"Once the soil is set, the world will bloom full of flowers of evil"
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Hivemind. A power which allows the Yamikei clan's patriarch to worm his way into the minds of those connected to him via bloodline links.
Just shortly after witnessing his daughter's memories, Kahal had encased her physical body within a cocoon manifested by his spirit energy. And with her physical form being inside of a cocoon created with the clan's patriarch's spirit energy, he could vividly witness through her eyes, what was happening inside Hell's second circle.
And once he saw that Aaliyah had suddenly started basking in the second circle's trance, he knew that their time was rapidly running short.
They had to hurry, before the red sun began its rapid ascent into the day sky.
***
In the second circle of Hell, Aaliyah couldn't tell how much time had passed since waking up in the field of blooming bioluminescence flowers.
But now, she suddenly found herself sitting at the stump of the expansive tree, chatting with her strangely calm children who both appeared to be in a state of pure bliss.
At some point while she had been talking to Aiko, Kahal who had been sitting at the stump of the tree before had suddenly vanished.
Aaliyah's eyes darted around in search of the damned man, until she felt Aiko's fingers poking at her shoulder.
Aiko raised her finger and pointed toward the near distance of the field of bioluminescent flowers, where Aaliyah had saw a surprisingly beautiful figure staring at them with her knees to her chest.
Aaliyah had noticed that cascading pink hair from anywhere. She abruptly brought herself to her feet, and steadied herself as she took cautious steps toward Aphira, who was staring at her indifferently.
Then in an almost bored voice, she spoke.
"Relax kitty, I'm not here to scratch you."
A look of confusion flickered in Aaliyah's eyes. Seeing the somber expression on the face of the second circle's keeper, she grow more confused and curious than on edge.
For a moment, Aaliyah could tell that everything she'd been witnessing was nothing more than an illusion…
Wasn't it?
"Have a seat, kitten."
Aaliyah hesitated for a moment, but suddenly she felt lightheaded and complied. Taking her place right next to the pink haired demon.
Though Aphira never took her eyes off anyone who sat beneath the tree stump. With skeptical eyes, Aaliyah said:
"What did you do to me?!"
Aphira giggled, as though she was genuinely puzzled by Aaliyah's tense posture. She glanced at Aaliyah with soft eyes and a small smile as she answered.
"You infatuate me, Aaliyah. Honestly… Everytime I look at you, so many questions and curiosities plague my mind."
With a sigh, Aphira pressed her finger against Aaliyah's chest. Feeling the rapid beat of her heart, suddenly her face flushed and her eyelids grew heavy.
"In fact, for the longest time I've wanted to ask you something, Aaliyah…"
Just then, Aphira's sparkling pink eyes met Aaliyah's as she asked:
"What is love?"
The sudden question left an unpleasant taste on Aaliyah's mind. But as she stared in confusion into the eyes of the demon next to her, all she saw in her sparkling eyes was a childlike genuine curiosity.
It was difficult for Aaliyah to think of any ways to tackle the pressing matters going on outside the second circle of Hell, so she simply replied with what she thought was best.
"Y-you want me to tell you what… love is?…"
Aphira propped her chin up onto her palm and simply nodded. And with a bit of sweaty hesitation, Aaliyah swallowed the unsettling feeling that was crawling up her skin and said:
"I… I don't know the answer myself."
A look of surprise was all Aaliyah saw on Aphira's face once she had answered her question.
"That's odd… I would think that you of all people would know what true love is. After all, from your younger years up till now, there's no other human who's had a blissful life such as yourself."
Everything about this conversation felt off to Aaliyah. All she could find herself questioning in her mind was why the demoness sitting next to her was asking questions of love.
At one point, she thought to herself that this was all nothing more than a mere fantasy world. But now, she was not so sure.
Aaliyah could somehow sense the genuine childlike wonder that had plagued the space a heart would've been, inside Aphira's chest. And somehow, it was enough to ease the tense feeling in her shoulders as though she had been talking to a mirror image of herself…
Or perhaps, an image of what could've been her in another world.
"You know… these trials of ours, are just the same as you sorcerers soul spaces. Except we don't have souls, or hearts."
It wasn't difficult for Aaliyah to understand what aphria had meant by that. After all, soul spaces were the inner worlds of sorcerer's souls which reflected their sorcery and the state of their minds.
And just like soul spaces, trials could adapt along with their master's mental states. And that was what made Aphira the most dangerous of the seven siblings.
Lust was a very powerful sin. If anything, it was the second deadliest of the seven sins, that could bring down entire nations or maybe even the world itself.
Those inhibitions that restricted mankind from giving in to the fruitful temptations that they fruitfully desired, could very well easily be torn apart by the overpowering desire of lust.
Aphira knew that all too well.
"Have you ever, desired something so much but couldn't reach out to it because those around you tell you no?… or rather, the world tells you no?"
As much as Aaliyah wanted to deny, she couldn't. After all, she may have been the only one out of all those who sunk to the seven depths of hell that understood the demoness of lust.
And Aphira knew too well, that Aaliyah was nothing more than a "human" contrast of herself. And of what she may have desired so much…
Which is why Aaliyah was the most suitable to be devoured by the dangers of hell's second circle of lust.
With low eyes, Aaliyah glanced over to the fruitful image of her mother and two children who were still sitting at the stump of the giant tree.
The smiles and laughs on their animated faces made Aaliyah feel as though something in her heart had ignited. Sure her mother who she never felt an ounce of human emotion in, was smiling, and Sachiko who Aaliyah hadn't seen in seven years was also smiling.
But the feeling in her heart was brought about by something even stronger.
The bright animated smiles on Jason and Aaliyah's faces. The sight made her eyes widen slightly, as the light of the red sun shone down onto their faces.
No matter how far back into her mind she searched, she couldn't remember the last time she had seen such genuine smiles on her children's faces. A breath caught in her chest.
With attentive eyes, Aphira watched in amazement as she saw a warm tear spill from Aaliyah's suddenly bright grey eye.
"You're crying…"
'I am?'
Aphira cupped Aaliyah's cheek, and brushed her thumb across Aaliyah's warm cheek. Wiping away the warm tear and letting it fall onto a flower.
The sight of pure, genuine love a mother felt as she witnessed her children experience pure bliss was something that sparked Aphira's curiosity even further.
Lowering her own face, she clutched her chest. Feeling something move in the place where a heart should've been, she felt both confusion and… longing.
The sight of something she herself had never had and possibly would never have, had also ignited a sense of sadness in the husk of her empty chest.
Once Aaliyah locked her eyes back onto Aphira's face, she too had also noticed cold tears spilling from the demoness's own face.
'Huh?… she's, crying. It's just like a couple days ago'
The sight enticed Aaliyah to take advantage of the situation, but immediately it was swept away by all that surrounded her.
The sight of a child who longed for the feeling of love, how could she bring herself to turn her hand against another?
"You're crying… again."
Aphira then had realized, this was the second time in her life that she had ever cried. The first had been when she first fought against Aaliyah and thought she was going to die without ever reaching what she longed for.
And now, she had been crying because she was finally at the very tip of learning what love truly was as she witnessed the feeling first hand.
***
This sight reminded Aaliyah of her younger years. No doubt, she had been no different from the demoness who was now sitting right at her side, crying tears of a child who longed to have their small hand held in the big warm hand of their parent's.
In her years, she too had longed for such feelings of love from her own mother who was more often cold and indifferent towards her.
Now Aaliyah could begin to understand. The demoness wasn't just a murderous monster, in all reality she was nothing more than a child who was denied such a simple feeling that the world would go on to deny her.
In other words, Aphira was Aaliyah.
Or rather, another world's version of Aaliyah who never found the people who would go on to prove that love exists. Only, even if she was asked what love was, Aaliyah still could not know the exact definition.
Love is the most complicated emotion after all.
Suddenly, trail of pink flowers bloomed on one side of Aaliyah's hair. And as this happened, Aphira herself felt her own body undergo a strange metamorphosis.
The lust inscription which rested on her cleavage had suddenly glowed a brighter hue of its pink color, as opposed to its earlier darker shade.
In a soft voice with somber eyes, Aphira looked to Aaliyah and said:
"Aaliyah… teach me, exactly what love is."
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Continued in chapter 110: Lesser of two evils
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