The Mad God (On hold)

Chapter Six - Part Two

Tears streamed from Therin’s eyes, scarring the black soot that stained his face. They rolled gently off his cheek on to the body below, which he hugged tighter to his body. “Don’t leave me, please don’t leave me.”

Images flashed through his mind; Sylvin’s body had been tossed about like a puppet, her limbs flailing in the air, limp with exhaustion. She lay in the snow now; her breath barely even fluttering as her chest rose and fell weakly.

It was bad. By the six Gods it was bad. Rage almost consumed him as he thought about them. They didn’t care about anything really, only themselves and their precious Daemons. Their precious regulations. It had only brought him pain and misery. 

His magic had failed him for the first time in his life. He hadn’t been able to heal her, so what was the point? She was dying, and the Daemons had slaughtered thousands of Dragons in cold blood. All because they helped protect Sylvin. But he had been too weak; the Daemons too strong. They had swarmed the isolated town of Autharin, killing everyone in their path.

He shivered as he remembered the screams as flames licked hungrily at flesh, roasting people alive. The smell of burning flesh had invaded the air, its heavy stench beaten only by that of blood and death. Man, woman, child, it hadn’t mattered to the Daemons.

He looked back down to Sylvin, fresh tears welling in his eyes. She looked so innocent; so beautiful. He smiled as he remembered the day they met, how he had pretended to be a clumsy merchant, knocking over a basket of apples just to talk to her. She had flat out ignored him, until he threw a stone at her window. She had not been happy, but she had eventually come around to his charm.

His smile hardened into a grimace as he realised that he wouldn’t ever see her angry again, even mockingly so. Wouldn’t ever tease her for being noble born, or infuriate her with his wonderful attitude. He cradled her body even close, hoping that he could somehow help her. But he knew it was too late, she had closed her eyes hours ago, or what seemed like hours. Time passed so slowly now that he had no-one to laugh with, no-one to talk to. He’d go back to being a lonely street urchin, stealing to get by. No, he couldn’t go back to that. He owed it to Sylvin. He would become a scholar, like she wanted him to. For her.

 As if sensing his thoughts, her breath lingered, before falling silent. Forever. His tears ran freely as he huddled her corpse, surrounded by burning buildings, by a field of snow that glistened in the afternoon sun. He thought back to her last words, before she fell unconscious. How she had begged him to forgive the Daemons, to live his life and forget about her. To find someone else. He almost laughed as he chocked up with tears. How could he ever move on? She had been the most beautiful person he had ever known, fun, joyous, brilliant. Perfect. He would never be able to forget her, no matter what he did. When he was old and grey he would still remember her, still ache for her.

She would live on, forever in his heart.

They had spent two years in hiding together, evading the Daemons as much as they could, moving from one town to the next; it had become more difficult after they had had Itheria, their girl. She would never know her mother, but she would grow up learning of her bravery, her compassion and her love.

Sylvin would live on through her daughter, and gave Therin another chance at happiness. He would move on, he would devote his life to his baby girl. He would forgive the Daemons, like Slyvin had asked so that their girl could grow up with at least one parent, and not on the streets like he had. He would live his life, for the both of them. For all three of them.

***

“How could you let this happen?” Luvesi said, her eyes turning cold as she regarded Cekoti.

“You think I had something to do with this?!” Cekoti wanted to slap the woman. “They all had free will. You were the one that said we should retire from meddling in the world and now you try to turn this on me? I’m sorry, I’m not going to take this. Least of all from you.”

“Least of all from me?” Luvesi almost screamed. “I brought you up, mothered you and that’s how you repay me?”

“Right, because you sacrificed so much for me. I’ve heard it a hundred times before – what do you want, my sympathy?” He paced up and down the marble floors, his footsteps remaining the only sound for minutes.

“Why are you so obnoxious? Why can’t you just take the blame like any normal person? You think everyone here thinks that you remained impartial? You like your games too much, Cekoti. You probably told your little pets where she was hiding.” Her image shimmered, the scar on her face becoming apparent once more.

“Oh, because your pets are more precious than mine, isn’t that right? I created them to rule, I offered you the chance to destroy them after I created them and you said it was a good idea. I have done nothing since them to aide them. Why is it that you find that so difficult to believe?” Cekoti turned to leave the marble hall – a flamboyant display to show how powerful they were. The whole building had been made from one seamless rock. It riled him every time he came here – they should be helping people, not sitting around in a lavish palace.

“You’ve been acting more and more hostile towards us ever since we ascended, that’s why.”

“Since we ‘ascended’. You mean since we slaughtered millions of people to create a new world? How are we any better than the Daemons? In fact, we’re worse. We feel emotion – they don’t. They did exactly what they thought was correct. And their decision holds logical.”

“For a dictator. But the world was failing anyway – we either died with them, or killed them. The Daemons decided to kill for no reason.”

“Why can’t you just admit that what we did was wrong?”

“Because it wasn’t. What the Daemons did was wrong – what we did was justified. However, we need to punish the Daemons. I suggest we banish them to the thirteenth world. The one we never finished.”

“And we’d do the same to the Dragons, right?” Cekoti asked, running his hand through his hair.

“No, just the Daemons. They are the only ones that deserve punishing.” She drummed her finger against her arm. “I’ll summon the others.”

“I can’t believe you. You may have raised me, and you might have looked out for me before, but now you’re only looking after yourself and your own interests. What happened to all the talk about doing the right thing? Holding up our parent’s names; their wishes. Or does that mean nothing to you.” He started walking for the door, leaving a startled Luvesi behind.

“Cekoti, wait!” She started to run after him, but he had already started to draw energy from his aura, crafting a spell as quickly as he could.

“It’s too late Luvesi, you’ve made it quite clear what you think. And I have too.” He released the spell, and teleported himself as far away as he could think of. The Age of Justice would end when the Daemons were banished. Now was the age of truth; he would spread to as many as he could the atrocities that they had done in order to become gods. Their people would know.