The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 208: Galleria

Chapter 208: Galleria

Rain’s jaw dropped as he stared out into the vast expanse of open space and greenery.

The curated garden that rested at the base of the Galleria was lush and inviting, perfectly balanced with both shaded and lit areas, discreet benches, and bins for waste. At the center of it was a lawn of short-cut grass occupied by about four-dozen tables, and surrounding the green space were restaurant stalls that filled the space with many sweet and savory scents.

There were stalls that sold only drinks, or sugary goods Rain had never seen. Stalls for cuisines from all over the world, worked by Elevated with broad smiles on their faces. Almost compulsively, Cassie moved to a small stall selling various kinds of pretzels - Rain hadn’t known there was more than one kind - and came back with a paper cup full of both sweet and salty ones.

She then proceeded to lead them through the bottom floor’s park, the pretzels disappearing rapidly. She giggled when Rainier finished gawking to ask "What is this place?"

"It’s the Galleria. You can get almost anything here," she said, pointing above the restaurant stalls.

She drew Rainier’s eyes to the stores. Clothing and shoes and curios, even at this distance obviously of the best quality. Sporting goods and books and jewelry. Everything seemed to sell separate products. There was even a shop that sold only halos; in more colors than Rain had thought was possible. Stores upon stores were stacked up on each other, but generally grouped vertically by themes.

While there were stairs, most of the angels simply flew up or down as they shopped, and their servants would take the stairs to catch up, or one of the floating platforms that went up and down at regular intervals.

More than one servant was laden with boxes and bags, and one even had their own miniature floating platform, on top of which rested a mountain of goods hidden by their various containers and wrappings.

"Rain, you coming?" Ozzy’s voice broke through Rain’s reverie.

Cassie had gotten ahead of them, and by ahead, she was actually above. Four stories up and walking into a shop that specialized in-

"Oh-!" Rain averted his eyes upon landing as he saw the mannequins. They were scantily clad, showing off shimmering panties and bras and underthings.

Cassie giggled at him. "Never been in a girl’s shop before?" she leaned over, trying to get a better look at his cherry-bright face.

"I-I’m afraid not," he gulped. The displays seemed entirely inappropriate, and yet it was he who was drawing more looks for his strange, godflesh-patterned wings. "I’m not sure I should go in..."

"It’s safe, you know. Even boys shop here sometimes," she got closer to him, half-whispering, "Who’s going to tell me how good I look if you don’t come with me?" she teased.

Rain gulped again, looking over at Ozzy for backup, but the orcish Elevated simply looked up and away, his face stoic, but with the slight bend of a smile hiding behind his small tusks.

Trying to come up with more excuses proved futile as Cassie turned around and skipped into the store.

"Just humor her," Ozzy said with a shrug as soon as she was gone. "The sooner you cooperate, the sooner we can save our dignity."

From inside the store, Cassie turned around and raised her voice, "You coming?"

You can do this, Rain told himself. You’ve faced a bloody tempest roc, you can walk around a stringy underwear store...

Steeling his resolve, Rain took his first steps into unknown territory.

For the next hour, Ozzy and Rain waited patiently as Cassie shopped, first by selecting what felt like one of everything in the store - asking them every time, "Would I look good in this?" - and then by having them sit outside of a booth as she tried on one thing at a time. Occasionally, she peeked out, the curtains parting just a bit to expose her latest "try-on", before tossing them the latest batch of things she wanted to purchase.

At the point where Rain had grown so used to catching panties that his soul was numb, she finally stepped out of the booth in her normal clothes, leaving behind a pile of tried items that covered the small bench and the horizontal pole inside.

She walked over to the counter and made small talk with the clerk before placing her hand on the woman’s tablet.

Rain was intensely confused as Cassie simply walked out of the store, expecting them to follow, since none of the items had prices displayed and yet there had been no haggling or even verification of what items she was getting. The clerk simply put them all in colorful bags and Cassie carried the bags out the door.

On the way out Rain did detect a slight tingle of magic going out that he hadn’t felt coming in, but he couldn’t explain any of what just happened. He’d never had a chance to purchase anything for himself in Heaven, and now the process seemed just as alien to him as the Hospital had during his first few weeks. He barely had a moment for comparison before Cassie handed him all the bags. "Here you go."

"You want me to carry them?" Rain asked.

"Of course. It’s a man’s job to carry things at the Galleria."

He was about to ask ’What if I want to buy something?’ but Cassie had already turned around and fluttered away towards the next shop.

From the lingerie store, it was a short hop to another store for more conventional clothes. Then a shoe store. Then a place that sold jewelry.

The pile of bags grew until both Ozzy and Rain’s forearms were laden with straps and ribbons connected to bags. There were only three boxes so far, and Ozzy had them between his hands. Cassie was trying on a necklace that would have made any Aytherian queen blush with envy. Somehow the diamond centerpiece had been formed into the shape of a torch-bearing angel woman with gold for hair.

"When do we get to look around?" Rain asked Ozzy. A store named Ayther Atelier had drawn his interest, not least because it was one of the few with signs in both Common and Angelic.

"On our own time," Ozzy whispered back. "We must attend our angel as Elevated and as men," he chuckled.

Rain flinched, remembering just how Cassie had wanted him to "attend her as a man," and how he’d gotten drunk after the fight with the roc...

Why had he done that? He hadn’t drunk to excess since he’d first been old enough to drink. Something wasn’t adding up, but his memories of the night had grown only fuzzier over time. The only thing that wasn’t fuzzy was the sense of guilt inside of him. Sure, Cassie had wanted it, but had he taken advantage of her while they were both drunk?

Part of him felt he should find the time to ask her, but then Malz’s warning echoed into his head. "If she knows she’s had her fun, she’ll probably go find someone else. And if she’s still interested..." "I suppose she’s an alright girlfriend as long as she gets what she wants... "

What did Cassie want?

As far as Rain could tell, she certainly wanted to be an Executioner. To be taken seriously for more than her looks. But that didn’t explain why she wanted him, a maimed warrior from the lesser side of her House, who grew up on Ayther and was still nigh-on clueless about Heaven in general.

"Rain, how do I look?" Cassie bent forward just a bit, showing off the diamond angel in its ring of gold, nestled at the very top of her cleavage.

"You look really good. Very pretty," he replied. It was, he felt, objectively true, and he put on a smile that matched his consideration.

"Aww, thanks," she blushed and did a small twirl. "Now let’s go get some ice cream!"

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