♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱I looked in the mirror before going, that was the most "common" sweater in Asra’s closet; at knee level, the only piece that was not transparent.The fit was perfect - but that wasn’t new, I considered it impossible that something didn’t look good on Asra’s body, but that particular sweater made her almost 'adorable'.I sighed.I still had a lot of exposed skin, but nothing I couldn’t solve, so I pulled out a little shawl I had there - a pretty shawl with embroidered golden flowers everywhere. That was the most delicate embroidery I’d ever seen.I wrapped myself in the scarf and finished braiding my hair, a fallen braid and half loose to the side.When I got to Loren’s room, Calisto was already there, lying on the bed next to the child; he had a dark leather book in his hands."Asra" the little one called me "you came! I said daddy!"I raised one of my eyebrows."Your father said I wouldn’t come?"Calisto opened his mouth, but thought better and then smiled."Just
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Calisto ⋅• ♱When I awoke, Asra still slept beside Loren and for a moment I wished to remain there, only to allow myself to stay; just to lie there looking at the two while waiting for one of them to awaken, but I realized I could not.He could not because a village that had the attention of the king was invaded again, he could not because there were angels in the territory of Lucifer and for a moment I thanked her for not being there.Lucifer didn’t deserve what they were doing to his home. She didn’t deserve what they did to her and what they were trying to tarnish her name - she was, like Quinn, someone who truly cared about those damn mortals.It was cruel.Really cruel.Her father, her creator - had thrown her away by supporting her sister, had plucked her wings as the last act of cowardice and thrown all her brothers against her.Lucifer was condemned to save Loren, to bring me Quinn’s last memory.I felt my chest tighten.She didn’t deserve it and all I c
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C ⋅• ♱She came in, the blond hair, the blue eyes and that aura.It was as if Elaine simply shone - a golden glow and charged with heavenly energy. I held my breath as I stared at her and for some reason - her eyes were not fixed on Callisto, but on me."Put the handcuffs on," Callisto said, and his voice was cold and sharp as he ordered it done."This did not happen in the novel" I thought as the guards approached with large iron handcuffs, there were so many symbols carved on them that I wondered if it was more an instrument of torture than something to "seal" the divine powers."Callisto..." Azrael’s eyes widened "is this necessary?"Even I wanted to question him about it. It was about Elaine that we were talking about, the girl who was barely 1.64 tall and her arms and body were too thin for her height; Elaine was like a child who forgot to grow up, who does not feed properly for months."She is still the saint of that God" I remembered as I fixed my posture; Elaine’s
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Elaine ⋅• ♱"Hello... sweetie" she said and even if my body did not react, even if I was just a spectator trapped in a piece of meat with arms and legs that did not respond to me, I shuddered.Had her voice always been like that? She had always had that intonation full of... what was that? Malice? No... it was different, it was different from how much Asmodeus mumbled that nickname; it was not disgusting or scary, it was almost... tempting.I thanked for a moment - I thanked that my body did not respond to me, that my senses were different from what it really looked like - otherwise -, I was sure that my cheeks would be red as if they would bleed at any time.But... she was there, her eyes were staring at me, her feet were in front of me and all I wanted was to say her name. I felt it in my tongue, I felt each one of those letters, I felt as if I was able to do it and then free myself, free myself from those bonds, from that place, from that eternal prison."As.
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Asmodeus ⋅• ♱They were there, I could see, even if neither Asra nor Callisto noticed me, I watched them."It’s different" that nosy demon muttered "I couldn’t understand.""Of course not" I thought "you’re too dumb for that".Asra stared at Elaine, who was on the floor, practically drooling in pain. The infant body of that thing the God of angels called "holy" was writhing as he thrust more and more divine power into that nearly dying body.What was wrong with that bastard? He was always cruel, always ruthless - no matter what plan we were talking about, what existence it was about, he was always a fucking asshole full of himself."She’ll die if she stays that way" the little demon in my earring muttered "her human brain will burn."Smile."Is it going to be a barbecue... or is it pâté? I’ve never tried a human brain pâté, it should taste good with spices and a garlic toast. Everything looks good with garlic" I said as I played with my index finger on my lips.
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Elaine ⋅• ♱Darkness.I was used to the darkness - but I could still feel that cold in my spine.Then my eyes opened and it was not the usual darkness that struck me, but the sight of an emerald room."No... no... no..." I felt my whole body weigh.Calisto was looking at me with disgust and contempt... so why? Why the hell put me in that place?"Let me come back..." I wanted to beg Azrael who should be at my door right now, but it wasn’t like I could.I didn’t want to be there, I didn’t want to see Calisto, and I didn’t want it to happen again. It was changing, it had finally changed something after all this time... so why?"Ah... you woke up" a feminine and gentle voice smiled at me, but although I recognized all the maids of the castle, I did not remember this.They didn’t dress like that, they didn’t behave like that.Something was different then.His eyes were covered by a seal, his hair was dark in a purplish tone and his lips were black - just like his clo
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C ⋅• ♱She was on the floor, her eyes looked like a mixture of fear and confusion, it was almost as if she didn’t understand or believe that I was there."Come on... is it hard for you to stand?" I questioned her while trying to ignore the fact that she looked more like a trained puppy who was afraid of being thrown away by the owner.Elaine stared at me again and those cobalt blue eyes closed long as she nodded affirmatively."Di-difficult, I think..."Was she speaking well when she entered Callisto’s office, was that one of the effects of the handcuffs? The scene of Michael being chained and dragged to Callisto’s feet came to mind.In the original work, Michael - the great archangel, the one who drove Lucifer out of paradise and tore off his wings -, was sent by his father to take care of his saint. Michael hated the idea of Elaine being in Callisto’s arms and after falling madly in love with the saint, he became obsessed to the point of intervening in his father’s plans
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Asmodeus ⋅• ♱"Since when do you care about children?"Asra stared at me with a raised eyebrow, it was almost as if she was unable to understand me."And since when does that bother you so much?""She’s on Azrael’s side!" I said trying to argue, but she snitched."I don’t want to talk about it, enough..." she murmured with one hand over her face and I took her face."She looks angry" the little demon in my earring muttered."Asra!" I called her "you can’t pretend that nothing happened and that you’re not committing madness!"Nothing good would come from that angelic thing around her.Nada.How many times had I witnessed the death of that crimson-haired being?For a moment the memory of someone with equally wavy hair and the same color came to mind. To see that thing in front of me die again and again at the hands of Callisto because of that thing, that thing they call a saint, she tortures."What happened to you?""Asmodeus!" the grenade eyes stared at me "enoug
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Azrael ⋅• ♱I watched her without realizing it, watched until the sun was setting and the barrier surrounding Samael’s plan was thinner, until the rune fragment she sent me was strong enough to enter."Don’t be an idiot," I remembered as my wings throbbed, "there’s no room for kindness, not after all you’ve done, don’t be such a hypocrite".I swallowed hard and a smile easily appeared on my lips when I crossed. It was like a fog touching my skin, a comfortable cold, a feeling I had missed even without realizing it.What the hell was I thinking? What was going on with me?I closed my eyes tightly, but my wings just beat, just took me there, to that breathless breath and that smile that could be felt in her voice when she called me."Azrael!" His arms wrapped around my neck and... had they always been so warm?"I thought you couldn’t come..." whispered her face down to my neck, I could feel her lips arched into a smile "okay? Did you get hurt getting past the barri
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Azrael ⋅• ♱The child began to be able to move gradually, in a way that was still a little time consuming and different from his usual, from the child who ran around and insisted so much to have his little body in that garden.His speech had returned too, his voice was less guttural, more understandable and a smile that was not painful could be seen, one that was not put on that face just because of the melancholy of Callisto."Look! You can move your arms better now" the quartz eyes were flickering as you said that as something equivalent to Loren’s first steps, as if that was some kind of novelty that should be celebrated with various gifts and a party "how is your breathing? Something still burns?" tried to caress that small face as if it was something that would break by any slip on his part.Loren was now like a valuable piece of porcelain, one that could not risk being damaged after being restored."I’m fine, Dad..." the child’s voice was still low when to
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Elaine ⋅• ♱"I like stars," he said while playing with a pearl between my fingers "I like how they look, how they’re bright and beautiful. I like purple, I like how the sun in this world is red, even though here where Samael lives he looks different."Keir smiled, his hands still playing by my hair."What else?" asked me with her face resting on my thighs."I like salty foods, slightly spicy, bittersweet and especially the dessert that the boss of the mansion always makes." The one that looks like jelly with syrup."Pudding? ' She asked me smiling from the corner and I nodded."That’s right, pudding.""Um, um, uh...""I also like pretty dresses, braided hair, flat shoes, delicate swords..." I continued to list "I like hardcover books and slow songs.""And old scrolls? You live surrounded by them" Keir joked, his lips arched in a mischievous smile that made my heart beat."Silly" I hit with my fingertips on his nose."I know, I know" gave up "continue... what els
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Quinn ⋅• ♱His arms wrapped around my body and then everything seemed to be fine.I no longer felt the blood, nor the weight of the souls that I plucked, that I hurt."Everything will be fine" he repeated as a melodic song and if it was Calisto who told me those things... I naturally believed."How can you not like it here?" I asked as I stared at that landscape, the sky, the grass that resembled a red foliage. The stars that always shone in the sky almost always cloudy.Calisto snorted."I don’t know..." he said sincerely "maybe... I just can’t see the beauty of hell when I didn’t have you by my side."A twinge struck my chest, a twinge of happiness and hope."Fool" I mocked wrapping my arms around his neck.I loved that being.He loved his color-changing eyes, loved his foolish way of thinking that the world was more beautiful outside of hell. He loved the way the rebellious waves of black hair he had struggled to unravel around his delicate face.I loved the
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Calisto ⋅• ♱I could not sleep.My eyes weighed and weighed, but I could not sleep - because there, in my arms -, there was a fragile being who did not seem able to open his eyes again.Whenever everything was cloudy and sleep pulled me down, I saw myself awakening in fright and looking at him.Checking.Checking to see if he was still alive, if he was still breathing.It was every day, every second - more complicated to watch, to watch."You should rest," Azrael told me one night, his eyes sharply in pain as he stared at the child, my child."How?" I heard myself ask, Loren’s sleeping face was so pale I had to put my fingers close to her nostrils to make sure he was still alive."Samael is good" he said hoping to console me, but it didn’t work.How would it work?"Then why haven’t we heard from you?" I practically growled, my hands closed in fists, tears burning in my eyes "I sent letters and more letters... I... I did everything I could... I DEMANDED answers a
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Asmodeus ⋅• ♱"Asmodeus is a great...""This time it’s going to work," I said ignoring the voice of that damn demon in my earring as I focused on that crystal, that crystal I was able to form from Quinn’s blood."You’ve been repeating this since...""Shut up" growled tearing the earring from my ear and throwing it at the wall.I wasn’t in the mood to be careful about whether or not I could hurt him or even break his prison.I was just tired.I wanted to see her."It needs to work" I muttered as I imbued more and more magic in that little crystal "work, work..." I kept repeating, as if somehow that was a stupid mantra - strong enough to make everything work; but nothing could be easy when it was for me, right?Nothing worked as it should.I bit my mouth hard, the fangs thrust into my lip until a sliver of blood came down my chin.I couldn’t see her, I couldn’t be with her or protect her. I couldn’t go to her even though time was passing and yet, the least I was a
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Loren ⋅• ♱My eyes weighed, my belly looked strange and at times it was like floating in my own body.I could feel my father’s affection as he tried to talk and distract me, but now even opening his mouth was a complicated task."It’s going to be okay" he repeated and at that point I already knew he was saying it more to himself than to me."I know" I wanted to answer while smiling, but my mouth did not move, in fact, opening my eyes was already a gigantic effort, so I was content to grunt and hold her hand.It wasn’t a squeeze, I couldn’t even call it anything but touch. A soft, almost nonexistent touch that my father should be questioning if it was real.He was sad, wasn’t he? Abbadon should also be, but after I started sleeping more than 17 hours a day, she was no longer there, just Dad.A version of Dad who stared at me with a red face from crying."Do you want to hear a story?" He asked me with a broken voice and I forced myself to smile, forced my face to
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Samael ⋅• ♱I blinked."What was it?" she asked me as she sat in the armchair and the red-eyed duchess stared at me with an raised eyebrow."I did not expect... the two" I spoke sincerely, after all the agreement I had made with Elaine was already a clear way to make the duchess calmer with all that; even so, the sharp gaze of Asra shot me as if my mere mention of her being there was an offense. Maybe it was the result of years on the battlefield, but I knew when I wasn’t able to win a war, so I sighed winning "but since you’re here..." I muttered indicating with one hand to the armchairs - sit down."Where will you start?" Asra questioned, the red hair falling with perfectly braided waves on her back, the sharp eyes staring at me and looking for any sign of flickering in my attitudes or decisions."I’ve been thinking about tears..." I said remembering Quinn, the way he had acted.Since that day, the bastard did not even give me a mere sign of life and Callisto’
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Elaine ⋅• ♱Samael did as he said he would, but from the day we arrived at the camellia mansion - a name given by Keir, since the garden was full of camellias -, I did not even see the slightest sign of the priest’s existence, but now, when morning came by the door of our house.The huge smile on his face made me question my own sanity as he said - what was sweet? If you keep looking at me like that, I’m gonna think you don’t like my presence.I opened my mouth to confirm that assumption, but I chose not to."Just... I thought it was too early for you to be here," I lied and apparently that wasn’t one of my best lies, as he just smiled as he drank his tea."Early? We have a lot to study, especially if we want the child to experience one of my theses before dying."I swallowed it hard."Is he... very ill?"Samael laughed quietly."Does it really matter to you?"'No' I realized as I pressed the skirt of my dress between my fingers.My concern for Loren... was mini