I woke with a start. The place was dark, as I felt my head laid back on something soft. It was pouring outside. Not inside, outside. That meant we were inside somewhere.

"You are finally awake." Came a familiar voice...

I carefully tilted my head and faced her.

"What...what happened?" I asked in a ragged voice.

"You were crushed beneath a chunk of the mountain. We had to pull you out of there." Iu said grudgingly.

"We? As in...where is Iris?" I asked glancing around.

Instead of a response, Iu just shoot me a you are too dumb to live look. I glanced around and saw that we were inside a cave, with Iris no where to be seen...

I looked up.

I really am too dumb to live.

My head was laying on Iris's knee. Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, I rolled off her and sat up.

"Why was I resting on her knees?" I asked.

"I put you there." Iu replied plainly.

"Why?"

"When we pulled you out you were no different than a smashed tomato."

"And?"

"We dragged you into this cave to wait for you to heal."

"That still doesn't explain why I was resting on her knees."

"You would heal faster in a more comfortable state."

"...How thoughtful of you. But why didn't I rest on your knees?"

Iu shoot me a warning full look and I pretend I saw nothing.

"Be grateful psycho. The sooner you heal the sooner we leave." Iu sneered.

"With that kind of rain outside? Imposs-" In a flash lightning, Iu was beside me, clinging to my left arm like an iron clamp.

"..." I was shocked beyond words and imagination.

"...Can you..." my words were interrupted by yet another bolt flashing in the distance. Causing Iu to crush my arm even further. When she finally let go, the entire left side of my body was completely senseless.

"I never knew you were..."

"If we ever speak of this again you are dead." Iu shoot me murderous look.

"You promised to tell me a little more about demons." I asked, changing the topic.

"I don't recall making a promise to a psycho." She turned her head away.

"Please." I added.

"Very well then. I am only going to say this once psycho."

"I am all ears."

"...hmm." Iu cleared her throat and I waited impatiently for her to continue.

"Demons are told to be abominations of evil throughout history by different religions. Though the truth is not very far away. Demons exist in any possible way you can think of."

I waited for it to continue.

"As you may have figured, The One is the origin of demons, and it has been around long before the time even existed."

"You mean the devil right?"

"One more interruption I am going to stop." Iu snapped. I was quiet after that.

"One third of all the angels followed him to what is known as hell and those were the first demons."

"And it wasn't too long after, that demons began to entwine with humans. And the offspring of the result, are the demons right now roaming this earth."

"So...Are you one of the first wave of demons or later ones?"

"..." I was responded with an eerie silence. And seeing no progress made, I decided to quickly change topics:

"I saw how you could shift appearances, why can't I do it?"

"All demons are unique."

"That sounds an awful lot like humans. Anyways for a long time I have been wondering what your other powers are?" In response to my question, I felt an invisible hand gripping my heart and it let out a squeeze.

"Stop!..." my next words didn't make it.

"..." Iu's face simply remained impassive.

"Please!..." I said with my final effort. And instantly I felt the force disappeared. And never in my life have I felt so satisfied to breathe.

"Humans call that telekinesis. And that is only one of my many powers."

"I don't want to know about them anymore." I said trying to sit straight again, and failed.

"I was hoping you would ask for another demonstration of my power."

"Forget it..." I place a hand on my face. "So...I don't have telekinesis or shape shift?"

"..." Iu studied me for a moment then said:

"It appears not. Useless demon."

"That's your title not mine. And I suppose you don't have super strength or speed?"

"Those are the basic abilities of a demon, along with rapid healing and highlighted senses."

"Great. You just made me feel less special."

"Don't think too highly of yourself, your place would be considered as the bottom of the bottom among the demons."

"I am not sure how your system works, but more the reason to train me."

"I will rather teach pigs how to fly." Iu said with a final sneer.

The silence hung between us, like an unstirred thick soup.

"I always wondered, if something is created...It must be created for a reason and more importantly, for a purpose. But setting aside reason, what is the purpose of demons?"

"...Why do you ask?"

"Because I want to know, that is why I ask."

"...Very well then. What do you think is the purpose of humans?"

"Hmm...on the basis of survival, I say the purpose of human is to do whatever they want."

"There is your answer."

"Which brings me to another thought; do demons feel the same way humans do?"

"...how do you want me to answer this psycho?"

"Honestly."

"Honestly I do not know."

"Me either, I have long forgotten what proper emotions feel like."

"..."

This soup of silence stirred once again.

"Anyways," I cleared my throat: "I want to know more about your past."

"Why do you need to know?"

"Because I want to know, and that is my entire reason."

Iu was silent for so long I thought she had gone mute, but finally she spoke:

"What is your past?"

"Me? Don't expect a heroic past from me, because you will only find the exact opposite."

"I didn't expect to hear any either. Very well continue."

"Aren't you able to read my mind?"

Since she didn't reply I told her. "Alright here's how it goes, there was nothing heroic about my life, and in fact it's quite the opposite."

"I can see that clearly."

"Be some use for once by shutting up, useless demon." I said as I earned myself a dirty look from Iu, luckily without the cold telekinesis.

"I was born in China, as you know my last name is Shen, my first name is...can't remember, anyways I went to America when I was about...this tall." I raised my hand about 3ft.

"..." Iu just silently stared at me.

"Anyhow my family lived in a crappy little apartment with a low paying job. But I was happy at least, then they joined up with a cult and everything went downhill from that point."

"...".

"They got more involved into their practice day by day, eventually they brought me to their church where I was..." suddenly I found myself shaking my head and skipping that part.

"..."

"Anyways the authorities found me after, but my life was completely changed after that, I was later put into a dozen foster homes followed by several reformatories, then jail and eventually Calypso Island. And I did meet quite a few interesting people in that place."

"..."

"Well now I am here, talking to a demon. My story ends here for now, now let's hear your story."

The oppressive silence came back like a cold unwanted soup.

"I will tell you another time." Iu said, her words final.

"Why can't you tell me? Is there a rule that forbids you to do so or is there something you feel uncomfortable sharing?"

"...Why are you so determined to know?"

"Because all the more reason to know."

"...I will tell you then."

"Really?"

"Another time."

"I knew you were going to say that."

"How?"

"Because after all we been through, I felt like I've known you for several decades instead of just several days. Yet I still don't know enough about you."

"What makes you think that?"

"It's not all about time, it more about experience. And so far all my experiences with you are filled with life threatening danger and..."I paused as I searched for the right word.

"Sarcasm."

"What do you mean by sarcasm psycho?"

"Everything you say is sarcasm, especially when it comes to criticizing me. Have you ever had this weird thought, that I, may be the only normal person around and every else is actually a psychopath?"

"Impossible."

"You see my point is...life is full of irony, but what happens if life turns out to be huge irony its self? Everything is not functioning the right way, as humans we interfered with human nature by defining values into right or wrong."

"Morality, that's the human word for it. Am I correct?" Iu said.

"Yes, yes Indeed. But what really is morality? Is it really more than just a word? Or is something even less? I can prove myself right now."

I reached over and grabbed Iris by one of her breasts. The two of them just stared at me plainly, Iu seemed pretty calm and Iris expression didn't change from her usual one.

"What are you doing?" Iu asked questioningly.

"What does it look like I am doing?" I said squeezing it. The feeling was better than I thought.

"You are touching her breast."

"Yes, yes Indeed. Now tell me the morality behind this?"

"..."

"Correct there is none. But now consider this form a different perspective. Pretend we live in a society where touching each other breast the equivalent to shaking hands? Would that now be considered wrong now?"

"...No."

"Correct. So in the end, what really determines right or wrong? Is it actions or is it people?"

"I fail to understand humans."

"Same here, all I know about them is that they could eat, sleep and shit."

"How long are you going to put your hand there?"

"Oh." I said giving it a squeeze before finally letting go then I cleared my throat before I spoke again:

"Humans tend to complicate themselves, because they think they are much better than they are. In fact they are worse than animals. They only consume and the things they produce often end in waste. You see what my point is?"

"No."

"My point is that humans are the plague of this planet. But this is not a plague you can eliminate. It's like the hydra from Greek mythology. Cut off one head, and only 2 more will grow back. The only cure is to adapt, and hope that you will be able to develop immunity before it's too late. Then again, like viruses, they can mutate. And the whole adapting thing will have to start all over again."

"...you are by far the most interesting psycho I seen."

"I will take that as a compliant." I grinned. Then I look around and find Iris in the corner of the cave staring at us with her big round starry eyes. And she seemed as innocent as baby in this conversation... literally. I would feel sorrier if she understood this conversation...then a small quiet, stuttering voice appeared out of the blue:

"Psy...o..." The voice belonged to Iris.

Holy shit.

Q: What is your opinion on humans?