I woke up early in the morning and washed myself like how I did last night, only faster. I went downstairs and noticed that there were many people going in and out of the castle. I was walking in the hall towards the kitchen thinking my mother or my sisters are there.
"Good morning my lady." A little girl carrying bandages greeted me.
"Good morning." I smiled at her and pointed at what she was carrying.
"Where are you taking those?" I asked her.
"To my father. His belly got injured during the fight and needs new covers." She looked at me with her big innocent eyes. "Am I not allowed to?"
"Don't worry," I patted her head, "you can take it."
"Thank you my lady!" she beamed at me before running to where her father was.
I looked at the little girl as she was running towards the garden across the hallway. I saw that the able men were starting to fix the carriages used to deliver goods in and out of the castle.
'I guess they will use it for their travel home.' I thought as I continued on my way to the kitchen.
The people I passed by greeted me brightly. I smiled, nodded and greeted them in return. I arrived at the kitchen but I did not see my mother or sisters inside. There were women there cooking breakfast and chatting happily though. They all greeted me when they saw me and I greeted them back before heading over to the dining area. Yet again, none of my family members were there. I sighed and was about to go somewhere else to look for them.
"The Archduke and the Archduchess are in the main hall my lady." A lady inside the dining room informed me. She must have notice me looking around the area.
"Oh, thank you!" I said and turned to head to the main hall without hearing her reply to my thanks.
I walked hurriedly down the hallways again to the main hall. I noticed Athy was on her way towards me so I slowed down before reaching her.
"If your looking for mother and father, they are in the main hall." I told her.
"I know where they are." Athy rolled her eyes at me and crossed her arms. "I was on my way to the dining room because one of my spirits saw you there and I'm hungry so I want you to eat with me. Father and mother have already eaten anyway."
"I see." I thought for a moment and agreed. "Okay, let's have breakfast first. Is Uriel awake yet?"
"She is. I already sent one of my spirits to inform her to join us." Athy replied as she started walking towards the dining area and I followed.
I sat across Athy at our long dining table and watch as her summoned spirits served us. They all looked quite human except they are all black, like shadows moving around. They know their ways and how to move about like they are alive and had been working in our home for some time now. Looking at them serve Athy like a little master made me think about something.
"Athy," I called her name soflty, she looked up from her plate and raised her eyebrow at me. I asked her what was on my mind, "what do these spirits get for themselves when you summon them?"
"Depends." She answered.
"Do they all came from hell?" Uriel asked when she came in. She sat on the other side of the table, beside Athy and a spirit immediately served her.
"Not necessarily." Athy replied thoughtfully. "The Underworld here is different from what we know on Earth."
"Explain it in words we can understand easily please." Uriel urged.
"Well you see," Athy started to explain, "on Earth, we believe that Hell under the ground is a place for bad people and Heaven above the clouds are where good people go to right?"
Uriel and I both nodded.
"It is different in this world." Athy took a sip from her glass. "All spirits who died go to the underworld. There are no heaven or hell there but it is divided into three districts that has almost the same functions, Pragaras, Vagevuur and Himmel."
"Pragaras is the first district, it is the place where spirits pay for their sins. It looks like a torture chamber with different levels of punishment. All souls that enter the Underworld must first pay for the crimes and sins they committed while they were alive. The length and type of punishment depends on the sin they committed."
"Himmel is like the Heaven, the people who never did any heavy crime or had paid for their sins while they were alive can stay there if they do not want to reincarnate yet. Some spirits wait for their love ones in Himmel before they agree to reincarnate."
"Reincarnation is real?" Uriel interrupted astonished at what she heard.
Athy looked at her fiercely. She doesn't like being interrupted while explaining.
"Listen sis." I told her and looked at Athy. "Continue Athy."
"As I was saying. Himmel is different for each spirit. The place they can see depends on what they want, a beach, a garden or even the house they live while they are still alive." Athy continued after sipping from her glass again. "Vagevuur is like Purgatory, this is a pace where spirits who want to reincarnate wait for their turn. It actually looks like a big hotel with many guests and the employees are monsters."
"So the spirits you summon, what part of the underworld are they from?" I asked.
"Pragaras." Athy answered matter-of-factly which cause Uriel to choke.
"Doesn't that mean that they ARE bad spirits?" she said after drinking her water.
Athy rolled her eyes at her sassily and mumbled 'stupid' under her breath before she continued eating. Uriel looked pissed at her rude behavior and made some weird faces which Athy ignored. I looked at both of them acting stupidly and shook my head at their antics.
"So what do those spirits get when you summon them?" I asked her my main question again.
"The length of their punishment gets deducted and they get to see the living again." Athy answered.
"I see." I said as I put down my spoon and fork. "It's good that they get something in return for following you."
I was done eating and was just waiting for Athy and Uriel to finish when I noticed that there were no other humans inside the dining area besides the three of us. The servers were all spirits Athy summoned though the food was made by the women father saved last night.
'They must still be afraid of Athy's summoned spirits.' I thought to myself.