Disclaimer: This story is based on characters created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

AN:

Phew! I've finally completed and posted the chappie, yay! As you'll see, several of you got some things right. Since FFnet has warned me about not naming any reviewers individually on Author's Notes, then I'll only say that you know who you are and cheers for you! *winks*

Ah, and this chapter has no action whatsoever. I tell you before you become disappointed. Expect the real, exciting action to happen in a few chapters.

Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy it!


Chapter 42

The Holy Grail fell from Orion's hands in the very next second when he felt as if he was being torn from the inside out, as if giant hands were ripping at his very core, as if his skull was about to crack open. It was pain worse than he had ever experienced before and he couldn't hold it in.

Orion screamed, fiercely clutching his throbbing temples, clawing at his forehead. It was as if liquid fire was coursing through his body, something powerfully thrumming inside him, a relentless painful pressure in his mind and very being.

With a surge of panic he realized that the block Vulcan Vagnarov had created in his mind seemed to be cracking – everything he heard and saw was leaking through it, past lives streaming through, screaming voices filtering, images flashing behind his closed eyelids, too quickly, too painful to make anything out of them, but it still felt as if rushing flows of rivers were sweeping through his awareness. Arian had lied to him! He roared with fury, but nothing seemed to be able to get past his lips.

"The block will hold," said Arian's soothing voice somewhere above him. "I do not mean to break it against your will. I will not force you to experience all your past lives. I only want you to see pieces of your very first life – the parts which marked you the most, the ones which will give you some answers. Let it happen and it will not be painful. Don't fight it. Let all the memories rush through, passing by without remaining, until you get to some of the first ones."

The light wizard's voice was like a soft-spoken litany that acted like a balm spreading across his awareness. Orion felt himself relaxing under it, while fingers carded through his hair, soothingly and caressing, before magic flowed from them and seeped into his ravaged mind. He felt the wizard cradling him in his arms, and for a brief moment it made him all the more furious, but the anger dissolved in the next second.

His scream died in his throat the moment it all seemed to stop, the pain had faded, his forehead stopped throbbing and the streams of voices and images vanished from his mind, leaving no recollection, nothing of understanding or comprehension behind.

In the next hitch of breath, he felt as if his mind was being pushed by some magical force, and in a split second, his awareness seemed to funnel through the Necromantic block. He realized he was being pitched into one of the memories the light wizard wanted him to see.

Abruptly, the moment everything was silent and dark, Orion cracked his eyes open, a shudder running down his spine when he saw he was alone.

Arian wasn't there anymore, he wasn't in the Flamel's garden or the Ministry, but in a dark and strange place that made him feel an eerie sensation of déjà vu – he was in a memory of his first life, seeing it unveil before him as if he had plunged into a pensieve.

Then, he saw it – a small boy, who looked no more than four years old, was skittering through shadows, rushing through a cavernous, dark place, with ceilings so high they couldn't be seen, held by many columns as thick as the oldest of trees, the hallway so vast as to hold giants, so large that the rocky walls could only be distinguished very far away.

Orion was pulled along, as if something linked him to the boy, as if he were a spirit tied to the child. But it was no 'boy' running through that alien place, he realized. It was a child, yes, given his small frame, but he was a creature with some human-like features mixed with alien ones. It was him, as he had been in his first life.

And with that understanding, he suddenly felt a dual sensation – as if he was being plunged into the child, seeing, feeling and thinking what the child was, yet also seeing the child as if he was an outside observer.

It was then that he could completely distinguish the child's features: large eyes, tilted upwards like a feline's, yet with no white or pupil in them, the eyes were glowing pools of vibrant violet hues, and for all their strangeness, they were beautiful and luminous.

The small round face was a very handsome one, which promised greater beauty with more age; the nose straight and small, the lips luscious with a stubborn and rebellious quirk to them, and the hair was long, waves of silky black brushing past his shoulders in many small braids, with ornaments interwoven in them – a mark of his status among his kind, he somehow knew.

But other than the eyes, the beautiful face could have been that of a human. It was the other features which were not. His skin was dark, a mesh of ebony hues and dark crimson, and it was streaked with symbols, like tribal tattoos on flesh, yet he knew he had been born with them – they set him apart, they marked him for greatness.

The soft, round, childish cheeks had a smattering of small scales trailing from his cheekbones to the upper sides of his forehead. His ears had pointy tips and they peeked out from his braided hair along with two tiny nubs of incipient horns at either side of his temples. And from his strange yet rich clothes, from his back, two wings of bright red scales could be seen, folded, the appendages twitching with fretfulness.

At last, shedding all uneasiness to a side, Orion allowed his awareness to fully plunge into the child, just as the boy-creature glanced over his shoulder with his all-violet eyes, ascertaining he wasn't being seen, before quickly entering a room.

It was a strange sensation. Orion was the child now. He was in the child's body and mind, and he knew things he otherwise wouldn't have – thoughts unraveling in his mind in a tongue he knew not but somehow understood.

Everyone was asleep, his brothers would not suspect, and he would not be found doing that which was forbidden – just as he hadn't been in the previous times he had done it. No one knew, no one could ever know or he would be severely punished.

Orion's lips pouted angrily as he came to a halt at the center of the small, circular chamber, before an ornate altar, just like the numerous that could be found all over the realm. And he mutinously scowled at the image of Mother depicted above – She looked fierce, beautiful and ominous as always, but he could not find it in himself to not be angered with Her.

He was Malekai Salai – the Fourth Prince, the last of Her children, of Her creation, and the most special one, he knew. He was 'Salai' after all, the Beloved and Brightest Star in the Old Tongue. Yet no one would tell him for what he had been made.

His oldest brother was the Ruler of the Realm, his second brother was the Commander of the Forces, and his third brother, the one he was most attached to, was the most powerful one and had been Mother's favorite up until the time he had been created. His third brother was the Creator, temporarily, whenever their Mother gifted the power to him.

And he, the last child, was now Mother's most favored and Chosen One, born ages after his other brothers for some very important purpose, but they would not tell him more. His brothers always told him he was too young still – he was 'little one' to them, to be ignored until he grew to be of some use.

When Mother appeared before them, he was always told to leave the room. She would only talk to his older brothers, yet She came to him in his dreams, cradling him, whispering about the power and greatness he was created to attain, but She wouldn't answer his questions.

And he had many of those – his tutors sharply chided him for his curiosity, 'ungrateful' they called him when he asked too many questions, 'blasphemer' and 'sacrilegious' when he said anything which was considered to go against the things he was taught , and he was always punished for it.

One didn't question Mother, ever, his oldest brother always told him very sternly and angrily. And he had learned to never speak freely with him due to it, after receiving harsh punishment from him. His oldest brother never restrained himself when it came to that.

He sometimes wondered why his oldest brother hadn't killed him already – he could see the hatred and veiled envy in his oldest brother's eyes whenever his brother gazed at him. It was because he was Mother's favorite and Chosen One, especially created when everyone thought their brethren wouldn't have any more additions.

He, merely a young one, was already more powerful than his three much older brothers and he would grow to be a better warrior than his second brother. His second brother had said so and he would know since he was also his trainer. With him, he could sometimes share his opinions and doubts but even his second brother had eventually stated that he was too curious for his own good, his ideas and questionings had a too rebellious streak to them.

Little Malekai's dark full lips quirked upwards happily. But his third brother was different. He liked him best of all. He was the most powerful of his three older brothers and he understood him and cared for him, no matter what everyone else said. However, he knew he couldn't fully confide in his third brother either. There was possessiveness and even jealousy in his third brother, as well. And if his brother became aware about the things he was doing, he shuddered to imagine how he would be punished for it.

Yet, there was someone who could truly understand him, he thought. He could see it in his eyes when he spied on him – eyes as curious, clever, and inquisitive as his own.

Malekai glanced around with his large violet eyes, fretfully biting on his pouty lower lip, but he armed himself with determination in the next instant, his scaled red wings ruffling excitedly at his back. He would be banished to some lower realm at the very least if anyone suspected about what he did, but he wanted to see him again.

He spread his small hands and it took him a single thought and a murmured chant to create the small portal – no one knew he had mastered that magic already, no one realized just how much his powers had already grown.

If Mother knew he had been doing this for quite some while, She herself would punish him severely – but She never had, and that had started to plague him with doubts. Wasn't She all-knowing? Wasn't She the Most Powerful, the Rightful? And it nagged him, because it became clear to him that She wasn't as omniscient as everyone in the realm claimed. He had never dared to voice that to anyone - to doubt the Maker led to be tortured and banished from existence as the worst of blasphemers.

Pushing those troubling thoughts to a side, a surge of excitement swept over him when he peered into the small portal he had created. He saw the White Citadel of the Light Realm, with its many beautiful towers shining brightly in the skies.

The first time he had created the portal and seen the White Citadel suspended among its world's clouds, he had been painfully blinded by all the brightness. He and his brethren were beings of depths, shadows and darkness, and he had felt physically ill at the mere glimpse of the Light Realm. But curiosity had made him swallow and disregard the pain he always felt when gazing at it.

He had always heard so much about his brethren's sworn enemies. The two realms had been at war since their very creation. He knew the other realm had a Maker of their own, their so-called 'Father', and that they claimed that his brethren's Mother was Evil, the Dark One, the Usurper. But his own kind thought that very same thing about the other realm's 'Father', so he had never quite known what to truly believe – his initial questionings about that very same matter was what had started troubles for him.

The portal soon showed him who he was looking for, and as usual, he felt his breath catch in his throat and his violet eyes widened with veiled fascination.

Gavril was flying, just like the first time he had seen him through the portal after hearing so much about their enemies' last and youngest child. He was a beautiful being, resplendent under the light of that realm's dual suns. His wings were so unlike his own: feathery and soft-looking, white dipped with golden and silver hues, splashed with light that glowed from every tip. Gavril was fair colored, his skin smooth and sun-kissed, his short hair a mass of golden curls, and the eyes were of a glowing color of light blue which could not be found anywhere in Malekai's realm.

It was in Gavril's eyes where he had seen the color blue for the very first time, and how it had mesmerized him - the strangeness of the hue, the beauty of it.

He knew he shouldn't think that Gavril was beautiful. His brethren never considered Gavril's kind to be in any way appealing, but he did, from the moment he had laid eyes on him – this had always made him feel uneasy and worried, thinking that there had to be something very wrong in him for him to find beauty where his kin didn't. He still thought that, but it didn't prevent him from secretly enjoying the sight.

Gavril glowed - he always glowed. Gavril was a being of pure light and something about him always compelled Malekai to simply stare with fascination.

Malekai's scaled wings twitched with anticipation the moment Gavril looked up in mid swoop. Gavril fluttered his feathery wings to remain suspended in the air, and then a wide, bright smile broke on his beautiful, glowing face.

Unsurprised, Malekai made himself scowl at the other child through the portal. Lately, Gavril liked to throw him smiles when he opened the portal to spy on him. Admittedly, he had started to make the portal a two-way channel for the very purpose of letting Gavril see him as well, but the smile bothered him, still.

The first time he had seen Gavril smiling, he had felt very disappointed; only fools smiled, only the feeble-minded had such warm and honest expressions on their faces. His brethren would never be seen with expressions like those.

But now it bothered him for different reasons. There was something appealing in it and he had often found himself dreaming about the smile, yearning to see one of his brothers smile so gently at him. Of course, that had never happened, but it irked him that he wanted to see smiles at all. It was all very strange – the things Gavril made him feel.

Suddenly, Gavril swooped forward, making them gaze at each other nearly face-to-face through the portal, and the child of light started making signs with his hands, his lips moving quickly and eagerly.

Malekai simply shook his head sharply. They had never spoken to each other and he didn't understand Gavril's hand signs. The portal was a mere window, no voices could come through. Though, he would soon apply himself to learn how to make portals which could allow the physical passage of bodies. Someday he would be able to truly communicate with him – he would see to that.

Little Malekai cocked his head to a side and regarded Gavril with a serious and suspicious expression on his small face. Inwardly, though, he felt a flutter of satisfaction and smugness. Gavril was just as interested in him as he was in him, from the very first moment. He had no doubt that Gavril must have heard much about him from his kin, just as he had heard much about Gavril from his brothers' hate-filled spews.

It had been the rumors about the unexpected creation of Gavril by the Light Maker which had initially prompted him to have a peek for himself. Gavril had been made several cycles before he himself had been created by Mother, but he had the suspicion that their situations were similar in their respective realms.

Both of them had brothers who ruled or commanded their respective realms, warriors and brethren; both of them had been belatedly created by their respective Makers; and both were supposed to surpass in power their own kin someday. Gavril had also been made for some great purpose, if rumors were to be believed, and he was expected to become a great, powerful warrior.

And needless to say, both of them were facing severe consequences if anyone knew they were curious about each other.

His second brother had once secretly told him that Mother had made him as a response to Gavril's creation. That he would someday meet Gavril, oppose him and be expected to defeat him, just like his three older brothers always warred against Gavril's kin.

It was clear to him that his second brother expected him to believe that he had been created for the sole purpose of being Gavril's nemesis and destroyer – yet, he couldn't quite believe that it was simply that.

He had no doubt that he was expected to destroy Gavril the moment he was old enough to be sent to battle the other realm, but his purpose had to be higher than simply getting rid of one of their rivals, even if Gavril would become their most powerful enemy. Surely he had a greater purpose – he was worth more than that!

Gavril was staring at him through the small portal, the glowing all-blue eyes wide with fascination as their gazes locked with each other's. Then, the beautiful being of light parted his lips open, a word breathing out.

Malekai could not hear it, but he knew it was his own name spilling out, and his eyes widened and his heart seemed to speed up.

"Salai, what are you… what is this? What have you done!"

A roar of enraged fury resounded in the cavernous chamber and little Malekai only had time to jump in startled fear, crying out the name of his attacker as he was enveloped by raging waves of fire.

Agony coursed through him as his third brother lurched forward and slammed him away from the portal, the magic instantly dispelling and Gavril's frantic and concerned image disappearing. Malekai lost sight of everything else as pain ravaged through him, without having time to change into his other form to defend himself, and everything faded into blackness.


Orion felt himself gasping with a sharp and deep intake of breath, his mind spinning with what he had seen, felt and thought, but he was plunged back into another recollection before he could gather back his wits.

He was among clouds - golden clouds in a place that seemed to have nothing but an infinite ocean them. He was in Gavril's realm, he knew - he could see the contours of the White Citadel sparkling and shinning on the horizon. Who knew how much time had passed – it could have been millennia– but in appearance he only seemed to be a few years older, ten years old at the very most.

And he was in pain and doing his best not to show it. Everything about the place - its brightness, the blinding light of suns, and the very air and puffs of clouds- felt painful to him, but Malekai was undaunted by it. It was always agony when he secretly visited Gavril and spent time in the Light Realm, far away from prying eyes and without anyone even suspecting. Nevertheless, he had learned to bear it since Gavril always refused to go to his realm even after he had taught him how to create the portal for it.

Malekai shot Gavril a furious glower when he dropped through the cloud once more, hearing Gavril's ringing laughter and amused chuckles.

"Try again," piped in Gavril in his childish voice, brightly smiling at him as he leisurely trailed a small hand over the cloud he was seated on, crossed legged, with his glowing feathery wings folded at his back and lounging amidst the cloud's soft puffs of condensed air as if it was the most comfortable of places.

"It cannot support me," groused out Malekai moodily, flying up after his fall and shooting a peevish glare at Gavril and at the damned cloud which refused to let him sit on it. And he had the suspicion that he was being made fun of, and that was not something he would put up with – he wasn't laughed at, ever. "It doesn't like me. Nothing in your realm likes me. It wants me gone."

Gavril rolled his sparkling all-blue eyes. "It cannot like or dislike you – it's a cloud!" He shot him a wide, dazzling smile and then patted his hand on a smooth spot of the cloud, right in front of him. "Come, try again. I'll help you this time, Salai."

Malekai shot him a suspicious glance – he wasn't going to make a fool of himself a second time- but when he saw a silver glow of light flowing from Gavril's hand and spreading through the damned puffy thing, all thoughts about being egged on to be mocked, vanished.

Batting his small, bright red, scaled wings, Malekai took flight up into the skies before he dove downwards again, aiming straight for the spot Gavril had indicated. With a whoop of triumph, even if he crashed on the cloud since he hadn't imagined just how solid Gavril had made it for him, he nonetheless grinned widely, displaying his sharp teeth, when he managed to settle on the cloud without going through it.

He drew his limbs close to his chest, warily eyeing the edge of the cloud, not wanting to teeter over like a clumsy fool, and neatly folded his small wings at his back, shooting Gavril a victorious grin and then staring at him with anticipation, while he did his best to ignore just how painful it was to remain there for long.

"You told me you would show me something interesting next time I came here."

Little Gavril widely smiled at him, nodding, and then peered at him with wide-eyed curiosity. "You said you had something to show me too."

"I do," said Malekai, the expression on his childish face one of supreme smugness. "But you go first. Mine is much more important so it should be last, so that you can better admire it."

"You cannot know if yours is more important than mine," quipped Gavril with an assured air of sagacity and wisdom, then looking at him with tinkling amusement. "You are always so vain and conceited-"

"Of course I am. Why shouldn't I be?" Malekai stared at him with an indignant scowl. "I am the most powerful of all and everyone knows it." His pouty lips quirked upwards and he added in a low and soft purring tone, knowing very well how it made Gavril feel uncomfortable, "And you like me just the way I am, don't you?"

Gavril shifted uneasily, frowning confusedly as the small feathered wings at his back fluttered, and then gazed at him accusingly. "I don't like it when you speak to me like that. I can tell that it's one of your ways to affect me, to… um…" He frowned once again, and then his expression brightened, apparently having found the word for it. "To manipulate me!" His glowing, all-blue eyes narrowed and he huffed as he added shortly, "And you should not play like that with me. I respect you so you should respect me, or we will not be friends anymore."

"Friends," muttered Malekai under his breath, tasting the word in his mouth and pondering about what it meant. Gavril had already explained the concept to him once, but he was still not quite sure if it was something that appealed to him – it didn't seem to him as if it was something useful.

Nevertheless, he waved Gavril's complaints away with a hand and said impatiently, "Just show me, Gavril! Don't make me wait – you know I cannot stand to be here for long."

Gavril's expression crumbled to one of contrite concern, before he nodded and brightly smiled at him. In a few moments, Gavril cupped his hands close together, an expression of concentration spreading through his luminous face, before he let out an elated cry as he opened his hands and a tiny creature came fluttering out.

Gasping, Malekai stared at it and murmured quietly, "What is it? What is it called?"

"I don't know," said Gavril happily, chuckling when the creature delicately flew around him. "It's from the new world. My brother brought it back-"

"That's forbidden!" snapped Malekai, glaring at him and then at the fluttering thing. "It goes against the laws to meddle with-"

"My kin hasn't meddled," interrupted Gavril solemnly, shooting him a frown. "We have observed from afar, just like your brethren has. My brother Micah simply brought back some specimens to study, nothing else. We are all trying to understand what is happening there, aren't we?"

Malekai's mood soured, knowing that what he wanted to show had lost some of its value. Though, he thought to himself smugly, perhaps not its importance. And truly, if someone had meddled, it had been him, unbeknownst to everyone. But he would soon disclose it to Gavril and bask in the admiration it would produce. Yes, he had very important matters to reveal.

He closely eyed the tiny creature again. The thing had delicate thin wings, with designs in blue and green, and he would have admired it if it wasn't for Gavril's current expression – his 'friend' was looking at the thing with fondness and fascination, and he simply didn't like that. Gavril could only look that way at him, not at anything or anyone else.

When the tiny, winged creature posed itself on Gavril's nose, making his friend chuckle softly, Malekai scowled and instantly shot out a hand, capturing it.

He felt the thing fluttering frantically inside his fist and he grinned with satisfaction when he tightened his dark and clawed hand, hearing a crunching sound coming from within and knowing he had killed it.

With a gasp, and looking mightily angered, Gavril grasped Malekai's hand and forcefully peeled the fingers away, making the dead, tiny creature crumble down on the cloud. "Life is precious, Salai - it is to be cherished not destroyed!"

With a thunderous expression on his face and after shooting him a very furious and scolding glare, Gavril instantly cradled the creature in his small hands, rocking it gently as a bright white glow encompassed it. A second later, the thing was alive again, fluttering from Gavril's extended palms.

"If you're going to behave like this, I won't show you anything else," said Gavril curtly, turning his face away as he allowed the tiny creature to take flight.

With a mutinous scowl, Malekai swallowed his miffed anger and muttered grudgingly, "I won't do it again."

Gavril shot him a suspicious and scrutinizing glance, before his expression relaxed and a smile broke on his beautiful face. "I forgive you, then." His eyes shone with excitement as he brought his hands together once more, light soon glowing from them as something started to form within. "I've been practicing with my Gift and I've finally been successful. It's so easy for me now, and I think only you can understand what it means to me, since your Maker gave you the same ability as mine did from the moment She made you."

Malekai started at him with puzzlement and curiosity, and his breath soon hitched in his throat when Gavril opened his palms, a creature slightly larger than the last one being revealed before his eyes. But it was completely different from the other: it glowed and had translucent wings, with a lithe body, tiny breasts, arms and legs, a beautiful face and long, shiny silver hair.

"It's like one of your females – just… tiny," breathed out Malekai, intently staring at it as it started strutting along Gavril's fingers, as if basking in their admiration as she swayed her tiny hips and gave them coy glances. "What is its purpose?"

"Purpose?" said Gavril, shaking his head with amusement yet being careful of not unsettling the creature. "She has none other than bringing beauty and joy wherever she is."

Malekai scoffed scornfully. "Then she's useless."

However, he couldn't suppress the excitement he felt. Gavril had just proven that he had mastered the Gift of Creation – and it was true that both of them had been born with it, one of the many similarities they had discovered between them. Yes, they were similar in many ways, just as they were opposites in many others, having been created like that on purpose by their respective Makers. They were fated to be each other's nemesis, after all.

Nonetheless, it was still very significant. In that respect, they were special and unique among their respective kin. He himself was envied for it, since among his brethren, only his third brother was temporarily bestowed the Gift of Creation by their Mother from time to time and for very concrete purposes. And he knew that one of Gavril's kin, the brother Gavril loved the most, was also chosen by their so-called Father to bear the ability. But only Gavril and him had it permanently since birth.

"Now it's my turn to show you what I have done," said Malekai exultantly in his high-pitched childish voice, without being able to contain himself any longer. "I have gone several steps beyond what you have allowed yourself to do." He shot him a smug grin filled with tiny sharp teeth. "I do not consider myself to be bound by the rules imposed on us. I do not fear my Maker's retribution as you do yours."

Gavril tensed and eyed him warily. "You haven't done anything forbidden, have you?" He gestured at the small female creature which was now displaying herself as she elegantly flew around his shoulders. "I created her in my realm. I haven't disrupted-"

"I have," whispered Malekai, his violet eyes sparkling with rebellious mischief and a stubborn conviction in his own right to do anything he pleased. "I've broken many rules, and no one suspects me, not even my Mother."

He didn't wait a second longer and instantly patted his tunic until he reached a pocket, swiftly yet carefully taking out the creature that had been slumbering in it. Little Malekai settled her on his lap, caressing her smooth scales and issuing a hissing sound from his lips to awake her.

He proudly smiled at the creature the moment she opened her slitted yellow eyes and hissed back at him as she coiled herself around his wrist, seeking warmth and comfort.

Then he glanced up at Gavril and widely grinned as he informed him smugly, "She is my creation-"

"You lie! You didn't make that," burst out Gavril accusingly, then looking uneasy as well as apprehensive, his eyes round as he piercingly stared at the creature. "The last time my kin observed the new world, I saw those creatures there-"

"How do you think they got there?" interrupted Malekai pointedly, before he glanced down at his creation with deep satisfaction showing on his face and then puffed out his small chest proudly. "You know I can make portals to go wherever I like. I went to the new world – I wanted to see it for myself, no matter if it's prohibited." He shot Gavril a glance and continued in a low, conspiratorial tone of voice, "I saw some creatures with scales, like I have, but they aren't intelligent, just merely driven by instincts. I got the idea from observing those creatures and I made her in their image, just with a smarter mind and without unnecessary limbs. To move, she can slither. I can show you!"

His face glowed with pride and he started hissing again, but Gavril instantly interrupted him, staring at him wide-eyed and looking more flustered and anxious with each passing second. "You speak to her?"

"More or less," replied Malekai, a sharp grin spreading on his full lips. "I created her and a male, and they have already bred but it's only her that I brought back to live with me in my realm – no one knows, of course. I keep her hidden. But I made her kind to be clever and astute, and I can mimic the sounds she makes and we're beginning to understand each other. I'm teaching her words, and when I send her back to the new world, she will teach her offspring." He widely smiled at him. "She calls me 'father'. And that's what I am-"

"You've gone too far!" gasped out Gavril, staring at him as if he had never seen him before. "If your Maker discovered what you have done-"

"But She hasn't," snapped Malekai sharply, piercing him with narrowed eyes. "And you won't tell yours." Then he shot him a sharp-toothed grin, and whispered conspiratorially as he leaned forward to be face-to-face with him, "And I have done much more than simply creating a new kind. I have… 'helped' the sentient primitive beings that live there. You know of whom I speak – those who have your kin and mine so flummoxed and the Makers so wary. Those ugly ones who have hair all over their bodies, who hunt and live in caves, those who have started to communicate like this-"

Malekai made guttural noises with his throat and then paused to bring up a hand, flames instantly erupting, his violet eyes gleaming as he continued in his high-pitched voice, "Those who have learned how to make fire with the tools they had at their disposal. It was I who taught one of them, Gavril!" He chuckled and shot him a toothy, impish grin. "And while your kin suspects that one of my brothers did it, and while my brethren is accusing yours of having given those primitive creatures forbidden knowledge, no one suspects that it was little me who was behind it all along!"

Gavril reeled backwards, his expression appalled, his face pale and aghast. Tense silence spread between them, and Malekai tilted his head to a side, looking at him without clearly understanding what his friend was so fretful about.

At last, Gavril fixedly stared at him and murmured quietly, "Why? Why have you done these things?" He gazed at him frantically, the expression on his childish face then growing angry. "For what reason! I know there must be an ulterior motive, you always have one. And I cannot understand why you've done it unless you tell me. You have pitched us all into-"

"Why shouldn't I have done those things?" demanded Malekai with miffed irritation and disappointment at how his friend was reacting.

Gavril was supposed to admire him, not scold him. With an angry pout on his lips, he glared at his friend as he continued petting the creature coiled around his wrist, who was contently hissing under his caresses. Well, at least someone appreciated him, as was his due.

"Because it's forbidden to interfere, for good reasons you already know about, and because you're not a Maker, Salai," said Gavril sharply, his gossamer, feathery wings fluttering anxiously and his expression full of misgivings. "I know you have no proper respect for your Maker or mine. I know you like to think of yourself as their equal, but you are not! You have interfered with life there, and the consequences could be catastrophic-"

Malekai scoffed unconcernedly. "Catastrophic for who?"

"For all of us!" snapped Gavril angrily, his small hands clenching into fists.

Malekai's violet eyes narrowed to slits, and it was then when he decided not to tell the full truth. How could he? He couldn't even explain it to himself, yet. So how could he make Gavril understand the feeling he had every time he visited the new world, unseen and undetected. How could he explain the suspicions that simmered in his mind? Who would believe him? He still couldn't quite believe it himself. But he knew he wasn't wrong. Nevertheless, he would keep it a secret for a while longer.

With annoyance flickering across his face, Malekai said with a petulant tone of voice, "I can do whatever I like. Mother will send me there when I'm a bit older – She told me." His expression suddenly brightened with heart-felt joy and he added exultantly, "And your Maker will surely send you too if I'm there, Gavril! We're supposed to have been made to fight each other, right?"

His small, scaled red wings fluttered excitedly as he crouched forward, pushing his pet creature to a side to brush his nose with Gavril's, peering into his eyes. "We will be by ourselves. They won't be able to control us there – we will truly be able to do anything we like!" His violet eyes gleamed brightly as he widely grinned at his friend. "It will be our playground – just you and I!"

"Our playground?" breathed out Gavril, his glowing all-blue eyes widening as the frown on his face cleared to become an expression of wonder and cheerful ponderings. "Just you and I?"

Little Malekai widely grinned and happily nodded at him repeatedly, a promise on his face.


Abruptly, Orion felt himself being yanked away, as words and perceptions echoed in his awareness. The 'new world'… the butterfly... the fairy Gavril created… the snake… all the implications roared in Orion's mind like thundering tempests as he was pitched into another recollection.

He was older now, he saw; a teen by muggle standards, though he knew his age could be anything from hundreds of years to millennia.

He was much taller than before, muscled, his features more refined and marked, but he still looked young; his face, though it had grown in handsomeness, was still creature-like. He had a smattering of scales along his arms and down his chest, the little horns at the side of his head had grown and looked intimidating. They had stripes now, and his wings were much larger; several feet long with the scales on them having darkened in color, their hues now gradually going from burgundy crimson to the purest of blacks. The markings on his dark skin, like tribal symbols, were more visible along his toned muscles.

And he was in pain, with his scaled wings lying by his sides, his back torn with many gashes and what looked like large, deep bite marks. He was lying on his stomach on a richly carpeted floor, amongst what seemed to be large and comfortable cushions. He was in his rooms, in his realm, he somehow knew – and his chambers looked utterly alien as well as eerily familiar.

With part of his awareness clinging to his own mind and identity, Orion thought to himself that the vast, cavernous, and shadowy room had an Arabian quality to it. Everything was crimson, violet, purple or black, no greens or blues could be found, but other than that, the decorations could certainly be likened to an Arab-like style, with drapes and veils hanging from the ceiling, with pillows, cushions and carpets spread throughout the floor instead of having a bed or chairs, with the walls embedded with colorful tiles in designs which looked very much like those he had seen in one of Calypso's muggle books about religions. The strange curled symbols did look somewhat similar to Sanskrit, Hebrew or Arabian letters.

Furthermore, the language in which Malekai and Gavril had spoken in the previous memory, though he had understood it as if it had been modern-day English –undoubtedly a comprehension property imbued into the water by the Holy Grail- had the echoes of accents of ancient muggle tongues that could be likened to some Old Arabic language or other.

All of it pointed towards Malekai's kind having influenced early muggle civilizations at some point – what else could it be, if not that?

Nevertheless, even though he had an increasing comprehension of what it all meant, Orion didn't have much opportunity to muse further about it since he was once more inexorably pulled into Malekai's mind of that memory.

He was tired, exhausted, groaning in pain, but also excited. Recently, he had been given his first mission. Mother herself had appeared before him to tell him what She wanted him to do and had, accordingly, given him the tools for it. He was proud of himself, as well as mesmerized, befuddled, and troubled by the things he had discovered so far.

Suddenly, his breath hitched in his throat when a sphere of light blazed before his eyes, moments before a figure came stumbling out of a portal.

Malekai sniggered under his breath as Gavril staggered while attempting to catch his equilibrium. He was shot a miffed glance, yet Gavril's expression changed to one of concern when he caught sight of Malekai's state.

Gavril had grown too; still ethereally beautiful, he was much taller than before, all long legs and lithe toned muscles, his sun-kissed skin glowed with an inner light of its own, his white feathery wings with splashes of silver and golden hues were much larger but just as entrancing, like gossamer wings made of sunlight. What stood out the most were the markings on Gavril's smooth forehead – a swirling design of silver lines which shone, and which, Orion instinctually knew, were a mark of Gavril's position and importance among his kind. Gavril had earned them.

"Why were you punished this time?" murmured Gavril as he crouched by Malekai's side, eyeing the torn back with a grimace on his beautiful, glowing face.

Malekai scoffed indifferently. He hadn't spoken a word that could be considered 'blasphemous' in many cycles, yet that day he had been too audacious and arrogant and he had reaped the consequences for it. "Pain makes you stronger, Salai," his third brother had said to him the moment he had stopped lashing at his back with cords of fire. And Malekai understood and agreed. It was nothing, though he knew his friend didn't like it or understood.

Gavril had once told him that his own kind never meted out physical punishment. Malekai's violet eyes had widened at that. Apparently, Gavril's kind did other things. They took Gavril's music away from him when Gavril had to be disciplined. This had befuddled Malekai even more, and he had only understood what it meant when Gavril had explained to him the concept of music and when he had softly sung to him.

Malekai had never thought such things existed. It had never occurred to him that voices could be used to create pleasing sounds and things called 'melodies' just for the enjoyment and pleasure of others. Gavril had been just as flummoxed when he realized that music, singing and dancing could not be found in Malekai's realm. Gavril couldn't imagine an existence without enjoying such 'arts' – as Gavril called them – and he had even tried to teach Malekai how to dance.

However, when he had thought that it was all a ploy to mock and make fun of him, Malekai had almost halted his bumbling attempts at following Gavril's fluid dancing steps. Yet he had soon seen that Gavril sincerely wanted to share that with him, that it was not a rouse of any kind, and he had ended enjoying himself, much to his own amazement. A powerful warrior like himself shouldn't find pleasure in such frivolities, he knew that. But to his own concern and perplexity, he always secretly ended up enjoying everything Gavril taught him.

Malekai frowned at his own thoughts and guardedly gazed at Gavril's worried face. It was strange, this thing they had between them.

Since the day when his third brother had found him staring at Gavril through the portal, they had never been caught again. Malekai had gone to considerable efforts and plots to always seek out Gavril without anyone having any cause for suspicion – not his own brethren or Gavril's.

That had been many cycles ago, and since the time when he had discovered how to use portal magic to travel to Gavril's realm and appear into his rooms, they had become something Gavril continually termed as 'friends'.

It was another thing that had been explained to him a long time ago and Malekai still, presently, wasn't too sure he liked the idea of it. What was the point of seeking companionship from another if it wasn't for the pleasures of the flesh or to satiate hunger? He had his brothers and he had tutors, and he could go to them whenever he felt the need for the things they could respectively give him. But he had long ago relented and allowed himself to try this 'friendship' thing Gavril hailed so much.

Malekai suddenly tensed when he felt Gavril's feather-like touch on the wounds at his back, and he stretched his neck to have a better angle in which to stare at his friend.

He was pierced by swirling blue eyes as Gavril said quietly, "I can heal you, if you allow me. This you know, Salai."

Malekai regarded him with half-lidded eyes, which then slightly narrowed. Yes, Gavril could use his magic on him, as well as touch him without both of them feeling extreme pain. It was one of the first things they had discovered the day he had mastered the travelling portal and had stumbled out of it and into Gavril's rooms in the White Citadel.

They had accidently brushed hands and both of them had jumped, expecting to feel ravaging fire burning them. But they hadn't writhed in pain. Nothing had happened at all, except a strange tingling sensation, and they had gazed at each other with wonderment.

It was unprecedented, after all. Their kinds simply couldn't bear each other's touch – fact that was vastly exploited when their respective realms fought in battle. But Malekai and Gavril didn't suffer that with one another and it still puzzled them. Of course, they had never dared breathe a word about it to anyone, since no one knew they saw each other. Thus, they couldn't ask and they had no explanation for it.

But Malekai had his suspicions and none of them pleased him.

He had thought, at first, that Gavril had been ordered to get close to him and he had expected to be attacked and betrayed every time they met in secret. It had never happened so far and he had realized one day that there was no malicious guile in his friend.

Gavril was a strange being – innocent still in areas in which Malekai hadn't been in a long time; honest, gentle and sincere to a degree that always stumped Malekai; yet also sharp witted, brilliantly clever, deeply curious and questioning, and sly, just like him.

They were complete opposites in many aspects, but their minds were alike - they understood each other as no one else did. Gavril was the only being with whom Malekai could speak openly without worrying about being mocked, disregarded or punished for his thoughts.

They both shared the same inquisitive and curious nature which made them seek answers for themselves when they were not satisfied with those given by others. 'Free-minded' Gavril had once called them, widely smiling at him with a mischievous glint in his strange yet so beautifully colored eyes.

Malekai's violet eyes shuttered closed and he repressed a groan when he felt Gavril's fingertips brushing along one of his spread wings. He inwardly wondered what his friend thought he was doing.

The scales of his wings could be as hard as stone, perfect to be used as shields in battle, or they could be as sharp as blades, but they also turned soft and sensitive when he was relaxed, like at that very moment. Gavril's feathery touch was too pleasant and troublesome – spikes of arousal were starting to flash along Malekai's wings, trailing down and burning in his groin.

And Gavril knew very well what he was causing; Malekai had once explained it to him. Though, his friend had told him quite dismissively that he didn't feel those kinds of yearnings. But Malekai knew Gavril had lied. Perhaps Gavril's kind truly never felt primal arousal, but Gavril sure did. Malekai was certain about that, even if his friend had never admitted it out loud or to himself.

Malekai had seen the puzzled desire and veiled longing in Gavril's eyes when he gazed at him. It was always there, an unspoken tension between them, from the very first time they had touched each other's wings, marveling at the differences and becoming more fascinated with one another. He knew Gavril had always been confused by it, but he also knew that his friend, at some point, had come to realize what those yearnings were all about.

However, the matter had never been spoken about between them and he had never sought to satisfy his cravings with Gavril. He knew his friend was innocent in the ways of the flesh and that his kind sought only communion and connection from love-making, but his and his brethren's nature was a different one entirely and Gavril was well aware of it.

"Or you could heal yourself if you had the energy for it," added Gavril in a soft whisper, intensely boring his eyes into his, "if you feed from me."

Malekai remained silent and made his scaled wings flutter slightly, dislodging Gavril's caressing hand from them. He pierced him with his violet gaze for a moment and then looked away from the tempting expression on his friend's face, frowning as he inwardly mused about what his friend was up to.

"You are called the Seducer, aren't you? Quite a fame you have earned since last we saw each other," said Gavril, a challenging and taunting ring in his voice as he tilted his head to a side and expectantly smiled at him. "Perhaps I want to experience it myself."

"I am also called the Deceiver," said Malekai with a warning tone as he slowly rolled to a side, putting distance between them, leaving Gavril crouched on the cushions.

Gavril chuckled under his breath, shaking his head and making his golden curls bob in the air. Malekai felt a warm tingle rush down his body as his friend stretched himself, displaying the smooth column of his long neck and his glowing sun-kissed skin. Gavril was tantalizingly exposing himself, and it made Malekai's eyes narrow to slits with suspicion.

"Being called the Seducer and Deceiver is a form of exaltation and praise from your kind," pointed out Gavril calmly. "In the same way that it would be from mine if you were called a good and noble soul."

"Which I'm not," stated Malekai sharply.

Gavril regarded him with an amused gleam in his glowing all-blue eyes. "Ah, but I think you are."

"Then you're a fool. It's not in my nature." Malekai stretched his full lips into a grin, making his sharp teeth peek out to remind him precisely what he meant. "You know not what you are offering. I would drink your blood, I would tear pieces of your flesh and devour them, and I would further feed as much from the pain I would cause you as from the pleasure I would give you."

A shiver visibly ran down Gavril's frame, but still the being of light merely smiled at him. "I know. But I could easily heal myself."

Malekai regarded him closely for an instant and then a low, rumbling laughter erupted from his throat as he shook his head. He languidly leaned back on the cushions, propping himself up with his elbows as he gazed at him with half-lidded eyes.

"You are… tempting," he said slowly, carefully measuring his words. "But I've never been fooled by the expression of innocence you always wear or by your beauty. I know you have a cunning mind behind it all, and I wonder what your true motives are by offering yourself to me." His violet eyes narrowed to slits and he added sharply, "Never has one of my kind taken pleasure or fed from one of yours and I'm not willing to test what would happen if we did."

Gavril shot him a wide, bright smile. "You think I'm beautiful, then?"

"You are appealing to the sense," said Malekai offhandedly, as he waved the tip of one of his wings in a dismissive gesture.

"To your senses, Salai," remarked Gavril pointedly, his smile widening and becoming dazzling, as the inner glow of his sun-kissed skin seemed to increase. "I know that none of your brethren finds me alluring in any way. Only you do." He lowered his voice and added softly, "And I think you're beautiful too."

"Of course you do. Everyone does," Malekai scoffed impassively, burrowing against the cushions at his back, making himself comfortable and mindful of his wounds as he pretended to be utterly uninterested in the turn in the conversation.

"Then we agree. We're both interested in each other that way. So… allow me, I want to taste you," murmured Gavril as he approached him on hands and knees, making his way in between Malekai's splayed legs as his gaze fixed on Malekai's full lips.

Swiftly, Malekai stopped him by laying a hand on his shoulder. "No."

"What do you fear?" demanded Gavril, a frustrated expression sweeping across his face as he halted, crossing his legs to sit face-to-face with him. "You will not kill me even if you lose control when you feed from me, just like I cannot truly kill you. Our kinds are immortal."

"We are immortal in soul and body," interjected Malekai sternly, heated anger lacing his voice,"but that which has been given by our respective Makers can just as easily be taken away."

Gavril stared at him with a startled expression on his face, and Malekai had to bite his black tongue to prevent himself from saying anything more. How could he explain to his friend the reason for his fury? He had to tread carefully. There was much he wanted to tell Gavril – it would be his last chance for it, before he left. But he had to decide carefully when would be the most appropriate moment to disclose everything that had happened to him, everything he had seen and everything he now understood.

Malekai cleared his throat and waved a hand dismissively. "Whatever the reason for our ability to touch each other, I will not play into Their hands." His eyes narrowed to slits as he added curtly, "You might like to follow your so-called Father in everything but I am not my Mother's pawn, no matter if She believes that I am."

Staring at him with an alarmed expression on his face, Gavril took a sharp intake of breath. "Our kinds are Their children, respectively. Their first and most favored. We are the Firstborns. We are not pawns-"

Malekai interrupted him with a loud scoff. "Believe what you want. I will not argue the matter with you. You already know what I think."

"But the Makers-"

"It is not love They feel for their creations," hissed out Malekai angrily, his expression becoming stony and hard as he clutched one of Gavril's forearms and sunk his claws into it, to make him truly pay attention to what he was saying, "no matter how much your kind and my brethren like to delude themselves. The Makers have no emotions or feelings, Gavril. Why can no one realize this but me? We are tools, and They need us as much as we need Them. You all think too much of the Makers!"

Gavril winced as the nails sank into his flesh, but he didn't pull away from Malekai's clutch. He simply looked disturbed and uneasy as he shook his head and murmured quietly, "You should not say these things-"

"I say them only to you," interrupted Malekai sharply, slowly releasing his friend's arm. Then he lidded his eyes half closed as he pleasantly leaned further back into the mountain of cushions. "I do not like to be used. Do you understand now why I won't ever feed from you?"

"No, I don't," snapped Gavril shortly, a stubborn and mutinous expression sweeping across his beautiful face. "We were created to be each other's nemesis and destroyer but we can touch one another. I don't care if it's part of some plot, not even if it's your Maker or my Maker's doing. I simply want to try it. I want to experience it and know what happens."

He paused and then his expression hardened as he bit out, "And it's not as if it would be your first time, is it? You have no problems in sharing yourself with your brothers, Salai. And everyone knows that you're your third brother's favorite, that he constantly seeks you out to feed from you and that you allow it to happen. Your third brother satiates all his hungers with you. He uses you -"

"Not that again," interrupted Malekai with an impatient groan, the folded wings at his back fluttering with annoyance. "I've already explained how it is between my brothers and I. My brethren is not like yours. We function differently."

It was always a point of contention between them, but he had already explained it at length several times. Gavril thought that his physical union with any of his brother was some sort of abomination, that brothers shouldn't lie together or feed from each other. And he knew that there were many taboos in that respect within Gavril's kind. But Malekai's brethren worked differently.

Their females were prized and treasured, and only those males chosen by Mother were allowed to lie with them in order to procreate. And Mother usually only allowed his second or third brother to do so when their numbers needed to be increased. For everything else, to satiate lust and hunger, they could only turn to other males. Females were life-givers and thus were treated delicately; it was forbidden to satiate primal needs with them.

Therefore, Malekai could and had slept with as many males of his kind as he pleased but he usually resorted to his third brother more often than not. It was his third brother who had taken him under his wings, quite literally, and who had first showed him how to feed and all the intricacies of matters of the flesh when he had been a child.

Thus, it was his third brother who knew him best in intimacy and who knew exactly what to do to him to make him feel mindless pleasure. None other could compare. And only Malekai had learned and grown to withstand and find pleasure in the way his third brother liked to feed – not many others could survive it physically intact, not many could quickly heal from the brutality of it or find it as pleasurable. Therefore, he and his third brother were each other's favorites when they wanted to feed and needed to satiate their lusts and all their hungers.

However, no matter how much he explained it, Gavril still despised Malekai's third brother for it, for having taken Malekai when he had supposedly been too young for it, for having allegedly taken advantage of Malekai and whatnot.

It was true that Malekai had been young, even for his own brethren's standards, when his third brother had taken him and showed him the arts of carnal pleasure. But in that aspect, as had happened with the development of his powers, he had matured more quickly than any other of his kind.

He had felt the hungers at a young age, and when others had sensed that he had become physically prepared for it, he had been sought out by many. His third brother had been his teacher, and his other two older brothers had soon become interested in him after that. It was only when his body had matured, no matter if he had still been a child age-wise, that his three brothers had truly started paying attention to him – to use his body, to feed from him.

And Malekai had quickly learned the power it gave him over them. When that realization had struck him - that he was more tantalizing than any of his kind, that his beauty and attractiveness was unparalleled and that many wanted to gain his favor in order to partake of his body- he had become aware that it was a tool that he could use for his own benefit. Thus, he chose whom to lie with and he cajoled favors out of them in return. He became unmatched in matters of the flesh, surpassing his own brothers in pleasure-giving, and he subtlety yielded it like a weapon.

When his fame increased throughout his realm, as the Seducer and Deceiver, it only made many others of his brethren flock to him even more, which hadn't pleased any of his brothers, especially his third one, but which had made Malekai attain even a greater hold over his kind. He was wanted by all, and he fully used it to his advantage.

However, Gavril didn't seem to understand it. To begin with, Gavril had the idea that ties of brotherhood equated to a prohibition of having any physical intimacy between kin, but Malekai didn't see it that way. He had three brothers because the four of them had come from the same female, but it was Mother who had directly created them in the womb of that female. They hadn't been made out of a pairing, but as Mother's direct children. It was what made them special and set them above the others. All others of his kind had come out from pairings chosen by Mother.

Nevertheless, all of his brethren were, ultimately, Mother's children. They were all brothers and sisters even if they didn't come from the same female, even if there was no blood tie between them. That he shared the same blood as his three brothers meant little to Malekai other than his bond with them was stronger than his bond with the rest of his brethren, and that when he fed from their blood and flesh, and the same was done to him by his brothers, it felt more potent and exquisitely satisfying than with any other male of his brethren.

He knew that things were different in Gavril's realm. Their kind didn't feel lust or any type of carnal hunger, they didn't need to physically satiate anything in order to subsist, they didn't need to feed from each other. They fed from the plants they grew, they fed from the air they breathed and from the light of their suns.

They had the freedom to lay with any females of their kind when they felt the need to procreate and they had the free-will to choose when and with whom. Their Maker didn't control them much in that, and the carnal unions between pairs was one in which they gained no physical pleasure but an emotional one – to them, it was a communion between minds and souls.

"Your third brother hurts you intentionally," said Gavril sharply with a stony expression on his face, pulling Malekai out of his musings. "He's jealous of you – of your brethren's regard for you, of your superior powers and of your Maker's preference for you. Just like your other brothers are also jealous of you."

He paused and then gestured towards Malekai's torn back, his eyes narrowing with anger. "It was your third brother who punished you, wasn't it? He's always the one who punishes you and it's because he enjoys doing it. Don't you see that he despises you? That's why he does the things he does to you-"

"He's jealous of me, yes," interrupted Malekai dismissively, covertly shifting to a side so that Gavril couldn't see the wounds on his back any longer. They were slowly knitting shut already, and though it was mildly painful, nothing of it was revealed on his face as he merely rubbed his back against the cushions to soothe the uncomfortable twitching. "And for good reason too, since he was Mother's favorite before I came along. And it wouldn't surprise me to know that he truly hates me." His lips tugged upwards and he shot his friend a sharp-toothed grin. "But as much as he hates me, he loves me too."

" 'Love'?" said Gavril sharply, pinning him with his all-blue gaze. "That was a notion I had to explain to you and you told me that your kind doesn't feel any emotion like that. Now you're saying that your brother does, for you-"

"We feel… an affection of sorts for each other," snapped Malekai impatiently, his voice nearly coming out as a growl from the depths of his chest. "That's as much as I could hope for or desire." His lips curled into a broad, smug smirk. "Besides, he had a good reason for meting out punishment today."

"Which is?" demanded Gavril, looking as if no possible reason could justify what had been done to his friend.

Malekai's self-satisfied smirk widened and he placidly stretched out on his cushions, his violet eyes glimmering. "Mother made a decision and my third brother wasn't happy with it. He expected to be chosen but instead, I was. I'm being sent out on a mission. My first one – finally. I'm leaving today."

"Today?" muttered Gavril, a crestfallen expression sweeping over his ethereal face. "Where to?" His all-blue eyes widened as if he had been struck by a realization, and he added in an agitated whisper, "Is it to the new world?"

Malekai sharply grinned at him. "It is."

"Why is your Maker sending you?" murmured Gavril, his folded wings fluttering anxiously as he searchingly gazed at him. "You are still too young, just a child like I am-"

"I haven't been a child in a long time," quipped Malekai, letting out a short bout of amused, rumbling laughter.

"You know what I mean," interjected Gavril shortly, his usually bright face clouding with both anger and concern.

Abruptly, a serious expression spread on Malekai's features and he leaned forward to pierce his friend with an intense gaze. "I'm being sent because Mother has informed me that it is my new purpose." He cocked his head to a side as he regarded his friend pensively. "Our kinds are not battling each other to see who takes it first. We always do when a world is found in which life can thrive."

Malekai paused and then waved a hand dismissively and continued in a bored tone of voice, "It's always the same. My kind battles yours and the victor claims the world for their Maker, then the Maker sends its chosen one to the world conquered with the temporary powers of Creation. And it's usually your brother Micah who is chosen by your Maker and my third brother who is chosen by my Mother."

He rolled his eyes and scoffed, before he added in a drone-like tone of voice, "The victors' chosen one goes to the world claimed by his brethren and he creates beings tied and bounded to the Maker and he populates that world with them, so that the Maker can entrench part of itself in the new world, in the new ream created, and thus grow and become more powerful. And all of that is because the Makers, respectively, want to grow strong enough to annihilate the other, once and for all. That's why we fight and conquer worlds, Gavril, to see which brethren triumphs and which Maker remains in existence to dominate it all."

He shot a sharp-toothed grin at Gavril and his violet eyes gleamed as he finally added softly, "But this new world that has been found is different, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," murmured Gavril quietly, looking worried and disturbed. "I know your kind has been watching it for a long time just like mine has, and we don't know what happened there. We don't know how it's possible."

Malekai gravely nodded at him. "And we are not battling over it. The Makers are acting very strangely. They are wary. My Mother is not swooping into it as She usually does when a new world is found and your Father isn't either." He sharply smiled at him and leaned forward, nuzzling his nose against Gavril's as he locked gazes with him and murmured tantalizingly, "Doesn't it make you wonder why?"

"What do you suspect?" whispered Gavril, his eyes crossing as he focused his gaze on Malekai's swirling violet eyes. His luminous blue gaze then dropped to Malekai's lips, almost brushing with his, but then he pulled away and shifted awkwardly on the cushions he was seated on. A calm expression shuttered down on his face, and he said stoically, "Tell me."

Malekai purposely made a show of licking his lips, enjoying the effect he had on his official nemesis and secret friend. No matter how much he truly wanted to, he would never feed from Gavril, but it didn't mean that he couldn't play with his friend and rouse in him yearnings that shouldn't be there.

He shot Gavril a knowing smirk, but then regained seriousness and said curtly, "I think the Makers fear what is happening there. Life sparked in a world and neither of the Makers had anything to do with it. Your brethren has observed all that has happened there, just like my brothers and I have."

Malekai's lips stretched into a sharp-toothed grin, and he added softly, a gleam of excitement in his eyes, "Life burbled out from those vast expanses of liquid - little creatures creeping out and changing through time, growing limbs, growing instincts and then sparks of intelligence. Then big creatures roaming about for a while before the world's own changing climate wiped them out, and then the short, furry creatures growing taller, becoming cleverer, losing some body hair and learning to stand on two legs. And now, they are very much like us, physically, are they not?"

He spread out a hand and splayed out his fingers, as he pierced Gavril with his gaze. "They are two legged, two armed, with hands, fingers and thumbs. Don't you think it's strange that they resemble us so much?"

"I do," muttered Gavril, frowning deeply. "And you taught them how to make fire, many cycles ago. It must be the Fates smiling upon you that no one has discovered that yet-"

"Fates have nothing to do with it. I cover my tracks well," interrupted Malekai with an imperious wave of his hand. His lips curved into a smug, devious and sharp smile. "And I've gone to great lengths to make my brethren and my Mother believe that I'm staunchly loyal to them, as I'm supposed to be."

Gavril stared at him with a deep frown, his expression both puzzled and inquiring, but Malekai didn't give him any chance to start questioning him about his loyalties and plans. That would come later.

Malekai pinned him with his gaze, as he continued in a voice laced with satisfaction, "Those creatures have created primitive languages of their own. Now they have huts and tribes. They already even have superstitious beliefs about 'higher powers'. Ask yourself, what could be behind it all?" He widely grinned and then leaned forward, brushing his cheek against Gavril's as he breathed into his ear, "I'll tell you what it is. There's a new little Maker, my friend, and my Mother and your Father fear It, as anyone would fear an unknown and very unexpected new rival."

Gavril jerked backwards to stare at him with widening eyes as he gasped out, "That is not possible."

"Why not?" scoffed out Malekai irreverently, leaning back and plopping down on his cushions, bringing forward one of his wings to scratch an itchy scale with one of his claws. "Just because we have been told that Mother and Father are the origin of everything? That They are self-creations, coming out of nothingness. That at the very beginning, they battled and clashed, and due to it, they spewed out into the void in waves of condensed energy which became mass and blasted off rocks which became worlds, stars, and suns?"

He rubbed his wing once more and then released it, groaning with pleasure when the itching had abated and his scales fluttered. Satisfied and lazily relaxed, he then waved a hand dismissively and added with a grunt, "Oh, I do not doubt most of it is true. They are the cause of everything. But I do think that They are not the only ones of their kind – not anymore."

Gavril stared at him in silence, his expression troubled and dismayed, his folded wings shifting with anxiousness. "How can you possibly know that?"

"Because I never stopped visiting the new world," said Malekai nonchalantly, toothily grinning at him as he comfortably lounged on a pile of puffy cushions.

"You promised you wouldn't!" shouted Gavril, shooting out his hands to grab Malekai's shoulders, shaking him in anger and dislodging Malekai from the cozy little nest of cushions he had arranged for himself. "I made you promise for your own safety-"

"I never had any intention of keeping the promise I made to you!" snapped Malekai caustically, scowling as he wrenched free from Gavril's grasp. He shot him a dark glare as he worked on piling and puffing his cushions once more, huffing with indignation that his physical comfort had been so mindlessly disrupted. "Did you truly expect that after I had taught them how to make fire, I would stop visiting them? Did you think my curiosity would be so easily quenched? Did you think that I wouldn't see the opportunity that it represents to me?"

"Opportunity for what?" said Gavril sharply, his glowing blue eyes narrowing slightly as he pierced him with a searching and demanding gaze, a glint of suspicion and worried foreboding in them.

Malekai utterly ignored the question, plopped back on his arrangement of cushions, and only then, when he was snuggly comfortable, did he widely grin with superior smugness and whispered excitedly, "Do you want to know what happened the last time I went to the new world? Do you want to know what I discovered and how?"

Without pausing for breath, he continued without waiting for Gavril's response. "I walked among them unseen and they are such fascinating creatures. 'Humans' I have named them, and thus they shall be known one day. They are the perfect means for my purposes." He touched his forehead and chest, his lips curling upwards. "So feeble here and weak here as well. Easily driven by greed, lust, and their need for love and companionship – thus, so exquisitely and easily manipulated."

He paused and his violet eyes gleamed as he breathed out, "And a few ones had magic, Gavril. I felt it in them. But it was not like yours or mine. It felt different, weak, but it was still magic. I dropped to my knees and I touched the ground – and I felt Him, Gavril!" He shook his head, his expression turning to one of wonder. "At first, I could not believe it. Since long ago, I've had my suspicions from things I had felt during my visits, but I still had trouble believing that I could be right. But I was!"

Malekai shot him a wide smile, jumping to his feet in excitement as he started pacing the room animatedly. "When I was there, crouching on my knees and with my hands pressed into the ground, I felt the presence of a little Maker burrowed deep within the very core of the new world. And He stretched out towards me, Gavril. He brushed my mind. His touch was tentative, awkward, so insecure and shy, and scared! He was scared and puzzled, but He still reached out to me, as if making a plea for help."

He swirled around to pierce a gobsmacked Gavril with his violet eyes. "He's an infant, Gavril. He barely knows anything. He's driven more by instincts of self-preservation than anything else. And He has emotions – it was the strangest thing! I felt my mind being flooded by so many perceptions and feelings – He told me his story that way. Can you imagine what I saw then?"

Malekai shook his head with fascination and continued in a slow and quiet tone of voice, "Suddenly, I was Him, popping into existence - a being solely of pure thought, magic and power, but still just a newborn in the midst of nothingness, in the middle of a universe I knew nothing about. I didn't know what I was, how I had come to be or anything else. But from very far away, I detected the presence of two others that were like me. At first, I felt the need to rush to them. I sensed they were much larger and powerful than I was. They were adults. I thought that perhaps they would help, that they would welcome me. I flew through the universe, wanting to make contact with them."

He shook his head and chuckled with merciless amusement. "Gavril, I think He thought or hoped that our Makers were His parents. Foolish little thing. Obviously, They are not. This new little Maker came from nothingness, Gavril. I don't think He ever should have existed, but He does."

Malekai's violet eyes gleamed with eagerness, as he continued excitedly, "Nevertheless, He showed me everything. I experienced everything till the very last, as if I were Him... I was about to make contact with Them, I came upon one of the Makers' realms –it was one of yours- and I instantly knew that They had finally felt me too. But what I perceived from Them wasn't welcoming. They were startled, confused and perplexed by my existence, then They feared me and immediately wanted my destruction. 'I' couldn't understand why – of course, since He didn't know that our two Makers have from the very start sought to destroy one another. One more rival, utterly unexpected and unwanted, was a threat to Them. 'I' didn't understand all this, however, but I did perceive that I was about to be killed. The Makers swooped in on me, wanting to obliterate me, but…"

He laughed under his breath, feeling as if the new little Maker's unwitting triumph was his own, since in a way, it was. Anything that could so evenly oppose either of the Makers had his undying gratitude.

"But They couldn't kill Him, Gavril! The little Maker had some sort of natural defenses against Them – a sort of immunity. You know what happens when our two Makers come into close contact – the clash They produce has terrible consequences and They erode and destroy each other since They are too evenly matched. That's why They use us to fight their battles for Them and ultimately make Them stronger to finally, someday, annihilate the other."

Malekai shot him a wide smile and made his way across the cushion-covered floor to plop himself down right in front of his friend, as he continued relating the story, "So there I was, being attacked by those I had sought out and somehow, they couldn't destroy me. I escaped, terrified and confused. I fled to the farthest corner of the universe, as far away from those who wanted to kill me as I could. And then I came upon a young world, and it called to me. I'm a newborn – He was still just a baby then, Gavril – but I instinctually knew that that world could serve as a protection, so I plunged into it and burrowed deep inside, as if I was seeking a protective nest and a shell. He made it his home world, you see! And when I-"

"That's why there's life there," interrupted Gavril in a perplexed mutter, a look of deep concentration etched on his face and Malekai could just imagine all the thoughts rushing through his friend's clever mind.

"Exactly," said Malekai triumphantly, toothily grinning at him. "The very presence of the little Maker inside the core of that planet changed that world – just as it happens when one of the Makers take a new world for themselves. But the little Maker didn't know how to use his powers. He wasn't even aware about what he needed to do to survive, to feed and become stronger and larger. But He did it instinctually, Gavril!"

He shot his friend a smile and gestured animatedly with his hands. "His energy seeped into the world and created sparks of life, and soon, after many cycles, sentient beings started to roam about the surface of the world. And the little Maker started to realize that those beings had been caused by him and that the more of them that there were, the stronger he became. He realized they were his creations and that they were linked to him and him to them." He paused, and then widely smirked, his expression smug. "And then… I came along."

"When you went there for the first time," muttered Gavril quietly, fixedly staring at him, a deep, pensive frown on his face. "When you taught the primitive creatures how to make fire."

"Precisely," said Malekai with satisfaction, his lips curving upwards. "He sensed me then. He even tried to reach out and communicate with me, but He didn't succeed then, nor during the many times I went back. However, He could perceive what I was. He sensed that I was linked to one of the Makers and He realized that I carried the magic of that Maker. It was due to that, that He came to understand how the Makers had become so powerful – by sharing their magic with their creations, since the more powerful that their creations become and the more numerous, the stronger the Maker grows to be. Thus, He did the same. He chose the most intelligent of his creatures and shared some of his magic with them, and it resulted in those humans with magic that I've told you about."

"And then, in your last visit, He finally succeeded in communicating with you, and He showed you everything you've told me," said Gavril musingly, an agitated and troubled cast in his eyes. "But why did He do it? What does He want?"

Malekai shot him a sharp-toothed grin and lazily splayed himself on the cushions. "My help, of course. From what I could tell, it seems that He sensed my dissatisfaction with my Maker, my-" his grin widened "- rebelliousness and disloyalty. And He's special, Gavril. He has emotions and He is a type of magic that acts as a sort of buffer between the magic of our respective Makers. He's utterly unlike our Makers, but in the end, He is still just an infant. It will take him countless cycles to grow into an adult-"

"Buffer?" interjected Gavril, his forehead crinkling with confusion. "I don't understand what you mean."

"Ah, of course you don't," said Malekai sagely, his lips slowly curving into a smug smirk, "because I'm speaking about the future."

"The… future?" Gavril stared at him, his lips parted open in an expression of befuddlement, before he sat up straight and demanded, astounded, "Are you telling me that your Maker has also given you the Gift of Foresight?"

"Yes, She has," quipped Malekai, his smirk widening. "She did it the moment She assigned the mission to me." Abruptly, sharp laughter bubbled from his throat and he shook his head as his voice turned snide, laced with a tone of superiority, "She thinks I blindly worship her just like the rest of my brethren does. She has no idea what's truly in my mind. I don't think She has ever understood me at all!"

His violet eyes gleamed with a harsh and vindictive glint in them, as he shuffled forward on his hands and knees to come nose-to-nose with Gavril and whisper sharply, "And She will only realize the mistake She has made when it's too late. She should have never given me the Power of Foresight. It's a mistake that will prove fatal to Her. The things I know now, the things I've seen…"

"What, exactly, have you seen?" said Gavril looking uneasy and troubled, his breathing coming out in short, halted puffs of air.

Malekai's expression turned stony and hard, as he said simply, "The Truth."

"You'll have to explain it a little bit better than that," groused out Gavril impatiently.

Malekai tilted his head to a side and then chuckled with amusement, waving a hand in an all-encompassing gesture. "Let's see… where should I start? Perhaps I should first tell you what I'll be and what I'll do when I'm in the new world." His lips curled upwards as his violet eyes gleamed brightly. "I have it all planned out. I will appear before the humans under many disguises and many forms. I'll be called many things and humans will know me under many names, Gavril. Some will be truly amusing and serve my purposes and plans well. Ha-Satan or ash-Shayṭān, the Accuser, the Adversary, I'll be called in some of their first tongues. Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies and Beasts. Belial, the Deceiver –funny, isn't it, since I'm called the Seducer and Deceiver by my kind as well."

He shot him a sharp-toothed grin, as he continued smugly, "I'll also be Leviathan, the great, powerful, monstrous snake. For some I'll be the King of Babylon. Lucifer, I'll be called by those who will believe I'm a fallen 'angel'. Or just the Devil, for they will call my kind 'demons'. And only to a chosen few, will I ever reveal my true name, for there will be power behind the utterance of it."

He moved closer to Gavril and widely smirked as he added in a low, deep tone of voice, "But out of all the legends, myths and terrified superstitious mumbles that there will be about me, only one will come close to the real truth. Ironically, it will be a legend that will not be thought to have anything to do with me – that of Pandora's Box."

Gavril was staring at him mutely, a frown on his face. At last, he said quietly, "I haven't understood a word of what you've said."

"How can I better explain it?" Malekai let out a disgruntled sigh, before he shot him a speculative glance and asked quickly, "You can guess, can you not, what my mission is? What I'm being sent there for."

Taking a deep breath, Gavril murmured with apprehension, "Your Maker wants you to destroy the little Maker and She wants to gain a foothold in the new world before my Maker does."

"Exactly. Though, evidently, She didn't put it that way," quipped Malekai, waving a hand dismissively. "She never spoke of a new little Maker. She isn't aware that I know about His existence already. She simply said that I would come to realize what I have to destroy once I'm there." He intensely pierced him with his violet gaze. "And you know what I'll be expected to do for that to happen. You know what it entails-"

"Yes, but…" Gavril shook his head, his forehead crinkling in deep thought before he pierced Malekai with his gaze and said excitedly, "But perhaps this is an opportunity for us. Perhaps the little Maker is the answer! From what I could understand of what you've told me, perhaps He exists as a balance between our Makers. Perhaps He's the key to attain peace between our realms and brethren-"

"Balance? Peace?" bit out Malekai harshly, staring at him incredulously. "If any of your brothers heard you, you would be cast to the lowest of your realms, Gavril. Only you could yearn for such things. It's not peace I want!"

Gavril tensed, his jaw tightening as he warily eyed him. "What is it that you want, then?"

"To crush Them both!" spat Malekai, his violet eyes blazing as he swiftly rose to his feet and gazed down at him, his wings spreading at his sides and powerfully fluttering. "I told you the new world represented an opportunity for me. And it truly does. I won't ever be subservient to my Maker again, or any Maker. I want to be free from the shackles that bind me to Her. I'm much greater than that – I've always been. That's why I'll 'help' the little Maker. I'll fatten Him up, I'll make Him stronger and then I'll use Him-"

"You cannot destroy our respective Makers!" interrupted Gavril in a loud, alarmed voice, standing up to grab Malekai's shoulders in an apprehensive gesture. "It would mean the death of both our kinds and the destruction of our many realms. We owe Them everything. Our very existence and powers depend on Them-"

"Does it, truly?" interjected Malekai with a sharp, nasty smile on his lips. "One day, a female human will stumble upon the solution for that. During her research, she will discover the means and way. And one day, I'll have her writings and everything will change, my friend."

Gavril dropped his hands away from Malekai, remaining stiffly still, staring at him with a horrified expression on his face as he muttered haltingly, "If you're even considering the possibility of becoming something like a Maker yourself-"

"Do you want to know what I have seen of the future?" said Malekai, ignoring Gavril's words as he pulled him towards him, breathing in the very air that came out of Gavril's parted lips. "Out of the many shifting possible futures, there's one I've chosen for myself – the only true path left for me. The one I'll make for myself. Everything I'll do in the new world, I'll do it for me, but since most of it will go in accordance to what my Maker has asked me to do, it will take Her a long time to realize what I'm truly up to. And then, She will punish me in the cruelest way, taking from me that which I price the most."

Gavril took a sharp intake of breath and whispered quietly, as if afraid to even say it out loud lest it come true, "You mean-"

"Yes, She will take away my immortality and my powers, but also my very identity," snapped Malekai sharply, his violet eyes hardening with burning hatred and loathing. "But not before I've had countless cycles during which I will set many things in motion in the new world. When She reacts, it will be, unbeknownst to Her, too late to stop everything from happening just as I've planned. It will be me outsmarting Her every step of the way, even when I'm long dead, since I know, at present, everything She'll do and all the measures She'll take throughout the ages."

He paused and then tightly clutched Gavril's shoulders, as he continued in a low, urgent tone of voice, "She will wipe my soul blank, and I'll remember and know nothing. And She will force my soul to be reborn into humans-" he spat the word as if it was the most disgusting and vile of things, since it was truly the ultimate insult to be made into one of those weak, primitive creatures "- of Her choosing, again and again, and She will feed me half-truths, molding me into her perfect, obedient and most powerful tool - what She has always wanted me to be. But in the end, it is I who will triumph, Gavril. And you'll have much to do with that."

Gavril stared at him with a stricken and horrified expression on his beautiful, glowing face. And he frantically grasped one of Malekai's hands as he breathed out, "If your Maker will end up doing those things to you, then don't go to the new world! Stay here, stay with me. I could hide you or I could-"

"No! Haven't you heard that I will be the victor in the end? I have it all planned out." Maleki shook off Gavril's grasp on his hand, and pierced him with his eyes. "And I said that you would be involved. Do you realize what I meant by that?"

"Not really, but I don't care. I don't want you to go if it means-"

"Answer me this," interrupted Malekai shortly. "What will you do the moment you leave here?"

"You know very well what I'll do," replied Gavril curtly, no signs of his usual bedazzling smile on his face. "I must tell my Father about everything. He has to know that your Maker is sending you. He needs to know about your mission. I'm sorry, but I must do it-"

"There's nothing to apologize for," interjected Malekai, smugly smirking at him. "That's exactly what I want you to do. I want your Maker to know, because when He sees what I'm doing in the new world, He'll believe I'm doing it for Mother's benefit and He'll send you to stop me. And I want your Father to gain a foothold in the new world too, because my Mother will also have one, inevitably through my actions."

He gingerly grasped Gavril's chin and bore his violet gaze into Gavril's blue one as he added in a quiet whisper, "The three Makers will be in the core of that world, just as I want. And it will change everything, Gavril. You have no idea. Everything will come to a conclusion in that world - and I mean absolutely everything. Do you understand? So I want you there."

"If my Father sends me," muttered Gavril slowly, an expression of warring emotions on his face before it became stern, "I will do what He asks, Salai. You should not want me to be there, since I will destroy you if that's my task."

Malekai let out a short bout of laughter, shaking his head as he said lightly, "That's what you believe now. But it won't be so."

He shot out a hand and swiftly pulled Gavril towards him, making them stand before the many small tiles that decorated the wall in stoic designs and symbols, the surface of the tiles so smooth that they reflected their eyes, the image multiplied across the opposite wall, filling the room with the violet and blue of their eyes.

With a strange smile on his face, Malekai touched one of the small tiles reflecting Gavril's eyes, as he murmured quietly, "The new world is filled with this color, in the vast expanses of liquid it has - the 'seas' and 'oceans'. I will think of you every time I gaze upon them, Gavril." He dropped his hand and turned to look at him, his lips curling into a smirk. "The new world also has one sun and when it sets on the horizon, for a brief moment, the sky becomes filled with streaks of violet. You'll stand staring at it, many times across time, thinking of me as you bask in its beauty - yearning."

Malekai didn't leave an inch of space between them while Gavril stared at him with wide eyes, frozen in place, and he whispered in a soft, intimate tone of voice, "Because you have always yearned for me, haven't you? And it's not because you only want us to have a tumble on my cushions to have your first experience and to see what happens to us if we join our bodies." A knowing, taunting smile slowly curved his mouth as he retracted his claws and trailed a fingertip along Gavril's full bottom lip, his gaze boring into Gavril's eyes, seeing how the swirling blue hues suddenly glowed brighter. "That's why I know that you won't destroy me. And there will come a time when I will give you what you have always secretly coveted – all of me."

He licked his lips and slowly brushed them against Gavril's, feeling how Gavril's breath hitched and then puffed out, blowing across his wet lips, sending a tingling sensation which trailed down his body, igniting him with the need to utterly ravish his 'friend', to sink his claws and teeth into him, to truly taste him and feed from him. But he harshly repressed the burgeoning, powerful desire, since what he was doing wasn't about satiating his infatuation with Gavril but to leave a strong impression and to plant certain seeds of thought in Gavril's mind.

Seeing Gavril's eyes fluttering shut, a smirk spread on Malekai's face before he softly kissed those tempting lips, as he continued in a low, compelling and seductive whisper, doubting Gavril was paying any attention to his words but knowing that he would later remember them nonetheless, "You will have me then, Gavril. Not in this life, but in the next - in our first one as humans. Even if we won't know who we were, in that life I will give you much pleasure and you will love me so profoundly that it will mark you forever. That life will be your most prized one, always treasured and cherished - the one in which you will come to understand that you love only me and that nothing else is as important to you as that. Not your loyalty to your kind or to your Father. It's only I who will matter to you, and everything you'll do, you'll do it for me. Won't you?"

Still with his eyes closed, Gavril gave him a distracted nod, leaning forward and seeking more of Malekai's lips. Repressing a smug chuckle, Malekai shook his head and pulled away to tightly grab Gavril's chin, his expression turning stern as he said sharply, "Open your eyes. Look at me."

Gavril obeyed, and for a moment stared at him with a dazed look in his glowing blue eyes. In the next instant, he frowned and took several steps backward, to end up crossing his arms over his chest, shooting him a scowl. "You were playing with me right now, weren't you? I don't appreciate being manipulated like that. Save it for your brethren."

"I was making a point, but as much as I would enjoy continuing with what we were doing, I don't have the time for it," said Malekai nonchalantly, as he folded his wings and casually leaned against the tiled wall. "There are several more things I want you to know-"

"I'm not interested," snapped Gavril, his blue eyes sparkling with a burning fire of temperamental mutiny.

"I don't care. You will listen," interjected Malekai curtly, piercing him with a hard gaze. "Either you do it willingly or I'll force you. What will it be?"

With the feathered wings at his back fluttering with anger, Gavril shot up a hand into the air. "Have your say, then."

"Some cycles after today, you will be sent to the new world by your Father, as I already told you," said Maleki, his lips tilting upwards with satisfaction as he eyed him with half-lidded eyes. "The humans will call you 'Gabriel' and they'll call your kind 'angels'. It will be because of your actions, but mostly because of your looks."

He stretched out a hand and played with a golden curl hanging near one of Gavril's pointy ears, a smile on his lips before his hand was rudely batted away by Gavril, who still didn't look too pleased with him.

Malekai clucked his tongue, but continued calmly, "Humans are such simpletons that your deceptive light-colored looks will make them believe you're the embodiment of all that's good and noble, and never imagine the sly, cunning mind that you have behind that beautiful face of yours."

He smirked with amusement at that, before his expression turned grave as he added shortly, "One of the many things you'll do, as the wondrous 'archangel', will be to herald the coming of a so-called messiah – this you'll do following your Father's instructions for a sly plan of his. But what your Father won't tell you then is that many centuries later you'll be involved with that very same 'messiah' whose rise you prophesized to the humans. And you, along with the presumed messiah-" he let out a snide snort "- will create a magical artifact."

Propping a foot against the wall, he pushed himself forward to stand inches away from Gavril and pierced him with an intense gaze, as he continued sharply, "Now listen carefully. You will use that artifact to help me, you hear? You will seek me out, wherever I am and whoever I am."

His violet eyes narrowed, as he added with dissatisfaction, "You'll fail in your first attempt because I'll be someone who'll be so deep in my Mother's clutches that I won't hear anything you will have to say to me. But some millenia later, you'll have a second chance and you'll succeeded then – no matter what it takes, even if you have to force me or trick me. It's of the utmost importance, it will be the last chance I will have to know who I really am. If you don't succeed with that, it will mean the failure of all my plans and you would be condemning me to become my Mother's obedient puppet with no hope for escape. Is that clear?"

"Nothing is clear!" said Gavril with exasperation, his wings fluttering with irritation and anxiousness.

"You don't need to understand anything at present," snapped Malekai, urgently grasping Gavril's arms, his own worries unwittingly making him sink his claws into the flesh. "You only need to remember what I've said. One day, everything I said here, today, will make sense to you. I only ask you to remember all my words!"

"Alright," muttured Gavril with a weary sigh, sweeping a lock of hair away from his eyes. "I'll do as you ask." He shot him stern look. "But not if it goes against my Father's instructions."

Malekai scoffed unconcernedly. "You won't care as much about that, I assure you."

With disbelief and suspicion plain on his face, Gavril eyed him closely. "This is not the end of it, Salai. We need to-"

"Not the end…" trailed off Malekai, before he stared at him incredulously. "You fool – I've told you I'm leaving today! I wasn't joking. This is very much the end of what will be said between us. I won't see you again for a very long time, Gavril. And much will have changed by then."

Gavril frowned at him. "But…"

Abruptly, Malekai's pointy ears twitched as they caught the sound of distant footfalls, like thunder striking on rock, and he instantly jumped into action, shooting out widespread palms and immediately conjuring a portal into Gavril's realm.

"You must leave now - my brother is coming!"

Gavril hesitated, there was almost a wretched expression on his face, but Malekai didn't give him a chance to say anything. He wasn't one for heartfelt farewells. So he brusquely shoved his friend towards the portal, and Gavril, shooting him one last lingering and stricken glance over his shoulder, seemed to understand that there would be no parting words between them as he turned his back to Malekai and spread out his wings in preparation to return to his realm.

"Your Maker will end up punishing you, you know? He doesn't really care for you. You're just a tool to Him, as I've often warned you about," said Malekai impassively, planting the last seed in Gavril's mind as he held up a hand to casually stare at his claws, flexing his fingers. "I won't be the only one whose immortality will be ripped away from and whose soul will be played with. Your Father will do to you what my Mother will do to me. They will play with us both."

With a lazy smirk spreading on his lips, Malekai saw Gavril's back tensing and his shoulders stiffening, before Gavril mutely swooped up into mid air and dived forward.

The moment Gavril and the portal disappeared, Malekai's smirk dropped and he stared at the empty space in silence. But then he forced himself to peel his gaze away, and he jumped into action once more.

He quickly ripped from his body the scant clothes he wore, standing completely naked with his impressive, scaled wings spread in basking glory, knowing very well the tantalizing picture of power and sensuality he made.

And without another hitch of breath, he readied himself and swiftly swirled around, plastering on his face the most inviting and seductive of smiles, awaiting for his third brother to step into his rooms, knowing his brother would still be enraged, in an ominous temper, and only disposed to do one thing with him. But he had learned well, by now, exactly how to play his brother.

Suddenly, Orion was wrenched away and he was falling. His awareness fell into a deep black vortex and spun wildly, before he abruptly felt soft ground under his feet and sunlight blistering his closed eyelids.

Taking a deep gasp of air, he held up a hand to shield his eyes against the sun, which felt too bright, as he opened them. Instantly, he staggered a few steps to a side as he suddenly felt dizzy and disoriented in his new surroundings.

It felt surreal to him, to be in an overlapping of space, standing there in the Flamel's garden, with a spring of gurgling water rushing near his feet, the Holy Grail suspended in a bubble of magic, and with Arian staring at him with a dazzling and expectant smile on his face.

Arian didn't waste any time in approaching him, and his smile seemed to turn even brighter as he said softly, "What does it feel to know that you have been the mastermind behind it all, from the very beginning? What does it feel to know that everything that has happened to you in all your lives and everything that has happened in this world is because of you and because you planned it so?"

Orion simply stared at him, mute.