"This is Ryan, go ahead." A tall man in a typical black and white business suit said into his cellphone, gripping it awkwardly as if he wasn't used to the strange small device.

"No, as I said before, we will not be doing business with you! I've given you people chance after chance with no returns. Good day and go screw yourselves." He said, angrily tapping the screen of his phone, hanging up on the poor soul on the other side.

As he shut his phone off, he caught a glimpse of himself in the dark reflection. Neat brown hair sitting atop his head in a fashion that screams 'I'm important! Look at me!' while the rest of his face was as plain as could be. The only distinguishing feature he had to separate him from his fellow man was a small brown mole sitting just above his right eyebrow. His eyes were a faint green with a hint of blue, and staring through them rested the soul of a sharp and cunning young man. The success of the decade, Ryan Bailey. CEO of Stellarh Inc. and one of the youngest CEOs in all of Stellarh history, he made it to the top at an astounding Twenty-eight years old.

As the elevator doors opened and Ryan walked briskly out, he passed by several of his subordinates in the hall, smiling and waving at them as if he didn't just tell someone to go screw themselves.

"Good morning Olivia, ready for the company picnic next week?" He asked cheerily, and was met with a beaming smile from the short little gray-haired receptionist sitting behind a stack of papers piled to absurd heights upon her desk.

"Of course! Will you be making those world famous deviled eggs of yours?" Olivia croaked with an ecstatic demeanor.

"You know it!" Ryan said as he gritted his teeth through the most handsome grin he could muster, laughing heartily as he walked away from Olivia's desk and pushed open the door to his office. As he dropped his tiresome smile and shut the door, slamming it loudly, he looked around the dark room and wondered when the sun would finally come up. It was quite early in the morning, and he wanted to get all of his work done before the sun rose. It wasn't often he got a free day from meetings like this, the only real work he had lined up for him today was a few phone calls, nothing major.

As he walked through the darkness of his office towards his large metal desk, he stopped. Something in the room seemed off to him, the smell of sulfur was faint but it was unmistakably present.

"Come out... I know you're here." Ryan muttered exasperatedly, something told him his day was about to become one long tedious task after another, as most days were.

In the corner of his office sat two small black futons and a glass coffee table, and sitting upon one futon was a demon dressed in a black button up and dark slacks with stunning golden eyes, staring up at Ryan with a look of contempt. Ryan stood firmly against the demon, eyeing him back with the same cold stare, matching the tenacity of the yellow eyed demon perfectly.

As the demon stood up and rounded the coffee table, it slowly made its way over to Ryan, and began to laugh.

"It's been a while, Mr. CEO. How's business?" The demon asked, but something about its tone indicated a joke had been told.

Ryan ignored the demon's question, sighing heavily at the very presence of the creature. He turned away from it, finally sitting down in his black leathery office chair. Resting his arms atop his desk, he looked down towards his lap in defeat. His plans for a day of relaxation and leisure had been dashed, thwarted by this inconsiderate demon standing in the center of his office. How such a being's general presence alone could bother a person, Ryan had no idea. But the fact remained that the yellow eyed demon gave Ryan the only feeling he had left, annoyance.

"What could you possibly want right now, Aberlain? And where's that god-awful robe you always wear? Finally ditch that piece of garbage?"

"Oh... nothing much. I just wanted to have a little chat with you, that's all. As for the robe, I'm quite saddened to hear you dislike it. I think it's quite tasteful."

"Whatever... out with it then. You don't have an appointment so make it quick." Ryan spoke quickly, trying to rush the Rootlord as though he were some kind of pest he needed to rid himself of.

Aberlain laughed at his remark, finding it amusing how quick this particular human was to irritation.

"If only you had been born a demon, I'm sure you would've surpassed even myself. Such a waste." He said, shaking his head in disgust, "I'm here today because I have a favor to ask of you. I want you to explain the ins and outs of demon summoning to one of my acquaintances. He's quite new to the world and has lost the memories of his human master, therefore he is in the dark about quite literally everything. Demon and Human relationship-wise I mean."

Ryan looked up from his lap, a confused look plastered to his face.

"Why the hell do you want me to do that? That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard you say." He said, holding his hands to his side to express his distaste of the favor.

"So... you won't do it then? It's really worth losing... all this?" Aberlain raised his arms to gesture towards everything surrounding the two of them, his eyes smiling for him with a sinister glow.

Ryan grumbled under his breath, bringing his head into his palms for a moment before standing up with one large jolting motion.

"Fine, fine, whatever, I'll do it. But don't you think I've done you enough favors? I get that my success is all thanks to you, but I think I've earned the right to not do you all these stupid little tasks. Like, c'mon, why do I have to be the one to tell these dumb fairytales to some random ass demon who doesn't know left from right?" He said with such disgust in his voice it almost caused him to puke, just the thought of being used as a puppet by Aberlain shook Ryan to his core.

"I promise to leave you alone afterwards, that is, until you summon me once again using the sigil." Aberlain said as he pointed down towards the large circular rug covering the majority of the office, making his way over to the corner of the rug and flipping a portion of it over with his foot. Underneath was a large yellow sigil, the same kind as the one in his study back in Hell.

"Yeah, yeah, alright... so where is he? I know I can't see him just yet so get over here and reveal him." Ryan snapped his fingers towards the Rootlord, who chuckled at the gesture.

Aberlain waited for Ryan to close his eyes, laying his hand over them. With his own eyes closed, the room seemed to get dimmer from the now missing golden light. However, once they had opened again and his hand fell from the CEOs face, two pairs of yellow eyes beamed. The demon and the human alike now had eyes one in the same, two golden balls of light occupied Ryans once green and blue eyes.

As he surveyed the room, Ryan caught sight of the demon in question. A tall dark figure wearing a long black trenchcoat, and a wide brimmed dark fedora rested upon his head. He had a dapper black suit underneath the coat, one not unlike Ryan himself would wear. His boots even had a neat polish to them. Whomever this demon was, Ryan at least recognized it knew how to dress. He especially liked the gold watch in his pocket, it complimented the entire outfit's dark tone.

"I take it you're the invalid? My name's Ryan." He said confidently, sneering at the demon.

"I don't know about invalid... but I am the one Aberlain mentioned. You can call me E." Ephram said defensively, not liking the tone of this pompous jerk one bit.

"Well, E, Aberlain here has made it my job to answer all your little questions, so let's hurry it along, shall we?" Ryan said with a swiftness, motioning with his hand for Ephram to waste no time whatsoever.

"Okay, well... I guess my first question is why do you now have the same eyes as Aberlain? And... how could you not see me before? But you could see him? And why is there a giant sigil here like the one back in Hell? And-" Ephram was cut off by obnoxiously loud clapping from Ryan, who had seemingly grown even more impatient than before.

The businessman held a finger to his lips, making a loud 'tsk' noise at Ephram like he was nothing more than a dog who had upset its owner. As he walked away from his desk and sat down on the opposite futon from the demon, he leaned into the couch as to soak up all the comfort it had to offer.

"Listen, listen... okay? Just... listen. I realize you have a lot of questions but do not just throw this crap at me all at once. Do I look like an answering machine to you?" He asked, his tone more sinister than before as a hint of spite rolled off his tongue.

Ephram was shocked to say the least, for his first encounter with a human this was not at all what he expected.

"I-"

"Just kidding! It was a joke! I'm just messing with you! Of course, I'd be more than happy to help! An answering machine... psh! Doesn't even make sense!" Ryan cut him off with a quickness, his entire demeanor changing in a split second. It was as if he had been suddenly possessed by the ghost of a kind hearted and endearing man, a selfless man who lived uncorrupted by the power Ryan seemed to wield.

"The sigil is something that's been here since before I was even born, it's how Aberlain and other demons of his magnitude travel back and forth between Hell and Earth. As for the eyes, that's our Rootlords form of magic. His eyes can be transferred to any human he wants, allowing them to see himself as well as any other demons." Without skipping a beat, Ryan bounded up from the futon, pacing around the room as he spoke.

"I believe you demons call it magic manipulation? Most powerful demons have an ability unique to them, Aberlain can simply bypass the rules governing the appearance of demons. Normally, I'd only be able to see him," Ryan said as he gestured to the Rootlord, who was now standing near his desk with his hands patiently clasped over one another, "since I have a contract with him. I couldn't see you before because I don't have a contract with you."

The businessman stopped his pacing abruptly, clapping his hands together in victory as if he had just done the noblest of deeds.

"I see... so he essentially lent you his eyes?" Ephram asked, finally starting to understand a bit.

Ryan nodded slowly as he walked back over to his desk, leaning up against it and crossing his arms. The only thoughts jumbling about in his brain were that of how to get rid of these two nuisances. If he could hurry along the moron on the futon, his day would finally be free from annoyances such as these and he could finally have some peace and quiet.

"So? Is that all?" He asked, smiling brightly to indicate that was all. From him, at least.

"Actually, no. I was also wondering if you'd heard of any other demons losing their memories? I have no clue who my human master is, I can't seem to remember anything about them regardless of the hellfire roses I woke up in... apparently they store our memories?" Ephram asked, but was met with a long glare from the businessman.

For several long awkward seconds, the two of them only stared at each other. One was a look of confusion, while the other grew into a look of disdain.

"No... no, I have no clue. It's unheard of. The only explanation I can think of is if your specific rose had been destroyed the moment you awakened... but that's impossible. You'd be even more of a bumbling idiot than you are currently, unable to speak or think for yourself." Ryan spoke in a nearly monotonous tone, clearly fed up with this conversation long ago.

Ephram said nothing. He knew this human had issues and didn't want to press him any further. He disliked everything about the man, how crass and just plain rude he seemed to be. Yet, he knew deep within himself that not all humans were like this. Regardless of the fact that he had never met any other human beings beside this man, he knew within his heart that humanity was not to be represented by this one bad apple.

Hanging his head in defeat, Ephram looked down at his polished black boots. As he was about to stand up and ask Aberlain to return to Hell, having had enough of this berating fool of a man, he was stopped suddenly by a small glimmer of light. At first, he thought it to be the golden eyes of either Aberlain or Ryan, but quickly realized that was not the case. Sunlight had begun pouring into the room, reflecting off his pocket watch and glaring into his face.

Ephram reached down slowly for the watch, grasping it in one hand firmly. Every time he looked at the device, it was as if he could feel his very soul intertwined within it. Just simply holding it was enough to block out every other nuisance the world threw at him. The slow tick of the watch reminded him of the passage of time, and how everything will one day be better. Time will never stop, not for anyone or anything. The ceaseless marching of his watch reminded him of that fact.

"What are you doing?" Ryan's voice called out to Ephram, but it seemed muddier than before. It was just background noise now, nothing more.

A sudden sharp pain in his wrist caused him to drop the pocket watch, sending it crashing into the rug his feet clung firmly to. At first Ephram felt a wave of terror consume him, but as soon as the watch hit the ground, that wave of terror was replaced by curiosity. It had finally been opened; the watch had somehow crashed hard enough into the floor to break it open like a stuck clam shell.

It was as if his body moved on its own, Ephram watched as his hand reached out to pick up the watch, turning it over slowly to examine what lay within. At first it was nothing more than a simple white face and black hands, ticking softly with the passage of time. Upon further inspection, however, something else appeared. On the other side of the watch face, was a small photograph of a tall smiling human man wearing a wide brimmed fedora, a black trenchcoat, and shiny black boots. Standing next to him was a woman in a black dress with long silver hair reaching to the middle of her back, a long white scarf wrapped neatly around her neck. Ephram looked down at the couple, and felt his heart suddenly stop beating as he collapsed to the ground.