♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Azrael ⋅• ♱It hurt, but even though he kept laughing and my body seemed to fall apart, it wasn’t what really hurt.It would be foolish to say that it didn’t hit me at all in his words and how sudden it all had been - but it was far from the first time. Too far to surprise me again, to cause me anything but anger.It was Miguel. Who could be surprised by something like this coming from him? It was ridiculous, but it would also be very ridiculous if I started acting as if before - when we were all "brothers" -, things were so different.I could still remember, it was as fresh in my mind as if it was still happening.The taste of iron in my mouth was still the same, Quinn’s eyes still seemed focused only on what she considered worthy and there, next to her father, practically dumped, treated like nothing but a dumb warrior - he was.Trembling.Trembling with rage like a lady’s puppy.Michael was exactly like this and even after so many centuries, even after millen
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Azrael ⋅• ♱Quinn fell and we kept watching.Watching with our narcissistic father as his "favorite angel" proved himself on earth with mortalswho had defended.She was trying, trying hard. She was wounded, she was lost, and now she had a mortal body, nothing more than an ordinary human body and those who were to worship her by their choice and goodwill did not even notice her.They were rotten - I noticed as soon as Quinn fell through that forest.Perhaps because they were made in the image of what we called the father - they were like him: selfish, irrational and completely obsessed with power."Did you see?" Miguel rejoiced as Quinn was almost abused by the humans who were chasing her still wounded "she comes down to help them and what does she get? Am? Humans are like animals, we should treat them as such!"I did not disagree with this point, but the strange glow in his eye was not desire? The desire to be there among those mortals? The desire to persecute
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Samael ⋅• ♱"Won’t you answer?" Anneliese’s black eyes stared at me with a certain disgust. It was almost comical how she didn’t even try to fool me about her preference."Who knows?" My lips arched into a broad and mischievous smile.The truth is that I would love to torture Calisto a little more."He’s still king" Anneliese did me the favor of remembering, but I was an alchemist, not a poor old man with Alzheimer’s."I know that, dear," I hissed as I leaned over my desk of notes, my arms crossing over my chest "but you should not forget that in the end I do not obey the king directly."She shot me with that sharp, feline look."That’s why you founded the temples, isn’t it?"Smile. A smile of pure fun.Anneliese had not become one of my wings out of respect or admiration, she had done it to make sure I would never get out of control.It was obvious from the day she stepped into my temple and swore me loyalty, but... how could I refuse? Anneliese may not be one
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱"You..." Elaine kept her eyes fixed on me "you look different."I blinked."What is it?""Different..." whispered sharply sleepy as she leaned her face against the back of the sofa "looks different, like someone who has never been..., but... I really like it."How should I feel? Offended? Praised?It didn’t make sense.How could I look different to Elaine?I went through all the meetings of Asra and Elaine, all the scenes, one by one and still... there was nothing. Nothing before Asra saw Elaine and Calisto together.So what? Had I changed between these last days?I took a deep breath as I thought about it and again, I went over it all mentally.I had been rude to her at first, but... that made sense, right? She was an enemy, she...I sunk my face in my hands.If I wanted answers, I’d have to ask directly, directly to that sleepy little thing with eyes so blue it looked like an endless ocean."What do you mean by that? How have I changed?"The pink lips expanded in
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Calisto ⋅• ♱Work. Work and... ah! More work.There were so many damn papers that I found myself sinking behind that table, sinking into a sea of white leaves and idiotic rules.Loren had slept there and I couldn’t even go out to take him to his room."You look in a terrible mood" A familiar voice made me raise my head and to my surprise - it was Anneliese."I have to deal with bureaucracy, you know how much I love this kind of work," I mocked sliding one of my hands across my face."Yes" she replied laughing "I know, I remember Quinn forcing you to sit at a table like this and say I wouldn’t see you until it was over."I grunted as I remembered that damn memory."And they still had the courage to call her an angel" I joked feeling the melancholy that I could not dispel from my own voice."Wasn’t it you who called her that?" Anneliese asked with an equally melancholy smile "you haven’t changed at all... Callisto."I sat up on my seat - the seat that belonged to
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Loren ⋅• ♱Of course.The sky was clear, but I couldn’t remember the name of that color. It was the same color as that woman’s eyes, the eyes that shone when they looked at me."Loren, darling" she called me, called me like Dad called me.I didn’t like it when they called me like Dad did, but when it was her... it didn’t bother me."Hi... I came" I said as I sat there on the grass.Dad would be angry if I sat on that grass? I had gone to the doctor every day and had been a good boy, he would not be angry right?The woman’s hand touched my face - it was hot."It’s okay," she said as she looked at me and the twinkle in her eyes seemed to increase, it was almost like she was like Uncle Belphegor. She seemed to understand what I thought, even if I didn’t tell her.I automatically put both hands on my head."It’s ugly to read people’s heads without asking permission," I said as a beak formed in my mouth.Dad always fought with Uncle Bell. I didn’t want him to fight w
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Azrael ⋅• ♱It still hurt.I could still feel my back throbbing and my neck burning, but I still stood, my eyes fixed on the table as I waited for an answer."Commander..." the creature’s weak voice, which should not have been more than 100 years old, made me call and I had to force a smile as I lifted my gaze."What did the saint say?"She opened her mouth, but then closed it."I knew," I thought. "The saint said nothing, it was Asra"."Ahm..." the creature looked away, his face was thin, his body too fragile.Asra had several maids, many of them were trained as well as the best of my men, but that child? She was obviously young. Was she one of the children she had employed in the tribute incident?I sighed."Speak, I won’t blame you."I couldn’t and probably the guilt made me be so kind, but that wasn’t something she would understand.Her purple eyes shone with hope and she cleared her throat before speaking."The duchess said... I should inform you that the s
♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱ •⋅ Elaine ⋅• ♱"What should I wear?" I asked as I spun around in the still-unmade bed. He had not yet had enough strength to get out of bed - especially knowing that Asra was busy.She was always busy the last few days.I snorted and a beak formed on my lips."Caliiii..." I called the half-demon Asra had assigned to me for a few weeks and the purple eyes stared at me as if they were about to smile."What is it, miss?" she asked me as she finished setting the table further to the corner of the room.There were so many fruits and cakes that I wondered if there could really be someone capable of eating all that.It was an exaggeration! An exaggeration and above all an absurdity, because even if I begged Cali, I would still have to eat everything alone."What do I do?" I asked sulking."About?""About what to wear to prom!"It was silly - I knew that and I also knew I was acting like a spoiled child, but... after so long being just a puppet of those damn strings... I c
♱ •⋅ 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