Chapter 8 - Heaven

(A/N) Trigger warning I suppose! It's a bit gory. Well, I don't really know but might as well mention it.

"𝐻𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓊𝒹𝓈 𝒹𝓇𝑜𝑜𝓅𝑒𝒹, 𝒮𝓉𝒶𝒾𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝓇𝒾𝓂𝓈𝑜𝓃—𝒷𝓁𝑜𝑜𝒹𝒾𝑒𝒹 𝓇𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓀𝑒𝒹 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒷𝑒𝓎𝑜𝓃𝒹. 𝒜𝑔𝑜𝓃𝒾𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒸𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓈, 𝓁𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓃𝒹. 𝐻𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝒸𝓇𝑜𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇𝓈, 𝒜𝒷𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓊𝒹𝓈, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓃𝒸𝒽 𝑜𝒻 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽 𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇𝓈. 𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹'𝓋𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒𝒹 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔𝑒𝒹, 𝒸𝓊𝓉 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓉 𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓃 𝒾𝓃𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝓉. 𝒟𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓀𝒾𝑒𝓈; 𝑔𝑜𝒹𝓈 𝓁𝒶𝓎 𝒾𝓃 𝒻𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝒹𝑒𝓂𝒾𝓈𝑒."

Lifelessly atop a peak of clouds rested a single being encroached by a halo of corpses, blood pooling around them. Their expression, or lack thereof, was blank, devoid of any feeling. They had messy black hair and static golden eyes; snow-white wings, muddied with blood, protruded from their back. To their left, a hefty scythe, forged by the very souls it reaped, expelled waves of futility. To their right, a thin, pitch-black sword extinguished an aura of unblended despair. They wore an unhooded cloak that put the darkness of night to shame.

The commotion of new gods arising awoke the lifeless being. 'Despair,' ignited as a black flame, shredded apart the newly arrived gods before they could even react. Dropping like flies, the bodies of the gods hit the base of the clouds. Slowly but surely, the black flames plagued across their bodies, leaving nothing but the scent of cindering flesh and fragments of bone. Other gods, who scurried to retreat, followed shortly after them, albeit with slower deaths.

He pushed off from the island, dousing it in black flames. It took only mere seconds for the flames to consume the island, leaving behind not even the cloud it rested on. He calmly flew through the 'Heavens' in search of a new island where he could rest. However, he would never find that peace. Gods chased him everywhere he went, tracking and watching at all times. They were not foolish enough to go any closer, but they were foolish enough to believe they were hidden.

For hundreds of years, Gods and Goddesses were brutally massacred by Azrael in his attempt to find a place without watching eyes. The more gods that died or 'went missing,' the more they would send to watch him. For hundreds of years heaven was not a place of peace but a large-scale battleground... A place of war... All against one singular god. 

During the entirety of the 'war,' Azrael did not sleep once. gods always paraded him, and his extreme sense made it impossible not to take note of them. Instead, he would strike during the night; every night, a plethora of gods died by his hands. Enough 'divine blood' to fill an ocean... After one hundred years of killing, this was his terminus... That night he threw his weapons out of heaven and surrendered to the will of the gods. Without the power to execute him, Zeus determined the best possible solution was to imprison him for the time being.

In the confines of the solitary prison, Azrael endured the relentless cycle of experiencing the deaths of every god he had slain, repeating this torment for millennia. Each moment was vivid; he felt, heard, smelled, saw, and even tasted every experience as if he were reliving his own existence. The searing heat of his flames and the thunderous roars of his lightning echoed through his mind countless times. Yet, throughout this endless torment, he never once pleaded for release or cried out in agony. Instead, he remained utterly composed, his mind as tranquil as a serene lake, untouched by chaos, sorrow or grief.

After experiencing over a million brutal, horrific deaths caused by his own two hands, Zeus had convinced the heavens to free Azrael. Upon exiting his cell, Azrael was met face to face with Zeus... 'Father of all Gods,' His expression remained blank and uncaring as Zeus explained to him the conditions of his freedom... If you could even call it that. In return for Azrael being allowed to freely roam heaven once more Zeus had to agree to a few... conditions.

Azrael was constantly under Zeus's watchful eye. Additionally, he was not allowed to wield his divine powers without explicit permission, and his wings were off-limits as well, due to the terror they instilled in the other deities. In the realm of heaven, his wings had come to represent fear and misfortune. Ultimately, the gods held complete control over him, he became a weapon that heaven would use to smite whoever and whatever they wanted.

These were the twisted conditions of his 'freedom.'

---

Azrael

I sprang out of the bed in my inn, sweat rolled down my face, and my teeth chattered, "That dream again... Why do I keep reliving those same memories? I'm not that kind of god anymore..." 

Unable to confine myself to the comfort of my bed, I decided to take a walk through the silent midnight streets of Orario. Small lanterns illuminated the dark street, casting a comforting glow onto the paths. I peacefully walked through, emptying my mind of all negative memories. The weight of my thoughts quickly flushed away as I fell victim to cool air filling my lungs. 

"The human realm truly is better than heaven..." I muttered to myself.

"What was that?" I heard, a soft voice from behind. My serenity crashed down as I snapped around to meet the person behind me. My eyes locked with those of a green haired elf my guard raised as I didn't recognise her but quickly lowered my guard as I looked down at the familiar uniform she bore. 

"You're a worker at the pub?" I questioned.

She nodded lightly, "Yes, The Hostess of Fertility, I believe you were present there recently?" Hearing her words an confirming she held no ill intent was incredibly calming and I allowed my guard to fully drop.

"Hmmm yes I was? Why are you still in your uniform? Isn't it extremely late?" I asked curiously but also in an attempt to diverge the conversation away from what I had said went I thought I was alone. 

"The 'Hostess' doesn't close until extremely late." She replied monotonously.

"Touché" I said with a shrug of my shoulders, "Do you still serve food at this hour?" Her head tilted at my sudden interest in a meal.

"You want to buy a meal?" She asked.

"Ah... Yes I couldn't sleep well and talking about the 'Hostess reminded me of all the food I saw last time I was there." I explained, receiving only a silent nod.

"I'm sure Mama Mia will be happy." She said.

"That's great! Because I am absolutely famished!" 

(A/N) Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! This one was very fun to write!