Heir Of Argranos

7

When I’m queen, I’m going to allow smartphones in hell. I don’t care if the temperature will melt them or make them malfunction. We can somehow make them more resistant and durable. Or we could lower the temperature. Either ways, one thing I know is that I’m going back to the underworld with my phone.

Within the span of barely an hour, I was able to learn basically everything one needed to know about human history. Well, not entirely, but if I get three more days with this thing called the internet, I’d definitely know everything.

The driver hit the brakes a little too hard, forcing the car to halt at a red light.

Frankie, who sat next to me in the backseat without a seatbelt lurched forward out of her seat, almost hitting her head on the headrest in front of her. “What the hell Ricardo?”

The elderly driver smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, miss. These red lights… you don’t see them until you see them.”

I chortled at his excuse, and at Frankie’s half-drunk, half-sober face. She looked like she either wanted to murder Ricardo or cry, with no in-between. I got back to reading the article about space travel I had searched for.

How could creatures so inferior be so ambitious? It puzzled me. Wasn’t Earth enough for them? One of the core human weaknesses is hunger. And as a demon, to some extent I could understand their hunger. But human ambition was unrestrained and destructive. If a demon knows that a path would lead to its annihilation, the hunger would be suppressed. But humans were willing to take the risk and sacrifice their life source. And what puzzled me even further, was that some of these risks were taken for the benefit of others. So others could survive. So the rest of their kind could thrive.

What madness…

“Misses, we have arrived.” Ricardo announced, stopping the car and turning off the ignition.

“Is there an aspirin somewhere here? There should be… Oh God, my head is splitting apart.” Frankie groaned, clutching the side of her head.

While Ricardo searched through the compartments of the car for painkillers to give her, my eyes eagerly took in the environment outside. The parking lot was filled with different vehicles, yet through the windshield of another car; I could see the ginormous building of the central mall, its magnificent thirteen storey architecture jutting to the sky.

How were they able to build this? And how is it possible that there are buildings that reach even higher into the clouds?

I opened my side of the door, and tried to step out, but something restrained and pulled me backwards. Foolishly, I realized my seatbelt was still clasped and secured in its place.

“Hold up for me.” Frankie said; swallowing a pill from the tiny bottle of aspirin Ricardo gave her. She took a gulp of the lime juice she brought at a grocery store earlier, and wrinkled up her face due to the bitterness, but swallowed it down nevertheless because it was the only replacement for water available.

I waited until she adjusted her hair and smoothed down her crumpled shirt before unclasping my seatbelt and exiting the car.

The hot summer sun beat down on my skin, reminding me of home. It was already late August, but Elk Grove stubbornly held on to its summer, with the trees and flowers still retaining their vibrant colors, despite autumn waiting around the corner. I squinted up at the sky; the vast, dull blue expanse of nothing that formed an endless dome, and my mind immediately contrasted it to the low and blackened caves of the underworld.

“Here, wear this.” Frankie said, handing me large black sunglasses.

Sliding them on, I saw the world through a darker filter, even though I didn’t really need the sunglasses, because the sun didn’t have a huge effect on my eyes. Despite that, they were still fun to wear.

I shortened my pace to match Frankie’s strides, and we walked side by side towards the entrance of the building. My eyes flickered from one human to another, captivated by their individual uniqueness in size, shape, and color.

Shape shifting into different physical forms was one thing, but seeing so many distinct living forms was another.

An elderly woman with premature graying hair tried to balance the shopping bags she held, and at the same time tried to pacify a devilishly dwarfish child who was bawling his eyes out and violently tugging at her mustard colored sundress.

“Mummy I want the marine tank with the lights!” He wailed, following his mother who quickly hurried past us.

Three teenage girls, with their arms linked together like a linear chain giggled carelessly into the air. One of them, with candy pink hair and a lip piercing cast a curious glance in our direction, and then smiled before refocusing her attention on her friends.

“She’s gorgeous…” The pink-haired girl whispered as they strode past us. “Ten dollars says she’s a model.” She added.

“Ten dollars says she’s a rising actress.” The girl closest to her replied, a bit louder.

The third girl, who wore a black mini skirt and fishnet stockings snorted. “Fifteen dollars says none of you bitches have the balls to find out if she’s a model or a rising actress.”

They laughed in unison again, and started talking animatedly about something I couldn’t quite grasp. Since we were moving in opposite directions, their voices faded away.

I fastened my pace to catch up with Frankie, and fell back in step with her. Because I was too busy eavesdropping and analyzing the people around, my walking pace lagged.

“First stop, Royal Glamour…” Frankie announced grandly, pointing at the entrance of the mall. “And from there, we ascend to the heavens…” She added with a wink, gesturing to the higher floors of the building, stacked atop one another.

Once the double doors swung open, my breath hitched.

I tried to take in all the dazzling clothes and accessories, the glamorous shine of the interior, and the people going about their business, without looking like a complete i***t.

“You look like a complete idiot.” Frankie commented.

I ignored her comment and her existence, too mesmerized by the view before me to take offence of her words.

A few people in the boutique stole glances at me, but they soon focused back on their activities.

“What may I fancy you with, madam?”

I turned to the polished and well-groomed lady, dressed in a blue uniform comprising of a pencil skirt and matching blouse, with a tiny white hat decked on the side of her pined-up blonde curls.

She offered me a professional smile that didn’t reach her eyes, but only exposed straight rows of bleached teeth.

“I’d like to see your finest clothes.”

Frankie laughed at my words, and the lady looked a bit lost, peering from me to Frankie, with the smile still uncomfortably plastered on her face.

Frankie waved her away. “We’ll be fine, uhm…” She paused, stepping closer and squinting her eyes to read the name tag on the blouse of her uniform. “Erm… Emily… We’ll be fine, Emily, thank you.”

The lady nodded, as if relieved, and gave me one last skeptical look, before she hastened to another customer, a little faster than she had come.

“I’d like to see your finest clothes.” Frankie mimicked, puffing out her cheeks and her chest, and scowling, pretending to be me.

Yeah, I might just murder her.

Frankie led me around the store, and we picked out clothes, underwear, and accessories. Once we had packed almost forty-six different items, I was shown to the changing rooms, to test out the clothes and see if they fit, while Frankie excused herself to pick a phone call, urging me to go ahead and try them on.

I shifted from one leg to the other, trying to decide on which changing room to use. The area was fairly empty, with only an obese middle-aged woman scrolling through something on her phone and catching her breath. Grabbing the first three pairs of jeans on my trolley, I pulled back the curtains on the last and most secluded changing room.

Abruptly, I stopped in my tracks.

A teenage girl, possibly the same age as me, sat cross-legged on the bare white tiles of the small space. She had her back turned away from me, her body rocking back and forth with silent sobs. From where I stood, I could only see the back of her dirty blood hair which dripped over her shoulders like honey, and the nude underwear she wore, that accentuated the light tawny color of her skin.

Just when I was about to pull back the curtains and pretend I didn’t see anything, she spun back, noticing my presence with wide, doe eyes.

“Oh my God… Oh my God… I’m so sorry.” She apologized, scrambling to her feet and aggressively wiping away her tears. “I was just about to uhm… never mind. Don’t let me ruin your shopping.” She sniffed, and quickly gathered two dresses that were crumpled and discarded on the floor. “Did you… are you going to use this room?”

“Yes.” I replied, showing her the three pairs of jeans I held.

“Oh, okay… I’m sorry.”

She scanned the room, making sure she wasn’t leaving anything behind, before she shuffled towards where I stood. There was something awkward about the way she carried her body, like she was trying very hard to take up as little space as possible.

“Aren’t you going to put your dress back on?” I questioned, eyeing the two dresses she held, and not moving from the entrance, so she couldn’t leave. I was partly curious to know why she was crying; because she was the first human being I had seen shedding tears.

Well, that is, apart from the monstrous child who was pestering his mother for a marine tank or whatever.

The girl blinked. Her gaze had a childlike quality to them. They type of eyes that could summon tears easily. Even now, they were misty, and sparkled with restrained tears. “Oh, its fine, I can wear it outside…”

And then, without even waiting for me to move, squeezed through the tiny space I left, apologizing profusely when her busty chest grazed my arm, before ambling away, carrying a unique floral scent away with her.