The Festival of the Dead

Chapter 12: Under the Guise of Comfort

"And it was just so... fun, Tia! They were so polite and the entire place was just perfect."

Luna had been gushing to her sister about her night all the way through breakfast. Celestia couldn't help but feel more than a little grateful to the demon-duo, she knew how hard it could be sometimes to get her rather introverted sister to simply enjoy herself with the citizens. "I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself, Lulu. Do you plan on going back today?"

"I didn't tell you? They want you to come with me today. They said that they had worked out something special for the parlor today." Luna seemed honestly surprised that she had been talking for the last hour without bringing it up.

Celestia was more than a little suspicious of being specifically invited by the two but couldn't refuse her sister right after the two let her enjoy herself all day. "I suppose that would be fine. Do you have any idea what the event is?"

"They said it involved the weather pegasi."

Celestia walked over to the window, eyes widening when she saw the silvery sheet of snow on the ground. It's the middle of spring! She sighed, realizing this was still fairly par-for-the-course where the demons were involved. "Let's head over, I guess."

Despite the snow, outside it felt hardly below forty-degrees, slightly chilly, but nothing unmanageable with a coat. Probably a fair bit of magic involved in this. Thought Celestia as she looked over the streets, still filled with festival-goers like yesterday.

After a bit of walking, the sisters came upon the parlor. There was a steady stream of smoke coming from the middle of the roof, neither sister particularly cared about how they had installed a smoke stack in a single night. The inside was set up differently from last time. Now, the pillows were all gathered in a very large circle around a roaring fire, ringed by stones that glowed with the heat. Like before, leisurely customers were gathered around the room, conversing with each other like they hadn't met mere minutes ago, but were old friends.

Near one of the corners sat Avnas and Shabriri, talking to pass the time as they waited for their arrivals. Avnas waved them over to their booth, the only one in the establishment, and motioned for them to sit opposite them. After they were all seated properly, Shabriri spoke first. "I understand that you have been told some things about the afterlife?" His voice was still soft but felt like it was probing for something.

Celestia saw that they were interested in getting right to business and decided to answer honestly. "Yes, Andras told me a few things. About immortality, the afterlife, and what he looked like."

Shabriri wore a slightly disappointed frown. "I see. I had hoped that he would not be so irresponsible while he was here but I see I was wrong."

Luna was saddened by the gentle demon's tone, it carried remorse, like he had wanted the news he had received from Avnas to be false but knew that it would never be. "Is there something wrong with what Andras told my sister?"

Avnas spoke up, more serious than either sister had ever seen him except for the boat ride in Luna's case. "Without the proper precautions, yes. Normal people can never find out about the afterlife if they weren't meant to. What he did was grossly irresponsible without certain steps being taken."

Celestia was about to speak up but was interrupted by Shabriri. "We can not talk where patrons may hear, if they found out, they could be a danger."

"What do you propose?"

"An offer, princess. We can give you the knowledge that you so desperately want but understand this, after we tell you, you will be unable to ever share it with someone who does not deserve to know. That includes all of the mortal denizens of this world."

"I swear that I will not spread what we discuss."

Avnas sighed and spoke up. "No princess, what my friend is beating-around-the-bush about is that you never will tell anyone besides your sister here. After we tell you, it will literally be impossible for you to so much as mutter a word over it to someone before meeting the consequences. So, what do you say, personal inquiry and all that?"

Luna waited for her sister, this was obviously a decision for her, she would accept either decision if her sister felt it was the right choice.

"Very well, I accept."

Shabriri smiled toward Celestia, glad that she had made the right choice. "We will talk somewhere that nobody will hear us."

"Where?"

"Inside my mind, please princesses, a hoof if you please."

Both the sisters placed a hoof onto each of Shabriri's heavily-wrapped hands. They almost flinched when they felt something in the center of his palm move, but stayed quiet. They felt like they were flying away and slumped over on the table as Avnas drew back the privacy-curtain they had installed on the booth before joining them.

The princesses found themselves in a beautiful field, covered in a sheet of snow that shined like it contained silver. The entire field was dotted with trees, still defiantly green despite the fallen snow. They heard music from behind them and turned to follow it.

They came upon Avnas and Shabriri sitting in the center of a small ring where lush grass grew and beckoned the sisters to join them. The entire place was beautiful in the irregularities that dotted it but still held an ethereal, fantasy feel that made you know this place didn't exist.

"Coming here, you have both agreed, thank you for trusting the both of us enough to tell you the secrets of the world." The sisters couldn't help but notice that Shabriri had a cloth tied over his eyes, the kind one would wear if there was something seriously wrong that they didn't want others to see. Small dots of red and silver could be seen near the bottom of the cloth, as though it had been adjusted over a wound that hadn't quite finished bleeding. Avnas didn't have his scar and was sitting comfortably in the grass. His normally thin figure was escalated to the point that it looked like he had been starved, the princesses were sure that, under his clothes, the ribs would be almost completely visible. He sat on the grass, running his bony hands over the grass and humming to himself, smile firmly on his thin, sunken cheeks.

Luna was concerned for her friends in their current forms. "Excuse me but, why do you both look so different?"

"We are in the realm of the mind, we each see ourselves as we both remember and think of ourselves. Even this circle we are sitting in represents the unknown world more than a few feet around me and... well..." He gestured to the princesses to prove his point. Luna was much smaller than normal and couldn't hide her distaste at the suit of armor over her chest. It was undoubtedly Nightmare Moon's. Celestia was a normal pony, not an alicorn. She had a cutie-mark of other ponies bowing before a royal that was trying desperately to get them to rise. "It would seem that you each have things to sort out but you can handle that yourselves later, feel free to ask us anything, we will answer the best we can."

Celestia decided that she would start with something simple and hope that it was within acceptable interest. "What is the difference between a lord like Avnas and a god like you?"

"I'm glad that you are the type to take the cautious approach, it's much easier to ease into the questions with a good background knowledge. To answer as simply as possible, we will speak of each individually."

"A god is a being that created something that did not exist before them. It can be a wide array of things from agriculture to diplomacy as well as emotions themselves. It is hard to imagine the earliest of worlds, where things like compassion and hope, humor and sadness, did not exist. Eventually, someone experienced something that they had never felt before and spread that feeling or idea to everyone they met and as it spread over the years and that one, world-changing being moved on to the afterlife to the mantle they had earned so that they could spread it to the denizens of each other world. On the other hand, occasionally, a demon is the one who creates something. This is usually on accident, as was my case, since demons are usually very busy with their various jobs. Only the oldest of demons tended to be the ones who discover something."

Avnas took over the speaking. "Lords are different. We are sort of like the lesser nobility, our positions show something that was an integral part of our lives. A lord of joy may have been a wandering entertainer that played for the poor where as a lord of dreams may have simply spent most of their life in a coma, dreaming of the world they couldn't see."

The sisters were smart enough to realize what this meant for Avnas, they had completely misunderstood his position as a lord of pain. Seeing his condition right now, they could guess how he had earned it when he eventually moved on. Celestia wanted to address the issue without directly drawing attention to Avnas. "What if it was something that they didn't want? Do they still have to hold dominion over it?"

Avnas smiled, easily seeing through her ruse. "Most lords are meant to hold balance over the dominion of a god. I regulate the pain in worlds, making sure that nobody suffers more than they need to. I don't spread the pain, that is the god of pain's job, I simply limit it from becoming out of control. In simpler terms, I am all too happy to limit the pain in the world."

Celestia wanted to use this chance to her fullest and decided to ask a more difficult question. "Shabriri, you said you earned your power from an accident, how?"

"I was from one of the first generations of demons after the god of creation made us. I was never mortal, I was simply made to help keep the afterlife running. One day, I fell, tripped actually, onto some of the many small stalagmites that grow throughout parts of the underworld." He removed his bandage and showed them the gaping holes in his head. Everything from above the bridge of his nose to the bottom of his forehead was ripped apart, gently dripping blood and more of the odd silvery substance. "The demon who tripped me became the god of spite, he spreads jealousy and hatred to those who do not warrant it." He readjusted the bandage to his head, mindful of the discomfort it would cause the princesses. "After I lost my vision, I realized how much one could experience without it. I was gifted the ability to feel the emotions of others. Unfortunately, this gift came with a price, as does everything on the other side. After becoming the first of the blind, I was tasked to go to other worlds and spread my 'gift' to others. There are many different trials that mortals go through, but seeing those that go through the gates to paradise, to finally be able to see the most beautiful place they could ever imagine, to have their gift taken back, it is the truest feeling of relief that I have ever experienced."

The princesses felt a mixture of happiness and pity over his recollection. On one hand, he talked about each person he gave his gift to with care and compassion. On the other hand, he talked about his gift as if it was a terrible tumor that he hated and wished he could remove.

Celestia decided to move on. "What is so bad about gods being seen in their other forms, I saw a picture of Andras in his other... body let's say, and it didn't seem that bad."

Shabriri laughed slightly before holding a hand to his head. "You really do have an amazing ability at making these questions get harder. The more... divine form, let's call it, has unique characteristics that do not... merge well with mortal worlds. Their forms bend reality to suit the form rather than vice-versa, in a place like hell, where there exist an almost infinite number of different realms of all kinds of purposes, space is a more... flexible thing than it normally should ever be. It isn't that uncommon for lords and gods to have at least one realm of their own for some purpose or other. With such a twisted world, a limitless amount of strain can be put onto that world. I am not sure what Andras told you about our forms, but there are worse effects than causing a panic, effects like making that world become torn-apart and cease to be, for one."

While it was obvious that Shabriri didn't quite understand the more technical parts of his other form, he had managed to make his point clear. Avnas looked towards Luna, the first question directed toward her. "Is there anything you wanted to know, Luna?"

Luna was struggling with her question. She felt that she should know more about Avnas, who he was before he died, why he looks like he hasn't eaten decently in months, and... "How did you die, Avnas?"

"Lulu!" Celestia was taken aback at such a statement from her sister, clearly he hadn't died very well given his condition. She doubted it would be a very pleasant story.

"It is fine, Celestia. We promised you the secrets of the world and I guess I am part of it." He took a deep breath and began his story but not before taking one of Shabriri's hands into his. "I'm going to open one of Shabriri's portals into my mind. This will be easier to understand if you can see it yourselves."

The world started to bend and shift, the frozen meadow disappearing, being replaced with the walls of a small cottage made of mud and reeds. The two demons were gone, leaving the sisters alone... at least at first. They noticed a small movement from the corner of the room and went to investigate. Laying on a small stack of reeds, apparently the only source of bedding in the home, was a small child clutching it's stomach in pain. He was moaning softly to himself, trying to get to sleep. The princesses could see a small symbol next to the bed, apparently meant to show that the bed was his. Although the writing was infantile, clearly written with a finger through the dirt, the princesses could make out the symbol upon closer inspection.

It was the letter A.