Deceived
w. Rielin
"Ciel! Can you help me read this?" From afar, a petite female dashed toward a male who was resting on top of grass, enjoying the gentle breeze drifting the scent of the river streaming down. The female squatted down next to the male named Ciel, displaying an ancient book with records of unfamiliar font.
"Sure," he replied as he skimmed down the primeval writings, concentrating on the words before him. With excitement, the female named Aisha clapped her fingers together with silence, in order to not disturb the focused male.
In midst of this tiny village called Ruben, there lies the Tree of El, standing tall and proud. Its powers allows sacred, holy light to be shared upon the village, overlooking and discarding if any evil contacts the villagers. In acknowledgement, the villagers have treasured and took care of the tree for generations after another generation. Although the village is placed on the outskirts of the world and tends to be an outcast from recent world news, there exists many talented individuals. There are knights, such as the Sieghart siblings and Raven. An intelligent magician, Aisha. A spiritual elf named Rena. A nasod that gained humanity's trust, Eve. Polite yet strong fighters, Chung and Ara. A loyal marksman Rose. A spiritual intellect, Ain. And lastly, the intelligent genius, Ciel.
Unfortunately, he wasn't raised with a motherly love due to her dying while giving birth to Ciel, yet his father grew Ciel with plentiful love. However, he was gifted. Since young, Ciel was able to solve complicated problems, including magical calculations as well. Thinking that his intelligence shouldn't rot in a small village, Ciel's father decided that Ciel should go study in a more populated city, where there are multiple universities filled with genetically gifted people.
Ciel was hesitant, yet he realized his father had a point. Perhaps he could learn information that could support and benefit their town. Perhaps he could take the knowledge and teach his villagers. Therefore he said farewell to his family in his hometown and decided to take on the journey to seek more knowledge, for the sake of his villagers.
Yet because they lived in the suburbs, no one knew, that the cities were being demolished by demons and many were left cursed or possessed.
It's been awhile since Ciel received a letter from his father. Normally, he would find an envelope inside of his dormatory's mailbox every week or so, yet it's almost been an entire month since he found one. He would check daily, yet the box would always be empty.
Then a mail came.
Excitedly, Ciel opened the envelope, revealing a neatly folded letter.
'Dear Ciel, do not come back to the village for awhile. It is not safe here.' the letter read.
However, at the thought of his friends and family residing in a danger zone did not calm Ciel down. Instead, he had to figure out the source of the danger, as he packed his belongings to return back to the village.
Ciel returned on the fifth day of the month, only to see his entire village demolished. He stood in the fallen debris with shock, as he couldn't comprehend what must've happened in this place.
"Father, what happened here?" Ciel dashed toward his house and found his father in the corner of the house, gazing out of the window without a hint of one expression. Then as the voice of Ciel echoed into his mind, his emotionless face quickly diminished and instead, transitioned into a maniacal face, as if he have seen the worst.
"Ciel, what are you doing here?! I told you don't return!" He shouted furiously, his eyes turning blood-shot red.
"How could I leave my hometown wrecked up like this?! I learned a lot of information in the city, father. I will do whatever it takes to use my knowledge to figure out the cause," Ciel said with determination. "But first, please tell me anything you know,"
"Very well," Ciel's father let out a sigh as he gave in. "Every fourth day of every month, demons invade our village. They destroy everything, our houses, our lives, and the Tree of El,"
"The Tree of El?!" Ciel shouted with surprise. How could dare they touch the Tree of El with their stained demonic hands?
"Yes. They slowly drain the scared life of Tree of El and slowly transitions it to a demonic life. The tree is losing its holy light and instead, is in an amethyst color, wrapped around with malicious aura," Ciel's father continued.
"Demonic power…," Ciel mumbled under his breath. Surely, he learned about the consequences of such evil power, yet he never knew they would aim for Tree of El. Just what were the demons planning to do?
"Father, I think I know how to lift this curse and restore the power of El to kill the demons away," Ciel said without hesitation.
"How?! What must we do?!" Ciel's father screamed with plea, demanding for answers as he desperately fell down to his knees. Ciel helped his father to stand back up as he offered his arm for support.
"If we… summon the Angel of Lilith, for surely, she will be able to save us,"
"A hero, at last! Please lift this curse, Ciel!" a villager shouted with hint of hope lingering in his voice. Soon enough, the entire town surrounded their only hope as they begged with plea. The desperation painted across their face made Ciel's heart sting with guilt. How miserable they have been while he by himself in the city. If only he could've taken his entire village to a safer area, yet that was not the choice given.
Ciel clenched his fist into his palms, he is their only hope. Everyone is leaning their trust on him. He should try his best in order to save this cursed town, he couldn't let them down.
"Everyone, just follow my orders!" He shouted, and the villagers roared with determination.
The Tree of El, which have deteriorated with demonic possession was surrounded by a magic circle drawn with a piece of wooden stick. The sight of the magic circle drawn on a chalkboard lingered within Ciel's mind, as he effectively memorized every single detail of the circle. He concentrated on the ground before him, not losing his focus as he drew out the most intricate designs creating the magical circle.
"Oh, a magic circle! You know magic, Ciel?" A tender, familiar voice echoed into Ciel's voice as he turned his gaze to face the only magician in the town, Aisha.
"Uh, yeah," Ciel hesitated for a moment but replied swiftly enough. "Haha, this is like the day I left the town," Ciel changed the subject at the nostalgic moment of Aisha asking Ciel about magic.
"Deja vu," Aisha said as she glanced down at the magical circle drawn around the tree. Although she wasn't so familiar with magic circle itself, it was a drawing she have never seen before. Perhaps the reason being a summoning circle, moreover, it was a circle for Angel of Lilith.
"Um, Aisha. Could you do me a favor?" Ciel asked the female.
"Of course!" Aisha replied without a hesitation.
"Can you gather up the villagers, I have an announcement to make," Ciel stated and with those words, Aisha nodded as she stood up and dashed over to the center of the town. As Ciel continued with his magic circle, he could hear Aisha's voice echoing from a building to another as she gathered up the crowd. Ciel walked toward the middle and stood on top of a rather thick cement fence that guarded the chief's house. As soon as Ciel stood up, the confused murmurs gradually died out and silence lingered the air. As he caught individual's attention, he gaped his lips and spoke up,
"I am almost done drawing the magic circle to summon Angel of Lilith, which I will proceed to do so on the 4th when the demons attack. However, because it's such a powerful magic, um.. It requires various ingredients," Ciel drifted off, somewhat hesitant to continue his sentence.
"What are the ingredients, Ciel?" An elf, Rena, spoke up for the crowd. Her stare was innocent and confused, as if it was telling him that they were going to do whatever it takes to kill the demons away.
"...Human sacrifices," he spoke.
The crowd remained silence, their gaped lips unable to speak. Following the silence was confused and irritated murmurs among one another that Ciel couldn't detect their mumbled words. However, Ciel did expect this kind of reaction. Human sacrifices being an ingredient to summon Angel of Lilith… anyone would hesitate or disagree, even Ciel would do so as well. However, it's a choice between either saving the entire village and the Tree of El by sacrificing few, or the entire village gets demolished into ashes.
"Should we all die, or should few die in order to save others?!" Ciel's father shouted out, breaking the silence of the crowd. They all turned their gaze toward the male, who was slightly shaking with fear yet courageous enough to speak for the crowd. "We must save the village," he continued. And gradually, people started to nod their heads in agreement as they talked to one another.
"To all the human sacrifices, you will all be remembered as heroes that saved many lives!" Ciel added in, as he created a fist with his strengthened hands. The crowds roared with courage, all of their hesitation disappearing into the thin air as their cooperation bonded their relationship together.
Days have passed since Ciel's announcement. Villagers have shed sweat and blood into the earth as they worked together to prepare for the summoning of Angel of Lilith. The third moon of the month has bloomed on the starry sky as Ciel glanced up. In couple minutes, the ticks of the clock will reach midnight and the demons will lunge an attack, just like how Ciel's father described. Ciel glanced down at a piece of paper which he was holding onto. It was written with the ingredients needed for the summoning.
This will resurrect the Angel of Lilith and summon her spirit…, Ciel thought as he read word for word. His grip on the paper strengthened, crumbling the paper. As nervous and anxious the villagers were, so was Ciel. He was the person responsible. If this fails, everything will be blamed upon him and everything will be his fault. However, he is confident with his calculations and the drawing of the circle. He was confident there isn't any mistake.
"Demons will be here shortly! Everyone, prepare your weapons and protect the sacrifices!" Ciel shouted, swaying the thin air with a slice. The villagers roared with anger and courage, picking up their weapons. Everyone stared at the Tree of El, determination igniting within their eyes. The human sacrifices were surrounded by fighters that were willing to risk their own lives just to protect those.
"They're here!" Ciel's father screamed about as he caught the demons sneaking their ways into the village.
"Fight!" one of the fighters roared as he signaled the others with his sword. The rangers attacked from afar, aiming the far away demons that were attacking the tree. The fighters pushed onward and sliced the demons that were attacking the villagers. Ciel swiftly dashed toward the tree, avoiding the demon's hungered eyes. He squatted down behind the tree, absorbing the sacred power as he breathed out heavily. He gently placed his palm on top of the magic circle and activated the spell, granting it most of his magical power. He ran toward the center while narrowly dodging demonic spells.
"A strong will for bravery!" He shouted, alerting the human sacrifices that will act as an ingredient for the summoning.
Elsword stepped in.
"A high intelligence for wisdom!"
Aisha stepped in.
"A warm heart for love!"
Rena stepped in.
"A brave spirit for fortitude!"
Raven stepped in.
"A righteous noble for virtue!"
Chung stepped in.
"A compassionate being for humanity!"
Ara stepped in.
"A moral judge of justice!"
Elesis stepped in.
"A determined soul for ambition!"
Add stepped in.
"A devoted faith for loyalty!"
Rose stepped in.
"A magnificent peer for transcendence!"
Ain stepped in.
Each sacrifices stood inside the magic circle, shedding droplets of tear as they prayed farewell to their family.
"You will all be remembered!" one of the mothers of the sacrifices spoke up, droplets of tear forming in the corner of her eyes.
"Something seems off," from afar, the infamous nasod, Eve stood as she mumbled under her breath. "Yet I cannot tell what it is,"
The ten sacrifices were swallowed by the light of the magic circle that soared from the ground.
"Why is the light so… purple-like?" Eve wondered to herself as she gazed at the radiance that seemed to resemble a demon. Yet it seemed like no one but Eve hinted something unusual. The demons were fleeing away as the humans waved their hands in the air, crying and saying farewell.
The ceremony of summoning the Angel of Lilith, who will lift up the curse of demonic power has officially started.
Except,
"That is not the Angel of Lilith!" Eve shouted, her golden eyes widening with panic and fear. The remaining villagers quickly turned to face the nasod, their eyes filled with shock.
"What do you mean, Eve?" one of the villagers asked, his voice shaking with fear.
"Then who did we summon by sacrificing our kids?!" a woman shouted, possibly one of the sacrifices' parent.
"That is…," Eve drifted off as she glanced at the tremendous spirit that was the size of the village being summoned from the magical circle. It demolished the Tree of El as if it absorbed the entire tree.
"Thank you to everyone who participated in the summoning of," Ciel stood up proud and tall in middle of the village.
"The Demon of Lu!" he shouted as he smiled maniacally.
The villagers turned to face the one responsible for such catastrophe, only to be taken by shock at the sight of him. A purple-like liquid was soaring out of CIel's eyes, nose, and mouth as if it was blood. Except it wasn't. It was the soul of the demon, Lu, who have possessed Ciel's body while he was in the city, knowing there was a hint of El's power lingering inside Ciel. Lu, who took over Ciel's body, returned to the village and deceived everyone in order to summon her original body, so that she can transfer her soul back to her original body.
"Ci- Ciel, what happened to you?!" Ciel's father cried out, his hands shaking with panic.
"Ciel? Ha. He's been dead," Lu, who was in Ciel's body spoke arrogantly as she puffed out a chuckle. Then her sapphire colored soul escaped from the hollow of Ciel's body and was transferred into the Demon of Lu as the ceremony came to an end. Ciel's lifeless body fell to the floor, hollow and empty.
"Deceived by your own son, your own friend! How pathetic!" Lu screamed with laughter, as she watched the humanity being deteriorated with her mere fingertips.
notes: Had this in my google docs for awhile, was actually inspired by Fairy Tail during Jellal and the Paradise Tower arc lmao. The ending feels weak, but I didn't know how to make it better :c sorry! But hope you guys enjoyed!