In a dark pit
*CRACK**CRACK*
The space around the pit began to shatter and what emerged from it was a handsome man, with black hair that seemed to be made up of shadows and eyes that seemed to ooze out blood.
"AAAAHHHHH!"
"Oh?" said Zelk as he registered his surroundings around him and saw Lorella who seemed to have lost her mind.
"I feel a presence that was here not too long ago, can you perhaps tell me who that person was my dear Lorella?~" Zelk said as he looked down at the woman who seemed to be incapable of thinking, or talking, but just screaming.
"It seems they tried to use a Ritual to make you a Corrupted Relic but that process seems to have failed considering they left halfway in between the process with all this Corrupted energy around." Zelk disclosed as he looked at the surroundings filled with dark-purple energy to then back to Lorella whom he just sighed at while shaking his head.
"It's unfortunate. I could've used your technique, [Life Transfer] to live for a couple extra centuries but it seems to be a pretty bleak dream considering you're now half-brain dead." Zelk spoke with his voice filled with nothing but pity.
"You know, I should be infuriated at you right now considering the amount of time I spent trying to find you but right now, surprisingly, I feel a weight has been lifted off my chest."
"As you may know, to use [Life Transfer] or the process to add 'life' to somebody by giving your own, the target of the process must both be 'loved' by the user and the target must give back that 'love', both with nothing to hide from one another."
"Someone as kind as you may be able to pull off such a feat, however, for me, the very idea of 'love' is impossible," Zelk spoke but suddenly his ears picked up a peculiar sound.
*Thump* *Thump*
"Hm?" to this Zelk's eyes, which were hovering above Lorella's face went to her abdomen.
*Thump* *THUMP*
"Is the baby still alive? Ho-" Zelk was about to move closer to the source of the sound when suddenly a tiny hand burst out of Lorella's stomach.
"!!!!"
Blood started spraying everywhere, but suddenly another--and equally as tiny--arm pierced out of her abdomen.
"W-what the hell" Zelk, who had lived for centuries and seen horrors that many would simply faint over, had never in his life seen such a bizarre yet horrific phenomenon. However, before he could mull over the present situation, Lorella's abdomen suddenly ruptured apart revealing the full body of a thing.
It had the body of a 2-year-old child, its genitalia indicated that it was a male, had light skin with hints of purple, a fresh pair of tiny wings with fur on top, two tiny horns that seemed to soak up all the Corrupted energy around, a short reptile-like tail sticking out from the area of the sacrum while its black hair seemed to absorb all light that it touched, in contrast however, were its purple eyes that seemed to shine through the darkest of elements.
Despite these otherworldly features, what grabbed the attention of Zelk was a single black dot on the boy's forehead.
Ordinary people, or even those in high power, may dismiss it as a simple birthmark, but Zelk, one of the strongest beings in Veniel, could feel himself getting lost in the mark as if he felt he was watching something of a higher power, something which can't exist but does.
*Step*
At the sound of the child's footsteps, Zelk quickly pulled himself out of his daze and watched each of the child's actions.
*Step* *Step*
The child kept moving forward until he reached the side of Lorella, and whether out of sheer instinct or understanding, moved his face close to his mother's neck and hugged her.
"Ar..."
Lorella, who was both brain-dead and was about to enclose death, said its name not because of a sudden gain of clarity or lucidity, but out of instinct--maternal instinct.
"Ares..."
And with that, a being who would one day shake up the entire balance of the universe was given a name, Ares.
*Drip* *Drip*
The first tear drops by Ares were shed, even though at the time he didn't know what those drops of liquid meant, he knew they were the best way to convey whatever the feeling that was suffocating him.
*thump* *thum-*
Lorella, no, Lorella Van Leto, took her final breaths while being held by her child. No one, not even the gods, could tell when she truly 'died'. Was it when the Ritual first began? Was it when she felt her child's touch? Or was it far before then, a turning point where her life turned into something not worth living for? That was a question that would never--or could--be answered.
'It doesn't matter, whatever that thing is, I need to capture it.' Zelk though as he moved forward towards the child.
"Child, why don't you come to me? Let me share your pain." Zelk said as he knelt to meet the child's eyes while opening up his arms as if trying to hug him.
However, Ares ignored his gestures and kept looking at his mother's face. Then he started to move his hand towards her cheek and applied what seemed to be Corrupted Energy to the dead body.
"!" Zelk who watched the phenomenon opened his eyes wide in surprise.
'Did that thing just create Corrupted energy!? That breaks the basic laws of the universe!' however before Zelk could think more about the phenomenon, a change occurred in Lorella's body.
The cheek on Lorella's body started to turn into purple particles, and slowly but surely, so did her whole body leaving only purple particles behind. Those said participles began to twitch violently and began to shoot at Ares's body or to be precise, at the dot on Are's forehead. Then, the black dot began to devour all the purple particles and only stopped when there were no more particles to take in.
'It's no use thinking of theories now, the priority is to bring this thing with me.' Zelk, this time being more forceful, yanked the child's arm.
Ares, who had been ignoring Zelk's presence till now, finally looked him in the eye.
"Let's go home, shall we?" Zelk spoke with a smile which soon turned into a frown when Ares started looking in a completely different direction.
Suddenly, however, Ares's whole body began to turn into dust from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet, leaving nothing behind.
After a minute after the child's disappearance, Zelk spoke with a small sigh while rubbing his forehead.
"Is this day going to be labeled as one of the many uprisings that occur within the history of our continent, or is it the mark of something greater?..." Zelk mused and then suddenly smirked.
"Well, whatever it is, it surely isn't something that happens everyday." saying those last words, the space around Zelk cracked.
PROLOGUE END