel, but there are archangels as well that would make my powers look like fireflies next to a bonfire. And still there are more powerful angels than archangles, just like there are different levels of demons.” She paused a moment, unable to think of anything to add she ended with. ”Does that help?”

The demon leaned back and listened to the angel with her explanation. After listening, it became clear that her family and herself thought differently than most demons. Those demons apparently were looking for immortality. Why weren't her parents looking for the same thing? Questions bounced around in her mind. She didn't want immortality. Or at least, she didn't have an issue with aging. But her parents were aging. Slowly, of course. As demons they naturally aged significantly slower than humans. However, they still aged. Pushing these thoughts out of her mind, she refocused on the angle. 

"Yeah. It helps." Veda said. 

Confusion crossed her face but her mouth remained shut, determined to not ask any more questions. Veda pushed herself off of the ground to stand up. Her golden eyes watched the angel for a second before the demon walked closer. Veda had no weapons nor did she seem to be that strong. She had no intent to attack or to cause any damage. She wasn't smiling but her expression was calm. One could even describe it as a little nervous. The demon stopped in front of Sirona. Veda held out her hand to the angel. 

"Well it was nice to meet you miss." Veda said, "Thanks for clearing that up for me."

She looked down for a few moments then back up at Sirona.

"I was wondering…if it wouldn't be too weird…" The demon paused, "Could we, maybe be friends?"

Sirona watched as Veda stood and walked closer, studying the way the demon moved and walked. She stepped up in front of Sirona and stuck her hand out, saying it was nice to meet Sirona and after a moment asking if they could be friends. Sirona eyed the hand for a moment as she thought things over for a moment before pushing herself off the tree she was leaning and stepping towards Veda. That way she was able to reach out and shake the demon’s hand, which, Sirona would admit, felt a little weird being an angel. ”I think maybe we can, Veda.” Sirona replied with a small smile.

”As I said, I’m new to these lands, I need to learn more about those that live here. I’m glad we had this chat, Veda, and I am sorry I attacked you at first.” Sirona apologized. ”What do you plan to do from here until you get home, Veda? If you like, I can join you until you get home, we could talk some more?” Sirona offered.

The demon felt thrilled. She had befriended an angel! That was something even her father and mother had been unable to do. Sirona was her first official friend! Now, Veda had to try to figure out what friends actually did. Were they like siblings and supposed to throw frogs at each other? She would have to research this information later. Perhaps she could ask about it in a library. Suddenly, the angel spoke again. Veda's ears perked up as she looked to the angel. 

"You're fine! Nobody got hurt." She responded with a genuine attitude. 

The angel wasn't the first to attack Veda and certainly wouldn't be the last. When the angel mentioned home, Veda's ears folded down and a slightly sad look appeared on her face. 

"Uh well…I'm not really going home." Veda explained, "I'm leaving to try to find a way to get my parents money. Well…a better way than digging through garbage on the streets."

Leaving home, a difficult choice. But after her interaction with the orc and her reaction to that event…well she knew that staying in the city wasn't a good option. Her family needed somebody who could go out and support them in a stronger way than just working as a pirate or as a servant. They needed somebody who could provide enough money to get them whatever they needed. An idea popped into Veda's mind. Her golden eyes brightened with excitement and her ears flipped back up. 

"But, since you don't know much about this land, then maybe we could travel together for a bit!" Veda suggested, "Maybe we could help each other." 

Sirona smiled when Veda accepted her apology for attacking at first sight. Veda explained hat she wasn’t going home, she was out trying to make money to help support her parents. Digging through trash on the streets? Ya, truly Sirona had been off the mark when she had judged Veda by looks alone if she was digging through trash to provide for her parents.

She smiled at the suggestion of traveling together, Veda was right Sirona didn’t know this land really at all, she was just wondering around while looking for the Deities. ”That sounds like a good idea to me, Veda.” After a moment’s pause the angel reached for her bag and from inside that she removed a platinum cube. She fiddled with it and one side popped open and from within it Sirona took our a smaller bag that jingled with silver coins. ”Veda, I’d like to help you and your family. Would you accept this silver, please?” Sirona asked, putting the cube back together with one hand and holding the bag of coins out for Veda. Sirona had been saving up silver for pretty much this kind of reason, she would hand out coins to beggars in the cities she was in, just a few at a time, enough for a meal usually. It was the least that Sirona thought she could do at the moment, even if she hadn’t attacked Veda as she had she would have offered the coins after finding out what Veda was trying to do.