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Of Gods and Demons
~Spare or Kill~
This Demon killed more than a thousand million innocent lives!
Bloodstained memories of the Black Age burned within dark corners of his mind, literally begging him to destroy what monstrous nightmare that whined before him. Murderous rage and wild desperation boiled within his throbbing veins as his hands tightened mercilessly around the baby's throat.
He must not be allowed to live!
Agonized tears glittered down his rosy cheeks as the baby human suddenly released an impossibly high wail.
To think that such a diabolical and bloodthirsty villain, in His past life, would emerge so fragile and innocent with his hands...
Fate was simply way too ironic.
But surprise suddenly diluted the scorching rage within his heart as Raena suddenly tore apart his deadly hands. With lightning alacrity, she snatched the bundle away from him so that the awakened Demon could breathe and cry out in pain.
"Irik!"
Vivid terror and shock burned within those widened green eyes as she furiously backed away, gawking at him as if he was the monster. "What in Five Hells are you doing?"
"Why?" Dark rage suddenly flared within his soulless black eyes as Irik menacingly approached her, releasing a hollow growl as Raena recoiled. "Why...are you saving...Him?"
In that split second, it was as if Irik had reawakened his savage and merciless disposition before the calamitous Black Age.
"Lord Irik, please do remain calm." She whispered carefully as her passionate green eyes glittered entreatingly, "But the very last thing I can condone is His death!"
"Woman, are you insane?"
A thunderous roar suddenly splintered the frozen skies as black fury exploded from his demonic aura. Fear and disbelief instantly glimmered within her fluttering green eyes as Raena recoiled from his destructive rage, "I...Irik!"
"Th...this is the reincarnation of Zurik Ayraezor!" The God screamed mercilessly in vicious hatred. "H-how dare you? How dare you try to save this monster? What had we sacrificed so much to destroy thirty years ago? What had Lord Azirus died for? Do you truly not understand that His existence is an absolute evil that compromises Life itself–"
"I know, I know, Irik!"
Suddenly stunned by the ferocity of her teary scream, Irik froze as she feverishly howled in agony, "Do you think I had not wanted to kill this monster? Had you assumed that I relished the thought of allowing this…this creature to live? That I hate Him any less than you do? That I enjoy how this Demon, despite His notorious deeds, is currently feigning vulnerability within my arms?"
"Then why?" He roared in response, his dark rage commanding the snowstorm to screech in icy fury. "Why do you oppose me, Raena?"
"Because if He dies, so may the Worlds!"
W-what?
Sparkling tears rained from her distressed green eyes as Raena despondently howled. "It is for the Three Worlds that I stopped you from brazenly killing Him, Irik!"
A heavy silence smothered the white landscape following her passionate outburst, interrupted only by the pained wails of a small baby human.
At last, the God reluctantly took a step back, loosening his trembling, vein-popped knuckles even as ferocious rage pulsed within his heart. "The continuance of this bastard's life has better be for a good reason, Raena."
Without breaking her melancholy green eyes from his unrecognizable black ones, the Goddess of Life tenderly raised the sobbing infant and placed a small, teary kiss on his forehead. Immediately, her Magic pacified and silence the tormented child, who quickly dozed off once again.
"I do have my reason, and a very good one at that." She whispered despondently, her soaked green orbs gazing poignantly into his ferocious black ones. "If you cannot register the logic behind my words, then–by all means–kill Him! I would not object so much as a murmur! But...but please, first, at least hear me out, Lord Irik..."
Gradually, Irik drew a deep, quivering breath as he struggled to eradicate the sinister bloodlust that had already reawakened within his heart. "Very well...Raena...do enlighten me."
Sadness glazed those once brilliant green orbs as the Goddess of Life released a soft whisper, "Lord Irik, I have requested for you to convene with me today for an enormous favor. I would understand every bit of it were you to refuse me...but...but given the circumstances...only you alone can accomplish this task."
"Please, take this child and raise him as...as a kind and loving father!"
Bitter realization suddenly tore through him like a burning thunderbolt. Shock suddenly melted the rage within his widening midnight eyes as Irik finally understood. All of her eccentric demeanor and confounding words finally made sense.
An entire eternity drawled by until his voice finally returned to his parched lips, fragile and broken, "I...I must become the father...of the fearsome Black Wizard, eh? I...must teach Him the rights from the wrongs and deter Him from trekking down the evil path again, yes?"
"Indeed, my divine." A quivering smile rippled across her teary face as her beautiful green orbs glittered with reluctant sadness. "As the supreme sovereign of peace of all Three Worlds, you are the one unquestionable guardian who is capable of dissuading Him from the darkness into which He had once fallen."
"I do stand before you as the God of Peace and Harmony." A pained smile curled across his lips as sadness glittered within his lifeless eyes. "But you forgot, dear Goddess, that I was once the heartless God of Poison and Venom as well."
His disheartened black eyes scrunched close as he released a ragged gasp, "Surely, you can find a kinder soul to raise the child...rather than a monster that flourished only by killing others through deceptive means?"
It was true.
While it pained him to say it, Irik had once been a soulless God whose hands are dyed red with the millions of life he had killed. For thousands of years, he had so painstakingly suppressed his dark and ruthless side from the radiant and kindhearted Goddess of Life herself.
But now, he had no choice but to admit how corrupted his soul was. He could not endanger all of Three Worlds merely to appear kind and unblemished before his beloved.
"Lord Irik..."
"I have killed so many...so many people... Millions and millions of people, dear Goddess of Life." He murmured despondently as he lowered his head in remorse, a sardonic smile slipping across his trembling lips. "How can you possibly leave a baby to a murderer like me?"
"But that, Lord Irik, is exactly the true beauty of it."
Stunned, his black eyes reopened as Raena gingerly cupped his cheek, "Perhaps once, you had been the callous God of Poison who took life without a blink. But now, you are the God of Peace and Harmony who desires anything but murder and death."
A smile appeared at her lips as those emerald orbs gazed understandingly into his widened black ones. "Can you truly say you are not successful in the shedding of your own darkness and bloodlust, Lord Irik?"
Slowly, Raena turned to the dozing infant within her arms, and Irik simply could not fathom how those tender green orbs could look at the small creature with such a paradoxical mixture of terror, hate, fear, and love. "I...too, once desired nothing more than to snap His neck when I first discovered whom this child really was."
"So why didn't you?" A low growl rumbled from his throat as fury again sparked within his heart.
"Because it is wrong! Killing Him is wrong, Irik!"
She immediately lifted her passionate, sorrowful green orbs so that it met his frozen black ones, "Indeed, I cannot refute the unquestionable fact that He was a cruel, intransigent nightmare just thirty years ago. But now, what lays before you and me is merely an innocent human child, Irik!"
"And just how innocent can the Black Wizard be in this life, when He murdered over one thousand million lives in cold blood in another?" Those black eyes narrowed malevolently. "Do recall, Raena, that this monster even slaughtered His own Creator!"
"But this is a child, Irik! This innocent life knows nothing of what he had once perpetrated, nor does he deserved to be killed before he is even aware of the fact that he is alive!" Agony quivered beneath her throbbing voice as iridescent tears suddenly flowed from her mournful eyes. "Tell me, Irik, if we were to slaughter this innocent child merely to preserve a false ideal–an illusion–how can we deities be distinguishable from the demons we so despise? How will we be different from–Him?"
Surprised, the God of Peace blinked as Raena suddenly touched one of his hands with her own warm, shivering one. "Killing this child will resolve nothing, Irik. It will only create more hatred, sadness, and injustice, and thus begin the monstrous cycle all over again."
Breathing heavily, Irik reluctantly closed his eyes as the murderous rage within his heart dissipated from her soft words. "The one correct approach we Immortals of Skyrealm can take is to raise the former Demon into a noble God, Irik. Only then, can we ensure that such a desolate history would never...never again repeat itself!"
"Very well...I...I see, Raena."
What more could he say?
What use was there in denial?
"Then, as you do seem to understand the full gravity of this responsibility, I must solemnly ask you this..." Those vibrant green orbs met his tortured black eyes before she whispered the one question that he had secretly dreaded all this time. "Irik of Peace and Harmony, will you accept this human child as your own son?"
The God of Peace closed his melancholy eyes in defeat.
She didn't have to ask. He had to.
The ever sadistic Fates had already designated such a destiny for him. He had to. He had to adopt the Demon. This was now his unalterable future. This was now what suffocating destiny he had to endure, if for the survival of the Worlds.
He had to raise the child. He simply had to.
But at the same time, the God of Peace also deeply wondered whether if he could dispel his own boiling hatred and really start anew with the former Godslayer.
It would be a blatant and preposterous lie if Irik were ever said that he could–just even once–look down at the celestial face of the dozing baby and not see the same terrifying murderer who had committed genocide and plagued his mind for the past thirty years.
Could Irik really raise the child into a loving deity when he himself was drowned in a prejudice and hatred so deep that, even now, he desired nothing else but to drill a hole through the heart of this young mortal?
"Irik of Peace and Harmony, what is your verdict?"
His tormented musings were interrupted by a genteel voice. "In your own volition, will you accept this child as your own and raise him into a kindhearted young soul as a proper father would?"
It is for you that I transformed from a murderous vulture to a protective dove, Raena.
With a heavy heart, the God slowly turned to her, his tormented black eyes meeting her expectant greens.
And it will be to protect the Worlds you cherish that I shall surrender my own life and happiness.
"I do."
A pained smile appeared across his lips, even though Irik suddenly felt the urge to cry.
"I do accept him."
In AHW, there were Prologue I and Prologue II, but here, we have Prologue I to IV, because boy, can I dream up extra words to make it unnecessarily long!
Revised on May 6, 2017. (Flow, diction, structures.)