I LILITH
The Seventh Ring did not welcome royalty.
It bent for her.
The air tightened the moment Lilith descended, her heels touching the cracked obsidian ground with the softness of falling ash. Shadows recoiled. Demons froze mid-step. Lust born subcubus hid behind alley corners as the Queen of Hell walked through their district with a silence more terrifying than any scream.
She did not glow.
She did not burn.
She simply was and the Seventh Ring understood that it was the guest.
Her silver eyes moved slowly across the neon-lit streets, absorbing every flicker of motion, every whisper of will.
Something was wrong here.
Not loud.
Not obvious.
But incorrect.
A melody out of tune.
Her voice was quiet when she spoke, barely above a breath:
"…You are hiding something, Hell."
Wind curled around her like a ribbon of smoke.
But nothing answered.
II MALERION
"Focus," Alastor hissed sharply inside Malerion's mind."You must suppress the resonance. Now."
Malerion's breathing was uneven.
He knelt on the floor of the apartment, palms on his thighs, eyes half shut.
The Rings trembled with every spike of emotion outside the building.
Third Ring listened to everything.
Every intention.
Every desire. Every lie. Every violent thought spiraling up from the streets.
I can't shut it out
Malerion gasped.
"You must," Alastor cut him off."Someone has entered the Seventh Ring."
Malerion's eyes snapped open.
…Who?
Alastor's voice went quiet.
"Lilith."
The name alone made the Third Ring pulse violently.
Malerion gritted his teeth.
What if she senses
"She will," Alastor said."If you keep leaking like this."
Malerion forced his breath steady.
"How do I hide it?"
Reduce your signature, Alastor instructed."Slow the circulation. Silence the intent-response. Dim the resonance.You cannot turn it off but you must fold it."
Malerion closed his eyes and sank inward.
First Ring: structure. Second: filtration.
Third: perception.
He forced the Third backward slowly, painfully compressing it into a whisper instead of a radar.
Every muscle in his body burned.
But it worked.
A little.
LILITH
Lilith drifted past a crowded den of succubi.
No one dared breathe as she passed.
Her eyes tracked the faint glow of the city, absorbing the neon chaos, the lust-drenched lights yet her attention was fixed downward. Deep inside the Ring.
A rhythm.
A pulse.
It was small, almost gentle…
…but incorrect.
"Not demonic," she whispered."Not angelic. Something taught."
She glided her fingers along the wall of a building.
The stone rippled under her touch, recognizing the one who shaped half of Hell's laws.
Her brow lowered.
"There is an echo where no echo should be."
But she continued walking.
Not hunting.Not searching.
Only observing.
Whatever anomaly lived here, she would not chase it.
Not yet i was to small to interest her but she can look for this new atraction.
MALERION
Sweat dripped down Malerion's neck.
"Good," Alastor whispered."Now compress further. Silence your intent."
How? Malerion breathed.
"You are reacting to every mind in this district."Alastor's tone sharpened."You must make yourself uninteresting."
Malerion swallowed.
He tried.
He leaned inward, focusing on the smallest possible version of himself the whisper instead of the scream,the flicker instead of the flame.
The Rings flickered.
Third Ring thinned to a faint glimmer.
City noise became muffled.
He exhaled shakily.
"…Did it work?"
"For now," Alastor said."But she is far from gone."
LILITH
She paused on a high walkway overlooking the sin-soaked lights of the Seventh Ring.
The wind curled around her dress like a living ribbon.
Her gaze traced downward.
Something… hid.
Something tiny. Something careful.Something trying not to be seen.
Not a demon.Not a sinner.Not an angel.
Something that did not belong.
A soft, elegant smile curved her lips.
"Clever."
She didn't descend farther.
She didn't intrude.
She simply turned, letting her dress swirl behind her, and began walking away.
"Whatever you are," she murmured,"you are learning."
Her heels clicked softly on stone.
"I will watch."
And as quietly as she arrived
Lilith vanished into a shimmer of dark rose-colored light.
MALERION
Malerion gasped as the Third Ring loosened in relief.
…She's gone? he asked.
"For now," Alastor replied."And she did not find you."
Malerion slumped against the wall.
Why was she here?
Alastor hesitated.
For the first time it wasn't an act.
"…Lilith does not walk the lower rings without reason."
Malerion swallowed.
"And she felt me?"
"Not you," Alastor said carefully."Only a… disturbance. A deviation. An unfamiliar rhythm."
And if she comes back?
Alastor's voice became steady, sharper, serious:
"Then you will be ready.
Or you will die. Or worse be noticed and used."
Malerion nodded slowly.
His hands trembled, but his resolve did not.
Teach me everything.
Alastor's static crackled like a smile:
"Oh, I plan to, boy.
Because whatever Lilith sensed today that was nothing compared to what you will become."
The Rings pulsed softly inside him.
Alive. Growing. Hiding.
Learning.