Darksiders: Eternity's Requiem

Prologue

"I can make this go away."

Kael felt his heart skip a beat when those words washed over him. They were so...warm, so caring

So human

"That almost sounded human." Kael laughed half heartedly as he felt his ribs wrap around each other in a forbidden embrace.

"Call it what you want," the figure said in a hushed tone as it inched closer.

He felt like gagging when the figure approached him. It smelled of death; of old blood, and lots of it. As he finally took in the sight of the creature before him, Kael's eyes watered as he tried to turn away. The creature kneeled down and grabbed his face, its clawed gauntlet digging into his scarred cheeks and forcing him to turn back to look at it. It wore a mask of some sort, one that reminded him of a wolf, and it was made of bone. The eyes are what made Kael shudder; they were black as night, save for the small pinpoints of red. He supposed that they were the creature's iris.

"I just want you to tell me exactly what I need to know. You're the only one left." The creature muttered, a smile creeping into its voice as it looked over its shoulder.

He didn't have to look to see that the compound was burned down, only a few embers remained. Nor did he have to look to know that his family, his entire world, had died a long time ago as silence enveloped them. He kept his eyes on the creature, it was as if he was trying to hold on to the small hope that they were still alive.

"The Council demands it."
"Fuck the Council." He spat blood at the creature's mask.

The creature didn't flinch as the beads of blood splashed across its mask. Without missing a beat, the creature reached with its other hand and softly wiped the blood trickle from the corner of Kael's mouth. Slowly, as if deliberately, the creature reached under its mask with its finger and dragged its tongue over the finger, licking the blood clean.

"What the fuck are you?" Kael found his voice after a few moments of shock.

"I know you know about that little Maker Ilyea," the creature continued, ignoring his question, "I want you to tell me why you know her. What is she doing?"

"I don't know." Kael's voice trembled as he tried to take a few steps back.

"You're playing with the very little patience I have," the creature twisted its grip on Kael's hair, the inflection in its voice remaining unchanged.

Kael made a sound that was unknown to him, a scream? A whimper? It was as if all of his emotions came flooding at once as he let loose his cry. Never mind the pain that came from this thing pulling his hair; it was the pain of everything. The pain of never seeing his wife, Nala, again, of never hearing his children fight over simple things, of everything he took for granted before this thing came into their lives.

"You're wasting your time," Kael laughed bitterly, straining to look up at the creature with defiant eyes, "I won't tell you shit!"

After a few moments of silence, the creature's eyes fell to half moons as a loud laugh boomed from behind the mask.

"You won't have to." Was all it said as it seemed to melt in front of his eyes.
"What the-" was all Kael could remember before everything began to distort itself to black.

"Fuck!" Kael screamed as he sprang upright from his bed.

Fumbling, his wife sat up with him and looked around, her brown eyes scanning the room as she reached for her gun.
"Jesus, Kael, what's the matter with you!" She scolded him, her full lips twisted into a scowl as she figured out there was no danger.
"Nala?" Kael gulped, his throat closing up as the remnants of the monster's face still haunted his mind.
"Were you expecting someone else?" She sighed, a small smile creeping on her lips as she glanced up at him.
Before she could make another comment, Kael threw himself over her and pressed his lips against hers. She hesitated for a second and returned his embrace, a small laugh rumbling deep in her chest and behind her lips.

"What did I do to get that?" She chuckled when Kael pulled away for a breath.
"I had the weirdest dream...or nightmare." He said after a few moments of consideration as he pulled his wife into an embrace.
"You big baby-"
"I dreamed about you and the kids burnin' up in this house." He cut off his wife's playful remark as he hugged her tighter, "Something did that to you...whether it was one of those angels or demons, I have no clue."
"Oh Kae...we're okay." Nala nuzzled her cheek against her husband's chest.
"I should have never dealt with that Maker...nothing good will come from that." Kael thought out loud.
"You did what you had to do."
"The gold they gave us was just so tempting...all that for just a dumb piece of metal?"
"A piece of metal?"
"Remember? My family found it years and years ago...when the Apocalypse happened," Kael continued as he was deep in thought, "No idea why we kept it for so long...seemed silly to me. But, it'll buy us a ticket out of this town-"
"You mean this?"

Kael stopped and looked down at his wife who held her fist out to him. Opening her hand, Kael's brow furrowed in confusion as the bent piece of metal that was in his family for generations sat on her palm. It was always a curious thing, Kael always thought it looked like a piece of something bigger. He would always stare at it during his chores when he was younger as it dangled from his neck.

But what was it doing in her hand?

"What the..? No, how did you get this again? I just sold it to that Maker, she should have that!"
"It's a part of the 7th seal," Nala continued, her eyes staring down at the piece of metal unblinkingly, "What are you planning, Ilyea?"

"Nala, she paid for that and took it with her, I saw it! How did you get it?" Kael pulled away from his wife and stared at her in disbelief.
She only smiled, the same smile that marveled him since the day they met. But it didn't feel warm, it didn't put him at ease. Kael opened his mouth to say one more thing, just one more question to see if he could make sense of everything. Before he could utter a word, his wife plunged the sharp object deep into the side of his neck. It hurt, damn did it hurt like hell, but Kael couldn't move. He couldn't tear his eyes away from his wife's, whose face seemed to melt as they stared at each other. The entire room seemed to dissolve and reconstruct itself before his very eyes until he was brought back in front of that creature.
Making a few gasps, Kael weakly grabbed for the dagger plunged into his throat, the world around him getting dimmer and dimmer. The creature watched him as he slowly slipped away with distant interest, as if it was used to seeing death. Slowly, the creature lowered its head and practically pressed the cheek of its mask against his cheek.

"This is salvation from what's to come. This is mercy. Thank your God that you won't have to see what's coming." Was all it whispered into his ear, its voice soft like a mother soothing a child, before the entire world went to black for good.