Free Devil Ash Deceit (Devil Ash Saga) by Mitchell Olson Page A

unexpectedly.
    “Grandpa!” Shiva shrieked like an excited little girl when she noticed the old man saunter in to the courtyard. She contained herself, embarrassed, and quietly rushed to his side. The boys also diverted their attention towards him. Ash recognized the old man at once.
    “That’s him! That’s Wil!” Ash said to Aura.
    “No way…” Aura said in disbelief. “I didn’t think it’d really be that ‘Wil’ … ” Guess that explains her odd behavior these last few days, Aura thought. She was happy because she knew her grandfather would be dropping by soon.
    After greeting his granddaughter, the old man joined the group.
    “Wilhelm Satan,” he reintroduced himself to Ash and the gang. “So the fates have it that we meet again, Ash. I hope my presence will not be an intrusion today?”
    “Not at all, my Lord.” Yazma curtsied respectfully. “It would be my honor to show my teaching skills to my Lord.”
    “Aura this is the old guy that keeps popping up and saving me!” Ash said. Aura did not reply. He got down on one knee instead, with his head bowed in respect to the former King.
    “Arise little Draxler,” Wilhelm said to him, grasping him by the shoulders and lifting him to his feet. “I am no longer the reigning Satan. There is no need for such formalities anymore.”
    Suddenly Ash felt very silly for having acted so candidly in front of Wilhelm all this time. Even Aura , the womanizing slacker, showed his respect! Shiva’s grandfather, the previous ruler of Hell, must have been one great man.
    “Wait, Grandpa, when did you meet him ?” Shiva asked.
    “Ohhh,” the old Satan mumbled. “Ash and I have bumped into each other around town on several occasions.”
    The previous King Satan has seen me naked , Ash thought in despair.
    “Don’t tell me…” Shiva said. “Gramps, did you take time off from working in the West just so you could follow Ash around?” Shiva was back to her normal self and shouting now. “You told me you took time off work to come and see me!”
    “Uhh, well, umm, you see…” Old Satan struggled to find the right words with his angry granddaughter pressing him.
    “ I can’t believe she yells at even her own grandpa ,” Ash whispered.
    “ I can, ” Aura replied.
    “ That’s an odd family dynamic for sure ,” Yazma added.
    When Shiva’s anger was satisfied the lesson continued. Wilhelm sat down in the grass nearby to be a spectator. No one objected to his being there, and Ash even suspected the Old Satan might teach him a few more of his tricks.
    “Right, well it looks like you’ve all got the hang of emitting flame from a finer point,” Yazma said. “Next we’ll test your maximum flame output capacity.”
    “That sounds hard,” said Ash.
    “It’s easier than it sounds,” Yazma said trying to sound encouraging. “All you have to do is keep forming a fireball until you can’t supply any more flames. Lady Shiva, why don’t you start us out and show your grandfather what you can do?”
    Shiva was all too willing to oblige, eager to show off for Wilhelm. She held her hands out and started making a small fireball grow between them. It started out marble sized, but quickly became the size of a baseball. She concentrated, pumping even more flame into it and soon it was basketball sized. After holding the blazing orb for a minute she was already becoming tired.
    She got it to the size of a beach ball before finally gasping for breath and stopping. The girl held her creation in one hand while shooting a cocky, triumphant smile at her subordinates. She didn’t think they could top it. Aura shrugged, sauntered up next to her, winked at Yazma, and held out both his hands palms-up. It took him no more than thirty seconds to create not one, but two fireballs of equal size to Shiva’s. The exertion cost him, as he could only hold the fireballs long enough to cast a mocking smile in Shiva’s direction before they fizzled out. He looked to Yazma for a