Chronicles of Myth Volume One: Twisted Daydreams

Scene Two

“That was a beautiful obituary, Nicholas”. Christmas has come early for this devil, I faced my mortal enemy… the remnant of the old world, Saint Nicholas. I am Ragnarok, think of a prosecuting attorney who casts judgment with black magic and a sword instead of the run of the mill evidence, it’s much more fun this way. “Nicholas Clause, prepare to die and meet Oblivion”. “You wouldn’t kill a defenseless old man would you”? I saw a frail old man, dressed in his plush red coat and pants lined with white scales from a dragon; “No, you’re far from it; dispel”. I traced a triangle under his feet with a gesture of my hand, lifting my index and middle finger his illusion shattered transforming his clothing into a set of cherry red and snow white knight armor. “I’m sorry old friend, but your time has come; the world needs new guardians, and I’m afraid you’re only going to get in their way”. “Have I not fulfilled my duty to mankind”? I saw the doubt manifest in his eyes, I could sense inside he was afraid and lost; “I’m here to put you to rest, you have evaded death for over a millennia; I believe it is time for you come to face to face with your demons”. “What authority do you have on my life, I am immortal just like you; I spent my time after the war atoning for my sins”, I shut out his pleas and walked forward… weather it was coincidence that the sky darkened and the snow bled heavily from the thunderclouds, I will never know; but I learned that day a god existed and he had lost an angel. My footsteps crunched in the heavy snow, as the thunder echoed behind me and lightning flashed around us I walked forward with my heart sinking deeper and my soul growing weaker with each step, the memories between flashed before my eyes; he was my rival, my friend, and above all my brother both in blood and in arms… we were inseparable ever since we met that day on the battlefield… I stared at him with tears flowing from my eyes as my mind flashed back to that fateful day, as fate would have it I am the devil and he is the saint… locked in an internal struggle against good and evil.

We stood face to face in the middle of a field covered in fire and ice, stained by blood and scared with the broken bits of steel and vestiges of magic used by our armies; it was a beautiful day in hell. I led the old kingdom, and he the new republic; to our peoples we were both revered as gods and they swore an unquestionable loyalty to us having no regard for their own preservation they followed us into battle making us responsible for their genocide. I felt horrible, never had either of us seen so much death in our lives; this day I learned the meaning of life and the thought behind the ideals that great men before us fought for. We were at our limit, as we clashed our blades against each other; our hopes of victory and glory slowly slipped through our fingers and turned to dust along with our swords, our battle was one of will and it was apparent that the both of us were running on empty. We collapsed on our knees knowing that we had brought the world its destruction, I wanted to die that day and so did he; but instead taking the coward’s way out he brought me to my feet and snapped me to senses, I still remember the words he told me: in a shaky and grief stricken voice he told me: “Ragnarok, we have a lot of work ahead of us; the world as we know it has ended, but we can build a new one from the ashes of the first. Will you help me bring the change needed to give mankind a second chance”? Weather it was despair or insanity that got to me, I agreed to help him rebuild civilization, my mortal enemy had become my closest friend that day; I loathed him and everything he stood for; he did the same for me, but the hate between us had slowly faded being replaced by trust and love; over the next thousand years we slowly rebuilt the world and turned it what it is today, it was remarkable seeing humanity and all other life progress once again from the ashes of our mistakes… it gave me hope but that hope comes at a cost. I found that evil exists in many forms, and it’s the blows closest to home that hits the hardest; the order of saints was formed and led by me to eradicate any force that would jeopardize the peace, we would hunt down and eliminate the monsters we were so afraid of; but Nicholas and I saw it the saints became corrupt, filled with avarice and fueled by the need to sustain bloodlust; this gave rise to the Oni or Purgatory… ten members once dedicated to protecting humanity has become their worst enemy, but something worse than them came from the woodwork the syndicate; we had killed so many in the pursuit of peace, I strayed from the path of good… I couldn’t handle being the one who has save the sheep when the wolves come knocking on their doors; but him… he never faltered, never caving into his carnal desires; never falling prey to the vices that plague us… when our paths separated he gave himself to his faith and became a paladin, a one man crusade to wipe out evil and I become lost to my sins, transforming into a monstrous demon. We played our parts the best we could, sometimes we help each other like in the old days… but we always stayed at arm’s length from each other never getting to close for we feared that we would set the world further into unbalance that it already is, we were fools just as the kingdoms that came before us we were focused on keeping the status quo regardless of the price behind it. We reached end our paths, we realized that we were problem; both agents of good and evil lay under our feet as mounds of decaying bodies, ruined dreams, and crushed hopes. Now we were the only two left, the cycle could end here but it didn’t. The god we both knew and saw, had a different plan for us. As we were about end each other’s lives, something interceded between us: a messiah. He came from heaven as a bolt of lightning sending us to our knees, the supreme good and the supreme evil met our match against the supreme neutrality. He gave rise to the world we have to know today, a world that brimming with limitless magical potential, before that day: magic was just that, the base ability to control the forces of nature: now it has become more focused to harness once thought to be fantasies that would never become reality, if I learned anything that day our horizons have been expanded to a universe beyond what we thought was possible. I don’t know how many individuals there are, but it’s up to us to guide them into the future and give them a fighting chance at figuring out what they’re supposed to do with their gifts and find their destines. That messiah showed me what I was missing, I learned the world needs balance… a good for evil, chaos for order, light for darkness; the people we were died that day, now we have a reason to live again. Hopefully we’ll do better this time, for people like me and your grandfather death is our escape from our burdens, and until we fulfill our duties to mankind we won’t rest.

We escaped with our lives that fateful day, for all it’s worth we intend to pay that debt.