Epilogue 2
A half week later
They were still in the same inn they had been staying in for the last few days.
Eve was sitting at a table and reading from a large pyle of papyrus scrolls and a couple of large bounded books.
Most of the scrolls were her own. A few of them however and the books were given to her by Michael after she had asked him for it.
She had been sitting here most of her time for nearly the entire last week.
They all knew what all these texts were.
The ones belonging to Eve herself were from the Elian Faith. It were the same ones she possessed and carried around with her for years now.
The others – the ones Michael provided her with – were writings and religious texts from other nations.
Mostly from the Israelites.
But also a few also from Persia and Egypt – Writings of Zarahustra, the ancient Israelite prophet Moses and even from a mysterious defamed Pharao named Echnaton.
And even one text from Britannia – from the Knights of the Pierced Heart, who Xena and Gabrielle had encountered all those years ago.
It were texts that a human would have needed years – if not decades – to assemble together.
Michael however had done it in a week.
They all had the same topic - the Faith in the One God. And the different Religions that worshipped him.
What Eve had done in this time was reading and comparing the different texts.
Sitting in opposite to her on the other end of the room, were Iolaus and Hope.
They both acted as a kind of advisors for her. As Dahak´s daughter and his former vessel, they were both able to explain and clarify some things.
xxx
Xena, Gabrielle and Hercules had just entered the room behind them.
"Eve," Xena addressed her daughter. "Don´t you think it is enough for today?"
They also knew Eve´s motives.
But that didn´t change the fact that Eve had practically burried herself here, nearly the entire time since Hope and Xena had freed Solan from the Afterlife and had barely come outside.
"Mother – I know what you want to say. But I just need to do this," she said.
Eve gestured to the scrolls and books lying before her.
"I could not forget about what you said what Dahak told you. About the Elian Faith being flawed," she said. "And what he said about me," she added visibly distraught.
"Eve – he just said that to get to you. To shake your conviction. Like he did it with all of us," Xena reminded her.
"That does not mean it was wrong," Eve replied. "You know how exactly I became who I am now, right?" she asked her with some bitterness.
"All that you said and done to convince me had failed. But then I had just seen into that light – I saw all those pictures and memories and suddenly…"
"I know. But no matter if it was now Eli or Michael´s doing, it had just opened your eyes," Xena stated.
To Eve however it sounded more as if was what her mother simply wanted to believe.
"Really? Or had Michael just brainwashed me? Can you really tell that for sure?" she questioned.
"Maybe you should just call to Michael and ask him?" Hope suggested the obvious solution.
Eve however just looked even more distraught at her words.
"Maybe I don´t even want to know the answer," she admitted.
If she was truly a puppet without free will, would she really want to know it?
And could she ever even bring herself to fully trust Michael´s answer? Or would some doubt always remain?
"But even if I am not sure where my own faith comes from – from myself or… somewhere else," Eve continued.
"I at least want to know how much of this faith itself is true. So I am comparing the texts of the Elians with the ones from the other Religions of the One God. To see… if…"
"If there are any glaring discrepancies?" Gabrielle stated. "Or signs of corruption in the Faith?"
"Yes."
"Have you found any so far?" Hercules asked.
"No," she admitted. "But that does not have to mean much. Whatever flaw there is in the Eli Faith is probably very subtle."
"But you don´t have to do all of that in just one week, right?" Xena said to her.
"No – I guess not," Eve stated. "It is just… I just need to do something – to occupy myself."
"You want to distract yourself. So that you don´t have to think about what Father had said about your own nature," Hope stated bluntly.
"Hope!" Gabrielle called out at her daughter at the absolute lack of tact she just showed.
"Yes," Eve simply admitted.
"I understand," Xena said. "Just don´t force yourself too much. You won´t find answers to everything in a short time anyway."
"I know," Eve replied.
"You know – much will happen in the future," Hope stated. "In fact it had already started. My counterpart had gotten active."
"The child born a half year before you," Iolaus said. "The same one at those birth I was present all those years ago."
"Yes," Hope said. "Much will change. New religions and movements will spread - lands, countries, the entire world will possibly be affected. But it could take decades, even centuries, before the impact becomes truly obvious."
Eve nodded.
Decades - centuries, she repeated in her mind – and she will probably not play any role in this new faith, she thought.
For a long time she had believed Eli was the one these prophecies was talking about – the Child of Light, the Messiah.
But now it seems he was one of the predicicing Prophets instead.
For a moment she felt a wave of jealous anger rising up in her. It had been said that she was Eli´s Messenger. She had given up everything else in her life for it.
But what did that even mean if the entire Eli Faith itself would be left meaningless?
Just destinied to be swallowed by an even larger religion it had helped to prepare the way for?
Who would she be then?
Just a puppet, she remembered Dahak´s/Lucifer´s words – just a tool to be used and forgotten.
No, she then told herself. Thoughts like this belonged to Livia. Eve knew she had no right to feel wronged. Not after all the blood on her hands, all her atrocities, all the sins she had committed.
Monster, she thought. Now a feeling of pure hatred came up inside her. This time directed at herself.
Who was she to pretend to be something holy, while in truth she was the vilest of the vile?
She looked at the young woman before her who looked exactly like Gabriel. At least Hope had never denied being the Child of Darkness.
On the outside, she tried not to let anything show of her inner turmoil.
"I guess you are right Mother," she said.
"This here will take time. And I certainly will not find any answers just by reading in this scrolls the entire night."
She said this with a certainty she did not really feel.
xxxxxxx
Somewhere else…
He did not know what happened. He did not know how he came here.
He could not clearly remember. But he knew that the world – his world – was like it should be once again.
He – the God Assur - was sitting on a throne on a large podium, just outside of the royal palace of Assyria. Surrounded by his fellow gods and their mortal followers.
The God Assur knew one thing – he was back home.
Assembled before him, in front of the palace, were thousands of assyrian mortal followers. A large crowd of thousands of civilians, surrounded to both sides by long lines of heavily armed warriors.
And in front of all of it, right in front of Assur´s throne, was the current Mortal King of Assyria standing in front of the crowd…
… and then the King himself kneeling down before him in front of everyone.
(Currently it was Assurbanipal the Second – named after Assur himself, like many Assyrian Kings. An infamous conqueror and ruthless but intelligent ruler. Truly a man to his taste.)
It was all an feeble attempt to honor him - the allmighty King of the Assyrian Gods – in their simply mortal ways.
But he did appreciate it.
In the distance he could see lines of a few dozen long pikes, that were stuck in the ground, with the impaled bodies of enemies and disbelievers hanging on them.
But even more important. Much closer to him, stuck on two iron poles, were the severed heads of El, Zeus and Horus.
Did that mean he had won? He had destroyed the other Pantheons and was now the God King of the entire world?
And sitting next to him on a second throne, just a bit smaller than his own, was his lovely Queen Ninlil.
"My Lord," she said to him a bit worried. "Are you alright? You seem a bit distracted."
Distracted? Yes.
He remembered that he killed her. Sacrificed her to become more powerful and free of his bondages.
So why was she here?
Why was he himself here? He did not remember what happened.
Unless… yes – was this maybe the result of his victory? Had he really achieved the ultimate power and then somehow reshaped reality by his desires?
Created a world where all his dreams had become true?
Yes – this had to be it.
"I am happy that you are here with me My Love," he said to Ninlil.
"Then why did you kill me?" Ninlil replied to his surprise – her voice suddenly showed a sharp undertone.
How did she even know this?
But as he looked around to her, he saw that she suddenly not longer moved or spoke.
She seemed frozen like a statue.
But it was not only her. The entire place around him – the thousands of people - was frozen in time.
And then the world itself seemed to break apart. Large cracks appeared in the air around him.
Until the entire room around him just shattered, leaving him alone in an empty, seemingly endless, black space.
"What a really interesting scene," he heard a voice speaking through the dark. "And so enlightening – at least when it comes to you, don´t you think?"
He recognized the voice instantly. It was Lucifer – or also Dahak now. The former Archangel still was his vessel. He could sense it.
"You? Where am I?" Assur asked.
"A strange question given what happened. You are dead of course," Lucifer replied.
"I should gratulate you. This is the deepest layer of Hell," he said. "In fact I created a completely new Level - extra for you, the being who wanted to become the Allmighty."
"No," Assur whispered.
"Look around – I gave you just what you wanted. A world all for yourself, that you can control and change at will. You can make all your wishes come true, with just a thought… knowing that it is just a lie. A world all for yourself – all alone," Lucifer added with an malicious undertone.
"You know – Hope was right. I could have stopped you far earlier if I had truly wanted," he stated. "But – I guess in a way I was fascinated by your pure single-minded ambition. It is something that is rare, even here in Hell.
Not that you ever had the slightest chance to succeed in the first place."
Lucifer/Dahak was looking at him.
"You should know," he mentioned, "the God of Light would have always interferred if I or my direct followers had tried to use the Ancient Scrolls to become like I am now. Someone else had to collect and use them instead. So why should I have stopped you early if your actions could be made to serve my own purposes so well?"
xxxx
Caine and his group had already taken their new residence here as well, Dahak/Lucifer thought to himself.
Just like the souls of many other followers. Some of the most promising of them were already being transformed into Demons and Archdemons.
Only Caine´s own soul had been put to rest for the time being. It had been the wish of his loyal follower after all.
Things were going well.
The loss of Hope was regretful. But he still was confident that his daughter would find her way back to him some day.
xxxx
He turned around and disappeared, leaving Assur behind in the darkness and with his thoughts.
After a few moments Ninlil and the entire scenario were appearing around him again. He must have wished it somewhere in his mind, he realized.
But at the same time he knew it was not true.
It would never be.
End
This is now the second epilogue of Light in the Darkness. As stated in the last part, I have written a second one, which I have now finally finished.
One reviewer suggested to write another sequel story.
I have by now actually a few more story ideas I will be working on.