Darius stared up at the three headed hound in awe. It was ten times his height and had three jackal heads. It's body didn't seem physical, it was like it was made from a black smoke while each head had a different color of eyes. One had white eyes, one had gold eyes, the middle had red. Chains were tightly wound around the beast's necks and body while luminescent markings were formed in its fur.
"I suggest you calm yourself. Else Cerberus will become aggravated." The old man warned, the hound giving a soft growl to add to the threat.
Darius clenched his fists and turned back to the old man.
"What do you want?"
"For you to wake up and realize who you are." The old man spoke, "for you to realize what has happened and to see what you've become."
"I don't understand. I am awake. Sedori killed Inari and I!"
"Then why are you here now if you are dead? Tell me, what happens when a soul is shattered?"
Darius thought for a moment.. then his eyes widened and his heart dropped. He felt dizzy and shaken in that moment.. his world became warped and twisted.
"What.. what are you talking about..?" Darius asked weakly.
"I believe you've already figured that out, haven't you?"
Darius looked down at his hands. His skin was pale, he had claws rather than nails, and chains were wrapped about his body.
"That's it. Now why don't you take a look at yourself?" The old man spoke, tapping his staff against the ground. A mirror then materialized in the air before Darius. The mirror was clean silver and smooth and had a delicate design.
Darius looked at his reflection in disbelief.
He had pale skin, his hair was still blonde for the most part but the ending strands of his hair were black. His eyes were silver mixed with emerald while black markings covered his forehead like vertical scars, starting from his hairline down over his eyes and to his cheekbones. Where the markings disappeared beneath his hairline, two long, slender horns of shimmering glass protruded from his head. He wore the same clothes he had before, but now he had shimmering glasses chains draped over his body and spikes grew from his shoulders and forearms.
As he stared at his own reflection, his mind seemed to break and shut down, as it did he watched in horror as his body seemed to shatter like glass, shifting and churning about before returning to solid form.
His head suddenly began to pound like a drum. He could hear his own heartbeat thrumming in his ears, each pound like a physical strike to his head, worsening his pain.
"I'm… a demon..?"
•
•
•
Sallius stood beside her sister at the top of one of Fort Arashi's towers, watching the battle that was now taking place below. From their point of view, the army do souls that marched on Fort Arashi looked like a field of brilliant flowers under the light of the moon. But they could see Sedori and Onoma who were fighting a god out in the desert.
"What should we do?" Razzaiel asked. "Can we kill them all?"
"Yes, sister. We will eliminate all of them, though, first we must find the puppet master of these toys." Sallius spoke.
"Oh, how tedious. I never did enjoy hide and seek." Razzaiel said in disappointment.
"It may not be as boring as you'd think. Come."
Sallius leapt from the tower with her sister in toe. They soared through the air came to land atop a massive cliff that jutted up from the earth. Sallius's blue eyes and crystalline horn shimmered under the moonlight as she walked toward the center of the massive rock. It was like a huge pillar towering over the desert sand.
"I know you are here. Come out, then." Sallius spoke blankly.
"Oooooh, you found me!! How fun!" Came a crazed woman's voice. "I just love hide and seek, don't you?"
"No, I hate it." Razzaiel said bluntly.
"Oh. That isn't fun." The figure of Hecate came into vision at the center of the pillar, her body shimmering into sight with a light purple light like a mirage. "You don't like games?"
"I like games, just not the games of bitches." Razzaiel spoke.
"Oh, I see now, you aren't a normal girl! You are a tomboy!" Hecate said as if she'd discovered something astonishing.
"You are dead." Razzaiel growled.
"Hold on, sister." Sallius held her hand to hold her sister back. "I have some questions."
"Ew, but questions are boring!" Hecate whined.
"Don't worry, we will kill you soon, it is rude to not entertain the guests. Now then, who are you and why are you here?" Sallius asked.
"Ugh. My name is Hecate, goddess of the dead, blah blah blah, and I'm here to kill you all. Okay, done, can we fight now?"
"Yeah, you can keel over and die." Razzaiel growled.
"So mean.." Hecate said in a pouty voice, "you are gonna hurt my feelings.. friends, come, protect me from these bullies!"
Suddenly her hair began to flick in the air as a gust of wind blasted out from her and strings of rose purple light flew from her fingers. Then two figures appeared, their bodies starting as spiritual phantoms before changing into physical beings.
Both Sallius and Razzaiel froze when they saw who the puppets were.
"You ever wonder what happened to your Archdemon friends? Why they never came back when their souls were shattered?" Hecate laughed madly, "ITS BECAUSE I TOOK THEIR SOULS FOR MYSELF!!"
Now, standing before the sisters were the ghostly figures of Edo and Gallatine.
"No way.." Razzaiel said softly.. the her face contorted in rage, "you bitch.. YOU FUCKING BITCH, YOU BETTER LET THEM GO!!!"
"What ever do you mean? They are my friends, all they want us to play!" Hecate laughed hysterically.
"How were you able to take control of them?" Sallius asked. "Archdemons don't have souls, so how are you able to do that?"
"Just because you freaks don't have a soul of your own doesn't mean I can't manipulate the soul energy you absorbed into your chains. It isn't hard, really." Hecate explained, "why does that matter? Are you done talking yet? Can we play already, I'm bored."
Sallius looked between Edo and Gallatine. She couldn't see any sign of emotion or self in the crimson eyes beneath Gallatine's mask. Edo was much the same, though you couldn't see his face behind his thick armor. The entire armor set covered his whole body. The bronze armor was tied tightly to him by chains and metal spikes jutted from his joints, shoulder and horns curled from his helm while he held his hammer at his side.
Deep red aura began to churn about in Gallatine's hand as his sword took shape.
"Okay, let the game begin!" Hecate cheered, then she flicked her finger and Gallatine raised his hand, a stream of red aura streaking through the air and splitting the pillars in two. Sallius and Razzaiel jumped in opposite directions to avoid the attack, but this resulted in them being split up.
Gallatine heaved his sword through the air in a wide swing, throwing a massive wave of red aura flying for Razzaiel, who took a deep breath before breathing out, a wave of flames shooting from her lips to counter the attack, but at that moment Edo suddenly appeared between the two attacks, both striking him and fading out. His armor began to glow and then a blast of dark red flames erupted from Edo's armor and struck Razzaiel, sending her streaking down and crashing to earth below.
"Razzaiel!" Sallius cried, but then Gallatine appeared above her, his presence pure murderous intent that seemed to crush her.
*KROOM*
The blood red sword crashed into her frame and her body zipped downwards, crashing into the sand and the sound of her bones shattering echoing across the battlefield.
Gallatine hovered above her, holding out his hand as aura gathered into his palm and then it erupted down like a laser, crashing into Sallius's body, obliterating her.
Edo crashed to the sand below, smashing souls underfoot as he stomped over to Razzaiel, bending down and lifting her by her hair.
Atop the split pillar Hecate sat, legs crossed, laughing uncontrollably. "YOU CANT DO ANYTHING!! SUFFER, SUFFER, SUFFER, CRY FOR ME, SCREAM FOR ME, BLEED FOR ME!!!"
Gallatine landed a ways off from Sallius's body.
Then came a cold, emotionless voice.
"Shut up."
The crystalline sound of ice exploded through the air as a massive portion of the battlefield became glacial, covered in a thick layer of ice, freezing the souls in their tracks and pinning everything near, encasing all of them in ice. At the center of where the ice had come from was Sallius, who now rose to her feet, cold blue eyes locked on Hecate.
"You are annoying."
"Well, that is rude of you." Hecate said, sounding almost hurt. "I am not annoying."
A gust of cold wind burst from Sallius, whipping her clothes and her hair about as flakes of snow churned around her like a blizzard. Her eyes seemed to glow as she raised her hand towards Hecate.
"What will you do.." Sallius asked, her head slowly tilting to the side, "when all your puppets are broken?"
The ice suddenly began to crack and shift before shattering completely, everything encased in it being torn apart as the ice chunks swirled about in the air in a cyclone of frost.. and then the ice shards began to condense and take shape until..
A massive serpent completely made from ice now coiled around Sallius, it's jaws opened and fangs bared as it hissed, ice blue glowing eyes locked on Hecate.
"Shred them, Kebia."