Seth awoke to the sound of a scream screeching through his family's apartment.
A glance out of the window told him it was still nighttime, as the moon cast its glow over the streets of Rosebury.
"Mum!" he shouted, worried that something had happened.
He pushed himself to his feet and left his bedroom.
To his left was his older brother Abel's room, and the door was left wide open. He peeked his head inside but saw no one there.
He must have went to check on Mum and Dad.
At the end of the corridor was where his parents slept. Their apartment was incredibly small, as they were a very poor family, but his parents had done all they could to provide for him and his brother during their upbringing.
Thud
A loud bang came from the room, and he hurried to the door, his anxiety growing and heart pounding.
Once reaching the room, he peeked his head around the corner, coming face to face with a sight that caused his heart to freeze.
From the window, the moonlight brightened the scene, putting it on full display for Seth to see.
Drip, drip, drip
His father lay in bed, a gaping wound opening in his neck, blood pouring from the wound and staining the bedsheets.
His mother, who seemed to have been unaware of her death, lay on the floor, a stab wound where her heart was. Her body was rigid on the floor.
The most terrifying sight of the scene was Seth's brother, Abel, staring out of the window with a bloodied knife in his hand.
The red liquid dripped from the blade's point and splattered on a flower pot below.
"A-Abel?" Seth said, his voice trembling. "What is this? Tell me this wasn't your doing?"
His voice remained calm, unable to display any other emotion due to the shock.
Abel slowly turned and faced his brother. He was 18 years old, two years older than Seth, and stood slightly taller.
The eyes that stared back at Seth filled him with further terror, as what he feared most had come true.
Rather than white eyes staring at him, Abel's eyes had begun to darken, as if an abyss grew in the sockets, marking him as Anointed, one who had made a sacrifice to Adonus, the New God.
"No! Tell me this was not a sacrifice! Tell me that what I'm seeing isn't true!" Seth shouted the words, blood boiling within him, but Abel only stood with the gruesome blade in his hand and stared at his brother.
"Seth, this wasn't a selfish act. I did it for you. For us. With the power that this sacrifice has earned me, I will be able to change everything. I can make all things right," Abel spoke, his voice calm as he even dared to flash a smile at his brother.
Seth couldn't contain himself anymore.
He charged at his brother, swinging his fists with all his might, crashing his knuckles into his jaw, but just when he thought he had landed the strike, Abel stepped to the side, Impossibly dodging the blow.
Seth stumbled forwards and fell off balance, though managed to stay on his feet.
"I can feel it already, Seth, the powers of the Anointed are true!"
Seth charged again, but before he could even prepare to strike, Abel stepped forward and kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling on the floor.
He struggled to breathe, the kick having knocked the wind out of him for a moment.
And as he lay on his back, gasping for air, he saw that his brother had his hands outstretched, facing towards the forms of their collapsed parents.
A humming sound began to vibrate through the air, as a red aura began to emanate around Abel's hands.
"W-what are you d-doing?" Seth managed to say between breaths, but Abel ignored him.
Then suddenly, his father's dead body twitched on the bed.
Then, again, and again. Before finally, he impossibly sat up.
Seth sat there in disbelief, as his father's lifeless eyes stared at him.
"You would go this far...to raise the corpse of our own father? For what?" Tears began to drip down his face as he sobbed.
Abel stood there staring at his hands, and then back to his undead father, proud of what his powers could accomplish. Then, he threw him the knife, and their father let it bounce off his chest, before picking it up from his lap and wielding it in his hands.
"You will understand soon, Seth. Not only that, but you will see the fruits of my labor. I act out of the greater good, so that no one will have to live an unjust life. I must sacrifice the few to save the many."
His father began to step out of the bed, staring at Seth's seated form, and Abel made his way towards the window.
As he pulled the window open, the undead body began to make its way towards Seth, who began to crawl further away, aiming towards the door.
This cannot be...My own older brother...
Abel stepped a foot out of the window and took one last glance at his brother.
"Survive this, and join me on the path towards strength. Together we can make things happen, but first, you must understand and accept what I have done."
And with that, he jumped from the window, a height that should have killed him.
My own brother...
"Urghhh," Seth's father's undead form began to murmur, as he marched his lifeless form towards his son, knife held outstretched in front of him.
"Father, it's me, your son, Seth!" he tried to say, as he rose to his feet and began to back out of the room.
...
No words came from his father, only steps taken towards him.
"It's me!" Seth began to bawl again, but his father let out a roar and sped up his pace, leaving Seth no choice but to turn and run.
He ran down the corridor and shut himself in his room, sitting with his back against the door.
He heard the footsteps of his father making his way down the hall, and then he banged on the door a few times.
Fear and sadness overrode Seth's emotions, but as he sat there for longer, he noticed a third, and much more sinister, feeling begin to brew inside of him.
Anger.
Anger for his brother and the choices he had made.
I will never understand your decision. Your reasoning was foolish, sacrificing your own family for a goal that you may not even be able to achieve. You're despicable.
"Abel!" he shouted, wishing his brother could hear the rage that boiled inside him.
Then, in anger, he bit into his thumb, deep enough so that it would draw blood, lots of it.
He barely felt the pain as his thumb dripped, and he held his head back and raised his hand over his head, allowing the blood to leak into both eyes.
His vision went blurry and red, and he could see nothing. He could hear nothing either, a result of the anger.
Finally, he clasped his hands together and performed the ritual that was spoken of in the Book of Jacob.
"Adonus, hear me now."
---
Instantly, as though he was transported to some sort of other realm, his vision took him to a world made of red.
It felt like an out-of-body experience, as he transcended humanism and now remained with the gods, though he could sense nothing around him.
All felt like nothingness.
"I hear you, Seth," a voice suddenly echoed through his head.
"What do you wish to sacrifice?"
Seth did not care for what he was about to do; he did not even hesitate, nor did he have to think through the risks and consequences that his actions may have had.
He only had one thing on his mind, and he was prepared to dedicate his life to it.
"I wish to sacrifice every goal, every desire I have ever held. I wish to sacrifice my entire future and to make my sole purpose the murdering of my brother, Abel."
The voice, who Seth guessed was the New God, Adonus, let out a frightening laugh.
"Are you certain? I have had a look at your future ambitions and what you may have gone on to achieve. This is a grave sacrifice, all for vengeance?"
Seth did not need to think before answering; nothing mattered to him anymore, nothing but taking the life of his brother.
"I am certain," he replied, and thus the decision had been made.
"Then so be it."
Slowly, his location returned to the bedroom he had locked himself in, and his vision began to clear, revealing all around him.
The banging had stopped, and he no longer heard the footsteps of his father's risen corpse, so he risked standing up and walked over to the mirror that sat on top of his bedroom desk.
The face that stared back at him was the 16-year-old Seth that he had seen his entire life; however, one thing had changed.
The whites of his eyes had turned the darkest black, and tears of sorrow fell from them. Tears of blood