Memories that aren't supposed to be there, ones that I thought would never be able to exist, they torment me. Instead of finding joy in them, I found only grief. Is this what it means when they say that just before you die, your life flashes abrubtly before you die? There were no memories there before I met her. It was just me, the wind, the sky, on the roof. A dark, unending, yet somewhat peaceful tranquility. But because I have no memory of those days, I only just started living a few months ago, when I met Okonayami.
Repeating silly words, teasing endlessly, making promises she can't keep because I want her to.
An insect flitters and land on my palm, and I open my eyes slowly, watching the blurry insect on it. And only then, now that I've awoken, I began to feel a pain emanating from my stomach. I clutched it, but there was no blood. The insect flew away, thinking that I must've been dead. There was no horrid scents of old socks, no wooden walls as I expected there to be, there was no Kyukesei. I wasn't dead, or home.
"Don't move much, yet, I'm not a very good doctor see?" Razael said pointing to the untidy bandages. "Don't speak either. I know what you're going to ask. Where is Okonayami, she's at Hirsugiminen right now, with Aesthaea."
"What th-aah!"
"Don't move, I said. Now, just lay there comfortably and listen. I'd like to tell you a story."
Hirsugiminen
700bc
Hirsugiminen's Sanctuary
For such a beauty as Aesthaea herself, the only thing that fits her is her sadistic attire. Other than that, this hell-like place, full of demons like me and Daizaiel, she shouldn't be here. I decided to tell her that, while she was in the middle of some concoction.
Daizaiel and I have just returned from a scouting, a new job we had other than bringing messages, to find women who were willing to help her. We weren't sure with what though.
I knocked on the door, and with a grunt, she accepted my intrusion. I pushed it open.
"Aesthaea-sama I. . ." I stopped talking, looking at the dying man below Aesthaea's hands. He looked like he had already died, lying in a coffin, darker than dark, eerie black mist flowing from it. Aesthaea took out a knife, beggining to trail her way down his body with it.
"Wait!" I shouted, not knowing why I did.
"This is Seikon." Aesthaea said without turning around. "He was a samurai, so I'm going to kill him. I'm just toying with his body first."
"What'd he do. . ." My voice was soft.
"Hm?"
"What'd he do wrong?!" Aesthaea frowned.
"The reason he has to die? That's because he existed in the first place, that was his wrongdoing." I stared her into the eye, this beautiful woman, doing such horrid acts.
"But, that's not wrong. It's not his fault he existed." Daizaiel walked through the door, apparently hearing the conversation.
"You're demons aren't you?! How can you feel sorry for such pieces of shit?! You're supposed to be HEARTLESS!!"
I took a step back, frightened by her tone of voice. Daizaiel did too.
"I'm not heartless. Sure, it may be true that I was born a demon, but I have inhabited the body of this dead boy. His heart his now mine."
"Well then." She said simply. "It's time you inhabited the body of a man. I'm going to kill him, whether you like it or not, and I'm going to inhabit his body with a demon, like you."
She stood before it, the gates, raising her hand to open it. She did belong here, didn't she? She was no angel, nor a demon like us, she was a fallen angel. A much darker being. And because I inhabited a body, I couldn't go near it because something may try to enter me, and that'd cause conflict.
Daizaiel stood at the corner behind me. I saw it, as the gates opened, for only an instant. A dark place, with living walls and ground. It was like the whole place was alive. But then it closed and the man bound in chains, Seikon, opened his eyes, waiting to be instructed. Aesthaea opened her mouth to speak.
"Kill-"
"Kill her. Kill the king of Hirsugiminen!" Daizaiel's voice booked from behind me. Aesthaea turned around sharply, and Daizaiel ran away.
"Understood." Seikon said. Aesthaea turned back to the beast.
"No, don't listen to. . ."
"Aesthaea darling!" The demon said. "Loose me from these chains will ya?"
"Tch!"
Instead of lossening it, she dragged it and threw into into the realm of humans for she couldn't kill it herself. There, it could bring her no harm. She looked at me. I bowed quickly.
"I would never betray you, Aesthaea-sama!" I shouted. Without smiling, she turned away. Neither could she kill Daizaiel, or me. All of us were enigmas beyond her control. She couldn't directly interfere with anything human or non-human.
"Good." She said. "Now, I'll go find that body of a man for you."
After that, that smile she had given me the day she accepted me, I never saw it again. She didn't look at me with hate, or happiness, she saw me as a tool. And I had to accept that. She wasn't an angel so she couldn't kill demons, nor was she a demon to kill an angel. She was a fallen, and because of that, we could surely kill her.
Hirsugiminen
2001
Forested section
She looked at me for a minute, Todoroki, then she grabbed my color.
"You said you knew what I wanted didn't you?!" For some reason, she cried again. "I don't want you, or stories, or even Kyukesei anymore. I. I want. I want Okonayami. That's all I want. So please, where is she?"
"Aesthaea took her. Seikon has gathered an army and is coming to destroy Hirsugiminen and hell itself. That girl you love so much, Aesthaea is going to posses her. Herself."
Her eyes widened, unable to take in the information. Like I had told her she was going to die.
"What the-why'd she do that?!"
"As I've said before, without becoming a human, she cannot be a part of it's affairs. She won't become a human when possessing Okonayami, she'll still have her powers. . ."
"Where are they?! Tell me now!!"
"Jigoku e no Iriguchi. The entrance of Hirsugiminen. . ."
With those words she got up, an odd fire in her eyes. She clenched her fists and grit her teeth.
"Then that's where we're going to go!"
"You don't understand, there going to start a war and you're injured. . ."
"RAZAEL!!!" She screamed. "Demon, messenger, psychopath, I don't care. I need you right now. Please, if not fight, at least take me there."
I looked up into the sky and sighed. I feared death, Seikon. He can kill me, but standing here in front of such a being as Todoroki, a mere human, I am an insect. A chirping cicada. I got up beside her. I am a demon, aren't I?
"Alright then, Todoroki Aota. But if you die, you're just going to end up back here. Unable to do anything."
"I'm prepared to die. It's not for myself, it's for the person I love."
"Then take my hand."
"Alright, I'm ready!"
"Alright then. May the gods be with us."
Lonely Yuri