Chapter One

Congratulations!

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at the Royal Academy of Diavolo.

Please return this letter with your signature to confirm your participation.

We are looking forward to welcoming you as part of our new exchange program.

Yours Sincerely,

Diavolo

The floating black letter in front of me was odd. I don’t know what’s odder though; the fact that it appeared out of nowhere and is floating, or the content of the letter itself. I suppose I can sign it and see where this goes. It’ll take time anyways, so I can search this place up and see what comes up.

I swung my bag from my back and onto one arm, pulling out my pen. I signed my name half-heartedly and the letter disappeared in a little black puff. The lingering smoke suddenly flashed a bright light in my eyes, temporarily blinding me.

When I opened my eyes I found myself in a castle style meeting room, with a panel of seats along the back wall and a long rectangular table in front of it and me. The table was empty but the panel of seats was not. There was a tan man with short red hair and golden eyes wearing a red school uniform in the center, who spoke to me.

“Welcome to the Devildom, Michael,” he formally greeted, ”I’m pleased to have you as the newest member of our new exchange program. I will have Lucifer explain the program to you. Please?”

A pale man with short black hair that faded to gray at the tips, styled in a sort of up and over, red eyes, and a dark gray version of the uniform, stood. In fact, only the tan one, who I assumed was Diavolo, had the red uniform.

“Before I start, may I ask something,” Lucifer started with full intention to ask anyways,” Is there a different name you’re comfortable with?”

I gave him a confused stare before I remembered about the archangel. I thought aloud, ”Uh, I never really thought about it. I just sorta chose this name because I like the sound,” I thought silently for a moment before suggesting,”What about Drizzm? It’s my username, so I’m already used to it.”

“Just say Drizzm next time then,” he curtly responded, annoyed. I lightly glared at him, also annoyed. Diavolo chuckled in amusement while he wrote my new name down. I noticed he used a fountain pen. Lucifer started,”The demon sitting here in the center is Lord Diavolo. He’s the Future King of the Devildom and ruler of all demons. You are currently standing in the student council room of the school he started, the Royal Academy of Diavolo, or RAD for short.”

What a RAD school, lol. What a name for a school. Lucifer continued,” You’ve been selected as the second representative of the Human World for Lord Diavolo’s exchange program. The intent is to strengthen the Devildom’s relationship with the Human World and the Celestial Realm. There is another human exchange student and two from the Celestial Realm. You four will stay in the Devildom for one year while going to school at RAD.”

Lucifer approached me and handed me a smartphone,”This is a Diavolo Devildom Device, or D.D.D.”

I looked at Diavolo as he spoke up,”I had it designed after Human World smartphones, so hopefully you’ll find it intuitive.”

“I see,” I said politely. I couldn’t tell him, but the way he named the phone is ridiculous. Only time will tell if he names everything after himself because of ego, or he’s just bad at naming things. I unlocked the phone and started looking at the available apps.

“You’ll be calling my brother, Mammon,” Lucifer instructed,”He’ll be in charge of you during your stay.”

I acknowledged the instructions and tapped on the app labeled ‘Contacts’. I pressed the call button next to his name and put the phone to my ear. It rang a few times before he answered.

“The Great Mammon speaking,” came a loud, arrogant voice.

“I’m Drizzm, the human exchange student you’re in charge of,” I told him matter-of-factly.

“Whaaa? I dunno what you’re talkin’ about!”

“Well, that’s what Lucifer said.”

“Ya think I just listen to whatever that guy says? Just because he thinks he’s sO SCARY!”

Lucifer interrupted, ”Put him on speaker.”

I did as he said and Lucifer made quick work of threatening Mammon that he will being obliterated if he didn’t get to the council room ASAP. I didn’t really get the meaning but Mammon immediately changed his tune and confirmed that he’s on his way before quickly hanging up.

“Oh boy,” I sighed.

“Mammon is the the Avatar of Greed, and Second Born,” Lucifer explained, the pointed to each of the three other demons sitting on the panel,” That’s Asmodeus, Avatar of Lust and Fifth Born; Satan, Avatar of Wrath and Fourth Born; and Beelzebub, Avatar of Gluttony and Sixth Born. There is also the Avatar of Envy and Third Born, Leviathan, who appears to have also skipped out on today’s meeting.”

Lucifer stood fuming about it while Diavolo spoke,” You’ll be staying with Lucifer and his brothers in the House of Lamentation during your stay.”

“Is the other exchange student staying there as well,” I inquired.

Diavolo shook his head,” The other human exchange student is a powerful mage and thus is safe in the Devildom alone. You, however, have no such powers. But demons will be less likely to do something if you are under the protection of the powers of the brothers.”

I didn’t see why the other student, or I don’t know, the angels, protect me. But I didn’t argue. Not like I would have had the chance, since the door slammed open and a tan demon with white hair stomped in.

“Why do I gotta babysit some weakling human,” he complained loudly,” Why don’t you do it Asmo?”

“Oh, no,” Asmodeus flipped his champagne colored hair,” I don’t want to.”

Mood Asmodeus, mood.

“What about you Satan?”

“No, don’t you get out of this,” Satan objected, he had blonde hair and green eyes,” This will be very fun to watch.”

Mammon was running out of demons to beg, but there was one left,” Beel?”

“I’ll probably eat them when I get hungry,” Beelzebub answered honestly, his stomach growling right on time. He had carrot orange hair and purple-pink eyes, which looked to Lucifer,” I’m hungry. Are we done yet, Lucifer?”

“Almost Beel,” Lucifer reassured before he reprimanded Mammon,” I can always annihilate you, Mammon, if you’d like.”

Mammon tensed up, quickly put in his place again. He finally burst out,” Whatever! Ya better be grateful you’ve got the Great Mammon looking after you! It’s an honor, ya know.”

“A horror maybe,” I mumbled, Lucifer apparently heard me and chuckled.

“At the end of the year, you will be required to write a paper on your time here,” he said as a closing statement.

“Okay,” I nodded, adjusting my bag and putting my pen away. Suddenly, I remembered,” Oh, is there a way to get my medication?”

Diavolo answered,” Of course. I didn’t realize you had medication, or I would have given you time to grab it. How soon do you need it?”

“I’ll need it by the end of the weekend.”

He nodded,” Alright. This weekend I’ll send you home briefly to grab any items you need.”

“Sounds good. Thank you.”

“Of course. Welcome once again, and I hope you enjoy your time here in the Devildom.”

Mammon “led” me out of the council room, through RAD, and the Devildom. In reality, he just walked quickly, and I had to keep up with my short ass. Thankfully, his white hair is easily visible. The entire way to the house he complained that he had better things to do and he may as well let Beel eat me, and yada yada. I droned him out after the first few sentences.

“Hey! Are ya even listenin’ to me,” he eventually asked. We were in front of a large two-story house. It was basically a mansion to me and it looked like it was haunted, or something I’d find in a Tim Burton movie.

“Honestly,” I flatly replied,” No.

That got him ranting again as he unlocked the door and I followed him inside. The entryway had a double staircase and a hallway underneath the stairs, which I assumed led to the rest of the first floor. Suddenly a voice came from the top of the stairs.

“Mammon,” the voice yelled. It belongs to a demon with blue hair in a sort of bowl cut, with extra long bangs that flick to the side. He began coming down the stairs,” GIve me back the money you borrowed!”

“Oh, no,” Mammon pushed me towards the stairs, then ran off, yelling back,” I don’t have any money for you Levi! Leave me alone!”

Levi stopped at the bottom of the stairs, obviously not intent on a foot chase, glaring at the front door. He turned his glare to me, “I need that money back, and you’re gonna help me human.”

“The name’s Drizzm,” I told him.

“I don’t care. It’s bad enough I have to talk to a normie.”

“That’s the most offensive thing someone has said to me in a long while. A normie?! I’d rather die, thanks.”

Leviathan gave me a sorta odd look before going upstairs, gesturing for me to follow him. We entered a room with a lot of metal bookshelves filled with manga and other books. Anime posters were neatly on the walls, except the back wall that was an aquarium from the top to halfway down. There was a computer in the back right corner and a bathtub just sorta in the middle, just a little to the left.

He went to the computer and I began looking at the books. I never would have thought there would be manga and anime here, but I’m gonna consume them. I came across a long series of books that gave me Lord of the Rings vibes.

“Hey Leviathan,” I asked, looking at him, “What’s the Tale of the Seven Lords?”

“You’ve never heard of TSL,” he was incredulous that I’d never heard of it. He went on a bit of a special interest rant that I was barely to keep track of since I don’t know the characters, “My goldfish is named after the main character, Henry. This is Henry 2.0!”

I greeted the single goldfish in the giant tank, “He’s a cute goldfish. Hello, Henry. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You’re a strange human,” he gave me an odd look again.

“True, true.”

“The reason I brought you here is because I need Mammon to give me my money back. But since he’s second born I’m not strong enough to take it from him by force. Instead, we are going to get him to form a pact with you and you’ll force him to pay me back.”

“So, how do I get a pact? This whole angels and demons thing is new to me.”

“How useless. Normally you offer your soul in exchange. But there’s no way he’d accept that offer. Instead, we need to have you offer something he’d do ANYTHING to get.”

“Any ideas?”

“Lucifer has hidden Mammon’s credit card. You’re going to help me find it. But go to your room until we have more information. I’m busy.”

“Which room is that? Mammon was supposed to show me around.”

Leviathan sighed dramatically, “Across the kitchen. I’m not taking you.”

“I didn’t expect you to. Thank you.”

I left his room and wandered around downstairs, trying to figure out where my room was. There was a common room, library, music room, dining/living room combo, the kitchen, with a bedroom across from it, and a planetarium just downstairs. Which was crazy. I entered the one bedroom. My bedroom for the next year.

It was really big, just like every other room. There was a queen sized bed on the back wall with the headboard facing my left and it’s side against the wall. The head and foot boards were wooden vines coming from next to the headboard where there was a tree growing, for some reason. On the other side of the tree was a 6 seat table with 4 chairs, with shelves and a countertop along the left wall. On the right side of the room was a double doored closet. On the same wall as the entry door, to the right was a TV. It was an almost overwhelmingly big room to me.

I put my bag down and pulled my phone out, finding like 10 missed texts from my mom. I can’t believe my phone still has service down here. I gave her a call and she answered after a single ring.

“Where are you,” she worriedly asked, “I didn’t see you leave, but you’re not home.”

“So, the first thing is, I’m safe,” I assured her, “probably.”

“Really?”

“You’re gonna need to believe me with I tell you this.”

She sighed, “Okay?”

“So, when I was about to leave, a black letter appeared in front of me. Floating by the way. It said that I was accepted into an exchange program at some prestigious sounding academy. It just asked for my signature to confirm the exchange.”

“And you signed it?!”

“You know better than to ask that. Of course I needed to see what would happen if I signed the floating letter.”

“Okay,” she sighed again, probably wondering why she deals with me, “Then what?”

“It disappeared in a little black puff. Before it fucking flash banged me and I found myself in a castle council room at the Royal Academy of Diavolo. Or RAD.”

“That’s sounds so pompous. But RAD is pretty funny.”

“Ye. Diavolo himself greeted me. He’s the Future King of the Devildom.”

“Devildom?”

“Yeah, it’s where demons live. So, I guess kinda like Hell? But, no fire and brimstone. It’s actually kinda Halloween-y and it’s like cobblestone streets. Very much our vibe. The school is like the fancy indoor schools rich kids go to, but it’s castle-like, with giant natural stones.”

“Are there dorms? Will you get to stay in the boy’s dorm?”

“Actually, for the year that I’ll be here, I’m staying with six brothers. They’re ‘Avatars’, as they call them, of the seven sins. The only one no one has even spoken of is the Avatar of Sloth. And I’m not exactly about to ask. I think Diavolo is the only reason why they don’t hurt me, so I don’t really wanna push it.”

“Then why are you there?”

“With the brothers? I dunno. They said the program is to strengthen relations with the three realms. Oh, the Celestial Realm is a thing, and there are two students from there, as well as another human student.”

“You’re not staying with them?”

“I guess not. I can’t see why they can’t protect me. Apparently, the human is a powerful sorcerer. And even if they didn’t trust the sorcerer to protect me, the angels absolutely will. So, I dunno.”

“And you’re just gonna go along with all this?”

“Yeah,” I had wandered over to the closet and opened it to find it already stocked with the school uniform.

“What about your testosterone?”

“Diavolo is having me come home this weekend to get the stuff I need. Do you mind putting my stuff together?”

“Yeah, of course. Just send me the list.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. What about your cats? I assume you can’t bring them?”

“Doubtful, I don’t really like leaving them for a year but I really wanna do this.”

“I’ll take care of them, don’t worry. Just be safe.”

“I’ll try. We’ll see how long it takes for my mouth to get me in trouble.”

“As long as you’re in one piece I’ll call it a success.”

“Damn, such a low bar,” I joked as I closed the closet and sat on the bed.

“You said they weren’t happy about a human.”

“No, but I’m not worried about the brothers. Well, except maybe Beelzebub. He’s the Avatar of Gluttony and he might actually eat me. I’ll have to keep snacks stocked.”

“You’ll have to figure out how to earn money first.”

“I’ll figure something out. I start school tomorrow actually. So I’m diving head first into this.”

“Then I’ll let you rest up. Stay safe and I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

We hung up and I brought my bag to the table. I grabbed my fountain pen and refilled it to ensure I won’t run out. This one has a massive capacity but I’ll have to find somewhere to get ink pretty soon. I can’t imagine the amount of writing I’m going to be doing. A knock came as I was cleaning the excess ink off the outside.

“Come in,” I called, putting my pen back together.

Lucifer stepped in, “It’s time for dinner.”

“Thank you,” I put my pen in my bag, and took a quick look at my inky hands. Every time. I followed him out of my room.

“Did Mammon give you a tour of the house?”

“No, he bounced right after we got here. I gave myself a tour of the first floor. Is there only a bathroom on the second floor?”

“Yes, I can show you where it is after dinner.”

“Please, and thank you.”

“You have good manners. Some of my brothers could learn from you.”

“I’m casual, not rude. Though, some people take my casualness as rudeness,” we approached the table, Lucifer sat on one end. The brothers sat on the long sides. I didn’t think they would like me sitting next to them, so I sat at the other end of the table.

Everyone was already eating so I scanned the food for choices. The monster and giant animal parts were weird, sure, but honestly not much worse than some of the stuff humans eat. I just didn’t know what was what or how they should be eaten. My cup was already filled with a liquid.

I knew I should be more cautious, but I trusted that they wouldn’t do something on the first day. You always wait before bullying someone if you’re smart about it. I took a drink while I thought about what to try first. The drink was actually pretty good.

“Are you put off by the food,” Asmodues smiled at me.

“Other than not knowing how things are meant to be eaten, not particularly,” I continued, “Human food can be pretty weird too.”

He looked surprised, “Oh, I see. Well, let me help you,” he gave me a little direction on how things are meant to be eaten. I thanked him for his help when my plate had a good selection. There was no way I would be able to try all the dishes. There were too many. But the amount of dishes seemed to be due to the fact that Beelzebub had already completely eaten many. After dinner, Lucifer kept his word and showed me where the bathroom was located, as well as where the bedrooms for each brother were. I took the opportunity to take a shower before heading back to my room. This walk is going to be torture when I desperately need to pee.

Back in my room I set my alarm on my phone to wake up early. I did a morning stretch routine and wanted to make sure I had time. I called my friend, Emily, and explained to her what was going on while I made a list for my mom. She insisted that I take a bunch of photos while I’m here. I promised her I will, and after a bit more chatting we hung up.

I plugged both of my phones in preparation for going to bed soon. I planned on a night of fighting my insomnia so I tried to relax as much as possible. My DDD vibrated. It was Diavolo. He was letting me know that I can contact him if anything happens. All the brothers texted me as well, even though I already had them in my contacts, but whatever.

I sent them all responses. But only received a response from Diavolo. He sent an angry sticker before sending another message saying that he’s not used to the DDD yet. Then he sent a different, happy sticker. I let him know that it’s okay and sent him a dancing sticker. It felt odd texting a prince, but that’s like, the least weird thing that’s happened to me today.