Age: ? (Pre-Genesis)

Realm: Ravenlands

It's late, and given how little light and life seems to stretch across the campgrounds, it seems that everyone is either sleeping or bound to soon turn in. Given the hour she wasn't that surprised; everyone was getting their rest for the upcoming journey and of course the battle that would surely follow.

The Battle for the Garden.

Eden; she only knew of it in stories passed by the Firstborn. It was paradise, forged by the Makers and meant to be their finest work. Sitting on the grasslands, a daughter of forbidden union turned heavenward, her attention focusing on the two moons that were hanging overhead, shining down alongside uncounted stars.

"From here the twin moons of the Ravenlands look beautiful." Those are the only words that leave her lips for a while; and with them said she leans back, and basks in the lights that shine down upon Creation. The dual moons and the uncounted stars, it felt as though they were speaking to her. What they were saying though, that was something she couldn't answer. All she heard was the silence of the night; and that in itself was like bliss.

When it's quiet like this, things seem to slow down to a crawl; and she actually gets some time to just think for once. And when she thinks she's granted a moment to enjoy these small hobbies of hers; renaming constellations and crafting stories on how they came to be.

Sometimes she imagines they are the light cast by the absent Creator, who uses them to chase away the Many-angled Ones.

Sometimes she imagines that each is the light of an eternal furnace, a forge where forgotten Makers are hard at work.

Sometimes… sometimes she imagines the stars were the spirits of those that have left the Well of Souls, guarded by the Archangel of Death himself.

These were just her thoughts, and whether they held any merit or not was something not even she knew. Regardless, the woman just stares skyward, sitting on a collection of rocks that form into a natural bench of sorts.

"It's peaceful here…" She thought aloud.

In the eyes of both the High Lords or Heaven and the Dark Masters of Hell, this sight would no doubt seem strange; for one of her kind - a Nephilim - to be caught enjoying this moment of peace. But, if there was one thing many mistook about her kin, it was that they were nothing more than depraved beings.

Make no mistake they were depraved; and one could live until the last star burns out of Creation, and if one could live until the absent Creator returned, died and putrefied away to nothing, they still won't even begin to understand how depraved her kin were.

That said, her people understood peace. The simplicity of the silent night, the cherish of the cool wind and the sight of a thousand dancing stars.

There were few like her that existed in the Horde; and no doubt their numbers were overshadowed by those that relished the woeful lamentations of women, the spilling of blood and the feel of something sharp biting flesh. Such people were the face of the Horde; and while the Horde was her family, and while she was a fellow marauder, who served Absalom and the Firstborn, she found less pleasure than one might expect for a Nephilim. That said she was no "Oddity" because of this, and she wasn't "Unique" in any regard either.

She was just one of a few hundred, one tiny speck that made up a legion.

She breathed, closing her eyes, and started to think back, remembering what had brought the horde into creation.

Her mother, not her birth Mother but She who first mingled the remains of angel and demon, creating her children of forbidden union. She spoke of the Demon Queen; she spoke of Lilith.

Like all members of the Horde, she was born only due to Lilith's mechanisms; mingling the remains of angels and demons alike, but held no place within either society. She didn't know what drew that woman to do such, perhaps it was her own curiosity. Perhaps it was part of some grand plan she knew nothing of.

And to be fair; the Demon Queen did love her schemes.

Regardless, Lilith's mechanisms had led to her birth. And she had been born upon a world following her Birth Mothers exile from the White City. Banished after the High Lords learned the Demon's Taint that had nestled into her womb. She'd been born on a world known as the Emberwylds, and she was only a baby when it was turned to ash and char by the war between High Lords of Heaven and the Dark Masters of Hell. The broken world became an outpost for the Demon Horde, and she had grown up as entertainment, a child gladiatrix in the arena.

Absalom, it was him and the other Firstborn who had pulled her from the arena, taught her what she was, what she was capable of.

They saved her, not because they felt a reason to, but because that was what they did. They were her kin, they were family.

"By your side, I have traveled a hundred worlds." The Nephilim muttered. "We found more of us and I was so… happy to know we weren't the only ones." She mused. "But then…" Her tone dropped.

Then things changed.

What began with a desire for a place to belong was quickly stripped away, as they wandered from world to world, they found this perverse pleasure in breaking them into a thousand unrecognizable pieces. A quest to find a place to call their own vanished as Absalom led them on this ruinous crusade. For if all of Creation was to reject them, then… they would destroy it all, and rebuild Creation in a way that would accept them. She understood that reasoning and she joined him then - they all did… but as time passed…

For decades now, she had fought for the Horde, brought death and ruin to every world they were directed upon. Battle after battle, conquest after conquest, she had fought and killed without discrimination, and now here, nights before the conquest of Eden, she found herself unable to find that desire - that thirst that used to well up inside her.

She sighed, thinking about the coming battle. She wasn't looking forward to it... not in the slightest. She'd been 'born' for this, raised to fight and she could raze cities to the ground; and she knew, without pride or arrogance clouding her thoughts that they would succeed in this endeavour. But still knowing that... she wasn't looking forward to it.

"I'm just… so tired of all this." She muttered. "Tired of the fighting, tired of the death I've caused." She grumbled. "I've lost my thirst for these endless battles." She stated as she turned from the stars and frowns.

Getting to her feet she sighs wandering off as she wanders throughout the warcamp.

The campsite is massive. Hundreds upon thousands of tents scattered about upon the soil. Their numbers alone could rival a large nation. She saw the forges that were now silent, meaning the other craftsmen were now at rest. She saw the cages housing the Abyssal Creatures they had gained dominion over who now dreamt of things she'd never know.

"We've seen a thousand worlds… we could have settled on any of them…" The woman muttered. "We could have long built our own kingdom; we have the skills, the numbers, the desire to have a place to call home…" She muttered wandering on as she took a drink from her hip mounted flask. "So why are we going to Eden simply to destroy it?"

The night did not answer her.

It never did.

She found a good spot for herself in the field and pulled her twinblade off her back testing them for a moment before getting some late night practice in to clear her head.

The swinging of her blade, steel cutting through air, it always calmed her troubled thoughts. Maybe because the art of the blade was simple, she didn't have to overthink things.

"Your thoughts trouble you." A deep gravelike voice calls out as the woman turns her head, attention turning to bear witness to the Firstborn gazing upon her.

"Death." She mutters as she stares at him, lowering her twinblade to address the one closest to Absalom. "What are you doing up?"

"I come to speak with you." He tells him. "Tell me what troubles you, Ash?"

Ash, that was her name. Ash the Living Cataclysm, the Valkyrie of Calamity, She That Rules Over The Ruined Queendom. Titles, ones she had earned as Absalom led them from world to world in search of a place to call their own.

Such things didn't matter right now though.

"Nothing." Ash muttered as she looked at her twinblade for a moment.

"You have always been a terrible liar." Death muttered as he grabbed her weapon and lowered it. "Speak with me sister, what troubles you?"

She didn't respond for a moment, just looking at the ground before taking a breath, and closed her eyes.

In her mind she saw bodies. So many bodies. Angel, Demon, Old One…

"I'm tired." She confesses, turning skyward, focusing on the sky that hund over the silent World that was the Ravenlands. "I'm just… I'm so tired, Death."

"You tire of the crusade." It wasn't a question.

"Yes." Ash muttered. "This crusade has gone on for many decades now." She admitted calmly. "We've broken worlds be they under the banner of Heaven or Hell or even the Old Ones. And if our crusade shall lead us to the White City or the Black Pit that houses Lucifer himself, I will charge into it without fear or regret but…" She paused before seeming to breathe. "I'm tired, Death. I am so damn tired of breaking worlds."

"You have lost your taste for the crusade." Death muttered.

"Yes." The two fell silent as Ash turned away for a moment before looking to her elder brother. "Are you upset with me?" She asked. Though he wasn't the oldest, she had always looked up to him. He taught her the essentials when she was still a child. After all, after her parents died, Death was the one who taught her how to focus her powers, taught her how to read, write, and even craft. He was like a foster father, and that truth alone set him higher than Absalom in her mind.

"No." Death told her. "I understand, far too well." He admitted, and she believed him. How could he not understand? He was Death, the Reaper, the Executioner. His kill count surpassed the stars themselves. Everywhere he traveled his name was whispered in unrelished fear and dread.

"Why was he here?

"Who would he take today?"

"Was it my time already?"

These three simple questions and more swam around him like the grudges of the dead. He knew death and despair, how exhausting it was more than Ash did, more than any of them did.

"In my weakest of moments I often ask myself, when will this end." Death states. "I never find the answer I desire."

"What is the answer given to you?"

"It will end when all Creation has faded away."

"I see." Ash muttered as she stared skyward, her brother joining her as they looked at the heavens. "Death…"

"Yes?"

"Must we go to Eden?" She asked as she settled down on the ground.

"I'm afraid so."

"I see." She muttered as she stared outward into the night. "What's it like?"

"It is a garden world forged by the Makers." Death informed her. "I have been there once before, it is… beautiful."

"A garden world…" Ash muttered as she seemed to think. She'd always liked gardens, ever since she was youngling. To think there was a whole world crafted by the makers to be a garden. No doubt it was beautiful. "What awaits us in Eden?"

Death did not speak for a moment. "Humanity."

Ash fell silent, taking a minute to think back, her thoughts drifting to the Children of Dust. "Humanity." Those tiny feeble things, molded not by the hands of the Makers or the Old Ones. They were weak, frail beyond reason, but the fact they pulled themselves from the dust alone showed they had potential to be something great in the long run.

"The council has decreed that they be granted Eden, it will be those grounds in which they build their kingdom."

"Ah~" Was all Ash said as she took a breath. "And we will take it from them." Death said nothing. "Death…"

"Yes?"

"Do we have to take Eden?" She asked and Death did not answer. "The Humans, I find am…not angry with them; but I understand that they were simply given a world while we have nothing. But must we take it from them?" Again Death did not answer. "Maybe it's just that my thirst for destruction has been finally satisfied, but must we come for them? Plunge them into extinction?" She asked. "They don't know our situation, they don't know anything yet… do we have to —"

"I do not want to." Ash turned to Death, staring at his impassive face as he raised a hand to his face, and rubbed it. "I have tried talking to Absalom, but he refuses to listen." Death admits. "I fear I can't reach him anymore." She hears the regret in Death's voice. "I… I can not follow him anymore."

"What will you do?" Ash muttered.

"I have spoken with Strife, we will find others and leave this madness behind." Death admits as Ash blinks in surprise.

"You… will leave?" Ash watches Death turn to her. "Where will you go?"

"I will seek an audience with the council. Perhaps they will know a place we can go,or at least a way we can end this."

"I see…" Ash mutters. "Perhaps it is for the best then."

"Will you come with me, little sister?" Ash doesn't answer this time, unsure even how to.

She knew of the Council, the entity in charge of maintaining balance across Creation. If there was an entity who knew how to solve their plight, perhaps the Council was the one to seek out.

If she went with Death, she knew she could leave the Battle of Eden and yet…

"No…" She could have sworn she saw sadness creep from behind Death's eyes. "I can't go there, at least not now." She muttered. "But I can't stay here either." Ash admitted. "I've always followed you and Absalom, and I can't just leave one of you for the other." She muttered.

"Then what will you do?"

"I think…" Ash muttered. "I think it's time I set out on my own path." Ash muttered. "Found my own way, my own answers to things." She continued.

"I see." Death turned his gaze skyward. "Maybe that is for the best."

"I… will see you again." Ash began. "Won't I?"

"I believe so." Death stated as he turned to the moon and Ash did the same. "It's a nice night out."

"It is."

The Nephilim, Ash disappeared before the battle of Eden. Where she went, no one knew. They knew not whether she disappeared into the furthest corners of Creation, wandered the dark corners of the Abyss or even drifted within the Void.

The Nephilim, Death would gather only three who would leave Absalom's mad crusade behind. They were Strive, Fury, and War. They would go on to be the blade of the Charred Council, enforcers of their will to uphold balance in Creation as the Horsemen.

Under Absalom, Nephilim Horde would go to Eden and wage their final battle against the Hellguard and the defectors led by Death, and he would fall by Death's scythe.

It would be seven months before Ash appeared before her elder sibling again.

Eden would long be a gravesite, one littered with the remains of both the soldiers of the White City and the Nephilim Horde.

Eden.

The Garden of Paradise, the Makers greatest work.

Or at least it was.

Staring at the destruction, and ruin. Ash felt nothing as she looked upon the death and char that had taken root here. She didn't want to believe her eyes, but she saw the Hellguard and she saw the Horde. All scattered and lost in droves, like plants haphazardly cut down and scattered about.

She felt nothing as she looked on. This emptiness she felt was not from apathy, but from numbness.

Death.

Death was not a new concept to Creation. As Heaven and Hell waged their tireless war across uncounted worlds… as the Nephilim horde laid waste to all in their path…

Death was anything but a new concept.

But looking on, staring at the destruction that was laid before her…

She had heard the rumors. Tales of the Nephilim's downfall. But to actually see it? It not only proved that the rumors were true, but also that she was truly alone now. What she came to tell them now means nothing.

"Dementia." Staring at the marauders of the Nephilim Horde, Ash felt that numbing shock running through her like ice as she just stared on. Then she walked up to one, muttering more names as she recognized the dead. "Phage… Misery… Gomorrah." No one responded.

They couldn't even if they wanted to.

"They're all gone." Ash stayed silent as she heard the familiar gravelly voice.

Death; The Reaper, Executioner, and now Kinslayer simply stared at her, twin scythes held in his hands as the Executioners mask was lodged across his face.

"You shouldn't have come here." He told her.

"I… wanted to know if the rumors were true." Ash muttered as she looked at Sodom and bit her lips. "I wish they weren't." She told him as she turned, trying to look past the Executioner's mask to see her eldest living brother. "It's… good to see you though."

Death said nothing.

"Are you… here on the Council's orders?"

Again he said nothing.

"Will you kill me too?"

No words. Though his scythes were drawn Death did not raise them, nor did Ash reach for her own twinblade. "Why are you here?"

"I just…" Ash paused, not sure what to say for a moment. admitted. She looked elsewhere. "I learned something…"

"What did you learn?"

"I learned… this could have been avoided." She grumbled. "No doubt you have heard of what is now the Mortal Realm, the Third Kingdom."

"Of course."

"The world they were given when Eden was destroyed… was ours." Death fell silent.

"What?" She heard his hands tighten around his scythe.

"I don't know all the details yet but… Lilith… before she created Absalom, she seduced a Maker by the name of Gulbannan." She muttered. "He taught her secrets. Taught her how to wield ancient magics and forge worlds… and she used such teachings to build a home meant to be our own… our Eden." She clenched her fists. "If I had learned that sooner than…this… our crusade could have ended."

"Where did you learn this?" Death asked, though she could feel the anger behind his patience.

"Lilith's logs." Ash stated. "The Witch writes in her spare time, jotting down her knowledge and thoughts less she forget it with age and the passing of time." Ash mutters before going silent. "She let me glimpse them, and I learned Truth. She had molded a world for us, not long after our crusade began…" Ash looked down. "I'm sorry."

"We had a world, and we knew nothing of its existence." Death muttered. "We razed a thousand worlds to the ground searching for one to call our own, attacked Eden all to take it as our own… and I…" He paused.

"Death…"

"And you say all this could have been avoided?" Death released this weak and tired chuckle. "Unbelievable." Death muttered before turning away.

"Death… where are you going?"

"It doesn't matter." He told her. "Go sister, enough blood has been shed upon this accursed garden."

"Death I'm…" Ash didn't know what to say, she saw how exhausted her elder brother was even with the Executioner's Mask fixed to his face. Still, she made to approach him before stopping. "I'm sorry."

"As am I." He told her. "Goodbye sister."

"Goodbye brother."

In the Domain of the Charred Council, the three mediators would choose to converse in silence, and their newly appointed Enforcers, still reeling from Eden, would be sent out into Creation. Strife and War would go to Samael who they believe to conspire with the Dark Prince Lucifer. Death and Fury would search for the Demon Lilith, stricken by grief at her children's death.

As Death and Fury brought Lilith to heel and prostrate before the Council, they would strip her of the memory of the Maker's secrets taught to her by the late Gulbannan.

As War and Strife would return - having failed to stop Lucifer in creating what he named the Animus and in turn forced to cull the ranks of a still young humanity, a pact would be forged between Heaven and Hell.

One in which would birth seven seals that would grant both Heaven and Hell repree from their eternal conflict. Only when the seventh would be shattered would their war recommence.

And yet, know that in the meantime, neither the children of the White City nor the Dark Kingdom would allow their hands to lie idle…