Chapter 11 – London

The taxi was stopped at the gates by demons in black uniform, they were in varying shapes and sizes. A particularly big and red demon came up to the taxi.

"Reason for entering?" It asked in a very deep voice.

"We're looking for work." Nick answered politely.

It mumbled something under it's breath then waved them through with his giant hands. The went through the ruins of what used to be outer London until reached a bigger and more imposing gate of iron blocking their way. It opened slowly.

"These demons are a paranoid bunch." Bronze muttered.

"They just like taking precautions," Nick said impressed by the structures that had been built.

"Or they are preparing for war." Silk said. Everyone in the taxi quietened down from the remark as it was a very possible scenario.

The door lifted revealing a miraculous city on the other side. Cars flew in lanes vertically and horizontally, adverts were holograms popping up everywhere, wires hung around all the buildings and demons walked on pavements on the ground and floating ones in the sky. This city put Edinburgh to shame which begged the question, if demons could do all this then why had they only achieved a stalemate int the war.

A very nice-looking demon floated over to them. "What are your occupations," it asked in a higher voice in vast contrast to the red demon from before. This orange demon in white was much nicer.

"Taxi driver." Nick replied.

"I work with metal." Bronze added.

"Bartender." Lucy mumbled from her half-asleep state.

"Tailor," Silk thought about it more deeply. "In training."

"What are your names?" The Demon continued its questions.

"I'm Nick, this is Lucy, Bronze and Silk." He replied pointing at them respectively.

The demon flicked her wrist and a purple light engulfed the taxi in a second. Numbers appeared in front of it. It looked at the numbers a bit confused before regaining its composure.

"All five of you are clean." She announced. "It's unusual for there to be so many humanoid demons in one place. But the scan has never failed me before." Five cards appeared in the taxi, two went to Nick. "These cards shall lead you to your sleeping quarters. All of you are in the same apartment. The cards will show you to your job which I have calculated within walking distance of your designated sleeping area. Wake up at seven o'clock and you should reach your destinations in time. The jobs will all be to your satisfaction."

"How do we activate our card?" Nick asked.

"The cards will anticipate your needs and will show you what you want when you want." The Demon turned around to leave but turned again as it had forgotten something important. "Welcome to Utopia." The demon did leave this time.

This wasn't the first time Silk had realised just how much technology had advanced and he found this very unnerving.

Nick turned into the traffic. "Turn right at the next junction," the card announced.

"Great, a magical sat nav." Nick said sarcastically.

Silk looked out the window to see houses made of gleaming metal and any material you could think of that wasn't brick. Pillars that spiralled elegantly reached up as if to touch the sky. Cars flew overhead which was cause for concern as a lack of fuel could result in a crash. The appearance from outside must be some sort of illusion.

The river Thames had been lifted in the air and was suspended, the only reason for this was to allow people to cross over easily on the ground. There were no floating pavements over the Thames which piqued Silk's interest.

The taxi stopped in front of a block of flats that the usual blue glowing indents in the brickwork. It made the buildings brickwork look like circuit boards.

They all got out the car even if Lucy needed a bit more convincing.

"This is a lot more sophisticated than I expected." Bronze commented.

"The people in Edinburgh did make it out like all demons are savages but that doesn't seem to be the case." Silk reaffirmed the observation.

"Which room are we in?" Lucy asked pulling at Nick's clothing.

"Floor six, room twenty." Nick replied.

"Thanks." Lucy started floating up to their room from the outside.

"Amazing," Silk gawked.

"If you think that is impressive you won't believe everything else she can do." Bronze said.

"I don't want to know." The demonstration of power he had seen in this world made him feel inadequate and he didn't want t add to that feeling.

They entered the building and made it to their apartment with little difficulty. The elevator was much better than any elevator the Silk remembered previously.

"Take card out to scan if you wish to enter." A voice said from a swipe scanner. They all got their card out and swiped.

"This is quite interesting, it must have a sensor to know how many people are here to know how many cards have to e swiped t open." Silk said.

"True," Nick offhandedly agreed not deeming this fact important. Silk took offence to this as every fact was important, or that was one of his mottos in life.

Lucy was lying on the ground next to the doorway they came through. They carefully stepped over her to avoid waking her.

The apartment had small rooms but it held four bedrooms so no one would have to bunk. The beds were adequately comfortable. The kitchen was small but had all the necessities for cooking and the fridge and cupboards was fully stocked with food. The living room was small but big enough for four people even if adding another person would stretch the capacitance a bit.

Silk walked over and turned on what he presumed was the TV by going up to it.

"The council has come to the decision that further increase in minimum wage would be detrimental to demonic economy." The TV declared. Silk was surprised that the demons with the powerful abilities and technology were having similar problems to the humans in the past. The TV further showed problems in education and public conduct.

There was no mention of war and any sort of savage acts of demons that didn't rival anything humans hadn't done.

"Tea's done," Bronze shouted.

"Coming," Silk called back pleasantly surprised there was food as he hadn't actually expected anyone to cook for a while yet but he did feel ravenous now he thought about it.

After a warm and pleasant meal Silk left for his bed where he fell asleep nearly instantly.