So familiar to him. That was all he could think of. An old, sweet memory was playing in his mind. Someone who loved and cared about him very much was looking after him, and it made him feel like the world was a safe place, and he was complete at last. Somehow he felt that this had happened a long time ago, in another time and place...

He was lying on his back, wounded, his wings trailing on the ground like those of a dying bird. The pain of the sword burned through his body where the angel's blade had cut him. He felt like his spirit was drifting away, ready to leave the body that had housed it for millenia. But before his soul could depart, a gentle voice spoke, calling him back.

"Lucifer," it said. It spoke sweet words, drawing back his soul and bathing it in tenderness, taking away his pain. He felt cool hands on his body, binding his wounds. He opened her eyes and saw her face floating above him.

It was her. She was so beautiful. But no, he was an angel, and he wasn't allowed to see beauty in the face of a human girl.

Satariel drifted back into consciousness. That's right, his name was Satariel. So why did the woman in his memory call him Lucifer?

He opened his eyes and saw Alice beside him. "Alice," he whispered. For a moment he nearly called her something else. She reminded him of someone, but he couldn't recall who it was. There was a fragment of memory on the edge of his mind, but try as he might, he couldn't get a grip on it. It was annoying.

Slowly, he rose into a sitting position. The wound in his shoulder was throbbing painfully, but it wasn't as bad as before. A piece of cloth was tied around it, and he saw that it had come from Alice's prom dress; she must have torn it to tend his wound. He looked around and saw that they were in the castle from his memory. Everyone was in the courtyard, and predictably, Alice's friends were confused and surprised to find themselves in the Dark Kingdom. Taura was staring around in shock, asking a volley of questions. Satariel couldn't blame her; in the space of a few minutes, she'd seen her first angel and demon, and been teleported to a world she'd never heard of.

Satariel felt that he should say something, so he cleared his throat. "Ahem. Alice, Taura, Shaylin, welcome to my world. Welcome to the Dark Kingdom. This wasn't the way I'd planned for you to find out about it... I can understand you must be in a bit of shock now, and you must have lots of questions. The important thing is that we're safe here, at least for the moment. But whatever you do, I must ask you not to step out of this castle without me or Rocky or Incendia. This is called the Dark Kingdom for a reason. There are dark and dangerous things here.... it's not safe for newcomers."

Somewhere far in the distance, there was a long, lonely howl. It sounded like a wolf would sound, if it had been a very bad wolf and died and gone to hell.

Satariel shivered a little, and his wings wrapped closer around his body.

Alice sighed and looked at Taura. "It's complicated." She said as she waited for Satariel to wake back up. Alice laid a hand on his shoulder and waited a little bit longer. When she saw his eyes flutter open she almost jumped with excitement. "You're all right!" She smiled at him before giving him a hug. Pulling away she listened to what he had to say to them. She felt bad for not telling her friends sooner, but she was afraid of what their reactions would be to the whole thing. Her main concern was probably Shay.

Heaven knows how she would have reacted to it. Alice looked at how Satariel shuddered a little and she got worried a little bit more about him. "Are you able to stand up or anything?" She wanted to know cause she started to get scared with being out there and all. Satariel was injured and wouldn't be able to fight at the moment, her, Shay, and Taura wouldn't be able to fight anything down here.

"I don't want to rush you to do anything, it's just that this place scares me a little that's all." She looked at him in his eyes before looking away again. She took a look at his wings wrapping closer around his body and she gave him another soft smile. "When your ready we can go." She grabbed his hand tightly as if protecting him from something.

Shaylin was far beyond the word confused being applicable to the way she was feeling. She blinked and rubbed at her eyes, maybe it had all been a bad dream? She hoped she'd somehow managed to fall asleep in the middle of prom and was just stuck in a nightmare, one she would soon wake up from. But she remembered Taura being attacked, then being at the hospital, oh and Alice knocking that weird guy upside the head with an IV stand. It all happened recently, but that didn't explain where she was now. Slowly her head turned as she took in the odd change of scenery and her mouth fell open.

They weren't in the hospital anymore and Satariel had wings? "What the he-..." She scratched her head and blinked a few more times. She hardly caught what Satariel was saying, too boggled to pay attention. "The Dark Kingdom." She muttered to herself and took another look around. She decided the name was very befitting. Shay turned around in a full circle and clapped her hands together. "This...is...so awesome." Sure they'd managed to be transported to some unknown land and Satariel had real wings, but she didn't think it was as frightening as it was exciting. Being the adventurous person she was, she wanted to explore every inch of the new territory, but according to Satariel that wouldn't be a good idea.

Shay turned back around to face everyone, first looking over Taura to make sure she was okay, then she went over to Alice and Satariel and knelt down. "You can fly, that is so cool! Did you take us all here? Wow it's like magic!" That never ending energy supply she had started kicking in and she could barely contain herself. Later on maybe, after she calmed down, she would react differently to the chain of strange events that had taken place.

Rocky stared stupefied as everyone dropped to the ground, and the angel approached. He knew it. He had known it all along. hey had been after them. Rocky stared as the battle went on around him. Usually, he wouldn't be so scared, but thought of Shaylin being in trouble had suddenly thrown everything out of whack. What would he do if she got hurt? He tried to fight, to move, to breathe, but it was like something had snapped a hold of him. With everything going on, everyone getting hurt, he could feel his front slipping.

He blinked as the the black feathers engulfed him, and opened his eyes to see his home. He hadn't realized how much he had missed it. He stood up and looked at the girls, watching their reactions, and listened as Satariel explained how dangerous the Dark Kingdom was. He laughed when Shaylin said the place was awesome, a part of him wanting to transform so he could show her how cool he was, a part of him wanting to yell at her for not taking it seriously, a part of him wanting to hug her for still being alive.

All in all, his brains wasn't really there. Deep down, Rocky was still panicking. How could he figure out what they were going to do? What would he do if they came after them? What will he do about Satariel's parents? Or Incendia's? Or Rocky's own father? What would the girls eat? Where would they sleep? What would they wear? How were they going to keep their true identities hidden?

Rocky's brow furrowed as he tried to figure it all out. He wasn't sure what they were going to do, but he could now was agree with Satariel. "He's right. It's extremely dangerous here. Do not talk to anyone unless we say it's safe, and please don't run off your own. Their are monsters here way worse than what you just witnessed..."He paused for a moment, hoping he wasn't scaring them. "We'll keep you safe."

"Don't worry, Alice, I'm fine," Satariel said. He was grateful for the touch of Alice's hand around his. "The angel just caught me a glancing cut on the shoulder. It's shallow, but the blade has some kind of toxin in it. They'll be able to heal me back at the palace. Or maybe I can find some medicine here."

He laughed when Shaylin knelt beside him and started asking all kinds of questions. It was clear that unlike her two friends, she was more excited than scared or shocked. It felt good to laugh after the fear he'd felt at being attacked by Uriel. It sent a wave of relief through his body, and he decided that answering Shaylin's questions was the least he could do to thank her for her cheerfulness.

"Yes, I did bring us here," he said. "Being a - " he almost mentioned that he was a prince, but stopped himself just in time. He still didn't want Alice to know, although he knew that she would have to find out eventually, especially now that they were in the Dark Kingdom. But when she found out, she would probably treat him differently, and he wasn't ready for that. Not yet. "Being one of the few demons with true wings, I can shift between dimensions quite easily," he finished. "And it is magic. I know that magic is just a legend in your world, but in the Dark Kingdom magic is a real force, an energy that exists everywhere. It's a bit like gravity or electromagnetism on Earth. We use magic to power our cities and make devices and keep the whole kingdom running."

He paused and looked around. "There are raw particles of magic in the air all around us right now. You can't see them without a magiscope, though. Airborne magic only exists in tiny amounts, so you can't do much with it. To get a lot of magic, you need to mine crystals. A magic crystal forms underground when raw particles of magic gather and are heated and compressed, turning them into a crystalline structure like diamonds. Maybe I'll show you our magic crystal mines one day. That's where the kingdom gets most of its magic from."

Slowly, he pulled himself to his feet. "The surrounding lands are dangerous, but the inside of this castle should be safe," he said. "It was built a long time ago, and there are extremely powerful spells and charms in the castle walls to keep out any dangerous creature. The castle was abandoned when it was attacked by a dragon, which was strong enough to break through the spells, but dragons are very rare, so we shouldn't have anything to worry about."

His gaze travelled over the group, taking in the three girls as well as Rocky and Incendia. "It looks like you girls will be in the Dark Kingdom for a while. Those angels were out to get you as well, though I don't know why. It's not safe to return to Earth until we figure out what the angels want with you. In the meantime, if you're going to be staying in the Dark Kingdom, you'll need some items to help keep you safe. Everyone, follow me."

Satariel led the way from the courtyard, through a long stone tunnel and down several flights of stairs. When he got to the bottom, he placed his hand on a stone wall, which slid back to reveal a hidden door.

"This is an old armoury," he explained. "It should still be stocked with weapons, equipment and other items that will be of use." He opened the door and led the way into a darkened room. Candles burst into flame when he waved his hands, revealing wooden chests, shelves of books, swords, armour and other mysterious objects. "Let me see now," he said, taking a old tome from a nearby shelf and turning to face Alice. Suddenly, the cover of the book flashed with light, and Satariel stared at Alice in surprise.

He walked closer to her, and the book glowed even more brightly. He tried walking towards Shaylin, then Taura, and the same thing happened each time. With a puzzled frown, he returned to his original place, then stared thoughtfully at the three girls.

"I hope this isn't a rude question," he said, "but... are you three girls fully human? Because this book of magic is reacting to all three of you, and it's only supposed to react to magicians... but it's very rare for humans to be born with the gift of magic." Could this be why the angels had attacked the three girls? Because they knew that they were human magicians?

Satariel had another idea. "You know," he said, "this castle once was home to three powerful witches who served the Triple Goddess. They left behind three sacred weapons that can only be wielded by three worthy women. So far, no one has been able to use the relics. I wasn't going to offer them to you girls because you're humans, but if you have magic in your blood, it could be worth a try."

Satariel rummaged around and brought forward three chests bound with gold. The first chest he placed in front of Shaylin, and opened to reveal a beautiful golden sword lying on a bed of velvet, with a sun on its hilt. "This magic sword is said to contain the spirit of the warrior woman Azapheth," he said. "It's rumoured that it contains the fire of the Sun and can destroy any opponent if wielded by a fierce heart. The spirit of the sword is supposed to watch over its bearer and assist them in battle."

The second chest he placed in front of Taura, and opened to reveal a silver wand, with a moon at its tip. "This wand is supposed to have belonged to the priestess Diana, who worshipped the moon goddess. It's said that it grows stronger at night and waxes and wanes with the Moon's power. It's believed to contain the spiritual power of hidden and secret knowledge, and the ability to cast charms, spells and bewitchments."

The final chest he placed before Alice, and opened to reveal a white goblet decorated with stars around its rim. "This cup was supposed to have belonged to the Witch Brenwyn. It is said that she used it to brew potions that could heal a man or kill him. When she filled it with a secret potion at night, under the Stars, she could gaze into the cup and read the past, present and future in the reflections of the constellations."

He stood back and watched the three girls nervously. "If you were holding these objects of power, you would be able to survive on your own in the Dark Kingdom, even if you get separated from me or Rocky or Incendia. But before you can use these objects, they have to accept you as worthy. Try picking them up and seeing how they feel. It's up to the objects if they accept you or reject you."

Alice chuckled at all of Shay's questions. She wasn't all that surprised by her actions. This was the normal Shay to her. She smiled softly at Satariel seeing that he was okay. Hearing about all of the dangerous stuff this world had, scared her a little. It's not everyday you get to see a world like this, but she didn't want to die in it. Listening to what Satariel had to say about going into the old looking castle or whatever he had said, Alice looked at for a moment before following behind him. Once they were in she was fascinated by all of the cool stuff that was inside.

When they got to the armory she stepped in cautiously looking around. She just stood there, not really wanting to touch anything that was around her. Knowing herself she would be the one to touch something and it blows up in her face. The thought played through her mind, making not even move. When Satariel held the book in front of her and it glowed she wondered what it exactly meant. Just as she was going to ask he told them why it glowed. "There is no way I have magic in me." She spoke a little bit surprised. She had human parents and ancestors, or so she thought.

It would have been cool though if her parents weren't all the way human or her grandparents. When Satariel opened the box in front of her friends, she smiled as they seemed like pretty cool weapons. When he got to her, she was hesitant to pick hers up. Taking a deep breath she quickly picked the cup up expecting it to burn her or something. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. "Oh my gosh I'm alive!" Alice spoke happily. It felt like it was giving her some kind of strength or knowledge of something. Overall it was an amazing feeling it had given her.

Taura wasn’t too surprised by Shay’s reaction. The girl loved adventures. Obviously, she didn’t realize that this situation could get bad. At least they were safe, for now. After hearing Satariel’s explanation as well as Rocky’s, Taura frowned. She knew they were hiding something, but it never crossed her mind that they weren’t human. Demons? Weren’t they evil? And angels attacking humans? It seemed like everything she learned was backwards. Taura couldn’t deny what she had seen though. She noticed the pause that Satariel said when he talked about his wings. Once again she felt he wasn’t telling them everything. Even though he had saved them, Taura didn’t trust him. She sure hoped Alice knew what she was getting herself into.

After entering the ruined castle, Taura paid attention to where they were going. Since this would be their home for the time being, Taura wanted to make sure she didn’t get lost. When they got to the armory Taura almost gasped. She never seen so many weapons in her life and they all looked medieval. The only weapon she was interested in was the bow and arrows. She almost missed Satariel’s question about them being human. She was too shocked to answer. Of course they were humans. After here what Satariel said though, she now knew she couldn’t be sure. She had an eccentric cousin who was always telling her that anything was possible. It was a little scary thinking about it. When Satariel brought a chest before her, opened it up, and explained the contents, Taura looked at him before looking at the wand. What did she have to lose? Picking it up, she felt energy coursing through her and saw an image of a lady with silver hair, standing in front of a full moon. The lady turned towards her and smiled.

“Welcome back, my child.” The woman said.

Suddenly, the image was gone and Taura was reeling from what she just saw.

“Oh my gosh.” She gasped.

Shaylin had a funny way of thinking that the word dangerous meant a better adventure. For the sake of not causing anymore trouble than what they were already in, she decided she would behave and restrain herself from running off by herself. All the talk about magic and demons had her head spinning and running wild with thoughts. Some of them were about her father, and what he was doing at the moment. Did he know his daughter was gone? She hoped he'd be okay without her for however long she'd be absent. Shay stopped herself from dwelling on her father's well-being before it upset her.

"Old castles, a dragon, man this is so awesome." Shay followed behind the others, her hazel eyes darting around trying to capture everything the magical scenery had to offer. When they entered the weapons room her eyes bounced around and her jaw dropped. "This is just like something out of a cool medieval movie." She interlocked her fingers behind her back to keep from picking anything up and swinging it around. When Satariel asked if they were fully human she scratched her head in confusion. The last time she checked both of her parents were one hundred percent human, but with everything that had happened recently she wouldn't be the least bit surprised if what she knew was wrong.

Her eyes widened and she stepped forward eager to pick the sword up. She could recall a Christmas when she practically begged her father to buy her a sword. He had his hands full trying to explain that, Shay being the way she was, would probably try to fight someone with it for real and end up cutting an arm off or something. Now that she was getting her chance to have a real sword she wasn't about to back down. Quickly she picked the weapon up, almost immediately feeling a warm heat traveling up her arm. It wasn't hot, wearing her sleeveless dress it actually felt pretty good, and it energized her in a way she never felt before. "Wow." That was the only thing she could think to say. Shay started to take a test swing but then she remembered everyone around her and lowered the blade.

"I can't wait to use this, or well, not that I want us to be attacked or anything. I just wonder what it's like to use in a real fight." She laughed sheepishly and looked from Taura to Alice, all of their items seemed to be very appropriate when she thought about their different personalities.

Satariel saw with wonder that the three weapons had accepted the girls. What could this mean, exactly? His mind was still churning from the revelation that three human girls had the mageblood, a gift extremely rare on Earth, although common enough outside it. Most demons had the mageblood, as well as faeries, merfolk, kelpies, djinn, unicorns, and a hundred other species. But in humans it was almost unheard of. Satariel had heard tales of elves and other beings visiting Earth and sometimes marrying the humans, producing halfbreed children. Maybe the three girls had some ancestor, a great grandparent perhaps, who was from another world.

But those weapons... those weapons had been sealed by the magic of the three witches. No demon woman had been judged worthy of wielding them, yet the three human girls had been accepted. They must have powerful magic sleeping inside them. Yet how could that be, because if they had a distant non-human ancestor, then the magic blood inside them should be weak and diluted... it was confusing indeed.

"Well, everyone," Satariel said, "let's rest here for a bit, arm ourselves and recover our strength. I don't want to risk shifting dimensions with my shoulder injury, so I think we should journey towards the palace on foot. There are dangers outside, though, so we need to be well armed. Shay's magical item should be an effective weapon for her, but Alice and Taura might need to grab one of these knives, bows or staves in case we are attacked. They're not magical, but they are demon-forged so they're stronger than Earth weapons. There are also quite a few useful potions and other objects around here. Since we can't return to Earth for the moment, we'll be staying here for a while. In the meantime I owe you girls an explanation about the Dark Kingdom, and I need to tell you how to use magic."

Satariel paused and looked around. It was difficult to know where to begin. "We are demons," he said, "but not like the demons you've heard about. We don't look monstrous except when we want to. We're similar to humans, except that we have some powers that you don't. There are many worlds apart from Earth, and this one is called the Dark Kingdom. We have lived here for thousands of years, ever since we were driven out of our real home."

He took a satchel from a shelf and strapped it around his waist. Then he started filling it with potions, amulets and other things. "Oh, a phoenix egg," he said, holding a bright round egg that glowed in all the colours of flame, before placing it in the satchel. "The palace is where the King and Queen of the Dark Kingdom live. They will give us shelter and treat you girls as guests. You can stay there and learn to use your magic while we try to work out why those angels attacked you. Once we know you'll be safe, we can send you back to your own world." He took a couple of sky-steel daggers from another shelf and strapped them by his waist. Spotting a bag of fairy gold, he scooped it up and slipped it into his satchel as well. "Once we're all ready and rested, let's meet by the front gate in half an hour. I'll tell you whatever else you need to know along the way. The castle should be safe to explore, but remember not to step outside without me."

Alice looked at Shay and Taura, and she was incredibly excited. Satariel grabbed her attention when he started talking to them again. Everything sounded pretty confusing to her. She didn't want to be the only one who wasn't following so she just nodded her head. "So pick out a weapon huh?" She started to walk around the room trying to figure out what would be best for her. She wasn't very coordinated so a sword wouldn't be good. Really no weapon in her possession would be smart.

Scratching her head she saw a couple of potions. The only thing was that they were on the top shelf. Seeing that it was okay, Alice climes over the weapons to get ti them. She had an armful and was excited to learn how to use them. One slipped out of her arm and she tried to grab it. One hand was hanging onto the shelf, sad to say though she was a rather weak person physically. Do to her lack of doing any kind of sport, ever. She fell backwards and fell into a suit of armor.

She broke all of the bottles she was holding and also managed ti knock half of the shelf over that she was climbing. Standing up she took the stuff that had fallen on her and moved it to the side. Alice grabbed the one potion that had survived the whole accident and walked by her friends. "I think I'm good with this potion. Besides I might kill myself in here." She walked out of the room and into the hallway. She started to get bored by waiting for everyone, so she walked down the hallway.

She came across a room that seemed to be a library. Alice poked her head into the room before stepping into it. She loved to read so she was in heaven. Grabbing as many books as possible, she sat down in a chair at a desk and started going through one of the books.

Fighting? Did Satariel honestly think they be able to fight? This certainly did not sit well with Taura. It was one thing to fight humans, it was another to fight angels or anything else that wasn’t human. At least she had some fighting skills and Shaylin was a natural fighter. Alice was another question. As she watched her friend climb the shelves, she was going to warn her, but before she could say anything, the teen fell down knocking things down. Taura groaned. Alice appeared okay though as she told them she use the potion. That did suit her friend more than anything else. Taura would feel better if Alice used something else beside magic though. Deciding to grab something herself, Taura went and looked over the bows and arrows. After testing a few bows out, she grabbed one that was made out of some silver material and bows.

Turning to Saterial, she asked, “How do you know this royal family will protect us? And is there any way I find some clothes here as well as human food?”

She honestly felt very vulnerable in just the scrubs that she was put into at the hospital, with nothing underneath it.

Satariel had to hide a smile as Alice somehow managed to knock over a shelf and destroy a whole batch of priceless potions. He'd never told her this, but he found it charming the way she could be so clumsy sometimes. For an instant he'd been worried, because some of those objects were quite dangerous, and he didn't want Alice accidentally setting off a deadly spell or spraying herself with poison, but fortunately she'd managed to pick a shelf stocked with healing potions. Afterwards she left the room and Satariel threw a longing glance after her, wanting to follow, but deciding not to right away, because Alice probably wouldn't want him following her like a shadow. Besides, Taura was asking him a question, the last question he had wanted to hear.

"The royal family..." he hesitated. Taura was pretty sharp and she would probably sense it if he hid too much, so he decided to tell her part of the truth at least. "The royal family will be very surprised to have three human guests. We rarely get humans down here. But I know the king and queen personally, and I will speak to them to make sure they extend their hospitality to you girls." Then he realised that Taura was still wearing the hospital gown, which looked very uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, Taura, I didn't notice or I would have said something earlier. I believe there are some clothes around here." He went behind a shelf for a few minutes and emerged dragging a big wooden chest. Throwing it open, he revealed a bundle of rich gowns in many colours. "These are probably old fashioned by Earth standards. Well, they're old fashioned even by our standards, but one of them must be all right for you. These are noble gowns, so they have lots of impractical designs that'll make it hard to travel in, so try to choose something a little plainer. If you need some privacy, you can use one of the rooms off these corridors, but please remember not to leave the castle."

After that he left the room to search for Alice. He found her in the library, seated at a desk and going through a pile of books. For a minute he hesitated to disturb her, but they would have to be on their way soon anyway, so he stepped forward and stood next to her.

"I didn't know you were such a bookworm," he said. He hadn't had that much of a chance to get to know her. They'd just had a couple of days together and now they were already in the Dark Kingdom. Things were happening much more quickly than he'd expected, and he wasn't sure what would happen next. There was going to be so much trouble to come with his parents, and he really didn't want to think about that. He'd loved being on Earth where he could just be with Alice and forget about his troubles here in the Dark Kingdom. But now Earth wasn't safe for them, either. He just wished he could stay here in this room with Alice forever, and forget about everything else.

Alice came across something that looked like the royal family Satariel was talking about. She looked through the pages and from the looks of it, the prince almost looked like Satariel. It was comical to think about it. Or at least to her. She thought all princes were no good lazy dogs, but that was her opinion. Satariel didn't seem like the type that would be a prince. In a way though it would be so romantic. Just as she was starting to get Lois in her thoughts, she heard someone behind her.

"Oh hey! The royal family seems pretty cool. The prince looks like you, but I can only imagine you get that a lot from people." She smiled at him before turning back to the book. "Yeah I can be a bookworm if I'm bored enough." She joked standing up and stretching her arms. "Wow I'm tired now, when are we going to leave?" She asked just as a yawn escaped her lips.

Moving closer she gave Satariel a hug. "Thanks for helping my friends out." She gave him a light squeez before pulling away and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Pulling away from him she smiled again. "We should see if everyone is ready. I'm beat and need to go to sleep." She rubbed her eye like a child would have. She tended to act like a child when it came to her sleeping.

Now Taura was very curious about Satariel's relationship with the royal family. If she didn't know better, she would have thought he was part of it. At this point nothing surprised her. When he showed her a chest full of clothes, Tiana came forward and placed her wand and weapons down carefully as she kneeled down. The last thing she didn't want to do was flash anyone. She started going through the gowns. If she was going to live in this place for the time being, she had to think practically. Wearing a long, flowy dress was not practical. If these outfits were ancient than it was not possible to find any women trousers. At best, she hoped to find a riding gown for it should have a slit in it. After making a mess of dragging out clothes, she couldn't find one. Oh well, she guessed the best thing she could do now was find something comfortable. She eventually chose a dress that was a dark blue and silver color. Taura picked it because she liked the color and she hoped it fit well. She wished there were undergarments but couldn't find any. She found some footwear at least. Getting up she looked at the others.

"I'll see you guys soon." she told Shaylin and the other two guys.

Taking her new things, she found the nearest room and changed. The gown fit perfectly. She went looked at the room and found a bag. This could come in handy. Placing her wand in it, she got her weapons and started to explore the castle.