Chapter 5: The Beginning

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, smartphones, and slow cookers. Choose a trust fund. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends.

To the sounds of trumpets and drums, a large congregation had assembled in a Goetian ceremonial palace. In a room large enough to hold four hundred, seventy-three individuals, not counting the trumpet players and drummers, had found their place. All but one were members of the Goetia family, and one was about to become one. In front of the attendees, who were divided by rank before a small stage, King Bael approached Agbar. Agbar was standing before a throne above which a large banner with the seal of Agarus hung, only with an X added to the cross in the upper part. To the left of them, Agarus was standing in front of an identical throne underneath a banner that carried his seal without the added symbol.

King Bael held a golden crown up high, and Agbar bowed before the old man. They had never been this close to him before, and despite their nervousness, they noticed his smooth, brown skin. He raised the crown to the skies and placed it on Agbar’s bowed head. He retreated to his place among the Kings below, and Agbar straightened their back again. Together, Agarus and Agbar stood before the gathered Goetia family in their royal attire and each with their crown on their head.

Agarus spoke with a loud, clear voice, and in Latin, “I am Agarus of the Ars Goetia, a Duke of Hell, and guardian of the portals. This is my sibling, Agbar.” His right hand reached out to Agbar, who was two steps to his right.

Agbar repeated the same phrase. “Agbar Artis Goetiae, Dux Inferni, custosque portarum sum. Hic frater meus Agarus est.” They reached out and held Agarus’s hand, and when their fingers intertwined, a bond formed between the two. The Kings and Dukes bowed slightly, and the Princes, Earls, and all others fell to one knee in genuflection. With this, the ceremony ended and Agbar had become a member of the Ars Goetia, a Duke of Hell, and a guardian of the portals between Hell and Earth.

“How are you feeling?” Agarus asked. He and Agarus had gone to his mansion in the Ring of Pride. They were sitting in his office, one on each side of the heavy dark-oak desk.

“This body feels weird. I’m just glad the ceremony didn’t involve much walking,” Agbar said and looked at their taloned feet. They looked like Agarus’s twin. A tall, humanoid hawk with feathers in various shades of brown and feathered hands that culminated in sharp claws. They had arms, not wings, though they were sure that there were wings hiding somewhere. Two white, glowing eyes surrounded by dark feathers sat in their face. Above those two eyes, another set of white, glowing eyes had found their place, and between those, a golden feather stood out. The only difference between the two dukes were the white feathers that formed an oval across Agbar’s chest that Agarus lacked, but these feather were hidden underneath their formal clothes.

“You’ll get used to it. To the way you will be addressed from now on, too,” Agarus replied. His second set of eyes was closed, but Agbar didn’t have that level of control over them yet. “As long as you feel well, there is no need to worry. Did you like the ceremony?”

Agbar reflected on the past four hours during which they were blooded into the Goetia family. “A bit pompous, I guess. But you’re a royal family, so maybe I should’ve expected that.” They took their crown off and looked at it. “Like, I know what you want me to do in this position, but what exactly is a duke that you make such a fuss about it?”

“A Duke of Hell,” Agarus began, “is a high-ranking member of the Goetia family. Only the Kings are above us. In the greater context of Hell, only the Seven Deadly Sins, Lucifer’s daughter, and Lucifer himself are above the Ars Goetia. Of course such a high status requires proper presentation.”

“I guess so.”

“Speaking of presentation. The clothes you’re wearing right now are for formal events and official functions alone. They are to be treated with the utmost respect. You will be provided with clothes for daily wear by the family.”

“The family?”

“The Ars Goetia. They will provide you with everything you will need to fulfil your duties. Only the family’s wealth…” Agarus tried to sound diplomatic, “King Bael is not too happy with a mortal taking up such a high position in our family, and on his wish, you do not have access to the family’s wealth for private purposes. Hence the salary Lucifer’s subordinates on Earth will pay you instead.”

“Bael doesn’t sound like a very pleasant person,” Agbar said, but Agarus’s frown made them shut up.

“Also a part of presentation,” he said, “is how you express yourself. All members of the family are to be referred to with their titles, whether they are present or not. King Bael is above you, and you should pay special attention to using his name properly. Only when addressing someone directly can you deviate from that, and only if they allow it. Is that clear?”

Agbar nodded. “Got it, Duke Agarus.”

“Something more appropriate for a Duke might have been ‘I understand,’ but you will get used to a more becoming vocabulary. And I am your brother, you may call me Agarus. I’m confident you will not mind if I address you without title as well, Agbar.”

“The name is still a bit unusual, but…” They noticed Agarus’s grin and couldn’t help but smile themselves. “…I’ll get used to it. I’d even prefer it if you didn’t address me with any titles.”

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Agarus gave them a single nod. “Don’t allow everybody in Hell to do so. It is a privilege to be a member of this family, and you don’t want your, and our, name to become a mere vanity.”

With his hands held out in front of him, the golden feather on Agarus’s head began to glow. The glow extended to his hands, and out of thin air, a book materialised above his hands. There, it hovered in the golden glow of the magic he was casting, and once it had fully formed, it made its way towards Agbar. They opened their hands and received the book, and the glow faded away.

The book fit right into their hands. It was a heavy and thick book, perhaps over a thousand pages long. With its old, black leather cover that displayed the same white seal that had been showcased during the ceremony, it struck a nerve in Agbar that made them want to put it away again.

“This is your grimoire,” Agarus said. “It is the exact same I own, and it contains just about all the magic spells you could ask for as well as the laws that govern access to the mortal world. Treasure it, and do not allow anybody to ever access it. It is a book as dangerous as it is powerful, and even more dangerous if it ever got in the wrong hands.”

Agbar opened the book and took a look inside. The pages were bright white and didn’t look as old as the cover. They were heavy pages with handwritten texts and drawings, and every word was in Latin.

“I can’t read Latin,” they said. “I know a few words of French from school, but that’s it.”

“Try it,” Agarus said, and Agbar looked at the page in the middle of the book again. Before their eyes, the previously meaningless words became more and more familiar, their forms started having meaning and memories associated with them, and although all texts remained in the Latin language, they began to understand.

“How…” They looked at Agarus.

“I teach languages,” he said. “And since you have the same powers as me, you can teach, and learn, any language you are exposed to, even if it’s only one page.”

Agbar flipped through the pages, and the more they looked at the texts, the more they realised that they could understand every single word. They couldn’t tell why. They just understood.

“Your training will begin shortly,” Agarus continued. “I’d like to ask you not to make use of the spells in your grimoire as of now. You have all the same powers I possess, but you still need to learn how to use and harness them. We will start your training with the most important skills: controlling portals, vision, combat, and shapeshifting.”

“That’s… reasonable,” Agbar said, their mind still stuck in a state of awe. “What you told me about the training phase a few weeks ago, in December, is that still accurate? You said, five days a week, six hours a day, you’d prepare me for my job.”

Agarus nodded. “For one year, and then, you will be prepared to fulfil your duties to their full extend. I’m not sure how Lucifer wants to handle your salary until then, but I can inquire that if you wish.”

But Agarus didn’t have to ask Lucifer about that. Agbar remembered, and they felt that they remembered it surprisingly well, that their salary would be reduced during their training period and then increased to the full amount they had been promised. The sums Lucifer had promised were alien to them, but internships had taught them that large businesses didn’t make sensible amounts of money, and Lucifer seemed like a business man through and through.

“It is up to you at what time of day you will undergo training,” Agarus said, “but I would advice that we adhere to a steady schedule. And with regards to how we are going to split up our duties once your training is completed, I am sure we will come to an agreement that will fit your current situation.”

“You’re way more laid-back than I would’ve expected a demon to be, to be honest,” Agbar said after a brief pause. “You’re giving me all this power, and you’re so, like, accommodating, it makes me wonder what on Earth I got myself into that would justify these expenses.”

“Don’t mistake my tolerance for leniency. I’ve been doing this for over two millennia, ever since the closed gates between Heaven, Hell, and Earth were unlocked. Who would’ve thought a single carpenter could cause such chaos?” Agarus chuckled. “Anyway, my life revolves around my duties, but I understand that your life may be different at this point in time. It does not burden me to accommodate to that.” He stood up from his chair and started walking across the room. “Besides, I have no need to build a harem of souls indebted to me like some other demons. Perhaps that is just old Peter rubbing off on me, who knows.” He stopped in front of one of the large windows that oversaw the park in the backyard and looked outside for a few seconds. Then, he turned around and looked at Agbar, saying, “And what you got yourself into is nothing less than a position in which the safety of this world depends on you.”

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