"How do you like it? Pretty isn’t it? This is our humble abode." Lucifer’s mother said kindly, introducing the little village in front of them with enthusiasm.
"We’ve even figured out a way to make the thing you always wanted to try out when you were a kid! Can you guess what it is?"
Lucifer frowned, "Cotton candy?"
"Bingo! Yes! I bet you’ll love it! It’s a delicacy that only your father can make but it’s still lovely, I’ll definitely ask him to make you some."
"Alright..." Lucifer said, still unsure about this new father he suddenly had.
"Come! Let’s go! Everyone’s waiting for us!"
"I see..." Lucifer didn’t really see how he would be invited into this dwelling as a Nyechistyy, but he held onto the hope that his mother had shown him and followed her down the steep path from the cliff.
As they walked towards the village Lucifer felt something bubble in his stomach as a sense of nervousness gripped him. This was the first time he was going to be seeing humans outside the prison.
As soon as Lucifer came close to the village however, someone shouted out loud almost immediately.
"DEMON!!!! Go call Enrique!!! DEMON EVERYONE!! DEMON!!!!!"
Mothers grabbed their children and fell behind as people wielding various weapons rushed out of the village to the forefront.
Various mages readied their spells to launch them at Lucifer as soon as they saw him, it was only when his mother rushed in front of him and screamed-
"STOP!!! HE’S MY SON!!!!"
-that they froze in place.
One particular mage’s spell backfired and exploded in his face causing it to blacken because of the last second cancelation of his compiled spell.
Lucifer sighed, ’I should’ve known never to expect anything good from them...’
"What’s the meaning of this Anna?! That’s a demon!!! Have you been hexed!?? Move away from that demon!! Or we’ll open fire on you too!!!"
It was a man armed with a sword who shouted because Lucifer and his mother were forced to stop some distance away.
"No I’m not under a mind hex Jack! Laura!! Tell them that this is my son Lucifer! You were in the prison block with me and him, you know he’s my son, tell them!"
Everyone’s attention shifted to Laura, a rather old looking woman well into her fifties.
Lucifer’s attention shifted to her too and he recognised who she was.
She was his next door neighbour, she belonged to the empty cell that was destroyed by the lunatic black man when he invaded the prison block.
He remembered she used to often make little dolls for him out of their rags when he was just a babe.
Of course, the Warden tore up all those rag dolls once he found them and sent her into the dungeon for it.
They’d parted on quite bitter terms unlike his mother, for she also had a son you see... a normal one, but still a son nonetheless, and she was separated from him while she was sent to the dungeon.
Laura’s eyes trembled softly as she looked at Lucifer before her gaze fell on his horns and then her eyes widened.
"It’s you!" Laura screamed out loud. And before anyone could ask her anything else she broke the respected no man’s zone between the two groups and rushed up to Lucifer ignoring Anna, his mother.
"How’s he? Is he alright? Did he cry a lot when I left? Does he remember me still? Did you take care of him? Tell me!! How is he!!!????"
Lucifer sighed mentally.
He looked at his mother and she simply nodded, indicating it was okay to talk to Laura.
So Lucifer told her a lie.
"He grew up into quite the troublesome fellow."
"All he did was try and copy the other people in the block and call me names. I don’t know if he remembered you... but he always hummed the hymns you used to sing to him when he was younger."
"He did!?" Laura asked with clear joy in her eyes, her lips quivered and her eyes filled with tears that escaped slowly in a single stream.
’Well he was handed over to the warden who ate him raw... but you don’t need to know that...’
Seeing Laura smiling and also crying while facing Lucifer and letting her guard down the others grew a little confused.
They all looked towards Jack as if asking him what they should do but he appeared to be quite confused himself.
It was at this moment that there was a commotion among the people and someone pushed their way to the front as people cleared a way for him.
Lucifer saw a broad shouldered man who had a pony tail and a thick beard looking quite like what people in the prison cells had described a dwarf to look like, just quite a bit taller.
Each of his hands were probably the size of Lucifer’s head.
He wore a thick leather tunic and was holding a sharp spear but other than that he appeared rather heroic to Lucifer, there was just something about him that made one feel at ease just by looking at him.
"Anna?" The man asked softly in a warm tone.
"Enrique! This is my son! The one I told you about!"
Lucifer saw Enrique look at him with a bout of recognition before he spoke over the cross in a bold voice!
"Ho! So you’re the babe I’ve heard so much about! Lucifer! Welcome to the Refuge!!!!! What’re all you waiting for! You heard the chieftess!! Prepare for a feast for another one of ours has arrived!!"
"I don’t think there’s time for any celebration though." Lucifer immediately said, taking advantage of the reluctance of the people to follow Enrique’s orders and welcome a demon into their hold.
"Why? Are you feeling shy young one!? Do not fear!! No one shall drag you to do a humpa after you end up drinking too much and passing out!"
Lucifer’s brows twitched, he did not want to ask what a humpa was, it already seemed humiliating enough to simply hear it.
"No. I don’t drink. No, that’s not the issue. There’s a war outside right now! Between the humans and the demons! If possible you should leave here to support them so that you can be free once the war is over."
"...is that so...?" Enrique said and looked at Anna, and when she nodded indicating that it was okay to believe him Enrique looked at everyone else, "What do all of you think? Everyone?"
There was silence for a few seconds before Jack spoke with a frown, "What’s to say this is not just a trap from the demons? What if they simply want to drag us outside and have discovered that we live well here?"
He paused before continuing in an even graver tone.
"We’ve been betrayed by every demon we’ve met so far, and now just because he’s half human, we’re supposed to trust him?"
Lucifer laughed, "Are you a fool?"
"Wouldn’t the demons have entered the dungeon themselves if that were the case and they knew you were all alive and well?"
"Why are any of you still alive? What’s stopping them from coming here?" Lucifer commented sarcastically since he already held a grudge against Jack for suggesting he had hexed his mother.