Life After Hell

A paranormal fantasy novel - Chapter One

Nyrrydar closed his gold, leathery wings, willing them to vanish into his back. As he pulled a t-shirt over his head, he did the same with his tail, making the jeans more comfortable. Without the limbs, balancing took some effort as he walked to his bed and closed his backpack.

His room’s door flew open and Villinith appeared in her full glory: long, silky brown hair, perfectly styled around her horns, dark purple wings moving with her gracefully with every step. Even in her demon form, she had the perfect hourglass shape men had a hard time to resist. She was lust embodied.

Her bright purple eyes assessed him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going to embrace my life as a human, mother.”

Villinith clicked her tongue, a sure sound of disapprovement. “You aren’t ready to leave. You’re just a baby incubus.”

“I’m also human.” He willed his horns away too, letting his nut brown hair fall into his forehead.

Now came the tricky part of his transformation: changing his eye color to at least somewhat human. He walked to the mirror and focused on tuning the colors down. 

“And you think you’ll be able to live like them?” Sarcasm filled her voice as she locked her gaze with his in the mirror. “Your power is more than what they can handle.” She smirked. “It’s more than what you can handle.”

Finally, his eyes looked more amber than pure gold, and he was ready to leave.

“I’m leaving.” Nyrrydar nodded to her. “Have a nice existence, mother.”

“You’ll be back,” she called after him. “Mark my words, Nyrrydar, you’ll be back to embrace who you were born to be.”

No, he wouldn’t. He’d rather have a short life as a man, then an eternity as an incubus. This life wasn’t meant for him. There was no way he’d spent eternity as a lust demon, feeding on human desire, dreams, and hopes to stay young and cursed. Because once he fed, he’d have to return to the Underworld to finish his transformation and become a fully fledged incubus. And from there, he’d need regular feedings just to stay alive.

So no, he wouldn’t come back. Ever.

Crossing over the river of Lost Hopes, he walked down Forgotten Dreams Avenue to get to the portal that led to the Upper World. Because, unlike his mother, he didn’t have the power to just pop up there as he wished.

Spirits, demons, and other creatures rushed around him. Although he couldn’t fathom why spirits were in a hurry all the time. It wasn’t like they could leave or had anything to do. They were dead. Their only entertainment was visiting other districts of different religions. Or relive their death and their sins. Which didn’t sound fun at all.

As he got closer to the center of the Underworld, his heart rate picked up and his palms became sweaty. What if Villinith was right? What if he wouldn’t be able to live as a human?

Nyrrydar shook his doubts away. He’d been in the human world once before, trying to track down his father, and he managed without causing harm. Plus, he had everything ready. He had a human name, official papers, and a backpack filled with clothes. He was ready to start his new life.

The portal stood in the junction of the districts in the Underworld’s heart. Arriving from Hell, the largest district of the Underworld, thanks to the couple billion believers, he had priority access to the portal.

The current gatekeeper, Charone, glanced up at him and pulled the lever to open the portal. “Have fun.”

Nyrrydar nodded to the ferryman, took a deep breath, and stepped through the swirling blackness.

By the time he exhaled, he was standing in the middle of a city, surrounded by sounds new to his ears, smells, sadly not too alien, and a view that was way less depressing than Hell. 

He was here; he was human, and he was looking forward to the next and final part of his life. A life as a human. A life after Hell.