Creation began on 04-22-16
Creation ended on 09-27-16
Neon Genesis Evangelion
A New Cause: At the ends of the blades of the heart
A/N: I had forgotten that this chapter document had existed as a blank slate. I guess it will serve a different purpose than whatever I had originally planned for it.
As he arose from the water of the lifeless Evangelion Unit-01, Pestilence, fully regenerated from his injuries sustained by the Restorative Horseman of Death, fumed over his latest defeat at the hands of this lost soul that served the heavens he detested. Momentarily frightened in an instant in their first encounter and later ravaged by the boy he hated for frightening him in their second encounter, he was reduced to five more chances to do his task without hindrance. And his masters didn't tolerate failure, not even from one as old and as dangerous as he was. If he failed all seven times, his very life would be in jeopardy…and there would be nothing he could do to escape it.
"Damn horseman," he uttered, looking up at the horned behemoth that could no longer serve any purpose for its mortal masters. "You will pay for this continued disrespect to my status."
Click! He turned around to the right side of the umbilical bridge and saw at least eight men in tactical gear, pointing machine guns at him.
"Choke," he uttered, and then they started choking, dropping their guns. "Choke on your very breath. Choke…and die."
The men continued to choke…and then fell to the ground.
I hate mortals, Pestilence sighed, walking over the newly dead. I hate mortals, I hate their fragility, I hate their meddlesome desires…and I hate…that…damn Death, the Endgame!
-x-
"Mother Gaia, I present to you," went Conquest to the goddess, reaching into his robes and pulling out a small case, "the embryonic form of the Seed of Life, Adam."
Gaia looked down at the disgraced being that Conquest presented to her, and she accepted the case he was in from him.
"Well done, Poison Master," she praised him. "This brings us closer… His soul is missing, Conquest. He is only a damaged body that can be regenerated."
"His soul is elsewhere. I know not where."
In the caverns beneath the island, they and the other people present were going about their business, speaking about the recent feat that their Horseman of Death did by bringing a person back from the dead and restoring them to their family after many years of absence.
"War may know something about the missing soul," Conquest suggested. "Either him or Death may know."
"Based upon much of what transpired at NERV, it is more than likely that Death knows about the displaced soul, as he went to Hell and back again for the soul of the mother of the girl he now seems duty-bound to protect."
"A mortal girl with the Horseman of Death as her protector. Heh. I would find this funny, but this has happened before in the past. Many times over."
"You have no idea how true it is that horsemen became personal protectors to select individuals, but only during heightened periods of spiritual tension between the boundaries of the flesh…and the soul."
Even Conquest had performed guard duty for certain people in his history as a horseman. Sometimes, he had to simply watch over the elderly as they reach their final hours of life while a Horseman of Death would guide their souls to wherever they needed to go.
"Without Adam's body, the Spear of Longinus, or even other necessary pieces to this puzzle, the ones that seek to undo existence cannot achieve the desired effect on any level, can they?" He asked her.
"No, they can't," she answered. "Even if they could at any rate now, the outcome wouldn't be what they intend, not even a little bit."
Bowing his head to her, Conquest declared that he would go resume his duties as the protector of the Angels of the Fish and Sky, and left her alone with Adam's crippled body that she may, without a doubt, mend under strict observation.
-x-
"…You're lucky that your only orders were to watch, not fight," Pestilence told Gendo in a back alley at night. "Your former relation is most troubling for one that died after killing you."
Gendo said nothing in response to what his handler said.
"If this Restorative Horseman of Death is so much trouble, why not just gang up on him, all of us against him? He's just one boy." The Apocalyptic Horsewoman of War suggested, having lived through a similar situation with her son that she betrayed to death.
"Surely, even he is no match for all four of us, let alone three," added the Horsewoman of Famine in the conversation.
"It will only come to that…should it become the only solution," Pestilence enforced; he still wanted to deal with the dead boy himself…without any of these damned souls that entered Hell for their transgressions getting in the way unless he had no other choice. "One boy or not, he is not to be underestimated. To underestimate the abilities of your adversary is just as hazardous to oneself as is overestimating your own ability to contend with them."
"So, how do you intend to deal with him?" Famine asked him.
Closing his right hand into a fist, Pestilence expressed, "I'll have to call in a favor from a lower demon from the depths of Hell."
-x-
A large sword, wedged deep into the ground, rusted and covered in moss and weeds as it resided atop a cliff side in front of crashing waves.
Mother Gaia stood in front of the ancient blade and recalled the day its owner, wracked with personal grief that, while she could understand and sympathize over, drove him to sever his ties with her and the rest of their quintet, reducing their five-pointed star symbol to a four-pointed star. Even to this very day, neither she or her brothers and sister have seen him since that time. His blade stood wedged in the ground to symbolize his resolve to distance himself from everything and everyone he knew at the time…simply because, for him, his grief was like a blade in his heart…and he didn't want to deal with it.
"At the ends of the blades of the heart," she uttered, sitting down on the ground in front of the relic, "we can either endure the pain of loss…or run from it as best we can."
As old as she was, she might as well as have a child when it came to this brother in particular.
People who dedicate themselves to understanding the five elements of existence will find out many secrets to those that embody them, representing all that they were.
Earth for substance and stability. Water for change and adaptation. Air for freedom. Fire for power and metalwork. Energy for life and all its ups and downs, for better or worse.
Pyre, she thought, and brushed off some of the decayed weeds and moss on the rusted blade to reveal an ancient inscription engraved on it. Nothing's been the same since you left, and we've been in a loop that we're trying to break free from to give the innocent the chance to live without all these prophecies and whispers of fate. To deviate from what was originally written…and be able to choose our own paths to follow. You might've left us a long time ago, but even you can't ignore that we're all still bound together by a power greater than what people know of.
-x-
Pestilence may have been the best horseman from the deepest corners of Hell, but even he had to go through the proper channels to get his request heard by at least of the infernal masters, which meant having to use a lower demon to carry the request for him. As he waited for his audience with who he requested to meet, he occupied himself with the endless screams of countless souls of the recently deceased.
"Their cries are like music to my ears," said a female demon that resembled a woman that had been skinned, exposing her soft innards and nerves and muscle tissue to the dark plane. "Most of them are rapists that are now experiencing how it feels to bend over for someone greater than them and be unable to do anything about it."
"Aaaaaaaahhh!" They heard a male voice cry out loud, but Pestilence sighed, already bored.
"Death, the Endgame has done us some good ever since he started killing these men and women," the demon told him. "Hell has never seen this many killers, kidnappers, pedophiles and drug dealers in many years."
"Don't get used to his unholy service," he told her, just as a female voice cried out in agony. "I will destroy him."
"You're going to try to. But only the masters of fate can know for certain if you will prevail."
"Horseman of Pestilence," a male voice uttered as a demon in the form of a skinned, gorilla-like creature with a pair of curved horns on its head stepped out of the shadows. "Your request has been heard by one of the masters…and he will see you now."
A door made of fire then appeared in front of the demonic horseman.
"Best to be careful around this one, though," the gorilla-like demon warned him. "This one is especially irritated by something."
Pestilence then went the door, and it disappeared the instant it closed. Now, the horseman was no longer in any place that represented any aspect of Hell. He didn't see fire and brimstone, lava pits, red skies or any of the sort. Instead, he was within a meadow, carpeted with flowers and large trees, surrounded by large, snow-topped mountains in a bright afternoon.
If anything, this could've been seen as a piece of Heaven on Earth.
"Paradise," he sneered, disgusted by this place instantly.
"If you don't like it, close your eyes or take a hike," a male voice expressed, as streams of fire manifested from several flowers and condensed into a large sphere.
It then disappeared, and a man, probably somewhere between his mid-thirties or forties, dressed in armor that appeared based off the sashinuki hakama, but other types of medieval aspects: Spiked pauldrons, faulds and gauntlets, all of which possessed a fire or dragon-based motif. His skin and waist-length hair were like ash and his eyes were of brimstone. On his back and extending down to the back of his legs was a tentacle shaped like a serpent's tail covered in a layer of dark hair, along with a pair of armored, dragon-like wings. At his waist's left side was a sword scabbard without its sword; none of the infernal masters understood the reason for this individual's lack of a weapon.
Pestilence, despite it feeling beneath him, knelt before him and bowed his head.
"You seek assistance in dealing with a particular matter," the man said; it wasn't even a question. "The question is…what is the matter and why you seek assistance with it? You already have three horsemen to aid you."
"The Horsemen of War, Famine and Death are, all of them, incompetent," he expressed his personal opinion about the three damned souls. "They each have a spiritual relation to their holy counterparts, and none of them seem to be an advantageous choice. My masters could've chosen the souls of others that are damned and have them serve as horsemen in exchange for a carnal price, but instead, I get these three disgraces…and they disgrace me! I'm the best of the demonic entities in Hell, and I'm surrounded by incompetence. If they want competence, then they should do what I've spent an eternity suggesting, which is rely on demons, not the souls of the damned that ended up in the inferno because of past atrocities they committed against those around them. It would be so much more efficient."
"That's something you need to take up with your masters, then. You request the aid of demonic giants to deal with your problem. I shall see that your request for a legion of them is answered. I only ask not to be disturbed for the duration of this period."
Pestilence bowed his head again, and stood up and turned away.
"Enjoy the rest of your time, Lord Pyre," he said to him, departing through another door made of fire to return to the dark realm beyond this one.
The darkness was all around this…Pyre, even in a place of perpetual daytime.
I hope that this time, the end of all suffering will be more permanent…unlike the last few times, he thought, looking at the vast wilderness beyond him. No more tears, no more loneliness, no more grief… No more eternity of regret.
To be continued…
A/N: Well, we have now been introduced to Pyre, the fiery deity. But what do you suspect is his tragedy or reason for being away from others is?