₊˚.༄ God Complex
CHAPTER EIGHT:
( paradise lost & paradise found. )
"the path to paradise begins in hell."
The sun had set an hour ago, and the nights in Wazuka were not as pretty as its counterpart, for the mountains bordering the small town like walls protecting its people brought shivering winds that made anyone retreat to a warm place of solitude. Aki and Seira would have preferred the warmth of their makeshift shelter, but instead they sought it in a dingy and crowded bar. Aki did not like bars, they harbored drunk men who reeked of rotten disease and spouted out unholy things as if it were the word of God. Seira didn't much care for bars, for she wasn't enamored by the idea of drunk men trying to take a pass at her, but she really paid no mind to it all. At the end of the day, it was just another thing she had to sacrifice for the time being so that she may return to Eden one day with Aki by her side.
They both sat silently at the bar's high top, Seira slowly sipping on a glass of baileys, and Aki a water. Aki had questioned why they were here, and Seira brushed him off simply by tell him she wanted silence, and he obliged like a dog being given orders. They hadn't spoken on what happened in the early afternoon with the Devil attack in the woods, and Aki had so many questions piling up, but he was too hypnotized by what he had seen Seira do that he could not speak them.
Aki did not like the position he found himself in, for his racing mind kept him occupied in his head, and he wishes so desperately to pin one singular thought down focus on it. His mind felt like a wolf on a hunt, trying to chase down a rabbit in the dead of winter, but it's attempts only became more futile as it trailed its prey, hunger making the beast of the woods slimmer with each step. The combination of this and the loud chatter of drunken fools only caused a nerve to form on his temple, and slowly messaged it in hopes that it would relieve some of the tension on his mind, but it only became worse when he noticed that his master was eyeing an older gentleman in the corner, cloaked in shadow and dim light, Aki could not make out the man's features. He did not like the idea of his goddess longing for another's company when he she despised his. He wanted to be the only one she longed to be in the presence with, just as he did with her.
Slowly the bartender approached, a bright and cheerful smile curved the corner of her lips, and the curves of her body caught any crude man's attention. "The man in the corner told me to say, 'paradise lost'," the bartender spoke in a high-pitched voice that did not match her features.
Aki was puzzled by this, and his mind attaching to another rampant thought. He turned towards Seira and watched in devotion as she took the last sip of her Irish cream. "Tell him 'Paradise found.'," she calmly spoke. They both watched as the young bartender shook her head in confirmation and scurried her way towards the lone man in the corner.
They waited a few moments, and watched as the woman delivered the message to the elderly man. Once she had left him back to her work post the man gave Seira a knowing look, and she stood from her stool, beckoning for Aki to follow her. He did so like a dog to its master, and anyone who witness the exchange would have assumed they were siblings of some sort, or worse if their drunken minds carried them far enough into lewd territory. Seira allowed Aki to slide into the booth and followed behind him closing him off into the confined space, she always refused to sit on the inside of anything, for she didn't like to be closed off from attacking if she needed to.
"It has been a long time, sister. I wonder how many times the earth has come to die and be reborn again since the last time I laid my eyes on you," the old man said with a smile that crinkled the corner of his eyes.
"It has been a long time, Zeldris, many trees of old have certainly fallen to mankind since the last time we spoke," Seira spoke with a similar smile, reaching her hands across the table to interlock their fingers, "it truly is a pleasure to see you again before time has taken your last breath."
"Indeed, time has yet to be unforgiving to me. I see a face I have not had the pleasure of meeting, and to see you partnered with someone is rare sight indeed," The elderly man broke the eye contact him and Seira had to turn his gaze onto Aki.
He squirmed under the man's gaze and looked up at Seira to receive confirmation to speak to the man. It would have resembled a child asking permission to go outside and play. She smiled down upon him like a loving mother and nodded for him to go ahead. He turned back towards the man, and nodded his head softly, "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. My names Hayakawa Aki, but you can call me Aki," he spoke like a timid child.
"A pleasure to meet you Aki, my names Suzuki Zeldris," the man spoke a friendly manner, not one of hostility that Aki was so used to by elderly people, "I assume you're both here for the recent devil appearance, nasty thing has destroyed half the town along with the living, I fear with winter approaching we might starve to death since no hunting can be done with that thing lurking in the trees shadows."
"Yes, pawpaw, that is why I come seeking you out tonight. I know you must have a tale on the disgusting filth, and anything helps after the run in we had with it today," Seira told him in earnest.
"You were attacked by it today! My dear sister why did you not say anything, are you alright, were you hurt?" Zeldris spoke in a frantic and concerned tone, one that made some part of Aki relieved that Seira wasn't always alone in her past, and indeed kept herself busy with some company.
"I'm fine Zeldris, just a small scratch or two, nothing I can't handle," Seira belittled the incident today, trying to hurry Zeldris along on what she wanted to hear on the Devil.
"It showed up around a month ago, blew our church to oblivion when it first got here. Had writing in animals' blood, though I couldn't for the life of me figure out what language it was written in. At first, we barely noticed it in truthfulness, or at least it was easy for us to ignore it, but it lurked in the shadows. One day, I suppose it became erratic from our lack of care for it, started mutilating animals and leaving dozens of dead carcasses along the paths we walked every day. When that proved to be useless, it turned to the mutilation of people, tearing up random citizen's," Zeldris told the both of them, his head bowed in solemn atmosphere for the people he had loosed in this devil's crusade.
"It's not random, there has to be a correlation between them all," Seira told Zeldris, her eyes held a thousand secrets in them that Aki wished to explore and find the truth between them.
"What do you mean, Seira?" Aki questioned, savoring the way her head tilted towards him and her lips parted to ponder on her words carefully.
"This is a primal fear we are facing, that is a fact. Primal fears don't act out of random; they have laws and rules that make them killers," Seira told Aki, and when he gave her a confused look, she knew she needed to explain in further detail. "Let's say that this was the primal fear of Justice, the only way for it to kill in proper fashion was if someone committed something injustice."
Aki shook his head in acknowledgment, understanding a bit better how the primal devils worked. "Is there anything else you can tell us then that my allude to the identity of this Devil," Aki asked the old man with pleading eyes, and when the old man only became more solemn with the subject, he knew he'd get no answers tonight.
"I'm sorry, children, but I am just as in the dark about this beast as you are," he told the both of them with sorrow.
"It's fine, gramps, I appreciate you meeting me here to begin with, especially with your wife so sick at home," Seira told him as she reached for his hands again, but when the old man retreated them under the table everyone became shocked by the reaction. The look in Seira's eyes soiled themselves with sadness that Aki had never seen her wear, and a part of his heart broke knowing that mankind could do this to his beloved god.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you like this, sister, but Mary is dead. She died when the devil appeared, for she was praying to our beloved god to heal her," Zeldris spoke, and tears could not help but spill from the old man's eyes.
"Oh my, gramps, I'm so sorry. I give you my deepest of condolences," Seira said, and similar sadness that soiled the elderly man's face also spoiled hers.
"Thank you, my dear, now shall I tell this young lad some tales of past of the two of us," Zeldris became more animated with the idea of telling stories of Seira and his past, and Aki couldn't help but indulge the man as Seira protested to the idea.
***
The night had dragged on, and with many hours passed the old man, Zeldris, and the two devil hunters went their separate ways back to their warm beds. Zeldris could not help but take the long way back towards his home with the overflowing memories keeping him company in the dead of night. With his mind occupied he never noticed that he was being tailed by someone, or something.
"You lied," a voice spoke out towards Zeldris and he quickly turned around to face the culprit.
Zeldris couldn't help but drop to his knees in pure horror as he looked upon his now living, yet utterly mutilated wife's body that he had buried only a month ago. Her eyes were white and lifeless, and her skin was grey and decaying, dirt smudged upon every crevice of her once beautiful life. Her hair matted and torn in some places leaving bald patches.
"Who are you," Zeldris horrifically asked the monster that cloaked itself in his late wife's body.
"You lied to the two devil hunters about what really happened," the beast spoke in a voice that did not belong to his wife's. "I was not killed by the beast of Hell; I was murdered by you."
Zeldris could not speak, and so the devil continued, "You murdered me that night calling it a mercy killing from the disease god had put upon my life, and that it would free me from the death hold have over me."
"It was! I couldn't bear to see your suffering anymore, it hurt me. I swear I tell the truth."
"LIER!" the shrieking of the devil's voice made Zeldris cover his ears in a panic. "You lie, and thus your sin against God has brought me to this hollow earth," the devil spoke as it closed the gap between it and the old man.
"Wait, that would make you the devil of tr-," Zeldris didn't finish his sentence before the devil, or maybe his dead wife - it was truly her rotting corpse - plunged their hand into the old man's heart, squeezing it until it popped and turned into nothing but mush.
"Paradise may be lost, but paradise shall be found within me," spoke the devil as he ravaged upon the old man's body like a pack of wolves to the first kill of the winter.
( WORD COUNT ) 2099
-- unedited
Howdy, my lovely little souls, and finally an update for you dearest to read. not much to say other than a bit of a reveal of what we are up against for these next few chapters. i do have to bring into light that after this chapter there will only be four more in this act and then we'll be in act two which follows the main story line of chainsaw man, so yes, obvs a bit of some time skipping for that. anyways, please don't forget to comment, vote, and share! as always, i love you, my lovely little souls.