The Underworld was never a place for flowery language. It was a roughed up kingdom of ash and bone, governed by a King whose shadow reached every corner of the city.
Here, your Class was your rank, and your soul was your currency.
At the very bottom crawled the Lowly Beasts. They were nightmares given flesh creatures unable to hold a human shape, dripping with a constant, foul saliva. With four limbs meant for scurrying and yellow eyes that lacked a spark of reason, they were the primal hunger of the dark.
Above them were the Beasts, the half-breeds who walked upright but bore the heads of monsters. They were spared the mud of the Lowly, but they remained a foreboding sight, never worth a second glance from the elites.
Then came the High Class, demons who wore humanoid skin like a mask. They varied in skin colours, Some came in ashy some came in dark while some were pale But their bat-like wings betrayed them.
They were the venomous snakes of the city, greedy, powerful, and forever reaching for a throne they could never touch.
But the Noble Class or as the people called them "Decayed Class" were the true masters of the dark. They were the weapons of the Royals, philosophers of the Demonic Arts who excelled in swordsmanship and cruelty. They stood taller than any human, their skin a deathly pale, their eyes sunken deep into chiseled faces.
To keep their blood "pure," intermarriage was a crime punishable by death. They loathed those below them, but their true hatred was reserved for the Celestials.
To a demon, a Celestial being was "filthy." To the rest of the universe, they were a miracle.
The Celestial Realm was a tapestry of light where the concept of "class" did not exist. It was a sanctuary of Elves, Fairies, and Mermaids, all governed by a rotating monarchy where no one species held the crown for long.
The Fairies were the heartbeat of the forests, small framed, luminous beings with butterfly wings and hair the color of dawn.
They lived in thatched homes adorned with magical flowers, their very lives sustained by the nectar of the realm.
The Elves were the architects of wisdom. With their long, silky white hair and slender, graceful frames, they moved through the world with an air of ancient mobility.
Their pointed ears were a mark of their connection to nature, and their magic could heal a wound, Create life or manipulate the very wind. If the demons had Nobles, the Elves were their match in elegance and power.
And then, there were the Mermaids. Masters of seduction who dwelled within the Celestial Spring. With shimmering scales that made the waters glisten and golden hair that flowed like liquid sun, they possessed a beauty so potent it could compel a man to surrender his life just to hear them sing.
In the Celestial Realm, there was no tribalism, no nepotism, and no rot. Under the sun and by the ancient aquatic doctrines, they were one a world of serene tranquility.
It was a perfect paradise. And it was exactly why the union that created Zaliyah was considered the ultimate atrocity. A "stain" was not just a mark on his soul it was the collision of these two irreconcilable worlds.