Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC and the story.
Warnings: None for this chapter.
Hi! This chapter has been edited; some corrections were made, along with spelling, grammar and punctuation. Hope you enjoy the story. :)
Hell. It's a perfectly nice place despite what most mortals think. Sure there was the never ending fire and brimstone but what did you expect when the demons and monsters that resided there were cold-blooded. The screams of the damned were actually a really popular screamo band from the 70s that only just recently began in the underworld and everyone already loved their music, so it was always played in almost every home you came across. Of course, the only houses that played it were in the upper and middle class districts in the Circles of Hell that could actually afford such things.
Sorry, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. The Circles of Hell are sections of the Underworld that have each a certain criteria in which a passing mortal is condemned to for the sins that they have committed and like what most texts believe, the worst the sin the deeper in you go. (Of course, it's only the mortals that get punished there; it's demons that actually dish out the punishments.) And in each ring there are three 'crusts', the Upper-crust is where all the high ranking demons go; the Center-crust is where the middle and lower ranking demons go; and the Lower-crust or the Slums are where the mortals reside.
In all apart from one Circle, the demons that live there are working class. The Ninth ring and the deepest circle of Hell being the domain of the nobles and of course, Satan himself at the top of the metaphorical food chain and ruler of Hell, they don't work (at least not in the way like the other Rings work) and instead rule over a Ring, one for each clan (typically named after their designated kingdom) and within each clan there are a couple of different families, each with their own unique abilities, power and so on and so forth to contribute to their clan. Thus, the inner ring is also the least populated, being that there is only nine clans, so most of the area are large expanses of land, leaving a good amount of space between each clan territory; which is perfect because like most countries they tend to clash at times. And when it does happen, the feuding members have plenty of room to cool off and plenty of land between them to fight on without causing any major damage to the surrounding villages and towns. But at this time, only one clan seems to be in an uproar and that was the Diablo family, one of the rulers of the Nine Circles and main branch of the Sloth clan.
Their territory is rather large in comparison to the other clans despite the infinite amount of space, seeing as rather surprisingly, they have some of the largest amount families in the entire Circle. Most people think it would be Lust because of their unending appetite for sexual pleasure, but it's this exact reason that they have a tradition of rendering themselves sterile to continue the act. But that was millennia ago when they were having an overpopulation crisis, but since then they have stopped the practice and discovered mortal means of birth control. But the reason that their population is one of the smallest, is because of their reluctance to have children and only really have them to continue their lines, making them only have 6 families in their clan in total.
The Sloth clan has about 20 families in their clan, when not counting their main branch. The families are spread out across the territory, surrounding the main family; this family is the leader and holds the people that rule over the Sloth ring. The manor that housed them was large, gray and slumped; the roofs slanted and rimmed with a royal gothic-styled trimming. Numerous thin, arched, glass windows with several thin frames parting them into little squares were scattered across the many walls of the building and it's in one window in the farthest wing to the west that we see our demon of the hour.
~0~
Ralph considered himself a perfectly fine demon, thank you very much, he had noble blood running through his veins, an awesome room, an awesome house with obedient servants, he was filthy rich and he could do whatever he wanted to do because of it. But of course, his parents thought otherwise. "He should come out of his room more often and socialize with the rest of us!" His mother would say. "He needs to stop getting into trouble for something so easily rectified as unaccomplished homework!" Complained his father. "You really need to get better grades, you're a prince for crying out loud, act like one!" Croaked his grandmother. "Stop being so lazy and get a life!" The last one is a favourite among the family.
But you see, it wasn't that he was too lazy to do anything, he just didn't want to do anything. Laziness implies that he's unable to do anything, but he was perfectly able, he is a demon after all so his powers never waned and anyways, he did do things, he went to school (albeit he got horrible grades because of his wayward mind), he drew, wrote and played with his powers, he even exercised every once in awhile. But apparently, that's not good enough for his parents, they expect him to go to parties with them, socialize with members of the other clans. They even set him up on dates with the many family's single and eligible females in an attempt to 'bring him out of his shell' but none of them worked and some time later, they thankfully gave up (or at least he hoped so).
Right now, the teen demon was lounging on his large, cushy, grey themed fire pit that sat in the center of his cobblestone floored bedroom, the fire blazing merrily in front of him. In his grey-skinned hands was a black leather-bound journal and a pen, he was doing his artwork again, practicing his figures and bodily proportions inside the yellowing parchment. Sleek, black headphones with a white skull design on it, sat on his head blasting rock music into his grey, pointy ears. A beautiful, giant, albino, anaconda-mamba mix snake lay across the demon teen's body curled up in a heap, it's large diamond head resting on one of the boy's shoulders.
Suddenly, a knock from the door broke the peace. Not bothering to even wait for an answer, the head of his bulky father poked out of the opening before leading the rest of his massive, muscular body inside the bedroom. "Son, we need to talk." Rumbled the demon lord's deep voice. Ralph looked up from his sketch pad and eyed his father warily. "Sure," he said. "What about?"
The large male sighed and began carefully. "Your mother and I have been thinking-,"
"That's never good."
Lord Diablo ignored the comment. "And we've come to a decision, that because of your recent behavior, we've enrolled you at a new school." Ralph leaped his feet in shock, the albino snake hissing in agitation when it was moved from it's comfortable position. "What!"
His father continued, once again ignoring his son's outburst. "This school is a boarding college for monsters. It's located on in the Middle Crust and is one of the highest rated ever on it's plane." The demon boy's mouth hung open before quickly turning into an infuriated growl, his fist clenched so tightly it threatened to snap his sketch pencil. "A boarding school?! So, you've finally had enough of me have you? So now you're chucking me out and sending me to the Middle Crust of all places!"
The boy's father stood up and loomed over him, his facial expression menacing in the light of the fire, which is now flaring wildly in time with the Demon Lord's temper. "You left us no choice, Ralphael! We're sick and tired, I'm sick and tired of your sloth and negligent attitude towards your duties as a prince! Just because we rule over the Sloth ring, does not mean we have act like it, you know this!"
"Yeah? So what, I'm the youngest out of all my siblings! I should be the least person you're concerned about, considering the fact that I get absolutely nothing when you finally do give up your throne with the amount offspring you have!"
"That is not true, we've been over this countless of times! Anyways, it doesn't matter whether you first or last born, you're still a prince and a prince doesn't neglect his duties to his kingdom! You should be attending balls, visiting neighboring villages, finding a mate! But no, you have done none of them!"
"Yeah, cause I really needs to find a mate at the age of sixteen-hundred years old! For crying out loud Dad, I'm not interested in any of the suitors you've set me up with, or in any mate at all!" Ralph snarled, showing off sharp white fangs. "And even if I was, it wouldn't be until about a hundred years from now!"
A tired sigh escaped the older demon. "You need to understand-."
"But that's the thing, I don't understand! Why is it so important?!" Insisted the youngest demon, his mind in a whirlwind. "Why am I so important?!"
Lord Diablo closed his eyes and rumbled. "You'll understand in the future. But for now, you need to do as I say. This school is for your sake, not mine or anyone else's."
Ralph scoffed and glared. "Don't sugar coat it, old man."
His father narrowed his eyes. "If you don't stop pushing your luck..." He started.
"And what if I don't?"
"Then you'll be disowned."
Ralph's eyes widened. He gasped inwardly as he heard his father's complete seriousness in his words. He debated arguing further with him but he didn't want to run the risk of having his comfortable life style stripped away from him. He screwed his eyes shut before sighing and spat out begrudgingly. "Fine. I'll go to the stupid boarding school." The older demon let out a relieved breath, his anger noticeably subsiding.
"Good," He rumbled. "You're leaving by the end of this week, so I suggest you plan ahead." And with that he left the room with a swish of his mighty tail, the door shutting behind him.
Ralph stared at the door for a while longer before collapsing back onto his leather chair. "Well, this is just great." He groaned, slapping a clawed hand to his forehead and dragged it down before scrubbing his face frustrated. The giant albino snake slithered towards and hissed. Ralph look at it fondly and huffed, "At least you're sympathetic, Riddle." He said to the snake, stoking it's scales softly. It hissed again, pleased with the attention it was getting. The demon stroking it gave a thoughtful hum. "I wonder if I'm allowed to bring you? If not, well... I'm sure I'll be able to persuade the headmaster, whoever they are."
He continued to lie there in the company of his snake until he sighed and got up, saying. "We should get packing now, we'll forget otherwise, c'mon."
They started by dragging out the enchanted never-ending bags and the fit-all suitcases from the back of the closet. Then they got on with the essentials; clothing, toiletries, etc. Next, he put his non-essentials in another bag, it contained his leather-bound clipboard folder, a ton of plain paper, several empty journals, reading books, his portable gaming systems, some video games and lastly, he tucked away plenty of junk food.
Satisfied with his work, he collapsed onto his pit-bed and drifted into a fitful sleep.
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