Chapter 10

Time…

The very word was questionable, as it was an unending flow. Keiichi had so much of it on his hands now, more than he knew what to do with. He'd thought that he would become bored, but, really he found himself unsure. Hesitant to accept the malignancy that the world brought by nature, he wasn't entirely confidant that swallowing the pill had been the wisest idea he had ever had.

Yet, he firmly doubted it was the worst.

As the years went by, Keiichi had to help his appearance with Urd's concealing medicine. His demon body would not age, not like that of a mortal. Though he lived a fairly private life, the close family that he did have, were family best kept in the dark about his nature. To most mortal beings, he appeared elderly, even if he was such a person to carry a spring in his step.

The first hundred years were the hardest on him. His gradual change from mortal to demon had been a confusing one…and, in the grand scheme, it was only just the start. He'd gotten used to Belldandy knocking him around, and subsequently accepted it as part of their occasional routine…in fact, part of him started to like the idea that she would be territorial over him, or even firm when he did, occasionally, step out off line.

Keiichi watched many things, such as his family and friends grow old and pass on. He endured onward, until there was nothing left for him on earth. Even then, he sat there, gently cupping at the egg that sat around his neck. He found no reason for tears, as if he'd become immune to the darkness the world brought. His mind wandered to odd places as he mourned his last nephew, who'd had no children, and had never married.

The small, makeshift family, had not seen or heard from Hild in all of that time. Occasionally, Urd would feel her presence in a tree, or on top of the house, but, Hild remained otherwise occupied. Yet, on the day of the funeral, she arrived that afternoon in a scandalously low cut black dress, quietly observing Keiichi from afar.

"Stop being so damn reclusive." Urd ordered, edgy and unwilling to trust the ruler of the demon realm. "Either come out of hiding, or go home."

"So old, and yet, so young." Hild told her daughter, not paying any mind to the rude greeting as she came down from the roof. "I wondered if his power growth had been stunted, but, now I think he can truly become a fine demon."

"Is that so?" Urd frowned deeply. "I hate to say it, but you could be right." Conflicted, Urd couldn't do anything about it. The system was an unstoppable force of fate. "A man like Keiichi was not meant to see the years pass him by. Not like this, anyway...mot-" Urd stopped herself, shaking her head with a sigh. "It's been eating away at him."

"You won't suddenly become a demon just by acknowledging it, despite what you think." Hild replied easily. She felt almost glad that Urd struggled not to say it, and yet, she wished to hear the word. "It's what I am to you, after all." She gave her daughter a wink. "It won't make you anymore a demon than you already are."

"I'm a goddess." Defensive as always, Urd was the first one to toss up her guard to such a response. "I told you, it conflicts with my pride."

"It isn't about the power, our how you use it." Hild's eyes filled with hurt, but, a blink fixed that. It was as if her sadness hadn't even been there. "You know, Urd…they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Mortals say it, the heavens fear it, and, demons live by that creed." She offered her child an easy going smile but it faded quickly. "If that's the case, I'll see you in hell soon enough."

"Why have you come?" Urd finally sighed. "Can't you tell this isn't a time for your stupid antics?" She nodded over to Keiichi. "He's already suffered enough."

"I know all too well." Hild murmured, a dark hint in her voice. "I've come solemnly, bearing a gift to mark this event."

"I highly doubt he'll want whatever it is that you have for him." Urd warned, wanting to protect Keiichi. She had no idea what haunted her so, but, it irked her. "He's never been one to accept gifts."

"Perhaps not, but there is a great deal he doesn't understand about the greater universe." Her words were meant to be that of a truce and apology. Even so, Hild was sure that Urd would never grasp the implication. "It's time I give Keiichi something in return for the sacrifices he's made." Hild said quietly to her daughter. "I'd like to bestow him with this first limiter myself. It's the least I can do."

Urd didn't say a word, but she nodded, knowing that in the demon realm, it was a great honor to receive notice from Hild. Having gotten her daughter's blessing, the unholy ruler made her way to where a pensive couple sat. She put her hand on Belldandy's shoulder to gain her attention. "I need to speak with Keiichi, alone." She told Belldandy. "I'm not here to take him away, but, I do need to speak with him at length."

Reluctantly, Belldandy nodded. "Alright." As she stood, and left them to talk, she could hear Hild's sigh.

The demon queen reached out to touch the man's face. "I'd always thought to myself, that I would carry many offspring. To my greatest dismay, I carried only one after all." His markings denoting him a demon of Hild's command had finally appeared. "My only daughter chose to be a goddess, and in that, I failed my people." To see him now, as his markings glowed, Hild felt as if weight had drifted from a place she could not explain. "Keiichi, I think if I had given birth to a son, I would want him to be like you. The pill you took that day was of my blood, and my one desire to have a son made of the same ilk as myself."

Keiichi's eyes were drained, lifeless, and full of an empty void. She expected as much, because in his heart, he had once been human…and slowly those threads were being torn from him. In her hands she kept a box, and on the inside, she had his first piece of jewelry. "Demons do not only gain power from love." She told Keiichi softly. "We have to lose something, and the mourning of what we lose, gives us our greatest strength." Made of gold, like many of her own, the bracelet on the inside was well crafted. "To find some sort of retribution, Keiichi, it's only fitting that we try to spread misfortune on others…or, grant wishes in exchange for something we consider valuable."

She took his left wrist and placed the unholy trinket upon him, a gift normally bestowed by a parent, or close family. "Having lost your last tie that binds you to this earth, you have finally found the emptiness required. You can now call upon our guiding light, the star of misfortune. It will protect you well, when you have nothing. It will give you immense strength, when you seek everything. "

"Can I ask you something?" His voice was dry, his words heavy.

"Anything." She told him, her voice as gentle as she could afford him.

"What did you lose?" He asked, looking up at her, seeing all of her seals. "I can't fathom how you've gained such power."

"When you attain the unholy throne, you will understand exactly what I have lost." Hild told him, before examining the egg around his neck. He had kept it safe. "The seal limits your power, and with it, you are considered a fully-fledged demon of my command, capable of training and taking an exam for a license. I will train you myself." She told him.

With only her promise that she would not fail him, the bracelet felt more like a shackle. Perhaps, in some ways, it was. An icon of his future, glimmering in the sunlight, on a day when the gods and goddesses above didn't think to cry for him. No rain seemed to fall from above. "Can a demon like myself be welcome among heaven?"

"Not all are as kind as Belldandy." Hild replied, looking over to the three Norns, with whom she couldn't say she was particularly close. Yet to consider them enemies would be asinine. "You could survive there, but, I'd doubt you'd be welcomed with open arms." Hild also knew, the same could be said for the goddesses and the demon realm. "You could bring them to my domain, but, I wouldn't be able to promise Belldandy and Skuld safe passage. It isn't in our nature, I'm sure you understand."

"Yeah, I do." He said with a nod. "I suppose, just like always, nothing's really changed."

Hild laughed a little. "You'll find that it doesn't." She took him by the hand, and wondered why it was this man. This mortal who called upon the stars. That mortal who had become this demon now. That demon, who had lost enough to use his powers, and become a guiding unholy light himself. With a smile, she dragged him high into the sky, where she floated watching earth. "Ever since you swallowed the pill, you were slowly losing your mortal life, and in exchange for that, you were given power. That power is now your very breath. If you gaze from here, you'll see that mortals have changed immensely, but their nature remains much the same."

Keiichi nodded in understanding. Cars were coming out with new models every year. Even if the updates were small, over such a long period of time, he'd seen a vast difference. Having a hand in building them, he'd remembered when they still used fossil fuels, instead of sunlight or electricity. New innovations were happening every day, all over. "The news makes it sound like the world's falling apart, but from up here, you can't tell."

They were surrounded in the blackness known to humans as outer space, but to Hild, it was just an empty segment of creation that had yet to be utilized. "This is part what we govern...and yes, to humans, the earth may seem as if it's dying out…in some ways it is." She shrugged, not really bothered by it. "Our job is to destroy. True, we make the petty whims of mankind possible, but without that, where would the human race be today?"

Keiichi didn't know. "I really was insignificant as a mortal, wasn't I?" Knowing the truth made his emptiness sink further into him.

"One single thing will always lack importance." Hild said, amused that he was so easily inspired. "The greater whole, now, that's important." She quite enjoyed reclining back in the bed of nothingness. "Everything, even demons such as yourself, and goddesses like Belldandy are expendable."

She allowed her pupil to float in awe of the grand ideals that this brought. "How can that be?" Keiichi finally asked. "Belldandy is perfect. She'll always be needed."

"No, not always." Hild said offhandedly. "For example, all of the planets have the capacity to support life, just not yet…there will be a time and place for evolution to make use of what creation has to offer. Our role is to spur that evolution along. By allowing humans to covet the things they do not have, desire and the greed builds from within. The end result is a race of man who wish to attain the seemingly impossible."

"It's amazing." He murmured, just looking into the glow of the earth. What seemed like perfection was cradled conveniently in the orb of the little blue planet. He didn't know just how long he spent watching the universe pass him by, turning slowly, as if it wasn't even moving at all. Out of the corner of his eye, he looked to Hild, who wore a pensive expression. "It's just so breathtaking…creation, I mean."

"Yes, it is." Hild agreed with him, though she didn't look at the man who took the notice of her. "When Urd was young, I brought her to this place, so that she could put into perspective the vastness of what we control." Hild explained at length. "First class goddesses and demons alike have a very limited understanding, you see. They know only prudent information. The rest we store deeply in the archives of Yggdrasil and Nidhogg respectively. The only ones with access to that information are the privileged few at the law offices."

"If the people who work at the law offices see things like this all the time, it's no wonder Skuld would want to train there." Keiichi said as he started to become accustomed to floating around in the vacuum, defying the very laws of the universe itself. "This should be impossible." Yet, it was his reality. A reality that had befallen him the first time he'd made a phone call to the heavens, the first time Belldandy slipped through the mirror...the first time he'd made a wish. "My life has been filled with impossible things, hasn't it?"

At that, she looked at the young man, who like a young demon might, seemed overwhelmed by the idea. It was funny to see such an expression for the second time in her life. She had only seen such awe once before...the delight was something found all too rarely. "One day, Keiichi, half of creation will be yours to govern, and to protect. Balance is they key in all things, and you must provide the darkness to support the light."