Hell's Greatest Weapon

Chapter 21: The Mark of Cain

“Can it kill me?” The question was honest and you truly sought an answer to it, Death knew this, but he only shook his head and shrugged.

“Well you’ve seen that it has powers you can’t undo,” He gestured to your back, “Take this, for instance.”

“But I healed.”

“Slowly.” Death turned, then, to face the water once again, his hands fidgeting with each other as he spoke, his words slow and divided to be sure that you understood.  “The Mark allows the owner to possess a power that is different from yours, and while it’s weaker in almost every way in comparison to that which you hold, it is stronger in one, key way.”

“I already know this.”

“Yes, Y/N,” Death turned back to you, “But I want to be sure that you really understand.”

Part of you wanted to tell Death to screw off, to stop guilting you for something that you were already guilty enough about, but the more rational side of yourself was quick to acknowledge how bad an idea that was. Death was, after all, the only thing that remained somewhat constant throughout your existence—with the exception of Cain, but since he was on and off the grid so often, he was hardly consistent—and while you were unsure of whether Death could actually end you, you weren’t about to put yourself in the situation to find out.  You’d asked Death hundreds of times whether or not you were capable of dying, whether there was an unknown (or perhaps known) power out there strong enough to kill something that was made not to die, but he always shrugged it off, told you that your knowing what can kill you is a great way to mess with the order.  Never one to argue with the master of destruction, you shrugged it off.

But now… now you needed to know.  The Mark had been a part of your life since the beginning of time—quite literally—and you knew it was strong but were still uncertain as to how strong.  Cain had managed to slice up your back some years ago, giving you the first indication that the injuries caused by the Mark healed in a more mortal fashion than any others you’d encountered; normally it took seconds for a stab or slice wound to heal, but the wound on your back that came directly from the First Blade? That took weeks, had you switching out bandages between demon collections.

“When Lucifer made you, he knew that there was a chance that putting so much power into one creature might go awry, similarly to how he rebelled from God.”  Death’s eyes were fixed on the lake in front of the two of you while he spoke, his words being carried off by the wind as they projected from his mouth.  “He planned it all out, of course, knew that the only way for him to bring death and destruction to the earth was to have a key, a type of figure that could do his bidding while he was locked up, only to take his place when the pieces finally fell back into place.”

“Why are you—“ You began to ask, but Death only continued, acting as though you hadn’t spoken at all.

“Knowing that there was a high risk of you developing your own free will, he made the Mark.  Now the Mark was never intended to be even close to as powerful as you, but it was a type of safeguard to keep you in check; he made it out of the bounds of time, which is why the deaths caused by the Mark are not accounted for in the order.”  Death paused and took a breath in, his eyes never removing themselves from the lake.  “Now the Mark has power, but it’s more of a restrictive power that is focused directly at you.  It cannot actively do things, but it can keep things from happening.”  He turned to you.  “It can stop you if you get out of hand.

“When Lucifer first made the Mark,” Death turned back to lake, each of his hands now intertwined by his long, bony fingers, “He did it in such a way that only you could control it and of course, by ‘it’ I mean the owner.  Cain.  You couldn’t quite control the Mark, itself, but the vessel it used to translate the evil to actions was easily manipulated, which you’ve found throughout the years; the only hard part of controlling the vessel is tracking it down, seeing through the veil that the Mark used to protect itself.”