'What on earth is going on here?' I thought. "Tailed Lilith, how did you come to name this force Theós? Did someone inform you of its name before?" I quickly ask.
"No, no one informed me. This is a name that I and my previous master came up with. It seemed fitting," the tailed Lilith replied. "What of the angels, are you the one who let them know of its name?" I followed up with another question.
"Whenever we talked to the angels, they seemed to already know to whom we were referring to when we mentioned Theós. We had even heard some of them use the same name in conversations," the tailed Lilith answered confidently.
"What about that saying about Theós' plan you keep mentioning, is that something you made up as well?" I ask with an answer already in mind, but awaited the tailed Lilith to speak anyways, just to be sure.
"Yes, I and my previous master came up with the saying after observing the futility of going against Theós' plans…it also seemed fitting. I have also heard an angel say the same thing before, but we said it so many times, in so many places, he probably just overheard us at some point. What are you getting at?" the tailed Lilith said nonchalantly.
'This cannot be a coincidence, just how much control does this Theós have? I need to get through that gate. That is where I can truly find answers,' I thought to myself. "Too many coincidences lining up. Tell me, how far did Cain reach trying to get to the end of the narrow road?" I ask.
"It has been over 9,000 years and he could only go up to forty-five steps the last he tried. In the beginning, five steps was his limit, but we eventually found out a way to get past that limit.
Each human is born with a fixed lifespan that is only capable of changing depending on certain decisions they make. If you were to influence these decisions, and end up changing a fixed point in time, then that influence would lead to them dying before their time. Their remaining lifespan would then strengthen your resistance to Theós.
The more years you take from a human, the stronger your resistance to the light becomes. Only then will you have the sufficient strength to go farther down the narrow path.
This may seem barbaric to the likes of you, but children are the best option to go after. However, most of them are protected by Theós from birth. That is, till they're old enough to fully understand the decisions that they make.
The years that you steal from these humans add to the number of shadows you can create and improve certain effects of your dark cloud as well. So, what do you plan on doing now?" the tailed Lilith said with expectations in her eyes, but still looking down on me with her tone.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to get stronger then get through that gate at the end of the narrow road. Anything or anyone that has irrefutable control over their self-interests cannot be allowed to live. Theós cannot be allowed to live, especially if he keeps enforcing his self-interests on me.
I didn't ask for any of this. I will find this Theós, end its reign, then enforce my own philosophy to anything that breathes. No mere light will be able to stop me…not for long," I say to the tailed Lilith then open a gate in front of me using the dark cloud.
"Let's go, I know the perfect place to start," I say then walk through the cloud. "Yes master!" the tailed Lilith said excitedly as she followed close behind. We were now back on earth, and it was still nighttime. Music could be heard in the distance, accompanied by sinnging and shouting.
"Where are we?" she asks still trying to recall the familiar surroundings. "This? It's New Orleans…I hope. In front of us should be the famous Club Rumors, one of New Orleans' most notorious night clubs," I said contemplating my next move as I noticed someone pass right through my body as though it were an actual cloud.
'No one can see me…that will be a problem.' I thought before asking…. "Is there a way I can be seen by humans?" I asked the tailed Lilith standing next to me.
"Yes, but it is not a pleasant one," she said. "Whatever it takes, I need to be seen for this to work," I immediately reply without hesitation.
"Very well, listen carefully. Take the dark cloud, surrounding you, into your body then focus it on one area. This will allow your Reaper body to heal and revert back to its human form. Focus the dark cloud in an unexposed area because that area will not be healed like the rest of your body.
Although you will look human, be sure to keep your presence to a minimum, you are still the Reaper so the aura of death burns strong within you.
Theós strictly does not approve of humans seeing you in your reaper form nor seeing your shadows. In your human form, you will not be able to use large amounts of your dark cloud unless you are ready to revert back to your reaper form.
You should also know that concentrating all of the dark cloud to a single spot will most definitely amplify the pain. Thus, your other consciousness will not be able to handle it for too long. If you're not careful, the pain will overwhelm you and the other consciousness will completely your body before it gets unbearable," the tailed Lilith said.
"That sounds like a chore, but I understad," I replied. With quick a thought, I began to take the dark cloud into my body. The dark cloud rushed into me, through my mouth and nostrils. The entire process lasted thirty seconds, but the burning pain made it feel longer. It felt like my insides were melting.
I then began to try and focus the cloud to a single area. 'The back seems like a convenient place to store the cloud,' I thought to myself as I began to focus the cloud within my body, towards my back. The pain soon began to subside.
As the cloud began to gather on my back, right between my shoulder blades, I began to vividly see the flesh around my body begin to heal. I could see muscles begin to grow on my skeletal body and layers of skin clothe them after.
Every part of my body looked exactly the way it did before I became the Reaper, but much skinnier, with my back as an exception.
The area on my body, where the dark cloud was concentrated, looked like a corpse. My spine could slightly be seen through the decayed flesh. I could feel boils grow and burst continously. Luckily, the pain was minuscule.
"Let's go inside," I said walking forward, but suddenly got grabbed by the arm with a black, furry tail. "What is it?" I asked feeling impatient. "You're a 7ft naked man, you're attracting too much attention," she said in criticism.
I quickly looked down at myself and see my old friend hanging between my legs. I smile from ear to ear satisfied with my appearance. I look around and notice people around staring at me, some lustfully, but most with shock and disgust.
'Good, they can see me. Their night just became much better after seeing this view,' I thought to myself with a smirk.
"Tailed Lilith, take me to the nearest haberdashery that you know of," I commanded. "Yes master, and stop that, it's just Lilith," she said creating a dark cloud in front of us and allowing me to walk through first.
I walked through then appeared in front of a store with a glass door. On the door were a few words, but what stood out the most were the bolded words JEFF'S.
I then broke the glass door and heard a deafening alarm go off.
"How annoying," I say out loud as I walked inside, stepping on the broken glass now all around. To my surprise, my feet were unharmed by the numerous pieces of glass that now decorated the entrance floor. I browsed around the room for a suit my size then suddenly realized it to be a difficult task as every cloth around the store looked miniature like to me.
I then proceeded to decrease the size of my body, with great effort, to a height of 6'2ft. My body slowly shrunk and muscles grew on my skinny body.
'The strain from this height can be managed,' I thought to myself. I looked around once again and saw a manikin my size, dressed in a black tuxedo.
"Perfect," I say out loud as I proceeded to undress the manikin. I swiftly put on the tuxedo then looked at myself in the mirror. I could once again see the white in my eyes and hair on the top of my head. I continued my gaze, going down, and see a man in a dashing tuxedo.
'I look much older than before,' I thought to myself. I turn to the tailed Lilith with arms spread out then say with a smirk, "Quite dashing am I right?"
"Yes master, quite dashing," the tailed Lilith replied respectfully. As I kept looking at myself I could hear sirens in the distance. "Time to go tailed Lilith. Back to the club," I said retreating my gaze from the mirror and turning my attention to the tailed Lilith.
"I keep telling you, it's just Lilith," she said as she opened a gateway with the dark cloud. I ignore what she said and walk through the gateway with the tailed Lilith following closely behind.
I then appear once again in front of Club Rumors, alongside the tailed Lilith. I immediately notice a man vomiting close by like his life depended on it. With the way my shadow was standing closely behind him, it just might have been.
I then quickly observed at the man's lifespan. 'Three years left, most likely to die from alcohol intoxication,' I thought to myself as I kept seeing different ways that the man could die.
I then proceeded to walk up to the man, "Need some help there buddy?" I say to him as I placed my hand on his back. He then quickly pushed my hand away and said, "Fuck off mate…I'm a man… *GARP*...I can take care of myself," he tried to say in between vomiting.
"That's quite the arrogant self-image you got there," I say stretching out my hand with the intention of grabbing him by the neck to make him choke on his own vomit, but before I could reach the man's neck my hand stopped midway. I was completely frozen.
'This feels exactly like when I was in the fiftieth step on the narrow path,' I thought to myself as I tried to resist to grab the man's neck until…
"AAAHH!" I screamed out in pain, pressing both of my hands against the sides of my head. It felt like physical pain, but much more than that. It was like my entire existence was going against the universe itself.