Days with the demon queen
Chapter 34: Roots

Chapter 34: Roots

Throughout the elevator ride, Ronnie kept trying to get answers out of Mr. C but he got none. The air in the elevator was tense, with Ronnie’s constant pester and Lily staring at him from the corner while Josh and Cynthia just looked forward, trying not to get involved in the drama.

The elevator came to a halt and made a "ding" sound as the doors slid open.

"Where are we?" Josh whispered to Cynthia.

The small office looked simple. It was plain with brown wooden furnitures, a long couch and a bookshelf by the far end of the wall. A lot of papers were scattered across the table and the floors.

"Chief!" Cynthia called out, giving Mr. C. a side eye. She looked slightly irritated.

"Yes yes, I’ll get to signing these papers soon so you can submit them to HQ. So many papers" He responded, taking off his coat and hat. He hung them on a wooden coat hanger by the door.

Lily looked around uninterestedly, she hadn’t said a word since the test grounds.

"Hey—" Ronnie called out.

"Fine, fine. Take a seat, nephew" Mr. C said. He gave Cynthia a look and she nod her head.

"C’mon Joshua, I’ll show you around" Cynthia gestured him to come along. She drew the giant book shelf and it opened like two doors to reveal a passage.

"We’ll join you later" Ronnie said as Josh hesitantly followed Cynthia through the passage.

Lily took a seat on the opposite end of couch where Ronnie sat.

"Coffee?" Mr. C. asked, walking to a coffee maker by the side of the office.

"Not in the mood for coffee, what I’m in the mood for, is the truth" Ronnie stated.

Mr. C put down the mug he had already carried and took a sit on the table. He took a deep breath.

"Where do I even start? I guess we should start with the fact that I’m your Uncle" Mr. C said.

"Uncle? Gramps never mentioned you. He’s never even—"

"I know. He doesn’t remember me. He doesn’t know me." Mr. C interrupted.

"How’s that even possible? It’s not. Gramps doesn’t have dementia" Ronnie stated.

"Ronald, a sword pops out of your chest. Your girlfriend is a demon. Your perception of what’s possible or not should have changed a bit by now" Mr. C said.

"So how? it makes no sense" Ronnie asked.

"You wiped his memories, didn’t you?" Lily asked, staring Mr. C in the eyes.

"That I did. At the time it seemed like the only option" the commander responded.

"You see, the organization, this organization that you are now part of, it was stricter back then. When you enlisted, you ceased to exist. You’d become a shadow forced to stay away from your loved ones in order not to put them in harms way" he explained.

"I’m just supposed to believe that??" Ronnie stood up.

"Believe what you want, you asked for the truth and now I’m giving you" the commander stated.

Ronnie glanced at him and sat back down.

"Your father, my parents took him in. We lived in the same household. He’s my adoptive brother" he explained.

"Gramps told me a story, but it wasn’t similar to this" Ronnie muttered.

"There are inconsistencies in his memory, Ronald. I told you. The agency selectively wiped his memories when I enlisted" he explained.

"Clearly my dad was a part of this agency, how come Gramps remembers him?" Ronnie asked.

The commander wore a smile that showed a bit of bitterness behind it.

"Harp was stubborn, impulsive, reckless, rebellious—" he paused.

"And I wanted to be like him so bad" he added, then took a deep sigh.

"what does that have to do with Anything?" Lily inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"When Harp enlisted, he fought the rules. He didn’t agree with the fact that we had to be dead to our families. Harp rebelled. It caused quite the drama back then, the agency gave him a hard time but they couldn’t let him go because he was special. I owe him. For not abandoning our parents the same way I did" commander Carpenter voiced, he wore a reminiscent smile.

"What about my Mom? what type of person was she? why does everyone seem to know her and I can’t even remember her, and what about the sword? Why did you never come to visit?" Ronnie spoke in a depressed tone.

"One question at a time, Ronald" commander Carpenter said.

"Your mother, Kaela. Your mother wasn’t a person, she wasn’t human, and neither are you" he revealed.

"What does that even mean?" Ronnie asked.

"Oh, my? It all makes sense now. I just pieced it today" Lily voiced. Both the commander and Ronnie turned their attention to Lily. Her eyes were widened in shock.

"What makes sense? You knew her?" Ronnie spoke to her for the first time since they left the training facility.

"Only by reputation. Michaela Morningstar. Enforcer of God’s wrath—" she paused.

"Ronald, you’re part angel. It explains why you, a human being was able to form a soul tie with the demon queen, and why your aura is so pure" Lily explained, stroking her chin.

Ronnie went silent for a moment, then he let out a sarcastic laugh and stood up.

"Are you crazy? You sound crazy, you both do" Ronnie uttered, pacing around the room.

"She’s right. You know she is. You’ve always known it. How many humans can speak a divine language without learning it? how many humans have glowing swords that come out of them?" the commander asked.

Ronnie let out another laugh, then he started to breathe heavily.

"No, no, no no. An angel? this can’t be" he mumbled incoherently.

"I don’t expect you to understand it all, or believe everything at the get go. This is why I wanted to reveal things to you gradually but you just wouldn’t let me be." the commander said, looking at him.

"We’ll pick this up some other time. You need time to process, you should probably catch up with the others" he suggested.

"I’ll— take him, he’ll be calm soon" Lily assured.

commander Carpenter nodded.

"Come on, Ronald. Let’s catch up with Joshua" Lily said, grabbing on to his hand. The confusion in his eyes was still present as he subconsciously followed Lily through the passage.