The weak perished easily.
She knew this much, ever since she had known the warmth of the sun. She'd only known the garden ever since she was born. The huge tree in the middle stood imposing against the backdrop of the temple, its golden leaves fluttering restlessly with the wind. Every season, it resisted the fall, its foliage shining against the light of the dawn. She looked down at the rose bushes that were trying to flourish by its side, and felt the eyes of a priestess look down on her in a gesture of pity. "The tree will not allow anything else to survive while it lives, Eve."
Her eyes looked up from the crown of golden leaves resting over her eyebrows. "But… why?"
The priestess had a tinge of sadness in her voice. "Because that is the Law of Nature."
She was the Eve of Eden. She was meant for the greater good of mankind. She wasn't meant to mourn the loss of a shrub that managed to grow beneath the shade of the Tree of the World. Her robes flew freely with the wind, as she tried to hold them together, bunching the sleeves of her cape in between her fingers. The familiar shame of someone seeing her skin crept up inside her heart, as she got up from her bench, keeping her mandatory distance from the priestess. "The wind is picking up."
The priestess hummed in approval, as she held out an umbrella to shade her from the sun. "There is unrest in the world outside, my Eve. The lord is punishing us for their crimes. He sends his wrath in the form of plagues-"
"Priestess Amaya," the Eve asked, her voice almost a whisper, "Who are the Outsiders?"
The Eve had been taught to avoid many questions. Questions about the outside were a taboo subject inside the walls of Eden. Her mouth dropped, before she pressed her lips into a thin line, revolted that this Eve was still immature enough about her role. "We do not need to know about them."
The Eve hung her head in sorrow, knowing she had crossed a line. She shouldn't have asked such a frivolous question. Of course, the priests and priestesses warned about the dangerous men outside the gates of Eden, but Eve had seen no more than the kind men who engaged in a peaceful discourse with the lord Seiji. The only harsh behaviour she had encountered from the Outsiders was whenever they tried to ask the lord of his past, or about the Eve. It was common knowledge not to encroach upon such territory, but it was people's nature to forget boundaries from time to time.
"I am sorry, priestess." She refused to make eye contact with the woman, knowing she would only be glared down at if she asked about anything else. She was not supposed to know much. Only that which was valuable was presented to her as information.
"Let us go back into the castle, Eve," the priestess said, smiling a bit. "The winds mean trouble."
Eve smiled at her, and raised her head towards the woman. "All right."
The sword swung high above the captain's head. He effortlessly delivered a sharp blow at the commander riding before him, knocking him down from his horse. The lieutenant took care of the rest, his sword digging into the man's chest, making a huge gaping hole into it. His intestines flew about as the lieutenant slashed through his sword once again, garnering a laugh from the captain. He barked at the ones behind him, "Let's get it over with, boys!"
The rookies laughed with him as he parried with the second in command of the rival army. His red hair peeked through his helmet, his bright green eyes glaring at his enemies through the shield, instilling an unspeakable fear inside them. The captain was known to be unforgiving to those who stood up against him, and this time it wasn't so different. The army men cried, begged and bargained, but the captain didn't care much. The only thing he knew about was swinging his blade and feeling warm blood on his cold, dead body.
"Oi, you," he halted his horse, as the remaining enemy troops slowly backed into the sole formation they had been taught. He addressed his second in command, pointing his sword at the sky. "Finish this quick, we need to march towards Eden next."
"Captain Ayato," the third in command shouted, her cape fluttering in the wind. "But we need to contact Prince Reiji first!"
The captain raised his head, slowly landing his gaze upon the soldier. He could hear her armour tremble as she shuddered under his glare. Nobody questioned him. Those who did, had a dark fate in front of them.
Sakamaki Ayato was never forgave those who went against him.
He skewered the third in command, her armour doing little to block his hardened steel from penetrating her chest.
And he always acted on his own command.
Whistling against the wind, he looked at the battlefield, blood and bodies scattered around his army, every remaining enemy now either on their knees or disembowelled, or perhaps being a victim of manslaughter, getting their limbs torn apart by furious warriors who were just way too hyped on the battle to leave any survivors. Ayato liked it this way. He'd won the numerous battles in his past just because the rivals were scared out of their wits to face him head on in the battlefield. He was known to be ruthless. Laws of War for him were merely kill or get killed. No amount of surrendering, bargaining or praying for mercy would save his rivals from an imminent death. He licked the warm blood that landed upon his forearm, relishing the taste for a moment. The people of Eden were delicious.
Now only if he could march to the castle soon enough. The sky reddened with the forthcoming dusk, as people started to lug the bodies out. Some undead were splitting open the warriors of Eden and drinking from them while on the battlefield. Some female warriors were spared, though. Ayato allowed his men to treat them as spoils of war. He smiled sadistically as he raised his face shield, his green eyes intimidating his soldiers at the very first glance he spared them. He knew that he evoked only fear from them, not respect. And he liked it that way. Some men and women that were unfortunately human had known his hunger for blood first-hand. Just as he wished. There was no use garnering respect from such dimwits when they were already plotting to take away his power and position. The undead and the mortals were similar in that respect at least.
His motto to maintain order in an army full of vampires and humans was simple. If the undead hurt the humans, he would kill them without hesitation. Ayato was a pure-blood, meaning his heightened senses could detect from a crowd of thousands who had been in the vicinity of which human. Some humans had even started rumours that he could predict future events. He wasn't going to negate anything said about him though. Whatever was circulating about him, good or bad, was essential to maintain fear amongst his people.
It was his mission to corrupt people.
"At midnight we march for the castle of Eden!" he raised his sword high into the air. "Take plenty of rest while you can. We will tear down the walls of that eyesore at dawn!"
Cheers resounded throughout the battlefield. The dwellers of Makai, the demon world, hated Eden with all their heart. The campaign Reiji had started against the clergy of Eden was instilling feelings of distrust towards the Holy See of the Eden. The greatest issue at the centre of the debate was about the castle's tall walls, and why so few of the Outsiders were allowed in. The demons felt discriminated against. They were used to being in power outside of Eden, but with the technological advancements inside the walls and the rumours of supposedly "pure" human beings dwelling there were raising eyebrows. Not to mention, most of the vampire hunters his brother Laito's guild had spied on had some relations with the castle of Eden in one way or the other.
He felt a soldier come forward towards his horse, extending his hand towards him. "It's already dusk."
Ayato removed his helmet, latching it on to his back as he accepted the warrior's hand, climbing down the horse. The soldier sighed and pulled out his own helmet, wispy ivory hair hanging down to his shoulders as he settled his brilliant pink eyes upon his brother. "You're being too ambitious today."
"I've always been ambitious." Ayato rubbed his horse's snout, and slapped his brother's hand who tried to pet his horse.
"Oi! You allow me to touch Raijin as well!" his younger brother acted just like he always did. Demanding and aggressive. "You stole him from me when your horse got killed."
"This is mine, and mine alone, understood?" Ayato boomed at his younger brother. "Subaru, I asked you something."
Subaru sighed, "Tch. Fuck you and your silly horse, you sick freak."
There were only five people who were allowed to call Ayato names like that. Even then it took Ayato all his strength not to kill them in their sleep.
"Go cry to your insane mother, you bipolar maniac." Ayato shouted at him.
"I will destroy you, you possessive bastard!" Subaru chased after him as Ayato flung his sword aside, playfully saying "I yield, I yield!"
They'd grown up separate due to their mothers being on loggerheads with each other, but ever since they got mysteriously "killed", every brother in their household had had some moments of bonding with each other. Shu and Reiji were still working out with their issues, since they had been at the worst receiving end of the abuse. Ayato and Subaru didn't gel well together because of their similar aggressive personalities, but since they had started to go on campaigns and battles together, they grew on to each other. It was kind of inevitable. No matter how much they had hated each other's guts, once they were subjected to the violence of the battle, they mellowed down, accepting each other as allies.
Subaru pinned Ayato down, his chainmail swinging violently as he landed fake punches at him.
"Hit like a man!" Ayat complained.
"I can't," Subaru said, giggling like an idiot. "You have a castle to take down during the night."
Ayato smiled at him, loving the anticipation of blood and gore. The pure citizens inside the walls, tarnished by him. "That is what I'm looking forward to, brother."
She wasn't called Eve before she came to the castle.
Her name was Komori Yui, a child abandoned in the middle of a busy street, a strange heart condition that made her unfit for adoption. By sheer luck, she was determined to be born under the solar eclipse, the day the previous Eve died. The people outside the walls of Eden didn't know what purpose the Eve served, and why they all died at such a young age. During Eden's long and varied history, there had been twenty six Eves before her, making her the twenty seventh. All of them had died mysteriously at very young ages. Usually around the age of nineteen to twenty two. Nobody dared to question the clergy residing inside the castle of Eden. Nobody cared. As long as they were safe… There was little that bothered the common folk.
She needed to prepare for bed, so she stepped into the bathing room, her fresh set of clothes kept carefully folded on a stone shelf, to be used only once before being thrown away. She had to be pure at all times, for the sake of her God.
She began her nightly ritual of undressing. She took off two long sleeved capes that fell over her shoulders, ivory white. Then came off her flared skirt. Then she removed a long tunic whose sleeves reached past her elbows. Finally, she removed rolls upon rolls of white bandages that covered every inch of her exposed skin. Over her chest, her ribs, her stomach, her arms and legs, anything that could be bound up in white silky ribbons was constrained in a desperate effort to save her skin from the sight of people. She didn't know what purpose they served, but knew very well that they were important and never asked anybody about them. She had been taught well enough about her own self as much as she wanted to know, but any information about the outside was restricted for her. Her ears stung as she removed the hoops of gold rings from her piercings. Pain was imminent. Pain purified her soul. Pain had been taught to be endured.
Sighing to herself, she dipped her toes into the warm bath, the stone tiles pinching into her delicate skin. One little misstep and she would be flailing in the water. She tried to be careful of the hot sting the warm water gave her sensitive skin as she picked up the pumice beside her and started scrubbing.
Cleaning her body had little to do with hygiene and more to do with purification. Her spirituality needed to remain intact, and one way of achieving it was wearing her skin raw and stinging from the abrasion. Sometimes, she developed raw and bloodied skin in the past because she didn't know how hard to rub, but with practice, she learned to avoid being cut by the harsh stone. She made sure not to leave any place untouched, knowing it was absolutely necessary to remain pure, but her mind kept hovering over the uncertainty. Why? Why was it necessary?
She lathered herself herself with a soft bar of soap, relishing the soothing sensation as it slipped over her skin, comforting the abraded skin. She didn't admire herself too much in the bath, she didn't have the luxury of vanity. Even the mirror in her sleeping chambers was covered all day unless she had to comb her hair or had to get ready for some important ritual. Her hand grabbed the blade tenderly as she shaved off the fuzz of hair on her entire body. Finishing up, she placed the blade back, letting her hair down into the bath, her golden locks soaking up the soap water.
Her mind flitted between scenarios, wondering what the people outside might be like. She had been taught to avoid thinking about them, but couldn't help herself being occupied with such unnecessary thoughts while doing mundane things. Why did everybody vilify the outsiders so much? How bad could they be in the end? There was little they could do against the church and the temple; the clergy was supreme according to the lord. The only one who could actually hurt them was the king and his army, yet even they were respectful of leaving the church alone.
Then who were these other people she never got to see inside the walls?
She quickly finished up bathing, wrapping her throbbing, raw skin into a soft towel, wringing her hair out and wiping the water off her body. Her hands searched for the ribbons in the dark, rolling them onto her skin, her body itching even with the soft fabric. Next came the undershirts. She slipped over her tunic and her flared skirt, and finally her cape, knotting it up against her solar plexus.
Her hands wrung out her hair out of the towel, throwing it again into the bin that disposed off her used clothes. She felt around the shelf to find her rosary, her fingers running through the ivory beads, her lips moving into a silent prayer, as she exited outside the bathing room. Her room was not far, as she only had to cross a corridor to get there. Her steps were heavy as she felt the atmosphere around her change, becoming dense and thick, filled with tension. Behind the walls, she could see a faint trail of smoke, and her senses alerted her of the beating of thousands of hooves. An army? At this hour? For what, the blessing of her lord? This couldn't be true.
One of the sages noticed her loitering in the corridor, her pace slowed by concern for the commotion outside. "Eve, must you be looking around the castle at this ungodly hour?"
She bowed to greet the sage. "I understand, honourable sage, but is it true that I hear an army approaching our Eden?"
The sage raised his bald head to look across the garden at the now billowing smoke and the earth shattering sound of hooves. His eyes widened, as he motioned for her to proceed. "We need to get you someplace safe. Rest assured, my Eve, our army will take care of it."
She felt a bit unsettled, but reused to taint her mind further with worry. "All right."
She rushed into her chambers, and as she closed the door and latched the lock, she could hear the barbaric cries of the army outside, shouts and cries already coming close to the gates. She whispered a prayer as she grabbed her rosary close, her body shaking with fear.
What was this feeling, growing steadily in her heart?
A/N: Lee here. I just wanted to let you know that this is a different version from my ao3 one, I will be cutting out a lot of things from the first draft to make this suitable for teen and up rating. Just be sure that a lot of (mature) stuff is being censored. Do leave a review if you like it! 3