Azrael clutched her as the world would shatter if he let her go, the pain he was experiencing paralyzing him. He was left feeling nothing but agony, tears falling from his eyes onto her bloody cheeks, and she fell cell by cell, fiber by fiber, in his arms, turning to dust and being picked up by the wind. He could have made it painless for her if he had wanted, but instead, she died in agony due to his stubbornness. He couldn’t lose her to Realm of Light because he was a coward.
“It is not the end, Azrael,” Sahir’s neutral voice reached him, and Azrael raised his head, his eyes hollow and empty.
“Why did you bring her here?” He asked.
“What could you possibly achieve?” Azrael snatched Sahir’s collar.
“What are you going to do? huh?” Sahir challenged, “Kill me?” He smirked. Azrael’s eyes flared up again, this time in a rage, and tears fell from them.
“Is this some sick revenge scheme of yours? For What I did all those years ago!” Azrael growled
“Good Lord, isn’t it tempting?”
“What now?” “Are we even?” Azrael hissed.
“Let go of my collar,” Sahir rolled his eyes.
“Fight me!”
“No,” Sahir said, grabbing Azrael’s hand and attempting to break free from his grip. He jerks once and twice, but Azrael’s grip remains firm. It was not as easy as before because he was more robust, and this power was not motivated by wrath or anguish, which took Sahir by surprise. This was more unexpected.
“This is interesting,” Sahir commented as he watched Azrael’s eyes turn sapphire blue, and the paleness in his complexion and black overtones disappeared. The tears…
“Look at yourself, Azrael,”
“What?” Azrael’s face wrinkled in uncertainty and anguish.
“Does it hurt?” He asked.
“Does witnessing your darling die in your arms break your heart?” “To witness her dissolve to ash and then to nothing,” Sahir’s eyes twinkled.
Azrael took a step back, defeated by his brother’s wicked glee.
“How did it feel?” Sahir hissed.
“This has all been about vengeance for you,” Azrael turns back, still feeling the shaking fingers as her dust slipped through them before his lips touched her and plucked her soul from her body. He’d never see her again. Her soul doesn’t even have enough power to go through the underworld. She achieves absolution right in front of him. She doesn’t exist anymore.
“Can you recall when you took her?” Sahir asked.
Her, Azrael’s memories were false behind his eyes. It was distant, like a long-forgotten dream. He felt nothing at the time. She was another mortal soul, too, but she was more than that to Sahir. He begged for her.
“Do you remember now?!” snarled Sahir.
Azrael shuts his eyes and recalls the days before Natasha. He recalls being a soulless, unfeeling emptiness. Two thousand years ago.
“Do you remember what was before the Ghost wars?” Sahir hissed.
“Do you remember what you did after it?” Sahir’s hollow ache is aggravated, and the shadows scream.
The seventh cycle of Creation in the middle age after the prehistoric peace war.
Azrael and Sahir’s eldest brother Ishah has been crowned Emperor of the Realm of Light. Their father was a celebrated ruler; for thousands of years, he ruled with peace in the Seven realms. He and Mother chose that as the end of their journey and went into seclusion to take their fatal trial and dissolve into nothingness. The Ghost Emperor Abigor saw an opportunity.
It felt like the end was near, the second biggest crisis after the old wars.
The God of War Virat, his Master as the Commander in Chief. Sahir and Azrael were under him. They thought the war would end in three days. After all, What could stand against the celestial army of the Realm of Light and the Realm of Illusion. They were undefeated. His master said they should never underestimate the enemy, which was proven right. One of their spies in the enemy army informed them of something unimaginable.
The Ghost Emperor was using old forbidden magic to suck out the three elements of life from the Creation.
Before they could stop him, the ritual had already started, and the whole Creation would have been destroyed even if they had prevented it. As a result, Azrael could never forget the sight of the blinding blood-red light in that deserted realm that took half of the lives of the Ghost Emperor’s subjects with their army.
“Sahir!” Aris cries out, terrified, as Azrael snaps out of his thoughts.
Azrael remembers everything; they all had a role to play in the war. Sahir was in charge of the Creation’s elements. Ishah was defending the Realm of Light, and he…
“You…” Azrael did nothing to stop Sahir’s threat.
“You did something noble as well as dumb,”
Life, Love, and Light were all taken away. Trapped in the darkness, an infinite space that no one could reach. To undo the spell. The God of War follows the depth of the cosmos. The elements began to fade and shrink, taking a physical form; the mortal realm, the celestial realm, and even the darker corner of Creation were affected. Without energy, people were ill and died before their time, and natural resources dried up; without love, humankind was lost; without light, even the Realm of Light could not sustain itself. Celestial beings, too, lost their powers, threatening the delicate balance of Creation. He cannot witness people dying, murdering each other, or freezing to death. There is no light, no warmth. Cold and lifeless. Something had to be done while Sahir was now acting Commander in Chief and Ishah kept the balance of the Realm of Light.
“I did it to save the mortals!” Azrael stood up; what else was he supposed to do at the time?
“No, it is not your fault. All you did was give up everything!” Sahir hissed. “Everything that made you divine, I paid the price!”
“You chose to cast the spell! You choose to give away your divinity, your feeling of life, your heartbeats, and your blood! Everything that could make you feel! Everything may have told you that taking an innocent young woman was wrong.” Sahir took a step back, trying to feel the moment’s satisfaction. He waited for this moment for two thousand years.
“She had no idea what she had done!”
“Yet you punished her! Because you were cursed! Because you were concerned about the flames that would have to engulf you! You punished me!” Sahir punched him. Azrael touched his lips, and they began to bleed. It aches. He could feel the warmth of blood pouring through him. He gazed at Sahir, stunned.
“Look at yourself, Azrael. Do you feel it now?” He looked into Azrael’s eyes. “Does it hurt?”
Azrael stands there speechless, his inside burned in dry agony and the anguish he has to live with because he has to live without her. He prayed for numbness, unconsciousness, and emptiness, but it didn’t come, and he felt like he was being split in half. He can’t get his eyes to focus anywhere, and everything hurts.
“Fortunately for you, brother; she is not a mortal soul.”