Azazel let out a silent sigh before he faced Parish again. Never in his life had he ever been so sure of doing this. He had several candidates in mind but Parish just turned to be the perfect. Maybe it was time he told him the truth. He let out another breath and stared at Parish's eyes, establishing a connection between him that felt so surreal. This was why Parish fitted his position.
"As a god, I am supposed to wield in me the great power bestowed upon me by the Almighty who rules the universe," he began. "But I was once like you, gods basically are born from the desires of the worldly beings. For instance the goddess of love from the desire 'love' and so on. But there are one's in a million time when gods were once mortals who happened to be chosen by the universe for some reasons, and i am one such being. I was once mortal ridden by vengeance, for some reasons only known to the universe i was chosen to become the god of vengeance. But but those gods like myself who were once mortals, our bodies also have limitations." He sighed and a white light like substance escaped from his body. Parish, who had been listening to the story keenly all this time, noticed it as well.
"What's that?" He asked pointing at the escaping light. Azazel stared at the particle sadly before he shifted his gaze back at Parish.
"That is my power. My body can no longer hold it because of my advanced age," he said with dropped shoulders. This made Parish crease his brows. In the eternity of his life, he thought gods were immortal beings who existed since the beginning of time. But what Azazel had said was the complete different of what everyone believed. He even didn't know how the ranking of gods worked up until now. So the Almighty was the highest of gods who ruled the universe, and the other gods were his subjects? Those born from the desires of mortals and those chosen. But why was Azazel telling him all this?
"The Almighty bestowed to the gods the power to chose the rightful heir to continue on with their assigned works. And for that to happen, the heir must die first so that they would meet with the god and receive their powers."
And now Parish was confused. Did that mean that Azazel had chosen him to be his heir.
"Wait! Does that mean you're the one who killed me?" He asked. His face was laced with anger. How would he do that? Did he know what kind of pain he had gone through before he died. And he expected him to be his heir after doing that to him?
"No. I didn't kill you. But I caused your death. I manipulated and changed your fate at that particular moment, a time when hunters are all over the place infact you would have been hurt badly and not have died. But rather that which would cause you to become useless, wasn't it better you died?" Azazel said in a way that he had granted a favor to Parish.
"That is the same as killing me!" Parish said in clenched teeth. "Since you intervened in my fate couldn't you have prevented me from going out then?! Do you know how painful it was suffering in the hands of those adventurers!!" He asked, now angrier than before.
"Yes, I do," Azazel said without remorse not sorry, it was not in the emotions of gods to care about such trivial things. And to add salt to injury, he took a bite of his apple as if what Parish was saying didn't make sense.
"What do you want?" Parish asked after a while of silence.
"I guess you already know by now," Azazel said.
"And what if I don't want to wield your powers?" Azazel paused mid way chewing his apple before he shot Parish a questioning look. Parish swallowed nervously. What was with that look?
"You have no option boy. It's either you die, forever, or wield my powers and return back to your world. With my powers, you'll have what it takes to fight against the rule of the humans who have overpowered and conquered species such as yourself. You wouldn't have to live in fear of them, important part of it is you would be above them" Azazel said as a matter of fact.
"Why didn't you avenge my brothers?" Parish asked out of the blue. "You are the god of vengeance, and it is your duty to avenge and bring justice to those who wronged us. We have been crying for your help for God knows how long but you never came to our aid!"
Azazel was thrown off a bit by the question. He shifted uncomfortably on his seat and dropped the apple on the table. And for the first time, Parish saw him stressed. He had always regained his composure since the moment Parish saw him. Why then was he acting this way?
"As I told you, Parish," he began in a broke voice. "I've been losing my powers due to my advanced age. And yes, I did hear the cries of your brothers and sisters, and I still do. But to come to your aid was impossible for me now. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to help them, but in my state now i can not answer to the prayers of anyone, not even my followers. That's why I want you to wield my powers. When I give you my powers, you'll be able to recover all my lost powers and have revenge on those damned humans who have been massacring you and your clansmen for a long time."
Parish nodded simply though he was not content with his answer. He took his fruit on the table but another question ran through his mind. How then was he going to receive the powers? Was he going to reincarnate as Azazel or what?
Azazel watched him silently and read the boy's thoughts. A smile curved on his face. Parish was more than ready. The boy was just the perfect candidate. He breathed a sigh of relief when he thought of how long he had been looking for a successor. Watching as the demi humans were tortured and hearing their cries without doing anything was not something he liked. But he was now glad that someone better than him would pick up the job.
"The powers. You'll just receive them once I perish and my mortal body dissipates," he told the confused Parish.
"Perish, do you mean, to die?" Parish asked with creased brows. Never in his life had he thought gods died. In fact, he had still not believed that all this was happening. This was too good to be true. Maybe it was just a dream that he would wake up from later. But everything felt so surreal!
"Die is not the word to fit it. It's just moving on after my work is done. I'll just turn into ashes and dissipate into the universe where I can finally rest," Azazel said, gesturing with a wide smile as if looking forward to it.
Parish stared at him in daze, but he couldn't really understand what Azazel was feeling at that moment. Was it peace or longing?