Only hours later was the demon released from his sentence, ears ringing as usual. A layer of sweat covered his forehead and dampened the bedsheets. He sleepily looked around the room as his eyes adjusted—making sure that it was his and not a stranger's from one of his many late-night encounters.

 A yawn escaped his mouth as he sat up, despite the heavy beating of his heart. His right shoulder gave soft pop as stretched his limbs. Hair fell over and covered one of his eyes but couldn't care enough to bother to move it.

Unsurprisingly, his room was the same if not worse than the night before— a complete and utter mess. Dragging himself off the bed, he made his way to the shower. The room needed to be cleaned but so did his body. According to Abraxas, the inevitable could only be postponed for so long, but the limit had not been met, at least.

Peeling the dirty clothes from his body, he tossed them into the corner of the bathroom. He could always just pick it up later. Stepping into the shower, he raised the temperature to the highest it could manage. The water basically scorching every inch of skin it hit.

As he bathed, his mind started to wander. Wander to the stranger from yesterday, to be precise.

Almost everything about them was a mystery. A mystery that he couldn't even begin to decipher. What person walks around alone at nine in the night, soaked to the bone? What person speaks as if they've seen decades upon decades of humanity's ups and downs despite looking to be in only their early twenty's? What person is able to look so close to perfection with ease?

They had the soft aura of someone who would love with every fiber of their being.

But alas, those feelings would never be aimed towards him as he was merely a stranger. Even if they were more it would lead to nothing. He was a demon— something that would never grasp the true meaning of love. He already learned that lesson.

But yet the beautiful stranger refused to leave his mind. There was just something about them that captured his curiosity. If this were to continue then nothing good would come from it, on his part at least. He would be stuck with minor memories of them gnawing at his mind despite the chance of ever meeting them was probably lower than zero.

On their side, they had the pleasure of not having to know him.

Feeling the water lose its heat, he stepped out of the shower and dried himself. Walking out of the bathroom, he made his way to his dresser, having to step over rubbish from an overturned trash bin.

He already knew what he was going to wear, it's not like his clothing had much variety. As he clad himself in a black shirt matched with pants of the same colour, he looked over to the calendar.

Friday

It was Friday.

And he had a job.

Looking over the clock hanging on the wall, it read to be at 10: 03 a.m.  . . . and his shift started at 10: 30.

He smacked his palm against his head and picked up one of his many trenchcoats and a red tie. So if breakfast could wait and then could his room. Quickly grabbing his nametag from his bedside table, he made for the door.

The halls of the apartment were relatively quiet as people didn't usually start their day in the afternoon. They had jobs to do, people to take care of, things that mattered. Other than Ciar and Arezo— who were both bundles of much-unneeded stress, he didn't really have anything to wake up for other than his job as a bartender in a corner street pub. 

Absentmindedly waving at the people who were on the ground floor, he left the building and waited for the 10: 20 p.m. bus. With less than ten minutes to waste his mind started to drift. 

His eyes scanned the environment as he had done hundreds of times before. They ran down the pattern of trenches between the painted bricks of the building across the road. The colours of the speeding cars fusing, combinations of blue and white lasting for barely a second.

A slight chill nipped at his fingertips as clouds hung as a grey-ish veil in the sky, foretelling rain similar to yesterday. Accompanying the overcast weather were rays of golden sunlight hitting the windows of parked cars and glass panes of buildings. 

Lost in his overflowing admiration of the world are, the small ding of a door was what managed to bring out. Turning his head to what must've been the bell of the nearby bakery, he saw the technological advancement— otherwise as a bus, hissing to a stop as it arrived at the bus stop.

People gathered around the bus as it released a hot breath of air as the folding doors opened, making the exiting passengers have to push their way out due to the lack of common sense in the situation.

As the people filtered into the bus, he made no hurry to make it inside. Waiting for the people to squeeze inside, he eventually got inside and went straight to the back for an empty seat. It was stupid really, all that panic and desperation to cram into a half-empty bus.

The doors slammed shut as the bus started to move again. The scenery slowly messed together as the speed increased, the sights blurring together as the vehicle hit full speed— the buildings becoming smudged blurs of colour.

The gushing winds pushed through the cracks of the window and tasselled his already messy hair, stray hairs escaping from the nest of loose curls. Not caring enough to anything about it, he merely flicked a strand or two away from his eyes and turned his head. 

The ride was the same as before so he merely zoned it out, leaning his head against the back of seat eyes pointed to the ceiling. The talking meshed into incomprehensible nonsense as his mind moved to places and times of long ago.

The time from since was ancient and it's not like he could remember much— but it was just that this was an uncommon thought. The missing memories filled a part of his soul with emptiness. Extremely heavy emptiness that dragged him down, his thoughts would become something akin to a wild animal in a trap— hurting themselves while in a blind panic.

Blank faces and silent words long forgotten tried to return but couldn't, the same as it was before. Every time he tried to remember more than his mind allowed, it felt as if someone brought a knife to his heart. Digging and digging and digging. Opening half-healed wounds and tearing apart old scars.

Digging and digging and digging. Searching frantically for something. 

Digging and digging and digging. Leave no stone untouched, overturning everything in sight. Looking for the past, destroying everything he still had in the process. Turning the remains of himself to an abandoned cathedral, ruins strayed along the floor.

The bus stopped with a force, skidding against the pitch as all the passengers lurched forward in their seats. The motion broke him out of his train of thought, looking to see his destination. His workplace was right around the corner so he doubts it would take him more than three minutes to get there. Standing up, he waiting to get out of the bus and paid before leaving.

As the began on its way, the hot air it released, bit at Abraxas' skin, the crisp atmosphere doing no favours. This area was louder, the pubs and recreational buildings growing more plentiful. Drunk men and women bounced into his without a care, not sober enough to apologize. There was one man who tried but once he recognized exactly who it was, he frantically apologized before clumsily running away.

The clock ticked to 10: 29 as he walked into the corner building. Waving to the people that occupied the alcohol scented pub. With the bell of the door, the current bartender looked up at the door to see him. Her eyes lit up as she put down a bottle of whiskey and slid the filled glass to the customer.

"Tielo! Where were you, why do you always arrive like this?" She sighed despite the smile that refused to leave her face. 

"Oh whatever do you mean, I came on time." He tapped on his watch as emphasis. He walked over to behind the counter and checked into work the second 10: 30 hit. "On time, as always." After washing his hands and putting on his nametag, he got to work serving drinks.

"You know," His coworker stated, "While I let it slide if you pull that with the manager, he might not act too kindly to that." He merely shrugged,

"So?" The nonchalant response caught the attention of a few.

"What?!" The older man exclaimed. "You got a solid job here and you're bold enough to throw it way?" He slammed his shot glass onto the table to emphasize his point.

"Yeah son boy," Another lady chimed in. "You may be all that but your bank account'll be crying if you keep up with that attitude." She swished the remainder of tequila around in the glass.

"Trust me, I'll be fine." He gave a sly grin. "Especially if I can have people looking at me like that before I even open my mouth." He called out the woman on her suggestive gaze, making a light pink coat her face.

His co-worker elbowed him. "Hey, pretty boy, stop flirting with the customers and do your job." Pouting a little, he turned to the awaiting drinkers and said.

"So you admit that you think I'm attractive."

"Shut your mouth before I hit you." She growled.

"Okay! Good day, m'lady, what would you like today?"

-

His work shift came and went similar as it had before. New drinkers and old spilled gossip and compliments as they drank away their sorrows and problems. It wasn't anything new. The same problems were repeated in different contexts.

Bored, was all he could think as he waved goodbye to everyone in the pub— a lady hoping to see him again outside of work hours.  

With the sundown, the crowd changed to its nightly occupants. Despite the dangers brought with those new strangers, he decided to go walking— not wanting to return to his personal hole just yet.

The crisp lingered strongly in the air as the end of the year crept closer. Seeing that his workplace was already on a hill, he didn't see any harm in going near the end for the view. 

The clouds from earlier dissipated into nothing, leaving the sky a blank slate for countless stars. The winds whispered through the trees and danced with the leaves upon the ground. 

He made it out of the town and into winding roads with sparse buildings and people, leaving being the chatter of civilians and the hums of vehicles in the return for earthly noises. He could follow this path with his eyes closed, the actions of walking here were so ingrained into his mind, his motor skills. 

This was the way to her grave after all. A landmark he'd much rather avoid. So he opted to go to the cliffside, it had an amazing view despite missing the sunset. He'd just sit there, that was all he needed to do— something that would be an excuse for him not to go home.

And as he made his way to the edge for a seat, his eyes locked onto a person who resided further down. A person of ivory skin and silver hair. 

He froze.